Y2/D251 - Rainy Days & Mondays & COVID
Nov. 22nd, 2021 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWas sprinkling on the way to work today, so not too bad. Cleared off by the time I was ready to commute home. The commute is harder than I remember - I think it is the waiting for trains, and rushing to get a seat on the G train that's so exhausting. With less people, and more trains, not so bad. But they've had service cuts - so I'm waiting about fifteen to twenty minutes for the ride home, sometimes five, if lucky. So could be much worse.
Crazy workplace
The petition that was going around to get a letter to the head of Crazy Org fell apart. They realized it would never make it that far or the head of Crazy Org would ignore it. So now, there's a petition via the internet, where folks are chipping in funds to get it to go to the Governor's Office, and pay for the petition site. If we get over 2,000 signatures - we'll get media coverage.
What's the petition for? To make a hybrid or remote from home schedule permanent. At the very least, consider it. People have statements after their signatures explaining why they want to make it permanent.
I think Crazy Org screwed up - and should have kept folks working remotely in a hybrid schedule until at least April or May 2022. Get us through the winter period first.
Their excuse for bringing us back early - is some misguided view of solidarity with frontline workers and customers using our service. Honestly, if I were the frontline workers or customers - I'd rather we stayed home working on our laptops. Less people on the trains.
I had a long talk with a fellow co-worker about it today. Someone equally disgruntled by the fact that we are both stuck between a rock and a hard place. Neither of us can afford to leave Crazy Org, and it's unlikely we'll be able to - for reasons I will not bore you all with. We're grateful we have jobs - don't get me wrong, we just wish we had better jobs or could expedite our retirement. But hello, welcome to the club, right?
I got stuff done today at least. Chidi & Mel helped with a problem. I needed another pair of eyes to check the math on something. Budgets, Accounting, the Project Managers, and their management all got the math wrong. So basically we have about five - ten people who do math for a living, and one who went to law school to avoid it - and guess who found the math error? (Points at the one who went to law school to avoid it.)
I'm apparently better at math than I thought. So I broke the news to Budgets, who wasn't happy. And now, have to figure out if I should send the proposed cost off to the consultant.
***
The two soap stars who didn't get their vaccines, exited the soap. Or rather their characters exited stage left. Both were fairly easy to write out - they sent one off to Australia for business, and the other was buried alive in a cave-in in Greece. No one knows if he survived or escaped. So he's presumed dead. This kind of leaves the door open for 1) recast, 2) return of actors once they get vaccinated, 3) keeping them gone. It's an easy way to write a character out quickly without having to immediately recast them.
Meanwhile fans are still fighting over why they got booted off the show.
Fans: It was NLG (an actress on the show pushing for vaccine mandates). It was GH (the show).
Me: No, actually it was Mickey Mouse - aka Disney. A corporate wide mandate effecting everyone.
Fans: This is America ! I have rights!
Me: Really? Have you been watching the news for the last twenty years? Or better yet worked in Corporate America? I mean come on - they can fire you at will - aka for any reason, lay you off, etc. People of color get arrested for just driving to the market or walking home at night in a hoodie. Worse they get shot at and beaten by cops. What rocks are you idiots lying under? And why should I give a rat's ass about your frigging rights?
I didn't say any of that - of course. I just hid the idiot and blocked them. Arguing with idiots on social media - is kind of pointless.
*****
I loved Superman & Lois. Absolutely loved it. I don't know why. It just worked for me. I keep replaying sections in my head.
***
I'm debating doing work over the holiday break - I can - I've got remote access now. But I should give myself a break. Oh, well, I'll play it by ear.
**
COVID
From the Times:
"More than 90,000 coronavirus cases are being reported each day in the U.S., comparable to early August, and more than 30 states are seeing sustained upticks in infections.
Federal medical teams have been dispatched to Minnesota to help at overwhelmed hospitals. Michigan is enduring its worst case surge yet. Even New England, where vaccination rates are high, is struggling; Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire are trying to contain major outbreaks.
Across the Atlantic, European governments are toughening their antivirus measures in the face of soaring infection rates and popular resistance, with violent protests over the weekend in numerous countries.
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, warned that by the end of this winter, “just about everyone in Germany will probably be either vaccinated, recovered or dead.”
[Well that's not all that reassuring, is it? Stupid anti-vaxxers.]
* "Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, was charged after authorities said he drove into a Christmas parade on Sunday, killing at least five adults and injuring more than 40 others.
The dead ranged in age from 52 to 81, the police said, and included two members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, which has been a fixture in local parades for nearly four decades. [I saw this on Twitter yesterday and thought it was a sick joke or a mistake - nope.]
At least nine of the injured were in critical condition, and 18 were children, including three sets of siblings.
Brooks, who has faced an array of charges over the past 22 years, was freed on Nov. 11 on $1,000 bail after being accused of trying to run over the mother of his child. Today, the Milwaukee district attorney said the bail recommendation was “inappropriately low” and was being investigated."
* Ridley Scott is blaming millenials for tanking his film The Last Duel when it hit theaters in October.
Ridley Scott knows who to blame for his epic The Last Duel bombing this fall — and it’s not Disney, which he contends did a great job promoting the historical drama.
The Oscar-nominated director dropped by Marc Maron’s WTF podcast for an episode published Monday in which he discussed his iconic career. Maron said he was impressed that Scott had two enormous pictures out this year, The Last Duel and the upcoming House of Gucci.
When it arrived exclusively in theaters in late October, 20th Century’s The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck, cratered ($27 million worldwide off a $100 million budget).
Scott told Maron he was somewhat concerned the Disney-acquired Fox studio would undersell the graphic film, but that was not the case. “Disney did a fantastic promotion job,” Scott said on the podcast. “The bosses loved the movie. … I was concerned it was not for them.”
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Scott’s explanation for the horrible box office performance? Apathetic millennials.
“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cellphones. The millennian [sic] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you’re told it on a cellphone,” Scott said.
“This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook,” Scott added. “This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”
Scott said he stood firmly by The Last Duel, and the decision-making process at the studio was solid throughout.
“That’s the call you make,” he said of his undertaking the project. “That’s the call Fox made. We all thought it was a terrific script. And we made it. You can’t win all the time. I’ve never had one regret on any movie I’ve ever made. Nothing. I learned very early on to be your own critic. The only thing you should really have an opinion on is what you just did. Walk away. Make sure you’re happy. And don’t look back. That’s me.”
Uhm, we're still in a pandemic? The news is grim. And this is a film that takes place in Medevial Times, about a man (Adam Driver) who sexually assault a woman. Her husband challenges him to a Duel. The Duel will decide whether she's telling the truth. If her husband loses, she dies. The story is told in three perspectives, the husband's, the rapist's, and the wife's.
I don't know about any one else? But I don't want to pay $15-20 to see that in a movie theater in the middle of a pandemic. I can watch that on Netflix for free. Or HBO Max or Hulu for that matter. I want to see a big splashy special effects laden superhero flick where men and women join together to defeat monsters and save the world.
And I'm GenX.
* And our erstwhile former Governor continues to get blasted ...seriously the nursing home scandal has kind of killed his administration. That's why half of the top brass at the New York Department of Health resigned.
An investigation found “overwhelming evidence” of sexual harassment by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo while he was in office.
The eight-month inquiry by the New York State Assembly also found that he abused his power to help produce what would become a $5.1 million pandemic memoir.
The findings reinforce a damning investigation by the state attorney general that concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, including a former aide whose allegation of groping is now the subject of a criminal complaint.
The 46-page report also found that Cuomo “was not fully transparent regarding the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of Covid-19.”
Well, we kind of always knew he was corrupt. I mean everyone around him was, why not him? Lando used to speculate on when he'd get investigated why back in 2016.
The above was mostly about COVID though. If you've been reading my posts since 2020, you'll notice an interesting story going on with our Governor, who went from national hero to national embarrassment in the blink of an eye.
* I think Jeff Bezos much like Bill Gates before him is trying to redeem himself for being well...complicated?
The Obama presidential library fund just got a big boost.
The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos promised a donation of $100 million, the largest yet for the Obama Foundation.
In return for the donation, Bezos asked that a plaza at the Obama Presidential Center be named for the civil rights leader John Lewis, who died last year.
The foundation broke ground on the center — which will include Barack Obama’s presidential library, a museum, an athletic center and more — this year.
In September, Bezos pledged $1 billion in conservation spending.
* Ah, Thanksgiving. I'm not doing anything but planning on going to a movie with a friend on Saturday - which for me is major. Well that and getting the flu shot via my doctor's appointment on Wed.
1. Most health experts agree that it’s OK to have a holiday gathering.
2. Thanksgiving will be the biggest test of the airline industry’s resilience since the pandemic began, with millions more passengers than last year. [Chidi and Wales are both traveling home for Thanksgiving this week - Chidi to Alabama, Wales to Kansas City. My family is staying home, and apart. Mother down in Hilton Head, Bro in upstate NY, me in NYC. We're okay about it. Traveling at Thanksgiving is a nightmare at the best of times.]
3. The vaccination status of your guests might become a topic of conversation — and conflict. Here’s some guidance on how to keep the peace.
****
Random photo of day:
Crazy workplace
The petition that was going around to get a letter to the head of Crazy Org fell apart. They realized it would never make it that far or the head of Crazy Org would ignore it. So now, there's a petition via the internet, where folks are chipping in funds to get it to go to the Governor's Office, and pay for the petition site. If we get over 2,000 signatures - we'll get media coverage.
What's the petition for? To make a hybrid or remote from home schedule permanent. At the very least, consider it. People have statements after their signatures explaining why they want to make it permanent.
I think Crazy Org screwed up - and should have kept folks working remotely in a hybrid schedule until at least April or May 2022. Get us through the winter period first.
Their excuse for bringing us back early - is some misguided view of solidarity with frontline workers and customers using our service. Honestly, if I were the frontline workers or customers - I'd rather we stayed home working on our laptops. Less people on the trains.
I had a long talk with a fellow co-worker about it today. Someone equally disgruntled by the fact that we are both stuck between a rock and a hard place. Neither of us can afford to leave Crazy Org, and it's unlikely we'll be able to - for reasons I will not bore you all with. We're grateful we have jobs - don't get me wrong, we just wish we had better jobs or could expedite our retirement. But hello, welcome to the club, right?
I got stuff done today at least. Chidi & Mel helped with a problem. I needed another pair of eyes to check the math on something. Budgets, Accounting, the Project Managers, and their management all got the math wrong. So basically we have about five - ten people who do math for a living, and one who went to law school to avoid it - and guess who found the math error? (Points at the one who went to law school to avoid it.)
I'm apparently better at math than I thought. So I broke the news to Budgets, who wasn't happy. And now, have to figure out if I should send the proposed cost off to the consultant.
***
The two soap stars who didn't get their vaccines, exited the soap. Or rather their characters exited stage left. Both were fairly easy to write out - they sent one off to Australia for business, and the other was buried alive in a cave-in in Greece. No one knows if he survived or escaped. So he's presumed dead. This kind of leaves the door open for 1) recast, 2) return of actors once they get vaccinated, 3) keeping them gone. It's an easy way to write a character out quickly without having to immediately recast them.
Meanwhile fans are still fighting over why they got booted off the show.
Fans: It was NLG (an actress on the show pushing for vaccine mandates). It was GH (the show).
Me: No, actually it was Mickey Mouse - aka Disney. A corporate wide mandate effecting everyone.
Fans: This is America ! I have rights!
Me: Really? Have you been watching the news for the last twenty years? Or better yet worked in Corporate America? I mean come on - they can fire you at will - aka for any reason, lay you off, etc. People of color get arrested for just driving to the market or walking home at night in a hoodie. Worse they get shot at and beaten by cops. What rocks are you idiots lying under? And why should I give a rat's ass about your frigging rights?
I didn't say any of that - of course. I just hid the idiot and blocked them. Arguing with idiots on social media - is kind of pointless.
*****
I loved Superman & Lois. Absolutely loved it. I don't know why. It just worked for me. I keep replaying sections in my head.
***
I'm debating doing work over the holiday break - I can - I've got remote access now. But I should give myself a break. Oh, well, I'll play it by ear.
**
COVID
From the Times:
"More than 90,000 coronavirus cases are being reported each day in the U.S., comparable to early August, and more than 30 states are seeing sustained upticks in infections.
Federal medical teams have been dispatched to Minnesota to help at overwhelmed hospitals. Michigan is enduring its worst case surge yet. Even New England, where vaccination rates are high, is struggling; Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire are trying to contain major outbreaks.
Across the Atlantic, European governments are toughening their antivirus measures in the face of soaring infection rates and popular resistance, with violent protests over the weekend in numerous countries.
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, warned that by the end of this winter, “just about everyone in Germany will probably be either vaccinated, recovered or dead.”
[Well that's not all that reassuring, is it? Stupid anti-vaxxers.]
* "Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, was charged after authorities said he drove into a Christmas parade on Sunday, killing at least five adults and injuring more than 40 others.
The dead ranged in age from 52 to 81, the police said, and included two members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, which has been a fixture in local parades for nearly four decades. [I saw this on Twitter yesterday and thought it was a sick joke or a mistake - nope.]
At least nine of the injured were in critical condition, and 18 were children, including three sets of siblings.
Brooks, who has faced an array of charges over the past 22 years, was freed on Nov. 11 on $1,000 bail after being accused of trying to run over the mother of his child. Today, the Milwaukee district attorney said the bail recommendation was “inappropriately low” and was being investigated."
* Ridley Scott is blaming millenials for tanking his film The Last Duel when it hit theaters in October.
Ridley Scott knows who to blame for his epic The Last Duel bombing this fall — and it’s not Disney, which he contends did a great job promoting the historical drama.
The Oscar-nominated director dropped by Marc Maron’s WTF podcast for an episode published Monday in which he discussed his iconic career. Maron said he was impressed that Scott had two enormous pictures out this year, The Last Duel and the upcoming House of Gucci.
When it arrived exclusively in theaters in late October, 20th Century’s The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck, cratered ($27 million worldwide off a $100 million budget).
Scott told Maron he was somewhat concerned the Disney-acquired Fox studio would undersell the graphic film, but that was not the case. “Disney did a fantastic promotion job,” Scott said on the podcast. “The bosses loved the movie. … I was concerned it was not for them.”
Related Stories
Matt Damon - Ann Sarnoff - Real Estate Sale - Dirt - Pacific Palisades
Lifestyle
Matt Damon Sells $18m Pacific Palisades Estate to Warner Bros CEO Ann Sarnoff
Lady Gaga stars as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s HOUSE OF GUCCI.
Movie Reviews
Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in Ridley Scott's 'House of Gucci': Film Review
Scott’s explanation for the horrible box office performance? Apathetic millennials.
“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cellphones. The millennian [sic] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you’re told it on a cellphone,” Scott said.
“This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook,” Scott added. “This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”
Scott said he stood firmly by The Last Duel, and the decision-making process at the studio was solid throughout.
“That’s the call you make,” he said of his undertaking the project. “That’s the call Fox made. We all thought it was a terrific script. And we made it. You can’t win all the time. I’ve never had one regret on any movie I’ve ever made. Nothing. I learned very early on to be your own critic. The only thing you should really have an opinion on is what you just did. Walk away. Make sure you’re happy. And don’t look back. That’s me.”
Uhm, we're still in a pandemic? The news is grim. And this is a film that takes place in Medevial Times, about a man (Adam Driver) who sexually assault a woman. Her husband challenges him to a Duel. The Duel will decide whether she's telling the truth. If her husband loses, she dies. The story is told in three perspectives, the husband's, the rapist's, and the wife's.
I don't know about any one else? But I don't want to pay $15-20 to see that in a movie theater in the middle of a pandemic. I can watch that on Netflix for free. Or HBO Max or Hulu for that matter. I want to see a big splashy special effects laden superhero flick where men and women join together to defeat monsters and save the world.
And I'm GenX.
* And our erstwhile former Governor continues to get blasted ...seriously the nursing home scandal has kind of killed his administration. That's why half of the top brass at the New York Department of Health resigned.
An investigation found “overwhelming evidence” of sexual harassment by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo while he was in office.
The eight-month inquiry by the New York State Assembly also found that he abused his power to help produce what would become a $5.1 million pandemic memoir.
The findings reinforce a damning investigation by the state attorney general that concluded that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, including a former aide whose allegation of groping is now the subject of a criminal complaint.
The 46-page report also found that Cuomo “was not fully transparent regarding the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of Covid-19.”
Well, we kind of always knew he was corrupt. I mean everyone around him was, why not him? Lando used to speculate on when he'd get investigated why back in 2016.
The above was mostly about COVID though. If you've been reading my posts since 2020, you'll notice an interesting story going on with our Governor, who went from national hero to national embarrassment in the blink of an eye.
* I think Jeff Bezos much like Bill Gates before him is trying to redeem himself for being well...complicated?
The Obama presidential library fund just got a big boost.
The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos promised a donation of $100 million, the largest yet for the Obama Foundation.
In return for the donation, Bezos asked that a plaza at the Obama Presidential Center be named for the civil rights leader John Lewis, who died last year.
The foundation broke ground on the center — which will include Barack Obama’s presidential library, a museum, an athletic center and more — this year.
In September, Bezos pledged $1 billion in conservation spending.
* Ah, Thanksgiving. I'm not doing anything but planning on going to a movie with a friend on Saturday - which for me is major. Well that and getting the flu shot via my doctor's appointment on Wed.
1. Most health experts agree that it’s OK to have a holiday gathering.
2. Thanksgiving will be the biggest test of the airline industry’s resilience since the pandemic began, with millions more passengers than last year. [Chidi and Wales are both traveling home for Thanksgiving this week - Chidi to Alabama, Wales to Kansas City. My family is staying home, and apart. Mother down in Hilton Head, Bro in upstate NY, me in NYC. We're okay about it. Traveling at Thanksgiving is a nightmare at the best of times.]
3. The vaccination status of your guests might become a topic of conversation — and conflict. Here’s some guidance on how to keep the peace.
****
Random photo of day:
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