Y2/D270

[shadowkat]

I spent the morning caulking my tub. Except, I had to go to the hardware store first - because it turns out that you need tools to do this. That you can't just squeeze the container and caulking comes out. Apparently, you need a caulking gun first. No one told me this. I figured it out when I finally pulled up a Youtube video on how to caulk a bathtub, courtesy of "This Old House".

I thought, okay, I need a caulking gun, a knife, and blue tape. Got it. And why does my silicon caulking say I need gloves to apply, a mask, and protective gear and they don't use any of the above on This Old House? Also apparently you should put a sheet down on the tub first.

So off I go to the hardware store - which believe it or not is actually open at 9:30 am on a Sunday morning. (It's a Bengali owned station, so their Muslim. They also had kitten in the hardware store, who lived there, complete with kitty litter, house, and food. Although probably shouldn't have put all of it in the same area.)

I hunt for and eventually find the caulking gun along with the knife (it's behind the counter). Then go home, put on plastic gloves, pull out a sheet, cover the tub (or as much of the tub that I can cover with it), use the knife to cut away as much of the moldy caulking as I can possibly remove with it, and begin my project. I found it to be anxiety inducing.

I'm not very handy. The caulking is clear, apparently I bought the wrong caulking? It looked like glue. It got on the tape, and my gloves and somehow the caulking gun but I'm not exactly sure how. I did manage to seal the tub though. It just doesn't look like it, because it's clear. Which means I should probably buy actual white caulking and add a new layer? I don't even know at this point.

But hey, at least the tub is sealed, and it's mold and mildew resistant.

**

Good news, everyone got the cards I sent last week. And as far as I can tell, appreciated them.

**

Soap Twitter is reminding me of why I don't like fandoms or groups in general. And why the human race is not very nice.

They were ranking on two actors who got married (in reality) in a goth wedding, and then got the marriage annulled six weeks later. I felt for the actors. Also reminded me of why it's not a good idea to share your wedding photos across social media.

People can become nasty little creatures when they get together, can't they? I felt sorry for the actors involved, and was reminded of how happy I am that I am not an actor, famous, or in the public eye in any way.

**

The death toll is expected to pass 100 in Kentucky due to a 227 mile tornado that took out several Kentucky Towns. And apparently Kentucky wasn't alone - there was a swath of tornadoes to hit the States. One tornado, being called the "Quad-State Tornado" ripped across four states in four hours (Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky), slamming communities such as Monette, Arkansas, and Mayfield, Kentucky, which were two of the hardest hit towns.

Also Anne Rice died, at the age of 80. This recent spate of deaths, reminds me of how fragile my parents are - they are around the same ages as those who died. I fell in love with Rice's Vampire Series in the late 80s, early 90s. I read it close to the time it was first published. The books were so different than any other horror novels out there - a kind of blend of pop gothic romance and horror, also the romance at the core of the book was between two men and a child. Louis and Lestate, and Claudia (the child monster they made) which I found to be unique. The later novels got even more interesting as Rice continued to build her world.

Twitter of course felt the need to denigrate her for past crimes. (Which I find annoying. Rice was complicated. We all are.)

We're human, and we've already established the human race is a nasty piece of work, that tends to slide towards selfish asshole with little to no prodding. So there you go. Even Mother Teresa had massive blemishes on her record. (She did, I'm not kidding. No one is immune. It's why I'm glad I'm not famous. It's also why some writers use pseudonyms. I mean who wants some obnoxious fan nitpicking over every horrid thing you've ever done your whole life and posting it on social media - to get a bit of fame?)

***

Felt a bit blue today. The sky was blue too - but cheerier with bright sunshine, but a crisp breeze, and my arms burned with it. Or maybe that's the hot flash? Hard to tell. My arms have burned off and on lately - either with cold or flushed. I'm not sure I should be concerned or not. It's not severe.

Mother thinks its a reaction to something I ate - which is more than possible. I'm flushed too. Oh, well, if it continues tomorrow - I'll email my primary care doctor with the symptoms, and maybe go to urgent care.

So, came home and watched the Disney flick Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Mixed feelings about it. Reminded me a little of Black Panther - in that their cast was all Asian, with the exception of maybe three tiny roles cast with white people (and well various folks on a bus).

The strongest characters were once again the women, who stole the show from the lead. As did the villain, portrayed by Tony Leong, who is Shang-Chi's father.

Shang-Chi's sister, Xiuliang, was by far the most interesting and dynamic character in the film - so it's no surprise that it states after the credits sequence at the end, that the Ten Rings Will Continue, not Shang-Chi. He will too, but most likely in someone else's movie.

Some good fight sequences, although the best ones were at the beginning. And decent special effects, I felt the dragons could have been done better - or I've seen them done better elsewhere. But I liked the Chinese folklore and mythological touches, also the ret-con regarding the Mandarian. Shang-Chi's father let them think he was the Mandarin, but that's not his true name - Chinese names have power, and the Mandarin is an orange. (Actually I thought it was a region of China, and a language. But I may have that wrong.)

Women also rule in this film - and are not sidelined. Shang-Chi's sister is rather interesting and captivating, as is Awakfina, his side-kick who kind of steals the film from him. Shang-Chi unfortunately isn't that captivating or interesting - and is the weak link in the film. Ben Kingsley is brought along for comic relief, but doesn't quite cut it, and Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leong add a level of class to the proceedings.

Overall not a bad film. I enjoyed it. But I'm not certain I liked it more than the Eternals. Kind of equal? Which surprised me. Expected to like it more. I think I just went in with higher expectations?

***

Cowboy Beepob - the Live Action Series - has been cancelled by NETFLIX. Not all that surprised, the nitch audience was disappointed in it, and it really only has that nitch audience.

Live action anime is hard to pull off well - I've yet to see any of the action versions do it. I'm sure someone has - I've yet to see it. The complaint on this one was that the tight plotting of the anime series was missing, and it drug.

***

Random Picture of the Evening..

Comments

[mtbc]

Yeah, Mandarin is, as I understand it, the Chinese language that's been adopted by the central party as that which all China should be taught. Of other Chinese languages, Cantonese is probably the other you might commonly hear around NYC, partly because Cantonese areas tended to have more ports and trade anyway, so one finds quite a few Cantonese speakers in other countries. I used to work with a Mandarin-speaker who could kind of half-talk-to the Cantonese staff in local restaurants and I kind of knew another Chinese guy who spoke several of their languages.

[shadowkat]

So, it's kind of weird that the movie writer stated it was an "orange". I'd have said it stands for a language.

I worked for an online video game company once - and there were quite a few Chinese immigrants in their finance department, working along-side me. So I got an education on Cantonese, Mandarine, and which areas of China did what. I've forgotten half of it. Also the cuisine of each. They'd take two hour lunches sometimes - because they worked until 1 Am in the morning.
And pull me along with them. We'd go seek out all the Asian restaurants - or corners in the City - such as Little Korea, a Japanese owned sushi buffet, and Hong Kong Cooking in China Town. At one point they explained that there were at least 18 different versions of Mandarin and Cantonese, and they didn't even understand half of them. Kind of like English, actually.
And how Cantonese was mostly Hong Kong and Southern China. Although I may have flipped that in my memories.

[mtbc]

That sounds about right. (-: Sounds like an interesting range of experience!

[cactuswatcher]

was reminded of how happy I am that I am not an actor, famous, or in the public eye in any way

Me too!

Many actors clearly have a rough time dealing with ordinary personal interactions in real life. I can't imagine deciding to commit to someone for life then realizing after a week to just a couple years of marriage that it was never going to work.

It was quite an outbreak of tornadoes. A couple were not all that far from where I used to live: to the west, in Defiance, MO, where Daniel Boone lived his last years, an elderly woman died; and in Edwardsville, IL to the east, where we used to go to summer orchestra concerts, an Amazon center collapsed.

[shadowkat]

It's hard to know what happens in other people's personal lives - even if they give you all the information - I've enough problems keeping track of my own. But in this one, they were apparently living together for several years prior, got married in this huge well publicized affair, and six weeks later it fell apart. Weirdly, most of the "huge well publicized weddings" tend to end in divorce. Mainly because the couple built everything up to "THE WEDDING" & "Honeymoon". Or the Big Party. And after its over...then what? Day to day life is kind of a let down after all of that.

It's the difficulty with most romance novels, films, etc - they build up to the wedding, and that's it. We never see the marriage. (Although the better ones take you into the marriage.) And marriage is a lot harder than courtship, dating, living together, or getting married. It's a bigger commitment and requires more compromise. A lot of folks get married for the wrong reasons - they mistake "a strong physical attraction aka lust" for love, they don't want to be alone or desire kids - so settle (I've a lot of extended family members and co-workers who did that, that's common and I always feel sorry for the kids), or pressure from external sources. Honestly, don't marry someone you don't like, don't respect, and don't want to live and sleep with. Also it helps if you want and value the same things. The happy marriages I've witnessed tend to fall into the category of two like-minded people, who get each other on some deep level, and enjoy spending time together and working through all the problems life gives them - together. I've yet to find that person, and not everyone does - including those who get married and have kids.

I felt for this couple - because they made their wedding so public (it hit magazines), that the split is all the more painful due to the criticism aimed at them.

**

Tornadoes..

The Amazon center collapse was horrible. Also it was a weird time of year for them to pop up. And over such a wide expanse of territory.

Like you, I grew up with Tornado warnings. I never actually experienced one - thankfully. And while NY gets them, they don't last long or do much damage, because tornadoes need a flat open range to travel - without obstacles. NY has water, mountains, and lots of tall buildings. Although I don't think its the tall buildings so much as the water - there's a reason we don't see a lot on tornadoes hitting islands.

[cactuswatcher]

For some reason the St. Louis area has a history of bad tornadoes in winter going back a century and more.

I've never seen a tornado, either. But I have seen the green skies and even a rotating wall cloud (or two), either of which are plenty scary for me!

[shadowkat]

Saw the sky blacken and wind pick up, but nothing else, but we also were in the basement.

[yourlibrarian]

I rather agree that everyone else in the film was more interesting than Shang-Chi himself. And congrats on the caulking, I would have had no clue how to start either.

[shadowkat]

Thanks.

Yep, I think they miscast Shang-Chi. You know there's a problem when the villain is more charismatic than the hero. Or the sidekicks for that matter.

I have a feeling Shang-Chi will go the route of Black Panther and Black Widow, with the character continuing forward being the more interesting supporting characters. Same deal will eventually happen with Captain Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm guessing Thor.

[trepkos]

So do you recommend the whole of "The Vampire Chronicles"?

[shadowkat]

No. I liked the first three books in the series, and the body thief wasn't bad. But I didn't bother with anything after that. Rice stopped using an editor after a certain point - because she felt they were unnecessary.

Rice's early books are good, her later ones, I'd skip.