(no subject)

1. So, I made "gluten-free" corn muffins from Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Muffin Mix. They tasted okay, better with butter and jam. I had about five of them. So obviously better than just okay on some level.

Wish I had stuck with just one, because my digestive system or rather my entire body decided to reject the whole kit and caboodle somewhere around 3 Am last night. Very painful IBS episode. (Will save you the gory details.) Also my immune system went nuts, I was sneezing, blowing my nose, coughing, along with the whole IBS thing, and a red face, itchy skin.

Clearly my body HATES corn muffins? Message received. (My brain may be dense, but it's not that dense.)

Also, just to be on the safe side Thai Curry Soup and Chunky Vegetable Soup. And possibly want to lower the sugar intake dramatically. (I threw out the corn muffins, thai curry soup/chunky vegetable soup remains, along with the granulated maple sugar and coconut sugar. (I miss the days in which I lived in a building where I could just give the sugar to people.)

Sigh. Dietary issues are a bitch to deal with, just saying. You really have no idea until you have to do it yourself. It has however taught me empathy for everyone on the planet with dietary restrictions.

Good news? It happened on the weekend. Bad news? It screwed up my Sunday. I don't want to do anything but veg on television shows and write. I did however finish reading a comic book in the bathroom last night. Digital comics make decent bathroom reading material.


2. Been entertaining myself by reading reviews of CATS and Rise of Skywalker. (I already knew both were going to be...shall we say controversial? I'm thoroughly spoiled. It doesn't matter -- the plots make no sense, and neither do the spoilers. Also I'm not emotionally invested in either -- and was on the fence about seeing both. After reading the reviews? I've chosen to wait until they come out on demand or something. Considering they are constantly showing Last Jedi everywhere, I figure it won't be that hard to catch Rise at some point in the near future. Maybe a Disney + trail?)

Anyhow -- there seems to be a split somewhere in the Star Wars fandom between the folks who like movies with lots of theme/world-building little to no character or plot, but lots of cool sardonic easter eggs hidden like a puzzle throughout, and the folks who like jam-packed action movies that don't say all that much but hey are great rides?

I did see a review on twitter by Jingle Bell Rob (aka Rob from the ATPOBTVS board) who loved Rise, and loved Last Jedi, and felt both worked. So, make of that what you will.

Since I fall in neither group and don't tend to agree with Rob's taste for the most part -- I suspect I won't much like Rise for pretty much the same reasons I didn't like Last Jedi. ( as to why I think this )

Meanwhile on FB someone posted a review of CATS by someone who saw it on shrooms -- because honestly it just begs to be seen while on drugs. Kind of like Rise begs to be seen in 4D X. When people complain about Rise, I have to restrain myself from posting - folks they wanted to create an amusement park ride -- it wasn't created with you or me for that matter, in mind.

One person on "scans daily" wanted to know who it was made to satisfy or appeal to? Who would be made happy by Rise?

ME: Well, the people wanting to see it and experience it as amusement park ride were made very happy by it.

3. The internet and the news media seem to be worried that we are about to enter WWIII. ( I mock this without reservation )

4. Really enjoying The Witcher - about four to five episodes in and it's much better than expected. Some interesting themes and metaphors, also not quite as dated as I'd feared. I'll give it a much deeper review when I finish. But, the folks who rec'd it did a good job -- you were right. I am enjoying it. Thanks for the recs.
[Generally speaking my flist is rather good at reccing sci-fi/fantasy things. Comedy not so much, but I admittedly have a very dry and odd sense of humor. Also not great with animation recs -- but again I'm admittedly VERY picky when it comes to animation. ]

The Witcher - Review

I finished binge-watching The Witcher today, wasn't hard, it only has eight episodes.

Overall? It's an enjoyable and rather entertaining character centric fantasy series, with something interesting to say. Also rather innovative -- not at all what I was led to expect. (I trusted the rec's of various folks on my flist, whose taste fits with my own in regards to fantasy/sci-fi at least, and they were right. It's an admirable effort.) The series, which is adapted from the Polish Fantasy novels published back in the 1980s, incorporates various items from Polish and Eastern European Mythology - which makes it different than your run of the mill fantasy series. (Too many fantasy series focus on Celtic and British mythology, which as result has become rather old hat. It's nice to see monsters that I've not hear of outside of Illona Andrews novels -- Illona Andrews also focused on Eastern European mythos.)

There's three time lines that eventually converge into the present one, where the three characters met up. I got a bit confused because the actress who portrays Renfri and the actress who portrays Yennifer look alike. So much alike that it took me a while to realize that no they aren't the same character. (Was a bit disappointed and ultimately relieved by this turn of events.) You begin to figure out the time lines around the fourth episode, and I figured out that Yennifer and Renfri weren't the same person by the sixth episode. It did explain the slight differences in their facial structure. (Yes, I know I should of picked up on it before then -- but alas, I'm horrible at telling people apart. I'm guessing this was deliberate though -- because Geralt gets involved with both -- so apparently Geralt has a type.)

I know the above could be considered a spoiler -- but I thought I'd save others the confusion.

It is violent, although I don't find it any more violent than X-Files, Supernatural, Legacies, Merlin, The Originals, Doctor Who, etc. It's mainly war violence. I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as say Outlander, Game of Thrones and The 100 (in that we don't really watch people getting raped and tortured, just slaughtered. Hey, everyone has their standards.) If you can watch X-Files and Supernatural, you should be fine for the most part. At any rate the violence in this didn't bother me as much as I expected. I was mainly thinking -- please don't kill the characters I like, kill of the ones I don't like -- thank you. Also don't kill any dragons. (They didn't. Apparently the writers like Dragons too as opposed to the GoT writers who didn't like dragons and kept killing them. Yes, I'm still holding a grudge about that.)

Henry Caville is rather good as Geralt. I was surprised since the actor has never appealed to me all that much. But he's marvelous in this and perfectly cast. So too is everyone else. It's diverse in casting, and has some exceedingly strong female roles, most of which are quite likable -- surprisingly so. It's weirdly feminist in its themes. And the women are the wizards or mages here --- while the men are the witchers. Interesting flip.

( spoilers )

The series was the exact opposite of what I expected. Fast paced. Interesting world-building and monsters. Complicated and fascinating male and female characters. A tight and twisty plot. And innovative ideas and themes in a fantasy setting.

Highly recommend. Also only eight episodes, and the eight episodes due resolve in a satisfying climax -- psuedo-cliff-hanger. It's hard to make an ending open-ended, a cliff-hanger, and satisfying all at the same time -- but they manage it. And with in eight episodes. Kudos.