Day #336 - Snowstorm

Not that much of one as you can see above. It stopped snowing around 2 pm, when Ghost made his appearance.

At lunch time, while I was busy talking to mother and fixing lunch, crazy company sent two emails about the vaccine.
( story about getting a vaccine...and well family, hee, you have to read it to determine if I got an appointment or not. What would be the fun in telling you up front? )

I amuse myself during working hours watching feral cats and cardinals dance around in the snow outside my home office window. (I don't have a window at work.) And occasionally take photos of them.

Talked to mother at noon - she was worried about what to do about Father, also how to turn her phone off after a conference call. ( Read more... )

Little cardinal on a fire-escape during snow-storm, not easy to photograph.

Discussed the crazy-ass Texas situation with mother. Apparently father told her, during a lucid moment, that Texas' grid was always a problem - it was a problem back in the 1970s when he was doing work down there for clients. They were constantly have power outages. They difficulty is that they refused to join the other grids - the Western and the Eastern, so they can't trade off or get power from other states, or any back up. And their grip is completely dependent on fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) as opposed to wind and sun like many of the others are. My electricity is 90% wind and 10% solar.

Here's an excerpt from the NY Times on the issue:
( Read more... )

One guy on FB was condemning Texas - and I'm like, please don't do that. I've family members that I love in Texas. Breaking Bad also mentioned to Boss, who was whinging about our measly little snowstorm, that he had a sister in Central Texas, who doesn't own a shovel - who got hit by the storm and didn't have power for two days. He's grateful. (Thank you, Breaking Bad.)

Everywhere in the bloody country except for two states is freezing

Below is a picture of the wind carbines I saw in Costa Rica - a country with some of the cleanest air on the planet.



What else?

Wales wanted to know what I thought about the Governor and the nursing homes. He's being attacked by his own party on the stupid nursing home issue. According to what I've read - they are upset that his administration covered it up. Basically they only counted 8,000 nursing home deaths instead of 15,000, because they left out the people who were transferred from the nursing homes to the hospitals - they counted those as hospital deaths.

Confused? So am I. I read about it - and I think, okay, have people lost their minds? You are wasting my tax payer dollars and your time investigating this for what reason exactly?

Why does it matter?

But apparently it does. Mother was going to blame the Republicans, but it isn't the Republicans going after him on this one - it's the Democrats.
Granted, our Governor is and can be a narcissist egotistical ass at times. I mean he likes to gloat and pat himself on the back and take the credit. That damn poster - is evidence of that. I've always said he's kind of a liberal version of Trump - with his bullying and ranting. OTOH, I think he did the best he could do under the circumstances.

Mother says he was raised to be like this and he's a lot like his father, whom she remembers.

I said the legislature is punishing him by removing his emergency executive power - which he had during the start of the pandemic. They've decided to remove it - and set up a 10 person commission to review any of his executive orders going forward. They want to remind people including the Governor - that there are three houses of government in NY not one.
Governor has sort of been playing dictator at the moment, and they are pushing back on that a bit. Which is not a bad thing.

I'm seeing a pattern emerge in 2021 - it's almost as if we've all hit the wall in regards to bullying bosses and centering too much power on one person, who sets up a toxic work environment validating his own ego. Ie. we may well be entering the end of the era of the bully? Let's hope.

At any rate - right now, several bullies from both sides of the political spectrum, and the entertainment spectrum are being removed or questioned.
This is good news. Mother uses the Australian term - toppling the tall poppies.



I finished out the day by making root vegetable soup. It's basically:
( recipe below the cut )

Also made myself some unsweetened hot cocoa with almond/coconut milk creamer and oatmilk. Very good.

I'm learning to appreciate the little things in life. It's something my Grandmother taught me ages ago. We used to just enjoy a slice of French Silk Pie together. It was enough.

Links to share/discuss..among other things

1. Yes, I know everyone is bored of the Whedon thing. But, this is kind of interesting. I found it finally on Twitter - it's about what lay behind the whole CC reveal, and those who followed. Hint - it wasn't about Buffy or the Marvel movies or for that matter, The Nevers. No, it is about Whedon's long running attempt to get into the DC film verse after leaving the Marvel film verse.
( Read more... )

What happened? Snyder's daughter died by suicide and he got tired of fighting the WB, and put his family first. The rest of the story is...appalling to say the least. And complicated.

You can find it HERE. It does not show various film critics, comic artists, comic fans, Whedon fans, Whedon, WB or comic writers in the best light. They basically took advantage of someone else's tragic loss for their own personal gain. It is appalling. They also lied about it.

It's an interesting read - because it shows how difficult the film industry can be and why so many go off and do their own things.

At any rate - there's apparently a Snyder Cut of Justice League premiering on HBO MAX tonight - ETA, misread, it's dropping 3/18/2021 - March. It's four hours long. And none of it includes Whedon's footage. Also, only five minutes of it were shot during the pandemic and after 2017. And Whedon's version only contained five 30 minutes of the original Zack Snyder cut - which is possibly why - the re-shoot was hell on wheels - because they basically re-shot the entire movie in less than four months. Cutting everything they did previously. After already shooting and working their asses off on the previous version. AND - various actors ended up with their scenes cut completely. It was - if you can imagine - shooting an entire movie over two years, only to have the director you've bonded with - get fired after his daughter died from suicide - and have a new director that you don't know jump in and throw his weight around. Force you to work hard and long hours, and say lines that you don't feel were in character, and do it in breakneck time, and act as if everything you did the past two years was pointless.

I'd have wanted to skewer Whedon and the WB for that alone. I don't blame the cast for hating them. Add to that - Whedon's version bombed, and the actors struggled afterwards. Plus the anticipated sequel was cancelled.

Now, finally, they get to see the version they worked hard on and were proud of - air. (They spent years trying to get to this point. The previous film aired in 2017.)

I can't see it tonight, but I'll try to see it over the weekend. I'm curious. Although - I'm not really a huge fan of Snyder's films - they give me a headache - all the fight scenes are like paintings, but also feel like watching a video game. So we'll see if I make it through it.

The twitter feeds mentioned Chris Helmsworth has been indicating issues with Whedon for years. So I looked.

Recalls Joss Whedons fury when Avengers Cast Kept Screwing up a Take

I think writers make bad directors for the most part.

2. Winter Storm and Texas Power Outage Map

Texas wanted its own power Grid to avoid the Federal Government - Now What?

Ted Cruz is not having a good year. Nor for that matter is Texas.

But I feel for my poor family members. I have three cousins, their kids, and youngest Aunt in Texas. I'd prefer that they be okay. So far they are.

3. Footloose or Dancing in the Movies

Watch on YouTube

Off to bed. Assuming they quiet down upstairs. It is quiet. It just sounds like someone is moving furniture above me every once and a while.