A hodgepodge of things...plus links.
Oct. 29th, 2023 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSloppy rainy day, cool, and gloomy. But rather perfect for staying inside, watching television, and snoozing. Talked to Wales for a bit, and mother for a bit via the phone. Turns out Wales and I both are taking Tuesday off for afternoon doctor appointments in the same area - so we're making plans to meet up in Barnes and Noble afterwards, and then venture off to get dinner. We can watch the kids trick or treating in the interim.
**
Television..
Spy X Family continues to be entertaining, and I have a crush on the animated spy, Twilight. It's adapted from the magna comic of the same name, and dubbed in English - it's a Japanese anime series. (I love anime, always have, always will. Really wish I could do it myself, because that would be cool.)
Discovery of Witches - damn, this is slow. Even without commercials, it's pacing is bad. There's way too much time spent just watching people sit and read and hold each other, or stare fondly into the distance. My attention kept wandering - but I did at least stay awake during it, can't say the same for...
The Fall of the House of Usher After the first portion of the episode, when they jumped back two weeks and introduced the rest of the family - I began to drift off to sleep. And dozed through most of Episode 1 and half of Episode 2 - before I switched it off and decided to pick it up again when I was less sleepy. It's also slow, and has pacing issues. Also the characters aren't likable. I honestly think Edgar Allen Poe is hard to adapt. He was more of a poet than a prose writer, or plotter. I fell asleep reading him as well. I may get him on audio book - because his prose is almost better listened too - due to the wordiness.
***
Mathew Perry was the sarcastic soul of Friends. The reactions are coming in regarding Perry's death, from everyone but his Friends' cast mates.
I read his book, and am not that shocked by his death. He'd attempted suicide repeatedly in his lifetime, and was an addict, who took medication to deal with his addiction. His book was in part to help fight against the stigma against addiction. And he yearned to help other addicts. How much he did, I don't know.
It's a tragic story - of someone who found fame, fortune and success fairly early on, and was talented in his own way, but whose personal demons destroyed him.
The phrase but for the grace of god, goes I, comes to mind. As I grow older, I'm more and more aware of how little control we have over the fabric of our lives or the direction in which they go. Or the people we meet along the way. And how much we take for granted and assume we earned, we were rewarded or are indications of our own self-importance or talent or greatness. We in reality it's mainly just luck and well, how the fabric of the universe has woven itself.
It's odd to compare Keanu Reeves and Perry, if not impossible. They couldn't be more different in regards to their upbringing and lives. Their only common denominators - they both were close friends of River Phoenix, and both actors, who became famous. Other than that - as different as a banana and a coconut, chatting on the beach together.
I think Perry may have been envious of Reeves, to a degree. Or was enamored. He joked about how Reeves was popular and lived, while people like River Phoenix died (folks who fell within the same orbit). Reeves, a genuinely kind man, who if social media is to be believed has given more to the world than it has necessarily always given back - may well have served more as a role model to Perry than much else. Who knows really?
But Perry was in pain. And at one time he was an iconic comedian of a generation - Gen X. The Baby Boomers didn't understand Friends, and Chandler's humor was largely lost on them, but for those between the Boomers and the Millenials, GenX, his humor was memorable and his death notable. Yet another artist in his fifties who has died tragically.
And I think, my main accomplishment sometimes is making it to 56. My Aunt, my mother's oldest sister, died at 59 in 2000.
It hits me, as we come closer to the Night of the Dead, and shortly thereafter, the Day of the Dead...the Christian Pagan Holiday, the first of many during the year, that there is so much to be grateful for, and there is so much I take for granted. In this world that is constantly looking for new ways to kill him, I am just grateful to be alive. And perhaps find more people to be simply kind to. That's all I aspire to any longer - to attempt to be kind, and to keep my own personal demons from getting in the way of that - as they unfortunately often strive to do.
***
Random links..
Quantum Physics isn't as weird as you think, it's weirder
How Mars Lost Its Magnetic Field and Then its Oceans
13 True Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings that might make you believe in Ghosts - I'm personally agnostic on the subject. I've family members who've seen them. I've felt weird energy - whether it was a ghost or not, I couldn't tell you. I feel energy and can sense it. I can feel it in trees, dogs, people, etc. Along with residue energy. I can't see it though, just feel it or sense it. I can also sense whether to run away from it, or towards it. But that's about it.
I guess that's kind of useful?
I had a co-worker who lived near the Amityville House - and told me the true story behind it, and how awful the media was and the tourists. She said it was a tragedy, and this horrible novelist exploited it and the family causing them years of grief. She used to rant about it in the cubical next to me - we'd have these long discussions through the cubical wall.
America's First Car-Free Neighborhood - in Tempe, Arizona of all places
If you were to imagine the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the modern US, it would be difficult to conceive such a thing sprouting from the environs of Phoenix, Arizona – a sprawling, concrete incursion into a brutal desert environment that is sometimes derided as the least sustainable city in the country.
On a 17-acre site that once contained a car body shop and some largely derelict buildings, an unusual experiment has emerged that invites Americans to live in a way that is rare outside of fleeting experiences of college, Disneyland or trips to Europe: a walkable, human-scale community devoid of cars.
Culdesac ushered in its first 36 residents earlier this year and will eventually house around 1,000 people when the full 760 units, arranged in two and three-story buildings, are completed by 2025. In an almost startling departure from the US norm, residents are provided no parking for cars and are encouraged to get rid of them. The apartments are also mixed in with amenities, such as a grocery store, restaurant, yoga studio and bicycle shop, that are usually separated from housing by strict city zoning laws.
Damn. It couldn't be in Vermont or Massachutus? I don't like the desert. I need trees. The desert has big spiders.
15 Family Friendly Halloween Movies
Eh, I've seen all of them but three. I don't know what that means. The ones I saw were all enjoyable - except for Hotel Translevania - which I don't recommend, and Paranormal was okay. The stop action animation by Tim Burton is worth it - no matter what (Corpse Bride, Coraline, and Nightmare Before Christmas - excellent). Monster House - was different - and worth a look.
And I like the Addams Family.
***
Excursions...
Talked to Wales about European Vacation Envy. She agreed with me about Switzerland - it's boring. Beautiful but boring, with far too much focus on beer making and skiing, neither of which I'm into. Much rather go to Spain (I want to go to Seville and see Flamenco dancing), Portugal, or Italy, also France deserves a second look.
Question is how. I'm not really a cruise person - it's easiest, but also very pricey, mainly suited for couples (or Viking is), and I want to immerse myself in culture (which Viking does but again pricy - Viking is the commercial on PBS during all its programming). Mother is suggesting Rhode Scholar - which has a lot of older singles/solo travelers, and is into being informative and cultural. It's not as pricey and has lower priced accommodations. G Adventures may be too young for me.
If you have recommendations - feel free.
***
I can't decide if my shingles are bothering me, or this is menopausal, or reactions to food insenitivities? Or a combination of all of the above.
But skin is tingly and itchy, and I keep getting hot in places. Probably the later two - since I was getting that prior to the shingles. I miss being able to eat whatever I wanted whenever...which was before 2000. In short, the 20th Century was in some respects easier than the information laden 21st. In others, not so much, and I prefer the 21st.
**
Television..
Spy X Family continues to be entertaining, and I have a crush on the animated spy, Twilight. It's adapted from the magna comic of the same name, and dubbed in English - it's a Japanese anime series. (I love anime, always have, always will. Really wish I could do it myself, because that would be cool.)
Discovery of Witches - damn, this is slow. Even without commercials, it's pacing is bad. There's way too much time spent just watching people sit and read and hold each other, or stare fondly into the distance. My attention kept wandering - but I did at least stay awake during it, can't say the same for...
The Fall of the House of Usher After the first portion of the episode, when they jumped back two weeks and introduced the rest of the family - I began to drift off to sleep. And dozed through most of Episode 1 and half of Episode 2 - before I switched it off and decided to pick it up again when I was less sleepy. It's also slow, and has pacing issues. Also the characters aren't likable. I honestly think Edgar Allen Poe is hard to adapt. He was more of a poet than a prose writer, or plotter. I fell asleep reading him as well. I may get him on audio book - because his prose is almost better listened too - due to the wordiness.
***
Mathew Perry was the sarcastic soul of Friends. The reactions are coming in regarding Perry's death, from everyone but his Friends' cast mates.
I read his book, and am not that shocked by his death. He'd attempted suicide repeatedly in his lifetime, and was an addict, who took medication to deal with his addiction. His book was in part to help fight against the stigma against addiction. And he yearned to help other addicts. How much he did, I don't know.
It's a tragic story - of someone who found fame, fortune and success fairly early on, and was talented in his own way, but whose personal demons destroyed him.
The phrase but for the grace of god, goes I, comes to mind. As I grow older, I'm more and more aware of how little control we have over the fabric of our lives or the direction in which they go. Or the people we meet along the way. And how much we take for granted and assume we earned, we were rewarded or are indications of our own self-importance or talent or greatness. We in reality it's mainly just luck and well, how the fabric of the universe has woven itself.
It's odd to compare Keanu Reeves and Perry, if not impossible. They couldn't be more different in regards to their upbringing and lives. Their only common denominators - they both were close friends of River Phoenix, and both actors, who became famous. Other than that - as different as a banana and a coconut, chatting on the beach together.
I think Perry may have been envious of Reeves, to a degree. Or was enamored. He joked about how Reeves was popular and lived, while people like River Phoenix died (folks who fell within the same orbit). Reeves, a genuinely kind man, who if social media is to be believed has given more to the world than it has necessarily always given back - may well have served more as a role model to Perry than much else. Who knows really?
But Perry was in pain. And at one time he was an iconic comedian of a generation - Gen X. The Baby Boomers didn't understand Friends, and Chandler's humor was largely lost on them, but for those between the Boomers and the Millenials, GenX, his humor was memorable and his death notable. Yet another artist in his fifties who has died tragically.
And I think, my main accomplishment sometimes is making it to 56. My Aunt, my mother's oldest sister, died at 59 in 2000.
It hits me, as we come closer to the Night of the Dead, and shortly thereafter, the Day of the Dead...the Christian Pagan Holiday, the first of many during the year, that there is so much to be grateful for, and there is so much I take for granted. In this world that is constantly looking for new ways to kill him, I am just grateful to be alive. And perhaps find more people to be simply kind to. That's all I aspire to any longer - to attempt to be kind, and to keep my own personal demons from getting in the way of that - as they unfortunately often strive to do.
***
Random links..
Quantum Physics isn't as weird as you think, it's weirder
How Mars Lost Its Magnetic Field and Then its Oceans
13 True Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings that might make you believe in Ghosts - I'm personally agnostic on the subject. I've family members who've seen them. I've felt weird energy - whether it was a ghost or not, I couldn't tell you. I feel energy and can sense it. I can feel it in trees, dogs, people, etc. Along with residue energy. I can't see it though, just feel it or sense it. I can also sense whether to run away from it, or towards it. But that's about it.
I guess that's kind of useful?
I had a co-worker who lived near the Amityville House - and told me the true story behind it, and how awful the media was and the tourists. She said it was a tragedy, and this horrible novelist exploited it and the family causing them years of grief. She used to rant about it in the cubical next to me - we'd have these long discussions through the cubical wall.
America's First Car-Free Neighborhood - in Tempe, Arizona of all places
If you were to imagine the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the modern US, it would be difficult to conceive such a thing sprouting from the environs of Phoenix, Arizona – a sprawling, concrete incursion into a brutal desert environment that is sometimes derided as the least sustainable city in the country.
On a 17-acre site that once contained a car body shop and some largely derelict buildings, an unusual experiment has emerged that invites Americans to live in a way that is rare outside of fleeting experiences of college, Disneyland or trips to Europe: a walkable, human-scale community devoid of cars.
Culdesac ushered in its first 36 residents earlier this year and will eventually house around 1,000 people when the full 760 units, arranged in two and three-story buildings, are completed by 2025. In an almost startling departure from the US norm, residents are provided no parking for cars and are encouraged to get rid of them. The apartments are also mixed in with amenities, such as a grocery store, restaurant, yoga studio and bicycle shop, that are usually separated from housing by strict city zoning laws.
Damn. It couldn't be in Vermont or Massachutus? I don't like the desert. I need trees. The desert has big spiders.
15 Family Friendly Halloween Movies
Eh, I've seen all of them but three. I don't know what that means. The ones I saw were all enjoyable - except for Hotel Translevania - which I don't recommend, and Paranormal was okay. The stop action animation by Tim Burton is worth it - no matter what (Corpse Bride, Coraline, and Nightmare Before Christmas - excellent). Monster House - was different - and worth a look.
And I like the Addams Family.
***
Excursions...
Talked to Wales about European Vacation Envy. She agreed with me about Switzerland - it's boring. Beautiful but boring, with far too much focus on beer making and skiing, neither of which I'm into. Much rather go to Spain (I want to go to Seville and see Flamenco dancing), Portugal, or Italy, also France deserves a second look.
Question is how. I'm not really a cruise person - it's easiest, but also very pricey, mainly suited for couples (or Viking is), and I want to immerse myself in culture (which Viking does but again pricy - Viking is the commercial on PBS during all its programming). Mother is suggesting Rhode Scholar - which has a lot of older singles/solo travelers, and is into being informative and cultural. It's not as pricey and has lower priced accommodations. G Adventures may be too young for me.
If you have recommendations - feel free.
***
I can't decide if my shingles are bothering me, or this is menopausal, or reactions to food insenitivities? Or a combination of all of the above.
But skin is tingly and itchy, and I keep getting hot in places. Probably the later two - since I was getting that prior to the shingles. I miss being able to eat whatever I wanted whenever...which was before 2000. In short, the 20th Century was in some respects easier than the information laden 21st. In others, not so much, and I prefer the 21st.