Year 50 Day 81

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Me standing outside our front door, holding onto the pull rope dangling from an antique cast-iron bell hanging next to our door.

Day 81: A bit of home improvement we’ve been meaning to do for a long time — mounting an antique cast-iron bell that my wife inherited from her great-grandmother. It hung outside her door for years, and this is the second home we’ve had where it’s hung outside ours. To mangle a Crocodile Dundee quote, “That’s not a doorbell. This is a doorbell.”

🎥 Barbie

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Barbie (2023): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be excited enough about a Barbie movie to see it on opening day, or that I’d come out of it this impressed, I’d have likely laughed and waited to wake up so I could tell you about the weird dream I’d just had.

However, the marketing has been spot-on, the articles have been intriguing, and the reviews have been excellent (well, most of them — but if every review is positive except those from right-leaning organizations or people, I consider that a good sign), so off we went.

And it absolutely lived up to and surpassed my expectations. It’s an impressive veneer of completely over-the-top ridiculousness laid over a remarkably aware, intelligent, and subversive core. Even after having read several articles with the general theme of “how did this even get made?’, you still walk out of it wondering how they managed to do it. It’s a bubblegum pink, glittery explosion of everything that makes todays political right explode, it’s wonderfully aware of that, and it pokes at them with great glee.

I don’t want to say too much more, because really, the less you know about the overall plot or the specific gags, the more fun it will be. If you’re at all curious, it’s well worth seeing. And if you think you aren’t curious because it’s Barbie, well, get over yourself and give it a go.

Year 50 Day 80

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My wife and I sitting in front of a poster for the Barbie movie. I'm wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt with a pink skull and crossbones and bright pink Converse, my wife is wearing a pink sweater over a black top and skirt and light pink Converse.

Day 80: I’ll say a little more in a separate post, but in brief, Barbie is excellent. The less you know going in, the better, but even if you’ve been reading reviews and articles about it, there’s so much in here that will surprise you. If you’re even remotely curious, it’s worth your time.

Year 50 Day 78

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Me standing in a parking lot outside the Highline College library, a very square, somewhat brutalesque 1960s-era building, on a sunny morning.

Day 78: Got to work and found that just about ten minutes before, the entire campus had lost power. The power company had been notified, but had no idea of the cause and no solid ETA for a fix, so it was back home for me! By the time I got home, campus was officially closed until 10 a.m., and we’ll see what sort of notices we get as the day goes by. Either the power comes back and I head back to campus, or I just work from home after ten.

Year 50 Day 77

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Me in our bathroom with a toothbrush in my mouth and a disgusted expression on my face.

Day 77: I don’t normally go directly to brushing my teeth immediately after coming home from work. But then, I don’t normally get surprised by suddenly getting a clumsy bug for an impromptu snack during an afternoon walk outside. Ew.

Year 50 Day 76

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Me standing in my office. The wall behind me is lined with white bookcases filled with books, plus various toys and knicknacks. The top shelf has Star Trek DVDs on one half, lots of stuffed penguins on the other half. In front of a closet is a grey chair that somewhat resembles the chairs on the bridge of the Enterprise 1701-D.

Day 76: Since back on day 61 I mentioned that I was having trouble finding an angle that didn’t show how messy my office was, I figured that since part of this weekend’s chores was cleaning up, I should provide evidence that I can make things presentable if I try hard enough.

Read more

📚 Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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33/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1990 Hugo Best Novel

Still as engrossing as when I first read it, many years ago. Far-future space opera on a huge scale, but presented through a series of vignettes shared by members of a band of pilgrims (if this sounds rather like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, be glad you got a good education in classic literature) heading toward what seems to be an unpleasant fate for all of them…and possibly billions more. Amusingly, while I knew that this was part of a series (originally two books, then four) because I have all of them on my shelf, I’d forgotten that the next book is not so much a sequel as the second half of a single story. Good thing I can just head upstairs and grab the next book to keep going!

NOTE: Given Simmons’ descent into right-wing politics, including Islamophobia and publicly attacking Greta Thunburg, he has earned a space on my “milkshake duck” virtual bookshelf, collecting those authors whose work I discovered, enjoyed, and might still enjoy, before later realizing that they are what I consider to be rather horrible people.

Me holding Hyperion