Whatever

More Black And White

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So, yesterday I watched Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, AKA Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3, again in black and white. First up was Attack of the Clones with its sappy romance between two actors with zero chemistry with each other and the sheer amount of screen-filling, fast-paced CGI just because they could. The lack of color did not help at all. After a dinner break I waded into Revenge of the Sith, where we get to watch the creation of big bad Darth Vader. Here is where Hayden Christensen did have chemistry; he really nails the angsty teen, pissed at the universe, persona. Still way too much excessive use of CGI to the point of distraction.

This afternoon I went ahead and cued up The Empire Strikes Back in B&W (remember I watched the OG Star Wars very recently). Stopped a little more than an hour into Episode five because the Red Sox game was starting. I’ll finish it after the game.

I wonder if I like this black and white thing because we didn’t get a color TV at home until I was almost thirteen?

Black And White

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Today’s post is about that weird little thing I did after finding the director’s cut of the movie “Justice League.” I had tried to watch the movie when it showed up on streaming, but just couldn’t get past about the 5-minute mark of the movie. While I enjoyed both of the Batman and Superman comics back in the day, for various reasons their movies never got close to those Marvel flicks of the 2010s.

While poking around HBO looking for something to watch, I saw that the Justice League director’s cut was now available in black & white. I thought maybe that would work for me because when Marvel released Logan in black and white, I enjoyed it more than the color version. As the movie started to play in b&w and in a television format of a 4:3 aspect ratio. Okay, when they get past the credits, it’ll surely expand to 16:9 like all modern TVs. Nope, I watched a little longer and quit pretty close to where I stopped the original movie.

This got me thinking: what movie that I have on disc might be better in black and white? I picked Alien. Opened the TV settings and took the color slider all the way left; ta da, no color. It was pretty good that way, not really better, but it did get me to rewatch the movie for the first time in probably a decade.

So today I tried another movie. Last week I had rewatched the original Star Wars movie. I really like the original three; the last three are tolerable, and the first three are way subpar. Maybe if I watched Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, without the vibrant colors, it would at least reach the tolerable level. Shooting for mediocracy, I nailed it. It also helped that I have the fan edit that tones down Jar Jar.

Poking Around

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Today’s post was to be about this weird little thing I did after finding the director’s cut of the movie “Justice League.” But as I started the first line of the post with “While poking around HBO looking for something to watch…” it triggered a memory of writing that same line in two other recent posts. I needed a few different ways to change it up. Uninspired, I asked an AI and received a ten. Like anything from an AI, some were meh, others were okay, and maybe I’d actually use one.

  • I happened to find this while I was browsing HBO for a different series.
  • I was just digging around on HBO and ended up finding this.
  • I discovered this show by pure accident while searching HBO.
  • I came across this while looking for something else on HBO.
  • I caught this show while scanning the HBO library earlier.
  • I was deep in the HBO menus looking for a new watch when I chanced upon this.
  • While navigating the HBO app for a different title, this show caught my eye.
  • I was aimlessly exploring HBO when I happened to land on this show.
  • I fell down an HBO rabbit hole looking for one thing and ended up finding this gem instead.
  • The HBO algorithm did me a favor; I found this while hunting for something else entirely.

    • Is It Saturday Already

    East Salish Pond Homes

    We’ve actually had several days of nice weather. Not real warm, but I did get the top down on Buckie for a bit yesterday. Settled into a routine: cereal with banana for breakfast, working on a jigsaw puzzle for a bit, a caramel latte from Stomping Grounds to take on a walk, and a sandwich with apple slices for lunch. Then park on the couch for the rest of the day—baseball, college hoops, and random movies or TV shows. Try not to be jealous of my exciting life. 🙂

    Christmas Card Peculiarities

    Okay, so Christmas cards were Donna’s thing; I printed labels and stuck them on envelopes. Back in 2023, she made sure everyone knew that she had ALS, and that was just one more hurdle for her to jump over. But her life turned out to be a lot shorter than we thought; she passed away before 2024’s Christmas card season arrived. Most everyone that was a relative or close friend of ours knew of her passing, and I did not send cards out for Christmas. What I did was to send a thank you postcard to everyone that mailed me a card.

    Not everyone who we sent cards to always reciprocated all the time. This year I received cards from 3 sets of people that, for whatever reason, did not send a card last year. All three belong to the periphery of the family/friend circle, so their cards were addressed to Mr. & Mrs. or Brian & Donna. For 2 of them I have sent thank you notes for the card and let them know that Donna has passed away.

    The third card I’m not sure about. It came from Dan & David Smith*. The address that is in the spreadsheet is the same, but the only name associated with it is Nancy. I can’t recall exactly, but I think the names used to be Dan & Nancy Smith way back when. So what happened to Nancy? And who is David?

    *The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

    Close To A Typical Friday

    Weekly grocery shopping because Fred Meyer offers 4x the points on Friday if you clip the coupon. Free donuts at the community coffee klatch.

    Not typical was the annual visit to the PCP for the Medicare-mandated checkup in between. “Have you fallen in the last 2 months?” “Do you worry about having enough food?” “Do you need help with bathing?”

    This is almost typical in that it was the 3rd time I have removed the front grill and bumper of the GTI. I ordered some LED high beam bulbs to match the low beam ones. So, off came the front of the car to get at the headlights. I removed the existing halogen bulbs, and that is when I noticed the slot was nowhere near big enough to slide the new LED unit in. I suppose I could have made the hole bigger, but that would be modifying the reflector portion of the high beam, and that might create an unknown or weird light pattern.

    I headed over to Advanced Auto and bought some higher-intensity and whiter-colored bulbs. They aren’t perfect, but they do match better with the low beams. I’ll return the LEDs to Amazon tomorrow.

    I also finished the puzzle that was about 75% done when I left.

    A Day In The Life

    0) Rainy Forecast

    Welcome back to the Pacific Northwest. Oooh, Friday looks nice…

    1) Buy Creamer

    My first stop this morning was to buy some Dunkin’ creamer at the only place in town that still sells it. First Fred Meyer quit, then Albertsons, followed quickly by Safeway.

    2) Salted Caramel Latte

    This will brighten my day. Stop #2 is practically across the street from Target and something I have greatly missed, a Salted Caramel Latte from Stomping Grounds.

    3) Return Wrong Drill Bit

    Before heading off on my latest adventure, I had purchased a step drill bit for a GTI mod, but it wouldn’t fit into where I needed it to. Time to get my $8 back.

    4) Haircut

    I was long overdue for a cut. My usual period between trims is every 4 weeks, but I was at six. What little hair I still have left starts to be unruly after a month.

    5) Drop Off Land’s End Return

    Another pre-trip purchase that needed returning was a pair of pants from Land’s End that didn’t fit. When I first went into Kohl’s, I headed straight for the Amazon Returns counter. They told me it was at the regular Kohl’s return area. When I got there, they said, “No, it is back at the Amazon counter.” Back I went, and after much conversation I finally convinced the person behind the counter to scan the QR code. Bingo.

    6) Return Another Drill Bit

    The second drill bit was too long as well. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get that aftermarket clutch pedal stop in there.

    7) I’ve Got Mail

    I went and looked in my mailbox, and it was stuffed. The postal folks just jammed the mail in my mailbox. 4 catalogs, 5 weekly fliers, 4 Christmas cards, a jury summons for Donna, and a crap ton of pleas to donate something to somebody. Last time they just ditched this stuff.