Michael Hopcroft

Blue Bombers (Winnipeg, CFL)
 

"THEY KILLED FRITZ!"
 
"I'm glad you changed your last name, you son of a bitch!"
 

Oh, and since everyone is proudly displaying their battle scars needle marks, I got my vaccine this morning. J&J, single dose needed. I got it at about 10:00am today.  No major effects yet, though, I have yet to go to sleep and have no idea what I'll feel like in the morning. I remember my last flu shot gave me some frightening symptoms for a way, which soon passed.
 
 

Oh, and since everyone is proudly displaying their battle scars needle marks, I got my vaccine this morning. J&J, single dose needed. I got it at about 10:00am today.  No major effects yet, though, I have yet to go to sleep and have no idea what I'll feel like in the morning. I remember my last flu shot gave me some frightening symptoms for a way, which soon passed.
 
 

Oh, and since everyone is proudly displaying their battle scars needle marks, I got my vaccine this morning. J&J, single dose needed. I got it at about 10:00am today.  No major effects yet, though, I have yet to go to sleep and have no idea what I'll feel like in the morning. I remember my last flu shot gave me some frightening symptoms for a way, which soon passed.
 
 

To err is human, to moo bovine.

On Quora I said rthis about own goals in soccer, but the modified version still applies -- a lost basketball game is not worth killing someone over. I hope they can protect this man well and find the person who gave out this death threat.
 
If it's a joke, it's not funny.

His latest Master Plan, which involves flying to the Fictional Central Asian Republic of Gatchastan, runs into a snag when his flight is diverted to Shangri-La, which has none of the weapons he needs but some really cool food.

Does the documentary address his feelings ove3r having to take a different name if he wanted to make it as a Japanese-American in Hollywood?

FASA designed this starship when it produced the Star Trek rpg.
 
 

If we're referring to hospitals, they have always been a substatnial user of the power grid -- for excellent reasons. Everything from EKG machines to BP monitors to kitchens, CPAP machines, and the room TVs that help keep a patient's sanity (I should know!), all need to be powered. Not to mention the ventilators in the Covid wards. But off power to the hospital and a lot of people could die.
 
Exterior lighting is very important too. Those signs in front of every hospital showing drivers how to get to the Emergency Department? Those are life-saving in an emergency.
 
 

"Remember: Walk without rhythm and we won't attract the worm. It will go to the thumper."
 
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain." 
 
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the Juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

"Rosebud, dead or alive!"
 
"As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit - you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings - I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars."
 
"He married for love. Love. That's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough, he wanted all the voters to love him too. Guess all he really wanted out of life was love. That's Charlie's story, how he lost it. You see, he just didn't have any to give. Well, he loved Charlie Kane of course, very dearly, and his mother. I guess he always loved her."
 
"I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away, he just left you a tip, hmm? Ha. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had a conviction except Charlie Kane in his life. I suppose he died without one. It must have been pretty unpleasant. Of course, a lot of us check out without having any special convictions about death, but we do know what we believe in, we do believe in something."

(As the protagonist of The Time Machine heads into the future, never to return.)
 
"There are three books missing."
"Which ones?"
"I don't know -- but which three books would you take?"

And it's funny, something he's hard a hard time with.
 
 
NASCAR goes 100% electric. 

Do you know where this was taken? I have forgotten the name of her congregation, but one of my sisters is a L:utheran pastor and this woman seems to resemble her. She had been fine with protecting herself and everyone else with the proper precautions of masking and handwashing. She also disagrees with some of her Church Council because she thinks resuming in-person services is probably a mistake right now. This could cost her her parish, and will put her in a horrible financial position. So she stands up for principle, despite the risks involved.

I got my second COVID vaccination yesterday afternoon. I'm tired (exacerbated, no doubt, by my daughter waking up at 5:45 this morning for no readily apparent reason) and achy, and my left arm is pretty sore. But I don't have any of the really worrying side effects: no fever, sore throat, shortness of breath, or anything like that. So I'm good.
 
I'm grateful today for everyone whose hard work and sacrifice made this vaccine possible. This virus stole a year from us. Now we have a way to fight back.

Oh, and never tell teenagers to tart. Jail is no fun. Unless you're teaching them how to bake tarts, in which case good luck!
 
I make typos like that all the time.

Again, there are plenty of mature themes and messages in a ton of these "rock-em sock-em giant monster movies", but in typical American arrogance, we ignore them. 
 
The H-man: The pacific bomb tests and the potential effects on humans.
The Mysterians: The role of science in political thinking and society.
Atragon: The inherent problems of Nationalism.
KK vs Godzilla: The growth of unchecked consumerism (even Kong is just a product).
Mothra/Mothra vs. Godzilla: The effects of late game capitalism. Japan and potentially the world put at risk for the sake of the 1%
 
 
I could go on(easily), but I hope you see the point. These films are meant to entertain so ''thematic depth" takes a back seat to spectacle and fun, but to say that these films lack such themes in general is grossly inaccurate. Director Ishiro Honda and writers Shinichi Sekizawa and Takeshi Kimura often tried to put relevant depth in these films to the degree that they could. The dictates of business take precedence, but I'd say more often than not the "depth" you're looking for is there (though in fairness often tied to issues important to the Japanese themselves).

Toto

my wayward son

There, out in the darkness
A fugitive running
Fallen from God
Fallen from grace
God be my witness
I never shall yield
'Til we come face to face
'Til we come face to face
 
He knows his way in the dark
Mine is the way of the Lord
Those who follow the path of the righteous
Shall have their reward
And if they fall as Lucifer fell
The flames
The sword!
 
Stars
In your multitudes
Scarce to be counted
Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night
 
You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!
 
And so it must be, for so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price!
 
Lord, let me find him
That I may see him
Safe behind bars
I will never rest
'Til then
This I swear
This I swear by the stars!

I can't think of a more melancholy song than this right now..
 
 

Hemingway is alleged to have said, "Write drunk, edit sober."
 
While I doubt that this is exactly true, largely due to my inability to picture Hemingway sober, it does make a good point. Writing and editing need to be separate processes. In my case, I find that writing and editing need to be done by different people. I am largely too fond of my own work to apply the ruthless editing it so often desperately needs.