Ternaugh

But on the bright side, the roof leaks.

Octopus returns to the Companions to collect 150 septims.

I've completed the second season of Picard on Paramount+, and I have to note that it is an improvement over the first season, though that's a low bar. I've watched a few episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which i like so far. Meanwhile, my copy of The Last Starfighter Limited Edition in 4K arrived today. It's an Arrow Video release, and comes with a bunch of bonus features on the disc and in a booklet. The image quality is good (better than my Blu-ray released by Universal about a decade ago), and there's a choice between stereo, 4.1 (remastered from the original 70mm print's sound mix), and 5.1, and multiple commentary tracks. The computer-generated graphics look surprisingly good, with the HDR smoothing out some of the color banding that shows up on the Universal Blu-ray. It is, however, priced for collectors, with a $49.99 list price (I paid $35 at Amazon as a new release/preorder).

I spent much of my childhood with a reproduction of Gainsborough's The Blue Boy hanging in the living room. While that copy was probably painted somewhere around 1900, you can purchase brand new reproductions painted in oil right now. Some reproductions can be worth a fortune. Some are worth a few hundred bucks, with shipping.

What could possibly go wrong?

Paramount+ with Showtime is running a 50% off sale for the first three months for new subscribers until June 4 ($5.99 per month after a free one week trial), so I decided to sign up. I'm currently a couple of episodes into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and I'm really enjoying it. I also watched "The Cage" from TOS, which I hadn't seen with the upgraded special effects. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: This one was just plain fun. Well worth a watch (or rewatch). (Paramount+)

I made it through the first two episodes and then put it in the "there's other stuff I'd like to watch right now" pile. Maybe I should try episode 3 this weekend.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three: The original 1974 version, "Mr. Blue" (Robert Shaw) is the leader of a color-coded criminal group who hijack a New York subway train with the demand of one million dollars ransom delivered within an hour or one hostage per minute will be killed. Transit Police Lt. Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) leads the city's attempt to get the hostages free and to figure out how the criminals plan to escape. This movie's a favorite of mine, and it's a definite influence on subsequent movies like Die Hard. This version is a recently-released 4K and standard Blu-ray package from Kino Lorber, taken from a scan of the original camera negatives. The picture is very good, and both the original mono soundtrack and later 5.1 mix are crisp and clear. (4K UHD Blu-ray) The first two episodes of Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai on Max. This is an animated series that is a prequel to the movies set in 1920s China, and tells the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing meets Gizmo the Mogwai. It's very good so far.

It needs a label, "Free Glucometer Inside!"

My last fill-up a few days ago was at $3.95 per gallon. That was about 30 cents less than the Nevada average.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods: Second outing for Billy Batson and family, I enjoyed it. There is a certain optimism on display with a family of supers, who are heroic even when they have their powers taken away. It's almost a throwback to a different kind of DC superhero movie. (HBOmax)* Superman: This movie, to be exact. Christopher Reeve plays the Man of Steel. It's probably my favorite portrayal of Superman in any media, and I'm still amazed by this scene. This version was the new 4K release, which in general looks much better**, and the Dolby Atmos soundtrack is well balanced to enhance but not distract. (UHD 4K Blu-ray) *The new client for Roku is a bit of a mess. I had to log in again after the "upgrade", and my first attempt at playing the movie resulted in no picture. The icon still hasn't changed on my Roku home page. The actual navigation inside the client is now a jumble, with a ton of crap shows from the Discovery side being recommended above stuff I'd actually watch. My account now has the word "Legacy" in front of it, which seems to mean that I'm still getting 4K streams with Dolby Atmos audio for the time being, but that might change at some point unless I pay another $4 per month. **Some of the night scenes are noticeably darker than previous releases, but the action is still very watchable. The sunny outdoor scenes in the second half make the best use of the HDR color grading.

Seeing how well video runs on Twitter, maybe Fox News should let Carlson out of his contract.

Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise.

Double-Down, maybe?

The good news is I was trying to thin my documents on my profile at work. They bad news is that I clicked on the wrong thing. The good news is that I stopped it before everything was deleted. The bad news is that some notes for stuff I'm working on was lost. The good news is that I am old-school and write notes on paper, and I can rebuild the notes. It will just take time.

Well, that's just Great! (Again)

The Running Man: Arnold Schwarzenegger movie about a world where violent television is used to control a population after an authoritarian "cadre" takes over following an economic downturn about a decade earlier. Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, a pilot who was framed as the "Butcher of Bakersfield" in the far-off year of 2017, and escapes 18 months later, only to be captured again and put on the violent game show, "The Running Man". This viewing was from a new 35th Anniversary 4K release, which generally looks much like I remember it appearing in the theater, with a sharp picture and lots of detail in the image. The sound is a DTS-HD 5.1 mix, and is very good. The package is just the 4K UHD and a certificate for a digital copy from either Apple or Vudu. There are also no extras included on the disc, unlike past releases. (UHD Blu-ray)

I received a fifth mailer for Ron DeSantis (from an "unaffiliated" PAC), and this one actually named me on a "membership card". It has instructions that I am supposed to sign it, take a picture of myself holding it, and then text it to them. I wish that I had a disposable number, as I would love to send an anonymous picture of the Mickey Mouse figure I received recently. There's no way I'd want to participate in their data mining with my real information.

I just finished The Great American Baking Show latest season on the Roku Channel, which put American bakers into the British tent. Roku Channel is ad-supported, but the ad breaks are generally tolerable, and there's a countdown clock, so you can judge if you want to leave the room.

I seem to remember a thin volume called Compiler Construction that cost me a few hundred dollars back around 1990 or so. I'm pretty sure that I paid more for books that semester than I did for tuition.

Spiders and Snakes, you say?

The first two episodes of The Muppets Mayhem on Disney+. The basic premise is that there's a small record company in Hollywood that's winding down until the assistant finds that The Electric Mayhem owe it an album. She then attempts to herd cats the Electric Mayhem towards recording the album. Expect lots of random cameos. There are 10 episodes, each running about 28 minutes or so, but it feels much longer. The story probably should have been done in about 90 minutes, as I started losing interest fairly rapidly (and I'm a big fan of the Muppets). BTW, The Electric Mayhem at their best reminds me a lot of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sajA51HO6Ww

The unlocked article link for those without a subscription. It is definitely worth a read. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/21/opinion/wyoming-republicans-christian-nationalism.html?unlocked_article_code=KHGT83rOtRQ5wwpUI9xGXNZXrsit2jnEcCNZnYKIZDfreAafTCiouR9c5-v6V5mGPBOunYr7XL3e6DdUuTiNusUS-4HnHuCdBqD6qbTGq_w6NzxPuKg5sGj5866yBWTZG4ziqdzPcYMOzrtw5ZkqN_sidlvf0MGnJ0Xs7V7yLY-YY8aYdrxVvFiz-C0E120rcwOIJMOWkaocb6Zwb4vSj2RTW2ynfnI5IvxxOK2Htri6uBiOrq50NPEdyVTdu98XMMupm7b8i2gJlPLE1C5MzjeUJDniHCPlxnn06V7wEVhUe7yNwrrFm47LbGqOx2f1XKjJEzd_AJ2Pw-6FD88pPmjDmb_WUZqOWQ3mK6o6Scu3wid1&smid=url-share