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The Fault in My Stars

Posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2025

Dave!My bedroom windows don't have blinds on them.

When she was little, Jenny got tangled up in the blinds that came with my place, so I removed them from every window in the house except the living room and guest room (those windows are quite large, so I just raised the blinds out of reach). My bedroom is on the second floor so it doesn't really matter. I suppose if somebody wants to climb a ladder or fly a drone up to watch me sleep... then oh well.

On clear nights, the stars are visible. Most times it doesn't phase me... I just look out and think something like "Oh... that's nice!" But there are times that I am quite phased.

Such as when there was this twinkling star that I kept thinking was an airplane. Except it stayed in the same spot in the sky. For a time. Turns out it wasn't an airplane, it was the planet Mars.

Right now when I lay on my bed and look out my window, I see three of the brightest observable stars in the night sky in the handle of The Big Dipper (AKA Ursa Major AKA Great Bear AKA The Plough)...

It's the Big Dipper in the StarWalk 2 app!

The stars, from left-to-right are Alkaid (35th brightest*), Mizar, and Alioth (31st brightest*). Alioth is so bright it was used for celestial navigation. Maybe it still is. Whatever the case, it and the other two stars keep distracting me while I'm trying to fall asleep.

It's a picture of Alioth, being all huge and white-blue and very bright!

ALIOTH: Epsilon Ursae Majoris (e UMa / = Ursae Majoris) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Major (despite its Bayer designation being merely epsilon), and at magnitude 1.76 is the thirty-first brightest star in the sky. It has the traditional name Alioth (from the Arabic word alyat-fat tail of a sheep). It is known as It+ E (the Fifth Star of the Northern Dipper) or E1f5 (the Star of Jade Sighting-tube) in Chinese. It is the star in the tail of the bear closest to its body, and thus the star in the handle of the Big Dipper closest to the bowl. It is also a member of the large and diffuse Ursa Major moving group. Historically, the star was frequently used in celestial navigation in the maritime trade, because it is listed as one of the 57 navigational stars.

Also distracting? Reading about these three stars on Wikipedia. Mizar, in particular, is absolutely fascinating.

I do feel lucky that Arcturus from the Little Dipper (4th brightest star in the sky*) is jussssst out of view of my window. Though that might change as the stars move around. Once more distraction from my getting a decent night's sleep...

The Big Dipper, Little Dipper, and Polaris.

But that's the night, now it's morning and time to face the horrors of the day.

   
*The rank of brightness varies depending on the list... I'm using 31st and 35th because that's what my StarWalk 2 app says. Wikipedia says Alkaid is 40th and Alioth is 32nd, so who knows?

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Really? Must be nice…

Posted on Monday, August 25th, 2025

Dave!The one-upmanship of life's miseries is physically exhausting.

You're not allowed to feel sad because there are people who have more reason to be sad than you. You're not allowed to feel afraid because there are people who have more reason to be afraid than you. You're not allowed to feel anything any more because there's always, always, a person out there worse off than you. Money, health, security, work, misfortune, friends, family, life, death... whatever the situation... you don't get feel what you're feeling because somebody somewhere has it worse. So what are you complaining about, you ungrateful piece of shit?

And God forbid if anything good actually happens to you. Heaven help you if you manage to carve out a little slice of happiness for yourself. You see something you enjoy, do something fun, go somewhere nice, get to experience something that makes you happy. Because then... then... you're just rubbing it in the faces of people who didn't get experience what you did.

No matter how meager it might be.

And it always escalates in bonkers ways...

"What did you do this weekend?"

"I watched this movie on Netflix I really enjoyed."

"Oh yeah? Well I know somebody who doesn't have a Netflix account. They don't have a television. In fact, they don't even have a home to put a television into. They probably can't even remember what it's like to watch television. Do you want to know what they probably did this weekend? They sat in their grandmothers unheated basement staring at the wall while eating a can of beans. AND IT WAS COLD BEANS BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE A MICROWAVE!"

And then...

"Really? Must be nice... because I read in the news about somebody whose grandmother DIED yesterday!"

But I exaggerate.

Kinda.

Because while this fictional conversation (likely) hasn't happened, it's a pretty accurate scenario generally speaking.

At least from my experience lately.

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Bullet Sunday 917

Posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2025

Dave!The Dog Days of Summer may be slowly fading, but the Bullets of Summer are still sticking around... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Yesterland! This video of Disneyland in 1956 is wild. Everybody dressed up for a day out at Disneyland... from dress shirts with long pants and full on suits... to sundresses or Capri pants... nobody was in jeans and a T-shirt (and where were short pants for the guys?)...

I remember for my first visit 20 years later it was the same. My brother and I were dressed up in matching green suits that my grandmother made. And the reason I remember them so clearly? Because the threads in my suit glowed when we were riding It's a Small World. I remember the suits right down to how the buttons looked (but don't ask me what I had for dinner last night). And, wow, were the attractions very different at the beginning! No E-ticket rides in 1956 because they didn't come until three years later. And of course this were back in the days where not much was politically correct. Something I didn't know is that Disneyland was never segregated. Walt Disney wanted everybody with the means to pay to visit the Happiest Place on Earth. That being said, there are precious few non-white people in this film (except for the "Indian Village" entertainment, of course). Interestingly enough, the boat skippers on The Jungle Cruise fired AT the hippos instead of in the air to "scare" them back in the day. Vicious.

   
• I've Been Framed! Every payday I've been buying picture frames to hang up prints and art and maps and bits and pieces I've been collecting over the past 50 years. Last time, I bought some frames that arrived in a totally a different color than I ordered, so they refunded me 50% of the cost and I just spray-painted them. Score! Today they finally stopped smelling, so I hung them up. They're prints by Bill Mudron as a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli films (based on prints by Kawase Hasui). I love them. There were actually five I wanted, but two of them were sold out, so I got the these three, which are incredible. They're in the hall as I walk in the front door...

Three Ghibli Prints Frames and Hung.

Dang. I wish I could afford glare-free museum glass (to get a closeup glare-free look at them, you can visit the artist's website here). What I really love is that the characters from the films are almost hard to spot in these prints because they're very small. In mine for Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, you have to look a minute...

Princess Mononoke hunters.

No Face from Spirited Away.

Totoro and crew.

I really wanted the prints for Kiki's Delivery Service and Ponyo as well...

You can buy reproductions on Mudron's website, but you can't get them at the size of the original prints, dangit. I may buy a few smaller reproductions to hang somewhere else in my home, because they're so frickin' amazing.

   
• The Plot Thickens! If you've never seen Robots Draw, you're missing out. I knew about the account, but I didn't know that the guy behind it did a TedTalk...

Before I could afford a dot matrix printer, I had an Atari 1020 4-color pen plotter, which I'm reminded of every time I see a Robots Draw reel...

The small Atari 1020 plotter.

The printer was mostly for fun because the paper was only 4.5-inches wide, but it was better than nothing. Even if it took forever to print text because the letters had to be drawn one by one. Wikipedia has a short article on the unit here (which is where I got the photo).

   
• Gooey! I honesty don’t know how in the hell got to be THIS BAD at Apple after Steve Jobs’s died. Granted, I am using a public beta of the latest iOS, and this might be fixed... but... what the fuck does this last button do in Apple Music?

Shitty fucking Apple GUI.

The first is shuffle. The second is repeat. The third is infinity auto-play. But that fourth button provides no feedback as to actually doing anything, so I have no idea. This odd set of buttons could very well be the worst GUI design I’ve ever seen. Coming from a company that used to care about GUI! Fortunately, long-time blogging friend LeSombre managed to remember an article about this very topic and was able to tell me it means "AutoMix" and Apple describes it as "Songs transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music." So I immediately turned it off, because I wondered why in the hell the end of a song was either sped up or slowed down in weird fucking ways as it faded to the next song via CarPlay. No thank you. And, on that note... APPLE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PROVIDE SOME FEEDBACK FOR YOUR FUCKING BUTTONS SO PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THEY ACTUALLY DO!

   
• Only Connect! If you've ever been frustrated by The New York Times puzzle "Connections," you should know that it was inspired (or stolen) from a UK quiz show Only Connect. These puzzles always feel incredibly difficult, and I can't fathom having to solve them within a time limit. It usually takes me forever when I have forever!

In other news... "Father's Day" was invented at a YMCA in Washington State?!??

   
• Atmosphere! Alaska Airlines has rebranded their loyalty program as "Atmos" now that they've merged with Hawaiian Airlines. Which is fine, I guess, if not for the fact that Dolby Atmos home theater sound standard already exists. I'm guessing that there was no trademark danger since they are wildly different industries, but I still wonder why they'd go with this?

New Atmos Logo

"Atmos" isn't a real word. At best it's an abbreviation for "atmosphere" (which is where Dolby got it, I'm sure, because they're creating an atmosphere of sound). Not sure where Alaska's head is at here, but I can't help but think they could have come up with something better.

   
• Winds of Waiting! I am clinging to the idea that the person asking this horrific question has challenges gauging social situations and perhaps didn't know that what they were asking is awful. Anything else just beats down my faith in humanity to new lows. I don't care how impatient you are for the next book, this is inhuman. And I have zero doubt that this question already haunts George RR Martin himself. So... why?

That. Being. Said. While undeserving of... whatever this was... Martin has kinda brought fan frustration on himself. He has been stringing everybody along for thirteen YEARS. All the promises and all the assurances of Winds of Winter being a "priority" falling by the wayside while he finds another TV show or movie or game or book or convention or talk show or whatever to do. Anything but actually getting the work done. Add to that the HBO adaption utterly destroying the ending of the A Game of Thrones adaptation and making fans even more anxious to know how everything "really" ends... and, well, it takes things to new levels. — No, he did not deserve this terrible question. But I have to wonder if George RR Martin wasn't constantly making promises he couldn't keep, would we have an environment where people feel entitled to ask a question like this in the first place? Something to ponder. Also something to ponder? BRANDON SANDERSON COMPLETING A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE?!? Good Lord. I'd rather have no ending than that. These authors in no conceivable way complement each other. Like... at all.

   
Now it's time to go pick tomatoes for my dinner.

   

Caturday 417

Posted on Saturday, August 23rd, 2025

Dave!=sigh=

If you want to see a photo of me losing my mind... well, what little is left of my mind... here it is...

Me trying to shake Jake awake.

I had to come home to pick up something for work yesterday morning.

I see Jake laying on the cat tree so I say his name and ask him how his day has been. Nothing.

I say his name and talk to him a little louder. Nothing.

I go up to touch him. Nothing.

Now I'm in a blind panic, so I start shaking him... and... he finally moves, then wakes up and looks at me like I'm the asshole for waking him up. Then squawks. Then goes back to sleep.

Now, for context, both my cats are skittish enough that ANY sound will wake them up. Jake not waking up to look at me when I am saying his name and talking to him is unprecedented. Him not reacting when I touch him? Inconceivable (yes, that word means what I think it means).

And so... that was a flash-forward that had me shaking all day long.

Maybe this is just what happens when cats get older. Maybe Jake is losing his hearing. Maybe he's just decided "fuck it" I am not going to react to meet his expectations. I don't know. But it wrecked my day. And now my anxiety is at an all-time high when I didn't think it was possible for it to get any worse.

I mean, don't get me wrong... there's absolutely no scenario where I would trade the past 9-1/2 years of my life with these cats. They have literally saved my life. But now a part of me cannot help but wonder if they will be the death of me as well.

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Of Plagues and Anxiety in America

Posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2025

Dave!Well, this day was awful. Which you can read about tomorrow. Suffice to say that I am wondering exactly how much longer I have before I collapse in a pile of anxiety and have a heart attack. There is no corner of my life that is consistently stress-free except one, and then even that went off like a (temporary) bomb.

But hey, maybe I'll die of the mother-fucking plague and won't have to worry about it. Fingers crossed. Though with dipshit anti-science fuckhead RFK Jr. in charge of America's health, I probably don't need to cross my fingers. It almost seems inevitable that I'll die of the plague. Or whatever major health crisis drops on us which could have been addressed by science, but RFK Jr. killed mRNA research... or what-the-fuck-ever miracle that scientists were working on... so we're all hopelessly fucked.

If only I could just stick my head in the sand and pretend that the world isn't a toxic pile of shit, I could have a stable baseline from which I could deal with all the other anxiety-inducing shit assaulting me.... but no. This is our normal now.

I'm choosing to embrace the horror.

What else is there?

But anyway...

Today when I got home from work (and was preparing to do more work) I happened across an article "debunking" the infamous Jenny Nicholson video: The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel. It had me laughing out loud because it clearly... clearly... failed badly to "debunk" shit. Jenny, who is the absolute dream guest for a themed hotel because she lives for this stuff, nailed it. She fucking nailed it. She manages to clearly explain why her trip sucked, make comparisons to alternatives, use her vast knowledge of immersive experiences to critique what was offered, brutally dissect Disney's endless greed and incompetence, all while presenting it in a way only she can.

It's glorious.

So tonight I've had it playing while I work... for the sixth time. Which is insane considering the video is four hours long. But I can't help it. Every minute of those four hours is gold. If you haven't watched it, I can't possibly recommend it more...

And, on that note, back to work I guess. Good night. Don't let the plague doctor bite.

   

I guess some people are just assholes.

Posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2025

Dave!The other day on the way home from work I turned onto a street and there was a pickup stopped in my lane. He was talking to somebody parked on the side of the road. I didn't give it another thought, because I could just drive around since there was nobody coming in the opposite direction. No harm no foul.

But then...

The guy in the truck decided to punch it and try to race me so I couldn't get back in my lane.

What a fucking asshole.

I should have just laid on the horn when I came around the corner.

What is it with people? What was the thinking here? HE was in the wrong, I was just trying to get home after a long day at work without interrupting his conversation.

I guess some people are just assholes.

And then... then... I came home and found it not overly hot, so I decided to pull some weeds out of my plant and flower beds. Which was a mistake. Even though I was done in 35 minutes, I was physically wrecked. Sore legs. Acing back. So embarrassing. I guess maybe I need to do stuff like this more often?

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Legacy of the (LEGO) Dark Knight

Posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2025

Dave!I've played through most every LEGO video game from start to finish. No, I haven't got them all to 100%, because attempting it is often more frustrating than rewarding.

My favorite of the entire LEGO super-hero franchise is, of course, the Batman games. They've all been over-the-top fun and often feature stories that are better than what you find in the comics, movies, and TV shows. Which is to say that I am forever anticipating a new LEGO Batman game being announced.

And today was the day. We're getting a new one in 2026!

The game I want more than anything is a LEGO Batman game which is based entirely on the Bruce Timm Batman: The Animated Series cartoons. Those episodes were so amazing. And I think that they could be the basis for one of the best LEGO Batman games ever.

Alas, that's not what we are getting.

The official description is this...
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a brand-new open world action-adventure videogame that invites players to embark on Bruce Wayne’s epic journey to become the hero of Gotham City, inspired by decades of Batman films, television, comic books, and games, and jam-packed with Batman nostalgia, DC lore, and TT Games’ signature brand of fun-filled LEGO humor.

And there's a trailer...

There's some interesting things to unpack here... starting with the fact that there will be a more difficult "Dark Knight Mode" so more mature gamers will have more of a challenge. Which is funny, because the thing I love most about the LEGO video games is that they're not too taxing. You can play without stress or having to think terribly hard about things. They're the perfect distraction at the end of the day when you're tired and just want to relax.

Which is to say that I'll probably play through the regular "Caped Crusader Mode" before digging into something that will undoubtedly frustrate me.

Next up... apparently this game will run through all the various Batman movies to build its story. That feels messy to me, but I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Hopefully they've found an interesting way to chain everything together to make sense.

And then... one of the most fun parts of a LEGO Batman game are all the bat-suits which give him different powers and abilities. From what I can tell, there's none of that going on here. Perhaps there's a deeper game happening (they mention new combo moves), but this is worrying to me. If it's just Batman fighting through levels the same way over and over, it seems kind of one-note. If that's what I wanted, I'd just play Arkham Asylum. They do say that the different playable characters have different abilities and skills, so maybe that's how it will be kept fresh?

And, lastly, there's been news that the game will be released for Switch 2. And yet... when you go to the official website, there's absolutely no mention of it until you go to the FAQ page. Which has me wondering if the Switch 2 version will come out later than the others. Gee I hope not. I really want to be able to play this one on the go.

If you're onboard and sign up for a WB Games account, you get a free Golden Age Bat Suit for free. You can do that at the official site here.

   

Freddy’s and Lunch Memories

Posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2025

Dave!When my mom was in the memory care facility, we made a lot of trips to Fred Meyer. The store has everything she could possibly need, from clothes to toothpaste. On bad days I would either take her to the Freddy's just down the street. Or go alone.

But on good days where I thought she could handle a lunch out? We'd go to the Freddy's 10 minutes to the north where there was a restaurant she liked. On very good days when it seemed she could be out longer, we drove to the Freddy's 20 minutes to the south. There's an Indian Restaurant there I love, and they were happy to make something that mom would like.

I ended up at Fred Meyer every other week when I visited her so I could get whatever my mom needed. But it's the trips we made together for lunch and shopping at Freddy's that I remember whenever I drive by one of their stores. I'm sure we must have done that 30 times. Maybe more.

Now it seems as though the Freddy's to the north is closing, and the one to the south may be closing as well (I know the QFC to the south is closing). I can't help but be a little sad, even though I never shop there now that mom is gone. My nearest Fred Meyer is a half-hour away, so I only get there when I'm already in the area.

Back in the day you may have been able to "find it at Freddy's" (as in the commercial below), but now you're going to have a hard time finding the Freddy's to find what you're needing to find....

What a shame.

But I'm glad they were there when I needed them.

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Superman: The (2025) Movie

Posted on Monday, August 18th, 2025

Dave!I've made no secret of my utter loathing of the "Snyderverse" series of films based on DC Comics characters. It was a dark, bored, joyless slog. Man of Steel was a horrifically bad take on Superman, which was a bitter pill to swallow given how much I loved Henry Cavill for the role. Then we moved on to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which somehow ended up being even worse. There was a brief reprieve with the exceptional Wonder Woman flick, but then we got Justice League which is one of my most hated movies of all time.

And that was that. Other than a cameo in the atrocious Black Adam and a kinda-cameo in the even more atrocious Shazam!, Superman was done.

Until now.

As I said yesterday, I liked the movie quite a lot. I watched it again yesterday so I could write up a running commentary while my first reactions were fresh in my head.

If you're on the fence about watching the film, here's a look at one of the best comic book fight scenes you'll see on the silver screen...

Needless to say, I'll be spoiling the movie completely...

Spoiler Zone!

  • The opening exposition was done in a way that sets anticipation for the film, which is a pleasant surprise from how we usually get a full book of information that has you bored before the movie even begins.
  • This Krypto is a bit of a troublemaker and scamp, just like the earlier comics. It's a lot more fun and interesting than the later, super-smart canine which was more like a person in a dog suit than an actual dog.
  • This Fortress of Solitude is a fantastic take on the crystal structure from the 1979 Superman movie. It's so strange that The Fortress in the comic book source material is so radically different, and yet the movie version is what I always think of.
  • The Superman robots! Straight out of the comic book era I love! And of course we're getting Alan Tudyk voicing Number Four.
  • Bradley Cooper as Jor-El is pretty fantastic.
  • In the comic books, The Engineer is a shiny metal hero. Here she's a human-looking regular person. I think this is probably a good call, because we don't have a CGI-based character walking around all the time. And yet... I can't help but feel she's a downgrade here.
  • Krypto being Krypto is going to steal every scene in this movie. I can feel it. Lovable mutt.
  • It's been criticized online, but I actually like the flying effect they've given Superman. The perspective makes him feel faster.
  • I was highly dubious about casting Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. But dang does he own the role from his first minute on-screen. Such a vast, vast improvement over the inexplicably stupid take that Zach Snyder had with Jesse Eisenberg.
  • The fact that super-villains never seem to lack the ability to get a never-ending supply of evil henchmen has always been strange in the comics. And here we are. These psychos working for Luthor are nicely comic book accurate.
  • The design of The Daily Planet building is awesome.
  • The true test of a good Superman actor is how they play Clark Kent. David Corenswet may be my favorite since Christopher Reeve.
  • Amazing. The casting for Ma and Pa Kent is flawless. They feel like they actually could be Kansas farmers.
  • In the new DCU, Lex created The Engineer? Odd choice. I'm guessing it's to play up how smart he is, so... okay.
  • "Planetwatch?" So we're a stepping stone away from getting Stormwatch then?
  • I rather like that James Gunn didn't waste time with your typical Lois Lane subplot where she's trying to figure out Superman's secret identity. Done to death.
  • Rachel Brosnahan has a modern interpretation of Lois that completely nails the character.
  • This "interview," while probably important to define the complex world in which Superman exists, is dragging on in an uninteresting way.
  • That being said. This is a real showcase as to why the actors playing Clark and Lois were cast.
  • It seems weird as to why Superman would announce he's an alien to the world. Don't his god-like powers make him far enough removed from humanity? Seems this could have been better handled if Lex discovered he was an alien and used it against him.
  • Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher in the 1978 movie was a delight. This one is coming across as grating.
  • Well. This is brutal. Poor Superman Robots.
  • How does The Engineer know this is his parents?
  • You can tell that this is not the Real World because in this reality these meta-human battles are so normalized that people are recording them instead of running away.
  • Nice callbacks to the incredible John Williams original score keep popping up, but the music itself is fresh.
  • "Justice Gang"... okay. I can only guess that eventually this will morph into the Justice League. Very smart of Gunn to not use "Justice League" right away given what a shit-show the last movie was.
  • I like the way that they decided to make Green Lantern's energy constructs a bit more grounded. Not wildly glowing but more like glass or something.
  • Awwww. Poor kaiju. That's awful. It's like... why kill him?
  • Guy Gardner is perfectly captured by Nathan Fillion. Painfully comic book accurate. Except his hair is more blonde than orange-red, and I'm not sure why.
  • Oof. Jor-El and Lara are not such good people in this universe.
  • Pretty stupid that people immediately turn against Superman when they were just cheering him a minute ago? For all they know, this is AI fakery.
  • Stagg Industries! Metamorpho Easter egg!
  • "There's no way this message in unauthentic." Well, there you have it. WTF?
  • The President of Boravia is suitably creepy. And... oh boy... working with Lex Luthor to boot.
  • If the Fortress is keyed to Superman's DNA, I guess that means UltraMan is a clone?
  • Hoult is flawless as Lex. Flawless. He's a bad, bad man.
  • Peacemaker! Sweet cross-promotion!
  • James Gunn having this scene between Lois and Clark taking place in front of a window where the Justice Gang are battling a "space imp" is genius. Just keeps driving home how weird a world with actual super-heroes would be.
  • Okay... Superman's concern for Krypto is darn touching.
  • The CGI in this movie is pretty impressive.
  • Metamorpho is... bad?!? The Engineer I could forgive, but this?!? And how does he know the molecular structure of Kryptonite? Has it landed on earth? Does Luthor have access? If he does, why does he need Metamorpho. These are some bizarre choices.
  • Wow. James Gunn has gone full-on comic book with this pocket universe /slash/ outrage farm monkeys /slash/ Krypto containment idea.
  • Yikes. Miss Teschmacher is not just annoying, she's bonkers.
  • And I am absolutely not a fan with this whole Jimmy Olson, ladies man, take on the character. It just keeps getting worse.
  • So Metamorpho isn't bad, he's being forced to be bad? Except he's still being more bad than he really has to be with torturing Superman like this.
  • Hypno-glasses. Perfect.
  • God. How cool is Mr. Terrific? Edi Gathegi is getting the redemption of all redemptions from the shitty way his character Darwin was treated in X-Men: First Class. Incredible how flawlessly he's been translated to the screen.
  • Good Lord. Killing the falafel vendor was a dark, dark turn of events. Seems so unnecessary.
  • Ummm. These prisoners have no privacy to use the toilet?!? Sadistic.
  • Alrighty then. Mr. Terrific just completely stole the entire movie with this fight scene. The way he gives zero shits about all these bad guys hanging around... treating them like they're not even there... is beyond cool. And having one of them say "It's just the smart one." right before he completely wrecks everybody is brilliant. Lois's reaction to what's happening is all of us.
  • Of course the music choices are on-point. It's all James Gunn.
  • Yeah. When Krypto can even manage to upstage Mr. Terrific, you know you've struck gold.
  • Krypto looks wonderfully fluid when flying. He should look ridiculous, but he just doesn't.
  • "The controls are easy and intuitive." They'd pretty much have to be if Lois is going to have to fly it.
  • Oh Krypto. Don't ever change.
  • Yep. Yep. Yep. The casting of Clark's human parents is genius.
  • An otherwise near-perfect film is really close to getting sabotaged by this whole Jimmy Olson situation. That's a shame.
  • GAH! Krypto is so adorable right now!
  • AND NOW AGAIN!
  • How James Gunn is able to transition from balls-out action and weirdness to scenes so remarkably human like this one between Clark and Pa Kent is what makes him such a great fit for comic book movies. It's a rare talent.
  • Yeah, the parallels between what's happening in the Real World and the fictional situation in this movie are not lost at all.
  • When you have meta-human battles and comic book weirdness going on in your reality, city-wide evacuation is probably a normal happening.
  • Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard is great casting. If not for Jimmy Olson, I'd almost like to see a The Daily Planet limited series. UPDATE: Annnd... I'm told that the rumor is there's a Jimmy Olson limited series in the works?!? WTF?
  • Okay, the CGI fight here is not so great.
  • Yeah. Few people could have pulled off this look of sheer evil the way Nicholas Hoult managed to do it. Worth the money to cast him, I'm sure.
  • Ultraman is a Superman clone. I prefer this to my first assumption... which was that he'd end being Bizarro.
  • The little kid clinging to his Superman flag is just oddly manipulative at this point.
  • Yeah. This is peak Guy Gardner right here. Love it. How they managed to get this movie rated PG-13 between the head-shot to the falafel cart vendor and these middle-finger Green Lantern constructs is kinda a mystery to me.
  • A lot of Snyder fanboys made a huge deal over Hawkgirl's unhinged screaming. I, on the other hand, think it's darn smart. Especially if this is the version of the character that's from Thanagar. Making her a frickin' alien for heaven's sake. Of course she's going to have weird, alien things about her.
  • "I'm not like Superman." That's for sure. I can't help but think that if asshole world leaders were regularly dropped from the sky when they do evil shit, we'd have less evil shit going on in the world.
  • Yeah. This is totally Krypto's movie, and I'm not the least bit mad about it.
  • Goddamn Mr. Terrific is going to save the day.
  • And... James Gunn totally has a bead on the character here.
  • Krypton beating the ever-loving-shit out Luthor is in my top-five scenes in the entire film. Good boy.
  • Aw, James Gunn cast his brother as Maxwell Lord. Classic.
  • Welp. If Lex didn't hate Superman enough... he sure does now. And he's off to visit Amanda Waller at Belle Reve. How nice.
  • WELL OKAY THEN! Since Krypto is Supergirl's dog, that means he'll be in the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie. Now I'm doubly looking forward to it.
  • Yep. Gunn found the perfect ending to the movie. Yes he did.
  • So... if Krypto left with Supergirl, this mid-credit scene of Superman and Krypto on the moon must just be for fun. Cute.
  • The post-credits scene isn't much, but it does allow us to see Mr. Terrific one last time. No complaining about that.
  • Boy. That two hours just blows by. Even the second time around.

And now we wait for June 26, 2026.

   

Bullet Sunday 916

Posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2025

Dave!Still recovering from a trip to the coast and back yesterday, but that's no excuse... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Super, Man! I loved pretty much every frame of Superman. Thank you, James Gunn for giving us a fantastic spectacle of a comic book movie that has me excited for new DC films. The one thing I don't get is how he could get everything so right with all the characters and the story... but saddle us with one of the most insanely weird takes on Jimmy Olson I've ever seen. I guess no movie is perfect... but damn. So close. And is it wrong that the reason I'm most looking forward to the Supergirl film is to see more Krypto?

And, oh yeah, I will be *very* upset if we don't get a Mr. Terrific series on HBO or HBO Max or whatever. NOT "The Terrifics"... I'm so done with "Team Arrow" and "Team Flash" and "Team Supergirl" and "Team Whatever" series... just Mr. Terrific. Maybe with an occasional guest star. But anyway... I'll put up a post with my full comments when I've had a chance to watch it again.

   
• Have it Our Way! Remember when Burger King actually let you "have it your way" instead of just saying you can "have it your way" but not really? BECAUSE MY WAY IS WITH EXTRA MAYO... AND YOUR NEW APP DOESN'T ALLOW THAT. You either get "regular" or nothing...

No option for extra mayo.

And notice how you can't see the ingredient you're altering. I can only guess that some bean-counting dumbass at corporate thinks that not allowing somebody to put an extra 2¢ worth of mayo on their fucking $8.19 Impossible Whopper is a good financial move. Well, it's making me not want to eat at your restaurant any more, so congratulations. I wonder if this dipshit is the same one in charge at Chipotle who thought raising prices and lowering portions at the same time would make their customers happy? What's so fucking stupid here is that I just asked for two packets of free mayo so I could add it to my burger myself, which most certainly costs more than just adding it from the giant mayo bucket. And speaking of this new app... did anybody at BK beta test it? I am assuming this third option is Coke Zero because the one before it is Diet Coke and there's 0 calories in it... but who the fuck knows?

Mystery Medium Coca-Cola...

There's absolutely no way to confirm it. And so I had to order for pick-up instead of drive-thru because I knew they'd hand me a cup and I could fill it with the correct Coke myself. Good Lord. Pathetic. This is the whole Sonos app disaster all over. Do these fucking companies ever learn?

   
• Via Variety: PETA Urges Nintendo to Remove ‘Mario Kart World’ Cow’s Nose Ring: ‘It’s-a Mean!’ To think there was a time I actually supported the dumbasses at PETA. What a fucking joke.With each new idiotic act, they make me want to go out and buy a steak...

And since I'm a vegetarian, that tells you about all you need to know.

   
• Pop Quiz, Hotshot! Take a guess...

And now I want Taco Bell. Which is about the only fast food restaurant left to me after this stupid Burger King fiasco.

   
• Via People: Plus Size Park Hoppers' Say Brutal Backlash Over Their Experiences at Disney Theme Parks Won't Stop Them. What is it with people? Just leave them alone. One of the more difficult things I witnessed at a Disney Parks was a couple who stood in line for over an hour to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Car Ride. But when they got to the front of the line, the woman couldn't fit in the car. She asked if they could ride-swap so she could ride in a row by herself then her boyfriend could ride the next time, but they wouldn't let her because of the way the seats are built. — First of all, you'd think that Disney would have one row in just one car that is built for a larger person. And second of all, if the woman could have only visited a website which would have told her if she could fit, then she wouldn't have wasted an hour of her life for nothing and have to leave embarrassed and upset. — You'd think that assholes who make fun of these ladies or insult them would instead support them sharing this information, because you just know that they're in line complaining because they have to wait for larger people who are trying to see if they fit into the ride car.

   
• More Lies! As if we needed yet another video to point out how full of crap Ben Shapiro is. But here you go...

What a lying little shit stain. I have to wonder if he has ever been anything except disingenuous with his audience. This take-down is beautifully done. Elegantly pointing out that all Shapiro does... all he ever does... is lie.

   
• Via PBS: South Carolina lawmaker in jail on child sex abuse material charges resigns from office. Damn. These drag quee— WHAT? Yet ANOTHER anti-LGBTQ Republican asshole caught assaulting children? You know what... I'm beginning to think that drag queens aren't quite the threat that anti-LGBTQ Republicans say they are! They're just a convenient scapegoat!

   
And there you have it. I'm all out of bullets this fine Sunday.

   

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