Playoffs

A good weekend for sports.  The (ice) hockey and basketball playoffs started.  Though I cannot say that I approve of playoff games being shown exclusively on streaming networks.  And we had some good action in the Premier League as we come to the business end of the season.  I must admit to immensely enjoying Man City beating Arsenal and making the title race a lot more interesting.  It's not that I care for Man City, I just really hate Arsenal.  Which also makes the plight of Tottenham Hotspur kind of confusing - because my hatred of Arsenal means that by default I quite like Spurs.  But it would be refreshing to see a big club get relegated, so I'm looking forward to seeing how the run-in plays out.  And I'm glad that Palace are going to have a strong say on both the title and relegation battles - we have got games against both Man City and Arsenal, and if West Ham beat us tomorrow then Spurs are in real trouble.  And I think there is every chance that might happen, since our focus should be on Europe and winning the Europa Conference League rather than the Premier League.     

Star Spangled Banner

Could you please stand up and remove your headwear for the playing of the American national anthem (a special cover of the anthem, appropriate for Trump's America).

 

Tornado

There was an unusual weather event on the water just outside Seattle earlier this week:

Yes, that is a tornado.  Well, technically, it is a waterspout.  But tornado sounds better.  I wish I could take credit for the photo, but I cannot.  I wish I lived somewhere with a water view.  But we had some unusually stormy weather that caused this phenomenon.  The weather is nuts - around the same time there was a tornado west of Seattle, if you headed east then I think Snoqualmie Pass was closed due to heavy mountain snow.  Very uncommon for mid-April.        

Kraken

It was the last game of the season for the Seattle Kraken today.  They blew their chances of playoff hockey with a pretty dreadful second half of the season.  They've still only made the playoffs in one season of their existence - which is rather sad.  And perhaps even sadder, I still haven't been to see them live.  That has to change.  I did look into getting tickets earlier this year, but was quite surprised at how expensive tickets were - especially for quite a mediocre team - and didn't really pursue it further.  I suspect I might get better value if I try to get tickets at the last minute.  Next season.

Lapidary

In a clear sign that I am getting older, I was looking at lapidary saws online today.  Yes, I am seriously considering buying one.  I want to be able to smoothly cut through agates, rather than smash them into bits via a hammer.  And then perhaps I can get into polishing rocks.  Is this all rather sad?  I don't know.  But I've always been kind of interested in geology, and this is just a continuation of that.  In much the same way that I regret not studying history beyond GCSE, I think I can probably say the same thing about geography.  The main difference being that I only got a B in GCSE geography, unlike the As I got in history and the sciences, so I never seriously considered it.  But then one of my biggest life regrets is studying subjects that I was good at, rather than ones I enjoyed.  Something I wouldn't recommend.  That feels like the kind of good advice I wish I could pass on to someone. 

God Complex

Should we be more disturbed that this is how Trump sees himself, or that this is how other people see Trump?  Incidentally, this is also another reason why we need to put the kibosh on AI and AI-created imagery. 

 

HBO: current shows

I've been watching quite a lot of HBO recently.  Here are my recommendations of what, and what not, to watch:

Worth watching: DTF St Louis (highly recommended - quite weird, highly watchable, should win acting awards), Rooster (charming, Ted Lasso-like), The Pitt (outstanding), Born to Bowl (a great documentary on professional bowling) 

Not worth watching: The Comeback (critically acclaimed, I tried watching but just couldn't tolerate it), Euphoria (nope, not my thing)

And, somewhat disturbingly, HBO have started airing adverts for their Harry Potter series.  Already.  It doesn't air until Christmas.  This is going to get a LOT of hype.