Songs

You'll probably recognize most of these, but I guarantee there is at least one that you didn't know the name of.

Furniture

Yes, I need some new furniture.  No, it shall not be from this Star Wars-themed collection.

MLB London Series

So, baseball is coming to London this weekend.  Sure, why the hell not.  It’s not like anybody in the UK gives two hoots about baseball.  We’ve got cricket – so why would we need an even more boring variation of that, essentially glorified rounders.  What is most surprising is that it is 2 regular season games between 2 rivals and 2 of the biggest names in the sport – the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.  It will be interesting to see what kind of attendances they get – I cannot imagine it will be many, maybe just the curious and the American expats.  I’m not even sure if anyone in the UK even knows about the games – are they being aired anywhere on UK TV?  If you think American Football has too many breaks between action for adverts and suchlike, just wait for the agonizing monotony of a professional baseball game.  Let’s cut to the chase, baseball is not – and never will be - popular in the UK.

Yay

Look what I won today!

Hmmm, why have I cropped out the plaque on the trophy from this photo?  Let’s have a closer look at that:

Runner-up?!  This is a participation trophy.  A first loser’s trophy.  I should throw it away (but I won’t because, and I can’t emphasize this enough, IT’S THE FIRST TROPHY I’VE EVER WON!!!!).  Considering my finger injury, I should be grateful I got a bye in the quarter-finals and a favorable draw and result in the semi-finals – though the final (against my nemesis) wasn’t even close.  That is what makes it so disappointing, right before the injury I was kicking his ass regularly.  With the injury, my game is definitely hampered.  I think it’s going to take a while for my finger to recover and get it’s full dexterity back – but hopefully I’ll be ready to win the next tournament.

5th July

Next week is Independence Day - 4th July - which this year lies on a Thursday.  In a surprising, and surprisingly generous, move our new CEO has also declared Friday 5th July a company holiday.  So now we have a long weekend to look forward to - which is nice!  As far as I'm aware, this is unprecedented - it's never happened before in all my time in the US.  And giving all the employees an extra day's holiday can't be cheap for the company.  I approve.  Maybe our new CEO actually cares about his employees.  My only regret is that he only made the announcement this week, far too late to book and make plans to go away somewhere for the weekend.   

Breakdancing

So breakdancing is apparently going to become an Olympic sport in 2024.  For reals.  What the f*ck?  Either I’m getting too old, or that is just plain ridiculous.  How the hell do you not make that entirely subjective – how many times can you spin round on your head in 1 minute?  How many full worms can you do in 5 minutes?  Is there like some kind of competitive dance-off?  I despair. 

Cube

I'm not one for excessively decorating my cubicle, but considering I am in that one place for about 40 hours every week then some personal touches are not unwarranted:

Note the Lego figurine, the Palace scarf, the GB car sticker and a postcard of the Queen that someone sent me as a joke. 

Fingermouse

Got the stitches taken out of my finger today - 7 stitches total, which gives an idea of how long the cut was.  Recommended that I keep using a splinter for another 4 or 5 more days, so I still have to put up with the major inconvenience and awkwardness of cleaning my teeth and wiping my ass without use of my main index finger for a few more days.  To make things worse, I've started to experience some pain and flexibility issues with my left hand today - probably because I've had to use it more in the last week than I ever have before.  Just unbuttoning my jeans is a painful and difficult exercise.  And although I managed to delay playing my work tournament ping pong quarter-final until this week, I might still have to play handicapped.  Can I overcome the odds?

The Beautiful Game

I haven't watched much of the Women's World Cup at all - and what I have seen has been absolutely terrible.  I mean the quality of football is utterly abysmal.  And women players want the same pay as men players - come on now.  The best women's team could not beat a single men's professional team, and it ,wouldn't even be close.  Perhaps it is unfair to compare the men's and women's game - but that is no excuse for the total lack of entertainment and quality I've seen in what little action I've caught (which was a game today that went to penalties).  It doesn't help that the American coverage is using American commentators and they are utterly useless - and we get to see all the failings of VAR, a system I hate and one I don't think we need or want.  Especially in an amateurish competition like this.  Not worth it.

Oh no

An ominous, though I fear accurate, article I came across today on a certain favorite film franchise of mine.

Daniel Craig Can’t Outrun His James Bond Fate

If ‘Bond 25’ is indeed Craig’s final turn in the franchise, a broken ankle and reports of on-set unrest don’t inspire much confidence that it will be an improvement on 2015’s Spectre

The less we read about the production of any given James Bond movie, the better. Recent headlines about the new “doomed” movie in the franchise—Bond 25, due out in the spring of 2020—read as déjà vu.

In November 2007, hours before the beginning of a three-month strike by the Writers Guild of America, screenwriters turned over the first draft of a script for Quantum of Solace to Daniel Craig, who was reprising his role as 007 for a second time, after the 2006 release of Casino Royale, and the movie’s director, Marc Forster. Of course, the script needed revisions, which the Hollywood writers’ strike complicated. So Craig, a theater kid to the end, took his pen to the script. “There was me trying to rewrite scenes,” Craig recalls in a 2011 interview, “and a writer I am not.” Quantum of Solace, released in fall of 2008, never quite amounted to a coherent Bond plot, proving to be a shaky, languid action movie which paid a greater debt to Jason Bourne than James Bond. In recalling the movie’s disastrous production, Craig says he told himself those famous last words on the tip of every Bond actor’s tongue: “Never again.”

Having survived his Quantum of Solace debacle, Craig teamed up with Sam Mendes to direct his 2012 entry, Skyfall, a great flick that established Craig in the lineage as a great Bond. Mendes also directed Craig’s 2015 entry, Spectre, a meandering and mediocre movie which was reported, upon release, to be Craig’s last. It would have been a dismal farewell, if so: Spectre reanimated the classic Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, only to transform the overall Bond movie experience into a glorified TV crime procedural. Spectre was, in a word, exhausting for all involved: the audience as well as the lead actor. A month before the movie’s release, Craig told Time Out magazine he’d “rather slash [his] wrists” than play James Bond again. Still, Craig stressed his desire for a vacation before making any definitive decisions about his participation in the next Bond movie. “If I did another Bond movie,” Craig said, “it would only be for the money.” Indeed, Barbara Broccoli and MGM ponied up a fuckton of cash, $25 million, to cast Craig in the forthcoming Bond 25.

The movie’s success depends upon first-time Bond director Cary Fukunaga, who replaced the project’s previous director, Danny Boyle, after he resigned citing “creative differences.” So far, Fukunaga’s oversight has proved somehow more tumultuous than the earlier Boyle news cycles. On Monday, The Sun reported a “mutiny” on set after Fukunaga showed up “several hours” late to a taping “because he was playing on his PlayStation.” The headlines undermine the hype generated after the producers’ recruitment of Rami Malek, who will play the movie’s villain, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is working on the script. Malek and Craig have reportedly struggled to film scenes together due to their schedules, and Malek has addressed rumors about the production turmoil. On Tuesday, Fukunaga responded to his alleged absenteeism, insisting he hasn’t slacked off from shooting Bond 25 to play Red Dead Redemption 2 in his trailer. “It’s still the best job in the world,” Fukunaga wrote in an Instagram caption, “and I’d never disrespect the hardest working cast and crew. We’re all in this together.” Still, Fukunaga couldn’t possibly demonstrate a higher commitment to Bond than Craig, who had surgery last month to repair a broken ankle suffered while filming in Jamaica.

Craig’s run as Bond is coming to an awkward, stumbling finish. In the seven years since Skyfall’s release, observers have obsessed over the proposition that Idris Elba would succeed Craig to become the first black Bond. Four years ago, the late Roger Moore caused a controversy when he said Bond should be “English-English”; he later denied the comments were racially motivated and said the reporter put words in his mouth. Still, Moore’s comments about Bond’s “English” identity informed the larger discussion about the potential for a black Brit to inherit a film role pioneered by a Scotsman and later taken up, with unfortunate results, by an Irishman. Craig and Elba have made fun of the rumors and the rivalry they’ve supposedly created; after all, Elba’s casting was, 11 years ago, Craig’s proposal.

The controversies have, in recent years, cast Craig as little more than an obstacle to Elba. Craig has suffered physical injury and the psychological torture known as writing in order to rescue the film franchise from oblivion in the 21st century. Broccoli praises Craig as if Sean Connery never existed: “Daniel Craig is Bond, forever, as far as I’m concerned.” Undoubtedly, Broccoli and Michael Wilson shoved $25 million across the table with minimal hesitation. Craig will continue playing a role that he, and his critics, have come to resent.

Craig and Fukunaga are rushing headlong against the curse that ensures that each Bond actor’s final Bond flick is, inevitably, his worst. Connery lived to regret Diamonds Are Forever; Moore aged beyond belief in A View to a Kill; Pierce Brosnan concluded his run with Die Another Day, the most ridiculous Bond movie made to date—a real milestone for a film franchise that includes Octopussy and Moonraker. For Craig, Skyfall would’ve been too soon and too perfect as a final note to his Bond career. So Fukunaga has Craig shuffling on crutches, working through a ritualized disaster. Thirteen years ago, Craig reinvigorated an ailing character who’d succumbed to widespread parody. Now we find our hero hobbling over to craft services under a Caribbean sunset.

Seinfeld

I just don't get it.  It's been 30 years since it aired, and you can still find repeats of Seinfeld being shown on one channel or another at any time of the day on American TV even now.  And it's not funny.  At all.  True, it might have aged a little bit.  But fundamentally I just don't think it's very good.  Yet Americans still love it, call it one of the best comedy shows ever made, and Jerry Seinfeld is a very popular (and very rich) guy.  Shows like Cheers, Frasier and Friends from the same period hold up and are genuinely enjoyable.  Seinfeld is not.  Its popularity is just one of those things I don't think I'll ever understand.

Can I sustain this blog?

Busy at work, finger wrapped up in bandages resulting in all kinds of awkwardness, blood pressure medications causing side affects, a year and half of Trump on the campaign trail.  Shoot me now. 

Need to come up with better blog posts

What do you get when you combine Bach with an 80's flair?  A song that seems to appear in all my YouTube personalized playlists. 

Houseboat

If you want to live that "Sleepless in Seattle" lifestyle, a houseboat has just come on the market in Seattle.  The price - $575K.  Not bad you'd think, until you realize this is the cost of a houseboat built in 1920 and with a square footage all of 500 sq ft.  No dream of on-the-water city living is worth so much for so little.  This is modern Seattle for you and it's ridiculous cost of living and cost of housing. 

Travel Bidet

Yes, I've just ordered a travel bidet from Amazon.  One of my friends at work remodeled his bathroom recently and got a bidet, and can't stop talking about how great it is.  So I've been thinking about getting a bidet attachment for my downstairs toilet, but I'm not really sold on it.  So I've decided to get a travel bidet to see what it's like - which is essentially just a water bottle that squirts at an upward angle, if you get my drift.  And this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm really struggling to wipe my ass effectively left-handed after my injury. 

Champs

As we are now in something of a sports vacuum, let me pass on my congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning the NBA championship.  It's not so much because I like them - though happy that they were able to bring the first basketball championship to Canada - but more importantly the Golden State Warriors lost.  I hate the Warriors, so was great to see them lose and in the manner they did (serious injuries to a couple of their stars).  Also, let me pass on my congratulations to the St Louis Blues for winning the Stanley Cup (ice hockey) for the first time.  Again, not so much because I like them but because they beat the Boston Bruins - and on principle I hate all teams from New England.  And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the Stanley Cup is the best cup in all of sports.

 

ER

An eventful yesterday evening.  I got home from work, and decided I needed to cut back some of the trees next to my driveway because my car kept brushing them.  Without proper garden equipment, I found the sharpest knife I could and starting cutting at branches.  But then I found it was quicker and simpler to just snap the branches off.  But then in the course of doing that, I accidentally sliced into my index finger with the knife.  Then I saw how deep the cut was, and started to panic.  This was more than just requiring a plaster.  So quickly rushed inside, spilling blood everywhere at this point, and ran the cut under a tap (no idea if this was the right thing to do) before wrapping my finger in paper towels.  Probably needed to wrap it tighter and apply more pressure, but that was the best I could do at that moment.  Although I wasn’t in much pain this didn’t stop the blood pouring out, so reluctantly made the decision that I needed to drive to the nearest emergency room – about 5 miles away.  I haven’t been to a hospital for a very long time, and certainly not an American one.  I can assure you that this emergency room was nothing like how it is depicted in film and television, much quieter and much more controlled than I was imagining.  Eventually got to see a doctor, which then resulted in me getting a tetanus shot and having to have stitches.  So now my finger is wrapped up with a splint, and I’ve got to go back in about a week’s time to get my stitches taken out.  And because it’s my right index finger, it’s a nightmare – affecting everything I do from washing, cleaning, typing, writing, brushing my teeth, wiping my ass, doing up my shoelaces, getting things out of my pockets, etc. etc.  Basically anything that involves holding or gripping something.  Which is almost everything.  The next week is going to be fun.  And the most devastating thing of all – I cannot play table tennis.  And the knockout stages of the work tournament may begin next week – which I was the favorite to win.  Just typical bad luck and timing when it comes to my fruitless endeavor to win the first ever trophy of my life… 

Heat Wave

Nope, climate change is definitely not a thing.  Invented by the Chinese.  It’s just sheer coincidence that yet another record was broken in Seattle yesterday – with temperatures reaching as high as 95 degrees (Fahrenheit – a quick plug into a conversion calculator shows that is 35 degrees Celsius).  Horribly hot – reminded me of what it was like most of the time in Austin, Texas.  And compare that to other parts of the US, which are currently suffering from flooding following record rainfall.  I’m glad I shelled out on a portable AC unit a few weeks ago.  I got to try it out for the first time last night – and it did help cool down my bedroom a little bit and help me get a slightly better night’s sleep, but not as much as I hoped.  I’m sure I’ll be trying it out again tonight, so let’s see if I can play around with the settings and set up to get it to work even better.

A minor detour back to politics

I today officially decided never to read any articles on the Huffington Post website ever again.  This had been a site I frequented often, particularly since Donald Trump took over.  Yes, everything they have is from an extremely liberal perspective – but if that meant even more Trump-bashing, then that was fine with me.  But now, as we gear up for the next election and the various Democratic contenders jostle to be Trump’s opponent, the website’s virulent anti-Joe Biden stance is finally forcing me away.  When will idiots like this realize than a really liberal opponent will NEVER beat Trump in an election.  Certainly not Bernie Saunders, nor Elizabeth Warren.  They don’t have a chance in hell.  You may not agree with all of Joe Biden’s positions, but as far as I’m concerned he is the only viable Democratic contender who can beat Trump – like it or not.  Democrats should not be concerned about satisfying the base – they should be concerned about putting forward an opponent who can beat Trump in those all-important swing states.  I can see him having a more liberal running mate, and perhaps that is what will be required for Democrats to endorse him.  But right now I don’t think there are any other viable contenders to challenge Trump. 

13-0

Because their men's team sucks so much, there is an inordinate amount of coverage of the US women's team in the World Cup that has just started.  And now they scored 13 goals in their first game, it is going to be even more unbearable.  I have next to no interest in this competition - I don't really care how the US or even the "Lionesses" do - but it is almost impossible to avoid it if you follow the US sports news like I do.  I have about as much interest in the Women's World Cup as I do with the Nations League that just concluded, i.e. not a lot.

Nose to the grindstone

And, back to the slog.  Never fun to go back to work after a few days away, and today was even worse as I'm not feeling well.  I'm treading that fine line of being busy and content, and being too busy and stressed out.  I don't want to be busy at all if I'm not feeling great.  This could be a long week.

Encounter

On a walk this morning, I rounded a corner and encountered 3 deer running at me at full pelt.  I don't know who was more frightened - them or me.  Fortunately they scattered at the last moment - but I think it was 2 fawns and their mother, because the fawns started following me briefly as they became separated from their mother. 

Reunion?

It's really weird how the brain works.  I don't know if or what I was dreaming about, but I woke up in the early hours this morning determined to check a reunion date mentioned in my yearbook from university.  So after many minutes digging round my stuff and eventually finding it, I check it and sure enough there is the date, time and location mentioned: The Boater, 8 pm, Friday July 5th 2019.  A month away.  Why this crossed my mind now I have no idea - maybe on some subconscious level I registered the date many years ago.  It's a shame I won't be able to make it - I'm not flying back just for the off chance that somebody takes this offhand remark about a reunion, at a pub, and actually shows up.  But I hope somebody I know does, and reconnects with people who we've long lost touch with, and passes on any news.  Definitely curious to know what happened to certain people I went to university with - it's been a long 25 years, which is quite the sobering realization.     

John Wick 3

We had some crappy weather today - it feels like ages since it has rained substantially - so I decided to go to the cinema to watch a film I've been meaning to catch - John Wick 3.  Went to a startlingly early showing at 10.35 am - but still quite a few people watching it then, and the best part is that it is incredibly cheap at that time!  I think it only cost me about $6 - that's a bargain.  And it was a predictably great film.  The John Wick franchise is definitely one of the best for amazing action scenes, and this was no exception.  Great stuff.  It seems like between this, Deadwood and I'm currently working my way through the second series of American Gods (slowly - it's a real slog), I can't seem to get enough of Ian McShane at the moment... he's come a long way from being Lovejoy!   

Ikea

I want to make good use of not working this week by going places that get too crazy busy at weekends.  Hence Discovery Park yesterday, and today - Ikea.  And yet it was still busy - but at least I was able to find a parking spot easily enough this time!  I actually did have a reason to go there - I wanted to get some kitchenware, and I also wanted to get a new TV stand.  One that will support a bigger TV, so giving me the motivation to actually upgrade.  Other observations - I have an uncanny ability to find the checkout queue with by far the longest wait times.  And I think Ikea must also block cellphone signals for no discernible reason because I couldn't get any sort of reception inside but no problem outside.  Which is kind of a pain when you're trying to work out how big a TV stand I needed to get for the size TV I want. 

Discovery Park

This is my first week off work for a while - but I haven't been able to make the most of it so far because I've been feeling under the weather.  But today I went for a walk round Discovery Park - including an area of the park I hadn't been to before where a Native American cultural center is located.  In much the same way that Native Americans have had to settle in the crappy parts of the country, so this cultural center is located in the crappy part of the park with no decent sights or views.  So I won't bother going there again - no big deal as there are plenty of other trails in the park,

Chernobyl

Because I'm a hypocrite who doesn't want to make this blog too negative, let me mention - and recommend - the bleakest and most depressing TV show I've ever watched.  Chernobyl.  Don't get me wrong, it's a really good show - a really great show in fact - but it ain't a happy one.  But it is also a fascinating one - about an event that most of us know the name of but actually know very little about.  It's also the very first telly show I've watched where I've listened to a podcast by the creator after each episode - and that works really well because it goes into detail about what really happened and what really didn't.  Certainly doesn't make things any less scary.  Highly recommended. 

Predator

Happened to come across Predator on telly tonight, and couldn't resist watching it.  The quintessential 80's action film, and an absolute classic.  I have a vague recollection of watching this as a teenager, and it was great then - and it's still great now.  You can virtually feel the testosterone oozing out of the film - and even has loads of great behind the scenes stories.  Perhaps my favorite thing of the film, the greatest gun in the history of cinema:

Peter Rabbit

There are currently at least 3 rabbits grazing near my house - and they are starting to get so brazen with my presence that they don't move when they are on my driveway and I am trying to drive up or down it.  A quick blast on my horn normally does the trick, but still.  Regardless, I'm happy with their presence - there is something reassuring about watching them do their thing from my kitchen window as I am cleaning or cooking.  However I've also seen at least one of the neighborhood cats stalking around recently, so I don't know how much longer I'm going to see all of them around.

State Visit

I think it's a national disgrace that Trump has been granted a state visit for his visit to Britain next week.  I'm no royalist, but I don't want to see the queen fraternizing with this offensive fool.  And Trump has no business interfering in British politics, even though I'm sure he is going to pledge his support to Boris Johnson and/or Nigel Farage.  And who is going to foot the excessive bill for his visit - why the British taxpayer of course.  What a joke.  I truly hope anti-Trump protesters cause as much disruption to his visit as possible.  He, and what he stands for, shouldn't be made to feel welcome.