Spoiler

I keep on seeing trailers for this film Last Christmas that is coming out tomorrow - and I already hate it.  Like really, REALLY hate it.  Clearly going for the Four Weddings and a Funeral, Richard Curtis vibe - it looks awful, and there is literally zero chance I will watch this.  So let me spoil the film for you - I know the "twist".  And it is as ridiculous as you would imagine.  So, this is a major spoiler alert to stop reading if you don't want to know the twist.  You have been warned.  Here goes.  The male romantic lead is a ghost.  For the love of god, you can't make this sh*t up.   

Election Day

It was election day yesterday, and although not the big one there were still plenty of initiatives and local/state elections being held.  The most newsworthy one that came out of our region was that an initiative to cut most car tabs in our state to $30 looks like it is going to pass.  This is huge – this is where the money comes from to pay for road paving and these huge transportation and infrastructure projects.  It doesn’t surprise me that this initiative passed – I’ve got to renew my car tabs this month and the bill is outrageous, nearly $300.  I think the state overreached in tacking on such a huge “regional transit authority tax” (nearly 2/3 of my bill) to the amount we have to pay, and so people rebelled by backing this measure.  I think we all still want well maintained roads and good public transport options, and I think we are prepared to pay more on our car tabs to achieve that – but not at the amount they are currently adding.  What is interesting is that they clearly spent a lot of money on ads to oppose this initiative – I saw plenty of them on tv – but it still wasn’t enough to make voters change their mind.  So now we can expect some kind of transportation crisis in our state – let’s hope we don’t a have bad winter that reduces our roads to a pot-holed disaster. 

Drill

As I arrived at the work garage this morning, the fire alarm was going off.  Which made things awkward.  As I was driving into the garage, everybody else was exiting the building for a fire drill.  That will teach me for arriving late – but that is no surprise for a Tuesday, which is increasingly becoming the worst commute day of the week.  But I couldn’t exactly park on the street or anywhere else, because there simply aren’t any free spaces at that time.  I’m sure if it wasn’t a drill, the parking garage gate wouldn’t have opened for me.  But I knew it was a drill because I could see the fire marshals with their colored bibs and clipboards.  Seems a rather pointless exercise when people routinely work from home now, but whatever.  I guess it is prudent since our building does have lab space on the ground floor, and so there might be some rather explosive materials stored there.

Making Plans for Nigel

I know we’re still several weeks away from the General Election, but I’m already struck – even all the way over here – by how much press Nigel Farage seems to be getting.  This guy is a pompous ass, his party is something of an irrelevance in an election like this, and he is not worthy of any coverage whatsoever.  Yet I’ve seen his ugly mug on the UK news websites plenty recently – whether it’s trying to form a pact with Boris, or proclaiming he will destroy Labour.  He might filter some votes away from the Tories, but not enough to make any difference and so his extremist views should just be ignored and certainly not publicized.  Sadly, I have read that he supports Crystal Palace – he seems more like a Millwall type.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Let's have a quick look at my scheduled DVR recordings for the week ahead, and pick out a few highlights:

Sunday: quite a lot of recordings, but probably the big one is Watchmen.  I like it so far, can't say I love it yet, but the potential is there.

Monday: ooh, I see I've already set up to record the first episode of His Dark Materials.  This has had a lot of hype, so has me intrigued.  I think this is a co-production between BBC and HBO, so it might already have aired in the UK.

Tuesday: only 1 recording, and it is for Treadstone - an action thriller set in the same universe as the Bourne films.  Maybe not as good as it sounds.

Wednesday: one of the better new network shows airs on Wednesday, Stumptown.  And its set in the Pacific NW (but Portland rather than Seattle).

Thursday: a rare Australian import, Mr Inbetween, is airing on Thursdays  Very dark comedy, very "Australian", and I'm surprised it's on here but glad it is because I enjoy it.

Friday and Saturday: nothing.  If a show isn't doing well, networks often burn off their episodes on Friday or Saturday - such is the low regard those days are held in.  Ironically, all the streaming services debut their shows on Friday.  There's a couple of Amazon shows - Jack Ryan and Goliath - that I need to catch up on.

 

Progress

I'm not going to mention the Rugby World Cup final, other than saying that I'm glad I didn't stay up until 4 am to watch that.  I'm not going to mention the moles, which seem to have engaged in an all out blitz on not just me but all my neighbors - I'm seeing molehills in all my immediate neighbors' yards as well as mine.  Instead, I'm going to mention that Operation Improve Living Space is proceeding nicely - the pool table is now upstairs in my 3rd bedroom, so I can finally look into buying a new living room set.  Which is long overdue.  Now the question is do I take a gamble and order a set online, sight unseen, rather than going to a store where I can see what I'm buying and test it out?  Tough choice, but I did it successfully with my mattress so I don't see why I can't do it with a sofa.   

Nationals

So the Washington Nationals won the baseball “World” Series this week, their first ever.  I was fairly indifferent about who won between the Nationals or the Houston Astros, but a couple of things swung my support to the Nationals.  Nothing to do with the team, but all to do with the fans.  The first being when Donald Trump attended a game in Washington, the Nationals fans booed and jeered him loudly and chanted Lock Him Up when he was announced on the public address system.  Hilarious.  The second being in the same game, a couple of models sitting behind home plate flashed their breasts at one of the opposition pitchers.  That got them banned indefinitely from all baseball stadiums – but a nice stunt.  So how do the Nationals team reward their fans?  It was announced today that the team is going to visit the White House next week.  This, despite other championship winning teams (notably in basketball) refusing to go.  Considering some of the National’s biggest stars are minorities, and considering how vocal their own fans were against Trump in Game 5, it makes that decision very questionable.  I hope that most of them excuse themselves from attending – sending a clear message that it is no longer an honor to be feted at the White House by this presidency.