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Cass diaspora

Welcome to # for Sunday, March 27


Howdy, howdy!?

I read a book the other day – Clean Air – it was fairly short and about coping as an adult. It takes place after “The Turning” which was a catastrophic pollen event that killed anyone that wasn’t in a place with filtered air. People live in homes with airlock, masks are worn outside and there’s a killer on the loose murdering families by slashing open their homes and letting the pollen in. It’s kind of a revenge of the Earth against the parasites that are humans. It felt to me like an echo of the pandemic. I also read The Kadju Preservation Society which was … lighter.

Read/listened/watched anything good lately?

I try to keep things light but this is your thread so … there’s always an element of randomness. Grab your beverage preference (pixel or not) and enjoy the space.

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Greetings… Ahoj! Aloha! Bom dia! Bonjour! Bună! Ciao! G’day! Geia sas! Günaydın,
صباح الخير , בוקר טוב 你好! Hi! Hei! Hello! Hallo! Hei! Hola! Howdy! Halō! Kamusta! Kia Orana! Kon’nichiwa! Mabuhay! Moi! Namaste! Ni Hao! Neih hou! Pagi! Saluton! Sawasdee! Shwmae! Γειάσας! Terve!😄

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Muse diaspora
I'm currently reading The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. It's so much more down to earth than I expected. I also have the last book of the Isobelle Carmody Kingdom of the Lost series waiting to be read: The Velvet City. Her works are always exciting, touching, and imaginative!
Sam Smith diaspora
I watched a documentary about Elon Musk yesterday. It was made pre pandemic, and made him out to be iron man. My own feelings about him aside, I miss the positivity of forward thinking tech solutions. Dystopian themes are not my vibe. I much prefer Heinlein/Asimov themes of a "can do" sort.
Good Day fellow checkineers 😀 Killer pollen? Wow! Never thought of that angle before.

Interestingly enough, for the last week I have been on allergy medicine. I always get allergy symptoms this time of year. I only stay on the allergy meds for the shortest time necessary, as I do not like them... o_O)
Muse diaspora
Hello CheckIn Friends!

Join us for a live video chat! All you have to do is click the below web address and input the (very easy) code. We come from all over the world to enjoy fun, friendship, and chatting.

For fun I'm thinking we will use my old alma mater's (University of Washington) random question generator! That should keep the conversation light, fun, and funny!

Here is the address:
Diaspora Discussion Day Spa!
https://meet.glasswings.com.au/b/kat-lke-nza-fbg
Code: 101606

1pm Sunday Vancouver/Seattle
4pm Sunday Montreal/New York
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1:30am Monday Mumbai
4am Monday Hong Kong
5am Monday Tokyo
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Cheers!
Muse
I've been watching a new bird house for any sign of western bluebirds. Nothin' yet.
Joyce Donahue diaspora
I'm 4 episodes into The Warhol Diaries on Netflix. Truly fascinating. I had read the book a while back, but this is truly wonderful. Lots of interesting behind-the-scenes and personal stuff and commentary from a host of fascinating people, but it really captures the weird, wonderful life Warhol led and the many celebrities, artists, and odd characters in New York from the 1960s through the 80's.
As weather gets better I've been spending more time outside, looking for the first milkweeds up (none yet) and who's first among butterflies. In order of appearance:
Cabbage White
Another Cabbage White
Dainty Sulfur
Eastern Black Swallowtail
Red Admiral
Another Dainty Sulfur.
Below is the Red Admiral in question.
Oh yeah--killer plants are nothing new in sci-fi, so if you're looking for the lighter side of killer plants, I recommend Little Shop of Horrors.
Cass diaspora
We're lucky the snow is melting this early but on the down side dusts and wood allergies 🤷🏽‍♀️
Cass diaspora
@Sam Smith neither books mentioned were dystopian just different settings. I’m not in the mood for negativity either.
Rewatched Shakespeare In Love....a bit dragged out and knocked down by the amts of negativity in the news of late.

Am reading another book in the Gini Koch's 'Katherine Katt Alien Series*
Tomorrow is going to be chilly and damp...plan to be reading a lot while cuddling in bed with the Grimm One and the kitteh's...
Bob Lai diaspora
Never played the game, so not really interested in Halo.

I am looking forward to Moon Knight on Disney+, and a new episode of Forged in Fire (both on March 30).

Present chef fare are Food Network's Tournament of Champions, and The Julia Child Challenge. Looking forward to Big Restaurant Bet (April 5), and Chef Boot Camp (April 7).
Christoph S diaspora
Good morning, fortunately no allergies, love it when spring shows its blossoms.
Otherwise we had DST change 1 hour forward
Not doing this often, but when I do its memorable trash time: watching late night TV. Too much of it this week (no particular substance use involved). Two evenings of repeating Mandarin vocabulary along watching these:

Predator Upgrade, and Alien vs Predator. In that order. Two fine pieces of trash TV. One was an ok next chapter and hinted at just enough so you didn't get bored despite clear predictability, which it exposed early on, the other had invented a cross-breed franchise (sic!) and was well crafted, and undervalued.

Star Trek dominated the other one evening: First Contact, and Generations. Both I hadn't seen for a long time, Generations was a good cinema event back in 1995. While both have their trashy moments, paper thin studio FX and plot holes, I was a very happy couch camper that evening
citc hubzilla
Have a good day. Time for tennis! 😀
su ann lim diaspora
Good morning! @Deb Zaccaro-Rojas I've been very disheartened about what's happening too. Ive been trying to organize small, simple get togethers but surprisingly with few responses. It feels like there's a pervasive sense of being shell shocked.

@Muse I'd love to check out The Book of Joy. I'll never forget watching those two doing an online Hang-out for the first time. That pair of best friends were so spontaneous, gleeful and delighted at meeting. Circumstances had prevented them from meetng IRL time for a long time that they totally forgot they had an audience when they saw each other via vid. The mod had to step in to remind them but it was a challenge for them to not interact as best friends would - teasing and laughing about a wide range of topics familiar to them. I howled when Desmond Tutu reminded the Dalai Lama that he's a holy man. They were most definitely down to earth. 😂😂😂
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
Wheel of Time is still holding my interest ... on Book 6 - Lord of Chaos....
Dean Calahan diaspora
I'm re-reading Stross's Laundryverse novels, as I hear he's about to wrap up that story arc soon, and I'd like to have the major events fixed in more recent memory before finishing up. The Revenger trilogy by Alastair Reynolds was a memorable find about a year ago. As for watching, I'm binging a lot on Youtube videos from Veritasium, Sabine Hossenfelder, and PBS Space Time.
John MacLeod diaspora
My latest read was The Bounty by Janet Evanovich - part of her "Fox and O'Hare" series... which I find reminiscent of the White Collar TV series, and recommend as a good romp for fans of that show.
Whuffo diaspora
I've been watching movies and such lately. Finished The Kings Man and watched the first episode of Raised by Wolves yesterday. That's some weird stuff; I'll give episode 2 a try later.
A couple of books by Hank Green An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, very much fast reads but interesting. Other than that, watching the solitary bees coming out for spring. Managed to cobble together a house for them in my backyard after seeing a couple of mason bees trolling around for new holes.
Joseph Teller diaspora
I've been listening a lot to the podcast "Shedunnit" on the Golden Age of Mystery Fiction and The Women Writers that Dominated it....
Nora Qudus diaspora
Good morning a bright sunny start and already near 50ºF birds are singing ...I am currently reading the Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule
by Katherine Pangonis
So far it is very interesting. I have a short attention span for reading lately. I am listening to Tibetan bell bowl stuff for stress relief...I watch several Youtube Channels and it is a treat when they post their stuff a new one is Obsolete Oddities, it is fascinating true stories presented in a very nice way ...in a weird way I seem to have less time each day and it is already Sunday & the end of the month....
Phil Setnik diaspora
Good morning, all!

Got up, went to the Synagogue, got on the rowing machine for a while, cleaned up from Shabbos (well, mostly that was my wife)... I'm exhausted already!

Just finished "Angels and Demons," which was OK. I've been catching up (only a year to go!) on the Unbiased Science Podcast - very informative. Forcing myself to watch the latest season of "Legends of Tomorrow," then I will probably force myself to watch the next season of "The Expanse," followed at some point by a bunch of other things in the queue. When one only watches about one to two episodes a night, these things take time.

And we have two inches of snow on the ground. The tulips are NOT happy.
Read/listened/watched anything good lately?
Not yet.
Cass diaspora
This season of legends wasn't a good as provisional ones although it picks up near the end.
Richard diaspora
A few friends introduced and let me watch "Our Flag Means Death" on HBO Max. It's a queer version of "The Office" on a pirate ship with (IMO) more lovable rapscallions.

I also recently watched "Kotaro Lives Alone" on Netflix - an animated sitcom about a four year old boy working to meet his needs as a human being after being neglected and abandoned.
tom grzyb diaspora
queer pirates. Cool.
Michele Hax diaspora
Reading Revolution in the 70's by Gary Kasparov and positioning pieces on the board.

@Bob Lai, I was thinking about you the other evening when I was watching the documentary, My Greatest Dishes. "Twenty of the world's most celebrated chefs have been invited to cook the four dishes that have made them what they are today." @Whuffo, that series is pretty wild.

Rewatched Mississippi Burning. I never really grasped how long and varied Francis McDormand's career has been.
I watched the opening episode of Halo last night. The effects were fantastic, but they have some some very odd things story-wise in order to shoehorn a new side story never mentioned in the game in between the beginning of war with the Covenant and the Fall of Reach.

Having caught up on (and apparently finished-sigh-The Expanse, I've been catching up on The Witcher, which so far is extremely well done. Henry Cavill is perfect as Geralt of Rivia and Anya Chalotra is doing a superb job as Yennefer of Vengerberg, but I'm not swooning over the choice of Anna Shaffer as Triss Merigold. Not only does she not look the part relative to the games, but she lacks the fire and potency of the Triss of the games. Then again, she is so far a secondary character in the TV series, whom we have only seen a handful of times, so perhaps they considered casting her faithfully to be of lesser importance.
Phil Setnik diaspora
@Alrekr Jarnhandr Definitely enjoyed The Witcher. Not familiar with the source material, so I can't speak to that... but Henry Cavill is carved from the finest mahogany: looks great, very solid, finely grained, and still wooden when you get right down to it. "Restrained" is the word some would use. Still, I think overall the show is quite good.
Yay, The Expanse.. I have yet to read the novels, but the series was well done and good entertainment @Alrekr Jarnhandr.

@Michele Hax do you know this Podcast series, I think it was on the BBC or The Guardian somewhere, along the same line. Part uncomfortably personal insight, part just great storytelling by the chefs themselves.

I keep hearing The Office references for.. what, decades? 🙈 Maybe I should really find the time and watch it.
Michele Hax diaspora
@Carsten Raddatz, no. Sounds very interesting. It stands to reason it's on BBC, since all the chefs were from thereabouts. I've been delving into a lot of culinary stuff lately. I watched the movie Delicious. OMG, it was sumptuous. I think I'm getting tired of cooking the same old stuff. lol Need a major kitchen remodel and the finely tuned instruments that come with it. I guess some chickens would be nice ;{) Total wishful thinking.

I think The Office is a big part of pop culture here.
tom grzyb diaspora
I'm a compulsive contrarian. I never liked The Office. Nor Cheers. Not even Star Wars.
@Phil Setnik,
“Restrained” is the word some would use.
As I said, PERFECT as Geralt of Rivia. 😀 The look, the mannerisms, the personality, the attitude, his reaction when something backfires bringing about precisely the result he was seeking to avoid, his disgust when he has the situation under control right up until some idiot does precisely the worst and most stupid thing they could. Everything. Perfect. 😀

@Carsten Raddatz I've read the first three novels myself, and had very few issues with the faithfulness of the adaptation. I'm a little disappointed that they ended the series with season (and volume) 6, just as the stories of the colonies through the Rings are getting started. It makes sense only if they planned to continue but were unable to secure renewal. (Yet, perhaps.)

I happen to distantly know one of the authors — Bram — though I haven't spoken with him in years.
tom grzyb diaspora
On the other hand, I'm crazy about Green Acres, and The Addams Family.
Joseph Teller diaspora
Never bothered watching The Office I'm not a big fan of sitcoms in the modern era, they tend towards Embarrassment Humor, Bathroom Humor or Ignorance Humor (when the ignorance of one character as to the social norms or how something works gets them into problems that leads to Embarrassment humor).
tom grzyb diaspora
How about Seinfeld?
I’m not a big fan of sitcoms in the modern era, they tend towards Embarrassment Humor, Bathroom Humor or Ignorance Humor (when the ignorance of one character as to the social norms or how something works gets them into problems that leads to Embarrassment humor).
I am not a fan of these myself. Given a choice between subtlety and zany cleverness, or crass humiliation at someone's expense, it seems 95% of the time Hollywood's "comedy" writers can be relied upon to choose the latter. Anything that is truly funny doesn't need a canned laugh track.

You can get MAS*H on Amazon without the laugh track. It was broadcast that way in the UK. The laugh track RUINS it.

I've heard a lot of neurotypical¹ people rave about how clever and funny Big Bang Theory was. I haven't seem much of it myself, but speaking from a neurodivergent² perspective, I'll say this: Big Bang Theory was about Aspies because Hollywood could no longer get away with directing that kind of cruel jokes and stereotypes at black people or women. Black and Asian people are protected minorities in the US. Aspies like me aren't.
¹ aka 'normal'.
² For instance, people on the autistic spectrum.
tom grzyb diaspora
The first season of Big Bang Theory was very interesting, partly because it was quite spot-on, and also because it was sympathetic. After the first season the show kind of lost its way. I did not watch it after that.
libramoon diaspora
"Clean Air" as described reminded me of the current tv show "From" about a town in which people find themselves, unable to leave, where monsters kill and eat people at night.
I am enjoying the new "West Side Story"
tom grzyb diaspora
Clean Air” as described reminded me of the current tv show “From” about a town in which people find themselves, unable to leave, where monsters kill and eat people at night.

That's pretty much the childhood and adolescence of the human race.
Daniel diaspora
Currently reading Charles Stross Laundry Files books.

Currently not watching anything in particular. I did watch the first series of The Witcher, and it seemed pretty well done, but I wasn't into the source material, so I don't know. Cavill does indeed look exactly like the video game character.

I'm a lot like @tom grzyb in being contrarian. I can pretty well assume that if critics like a show/movie/etc. I will not, and vice versa. Unlike Tom, I liked Star Wars immediately, but that was contrarian as it wasn't immediately expected to be successful on initial release.
Phil Setnik diaspora
@Alrekr Jarnhandr LOL, I defer and bow before your greater knowledge! No, really, what you say is true, and if that's an accurate read on his character, and I don't get that, that's a "me" problem less than a Geralt problem.

I assume there will be another season, so I'm looking forward to that.
Don Little diaspora
I'm currently reading Napoleon's Pyramids. I read it years ago, and I remembered it as being quite entertaining. A friend just loaned me Disloyal by Michael Cohen. I understand he's got a new one coming out. I haven't started Disloyal yet, but looking forward to reading it.
I don't watch TV at all, but it's on in the next room 24/7. When the Big Bang is on, I can't enjoy the witty dialogue because all I hear is the laugh track. Drives me nuts.
Griff Ferrell friendica
@Cass M that's sounds dark...I like dark.

The wife and I are watching Unbelievable on Netflix US.
A limited series about a rapist, the victims, and the cops.

Sounds like any other boring police procedural.

It. Is. Not.
@Cass

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