I've Got a Golden Ticket

I just got back from 1945 @ Village 8. I'll admit that one of the reasons I wanted to see it was because it was very Hungarian. Hungarian writer, director and setting. 

It had some other things going for it, though. It was black and white. It was part of the Jewish Film Festival in several cities, Louisville amongst them. It had subtitles. It was, for lack of a better term, a serious movie. To me, that means it was a movie which would provide me an opportunity for growth spiritually or intellectually. So even though my usual movie date was not available (though I'm going to ask her to see it with me this weekend if I have the opportunity to get out), and even though I don't like to go to movies by myself these days, I went for it.

And it was just stunning. A little bit of a slow start, but once I had settled in it shifted to interesting as the mystery behind the characters' motivations was slowly revealed, and then it became mesmerizing. There were a couple of scenes that made me laugh. There was a really sexy scene in which no nudity was shown. And there was one scene which made me cry pretty hard. But most of all, it made me think: We have got to stop judging other people. We have got to stop assuming the worst of everyone. We have got to start talking to people with whom we disagree. And we have got to start listening to what they have to say.

Funny, I watched something or other on one of the "news" shows yesterday . . . it might have been that open forum on everyday racism thing . . . and someone was saying how a police chief told him that 90% of police calls could be avoided if people would just talk to their neighbors. 

We used to do that.

Hell, I grew up living next door to a racist who sold drugs out of his house, but we got along without shouting at or shooting each other. The closest he got to going after us was when he got into trouble with the cops and he figured that one of the neighbors had dropped a dime on him, and he walked out on his porch and shouted to the world, "I'm going to sell my house to the biggest, blackest nigger I can find!" My mom had come to see what the fuss was about and he turned and saw her in the doorway after his proclamation, and he said to her, "You probably won't even care." My mom answered, "You're right." And that was that.

Those were the days.

Whilst looking up some data on 1945 I happened upon some of the financial information, and, as I and you suspected, it was not pretty.

This film was actually first released in February of 2017, and to date has made $504,016 according to Wikipedia,  $669,845 according to IMDb . . . and its budget was $1,700,000. Meanwhile, Avengers: Infinity War, which was released April 23, 2018, has to date earned $1,916,500,000. Oops, waitaminute. In the time it took me to look that up and type that sentence it made another $500,000. (Well, just guessing, but it's not unlikely, is it?) And I enjoyed Infinity War, for sure . . . but 1945 is so much better, so much more powerful, so much more . . . that it's not even of the same species as Pozzo. 

I've been searching for a video release of the film, but so far I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I also looked for some work by the writer Gábor T. Szántó, on whose story "Homecoming" this film was based (and who co-wrote the movie), but came up with nada there as well. Fuck. If only I'd known at a younger age how important Hungarian art would become to me, I'd have started studying the language then. I suppose I still can, of course, but at my age the roar of time's winged chariot is so loud that I can hardly maintain a coherent thought for more than a minute at a time. Still, it would be nice to be able to read some of the books that I can't find in English. Or, for that matter, to watch some of my favorite movies without having to look down at the sub-titles every few seconds.

ANYway, if this movie comes within a hundred miles of you, you should seek it out. Updates when / if they happen.

Miss Guided Angels "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"

This lovely video just dropped a few hours ago. Give it a look and a like (if you do). I'm especially fond of the fiddle player--my number one son Jimmy.



 

Roseanne

Yesterday afternoon on MSNBC, I heard Ari Melber say that ABC revived Roseanne because it saw there was a market for racism, and that they only cancelled the show when Roseanne Barr took it too far and their profits were threatened. And later that evening I heard Chris Hayes make reference to the "fact" that the Roseanne show supported Trump, and proved this by playing a clip in which the character Roseanne said that she voted for Trump because nothing else had worked and she didn't know what else to do . . . and she was roundly chastised for this by her sister Jackie. (That, by the way, is the only time the show has made any reference to approving of Trump.) 

So . . . I've been thinking about Roseanne Barr. And Roseanne Conner. 

As I've noted before, I am not a Trump supporter. Quite the opposite. I am hoping that he is impeached later today, as a matter of fact. I shit thee not. And I am not a Roseanne Barr supporter. I think that she is a nasty, brutish, ill-mannered woman. (She also has a net worth of $80 million, by the way. So there is a little bit of distance between the actor and the character.)

But I like Roseanne Conner. I don't agree with her (fictional, let's keep in mind) political choice in the 2016 election, but I understand it. The (So-Called) Liberals have not dropped the ball, they've pulled it away from Everyman Charlie Brown. Again and again and again. Obama? Did some good, sure. Did a lot of harm, too. (Concessions to the pharmaceutical industry which seriously damaged his healthcare plan. Drone strikes / assassinations way up beyond the Bush numbers. (Side note: take a look at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-president-barack-obama-bomb-map-drone-wars-strikes-20000-pakistan-middle-east-afghanistan-a7534851.html and listen to your own heart breaking.) More people deported during his administration than under any other president. Promised to close Guantanamo Bay, didn't do it.) So if you're a lower middle class person who is watching health care costs rise, watching the people on the rungs above you profit while you continue to struggle economically . . . or lose even more . . . I can certainly understand you saying, "Maybe this Trump guy can help us." Desperation does that kind of thing to you.

And besides that, Roseanne was never about politics. All of the comments about it being a show that supported Trump are just bullshit, and can't possibly be coming from people who have actually watched the show. Which I have. Every episode of this incarnation. (And quite a few of the old ones as well, but those were different times (1988 - 1996), and we didn't always have access to shows after they aired.) And you know what? I thought it was a really good show. Funny, but poignant, too.

So I was disappointed to hear that the show was cancelled. I hadn't watched episode 9 yet, and when I heard that ABC was pulling all mentions of the show from their website, I sat down and watched it, as I thought it might disappear from my YouTube TV Home page if I didn't get to it right away. And you know what? It was a really good show. It dealt with illegal workers in a way, but not as a political hot potato, as an issue that affected the characters in very palpable ways. Dan ended up deciding to hire illegal workers because he couldn't afford to bid low enough to get a job with his usual union guys. And he was chastised for that action by one of those workers. And other stuff happened as well. In fact, I'm just now thinking about the nine episodes of this show, and in it I've seen them bring up all kinds of issues without turning them into stupid cliches: a cross-dressing young boy, an octogenarian with a vivid sex drive, surrogate parenthood, working low wage jobs, trying to find a job, opiate addiction, the expense of health care, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And in every case the story was told with sensitivity and an unwillingness to condemn.

It was a really good show.

And as for this cancellation. Well, I know this is an inside thought, but this blog is inside for me, so I'll just go for it. I am pretty sure that Ari Melber's comments about ABC cancelling the show (see above if you are suffering from short term memory loss) are specious and impertinent. ABC cancelled the show because it thought it was the right thing to do, and because not doing the right thing right now can have disastrous consequences for the non-doer. But the reality of that cancellation is that hundreds of people are now out of a job. Hundreds of innocent people. Maybe hundreds of good people. All in order to punish one person who did something that actually had no connection to the show whatsoever. 

I can see why Righties would see this as the Great Politically Correct Machine Blowing Snowflakes in their faces. 

And I had to wonder . . . why didn't they take a different approach? For instance . . . in episode 9, Roseanne was about to get her knee operated on. So episode 10 opens in a hospital waiting room, and guess who just died on the table (and is never seen in this episode)? Yes. Statement made. Show goes on. Why the fuck not?

ADDENDUM: I have no desire to defend Roseanne Barr in any way. Fuck her. But it's worth fifteen seconds of your time to see what she had to say after this debacle.

I think it would be a better world if we would stop putting people into boxes and nailing down the lids. 

Just sayin', sir.

And if that don't suit ya, that's a drag.

This Week's Comics: May 16 & May 23, 2018

I didn't make it to the comic book store last week (Deadpool 2, lightning), so you'd think there would have been a good haul this time around, but alas there were only three books:

Cave Carson Has An Interstellar Eye #3, 

Pellucidar: At the Earth's Core #1, 

and 

The Prisoner #2.

As for this Cave Carson . . . this so-called Cave Carson . . . I've got to admit that I don't really get this book. I bought the first four issues of the Cybernetic Eye version and I really liked Michael Avon Oeming's art (as I have many times in the past), but the story was just a little too thin for me. One of those trying too hard to be weird things, and I prefer my weird to be of the I can't help it variety. Plus it was a $3.99 book, and you know how I feel about THAT shit. So I stopped at #4. But when I saw that DC had re-tooled it with the Interstellar Eye version, I couldn't help myself, and I bought #1. It wasn't any more comprehensible than the first go round, but hey . . . most comic books are $3.99 a pop now . . . and it does have the coolest title of any comic book ever . . . and I do like that art. So  we'll see if I make it past #4 this time around. As always, I am now hankering for all of the "back issues," and Comixology does just happen to have a sale on the two collected volumes going on right now . . .  so it might have to be that way. Funny, I can now get all 12 of these issues for  $12 plus tax . . . putting the per issue price at about a dollar an issue. Pays to wait, hey?

I didn't really want to buy Pellucidar: At the Earth's Core. I may have bought an American Mythology Productions production before, but I couldn't tell you for sure, as to me they're just another one of those small publishers who do shitty books with shitty art. Lots of stupid horror stuff. But hey, it's always good to see that Edgar Rice Burroughs is alive and well and living in four color splendor. So I picked it up, even though the terrible art on the cover made me cringe. I flipped through the book and the art was even worse on the inside . . . so bad that I really would have thought it was an amateur fanzine thing or, at best, a local artist trying to get his/her start in the career. And I put it back on the shelf, but something made me come back to it and start reading it. I was surprised. The writing was actually pretty good. And that, coupled with the fact that it was a low tide week . . . and that there was an ad for a Carson of Venus ad in the back of the book . . . made me buy it. And it was okay. I don't think it was okay enough for me to want issue #2 off of the stands, but if it goes down to $1.99 on Comixology I might could pick it up. Apparently American Mythology has done several ERB books, and is planning on doing more . . . including a crossover thing entitled Fear on Four Worlds which will include Carson of Venus, Moon Maid, Pellucidar, and The Land That Time Forgot. So that's kind of cool. Might have to look for that.

And then there's The Prisoner. Peter Milligan script. Ah, Peter. I have followed that fellow since 1989 when he put out Skreemer, which is (1) still one of my favorite comic books ever and (2) often seen in the budget bin at Half-Price Books for a dollar or two. I don't know why Peter never became a big name writer. He's still at it, so he must be making a living, but he just never made that big splash that I think his talent deserves. The Prisoner isn't his best work . . . but how could it be? I think he's doing as much as can be done with the thing. Especially as this thing is a re-vamp / modernization of the original thing. The art doesn't help. It's not American Mythology level terrible, but it's not what I would call good. None of that matters, though. This is The Prisoner, man. I am going to buy the rest of this series straight off the stands no matter what happens. It's the Kamandi of the tv series turned comic book crowd for me.


On the Digital Front . . . 

Injustice 2 #58 was back to form with a couple of funny bits and a killer last panel, and #59 kept making me happy.

And I'm still reading Dungeons and Dragons books on Comixology, and still finding them to produce a pleasing scent in my nostrils. In fact, I actually started subscribing to Comixology Unlimited just so I could read the DandD books . . . though I'm also looking forward to gorging on some Atomic Robo stuff.

There were two Image titles--Dry County and Gideon Falls--which I was really interested in, but I think I'm going to hold off for the collections there . . . and maybe even hold off a little longer until the collections go on sale on Comixology, as I don't feel any desperation for them. Maybe even wait and see if the library will come up with them. I just can't afford to buy all the comic books I want to read these days.

Also happened to be thinking of Doomsday Clock. You know, I was really looking forward to reading that, but I only lasted two issues before I decided that it just wasn't worth the money. I would like to read it at some point, but I am hoping to get it from the library as I don't really think it will be worth my money to buy it--even though it will be a hell of a lot cheaper to pick up as a collected edition. It's getting to the point where buying monthly issues just isn't the way to go, you know? I mean, shit, $4 is the norm for a monthly these days . . . and you can usually get a collection of six issues or so for fifteen to twenty dollars . . . sometimes even in hardback . . . so where's the benefit of buying the monthly? The publishers really should do something to give the monthly folks a better reason for continuing to buy those titles. I don't think they're going to be able to rely on the lack of patience with delayed gratification for much longer. This is the age of the binge, after all.

rOyAl fIzzbIn

I turned on my (1960s) transistor radio this morning as I prepared to make breakfast for my two young wards 1 and heard some Masterpiece Theatre-y music. That's not normal for Saturday 7 am AM Radio. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was coverage of The Royal Wedding, featuring Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

Three thoughts occurred to me immediately and simultaneously:

(1) How is it possible that we still consider some people to be Royal in the 21st Century?

(2) Why on earth does anyone give even an ittybitty shit about two rich people getting married?

(3) Is marriage still a thing? I realize this might be the two divorces speaking, but I find it hard to wrap my mind around the idea that in this day there are people who are game to look each other in the eye and say they are ready, willing, and able to "forsake all others" for the next fifty or sixty years. Sounds like bullshit to me . . . and I do have statistical evidence on my side. 40 to 50% of first marriages end in divorce, and the % gets worse after that. And then there's the cheating, of course. I'm sure there's a big overlap between the % of people who cheat on their marriage partners and the % of people who get divorced, but I know there's at least some area of incongruity, as I know married couples who have stayed married after one of them has cheated. ANYway . . . I am 100% sure that the majority of human beings are not capable of staying with one sexual partner for their entire lives. 2  

I couldn't switch the station because my 1960s transistor radio only gets one station. So I continued to listen as I fried some eggs and made some pancakes. It was amazing. The "newscaster" described every movement the wedding participants made--"Meghan smiles and nods" kind of shit. At which point it actually became kind of funny, so at least there was that. But I finished breakfast before Prince Harry could say his vows, so I'm not 100% sure that it all worked out the way it was supposed to work out.

Want to guess how much of a shit I give about that? 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

1 Neither of whom is named Dick Grayson.

2  And I will reveal the depths of my naiveté when I add that I find this statement to be very sad.

P.S. Just for giggles and shits, I posted a tweet on this very topic 45 minutes ago.

Not Senator Macron level by any means, but still . . . I'll bet that's 340 more hits that this post gets. Just sayin', sir.

The Return of Charles Willeford!

I love Hard Case Crime. I've read quite a few of their titles, and if I had the time to read them and the money to buy them I'd get every one of their titles. The covers alone are worth the price of admission. I've also contacted the editor, Charles Ardai, on a couple of occasions, and he has always been friendly and polite in response. (You know, like the opposite of Ed Brubaker.) Case in point . . .

See how friendly and nice and not Ed Brubakerly Mr. Ardai is?

Well, I sent that email over a year and a half ago, and my Charles Willeford obsession has passed and been replaced by various other writer obsessions, but today I got an email which announced, in part . . . 

So you can bet that I clicked on that link, and there I saw this thing of beauty:

How cool is that shit?

This Week's Comics: May 9, 2018

Only one print comic book this month. Yowza. But it was at least a good one: IDW's The Highest House by Mike Carey and Peter Gross--the same team that brought us the brilliant The Unwritten 1 (among other things). The only bad thing about this book is that it's a limited series, and this is issue 4 of 6. 

Here are some of the good things:

(1) It's big. How big is it? Just look:

(And yes, I do keep a copy of Nexus #6 close at hand. Doesn't everybody? 1

(2) The art is beautiful, and Peter Gross really knows how to make use of the extra space this format affords him. The art reminds me a bit of Kaluta, but it's not really that much like MK. More the same sensibility.

(3) Mike Carey knows how to tell a story. He also knows what to leave out, which kind of amazed me in this issue. No spoilers here, but oh, this man can write.

(4) Mike Carey knows how to make you care about characters. Even the bit players matter to me here. No mean feat, that. 

(5) IDW seems bound and determined to put the best quality comic books out on the stands. When that's combined with quality work, it's  really impressive.



And on the digital front, I got and read the aforementioned Dungeons & Dragons Volume 1: Shadowplague from Comixology Unlimited, and liked it enough to get the rest of the "free" issues in the series--#6 through #15. And a 100 page Spectacular from January 2012 as well. And so far it's all been between good to very good. In fact, the only disappointment to date has been a story in the Spectacular that was written by R. A. Salvatore, of whom I expected great things and only got meh things. But big picture: I have really enjoyed these books so far--especially the humorous asides and the messing around with conventional storytelling. So I'm going to find me some more, even if I have to pay for it. More news as it happens. 




1  I am really going to have to go back and re-read that series. Matter of fact . . . hold on for a minute. There. Book One of The Deluxe Edition (which contains issues 1 through 12, aka 1 -2 of the trade paperback edition . . . which I mention only because apparently DC crapped out and will not be releasing any more hardcover versions, so there's that. I have a lot of the single issues in my basement, but I really like reading the collected editions, so I might just see if the library can carry me through to the end of this. Assuming I don't poop out on it. But I remember being quite thrilled with it the first time around, and it has been a while since I swam in those waters.

2  It's hard to believe this book is 34 years old. I've re-read it a bunch of times, and to this day it stands as one of my all time favorite books . . . and the only comic book I know of which successfully combines philosophical musings, humor, and full frontal action. It's also my vote for Best Use of The Badger character ever. And that's no small thing in my book.

This Week's Comics: May 2, 2018

Been meaning to get back to a regular comic book round-up, but you know how that goes. This week I had a pretty small haul, though, and I decided that there was actually a thing or two I wanted to say about them, and since there is no one in my life (sob) to whom I can talk  about comic books, I figured I'd just do it here.

And awaaaaaay we go.

A mere four books this week, representing four different companies, so that's kind of nice, ennit?

From BOOM! Studios, we have Coda #1. I hadn't heard anything about this, but I tend to at least pick up new comic books for a little look. When I picked this one up, I was immediately impressed by the cover stock. It's heavy cardboard, the same as they used on The Grass Kings, and I like it like it like it. I opened the book up and started reading and it only took about three panels before it made me laugh out loud. So I thought that was worth my hard earned $3.99. It's also 40 pages of story (+ 4 pages of maps), so a good deal from that angle as well. The art was interesting, and for the most part I liked it, but it was that "messy style" which sometimes makes it hard to know what you're looking at. In fact, there was one panel I had to stare at for several seconds before my brain could interpret the images. The writing seemed okay to me, with one reservation:  in Simon Spurrier's author bio he makes reference to the idea that Coda is "the mercy  killing of the entire exhausted High Fantasy genre." Um . . . a little big for your britches there, ain't ya, Simon? I'm not a big fan of the whole arrogant asshole schtick. So I don't think I'll be coming back for issue 2 of Coda. I'm not sure that I won't, though. If it's a light week . . . it could happen. Maybe. 

From DC, we have DC Nation #0 . . . which only cost 25¢, and had three stories, one eight-page Batman (written by Tom King, and it was quite excellent), one eleven page Superman (which was not bad, but hopefully not indicative of the best that Bendis can do as it wasn't that good, either) and one ten page Justice League story which just seemed like shit to me, so let's not talk about it. Still, that's a lot of bang for your one-fourth of a buck, so you should probably snag it.

From Image, we have The Walking Dead #179. I managed to get the Bill Sienkiewicz variant cover, which made me happy. This was Part 5 of the 6 part "New World Order" storyline . . . and while I have been quite happy with this comic book pretty much from the get-go, next issue will be my last hard copy purchase. I just never really got over the whole We're Hiking the Price Up a Buck Even Though It's Doing Better Than Ever . . . And We're Not Even Going to Mention It To You. It's $1.99 (a month late) from Comixology for me from here on out. Anyway, this was a good issue. It's going to be hard to  endure the one month off from reading this title while I wait for the price drop . . . but I'll manage. 

And from Marvel, it's the True Believers edition of Wolverine #1. One dollar . . . but barely worth it. Man, the pencil art on this thing is horrible! The only thing worse is the color. Although the story is nothing  to write home about. It's easy to get nostalgic about  80s comic books, but reading them often reveals that they just weren't very good, ya know? I don't need any more of this storyline, for sure.

And speaking of online comics . . . I also made a couple of those purchases this week: Injustice 2 #56 (of course) and Dungeons & Dragons Classics Volume 3. Yes, you read that right. I can explain.

 But first the Injustice. For me, the series is in a bit of a slump of late, but not in a general sense, just in an Injustice 2 sense. Which means that it still kicks ass every issue and I have no intention of not buying it for as far into the future as I can see. In fact, I love this book so much that I don't even regret the fact that I've now spent $56 on a comic book which doesn't even exist in physical form. Tom Taylor is just an awesome writer. So by "slump" what I really mean is that this issue didn't make me gasp or involuntarily cry out, "Oh my God!"

Okay, as for the DnD. I happened upon an issue of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons at Half-Price completely by accident--it was just there and I was on my way someplace else when it caught my eye. But the cover was so arresting that I had to stop and really look at it. Which was when I saw that the artwork was by Jan Duursma  whom I have long loved. And it was only a buck. So I bought it. And I actually read it almost immediately, and was not only impressed by the art, which I knew I would be, but I was struck by several interesting story elements. Such as the fact that there was a warrior woman (with the unfortunate name of Vajra--and there's good reason for her having that name in terms of the word's meaning, but for fuck's sake, kids, that is WAY close to Vagina) who was drawn like a woman with good muscle tone rather than like a Playboy model or a WWE Woman's Heavyweight. And there were lots of other nice touches as well. It was a bit more Lord of the Rings-y than I would have liked, but I really wanted to read the rest of the story. Problem: I'd looked through the other issues at Half-Price and I knew that they didn't have all four issues in the story arc. But you know who did have them? Comixology. As a matter of fact, the package including that story arc contained a total of 258 pages for less than $8. Bought it, read it. Thinking about getting me some more.  And in the meantime, Comixology offered me a second free trial, so I did that, and guess what they had for me to read?

Dungeons & Dragons Volume 1: Shadowplague. Mmm-hmm.

So I'll be reading that tonight.

Good week!

The Lighter Side of Autism

This morning Jacqueline was Googling the names of actresses for her St. Lucy in Bibleland 1 movie. Looks like Laura Mooney is going to be starring as St. Lucy and Maria Canals-Barrera will be playing her mother, Eutychia. Based on some of Jacqueline's later comments, it is clear that part of the movie will be shot on location at Hogwarts, and will feature several of the Very Useful Engines from the Island of Sodor. (And it looks like James the Red Engine is in a heap of trouble.)

That's my girl.

1  Which is already a mash-up combining her favorite saint and a series of books under the banner title of Alice in Bibleland. And just to add a little twist on that, according to Jacqueline, the blind St. Lucy has a seeing eye dog named Mulan. Mmm-hmm.

Again, Whirlpool Visions

Listen to this:

Sounds like a washing machine, doesn't it? Well, have another listen.

Sounds like Victory, doesn't it? Mmm-hmm. That's what I'm talking about. But let us go back . . . back to The Beginning.

Some time ago . . . ah, why bullshit you? It was on the 6th of April, 2014. What is the 21st Century for if not timestamps, after all? ANYway . . . being short of funds and moderately long on bills, when my washing machine stopped working I did not follow my first impulse and go to buy a new one. Nor did I follow my second impulse and call a repairman. I knew that even that would have been a strain on my early-retired-teacher-and-two-special-needs-adult-children-living-with-me budget. So with malice toward all and charity for none, I went online and found out how to fix it. If you want the whole story, you can go back through the archives and find it if you like the thrill of the chase . . . or you can just click HERE. 

I actually thought that that would be that and I wouldn't have to worry about my washing machine ever again. Of course, back in those days I was way way overweight and a heavy smoker, so I didn't think I had more than a couple of years left to me. (My Health Insurance Questionnaire told me I had a physical age of 69 at the time . . . and I was only 56 then. And I had kind of kept the whole smoking a pack and a half a day thing to myself. So that might've added another 5, 10, ? years to that "age" . . . . ) 

But a little while ago I noticed that the washing machine was starting to get a little cranky about heading into the spin cycle. So I did what any red-blooded American boy would do: I ignored it. And then it just plain stopped going into the spin cycle at all. So I did a little jury-rigging: I put a broken piece of pencil into the lid latch hole. It worked. But much as I wanted to pretend that all would be well and all would be well and all would be exceedingly well, the writing was obviously on the wall. So I ordered a new Lid Switch Assembly. $13 this time around. But I didn't want to put it in, didn't want to go through all of that disassembly and reassembly business again. Until earlier tonight when  I put in a load of wash, and when I came back to check on it, this is the sight that greeted my weary eyes:

See the not agitating agitator? See the dirty water? Lots of dirty water? Yep. It was a dead stop situation.

I was sorry that I hadn't been doing any drinking, because then I could have said, "Ah, fuck it," and gone upstairs and not thought about it until the light of day. Instead I went upstairs and started looking for Whirlpool Part Number 3949237: Switch, Lid. And amazingly enough, I found it within a minute or two. Alas, I hadn't had the foresight to take note of the web address of the video I had watched the first time around, so I had to start from scratch for the guidance. Along the way I found a video that talked about how to bypass the lid switch, and I was sorely tempted to do that . . . but decided that hey, I already had the switch and I had done this before, so why not just do the right thing, Spike.

And I found this video: 


I don't know if this guy did a better job of explaining the process or if my muscle memory of the first job (I certainly had no information in my head about it) had lingered, but it seemed like it took no time at all to get the washing machine apart, take out the old switch . . . 

. . . and put in the new one. And once I had it all back together I baited my breath, plugged in the machine, and turned the dial to the spin line . . . and it began to spin. 

Spinning at last! Spinning at last! Lord God Almighty, it was spinning at last! 

When it stopped spinning and I opened the lid, the water was all gone. I put the load of now clean clothes into the dryer and started the washer up again for a second load with a feeling that wasn't too awfully distant from confidence.

Can I have some drinks now?

Again, Constantine Visions

There should be a word for "flipping through streaming content whilst raving starkers drunk on cheap whiskey." Like BLITZKRIEGING, maybe. Cause you're, you know, blitzed. And krieging. ANYway . . . .

I was Blitzkrieging last night, and after fruitlessly pounding through the Netflix and Amazon offerings, I clicked on CWSeed, which I'd heard of but not yet experienced. And (suddenly!!!) there it was.

And not just John Constantine . . . Matt Ryan John Constantine.

So of course I watched it then and there. And of course it was The Usual: Newcastle, cigarettes, John's a bastard, allathat. What else are you going to do when you start up a new series? (Although I've often wondered about that. Every super-hero movie starts with The Origin Story, right? But why? Mainstream movies don't start with the origin. They just tell a story. I think that might be why for there are many times when you could have picked up an issue of the monthly comic book and got a better story than the movie provided. Plus the whole Now We Have to Make It Bigger! thing which eventually sinks every super-hero movie and show. Fuck, I think about how much I liked the first few shows of Supergirl, and it is just unwatchable nowadays, bloated with super characters who do really silly things with their capes and shit like that. Where have all the good times gone?)

And it was a decent story. The animation was a bit shit, but not out of the par for the course range of this age. 

Right now there's only one 28 minute episode available, which was kind of a bummer, but when the show ended the first episode ("Non Est Asylum") of the 2014 series, and it was cool to watch that again. (The kind of thing I've been meaning to get around to, but there's so much new stuff coming all the time that it's hard to find your way back to the Golden Oldies.)

But I will mos def be looking for more of this Constantine: City of Demons thing. I remember that being the title of a mini-series from some time back. Let's see . . . five issues, 2010 to 2011 . . . according to the synopsis, it doesn't look like it has anything to do with the animated show, though, so I guess I don't need to go dig it out for a read, then, do I? Might anyway.

Meanwhile, ponder this wisdom from Mr. Constantine:

"Sometimes shitty things happen because that's just the way the world is."