D's Notebook

Month: May 2023 (Page 2 of 2)

My Podcast Life

May 10, 2023 /

We are coming up on the 20th anniversary of this blog. Or at least the original site the current iteration grew from. I’m sure I’ll whip together something to commemorate the proper anniversary in June.

This morning I saw an article about podcasts and got to thinking about my history with them, which was somewhat tied to my blogging history.

I’m pretty sure I first learned about podcasts sometime in early 2005. I was a loyal reader of Macworld at the time (RIP print computer magazines), and there was a How To article that spring about recording your own podcast.[1] I was fascinated! You could make your own radio show and share it with the world with a minimum of hardware or expense? This was right up my alley, especially as a stay-at-home dad with a lot of free time who loved music and was also exploring the world of new media as a journalism graduate student.

I began downloading various “pod catching” apps – iTunes did not directly support podcasting yet – and tested them to find my favorites. I dug through the directories on each app to find the coolest pods to check out. Some were about the concept/process of podcasting (The Daily Source Code), but most were music pods: random dudes (always dudes) playing music for the world. Insomnia Radio and Never Mind the Bollocks were two of my early favorites.

Again, dead center of my alley of interest.

I looked into investing in some modest equipment to create my own podcast. Then I realized I could do it perfectly fine with what I already had: my Mac’s built-in microphone and GarageBand.

One day in early April I dropped M off at my in-laws for a playdate with her Mimi, bought myself a large coffee, sat down in front of that clunky eMac, and recorded the first episode of Carmel Liberation Radio. I kept that pod going for over ten years. Eventually I got a good microphone, but other than that all 337 transmissions were recorded by plugging into whatever Mac was sitting in front of me and its built-in software.

This was back in the day when the Web Sheriff would scrutinize the podcast world, looking for programs that used music without proper clearance. Usually they issued a polite but stern takedown warning. Occasionally people got sued for copyright infringement. I wanted nothing to do with that so kept my pod invitation only, first on Apple’s .Mac service, later via a Blogger site I turned off search engine indexing for. At its peak, 40–50 people got the notification that a new pod was available; a much smaller subset actually listened to it.

All that seems funny now, because A) I wasn’t trying to make money off the podcast, B) I had legally purchased most of the songs I played, and C) at some point record labels finally realized that podcasts are free advertising in a world where it was harder and harder to make money and backed off the takedowns.

When I saw that article this morning and started thinking about my own podcasting past, it also got me thinking about how cool the 2000s were for personal technology. From the rise of Apple via the iPod and the iTunes Store to the introduction of the iPhone, that decade seemed to be moving very quickly with new products that brought exciting new opportunities. It was fun to be on the early end of that process, when crude, DIY efforts ruled the day as corporations were figuring out what their strategies should be.

Podcasts are an integral part of my life now. There are several I listen to weekly, while others cycle in-and-out of my feed based on my interests of the moment. They soundtrack my gym visits, my work around the house, and help me to fall asleep at night. Even the lowest budget of them sound great and have solid production values. Hell, my girls all made podcasts in middle school for group reading assignments and they sounded decent. A huge improvement from the days of a couple people sharing a microphone on a coffee table while playing their favorite songs or discussing their favorite team.

I often have the itch to get back into podcasting. Ideally it would be an updated take on Carmel Liberation Radio. In the streaming era, though, it’s harder to get those individual tracks lined up into a unique playlist with your own audio in between. My Friday Playlists kind of fill that void, although with text instead of voice comments. I still have that microphone, though, so you never know…

Oh, I was digging back through the archives and it looks like this piece was the first time I ever wrote about podcasts. I posted it about a month before I launched CLR.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I also found my notes from that very first CLR transmission. I carefully scripted the entire thing. In time I would record with a loose set of notes about the songs I shared and come up with my thoughts on the fly.

I have recreated that first playlist for you here. I closed most transmissions with a cover. That is the only track I’m missing here, a cover of The Magnetic Fields’ “Born on a Train” performed by Arcade Fire on KCRW. If you are a completion-ist, you can find that here.

  1. If you pay attention to such things, you might notice that is from June’s Macworld. For some reason computer magazines were always arrived like three months before their official published date, so I would have received that sometime in March.  ↩

Reader’s Notebook, 5/9/23

May 9, 2023 /


Beat the Devils – Josh Weiss
The genre of alternate histories can be very fun if done right. I recently ran across a list of best recent alt history novels and was amazed by how many were centered on World War II. I guess that era has a lot of opportunities for writing about What Ifs. Or people are just obsessed with Hitler. Still.

This takes a different tack, and does so well. It takes place in 1950s America, deep into Joseph McCarthy’s second term as president. His brand of anti-communism/anti-semitism/hyper-patriotism has taken over nearly every aspect of American life. What we think of as the FBI today has become a force that roots out any communist sympathizers, and picks on Jews when they can’t find any commies. The media is totally under government control, and is all about advancing McCarthy’s agenda.

Morris Baker is an LA detective who survived the Nazi concentration camps in Czechoslovakia. As a Jew he is constantly under suspicion, but counters that by being one of the most effective detectives in the LAPD. Until he becomes the patsy government forces are using as an excuse to crack down further on Americans’ rights.

Weiss gets to the formula that makes these kinds of novels work. He sets up a tantalizing alternate universe that doesn’t seem too far fetched. Hell, there are a lot of elected officials in our country at this moment who are behaving very closely to the McCarthyites of Weiss’ book. But he spends more time on a pretty fun and effective mystery than on spelling out the exact details of his universe. When the reader wants more details, you’ve done your alt history right.

There is a second Morris Baker book that I will for sure be reading.


Rogues – Patrick Radden Keefe
A collection of Keefe’s long-form work, mostly for The New Yorker. They are almost all great, and left me fascinated about the process of spending months/years on a subject then turning that into a piece that can be knocked out in 30–45 minutes. That’s the kind of stuff I aspired to do nearly 20 years ago when I went to grad school, but my brain could never figure out how to construct.


The Shards – Bret Easton Ellis
I loved, loved, loved the cinematic interpretation of Ellis’ American Psycho. I thought it ridiculously funny in its skewering of late 1980s Wall Street culture. The key was I didn’t take it too seriously. I know a lot of people hated it, and many more hated Ellis’ original book.

I think I’ve only read one of Ellis’ books, probably 20+ years ago, and as best as I can recall did not love it. I heard a lot of people very excited about his newest book, which went back to his high school days in the early 1980s and the world he grew up in in super privileged LA. I let that enthusiasm by others draw me into it.

That was a mistake.

I did not like this at all. If I wasn’t stubborn about getting so deep into a book and not stopping, I likely would have not wasted an entire week reading it.

I have no issue with Ellis’ graphic sex and violence. I mean, it is a bit much. Or a lot much. But after a couple hundred pages I was numb to it.

What I hated was how long it took him to get anywhere. Entire chapters that took 10–15 minutes to read, were about the minute details of one conversation. Or of his thought process in a specific moment. It reminded me of a Karl Ove Knausgard novel, without any of the beauty or redeeming moments.

I pretty much hated every character. I though the plot was dumb. I did not like the twist at the end, which seemed forced and an effort to rescue a story Ellis knew was a failure.

I occasionally give books my highest recommendation. I give this whatever the total opposite of that is. Stay away.


Stay True – Hua Hsu
This was a wonderful little memoir, written by a Taiwanese American. Although checking in right around 200 pages, Hua covers a lot of ground.

Ostensibly it is a straight memoir about his high school, college, and grad school years in the 1990s. He was your original California slacker who still managed to get good grades while going to Cal and then Harvard for his Ph.D. He was often more interested, though, in ridiculing the music tastes of others (he was into Pavement and Nirvana and couldn’t understand how someone could like Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews), and otherwise looking down on people who didn’t match his tastes. A very ‘90s attitude.

Once you get past those pop culture details, though, the book is much more about defining/discovering identity. How does he fit in with his parents, who are from Taiwan and eventually move back there, when he feels thoroughly American? Why do people insist on calling him Asian American when he feels distinct from both his classmates who are immigrants and from his Japanese American best friend whose family has been in the States for generations? What is the proper role of the non-White activist, to tear things down or try to repair them from the inside? What is friendship, and how can men communicate with each other? What is a sellout?

And so on. Although I’m obviously not Asian, his broader concepts took me back to my life in the ‘90s, when I and my friends were all trying to figure out who we were as we got through college and entered adult life.

It wouldn’t be a book about the ‘90s without some kind of tragedy, and when his best friend is murdered in a random robbery, Hua is forced to consider mortality, America’s gun culture, how decisions made in the spur of the moment can have lasting effects, and grief. Oh, and guilt, of which there is a particularly heartbreaking example.

The best memoirs open your eyes to perspectives you aren’t familiar with while also connecting with your life. Stay True hits every note of that requirement perfectly.

Weekend Notes

May 8, 2023 /

This weekend was certainly slower than the previous one. Doesn’t mean we didn’t pack a few things into it, one of them rather momentous.

On the Road

The family checked off another big milestone when C passed her driver’s test and got her license on Saturday.

It has been a bit of a struggle with her; she was first eligible to get her license the week of Thanksgiving but wasn’t close to either being ready or having enough hours behind the wheel then. She was very anxious about the entire process and it was a chore to get her into the car on a regular basis. Where M was one of those kids who couldn’t wait to get her license, C was part of that cohort that saw no great motivation to get hers ASAP.

As recently as January I was worried that she would ever get it. She wasn’t driving very often, and when she did wasn’t making much progress in her skills. In March something clicked and it all came together, her ability improving quite a bit and those normal, new driver mistakes getting fewer and fewer. She still made me very nervous, or even yell at her, at least once per drive. The other moments were much better, though.

It is tough to grab a weekend test time around here and last weekend was the first chance to get one on the books once we thought she was ready. On the way to her test some other young driver pulled right in front of her in a roundabout. She braked correctly but just sat there. I reached over and punched the horn so the kid knew about his mistake. “Use your horn if you need to, babe.”

When we got to the BMV the test guy was walking out with a lady. They were gone for about half an hour, so C had an idea of how long the test would take. After she left I nervously tried to read, without much success. I checked her location every few minutes to see where they were. After only about 15 minutes I noticed they were only a few blocks away. As they passed the BMV I said a silent prayer, “Please keep going. Please keep going.” But they turned back into the lot.

Damn. That seemed way too quick and I wondered if she had done one of the automatic fail errors. When she walked back in she had a blank look on her face that I couldn’t read. The tester waved me over to his station and when I got there she whispered, “I don’t think I made any mistakes but he didn’t say anything.”

Seconds later he said, “Well, you passed.” Come on, dude, we don’t need to drag it out. Tell the kid how they did right away!

The only bummer was C didn’t realize that she would be taking a new picture and freaked out a little because she wasn’t prepped for one. The nice lady helping us with that part of the process told her she can come back and amend her license with a new picture down the road. I guess that means we’ll be paying for another license but since she thinks she looks like a criminal in the picture she took Saturday I guess that’s worth it.

We immediately violated all the rules by letting her drive a friend to dinner Saturday. I was, again, nervously tracking her location but she made it there and back fine.

Two teen drivers in the house now. Which means the first fight about who gets to use the car isn’t too far down the road.

Kid Hoops

A 1–2 weekend for L’s team, and we were fortunate to get that win.

In our first game we trailed by 14 early and were getting pummeled by their big girl. This girl was ginormous. I’m guessing 6’3”+ and very wide. She wasn’t super athletic but had a bunch of old-school post moves, long arms that helped her get any rebound, and she was blocking every shot in the lane. I know she scored 24. I’m guessing she was very close to a triple double with blocks.

Our girls made a run early in the second half to make it a game and it bounced between a 2–6 point deficit most of the half. We hit a couple threes and took a four point lead late. That got down to one with about 40 seconds left, us inbounding at half court.

One of the super annoying things about travel basketball is that the rules are never the same tournament-to-tournament. Some weeks you play 14 minute halves, others 16. Occasionally 20 minutes with a running clock. Some weeks it takes five fouls to foul out, others six.

This week you didn’t start shooting free throws until there were 10 team fouls. The other team only had six at this point. Despite our struggles with their pressure, their coach decided to start fouling intentionally. Inbound, foul. Inbound, foul. Inbound, foul. Four straight times until we went to the line.

This was super dumb. I can’t stress this enough. One of the worst coaching gaffes I’ve seen.

On three of those inbound passes we almost turned it over. If the coach had told them to trap first and then foul, they likely would have been able to get a steal. On one play I guarantee the ref would have called our girl for traveling but since the coach was screaming at him to call the foul he did. She was so worried about getting us to the line that she didn’t give her team a chance to play defense. If they get a stop they could go down, run a good play for their big girl, probably get a basket or put her at the line (she was 4–5 from the line), and then force us to get a shot up.

Oh, she only had six players. One of them fouled out in this sequence.

When we finally went to the line we missed – of course, we shot like 25% from the line for the weekend – but we got a stop and steal on the other end, then they fouled us again. Which was that player’s sixth foul. They played the last 30 seconds of the game with four players because their coach was super dumb.

We again missed the free throw but got the rebound, scored to go up three, and survived a last-gasp three to get the win.

Thank you, Ohio coach!

We got smoked by some very athletic girls from Wisconsin in pool game two. They led by 24 at one point, we got it down to seven late, but lost by 14.

Then in our bracket game we lost by 10. Again, we trailed by 20 by whittled it down to four. Our girls loved digging holes and then trying to get out of them.

A pretty crappy weekend for L. She hit a 3 right before the halftime buzzer of the first game – that’s her thing now – but rolled her bad ankle about 30 seconds into the second half and didn’t play again. She rolled it on her own, didn’t trip over anyone else or do it as a result of contact. Even with the light brace she was wearing she immediately went down and hobbled off at the next dead ball.

Not a lot of swelling but it is very sore and now we have to figure out how long to hold her out to give it a chance to heal. She wanted to play Sunday but I told her if she rolled it again, she was not only putting the next two weekends in doubt, but would put all her June activities with CHS in jeopardy.

We tried to get her a Steph Curry-approved brace Sunday, but the one we brought home seems defective so I have to return it and find another. We’re also going to keep her in a light brace at all times and do some home rehab once her pain level goes down. I badly sprained my right ankle my sophomore year of high school and it was never the same. I hope she hasn’t inherited my bad ankles along with my bad eyes.

Kid Soccer

I believe I mentioned that L signed up to play on the St P’s soccer team, which is an eighth grade tradition. Between her previous ankle issues, the weather, and basketball conflicts, she was only able to play in two games.

In the first she had one chance to score but took a terrible shot – with the outside of her right foot from the left side – from way too far away from the goal. A dad near me asked, jokingly, “What kind of shot was that?”

“A shot by a kid that hasn’t played soccer in four years,” was my response.

In their final game last week she had another good chance to score, took a great shot from the right side…and one of her teammates ran in the way of it and blocked it for the defense. I’m not sure that it had a chance to go in but it would have made it on-goal.

After the game we were parked by the St O coach and she came over and asked L, “Do you play travel? You’re a really good player.” That pumped up her ego more. She seriously told me two weeks ago she thought she could make the CHS team. I laughed at her and said, “Maybe if you quit basketball and play soccer all summer.” Then I reminded her that she told me her team was trash (it was) and not to get too excited about dominating practice.

Oh well, she had fun playing one more time even if she wasn’t the same player she was back when soccer was her thing.

Pool Season

We finally shook that cold spell and the girls were in the pool a couple times over the weekend. M had friends over Friday night and two of the local nephews took advantage of it on Sunday. I hate to jinx it but if it stays as warm as the next 10 days look, we might be able to keep the heater off except for that quick boost right before the weekends when people are coming over.

Now it will probably be in the 30s next week…

Jayhawk Talk: Big Dick(inson) Energy

May 5, 2023 /

The biggest signing in the history of the transfer portal (for now) requires a quick, emergency Jayhawk Talk.

Thursday former Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson announced he will transfer to KU. That news immediately vaulted KU from a top 15-ish squad to a legit national title contender next season.

I’ll get into the weeds on this later – there is expected to be more roster news soon – so for now I’ll focus on the three transfer players we know will be joining the Jayhawks next year.

Dickinson gives Bill Self the most complete big man he’s ever had. One who has a devastating low post game to either shoulder, who can be deadly in screen-and-roll/screen-and-pop sets, and who can step out and hit 3’s. He’s not a great defender but he isn’t a pushover on that end of the court.

He won’t be as physically dominant as Udoka Azubuike, have as much potential as NBA MVP Joel Embiid, be a defensive stopper like Landon Lucas or Jeff Withey, or play as athletically at Thomas Robinson.

Put his whole game together with the players that should be around him, and there is a great chance he will end up as productive and impactful as any of those past Jayhawks.

Adding Nicolas Timberlake as a poor (and shorter) man’s Gradey Dick and Arterio Morris as a freakish athlete who can also shoot it to two returning players who are lock-down defenders and great passers in DaJuan Harris and KJ Adams, and KU’s top five look super strong. Throw in a McDonald’s All American in Elmarko Jackson, another high school stud in Marcus Adams, and perhaps one more new body and Self has a fantastic top eight.

And that’s without factoring in either Ernest Udeh or Zuby Ejiofor, one of which should probably be back to provide inside depth.

Dickinson is the crown jewel, though. It felt a little icky watching the process, as no one hid the fact he was not just looking for the best basketball fit but also the best financial fit. I like my team being good, and they are in a position to have a ton of success in this new system, so I’m not going to knock it too much. I will fully accept and understand the viewpoint that it sucks, though.

Funny how every spring when KU fans are moaning about next year’s team, Self almost always finds a way to make his teams better. I’ll get into that a little more in next week’s post, too.

For now, though: Rock Chalk, bitches.

Friday Playlist

May 5, 2023 /

Mostly uptempo rockers this week. A notable exception at the bottom for a very important reason.

“Positive Charge” – The Gaslight Anthem
The first new GSA song in nine years is a little underwhelming to me. Brian Fallon’s vocals sound very different from how they used to sound, which makes a huge difference.

“Days Move Slow” – Bully
The new Bully album is going to be a monster.

“Binge” – DEADLETTER
Starting to sense some buzz building for these kids.

“Chad and Stacey” – Guardian Singles
This is not your typical New Zealander music.

“The Big Mess” – Tanlines
It’s almost tan line season!

“My Coco” – stellastarr*
I remember when it seemed like stellastarr* were going to be massive.

“Sundown” – Gordon Lightfoot
Man Gordon could write a song. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is my personal favorite, but since I share it with you most Novembers, I decided to go with his 1974 #1 hit. RIP to one of the greatest voices of the 1970s.

Thursday Links

May 4, 2023 /

I’m overdue on sharing links. To be fair, I haven’t saved very many of late.

A major bummer in the photography world, as Amazon is shutting down DP Review. Anyone who has bought a camera, lens, or other equipment in the past two decades has likely used DP as a resource. It looks like Amazon has clarified their initial plans and will keep the archives up. I just used those this week while looking at film lenses.

This piece is more about niche hobbies and how/if they can survive in the modern world. Obviously it is of interest to 50-somethings like me who are the prime forces behind those esoteric pastimes.
RIP DPReview

Snakes are endlessly fascinating to me. Although I don’t want to be anywhere near them. Some of these pictures are incredible.
Photographer Spends 10 Days Tracking Down Snakes in Namibia

I had no idea there were turf wars in LA between the many Depeche Mode cover bands. As Kevin Garnett said, anything is possible!
Just Can’t Get Enough: The Warring Depeche Mode Tribute Bands Of Los Angeles

M got admitted to three schools and less than $10K in combined scholarship offers. Slacker.
New Orleans senior shatters U.S. record with 125 college offers, $9 million in scholarships

It’s almost outdoor entertaining season. Some decent tips in here.
How to Dine Outdoors, Minus the Bugs

Finally, a moment of zen?
911 call about fight ends with Florida cop separating 2 brawling goats, sheriff says

A Change in (Pas)Times, Pt. 2

May 3, 2023 /

Time for part two of my hobby update. In the first entry, I shared how I had sold all my camera equipment. I ended that post by mentioning I had also done something unexpected and possibly dumb.

In those weeks after I sold my camera gear, I did everything I could to quash any second-thoughts about the decision. I unsubscribed from every photography website, podcast, YouTube channel, Instagram account, etc. I wanted nothing to enter my information feeds that might make me start looking at replacement gear.

I didn’t realize that things having nothing to do with cameras might get into my head.

One night I was watching a video filmed in California, and fell in love with the gorgeous, hazy, 1970s Kodachrome vibes it had. I’ve always loved that style, but was also always frustrated with how many options there are to recreate those looks in modern digital cameras. There were just too many sliders and buttons to tweak, and when I used, say, Fujifilm’s Classic Chrome film simulation, I was never satisfied with the final result.

But as I watched these videos, I realized there was a way around the endless possibilities that come with digital photography.

Shooting on film.

So after about 36 hours of furious research and hemming and hawing, I purchased a film camera.

Good Lord.

For about $150 I got a Nikon FE and a 50mm lens that were in very good shape. I ordered some film, shot a roll, and shipped it off for processing. I’m still waiting on the results (I’ll get more into the reality of film photography in 2023 in a future post). I’m waiting to shoot another roll until I see those first images to make sure that everything is functioning properly on the Nikon. The ASA dial refuses to lock, so I’m hoping I didn’t ruin the roll by shooting at the wrong ISO. My exposure settings were always lined up so I should be ok. Other than that, the camera seemed to be in great condition and had even been serviced by the seller. Fingers crossed any issues with the photos will be only because of operator error.

I have to say those first 36 exposures were a little strange. I’ve shot plenty of point-and-shoot film cameras in my life. In fact, the girls and I were just flipping through a bunch of my old photo albums the other night. This was the first time I had ever used a manual film camera, though. I’ve got the basics down from shooting my Fuji X-T2 in manual, but it was still a very different experience.

For example, focusing. When I looked through the viewfinder I was not presented with a bright, perfect view of what the lens saw. Instead it was blurry and rather dark until I focused in on my subject.

That wasn’t a big deal. What did drive me crazy was not being able to move the focus point around the frame as you can on a digital camera. I kept wanting to use a D pad or joystick to shift the focus. I constantly had to remind myself to focus on my subject then recompose for desired framing.

Getting used to winding the film when I was ready to shoot again was also weird.

So why the hell did I do this?

I obviously still have a photography itch that needs scratching. After all that research and consideration, I decided that shooting on film should do just that, without some of the paralysis by analysis that was present with digital cameras. Once I’ve loaded my film, I will have very little control over how my images will appear. The film stock and speed will take care of all of that. I just have to frame, focus, and expose properly.

Naturally, as with any new hobby, I started thinking about what lenses I can add. A portrait lens? Something wide for landscapes?

Then I remembered the biggest reason I ditched my digital gear: my iPhone is sufficient for 90% of my needs.

The Nikon is purely for fun, for artistic pursuits, and for using something that involves more effort than tapping the screen to capture an image.

When I showed S my new purchase, she just rolled her eyes and asked, “You’re not going to build a darkroom are you?” and went back to her charting.

No, I’m not going to build a darkroom. We have enough chemicals in our basement because of the pool already. I don’t need to worry about storing/disposing of development chemicals.

I would be lying, though, if I didn’t admit to looking into systems for scanning my negatives once they’ve been developed…

Anyway, that’s my new, dumb pastime. Feel free to mock me at your leisure. Or ask me to capture you on film the next time you see me.


April Media

May 2, 2023 /

Movies, Shows, etc

Argo
It had been several years since I watched this. Still holds up, even with all the historical inaccuracies.

A

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
Maybe the biggest mystery of our time is what happened to this Boeing 777 when it disappeared in 2014. This three-episode series dives into all the theories. Not sure it gets us any closer to an answer, which makes sense given how the plane has never been found. The show focuses on three major theories, and all have massive holes in them. So not sure this really answers anyone’s questions. I did make sure to watch this after we flew over the ocean for several hours.

B

Happy Birthday, Ratboy (live at Schuba’s)
Such a fun piece about a very fun band. They have a terrific sound. I especially love all the little tempo and key changes they throw, seamlessly, into so many of their songs.

A

Watches In The Wild | The Road Through America
I casually check the watch site Hodinkee, because I’m an old man who has weird hobbies. This was an interesting, if uneven, look at the American watch industry. It felt like there was a lack of cohesiveness between the first two and second two episodes. But, as mentioned below, I’ll watch anything filmed along the California coast. Oh, and those custom-made watches from LA? I bet they’ll set you back a year’s worth of college tuition. As much as I enjoy reading about watches, and aspire to have nice ones, I’m always amazed by how much money some folks will spend on them.

B+

A Cook’s Tour, season two
Anthony Bourdain really became “Anthony Bourdain” in this season.

The highlight of these episodes was when I saw three friends in the background of his visit to Oklahoma Joe’s in 2001. Best part was they didn’t know they had been included until I sent them a screenshot.

A

The Night Agent
On a discussion group I frequent someone recommended this show, describing it as not as good as Slough Horses, which I have read but not watched, but much better than Jack Ryan, which pissed me off it was so dumb.

I think that was a good description. This show had a lot of potential, a few good performances, and moments of high action. But it also had a really dumb central plot and some actors who were obviously pulled out of the soap opera world, which made for an odd fit. There were a couple characters that I knew exactly what their fates were when they showed up. And the chemistry between the two leads was a little weird.

B-

Tourist Sauce, season eight
It’s been some time since I watched the No Laying Up crew’s high end travel series. This was a good re-entry point: their trip through Scandinavia last summer. I had no idea there was so much cool golf in that part of the world.

A

100 Foot Wave, season one
I had never heard of this show until I saw an article about season two’s release. I scrambled over to HBO to watch season one before our current subscription expired. Some awesome footage of the efforts to ride the outrageous waves in Nazaré, Portugal, considered to be some of the biggest consistent waves in the world.

A

The Town
I heard someone say they thought this was Ben Affleck’s best film. I don’t know about that, but it was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday evening.

A-

Ted Lasso, season 1
S has never watched Lasso, so as season three spins out we decided to watch from the beginning to get her caught up. She’s enjoying it so far. This rewatch confirmed to me that season one was truly magical. We are in the midst of season two, so that will land in my May list.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Superpower for Hire: Rise of the Private Military
Although this is eight years old, it was still super interesting. I’d love to see an updated version given how Russia has used PMCs in their war against Ukraine.

Running a marathon in a luxury hotel
The final chapter of Beau Miles’ 12 Days of Newness was about the perfect Beau Miles experience.

San Francisco to LA | A Bikepacking Journey Along the Coast
If you set a video along the California coast it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, I will watch for the views alone.

DOES YOUR FLAG FAIL? Grey Grades The State Flags!
Bottom line: we have some butt-ugly state flags in this country.

Didi
French snowboarder Marion Haerty attempts to climb and snowboard a Himalayan peak with an all-woman support crew. The descent wasn’t what she had hoped for, but the trip ended up being more than she could have imagined.

Inside the flop that changed Apple forever
Apple LISA Computer – VIDEO DEMO
Apple Ad “Two kinds of people…” with Kevin Kostner
I’ve read about Apple’s Lisa computer over the years, but the first video here was a good overview of what the platform was and why it failed. Interesting that it, in some ways, was a lot closer to “modern” computing than the original Mac, which gets most of the credit. As bonuses links to Apple’s official Lisa training video, and an ad for the Lisa, which featured Kevin Kostner. Why the fuck was he using the mouse with his left hand? I had a coworker once who did that, and when I had to train her on something it almost literally drove me to a murderous rage.

The Decline of Fuddruckers…What Happened?
Fuddruckers was one of the greatest restaurants ever. I had no idea there were still a few scattered around.

Dissing Your Dog
One of Will Ferrell’s top 10 SNL moments. The line he gives the dog that won’t eat always kills me.

WHITE HORIZON
This woman is both a badass and, likely, crazy.

The Rhodesia Coup – Operation Quartz Hectic 1980
South Armagh – “Bandit Country” (1976)
I’ll admit it: sometimes I watch some weird shit.

Frank Turner plays Frightened Rabbit songs for Tiny Changes
Such an algorithm fail that it didn’t send this my way until nearly three years after it was first posted. Goddamn great songs performed with love and passion. The last song kind of wrecked me, as it always does.

Weekend Notes

May 1, 2023 /

A big weekend full of big events.

Prom

The big event of the weekend was M’s final CHS prom. It was quite the stressful week leading up to the dance. There was way more drama in her friend group this year than last.

There was one breakup last week, another of her friends is dumping her boyfriend this week, and another girl has been a bit of a wank which has caused some rifts in their core group. Not all of her friends were originally invited to the same pre-party, which caused some more static. And then one kid invited the entire class – 220-some kids – to his house for an afterparty. He does not have a huge lake house with lots of property like the kid who hosted last year, so everyone just assumed it was going to be a disaster and not last very long before the cops showed up.

Oh, and the weather forecast sucked for Saturday.

Throw in all the normal pre-prom stresses, and M was wound pretty tight last week. On Wednesday she let out a big sigh and told us she just wanted it to all be over. We told her to do her best to relax, to control the things she could control, and focus on having the best time she possible.

You know what? Almost everything turned out just fine Saturday.

It was sunny and 75 when her three friends who were getting ready at our house arrived. We had the pool open, a few of our trees had some really good color, and it looked like we might get some great pictures. They got ready, gathered, I snapped two photos, and just before the third there was a big crack of thunder and rain started falling. I got a great shot of their faces all breaking when they heard the thunder.

We hustled them under the porch roof and got more pics, then they left for the pre-party, with us shortly behind. The hosts were gracious enough to open the party up to just about everyone so there were plenty of chances for more pics. In the 30 minutes between leaving our house and S and I getting there, it rained, hailed, and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Suddenly it was a wet, chilly night. Although with so many people crowded together it wasn’t that bad. The kids would have been roasting had it still been sunny and in the 70s.

We took more pics then left for dinner with friends. All of us monitored our kids’ locations closely until they arrived at the Children’s Museum for the dance. Then we relaxed a bit. Or at least until we got home, when it came time to monitor their after-the-dance activities.

M was where she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be there all night. The after party actually went well. I drifted in-and-out of sleep on the couch until 2:00 when I saw she was at her friend’s house where she was spending the night.

I didn’t see her until Sunday afternoon. She said it was a good night. Some drama in the evening but not as much as she had feared. She went with a friend and they had fun. One of her buddies who she had a little static with last week pulled her aside and thanked her for being honest with her, and they have a picture together with big smiles, so that worked out.

I guess it is easier to have fun when expectations are low, but it seemed like everything turned out about as well as it could have.

Kid Hoops

After a week off L’s team was back to tournament play with morning games both days about 30 minutes east of Indy.

Saturday we split two, losing by 22 and winning by 32. We were only down four in the first game with 2:00 left in the first half before giving up a 12–0 run. The lead quickly surpassed 20 in the second half and we had a running clock for the rest of the game. These girls were good: long, athletic, and could shoot. Pretty much the kind of team we always lose to. They hit a ton of 3’s; at least seven in the first half alone. We missed at least 10 free throws which could have at least made it respectable. We heard this team had lost by 10 to the girls that beat us twice two weeks ago.

L was solid in both games, scoring 6 and 8 and playing really good D in game two.

Sunday we were back at 8:00 AM for bracket play. We trailed 12–8 about four minutes into our semifinal. This team was giving us fits on defense but didn’t seem to have much on offense. After we hit a 3 to take the lead we finished the half on a 14–2 run and had a running clock most of the second half. L scored six but was 0–3 from the line. I believe she went 2–7 from the line for the weekend, the only makes coming when she hit 2–3 after getting fouled on a 3 attempt.

Onto the title game against the team that beat us Saturday. Just like the tournament two weeks ago, the rematch was a much better game.

Our girls game out super fired up and led 12–8 before giving up a 12–0 run. We were down 8 at halftime, but were limiting their three-point looks. L was face-guarding their best shooter – who hit six on us Saturday – and she didn’t take a 3 in the first half.

We slowly clawed back in the second half and briefly took a one-point lead at 36–35, only to give up an 11–2 run.

Again we clawed back. We were getting great, open looks from 3 and decent looks inside but kept missing. Yet we chipped away.

With under a minute left, down two, L got the ball on the left wing and didn’t hesitate, draining a three to give us the lead. But we gave up four-straight points and were down three with 2.9 seconds left, inbounding under the far basket. Our coach called a timeout to set something up. Which seemed a little hopeless since we had struggled against their pressure and surely they would press, right?

The girl taking the inbound faked a short pass, L cut from across the court at the midcourt stripe, the inbounder tossed a perfect pass just over the D, L caught it, took a dribble, threw up a running 3…and it banked in! Pandemonium! Poor kid thought she won the game, not tied it, and was a little bummed when she realized we were going to overtime. She lost her shit for a minute.

I’m not a videoing parent, and took some grief from the others when I didn’t capture it. Lucky one of our players brought a sister and her friend, and they did video it. I tried to include it here but can’t get it to embed properly. Trust me, it was fun!

Also worth noting she was supposed to pass to the girl in the corner, but decided not to.

In OT we were down two, with the ball, and time running out. One of our girls lost the ball while driving, the girl who threw the inbounds pass to Lia grabbed it and tossed it up. It rattled in just as the buzzer sounded. Double OT!

Despite being a championship game, tournament rules dictated the second OT be sudden death. We lost the tip, but held on D and had a run-out. We pitched the ball into the front court and had a 3-on–2 break. The ref up with the break suddenly blew his whistle and everyone looked around confused. The ball was nowhere near a defender, so there hadn’t been a foul. He pointed to the scorer’s table and yelled, “Start the clock!”

Only problem was the other ref had told the clock operator not to start the clock on the tip since the period was sudden death. We had been on the wrong end of a couple close calls late in the game and pretty much our entire side of the stands let this guy have it. Our calmest parent said she wanted to go punch him when the game was over.

Naturally after the re-start, we turned the ball over, that same ref called a very soft foul 40 feet from the basket, and they hit the first free throw to win.

A real bummer ending to a great performance by our girls. I get the need to keep games moving, but in a championship game, there shouldn’t be sudden death OT. Especially when both teams are in the bonus and either a soft foul or a player making a hustle play who gets a little too aggressive can determine the outcome.

L played her ass off. She scored 14, including a really tough layup late in the second half against their tallest player (who hacked her pretty good but got away with it). She had five turnovers but twice immediately stole it back. Once she made a terribly soft pass they picked off, then she stole it right back, drove the lane and tossed a perfect pass to a cutter for a layup. She locked down that shooter, who didn’t hit a 3 when L was on her in the entire game. And she hit two of the biggest shots of the game. She was mad about the result but pleased with her play as she limped to the car afterward.

If we could just get the team to play as hard in pool play games as they do in championship games…

Sunday night we capped off the weekend with the callout meeting for CHS basketball. She now has a rough idea of what her summer training with her future high school teammates will be like. She’s taking two summer classes. Throw in basketball workouts and homegirl is going to be bizzzzz-y this June.

NFL Draft

I’m long on record as hating the NFL Draft. It’s the most over-hyped event in sports, and sucks far too much air out of the sports media complex for far too long.

That said, I was more interested in this year’s draft than any other I can recall. That was, obviously, because the Colts were drafting at the four spot and there was a lot of confusion about how those first four picks would go.

I think I turned the TV on about ten ’til eight and was immediately annoyed. I should have known the entire thing would be an over-the-top, completely manufactured NFL/ESPN event. Sure enough in the maybe 20 minutes between when I tuned in and Carolina finally made their first pick, I got good and pissed off. Can we just get to the selections? The show is going to take four hours anyway, why do we need to stretch out the beginning?

As for the Colts’ pick, I honestly don’t think there was a sure-thing pick among the four top QB candidates. I was relieved Carolina took Bryce Young, as I worry about his size. Which means he’s going to be great. I liked CJ Stroud, but I wonder about his upside vs being a game manager who doesn’t really elevate a team. So Anthony Richardson was kind of my guy, although I give him like a 25% chance of turning into a franchise-level QB for the next decade. At least he’s an interesting pick. At least he has insane upside. I can deal with the chance that he is a complete bust and this pick sets the franchise back another 4–5 years because it is not a dull pick. If you shoot for the moon and whatnot.

Because I can’t stand that shit, I only glanced at two draft summaries. One gave the Colts an A+ for their overall draft. The other had it ranked as the second-best group. These grades are always suspect, as you never know how an athlete will transition to the pro game, if their bodies will hold up, etc. But it seemed like a good weekend for the Colts, and could be great if Richardson turns into a legit dude.

Weather

Continues to suck. Sunday was especially terrible. We got back from basketball around 1:00. It was dreary and chilly with occasional sprinkles. We had been home about 10 minutes when the skies turned pitch black, it started pouring, and there was small hail. Fifteen minutes later a glorious sun burst through. This cycle repeated all afternoon, with the temps slowly dropping each cycle.

Today it is only supposed to be 45. On May fucking first. With our pool available for swimming.

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