The Last Jedi
OK, a quick five-minute listing of thoughts on The Last Jedi, which I saw last night. Spoiler alert! Conclusion first: The Last Jedi was very good. I had a few problems with it, but overall it was very entertaining, very well shot, had a decent story, and was worth two-and-a-half hours of my time. What I liked most: Man, was…
FOTY
For a guy who doesn’t have a job, I’m insanely busy this week. Monday I had to run down to the lake house to meet with some contractors who will, hopefully, be doing some upgrades to the place before next summer rolls around. That meeting, along with spending a couple hours blowing the last of our leaves down there, took…
Friday Playlist
It’s a special week for the Friday playlist. As some of you know, I used to do a semi-private podcast on which I played music for friends. At the end of each year, I would share my favorite songs of the previous 12 months. As the years piled up, I thought a cool way to introduce those year-end lists would…
Holiday Vibes
Tonight’s the night. Last school Christmas program ever for our family. After fifteen total performances between preschool and 1st–3rd grades, L will close it out this evening when she stars as Ms. Jingle, the mayor of Jingle Bell Hills.[1] She has one of the three biggest roles and has taken to it in classic L form. She had all her…
Pat DiNizio
News is hitting the Pat DiNizio, lead singer of the most excellent band The Smithereens, has died. He was 62. To me, The Smithereens were always a super cool band that bridged various gaps. They didn’t fit into standard 80s rock or pop radio, yet they weren’t a truly college rock band like R.E.M. Their music had strong elements of…
AWWWW YEAHHHHH
YES! Drew Magary has posted his annual holiday treat, The 2017 Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog. As always, read with care in the office, lest you alert all your coworkers that you’re slacking off with your laughter.
A Day Off
A weird start to the week. I had planned on going into hermit mode for a couple days, as I had a large library book that is due Wednesday and I still had to plow through about 200 more pages of it. I tried to renew, but there’s a waiting list for it, so I endeavored to dive in and…
Friday Playlist
A quick burst of high quality new tunes over the past week. https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/4CsQc0PvexidHKelU7ArrR “Entitlement Crew” – The Hold Steady. The band just completed a four-night stretch at the Brooklyn Bowl and recorded this track, along with a B side, in advance of those shows. Franz Nicolay is back with the band, which is great news! And the song is pretty…
Kid Hoops
One more piece of the weekend that requires its own entry. L began her basketball season on Sunday with two games. We missed the first game, but we we landed I had a couple texts from the head coach and another parent letting me know that we lost by six and did not play well. We rolled into the gym…
Weekend in San Antonio
We had ourselves a good ass weekend in San Antonio! Here’s a rundown of what all we packed in. We flew down Thursday, getting in late afternoon. We went down with one of S’s partners and her husband, and met a friend of theirs who was in from Colorado for the conference. After checking into our hotel – the Grand…