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Okay I know I said I liked long format content. So after finishing the Start Wars hotel flop marathon video, I went ahead and checked out the epic fail of Evermore theme park. Another almost four hour video, wow. It seems crazy, but I was engaged. With over 10 million views, I guess others were as well. Dang, she has over 40,000 patreons paying at least $2 a month.... I had heard about Jenny from another YouTuber that I follow, Angela Collier, but I had never seen her posts before. I may check out a few more things.

RIP Big Red. You were a weird dude, that is for sure. Pretty good ball player before his injury too.

Not on a boat curry

Fuck, just saw that. RIP, Bill Walton, you crazy man, you, and I mean that in the best possible way. He was always a trip to listen to. Fuck cancer, and colon cancer in particular. "But you have to understand, my beard is so nasty. I mean, it's the only beard in the history of Western civilization that makes Bob Dylan's beard look good." - Bill Walton

A slight update on the Sony Walkman DAP, the formerly Japan-only NW-A307. Difficult to find, barely discussed. Android still seems to be a weakness described in other online A307 reviews... mediocre battery life and performance and that compromised user interface from the small display:

Badly belated Happy Birthday, big head.

😍

Al has a special place in my heart for introducing me to Detroit-style pizza.

It had been too long. Detroit style dough made earlier. Now becoming... The tradition rectangular cheese and pepperoni version is already in the oven.

RIP Bill....got to see him live with the Celtics in that great 1986 year.....

Bill Walton, basketball player and famous deadhead

Based on this fun performance I went back to an old classic for me - and also still remembering David - 😔 Double Vision by Bob James & David Sanborn (1986) https://album.link/i/1472334799 Example: And produced this classic example with brother Al Jarreau. I actually forgot this was on this album. I shall not forget..

Toast them I will...

An old JVC XRCD, Count Basie meets Oscar Peterson: The Timekeepers

Hmmm - That has been in my recommended section all week. I wasn't thinking of checking it out. I guess I might now. Edit: Okay, I didn't see Grahame's post. And I was an hour and 31 minutes into this thing, before I realized that it was Four Hours and Five Minutes long... Oh well... in for a penny..

It is treacle-y, it is over produced, it is emotionally manipulative… and yet. This show is my guilty pleasure. I am won over by it every season. This third season is no different. Just delightful.

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel

“We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke,” he said. “But we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.” James A. Garfield 1868

Hear, Hear 🍻

This memorial day weekend, I am going to skip on my teetotal lifestyle and raise a glass to the fallen, and wax philosophical about my retired-from-army-with-honors cousin Greg who passed away many years ago. I've been thinking about him a lot lately, for two reasons. A lot of guns come in FDE (flat dark earth), and he was in both Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, so I associate him with that colour. I initially hated that colour because it reminded me of his death, but it's been long enough, that now, I only have the fond memories. I've also been addressing a lot of issues that revolve around emotional maturity (I'm not), and -- in a lot of cases -- the more emotionally mature way to handle things could be thought of as, "WWGD" (What Would Greg Do?). I'm not saying he did everything right, but his heart was always in the right place. He prided himself on retiring as (sorry, don't remember the exact rank) the highest ranking, non-enlisted rank, because he never wanted his Care for his immediate people surgically removed. He remained in touch -- not only with those he still worked with, but everyone who had ever worked for him. And they all loved him, and he loved them all back. His retirement party was insane. He was always there for people. When I needed to recover some stuff from storage, I found out the people who I hired were basically going to hold my stuff hostage/blackmail/whateveryouwanttocallit. He took care of it. I don't know what he said or did, but all of a sudden they just gave me my stuff which we had to transfer from their pods to a rental truck and they told me to take as much time as we needed. And other things, when I was looking for a new place to stay many years ago, he offered to let me live with him. Just ALWAYS. THERE. FOR. ME. So as I continue to learn how to be a normal adult with my own motivations, I continue to think about him, and what would he do in situations. I don't really have any close family or friends that I can protect, and I'm in no position to provide for anyone other than myself and my cats, so I need to find my own motivations in life, but it helps to have a high bar that I can look to. I will always support service members and veterans, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, as I'm sure that's what Greg Would Have Done. Please toast with me, and remember them fondly.

Have you listened to the Steve Wilson remixes? They made CD and vinyl releases in 2018. Now listening to this Andy Bey - Ballads Blues & Bey Looks like it's only available at iTunes/Apple https://album.link/i/215944320 I got it elsewhere. Sweet beautiful music for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Beth and I went to see the Chicago Symphony last night conducted by Neeme Järvi, doing the Mahler 2nd. Excellent performance, much better than when we saw this with MTT conducting back in the mid 2000's, although the mezzo-soprano back then (Lorraine Hunt Lieberman) was stunning doing the 4th movement ("Urlicht"). One of the longest standing ovations I've witnessed (> 5 mins). 90 minutes is a long time to sit (1st world problems).

Hah! Finally getting through the thread. Thanks everyone (except 1)! Nate, I'll take you up on that in 3 weeks? Grahame, that was fantastic. I really thought the wheels were going to be a proper star; now I'm wondering if I can get some built up that way. Knucks, who only has 500 tabs? Rookie. Mikey, thanks! But that living long thing, that's gotta be relative, right? I wound up working, had a video call with mom and brother, then a mensa game night, then the fam got me a chocolate cake that they didn't know I'd been craving, but I'd been CRAVING chocolate cake. Rich enough that I couldn't finish a piece, so we've all been doing small slices here and there. Got lots of snuggles from the dogs, and went to bed sober and early. Tonight having Mexican at this place we like in Kirkland (no, not at a Costco, nor a Taco Bell), and then brunch at STK tomorrow. Oh, heh, and Xavier got me a new grill brush (wrapped in christmas paper and black duct tape). All in all a pretty good birthday, even if the answer year didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.