Peacocks' Evening Calls, 2016

I am marking my calendar, that today, at 5:40pm 26January 2016, is the first time this year that I've heard the neighborhood peacocks calling to each other at dusk.  I understand the mating season is February to May, so this is just the beginning of the calls.

I had the opportunity to take my mom and dad to the local park where the peacocks and peahens roost in the neighborhood, and they thoroughly enjoyed the displaying peacocks and the coy peahens.  It's nice to live in a neighborhood with very little road noise, no military fly-overs, rarely a siren, and the melodic natural sounds of peacocks "Ca-CAWing" to each other. and hummingbirds buzzing through he air around my home.

Kubrick's The Chickening (2016)

I stumbled upon this video today that made me literally, laugh out loud, and it had me glued to the screen.  Too funny!!!!  Tons of embedded props and imagery in the back ground of each scene as well (watch it more than once).

Since DDF and I had recently watched The Shining at Halloween (it had been more than 20 years since I saw it previously) the hilarity had even more impact.  Beautifully done! The Chickening!

Russia Apparently Loves JustJoeP

I checked my "audience" stats, and apparently, Russia has latched onto JustJoeP.  The Internet Explorer hits from Russia are far out-weighing all the rest of the globe combined.

Sucks that Google Blogger eliminated the "zoom in by country" stat feature they used to have, where you could see which cities were hitting your blog, and not just country granularity.  All the hits from Russia might be from one node of hackers who are using JustJoeP as a proxy to launch / match / obfuscate other traffic...  dunno.  I'm not inter-webs savvy enough to figure out all the from-and-to details.

Childless Single Men Who Masterbate to Anime

I was watching Chris Hayes this evening, when one of his guests - Rick Wilson, Republican Strategist - said the following about the devout followers of Donald Trump:  "They are (for the most part) childless, single men, who masterbate to anime" .

It made me guffaw!  It made me rewind my DVR.  It made me howl!

19% of the American Electorate are white males over 35 years of age.   The majority of Trump supporters are also caucasian.   Ugh.

Happiest Girl... In song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aks4VBj9wVw

Apparently, there's no intuitive way to upload a you tube video... Via phone 😟

Location, photos... Sure... But no link insertion. 

"No iPhone For Old Men"

👅

Happiest Girl This Sunday

Watching the Seahawks Panthers playoff game this morning, I was struck not only with how the Panthers are dominating the game in the first 1/4, but also how ecstatic one little girl was made.

#28 Stewart easily waltzes into the in zone, goes to the crowd, sees a little girl with her parents, and hands her the game ball...

Her parents, decked out in full Panthers attire, help her to draw in the ball, and then...

She REALIZES what just happened... Pure, unabashed, overwhelming joy!  A fan for life now.  👍😃😀

(This is my first Ever iPhone blog post... So if it is clunky ... My apologies)

Irony or Destiny?

The White House Press Secretary has a really crappy job.  You have to go in front of reporters
everyday who are trying to "scoop" each other, who are probing for information (much of which you can't comment upon) and nearly 1/2 the country despises you.  You're an outsider in the confidential halls of the White House, but a public face to the administration.

So it makes me wonder, is the current press secretary's name ironic, or was it destiny?

josh

jäSH/

informal

verb

1. 1. 

   tease (someone) in a playful way.

   "he loved to josh people"

noun

NORTH AMERICAN

1. 1. 

   good-natured banter.

   
   

ear·nest

ˈərnəst/

adjective

1. resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction.

   
   

Since I do not believe in destiny, I will say it is coincidental irony, and leave it at that.  = )

The Revenant

Yesterday afternoon I took my retired parents to the Carlsbad Cinépolis to see the movie The Revenant.  Cinépolis costs more then a normal movie but it has drinks service during the film and you get to sit in the reclining leather chair with foot rest and assigned seating so that know one blocks your view.  Headquartered in Mexico City, Cinépolis has multiple theaters in Southern California.  I had seen several films there previously, and I was not disappointed.  

My father absolutely loved the leather recliner and catered atmosphere.  I ordered a pineapple martini and he ordered an Icee, raspberry flavoured, with my mother abstaining from any delicious beverages.   The theatre darkened, and the film began.   

I will not spoil the film The Revenant but I will say that it is an excellent piece of cinema. There is a substantial amount of blood and violence depicted in the film.  Filmed in Canada i& Argentina the scenery is spectacular.   If you go into the theatre with any romantic or idealised notions of the 1800s in the Western North America, you will find those notions quickly obliterated in the opening 10 minutes of this film.  The next 2 1/2 hours continues to grind the heel of reality brutally into the romantic illusion to destroy any idealized notions of the "Wild West".  

Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globe was well earned.  This movie is a cinematic masterpiece.  If it does not get an Oscar there is something wrong.  

Intense. Remarkably sad. Violent. Carnal, base, unaccountable evil, juxtaposed with magnificent scenery, fantastic acting, cut to the bone writing, and superb direction... I will go see it again with DDF sometime later this month.   (She had to work, while I hosted my visiting parents).   

If you are squeamish about blood and violence, then you probably should not pay the price of a theatre ticket to go see this… But you will be missing out.  

On a closing note, Tom Hardy shows that she can again play a complete asshole, like unto his Batman Bane character, if Bane had been a mercenary & ruthless fur trapper in the early 1800s.  Since this theatre was the same theatre I watched Mad Max Fury Road, Hardy's performance impressed me tremendously.  Also, being fluent in French, I was able to understand the slang spoken (and written) in French without subtitles, which was an unexpected pleasure.  

Sprouts Grocery Divas

At 1:30 PM on Tuesdays, the bitchy, selfish, self-centred, oblivious Divas of Carlsbad go to the Sprouts on Rancho Santa Fe.   I made the mistake of trying to go shopping for some tea.   I won't repeat that same mistake again on a Tuesday at 1:30.

What do I mean by the above description?  Picture one woman holding up each item to the cashier asking her how much it costs and then saying "I don't want that" & then handing it to the cashier to put aside.  Apparently she never learn how to read a pricetag that are ubiquitous on all sprouts shelves.  

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I could not tolerate waiting behind that woman so I changed lanes. The neighbouring lane had only one shopper in it. Sounded like a good idea, no?  No! The shopper ahead of me was not yet done shopping and had decided during the time that the cashier was ringing up her groceries, to go get more items including organic celery and a hot lunch item from the deli.   Don't mind the three shoppers building up behind you, no.  Your ugg boots and yoga pants broadcast that you understand you are the most important person in all of Carlsbad and everyone needs to wait for you, regardless of how long you delay everyone else.  

Aggravatingly, they didn't even have the tea that I wanted and were out of stock. "Check tomorrow" a stocking clerk told me, Unhelpfully.  I did purchase four bottles of organic wine from California all priced at Less than $10 a bottle... il faut voir.  Perhaps information about these organic wines will be posted here later in the future.  ...il faut voir.