Dreambiscuit

I went and took out the trash. I know that doesn’t sound like much but I’ve been sequestered in my chambers since my surgery last week and I haven’t been outside my four walls. Going out and seeing the night sky was the best medicine I could have possibly imagined. It was sooooo nice and I felt like a million bucks after that.

I collect Star Wars stuff, some vintage Disney stuff, especially theme park materials, and movies. The lattermost inadvertently, but I have built up a pretty big collection of movies without really making a point of it.

Feeling okay. I had surgery last week on Tuesday but I still feel a little rocky. I thought this would be a walk in the park but it’s proving to be a painful and exhausting experience, even a week after the fact. This isn’t meant to be a complaint because I’m honestly fine with it, and there’s always something useful to be learned from the experience. But it is what it is and if I’m being honest I’d like to get back to normal now.

Nope, Zigg, I haven't. To be honest it wasn't even on my radar, but it looks good so now I've got to add it to my short list. My latest batch: The Unforgiven (1960) Not to be confused with Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven’ (1992), this western is a classic, starring Audrey Hepburn and Burt Lancaster. It centers on an Indian girl (Hepburn) who was adopted by white settlers, and a subsequent battle against a one-eyed antagonist from the past and Indians from the girls’ tribe. The supporting cast is sublime and the direction is strong, with beautiful scenery throughout. 8/10 She’s All That (1999) If you’ve seen one high school romantic drama you’ve seen ‘em all, and this is no exception. Popular guy loses popular girl, courts loser girl just to prove he can make her cool too, his motives are discovered, they fight, make up and the credits roll. The same peripheral characters are all there; best friend, cool clique for both the boys and the girls, loser girl’s nerdy supportive friend, etc. The sequel ‘He’s All That’ (2021) is actually much better if not terribly original on its own. 6.5/10

I'll be painting. If not, I'm going to have some strong words with myself!

A slice of strawberry-raspberry-blueberry pie, with whipped cream. And a cup of coffee.

Eeyup! It's like my second home. Tokyo Disneyland?

Same here Roostah!

Nope, still out of reach. But I'd love to see it. Hawaii?

Alien Earth. Meh. It doesn’t really follow its own pre-established lore and takes liberties whenever and wherever it wants. That kinda defeats the point of making a show based on the Alien franchise. But then again, I guess the real point is to cash-in on the name and do whatever is easy.

Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning (2025) I liked this more than expected but that’s despite its poor writing and direction, which doesn’t bode well in a movie of this scale and budget. So when it had anything at all to offer I was pleasantly surprised. Chris McQuarrie is a hack, let’s get that out of the way right now; he has no acumen for writing (and especially directing). The plot is absurd and bloated, like his ego, and glosses over many important facts when he can't make the plot work. The whole concept of an all-powerful ‘Entity’ comprised of out of control AI is so abstract as to its abilities, motives and actual form that it isn’t even compelling as an antagonist. It’s just a vague idea with no clear explanation or reason. If you look at the WOPR computer from WarGames, or the Master Control Program from Tron, you get a programmed nemesis that’s realistic in its limitations yet powerful enough to present an actual threat. Both can learn, become more efficient and deadly, but in a way that’s clear and understandable by the audience. This realism creates genuine tension because the threat is less static and in a far more interesting. The one glimmer of hope for this ‘Entity’ and all its far-reaching capabilities, was the possibility of undoing a grievous mistake of the first Mission Impossible movie, which was making Jim Phelps the badguy. This outrageous and unforgivable contention could have been shown as a distortion of the truth caused by the Entity, and was briefly broached, but again the writer failed to follow through with a correction that would have doubled the value of this movie. I demand more, considering the budget, running time and creative freedom involved. The fact that this overlong mess is a continuation of the previous overlong mess says something more about the lack of talent involved. But I guess being buddies with Tom Cruise has its perks to the degree that talent is an afterthought. Mission Impossible movies are best when they tell a standalone story with each movie, rather than falling into the Marvel movie template of dragging every storyline out over multiple films because it’s more convenient and requires less originality. But let’s put all that aside and keep expectations to a minimum for our $20 admission price. The action is good, when it gets around to happening, Tom Cruise still has plenty of star power, and overall there were enough positive aspects to bring this movie up to a passing grade. 7.5/10 Superman (2025) I can see why many people seemed to either love or hate this movie. As for myself, I loved some aspects and hated others. SPOILERS AHEAD. The pros: Decent casting for Superman; he looked the part and mostly acted it. He did seem wholesome, befitting his character, but if they’re going to have him conspicuously avoiding profanity in some scenes but not all, that’s a bit incongruous. Krypto the Superdog was surprisingly good. I thought he brought some humor to the movie. The movie had a more or less light touch, at least compared to previous outings of the Man of Steel. Superman’s costume was a step in the right direction compared to previous movies which tried to change it. This one was more faithful to the original comic book versions, with minor modifications. The cameo appearance of Supergirl was a fun touch, and she was made into a bratty party girl, which at least was original if not accurate. And her costume was also on track, albeit diluted with an all-concealing overcoat. Lame. The cons: Pretty obvious; every fan on earth wants to hear John Williams’ immortal themes, so it serves nothing and no one to take three notes of the classic music and distort them until they’re no longer identifiable, with no other detectable presence in the movie. The resulting score was bland, desperate and didn’t fit the action. The plot was too convoluted. It’s better to have a simple story told well than a complex story told poorly. As usual, too many peripheral heroes and villains spoiled the fun. This movie should be about Superman vs. Lex Luthor, with no additives or preservatives. In Superman the Movie (1978) the story was clear, coherent and easy to follow, with plenty of humor, drama and fun, and it built momentum steadily to the finale. The direction was deft, confident and perfect. This new movie was all over the place and after a while I just stopped trying to follow it and rolled with the action and scenery. Some arbitrary stupidity was added to the story and mystifies me. Okay, so moving the Fortress of Solitude to Antarctica? Why? Making Superman’s biological parents’ motives questionable at best is just plain stupid and sure to piss off all the fans of the Superman mythos. Clark Kent’s earth parents were obliviously portrayed as southern rednecks rather than Midwestern hicks. And I dislike super heroes’ modern tendency toward disclosing their secret identity to pretty much anyone who wants to know; it takes away the mystery and much of the fun. Much of the established lore of Superman was dismissed, altered or overlooked out of ignorance. As a result, the movie’s pros could not outweigh its cons, so I give it a 6/10 Superman 4 (1987) This was an interesting experiment. I wanted to watch what was long considered to be a very bad Superman movie and compare it directly to the new Superman with all its high budget and relentless promotion. Superman 4 was campy, poorly directed and relegated to the infamous Golan-Globus team of movie destroyers who came up with a pretty lackluster film. But on the other hand, it did have the original cast and made full use of John Williams’ classic themes which would have doubled the new Superman’s box office on that point alone. Superman 4 actually gave purists more of what they wanted than the new movie did, but did so in such a badly mismanaged way that it failed despite this fact. Audiences back in the day held it to higher standards considering its classic lineage, where modern audiences seem notoriously easy to please. So my bare-bones conclusion is that fancy special effects with a poorly told story apparently goes farther than a slightly better story and poor special effects. 6.5/10 F1 (2025) This was a big surprise for me. I saw the trailers for this and thought it looked pretty boring and unoriginal, but what I got was a fun, compelling and rewarding movie experience from end to end. There’s only so much that can be done with a racing movie that hasn’t been done before, but this one somehow managed to keep me guessing and glued to my seat through all the races. There’s a lot of action, good characters and no arbitrary irritations. So far this may be the best of the big summer releases for me. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. 8/10 All my early expectations of this summer’s movies (which ones would be good, and which ones would suck) have been completely and uniformly reversed. Interesting.

I drive a 2009 Smart Fortwo Passion Cabriolet. Metallic blue with a silver sport stripe. Her name is Electra.

I got a tube of paint from Dick Blick, and a toner cartridge replacement.

I drive fast. Blink and you'll miss me. (I hope the cops blink a lot).

I don’t like cleaning bathrooms, but that’s not awkward; merely unpleasant. I don’t like filling the bird feeder outside because I’m too short to reach it comfortably and I’m concerned about being attacked by nearby animals, which I guess makes it somewhat awkward.

I was around 17 and in the worst part of my life. I was living in a place I didn’t want to be in, I had no options to pursue my goals and I was hopeless. This was also when I was in the depths of Radical OCD (and largely the cause of it) and I was going out of my mind. Not a good time for me. It got better after a little while.

Stairs are better exercise, but elevators are more fun. Elevators win.

There is more BS and stupidiy found ‘according to studies’ than could ever be comprehended by the human mind. It’s all overanalyzed nonsense. Humans are complex and don’t fit into neat, easily classified bundles according to which way the wind is blowing at any given moment or how the moons of Jupiter are aligned or what time of year they’re born; it doesn’t work that way. People are all different, and time of year they’re born has no bearing on their success.

They never lied to me that I can recall. The closest I can think of was when I was very, very little and asked how people got babies, and they told me they ‘wished really hard’ to get them. That wasn’t a lie because parents do tend to wish really hard when they want babies. Besides, they probably didn’t think I needed a detailed biological description when I was 5 years old.

I filled out a lengthy online spirit animal questionnaire only to be told afterward that I had to give my personal info to have my results emailed to me (along with lots of new spam, no doubt). So I pulled the plug and didn’t get an ‘official’ result, but I’m pretty sure I’d be a fox because that’s simply my nature.

These may be simple words but it’s not about words, but the feelings they represent. If someone makes a point of apologizing, or thanking or excusing on action or another, it shows they’re making an effort to be polite, make amends or honor another person. That’s respect, and it does matter.

I bought some Japanese Hiragana stickers for my bilingual keyboard. They're taking forever to get here.

I had Radical OCD which has a way of convincing the mind of an endless array of bad things that can happen from nothing (all an illusion) and I overcame that. Other things, like fear of crime still scare me but that’s a basic fear and not a phobia. I am a germophobe but I don’t ever want to get over that; it keeps me healthy, even if it’s obsessive behavior.

Rarity: White chocolate. Sweet, elegant and befitting her natural color. Pinkie Pie: Cotton candy. Pure sugar; super sweet and fun to eat. Twilight: Macarons, Gelato or Mochi. Macarons come in many flavors and colors, and the same goes for gelato and mochi, but all of these have a certain consistency that I’m going for here. Fluttershy: Powdered sugar. It’s so powdery, sweet and subtle, just like Flutters. Rainbow Dash: Spicy tortilla chips, or rock candy. This isn’t about matching colors, but the texture; Ranbow has more of a crunchiness about her. She’s not a softy like some of the others so I went with the crunch. As for the rock candy, well, she rocks. Deny it. Applejack: This isn’t original, but Apple Pie fits and I can do nothing to fight that.

Over 30. All were yellowjackets or mud dauber wasps. Most came from mowing lawns where there were nests; one of which was a hole in the ground full of yellowjackets that swarmed me and account for half my current total. They got under my shirt, in my hair and stung me all over. The mud daubers usually got me on average of three or four a year for a good many years doing the same yard work. Good thing I’m not allergic, like my brother who swells up like a balloon from just a Mosquito bite.