J.P.

The Expanse.

So last night we finished the latest season of “The Expanse”. We are now caught up with the rest of the family and we can all watch together when season six comes out at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to the next season; rumor has it this will be the last season. I hope they do the series justice.

I have to admit, season five was a little tough for us to get through. Not because of the content, but more because of the lack of content. It really felt like they were dragging out the storyline just to say 10 episodes had been produced for season five. There has been a slight degradation in the quality of the show since Amazon saved the series from cancellation at the end of season three, and I’m quite gratefully that Amazon carried on the mantel of the show. It’s just that season five took a really odd turn, and instead of being a kick-ass space opera, the storylines tended to favor “Dynasty In Space”, albeit without the shoulder pads.

There were several strong character moments in the series and I have to say that Shohreh Aghdashloo is still my favorite with her portrayal of Chrisjen Avasarala.

I realize this season might have suffered because it was filmed during the pandemic, so they had to separate as many folks as possible to avoid the whole COVID thing, but I feel like there were a few unfortunate choices made with the storyline. Someday I’m going to read the books the see how faithful the television production is to the original material.

Overall, I still enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to season six. I hope the writers are able to do it justice.

Update: so I just read on screen rant that the filming for season five completed right before lockdowns began in 2020. So, I don’t have an explanation now as to why they made creative decisions to split up the cast the way they did. Hmmm.

26 October 2021 by Everyone's A Critic. 0

39.

I can’t believe it’s been 39 years. I can easily remember my sister playing this song on the GE Wildcat record player that had made its way to her bedroom from the family room. I’d dance to this song in my room and then end up dancing with my sister in her room.

When I was a club DJ, late in the night I’d start playing “lost” tracks when the crowd was half drunk. They’d love hearing songs they hadn’t heard in years.

But in 2021 it’s been a LOT of years. From 1982, here’s Grammy award winning Melissa Manchester with “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”. (I still think music from the 80s is much better than what we have in commercial pop music today).

26 October 2021 by DJ 0

Summer Breeze.

Folks back east ask why we moved to the Desert Southwest. There are many reasons for our move. We are quite happy with living in Tucson and desert living is all that we thought it would be.

Being able to drive on Interstate 10 with the windows down, Yacht Rock Radio cranked, after sunset while it’s 85ºF in late October is one of the reasons we live here.

I worry I’m going to find 70ºF chilly this winter.

25 October 2021 by Desert Life. 0

Cake.

Jeff and Mark from North Carolina are visiting for the weekend. Jeff’s family lives north of Phoenix and they decided to wrap up their visit with a stop here in Tucson. It was great to see them.

Mark is celebrating a birthday this weekend, and Chris and Mike made a Guinness-chocolate cake to celebrate. It was wonderful.

24 October 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Caturday.

Truman is allowed on the bottom shelf of the cabinet in the kitchen. He enjoys this vantage point.

23 October 2021 by He's A Feline. 0

Less Green.

The Sonoran Desert is slowing moving toward it’s characteristic desert look as we move away from Monsoon Season 2021. Things became very green during the uncharacteristically rainy monsoon season. The rain was a good thing, because we needed to break the drought, but now the grasses the popped up are turning brown and I’m a little concerned they will contribute to wildfires later on.

This is a shot from the first or second look out along the road to the top of Mount Lemmon, about six miles to the north of our home.

22 October 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Just A Notion.

Tomorrow, ABBA will release another song from their upcoming album “Voyage”. It’s still so weird to type that.

Originally recorded in 1978 but discarded and never finished, ABBA has finally finished “Just A Notion”. Out tomorrow, there are some snippets of the now finished track available on YouTube today.

Enjoy.

21 October 2021 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Gracefully.

Aging gracefully is a beautiful thing. There’s a meme going around on Twitter where we’re encouraged to post a photo if we wear glasses. I posted a photo and immediately lost three followers. I don’t usually notice my follower count, because honestly I don’t really care how many people follow my inane tweets, but the change in number caught my eye and I was a little bit surprised.

I wear glasses. My mustache is gray. I have a gut and I don’t have a six pack that anyone can see. I’m comfortable in my skin, I’m probably in what could be called my mid-50s and I know who I am.

I’m happy being me.

I don’t feel the need to color anything or pull anything tight or inject anything to smooth anything. I’ve earned the laugh lines and I’ve learned to laugh more.

I’m happy being me at 53 and I look forward to what the future brings.

20 October 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Dead.

Work just started a company obituary page on the corporate-wide website to do the typical obituary thing for co-workers that have passed. Many have passed recently due to “COVID-19 related complications”. Too many.

I think the biggest thing I’ve lost during the pandemic is my compassion for folks who choose to remain ignorant.

20 October 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Cleanliness.

We stopped at a McDonalds on our way home from Vegas this past weekend. The self-serve kiosks were malfunctioning, no one was at the traditional registers, and their seemed to be a sense of panic from the back.

Plus, folks didn’t care if paper was strewn all over the lobby as they picked up their food.

We are not in what I would call “the golden era of American society”.

19 October 2021 by Ponderings and Musings 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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