Trying to get unblocked

Thank you, UCLA Extension Writers' Program on FB, I needed this:

I've been blocked all year. I'm not sure why (although I have my theories) but I've just been so unproductive. Hoping this pushes me over the hump. It's a new week - here's to new beginnings!

It's funny cuz it's true! Ikea edition.

Yeah, I've assembled my share of Ikea items.

H/T to Everyday Culinary on FB.

CSI: Party City

I can't decide if this is funny or cruel:

The sick part of me is leaning toward hilarious!

H/T to im not right in the head.com on FB.

Recent reading: "Breaking Bad 101: The Complete Critical Companion"

Breaking Bad 101: The Complete Critical Companion by Alan Sepinwall

I had bought this book a while back but for some reason never got around to reading it. Given the release this weekend of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (which triggered me into starting a new binge of Breaking Bad) I thought it was appropriate.

Sepinwall takes a psychological dive into the motivation behind Walter White's evolution from a mild-mannered and disrespected husband, father, and high school teacher to the drug lord known as Heisenberg, and the wreckage that journey left in its wake.

These aren't detailed recaps - you will need to have seen the show to understand what he's referring to. But it's a fascinating take on the world of Breaking Bad. Sepinwall focuses particularly on Walt's pride and the poor decisions it prompts, his long-simmering resentment at having missed out on the prestige and wealth that Grey Matter generated, and his desire for control and respect. That notwithstanding, he doesn't neglect the other characters. Everyone gets attention. He also heaps well-deserved praise on the cast, particularly Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, as well as the writers and directors.

The pieces are brief, which makes it easy to get through the book quickly, plus once you get to the final season and start hurtling toward the explosive ending, it's impossible to put it down. Sepinwall actually wrote these as the show was airing, but many have been rewritten or updated for this book, which also includes contributions from Vince Gilligan, Cranston and others involved with the show.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WE'RE A FAMILY!!!...We're a family." - Walter

Almost seven seconds pass between the time Walter White screams the words "WE'RE A FAMILY!!!" and the time he whispers them, and they are an eternity. They are everything. Those seven seconds are what Breaking Bad has been building to for the previous fifty-nine hours. They are the shattering of every illusion Walter White has ever had about himself. They are the terrified faces of his wife and son as they huddle together on the floor, trying to wish him into the cornfield. They are all his bogus self-rationalizations being dipped in acid until they are no longer recognizable. They are Walter White finally, after so much time and so much sin, coming to terms with everything he has lost.

"El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" has arrived...

...and I've already watched it twice.

Some observations (with SPOILERS - you have been ALERTED):

• Could have been tightened up a bit. Quite a few scenes seemed to meander unnecessarily. Sadly, one of the scenes they could have cut was the Walter White flashback. As great as it was to see Bryan Cranston as Heisenberg again, the scene was totally unnecessary IMO, unless it existed to reinforce how much Jesse has changed by having a scene where he's still a goofball, which I didn't think was needed. But that's really the only criticism I have.
• A lot of reviews that I've looked at use "epilogue" to describe the film, and I would agree with that. I'm not sure it stands up on its own, but it's a great epilogue to Breaking Bad. I know a lot of fans wondered what would happen to Jesse and hoped he'd be okay. 
• Aaron Paul's performance was stunning. Jesse has certainly been shaped by his experiences in Breaking Bad. Crazy comparing the guy in El Camino with the idiotic Captain Cook of only a couple years earlier. Not the same guy at all.
• Todd took the kid's tarantula! Nice bit of callback there, in case we needed a reminder of just what a remorseless psycho he was. Killed the kid, but made sure his tarantula was taken care of. Asshole.
• Who knew Skinny Pete was so clever? I was sorry his interrogation scene wasn't in the film, especially with the placement of photos of Hank and Gomie in that teaser. El Camino does explain why he wasn't wearing his trademark knit cap during his interrogation.
• Very cool reveal on the two cops who arrived to search Todd's place. I actually twigged to it a couple seconds before Jesse did. Rewatching it, I understood why the guy was tipped off immediately that his "partner" was in trouble. Speaking of rewatching, I actually liked it better the second time around.
• As I mentioned in this post, one of the big discussions among Breaking Bad fans after the show ended was whether or not Walt actually died from his gunshot wound. El Camino answers that question for once and for all.
• I thought it was interesting that they left the ending rather open-ended. Could we be looking at the further adventures of Mr. Driscoll at some point? Because like Breaking Bad, the last we see of Jesse is him driving off to an uncertain future. I'd be up for seeing what happens to him next.

Updated 7:45pm: News just hit that Robert Forster, who reprised his role of Ed, the vacuum salesman who moonlights by relocating criminals and setting them up with new identities for $125k a pop (and who was awesome in this) died today, the same day El Camino was released. Earlier today I was marveling at his performance and now this. Forster was 78 and succumbed to brain cancer. Such a bummer.

Happy Birthday, Dad

My Dad would have been 79 years old today and heading to Kona Inn for dinner to celebrate. It also means he would have been 80 next year, and I think that would have been cool.

And that's all I have to say about that. I've rehashed the family drama and all the shit that went down after he died, so there's no reason to go over it again. So Happy Birthday, Dad!

This is how you deal with it when someone gets "offended"

Last week's South Park took a big shot at Hollywood entities kowtowing to the Chinese government over censorship issues and the Chinese government responded by making all things South Park disappear from the Chinese internet.

Matt & Trey "apologized" by not caving in or apologizing:

Allow me to translate from South Parkese: "Piss off!"

Apparently China had previously banned Winnie the Pooh because people online decided that Chinese President Xi Jinping resembled the classic cartoon bear. Talk about not having a sense of humor. No way they were going to be happy with South Park making fun of that.

Here's a side-by-side comparison from the Guardian article linked above. You decide:

LOL.

Also, you know what comes up when you start typing Xi's name into a search engine? You get this:

All the Chinese censorship did was bring a bunch of free publicity to South Park and brought more attention to the Xi/Pooh thing. I certainly hadn't heard about it before. Can you imagine having that oversensitive jackass in charge of your country? No wonder the Chinese people are rioting.

To be honest I'm more surprised South Park gets away with using Disney characters in its episodes than the idea an entire country would get their panties in a twist over a half hour of animation. This wasn't Mickey's first appearance on the show. If anyone should be taking action you would think it would be Disney. A boatload of their characters made appearances in this episode.

This is how you deal with offended idiots. You tell them to eff off. And the "May this autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful!" line is totally going onto my social media accounts.

Recent reading: "To Catch a Predator"

To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids From Online Enemies Already in Your Home by Chris Hansen

This is both a riveting look at how easily children can be preyed upon online as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the To Catch a Predator TV program.

Interspersed with chapters detailing the show's episodes/sting operations are stories of online child predators, their tragic victims, law enforcement entities targeting predators via sting operations, and even a chapter devoted the blindsided wives of men convicted of pursuing underaged kids online. There are transcripts from Predator's stings that are shocking in how graphic they are despite the men believing they were talking to underage kids. Equally shocking - and terrifying - is learning how easily children can be groomed and manipulated online. And even as the show became a phenomenon, it was stunning how many of the men caught in the sting operations were showing up despite the fact that many of them were aware of - and in one case, a big fan of - To Catch a Predator.

I was also a big fan of the show and picked this up used recently. It was published in 2008 so some of the references are a bit dated (mainly MySpace being the big social media network at the time) but the warnings and advice are relevant today. This book contains a ton of helpful information and advice to help guard against online predators and is a must-read for anyone with kids.

The first day, August 25, 2006, was wild. Twelve men showed up. Once again we saw some "To Catch a Predator" firsts. Among the first through the door was a twenty-three-year-old who went by the screen name strega_num_7. He had been chatting online with a decoy posing as a thirteen-year-old girl. First he apologized for chatting up someone so young, but in less than twenty minutes he was asking questions like: "Would you ever suck dick?" He also asked: "Would you ever let me fuck you? How big are your tits?" and "Is your p___y shaved?" The last one is a question we have heard dozens of times and seems to be a common curiosity among predators.

September Words of Wisdom

The reason I'm happy is that I choose to look at my blessings more than my burdens. --Sara Frankl

The flag represents something very powerful to the men and women who serve our country. So out of respect for those who fight to protect that flag and what that flag represents, I stand up and put my hand over my heart. --Gary Sinise

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. --Marcus Aurelius

If you want to, you can find a million reasons to hate life and be angry at the world. Or, if you want to, you could find a million reasons to love life and be happy. Choose wisely. --Cari Welsh

If it were possible to enforce a ban on lying, a ghostly silence would fall over the city of Washington. --Thomas Sowell

We are continually chasing mirages, only to be disappointed when they do not give us the satisfaction for which we had hoped. --Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook. --President Harry Truman

Behind the waterfall

Behind the waterfall in the Chinese Garden at The Huntington in San Marino:

They have an ongoing Wednesday program of Music in the Chinese Garden. It's very soothing. The Huntington is also greatly expanding the Chinese Garden. The expansion is well underway and the new buildings (built in the Chinese style) are gorgeous.

If you have not been to The Huntington, you really need to go. In addition to the amazing library and art galleries, the grounds are beautiful and peaceful. And their gift shop is to die for.

Customer Service Fail: The Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre

I've been waiting for months to get tickets to The Book of Mormon, which is coming back to L.A. at the Ahmanson Theatre early next year. They finally made tickets available and I dove in. Seats were already picked over so I decided to just bite the bullet and spring for the best seat I could find.

The Brother and I were just having a discussion yesterday about tacked on "handling fees" after I ordered tickets for us to see A Christmas Carol at A Noise Within in Pasadena, and I was griping about them tacking on an $8.50 "handling fee", especially since we're already paying over $70 per ticket, plus I printed the tickets at home. They don't have to do any "handling". In fact, maybe they should provide a small discount since they don't have to create our tickets since I'm saving them the cost using paper and ink that I've paid for on top of the cost of seeing the show.

As a consumer I find this annoying as hell. If the ticket is $80.50, just put $80.50 on the website. Don't tell me it's $72 then tack on a "handling fee", especially when you don't have to do any handling.

But A Noise Within's "handling fee" turned out to be small time compared to my BOM purchase:

Click to biggify if you can't see what I'm talking about. It has to be seen to be believed.

THIRTY-FIVE DOLLAR HANDLING FEE??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Again, look, if you want $260+ for the seat, just say so. All this does is piss me off as a consumer. In fact, I was so pissed that I chose the option of making them mail the ticket to me. I could have easily opted for email/print at home, but for an extra $35 they can print it themselves and spring for a first class stamp. Suck it.

Recent reading: "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle"

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The 8th Countess of Carnarvon

I've had this on the Kindle for a while and I'm not sure why it took me so long to get to it. What finally triggered it, strangely enough, wasn't the recent Downton Abbey movie but seeing the book when I went to the Huntington gift shop recently and realizing I needed to get to it.

The 8th and current Countess of Carnarvon tells the dazzling story of Almina Wombwell, the illegitimate daughter of wealthy banker Alfred de Rothschild, who married into life at Highclere Castle thanks to a combination of beauty, charm, and her father's money. She - like her TV counterpart - turned her gorgeous home into a hospital during World War I. I had no idea that her husband, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, was part of the team that discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. He was an amateur Egyptologist who also provided a lot of the financing for the archeological dig. The book is also an informative and fascinating look at Edwardian society and a lifestyle that no longer exists.

PBS has a special featuring the 8th (and current) Earl and Countess and despite their titles and lifestyle, they seem pretty low-key and down-to-earth, and very much appreciative of both the luxury and responsibility of living in a beloved castle. Based on this book, the Countess has made herself a scholar of her husband's family history and the magnificent property they live on. She has also written a book about Almina's successor Lady Catherine, who - like Downton's Cora Crawley - was an American who married into English nobility.

Perhaps it was in the field of medicine that Almina left the greatest legacy. She realised that post-operative and trauma care were as much a part of the healing process as the best surgical techniques and the latest equipment. Almina's understanding of the word 'care' was sincere. She realised that the nursing and physical environment at her Highclere hospital was going to make all the difference to the lives of the patients arriving from the horrors of the Western Front. Almina treated them as if they were country-house guests; nothing but the best food was served, with pastimes and recreation in the Castle State Rooms and park for those that were fit enough.