Today I went to a baby shower which was a lot of fun-the mom-to be got lots of gifts-I don't think we had that much stuff when we were kids.
Nowadays a lot comes with being a parent!Lots of clothes(which had to be neutral as we don't know if the baby is a girl or a boy)I figure at the very least they can give some of the clothes they don't need to someone in need.
The food was really good-they had sandwiches,and a few nibbles(pigs in a blanket and and mini chicken and waffles-those were REALLY good!).At each place setting then had old school milk bottles filled with ice water, with a straw in it, and on the straw were two mini Krispy Kreme donuts(which were REALLY good!).
There was also a candy bar, with a bunch of different types of candy, as well as mini cheesecakes and cake pops(those were really good too!)
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
[S1 Ep1:Apertif]
*The first time I watched this I could not figure out where they were going with it and almost gave up in the first 5 minutes.I'm glad I didn't.
*I am always,every time I watch this episode,in awe of the cinematography-the blood drops reversing.
*"This is my design". The first of many times we will hear Will say this.
*Love the nods to the books-and Bryan admitted that the Marlow crime scene is the early work of Francis Dolarhyde.
*"This is when it gets truly horrifying for Mrs. Marlow" which goes into Will in his classroom.
*We meet Jack-who violates Will's personal space by pushing his glasses up. I love how we get a mention of Will being on the Spectrum.
*"They're all very Mall of America".-interesting, given that Abigail Hobbs is from Bloomingtom Minnesota.
*Golden Ticket..I can't watch Willy Wonka without thinking of Hannibal.
*The Elise Nichols crime scene- this re creation of Will's is the one that freaks me out the most.It's violent.
*We meet Bev-and Jimmy, and Brian! The killer was trying to save her life with antler velvet even though she was already too far gone.
*Will finds Winston by the side of the road :) We get a "Will Graham:Dog Whisperer" moment.
*Will imagines Elise rising from the bed next to him.This is taken from the book.In the book I believe it's Mrs. Leeds that he sees. Good lord does Will sweat a lot.
*Jack's "USE THE LADIES ROOM!!" will never not make me laugh.
*Beverly finds a clue-another thing lifted from the books-in the books she even says "Gotcha". This is cut with a job site- where we get glimpses of Abigail and of her father, Garret Jacob Hobbs.
*We meet Alana, who is changed from the books(in the books, she is a man, named Alan and is more of a minor character.)
*In the morgue Team Sassy Science(Bev, Jimmy and Brian) are doing an autopsy on Elise Nichols. Will realises that she was probably bled. On hooks.Then we find out she had cancer-the killer put her liver back in. This goes into Hannibal sitting at his dinner table.This is where we get our first look at Hannibal.It's unsubtle, and unsettling.
*Just so we get to know Hannibal a little better we get a scene with him in a session with his patient Franklyn(as an aside:I think "You have to convince yourself the lion is not in the room" is psychiatrist/psychologist speak. My psychologist says it too.)
*Jack needs Hannibal's help with a profile. In hindsight..
*Hannibal is very observant..notices that Will doesn't like eye contact(that's putting it mildly.. this is a common trait of people who are on the Spectrum.
*"Don't psychoanalyse me.You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalysed"(I almost expect him to add "Will Graham smash!" but he doesn't.) Actually, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to teach a class..on psychoanalysing" is much more... amusing.
*Field Kabuki(fun fact:Hibbing Minnesota is the hometown of one Robert Zimmerman..you may know him better as Bob Dylan. )The lungs were taken(whilst she was still alive-eek) which goes to another shot of Hannibal in his kitchen, this time
*Will in the shower which goes into a dream sequence where we get our first glimpse of Swiggity Swag The Nightmare Stag(the fandom's name for the deer in Will's nightmares)
*Hannibal has to ask twice to come in to Will's hotel room which makes me think of vampire lore-that vampires have to ask to come in.That,IMO is NOT a coincidence.
*Hannibal and Will have breakfast(the sausages are people!)
*I love the scrunchy face and laugh Will does after Hannibal says "You're the mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by". I can't see mongeese quite the same way now :P
*The worksite Garret Jacob Hobbs worked on is hella unorganised.But it's probably not permanent, so..
*Hannibal calls Garret Jacob Hobbs. "They know".
*This is where it gets intense..we see a recreation of what happened from Will's POV, it starts with Will, covered in blood, sitting in a car and goes back and shows what happened-Mrs. Hobbs had her throat slashed, as did Abigail, his daughter. Mrs. Hobbs doesn't make it, and Garret Jacob Hobbs is taken down, by Will, in a hail of bullets. Before he dies, Garret Jacob Hobbs says "See?See?"(the word "see" will become a recurring theme on this show.) In the book, Abigail is only mentioned briefly-it mentions that she recovered.
*Jack shows up to Will's class only to find Alana teaching it(as Jack is walking into her class she is talking about bitemarks, another reference to Red Dragon).She says "You said you wouldn't let him get too close". But he did,obviously.
*The final scene is Will and Hannibal sitting at Abigail's bed, which will be mirrored again, but this time with Jack and Hannibal, in Savoreaux.
Episode Insight
I've said, on more than one occasion,that I thought, when I heard that they were making a Hannibal TV show that it was a bad idea.I also almost quit watching within the first few minutes!
I didn't know Hugh Dancy was British until after I watched the first episode and I couldn't believe it.(though there is at least one accent slip in the first episode when he says "Garret Jacob Hobbs? FBI!"-you can hear his real accent ever so slightly.
And Mads as Hannibal.What can I say that hasn't already been said.Well,OK, he's really made Hannibal his own.That sums it up pretty well.
Quotes:
What kind of crazy is he?-Jack
*I am always,every time I watch this episode,in awe of the cinematography-the blood drops reversing.
*"This is my design". The first of many times we will hear Will say this.
*Love the nods to the books-and Bryan admitted that the Marlow crime scene is the early work of Francis Dolarhyde.
*"This is when it gets truly horrifying for Mrs. Marlow" which goes into Will in his classroom.
*We meet Jack-who violates Will's personal space by pushing his glasses up. I love how we get a mention of Will being on the Spectrum.
*"They're all very Mall of America".-interesting, given that Abigail Hobbs is from Bloomingtom Minnesota.
*Golden Ticket..I can't watch Willy Wonka without thinking of Hannibal.
*The Elise Nichols crime scene- this re creation of Will's is the one that freaks me out the most.It's violent.
*We meet Bev-and Jimmy, and Brian! The killer was trying to save her life with antler velvet even though she was already too far gone.
*Will finds Winston by the side of the road :) We get a "Will Graham:Dog Whisperer" moment.
*Will imagines Elise rising from the bed next to him.This is taken from the book.In the book I believe it's Mrs. Leeds that he sees. Good lord does Will sweat a lot.
*Jack's "USE THE LADIES ROOM!!" will never not make me laugh.
*Beverly finds a clue-another thing lifted from the books-in the books she even says "Gotcha". This is cut with a job site- where we get glimpses of Abigail and of her father, Garret Jacob Hobbs.
*We meet Alana, who is changed from the books(in the books, she is a man, named Alan and is more of a minor character.)
*In the morgue Team Sassy Science(Bev, Jimmy and Brian) are doing an autopsy on Elise Nichols. Will realises that she was probably bled. On hooks.Then we find out she had cancer-the killer put her liver back in. This goes into Hannibal sitting at his dinner table.This is where we get our first look at Hannibal.It's unsubtle, and unsettling.
*Just so we get to know Hannibal a little better we get a scene with him in a session with his patient Franklyn(as an aside:I think "You have to convince yourself the lion is not in the room" is psychiatrist/psychologist speak. My psychologist says it too.)
*Jack needs Hannibal's help with a profile. In hindsight..
*Hannibal is very observant..notices that Will doesn't like eye contact(that's putting it mildly.. this is a common trait of people who are on the Spectrum.
*"Don't psychoanalyse me.You wouldn't like me when I'm psychoanalysed"(I almost expect him to add "Will Graham smash!" but he doesn't.) Actually, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to teach a class..on psychoanalysing" is much more... amusing.
*Field Kabuki(fun fact:Hibbing Minnesota is the hometown of one Robert Zimmerman..you may know him better as Bob Dylan. )The lungs were taken(whilst she was still alive-eek) which goes to another shot of Hannibal in his kitchen, this time
*Will in the shower which goes into a dream sequence where we get our first glimpse of Swiggity Swag The Nightmare Stag(the fandom's name for the deer in Will's nightmares)
*Hannibal has to ask twice to come in to Will's hotel room which makes me think of vampire lore-that vampires have to ask to come in.That,IMO is NOT a coincidence.
*Hannibal and Will have breakfast(the sausages are people!)
*I love the scrunchy face and laugh Will does after Hannibal says "You're the mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by". I can't see mongeese quite the same way now :P
*The worksite Garret Jacob Hobbs worked on is hella unorganised.But it's probably not permanent, so..
*Hannibal calls Garret Jacob Hobbs. "They know".
*This is where it gets intense..we see a recreation of what happened from Will's POV, it starts with Will, covered in blood, sitting in a car and goes back and shows what happened-Mrs. Hobbs had her throat slashed, as did Abigail, his daughter. Mrs. Hobbs doesn't make it, and Garret Jacob Hobbs is taken down, by Will, in a hail of bullets. Before he dies, Garret Jacob Hobbs says "See?See?"(the word "see" will become a recurring theme on this show.) In the book, Abigail is only mentioned briefly-it mentions that she recovered.
*Jack shows up to Will's class only to find Alana teaching it(as Jack is walking into her class she is talking about bitemarks, another reference to Red Dragon).She says "You said you wouldn't let him get too close". But he did,obviously.
*The final scene is Will and Hannibal sitting at Abigail's bed, which will be mirrored again, but this time with Jack and Hannibal, in Savoreaux.
Episode Insight
I've said, on more than one occasion,that I thought, when I heard that they were making a Hannibal TV show that it was a bad idea.I also almost quit watching within the first few minutes!
I didn't know Hugh Dancy was British until after I watched the first episode and I couldn't believe it.(though there is at least one accent slip in the first episode when he says "Garret Jacob Hobbs? FBI!"-you can hear his real accent ever so slightly.
And Mads as Hannibal.What can I say that hasn't already been said.Well,OK, he's really made Hannibal his own.That sums it up pretty well.
Quotes:
What kind of crazy is he?-Jack
Thursday, February 26, 2015
[ever have one of those weeks?]
I've been feeling a little out of sorts lately;I've had as many stressful situations as I can handle, all in the span of a couple of days.Not ideal, by any means. And the weather is supposed to be bad for a couple of days-not East Coast bad, but bad(lots of rain)for where we are.
The old, pre-going back to therapy me might have been really stressed out..but I dealt with it very well. I think going to therapy and talking about things has been a HUGE help-it's been a huge help as far as my anxiety goes-I feel like I can rationalise things so much better than I ever did.
However,that doesn't mean that I don't have a *little* bit of a panic-I do-I just don't go into meltdown mode.Wanted to the other day when I went to check out at the grocery store and realised that I didn't have my credit card, and I had to run to the bank(which was, fortunately, across the parking lot from the grocery store),get money, pay, and be out in front of the store by the time that my taxi showed up. It all came together, thankfully, but I didn't really feel like I could breathe a sigh of relief until I was home and had unpacked all of my groceries.
This morning I had a nosebleed.A pretty bad one.And I was close to going to the emergency room because I wasn't really sure what to do.But I'm glad I waited a few minutes to see how things went..but it was..I wouldn't say I was scared-I have been scared when I've had a nosebleed before-I rationalised it. Yes, it's frightening to see so much blood, but in point of fact, it's probably not that much(and I'm pretty sure I know why I had a nosebleed;it's been very dry here the last couple of days and that can do it;usually I get 'em but they're minor ones and don't last that long. This was an exception to the rule.)
The old, pre-going back to therapy me might have been really stressed out..but I dealt with it very well. I think going to therapy and talking about things has been a HUGE help-it's been a huge help as far as my anxiety goes-I feel like I can rationalise things so much better than I ever did.
However,that doesn't mean that I don't have a *little* bit of a panic-I do-I just don't go into meltdown mode.Wanted to the other day when I went to check out at the grocery store and realised that I didn't have my credit card, and I had to run to the bank(which was, fortunately, across the parking lot from the grocery store),get money, pay, and be out in front of the store by the time that my taxi showed up. It all came together, thankfully, but I didn't really feel like I could breathe a sigh of relief until I was home and had unpacked all of my groceries.
This morning I had a nosebleed.A pretty bad one.And I was close to going to the emergency room because I wasn't really sure what to do.But I'm glad I waited a few minutes to see how things went..but it was..I wouldn't say I was scared-I have been scared when I've had a nosebleed before-I rationalised it. Yes, it's frightening to see so much blood, but in point of fact, it's probably not that much(and I'm pretty sure I know why I had a nosebleed;it's been very dry here the last couple of days and that can do it;usually I get 'em but they're minor ones and don't last that long. This was an exception to the rule.)
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
[my hometown]
On out way home, we had to drive through Little Italy(it's only recently that I knew we had a Little Italy in San Diego.) You have to go through there to get to the freeway because of the way the streets are in downtown San Diego(I live here and think it's.. *shakes head*.) The worst was when I was trying to get to the House Of Blues. To anyone visiting from elsewhere, yes, the streets downtown are laid out wonkily.We're sorry. LOL.
Anyways, I hadn't been in Little Italy for a while. In spite of its name, there are some non-Italian restaraunts-a British pub is one of them-just down the road is another British pub-the two close to each other are the Princess of Wales and Shakespeare's, respectively.
I've only ever eaten at Princess,gone to the 7-11 and coffee shop right near the trolley station and Flippi's(about which more in a minute). There used to be a great Italian bakery next door(or a couple of doors down from? Flippi's that had every kind of pastry you could think of but they also did all of the Italian specialties like cannolis and pine nut cookies.
Flippi's is incredible. So, when you walk in, it's like you're in New York-the front of the restaraunt is a deli,and they sell every kind of ingredient you could ever want if you're cooking Italian food-and of course they have cold cuts-the only place that is better stocked(and is as much of a specialty store/restaraunt) is Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad. I think I've mentioned Tip Top before..they are a full service European grocery and restaraunt. If you are looking for unusual meats,they probably have it.
Anyways, as I said before, Flippi's is also a restaraunt. With very good pizza. The times that we've been there there's been a wait but the wait is well worth it.
Anyways, I hadn't been in Little Italy for a while. In spite of its name, there are some non-Italian restaraunts-a British pub is one of them-just down the road is another British pub-the two close to each other are the Princess of Wales and Shakespeare's, respectively.
I've only ever eaten at Princess,gone to the 7-11 and coffee shop right near the trolley station and Flippi's(about which more in a minute). There used to be a great Italian bakery next door(or a couple of doors down from? Flippi's that had every kind of pastry you could think of but they also did all of the Italian specialties like cannolis and pine nut cookies.
Flippi's is incredible. So, when you walk in, it's like you're in New York-the front of the restaraunt is a deli,and they sell every kind of ingredient you could ever want if you're cooking Italian food-and of course they have cold cuts-the only place that is better stocked(and is as much of a specialty store/restaraunt) is Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad. I think I've mentioned Tip Top before..they are a full service European grocery and restaraunt. If you are looking for unusual meats,they probably have it.
Anyways, as I said before, Flippi's is also a restaraunt. With very good pizza. The times that we've been there there's been a wait but the wait is well worth it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
[the kids need a safe,stable home]
I've mentioned the Medical Kidnap website a few times.
Their current campaign is for a family with 7 kids from Alabama.Two of their kids are wanderers(i.e. leaving the house and winding up a ways away from home).There are some questions about domestic issues with the parents(it was an issue with the Rengos who I have mentioned before;they have 3 kids under the age of 2-a one-year old and newborn twins(yep, the mom Erica got pregnant almost immediately after her older son was born.)
The kids were all sent to several different foster homes(I would think it would be impossible to put 7 kids all from the same family with foster parents.)
One of the comments on the story mentioned a case which I remembered from a few years ago-a little boy with autism wandered away and was found in the woods.The detail I *didn't* remember was that the little boy was tethered to the tent his parents were living in whilst they were getting organised(they were living in a tent in their backyard;the house had been foreclosed on but they were still allowed to live in the backyard *shrug*). Of course there were people that defended the parents doing that- "You do what you have to do", that sort of thing.
Look, I get that parents of severely autistic children get overwhelmed(and you can't blame them..)..but is that REALLY the best solution?
They get charmed by the "woo"-"holistic" treatments and the like. Those things have a place..but where it starts to concern me is when autistic parents use it as a crutch.To the exclusion of everything else-the natural treatments may or may not work,the kids get worse and that's when the authorities get involved.
Reading through the stories on Medical Kidnap, you can see why the kids may have been taken away-in a lot of cases family members(or neighbours or someone close to the family) sounded the alarm. With the family in Alabama, one of the little boys with autism wandered to a neighbour's house. Whilst a autistic child wandering *is* cause for alarm, I'm struck by two things:
1)Why didn't the parents try to make it more difficult for the kids to get outside
2)The neighbour whose house he wandered to must have had a lot more concerns than just the kid running away-could she possibly have seen some evidence of neglect?Who knows.
I am, by my very nature, a skeptic. And I would love to think that these parents are being falsely accuse.However, from reading(REALLY reading) the stories,there are things that make me think only part of the story is being told;also, there's quite a bit of commonality in the sort of accusations(quite frequently alleged domestic abuse is a factor;parents are told that they must get a divorce of they want their kids back. ) This leads to suggestions(on more than one occasion)that the family should take the kids and run.
Well,that's the WORST thing they could do.But some parents feel like it's the only legit option-it's what the Rengos did-claiming they were "visiting family" but word is they were about to get their kids taken away again-which they did-for not following rules. Mind you,they're living in a one-bedroom apartment with Erica's husband's father(the babies' grandfather) who is bipolar. Far from an idea living situation(that's putting it mildly!)
Their current campaign is for a family with 7 kids from Alabama.Two of their kids are wanderers(i.e. leaving the house and winding up a ways away from home).There are some questions about domestic issues with the parents(it was an issue with the Rengos who I have mentioned before;they have 3 kids under the age of 2-a one-year old and newborn twins(yep, the mom Erica got pregnant almost immediately after her older son was born.)
The kids were all sent to several different foster homes(I would think it would be impossible to put 7 kids all from the same family with foster parents.)
One of the comments on the story mentioned a case which I remembered from a few years ago-a little boy with autism wandered away and was found in the woods.The detail I *didn't* remember was that the little boy was tethered to the tent his parents were living in whilst they were getting organised(they were living in a tent in their backyard;the house had been foreclosed on but they were still allowed to live in the backyard *shrug*). Of course there were people that defended the parents doing that- "You do what you have to do", that sort of thing.
Look, I get that parents of severely autistic children get overwhelmed(and you can't blame them..)..but is that REALLY the best solution?
They get charmed by the "woo"-"holistic" treatments and the like. Those things have a place..but where it starts to concern me is when autistic parents use it as a crutch.To the exclusion of everything else-the natural treatments may or may not work,the kids get worse and that's when the authorities get involved.
Reading through the stories on Medical Kidnap, you can see why the kids may have been taken away-in a lot of cases family members(or neighbours or someone close to the family) sounded the alarm. With the family in Alabama, one of the little boys with autism wandered to a neighbour's house. Whilst a autistic child wandering *is* cause for alarm, I'm struck by two things:
1)Why didn't the parents try to make it more difficult for the kids to get outside
2)The neighbour whose house he wandered to must have had a lot more concerns than just the kid running away-could she possibly have seen some evidence of neglect?Who knows.
I am, by my very nature, a skeptic. And I would love to think that these parents are being falsely accuse.However, from reading(REALLY reading) the stories,there are things that make me think only part of the story is being told;also, there's quite a bit of commonality in the sort of accusations(quite frequently alleged domestic abuse is a factor;parents are told that they must get a divorce of they want their kids back. ) This leads to suggestions(on more than one occasion)that the family should take the kids and run.
Well,that's the WORST thing they could do.But some parents feel like it's the only legit option-it's what the Rengos did-claiming they were "visiting family" but word is they were about to get their kids taken away again-which they did-for not following rules. Mind you,they're living in a one-bedroom apartment with Erica's husband's father(the babies' grandfather) who is bipolar. Far from an idea living situation(that's putting it mildly!)
Monday, February 23, 2015
[rules are rules]
The Halfacts anniversary thread got shut down(to be fair, it has been stated on more than one occasion that it's a verboten subject.)
Then someone started a thread calling out one of the moderators.It lasted overnight(started late night and wasn't zapped/deleted until mid-day the next day.)
Apparently the people that are bothered by this don't get that.It bothered them to the point that they started not one but two threads at the time explaining the policy was posted.
There was a lot of questioning about why things were done so behind the scenes;IMO if it happened behind the scenes,there was a good reason for it.
Someone tried to explain why Laura, et al might have done what they did and that lead to people openly sniping at each other.Which is pretty much SOP for any contentious thread on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards.
Here's the thing:They can't seem to grasp that Cruise Critic is part of a corporate entity(Trip Advisor) and that they can't allow info from outside websites.The fact that it's part of a corporate entity isn't any kind of secret, either.They have been allowing links, etc to outside websites for a long time and looking the other way for a while.
Halfacts, whilst it is a great resource(cruisers-a lot of them posters on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards-contribute information,pictures and the like, of Holland America ships. )The problem is it's not an approved site,by Trip Advisor's standards. Seems like Trip Advisor decided to start laying down some rules, and insisted that those rules were to be followed.
Then someone started a thread calling out one of the moderators.It lasted overnight(started late night and wasn't zapped/deleted until mid-day the next day.)
Apparently the people that are bothered by this don't get that.It bothered them to the point that they started not one but two threads at the time explaining the policy was posted.
There was a lot of questioning about why things were done so behind the scenes;IMO if it happened behind the scenes,there was a good reason for it.
Someone tried to explain why Laura, et al might have done what they did and that lead to people openly sniping at each other.Which is pretty much SOP for any contentious thread on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards.
Here's the thing:They can't seem to grasp that Cruise Critic is part of a corporate entity(Trip Advisor) and that they can't allow info from outside websites.The fact that it's part of a corporate entity isn't any kind of secret, either.They have been allowing links, etc to outside websites for a long time and looking the other way for a while.
Halfacts, whilst it is a great resource(cruisers-a lot of them posters on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards-contribute information,pictures and the like, of Holland America ships. )The problem is it's not an approved site,by Trip Advisor's standards. Seems like Trip Advisor decided to start laying down some rules, and insisted that those rules were to be followed.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
[oscar thoughts]
*YES to Eddie Redmayne winning Best Actor for The Theory Of Everything.Well deserved, IMO.
*Lady Gaga..and Julie Andrews. Oh My Goodness.That made my whole..life. ;)
*Dear Sean Penn:Your attempt at "humour" most definitely was not funny.And offensive. Love,Me.
*I thought Neil Patrick Harris did a pretty good job at hosting.
*For once the Oscar orchestra wasn't *too* annoying, but they really needed to take into account that there were multiple winners in some categories. I get that they have to stick to a schedule ..just sayin'.
*Lady Gaga..and Julie Andrews. Oh My Goodness.That made my whole..life. ;)
*Dear Sean Penn:Your attempt at "humour" most definitely was not funny.And offensive. Love,Me.
*I thought Neil Patrick Harris did a pretty good job at hosting.
*For once the Oscar orchestra wasn't *too* annoying, but they really needed to take into account that there were multiple winners in some categories. I get that they have to stick to a schedule ..just sayin'.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
[right in my own backyard]
Today tickets for SD ComiCon went on sale.I'm not going(I don't do crowds TBH). I have to live vicariously through the people that blog/tweet about what's going on.
And anyways, if I was going to go,I would only go to the day with the panels that I was most interested in(like Hannibal..) and would stay there for the day just to kinda take it all in. Like I did with Coachella. I only went to one day of Coachella a bunch of years ago and it was enough for me. I would go to Coachella again if there was the right lineup(actually,there were a couple of bands on one of the days(Saturday?)that would totally have gotten me there again.)
But it's hard to get badges-especially if there is a day when there is a lot going on. Like I said, I'm not going, but the Hannibal panel will be online, like the Paley one was.That'll be a lot of fun. I kinda hope they do a Q&A at Nerd HQ again-that's free but as with getting the SDCC tickets, you have to get in there fast(I think you had to call or email to get a spot, iirc?)
The one good thing about Hannibal being on in the summer is that it will probably be on during SDCC(usually Hannibal is over by ComiCon time) More chances to get out there and promote the show(lord knows NBC doesn't do that enough :P)
And anyways, if I was going to go,I would only go to the day with the panels that I was most interested in(like Hannibal..) and would stay there for the day just to kinda take it all in. Like I did with Coachella. I only went to one day of Coachella a bunch of years ago and it was enough for me. I would go to Coachella again if there was the right lineup(actually,there were a couple of bands on one of the days(Saturday?)that would totally have gotten me there again.)
But it's hard to get badges-especially if there is a day when there is a lot going on. Like I said, I'm not going, but the Hannibal panel will be online, like the Paley one was.That'll be a lot of fun. I kinda hope they do a Q&A at Nerd HQ again-that's free but as with getting the SDCC tickets, you have to get in there fast(I think you had to call or email to get a spot, iirc?)
The one good thing about Hannibal being on in the summer is that it will probably be on during SDCC(usually Hannibal is over by ComiCon time) More chances to get out there and promote the show(lord knows NBC doesn't do that enough :P)
Friday, February 20, 2015
[S2 Ep12:Tome Wan]
*Will is in therapy with Hannibal. Will is speaking the truth to Hannibal.Will's like "You have to kill him(Mason)before he kills you".
*This episode is not going to end well for Mason(that's putting it mildly!)
*Will dreams of slashing Hannibal's throat-and when Hannibal asks him what he saw we hear Will's "Happy" music.
*Mason has a session with Hannibal and he's not happy. He stabs Hannibal's chair. He wants an heir but it's gonna be from..him. Oh, eww.
*Meanwhile, Margot is recovering from her surgery-and bearing the scars. Mason could have simplified things but he wanted to exert control over Margot-as I've said before, he's a control freak.
*Jack can only look the other way so much...
*Bedelia is back!(I hope we get some back story about where she was for a lot of S2 and what Hannibal did to get her to go with him at the end of S2 as well as what happened to her patient(we know that his tongue was not attached when he swallowed it..how?
*I hope that Bedelia's "He will try to get you to kill someone you love" doesn't come to pass but I have a feeling if it does it will be very close to home for Will.
*Hannibal is the most co-dependent mofo on the planet.
*Poor Will, he's like "I get used to the idea of a child and you take that away from me". Funny since Hannibal was "oh, you're gonna be a dad soon" when he got all sad about Abigail in the previous episode.
*Bedelia tells Jack "You can't protect Will". Given how S2 ends.. Oh man..
*Dinner at Hannibal's-the NASTY kholodets-whole fish suspended in jello.Google it if you've never seen it. *shakes head*.
*At this point Hannibal thinks Freddie is still alive-is she in witness protection? They'd have to, to be able to keep the ruse up.
*Mason shows up at Will's house.At the same time Mason's henchmen show up at Hannibal's and try to take him down(which they do, but not before Hannibal is able to take one of them down.)
*Hannibal is hanging up above the pig pens at Mason's farm. Carlo,the surviving henchman is out for revenge but Mason pulls him back.
*Mason wants Will to kill Hannibal but he doesn't-he cuts Hannibal down and gets knocked out in the process. Will wakes up and there's blood all over-whatever happened it wasn't goo..oh.. Carlo got thrown in the pig pen. Yikes.
*Hannibal,meanwhile, has taken Mason to Will's house and has given him a combination of drugs and he is tripping BALLS.And then he starts cutting off his own face.And feeding it to Will's dogs.
*Will comes home to find Winston outside(he's a smart dog.He wants no part of that.).Will's like "what are you feeding my dogs?" I think Will knows what Mason is feeding his dogs.He's just in denial.
*I can't quote the whole conversation, but Hannibal and Will's conversation about mercy, and murder is taken directly from the ending of Red Dragon..
*Mason's hungry. "Eat your nose, then"-Hannibal-and he DOES.
*Will's like "This is my house but I want no part of it".So Hannibal breaks his neck(still can't believe Mason survived that!)
*That's a Moray(eel)
*Jack visits Mason ..apparently Mason benefitted from Hannibal's therapy. Riiight. Margot has her brother right where she wants him.
*Hannibal and Will-the paralells in this scene are pretty obvious-Patroclus and Achilles=Hannibal and Will.
*Will tells Hannibal he should give himself up and Hannibal's like "Gonna be a cold day in hell when that happens".
Episode insight:
It's all sort of coming to a head in this episode.It does not end well for Mason. But given his behaviour in the previous few episodes..I wouldn't say it's deserved exactly..
This episode has a lot to do with intent and motive(MOTIVE!), Will as much so as Hannibal..and Margot..I would have loved to have heard an inner monologue from Margot as to what she was thinking.
Will, once again, has been denied. This-and losing Abigail-and or both-could be what Chiyo was talking about in the S3 trailer..we don't know what Chiyo is aware of(or not).
Staying on that topic(sort of):Bedelia:Evasive much?With a touch of Stockholm Syndrome.Not enough that she wasn't able to leave for a while during S2 but enough that she wound up on a plane with him in the S2 finale.
Quotes:
Dreams prepares us for waking life.-Hannibal
I am enchanted and terrified.-Mason
=============================
A few things: I am going to be going back and re-reviewing S1 episodes. Yes, I have written reviews of a few of them before but they will be slightly different. I *will* review Mizumono(S2 Ep 13) eventually but I just can't do it yet.
Second, there is going to be some news soon.I'm hoping it's an airdate!
Thirdly, Fannibal Grace(Mads NDads on Twitter) is in the hospital after being attacked.The outpouring of well wishes from her fellow Fannibals is incredible! I don't think I've ever been in a fandom like this before, where one of our own gets attacked and everyone pitches in(she's got care packages from several people on the way.)
*This episode is not going to end well for Mason(that's putting it mildly!)
*Will dreams of slashing Hannibal's throat-and when Hannibal asks him what he saw we hear Will's "Happy" music.
*Mason has a session with Hannibal and he's not happy. He stabs Hannibal's chair. He wants an heir but it's gonna be from..him. Oh, eww.
*Meanwhile, Margot is recovering from her surgery-and bearing the scars. Mason could have simplified things but he wanted to exert control over Margot-as I've said before, he's a control freak.
*Jack can only look the other way so much...
*Bedelia is back!(I hope we get some back story about where she was for a lot of S2 and what Hannibal did to get her to go with him at the end of S2 as well as what happened to her patient(we know that his tongue was not attached when he swallowed it..how?
*I hope that Bedelia's "He will try to get you to kill someone you love" doesn't come to pass but I have a feeling if it does it will be very close to home for Will.
*Hannibal is the most co-dependent mofo on the planet.
*Poor Will, he's like "I get used to the idea of a child and you take that away from me". Funny since Hannibal was "oh, you're gonna be a dad soon" when he got all sad about Abigail in the previous episode.
*Bedelia tells Jack "You can't protect Will". Given how S2 ends.. Oh man..
*Dinner at Hannibal's-the NASTY kholodets-whole fish suspended in jello.Google it if you've never seen it. *shakes head*.
*At this point Hannibal thinks Freddie is still alive-is she in witness protection? They'd have to, to be able to keep the ruse up.
*Mason shows up at Will's house.At the same time Mason's henchmen show up at Hannibal's and try to take him down(which they do, but not before Hannibal is able to take one of them down.)
*Hannibal is hanging up above the pig pens at Mason's farm. Carlo,the surviving henchman is out for revenge but Mason pulls him back.
*Mason wants Will to kill Hannibal but he doesn't-he cuts Hannibal down and gets knocked out in the process. Will wakes up and there's blood all over-whatever happened it wasn't goo..oh.. Carlo got thrown in the pig pen. Yikes.
*Hannibal,meanwhile, has taken Mason to Will's house and has given him a combination of drugs and he is tripping BALLS.And then he starts cutting off his own face.And feeding it to Will's dogs.
*Will comes home to find Winston outside(he's a smart dog.He wants no part of that.).Will's like "what are you feeding my dogs?" I think Will knows what Mason is feeding his dogs.He's just in denial.
*I can't quote the whole conversation, but Hannibal and Will's conversation about mercy, and murder is taken directly from the ending of Red Dragon..
*Mason's hungry. "Eat your nose, then"-Hannibal-and he DOES.
*Will's like "This is my house but I want no part of it".So Hannibal breaks his neck(still can't believe Mason survived that!)
*That's a Moray(eel)
*Jack visits Mason ..apparently Mason benefitted from Hannibal's therapy. Riiight. Margot has her brother right where she wants him.
*Hannibal and Will-the paralells in this scene are pretty obvious-Patroclus and Achilles=Hannibal and Will.
*Will tells Hannibal he should give himself up and Hannibal's like "Gonna be a cold day in hell when that happens".
Episode insight:
It's all sort of coming to a head in this episode.It does not end well for Mason. But given his behaviour in the previous few episodes..I wouldn't say it's deserved exactly..
This episode has a lot to do with intent and motive(MOTIVE!), Will as much so as Hannibal..and Margot..I would have loved to have heard an inner monologue from Margot as to what she was thinking.
Will, once again, has been denied. This-and losing Abigail-and or both-could be what Chiyo was talking about in the S3 trailer..we don't know what Chiyo is aware of(or not).
Staying on that topic(sort of):Bedelia:Evasive much?With a touch of Stockholm Syndrome.Not enough that she wasn't able to leave for a while during S2 but enough that she wound up on a plane with him in the S2 finale.
Quotes:
Dreams prepares us for waking life.-Hannibal
I am enchanted and terrified.-Mason
=============================
A few things: I am going to be going back and re-reviewing S1 episodes. Yes, I have written reviews of a few of them before but they will be slightly different. I *will* review Mizumono(S2 Ep 13) eventually but I just can't do it yet.
Second, there is going to be some news soon.I'm hoping it's an airdate!
Thirdly, Fannibal Grace(Mads NDads on Twitter) is in the hospital after being attacked.The outpouring of well wishes from her fellow Fannibals is incredible! I don't think I've ever been in a fandom like this before, where one of our own gets attacked and everyone pitches in(she's got care packages from several people on the way.)
Thursday, February 19, 2015
[now I get why people who have GPS in their car love it]
I used the GPS on my phone today-we had two new people we were delivering Meals On Wheels to so I put their addresses and boom bang bing-it got us there-"turn right in half a mile" that sort of thing-anyone who has used a GPS knows exactly what I'm talking about,I'm sure :P
Lemme tell you, it's a lot better than the directions that the Meals On Wheels people give-I mean I love them,I love delivering Meals On Wheels,but sometimes they really do send you all over the place. Generally, Meals On Wheels gives good directions and tries not to send you all over the place, but I don't think that I could have found either of the last two places today without help.Luckily they were close to each other, as it turned out!
The one thing that's slightly creepy is that they know where you are. were were at the second to last house and were able to get directions from there. IMO it's much preferable to getting lost!
Lemme tell you, it's a lot better than the directions that the Meals On Wheels people give-I mean I love them,I love delivering Meals On Wheels,but sometimes they really do send you all over the place. Generally, Meals On Wheels gives good directions and tries not to send you all over the place, but I don't think that I could have found either of the last two places today without help.Luckily they were close to each other, as it turned out!
The one thing that's slightly creepy is that they know where you are. were were at the second to last house and were able to get directions from there. IMO it's much preferable to getting lost!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
[in introspective mode today]
I have been looking up some of the people I first met when I got on the internet almost 17 years ago. It's kind of a..searches for a word and settles on "Mixed bag"-to say the least.
Like my friend who I met when I first got online.We had a couple of mutual friends, and a couple of mutual enemies, too(the reveal that someone who a mutual friend was actually *also* a friend of one of our mutual enemies(got that?) was earth-shaking. I admit that I kinda overreacted when I found out.That person disappeared not long after that(I can't find any record of them apart from old archived stuff from years and years ago) I think I pissed her off with my reaction(can't say I blame her TBH) but I read her blog and..I just don't think we have anything in common. The thing that we had in common back then was that we liked the same band.
Then there were the TimeOnline boards-that was 1998-200? I met a lot of really great people on there, some of whom I am friends with. But I *did* clash with some people there.There were several people that..how shall we say..reveled in being abrasive.
That led into the Junk Drawer board. I loved the Junk Drawer-I actually went to a get-together with a bunch of people who posted on the board..But again..there were people that I didn't get along with there..however,it's not insurmountable..one of the people that I initially did not get along with is one of my best online friends!
For all the fun we had on the Junk Drawer, it also could be problematic. I don't even know where to start on why that was :P
I'm kinda over posting on messageboards- a lot of the ones that I post on are not very busy anymore-among other things. I love my friends on Twitter-they're awesome :)
Like my friend who I met when I first got online.We had a couple of mutual friends, and a couple of mutual enemies, too(the reveal that someone who a mutual friend was actually *also* a friend of one of our mutual enemies(got that?) was earth-shaking. I admit that I kinda overreacted when I found out.That person disappeared not long after that(I can't find any record of them apart from old archived stuff from years and years ago) I think I pissed her off with my reaction(can't say I blame her TBH) but I read her blog and..I just don't think we have anything in common. The thing that we had in common back then was that we liked the same band.
Then there were the TimeOnline boards-that was 1998-200? I met a lot of really great people on there, some of whom I am friends with. But I *did* clash with some people there.There were several people that..how shall we say..reveled in being abrasive.
That led into the Junk Drawer board. I loved the Junk Drawer-I actually went to a get-together with a bunch of people who posted on the board..But again..there were people that I didn't get along with there..however,it's not insurmountable..one of the people that I initially did not get along with is one of my best online friends!
For all the fun we had on the Junk Drawer, it also could be problematic. I don't even know where to start on why that was :P
I'm kinda over posting on messageboards- a lot of the ones that I post on are not very busy anymore-among other things. I love my friends on Twitter-they're awesome :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
shockingly..]
I can't really think of anything to write about today. Shocking, I know. Actually, I have a few things that I want to write about but they're always on set days(Cruise Critic is one of them and I do have some thoughts on things that have been going on there but they'll have to wait until Saturday.
OK..the dog show was on tonight and a beagle won Best in Show. And people were actually happy about it. I was pleased to not see *too much* wank about it. In past years I have seen a lot of people online be butt hurt because their breed of dog didn't win. Really?That is what you're going to be upset about? The dogs are judged on a lot of things, but their popularity is,in the scheme of things, pretty low on the judges' list of considerations on who wins Best In Show!
Let's see, what else? I have been thinking about doing a book post..I am up to 5 books so far this year..I am hoping to get to 50 by the end of the year, and it looks like I will.Last year I made it to 50 books in plenty of time, and actually wound up reading 52 books which is pretty impressive.
I have something I've been working on..it's coming along, I hope!
My new thing: decorating. I got a resin deer head for my birthday which is going to hang up in my computer room. I also got an art print which is also going to be hanging up in the computer room, right above my recliner. It's kinda fun to change things up and add new things every once in a while, you know? I did that with my bedroom at my parents' house-I simplified a lot of things, got a new bed, new bedding, got rid of most of the pillows(the amount of pillows in my room was starting to get to hoarding level. The older I get, the less time I have for clutter. I make myself throw stuff out every so often. I've seen enough episodes of Hoarders to know that's something I don't want to do!
This post kinda served as a random stuff/blog housekeeping/in the news/odds and ends post!
OK..the dog show was on tonight and a beagle won Best in Show. And people were actually happy about it. I was pleased to not see *too much* wank about it. In past years I have seen a lot of people online be butt hurt because their breed of dog didn't win. Really?That is what you're going to be upset about? The dogs are judged on a lot of things, but their popularity is,in the scheme of things, pretty low on the judges' list of considerations on who wins Best In Show!
Let's see, what else? I have been thinking about doing a book post..I am up to 5 books so far this year..I am hoping to get to 50 by the end of the year, and it looks like I will.Last year I made it to 50 books in plenty of time, and actually wound up reading 52 books which is pretty impressive.
I have something I've been working on..it's coming along, I hope!
My new thing: decorating. I got a resin deer head for my birthday which is going to hang up in my computer room. I also got an art print which is also going to be hanging up in the computer room, right above my recliner. It's kinda fun to change things up and add new things every once in a while, you know? I did that with my bedroom at my parents' house-I simplified a lot of things, got a new bed, new bedding, got rid of most of the pillows(the amount of pillows in my room was starting to get to hoarding level. The older I get, the less time I have for clutter. I make myself throw stuff out every so often. I've seen enough episodes of Hoarders to know that's something I don't want to do!
This post kinda served as a random stuff/blog housekeeping/in the news/odds and ends post!
Monday, February 16, 2015
[that old time religion]
I was raised Catholic, went to Mass every Sunday until I was too old for my parents to force me to go :P
Mind you, I'm not a frequent churchgoer(despite being godmother to two of my nephews-one officially and one unofficially) but I do do the no meat on Friday thing during Lent and I try to give up something for Lent every year(this time it's chocolate.)Some things are so ingrained in you you can't NOT do them. It never leaves you no matter how old you get.
When I was a kid I had a friend who was Mormon-she lived right across the street from me and I would go over to her house for Family Home Evening(for those not familiar with it Family Home Evening is a Mormon thing-on a set day-usually Monday or Tuesday-the family spends the evening playing games, reading scripture..there's usually some sort of snacks involved, too!)
I definitely found myself wishing that the Catholic Church had something similar-I mean we had CCD which was pretty..dry and boring. I was forced to go to a youth group that was part of the local parish(which was also prep for Confirmation). I went for a while but then rebelled and refused to go after a certain point.
A lot of people have been turned off by the church in the past, which is why Pope Francis is so good for the Catholic Church-he is a reformer, which pisses some old-school Catholics off, but is also why people like me, who are turned off by the Church, LOVE him. He is a very humble man, who says what he thinks, even if(as I said earlier) it pisses some people off. He'll have been Pope 2 years in March and I think it's fair to say that he is already beloved of a lot of people,and if you ask me he reminds me very much of Pope John Paul II. and when history records such things, he will be remembered as one of the greats.
To be honest, I never liked Pope Benedict all that much.. LOVED Pope John Paul II(he was Pope pretty much the whole time I was growing up.)
Mind you, I'm not a frequent churchgoer(despite being godmother to two of my nephews-one officially and one unofficially) but I do do the no meat on Friday thing during Lent and I try to give up something for Lent every year(this time it's chocolate.)Some things are so ingrained in you you can't NOT do them. It never leaves you no matter how old you get.
When I was a kid I had a friend who was Mormon-she lived right across the street from me and I would go over to her house for Family Home Evening(for those not familiar with it Family Home Evening is a Mormon thing-on a set day-usually Monday or Tuesday-the family spends the evening playing games, reading scripture..there's usually some sort of snacks involved, too!)
I definitely found myself wishing that the Catholic Church had something similar-I mean we had CCD which was pretty..dry and boring. I was forced to go to a youth group that was part of the local parish(which was also prep for Confirmation). I went for a while but then rebelled and refused to go after a certain point.
A lot of people have been turned off by the church in the past, which is why Pope Francis is so good for the Catholic Church-he is a reformer, which pisses some old-school Catholics off, but is also why people like me, who are turned off by the Church, LOVE him. He is a very humble man, who says what he thinks, even if(as I said earlier) it pisses some people off. He'll have been Pope 2 years in March and I think it's fair to say that he is already beloved of a lot of people,and if you ask me he reminds me very much of Pope John Paul II. and when history records such things, he will be remembered as one of the greats.
To be honest, I never liked Pope Benedict all that much.. LOVED Pope John Paul II(he was Pope pretty much the whole time I was growing up.)
Sunday, February 15, 2015
[how do they even enforce that?]
A couple of nights ago I dreamt that I discovered a British store near my house.The catch?They only wanted British people to shop there.Weird, no?
However, this isn't as odd as you would think. There used to be a British grocery store near where my parents live..I had what can only be called a love-hate affair with the place. I loved that I could get all of the British candy and whatnot that I loved..I hated the service.
Let me expand on that a bit, if I may:The service, depending on who was working there was good(there was one lady who was always very chatty and had time to talk and was very helpful) and then another woman(the owner?) who was permagrumpy.
Apparently, this sort of service was common at all 3 branches of the British Foods Store(2 in Northern California and one in Southern California) from what I read of their reviews on Yelp. All 3 of the stores are now closed,which shocked me since they are a chain it stands to reason that they would try to stay open where at all possible.
The problem was that they were all 3 in marginal areas-two of them were in strip malls that were hard to access.The one by my parents' house was accessible enough.
I suspect some of the issues behind their closing(apart from so-so service and being in a less-than-desirable location) was the sparseness of their shelves.They could be downright bare at times, and when asked the owners would say that it was going to be at least a couple of weeks before they got anything new in. Umm what? Not only that, they would frequently put food that was slightly out of date on sale. Not enough that it would hurt you if you ate it, but according to at least one person on Yelp the food was out of date enough that they tried to take it back and do an exchange and were told they couldn't. I mean, you can say "yeah, they bought expired food,they were taking a chance doing that" but still..
Going back to the beginning of this post though: I can relate to that dream though, since I certainly felt unwelcome at the British Foods store on more than one occasion.
My favourite British grocery store in San Diego?Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe which is across a courtyard from the Shakespeare Pub(big surprise there!).It's well stocked and they have stuff from India, Ireland,Scotland,Australia and a few other places. Plus, they have the Union Jack(newspaper for Brits in the UK which started here in San Diego) available for whoever wants it. Whenever I would go to the British Foods Store they would make you buy something to get it.Ironic given that it's a free newspaper.
However, this isn't as odd as you would think. There used to be a British grocery store near where my parents live..I had what can only be called a love-hate affair with the place. I loved that I could get all of the British candy and whatnot that I loved..I hated the service.
Let me expand on that a bit, if I may:The service, depending on who was working there was good(there was one lady who was always very chatty and had time to talk and was very helpful) and then another woman(the owner?) who was permagrumpy.
Apparently, this sort of service was common at all 3 branches of the British Foods Store(2 in Northern California and one in Southern California) from what I read of their reviews on Yelp. All 3 of the stores are now closed,which shocked me since they are a chain it stands to reason that they would try to stay open where at all possible.
The problem was that they were all 3 in marginal areas-two of them were in strip malls that were hard to access.The one by my parents' house was accessible enough.
I suspect some of the issues behind their closing(apart from so-so service and being in a less-than-desirable location) was the sparseness of their shelves.They could be downright bare at times, and when asked the owners would say that it was going to be at least a couple of weeks before they got anything new in. Umm what? Not only that, they would frequently put food that was slightly out of date on sale. Not enough that it would hurt you if you ate it, but according to at least one person on Yelp the food was out of date enough that they tried to take it back and do an exchange and were told they couldn't. I mean, you can say "yeah, they bought expired food,they were taking a chance doing that" but still..
Going back to the beginning of this post though: I can relate to that dream though, since I certainly felt unwelcome at the British Foods store on more than one occasion.
My favourite British grocery store in San Diego?Shakespeare's Corner Shoppe which is across a courtyard from the Shakespeare Pub(big surprise there!).It's well stocked and they have stuff from India, Ireland,Scotland,Australia and a few other places. Plus, they have the Union Jack(newspaper for Brits in the UK which started here in San Diego) available for whoever wants it. Whenever I would go to the British Foods Store they would make you buy something to get it.Ironic given that it's a free newspaper.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
[starting to get good again]
*Lovedamships is no longer public.Not that it mattered all that much anyhow-the updates were sporadic as of late.The LoveDamShips Review site hasn't been updates in almost 3 years and I don't think it's coming back.
Not sure if people have truces or if they just realised they were just as bad.
Tho I talked to D., the guy who runs LoveDamShipsReview and he's an alright sort.I think the people at LoveDamShips were too hard on him.
*So promoting outside websites is a no-no on the Holland America boards at Cruise Critic, and at least one person feels "singled out" because she had spoken out about censoring of certain websites-she had one of the banned websites in her signature but was the only one that got dinged(a warning from the moderators) for it.
This person started a thread knowing full well that it would get deleted(which it did) and then started another one(which also got deleted..after that there weren't any more..big shocker there.)
There was definitely a huge shake-up going on behind the scenes at the HAL boards and they wanted to keep it behind the scenes because they knew that noses would get out of joint.
*There was a contentious dress code thread.."Polo" shirts-they have to be the Polo brand specifically-because some polo shirts do not have collars-for which they were quickly corrected. Polo shirts encompass many different brands. One of my favourite polo shirts is from The Gap.
Rev. Neal(who has made some..how shall we say..controversial..comments on dress code threads was actually the voice of reason.Go figure.
Not sure if people have truces or if they just realised they were just as bad.
Tho I talked to D., the guy who runs LoveDamShipsReview and he's an alright sort.I think the people at LoveDamShips were too hard on him.
*So promoting outside websites is a no-no on the Holland America boards at Cruise Critic, and at least one person feels "singled out" because she had spoken out about censoring of certain websites-she had one of the banned websites in her signature but was the only one that got dinged(a warning from the moderators) for it.
This person started a thread knowing full well that it would get deleted(which it did) and then started another one(which also got deleted..after that there weren't any more..big shocker there.)
There was definitely a huge shake-up going on behind the scenes at the HAL boards and they wanted to keep it behind the scenes because they knew that noses would get out of joint.
*There was a contentious dress code thread.."Polo" shirts-they have to be the Polo brand specifically-because some polo shirts do not have collars-for which they were quickly corrected. Polo shirts encompass many different brands. One of my favourite polo shirts is from The Gap.
Rev. Neal(who has made some..how shall we say..controversial..comments on dress code threads was actually the voice of reason.Go figure.
Friday, February 13, 2015
[S2 Ep 11 Ko No Mono]
*Mazel tov! It's a ..Willdigo!(this is so gross, BTW.)
*Ortolan bunting-the cooking of it is a parallel to flaming Freddie.
*Sensuous is how I would describe Hannibal and Will eating the ortolan(which is actually marzipan!)
*At this point, Will is doing a good job of his con of Hannibal.
*Flamin' Freddie-I see you rollin', LOL
*And it is Freddie(or so everyone thinks...)
*Here is where the theme of fire destroying and creating(more about that in a minute!) comes in.
*Margot is pregnant with Will Jr.. She's OK with Will being a male influence..she just doesn't want her *brother* to be a male influence-and you can't blame her, honestly.
*Mason and the kid in the stable-there will never not be a creepy edge to that scene.
*Alana visits Will-she has concerns-and so does Will.She has no idea what is really going on. Will gives her a gun and urges her to learn now to use it.
*Mason goes to his session with Hannibal and Hannibal all but rats out Margot.Jerk.
*There is a "funeral" for Freddie. Will told Alana it was his idea(Hannibal's) to go to Freddie's "funeral".
*Hannibal mentions Mischa(sob!) in his sessions.Will mentions Abigail(and watching this episode..in hindsight..)
*ShivaFreddie!
*Whoever "killed" Freddie has a benefactor who admires his destruction- in Hinduism Shiva is both destroyer and benefactor.
*Mason wants to create a new generation of Vergers..How about NO. The kid Margot is carrying is only partially Verger..not good enough for Mason!
*Will sees the shivadigo.
*Hannibal knows that Alana has been shooting a gun(damn Hannibal and his freakish sense of smell!)
*Margot is trying to get away-nope.Not if Mason has anything to say about it. Just when we though he couldn't get any more dickish he makes sure that she can't have any more kids.ever.
*Alana has a lot of questions-she knows that something is not quite right.After confronting Jack he's like "come with me" and..
*SURPRISE BITCH! FREDDIE IS ALIVE. Freddie: "How was my funeral?" ROFL
*Will finds out about Margot and goes to Muskrat Farm. Mason: "You must be the baby daddy" Will: *punches Mason in the face*. Mason definitely had that coming.Will sets Mason straight on a few things.
Episode insight:
Lots of talk of birth/rebirth/purification/death this episode.Well, Shiva is featured prominently in this episode.
Shiva is frequently portrayed as being surrounded by fire-which represents purification-and also birth-and death. Which ties everything together-Freddie's "death" by purification(fire) and life(Margot's pregnancy)
Elsewhere there are meditations on loss(Hannibal talking about Mischa and Will talking about Abigail) Hannibal points out that he is going to have a child soon(which doesn't happen.)
Which leads me to Mason.Mason the-for lack of a better words-control freak. If you look up "This is why we can't have nice things" there would be a picture of Mason Verger. :)
Quotes:
I'm not proud of myself.-Margot
I'd be a good father.-Will
The only person you'll be spending Mother's Day with is me.-Mason
*Ortolan bunting-the cooking of it is a parallel to flaming Freddie.
*Sensuous is how I would describe Hannibal and Will eating the ortolan(which is actually marzipan!)
*At this point, Will is doing a good job of his con of Hannibal.
*Flamin' Freddie-I see you rollin', LOL
*And it is Freddie(or so everyone thinks...)
*Here is where the theme of fire destroying and creating(more about that in a minute!) comes in.
*Margot is pregnant with Will Jr.. She's OK with Will being a male influence..she just doesn't want her *brother* to be a male influence-and you can't blame her, honestly.
*Mason and the kid in the stable-there will never not be a creepy edge to that scene.
*Alana visits Will-she has concerns-and so does Will.She has no idea what is really going on. Will gives her a gun and urges her to learn now to use it.
*Mason goes to his session with Hannibal and Hannibal all but rats out Margot.Jerk.
*There is a "funeral" for Freddie. Will told Alana it was his idea(Hannibal's) to go to Freddie's "funeral".
*Hannibal mentions Mischa(sob!) in his sessions.Will mentions Abigail(and watching this episode..in hindsight..)
*ShivaFreddie!
*Whoever "killed" Freddie has a benefactor who admires his destruction- in Hinduism Shiva is both destroyer and benefactor.
*Mason wants to create a new generation of Vergers..How about NO. The kid Margot is carrying is only partially Verger..not good enough for Mason!
*Will sees the shivadigo.
*Hannibal knows that Alana has been shooting a gun(damn Hannibal and his freakish sense of smell!)
*Margot is trying to get away-nope.Not if Mason has anything to say about it. Just when we though he couldn't get any more dickish he makes sure that she can't have any more kids.ever.
*Alana has a lot of questions-she knows that something is not quite right.After confronting Jack he's like "come with me" and..
*SURPRISE BITCH! FREDDIE IS ALIVE. Freddie: "How was my funeral?" ROFL
*Will finds out about Margot and goes to Muskrat Farm. Mason: "You must be the baby daddy" Will: *punches Mason in the face*. Mason definitely had that coming.Will sets Mason straight on a few things.
Episode insight:
Lots of talk of birth/rebirth/purification/death this episode.Well, Shiva is featured prominently in this episode.
Shiva is frequently portrayed as being surrounded by fire-which represents purification-and also birth-and death. Which ties everything together-Freddie's "death" by purification(fire) and life(Margot's pregnancy)
Elsewhere there are meditations on loss(Hannibal talking about Mischa and Will talking about Abigail) Hannibal points out that he is going to have a child soon(which doesn't happen.)
Which leads me to Mason.Mason the-for lack of a better words-control freak. If you look up "This is why we can't have nice things" there would be a picture of Mason Verger. :)
Quotes:
I'm not proud of myself.-Margot
I'd be a good father.-Will
The only person you'll be spending Mother's Day with is me.-Mason
Thursday, February 12, 2015
[how this is ok I will never know]
My new favourite thing? Snarky reviews on Amazon.Especially a recent one for a book called Melanie's Marvelous Measles-a -yes-pro-measles book,and the title is apparently a riff on the title of a book by Roald Dahl, whose daughter died of measles.That, in my opinion is cruel. And the author(I won't say her name but you can google the title of the book and find some of the reviews.)*knows* that.Calling her a "heartless bitch" is being kind, to be quite honest.
But never mind that.Apparently, in 2015 people don't die from/have permanent health issues complications of the measles.Oh yes they do!And anyone who mentions Olivia Dahl gets shouted down-"because it happened so long ago". Really?
What I think is so scary is that this book shows one of Melanie's friends coming over to her house for a measles party. That is SO irresponsible. See also:Pox parties, and people selling chickenpox infected lollipops over the internet. I don't even know where to start on that one! The book says that it's actually OK to get the
People who think that these things aren't serious should talk to people in my parents' generation, who remember when polio was a real worry. But because of vaccinations, most of those diseases are gone.Well, they were. Now they're back. It was pretty routine to get shots for measles, mumps, rubella,diptheria,tetanus and pertussis(whooping cough) when I was a kid.
But never mind that.Apparently, in 2015 people don't die from/have permanent health issues complications of the measles.Oh yes they do!And anyone who mentions Olivia Dahl gets shouted down-"because it happened so long ago". Really?
What I think is so scary is that this book shows one of Melanie's friends coming over to her house for a measles party. That is SO irresponsible. See also:Pox parties, and people selling chickenpox infected lollipops over the internet. I don't even know where to start on that one! The book says that it's actually OK to get the
People who think that these things aren't serious should talk to people in my parents' generation, who remember when polio was a real worry. But because of vaccinations, most of those diseases are gone.Well, they were. Now they're back. It was pretty routine to get shots for measles, mumps, rubella,diptheria,tetanus and pertussis(whooping cough) when I was a kid.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
[..the little girls understand(or: when I was 13..it was a..OK not a great year)]
And I'll elaborate more on that in a minute..
Putting my iTunes on random caused it to stop on a Duran Duran song. I love Duran Duran. Granted, I am not the superfan I was when I was 13 years old, but I still love their music. I've only seen them in concert once as a teenager(which was my first concert, BTW) They have toured several times since and stopped in San Diego-once they played at a casino here in San Diego and what stopped me was the price. $95(and that was BEFORE the service charge!). Yeah..no.
But let's go back to 1983-1984 when I was at the height of my Duraniedom. I discovered Duran Duran back in 1983. They were quasi well known having toured with several major bands of the day(including Blondie). I discovered their music, and for a time,Duran Duran were all I really cared about.
Like a lot of Duran Duran fans, I had posters all over the wallsk-well in my case it wasn't walls it was glass closet doors. And when I say that they were covered, I really do mean covered. Any time I could get something for free or cheap(I didn't get a lot of allowance so would have to save up for quite a long time to get the latest 12 inch or pin or magazine)sometimes the local record store I went to when I was a kid would give me stuff for free because they had a lot of them, which was nice(I remember a HUGE poster that had pride of place.)
In order to fund my Duranie..habit.I would actually save my school lunch money.Talk about making a difficult choice..lunch, or being able to get a new pin? Well, it wasn't like the food at my jr. high school cafeteria was great anyways(it was downright awful!), so... O hai low blood sugar. LOL.
Several of the radio stations in Southern California LOVED Duran Duran and would play the new Duran Duran song before anyone else.They would announce when they were going to play it the night before, and I would bring my radio to school.Then, right before they were going to play the song, I would ask to be excused to go to the bathroom and listen to it there. Amazingly,I never got caught-and I'm sure if my teachers had found out,they wouldn't have been happy about it. They were NOT Duran Duran fans, and blamed poor schoolwork on me being too much of a Duranie, which I recognise is totally true now..but at the time I was having such a fun time doing it I could have cared less.
One of the few people who "got it" was the school speech therapist. She had been a Beatles fan back in the day-still was at the time I knew her, so she knew what it was to be a FAN. I wish I could say that my classmates were Duran Duran fans but they weren't.(that's the "not a great year" part of the subject line.)
Duranie style was unique: Fedoras(and yes, I had one, and wore it to school-where I was compared with someone..not John Taylor(Duran Duran's bass player) like I had intended, though) so I never did it again!) jazz shoes, dyed blonde bangs(because John Taylor had them), Duran Duran shirts(obviously) and denim jackets covered with Duran Duran buttons.(don't ask why it was a Duranie thing..it just was. LOL)
I remember that when we went to England in the summer of 1984,the *one* thing I wanted to do was go to Birmingham, where they were from. We drove by the outskirts.That had to be good enough. I did get a couple of Duran Duran pins and a couple of shirts so that made up for it-and then when we were on the plane coming home I started talking to a girl from Texas who had been to England with a church group, so we got to compare notes somewhat, and that was a lot of fun :)
Back in the days when MTV actually played music videos,they had a handful of videos..that they played over and over and over..and Duran Duran's videos were always in there at LEAST once an hour. I can't even tell you how much I procrastinated and put off doing homework whilst waiting for a Duran Duran video to come on. Also, we got a VCR(which, in those days was an extravagance as was our Mac computer- one of the original beige boxy Macs) so I would tape hours and hours of MTV.
There was Sing Blue Silver, a tour movie, with Duran Duran on tour and interacting with press and fans and having to do interviews(there are several points in Sing Blue Silver where you can tell that they would rather be doing *anything* but being interviewed!)and As The Lights Go Down which is mostly a concert movie with a little bit of story thrown in.)At the time As The Lights Go Down aired on Cinemax, we had Cinemax for free for some reason and they never turned it off. The night it aired happened to be the night that I went to my church youth group/prep for Confirmation. That conflict(among other things) is what lead to me dropping out of the youth group and basically saying I was an atheist for a number of years. I'm still a pretty infrequent church goer :P
Putting my iTunes on random caused it to stop on a Duran Duran song. I love Duran Duran. Granted, I am not the superfan I was when I was 13 years old, but I still love their music. I've only seen them in concert once as a teenager(which was my first concert, BTW) They have toured several times since and stopped in San Diego-once they played at a casino here in San Diego and what stopped me was the price. $95(and that was BEFORE the service charge!). Yeah..no.
But let's go back to 1983-1984 when I was at the height of my Duraniedom. I discovered Duran Duran back in 1983. They were quasi well known having toured with several major bands of the day(including Blondie). I discovered their music, and for a time,Duran Duran were all I really cared about.
Like a lot of Duran Duran fans, I had posters all over the wallsk-well in my case it wasn't walls it was glass closet doors. And when I say that they were covered, I really do mean covered. Any time I could get something for free or cheap(I didn't get a lot of allowance so would have to save up for quite a long time to get the latest 12 inch or pin or magazine)sometimes the local record store I went to when I was a kid would give me stuff for free because they had a lot of them, which was nice(I remember a HUGE poster that had pride of place.)
In order to fund my Duranie..habit.I would actually save my school lunch money.Talk about making a difficult choice..lunch, or being able to get a new pin? Well, it wasn't like the food at my jr. high school cafeteria was great anyways(it was downright awful!), so... O hai low blood sugar. LOL.
Several of the radio stations in Southern California LOVED Duran Duran and would play the new Duran Duran song before anyone else.They would announce when they were going to play it the night before, and I would bring my radio to school.Then, right before they were going to play the song, I would ask to be excused to go to the bathroom and listen to it there. Amazingly,I never got caught-and I'm sure if my teachers had found out,they wouldn't have been happy about it. They were NOT Duran Duran fans, and blamed poor schoolwork on me being too much of a Duranie, which I recognise is totally true now..but at the time I was having such a fun time doing it I could have cared less.
One of the few people who "got it" was the school speech therapist. She had been a Beatles fan back in the day-still was at the time I knew her, so she knew what it was to be a FAN. I wish I could say that my classmates were Duran Duran fans but they weren't.(that's the "not a great year" part of the subject line.)
Duranie style was unique: Fedoras(and yes, I had one, and wore it to school-where I was compared with someone..not John Taylor(Duran Duran's bass player) like I had intended, though) so I never did it again!) jazz shoes, dyed blonde bangs(because John Taylor had them), Duran Duran shirts(obviously) and denim jackets covered with Duran Duran buttons.(don't ask why it was a Duranie thing..it just was. LOL)
I remember that when we went to England in the summer of 1984,the *one* thing I wanted to do was go to Birmingham, where they were from. We drove by the outskirts.That had to be good enough. I did get a couple of Duran Duran pins and a couple of shirts so that made up for it-and then when we were on the plane coming home I started talking to a girl from Texas who had been to England with a church group, so we got to compare notes somewhat, and that was a lot of fun :)
Back in the days when MTV actually played music videos,they had a handful of videos..that they played over and over and over..and Duran Duran's videos were always in there at LEAST once an hour. I can't even tell you how much I procrastinated and put off doing homework whilst waiting for a Duran Duran video to come on. Also, we got a VCR(which, in those days was an extravagance as was our Mac computer- one of the original beige boxy Macs) so I would tape hours and hours of MTV.
There was Sing Blue Silver, a tour movie, with Duran Duran on tour and interacting with press and fans and having to do interviews(there are several points in Sing Blue Silver where you can tell that they would rather be doing *anything* but being interviewed!)and As The Lights Go Down which is mostly a concert movie with a little bit of story thrown in.)At the time As The Lights Go Down aired on Cinemax, we had Cinemax for free for some reason and they never turned it off. The night it aired happened to be the night that I went to my church youth group/prep for Confirmation. That conflict(among other things) is what lead to me dropping out of the youth group and basically saying I was an atheist for a number of years. I'm still a pretty infrequent church goer :P
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
[3 pages.not necessarily in the morning either!]
Not sure if this should be tagged as health or creative writing but..I decided to start doing Morning Pages again. Much like going to a therapist, I think that it is something that I need to do.
My problem is is that I have tried doing Morning Pages in the past and all I wind up doing is rehashing shit from years and years ago.
I have been working on "being in the now" with my therapist...As with a lot of things relating to therapy, I am choosing to say that I am a "work in progress". That's not to say that I'm denying or not owning stuff..I am. But it's me being truthful!
My problem is is that I have tried doing Morning Pages in the past and all I wind up doing is rehashing shit from years and years ago.
I have been working on "being in the now" with my therapist...As with a lot of things relating to therapy, I am choosing to say that I am a "work in progress". That's not to say that I'm denying or not owning stuff..I am. But it's me being truthful!
Monday, February 9, 2015
[I totally called it.]
Some of you may remember that I blogged about Cleve and Erica Rengo,the family that had their three kids taken away because of neglect, and because Cleve and Erica had a long history of domestic abuse issues?Well, they're back in the news.
The reason they got their kids taken away in the first place is because they were choosing to treat their children's health issues naturally. One of the children had eczema that wasn't clearing up;their twins, who were a year younger than the older kid, were born at home. Erica had no prenatal healthcare when she was pregnant.None.She didn't even know that she was pregnant with twins until she delivered!
Erica delivered her twins at home. Cleve and Erica have claimed that this is one of the reasons that they have been "targeted" by CPS in Washington.
Cleve does not believe in modern medicine and believes that is is possible to pray away illnesses. He is also very possessive of Erica.He is a street preacher and apparently doesn't have much(if any) income-maybe they're living on Cleve's dad's SSI? Several people have offered to help Erica get out of her situation, but Cleve obviously holds some sort of sway over her. Erica's mother has offered several bits of information, including that one of the twins has a permanent disability due to being premature(and because their mother didn't have any prenatal care.)
Add to this, Erica and Cleve have been living in Cleve's father's house-a one-bedroom apartment.
Initially the kids were taken away from the parents; several weeks later,they were given back to Cleve and Erica, but with lots of conditions. At the time that the kids were given back to Cleve and Erica, I said that this would not be the last we heard of them, and I was right.
Apparently, Cleve and Erica were not following the court orders, and CPS was about to take their kids away, so they fled to California. The cops caught up with them, and Erica headbutted one of the cops that tried to arrest her. I seriously doubt CPS is going to want to give the kids back to Cleve and Erica at this point. The kids should be with a family member(the grandmother lives out of state but is aware of what is going on..she has been demonised by Cleve and Erica's supporters(of which there are many), calling her a"turncoat" and much much worse.
The reason they got their kids taken away in the first place is because they were choosing to treat their children's health issues naturally. One of the children had eczema that wasn't clearing up;their twins, who were a year younger than the older kid, were born at home. Erica had no prenatal healthcare when she was pregnant.None.She didn't even know that she was pregnant with twins until she delivered!
Erica delivered her twins at home. Cleve and Erica have claimed that this is one of the reasons that they have been "targeted" by CPS in Washington.
Cleve does not believe in modern medicine and believes that is is possible to pray away illnesses. He is also very possessive of Erica.He is a street preacher and apparently doesn't have much(if any) income-maybe they're living on Cleve's dad's SSI? Several people have offered to help Erica get out of her situation, but Cleve obviously holds some sort of sway over her. Erica's mother has offered several bits of information, including that one of the twins has a permanent disability due to being premature(and because their mother didn't have any prenatal care.)
Add to this, Erica and Cleve have been living in Cleve's father's house-a one-bedroom apartment.
Initially the kids were taken away from the parents; several weeks later,they were given back to Cleve and Erica, but with lots of conditions. At the time that the kids were given back to Cleve and Erica, I said that this would not be the last we heard of them, and I was right.
Apparently, Cleve and Erica were not following the court orders, and CPS was about to take their kids away, so they fled to California. The cops caught up with them, and Erica headbutted one of the cops that tried to arrest her. I seriously doubt CPS is going to want to give the kids back to Cleve and Erica at this point. The kids should be with a family member(the grandmother lives out of state but is aware of what is going on..she has been demonised by Cleve and Erica's supporters(of which there are many), calling her a"turncoat" and much much worse.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
[they learn new stuff incredibly fast!]
My nieces and nephews, especially the younger ones, can run rings around me where tech stuff is involved.
I just got an iPhone a couple of months ago, and I'm learning how to do everything on it pretty well, for a 43(almost 44,I'll be 44 in a couple of weeks)-year old. But I have needed a little bit of help, and the nephews and niece(and my brothers too) have all been right there if there's something I need help on.
And the Apple store was amazing when I had something I was stumped on and they had it all sorted out in 15 minutes. Now that's what I call customer service!
My niece has an iPad for school, but she has a ton of games on it-I played a bunch of the games to see if there were any I liked-I can't get the crazy high scores she does-my niece has much better hand eye co-ordination that I do-part of that is a) she's always been very coordinated and b) she's 10.
Eventually the plan is for my mom to upgrade to a smart phone;I think she's watching to see how I do with my iPhone before she commits to anything; it will also mean that when I'm around she'll be asking me how to do certain things;for everything else, she knows she can call my brothers, or my nephews if she needs to.
One of the things that I haven't used on my iPhone is the GPS.I've been hoping that we had a new person on our Meals On Wheels route so we could try it out but the directions they give are pretty good,I have to say!
I just got an iPhone a couple of months ago, and I'm learning how to do everything on it pretty well, for a 43(almost 44,I'll be 44 in a couple of weeks)-year old. But I have needed a little bit of help, and the nephews and niece(and my brothers too) have all been right there if there's something I need help on.
And the Apple store was amazing when I had something I was stumped on and they had it all sorted out in 15 minutes. Now that's what I call customer service!
My niece has an iPad for school, but she has a ton of games on it-I played a bunch of the games to see if there were any I liked-I can't get the crazy high scores she does-my niece has much better hand eye co-ordination that I do-part of that is a) she's always been very coordinated and b) she's 10.
Eventually the plan is for my mom to upgrade to a smart phone;I think she's watching to see how I do with my iPhone before she commits to anything; it will also mean that when I'm around she'll be asking me how to do certain things;for everything else, she knows she can call my brothers, or my nephews if she needs to.
One of the things that I haven't used on my iPhone is the GPS.I've been hoping that we had a new person on our Meals On Wheels route so we could try it out but the directions they give are pretty good,I have to say!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
['don't knock it 'till you try it"]
..is something that people on the Cruise Critic boards, specifically Holland America's, could do well to learn. I am going to be comparing Princess ships to Holland America ships ,because it's the only other cruise line I've been on.With that said..
If I had the chance to go on another Princess cruise,I SO would.
I like the layout of the ship-the Crown Princess-there is very little that I can fault Princess on, save for their coffee(which, to be fair got better as the cruise went on) and I wished there was a place in the cabin to recycle paper(of which they gave you a lot) instead of having to go all the way up to the lido deck where one of the recycling bins were.
Points also to Princess for having HOT water for showers.On Holland America it's never anything more than tepid.
Horizon court,Princess' buffet is really good-less of a selection than on HAL but I was always able to find something.Also,they had stuff at Horizon you don't usually get.They also had Cafe Caribe.I only ate there once(for breakfast) and had grits. Princess' food was REALLY good-the tri-tip with chimichurri sauce was a particular favourite, as was a raspberry dessert that was filled with chocolate mousse.
Princess has a very international crew-I liked that the crew's nametags also said where they were from-all over!
By and large my fellow passengers were really nice,I met some really cool people-all but one night we were at a table with other people, and I loved talking to other people, finding out where they were from, if they had cruised on Princess before, that sort of thing.
My cabin was a partial/obstructed view.Maybe because it was a obstructed view, or that it was slightly larger than the cabins I'm used to on Holland America(or a bit of both) but it felt much much bigger to me.
Princess calls their formal night "dress to impress night"(at least on the shorter cruises they do).It certainly wasn't HAL's level of formal, but people were dressed up(just not in tuxes-not that I was paying attention. Maybe Princess gets that the "F" word-formal-is srs buisness for some people.
For as many people as were on the Crown Princess, it never felt too crowded, and lines that seemed long turned out not to be.
Internet is much better on Princess.HAL's can be very slow, and Princess', whilst it is not high speed is much faster than HAL's.
Everything on Princess ships is in a central location.HAL's purser's desk or what have you is in a sort of basement-y area.
I much prefer the decor on Princess ships.Being able to sit in the piazza was one of my favourite things. Holland America is too reliant on an Old World charm look-though they are modernising with the Konigsdam much to the chagrin of HAL diehards, especially on Cruise Critic.If you're a HAL diehard(especially a more seasoned one),Princess' decor *would* seem garish.I loved it, though.
There was much more to do on Crown Princess:music, and dancing and karaoke..and it wasn't dead early, like HAL ships are.
I have read a lot of comments about how hard the beds on Princess were;honestly, I thought they were fine.
The pillow chocolates that they give you when they turn down your bed are good-way better than HAL's..People have written solilloquies about how wonderful the chocolate on HAL ships are.. Yeah..no. It's waxy.It's terrible. Princess' chocolate is so much better.HAL could learn from them on that one.
If I had the chance to go on another Princess cruise,I SO would.
I like the layout of the ship-the Crown Princess-there is very little that I can fault Princess on, save for their coffee(which, to be fair got better as the cruise went on) and I wished there was a place in the cabin to recycle paper(of which they gave you a lot) instead of having to go all the way up to the lido deck where one of the recycling bins were.
Points also to Princess for having HOT water for showers.On Holland America it's never anything more than tepid.
Horizon court,Princess' buffet is really good-less of a selection than on HAL but I was always able to find something.Also,they had stuff at Horizon you don't usually get.They also had Cafe Caribe.I only ate there once(for breakfast) and had grits. Princess' food was REALLY good-the tri-tip with chimichurri sauce was a particular favourite, as was a raspberry dessert that was filled with chocolate mousse.
Princess has a very international crew-I liked that the crew's nametags also said where they were from-all over!
By and large my fellow passengers were really nice,I met some really cool people-all but one night we were at a table with other people, and I loved talking to other people, finding out where they were from, if they had cruised on Princess before, that sort of thing.
My cabin was a partial/obstructed view.Maybe because it was a obstructed view, or that it was slightly larger than the cabins I'm used to on Holland America(or a bit of both) but it felt much much bigger to me.
Princess calls their formal night "dress to impress night"(at least on the shorter cruises they do).It certainly wasn't HAL's level of formal, but people were dressed up(just not in tuxes-not that I was paying attention. Maybe Princess gets that the "F" word-formal-is srs buisness for some people.
For as many people as were on the Crown Princess, it never felt too crowded, and lines that seemed long turned out not to be.
Internet is much better on Princess.HAL's can be very slow, and Princess', whilst it is not high speed is much faster than HAL's.
Everything on Princess ships is in a central location.HAL's purser's desk or what have you is in a sort of basement-y area.
I much prefer the decor on Princess ships.Being able to sit in the piazza was one of my favourite things. Holland America is too reliant on an Old World charm look-though they are modernising with the Konigsdam much to the chagrin of HAL diehards, especially on Cruise Critic.If you're a HAL diehard(especially a more seasoned one),Princess' decor *would* seem garish.I loved it, though.
There was much more to do on Crown Princess:music, and dancing and karaoke..and it wasn't dead early, like HAL ships are.
I have read a lot of comments about how hard the beds on Princess were;honestly, I thought they were fine.
The pillow chocolates that they give you when they turn down your bed are good-way better than HAL's..People have written solilloquies about how wonderful the chocolate on HAL ships are.. Yeah..no. It's waxy.It's terrible. Princess' chocolate is so much better.HAL could learn from them on that one.
Friday, February 6, 2015
[S2 Ep 10:Naka-Choko]
*Will's POV on what happened with Randall Tier.Will's pretty handy with a gun.
*Will pummels him with his bare hands-sees him as Hannibal-knows Hannibal sent him.
*Hannibal washing and bandaging Will's hands is..sensual.There's no other word for it.
*Hannibal is pleased with Will.Of course he is.
*Saber tooth Randall gets displayed in the museum.Saber-tooth Randall looking at Will freaks me out.Every time.
*"Becoming"-another book reference.
*Will visits Freddie.Freddie is a little..obsessive when it comes to getting stories.
*Margot wants a legacy and she knows just who is going to give her that.
*Mason is a dick.Hannibal knows it.
*Awww Pavlov the pig!
*Proof of Mason's piggishness:using one of her suits to train his pigs. Mason : "It's all about family". Oooh this is such a loaded comment.
*Alana, Hannibal and the theremin(stupid sexy theremin!)
*Margot is back at Will's.
*I love the continuity with showing Will's bullet wound(I know this is odd but sometimes when someone gets injured,they never mention it or show the after-effects.
*Will and Margot are gonna do it.
*Alana and Hanni and Will and Margot(and wendigo stag-man!) sexy time.
*Aand it's over.
*Freddie confronts Alana-awwwkward. Of course Alana doesn't really want to hear what Freddie has to say(talk about not being blind-in retrospect!)
*Hannibal visits Mason and sees for himself what a jerk Mason is.
*We have the dinner party of awkwardness with Will, Hannibal and Alana.
*Hannibal is waiting for Freddie(in his kill suit no less but she is..
*At Will's house.She sees the old barn.
*She finds Saber Tooth Randall's jaw.Will finds her and is all "I know how this looks"(LOL)
*I can see how people though Freddie was a goner when this episode first aired.
*I have to wonder,watching this now:How much of this was a con on Jack and Will's part(this will be relevant in next week's episode review!)
*Will has Hannibal SO convinced that that is Freddie that they're eating.In point of fact it's Randall Tier, at a guess.
*"Long Pig"-the student is starting to surpass the master!
Episode insight:
Margot wants an heir. And she's willing(heh) to do anything to reach that goal.
It's interesting how that was being spun as a "relationship" for Will on certain websites. Watching that, it's obvious it was anything but!
Elsewhere, we have Hannibal and Alana, who are doing a terrible job at keeping their relationship a secret.
And we have Freddie, who is supposedly a goner at the end of this episode. How much of what Jack is telling Alana,et al is a con, as I said earlier. Alana and Hannibal had no idea to what extent they were being bullshitted!
Quotes:
It was..intimate.-Will
You do have a unparalleled understanding of piggishness.-Margot
Margot pissed him off with her button stitching.-Mason
*Will pummels him with his bare hands-sees him as Hannibal-knows Hannibal sent him.
*Hannibal washing and bandaging Will's hands is..sensual.There's no other word for it.
*Hannibal is pleased with Will.Of course he is.
*Saber tooth Randall gets displayed in the museum.Saber-tooth Randall looking at Will freaks me out.Every time.
*"Becoming"-another book reference.
*Will visits Freddie.Freddie is a little..obsessive when it comes to getting stories.
*Margot wants a legacy and she knows just who is going to give her that.
*Mason is a dick.Hannibal knows it.
*Awww Pavlov the pig!
*Proof of Mason's piggishness:using one of her suits to train his pigs. Mason : "It's all about family". Oooh this is such a loaded comment.
*Alana, Hannibal and the theremin(stupid sexy theremin!)
*Margot is back at Will's.
*I love the continuity with showing Will's bullet wound(I know this is odd but sometimes when someone gets injured,they never mention it or show the after-effects.
*Will and Margot are gonna do it.
*Alana and Hanni and Will and Margot(and wendigo stag-man!) sexy time.
*Aand it's over.
*Freddie confronts Alana-awwwkward. Of course Alana doesn't really want to hear what Freddie has to say(talk about not being blind-in retrospect!)
*Hannibal visits Mason and sees for himself what a jerk Mason is.
*We have the dinner party of awkwardness with Will, Hannibal and Alana.
*Hannibal is waiting for Freddie(in his kill suit no less but she is..
*At Will's house.She sees the old barn.
*She finds Saber Tooth Randall's jaw.Will finds her and is all "I know how this looks"(LOL)
*I can see how people though Freddie was a goner when this episode first aired.
*I have to wonder,watching this now:How much of this was a con on Jack and Will's part(this will be relevant in next week's episode review!)
*Will has Hannibal SO convinced that that is Freddie that they're eating.In point of fact it's Randall Tier, at a guess.
*"Long Pig"-the student is starting to surpass the master!
Episode insight:
Margot wants an heir. And she's willing(heh) to do anything to reach that goal.
It's interesting how that was being spun as a "relationship" for Will on certain websites. Watching that, it's obvious it was anything but!
Elsewhere, we have Hannibal and Alana, who are doing a terrible job at keeping their relationship a secret.
And we have Freddie, who is supposedly a goner at the end of this episode. How much of what Jack is telling Alana,et al is a con, as I said earlier. Alana and Hannibal had no idea to what extent they were being bullshitted!
Quotes:
It was..intimate.-Will
You do have a unparalleled understanding of piggishness.-Margot
Margot pissed him off with her button stitching.-Mason
Sunday, February 1, 2015
[this is all over the place and rambly]
Posters on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards get stuck on the oddest things.Like:
*They were almost *gleeful* that the HALCats(the house band-well, one of them) on HAL ships are being phased out. the HALCats get called a lot of things-including "screechy"(more than once.) I don't have a problem with them myself but a lot of people on the HAL boards do.
*Modernising ships(interactive TV menus in the cabins, and larger ships among other things)
First as to the "modernisation": Holland America has always been about "Old world charm" and whilst that's all fine and good...the average age of the HAL cruiser can be quite old, although depending on what time of the year it is you may or may not see lots of families on there
They have kids' clubs on all their ships-if you ask me, if they didn't want kids on their ships they wouldn't have a kids' hangout on their ships. Some people on the Cruise Critic HAL boards go out og their way to try and discourage families from going on HAL cruises.
Where was I? Oh, so the age of HAL cruisers and the attraction of Old world charm. Well, eventually some of those people are going to die off. The younger people who are starting to discover Holland America are going to want a more modern experience perhaps(especially given that some of the Holland America ships are starting to age quite badly and Holland America's track record with maintenance on their ships) If that continues to be the case, they will start cruising on other cruise lines.
And the larger ships..well, they're starting to get into that with their new ship.It's certainly nothing like the Oasis or Quantum of the Seas(Royal Caribbean's megaships), but people think it's too big just the same.And people hate how modern the rooms are. I saw a rendering of them and thought they were quite nice.
As their current ships(the newest, biggest ships- the Eurodam and the Nieuw Amsterdam)start to age Holland America is going have to start thinking about where they want to go next..and in fact they have the Konigsdam starting next year, and apparently another ship in a few years besides.
IMO Holland America would do well to think about making that ship more family friendly,add a few more amenities. I can see people on the Holland America boards at Cruise Critic having a problem with that since they are the opposite of early adopters.
People get..searches for a word and settles on "Too into" Od World Charm. There's a lot who think that cruising is still like something out of Titanic.It isn't.
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