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Good Omens 2

by MAÔ, posted in Film

Finished the show last week. Today I may head out to Disney, weather-permitting (and if I’m not too tired).

For Good Omens, I will day it was an enjoyable, albeit somewhat frenetic, watch. I believe the book itself was also frenetic, so it followed right along.

In one of Gaiman’s interviews I recall him saying how much he wanted the show to follow the book, so as to respect the memory of coauthor Terry Pratchett. In that regard, it was a success.

The cast was good, and it was fun. It had a BBC/Doctor Who feel to the film-making and storytelling, right down to the aliens. I’d watch it again, some time down the road.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

by MAÔ, posted in Film, Writing

I’m a fan of the radioactive lizard. I had several on VHS and watched the battle against Mechagodzilla over and over again. So it was with some excitement that I went into this movie.

And, I left feeling… meh. Rodin, Mothra, Ghidora and Godzilla looked good. They were used in effective ways. The human characters were not quite as fleshed out.

I wanted to feel more remorse when leading characters died than I did over Mothra getting injured by Rodin. But the storytelling focused on the Titans, and not the mortals. Still, I’ll add the Bandai toys to my collection for this movie.

Week’s highlights

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Some of the interesting things I came across this week:

  • Social network gaming. How gaming has become the go-to place for people to connect, taking the place of social networks, or at least supplementing them.
  • Make me Smart on Alexa – courtesy of APM’s Marketplace. One of my favorite radio programs on NPR is Marketplace, and I’ve been listening since first getting into the public radio scene in 2007. This new feature for Alexa smart speakers is wonderful to have.
  • It’s good to be the dumbest guy in the room. Robert Kiyosaki wrote in Rich Dad, Poor Dad something along the line of “a successful business person will hire people smarter than themself.” This is basically the same concept, and it’s one I often find myself thinking about. Coming across this during the week was apt timing…
  • How hangovers started Brunch. Just for fun. Subsequently, this caused my rant on avocado toast.

Alaska countdown

by MAÔ, posted in Travel

Started packing, sort of. Less than two weeks until the trip, and I am getting more and more excited. Yet staying busy as ever.

I pulled the suitcases I’ll be using for this trip down. It’s weird not packing my either of my backpacks. One went with me to Europe, twice, for over a month each time. The other was for a quick week trip down to Costa Rica.

But this isn’t a backpacking trip. This is some exploring, some relaxing – including hiking and a glacier cruise. And in less than two weeks, I’ll be trading the lower 48 for the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Avocado toast

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Just a quick rant…

Where in the hell did avocado toast come from, and why is it suddenly so in vogue? It’s bread, toasted, with a slice of avocado on it. It’s fatty oils, and carbs. Avocado toast.

Yet, it’s representing a whole segment of millennial dining culture. Toast, and avocado.

Perhaps I just don’t get it.

Dreaming dangerously

by MAÔ, posted in Advice, Mountain

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. ~ T. E. Lawrence

A dream is a powerful tool, and one which, if fully invested in, will transform the lives of all who come in contact with the dreamer. The greatest results come from a full and unwavering commitment to the dream – I think of those who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of one thing (or at least a specific track) and climbed their way to that mountain.

Many books have been published on the subject, such as Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, or Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins. The fact is, the mind is the greatest resource we possess, and learning to harness it is a challenge. Especially in the world of cluttered lives and information overload that we inhabit.

Think on your one thing. Meditate. Maybe it’s more than one thing. That’s okay. Find your focus, and make forward motion.

Deleted content

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

While updating some posts on my phone, I thumbpressed trash rather than update on a post. So everything I’d scribed was now lost. No big deal, as it’s only one post a was just a few paragraphs. But it is an annoyance.

One downside to the digital world is the likelihood of deletion of content. When you consider how hard it is to delete handwriting from notebooks, it certainly gives that column a plus. However, it’s much more difficult to disseminate notebooks than it is a blog.

Good Omens Sunday

by MAÔ, posted in Film

One day, six episodes of the Amazon series featuring Michael Sheen and David Tennant as angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley. I first read the novel by Pratchett and Gaiman as a high-schooler, shortly after reading Neverwhere for the first time.

The show is said to be “every bit as entertaining as the novel”, and I’ve been looking forward to it since I heard that it was in preproduction.

Between that today, and a stack of grants I have to finish reading, I’ll have little time for anything else.

Week’s highlights

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Some of the things that caught my interest this week:

  • Brain Pickings – My Heart. The openness and closedness of a heart is one of those things I’ve pondered for several years. Long before the emotional breakdown in 2016. This children’s poem beautifully covers the spectrum of heart acrobatics in a sparse way.
  • A throwback to The OC. In this interview with Olivia Wilde she chats about the perceptions of including a queer character on the early 2000s pop culture juggernaut. (I still own the series on DVD).
  • Pollution is a problem in our National Parks. I’ve only recently begun exploring the outdoors – last three or so years. So the National Parks have grown in my purview, and I even entertained becoming a park ranger for a time. Caring for our natural resources, and the places we’ve set aside to visit the wilds, is of crucial importance.
  • Booming Broadway. The NYTimes reports, spoiler alert, another record year for performances on the Great White Way.