Blogger's Gonna Blog

Slater's gonna Slate, Daver's gonna Dave, Blogger's gonna blog. You know how it is.

Daylight savings time this weekend. Which means that it's not super dark out at 7am. But it is very dark out at 5pm.

You know what's kinda funny? The whole "gain an hour" "lose an hour" thing. I go back and forth on this. So this weekend we "gain an hour." Which is cool. Weather's getting colder, days are getting shorter, but at least we gain an hour, right? But it's not like an hour of sleep. It just means that Sunday is an hour longer, right? That's the compensation we get for it being dark at 4:30pm from December through February.

But I think it's just a mindset. Gain an hour, lose an hour, whatever. You gotta have the right attitude about it. But frankly, it's hard to have a good attitude about it getting dark so early. That's just life in the North right? We'll be ok.

Here's another nice photo of a sunset to mark the passing of the seasons.

So I'm blogging on my new computer. Well, new as of like three years ago. Now, I don't have nearly as many photos and music on this computer as I do on my old computer. I do have them all on an external hard drive, so I could dump them on this computer, but I don't really want to. Good to have a new file system, a new mess of unorganized photos and songs.

But there's a problem -- I can't find my old computer. I don't really need it for any reason, but I don't know where it is! I was keeping it in an easy to find place, but I got sick of looking at it, so I put it somewhere. But I don't know where. Maybe my parents? Honestly not sure. So that's a little bit of a mistake. Hopefully it turns up.

I'm going to upstate New York for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Sunday morning I'm most likely going to go out fishing with Dad. We are catch and release fly fishermen. That means that we don't eat the fish that we catch, we let them go. The fly fishing part of it is that we bumble around with a lot of fragile gear and try not to break it. And we frequently get frustrated when that gear gets tangled up in branches, rocks, and car doors.

Esopus Creek is where we'll be. It actually provides water for NYC. It's well-known for being a great rainbow trout fishery. I've heard it's also infamous for tubers getting themselves in trouble during the summer. We won't be tubing, just trying to hook up with a couple rainbows or browns. Should be fun.

For more info....

Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program

Orvis Fly Fishing Report and Conditions

Video: Fly Fishing On Esopus Creek

I Saw "Blade Runner 2049" and all I Got was this Lousy T-shirt

So I went and saw "Blade Runner 2049" at the Somerville Theater on Thursday night. If we're being perfectly honest, I wasn't crazy about it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I love the original "Blade Runner" (1982). So this is hard to swallow. Here's a screen cap of the two main bad guys from the original:

People forget that Blade Runner is based on a Philip K. Dick book - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Far less sexy and neon than the Blade Runner that we all know and love. I don't think I've read it. I'm not a huge Philip K. Dick guy. I am a huge sci-fi guy, and a huge cyberpunk guy, and a huge neon-noir guy. I rewatched the original Blade Runner last weekend to prep myself for this week's showing. I had heard that it was long, but I was pumped for that. I wanted to see it in 3D or IMAX, but I settled for seeing it nearby at a local independent theater with buddies.

The special effects were great. The apartment scene when the virtual girl morphs into the real girl was astounding. That was some next level special effects. I've never seen anything like that. Mesmerizing.

And the city scenes were cool. I like that they kept with the whole Asian neighborhood/eating noodles vibe. And I enjoyed when they went into all the weird little shops and vendors, like the guy who did the analysis on the horse. And Ryan Gosling is great. And generally speaking, the special effects, costumes, and cinematography were all well done and enjoyable.

But, and there's a big but -- I didn't get it. Like, I usually don't get it when it comes to complicated movies. Like suspenseful dramas where the audience is expected to piece together what happened. I didn't stick around afterwards and talk with the people that I saw the film with, maybe they could have explained it to me.

So Ryan Gosling is a Replicant. I know that much. Because he gets called skinjob early on. And Deckard is not? Isn't that the beauty of the original? That we don't know if he is or is not?

And the whole flashbacks thing and the horse and the furnace just went over my head. Oh well. It was fun. Way better than the crappy Star Wars episodes that came out in the early 2000s. But seriously, someone needs to explain it to me -- what was Jared Leto's deal? Was he purposely evil, or was his assistant just evil and he didn't know it? Who was the baby? God I'm clueless. I'll go read the Wikipedia entry on the film now.

That's my hot take on Blade Runner 2049. It looked cool, but I didn't get it. I still recommend seeing it, but make sure that you go the bathroom beforehand, cause it's a long one. Now can we get a Fifth Element sequel already?

Same Stale Old Shoes

It's a Beck quote. The post title. It's a Beck quote. You probably got it.

If you're trying to get weird this evening then check out Balam Acab's Twitter account. He made this great album called "See Birds" years ago and then another good album called Wander / Wonder and he's put out some other stuff too. He's a crazy kid. Entertaining to follow, but kinda hard to follow, in multiple ways, if you know what I mean.

It's a very warm day here in Boston. Unseasonably warm, one might say. I'm looking out the window here in the office, or what I call the office in our house. The tree branches are soooo close to the window. Like, there's a tree in the neighbors yard that's just totally overgrown and dominates our backyard. We're gonna have to take the saw thing and stick it out the window and take down some of it. Just leaves and branches everywhere blocking out the sun and the view of the other white houses on the next street over.

OK, impressive football notes of the weekend. Freshman AJ Dillon ran for like a million yards yesterday in the BC Louisville game. He was the number one rated Massachusetts player coming out of high school. Good for him. And then today's Patriots game -- in terms of wild refereeing decisions, that touchdown that got called back was crazy. Crazy! Did you see it?

On a sad note, remember when the United States men's soccer team didn't qualify for the World Cup? I was watching live. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't believe it was happening as I was watching it. I love the World Cup. But no US? I'm stunned.

OK now I have that Beck song in my head. But that's not such a bad thing. Great album, Odelay. Great album cover. Man it must be so hard to come up with good album art. Like, what would the album art be for your debut album? Something to think about.

OK I gotta run, gotta go get dinner with the parents. Bringing the dog over. Life's good. Don't overextend yourself folks. Do like The Dude does - Abide.

D

I'm Baaaaaaaacccck

That's me in the boat. See me there? In the boat?

Who remembers this epic blog that I once maintained? It almost seems like I actually had a decent number of posts several years ago. Well guess what, this blog is coming back hot. It's coming back hot and heavy. Big time.

You know what's impressive? Maine. Some impressive things in Maine -- mountains, rivers, lakes, wildlife. Large outdoor stores like Kittery Trading Post. Apple orchards. Miles and miles of snowmobile trail networks. That sort of stuff.

I was just in Maine for the weekend. Well, just one night. Mousam Lake in Shapleigh. Very nice. It was unseasonably warm today, sunny and creeping into the low 70s. The cabin (they call them "camps" in Maine) had a motorized water pump in the bathroom. So like this huge engine would turn on every so often to pump water into the pipes. It was loud. But I slept fine last night. Apparently I was snoring.

I had cider tonight for dinner. We went to The Abbey in Cambridge. Fancy stuff. At one point I asked her if she could leave "the booze menu" at our table. I think I meant drink menu, but I was tired. But back to the point - I ordered a cider! Crazy move, right? Especially when there's all this hoppy beer on the menu? But I decided to mix it up. It was a cider from Spain, and it was ok. I still can't figure out if I'm a cider guy or not. I think I want it to taste like apple juice every time but it never does so I'm always just some varying level of disappointed.

OK here's your movie tip for the weekend  - "Band Aid (2017)." Great movie! See it! Laugh and cry! Highly recommended.

OK it's time to wrap it up in the Dave household. But I'll be back, stay tuned.

D