The ascension of Disney+

I've been taking the shoes to Disney+ but facts are facts. 

I had to live without Disney+ for a week and it was excruciating. 

I have a friend from bookstore days. She says that her boys cannot be arsed with Star Trek. As I cued up Netflix and watched Errand of Mercy for the umpteenth time, I realized if I were 12-years-old today that'd be me. Between the Star Wars Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (both Disney "properties") I'd be gassing on about the mythological this-and-that without any care for the actual underpinnings (kind of like the older version of myself). 

As for Star Trek, never mind Bible stories: *pfft* -- forget it. 

The Mandela Effect begins... 

My wife fixed all the telly troubles. Do I begrudge this generation? If I'm honest -- yeah, just a little.

But that's for another post. In the meantime use the comments to tell me what a rotten person I am. 

Rattling in my brain-pan...

Paul Auster

Drugs change everything.

I wish I had access to my bookshelves. I'd reach for Ellison, Didion and Pynchon, even though I can't read a word. 

I gas on about the first 18 pages of Moon Palace by Paul Auster here.

"All apologies"

(With apologies (sic.) to Nirvana.)

I never hear what I want when I'm the one being apologized to. I try to remember this when it's my turn to apologize.

LOST IN SPACE, various dir.

Our kids resent us for Climate Change. We knew it was going to be something -- but that?  Did we listen to too much Donald Fagen, or did we listen to too little? 

It doesn't matter, just like meeting Rick Mercer's One-Tonne Challenge doesn't matter. Our kids will die a horrible death. 

So, yeah -- it's a hoot watching Will Robinson drive in Season 3. But if that vehicle ever conks young Will is toast. Better to sing along with Ajay Parikh-Friese, Three Little Birds. He makes the song his own. 

In this equation we are all Dr. Smith, really.

I saw Lost In Space on Netflix.  

Ready!

I expect I'll make other changes to the July 21 post but they will be superficial and you get Luce's drawing. I said "Tired iPod"and got this in a hot minute. He's got that thingy that goes straight to the computer. Give Luce a try, won't you? 

May 14, 2022 -- the last of the iPods rolls off the line

This post was borrowed off my blog here. But it pertains. Plus there's a hot new illo!

It would be disingenuous not to comment -- Google "Whisky Prajer infernal device" if you need some idea of how long this hate/hate affair has been going on. But Apple has changed the way we listen.  

Here are 5 Apple iPod moments I experienced: 

5) -- Podcasts. They took their very name from Apple. You have your favorites -- please mention them in the comments. Mine include Nalah Ayed's Ideas and Diarmaid MacCulloch's Gifford Lectures Silence in Church History. Professor Ayed's radio show can be easily subscribed to (the Corporation is very friendly!) and it isn't tricky to turn YouTube into sound files -- Google it, or talk to me.

4) -- Playlists. I keep them around long after they've served their earthly purpose. Speaking of which... 

3) -- "Donald and Walter" Okay, this is where Apple's randomizer gets lazy: it would rather play off the six "solo" discs than play anything from the Steely Dan oeuvre. Yet it was The Dan I sang along to when I was "out." You could say (and I do) that Steely Dan -- and my wife -- kept me alive. 

2) -- Nicolas Deletailles. I was probably listening to Bach: 6 Cello Suites when she poked her head in. I had the Blue Box propping open my hotel room door. She said she was looking for her daughter. I took down her particulars, but it was all just a ruse. She was on the lookout for hanky-panky. Between the classical music, the black coffee and Toronto's National Newspaper I'd have done better if I'd hosed the room down with Eau du Sweaty Sock. She left as she came -- daughter-less -- and I was free to enjoy my paper and music until the next ringette game or Boston Pizza, whichever came first.  

1) -- Apple Music. Or Spotify. Or YouTube Music, what-have-you. I have seen Google Play Music go and I have lamented its passing. When it can't be helped I use HDtracks.com and SoundConverter to change them into files I can use. Otherwise I use CDJuicer and rip CDs into mp3 files that confuse these old ears of mine. (Check Google -- you'll see I'm hardly alone.)

  

I listen to the iPod "Classic" and when it finally joins that click-wheel in the sky I'll reach for something just like it -- the Sony Walkman probably. I like the size of it -- big enough for the home stereo and the car -- I like headphones, and I like the GUI. 

Apple has changed the way we listen to everything. 

DA 5 BLOODS, dir. Spike Lee

Odie Henderson really digs Da 5 Bloods, a Spike Lee joint. You should probably read that. Me, I thought Da 5 Bloods could be junkier. The beauty of Apocalypse: Now and The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (both of which are name-checked early) is the viewer can almost taste the desperation -- of not just the actors but the filmmakers too. There's none of that here, although the cast is suitably slovenly. You might like it, though. Check it out and let me know in the comments.