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I really wanted to review a movie last night. I also needed to do laundry, though, so the movie I
was going to go see in a theater, I postponed to Sunday. So I thought, why not watching something for review at home? I thought I would try one of the Oscar-nominated Documentary Features. There turned out to be several problems with this. First,
Summer of Soul is by far the most accessible, streaming on Hulu with no restrictions, and is even the front-runner to win, but it's the one I'm least interested in reviewing. I could be wrong about how engaged I expect to find a documentary about a 1969 Harlem music festival, but there's also the fact that I'm a white guy, and who the hell needs my take on
that movie? The movie I'm actually most interested in is
Ascension, about the pursuit of the "Chinese Dream" in modern China, but that one's only on Paramount+, the free trial subscription for which I have already burned through. I really hemmed and hawed with myself in my own mind about just paying $4.99 for a month's subscription—I've paid more to rent and review other movies on VOD—but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it. The movie
Attica is only on Showtime, and I face the very same issue there. And I would
love to see
Writing with Fire, about low-caste women journalists in India, but that one's neither in theaters nor streaming or on VOD anywhere. Do these people just not want us to see these movies at all?
I then learned from a podcast this morning that Steven Soderberg released a new movie on HBO Max.
Yesterday. What the fuck! Had I known that, I would have watched and reviewed that one. Instead, I didn't want any movie, and I watched the new half-hour standup special by Aziz Ansari on Netflix. Beyond that, I worked on updating or editing or recreating a few more playlists in Apple Music.
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— पांच हजार एक सौ चौंतीस —
Ivan was home when I got home from work, in the living room finishing
The Devil's Advocate on Netflix. I don't remember if I ever saw that movie, but overhearing the dialogue and Al Pacino's truly over the top performance, it sure sounded stupid as shit. I thought maybe Ivan spending time in the afternoon and early evening watching a movie meant he had the night off again, but nope. He just took a nap before his shift as usual and was off to work shortly after 9:00.
Shobhit had a late shift, ending at 10:00 and he must have been late even getting out of there as he didn’t even get home until around 10:30, so I otherwise had the evening to myself. I also updated my budget. Discovered when putting laundry away that not just one, but both of my older pairs of bluejeans had a tiny hole worn in the crotch, and so far I've only replaced one. Fuck. So, I ordered another one on Amazon. I already have a replacement for my black pair, but have been wearing the old one until they fully open . . . I checked the crotch and didn't see any holes so I wore them yesterday and today. And well, shit, I forgot and rediscovered while at work today that a small hole has open in not in the crotch exactly but high up on one side of the inseam. Amazing how many of my jeans are popping open all at once. Maybe it's because I can't seem to get my weight back down below 160 lbs. I can, really. I just keep eating too many snacks, I guess.
Of course all the replacement jeans I bought are in the same size. I'm going to lose these pounds, goddammit!
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—Oop! And just one last thing real quick, because I nearly forgot that due to scheduling conflicts for the rest of the year, Karen asked that we change our previous schedule of lunches (virtual lunches, these days) from second and fourth Thursdays, to second and fourth Fridays. So, I just had my FaceTime lunch with her. I wish I had thought of this this morning before leaving and brought my iPad, but I forgot; I had to FaceTime her on my phone. Which didn't even keep the screen working on my end or like the second half of the hour, even though she could see me fine.
We talked about all sorts of stuff, as usual, not least of which is a new hire she's interviewing for at her accessibility construction consulting company. I also told her all about the plan forming for my trip to see Barbara in Louisville in late March, and my hope for an anniversary trip with Shobhit to Calgary and Edmonton in June, and the possible trip back to visit Sara in Denver later in the summer, and the bi-annual Family Vacation in Leavenworth in September. That's four hopeful trips this year alone. God knows if I'll be able to pull that off, but I remain hopeful. Anyway I had my one-on-one with Eric postponed from yesterday to this morning at 11:00, which means I was on virtual calls for a solid two hours and I really need to get back to getting some work done now.
— पांच हजार एक सौ चौंतीस —
[posted 1:06 pm]
