Olas Nah

Caribou...GONE!

Wasn't there a certain movie that was filmed specifically in a high frame rate like this? Ah yes! The Hobbit movies....

There's some occasional kids shows that I've watched with my son that were from before HD. I think what jarred me the most was watching commercials on regular tv. I couldn't stand it...I had to leave.

Haven't seen it yet, but I go to films very rarely these days. I watched "John Wick 3" on a flight from NYC and my lord, it was awful stuff. I cannot stand the shoddy choreography of the gunplay. The right intent is there, but you can tell that the director doesn't believe in editing and quick cuts to avoid the fact that all the actors are clearly preparing to make their moves on a numbered count rather than instinctively. And Wick's virtually only line in the entire movie is "Guns, more guns", straight out of The Matrix.

Two words: It sucked-ish. If you've seen it advertised, this is the black/white film featuring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two US Lighthouse crewman who are dropped off to man a lighthouse station for four weeks. It was directed by the same guy who did 'The Witch', which had a very period atmosphere to it with authentic dialogue. The Lighthouse is no different, quickly capturing the same air of authenticity with some truly age of sail sorta lingo from Dafoe (as the old hand). Long story short, the two men never get along very well, but are doing their jobs, and yet they exhibit some fairly typical solitary behaviors, such as Dafoe's character being obsessed with being the only one that goes to the very top of the lighthouse to maintain the Fresnel lens, where he does stuff sometimes like strips naked to 'bathe' in the light and other things. Pattinson being the younger guy appears to behave more normally, constantly complaining about the very hard tasks that Dafoe gives him to complete, but he also starts to see visions of everything from mermaids to tentacled monsters associated with Dafoe's character. In the process, he encounters a seagull with a missing eye that apparently bothers him several times, and Pattinson ends up killing it. (Bad idea...you don't kill gulls because they are inhabited by the souls of dead sailors). The four weeks come to an end, but then no ship arrives to bring replacements, so they are effectively marooned until weather or whatever events delayed the ship play out (this film looks to be set in the 1890's). At this point the men effectively resort to hard drinking, and then Pattinson lets slip that he's not actually a man named Wilson, but rather, he'd assumed the identity of someone who died on a previous job he'd had as a logger, who he may have murdered. As you go along, you realize that while Dafoe's character is an eccentric wizened old man, Pattinson is actually some sort of insane murderer who had hoped to avoid eventual discovery by authorities by taking on a new life/job. The two are somewhat evenly paired, with a sort of truce over drinking, but after long Pattinson can't contain it and winds up killing Dafoe, but not before taking a serious wound. He then climbs finally to see what was so fascinating about the top of the lighthouse, and he has some sort of insane epiphany, but then falls down the lighthouse stairs and incurs several injuries along the way. The final scene is of him on the rocks near the lighthouse, missing an eye, and having his guts pecked out by gulls while he's still alive. I loved the atmosphere of the film. It was shot in a 4:3 ratio, so there's a lot of real estate lost for the scenes you get, but it's got a very old feel to it, like a lost film shot in the late 30's. The dialogue is hard to follow several times, and occasionally you can't see very much on screen. Some shots lacked contrast of any kind. Ultimately I was disapppointed by how predictable the story was. I was expecting some sort of lovecraftian type horror, but instead it was really just a guy losing his mind and the two of them killing each other. The supernatural aspects were just window dressing on the insanity of Pattinson, rather than what I'd hoped would be some interesting turn of events in terms of something mysterious about that lighthouse or whatever. There was also some unnecessary attention to sex in the film, with Pattinson's character wacking off several times, and him dreaming of having sex with a mermaid, even with a mermaid genitalia pictured, which just looks like a giant puzzy. It kinda interferes with the story even, but I guess highlights the increasing isolation that Pattinson experiences, although Dafoe's character appears used to it. Towards the end you see him as more sane than he appeared to be earlier on. The important takeaway is that never let yourself be alone with William Dafoe, because I'm convinced he's really like that in person, and I could see myself killing him.

I'm still pretty fast for a purely recreational rider nowadays. I ride a typically hilly course usually above 18mph for the total so that's pretty good, although I used to be able to do the same at 20 when I was much lighter.

I don't have the time to really put in long rides anymore. With work commitments, picking up the kid from daycare (which I do for the most part because my wife has a long commute and I don't), I might be able to get out to ride maybe twice during the weekdays and once on the weekends. But it's usually twice. Usually my 'long' ride on a weekend is maybe 40 miles, with my regular rides usually 20 or 25 at most. I'm tired a lot because things keep me up late and early to rise, so I sometimes just don't have the energy to ride very hard either. I have to keep it up to regain some energy, but it's hard when I might have to go 5 days without riding at all. I go to the gym sometimes, but I absolutely HATE using machines and the cycling ones are honestly the worst. That being said, I've been slowly losing some of the Dad weight I gained after my son was born and I was able to get in a decently fast Metric century in early September, although I (due to not eating enough) bonked towards the end. I'm hoping with the coming of Spring I can have some fitness to hit a few group rides where I can be pushed a little bit more and get a bit faster.

Skip gels and eat the Cube gummies. They're not chewy, but more like a fruit snack. Just tear it open before you start your ride and you can feed them like pez as needed. I do hate gels because inevitably you get some of it on your hands.

I've used Oakley Radars for ten years and never liked anything else. I've tried on just about everything, but only the Oakley's truly fit and fit correctly and are comfortable to the point that I don't even notice that I'm wearing them, and the lenses being super-clear is a must-have.

Like Santy Claus, I enjoyed football as a kid. I thought the teams were local boys, and that there was an element of state/national pride in them.... but then I got older and realized that most of the players aren't even from the states they're playing for, may not have even gone to college there either, and that they often got traded, and so I was all like 'who cares'. To my analytical mind, even liking the game was silly. Then, if you actually go to a game...they're essentially standing around for most of the 2+hours you're there, partially because of commercial breaks. There's some close games and neat plays and all that, but more often than not you're disappointed, and the 1 on 1 and one-time matchups like the Superbowl IMO also don't test whether or not the best team even wins. But Hockey or Baseball, they'll play 7 games if they have to in order to sort that out.

Taxi Driver was a mindless film with no redeeming qualities. You hated every character except the one you're supposed to hate, (the politician who innocently asks DeNiro what he thinks about some issues, only to be revulsed by the reply) , the film just has long stretches of scenes you only want to walk out on, and there's of course the strangely pointless and graphic violence. DeNiro's character is an unreliable narrator, spoken in a tone of some sort of moral integrity but read off like it's just some throwaway line rather than with any interest in the character's state of mind when saying those things should be. The whole 'hero' ending is absolutely ridiculous and how it's made to seem like he somehow escaped all of the trauma and is perhaps even a normal-ish person just returned back to his regular job again. The best scenes period are just when he's driving the taxi and talking about being a taxi driver (and that's probably because DeNiro actually did that for the role for a few months). I haven't seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet. But I made the mistake of the first clip ever watched of it, being an atrocious repetitive cut scene where the camera flicks back and forth between several people very rapidly while their talking and it's almost dizzying. It's gonna be a while before I bother watching it.

So the jist I'm getting here is... Get some clinchers and just live with tubes? I don't particularly have to worry about flats, I mostly ride on a park road where there's little need to ride on the shoulder...in many years of riding I've only had a flat on that road once, whereas on regular roads I'd get a flat every few months from something. So... 32mm is a bit on the wide side... seems a bit odd to sell a bike with that. I know the industry is probably oriented towards selling comfort, even amongst road bikers.

So my new bike is a Giant Defy 1 Adv...running Giant P-R2 Disc wheelset with tubeless 700x32 tires. I'm curious about a few things.... As a road cyclist who might do one race a year and mostly fast group rides or event rides the remainder of time,.... --is a 32mm tire ideal? or is this on the 'wide side' of tires and might be better to get something slimmer? (The tires look huge to me, since I used to run 23mm Clinchers... ) --How often do you maintain this 'sealant'.... --Do the tires wear out faster because they are tubeless and effectively running at lower pressure? --Talk to me about tire pressures for tubeless tires. I've seen some stuff about keeping these around 75-90 psi but 75 seems pretty low when I've inflated them to that. --I would also expect big tires like this to be a significant aero deficiency...talk to me about this as well.

I have the over-ear QC25's, and I also have a plug-in bluetooth adapter. Pluses: Really does noise cancel well. You can still hear some stuff, but it's great for concentrating. I used them especially when studying for my Analytics degree which I returned to college for. Studied in libraries (which aren't quiet much anymore), coffee shops, and lawyer research office, and other places. Great for air traveling. You don't even hear the plane. They fit comfortably. The batteries (one AAA) lasts a pretty long while. Probably 24hours of constant use? If you get the electronic type energizer battery (those blue/silver ones) probably longer. The case has a slot for an extra if you are traveling. More than enough for idle times on a plane. Minuses: There's a sort of high-pitched pressure wave that they generate when turned on, It can cause a mild discomfort until you're used to it. A similar effect to how your ears feel after having gone to a loud concert. Not painful or anything, but a bit odd. The Earpads degrade pretty quickly as any perspiration or mere oil from your ears/scalp will cause them to fall apart. They're cheap to replace but with constant use your'e talking replacement every few months at best. I've seen some more durable ones advertised on Amazon, but haven't tried those yet. Definitely not something I'd use for workouts. The bluetooth versions (adapter or no) use a lot less power and thus, don't have very good volume. If you want to crank it up, you really can't. It's fairly noticeable between the wired version and not. The noise canceling itself relies on batteries that you put in the earpads also. Anyway, they're great in a pinch, but unless you really need noise canceling, regular ones are probably okay too. Also, earbuds are fairly decent at noise blocking to an extent already, if you get a good pair which will cost you maybe 1/5th of what a Bose set will run you.

Yeah, but it's in Russia. You'll have to think in Russian to employ its systems too.

One other feature that was a surprise to me, which I didn't really notice when buying it, was that they've apparently gotten rid of quick-release levers for wheels? I seem to remember some states mandating something about locking nuts on bike wheels, but wasn't sure if this impacted it or not, now the wheel comes off via handle screw and bolt. This makes me a bit mad because now I can't use the fork mount thing inside my car, and I'll have to rig up something else for carrying it inside my SUV. I've got a hitch mounted bike rack, but I don't feel like leaving my bike unattended, even if it's locked to the hitch mount, so I usually keep my bike inside my car.

'Large' I'm guessing the CM range is between 56 and 58

In terms of movie reviews...I will have to think on a couple. 'Wind River' - Fantastic film with a haunting score. Jeremy Renner was great in this. The story was compelling. Really worth watching. 'First Man' - I thought Gosling was miscast as Neil Armstrong, and they got his character all wrong, as well as Aldrin's to an extent, but the technical accuracy of the space sequences was great and the musical score was also nice. That being said, I'm still looking forward to the upcoming special documentaries and films about the moon landing. 'Infinity War'/'Endgame' - The first one got off to a rocky start, but kept building momentum and all I can say is that everything involving Thor was fantastic and Thanos was a brilliantly complex villain. The 2nd film was really slow to get the ball rolling but understandably they had to establish the impacts of Thanos' use of the gauntlet which changed a lot. I didn't care for how Thor became this beer guzzling loser...I had hope he might have become some dark and vengeful king who had retreated to some dark place and they would have had to pull him back to reality. The comedy of all that was lost on me, as well as the Mark Ruffalo/Hulk stuff. The final action battles were good if a bit confusing, but I have to say, the death of Tony Stark was moving as hell, and I had a tear in my eye. 'Captain Marvel' - total crap. The movie was all too aware that it was some sort of women's liberation movement and any male actor of any sort in the film was virtually emasculated or was a chauvanistic pig. The action and even the effects were sub-par and all I can say is that I hope a sequel is of much better quality. 'Black Panther' - mediocre. This film was also all too aware that it was a black superhero movie so it was filled with all sorts of cliches like token white guy helpers and the whole 'Wakanda is sitting upon some super precious element so naturally we're all better than everyone else' was pretty ironic. A good example is how the Wakandan scientist girl just casually indicates that she's so much smarter than Bruce Banner who in the comic world is like a legendary super-intelligent character, along with Stark. There was no attempt at toning any of this down. Plus, Killmonger's motivations were soured by the inept weakness of T'Challa and played the audience like Killmonger was somehow wrong. Dude won the fight fair and square and suddenly nobody wanted to follow him just 'because'. The final battle at the end was a bit hokey because you can see that nobody is really getting killed outside of Killmonger himself in his fight with T'Challa. But, it ended well. Was a bit better on the 2nd viewing.

Well after my son arrived I was only able to carry on riding for about a year and then when he started walking and stuff the parenting responsibilities got to the point where riding wasn't very easy to do, plus we were living in the city where getting out to ride wasn't really that easy. But we moved, and so now I'm out in Bellevue, TN very close to the Natchez Trace, so I can hop on there from my house in just a few minutes. This is the bike: Giant Defy 1 Advanced, (2020). Ultegra Shift levers, FD and RD. 50/34 compact with 11-34 cassette, although I'm going to change that to an 11-30 or 11-28. Planning on upgrading the crank to Ultegra also in the coming weeks, but I'm wanting to see how the compact rides for a few weeks, because I was rolling a standard 53/39 on an 11-23 before. I've got a while before I'm any sort of shape like I was before, but hopefully if I can keep the riding up for another month or so i'll be able to do some metrics at a good clip. I made sure to get the 2020 year version so that all the hydraulics for the brake levers weren't sitting on top of the stem with that beefy crap I've seen on some bikes, the new hydraulics are built into the levers themselves, which also makes them more of a grip platform, which I like. Tubeless tires are a new thing for me. It's weird having a tire almost twice the width of my previous ones (32 versus 23). The bike rides really smoothly though, but I don't know how much of that is the wheels or the frame that is missing some of the AL parts that were on my previous Scott Cr1, which had aluminum joins on the forks, seatstays, and seat tube. All in all, it's really comfortable and the geometry seems to be a much better fit for me. Plus the red/gray coloring is bangin!

I never saw it. I'm too busy to watch it, but my family did, and my wife thought it was just okay. So I probably would have hated it.

Been a while again. Bought a new bike (Giant Defy1 Adv)... did I miss anything?

Two words: JURY NULLIFICATION

It took me about 2 months to finally get a working prescription. Something was off either with my eyes or the doctor.