Dancing Around the Four Sides

So. Last night I watched The Shape of Water, the Guillermo del Toro movie with the mute woman and a Fish Guy. And ... I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought del Toro did an amazing job of bringing time and place to life and got terrific performances out of his cast, especially Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Shannon. I did think it was a tiny bit too long (even at 123 minutes) and even though, as I said, I thought Richard Jenkins was excellent I would've cut one of his scenes. And another small problem was that (to me) Michael Stuhlbarg and David Hewlett looked too much alike, and especially when del Toro was setting up the side plots I was confused as to who was involved with what. BUT ANYWAY. I would recommend. Two thumbs up.

Tired and cranky today because apparently my back did not appreciate twisting and turning in order to reach something in the pantry yesterday, and in return graced me with muscle spasms and aches the entire night. Still very achey. Getting old is not for amateurs, chiclets. Good news, though -- had my six-month checkup on Thursday and my A1C was 5.6. Doc said I could probably stop taking metformin and just stay with the Trulicity (once a week) if I wanted. IDK; it's something to consider, but I'm also wary of upsetting the "balance." We'll see.

Ugh, tired from sleeping badly. Not that I sleep very well at all anymore, but sometimes it's worse than others. But I did get out to one of our local grocery stores (Tom Thumb, ha) and pick up my car tax/registration sticker (for about $77). I was actually thinking about the grocery store name and wishing we still had Piggly Wigglys around, because Piggly Wiggly is such a wonderfully goofy name for a grocery. We also used to have Minyard's, but that was a family name. The only others I can remember at the moment are Food Lion and Skaggs Alpha Beta. Any funny names for grocery stores for any of you guys?

It was nice enough to sit outside on the deck for a while this afternoon -- I watched as a juvenile Downy Woodpecker came to the suet basket. The tiny chestnut/reddish patch on the top of its head was so clearly visible! :D

Thought about starting Ron Chernow's Grant because it's Memorial Day weekend, but I don't know if I want to plunge into such a giant doorstop of a book just yet.

Oh well. Making clam spaghetti for dinner. :-)

Grey and dreary and very wet here today. Renewed my driver's license this week, which ramped my social anxiety up to eleven -- the list of documents you might be required to produce to prove you are who you say you are and you live where you live is impressive, to say the least. All you should need is your (expiring) license, but the renewal letter specifies you COULD be asked to show any or all of these documents -- a passport, a Social Security card, your car registration. So, yes, I took all of those things, and in the end it was a non-event. :-P

Almost finished with Mark Mazower's deep dive into his family's history (What You Did Not Tell).

One of our local TV stations seems to be getting overtly religious in its news broadcasts. Nothing hugely in-your-face, but an accumulation of little things, like "jokingly" needling the sports guy about going to church, and a commercial where one of the weather guys talked about one of the reasons he loved working there was because of the opportunity to share his faith, and, most recently, after the passing of Barbara Bush, one of the news anchors did an on-air tribute where it was abundantly clear that he (the news anchor) believed she was in Heaven, and that Heaven is a real place, hallelujah forever, amen. (He didn't actually say that last bit, but it was most certainly the gist.)

ANYWAY. I asked Mister Nightdog_barks if I was imagining all this, and he said no, he'd noticed it too. He wondered if perhaps the station owners had done some focus-group sessions, which, god knows in this state would give you people saying "Sure it's okay to talk about your religion during a news broadcast!" I DON'T KNOW. Maybe I'm overreacting. But it's making me uncomfortable enough to switch to a different news show, at least for a while.

I have a terrible confession to make. I hated the X-Files reboot.

( Cut for spoilers ...  )

I dreamed early this morning that I was trying to buy something (IDK what it was) at some tiny village shop with old wooden beams, and I was using a bowl of coins (only they weren't U.S. dimes and quarters) and the shopkeeper kept counting them and handing some back because they were counterfeit. So he'd take three or four coins and hand back one, and I'd look at it and it would have holes punched in it, and I'd have to look for another coin.

TL;DR, I was trying to get something but I was using fake money. Somehow I feel like this is a metaphor for my life. :-P

When I was about ten, I thought this was quite possibly one of the greatest movies in the whole world, probably because it had David Niven, Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, and Jean-Paul Belmondo (he was French! I'd seen him in That Man from Rio and he was adorable! and hot! before I knew what hot meant!) all in one film.

Well, actually it was a big, sprawling mess of a movie. But it was very silly and a lot of fun, and I remember it fondly. So here you go. Mike Redway (does anyone remember him at all?) and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, with the soundtrack end to the 1967 version of Casino Royale. This is making me very happy tonight. He's got a redhead in his arms! :D

So last night I'm poking around on YouTube and run across this, which I haven't heard in ... well, probably since the late '90s, when it came out.



This afternoon I went out to run a few errands. Guess what was playing on the radio? :D

The word, of course, is Word Up! by Cameo, and it's what I was listening to on Jack.FM in the car. And since who couldn't use a little funk with some power brass on a hot Sunday afternoon, here it is. Yes, chiclets, this is what a lot of kids who used to be your age were dancing to in the '80s.



And yes, that's Geordi LaForge (heh) as the police detective.