Blog Archives - The Green Poodle

The Green Poodle

Tribal: Bugs n Leaves ::: a new design

5/22/2018

Zombies ::: 21May2018, 6:30AM (or there abouts)

5/21/2018

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of zombied out. Tired of zombies all over the place and most of them not particularly well done. Because of this, I almost missed a wonderful Australian movie which I will most definitely watch again.

Cargo (NetFlix, 2017)

Set in the post-apocalyptic Australian outback, this is the story of one man trying desperately to save his baby girl, Rosie, who is too young to walk
and must be carried in a backpack.
There are zombie encounters,
uncharacteristically understated.
There are encounters with survivors, much scarier.
Ultimately, there is the aboriginal spiritual encounter which is heart breaking.

Watch it again next week.

Watch it now.

Curly & TheGreenPoodle ::: 19May2018, 4:45PM (or there abouts)

5/19/2018

Amazing Movies ::: 19 May 2018, 10:10AM (or there abouts)

5/19/2018

I watch a lot of movies. It's what I do when I'm too exhausted or too depressed to handle anything else. Most are unremarkable except in their capacity to put me to sleep, which I do truly appreciate. But, every once in a while, I run across something truly worthy of the much abused "awesome." Here are two recent findings.

The Sunset Limited

An HBO film I watched through Hulu and my ROKU device, if that matters.
Samuel L Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones sit in a run-down NY City tenement apartment having a philosophical discussion about suicide. SLJ plays the role of an ex-con who served 12 years for murder, is reformed and now an impoverished do-gooder, and whole heartedly opposed to suicide, primarily on religious grounds. TLJ plays a run-down college professor who decides to celebrate his birthday today by jumping in front of an on-coming train - the Sunset Limited. S happens to be on hand to save T's life, take him home, and try to talk him out of repeating the attempt.
You'll have to watch to see what unfolds.
Amazing performances by both and abundant food for thought.
I'll watch this again, soon.

Wakefield

I watched this on Prime Video (Amazon) through my ROKU device, if that matters.
Bryan Cranston is a partner in a successful NY City law firm. His wife, Jennifer Garner, is a museum curator. Their twin girls are the perfect teenagers.
One beautiful spring day, BC is coming home to dinner with his family in the suburbs when a raccoon distracts him and he finds himself in the loft over the detached garage. He glances out the beautifully crafted round window to see JG and twins preparing dinner in the open-concept kitchen. He pulls up an old chair to watch for a while and reminisce. He falls asleep.
The next morning he finds reasons why he cannot simply walk back into the house. He becomes a street person, living in the garage loft.
There is virtually no dialog for nine months, just BC's thoughts, fantasies, and memories.
Riveting.

Streaming ::: 18 May 2018, 3:15PM (or there abouts)

5/18/2018

My first adventures in streaming video were with an Amazon Fire TV Stick which I truly loved, at the time. I had a fairly basic HD TV and I wanted to watch NetFlix. I didn't take full advantage of my Amazon Prime video privileges because I found that most of the videos I wanted to watch came only at an extra cost.

Then, something happened to the sensor on my TV that talked to the remote control and whoosh I was back in the dark ages of having to get out of my chair to do anything with the TV. Totally unacceptable.

For Christmas that year, I bought a new, still relatively inexpensive HD TV with NetFlix and a few other interfaces built in. Suddenly. my Amazon Fire TV Stick became redundant. I disposed of it (not in the trash!) and streamed happily along with NetFlix, VuDu (extra charges!), and Pandora (the free version with minimal advertising) for a while.

Then, dissatisfaction set in once again. I had seen advertising for video I wanted to see but could not easily access with my then current setup. My next purchase: a ROKU device, one of the cheaper ones.

Of course, I linked to NetFlix and Hulu (new to me). I discovered the free streaming channels available, the best of which, for me, are the ROKU channel, and Crackle by SONY.

Further browsing led me to British TV, which I have been in love with since the 1980s and the Brit SitComs on PBS. BritBox and AcornTV are both wonderful.

But, there are lesser known streaming channels and by far my two most favorite so far are....

Curiosity Stream

A wonderful variety of science, history, nature, and art documentaries. I never tire of watching, or even just listening to, these shows. Examples include The History of English, Walking with Dinosaurs, and Classic Cars. For the perpetual student in me, this is extremely addictive.

A little side note about LIVE TV...

For those of you who don't remember actual live TV, this is when people are performing at the actual same time as you are watching and it is being broadcast. This is somewhat akin to going to a stage performance, but having it in your own home.
Watching pre-recorded video as it is being broadcast, rather than streaming it, is NOT LIVE TV no matter what anyone says.

Craftsy Unlimited

Most crafters are familiar with Craftsy.com, by far the best source of instructive videos for a huge variety of crafting genres. I have browsed there, but, due to my limited budget, never really shopped there. Until I spotted, quite by accident, an ad for Craftsy Unlimited. Here you can stream those wonderful Craftsy videos straight to your TV for a flat monthly (or yearly) fee. Already I have streamed six different classes. Although I might never make the items made in the class, I learned a variety of techniques that I was unfamiliar with before and can apply to other things I do. Worth every penny.

MONIKERS ::: 17May2018, 3:00AM (or there abouts)

5/17/2018

When I was growing up back in the dark ages of the 1960s, females of the species homo sapiens were referred to as LADIES; women / woman was considered somehow dergatory.

Now...

Four Words We Now Use to Refer to Female Humans:

SLUT
a woman who people believe has sex with multiple partners
WHORE
a woman who people believe has sex with multiple partners AND who people believe gets paid for it
WIFE
a woman who is supposed to have sex with only one partner AND thereby gains the privilege of doing his/her laundry, cooking, and cleaning
BITCH
well, this is just plain wrong because a bitch is actually a female of the canine family and is not human at all; i.e. if you call a female human a bitch, it's simply a reflection of your ignorance of the definition of the word

Economically, seems to me the whore is the smartest of the first three choices. But, if you live in a region where prostitution is illegal, this could be problematic.

But, really, can't we stop labeling female humans simply based on their assumed sexual activities and, for civility's & politeness's & kindness's sake, can't we go back to the less emotionally charged, less derogatory, and more intelligent words...

LADY
an exemplar of the female human
WOMAN
an ordinary female human

Funerals ::: 8May2018, noon (or there abouts)

5/8/2018

In the last month or so, I've had to attend or at least send flowers to 3 funerals. Family members, close family friends, not so close family friends. Needless to say, I've exceeded my flower budget by a substantial sum. More importantly, sitting through funeral services has prompted two distinct lines of thought. I present them here for your consideration.

I've always been a little puzzled about the concept of saying goodbye to the dearly departed. After all, that person is long gone and it's way to late to communicate how you feel to the deceased. In my not so humble opinion, funerals are for the survivors. We attend the funeral to say, "We're sorry for your loss. We're here for you. In time, this will not hurt so much."

The interesting thing is that many of the attendees of this ritual haven't been a significant presence in either the life of the guest of honor or in the lives of the loved ones. So, why, if we were not willing to attend upon this family in life, are we now attending them in death?

My theory is that we are saying, every so quietly, "There but for the grace of God, go I."

To the loved ones of the deceased, the funeral may be a mourning ritual. But, to the remainder of the crowd, the funeral is a celebration of life. The flowers. The live plants. The food after the interment. Those of us not immediately involved in the life of the expired are, in effect, saying, "This is a good day to be above ground, breathing, alive. Thank you, God. Please, God, just one more day."

I've always been a little puzzled about the concept of saying goodbye to the dearly departed. After all, that person is long gone and it's way to late to communicate how you feel to the deceased. For the religious who believe in an afterlife, maybe it isn't too late. And for me, that's an issue.

I believe that the concept of an afterlife in which all your dreams are fulfilled was invented by the oppressors who used it to keep the oppressed, down trodden, and miserable in their place. Work until you drop dead, then, and only then, reap your reward. What a bunch of crap!

And, if true, what's to keep Fred from deciding to take early retirement in the form of a quick suicide to get his benefits now rather than later? The answer: the oppressors decided to make suicide the one transgression that would make it impossible for anyone to be rewarded in the afterlife. How f+++ing convenient!

So, I've been bombarded with sermons about the afterlife and songs about how wonderful it will be. I suppose some find this comforting in a way. As for me, I think these beliefs have a tendency, still after thousands of years, to keep the oppressed in their place.

If you find the above disturbing, don't read it. They are just some of my thoughts on death and dying. You don't have to agree. But, keep in mind, I don't have to agree with you either.

My Funny Life ::: 6May2018, 1:00AM (or there abouts)

5/6/2018

Into each life some humor must come. In this bit of e-mail below, I play the part of the friend from Texas. Thanks, Lee, for passing this along; you made my day.

The Ranch (NetFlix) ::: 5May2018, 11:15PM (or there abouts)

5/5/2018

Sam Elliott -- the face, the voice, the quintessential cowboy, 2nd generation rancher.
Debra Winger who all but vanished years ago as the semi-estranged wife.
Ashton Kutcher as the prodigal son.
Danny Masterson as the idiot and a bit twisted older brother who has never left home.

Put them all together on a struggling cattle ranch near a small town where Winger's character owns the bar. You have the makings of a delightfully different kind of family sitcom. Those of you who don't know much about cattle, be prepared to see Ashton up to his shoulder in the business end of a cow. As we are still in the midst of celebrating relaxed TV censorship, the f-bomb is sprinkled liberally in every conversation so maybe this isn't too kid friendly. Sometimes the wit is subtle, which makes it all the more fun.

The details are very different from your usual TV sitcom fare. But, family is family and in this family sitcom the ranch and the family always come first.

Check it out.

Schrodinger's Shower ::: 5May2018, 5:00PM (or there abouts)

5/5/2018

I love home improvement. I don't do it. But I love it. I don't do it because I don't think I'm particularly good at it and because I just don't have the stamina to get much done.

This year marks 6 years of living back in Texas. During that 6 years, I haven't done much unless I could do it from my chair. Web sites. Crafts. Some DIY education.

To be fair, I do spend a lot of time being chef, chauffeur and concierge for my octogenarian parents, our 3 dogs, and my 2 geese. So, I haven't been entirely idle.

But, I decided early this year that I would push harder to do more and one of the BIG projects I've taken on is to "fix up" the part of the house I live in and make it more "mine." It's likely to be a never ending project but it "needs doing."

I've done several things.

a few new pieces of furniture
organizing my work/craft space
taking about 6 car loads of assorted stuff to donate to the local Center Of Life Resale Shop
begun sorting through a mountain of paper that I probably never needed (filled a trash can and the shredder bucket twice)
started working on repairs and cosmetic fixes to my bathroom

This last one is a big deal. Especially the shower. Somewhere along the way, the wall board began to crack and water began to seep into the wall board and things began to grow. But try finding someone to fix it!!!

I could only work about an hour a day. Turns out, that was about perfect because this is one of those work and wait projects. This morning, I put on the last clear coat and now we are waiting the minimum of 4 days for everything to cure.

I don't really like to paint and this was essentially a painting project. Roll on a thin coat of resin. Let it sit for 24 hours. Do it again. It was a lot of stretching up and bending down and resting between walls. Once mixed, you only have 90 minutes to work with the resin so I watch the clock during my rest periods. But, the shower is small and it really wasn't too bad.

I do have some "clean up" to do which I won't show in the photos. Gotta sand off some places where the resin doesn't belong. But, otherwise, I think it went OK.

The color is really a nice soft white and not nearly as dark as my camera was reading it. I think I'll use my Cricut to make some poodles to stick on the walls after they are cured.

Not so bad.

The worst part is that I haven't been able to take a shower since I began this little project. I don't mind so much. But I think the dogs are beginning to look at me funny.