Books: Finished Scythe, started Thunderhead, Arc of a Scythe #1 and #2, respectively, by Neal Shusterman.
While this series is marketed as a Young Adult series, we all know that just means that the protagonists are under the age of 22 and have ideals. Here’s the elevator pitch for the first book’s worldbuilding:
In a world where death is no longer a threat to humanity, where disease has been eradicated, but people still want to have families, a specalised profession has appeared who has the remit to kill people permanently. The title for those in this profession are called Scythes.
It’s a book that covers the question of “What is the dystopia in the utopia?” and does a very good job at worldbuilding. Looking forward to getting further into Thunderhead and The Toll.
Movies: Watched They Live (1988)
I hadn’t seen They Live at all. I saw the standard stills and maybe some snippets, but it completely passed me by. First, if you can, watch it with a friend. There’s something amazing and joyful about being able to say “Wait, was that the first time… I mean, it’s flipped now, which is better, but is that where it came from?” And the constant “Wait, is that… Oh wow!” Also, I dare you to present it as a movie to watch to anyone by saying “This is a hate-letter to Reagan’s fiscal and political policies. Let’s watch it!” Report back with how that goes. That anyone thinks it’s about anything other than rage towards the excess of the 1980s after reading the smallest part about it is getting high on their own supply.
4/5.
TV Shows: Finished up The Penguin (2024), continued the rewatch of Battlestar Galactica (2004). Looking forward to the start of season 2 of Severance (2022).
The Penguin was amazingly done. As Augs said, “it’s not often that I’m presented with Cristin Milioti on screen and I want them to go to a different character, but I wanted to spend more time with Colin Farrell in a fat suit.” What struck me was not only the absolute transformation of Colin Farrell (no, but seriously, how sure are we that’s him under there because there was nothing that made me go “Ah, yeah, I see Farrell in this or that”… Absolutely amazing.) The character development and history of this Penguin makes so much sense. It’s deliciously well done and the ending makes you go “I don’t know if I love to hate this character or hate to love him.” DC nailed this one. I watched it after watching The Batman. Augs watched it before. It makes Gotham more of a gritty living city than Nolan’s Batman trilogy did.
Strong recommend.
We’re also well into season 2 of our Battlestar Galactica rewatch. Man, I forgot how rough Season 2 was. There were some gems in there, but there’s also a lot of “Why am I supposed to care about this person? Is it because there’s a kid? Is this supposed to count as character development for Apollo? Starbuck at least still feels like Starbuck. I think I’m on Team Billy here because for being the Comms Officer, Dualla seems to be incapable of communicating effectively. Oh yeah, this is where Gaeta shows up… I’m not sure if I dislike him because of what I know or because he always presented as a brown-noser. At least Tigh’s still an asshole of the highest order.”
I feel like The Expanse ruined me for high stakes space opera. I’m honestly debating on dropping the BSG rewatch and doing an Expanse rewatch instead.
There’s been some promising developments in the world of Type 1 Diabetes – The Times has reported a successful transfer of insulin producing donor cells into a Type 1 Diabetic that requires no immunosuppressant medication and has been producing insulin after 28 days into the trial.
While I’m not bouncing up and down that this is a cure for all on the horizon, it’s a promising development. The bottleneck seems to be that there aren’t enough donors to harvest cells from (sign your organ donor cards, folks). But it’s nice to see the hurdle of immunosuppresant medication (which comes with it’s own issues) and getting around the T1D’s own autoimmune attack being addressed and possibly overcome. If this shows long-term promise, there might be hope for other autoimmune disorders.
After a Mastodon post by Annaplexis on the virtues of linen stitch, I decided to buy some cotton/acrylic blend to make some placemats and coasters for the dining table.
As for my current knitting projects, I’ve been working on Nordic Nights by Jennifer Steingass using a mini skein set from Dibadu and Drops Flora in dark grey.
In sewing news, I sent out a printing order to Die Plotterei and it arrived within four days, nicely sorted, and without issue. I will be ordering from them in the future. The French company I was using was wonderful and suited my needs while I was looking for a German printer.
I am looking forward to getting a few patterns traced out:
– Ginko Pinafore, which I plan to make in a marine blue wool
– Salida Skirt, which I plan to make in a dark grey corduroy (to match the above sweater)
– Encore Skirt, which I plan to make in a black corduroy
– Lined Side-Zip Pants, which will be done in either a raincoat fabric lined with a fleece or in a polyprop outerwear fabric.
All these and a few more Tidal Dresses to get cut out and sewn so I have suitable casual clothing to wear around the house and to quick errands.
Just before Christmas, Basti got overexcited by snow and dragged me down the driveway a bit until I took a tumble. The bruising has all subsided, but my injured leg is still noticeably larger than the other. I might be going in to see the doctor in CW3 or 4 to get it looked at if it doesn’t ease. I’ll start taking measurements to see what’s going on there.
Speaking of the giant puppy, he’s going to be going in to the doctor’s soon to get snipped. 18-24 months is recommended for giant breeds and it’s probably about time.
Around the house, there’s always something to do. I’ve been cracking on with the Home Automation setup and it’s nice to have notifications for things that would normally languish there… like the laundry being done or remembering to close a window. We’re also replacing the personality-less lighting fixtures and slowly making the home seem more like us. Are all the lights smart lights? You bet they are. I love being able to turn off lights from bed. It was a childhood dream of mine and it’s finally come true.
The current HA setup includes lights, carbon monoxide detectors (important because we’re on heating oil), smart plugs, window/door detectors, human presence sensors/motion sensors, radiator controls, and integration with the electric car. Everything that can be locally hosted is locally hosted. By the end of the year, I plan to install a touchscreen monitor for an accessible HA overview.
Why am I so in love with the home automation? Part of it is cost savings. I have it where if I’m not in my office the presence monitor can tell and if the hours are between normal waking hours then it turns off the lights, turns the heating down if the windows are closed, my sewing area turns off at the wall via smart plug. For ease of humaning, it also integrates with my Mealie instance to help me organise my day, as well as reminding me what refuse pickup is coming up next and what chore needs doing. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am ADHD as fuck and have that combination that routines are so desperately needed but also impossible to maintain by sheer dint of will alone. I refer to it as my outboard brain and as long as I’m doing it when the meds are in my system, then we’re golden. Kinda. I still rely on The Yell.
Especially because I’m 😲 changing my errand day to Monday soon. It’s been Thursday for ages, and as a city dweller, it was a great day to go to the grocery store. As a rural mouse in a tourist area, Thursday during the high season is asking for trouble.
I’ve also ordered a set of Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds since I listen to audiobooks or podcasts to go to sleep (allow me to recommend Nothing Much Happens) and I always worry that I am keeping Augs awake. It’s become more of an issue with the slow, maddening descent into perimenopause where I wake up randomly and have to go “Am I warm because of low blood glucose levels? CGM readings say no. Am I warm because the heating was left/turned on? Home Assistant says no. Ah, must be a hot flash/night sweats” and then take an age to get comfortable again to sleep. It should, hopefully, block out some of the snoring noises coming from the male contingent in the household. (I’m not saying if it’s Augs or Basti or both, but it can get vocal at night.)
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