🚨Delightful amount of fog this morning—risk of zombie leper pirates is quite low. ☁️🧟‍♂️🦠⚓️

Achievement unlocked: Cautionary Tale! We stopped by a new jewelry store and Julia ordered a repair and I went to take my wedding ring off to have it cleaned but couldn’t get it off. They had to saw it off! The jeweler snapped a pic as a caution to others. Now I share too! (It’s getting resized!) 💍😉

Do you enjoy physical comedy, sight gags, and puns? Then may I recommend The Naked Gun (2025), which does not let up for a minute and is chock-a-block with one of everything, all of it funny on at least some level. Surprising, really, how well it all works.

Soggy Doggy Defensive Driving School? Hell yeah! Now, it has been brought to my attention that perhaps this is in fact two separate businesses. Balderdash. I prefer my reality, where a dog can teach me how to drive, thank you.

Snapped this rangoli, celebrating Diwali, during my afternoon constitutional through the nearby mall. It’s made of sand and beautiful!

Y’know a movie I haven’t seen in awhile that I could go for: WarGames. Immediate classic of a technology movie when I first saw it ages ago. And a genuinely good thriller, besides. I wonder how well it’s aged… 🤔

Do you enjoy TRON movies because you’re a TRON fan? Then may I recommend TRON: Ares, which i just saw in IMAX and had a _ball_. The story? Shallow—it’s a by-the-numbers action film. The visuals? Wow holy cats you gotta see. The sound—in IMAX? Best. Ever. Appropriately deaf afterward. Plain fun.

Do you enjoy beautifully shot supernatural horror movies that start strong and crisp but that begin to slow and unravel? Then may I recommend So Cold the River, which had some good ideas and a good cinematographer…but the script? Lacking on follow-through. Good/surprising last scene though, fwiw.

Do you enjoy movies with a solid and interesting slow burn beginning that unravel at the end because they don’t know how to end? Then may I recommend Censor, a period piece psychological horror that had me engaged but then rug pulled—not with a twist ending but with a kind of cheap unsatisfying one.

Do you enjoy ploddingly dull movies about a cursed box? Then may I recommend Vicious, which is supported by jump scares and musical zingers and in-universe rules that make no sense—not that it’s worth trying to puzzle out ‘cuz it ain’t.

Do you enjoy ridiculous action thrillers featuring rich genius criminals? Then may I recommend Law Abiding Citizen, which has a plot that’s over the top. Does it make sense? Well, no, but if you like seeing a particularly violent plan come together—even (or especially) a criminal one—here you go.

Painters have wrapped our house in plastic whilst they paint. We can’t use the front door. 😄 Should only be a 3–4 (which means 5) days however. Then that’ll be over and the only thing remaining will be replacing the pergola.

Proper fall begins Wednesday! 🍁🍂🎃 #Seattle

Do you enjoy utterly straightforward disaster thrillers? Then may I recommend The Lost Bus, which has what you’re looking for with cold efficiency, with just barely enough character building for the main character and almost none for anyone else. But you don’t need it, honestly—it’s a disaster film.

Ready to rock! #Warcraft

Today’s simultaneous renovation visitors: a power washer preparing our house for painting on Monday and a professional rose trimmer attending to our rose bushes. One of these two is rather loud actually. 😕

Easily one of my favoritest things to do is to sit with a cat on a blanket on my lap while I play #WoW or some other game—while wife and her additional husband also play something. It’s warm and cozy and wonderful. 😊 Bonus if a murder docu is on—they’re super easy to watch in the background. 😉

Someone named Mr. Chase Cricket is preventing me from reaching my keyboard. (Worth it.)

Handyman just left re-re-installing the blinds—thus concluding the very last task associated with the replacing every window in the house. It’s been a journey! 😄 Such a joy that it’s all completely done! The handyman also assembled and installed some shelving for us. So fab!

Do you enjoy lowest common denominator zombie horror? Then may I recommend The Demented, which you’ve seen before if you’ve ever seen any other zombie movie ever—except this one lacks good script, acting, makeup, and effects that you’d find anywhere else. It *does* have a surprising ending though.

Do you like having horror playing in the background while you do a hobby? Then may I recommend House of the Witch, which does everything strictly by the numbers, leaving you free to focus elsewhere and also reward you just enough when you look up or hear a scream. (Alas I watched it straight.)

Do you enjoy horror movies that try not so much a gimmick but something kind of new but nevertheless fall flat because something is missing? Then may I recommend Demonic, which is OK, has one or two scares, but some good ideas aren’t strong enough to break the chains holding it down.

Do you enjoy slow burn movies that are so slow that they’re actually ice cold? Then may I recommend Shudderbugs, which I saw based on title alone, didn’t even know the genre. I thought I’d stick it out for a final reward—there was none. Uninteresting, surprisingly weak story, unsure why it was made.

Do you enjoy ridiculously kick-ass action movies that have such splendid action sequences that you actually see something completely new? Then may I recommend Ballerina which has the best fight choreography I’ve seen in ages—and there’s a lot of it—a lot a lot. Fab performance by Ana de Armas.

Wow, it’s renovation time in our neighborhood. When I went to get lunch, I saw that there were three other houses also doing things like replacing their roof and siding &c.

Oh! And the siders have arrived to attend to the last 1% of their duties, like replacing downspouts they squished and whatnot. Plumbers inside, siders outside—now it’s a party. 😕

Today’s intrusion: plumbers! We have problems with all three toilets and one sink. It’s a long (and expensive) visit today. I have this fantasy of no one doing anything in, on, or near the house. Alas, this vision will not be realized for weeks yet, for the pergola replacement is delayed.

Blargh. The window people are here with their gunshot-loud nail guns. I do hope this is the absolute last of it—but it probably won’t be. No doubt there will be some darn thing or other that will bring them out yet again. The sigh is heavy!

Time was, when I went to delete cable TV and just have internet, Comcast would flip out and offer deals to keep that from happening. We (finally) cut the cord yesterday and they didn’t bat an eye, didn’t even question or comment on it. Just another day that ends in Y. Must be super common now. 😄

Do you enjoy the Conjuring series of horror movies? Then may I recommend The Conjuring: Last Rites, which is a good entry. It has a few good scares and hits all the marks. Also a satisfying final scene to button up the whole franchise. The first one is still the best one but you won’t regret this’n.

Do you enjoy well done slashers set in the ‘80s? Then may I recommend Night of the Reaper (2025) which starts like a typical slasher but then, especially in the final act, takes an unexpected, good, turn. You can see other slashers in it, but it’s its own thing in the end.

Do you enjoy MCU movies that are not only poorly written but depend on seeing other MCU movies? Then may I recommend Captain America: Brave New World, which aside from poor dialogue is poorly paced and made us feel lost—we missed a movie or two or three to make this make sense. Not worth it.

Do you enjoy very slow burn 1750 Austrian horror? Then may I recommend The Devil’s Bath. It’s a good example of “nothing happens” but every bit of what does happen is so well directed that all those bits sum up to be profoundly unsettling and lasting. There’s no monster, no folk—but still horror.

Tonight, on an all-new #DnD, we deal with statues—I think!

Do you enjoy German sci-fi thrillers about a concept that’s been done before? Then may I recommend Brick (2025) which is fine. It’s nothing more than what it says on the tin and the characters are rather thin but it’s light fare to watch it all play out. Good to play in the background while gaming.

Do you enjoy serial killer thriller in act one that turns in to a Greek goddess mind-bendy movie in act two? Then may I recommend A Wounded Fawn, which I was surprised to like, for I usually don’t like films with extended mind trips in them. This held interest because it actually served a purpose.

I can go my entire lifetime without ever seeing another health care professional who “cares about the patients” and can only do so by flouting the rules set out by villain administrators. 😕

Do you enjoy films about death demons that are as paced, exciting, and lively as the corpses they generate? Then may I recommend The Dead Center—about which I differ *significantly* from critics. They say dark and creepy. I found it trite, slow, uneven, and never even slightly scary or tense.

Do you enjoy startlingly good psychological thrillers? Then may I recommend The Wasp (2024) which does things I was not a’tall prepared for with fantastic acting of a great script that’s well directed. Probably the most dialogue heavy thriller I’ve seen. I want to rewatch it right now, actually.

Do you enjoy stand alone (98%) MCU movies that’re uncomplicatedly good? Then may I recommend Thunderbolts*, a film with a straightforward small-scale plot that leaves room for the soul, a trait that, it feels, was long-lost. Equal parts charm and action, it was delightfully entertaining throughout.

Although the worst of the symptoms have abated and I’ve gone back to work—WFH thank fortune—I am still sick. I’m on the mend, but not mended enough to enjoy a long-scheduled PTO tomorrow to attend an event with add’l wife. I am quite sad about missing the time intended to be spent with her. 😢

My sickness continues for a second day. Dumb. 🙁

Well, heck. Bill went to PAX and came back with a con bug—and gave it to me. He masked himself inside the house and everything and despite that and my own usual protocols it got to me. I haven’t been sick sick in ages. I have a frowny face over it. ☹️

Do you enjoy remarkably well done serial killer/horror thrillers—with sharks? Then may I recommend Dangerous Animals, an Australian film I didn’t expect much of but was delighted by how well directed, edited, and photographed it was. Nerve wracking throughout. Well performed esp. by villain.

One thing #WoW just doesn’t have enough of its buffs. 😕 #Warcraft

There's still time to get the Shadefur Brewthief pet by watching any World of #Warcraft stream on Twitch for 4 hours where drops are active. Don't wait though. The promotion ends September 16 at 10:00 am PDT! Details here: blizz.ly/3Hm8ekH

Do you enjoy depressing thrillers that leave you bad depressed not good depressed? Then may I recommend Night Always Comes, a film that is so poorly paced it’s clear it doesn’t know what it wants to be—but I’ll tell you what it is: sad without point. No insight, no purpose. It’s all for nothing.

No matter the character, no matter the what, this is always the only correct option. #WoW #Warcraft

Well, that sucks. The siders scratched one of the new windows. ☹️

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