I finally come over here, figure things are good, and then expletive-deleted Photobucket locks out all my pics. Holding them hostage basically. I had heard some ruckus but hadn't seen a loss on my site until today. Geez, I have HUNDREDS of pictures I'd have to reload and re-establish links, so honestly don't know what to do. So pissed off at PB. I hope everybody just leaves them in droves and they go under. Petty thing to say but that's how I feel at the moment. Sigh.

Any suggestions for photo hosting sites that are good and don't cost an arm and a leg, like PB does now?

Was on Twitter when I tripped over posts such as http://www.metafilter.com/164293/LiveJournal-represents-social-media-without-borders talking about US/Russian stuff and Live Journal.

I do need to back up LJ. Eons behind on that. I hear Dreamwidth is good, but is there a way to backup everything, post, photos AND comments that other folk make?

Thanks!

All 18 or 24" of it. I go tiny as well, it's been ages since we had a big tree, and now, well, I want the perfect white Christmas tree. I saw one, but at $300, I balked (I'm more like, oh, hey, $8 at Target, yes!). I have four little ones set up around the house now. And it sorta washed out as I used flash on white which mucked up the meter and I was too lazy, no, busy!, to redo it ;)

The penguin salt and pepper shakers make great decorations :)

No new shows that scream "watch me". I'd say the closest, which I really hope to heck is a limited run x-amount of episodes, done, finished, etc. is "Channel Zero - Candle Cove". Sufficiently creepy, good actors and no whining teenagers. Alas, I'm tired of them, which is why I turned off "Aftermath" as I just don't have time to waste about angsty teen love or whatever. I do like "Timeless" but keep missing it or they pre-empt or I don't know what. I hope it gets renewed and gets a better time slot. I'm watching "Dirk Gently" but must admit, if not for the Corgi, I might not come back. The whole holistic assassin and nasty bloody knifings if a turnoff. If I want gore, I'd be watching "Walking Dead."

As for the presidential election, I opted to watch "The Exorcist" but fell asleep. Alas, when I woke up I went to turn off tv and then got smacked in face with news that THAT person won. Ugh. Sleepless night. I endured months of hideous, ugly, vile, lying campaign rhetoric, so I would sooner stick my finger in light socket than vote for a man who denigrates women, mocks the disabled, lies (easy enough to sort 'em out), etc. I don't know HOW the US ended with perhaps the two most reviled candidates in history, but we did. I've watched enough post-election news coverage (mostly foreign cuz I think CBS basically STINKS) to know that people voted for Trump for a change (although I am positive that a certain percentage voted for him because they're biased enough to never vote for a woman - hey, I have run across people who think that, sad to say). However, the automakers will never go back to the heyday of incredible salary and golden medical benefits.Nope, the union folk will have to realize no one will pay for it. Coal mining? Extremely debtable. It will happen if someone wants to risk to investment, and who will want to risk that kind of money for a short-term risky investment, when natural gas is so cheap? (and if Trump gets his way, he'll sell off federal land to be dug up, drilled into, and injected with wastewater). The environment is not going to do well under his regime. And I work in the finance industry and there were a lot of happy faces as they expect him to deregulate everything, so we can go back to 2008. Yeah, that worked out well for everyone. As for folks saying trump will be great because he's a businessman didn't look to the huge picture; a man who runs his own empire can do whatever the hell he wants, a president cannot. Businessmen are also the main reason for outsourcing. Perhaps the gov't enabled them with globalization, but buisnessmen will do whatever they want to make shareholders happy and make money, and that includes laying off employees/offshoring. For years (BEFORE globalization) I watched them hire high-priced contractors because they didn't have to pay them benefits/retirement.

Sigh, very disillusioned with the US right now and how trump's idea of protectionism/isolationist is going to harm us (and others) in the long run. It's like living in a neighborhood and telling your neighbors to go away and don't bother me, and no, I won't lend you a rake or help you clean up after a storm. Well, tit for tat, no one will help US if we get in a bind because why should they.  I feel like I'm now living in some warped dystopian bad tv movie. Blech.

On the plus side, Hallmark is showing lots of sugary Christmas movies, so I can escape reality there.

This year, we managed to get Friday and Saturday tickets. Kept trying for 3-day or 4-day but it was impossible to obtain, so.... at least this year, no train breakdowns or disasters that ate up travel time. I'd leave house at 5:30am and get back at 10:30pm and then repeated it the next day. Don't know if I could have done that for a third day. Most of my time was spent walking. Took just under three hours to go through entire dealers room and the 'Block' (more artist dealers). Took two days to get into ARtists Alley to peruse their wares. It was PACKED. I think a lot more people were there, despite farming off many panels to Madison Square Garden, and two other off-site venues, which sorta sucked as if you went to those, they were first-come, first-serve, so you lose out on the Javits experience.

Took a ton of pictures, and instead of posting one or two here, below are the links:

Friday - https://www.flickr.com/photos/10668630@N06/sets/72157671556749284

Saturday - https://www.flickr.com/photos/10668630@N06/albums/72157673860446980

It was fun, despite the crowds. On Saturday, of course, it rained when we left. Got a bit wet but another fan gave me and friend disposable ponchos. Thanks! I was also sitting in fold-down seat on double-decker buses they used for transport. At one point, I stood up to look around corner, then sat down, but the seat had flipped down so I nearly hit the floor. Recovered quickly and popped back up, with other fans going "OMG, are you okay?" while my friend laughed. Guess those squats I've been practicing helped!

Met two other friends while there, and one sat at table right next to mine in main concourse, looked up and saw me and called my name. It was so weird, but otherwise, it's impossible to connect due to immenseness of venue and crowds.

My friend and I went to see Independence Day: Resurgence (aka I thought Brent Spiner's character died in the first film). Many reviews were, um, rather unkind, but since we saw the first, and Jeff Goldblum was in it, why not? Basically, take 50% Independence Day, mix with the CGI-overdone and who really cares about the chararacters 2012 and San Andreas, with a dash of White House Down (the one with Channing Tatum). I say that due to casting; Roland Emmerich likes to recast, so if he's doing Stargate movies, I expect to see the guy who swung the antique clock and gunned down aliens in IDR, in the Stargate flick. It was not a great, nor was it a horrible film. Could be my expectations are lower for all sequels but it had its moments; however, I really didn't care who died (except for the cute little dog).

Did see, via DVD, Zootopia, which was a scream. Fantastic animation, adorably cute animals. I had to suspend belief that the lead bunny character had over 200 siblings, and without predators, well, bunnies will overrun the planet in no time flat ;)  But quite well done.

TV-wise, nothing grabs me fannishly, which sucks. I watch Zoo, but sorta root for the animals with some characters as they can be so dumb. Hmm.... it's summer. Oh, Last Ship is back. I do enjoy that one and there has been some 'headcount attrition' (aka killing off characters). The show Thirteen, on BBC America, is one of the reasons I hold on to that channel. It's excellent! I now have to catch on BBCA's The Hunt as of course, it's shown opposite Last Ship. And, sniff, Person of Interest. They kiiled my favorite character! But in some way, it made sense as that character started off the show pretty much doomed. The only spoiler I'll give, to avoid anybody anxiety, is that the dog survived. Alas, this also means that the cast will not be at New York Comic Con, not that I was able to see them the last couple times due to their presense being on a day I could not get a ticket.

And this year, I managed to score a Saturday ticket! While the servers did not crash this year, NYCC's plan on pre-verifying fans was shot to hell as scalpers had up the prized 3-day tickets on eBay and Stubhub within minutes, while I spent over an hour waiting for my chance. Got Friday and Saturday, at a more expensive tab than a 3-day ticket, but since I may not go again, I figured, why not. You can't do the con in one day, so this gives my friend and I time to do dealer's room, other rooms, and see some panels, except for the celebrity-laden ones at the Hammerstein. If you go there, you blow an entire day just waiting. Their Facebook page was full of irate fans, of course and I suspect when the they get the ones back from the scalpers and resell, it will get uglier as once you buy tickets with your pre-determined link, that's it. Can't get anymore. So I can't trade two expensive 1-day tix for the cheaper 3-day tix. They'll get theri act together once I no longer care to attend.

Otherwise, life is boring. Job, house, real life stuff. I'm attempting to get together a fannish garage sale, but I have so much other stuff to get through house first and may have tag sale and get rid of things. When you've got half a century's worth of stuff in a house, it mounts up.

Yeah, that time has finally come.I'm slowly tossing VHS tapes. In my preliminary sorting, I found the wretchedly awful "Lucky Pierre" episode of Dynaman, a show which aired in the 80s, I think. sorta like Power Rangers. This episode was about a giant French frog kidnapping Japanese brides. I kid you not. A true classic. Not on YouTube (removed, alas). I remember showing it to James Doohan in my hotel room at a Pennsylvania Con eons ago. He just sat on the floor, drink in hand, jaw dropped open as he couldn't believe what he was seeing...

Also found Peter Cushing's Island of Terror, which I tend to describe as 'mutant turtle creatures rampaging UK island, sucking the bones out of is population'. ;)

Meanwhile, shows that are out on DVD are going, although it will be a while before I toss Magnum PI, or Riptide. Got rid of half of Miami Vice as I replaced with DVDs. Combat! goes tonight, but I'm sitting there staring at the one tape of Black Jack Savage, which isn't out on DVD. If I can't find a fan who wants it, to the garbage can it goes!

What's most fun about old tapes is the old commercials, the news footage. I found a news item of a British soldier, dressed up as a gorilla, skydiving for charity. The chute failed, and he plummeted to ground. Amazingly, he survived with no lasting damage. Checked YouTube but not there.  One thing about old TV commercials is that they seemed a lot nicer in tone. These days, it's all drug ads, or in-your-face type ads (may be just the market I'm in, but I miss nice ads).

And the rest of the garbage can will be filled with poison ivy vines. Been ripping 'em out (wearing long gloves) and hope not to get it.

And I went to New York Comic Con (aka #NYCC on Twitter) and survived...

( Read more... )

Well, okay, it's got two days left, or three, can't recall.

I actually got to a beach three times this summer - a record!! I'd love to do it every week but there are no free beaches here :( Sigh...

TV-wise, well, let's see. Nothing has caught me fannishly, like Stargate Atlantis. Virtually everything on SyFy is meh to me, although I do watch Z Nation due to its strange humor, but it's not a keeper, or must-see live TV. Waiting for NCIS to start up to see how Gibbs fares. I know he'll survive, of course, but it will be fun to watch his team angst all over the place. I like The Strain, Longmire (alas, it went to Netflix which I don't have so I hope it comes out on DVD), Person of Interest (probably it's last season), Oh, Elementary is fun to watch and I watch Hawaii Five-O occasionally and it never fails whenever I turn it on it's the same one. It's not the same since they blew up a nuclear weapon off the coast. I mean, that was 'jump the shark' big time...

Can't think of any of the new shows that scream 'watch me' but I suppose I'll check out a few. It's gotta catch me within two episodes or I'm gone. I'll check out the final CSI just for old time's sake.

Only caught poison ivy a few times this summer (yeah!) and didn't have to mow near as much due to the drought. Alas, there are some brown patches in lawn, which I came to realize are the result of the very cute but rather destructive bunny rabbits. Darn, they're so cute...

Will be going to New York Comic Con, despite all the hassle of getting tickets. Their servers suck (I think I whinged about this earlier) so the three-day ticket I had my hands on evaporated due to a crash and all I could get was a Friday. Then yesterday they announce they're selling  them at a comic store (only ONE store, in NYC, so all the other tri-state stores were left out in the cold). Lines formed at 3pm for a 10am opening. Despite hundreds if not a thousand fans showing up, they still have tickets left, which shows that NYCC apparently gave that comic store a ton of tickets that the rest of us poor souls were unable to buy online. Grrrrr.

And otherwise, wow, my life is boring. Can't think of much else but the job, house work (oh oh, I finally bit the bullet, got Johnson's Paste Wax, and it does about as good a job as Preen (discontinued for no good reason I could find) on the hardwood and tile floors, so I spent a few hours waxing today, and also waxed the car. Hopefully that's a portent of rain to come.

I need to downsize, so gotta figure out how to sell fannish collections, even if they're sellable.And VHS tapes, ha, I don't think anybody wants those anymore!

9/21 ADDITION: Oh yeah, I watch ZOO (okay), Under the Dome (about time it got axed, alas), Mr. Robot (which I find fascinating for the psychological stuff), and Whispers, which I liked, so I assume it got killed by ABC.

Since there is no true 'season' left on TV, everything seems to start willy-nilly whenever it wants, on whatever platform it wants, which is probably why I forget to watch stuff, and gave up on Walking Dead because I missed two episodes because I hadn't realized it had started up again, so now OI'm several seasons behind. I figure I'll wait till the finale of the series and see who survives until the bitter end...

The Last Ship's second season began last week and was off to a good start. As long as it doesn't slide into any 'conspiracy' plotlines I'll be fine. Actors are great, nothing is over the top, and to show how much I haven't watched ABC in the last, er, um, decade? I had no idea Eric Dane had been "McSteamy" on Grey's Anatomy (although I did actually watch the episode, via video-on-demand) when they bumped off "McDreamy". Never tick off the executive producer, or head writer, or whoever.

Anyway, still annoyed that A&E jettisoned Longmire, but refuse to get sucked into Netflix right now, so I'll check the library and see if they've gotten Longmire season 3 on DVD yet. Then bingewatch :)

On the new stuff, I'm going to check out Mr. Robot. I saw a few minutes of it and it looks intriguing. As I liked the Matt Damon movie Proof, I've checked out the series and it's decent. I'm watching virtually all shows on video on demand these days (one day I'll replace the DVR - don't care to give Cablevision more money to RENT one of theirs).  Although it should have been a limited run series, The Dome is back so I'm checking it out. It's an hour of nonsense, and oh hey, the book Zoo is now a limited run series (yeah, we'll see about that) and I read they've changed some of what's in the book, so, alas, maybe more conspiracy crap, but I'll check it out to see how it turns out.

I have tried both Killjoys and Dark Matters on SyFy, and I always fall asleep watching it! HOwever, I'll have to check it out via video-on-demand (just better picture quality too) because David Hewlett guest stars in three episodes. Have to admit I need to check out more shows made in Vancouver to catch up with Stargate cast members. They pop up here and there. Wish that SGA were back or they'd make a movie, just as long as Mallozzi has zip to do with it. Dark Matters is too dark (literally) and reminds me of SGU. I swear the cast, costumes, etc. between the above two shows are interchangeable. Do they only have black leather for people to wear??

Realilty-wise, the snow has melted so now I mow lawns, and worse, hack back weeds, which grow so friggin' fast they must be from an alien planet. It's humid half the time, so painting parts of the house just can't get done. Sigh. It's a bumper crop of chipmunks and the lawn is riddled with holes. Only danagerous if you wear high heels ;)

Ah, saw some movies: 1) San Andreas. Total nonsense, where you just suspend belief and go "oh, it's just like a SyFy movie but with people w ho can act'. Limited number of cast, overdone SPX, sketchy cellphone coverage. Jurassic World was better. I rooted for the dinosaurs and alas, thanks to TV ads, many 'surprises' weren't, but the way the big nasty dinosaur was, so that was fun. And well, Chris Pratt was fun to watch, and if you just shrink raptors down to about 12-18", they'd make a good guard dinosaur around the yard. ;)