Well, yesterday was sure tough. As I mentioned, my back went out which it does on occasion, though thankfully not often -- every few years or so. But this was one of the worst. Usually it just lays me up for a few hours, and Iie comfortably on the bed or floor until I get the All's Well signal. This time, even when lying down it was on-and-off excruciating and lasted probably 9-1/2 hours. Finally, by about six o'clock and I could tell things had eased up, and I was beginning to feel comfortable though sore. Happily, this is Bowl Season, so ESPN had three games back-to-back (no pun intended). So, I just lay on the floor in my living room for most of the day and watched football all day into the evening. I had my book with me, as well, and a phone and my notebook computer -- though I didn't feel much like writing, however I did check email occasionally.
But things are better this morning. Still a bit sore, but much better and mobile. It tightened up a little during the night, but that's gone. I don't know if this is insanely stupid (I know it's not the smartest thing to try...), but the Writers Guild is showing "The Wolf of Wall Street," and I plan to drive over to see the morning screening -- that's 2:45. If you don't hear
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I was able to track down a few of the musical numbers from Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the Shakespeare play, Love's Labour's Lost, and wanted to post a couple of them. This first is perhaps the best scene in the film, though the simplest in terms of production. It comes near the very end. The core of the story is that the King and three members of his court have chastity for three years while they pursue academic studies, but that goes out the window when a Princess visits with her three handmaidens, and hi-jinks ensue.. Anyway, at this point in the tale, the Princess has learned that her father has died, and with war on the verge of breaking out, she has to return home, along with her handmaidens. The men and women each vow to be together in one year from that day. And so, they all have a wistful parting -- which leaves to this absolutely lovely number that fits in beautifully. George and Ira Gershwin's, "They Can't Take That Away from Me." It helps that the musical arrangement is hauntingly gorgeous. The scene opens with a long shot, so know that that's Kenneth Branagh, one of the members of the court, singing at the beginning. Sorry, I've been a bit incapacitated today. Very bad back problem, but I'll post something here soon.
A week ago, I wrote an article here about a bathroom heater I was thinking of buying, and how on the product's Amazon page they hilariously note for this bathroom heater a warning that "This heater is not intended for use in bathrooms." (It is intended for bathroom use, they just left that legal disclaimer in by mistake.) I just wanted to update you on the tale. I ended up buying the Holmes Bathroom Heater, and it showed up two days later. Not shabby during the holiday season when you've chosen the Free Shipping option, rather than pay for the expedited two-day shipping... The heater is great. Not because it's especially grand as a heater (it's fine), but because it has something rare, if not unique for a heater. I assume some other models in the world have this, but I haven't come across them. Not that I scour the earth for heaters, mind you. What it has is a built-in timer. So, in the morning now, when I used trudge through my home and end up on the cold bathroom floor in bare feet in the cold bathroom, I now set the timer for about 10 minutes before my bedroom clock-radio alarm goes off. The bathroom heater goes on, and by the time I make my way there, the bathroom is now toasty warm. O joy! Hubba. If you look closely, you can see the LED clock display above the red-ringed dial. And that button on the far right is where you set the alarm -- one of the few times I take great pleasure writing something about the far right.
Mind you, for the past several days Los Angeles has had a bit of a heat wave, so there's been no point in using a heater at all, anytime, let alone just in the morning. But I have confidence that the temperature will drop again. Unless, of course, the whole Climate Change thing keeps kicking in. For thems what might be interested in such things, you can find the heater here). I didn’t watch the second year of the BBC show, Sherlock, since I wasn't terribly crazy about the first season. I did admire the acting of the two wonderful leads, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The writing was reasonably smart, but it seemed self-conscious and seemed to go out of its way to be different-for-diferent's sake. The third season is coming back very soon (I believe in January on PBS), and maybe I'll give it another try. But in that regard, the BBC released on Christmas Day a 7-minute “mini-episode” that the BBC released on for streaming online. It's written by the two series co-creators, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffatt. Though it's being promoted as a "mini-episode, it’s really just a 7-minute PR teaser to prepare audiences for the third season, but it’s still a clever idea to do. At the end of Season Two, the series did its homage to "The Final Problem" story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, where Holmes and Moriarty supposedly fought to their joint deaths going over the Reichenbach Falls. The episode was called..."The Reichenbach Fall." So, Holmes, in the TV series, was left presumed dead. Which brings us to the mini-episode, titled, "Many Happy Returns." (Side note: Though it hasn't gotten much attention -- probably understandably -- Freeman and Cumberbatch reteamed before this. For the sequel to "The Hobbit"! Freeman, of course, stars as Bilbo Baggins, and Cumberbatch is the voice of the dragon, Smaug.) My dad has a charge on his credit card bill that he didn't know about, so I looked into it. The charge line said "NMX*Franklin Prosperity," which didn't give much of an explanation, but I did a web search, and bingo. It turns out to be a publication from the ultra-conservative website, Newsmax. The moment I saw that, I knew that something was up -- because my dad would avoid reading Newsmax like the plague. "Scam" is too harsh a term, but it's a close-enough cousin because the company goes out of its way (to its credit) to not only explain that they understand the publication isn't for everyone, but also give instructions how to get the charge reverse. In fact, searching for "nmx franklin prosperity" brings up a long list of websites and at the top are a lot of listings with names that give away that a LOT of people got charged, don't know why and are unhappy about it. So, we won't go with "scam." We'll just keep it as "smarmy, underhanded tactic. Bordering on scam." The publication is one that gives financial advice. You get sent a trial subscription (with an automatic charge -- so much for "trial") if you request one of their free publications about great adventure bargains for seniors. My dad is 92, so he's not looking for great adventures, whether a bargain or not, so I didn't guess he ordered that, except by mistake. It turns out he didn't -- though he did receive an email offer about a brochure on how the Affordable Care Act affects Medicare, and he did order that, not knowing it was from Newsmax. Mind you, giiven that it is from Newsmax, I suspect it's a very short booklet explaining why Obamacare should be repealed...) But ordering the publication automatically must have triggered in their "trial offer" for this NMX Franklin Prosperity newsletter, and he was charged $59 for it.
As I said, a simple websearch did have several ways to have Newsmax cancel this billing, and I opted for the toll-free call, preferring to rely on a real person with a name (I spoke with Tiki...), rather than sending in their email form. She did try to sell me some other publications, but I cut her off quickly and said, no, just cancel this. She was polite about it, and all was accomplished. Assuming the charge does get reversed next month. Anyway, it's a good thing to keep an eye out for, especially if you know people who do click on online offers. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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