The Cheese Stands Alone

 Su 7/30/23- Buddy Sick 725am (2-B). 1015am (1-B). 1155am (2-B). 525pm (2-B). 740pm (2-B).  Up 530am: Bright & sunny with temps to upper 80's. Weekly Cleaning, Mopping, Watering   Wrote up 'RANSOM' by Jay McInterney for the blog. Watched the Netflix disc 'SPOILER ALERT'.  It's a high quality gay love story with characters and a storyline that never becomes cliched. Two NYC men fall in love and create a relationship that's their own and not that of a typical gay movie couple. The film could have just been about their interesting relationship, but then one of them is diagnosed with incurable cancer and it becomes so much more but never (too) melodramatic; with Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Bill Irwin, and Sally Field. One win & 6 nominations. "61" Metascore.   Finished 'THE ENDLESS NIGHT' (Netflix).  The owners of Kiss and the band members were held responsible but the fire department and the city fathers have yet to be brought to justic...

 Sa 7/29/23- Buddy Sick 7am (2-B). 905am (1-SB). 1210pm (2-B).  455pm (2-B). 745pm (2-B).  Up 520am: Partly cloudy with temps to about 90.  Watched Netflix disc 'THOROUGHBREDS'.  Somewhat like a female version of the 'Leopold and Loeb Case'- 1924, Chicago. "We are supremely crafty & clever and we can get away with murder".  I liked it! The film is a flawless rendering of two very intelligent psychopaths as they verbally thrust and parry ; with Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, and Paul Sparks. "75" Metascore; 1 win & 25 Nominations. A cut above!  855am: PC is 'Off' and I'm going to walk to the Walgreens PO and mail back the disc before it gets too hot.   910am- 920am: To Walgreens...'LED ZEPPELIN- 'Presence'.  ***Buddy threw up in the living room while I walked to Walgreens.  I fed him at 1025am and he threw up in the bathroom within ten minutes & a little while later in the living room by the AC regist...

 Fr 7/28/23 645am (2-B). 1055am (2-B). 435pm (2-B). 725pm (2-B).  Up 510am: Hot as a blowtorch! Bright, sunny, & humid with temps to 100 degrees. EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING with heat index values in excess of 110. Watched 'THE INITIATED' (Amazon Prime). It's a fairly tame potboiler about 'Columbian Municipal Water Rights' and based on a series of novels by Mario Mendoza in which his main character, Frank Molina is a bipolar/ alcoholic journalist. 'The Snake's Nest' is the city's last source of freshwater and it lies hidden beneath a Catholic church in the center of the city. An evil politician wants to own this water 'for health reasons'. Odd Fact: Although it rains continually the rain water cannot be used because of Acid Rain.   Began 'HOW TO BECOME A CULT LEADER' (Netflix). The first episode is about Charlie Manson's rise to fame. I didn't know that Charlie and some of his followers lived with Dennis Wilson at his Hollywood...

 Th 7/27/23 7pm (2-B). NEW BATCH- 930am (2-B). 1225pm (1-B). 430pm (2-B). 720pm (2-B).  Up 530am: Hot & sunny with temps almost to 100 {Humidity 89%} EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING thru Saturday. I didn't even open the windows this morning.  Watched 'KNOCK AT THE CABIN DOOR' (Amazon Prime). The theme is that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrive on earth as 'Guidance, Healing, Nurturing, and Violence'. Two dads and their eight year old adopted daughter must make a choice. One of them must die or all of humanity perishes and the three of them will live in limbo for eternity. I thought there would be a trick ending, but I guess the 'Four Horsemen' never lie; with Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, and Abby Quinn. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. NEW BATCH: 'Butterscotch Willy' Hybrid.  Finished 'BURN THE HOUSE DOWN' (Netflix). It was the other brother who started the kitchen fire. He was returning a swe...

  We 7/26/23 7am (2-B). 840am (1-SB). 1050am (1-B). 1240pm (1-B).  440pm (2-B). 725pm (2-B).  Up 510am: Hot & humid with temps to upper 90's. I've got the windows open (530am but closed by 830am) but probably not for long and 90's are in the forecast until next Wednesday. ***Last night as I came upstairs to fix dinner a fierce storm raged outside. I had been looking at the weather radar  while it was happening and nothing was on the screen but for a short while Westview was flooded and it was really coming down. I checked the rain guage this morning and we got about a quarter inch- a solid soaking.    Spent time culling through the new films at Kanopy (they've got 'THE TRIANGLE OF SADNESS') & Hoopla...and I settled on a Netflix selection.  Watched 'THEY CLONED TYRONE' (Netflix). A small-time drug dealer in an American ghetto (The Glen) is gunned down and miraculously comes back to life. With the help of a pimp and a prostitute...

 Tu 7/25/23 655am (2-B). 1225pm (2-B). 430pm (2-B). 730pm (2-B).  Up 515am: The heat wave has arrived! Today will be sunny & temps to low 90's. It will be very humid and temps in the mid to upper 90's through next Sunday. ***I created a new 'Cheese Stands Alone' and I've got the old entry on the PC hard drive and the external drives (and maybe Dropbox). Watched Netflix disc 'GREED'. A powerful satire about a kingpin of the British fashion industry. He is marketed as a 'self made man' but his money is all borrowed and he cheats his workers and pays no taxes. The reason the film works so well is that there are people on the Right of the political spectrum who could watch the film and see nothing wrong with this vile character; with Steve Coogan & Shirley Henderson. Directed by Michael Winterbottom.   More 'BURN DOWN THE HOUSE' (Netflix). I shut it down 4 minutes into episode #6. The plot thickens and the characters and their relationshi...

 Mo 7/24/23- Buddy Sick  710am (2-B). 810am (1-SB). 1150am (2-B). 435pm (2-B). 720pm (2-B).  Up 520am: Bright & sunny with temps to about 90. Learned how to transfer 'Cheese Stands Alone' to thumb drive. So EZ, but I'm sure that I'll forget when it's time for the next transfer. Later I also loaded 'Cheese' to my external hard drive and next I'll tackle the 'sticky note' transfer...maybe- one fun at a time.  Wrote up 'TIME TUNNEL' by Murray Leinster for the blog. Watched 'TICKLED' (Tubi-TV).  I thought that I was watching an amazing mockumentary about a strange 'faux-sport' called 'Competitive Endurance Tickling'. By the end of the film I realized that the film is actually a real investigative journalistic piece about a man who inherited millions and uses the money to feed his tickling fetish and bully dozens of people with his threats of lawsuits and general harassment. The film induces weird and chilling thoug...