Brrr!

Chilly fall temperatures have arrived in Texas. The cold woke me up at 5:30 AM.

I didn't realize that Colin Allred debated Ted Cruz last night, but he seems to have done good. I hope it makes difference in the election. Also Jasmine Crockett was on Colbert's show, and Kamala Harris just did an interview on Fox News tonight. I'm not sure I want to watch that one. I already saw her on 60 Minutes, with the interviewer framing everything in rightwing talking points.

On Disney+ I've been watching Agatha All Along but have looked away sometimes when it went too horror creepy for me. It's entertaining, though I really hated Alice dying only one episode after she conquered her family's curse. Hope things will be good now that we got Billy revealed. I miss Wanda.

Happy Indigenous People's Day

I almost forgot and thought this day was closer to Thanksgiving. I'll be working today, so it's not really a holiday for me.

Early voting in Texas starts next week, so I'll go then. This election is so nerve wracking, and I've no idea if the states wrecked by Helene and Milton will recover, especially given threats to FEMA.

Meanwhile it looks like The Wild Robot is getting a sequel due to its success.

Speaking of movies, I forgot to mention Rob Peace, the last movie I saw in August before my cruise. I think you can buy it on Youtube now, but I don't know if it will reach a streaming service in the future. Maybe it'll go to Paramount+? The film stars Jay Will, with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mary J. Blige as Rob's separated parents.

The movie is based on a true story about a brilliant Black kid who had a bright future in biochemistry, but he got caught up in illegal schemes trying to help his imprisoned father. It's about obligation and tragedy, and it's based on a biography that his college friend wrote about him, but it goes into his childhood and the New Jersey neighborhood he grew up in. I hope more people find out about it.

Missed again

Apparently I missed the northern lights again. I don't know if it came down to Texas, but I did see people posting aurora pictures from Kansas, so that's pretty far south. I envy them, because I didn't see any aurora when I was in Alaska in August. Oh well.

Meanwhile I got out my wok again to deep fry the rest of the lumpia I had in my freezer. The first batch turned golden easily but after I took them out of the oil to cool on a rack, they looked more burnt and overdone. The second batch stubbornly looked undercooked and pale, but once I pulled them out they turned more golden and cooked. So I guess the trick is that I should deep fry them, but pull them out while they still look pale. Then while they rest on the rack, they'll finish cooking from the leftover heat.

Anyway, I guess I'll go out to the movies tonight. I did recently see the Super/Man Christopher Reeve movie, which was interesting, as I never knew about his blended family before. Apparently he was close friends with Robin Williams too.

Crossed Fingers

I'm glad that the dockworker's strike was resolved so quickly. After getting a better contract offer, the workers agreed to suspend the strike until January, while they negotiate the rest of the details. This is good for getting supplies to the regions devastated by Hurrican Helene, so they can recover. I hope that the new Milton storm won't bring further destruction.

Last week I saw a really stupid car festooned with flags and banners saying "Repent" , "Jesus Saves" and that he's coming soon, like maybe during the election. I know there are evangelical Christians around Texas but this was crazy. Apparently while I was at lunch, they even put up some "Jesus Saves" signs on a nearby fence. Wackos.

Meanwhile I've been having computer issues lately even though I upgraded the memory on my laptop. I kept getting 100% disk usage slowing everything down, but I think I finally found the Windows settings to make it work normally. Apparently next time I get a new computer I'll have to make sure I get SSD.

Autumn Already

Happy 100th birthday to Jimmy Carter! He said before that he wants to live long enough to vote this November, and I hope he does.

Wow, it's October already. Temperatures are still in the 90s in Texas though. The government is offering free Covid test kits again, so I signed up.

I went to see the movie The Wild Robot, which is very heart felt and beautifully animated. It seems to be doing good at the box office, so they may make a sequel. It's based on a book series I guess, so there should be good material. Reminds me a little of The Iron Giant, except that it's focused on animals, with no human characters on the island. The robot-building corporation is the villain, but nature itself also provides harsh conditions for survival. The film does acknowlege that death occurs but alludes to it gently so parents can deal with kids' questions rather than with their trauma.

I haven't been able to see other smaller movies that were too limited in release, like Tokyo Cowboy and Empire Waist, so I'll have to look on streaming for those. Unfortunately, with October, there's bound to be a bunch of horror movies out; there seems to be horror films year round now, but especially in October. I hate most horror, unless it's light and comic like Hocus Pocus. But I do have some Scooby-Doo DVDs to watch instead.

Devastating

Wow. The news says that over a hundred people died due to Hurricane Helene and hundreds are missing. Plus millions of people continue to be without power, and could be without for a week. I hope that federal disaster relief can reach everybody soon. I certainly don't want people to be facing chillier fall or winter temperatures without heat or clean water.

Meanwhile Israel continues its devastating war on the whole region, and the US does nothing to stop its killing spree. Fuck. We couldn't have arrested Netanyahu for war crimes while he was at the UN? Fuck.