Political shakeups

Well the Texas primaries are over and we have a result in some races, while other races are going to runoff. Ok fine I'll vote for Talarico in the general, but I sure hope we get a bigger blue wave than we did for Beto's senate run. We've tried charismatic white guys reaching out to independents before. I guess Jasmine will have time to ponder what she'll do after her House term ends. I'm glad we still have her to fight for us for now. A stupid, evil war on top of eveything else...

Meanwhile, Junior Ezenou surprised once again by unseating Chris Turner in District 101. There was nothing wrong with Chris in my opinion, and I wish I could have voted for him, but the GOP redrew districts to screw everybody. When Ezenou quit his Grand Prairie job to run, he left a vacant position on the City Council that still hasn't been filled. There was an election to replace him, but it went to a runoff, and early voting has started I believe. I hope voters don't get confused with all these elections taking place, to think "I already voted on that."

Also the thunderstorms caused a power blackout and I came home to find my Tivo Bolt OTA flashing lights as if its hard drive is fried. I tried to reboot it and search online forums for a fix, but nothing helps. And now since Tivo went to software only and is not selling hardware, I can't find any support articles other than this troubleshooting page that tells me to Chat with them if it's still not working. But the chat is AI-powered and just points back to the article on flashing lights. So I guess it's fucked for good. I tried unplugging the Bolt and going back to antenna TV, but my Tivo Stream 4K dongle asked for the Bolt to be plugged back in. Maybe I can move another Tivo Bolt from a different room to there? I don't know. I gotta figure this out, but like, this is stuff I don't have time to deal with on a weekday!

Early voting

I finally got the chance to early vote for the Democratic Primary. Unfortunately, due the GOP's stupid redistricting, they must have changed which district represents me. So none of my usual candidates were on the ballot. They must be competing in another district. So I had to blindly pick new people. But as it's a primary, everyone is a Democrat, so I guess any candidate's fine.

The amount of dirt flinging in the high profile races like Crockett vs. Talarico or Johnson vs Allred has been depressing. Just pick your personal preference. Don't try to triangulate about "electability" and imagine what other voters will do. Do what you want. I even saw comments on Daily Kos saying "we need Crockett in the House" instead of the Senate. Of course we need her there, but we won't get her there regardless of the Senate election. The GOP redrew districts so she couldn't win her House seat. That's why she went for the Senate, changing her mind from a year before; the earlier decision was based on the old districts. She didn't "betray" a promise she made; the circumstances changed. The fucking ignorance is astounding. And Kos bloggers are supposed to be the more politically engaged, high information voters. But apparently they spout off opinions without researching.

Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson died, and fucking Mike Johnson refused to let him lie in state at the Capitol, in the middle of Black History Month! He claimed it was not political, that it should be for presidents and politicians only, but they've made exceptions before such as for Billy Graham and Rosa Parks.

Happy Lunar New Year

Technically, New Year is on Feb 17th, but people have been celebrating early this weekend. Heck, the local Asian mall started as early as Feb 6th. I had to work this weekend though, so will have to see my family next week. It's President's Day too, but I don't have the money to go shopping today. Bills are wiping me out.

There was a sale on chicken thighs, so I made a sort-of chicken stroganoff to use up my mushrooms and sour cream. However, I always misjudge how long it takes to cook the chicken; it will look like it's done outside, but still be pink inside. I cooked it in the pan trying to make crispy skin and also have some fond to make sauce with, but I can never get the skin crisp enough. Oh well. Maybe I should just stick to using my crockpot to cook chicken.

Meanwhile I found a free software program called Krita which seems to be free of AI and is somewhat like Photoshop. (At least the lite version of Photoshop Elements that I liked before they made it subscription.) I'll try once again to make a new book cover for Prelude, so I can try to sell it as an ebook. I wish I was better at design or had inspiration to draw something. Maybe I need to reread it again to think of a specific scene to highlight, or maybe I just need to repurpose a Sidney Paget drawing. (Of course Paget just did the short stories, not A Study in Scarlet. It looks like Richard Gutschmidt did the novel in 1902.) Ooh I also found this interesting article on Bluesky about a Henry Paget, apparently no relation to Sidney or Walter Paget. But he did ask Doyle to help him after a jewel robbery.

Blech

I tried. I really tried to watch Wonder Man because I like Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery. Reviewers said it was a good show, suggesting it was as good as Wandavision, so I gave it a shot. But no, I can't stand stories about the acting industry, and I hate that Hollywood is so in love with itself that it keeps making movies and TV shows about itself, year after year. Fuck you. I don't want to see cringey moments of actors struggling to get work and being pathetic in a jaded world. I tried two separate episodes but had to bail every time they went into onset stuff and audition stuff. If that's the price of seeing Trevor Slattery again, no thanks. I had enough inside jokes about acting in Arrested Development's awful season 4-5 plotlines about Ron Howard and Rebel Alley.

Instead I kept watching the Muppet Show to try to increase its streaming popularity. My Disney+ subscription will end in a couple of days, so I'm trying to make the most of the time I have left. At least the TV ratings seem to be good as well. Please let it not be just one special. Please make more.

I also tried rewatching the old David Suchet Poirots lately, but I remember whodunit right away, so the mystery part isn't fun anymore. It's not like me rereading the Holmes stories over and over, despite knowing the solutions. Holmes and Watson have a certain charm and banter that's compelling beyond the mere mystery. With Poirot's episodes, I do find Hastings and Miss Lemon charming, but there's not enough, and after a few seasons, those characters are completely dropped. Plus I'm noticing more of the racist orientalism like in "Murder in the Mews" with that nightclub singer singing "Hindustan" in a horrible costume. So that's not fun. I wish they had done the Labours of Hercules short stories earlier, before all the shows became dark, moody movies. I wish we could have had faithful Labours instead of the weird mashup they did at the end.

Muppets and more

Happy Black History Month! I was distracted by the elections and the general chaos of the world. I'm old so I don't know a lot of singers on the recent Grammys, but I'm glad to hear a lot of artists spoke out against ICE and spoke up for immigrants. Through cultural osmosis I do know of some stars like Bad Bunny, Shaboozey, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter. And I do know that Bad Bunny will sing at the Superbowl, and that rightwingers have been freaking out over him. I don't care about the Superbowl, not even for the commercials, but I don't complain like the fascist weirdos fighting culture wars. Just don't watch it if it offends you.

I did see Sabrina on the new Muppet Show special, and I loved her songs. She interacts with Miss Piggy well, and I was glad to see that they were just competing over showbusiness stuff rather than for Kermit. For example, Miss Piggy was insecure about her age, because of youth-obsessed Hollywood, and she claimed to be a young ingenue. However she enjoyed her icon status and still threatened Sabrina with a lawsuit for copying her style. I was pleasantly surprised by the other songs and skits too. Very good show.

Meanwhile I am trying to get rid of AI, but it keeps getting forced on me in Windows and apps and such. Disney is going big for AI too, which was why I cancelled Disney Plus. If they renew the Muppet Show, I hope they keep airing it on ABC too, which I can get. Otherwise, a dilemma.

Signs of Hope

Hooray, Taylor Rehmet won his election. This is a state office, rather than a federal office, but good. We still have our March primary for the federal Senate seat. Meanwhile, in Harris County, Christian Menefee won his election for a federal House seat.

According to the local PBS station, students walked out of schools on Friday to protest ICE. Tarrant County is Republican-controlled, so I hope this bodes well for these students voting blue when they come of age.

In Congress I understand that the Senate made some deal to remove the ICE budget from the bill. The House has to vote on that change (when they get back) and there may be a partial shutdown. I hear the Democrats have 2 weeks to negotiate more on ICE and force them to change tactics. As much as we want to abolish ICE, the Republicans won't go that far.

Well, anyway, it's a cautious start to February. I'm looking forward to the Muppets Show on February 4th, which will air on TV as well. (I have canceled my Disney+ account.) Soon we'll have Lunar New Year on the 17th.