Officially Summer

With the solstice yesterday, it's now actually summer, though it has felt like that for weeks already. My new AC is working, though sometimes the fans blow rather loudly. However I got an email from ERCOT pleading for people to use less energy due to the high June temperatures. Hey, wasn't using any AC for days, and I'm not a wasteful idiot setting the thermostat to 68 degrees in summer. In fact I'm always too cold at work, where they set AC at 72 or so. I'm always conserving energy. We'll see if the electrical grid can survive. How I wish we could get on the national grid, but Texas GOP are too stupid to do that.

Meanwhile I finished the Keyshawn Solves It podcast on PBS. It was pretty enjoyable, and I liked the focus on Juneteenth.

The writer's strike goes on and on, with the studios refusing to budge. All the networks are planning to air various reality shows this fall, to make up for lack of new scripted shows. I don't know why they can't just negotiate; nobody is on their side against the writers. Are we gonna get stuck rewatching old shows and reading books like in the pandemic? TV execs are replaceable, not the writers.

Because of all the hype, I finally watched Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ but I stopped midway through season 2. Everybody raved about how it was sunny, optimistic, and feelgood, but I didn't agree. It was only that way part of the time, and it seemed more melancholy; clearly, Ted's folksy manner was masking his sadness at being separated from his family. The comedy was very mild and overshadowed by too much drama. It got annoying how weird Ted was with the sports psychologist, and I didn't like the show wrecking the good relationship between Roy and Keely. It became basically a rollercoaster soap opera, and the reviews for season 3 talked about bloat and losing its way, so I quit while I was ahead.

Meanwhile on Disney+, I enjoyed the Muppets Mayhem focusing on the Electric Mayhem band. It took a while to get the human characters, but I did like seeing Lilly Singh work with the muppets. Her boss, Penny Waxman, was a delight. I liked that Janice had an allergy to lying, forcing Nora to come clean; it reminded me of Charlie detecting lies on Poker Face. There were fun cameos from famous musicians and good music in most episodes. We got backstories about Dr. Teeth and the other band members. I was surprised about the origin stories for Animal and even the band's van. It was a nice, fun, breezy show.