Entertainment | Piss and Moan

Father Time

Posted on February 14, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

Another trip around the sun.

Another drop in the bucket.

One foot farther into the grave.

Picking up speed on the other side of the hill.

It doesn’t matter how you put it, birthdays just aren’t really all that much fun. Maybe it’s just me.

Sure, I get the celebration part and I am not really a fatalist, so it isn’t that big a deal.

BUT, I can tell you another year older and being sick at the same time is kinda beating me up today. I really just wanna sit in a dark room, watch movies or play video games, and not interact with anyone unless I have given prior approval.

No such luck.

People are everywhere. There is too much light. I am coughing up a storm (I am not contagious any longer), and work is much too busy.

Yes, OK, I get it Father Time. You win.

But, I might just take a nap in my car and you can’t stop me…

Robot vacuum

Posted on February 13, 2020 by backuphill

My vacuum is not this one. It is from a different company and this photo is just for demonstration purposes. Photo by Jens Mahnke on Pexels.com

The house has a robot vacuum.

It’s kinda new. It has been roaming the house at a pre-planned time for about three months now. Honestly, it’s nice to not have to sweep as often. It also cleans up some of the rugs that are by the entry points of the house, there there is that too.

But, it is also a lot like having a freaking toddler in the house.

Anything that is on the ground gets moved around and sometimes you have to go hunting for stuff. Example: shoes. It will push slippers and shoes under the furniture. Thus, I find myself on the floor trying to fish stuff out from under the bed or night stand. It will also sometimes grab shoe laces and drag the shoe around for a while.

It closes doors and gets stuck on the inside of a room. It keeps working, unlike a toddler, but then you have to open the door and direct it out of the room. So, now doors have to be closed when it starts so it doesn’t get stuck in room, just like you do when you have a toddler in the house and you don’t want them getting into stuff.

It gets stuck under things and doesn’t finish what it was doing. The TV stand. The coffee table. The night stand. If it gets caught on something, it just stops.

It unplugs stuff and then you wonder why it isn’t working. I have had the phone charging cable not power up my phone when I plug it in at night. The robot unplugged it from under the night stand. The subwoofer for the sound system wasn’t working and movies/tv sounded funny. The robot unplugged the subwoofer from the powerstrip under the TV stand. It once drug a phone cord all over the house.

It picks up stuff you really don’t want it to…like screws you accidentally drop or didn’t know came out of something. Fridge magnets. Hair ties. Batteries. It’s like a toddler that puts everything in its mouth and you’re running around saying, “What do you have in your mouth? Lemme see!”

Why does it treat somethings, like the wall and furniture, like it is glass and eases into cleaning the edges while at other times it just bashes it’s way around the same furniture, like it has no eyes and doesn’t have a clue that it is getting close to something? Same for a toddler and cats…you tell it to be careful and nice, gentle, and it does for a while and then all of the sudden it grabs a big handful of fur and pulls, sending the animal scurrying away.

I tell you, I don’t have time to babysit the robot.

Seriously.

Astounded

Posted on January 30, 2020 by backuphill

opened mouth black haired boy in gray full zip jacket standing on grass field taking selfie

Photo by Film Bros on Pexels.com

So, at the end of next month I’ll be attending Spring Training in Arizona for the first time. It’s a trip I have long looked forward to and, honestly, I can’t wait to get away from everything right now and just inhale baseball (even though I am irritated with the sport right now). I just like to sport too much to not have a good time.

Anyway, as I am prepping for the trip I am going to be adding some team attire to my wardrobe. Just general team attire, nothing with an athlete’s name on it. I don’t really believe in wearing someone else’s name on my back (though I would probably do it if it were free or a gift, but I definitely wouldn’t buy it for myself).

So, as I am scrolling through the selections I can’t help but be astounded that teams are still charging full (or very near full) price for shirts/jerseys that have the names of players who are no longer on the team. Traded, retired, disgraced, dead…doesn’t matter who they are, they still want a near premium for the clothing. Astounding.

Why do people spend money on team attire for a player who is no longer playing on the team? Are they in the Hall of Fame? Might be justifiable. That’s the only reason I can fathom at the moment. Great player, or one of the greatest for the team? Possibly, but not really a reason to pay near full price.

I just don’t get it. But then, I don’t really get wearing someone else’s name on your back either.

Guess I don’t buy into that sort of propaganda.

man sitting on black leather padded chair

Photo by Jason Appleton on Pexels.com

I probably will catch flak from all over the internet for this, but I feel the need to throw myself under the bus anyway. Who doesn’t need a good, self-imposed, beat down every now and then?

Today’s post: an unpopular opinion.

I didn’t like Disney’s “The Mandalorian” all that much.

I put off watching the show because I am a Star Wars fan. I wouldn’t call myself a super-fan, but it pretty much has been a thing all my life, so there’s that. I have introduced my children (and others) to the saga and they all love it too. So, I do appreciate the story more than others, I am sure of that.

Now that the Star Wars saga “is over,” at least as I know it, I was kind of looking forward to seeing how Disney was going to move forward with it but also not real excited about it either. I realize it is a cash cow, a “force” if you will, so they aren’t going to just let it end (or die) with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

I won’t spend a bunch of time reviewing the show and I won’t spend a bunch of time spoiling it for others who might not have seen it (I watched and finished it last week).

But here is my take:

Baby Yoda is cute. Maybe, just maybe, the only redeeming factor of the show.
The acting isn’t great. It isn’t horrible, but it definitely could be improved.
The special effects, as always, are really good.
The story isn’t all that compelling. It’s actually kind of boring. I didn’t find myself wanting to binge watch and get all eight episodes done in one sitting.
The episodes themselves are kinda short. Not much story telling crammed into those little things.
The artwork (story boards, maybe?) in the credits of the show is almost better than the show.
It felt as though they were trying to force (no pun intended) us to care about the characters, which I didn’t think they achieved.
Carl Weathers brought the cheese factor to a new level.
Nick Nolte’s character should have been used more and more developed.

There are probably other things that bothered me about the show, but I can’t think of them right now.

I don’t know. It just didn’t settle with me. Maybe season two will be better?

Huh? sigh

Posted on January 24, 2020 by backuphill

It’s only 11:13am and it has already been one of those days. On a Friday, no less. Aren’t Friday’s supposed to be easy?

It’s already a “throw your hands in the air” kind of day.

It’s an Arsenio Hall “Things that make you say HMMMM…” kind of day.

At work.

At home.

With family.

Relationships.

I’m tired.

I’m ready to pack it in.

I’m ready to go some place warm with a tropical breeze, by myself, kick up my feet, and throw back a few cold ones.

Photo by Melina Vargas on Pexels.com

Can I return this day? I don’t want it any longer. It’s only slightly used and in like new condition. I still have my receipt.

Cheaters

Posted on January 16, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Anastasia Zhenina on Pexels.com

I love baseball. I always have.

I hate cheaters.

Sadly, the sport I love has been spoiled by cheaters. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time and that makes me really sad. Maybe sad isn’t the right word. It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Houston = cheaters. It seems very likely that Boston will also = cheaters. Possibly the New York Yankees and New York Mets will be found to = cheaters. How far does this really go? Will we ever really know?

This whole thing about stealing signs isn’t really a new thing, per se, but it’s how they did it. Secret cameras, analysis, and then relaying that information to batters is really underhanded.

There have been cheating scandals before. Steroids. Corked bats. Pine tar. “Foreign substances” on pitcher’s uniforms. It’s all been done before. But, in most cases, those were really done by individual players and often (we assume) not at the approval of management or others on the team.

That’s why this is different. This was organized, and systematic. It may have been “player driven,” but management approved it and implemented it.

I am headed to spring training in Arizona at the end of February for the first time. It’s been a goal of mine since I was little. I am looking forward to the trip because of the people I’ll be with and for the baseball, because I love the game.

But, I have to admit there is a little bit of me that thinks the pop of the glove, the smell of the grass, and the crack of the bat just don’t have quite the same appeal as they did before.

What do you think about the whole thing? Is it a big deal or not?

Between the lines

Posted on January 14, 2020 by backuphill

Sometimes, things going unsaid is best.

Then there are other times where being blunt is the only solution, awkward or not.

And then there are those times where trying to be tactful sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

Anyone feel me on this?

Just saying…

Glitter

Posted on January 13, 2020 by backuphill

Maybe this is a weird topic, maybe it isn’t. I don’t have a lot to say about it. I may have even talked about it already on the ol’ blog, but I was reminded again this weekend…

I hate it. With passion.

It is evil.

If ever there was someone who deserved to be drawn and quartered, it would be the inventor of glitter. I don’t even have to look up who invented it because I don’t care. 1000 cursed deaths upon whomever it is.

I can’t even continue writing this post because it upsets me so much.

I’ll be back tomorrow with something less traumatizing. I apologize if this triggered something for you.

Price gouging?

Posted on January 2, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

What do you guys thing? Could this instance be considered price gouging or just market demand?

New Years Eve plans weren’t set in stone yet, so going to the movie theater was determined to be a good idea. Killing a few hours at a movie would help get the evening along and help me make it to the new year (instead of being an old, grumpy person – er, like every other day).

Anyway, we only have one movie theater that is local so to the AMC we went. During the ticket purchasing process it was discovered that the normally $5+ tickets at the theater were just the normal price of $11+. Huh? What’s going on here? Discount Tuesday has been a thing for years and this last year has been no different, so why suddenly are prices not the normally discounted price?

Come to find out, because both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve are the night before a holiday, the theater suspended the special price to take advantage of the fact that maybe more people would want to go see movies. Really? They’re going to jack the normally low price up for two days just so they can take advantage of their customers?

To me, it smacks of “price gouging,” because it is taking advantage of an abnormal situation to make more money. The official definition doesn’t say anything about a “state of emergency” or “disaster,” but if you look at legal definitions it tends to lean in that direction.

I guess it probably isn’t really price gouging, but it feels really shady when you are standing in line to buy tickets with your kids and what would have been a $25 night at the movies turns into $60 (before you even buy popcorn or snacks) because you have no choice at that point. I watched family after family be surprised by the unique “price adjustment” and the unspoken visual debate between husband and wife take place via their eyes. There were some who just turned around and left, but not very many. As parents, it’s hard to turn around and leave when you have all those eyes staring at you in expectation. So, they break the budget to make it happen.

Real shady, AMC. Real shady.

Reflection

Posted on January 1, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Javon Swaby on Pexels.com

As 2020 comes crashing in and we usher in a new day, month, year, and decade, I just wanted to pause for a moment and reflect.

Ok, not really. Why reflect? It will only bring back the things we weren’t successful with, the things that weren’t fair, the things that sucked, the things that were disappointing, and the things that just plain didn’t really need to happen.

CRAPPY NEW YEAR!

I jest, of course.

But as we raise a glass to a new year, may we be blessed with more things to Piss and Moan about.