LadyCrimson

That's me, as well. Time for a turkey sandwich. For me, not my cat.

I may go back and try to watch the latter half of Split later. It was on HBO so easy for me to do. But I'm 99% sure I already guessed the ending concept, since it's telegraphed (imo) so much - which is part of why I turned it off. Still, the first half was much better than Lady in the Water or The Happening. I mostly liked 6th Sense, Unbreakable (altho I found the very end to be a bit unsatisfying for some reason) and Signs (yes it's silly but I was still entertained). And while he didn't direct it, I liked Devil a fair bit. Perhaps the split-personality device has grown stale for me as well. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said "go back to." It's just that most of the older/classic films that I like are the very long ones. I've spent three months binge watching almost nothing but 16-20 episode tv series, however, and now trying to watch most films it's as if films are way too short to feel complete/satisfying. :D

*tosses cat a few pieces of buttered popcorn* *tosses cat some cheddar cheese bits* *tosses cat small pieces of raw chicken as I'm slicing it up* *plates a mound of lightly cooked chicken for cats lunch* ...my cat is not spoiled. ...although in truth, a lot of it is extra efforts to get him to gain or at least not lose weight. His hyperthyroidism = it's hard to keep him even around 8 pounds (when he should be around 11-12pounds).

HAHAHA. That was a lot of lol's. Thanks. ....tried to watch "Split" the other day. Turned it off about half way through. It's not that it's terrible, I guess it wasn't really quite right for my personal short-attention-span syndrome. Maybe it becomes more interesting in the latter half, dunno. James McAvoy seemed to have a lot of fun hamming up those multiple personalities, and I did like seeing Betty Buckley. I seem to have lost patience for films in general - the 1.5 to 2.5 hour format I mean. Editing often feels too abrupt, story/characterization (if any) seems truncated etc. eg, I've become way way pickier about movies than I used to be. Even most of the Korean/Asian films feel too scattershot. I wish the majority movies could go back to being always 3+ or even 4 hours with a 10min. intermission or something. I know, I know, not as much daily/weekly money that way (less showtimes). Oh well.

I'm one of those few who for some reason enjoyed Torchlight 1 (original version from way way back) more than 2, but I still very occasionally play TL2 for a few hours. Sorta sad news about Runic tho. Not that it's surprising, either, this day and age.

Waking up at 11ish is from me not going to sleep until 7am. Like now, heh. The past year or so however I've definitely been "suffering" from more nights where I can't stay asleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time. Like you said, you just wake up for no reason. Which is part of the evening nap issue. All my life I've had trouble falling asleep, now 3/4 of the time I can't stay asleep no matter what time I go to bed. Hubby had a spare/unused Galaxy S5 and I've been using that to idly 'net surf on the couch (easier to carry than the laptop) but that's it. Local wi-fi, no cell account. After using it this way for a while (ignoring everything else about it/available) I've come to the conclusion that ... I still don't need a smartphone. Makes a good mini-web-surf tablet, tho. Plus, y'know, it was free. Haha.

Uh...not really a funny, but there's no "lifestyles/cats/cooking" thread so. Japanese guy who occasionally posts short how-to cooking video, with his cats always in the picture. I wish he'd do a lot more of them, because I love them. He and his (from US) wife also use their own channel with blog/Japan culture/lifestyle videos which can be cute/fun.

I haven't touched FF-XV in something like 3.5 months (?). Wasn't going to play it again until Ignis DLC is released but then ecided I'd fire up the PS4 tonight and at least download/update the console, game, whatever else. Then curiously loaded a save. --didn't take long for me to totally forget how to use the controller with the game. Finger-Fumble city --oh is that what the Dream Egg ended up amounting to. --oh that new Festival has new Assassin's themed team outfits (?), I must get those. --but still sucking at the controller after 20 minutes, maybe tomorrow... Can't wait for the Ignis DLC tho. First DLC trailer that had me half-excited vs. "ho-hum." Never did play Episode Prompto.

11am - Wakes up, caffeine drip installed. noon - Cat continues to try to kill owner (all day) by always following/staying within 4 inches of owners feet (no joke) so said owner will trip over cat constantly 1pm - House chores/exercise. 2pm - Hubby and I go grocery shopping. Grumble about prices like old geezers, per usual. 3pm - Made some tasty soup with pork, bok choy, rice, chicken broth etc. Soup on chilly days is the best! 4pm - Surf the internet/odds and ends. 5pm: "Sure is dark outside." (winter+US time change) (eats some chips/salsa) 6pm - Rent a movie/snuggle spouse. 8pm - "My eyes won't stay open." (old geezer unplanned nap) 9:30pm -Snorts awake. 12:30am - Can't sleep, ofc. PS4 or K-dramas? hmm.

Because despite what that other song says, music never dies.

Finally got around to watching Alien:Covenant. The first 40ish minutes had me mildly interested but as soon as they reached the planet I started groaning at all the horror-101 stupidity cliches. Send nearly all of your crew down. No helmets. "Trick" ending things that trick no one in the audience. They even had a shower scene for crying out loud. I had to pause the movie twice and putter in the kitchen for a few minutes each time in order to tolerate it. The aliens, visuals, music/sound effects were effective/good and Katherine Waterson at least convinced me her chr. had some common sense. Fassbender's performance, just like in Prometheus, is the main draw of this film. Did I hate the movie? No. It just wasn't good/distracting enough to be able to make me ignore the idiocy, like some movies can/do. I mean I can rewatch the original Alien and have more sympathy for every single one of those crew members than I did for anyone in Covenant. Talk about death by number. The David character kept making me think of Asimov's R. Daneel Olivaw chr. A psychotic with delusions of grandeur version, of course but...I wonder if that was a somewhat intentional influence or if it's just that such themes re: artificial/created beings have become rather universal. I'd still kill for a good mini-series or movie trilogy of one or more of the Robot Novels, and Fassbender might make a pretty good Daneel. Not sure who would play Elijah Baley tho.

*waves @ all* ... just one of my occasional speedy fly-by's. Hope all is well with you all. @Hurlshot - those costumes are awesome. I've spent the past 20 years wearing zero jewelry but recently have had an irrational hankering for a lot of metal on my fingers/wrists. Which led to the discovery that Amazon has tons of cheap silver jewelry items (I've always preferred silver). Back in the 80's/90's I used to go to local jewelry fairs a few times a year for such things but clicking the "buy" button is so much easier. I might be in shopping-addiction trouble, now. I've been contemplating taking a TEFL certification course in San Francisco, just in case I ever decide to use that sort of option for staying in S. Korea for a few months or something, before I become truly old. Which isn't to say that's a firm plan at this moment. But it's on my mind. Not sure what hubby would think of it however. eg, I doubt he'd want or be able to go with me. Also, I turned 49 this month. I'll post another selfie when I'm 59, which means I expect most/all of you to still be hanging around or dropping in, now and then, at that time, ok?

Pretty much sums up my feelings after 2 episodes as well, both overall and re: W. Ryder. She has toned down from the 1st season but something about her "acting face" in this series, as a whole, rather annoys me. Which is odd to me because way back when I liked her a fair lot. It took me a while to warm up to the 1st season as well, however. I'll keep watching, a couple episodes at a time ... it'll probably grow on me somewhat eventually. ====================================== I also tried a couple episodes of ABC's "Good Doctor." I only did so because I belatedly realized it was a US redo of the S. Korean drama series of the same name. The Kdrama version was nothing too special outside of the main lead's performance, but because I saw the Kdrama one first, watching the flashy Hollywood version made me frown a lot. It's not the worst thing ever, but yeah...I won't/can't continue to watch it. Heh.

Such a good action/suspense/romance series. Song makes me tap my toe or head-bop around the room, can't help it.

Still completely addicted to K-dramas. I've practically forgotten there is a US (or anywhere else, really) television market. I've binge-watched way too many series. So many good ones. I still love the fact most of them are self-contained single-season stories vs. series that are milked to death and never end (or are cancelled and have no end at all...). Their remake of Criminal Minds has been rather mundane to me, so far, however. The actors are all good and I don't have an issue with over-comparing it to the US version...(they're using some of the same criminal stories, like Reaper)...since I was never a huge fan of Criminal Minds beyond the first couple years. Plus the flavor feels quite different even if the chrs are based on the US chrs. Yet the K-drama version of it is lacking something. The pacing and camerawork aren't appealing, perhaps. It's only been 4 episodes however, and it is improving a tiny bit.

Re: IT the new film The trailer would have me believe the movie will have better creepy atmosphere than the mini-series (not hard to do, really). I liked the mini-series ok (the spider-IT was poorly done, tho), especially the children's sections, but I don't mind new adaptations of it either. That said, I always have reservations about King film adaptations of his long novels, simply because of length. King's short stories or novella's usually transfer to film better. Maybe if they made it a two-movie type of film thing. I'd rather wish for a new mini-series, like Netflix doing it, or HBO, or Amazon, or whoever. And for me, young Stuttering Bill will always be Jonathan Brandis (RIP). I thought he was perfect casting back when. The kid in the film trailer doesn't appeal to me at all.

Forgot to mention yesterday that I'd seen: Okja - I think you can only see this via Netflix at the moment? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3967856/ Directed by Bon Joon Ho (The Host, Snowpiercer) it's largely a film about corporations and engineering food debates/ethics, in the form of what ends up feeling a bit like a PETA campaign. The CGI creature itself is amazing, and the young actress is all right. Many of the smaller roles filled by more famous people were...very strange characters I couldn't relate to at all/were just sorta annoying vs. funny. In the end I found the film too over-bearing/shrill in its message, which meant it lost any potential emotional impact for me. It's not that it's bad - technically/music and beauty-wise it's great and the actors are of caliber - I just didn't find it very rousing, hilarious, or illuminating etc. First half was decent/ok too. Depending on your viewpoints as a parent, it may not be something very young children should watch on their own.

Today I continued my unhealthy binge-watching of Korean dramas and films, had a nice dinner, tried to learn how to differentiate (by ear) and pronounce Korean double consonants until I tossed my hands up in the air for the night. Romanization of Korean pronunciation is about as helpful as tossing a drowning person a dish sponge. I've been trying not to even look at such since I think it would lead to bad habits. Now time for sleep.

Bad Guys (via Netflix) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3914520/ Overall a pretty decent thriller/crime k-drama series. This is one for those who aren't interested in any sort of romance emphasis in their series. The first two episodes are good and build a lot of interest, and then there's a few crime-episodic episodes, with one very bad episode that has this older female actress in a role that is like nails on a chalkboard. I pretend that episode doesn't exist. But it revs up again quickly and becomes very interesting re: the backstories and characterizations of the "bad guys" team with a satisfying ending, imo. All four of the male leads are awesome. ============================================== Misaeng (Incomplete Life) (via Netflix, also on DramaFever) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4240730/ BEST 20 episode drama series I've seen in quite a while. No action, almost no melodrama, no romance, just a series about interns/employees lives in a giant office corp. It almost instantly captures your interest and never lets go. Great dialogue and quiet character moments. Fantastic acting and character studies/growth. The last episode does get a little far fetched/silly but still. Hubby liked the first 4 episodes a lot but he had to leave town for a few days - he remarked he'd watch the rest on his own later (which he did) - this from someone who hates subtitles. ====================================================== Descendants of the Sun (on both Netflix and Dramafever) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925000/ This is more the romance-drama type style so I won't bother to talk plot. Two male leads (bromance) in a "special forces" military and a couple women (one a doctor/surgeon, one an army doctor), so the main drama comes from difficult jobs = difficult relationships. Usual dry humor, some cheesy moments, bad guy isn't all that bad - but with decent characters including a large cast of good supporting roles. I liked "Goblin" a lot more but this one was good enough to watch all the episodes.

A song to listen to while staring at the rain. A more "pop" tune that makes me toe tap to the chorus every time. ...I barely know what k-pop/k-music is, btw. I don't keep up with or even regularly listen to any music now - I just hear stuff I like in games or TV/movies and that's all I get exposed to anymore. Seems like there's always one or three tunes from every K-drama I watch that I end up liking a lot.

If you mean family tree type of stuff, that's not possible, since there are literally zero records of my natural birth parents. My birthday is not even my real birthday, it's an age-estimate by the adoption agency. (edit: not knowing my real age is also something that irrationally troubles me, at times, off and on ) My adoptive grandfather traced his family line many years ago, but it has no meaning to me at all. I have, however, idly considered DNA tests just out of curiosity if I'm even "full-blooded" Korean. For all I know, I'm quarter or half Japanese, as well, or something.

Totally this. So much so.

LOL - yeah, I know that can be a thing. I very rarely drink myself as well. I just don't like alcohol at all (taste or effect), never have. I don't like tea either, but at least that I could drink for politeness. I definitely rebelled a ton when I was in my teens, heh. For myself I think it has more to do with social discomfort that leads to far more self-isolation than even my introversion might account for. When I was a kid looking for P/T work and calling people for interviews I'd then show up and almost every single one would say something along the lines of "Oh, I didn't realize you were Asian, you have zero accent over the phone" and I would think to myself "what does that have to do with anything." There's tons of that sort of thing, in both directions - you know ppl mean nothing by it but it's such a disconnect since I don't view myself as Asian and such comments take me aback at times...then I look in the mirror and go "oh yeah". I never became comfortable with that aspect, if that makes any sense. I've never "wanted to be white" in terms of my skin, there's nothing like that for me - I like my face - but it gives me a feeling like I don't (socially) belong to anything. Saying I'm Korean on a government form (where they're trying to get demographic statistics) feels like a lie, even tho technically it isn't. It's hard to explain. But saying I'm white would also be a lie. Hence identity crisis. Altho, crisis isn't really the right term. It's just ... trying to figure out why I feel such disconnects in the first place and what might help to make such have less impact on my mental state of being. I mean, do all my likes and dislikes etc = the sum total of my (emotional) identity? Or is there something more. What/why is racial culture important to identity for so many people. I don't know. Maybe I can find out.

Identity crisis in progress: I don't know how many ppl here recall this, but I'm what they term a transracial adoptee - a S. Korean adopted by white parents, who grew up in an extremely white social environment. I've always had some ... identity? ... issues regarding this. It's not at all uncommon a thing. If for some reason you want to know more about that aspect, you can sift through the Donaldson Institute's 2009 report on the issue. https://www.adoptioninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2009_11_BeyondCultureCamp.pdf Or for a briefer insight into the topic, there's the NY Times article that uses the Korean adoptee perspective. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09adopt.html Anyway, I apparently fit a lot of reaction time-tables as other adoptees and after a lifetime of ignoring and being convinced my racial background/heritage had no relevance to my life, I now find myself wanting to dive into it more. It's almost as if I suddenly feel like I have no idea who I am and a lot of old stuff is bubbling to the surface. I'm becoming rather emotional about it. For many in my shoes this seems to mean a journey to their birth country and/or trying to find birth parents. The latter is not available to me since I was a foundling orphan with no parental records at all. The former is something I've never seriously considered because I feel I would be psychologically unstable re: trying to visit S. Korea when I have a Korean face but no Korean background (language, culture, whatever). Every time I opened my mouth, it would be obvious. I would have to say "I don't understand" a million-jillion times (eg, a taxi driver immediately speaking Korean/assuming I'd understand) and feel oddly unworthy every time I had to say it, if that makes any sense. Or, what if I ended up not wanting to go back to the US and suddenly finding myself hostile to my own white-adoption background (which would be a no better situation/result). Or perhaps it'd all be great and I'd be rid of this "identity crisis" and have the best peace of mind I've ever had, by finally being able to meld all these..things...into a whole. It's scary not knowing what my reaction might be, and I'm not sure how brave I am/will be, in the end. Also, depending on what my actions may be over time, how will my (white) husband react. I doubt he's ever thought about going to Korea (or anywhere in Asia) in his life. Would he go with? Would I want him to go with and if not, would he be ok with that? Sigh. But I think I'm going to start with learning Korean. So if I do ever work up the nerve to go to the land of my birth, I can at least have that one big insecurity/stressor be gone. This is going to take a while....

Had a break from Final Fantasy XV for a while, watching a lot of TV/films instead. But the Prompto DLC will be out next week and the recent trailer for it made it look tons better than the previous Gladio-based DLC. So I may spend some time checking that out. Then it'll be a long wait for the Ignis DLC in Sept. Still looking for a new game that might catch my specific gamer-OCD tendencies on fire while also catering to the fact that I've become a lot more of a casual gamer in other ways, but in the meantime at least there's lot of great non-game entertainment to catch up on!