LadyCrimson

Doom at Your Service, via Viki I like kdramas that have a fantasy flair. Not the dragons and castles type of fantasy but the mysterious god beings in human world type fantasy. So this seemed up my alley. It's gloomy and dark but also darkly funny. The scene editing feels a little janky at times tho. It's been interesting to note that kdramas as a whole seem to getting darker and less quirkily "wholesome" or light fairy tale in tone, style...not that there isn't still the fluff and silliness, but much like in the US media, the overall mood landscape has altered I think.

I post this mostly to say that far as I'm concerned, that is the best store bought Caesar dressing ever. I use it constantly and it's what makes eating so many salads tolerable. Well that and the meat I put in them.

At the 2nd house for our trial run. No desktop PC's, no 4k OLED 55" (that's the 4k LED 43") no desk, no most of my stuff at all (I think we have a couple frying pans and we bought a toaster oven for this kitchen). Man, I'm in the wilderness, really roughin' it here, I'm not sure if I'll make it! ...probably won't be very net-active for a while tho. Too busy.

I think I could use to see the eyewear doc. again. I have two pairs of glasses - the newer pair is better for watching TV from couch distance (or driving) but gives me way more eyestrain at desktop-distance, so I use the older pair when computing. It's weird. Probably something to do with being both near and far sighted now with that inbetween zone fluctuating and giving me problems.

Finished the six episodes (it was 6, not 7...) available of Through the Darkness. It stayed excellent. Now I have to wait 4-5 weeks. >.> Netflix recently got rom-com-drama Beauty Inside tho. I remember when that came out and I didn't bother with it then because the premise is totally absurd (female superstar who once a month randomly turns into a different person, male/female/old/young, for a brief period, and a man who has face blindness). But it stars the male lead from Because This is my First Life, female lead from Another Miss Oh, one of the male leads from Cinderella and Four Knights, and a supporting actress from I Can Hear Your Voice. So quite packed cast, for me. Maybe it'll be ludicrously binge worthy at least. First episode seems weirdly cute so far.

*rolls up sleeves, gets out the Scrub-Free, brushes, and a gasmask* *scrubscrubscrubscrub..freakingtoomanyLayersOfSoapBuildUp..scrubscrubscrubscrub..myhands..gettingtoobroken-downforthis..scrubscrubscrubscrub* ...an hour later... "Honey, I have decided. I know you're an Ivory-Man, but no more bar soap allowed in the shower." "....ok....." ...was productive today, doing stuff needing to be done before staying at the other house. If we stay up there, I'll need to do more of course, but there's still an initial minimum regardless.

First two episodes of Through the Darkness were pretty darn good. It is, so far, a crime drama, not a melodrama. There are references throughout of the FBI guy's book Mindhunter - S. Korea seemingly didn't form their own profiler branch until much later (this series is set in late 90's/early 2000's). So I love that's it's a similar type of tale based on real-life person/experiences. The series Mindhunter (especially that first season) was great imo and this is looking to be just as good, although also very different ofc - not from the US pov. or style. Kim Nam Gil is killing it (I think I like his acting even better as drama vs. comedy) and most of the supporting cast as well (including the criminals). Finally, something I can really get into watching! ...sadly the final episodes won't be aired until the end of Feb. because of the Olympics I think, so I can only binge 7 (out of 12) this week. ...oh and if you try watching via Viki, don't watch the second eps. in their list "Episode1-special" second, because it's like a special/edited recap of eps 1 and 2, before you even watch 2. That confused me for a while then I turned it off for the real episode 2.

^ Yeah, that always sucks. I didn't have 14 but when I built a PC (the last one? My current one? I forget) one of the two initial storage HDD's acted all super flaky in days ... didn't know what was going on at first but it was just immediate failure I guess. had to replace it/get another one. I think that's the only drive I've had that was basically just a dud from the getgo vs. lasting years.

Looks like Viki does more film rentals now. I can rent Seobok for $3! Gong Yoooooooooo (and Park Bo Gum). Sometimes I forget about Viki because watching thru the browser is sort of a PITA (app only works on my tablet and is not on PS4). New currently-airing series, Through the Darkness, not on Netflix, is there too. Kim Nam Gil! He was great in Live Up to Your Name and Fiery Priest. Looks like this new one is a crime drama, based on some book re: S. Korea's first criminal profiler/s. Time to start binging Viki for a while again. *happy dance*

Needless postscript: hubby came home from his errand. I guess it's the electric portion that is not PGE in Sac, but the gas still is.

We're typically 100 or less Therms per month and that's with an always-cold hubby. But we only have a single wall furnace in a fairly small house. We don't turn the thermostat on above 74F and that only for short periods. 70-72 is more average. At night it's turned down to 60F. Gas stovetop, and the water heater is always cranked near max. That's about it I think. Late edit: also, a mild climate, ofc Oh, I know it varies, I was making a broad generalization. I think in my later post I did say Bay Area. I looked at the the Sac. rate of the new house. It's the exact same as the house down here. Although I'm a little confused looking at that because I thought hubby said it wasn't PGE up there but it's included in the same PGE billing statement, with no other company name listed/visible - I know hubby arranged it that way for the moment (all on one bill mailing) but I'll have to ask him, I could be remembering wrong as I often do these days.

Don't worry, I bet next year the Bay Area will raise the Therm rate here another dollar and we'll be at least closer to your pain prices then. ...economically, I feel like the world is going to get (extra, really) FUBAR before too long. There are so many factors leading up to the possibility of a new long civil unrest/skirmish period it's not even funny. Then again maybe I'm just saying what cynical old farts always say when they become old farts.

Speaking of characters...I saw this YouTube video today and I (mostly) agree with what he's saying. He mentions The Walking Dead a lot as an example but it applies to many shows/films. The "punishment" a character has to go through and when it becomes too much where you no longer care/have motivation to watch. It can work a bit better in a film imo, because that's a shorter period of time to watch, but such can still overwhelm audiences there too.

California/or any huge urban/metro areas: where sure, you can/may make what sounds like a lot of money, but you will (still) spend most of it on just paying your bills vs. being "rich." It ain't just the real estate.

The only (horror, non-comedic) zombie films I've really liked were: original B&W Night of the Living Dead, Train to Busan, and if it counts, 28 Days Later. Generally speaking I find zombies boring as a fear-factor or enemy. Train to Busan has a sort of weak opening segment imo - or it just lasts a little too long - but one of the few where I didn't care if it was zombies or not, I just liked the dilemmas/action/chrs. I only learned of it/checked it out because Gong Yoo was in it, tbh. The "villain" was very over the top, yup. I figured it was on purpose to really contrast what fear/self-preservation selfishness can lead to (which the male lead actually was similar to, mentally, initially, he just had a silent/stoic version vs. loud and belligerent). Very heavy-handed tho.

63 cents? Maybe we should move there. Currently here, it's $2/Therm Tier1 and $2.5 for Tier2. And like with all such things, you're pretty much guaranteed to hit at least 1/3 of billed hours as Tier2, unless you just shut it all off most days. It's been going up steadily for a while now (I do expect inflation over decades after all) but I think it did do a large jump somewhat recently. I don't have a bill from last winter but back in Aug. last year it was $1.4/$1.9. And I think last winter's total monthly bill averaged $70-$100 less than this winter's (without any use-habit change - we actually used less Therms last month than the same month last year).

Gas/electric bill: "$450?! I know it's winter but still" ... electric, $129. Gas ... the rest. Gas used to be the cheap thing, here (even in winter). Worked on figuring out/putting together the few things I want to take up with me this weekend for the start of our trial living in the other house. Think I'll just take the PS4 (Netflix), smaller 4k LED TV, tablet. No PC's or OLED yet. If the first week goes well, we'll come back and get a bit more stuff. I refuse to undo/move all that hardware or desks etc. until we know a bit more of hubby's state.

Watched the 3rd episode of All of Us Are Dead. I didn't like that one as much, probably because one chr. was so annoying/loathsome I couldn't stand it - even knowing that was the whole point of said chr. - and the other chrs. weren't strong enough to offset it by rooting for them etc. Outside of that one chr, and it's still early I know, but I'm not really finding myself attached to/all that sympathetic with anyone. Most are just "ok". I hope that improves because the reason something like Train to Busan ends up as such a great zombie film is because of memorable chrs. vs. just a rote "and then there were none" feeling. TtB is one of the few films where the child actor and child-danger-syndrome didn't simply annoy the heck out of me. She was really good.

Saw two episodes of that Korean zombie Netflix show "All of Us Are Dead." The first episode was a pretty good start. The brief prologue, with this scene of a ... suitcase ... 5-10 seconds of utter weird. Nice little horror-visual, almost funny moment. With 12 episodes, despite a fast pace re: outbreak, they're doing a bit of chr. building re: the highschool kids and some adults, including some pretty horrid school bullying situations where I think one of them is the catalyst for why the zombie virus ends up existing. Doesn't seem to be breaking any molds but it's ok for zombie show. Definitely gloomy vs. humorous. I have the feeling I'm going to think they should have left it to be 10 episodes but we'll see. Anyway, won't break Squid Game's popularity but so far it's entertaining enough for the genre.

When you have that feeling something is following you. ...these are apparently ancient AI and are not Smart Drones.

Ah, yes. Sallly Kellerman. Good actress. Terrible pants. I know in later years people would decry those mini-skirts the female Starfleet were wearing, but they were better than those pants. To be fair, the men's pants were also terrible (basically the same) in ToS and remained terrible throughout. I sewed better pants when I was 10. And yes I probably went totally off-topic, apologies, my brain wanders.

Blue Monday is great and all, but this one is still my favorite. I still have the LP. And the cassette version. And a CD version. Driving windy hills on a dark rainy night.