LadyCrimson

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.

*regular, small, insect eating bats* ... mostly fugly faces, at least imo. ...and then there's the large fruit bats. Where you just go AWWWWWWWWWWWW. At least when they're eating bananas.

After all these years I'm still wondering if Guinan was, evolutionary speaking, a pre-Q. Or a race with some abilities that could cancel out the Q's abilities in some fashion, like negative vs. positive, and that's why Q was so wary of her. Or maybe it was just Guinan alone vs. her entire species. Apparently I'm not the only one who's wondered about that.

I've always been an advocate for the idea that as soon as you know you're sick with something communicable, stay the **** home. Even if it's "harmless" it could still be a lost week for someone else. I mean, would that prevent a wild spread of a killer virus - probably not. But humans tending to be lax re: consideration for others (and the design of public gathering points) because something is deemed "harmless" is at least a small part of the problem of why we're never "ready" for something worse. My mother's retirement home had hand sanitizer everywhere in the dining hall and other rules and social politeness long long before covid, because, y'know, old people. It is a polite thing and a safety thing for them. Maybe such consideration should not be something left only for "old people."

I think one issue with games is that my curiosity over them peaked a long time ago. That's a primary motivator for me in most things. I've never been into games for or because of story telling or lore, as I've probably mentioned many times. With games I'm the number cruncher, the what are the limits within these given set of rules, how many different methods can one take to accomplish the same thing, can I figure out the patterns of the AI and use it against them (oh the fun I had with Stronghold Crusader in that regard...), can I build a zipline network within the rules that allows me to never touch the ground, and of course, image framing and composing. On the other hand, I don't care to be a Grandmaster of Chess or learn a programming language. Just saying, there's a difference. More and more games tend to inspire less curiosity... or at least not new curiosity. They can be fun, funny, visually astounding, or of course, "die 1000 times"-challenging etc, but without any intense curiosity factor to motivate me, they are not interesting. Occasionally one comes along that hits a note and I relish when one does, it's just going to be rare now. And as time goes on I find myself not caring as much re: trying to constantly find one that does. Edit: which leads into the maybe I don't "need" games as a distraction anymore. Whether that means eventually I'll just stop playing at all, even by habit, I cannot say. Depends on what else life tosses my way on top.

Re: "are you still a gamer" More and more even when I play games, I'm sort of wondering why I'm playing games. To pass the time mostly I suppose. I don't think I get the same level of "fun" out of it as I did a long time ago, outside of certain "obsessive" tasks like making maps. But I could get the same effect obsessing over editing photos, videos or reorganizing the kitchen, really - my task-obsessive nature isn't confined to only game-related things. Maybe the major reason I personally played games (depression/blank the mind/de-stress) or any other kind of fantasy-immersion just isn't there anymore so it's less compelling to want to lose myself in them. I mean I like games, but I don't spend a whole lot of time on them per year anymore, and 95% of the time when I buy a game, it's on a random lark and I play it for 1-4 hrs, post a screenshot or three here, and never touch or think about it again. Sometimes it feels more like I keep playing out of habit more than real interest. ...I'm still kind of curious about that beaver city-builder Timberborn game tho. For some reason I want to watch tiny beavers running around a town doing tasks.

Goodness, seems like a lot of forumites are getting hit with it now. I'm glad it seems everyone is ok/coping well? Hope it stays that way. We're still corona free far as we know. If we've had it we've been asymptotic and wouldn't know. Still our extreme isolationist selves and wear our masks everywhere when we do need to go out etc. Haven't gotten boosters.

Over the weekend I tried watching some cheap straight-to-Netflix romantic movie called The Royal Treatment. I suppose it had some moments (very brief ones) but yeah that was even more insipid then typical low-rent US romance. Zzzz. Last night I noticed the fantasy/horror k-drama Bulgasal: Immortal Souls only had two episodes left "to air" so I thought I'd start on that. Halfway through the first episode I was liking it a fair bit (tons of background set up, this will be modern-day but with ancient-times flashbacks). Fairly violent. Past lives. Cursed ppl. Blah blah. Anyway, seems like something I'd like but then ... I fell asleep before the end of the 1st episode. It's just something that happens to me more often now. Will watch more later this week. I liked the attention to detail and setup, at least.