Countdown

Posted on December 31, 2019 by RegenAxe

Grand Central Terminal Clock

After my recent spate of NYC-centric posts, I recounted to Dan a story of our most recent visit to Grand Central Terminal. This was last year; Anne and I were touring Manhattan. Dan was at work. We came upon Grand Central while walking about midtown and since we were taking Amtrak to Boston the next day, we figured that it would be a good idea to checkout where exactly in this huge edifice we should be going tomorrow. We looked around inside. The place was a hive of activity, with commuter rails of various flavors going every which way, but no Amtrak. Finally, we asked someone, where is Amtrak? This question evoked a horrified expression from the attendant, because Amtrak isn’t at Grand Central, but is across town at Penn Station. We comforted the attendant, explaining that we weren’t taking the train today, but that this would be good to know for tomorrow. In true New Yorker fashion Dan said, “That’s right, New Yorkers hog the good terminal for themselves and make all of the out-of-towners use the other one.”

Tonight, all eyes will turn to New York City, specifically Times Square, for the New Year’s countdown. Come midnight (or eleven local), the ball will drop, signaling the beginning of a new year, a new decade. Accompanying this milestone, a certain maudlin song will be sung, the many tooting of party horns and maybe a kiss or two, if we’re still up. Here, an hour later, this process will be repeated. This time, with the muted rumblings of fireworks being set off somewhere outside. A new year, a new decade, what will the future bring? Hopefully, some joy to leaven the inevitable sorrow.

I’ve already published my New Year’s header of silent, but endlessly repeating fireworks and queued a post for the morning. The complication of scheduling ahead into a new month was further complicated by the new year. It seems like I am rushing through the holidays. Yesterday, I took down our rather desiccated and by then quite fragrant-less boughs, which evoked a tsk-tsk comment from Dan about taking down decorations before New Year’s. I know, I know, but it was time. Out with the old, in with the new, that’s what I say. Happy New Year!

Grand Central

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Grand Central Terminal

On Witches and Faries

Posted on December 30, 2019 by RegenAxe

Staten Island Ferry

Howard the Duck #4

2019 has been a banner year for television. As the numerous streaming services compete, we the subscribing audience were left with a bounty of TV series to enjoy. This is most true in the twin genres of sci-fi and fantasy. This year has seen the conclusion of HBO’s epic Game of Thrones saga. While its ending may have disappointed some fans. Its true climax at the Battle for Winterfell remains an enduring favorite. In 2019 Disney debuted its own premium streaming service, headlined by a new Star Wars franchise, The Mandalorian. Mando as he is called by his friendimies, is a bounty hunter in the mold of the original Star Wars trilogy character Boba Fett, but with a heart of gold. Featuring an adorable Baby Yoda, this marquee effort bodes well for the launch of yet another pay-to-watch platform, in an already crowded market. There is now so much good TV to see that a journeyman effort like The Witcher hardly stands a chance.

Dropped on Netflix this month, this sword and sorcery offering stars hunky Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia and is based on source material created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Basically, a witcher is like a warlock and Geralt is also a “good” bounty hunter. Hunting only bad monsters. He co-stars with sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), and princess Ciri (Freya Allan), who find that all of their destinies are tied together. Lacking the production values of either Thrones or The Mandalorian, Witcher compensates with a certain campiness and a sense of not taking itself too seriously. It comes across like a playing of the game Dungeons and Dragons.

Think of the actors as knights of the dinner table, inhabiting their characters, with adlibs and asides. Like in any good D&D story, there is a fair amount of bumbling about, as the characters go hither and yon, questing for whatever each episode has served them up. There is an underlying story, the arc of which is eventually told across this show’s eight episodes of season One and nicely tees-up season Two, which has already been green lit. Witcher is not as good as its better competition, but is still enjoyable and not worthy of just discounting.

Unlike the Staten Island Ferry, Netflix isn’t free. It has held the lead in the race of competing TV subscription services, but everybody and their brother is in the race now. It remains to be seen how well it will perform in the future. Striving for king of the hill shows may not be their forte and the network might be better suited to utility programing, relegated to living on the margins with short haul successes, getting one from place-to-place.

Lime Green Icicle Tower

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Lime Green Icicle Tower, Dale Chihuly, 2011

The License Plate Game

Posted on December 29, 2019 by RegenAxe

States We Visited in 2019

In 2019 a whole lot of road-tripping was going on! This colored US map catalogs all of the states that we visited this year. We managed to color states from coast-to-coast and from Canada to the Gulf. Doing more than half of them. We mostly drove, except for Virginia and DC, where we flew. Putting a lot of miles on the old Prius. That was this year, but I’m already looking forward to next year. We have a new car that is yearning to explore the open road. We already have a few trips planned. Actually, our calendar is filling up fast. Places to go, people to see and things to do.

While we are driving, in order to pass the time, we play road games. There is that old saw the Alphabet game, where you try to find the letters of the alphabet on passing road signs, but our favorite one is the License Plate game. We even have an app for that now. We’ve managed to win this game a couple of times this year, getting all fifty states, including Alaska and Hawaii. Timing our play to begin at the start of a trip, we can usually get more than half the states in one day. After that play begins to slow, until new plates become only a trickle, but by the end each new plate is a major victory. We once encountered a family that played a rather restrictive version of this game. According to their rules you had to get the new plates in alphabetical order. That would take forever.