Dear authors: if you are setting a book in a location, I BEG you to have someone from that area read the book before you publish. And if it’s set in another country, make sure people of that country check that you have certain things right. Signed, me, who is reading a book set two miles down the road and SO MUCH is WRONG. #books #bookstodon
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Just watched the Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski Nosferatu (Dosveratu). I didn’t like it! There were a couple of nice shots, and the concept of the ending was really interesting, but the execution was not great.
Also, if animal abuse bothers you do NOT read about the production of the film. That’s the real horror story. #movies #film #nosferatu
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UUUUUUUUUUUGH, just logged into my Google Workspace account to discover Gemini is being forced down my throat. I can turn it off in the workspace I admin, but not any of the other ones I work through.
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Boston Harbor has a lot of lighthouses. I did not focus every lighthouse we saw yesterday — not even close.
[#]boston #BostonHarbor #Lighthouse
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Watching Miss Congeniality for the first time. Sandra Bullock’s apartment looks like…an apartment a mid-salary-range professional would have ACTUALLY had in NYC at the time? (Nowadays there would probably be at least one roommate.) After seeing so many set-in-NYC things where a waitress has a $20,000/month apartment, I’m impressed. #MissCongeniality #Film #movies
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Today we went on a Winter Wildlife Cruise around Boston Harbor! No wildlife photos from me, but I did get some nice lighthouse shots. (Apparently last year it was 8 degrees and very choppy and no one was allowed on the outer parts of the boat. Today was about as pleasant as January gets!) #boston #BostonHarbor #lighthouse
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Watched the original Nosferatu (1922) last night, then bits of Vampyr (1932). It is MIND-BLOWING how much the language of film advanced in that decade.
In Nosferatu, a lot of the acting is still trying to reach the
back of the theater, and a lot of the camera work is fixed and stiff. I do wonder if part of the reason it became so legendary was due to the copyright lawsuit that required all copies to be destroyed. (It is a blatant Dracula ripoff.)
Vampyr is much more naturalistic — and also much more creepy. I still can't figure out how they executed the shadow special effect. (Yes, I know, it's probably online, but I want to ruminate on how they solved the problem first.)
We also decided to watch Nosferatu with German title cards to practice our German. We managed some of it! Some we had to look at the subtitles, and there were a couple of handwritten things we were expected to read that were illegible.
Next on the list: Werner Herzog's Nosferatu, or as we call it in this house, "Dosveratu."
[#]nosferatu #vampyr #cinema
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All of this stuff about the Starship test flight exploding — was it crewed?
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Taxing billionaires works, even better than anyone imagined. The Massachusetts "Fair Share" tax generated $2.46 billion in revenue, well over estimates...which means the MBTA and other transit now has funding. #MBTA #mapoli #TaxBillionaires
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2025/01/14/gov-healey-to-make-major-announcement-on-transport-funding-tuesday
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Keeping absolutely calm and professional on a video call while your cat drops a Level 8 Stinkbomb in the litterbox is a special skill. (It wasn’t even in the same room, and yet it nearly asphyxiated me.) #cats
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A service provider from a certain large company was supposed to come out to my house today. When I set up the appointment, I said the person would need to mask indoors (most of the work is actually outdoors, but a small amount is indoors).
When the worker called to say they were on their way, I said I'd give them a mask when they showed up. They said, "Fuck that, I ain't wearin' no mask" - and since we were at an impasse I decided to reschedule.
The reason I am not naming and shaming the organization is because when I called customer service, the person was stammeringly horrified about the conversation. I've now got a rescheduled appointment, and the customer service rep says it has a note in all caps about wearing a mask. We'll see if it comes off or not.
[#]mask #MaskUp #covid
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History repeats. Centuries ago, we had this thing called "the commons" that was land everyone was allowed to use. Many people think "oh, that's where they grazed cows," but it was much more than that.
For example, Boston Common (stolen from Native Americans, but that's another discussion) was the place rug cleaners went to beat out rugs. It was the place vendors set up market stalls. There was a rope walk at the end of the Common where people made rope (a dirty, nasty job). It supported a lot more than just cattle grazing.
Over time, the use of the commons were restricted. In some places you had to pay a fee to use them (unless you were the elite); in other places, a wealthy person was designated as the owner of the land, and your work went for his benefit. You might get some subsistence-level living out of it, but the point of your work was to enrich the land owner.
Anyway, that sure feels like where the Internet is headed. I am sure someone has written about this at greater length, and much more articulately, than I have.
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If I had a million dollars for every California wildfire that was the fault of a power company, I still wouldn’t have enough money to rebuild from the damage caused by just one wildfire that was the fault of a California power company.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-12/la-me-eaton-fire-power-lines
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T. Kingfisher "A Sorceress Comes to Call": loved it!
(P.S. If you are on storygraph too let me know!)#books #fantasy #regency #TKingfisher
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/096a886e-a7ee-433c-9ae4-ebb76dc7c2f0
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Star Trek: Prodigy is one of my fave Trek series ever, and you should watch it on Netflix if you haven’t yet. (Heads up: the beginning is a bit like Farscape in the “a bunch of alien prisoners that don’t trust each other steal a ship and have to learn to get along.” So there are several episodes with interpersonal friction. Keep going, I promise you the teaminess becomes some of the best ever on a Star Trek show.) #StarTrek #Prodigy
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And remember, all listed wines may not be available in all stores.
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Okay, Ocean State Job Lot shoppers, here are your #OSJLWineClub hot tips!
2021 Villota 'Selvanevada' Blanco. $10.99. This is a very good value. Quantities extremely limited (I see five bottles).
Villa di Geggiano Toscana Bandinello 2021. $11.99. While it didn’t get rapturous raves at $29.99/bottle, it was described as “pleasant” and “unpretentious” with no negatives.So sounds like a solid daily drinker.
Nothing else I would recommend and dear god beware the 19 Crimes Martha Stewart wine. #wine
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So, about that “light dusting” of snow… #boston #arlingtonma
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Hey, Mastodon users, is there an app for Mastodon that is like ye olde Tweetdeck? I would love to be able to queue a few of my posts. I hate spamming people with a bunch of posts at one time.
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144 ways the world got better in 2024. I know there is someone out there that needs to read this tonight.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/the-year-in-cheer-2024/
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text/gemini
