Bill Roper's Journal

I did not get nearly as many things done in the four-day weekend as I might have hoped, being highly distracted by having a new computer to set up. Also, seeing the family was a good thing.

In the pursuit of seeing the family, I took Julie to the movies today to see "Moana 2". I liked it a lot. When the movie ended, I was trying to ask Julie what she thought of the film, but she just kept waving me off. This lasted until we got to the car.

At which point she *exploded* in delight. She was very, very happy with the film. She just hadn't wanted to talk about it in the theater (or while walking to the car) for fear of being very, very loud. But she liked the movie even more than I did, so the expedition was a success.

I got not a lot of other things done this weekend. I was able to send Mary two songs for the GAFilk songbook, having gotten the recording setup working in the office. I did some minor work on "Liftoff to Landing" and am going to have to do a *lot* of work this week if it is going to make it out the door in time for GAFilk. I'd like to manage that, because my next sales convention is planned to be OVFF, which is a *very* long time in the future.

And while a lot of the setup of the new computer is done, not all of it is done, so I can't plug it in to replace the older computer. This meant that I had to grab the monitor, USB, and network cables and move them back to the work laptop, because if I don't show up for work tomorrow, it will be bad. That's done now and the work laptop is rebooted and verified to be working.

In the meantime, I got a bright idea before rewiring things. I set up both of my desk computers, old and new, to work with Remote Desktop Connection. Then I found a network cable, wired the new machine into the switch on my desk, and now I'm able to connect to it from the old machine via RDC. This will make finishing the machine setup at a leisurely pace a lot easier while still letting me do everything that I need to do on the old box.

There is, however, a whole lot of computer sitting in that corner of the desk...

I had expected to do a lot of different things this weekend. Instead, I spent the almost the entire weekend at work. As a result, I am monstrously tired.

I *did* get to go see "Inside Out 2" with Julie this afternoon. We both enjoyed the film, which was good.

And, yes, there *are* post-credits scenes. Hang around... :)

I am *way* too tired tonight.

The kids wanted to watch the Super Mario Bros. movie tonight. It was fun. Lightweight, but fun. :)

With a vanishingly small amount of broadcast TV left on the DVR, it suddenly struck me that "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" had made its way to Disney+. Like a lot of people (I suspect), we hadn't gone to see it in the theaters, because we figured it would be along before too long, and now was the time to finally watch the film.

I liked it a lot. Gretchen would have liked it more if it hadn't been quite so dark and low contrast, a trend in film that she's *very* tired of. It reminded me a lot of "Star Wars", which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise.

But I have always been fond of Hank Pym and Paul Rudd's take on the younger Scott Lang Ant-Man continues to be delightful. I also really enjoyed the family dynamic.

And I'm told that this is setting up the next series of Marvel films, although that's become a bit more complex due to Jonathan Majors' legal problems. We'll see how that all sorts out.

In any case, it's definitely worth watching. Especially if you've already paid for it. :)

Gretchen and I finally got around to watching "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" today. It was an ok film, but left me feeling a little flat. I think that's part of the hazard of crosstime stories in general -- the stakes feel lower, because when you're dealing with a lot of disposable universes, it's no great tragedy to see them disposed of. In fact, you sort of expect it.

Gretchen and I finally got around to watching Spider-Man: No Way Home tonight (with a lot of pauses for kid-related activities). It's a good film, but it makes me very sad.

We'll see what the next film does.

In any case, I'm now properly prepared to go see the new Dr. Strange film. :)

Gretchen and I headed out to a matinee of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" to catch the show before it vanishes in an avalanche of incoming movie releases for Christmas. We liked it quite a bit. It's a good sequel to the original film and very satisfying in that way.

If you get a chance to see it (and you liked the original film), it's worthwhile.

Gretchen and I got around to watching this tonight. As I said to Gretchen at one point during the film, it's the best bad movie I've seen in a while.

It's also not actually bad. Although there was also a point when I asked Gretchen "Is there anything that they do that isn't a clusterf***?"

But seriously, it's not bad. It holds together pretty well.

Just don't overthink it.

The Dorsai Irregulars Business Meeting was today, followed by an informative presentation by Dr. Bob on COVID-19. It was good seeing so many different faces.

This evening, Gretchen and I watched "Bumblebee", which for the marginal cost of "free" was not a bad film at all. :)

Gretchen had suggested some time ago (based on my comments and online reviews) that it would be fun to rent "Shazam" and watch it. We've pretty much run out of recorded TV and it's not like we were going anywhere tonight, so we've now seen it.

It was fun. As DCU movies go, this is a good thing. We're looking forward to the next film.