If one more metallic monolith — like the ones in Utah and Romania — appears somewhere on Earth this week, I’m going to have to ask Jodie Foster to make a return trip to Vega to find out what the hell is going on. I’m sure she’d reply, “I’m okay to go!”
My wife and I were disappointed in Sunday’s finale of HBO’s “The Undoing.” We were suckered in through the earlier episodes of the series, to the point where even my mystery-devouring wife wasn’t sure who the killer was (I won’t spoil it), but in the end, it all seemed heavily padded, anti-climactic, and illogical. For instance, there are better ways to remove fingerprints and DNA from a hammer than running it through a dishwasher twice. What’s the second time going to do that the first cycle didn’t? Do you need a double helping of Cascade? How about just wiping the presumed murder weapon down with a towel and then throwing both of them in the nearby body of water instead of your outdoor fireplace? And I couldn’t help but wonder how the police would have acted in the last scene if the perpetrator was a black man on the run.
We hope the same fate won’t befall “The Flight Attendant,” the new HBO Max series executive produced by and starring Kaley Cuoco. It’s good that her success on “The Big Bang Theory” gives her the power to pick her own project and get it made, but I wonder how often she can play an alcohol-over-indulging, casual-sex-with-random-guys, always-running-late, party girl. That’s how her character, Cassie, comes off in this limited series, and also describes TBBT’s Penny through at least the first two seasons. We’ve only seen three episodes of “The Flight Attendant,” so maybe later Cassie grows a little faster than Penny did. But other than that, we’re enjoying it, including the dead-guy-talking aspect that reminds me of Griffin Dunne in “American Werewolf In London.”
The only thing Cyber Monday did — during a pandemic where we’re spending so much time at home, staring at screens — was remind us yesterday was Monday.
I’m amused watching NFL coaches calling in plays from the sidelines while wearing masks, yet still covering their mouths with those laminated sheets that list all their options. I don’t think the season’s gone on long enough for even Bill Bellichek to figure out how to lip-read through masks. I also wish those coaches understood that you don’t have to pull your mask down to be heard, especially in a quiet, fan-free stadium. The mask is a barrier to the virus, not your voice.
After getting lots of feedback on the best way to do it, I finally have high-speed internet in my house. I kept AT&T’s U-Verse television service, which offers the best and easiest interface and DVR, while dropping its dreadfully slow internet connection in favor of Spectrum’s. The former’s speed maxed out at 24 mbps (while delivering a mere 16-18 mbps to our house) and couldn’t offer us anything better. The latter, on the other hand, is giving us close to the promised 400 mbps, a big enough pipe to allow us to use multiple connected devices simultaneously for streaming video and/or audio. Not only that, it allows me to do screen-mirroring from my laptop or iPhone to our Apple TV device, a connection that was spotty and intermittent under the previous arrangement. So, thanks for all the good advice!
In retrospect, when I retired from radio, I should have started a company that makes vials for vaccines. I’d be happy to fulfill an order for hundreds of millions of units, each holding a single dose. So what if there’s no need for them in two years, once the pandemic is behind us? I’d just re-retire!
And finally: nothing has made me smile this week as much as the Wisconsin recount, which showed that Biden actually got 87 more votes than initially thought. What made the story even better is that Trump’s campaign had to underwrite the recount to the tune of $3 million — which had to be paid up front.