Camestros Felapton

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Susan’s Leftover Pumpkin Pie Salon: November 28/29

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Please use the comment section to just chat about whatever you want. Susan’s Salon is posted early on Monday (Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is still Sunday in most other countries). It’s fine to be sad, worried, vaccinated, unvaccinated-yet, angry or maybe even happy (or all of those things at once).

Please feel free to post what you like (either troubling news or pleasant distractions) in the comments for this open thread. [However, no cranky conflicts between each other in the comments.] Links, videos, cat pictures 🐈 etc are fine! Whatever you like! 😇

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59 responses to “Susan’s Leftover Pumpkin Pie Salon: November 28/29”

  1. I’m not picky when it comes to streaming services. I would quite happily watch “Star Trek: Discovery” on Pluto TV…

    … if I could FIND it.

    Pluto TV mostly seems to be saying to me, “Ha! You’re using our service? Then you want to watch ‘Baywatch’! And don’t think you’re going to be looking at the pretty ladies in the swimsuits, either. You’re here for the Hoff, my laddo.”

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  2. No pumpkin pie left here — we had three people between the ages of 20 and 24 to Thanksgiving dinner. Only crumbs were left!

    I’m reading Community Index by Sue Burke.

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  3. For those following the the fall out of 2021 this story has everything https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-hero-michael-flynn-secretly-said-qanon-is-total-nonsense
    Lin Wood (the stop the steal lawyer) was credibly accused by Kyle Rittenhouse (the young man who killed protestors with a gun) of essentially being a con-artist. Wood appeals to his allies to defend his reputation and in the process falls out with several of them, including General Michael Flynn (disgraced former Trump advisor and Qanon promoter). To get back at Flynn, Wood releases a recording where Flynn states that Qanon is a left-wing CIA disinformation campaign. Meanwhile, Flynn was already in trouble for reciting a “prayer” at an event that was actually cribbed from a cult linked to theosophy and hence seen as “satanic”.

    Vox Day couldn’t be reached for comment.

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      • In fact the entire far right is a left-wing false flag; Trump was created specifically in order to make Clinton and Biden look good; Lin Wood was created in order to make Michael Flynn look sane, and vice versa; and the centuries-long slave trade was a plot by Lincoln’s Illuminati masters to fool the Confederate states into being evil.

        (I’m sad to say that I have met people who are ostensibly on my side who actually believe the second of those items; some of them also believe the first, except they say it’s a neoliberal false flag)

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      • I’ve developed a little of a late re-obsession with Stephen King, who was probably one of the first adult genre writers I ever read since someone very unwisely left a copy of Night Shift lying around when I was five. I stopped reading him regularly about 20 years ago and had picked up a few things I liked since then (I think Revival and Under the Dome are quite good, certainly the best by far of any of King’s flirtations with SF-ish material) but hadn’t really noticed how much the guy just has not stopped, there are now tons more, and now even though I’m pretty sure a lot of it is not stuff I would love, I’m tempted to try catching up on all of it while he’s still alive. But my reading stamina in general hasn’t been great lately and there’s a lot else I would like to do, so I haven’t given in to that temptation yet. I’ve mostly just been listening to podcasts about him and thinking about how much of my childhood was spent devouring horror fiction. But I did read his 2018 novel The Outsider— because I had finally watched last year’s interesting HBO adaptation of it— and, well, it’s a great idea but it’s not a great book.

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        • I became hooked on King with Salem’s Lot. Then I read The Stand, which I found a bloated mess, and never got back into him. Unlike some authors I have no great desire to catch up on his admittedly impressive list of novels.
          But I know I’m in a minority on that.

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  5. Went to see the new Ghostbusters movie. It was a decent movie that could have been really good, but was almost destroyed by pandering to blunt and misplaced nostalgia. So 3/5 stars. Will not see any sequels if they again choose the derivative way, but would absolutely do it if they went into new territory.

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    • I quite liked the 2016 reboot. Tempted to delay seeing the sequel to the non-rebooted once it’s on streaming services. Likely to be a few months, but I am not sufficiently convinced I want to explicitly put down money for it.

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      • I enjoyed the 2016 reboot but also acknowledge parts of it felt forced, like they were trying too hard.

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      • I really liked the 2016 version (even though I hate Kristin Wiig) and it’s always a delight when Chris Hemsworth gets to be funny.

        I am seriously uninterested in this version. Movie children are too often annoying, and the trailers seemed to be just a series of “Hey! Remember this thing? You loved this thing! Here it is, only not as funny.”

        Reviews are not good overall. I probably wouldn’t have paid to see it in normal times, but for sure not during a plague.

        Still probably going to see “Dune” unless I can borrow an HBO account or we wait too long and it leaves theaters.

        Gah, we are already a Spider-Man movie behind as it is.

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  6. Well, I’m waaaay behind on updates. I tried to write a thorough update last week, but got distracted halfway through and never got back to it.

    In general: been listening to lots of books, been watching some movies, been having fun eating out with my SIL. Did see the new Dune on HBO+, or Max, or whateverthehell they’re calling it; it was certainly visually appealing and held my interest. I wish they’d done it like LOTR where they filmed the whole thing before releasing the installments. Also, poor Josh, Oscar, and whatshisname were pretty much wasted — I wanted more screen time for all of them. But that’s the story in the novel too — none of those characters stick around long enough!

    My big news from this past week: I got a new tattoo! This is only my second, but not my last. Wonderful artist, whom I’ve been drooling over for months now. She actually wouldn’t do the tattoo I originally contacted her to do (it has to go on my chest, and she doesn’t like to do chests), so I am getting her to do two others instead (this one, and another in February, both on my forearms). Yes, they are like potato chips. 😉 The one I got done this week will have lettering added, probably also in February. I’ll post a pic after it’s completed. It’s “fine line” style, illustrating the Theodore Roethke poem “The Root Cellar”.

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  7. Work has been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks, and is likely to remain so for the next couple of weeks (or, let’s face it, right up until Christmas). I am currently reading an updated collection of Phryne Fisher short stories.

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  8. Bought the Christmas tree today though haven’t decorated it.
    We ate out at Cafe Parizade Thursday. They do a major vegan Thanksgiving meal (last year was takeout) and we were stuffed.
    Enjoyed not working for the past week. Will spend the next couple of days figuring out what I want to work on now.
    In the middle of Judith Fletcher’s “A Place for Everything” about the concept of alphabetical order. Really interesting.
    Caught up on almost all my CW superhero shows (ditto 4400 and Nancy Drew). And I’ve discovered why Ted Lasso is so popular. My wife was much amused by the line “I want to fuck my husband in the ass with a splintered cricket bat.”

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  9. Not a lot to report here. I submitted a story to an anthology (my first actual anthology invite).

    I also watched the second half of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, which was remarkably good, tackled a lot of issues implied but never address in the original cartoons and actually made me misty-eyed on occasion (over characters I didn’t even particularly like in the original), none of which I had expected from a 38-years-later sequel to a cartoon designed to sell toys. It will very likely go on my Hugo ballot this year. If you watched the original He-Man cartoon, give Masters of the Universe: Revelation a try.

    I also figured out how to watch Star Trek Discovery, now that I legally can, and watched the first episode of Hawkeye.

    And though we don’t have Thanksgiving in Germany, at least not in the way the US celebrates it, I did make turkey and Brussels sprouts curry on Thursday.

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  10. As the person who baked the pumpkin pie, I got the leftovers and they make a delightful breakfast.

    Things happened this week!

    I got my booster shot (there was a Baby Yoda greeting all comers, since the kids age 5-12 are now eligible), there were beverages in the waiting area, I got my free Krispy Kreme on the way home, and was only sort of meh this time for about a day. Nothing jammies and tea couldn’t fix.

    Because reasons, we had 2 Thanksgivings, and a fine and caloric time was had by all, and we have many leftovers to be eaten and bones to become turkey soup later. Good food, good friends, good wine.

    Still behind on TV, but did watch the first 2 episodes of “Hawkeye”. Not likely to be my favorite of the D+ shows, or even second favorite, but it’s entertaining enough. Funnier than I expected, and “Rogers: The Musical” was a LOL moment as was Hawkeye being forced to LARP.

    EGG still hungry, and his treat-catching ratio is about the same. Soon he goes back to the larger ones, so I expect him to up his game. At least they’re easier to find when they bounce off his face and land on the floor.

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  11. Tough time for me. Friday was six months since Fern died. Today would have been our 13th wedding anniversary. We were together ~12 years before we got round to getting married so we were coming up to 25 years as a couple.

    Been playing more Pokemon GO recently as the daughter of my bubble buddies started playing during this current lockdown*. As they don’t have most of the legendary pokemon yet, we have been going round doing legendary raids to try to get them (which also involves me trying to catch them as I am better at throwing the balls). It helps that the last few weeks have featured a rotating roster of legendary raid bosses so there are quite a few new (to them) pokemon to catch. It’s neat to share their excitement of finding & catching pokemon for the first time.

    *It’s Day 104 of Auckland’s current lockdown and last (fingers crossed). Under our lockdown (Level 4 or Level 3), households are supposed to form their own separate “bubbles”, and not mingle with other households to stop potential virus spread. If you live alone (as I do now), you are allowed to join another bubble which I did with friends who live a few minutes away from me. It’s meant I’ve been able to have occasional human company these last 3 months or more.

    On Friday, we switch to the “COVID Protection Framework” which is a more “living with COVID” approach now that Delta is in our communities. It relies more on vaccination with ~90% of eligible population now double-vaccinated with Pfizer. In line with the Government’s cautious approach to date, there will be a gradual, staged, easing of restrictions, and given the recent news of Omicron, I an entirely happy with that approach.

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  12. I’m listening to Tanya Huff’s Summon the Keeper which is quite fun and there’s two more books to go, and reading Kristine Rusch’s just out Ten Little Fen which is set at a Con. For series watching, I’m in the last season of Without a Trace, so I’ll do a rewatch I think of Longmire next.

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  13. Had a leisurely brunch in Amsterdam following Thanksgiving festivities (courtesy of my US born beloved and her (distant) cousin) prior to heading home. Furious & bemused in equal measure over KLM’s decision to pack us all into a bus at the terminal and schlep us miles across the apron to the plane. Today we are most definitely self-isolating until we get the (hopefully) negative day 2 test results.

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    • Also: while sat in departures I started reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, as recommended by someone in my SF reading group. Not quite sure what to make of it yet but lovely writing. Also read Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep which, if anyone doesn’t already know (I can late to it) is a witty and insightful analysis of both the film and book’s representations of the battle by a military historian: https://acoup.blog/2020/05/01/collections-the-battle-of-helms-deep-part-i-bargaining-for-goods-at-helms-gate/

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    • That happens at Schiphol quite a lot, since they have far more planes coming in than air bridges. And if you’re on an inner European flight, you always have to go onto one of those packed busses. They’re ideal for preventing diseases, though, and indeed I caught a nasty cold once after someone sneezed on me in a Schiphol airport bus.

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      • Sure. Thats what has happened before (we’ve gone to and from ‘the Continent’ many times now) but coming in on the ‘City Hopper’ the plane pulled up to the terminal and we left via the air bridge, so foolishly we thought KLM had adopted a new covid secure protocol! Even so, they could have laid on more buses and restricted numbers to the number of seats instead of cramming us all in as per ‘usual’. And yes, there were people coughing and sniffling all around us and of course some wearing their masks *under* their noses! Anyway, lets see what the tests say …

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      • Couldn’t they just… buy more air bridges? Or do they have too many flights for the number of terminal gates? Because having an air bridge at each gate would seem quicker, easier and probably not any more expensive that running buses all the time. And certainly more healthy and less polluting. I hope the buses are at least disabled-accessible.

        I have know people to have to ride a bus away from a plane when it got out on the apron and quit moving, but never as a regular thing.

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        • Can\t speak specifically for Schiphol (only been through a coupe of times), but I can comment on what I have seen from the perspective of some other European airports (LHR, ARN, CPH). All available air bridge space on the terminal is taken, If you want more air bridge, you build satellite buildings. As an example, Heathrow Terminal 5 has gate areas B and C in separate buildings, reachable by subway, one side of that subway opens to outgoing, one to incoming.

          But, in general, there is vertical space. Not useful for air bridges (don’t want to stack them vertically, as you still cannot get an airplane close to dispense passengers into it), but useful for bus-using gates. So you get a gate that’s pretty much tarmac-level, and you get maybe 50% more gates, without having to build another building (and a way of getting to it) or a full terminal (with the extra security barrier splitting air-side and land-side).

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          • This is exactly how Schiphol does it. Air bridges above and all full, bus access below. The City Hoppers (inner European connections) are all parked in a certain section of the airport and they take you there by bus.

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            • BTW, if you fly on a KLM City Hooper, you might find that your pilot is none other than the Dutch King Willem Alexander himself. Airline pilot for KLM is his for the love job.

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            • Yeah, only been through a few times (four arrivals, three departures), all IIRC via air bridge. I did forget DUB, which is using the same scheme, with the (small) wrinkle that the “cleared for US entry” gates are on the same level as the tarmac, but when I’ve used it, it’s been a “go up one level to the air bridge, from the gate above” job.

              Pre-clearance REALLY brings down the stress of flying to the US, as you go through the extremely stressful immigration bit when you’re awake and alert, instead of after 8-10 hours in the air.

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        • Schiphol is one of the busiest and biggest airports in Europe and they have already expanded massively, including runways built on the far side of a busy highway. They can’t expand further without tearing down several major highways and the suburbs of Amsterdam. And the busses are all disabled accessible and they’re switching to electrical vehicles.

          I usually fly via Schiphol, because it’s the most convenient hub for me, and a really nice airport, too. But it’s so big that one hour transit time is not enough – you have to calculate for at least 1.5 hours.

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        • Schiphol is one of the busiest and biggest airports in Europe and they have already expanded massively, including runways built on the far side of a busy highway. They can’t expand further without tearing down several major highways and the suburbs of Amsterdam. The Netherlands are also extremely densely populated.

          The busses are all disabled accessible (have been for ages) and they’re switching to electrical vehicles now.

          I usually fly via Schiphol, because it’s the most convenient hub for me, and a really nice airport, too. But it’s so big that one hour transit time is not enough – you have to calculate for at least 1.5 hours.

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  14. Well, after most fascinating complications, NewFlat is now mine, and the long arduous process of getting all things to it starts.

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  15. I spent most of last week helping my GF move. I am happy to report we’re still together, and that my back is not ruined.

    And I am feeling an increased urgency in cleaning out my own clutter, just in case I ever want to move. Or for the good of whoever else will have to clean out this place at some time.

    Reading “Before Mars”, in Emma Newman’s Planetfall series, and liking it a lot so far.

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  16. I am not sure my mom is going to make it to the new year. I am utterly, completely tapped out. 2021 has officially been the worst year of my life. I am so sad, everyone.

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  17. I would like to thank Cam for linking to his Twitter which today led me to Ellen Kushner’s brilliant #AltHallelujah. Many brilliant people doing amazing filks at that tag.

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  18. I’m surrounded by idiots and I want to write a long rant about it but it will either be completely unintelligible to anyone not me or a long and nasty personal attack on people so I’ll try not to.

    Happily this pandemic thing means I’m not literally surrounded by idiots. Instead I’m working today from a nice cabin/apartment in a snowy village 1000 m above sea level, looking out over a ice-covered lake and snowy landscape. When I log off work I’ll go skiing and later tonight GF comes up here as well and it’s two weeks since last time I saw her and life’s pretty good, I suppose.

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