tassojunior

Although no cancellation yet for this afaik:

Article today that Nicolas Cage may shock everyone by winning Best Actor for Pig. Oscar Futures: Could We Be In For a Surprise in Best Actor?

Thought I'd post in case anyone is still traveling to DC for it. A lot of people are getting notices all the 5 official Kinetic parties are canceled.

KINETIC Presents KINK - The Official MAL Main EventMore Info Sat • Jan 15 • 10:00 PM Echostage, Washington, DC Important Event Info: Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event. No action is required to obtain a refund. It will be processed to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, once funds are received from the Event Organizer, which is usually completed within 30 days. If the Event Organizer is offering a credit option, it will be visible within the Event Details of your order, which can be found in your Ticketmaster account. Please Note: If the tickets were transferred to you, the refund will go to the fan who originally purchased the tickets from Ticketmaster. Please see our Purchase Policy for more information. more Event Canceled Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.

story today on what happens when you test positive before your return to the US (spoiler- your vacation becomes much longer): Most important you can get back into the US even if you don't have a negative test but do have a letter of recovery. You can get back into the US with a letter of recovery My quarantine ended 13 days after the onset of symptoms. Even though a final antigen test came back positive, the World Health Organization and St. Lucian authorities deemed me no longer infectious after the prescribed 13 days. The airline and U.S. government accepted my recovery letter from the Health Ministry in lieu of a negative COVID-19 test to reenter the country.

Landscapers. Olivia Colman gets all these Best Actress nominations and awards for basically playing Olivia Colman but in Landscapers she's in a deep psychological piece different than any character she's played. Even more so than The Lost Daughter movie out now on Netflix that is top rated (but not by me). Now that she's not queen anymore I guess she has time for a lot of parts. Landscapers is only 4 45-minutes episodes on HBO, so you can still get some work/sex in. I stumbled on a "Scandinavian" category of shows on Prime that has some really nice new Swedish, Danish and Finnish series. They have good acting about normal but interesting people. Just watched "Anxious People", a sweet Swedish 8-part hostage/comedy that takes place at Christmas and New Years coincidentally. Don't ask me how Swedish series are so relatable to Americans but they are in a Fargo way (and their addiction to IKEA).

I've thought of swabbing both my throat and nose to cover both variants (but only in that order !) Anal I plan to leave to the morning potty rapid smell test.

Well we have that "quick self test" here. ie: You stick your finger in your butt and if you can't smell it you have covid. I have heard China swabs ass in tests. If we can't get people to take vaccines here I'd hate to see Americans' reaction to butthole testing. And then there's some who would insist on daily testing.

NYT yesterday had a long piece (a bit confusing) that generally said a rapid test won't detect Omicron for at least a few first days and, that as far as PCRs, while Delta is detected best in nasal swabs, Omicron is detected best in cheek or throat swabs. I have "several" PCR and RT tests (my local library gives them out in handfuls) but now I don't know whether to follow instructions and swab my nose or to look for Omicron and swab my throat. I've decided since Delta seems more deadly and there's still a lot of it around, to continue the nose-swab weekly PCRs. I'll save the rapid tests for confirmation of any positive or other as-needed uses. Is it polite to ask a sex partner to take a RT? With some of the crowded places I go in DC with just cheap blue masks (Trader Joe's at rush, WalMart in the projects, lines at Costco, etc) I'm amazed I keep testing negative but cautious it doesn't make me too bold.

Rotten Tomatoes critics give it a 55% splat, 2nd lowest of major movies out now. MetaCritic rates it lower. McKay's movies are not particularly pointed in their satire and, as time has gone on, have increasingly settled into their preferred form of a harangue.--New York Magazine Don't Look Up is a blunt instrument in lieu of a sharp razor, and while McKay may believe that we're long past subtlety, it doesn't mean that one man's wake-up-sheeple howl into the abyss is funny, or insightful, or even watchable.--Rolling Stone "Don't Look Up" makes a few decent points and gets a chuckle or two, but mostly, it is leaden when it could be farcical, sluggish when it could be screwball. This end of the world comedy should have just been more fun.-- Salon There's nothing more excruciating than watching very famous people work entirely too hard to be funny.--Newsday "2021's "Mars Attacks !""--review (I think that's a put-down of "Mars Attacks"/ Tim Burton). "Jokes with a flatness we haven't seen since Paris Hilton nudes"--review I thought the only funny thing in the movie was the general scamming for a couple dollars in the waiting room, and that wasn't even done well.

It's a disaster movie but unfortunately the disaster is the movie.

Dick's seems to be open strong for sex, not spelling, bless their heart:

Saw a couple pieces yesterday that Dunst and Smit are favorites for Best Supporting Actress/Actor so if Cumberbatch overcomes Will Smith to win Best Actor it would be only the 3rd time ever I think that one film got 3 acting awards. ( of course there is no Best Actress nominee from the film.)

I'm afraid it's the opposite: The vaccines don't stop one from catching Omicron and the emergency staffs and walk-in doctors offices are at skeleton staff from ex-employees refusing to take the vaccine on top of those who catch Omicron themselves in spite of vaccination. I guess so long as emergency rooms and urgent care stay staffed during the surge we'll get through this. (The "Great Resignation" plays a big part too. ) There's a reason the National Guard is being called out for this surge. What concerns many now is that even though Omicron seems mild in most people, the two major antibody treatments for those hospitalized with it are not effective on it while the third is but is in short supply. The Pill to cure is just getting out. Big article in The Economist this week on it. Totally paywalled and too long to reprint but summed up here. As The Economist explained, “once someone is so sick as to require hospital treatment, doctors may have fewer options available for Omicron than for its antecedents. Previous strains could often be treated with drugs called monoclonal antibodies. Omicron seems oblivious to most of these, and supplies of those that do affect it, newly developed versions made by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology, are limited.” Indeed, a recent study from researchers at Columbia University suggests the omicron variant of COVID-19 can evade COVID-19 vaccines, antibody treatments and booster shots, making the virus more transmissible,"" Someone better be awfully good-looking to tempt me in January.

wow- It struck hard quickly. Today I called for a doc visit at Kaiser with anyone on duty for a recurring bite or allergy or something popping up several times head to toe. They agreed I need to see someone but 1st appointment with any medic is 2 weeks. I didn't dare ask about a dermatologist appointment with my life expectancy. In better times it took a month. and then today this pops up on Twitter that Baltimore is already out of ambulance crews and fire trucks have to transport people. don't get sick for the next couple months !

His regular saturday night parties are pretty MALish.

Dougie Meyer has several MAL events in DC. (all with clothes check)

Good news! 2020 was a severe lockdown when discretionary spending was very low. People spent much more on discretionary spending in 2021 coming out of that lockdown and have the ability to since they saved so much in 2020. As your experience, it looks like we're back to 2019 levels even though we're not back to prior normal otherwise. I've seen a story or two that at least in Europe, people have spent about 20% of what they saved in 2020 in late 2021. I'd suspect by now it's higher. (and Americans aren't known for saving more than Europeans lol). https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/17/post-covid-revenge-spending-is-costing-americans-765-more-a-month.html If Omicron is as harmless as people hope and no other disaster appears soon, I'd expect a big spending upswing by spring. (until we spend our savings up especially soon). Great graph.

Certainly will be nice if the very early indications of less harshness hold. My main concern now is that most of the early infections in any surge or new variant are the young where serious cases are rare, and it takes a while to reach to the more sequestered elderly. But as quickly as Omicron spreads, we should know it's effect on the elderly soon. Hospitals are going to get full from shear numbers I fear, however mild it is.

I put off watching this even though Anthony Hopkins got the Best Actor Oscar for it (and Olivia Colman is great). It's a story of age-related dementia taking control and makes you think of the last time you lost your keys or forgot a name as you watch the terror. But it's filmed from the aged person's view of a bizarre constantly-changing world. It takes a while to get over the depression of watching. It's on Amazon for $3.99 but free with a 2-month trial 99-cent Amazon add-on subscription to Starz.

A list with Spencer and The Father at 1 and 2: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/12/27/10-best-movies-2021-ranked-spencer-power-of-the-dog/8981524002/

Every Christmas during undergrad at home working at a men's clothing store. Terrible pay and official discounts but omg some of the young guys who would come in all friendly and need special attention and fitting because of their muscles.They really appreciated me going in the fitting room with them.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my granddad and not in terror like his passengers. "Don't Look Up"