Army Ants

So Disney - the mega conglomerate that they are (they own ABC, Hulu/Hulu +, FX, ESPN, Disney +, Pixar, Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilms, Searchlight Pictures, the list goes on and on) thought they'd be lighthearted and ask:

Share a Disney quote that sums up how you’re feeling right now!”

Ooops. 

I'm assuming this was on X and Threads.  ......and the post was almost immediately taken down, as "fans" responded. 

....and they did not disappoint. 

Luckily, people grabbed screenshots before the the post was 86'd.   So.........here you go......

.....and my absolute fucking favourite.......

While I would like to assume Disney kind of stood up to DeSantis a few years back, a mega conglomerate knows which side of the bread is buttered and they're all scared to death of this administration, hence why all of this (and I'm assuming more) came down post haste. 

They're cowards. 

But really - let's be ants. Puny little ants. 

Song by: Stone Temple Pilots

Sticks and Stones

I've come as close as I've ever done to binging any show. 

And even at that, I'm late to the game. 

Morty has been trying to get me to watch Heated Rivalry for weeks. I suppose it's a good thing I haven't hung out with any local gay friends, as I'd assume that's all they'd talk about and I'd have been in the dark. 

We watched episode 1 a few weeks back and never quite got back into it all. Mort says it's probably the weakest one and I should keep going. It was the weakest porn movie I'd ever seen. And slowest. 

As it turns out, 710 didn't really have any interest in continuing, so I thought, "oh, what the fuck" and just streamed the rest of series. On my own. Since I didn't watch the entire thing in one sitting I don't think I can really consider it a 'binge'.  Honestly, I don't have the mental fortitude to binge. I am easily distracted. 

It's nice to see representation in the sports world, no matter how unrealistic it is to have three gay hockey players. I mean, sure they exist........just in secret. 

The show is part rom-com, part soap opera, part love story.  ....and very little sports.  Oh, and part soft porn, but better than Cinemax After Dark stuff............................I've heard. 

The leads are decent. Sometimes too stilted, but that could be character development. Shane is cute. I keep thinking I've seen him on some other show, but IMDB says I haven't. If the guy who plays Ilya didn't speak Russian before, he seems to have pulled that off. 

The secondary cast is cuter and hotter. The cute as fuck smoothie guy and the 8-pack hockey player who you might know as Sebastian Reign from one episode of Schitt's Creek. 

Rivalry is all about the dark lighting and camera cutaways for the illusion of sex. And it's all about cutaways for the illusion that the cast has the ability to skate and play hockey. The work on the ice is a lot less natural than in the bedrooms. 

I'm assuming this was done on somewhat of a shoestring budget not knowing it would become such a phenomenon, but for detail oriented people like me I get a bit annoyed at seeing passing years but seeing Ilya running in front of the same building in the same clothes. Lord just shift the camera to the right once or twice. Change a shirt. 

You gotta believe the bulk of the budget was spent on real estate shoots. 

There is also my inability to suspend disbelief - while they might not be able to skate, somehow they are very adept at reading and responding to texts while running. And it's not even voice to text. 

Oh - and they all have their teeth.  .....cause that happens in hockey!

Some of the stories edged on cliché bits, but usually they managed to skirt that a bit - which was refreshing. 

I found it interesting, but not as gripped by it as some others. Maybe it was impossible to live up to the hype after hearing about it for weeks. 

I mean, I'll watch season 2.........I mean, there is no way not to have a season 2 after all the buzz. 

Song by: Rachel Sweet

My Music Monday

Cold is the weather.  "Cold" is the song. 

I've done a lot of Annie Lennox songs. I've done a lot of Eurythmic songs too. And I've used Lennox's "Cold" as a title for a blog post. But now it's time for the song. 

Yesterday's run was 10°F, but "felt like" −3°F .

I believe this would be the coldest weather in which I have run. As it would turn out, I'd be almost the only one to run with the group. I actually was the group. But I'm glad I went because a new member showed up asking if "this" was the running group.  

More power to her. She kind of assumed due to the chill that no one would show. But there I was. Moron of the Day. 

Besides cold, it was also icy. But she was up for a run. I did tell her I was only going to run to the bridge and back - which would be an entire 2 miles.  She was fine with that. But by the time we got to the bridge, I was no longer cold, nor was she (or so she claimed). She agreed to an additional quarter-mile. 

We headed back and were just about done and I asked again if she was up for an additional quarter-mile, and she was. But since those extensions were really out and back, each was a half-mile. So we ended up with 3. I was ok to do more, but did not want to obligate her. 

We did go to coffee tea afterwards and a number of folks showed for that - who ended up running at their respective gyms, so she got to meet some of the folks. I do hope she returns. 

With this run, I realized how people freeze to death. Like I said, I felt fine, but halfway between our stop and the coffee place, my face felt weird...............because it was thawing out. I didn't realize my face had literally gone numb and had almost no feeling. When conversing with her in line she said the same thing. 

Today and tomorrow are supposed to be cold(er), not to get out of single digits allegedly - hence the song. 

It's from Lennox's 1992 solo debut disk, Diva.

She is amazing. 

Nothing

Well, it's 20:36 and I haven't even thought about this blog. 

I forgot all about having to even write anything for today, let alone needing a subject in which to do so. 

So I don't have one. 

So you don't have one. 

So there. 

Song by: Depeche Mode

Moving Pictures

This week is about equal amounts .mov extensions as there are .jpg. 

It's been a Winter Wonderland Hellscape the last few days, but it's made for movies and motion I suppose. And the cold brings out Shep's Carhartt. 

Poor scared dude at the vet. 

He wasn't sick, but needed yearly bloodwork. He just loathes this place - and I get it. 

Bailey in the snow. 

Uusally my sister gets more snow than we do - but not this last Thursday night. 

Post vet walk (and pre-pup cup). 

Big mistake - for me. My boots are not 12-14" high. And not a path even semi-clean = snow in my boots. 

Here's a surprise for all - Simon!

Bailey warming up. 

Shep on his racetrack. 
I haven't gotten a good 'zoomie' version of this yet.

Song by: the Kinks 

Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow

Everyone's talkin' about the weather..............but no one is doing anything about it. 

Well, that's not exactly true. 

I had gone out to meet my training group on Wednesday evening. One beer only, because it was my first drink in a month and the weather was turning crappy. It was a slow slog home, taking double the time it normally might. 

While it looked like I was Han Solo jumping into hyperspace on my drive, there was only about one-quarter of an inch actually on the ground. So I didn't worry about it too too much. 

Yesterday morning however was a different story. About another 7 and 3/4 inches of snow had fallen and was still steadily coming down. No one was going anywhere. All schools had closed before 06:00. 710 had tried to let Shep out who went off the porch into a drift that completely covered him. This was not going to be fun. 

I finally got motivated to start clearing the drive and walks. But to get to the snowblower, I'd have to shovel enough to be able to pull out my car to get to said blower. That would take me 40 minutes of heart attack inducing work. 

Even WITH the snowblower, it would take me another two hours to clear our driveway. Places were so deep that this behemoth of a machine wasn't able to keep up or make it's way through on a first go-round. And we were running out of physical places to put the discarded snow. 

Oh, it was also 17° but felt like 6° .  F. Not C. 

Oh, and from the time 710 let Shep out, there was now 2-3 additional inches of snow.  Bother!

My first duty (hehehehe.....I said "duty") was to clear a path for Shep. But being the good Dad #2 that I am, I built him a motorway.   And that was by hand, because you can't really do a snowblower on a lawn. 

The rationale was even if we could get him out to walk, there were no clear streets or sidewalks that didn't have snow higher than himself.  And he LOVED it.  He has gotten zoomies a few times there. 

Since the blower was fully gassed up, I took it down our side of the street and did everyone's walk. I'd like to say it was altruistic but in reality, I needed to be able to get Shep to walk. Someone else did the entire length of the other side of the street. 

I did end up clearing another 2" shortly before sunset. But it had seemingly stopped snowing, so......yay. 

....and just an FYI - no one has plowed the street(s).  The next 10 days are going to be cold to super cold. So......yay. 

Song by: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Middle Finger

Yeah - I'm stump on what to write. 

I decided to do a new dump here, as if I had to stretch it out for day for full posts for each, I'd be doing self harm later on. 

There is the flipping the bird thing. I'm not feeling too bad for the suspended Ford worker as I think the gofundme set up for him is nearing $300,000 (at time of drafting this). 

I totally think the dude was right - and I would have flipped BLOTUS off right back. 

btw......the worker was totally semi-correct calling BLOTUS a "pedophile protector".  He could have cut the sentence by 50%, if you ask me. 

___________________________________________

There is also the buttlicking CBS interview of BLOTUS at that same Ford plant. The new hand-picked by Paramount anchor - lips firmly pressed against multiple anuses - lobbed questions with almost - if any - no followup. 

Paraphrasing:  "Ford says they cannot fill 5000 jobs on the the assembly lines....."    BLOTUS: "that shows how robust the economy is doing".   

DOES IT?   (It does not.). But that was the end of discussion. Zero mention on education or training OR his shitty ass job numbers that he won't release. 

 _________________________________________________

I was mentioning to my peeps that I was disappointed when reading headlines - not news - about the Clintons refusing to testify to congress on Epstein. 

But I did delve into some news I suppose, as I did read their open letter to Congress.  Hyperlinked Here. 

It's a little wordier than it needs to be. You have to get to PARAGRAPH 17 (!!!!!) to get to the heart of the matter. Bill and Hillary are burying the lead as much as the news organizations saying they won't testify. 

They will - says the letter. In paragraph 17.  But they will do so IN THE PUBLIC ARENA and to 45 committee members. 

What they won't do is testify in a closed door session where no one hears the questions or answers and things are taken out of context. 

Congress is looking at holding them in contempt.  Which is laughable. 

Jim - I cover for rapists everwhere - Jordan has subpoenaed by the Jan 6th committee almost 4 years ago and has refused to testify. Congress has done NOTHING. 

Fuck them all. 

_________________________________________________

And the cherry of it all - 

On Fox News (only because Völkischer Beobachter isn't in in business anymore) :

"I think we're going to see those deportation numbers ramp up as we get more and more people online, working for ICE, going door-to-door and making sure that if you're an illegal alien, you've got to get out of this country." 

I'm about 76% sure my readers roll their eyes when I compare this administration to the SS, but if going 'door-to-door' isn't that exactly (along with shooting people in the street for not following an order) , then I really don't know how to get through to you. 

We are not going there. We ARE there.  Plain and simple. 

.....and this is why my doc just upped my med dosage. g-d love him. 

Song by: the Dropkick Murphys

Beware Brother Beware

Well, I could have done a Cooking with Blobby post, but I just didn't wanna. 

As it turns out, I saw a Family Guy episode I'd never seen - not that it matters. But the show loves putting some true bits of things into their broadcasts. 

They showed all of 10 seconds of a "filmstrip" about the sickness of homosexuality and identified the homo in question as 'Ralph'.

Naturally, I went to YouTube and typed in 'Ralph is a Homosexual'. .....and poof (see what I did there) there it was. 

This is actually a real 1961 film that was produced by the Inglewood Police Department and Inglewood School District. 

Yes, it's 10 minutes long, and not all of it is worth it, but there are moments. Like from 1:27-4:15. 

This masterpiece compares homosexuality to smallpox - as it's just as dangerous and just as contagious. It also mentions that homosexuals 'demands' an intimate relationship with members of the same sex. 

The humour is unintentional. 

If you go to the YouTube site here - please please please read the comments. 

Here is one: 

 

 Song by: B.B. King

12 of 12

 So I'm doing my 189th 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore.    

04:58.  Locker Room. 

We have new identifiers. Maybe others couldn't read 'Men'. 

05:16.  Recumbent bike. 

Monday is a 'no run / rest' day for me. 

06:47.  Granola with flax seed. 

08:52. YakTrax. 

January thaw is over. Snow, and mainly ice, has returned. 

09:18. Chances of being killed in / by my own driveway are extremely high. 

09:25.  Black Tea. 

Had to warm up. 

12:11. Ooops. Almost out of peanut butter. 

14:28. Starting dinner. 

Maybe a Cooking with Blobby segment coming. Perhaps not. 

14:47. Cleaning and covering a boo-boo. 

I'm assuming it was when I pulled my razor out of my gym bag hours ago and I just didn't notice. 

18:32. Need to refill my anti-depressant dispensary. 

19:50. Ready for the gym for tomorrow morning

21:10.  Finishing the thumbprint cookies. 

Hey, don't judge. I'm running 6mi this morning starting at 05:00

My Music Monday

I'll be honest - I was torn about this one. 

The Smiths and Morrissey were such a part of my evolution - musically, culturally, gayety - that I felt the need to go forward with Morrissey's new song "Make-Up is a Lie", which came out three days ago. 

It's from an upcoming album, but I don't think it's from his previous recorded album that his then record company refused to release and dropped him from the label (or he left - whichever story you believe). 

But Morrissey himself is just quite the thorn in just about everyone's side. 

Overall, I think he has good intentions, just horrible execution in his beliefs and he has taken the general dislike he portrayed in songs and kind of made it his actual personality. 

This was something Morty sent us years ago (yes, I keep everything) regarding Morrissey. It is100% accurate.

He cancels concerts so often it's been a running joke forever. Now it's 'they should book him at the Kennedy Center so he can cancel those'. 

But it really comes down to the music. And I really still want it - want him - to be good. We got fair. 

At best. 

The title is repeated far too many times. And with no real context of which I can decipher. And there are a few places I swear he puts in past vocal tics (as it were) just to prove it is him. They add nothing to the song.

The harp sounds come almost straight out of a Kirsty MacColl song "In These Shoes" from like 26 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible, but I wouldn't call it great. I don't see it hitting any playlist I made ever. 

I do worry that this might be the strongest song on his new album as they are releasing it as the first "single". That might not bode well. 

Let's hope I'm wrong. 

Baking with Blobby

It seems lately I'm just eating my feeling or something. Honestly, have you ever seen so many Baking or Cooking posts? 

Cooking I get. We need dinner. And leftovers for dinner or lunch. I'm not convinced I need cookies. Don't get me wrong, I can (and have) talk myself into it. 

Clearly. 

Actually, I wanted to make these Jam Thumbprint cookies during the holidays and just couldn't get it together. I had time, just not focus or commitment. Still, I found a free hour or so to make them and knocked them out. 

Ingredients 

1 cup unsalted butter softened (227g) 

¾ cup granulated sugar (150g) 

2 large egg yolks 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ teaspoon salt 

3 cups all-purpose flour (360g) 

1 tablespoon milk or water only if needed 

⅓ cup fruit jam (strawberry, raspberry, or apricot jam) 

Instructions 

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. 

Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt*, and beat until well combined. 

* I forgot the salt. Do not forget the salt. 

While mixing on low, gradually add in the flour and beat just until combined. Stop and scrape down the bowl as needed during mixing. 

Test the dough by balling up about a tablespoon of the dough, then press your thumb into the center. If the dough forms large cracks**, mix 1 tablespoon of milk or water into the dough. 

**I had wayyyyyy too many cracks, so I added the milk and that pretty much solved the problem. 

Scoop a 1 tablespoon-sized portion of the dough and roll it into a smooth ball between your palms (If desired, toss in granulated sugar to coat the outside.) Place the dough ball on a parchment- or wax paper-lined sheet or plate, and immediately press your thumb or the back of a teaspoon into the center of the ball to create a cavity. (Gently wiggle as you press to help prevent any cracks. If any do form, press them back together.) Continue rolling and shaping the remaining dough balls. Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for 1 hour. (They can stay in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking, or frozen for up to 3 months.) 

I did these on plates because it was too much work to try to fit full cookie sheets into the refrig or freezer

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Working with one sheet at a time, place the frozen dough on the cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Fill with about ½ teaspoon of jam. (Thumbprints should be very full but not overflowing.) 

Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn brown. Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

First off - this is supposed to make 30 cookies. I made 37. So the cookies should have been bigger that what I formed, which makes sense for 1/2 teaspoon of jam. 1/2 was way too much for my thumbprints. 

I made a sheet of apricot and raspberry (avec seeds). 

They are good. I think the salt would have made them stand out a bit more. I also may have let them bake for an additional minute or two. That is just my preference.  710 really likes them, so that's good. 

I have to bring a dessert to a banquet in a few weeks - I'm thinking of of making a sheet of these. Easy to make. Easy to transport. 

January

It has just been one of those weeks. Shep Shep Shep. 

He's been a good companion and all, but I do like variety - which is why I stole a pic from a friend and neighbor just to mix things up. 

It's been a week of all the weather.  17 to 64 degrees - and now on the way back down. Again. I guess we had our January Thaw.  

BTW - is "January Thaw" just a mid-west term? Just a NE Ohio term?  Do other areas historically have that can call it that? 

Freezing and Slick for an afternoon walk. 

It's weird - he looks photoshopped there. 

Conquered.  Again. Still. 

Start of the thaw.  The boy does love rolling in snow. 

Not sure who this distinguished gent is. I like to think I know all the daycare dogs, but clearly I do not. 

He got pets - just like he should. 

My friend John has taken two feral-ish cats in - slowly over time - and made them very pampered indoor felines.  You've seen Hoagy Catmichael (left) before. And they just added Boru to the mix. 

Full thaw.  At Wendy Park / Whiskey Island

Watching a freighter about to enter the Great Lakes. 

Shep was unimpressed. 

Song by: Mose Allison