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shivverPost titles are so difficult sometimes.
Blackadder. I don't remember exactly how that came about this time (I think it might have been realizing that we hadn't seen the Christmas special and then finding that it wasn't included in the collection we have, but we did have Blackadder: Back and Forth, and that turned out to be so good we had to watch more), but we realized that we hadn't ever watched the third or fourth series. So, we watched the fourth series (Black Adder Goes Forth - I only now recognize the double meaning of the title) and then decided to do a complete rewatch.
That fourth series, though. That's the one set in World War I. The episodes were excellent, and that ending was jaw-dropping. My husband was also stunned at seeing House playing the eternally idealistic and optimistic Lt George. We really saw why this particular series was rated #16 in the list of best British TV from the BFI in 2000.
Number 1 in that list is Fawlty Towers, which we want to rewatch but is too painful. (Poor Basil. It's never his fault, but he always gets it in the pants.) Number 3 in that list is Doctor Who, so suck it, Michael Grade. (Note, that does not include the modern series, which debuted twenty years ago, almost to the day, five years after that list.)
But, this is a roundabout way of getting to my real point. On Monday this week, after not getting to Friday Watch-something Night for two weeks (mostly due to new, fun computer games), we were talking about getting back to Black Adder, since we are currently in the middle of series 1. I said that would be good, except that the new season of Doctor Who is due in May, so we really should rewatch the last season before then, and I also really wanted another rewatch of the 60th (we haven't seen it in probably six months). So we agreed on that plan, to put BA on hold for a bit.
You probably see the Yipes here.
On Tuesday, my husband said, "I have bad news. We don't have the time to watch all that Doctor Who, because the new season premieres on Saturday." I was like WHAT? And then... EEEEE! The last season was so much fun, I'm so excited for the new stuff, and especially to hopefully find out who Mrs Flood really is. (I think she's the Black Guardian, but yeah, I know, she can't be, he's dead.)
My husband is less excited, because he's scared of what he calls "Persona syndrome". You see, he played Persona 3 back when it first came out in 2006 and he loved it. So, when Persona 4 came out, he jumped on it, hoping for another amazing game, and he didn't like it. It wasn't that P4 wasn't a good game - it was - it just wasn't P3. He's afraid that after what he feels is one of DW's best seasons, he'll be expecting too much of the new season and won't enjoy it.
But anyway, we are prepped for the new seasons. We just rewatched "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"The Empire of Death" last night and are excited (at least I am) for Saturday. We've managed to avoid all spoilers except for one picture of the new companion shown at Gallifrey One, and I don't even remember it. I really have come to love Fifteen and am eager to see more of him (though perhaps with less crying).
So, our government is doing some really questionable things and I'm not going to talk about most of those. But the one thing I really don't get is, how in the world did they convince their support base that levying tariffs on imports is a good thing for our country, that tariffs would "punish" other countries (as if we should be "punishing" other countries in the first place)?
Tariffs are taxes on the domestic consumer base, plain and simple. They aren't charged to the foreign companies that are exporting goods to the U.S. Tariffs are paid by the U.S. companies who are importing the goods, and those tariffs are passed on to the consumers who buy the goods. If an item that is normally at a retail price $100 now has a tariff of 20% on it, the person who ends up paying that extra $20 is the end consumer: the originating country/company isn't charged at all, and the importing company pays the tariff but then raises the price of the item to cover it.
Of course, with the size of these tariffs (something like 125% for goods from China - that $100 item will now cost you $225), many consumers are going to stop buying things, causing the U.S retailers a severe drop in income and I'm sure many will go out of business. Thus, there'll be fewer imports, which the exporting countries and companies will feel, but not before a huge amount of damage on the domestic front.
I also wonder, does Trump really believe this nonsense that he's spewing, that tariffs are a good thing for the U.S. and bad for other countries? He's always claimed to be a shrewd businessman (not that I've believed him; he's much more born into wealth and playing with the toys his father left behind), but this proves that he really has no idea. (Much like all of the other proofs, from his earlier term and this one, but no ones seems to care.)
All right, back to sticking my head in the sand and ignoring the country falling apart around us.
Though I'm currently nursing a slightly-hurt knee (twisted it a bit and it's already arthritic, so I don't want to injure it more) and keeping off my feet, I've made some significant inroads on my ongoing cleaning task. The World's Most Uncomfortable Couch™ and the World's Most Impractical Coffee Table™ have long since gone to the dump. (The couch was unsalvageable. I suppose I should have looked into getting the table recycled, since it was mostly wood, but I didn't. I'm sorry.) I've cleared three large boxes out, as well as a lot of loose items, and it actually feels that our goals are within reach.
Though, I have to admit that I've been chafing at not being able to do much work for the past few days. My husband has actually been trying to get me to not work on things all the time, saying that I'm supposed to be enjoying this time-off/semi-retirement and doing me-stuff, like playing computer games or writing or hobbies. To me, though, I feel like, I'm supposed to be contributing to this family. I used to be providing my salary, but that isn't happening anymore, so I have to do something. But I should be good to go tomorrow and hopefully I'll get a good chunk done.
One of the major goals for this room I'm working on is to get a small couch in there, because no, we haven't had, for nearly two decades now, a nice place to sit and kick back. (The World's Most Uncomfortable Couch™ does not count, and it's been covered in crap all this time anyway.) There's also an armchair in the room, but that's going as well - it's also broken and uncomfortable - and we want something where the two of use can sit side-by-side. The room does have two end table-type things which are in fine condition, despite looking horribly 80s. (Again, stuff that Mother-in-Law took the opportunity to foist on us when we were moving out here.) They're perfectly serviceable, so we'll figure out something to do with them.
The other major goal is get exercise machines. We already do walking every day when the weather is good for us, but the weather isn't good for us much of the time. It's raining constantly from October to March, and then the summer is too sunny (my husband takes a medication that requires him to stay out of the sun). We want to get ellipticals (hint: my bad knee) so that we can walk every day.
And let me tell you, I walk into that room every day and get so excited that those goals are reachable -- still probably two or three months out, but actually attainable.
Another really interesting thing we noticed... The afternoon sun shines into the room, and with the major changes in its contents, the light dynamics have also completely changed. The room is brighter, and it reflects differently out into the hall, so the hall also looks different. Strange, the things you notice, huh?
Blackadder. I don't remember exactly how that came about this time (I think it might have been realizing that we hadn't seen the Christmas special and then finding that it wasn't included in the collection we have, but we did have Blackadder: Back and Forth, and that turned out to be so good we had to watch more), but we realized that we hadn't ever watched the third or fourth series. So, we watched the fourth series (Black Adder Goes Forth - I only now recognize the double meaning of the title) and then decided to do a complete rewatch.
That fourth series, though. That's the one set in World War I. The episodes were excellent, and that ending was jaw-dropping. My husband was also stunned at seeing House playing the eternally idealistic and optimistic Lt George. We really saw why this particular series was rated #16 in the list of best British TV from the BFI in 2000.
Number 1 in that list is Fawlty Towers, which we want to rewatch but is too painful. (Poor Basil. It's never his fault, but he always gets it in the pants.) Number 3 in that list is Doctor Who, so suck it, Michael Grade. (Note, that does not include the modern series, which debuted twenty years ago, almost to the day, five years after that list.)
But, this is a roundabout way of getting to my real point. On Monday this week, after not getting to Friday Watch-something Night for two weeks (mostly due to new, fun computer games), we were talking about getting back to Black Adder, since we are currently in the middle of series 1. I said that would be good, except that the new season of Doctor Who is due in May, so we really should rewatch the last season before then, and I also really wanted another rewatch of the 60th (we haven't seen it in probably six months). So we agreed on that plan, to put BA on hold for a bit.
You probably see the Yipes here.
On Tuesday, my husband said, "I have bad news. We don't have the time to watch all that Doctor Who, because the new season premieres on Saturday." I was like WHAT? And then... EEEEE! The last season was so much fun, I'm so excited for the new stuff, and especially to hopefully find out who Mrs Flood really is. (I think she's the Black Guardian, but yeah, I know, she can't be, he's dead.)
My husband is less excited, because he's scared of what he calls "Persona syndrome". You see, he played Persona 3 back when it first came out in 2006 and he loved it. So, when Persona 4 came out, he jumped on it, hoping for another amazing game, and he didn't like it. It wasn't that P4 wasn't a good game - it was - it just wasn't P3. He's afraid that after what he feels is one of DW's best seasons, he'll be expecting too much of the new season and won't enjoy it.
But anyway, we are prepped for the new seasons. We just rewatched "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"The Empire of Death" last night and are excited (at least I am) for Saturday. We've managed to avoid all spoilers except for one picture of the new companion shown at Gallifrey One, and I don't even remember it. I really have come to love Fifteen and am eager to see more of him (though perhaps with less crying).
So, our government is doing some really questionable things and I'm not going to talk about most of those. But the one thing I really don't get is, how in the world did they convince their support base that levying tariffs on imports is a good thing for our country, that tariffs would "punish" other countries (as if we should be "punishing" other countries in the first place)?
Tariffs are taxes on the domestic consumer base, plain and simple. They aren't charged to the foreign companies that are exporting goods to the U.S. Tariffs are paid by the U.S. companies who are importing the goods, and those tariffs are passed on to the consumers who buy the goods. If an item that is normally at a retail price $100 now has a tariff of 20% on it, the person who ends up paying that extra $20 is the end consumer: the originating country/company isn't charged at all, and the importing company pays the tariff but then raises the price of the item to cover it.
Of course, with the size of these tariffs (something like 125% for goods from China - that $100 item will now cost you $225), many consumers are going to stop buying things, causing the U.S retailers a severe drop in income and I'm sure many will go out of business. Thus, there'll be fewer imports, which the exporting countries and companies will feel, but not before a huge amount of damage on the domestic front.
I also wonder, does Trump really believe this nonsense that he's spewing, that tariffs are a good thing for the U.S. and bad for other countries? He's always claimed to be a shrewd businessman (not that I've believed him; he's much more born into wealth and playing with the toys his father left behind), but this proves that he really has no idea. (Much like all of the other proofs, from his earlier term and this one, but no ones seems to care.)
All right, back to sticking my head in the sand and ignoring the country falling apart around us.
Though I'm currently nursing a slightly-hurt knee (twisted it a bit and it's already arthritic, so I don't want to injure it more) and keeping off my feet, I've made some significant inroads on my ongoing cleaning task. The World's Most Uncomfortable Couch™ and the World's Most Impractical Coffee Table™ have long since gone to the dump. (The couch was unsalvageable. I suppose I should have looked into getting the table recycled, since it was mostly wood, but I didn't. I'm sorry.) I've cleared three large boxes out, as well as a lot of loose items, and it actually feels that our goals are within reach.
Though, I have to admit that I've been chafing at not being able to do much work for the past few days. My husband has actually been trying to get me to not work on things all the time, saying that I'm supposed to be enjoying this time-off/semi-retirement and doing me-stuff, like playing computer games or writing or hobbies. To me, though, I feel like, I'm supposed to be contributing to this family. I used to be providing my salary, but that isn't happening anymore, so I have to do something. But I should be good to go tomorrow and hopefully I'll get a good chunk done.
One of the major goals for this room I'm working on is to get a small couch in there, because no, we haven't had, for nearly two decades now, a nice place to sit and kick back. (The World's Most Uncomfortable Couch™ does not count, and it's been covered in crap all this time anyway.) There's also an armchair in the room, but that's going as well - it's also broken and uncomfortable - and we want something where the two of use can sit side-by-side. The room does have two end table-type things which are in fine condition, despite looking horribly 80s. (Again, stuff that Mother-in-Law took the opportunity to foist on us when we were moving out here.) They're perfectly serviceable, so we'll figure out something to do with them.
The other major goal is get exercise machines. We already do walking every day when the weather is good for us, but the weather isn't good for us much of the time. It's raining constantly from October to March, and then the summer is too sunny (my husband takes a medication that requires him to stay out of the sun). We want to get ellipticals (hint: my bad knee) so that we can walk every day.
And let me tell you, I walk into that room every day and get so excited that those goals are reachable -- still probably two or three months out, but actually attainable.
Another really interesting thing we noticed... The afternoon sun shines into the room, and with the major changes in its contents, the light dynamics have also completely changed. The room is brighter, and it reflects differently out into the hall, so the hall also looks different. Strange, the things you notice, huh?
no subject
Date: 2025-04-10 07:49 pm (UTC)I agree that the last series was a lot of fun. I can tell NG is just having a ball as the Doctor. Can’t wait for Saturday!
Oh no, hope your knee gets better. 🙏 🫂
no subject
Date: 2025-04-11 07:54 pm (UTC)D'Stump has made exporting anything to the States a paperwork obstacle course, especially if any component was made in China or Korea. For a simple little 1/2" bearing I had to track down the exact address of the manufacture site, to put on the form supporting the commercial invoice *deep sigh*. And I thought Brexit was enough of a nightmare....
Sounds like you'll be having fun picking out a new sofa soon. Normally I'd recommend a nice European design but I'm not sure that's wise at the moment.
Anyway, i shall now go clear my brain in time to watch the new Doctor Who tomorrow night; although I might let myself read RTD's article in the Radio Times first.