I think it was something like seven years ago or so now that Google Reader was axed by its parent company and those of us who use RSS feeds to follow blogs and news sites were sent out in search of a new aggregator.

No words necessary...

Wait, wait, wait... there’s a whole new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon set to air on Netflix??? And it’s anime???

If there’s one thing about music that bugs me, it’s when songs I love are used in a way that either annoys me or in a way that angers or doesn’t mesh with the beliefs of the original artists. 

As I was getting ready for this post, I was suddenly fraught with worry that nobody had guessed it correctly. Actually, aside from a couple jokey guesses by Steve B., I was worried that nobody had guessed at all. So I poked around at the multiple places where this gets posted and, phew, discovered someone did guess and correctly at that!

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A coworker, who is a fellow parent and part-time teacher like me, shared this video. I am, in turn, sharing it with you. It's powerful. And heartbreaking. 

While this post would normally be saved for a Tu(n)esday post, the fact that today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of one of the most influential hard rock albums ever released I feel warrants a deviation from the norm. 

Seeing as I finished another handmade project for our home...

I was tagged back in May by a Facebook friend to...

...post 10 comic book characters that have influenced my interest in comics - one character a day for 10 days. No explanation, no review, just the character, and each day I am to nominate someone to do the same.

Wow, so, um, I totally missed my 15-year Typepad blogiversary back on June 22. I’m blaming Coronavirus and an overall inability to keep track of dates. It is July, right? 

Christa chimed in with the only correct guess on last week’s #MiniMusicMonday challenge photo. 

As you all know, the status of movie theaters the world over is in a state of flux. It's a combination of already declining profits due to the speed by which streaming services and physical media are able to air new films, the cost of movie prints, the cost of maintenance and upgrades and operations of these theaters, competition, and, of course, COVID-19.

Remember late last year when Katie bought me a bottle of single malt scotch as a combination birthday and anniversary gift? I had decided upon Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 because of a tasting in which I took part. 

Remember when MySpace was the shit? Everyone wanted a piece of it and so many were on it and did everything within their power to make their personal homepage look like the worst possible piece of HTML garbage?

A few weeks ago, on recommendation from my now former next door neighbor (he moved; he didn’t die), I downloaded the SkyView app [iOS paid | iOS free | find you own Android link].

How many times have you been seduced by a bot? Anybody who currently is or has ever been part of a social media network knows what I’m talking about here.

Lemme get your opinion on something here... if you were given a choice between buying an open tape and a sealed tape, which would you choose? And, before you just blurt out the obvious choice, lemme throw in some potentially decision-affecting considerations.

I had so so many responses so quickly to last week’s #MiniMusicMonday. The first to give partial guesses were Brandon (IG) and Tish (FB) but the first to give full answers were Marty (IG) and Christa (FB).

As a result of last night’s realization, we decided we had to try to watch something new tonight. We chose My Spy on Prime Video starring Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, and Kristen Schaal. 

Lemme lay this out... we pay for subscriptions to Netflix, AT&T TV Now, and Disney+. We have a Hulu subscription that we get for free because we have a premium Spotify account. We have Prime Video as part of our Amazon account. And we have access to the Plex home media servers of three of my friends, one of which has 1,600+ movies available. 

Man, I’m really terrible at keeping up with these COVID Diary posts, aren't I? My goal was to get through 19 of them, for obvious reasons. At the rate things are going, I may still make that goal... even at a post every two months. Ugh. 

I woke up at about 2 a.m. because Nathan had crawled into bed with us and had kicked me.

I've been following the news of more and more states defying Republican hopes (prayers?) and instituting vote-by-mail full scale for the November General Election. It's been very good for my heart and soul to see this happening. 

I’m going to do something that hasn’t been done here in nearly seven months. Nope, not since December 17. It’s Taped! Number 19! 

I was happy with the turnout on last week’s #MiniMusicMonday challenge photo. Two people got it within 15 seconds of each other. Yes... seconds! But the winner was Stephen H. Sorry, Amanda. 

This video was all Nathan’s idea. He wanted to do a full LEGO set build in time lapse. Of course it had to be the set I got for Father’s Day meaning that my set build got delayed to whenever was convenient for the video.

Happy 244th birthday, U.S.A.

So you remember that issue I mentioned I've been having with comments disappearing from my site as reported to me by one of you? I reported it to Typepad like I said I would and they got back to me pretty quickly.

I just wrapped up reading Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist (review forthcoming) and I'm trying to figure out what my next audiobook will be. I feel a need to go the fiction route and, after watching the teaser for next year's release of Isaac Asimov's Foundation on Apple TV +, I'm thinking some hard science fiction might be the way to go.

Time keeps on slippin' (slippin' slippin') into the future.

Hmm, that would make for a great chorus to a song. I should write that down. In the meantime, how about a review of my goals in June.