Monday, September 25, 2023

David McCallum dies

© by Gerald So | 10:00 PM

Venerable actor David McCallum, most recently of TV's NCIS, died this morning aged 90. McCallum made a lasting impression on me as The Man From UNCLE's Ilya Kuryakin, pairing gravitas with Robert Vaughn's levity and sending the aspirational message that in a time of cold war, agents from all over the world could cooperate for the greater good.

Later his one-of-a-kind presence on NCIS helped the show draw older viewers. I think the secret to the show's success is characters of every generation—Ducky, Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, Palmer, Bishop, Kasie—respectfully working together.

Mastodon Update

© by Gerald So | 4:00 AM

As Elon Musk floats the idea of a monthly fee for all X users, free open-source social networking software Mastodon has rolled out version 4.2.0, with noticeably improved search features letting users find friends and posts by entering key words, phrases, date ranges, or hashtags.

Monday, September 04, 2023

Retrospective

© by Gerald So | 5:00 AM

I didn't receive enough submissions to continue my weekly crime poetry site, The Five-Two for a thirteenth year, so today's poem is the last, "Something Fishy" by J.H. Johns, about the recent arrest of a suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders.

My thanks again to everyone who contributed to and enjoyed The Five-Two. The site lost a news outlet last year when I left Twitter, but I couldn't stay in good conscience. Also Blogger's post editor lately blinks out in the wee hours, the time I usually worked on The Five-Two.

Though the main feature is ending, I'm happy to post Five-Two alumni news. Feel free to contact me and stay in touch.