© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 3:00 A.M.
The month of passion-themed crime poems concludes with Nancy Smahl-Syrop's "Mistrust":
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Monday, February 29, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Drive Hard
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 3:15 P.M.
Yippy-ki-yay! My ten-year-old hard drive made it to my new PC and should save my solid state drive some write cycles. Meanwhile, my former PC's front facing fell off hours after I scavenged its longterm memory. I'll post a photo of both PCs as soon as my Flip Mino HD charges.
What?
Yippy-ki-yay! My ten-year-old hard drive made it to my new PC and should save my solid state drive some write cycles. Meanwhile, my former PC's front facing fell off hours after I scavenged its longterm memory. I'll post a photo of both PCs as soon as my Flip Mino HD charges.
What?
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
At The Five-Two: Rosemarie Keenan
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 4:30 A.M.
Posted on schedule yesterday, Rosemarie Keenan's "Grandiflora":
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Posted on schedule yesterday, Rosemarie Keenan's "Grandiflora":
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Its Name Is...
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 10:30 P.M.
My new computer, named for Burn Notice's Michael Westen, is up and running. Later this week, I'll slide in my old hard drive for extra storage.
My new computer, named for Burn Notice's Michael Westen, is up and running. Later this week, I'll slide in my old hard drive for extra storage.
Monday, February 15, 2016
At The Five: "Jacqueline Explains..." by Chuck Von Nordheim
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 12:30 A.M.
Our month of love-themed crime poems continues with Chuck Von Nordheim:
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Our month of love-themed crime poems continues with Chuck Von Nordheim:
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
WHERE IT HURTS by Reed Farrel Coleman
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 9:15 A.M.
Driving the courtesy van for the Paragon Hotel near McArthur Airport is retired street cop Gus Murphy's robotic way of mourning his son John's sudden death from an undiagnosed heart defect. One of Gus's frequent arrests, Tommy Delcamino, asks him to look into his own son's murder, the Suffolk PD not giving it much of an effort. At first, Gus refuses in outrage, thinking Tommy is simply taking advantage of his grief. Days later, Gus tries to apologize but walks in on the aftermath of Tommy's murder. Belatedly, Gus decides to look into the Delcaminos' deaths for the closure he'd never had in John's death.
Much of Coleman's previous fiction has explored deep, set-in pain and the shadow it casts on the present. A versatile writer, though, he's able to filter the theme through many different characters. The mean streets Gus goes down are familiar to me as a Long Islander, and I quickly warmed to Gus's friends at the Paragon, but most appealing, Where It Hurts offers a plot in which very few noses are clean, making it delightfully difficult to see the twists coming.
Much of Coleman's previous fiction has explored deep, set-in pain and the shadow it casts on the present. A versatile writer, though, he's able to filter the theme through many different characters. The mean streets Gus goes down are familiar to me as a Long Islander, and I quickly warmed to Gus's friends at the Paragon, but most appealing, Where It Hurts offers a plot in which very few noses are clean, making it delightfully difficult to see the twists coming.
Friday, February 12, 2016
I've Finally Seen: SPECTRE (2015)
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 7:00 P.M.
James Bond is suspended after his pursuit of an assassin in Mexico City causes an international incident. Nevertheless, Bond enlists the help of Moneypenny and Q as he continues investigating a conspiracy threaded through Daniel Craig's entire run playing the character.
Mixed reviews kept me from seeing it in theaters, but I always knew I would dissect Spectre on video. The continuity of Craig's four movies is a flaw, in my opinion. As much as I like seeing familiar faces, that familiarity made this fourth time around feel more like episodic television than the event of Olympic proportions a Bond movie usually is. Too often the movie cut away from Bond, to what M, Moneypenny, and Q were doing. Sorry, but these are supposed to be Bond movies, not Bond and His Amazing Friends movies.
The identity of Christoph Waltz's villain, like Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan from Star Trek into Darkness, was poorly kept. Worse, after all the hype, he neither made a grand escape nor died magnificently. His final showdown wasn't even with Bond, but with M.
Meanwhile, Lea Seydoux rivaled Eva Green for her character's depth and chemistry with Daniel Craig. I got the sense Swan and Bond really would leave their lives behind to be with each other. This would have made a fine finale for Craig's Bond. The thing is it wasn't a finale; he's contracted for one more Bond movie.
On the other hand, Spectre is rumored to be Sam Mendes's last time directing Bond. He may have wanted to put the stamp on his time with the franchise, but because it is just another in Craig's tenure, I have to rank Spectre behind Casino Royale and Skyfall, ahead of only Quantum of Solace.
It appears we've reached the natural end of a story arc. If so, Craig's fifth and possibly final Bond film may feel out of place, hanging loosely from the rest.
Then again, Spectre may turn out to be Craig's final Bond film for another reason: It's the last film in Eon's current financing partnership with Sony Pictures. Eon's search for a new partner could put off progress on its twenty-fifth Bond film. If and when things pick up, Craig, like Timothy Dalton before him, could no longer want to play Bond.
James Bond is suspended after his pursuit of an assassin in Mexico City causes an international incident. Nevertheless, Bond enlists the help of Moneypenny and Q as he continues investigating a conspiracy threaded through Daniel Craig's entire run playing the character.
Mixed reviews kept me from seeing it in theaters, but I always knew I would dissect Spectre on video. The continuity of Craig's four movies is a flaw, in my opinion. As much as I like seeing familiar faces, that familiarity made this fourth time around feel more like episodic television than the event of Olympic proportions a Bond movie usually is. Too often the movie cut away from Bond, to what M, Moneypenny, and Q were doing. Sorry, but these are supposed to be Bond movies, not Bond and His Amazing Friends movies.
The identity of Christoph Waltz's villain, like Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan from Star Trek into Darkness, was poorly kept. Worse, after all the hype, he neither made a grand escape nor died magnificently. His final showdown wasn't even with Bond, but with M.
Meanwhile, Lea Seydoux rivaled Eva Green for her character's depth and chemistry with Daniel Craig. I got the sense Swan and Bond really would leave their lives behind to be with each other. This would have made a fine finale for Craig's Bond. The thing is it wasn't a finale; he's contracted for one more Bond movie.
On the other hand, Spectre is rumored to be Sam Mendes's last time directing Bond. He may have wanted to put the stamp on his time with the franchise, but because it is just another in Craig's tenure, I have to rank Spectre behind Casino Royale and Skyfall, ahead of only Quantum of Solace.
It appears we've reached the natural end of a story arc. If so, Craig's fifth and possibly final Bond film may feel out of place, hanging loosely from the rest.
Then again, Spectre may turn out to be Craig's final Bond film for another reason: It's the last film in Eon's current financing partnership with Sony Pictures. Eon's search for a new partner could put off progress on its twenty-fifth Bond film. If and when things pick up, Craig, like Timothy Dalton before him, could no longer want to play Bond.
Monday, February 08, 2016
At The Five-Two: "For the Love of Death" by Shirley J. Brewer
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 6:00 P.M.
For Valentine's week, Maryland poet Brewer declares her love for murder mysteries:
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For Valentine's week, Maryland poet Brewer declares her love for murder mysteries:
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Sunday, February 07, 2016
"Our love for him now ain't hard to explain."
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 7:30 A.M.
My Core2 Duo E6300 Dell Dimension E520, named after Jayne Cobb, had served me well for an amazing 9-1/2 years running Ubuntu Linux with only one RAM upgrade midway through. Last Tuesday, it shut down without warning. I tried airing it out, but my more computer-savvy brother suspected the real problem was the thermal compound had worn out.
Replacing the compund, while not expensive, is an intricate job, and no telling how much more life it would squeeze out. So I spent much of last week catching up on ten years of advancement in computer parts, putting together the order for my next PC.
Thankfully, I was able to back up my writing to cloud storage, and odds are good I'll be able to get the rest from Jayne's hard drive once I have a working place to put it.
The new computer should get to me in a week or two. In the meantime, I'm working from a cheap laptop my brother bought for the sole purpose of communicating with a printer support program that only runs in Windows.
Tomorrow's Five-Two poem will post as scheduled, but February 15th's and 22nd's poems may be accompanied by a different-looking video as said laptop doesn't have my usual graphics, fonts, and video software.
For fellow semi-geeks, here are some key specs of my new computer:
My Core2 Duo E6300 Dell Dimension E520, named after Jayne Cobb, had served me well for an amazing 9-1/2 years running Ubuntu Linux with only one RAM upgrade midway through. Last Tuesday, it shut down without warning. I tried airing it out, but my more computer-savvy brother suspected the real problem was the thermal compound had worn out.
Replacing the compund, while not expensive, is an intricate job, and no telling how much more life it would squeeze out. So I spent much of last week catching up on ten years of advancement in computer parts, putting together the order for my next PC.
Thankfully, I was able to back up my writing to cloud storage, and odds are good I'll be able to get the rest from Jayne's hard drive once I have a working place to put it.
The new computer should get to me in a week or two. In the meantime, I'm working from a cheap laptop my brother bought for the sole purpose of communicating with a printer support program that only runs in Windows.
Tomorrow's Five-Two poem will post as scheduled, but February 15th's and 22nd's poems may be accompanied by a different-looking video as said laptop doesn't have my usual graphics, fonts, and video software.
For fellow semi-geeks, here are some key specs of my new computer:
- INTEL Core™ i5-6400 Quad core 2.7–3.30GHz TB, HD Graphics 530, LGA 1151, 6MB L3 Cache, DDR4-2133, 14nm, 65W, Processor
- KINGSTON 8GB HyperX Fury Black PC4-17000 DDR4 2133MHz CL14 (14-14-14) 1.2V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC Memory
- COOLER MASTER Hyper TX-3 CPU Cooler
- TUNIQ TX-2 High-Performance Thermal Compound
- SAMSUNG 250GB 850 EVO SSD
- LG ELECTRONICS WH16NS40 Black 16x / 16x / 48x BD / DVD / CD Blu-ray Disc™ Burner, M-Disc, SATA
Monday, February 01, 2016
At The Five-Two: Bill Baber
© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 12:30 A.M.
Bill Baber returns with a poem of resolution:
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Bill Baber returns with a poem of resolution:
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
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