The Raven's Roost

I'll be getting around to commenting/responding later today, but for now here I am posting an entry. Woo!

I mentioned that I didn't have a TV for a longish time, but when I was in high school we did have one of those massive floor model things that cats like to sleep on, and we even had cable! I grew up with three channels plus PBS, and there was a FOX affiliate in Knoxville but we couldn't pick it up. So it was 2, 4, 6, and 10, and of course, video games on channel 3. Having cable meant I spent my summers ... watching classic movie channels. This was an all day thing for me - I loved (and still love) movies, and getting to see all these old movies was just amazing. I watched stuff I never hear people mention any more, like Mighty Joe Young, The Last Remake of Beau Geste, all those Esther Williams "swimming flicks," The Long Long Trailer ... okay that last one is actually referenced in a They Might Be Giants song.

Later, I enjoyed things like "Silent Sundays," and whichever channel it was than ran samurai flicks on Saturday mornings. I love Kurosawa's historical epics, and will talk your ear off about why you need to watch The Hidden Fortress.

These guys. You need to watch it because of these guys. :D


Aside from all the Star Wars stuff, it's just a tremendously good movie.

Anyway. I have a small backlog of films I need to watch this summer, so whether it's too hot and the sand's too soft, or if that tropical system comes and sits over us and dumps rain, I'm likely to be on the treadmill, which means catching up on films and on my Crunchyroll shows.

Yesterday I tested a suspicion I've harbored for a while now, and yes, the closet door mirrors in the main bedroom/exercise room ARE warped. I took a wooden ruler and put it against the glass, and every mirror has multiple warped areas, both horizontally and vertically. This is likely why when I see myself in those I typically wonder what the hell is going on with my body. Actually, nothing is going on with how I look, the mirrors are just distorting my reflection enough to mess with my self-perception. Since they're large sliding doors, I would guess the glass that the mirrors are made from is thin, so it's both cheap and lightweight, but thinner glass warps more easily. The bathroom mirrors are much heavier, so my reflection there tends to be more reliable. The few times I've taken mirror selfies, they're using the bathroom mirrors.

Oh, and we have two pumpkins starting to form. YAY! And Fox came across a UF Extension flier on something called an Everglades Tomato, which I'm going to try to acquire and grow here. It's getting to that time of year when not much of anything grows here aside from the squashes, certain tropical spinach varieties, and some herbs. But these hardy little tomatoes thrive on heat and humidity, and they're self-seeding, so they'll be a welcome addition.