BlackberryJam

May I sit at your table?

I think if people are having a conversation about Chris Pratt and I add a comment to that conversation, it doesn’t make me a lemming. If he’d shut up and stop doing interviews that make him look like an even bigger ass, no one would be talking about him. It has nothing to do with following the crowd. It’s commentary on the news of the day. Pratt is everywhere right now because he’s promoting a movie. And Chris Pratt doesn’t get my love because he clearly so desperately wants it. I’m contrary like that. Also, I don’t care for comic book movies and have never seen Parks and Rec. Nothing the dude can do will make me interested in those products.

I suspect this is going to be a wildly unpopular post. Wow, that was…tedious. Everything took so long. I feel like the Duffers need to make friends with a brutal editor. It all reached a point for me where the narrative tension fell apart and I just got bored and wanted to fastforward to the end. I didn’t, but I did start playing online solitaire. I think I emotionally checked out during Vecna’s 2 hour boring speech of exposition and blame. I was so annoyed by the length of every scene. I honestly think it would have been better if I’d hit the 30 second advance button about 100 times, knocking an hour off the runtime. So why do I even stick with it? I enjoy the overall story. I originally came to the show for Winona. I wanted a big come back for her. I stayed because it was fun. I like these plucky kids fighting evil while riding bicycles all over town. I still like it. I just want tighter episodes. Things I especially liked in this finale: Dressing up Dustin like an Ewok. That might be my favorite costuming ever. Eddie’s bicycling like in ET. Max’s willing sacrifice and Lucas going to the mat with Jason for her. Lucas holding her while she died. Max’s speech about wanting Billy gone. SS killed it. I think soliloquies are tough in general, but they take a level of confidence and maturity I don’t often see in young actors. Between that and her speech in Dear Billy, she’s sold me on her talent. Best scary/disturbing moment, the snapping of Max’s limbs. I felt that in a way I didn’t feel anyone else being hurt. Argyle knowing that you can find 600lbs of salt at a pizza place. Dmitri/Enzo/Antonov/Jaqen H’gar calling Yuri on his bullshit. Finally a callback to Will knowing the most about the Upside Down. The exploding blood balloons like in King’s It. A Billy cameo, and considering how much I hated him before, I was surprised at how effective I found him. The Byers brothers being brothers. So nice to remember that relationship exists. Nancy giving me Red Dawn vibes with the gun. Things I really didn’t like: That jock chasing down Erica, landing on her and pinning her down in the grass. That felt horrible on a whole different level. Eddie’s guitar solo. I don’t like guitar solos and it went on forever. Yuri seeing the demigorgon and all of that horrific stuff in the prison and still pulling his sneaky bullshit. Steve, Robin and Nancy being sidelined for so long while the rest of the action went on. The decision to go back to the prison. Mike’s love speech to El. I didn’t buy it. He might be the weakest of the child actors, although MBB struggles when it’s anything other than “reach out a hand while concentrating.” Modine and Hopper really lift her up. That the gang was not all together when it started snowing. That it took Joyce two days to even call her kids. I’ll watch the final season because I enjoy the story, but holy heart attacks, just because they have a budget for 9 two hour episodes or whatever doesn’t mean the story is worth that much time.

Did he disavow his brother’s beliefs as well? Even, “Everyone has members of their family with whom they don’t agree. That doesn’t mean I don’t love my family. I do. We can love each other and still disagree.” Colin Hanks managed it with class. Did the Pratt even try?

I rewatched Thiago’s audition to remind myself what I liked about him. After seeing him in three routines, I got it. That audition was a specific character choreographed down to the facial expressions. When it came to different choreography, different characters, Thiago was just going through the motions. Everything he did left me bored. Carter is a total cheerleader. He needs a role in Bring It On 16: The Bringing is Brought or something. I agree that the women are so much better than the men. Jordan knew she was a goner. I could see the tension in her face. I felt bad for her. The costuming this episode looked like it was bought at a dollar store.

Dustin will be a tearjerker and I’ll miss Lucas, Robin and Nancy. Jonathan, Mike, El, Hopper and the rest of the newbies? Meh.

Also, if you are working from home, be available by phone when someone is calling you. Everyone takes bathroom breaks, but if you're not answering your phone for 30-45 minutes while working at home, and it's clear you're not in a meeting of some sort, then you're not working during those work hours.

3. Nepotism.

I read The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James. I would have liked it better without the supernatural element. I felt that added nothing to the book. I would have liked Beth to have been Also, Shea doesn’t get in cars, but there is a backstory about That felt like a hole to me.

So…I went to HBOMax to watch the new episode and hit play. Imagine my surprise when we were back in the original Westworld, Anthony Hopkins was there, the original host storylines were playing out and I was thinking, “Wow, way to get back to the original, are they resetting the story? Am I going to have to rewatch the pilot episode to see all the differences? I’m going to have to check on line when it’s over because I’m sure there will be a side by side comparison of every scene.” I was really looking forward to it because it seemed like they were ignoring S3 altogether. And then, after a while, I realized I was actually watching s1e1. Ugh. I’d thought the show was actually doing a reset and was fascinated by where it would go. Imagine my disappointment in actually watching s4e1. I cannot say enough times how little I care about the guy played by Aaron Paul. Giving him a cute daughter and beautiful wife doesn’t make me care enough to even remember his name. He’s the epitome of everything I hated about s3. I love me some Maeve, but I’m going to fastforward through even AP scene from here on out. Having rewatched most of the pilot, I was disappointed to see a return of Dolores in jeopardy and incapable of any self-defense. It was like she’d had zero character development from the pilot, but perhaps that was intentional. What made me really care about that arc was the expression on James Marsden’s face. What a waste of ADB. I hope she’s not just throwaway roommate. I miss Hector and Stubbs, Elsie and Armistice, Sizemore and Bernard.

There is simply no story left to tell about Jon Snow. The series started with him as a teen and we know his entire backstory. The show ended with the threat to humanity defeated, so there is no new narrative tension. Is it going to be a story of him wandering around with the Wildlings, reclaiming the land destroyed by the White Walkers? A story of him uniting the Wildings? Tormund already did that by beating the shit out of Lord of Bones and proving the common enemy was more important than petty disagreements. Moreover, Game of Thrones was a story of politics, deceit, power struggles, battles, love, family, and saving the world. A show about Jon wandering around in the Land of Always Winter doesn’t have the power that GoT did. If Jon heads back South, to either Winterfell or the rebuilding of KL, then it becomes a retcon of S8. Don’t get me wrong. S8 sucked and should be retconned or we just pretend it ended when Tyrion fell out of the boat and hit his head. I don’t see how they create a viable and interesting story without bringing back so many of the characters they decimated in S8. I think many of the actors are done with the series and have moved on. Picking up from the other thread, there are many shows I can decide I don’t want to watch just from hearing the premise. Jon Snow was never the draw for me in GoT. I found Kit’s acting to be weak and his storyline was poorly written Jesus fanfic until S8, when the whole “I’m fine fucking my aunt, it’s all good, oh wait, she cray, lemme knife her” thing happened.

I cannot overstate the joy I feel with the heavy curating of my SM experience. I haven't heard the song on anything but SiriusXM which has upped its rotation on the appropriate stations. I am happy KB is getting the recognition and money she deserved back in the 1980s.

I fastforward through most of the jidging….

I rewatched James' audition. He has beautiful skills with his arms and upper body. His legs though...he doesn't have graceful legs and feet. That hurt him I think.

I enjoyed the group routines in the same costumes, but I wish there had been a reveal at the end. I could pick out a few of the guys based on body type, but the women were a mess.

I think Waverly is getting a pass because he's Julliard trained, but he's likely to go out next week. James was just not good in that routine, and neither was Virginia. The whole thing looked uncomfortable, and not in a deliberate way.

Leaning hard into Kate Bush and I'm glad. I love Kate Bush and wish she had gotten more recognition. This trailer also seems to have more Sadie Sink, along with El, hopefully in recognition of how good SS was in the first part.

I wondered about that too. But thinking about it nobody said anything specific about why they loved it other than "amazing wonderful bloomyaway". The studio audience certainly didn't feel the same.

I agreed with the eliminations. I love James in his own style, but he was not good tonight. Virginia was just there. I wouldn’t have cried if the other couple had been sit home. I do wish the could have done solos before the eliminations were decided.

I’m behind, but that jazz routine felt awkward to me…

Some soulless corporations do have Boards of Directors making fat stacks of cash for attending four meetings per year. That could absolutely be cut to give employees better benefits and more time off. I'm not denying that. But for most businesses, the bottom line is real. I have a friend who is an electrician with his own company. He has 35 employees. He still has to pay his own mortgage with the money he earns. He had a "bad" financial year last year only to discover his trusted bookkeeper/payroll person had embezzled, at last count 40k from the business. He's still searching and has had to hire a forensic accountant. All of his employees got paid every pay period. The owner didn't. The employee said she did it because she figured he could afford it. Business owners have mortgages, student loans, kids in college, the same way employees do. And our money isn't guaranteed like it is for salaried employees. I don't know the answer. All I can do is be a kind person, pay a fair wage (I pay above local average) and provide the benefits I am able without working for less than a Broadway usher. A partner or two would require more staff, and have less available money for staff to be paid. I do outsource 60% of the bookkeeping, which is 7k a year out of available funds to pay employees. Billable hours aren't always collectible hours. I have a commitment to myself to represent at least 5 abused women living between 120 and 200% of federal poverty level per year. Should I stop doing that? I already work 60 hours per week, minimum. Should I increase that to 80? Market more? I am actually turning clients away because my staff can't handle the current workload. The assumption that this is about my need for control is misplaced.

It does suck that so many federal holidays are aligned with Christian holidays, employees are forced into them and then the appropriate religious holidays are ignored. When I worked for State government, we had one Jewish person employed at my level. As a Court, we held arraignments 365. He took the Christmas ones. The Court just gave him Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off as extra PTO. None of the rest of us made a fuss about it because, meh, we didn't care, and screw the government anyway ;)

So close the business? Fire them? Take years of education and earn less than paralegal salary? What about my mental health? Why don't I, as the boss, matter?

I suppose I’m the instigator of this topic. I am the owner of a small law firm. If I don’t bill collectible hours, I don’t get paid. If I don’t have staff available answering the phones, preparing pleadings, e-filing, scheduling, and typing dictation, I am “over billing” clients because I have to bill them for the secretarial/paralegal work I end up doing, and then I get fewer clients, or clients who won’t pay. I have a minimum number of hours I need to bill each month, and collect on, to keep my firm afloat. I add a certain number of hours to that to pay my own salary. If someone is getting shorted in any given month, it’s me, not my staff. I cover 100% of health insurance, give a 2% to IRA without an employee match and give 15 paid days off per year, plus select holidays. Eleven federal holidays would be me giving staff 5 paid weeks per year each. It’s not feasible. I can only do it if I don’t pay myself anything for two months per year and pay myself only what I pay the staff for the other 10 months. Why would I even have the business if I’m not at least paying myself more than I pay my staff? Are my options to increase my hourly rate to clients and price myself out of the market? Cut staff pay to account for those paid hours when billable (and collectible) time isn’t being created? Stop paying insurance? Tell staff they have to job share and pay them hourly, not salary? I don’t carry massive overhead and payroll makes up 30% of that. Insurance is another 10%, then I get to rent, equipment, etc. I don’t deny that breaks from work and mental health days are important, but when I’m doing the monthly accounting, I just don’t know how to make it work.

So...I put it out on my attorney text group, and everyone was having the same problem. So we have all sent letters to each other which get emailed by staff to staff. Now they all know that everyone is working. There has been a distinct thaw in my office. I mentioned in the work vent thread. I give MLK Day off but not Presidents Day.