Bustin' Still, Mostly, Makes Me Feel Good

 The wife and I have seen Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

It's not bad.

It's not a great film by any means, and it will not make sense to you if you haven't seen the original films or Afterlife, but it is mostly good. I'd rank it on par with Afterlife, perhaps a little lower.

That being said, it does suffer from a number of pacing issues, as Afterlife did. It is yet another film that takes a while to build plot-wise, and when it finally gets there, that great build-up/plot is resolved far too quickly. 

There are several side stories/side adventures (writers would call these B plots, C plots, etc) that are sort of shoehorned into the film, either deftly or haphazardly. Almost none of them are truly necessary, though a couple of them make the film better. It feels like the film was poorly edited together, almost by committee, and Columbia Pictures was like "well, we filmed this, let's find a way to make it work."

In an attempt to avoid most spoilers, I'm going to give a brief rundown of the goods and bads of the movie:

The Goods:

• Ecto-1 and the Firehouse both get a LOT of screen-time. Like way more than you might think. I'd classify both of them as characters in the movie, honestly.
• The acting is pretty good, and the cast meshes really well together. Paul Rudd and Mckenna Grace especially shine in their roles.
• There is a surprisingly good part in the movie for actress Emily Alyn Lind, and she is wonderful in that part. 
• Yes, there are new Proton Pack designs (at least two different new designs -- not really a spoiler, they're both seen in the trailers). 
• The ghost designs this time around are genuinely scary and/or grotesque.
• The villain is well-described, well-historied, and the build-up is appropriate.
• The original song is in the movie (in more than one place). 
• There is a fun little mid-credits scene.
• The original film's score is used again, in many places and different ways.
• There are many little easter eggs to catch in the background if you're paying close enough attention.
• It is very clear that -- as the writers said -- they drew inspiration for the film from the episodic nature of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, and in a lot of ways this is good.
• Nobody dies (who wasn't already dead, anyway). 
• It is fun, mostly family-friendly, and it has a lot of heart in the best ways.
• It is left open-ended (much like Afterlife) -- we know we'll likely see these characters again.

The Bads:

• It is very clear that -- as the writers said -- they drew inspiration for the film from the episodic nature of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, and in a lot of ways this is bad when this sort of thinking is applied to a feature film.
• The new actors to the franchise -- namely Patton Oswalt and James Acaster -- are criminally underutilized -- and the new ones who aren't criminally underutilized (Kumail Nanjiani, for one) get far too much screen time and are played for cheap laughs.
• Janine Melnitz, as a character in the film, is also criminally underutilized.
• I personally think (as in, this is purely my opinion) that the Spengler family dynamic is given way too much focus in the film -- would be great in a single episode of a TV series, yes, but in a feature film? Move it along, we've got plot to get to.
• What you see is what you get -- if you've seen the trailers, you've basically seen the movie. Nothing will really surprise you here. It's one of the more egregious cases of the trailers giving away the film's entire plot that I've seen in many years.
• Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis do not return to the film/franchise. 
• The red parkas that the internet went wild over when the first trailer(s) came out do indeed appear in the movie, but in very brief appearances. 
• There are some plot holes. Not a lot, but they are there. Most people likely wouldn't notice them as much as I did.
• There is a lot of action without much explanation -- meaning I'd like to see some background, I'd like to see some of the gap history of what happened between Afterlife and this film. The viewer really doesn't get that.
• As mentioned above -- the climax of the film happens and is resolved FAR too quickly. I'm talking a two hour buildup to a probably less-than-five-minutes-of-movie resolution, all is better, all is as it should be and was before the movie started. It feels cheap and very rushed. 
• Getting back to the trailers -- there are several really great shots/clips shown in the trailers that don't make it into the finished film. This isn't unique to this movie, but it's worth noting.
• The goofy red stripes down Ecto-1's hood aren't explained. Minor gripe, I know.
• Some of the original cast's performances (not all of them, but some) really border on caricature, as if they're tongue-in-cheek making fun on themselves and/or the franchise. 
• There have now been five different Ghostbusters films, total -- I'd rank this one towards the bottom of the list simply because -- as I've seen some reviewers point out -- it's ultimately forgettable. 
• Because of that, and after this weekend's hype dies down and word of mouth really gets out -- I think it's going to underperform at the box office, sadly. It'll still make its money back and make a good profit, but this isn't going to be one of those "this movie is going to make a billion dollars in a month" films.

Look, I mostly liked the movie, but here's the current Rotten Tomatoes score for it:

I think this is mostly accurate. My own rating for it would likely be 70%-ish. A lot of critics are going to think it's derivative, and a lot of the audience is going to really like it regardless. I'm in-between at present.

I want to stress that it is not bad. It really isn't a bad movie. Daisy said she thinks it's the best one since the original, and I think that's a bit too high praise for it -- but maybe a lot of other folks will think the same. It's basically a two-hour episode of the cartoon put to live-action, and not even one of the top ten best episodes. It's fine, it's new Ghostbusters material, new additions to the canon, but it's nothing life-changing. For the casual fan I'd honestly say skip it and wait for it to hit streaming someplace. 

And still...with the story arc they had, I'm not sure it could've been done any "better" or any differently. At least not in a truly noticeable way. There are many times where I've described a film as "brilliant concept with extremely terrible execution" -- that isn't Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Its execution was perfectly fine (well, mostly), yet I'm still feeling a little hollow after seeing it. 

Will I still buy the Blu-ray?

You bet your ass.

Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good

 Well folks, it's finally here. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now in theaters, and Daisy and I have two tickets to see it in approximately five hours.

If I could go back in time 25 years ago and talk to my 16-year-old self in 1999, a 16-year-old kid who had no idea where he'd be or what he'd be doing in 25 years -- I would first tell him that he's happily married with four cats, living halfway across the country with a job that pays more than what his parents each individually made in 1999...and then I'd immediately tell him that they made three more Ghostbusters movies between 2016 and 2024. 

I grew up as a big fan of the Ghostbusters universe, enough to where (around 1999, in fact) I was researching going to NYU because they were one of the very few schools in the country where I could obtain a degree in parapsychology. I wanted to be a Ghostbuster for years. I sketched up designs for Proton Packs, I made blueprint-like plans of how to transform a normal car into an Ectomobile, and I would get up early on the weekend mornings to watch The Real Ghostbusters and, later, Extreme Ghostbusters.

It was sometime in late high school when I realized that all of the Saturday morning cartoons I was getting up to watch (and meticulously tape off local TV) were newer incarnations of the originals I watched in the 1980s -- Voltron: The Third Dimension, Extreme Ghostbusters, and Beast Wars: Transformers. It sort of blew my mind when I had that realization, actually.

I had so many Ghostbusters toys. Yes, I had the Proton Pack. I also had the Ghost Popper, the Ghost Zapper (the projector), the water gun, the firehouse (still have that one, in the basement of my parents' house in WV), Ecto-1 -- which broke apart and fell apart after years of heavy play -- and a ton of the figures and other vehicles, from the originals to the much later end-years releases. 

Do I have any of them now? No. Save for the firehouse in the basement, I have none of them anymore. I do have the Kenner re-released figures, mint-on-card, in my closet across the hall. And I do have the Ecto-1 that was released when Afterlife came out a few years ago (but not the re-released Kenner Ecto-1, though it is currently in my Amazon cart). 

As an adult, I have several Ghostbusters-themed t-shirts (one of which, the Ghostbusters II shirt, I'll be wearing to the theater today) and not much else aside from a random collectible here or there. But, my love of the series has never left me, and I can look upon it with a loving eye as well as a critical one. For example, while I really liked Afterlife for what it was, it was far from a perfect movie and had plot holes a truck could be driven through. I wrote a full review of it...somewhere...when I first saw it -- I don't remember if it was here or Facebook or wherever. 

Needless to say, I've been very excited for Frozen Empire. It was originally supposed to be released on my birthday last year, and it was delayed for various reasons (likely partially because of the writers/actors' strikes happening). The trailers -- at least some of them -- made it look interesting and fun. I am going into the movie with no real expectations, honestly. I don't trust most movie reviewers as they always carry a bias, and some of my favorite movies of all time have gotten absolutely terrible reviews. The tickets for Daisy and I to see Frozen Empire were like $30, max, and if nothing else I can say I saw it in the theater on opening weekend. It doesn't mean I have to elaborate any more than that on it if it's not a good film. I want to see it primarily because I want to know what will now be canon moving forward in the franchise, as well as who lives and who dies. 

And yes, I think the new red pinstriping down the hood on the Ecto-1 looks stupid too. But if that ends up being my only real gripe about the picture, I'd be surprised. 

I will come back here once we've seen it, of course, and I plan to write a full-length, spoiler-free review.

The Results Are IN!

 A few months ago (and several times in the interim) I mentioned that we'd gotten DNA tests for the cats. We got four tests total -- three for our cats and one to give to Dad to test his cat.

Yes, I realize we have four cats (we started the year with five, of course) but we know Sadie is 50% purebred Russian Blue as her mother is a purebred Russian Blue, and honestly I didn't see the real value in testing her further for anything -- as the tests are $100 each.

In mid-January or so, Daisy and I -- but mostly Daisy -- painstakingly got the cheek/mouth swabs of our other three cats: Pete, Hank, and Empress, performed and sent away.

And we waited. And waited. And waited some more.

To be perfectly transparent, the company performing the DNA tests (Basepaws), was very communicative about the entire process. Every couple of weeks they'd send an email saying something like "we've received your tests" or "the tests are being processed now" or "your results are almost ready, you'll have them soon" -- etc.

Well, last week they arrived. We finally would know what our children were.

Let's start with Hank -- because with how fast he grew, I was very intrigued with what his DNA would say. Hank got so big, so quickly, plus with his giant feet and short little legs I knew he had to have some sort of strange lineage to him. Well...

This tells us that he's basically....a normal cat. The Ragdoll and Maine Coon in him, as well as the Siberian -- relatively small percentages separately but together 22.84% of his overall genetic makeup -- explain his size, his giant feet, his sociable nature and the love of attention, and being held and his general "floppiness." I call him the flopper because he likes to flop on the floor and roll around mewing at us when he's happy and wants love -- which is frequently.

The surprising part for me was the 2.08% Persian. That's a super-small percentage but I'm really left with more questions than answers there. This cat was found on the streets of Omaha in a bad neighhborhood next to I-80. Persian was not what I was expecting, honestly. 

Everything else? I can't say I'm surprised, but I was expecting a much higher percentage of Maine Coon given his size and features. I'm not disappointed, because I love Mr. Shortlegs, but I was expecting a giant amount of DNA I could point at and be like "there it is, that's why he is like he is."

Anyway, moving on. Let's check out Empress:

There's not a lot here about Empress that surprised me much either, at first glance -- we knew from her features that she'd have a large percentage of Maine Coon in her, but the others mixed in are interesting. Peterbald? Turkish Angora? Abyssinian? The Abyssinian and Turkish Angora at least explains her head shape and her giant ears (and the Angora helps with the long hair)...but the Peterbald is basically a hairless cat similar to the Sphynx, and the "exotic shorthair" and "broadly exotic" / "broadly Persian" Leaves me with more questions than answers too. She has outward features of all of these breeds -- especially the Maine Coon of course -- with the exception of the hairless cat. 

What surprised me the most is that she has zero Norwegian Forest Cat in her, which I thought would be the other dominant bloodline aside from Maine Coon, and a very low percentage of Ragdoll. She also has the lowest percentage of "Domestic Polycat" (or as I call it, "cat mutt") in her compared to the other two -- it's very clear she's only a couple of generations removed from a fairly linear genetic line, as evidenced by that Maine Coon percentage.

Empress was part of a semi-feral litter brought in off the street here in Omaha, where they were running out into traffic and in danger of getting attacked or killed by roaming dogs. We have no idea of any further origins for her than that. 

Anyway, moving on -- let's look at the old man.

I did not expect Pete to have the wildest results of them all, but he did. Daisy expected it, but I didn't:

Look at this weirdo.

Pete is our oldest cat -- he turns 17 next month. For those past 17 years, he's been my rock through everything. For the past twelve of those years, he's been Daisy's son, her baby, and I'm pretty sure she loves that cat more than she loves me. She has said before that she'd choose him over me to save from a house fire, and I really don't think she's making that up -- she adores that old man. 

It does not surprise me that Pete's highest results was domestic shorthair/cat mutt. He very much aligns with the normal shorthair cat qualities. ALL of the other things were surprises. 15% Maine Coon? Okay, that's not much of a surprise given his size and loveyness, but over 10% Persian? That is. All of the exotic and eastern breeds in him, including Savannah Cat and Bengal? Yes, definitely surprises.

Where the hell did this cat come from? I have zero idea where Pete was born or what his upbringing was before I found him. He was abandoned in the apartment below mine when I lived in St. Joseph, MO in 2007, when the lady who had him moved out unexpectedly and left a lot of shit behind, including the little black kitten who could not have been more than 2-3 months old (and likely closer to two). His tiny little body would fit in the palm of my hand; he was very young. Where did that lady get him? Who knows. But wherever he came from, he has a very genetically diverse background.

Moving on.

The cat genetic reports are 69 pages each, for each cat. They go through blood types, predispositions to certain diseases or medical conditions, all of which all three cats or more or less clear of. Twenty pages or so of each report is a breakdown of each breed they have genetics from, and the remainder devotes itself to genetic markers for coloring and the like, as well as tooth health/mouth bacteria and risks of bad breath, periodontal disease, etc.

Pete's coloring report said he was likely to have a black coat and be a carrier of the chocolate coat color gene, as well as possess multiple colors within the black coat. This is correct -- Pete is black with a lot (and I mean a lot) of chocolate undertones. It also said Hank carries the chocolate coat gene (if chocolate means "orange" I guess), and said he was likely to be a long haired cat -- neither of which he is. He has a thick coat, but it's not really long hair. Daisy maintains that he's likely partially medium-haired, but I'm not even sure of that. He just has a really dense, thick coat. Maybe when he's fully grown he'll get longer hair, but I somehow doubt it.

Empress, of course, was highly likely to have a long haired and multicolored coat. Because duh.

Per the reports, all of them appear to be healthy -- which of course we know because we take them to the vets for their normal checkup work. 

I am, of course, leaving one cat off this list -- Sadie, because we didn't test her. Sadie has gone back to the vet for her follow-up appointment (she did not like this):

Where we found that yes, she needed to remain on the thyroid meds she's on now, but -- as we expected -- she does have diabetes. They upped the dosage of the thyroid medicine and put her on a new liquid medication that we have to give her 0.2ml of every day and costs $300 a bottle for a 90-day supply. 

She hates all of this, by the way.

I don't want to stress my old lady out any more than I have to, but she does not have any kidney problems per her bloodwork, just the diabetes and the thyroid issues -- so I want to do everything I can to keep her happy, healthy, and alive for as long as we can. Maggie took a turn for the worse very fast because of her kidneys, though she'd been deteriorating for months -- I don't want the same thing to happen with Sadie. I am not ready to let her go yet. 

To those ends, Sadie has been more active and loving as of late -- she frequently sleeps with me and wants to be with me in my office upstairs, or under my chair when I'm working (this is normal), but also has been getting a lot of love and quality time from Daisy, sitting on her lap or crawling up onto her chest like she used to as a much younger cat. This is Sadie's second wind of life, and I love it; she shows her love and gratitude to us in so many little ways. 

The Great Cleansing of 2024

 In the time since the pandemic started -- and really, since we bought the house -- we have collected a lot of stuff. Some of it is shit, and some of it is stuff. 

All of it is greatly cluttering up the house. It fills closets and rooms, tables and shelves and bookcases. Most of it is not mine, but Daisy's -- and I can't speak to that or address it -- but a large chunk of it is mine, and over the course of the next few months, I am going to make a heretofore unseen-since-we-bought-this-house effort to purge most of the stuff that I no longer want or need. 

Some of it will be sold. Some of it will be donated. Some of it will simply go into the trash or recycling. Whatever cash I can get out of selling stuff (and it will be cash; I'll be taking stuff to Half-Price books or used game stores, etc), most of it I will likely set aside and exchange for Canadian money once we're across the border to pay for food and incidentals without needing to use our cards. 

I have already begun the first phase of this, which is arguably the longest and most time-consuming phase -- going through my closet to donate a lot of the clothing I don't want or need anymore, or never wear, or wear once or twice every few years, etc. Last weekend I went through a small portion of it and in a half hour I'd pulled out enough clothing to fill a 39-gallon trash bag for donations. In that clothing was real, expensive black leather motorcycle jacket that I've had for fifteen years. I never wear it, Daisy is morally opposed to it, and I myself am a vegetarian now and have been since 2018, so the thought of wearing another animal's skin at this juncture is somewhat off-putting for me. The last time I wore it was several years ago when we went to see Rocky Horror on stage, and it's been in storage ever since. Time to go. Someone else will get good use out of it and will be monumentally happy they were able to find a leather jacket at a thrift store. 

Going through the closet will take me several weeks or so, an hour or so at a time, to pull out anything and everything I no longer want or need. As I mentioned, the first donation bag with the leather jacket was dropped off last week. The next one I filled this afternoon, with old hoodies, jeans, some shorts, and various other loungewear that I'll never wear again. It turns out that I own more pairs of sweatpants and sweat shorts (thank you, pandemic) than I even remembered or really knew about -- some of which I'd completely forgotten I owned. Next will be shoes/socks, underwear, a thorough run-through of all of my hoodies and dressy-ish shirts, and finally...my t-shirts.

The t-shirts will be the hardest part. To be fair, I did lightly run through them for the first donation bag and pulled out some of them, but I am a t-shirt collector. I have far more of them than I could ever possibly need or wear, or really truly want. Many of them (probably 20% or more) are shirts I've picked up as souvenirs from places Daisy and I have traveled together -- Canada, Colorado, South Dakota, Chicago, West Virginia, the Carolinas -- etc. The vast majority of those I don't plan to get rid of as I do wear them and I do have a sentimental attachment to a lot of them. 

Some of the others are shirts I've had since college or shortly thereafter that I also wear and have a sentimental attachment to. I even have a few t-shirts I've owned since middle school (they are safely stored away now so that they do not deteriorate more than they already have in the past 30ish years). 

The rest of them are just nerdy shirts (or band shirts) I've collected over the years, most of them within the past 3-5 years at maximum. And I've got a lot of tough choices to make there, because I really don't want to get rid of a lot of them, but I do absolutely need to. For as much of a wreck as Daisy's side of our giant walk-in closet is, my own is reaching what I call "critical mass" and cannot hold anything else. And, let's be realistic here, I barely leave the house. I could likely get by with having thirty t-shirts total, not 300. 

And no exaggeration, I likely have more than 300.

For a man who never goes outdoors unless forced to for groceries or social obligations.

So. It's time to scour and purge. Over the course of the next month or so I'll be making some brutal, but necessary decisions. I am a 41-year-old man; I am entering middle age and I only have so much space or need for anything. 

After the clothing, the next step is books, games, movies/music, magazines, and anything else I can take to sell for cash. 

I don't need most of the games I have; I play them, beat them, and then they go into storage so that I can play the next game when it comes along (this is why I tend to purchase all of the PS4 games digitally -- nothing to pile up). My older Pokemon games can fetch a pretty penny on the used market, as well as some of my older PS2 games and N64/Wii games I own. I don't have a need for them. Most of them I haven't even looked at in close to a decade at this point. So, I'll gather those up, find a good/reputable used games store here in town somewhere, and get every penny I can out of them.

Books/movies/music and magazines can go to Half-Price Books. Comics I save for both my dad (the stuff he's interested in, I box up and deliver to him on our visits -- took two full boxes to him when we went to the Carolinas last fall) and for the sons of one of our close friends, who I give the rest to when she comes over to hang out occasionally. The kids love them and I can feel like I'm doing something good to brighten some kids' lives.  

And don't worry, even with the music CDs I sell, I've already backed all of them up digitally. I never really "lose them." I'll always have them in digital format. 

Movies? Eh. Unless it's something extremely important to me, I don't need physical media copies of most of them, especially not with all of the streaming platforms these days. It is what it is. I no longer have the desire or time to watch most movies over and over like I did when I was younger. Life's too short and I've got shit to do. 

It's not all about selling and donating things but consolidating and trashing other things. For example, I know that somewhere in this house, even though I have not been able to find it for the past six years, I have a box of spindles of CD-Rs -- full of data CDs and actual purchased albums. It has the vast majority of my music collection that I'd meticulously collected throughout all of my high school, college, and grad school years and it has been lost to me for many years. I have zero idea where they could possibly be, unless they're stuffed into one of Daisy's storage closets or in the garage, the latter of which is extremely unlikely and the former, well, who knows. 

I also have a couple of boxes in the top of my closet which could house them, but truthfully I do not know. I know in one of those boxes I have my old computer (which the motherboard was failing on; I can yank that and get some data from it), but in the others I don't know what I have. That is part of "The Great Cleansing" too -- get rid of junk so I can more efficiently use the storage space I have. I have a 4TB portable HDD -- if the CDs are in there that HDD will have far more than enough space to house everything on them digitally. 

Magazines? Meh, I have a lot of them from the past few years -- stuff I had subscribed to but let lapse or was no longer interested in -- stretching back to 2020 or so. I know Half-Price books buys them, I think by the pound (I honestly couldn't tell you how they do it, but I know they do a lot of stuff "by the pound" these days). I don't know if it's actually worth boxing them up to sell based on the return I'd get, but at this juncture I'm all about the "get it out of my house, and if I can get money for it, cool" sort of mindset of all of it. 

So, over the course of the next few weeks and months, we shall see how all of this goes...

65 Questions, 2024 Edition

In April 2015, I put up a post here called 65 Questions. It wasn't anything special at the time, just something I did to kill some time. I've been going through my older writing again and stumbled across it -- and found it quite amusing as my answers to a lot of these questions are very different now than they were nine years ago. So I figured I'd update the list -- including my original answers for comparison. 

1. First thing you wash in the shower?

2015: Uh, usually my chest, I guess?

2024: My face, always my face, then my hair.

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
2015: It's a toss-up; I have a gray Shockers hoodie I really like, but I also have my red Huskers hoodie too. Eh, either one.
2024: Black. I have an insulated Lee Jeans hoodie that I wear as a jacket, and several other black hoodies of various designs that I tend to wear more than any of the other colors. I still have my red Huskers hoodie, though.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
2015: As that person is my wife, yes.

2024: Yes. This answer remains the same, of course.

4. Do you plan outfits?
2015: Almost religiously.

2024: Almost never. But, I almost never need to leave the house anymore -- and in 2015 I still had to leave it every day for work and errands. The most planning I put into my outfits now tends to be "can I get away with looking like this in public?" or "is it warm enough to wear this Judas Priest t-shirt without a hoodie over it if I'm also wearing shorts and sandals?" etc. 

5. How are you feeling right now?
2015: Full of coffee and dread for another Friday at work.

2024: Eh. At this exact moment, I feel mostly okay. I'm not sick, I'm well-hydrated, I'm not filled with anxiety or dread, so...I guess that's all good, right?

6. What’s the closest thing to you that's red?
2015: My Adventure Time t-shirt, which is sitting next to me as it's part of my outfit I've planned for tomorrow (again, see question #4).

2024: My disposable vape, which is on the charger -- as well as a red flash drive, a roll of leftover Christmas wrapping paper with cats all over it, and two jars of Folgers instant coffee.

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
2015: I dreamed I was driving my Monte Carlo. I dream about this a lot. I miss it.

2024: I have a lot of "parallel universe" dreams these days -- dreams where it feels like I'm playing out my multiversal double's life. Sometimes these worlds are mostly the same with a few differences here and there, and sometimes they're drastically different and nightmarish. I can't pinpoint just one I've had recently that sticks out more than the others -- they all sort of flow from one scenario to another, and most of them are pretty mundane.

8. Did you meet anybody new today?
2015: Nope; I haven't left the house yet. Unless you count drinking coffee and smoking outside on the porch.

2024: Yes, actually; the vet tech who helped us get Sadie's bloodwork done was someone new there that I'd never met before. So I guess that counts.

9. What are you craving right now?
2015: A dead-quiet Friday at work, as we're shortstaffed.

2024: A winning lottery ticket would be nice. Or a big bag of jerky, or a pizza from my favorite pizza place back home in West Virginia. Any of those would be wonderful at the moment.

10. Do you floss?
2015: When I need to, yes.

2024: Almost every day as well as when I need to in-between. 

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
2015: Vile weed.

2024: Cole slaw. Cabbage is good in certain applications with appropriate preparation.

12. Are you emotional?
2015: When the situation calls for it, sure.

2024: Almost constantly. I feel my emotions powerfully and more consistently than ever before, and I no longer bottle them up. Yes, my friends, I believe I am finally becoming more unhinged by the day.

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
2015: I've done this multiple times on the nights I had insomnia.

2024: Probably not since well before I originally answered this question in 2015. Also, if I have insomnia now, I take drugs for it and it is no longer an issue.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
2015: As I generally eat it out of a tub or carton, it's more of a spooning-into-my-face-hole thing.

2024: I almost never eat ice cream anymore. Part of it is the whole "Brandon has diabetes" thing, but also I never really had a sweet tooth for it anyway, and as I have gotten older, my teeth have gotten more and more sensitive to heat and cold.

15. Do you like your hair?
2015: Yes, and I condition and care for it meticulously.

2024: This answer has not changed, but I will add "but I wish my hairline wasn't receding so quickly and I wish I wasn't going so gray."

16. Do you like yourself?
2015: No; I am a thoroughly terrible person.

2024: I frequently tell Daisy "nobody can hate me more than I already hate myself." Most of the time that statement is pretty accurate, deep in the core of my soul.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
2015: The man's interesting, I'll give him that. History has been a little kinder to him since he was president.

2024: Sure, I guess. He was at least sane, as opposed to the Republicans of today. Do I think he was misguided during his presidency? Yes. Do I respect him as a former president now far more than I did when he was in office? Also yes. I would love to hear his thoughts on today's world. 

18. What are you listening to right now?
2015: The hum of my computer and my fingers typing these keystrokes?

2024: My wife running water as she showers in the bathroom adjacent to my upstairs office, as well as traffic noise from my open window.

19. Are your parents strict?
2015: My mother is, yes; however, I haven't had to worry about parents being strict in nine years now, so....

2024: Yeah, answer remains the same. My mother has softened quite a bit in her older years, though I think her anxiety has ramped up quite a bit.

20. Would you go sky diving?
2015: I absolutely plan to one day.

2024: Yes. Answer has not changed; it is one of those things that's on my bucket list. And I don't want to do any of that tandem shit, either -- strap a parachute on my back and I'll run full speed out the door of that plane like a fuckin' paratrooper.

21. Do you like cottage cheese?
2015: It's one of my favorite foods of all time.

2024: This has not changed.

22. Have you ever met a celebrity?
2015: I've met certain people who are famous in certain circles, and have talked to a few famous people over the phone from time to time. I've also messaged back and forth with a few big-name celebrities on Twitter, so if that counts, then yes.

2024: I've met a number of quasi-famous people. Likely the most famous (living) person I've ever met is Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club -- I got to interview him), who I had already met by the time I answered this question in 2015, so I can't believe I didn't mention that before. I also met Fred Rogers very briefly when I was in college shortly before he died, former Raiders quarterback Jeff Hostetler, comedian Andy Hendrickson, Nora McInerny (host of Terrible, Thanks for Asking), some news anchors and other minor local TV personalities, and (also very briefly) James Carville when he did a speaking event at WVU. Aside from that, I've met a number of different members of locally-famous bands in various areas -- the entire lineup of Chicago metal band Bible of the Devil, for example, a couple of guys from Pittsburgh rock band The Clarks, etc. I've never had a bad experience with any of these people. Palahniuk was quiet and reserved but very gracious, and Mr. Rogers was, of course, a saint. 

3. Do you rent movies often?
2015: I haven't rented a movie in at least six or seven years. The concept of Netflix and the whole, y'know, actually being able to afford to go see a movie in the theater helps with that.

2024: Nobody rents movies in 2024. The concept of a "movie rental" is nearly completely dead, with Redbox kiosks being pretty close to the last bastion of it -- and even those kiosks are slowly going away.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?
2015: Well, my wife's wedding dress is still in here -- across the room from me on her own desk -- but other than that? Nope.

2024: For Valentine's Day, my wife gave me a canvas of a psychedelic, tie-dye colored wolf that she personally colored symmetrically, and spent many hours making. The background of that canvas is black and covered in sparkly glitter. It hangs on the wall above and behind my lounge chair and is the only sparkly thing in the room.

25. How many countries have you visited?
2015: Including this one? One.

2024: Technically, two. This one and Canada. This summer will make my fourth trip to Canada in nine years. 

26. Have you made a prank phone call?
2015: Many times as a child. Am I proud of this? A little.

2024: Many times as a child. Am I proud of this? No, I am mortified that I was ever that kid.

27. Ever been on a train?
2015: Many times.

2024: Oh come off it, 2015 Brandon. "Many times" was an exaggeration. Yes, I've been on trains, for special events or nature tours through the Cass Scenic Railroad back home in West Virginia, and I have ridden monorails or subway trains in airports and around cities before. I wouldn't say "many times," though. That was 2015 Brandon grandstanding a bit. 

28. Brown or white eggs?
2015: I don't really eat eggs by themselves.

2024: Still don't. If I'm eating eggs these days they're either cooked into something or they're vegan egg replacements like Just Egg. I'm not an egg guy.

29.Do you have a cell-phone?
2015: Yes, I do.

2024: Yes, of course I do, because in 2024 you can't be a functional human without one.

30. Do you use chap stick?
2015: Only when necessary.

2024: Still only when necessary.

31. Do you own a gun?
2015: Yes.

2024: Still yes, still the same gun. No, I will not elaborate.

32. Can you use chopsticks?
2015: Yes. In a sense, anyway.

2024: Yes, I can, but I hate to use them. Just give me a damn fork.

33. Who are you going to be with tonight?
2015: A bunch of coworkers, in the office, until 11PM.

2024: I spent the day with my wife and her parents, the evening with just my wife, and right now I'm sitting in the office with Pete asleep on my ottoman. So, I guess the answer for "tonight" is...Pete.

34. Are you too forgiving?
2015: Not anymore.

2024: I'd like to think I'm just the right amount of forgiving in most situations and tend to give people second chances. But I do not forget, and I rarely give anyone third chances.

35. Ever been in love?
2015: Yes.

2024: Still yes, of course.

36. What is your friend(s) doing tomorrow?
2015: Living their lives, much as I live my own? I haven't a clue.

2024: Fuck if I know. Some of them are going to work with me in the evening, I know that. I don't have a whole lot of friends anymore. Most of the ones I considered close in 2015 have now long left my life/daily circle of existence.

37. Ever have cream puffs?
2015: Yes.

2024: Yes, but not for a very long time. 

38. Last time you cried?
2015: It's been months. Probably during a movie. Yes, I know. Shut up.

2024: My last good cry was when Maggie died in January. But, I get emotional and roll tears at a lot of things. Life isn't all wine and roses, folks.

39. What was the last question you asked?
2015: "Why won't the kid upstairs stop. fucking. screaming?" Seriously, that baby doesn't just "cry," no. It screams like they're beating the kid to death.

2024: Good lord, I remember that screaming kid. Anyway, I'm not sure what the last question was I asked. It was likely to Daisy earlier tonight, and was likely concerning something about the Canada trip.

40. Favorite time of the year?
2015: Any time where it's about 70, overcast, with a light breeze.

2024: Late spring, right on the cusp of summer -- when it's warm but not overly hot, when it could cloud up and rain or give a beautiful thunderstorm. When the air feels fresh and tingles when the wind sweeps through your hair or across your skin before the raindrops fall.

42. Are you sarcastic?
2015: It's one of my best attributes.

2024: Not only is it still one of my best attributes, but it is the cornerstone of my personality and sense of overall humor.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
2015: I own the Blu-ray.

2024: Multiple times, though I don't know if I still own the Blu-ray. Funny story about that movie -- I could've seen it in the theater during opening week. I went on a date with my friend Becca, and we couldn't decide whether to see The Butterfly Effect, Cold Mountain, or Big Fish. We ended up choosing Big Fish, which was by leaps and bounds a far better picture than the others ended up being, in hindsight. I did still enjoy The Butterfly Effect, though, when I did see it eventually -- though it's a really dark, messed up movie. 

44. Ever walked into a mall?
2015: No. Walked through one while shopping? Yes.

2024: Yeah, same answer.

45. Favorite color?
2015: Black.

2024: 95% of the time, it remains black. However, over the years I have grown a much deeper appreciation for purples and deep blues.

46. Have you ever slapped someone?
2015: Yes. There are many, many people who need a good hard slap in the face or upside the head. If I were running for president, this would be my platform.

2024: This was 2015 Brandon attempting to sound tough. In reality I am not sure I have ever really slapped someone -- like a bitch slap across the face or anything remotely similar -- in all of my life. I don't condone violence nor do I partake in it. 

47. Is your hair curly?
2015: I prefer to describe it as "sexually wavy."

2024: "Sexually wavy" is not a term I ever need to use again or even see in print. Yes, my hair has some natural curl in it, though over the years it has gradually relaxed more and more to the point where it's now mostly straight. Not completely straight, but mostly. The wavyness is now far less defined and more just shapes how my hair falls naturally.

48. What was the last CD you bought?
2015: I bought the Breakfast Club soundtrack at Walgreens about a year ago for $3 or so. That counts, right?

2024: KMFDM's latest album "Let Go," directly from them, preordered in December and arrived in February on its release day.

49. Do looks matter?
2015: Not as much as you'd think, but yes.

2024: Still true. I cannot truly ever be attracted to anyone on looks alone -- personality and kindness has to be there as well. Luckily, my wife has all of these things and I really hit the jackpot with her.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater?
2015: No. And I never have.

2024: Same, bro. Same.

51. Is your phone bill sky high?
2015: For unlimited talk/text/data on my iPhone, through Sprint, it's pretty reasonable.

2024: For two phones with unlimited talk/text/data and our home internet, through T-Mobile, it is exceptionally reasonable.

52. Do you like your life right now?
2015: Not really. I love being married and I love the relationship I have with my wife and her/our family. Everything else can go suck it.

2024: Overall I am the happiest and most content I have ever been in my life. I own my home, have a wonderful wife and four loving cats, a work-from-home job, and our bills and household necessities are always taken care of. There is always food in the house, we are mostly stable in finances and our relationship, and we always have a great support network of loving family. Could life be better? Yes, the answer is almost always yes. But is it still really good right now? Also yes. 

53. Do you sleep with the TV on?
2015: Not anymore, as I no longer have a TV in the bedroom.

2024: We do not have a TV in the bedroom. However, I do have one in my office. Do I occasionally have it on and fall asleep in my chair with it on? Yes, but very rarely these days. I'd like to say maybe twice a year. 

54. Can you handle the truth?
2015: Yes.

2024: Still yes. 

55. Do you have good vision?
2015: I used to, but not really anymore. I can tell how much my vision has deteriorated just over the past two or three years.

2024: Yes, with the help of good glasses and a good prescription for those good glasses, because I am now an old man with failing eyes. 

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people?
2015: Oh hell yes. There's probably a twenty (or thirty, being realistic) person list.

2024: There are a lot of people I actively dislike. There are maybe two or three that I outright hate. Hate is a strong word. I do not use it lightly and it is reserved for the most deserving. 

57. How often do you talk on the phone?
2015: Every day at work. In my personal life, on my own phone? Mostly only when I have to.

2024: As little as possible, both at work and personally. It's 2024, there's no need to talk on the phone in most circumstances. Send a text or an email, or just catch me in person if absolutely necessary.

58. The last person you held hands with?
2015: My wife, yesterday, and this is not an unusual occurrence.

2024: My wife, tonight, and this is a daily thing.

59. What are you wearing?
2015: A black and white plaid shirt, blue socks, blue boxers, black jeans, and black dress shoes. Work clothes.

2024: A KMFDM "Nihil" album cover t-shirt, gray sweat shorts with a blue stripe down the side, navy blue boxers, my Fitbit, and a pair of square, gold-rimmed glasses.

60.What is your favorite animal?
2015: Ron Swanson is my spirit animal. Does that count?

2024: Moose, cats, bison, dragons, blue jays, wolves. In no particular order.

61. Where was your default picture taken?
2015: Default picture? Like, profile picture? I have a different one for every social networking site I use, and they've all been taken at different times/places. The one I use here on Blogger was taken in my old house in Kansas, circa 2011, and edited with my photo editor.

2024: I'm still using the same Blogger picture since 2011 on here, by the way. It is very decidedly out of date. However, my Twitter profile picture is AI art of me playing the guitar, my Facebook profile picture was taken on my birthday last year in downtown Omaha, and my Microsoft Office 365/etc picture was taken in 2022 in the parents' sunroom.  

62. Can you hula hoop?
2015: Wouldn't know; I've never tried.
2024: I am a 41, almost 42-year-old man and I still have no desire to hula hoop.

63. Do you have a job?
2015: Yes, I do. And I wish I didn't need it as much as I do.

2024: Yes. Same job, same sentiment, bruh.

64. What was the most recent thing you bought?
2015: Last night I gave my coworker a $20 so he could pick me up some Burger King when he walked down there (it's literally next door) to get lunch.

2024: A five-pack of flash drives and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for my Switch, tonight, via Amazon.

65. Have you ever crawled through a window?
2015: Not in recent memory, but I'm sure I have.

2024: Early-forties Brandon is far too fat and not limber enough to do this anymore, even if he wanted to. 

So there you go, everyone. Hope you enjoy.