Mandaris

This is one of my wife's favorite movies and I'm happy that she wanted to share it with me. It wasn't on my radar when it came out or since then. The closet thing I've seen like this is 1989's She-Devil.

I feel that some of the tones are kind of dated and some of the jokes haven’t aged well, but the over all film and theme are still there and uplifting.

My least favorite part of the film is that it feels a little rushed at the end. I understand that this is a 90s comedy and that they have to wrap things up, but it does feel a little rushed towards the end. I really wanted to see more of the ladies getting things moving and taking charge of their lives.

Overview

After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, three mid-life Manhattanites have been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the trio is determined to turn their pain into gain. They come up with a cleverly devious plan to hit their exes where it really hurts - in the wallet!

I stopped by the European chapter of the IndieWeb group during my lunch and I feel that I got a lot of out it. We went over a lot of different things but here are some of my favorite highlights.

4 oh 4 pages

I joined the meeting late and caught the tail end of discussions about what other people do when someone tries to go to a URL that doesn’t exist under their domain. I remember seeing some sites redirecting the user to the home page after a minute or two or showing links to other pages that match some kind of pattern within the url.

IndieWeb Movie Club

Mark Sutherland will be spearheading this month’s movie club. The topic will be any version of Romeo & Juliet. I originally planned on the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet because that’s the one that has my favorite version of Tybalt, but I might just go with Gnomeo & Juliet instead.

Mad as a Hatter

Just a moment where we took some time to get a hat from around where we live and put it on.

Serious stuff.

Validating my Feelings/Website

We had a very nice discussion on what makes a page valid. We started with what colors someone should use when putting together and what considerations to make. I tooted my own horn about how my webpage is valid only to find that it has a lot of things that some validators might not like.

It further emphasized the point that you should continually test your site. Things do change over time and it gives you a chance to rethink things. In my case, I got a chance to question whether my choice of having meta tags containing the trailing slash like the following:

<meta itemprop="wordCount" content="23" />

For me, it’s a reminder of the connection between HTML and XML. At some point, I have to make the decision on when is enough enough.

I also think I found what was causing the issue with my header.

I was using text-wrap: balance for all headers and it was causing some unforeseen problems when it comes to having an image in the header. I removed it and haven’t seen the issue since.

There have been a couple of posts on Micro.blog - the service I use to host my blog - about how to improve the handling of longform content. I thought I would yell into the void write my thoughts and feelings about this topic.

How did I get here?

I’ve been blogging for a while. I remember the days of GeoCities and LiveJournal and enjoyed spending time on the internet. When twitter came out, I spent a lot of time trying to be witty and win sweepstakes. I enjoyed it because it was quick dopamine hit to see new content or create my own without going into details like titles or nuance.

When twitter started to get less fun, I found myself wanting to get back into owning my own content. I saw Manton’s kickstarter for micro.blog and it really was the answer I was looking for.

Where are we?

With Micro.blog, I got the following:

• Hosting for my blog where I didn’t have to worry about the the technical infrastructure
• Web and iOS clients to make my posts
• Freedom to share it outside of micro.blog

I think the last point is really one of the things that I like about micro.blog. I make something and there isn’t a pull to make you part of the service. Either with cross posting or RSS, I’m confident that my message goes out there. Whether it’s my media reviews, pictures of my dog, or asinine comments, I share them on my blog an in The Timeline.

The micro.blog timeline shows the last 40 to 50 entries from different accounts that you are following and allows you to respond quickly if you choose. The people that you choose to follow is the thing that engages you, not an algorithm designed to trick you into doomscrolling. The Timeline doesn’t do reblogging, retweeting, or boosts. Much like time itself, it’s ephemeral. The content is there as a snapshot in time and you are more than welcome to explore more of the authors content on their respective sites.

Though, The Timeline is not perfect.

I’ve been on the service for years and I sometimes don’t know or remember what content shows up in the timeline. For example, if I want to share a link, I have to decide on whether I share just the link, text around the link, whether I should use the title of the page being linked or my own title because all of these could show up different in The Timeline.

First world problem.

Where are we going with this?

We live in a world where sometimes 180 to 300 words don’t really convey what we want to say. For some of us, we’d like to share a little more. This works for our personal blogs, but it seems as if some of us want more. And it seems as if there is some change coming to the service.

Great points in this conversation about how Micro.blog handles longer blog posts with titles. Maybe the time has come for a change here. I’ve never wanted Micro.blog’s timeline to be a bunch of summaries and “read more” links, but right now we should be encouraging longer posts, not relegating them.

I’ve had some time to think about what I would enjoy as a way to have more longform in The Timeline.

• Make it clear that the Number 1 priority for The Timeline is for the readers.
  NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T is more than just a clickbaity title. I love reading things from my friends such as @JohnPhilpin and @lmika, but I would rather see their longer pieces on their own websites or in my RSS reader. If I’m reading The Timeline, I want to see as many things from my friends before I get back to pretending to work.
• Make it so that the rules are clear
  When the change happens, have the rules next to the post text area. There should be directions to get help either on the page or a link to where the directions are.
• Allow for image previews
  If you do a book review, a small preview of the book cover becomes available. This could be a long term goal to include something like that for those who add images to their posts.

If you liked The Suicide Squad, then you'll probably like this one as well. It's a similar premise and it's not trying to hide it. You could even say that's the point of it, and that's ok.

I don’t need everything that I watch be a completely new idea. Sometimes, there is a comfort in having a similar narrative.

But, I feel this one has a less satisfying ending.

In this one, we have damaged people causing damage.

Some plot lines end with little fanfare and the ones that really pull at my heartstrings end with nothing really changing the status quo.

And, I feel that’s saddest part for me.

Overview

Follow the exploits of the Creature Commandos, a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails... they're your last, worst option.

Back in December, I wrote a post about becoming more intentional in my day-to-day life. Sadly, I didn’t specify how I was going to go about it.

I made a couple of changes, but overall, I’m still finding myself getting into the same habits.

Thankfully, it’s never too late to start (or in this case restart) something new.

Here are the Actions that I’m going to do to get things in order.

Mornings:

1. Wake up and stretch
2. Drink a glass of water
3. Write about what I’m grateful for and excited by for that day
4. Begin the other morning routines

Throughout the day:

1. Checkin on what I’m doing. Am I doing what I set out to do?

Evening:

1. Review my wins
2. Prepare for the next day
3. Relax

It was a cold that night in December when we decided that we’d ring in the new year by watching movies and eating store bought frozen pizza. 2024 had been a year with a lot of ups and down and we just wanted to have something that would make us laugh.

Just something that we wouldn’t mind talking over or missing a moment because it’s would be vital to the plot.

This was the movie we chose and I’m happy that I did.

In between the crass jokes - some that are timeless and others that show that they are of a different time¹ - I found a couple messages that I could really get behind. Messages about being the best person that you can be, accepting others for who they are, and that relationships are something you shouldn’t take for granted.

Overview

Not only is Jessica Spencer the most popular girl in school -- she is also the meanest. But things change for the attractive teen when a freak accident involving a cursed pair of earrings and a chance encounter at a gas station causes her to switch bodies with Clive, a sleazy crook. Jessica, in the form of the repulsive Clive, struggles to adjust to this radical alteration and sets out to get her own body back before the upcoming prom.

One thing of note was I was watching it with my teenage daughters and fighting the urge to constantly explain that it was made at a different time!. But, I think that feeling is overblown. I’m sure this isn’t the first time that they heard a dirty joke and probably not the only time. If anything, I was probably the only one who felt uncomfortable.

I really wanted to focus on doing more blogging on my blog. Looking back at the 416 posts from last year, I feel that I did it.

One of my proudest accomplishments was writing a response to all the 50 blog prompts by Lou Plummer. I had originally attempted to do one every day, but I didn’t have a regular writing habit so it didn’t take much for life to get in the way of doing it. It wasn’t until September/November that I really got serious about making this a goal.

I really enjoyed the prompts because it allowed me to write and think about things that I normally wouldn’t put on my blog. It also doubled as a conversation starter with my family.

One draw back about my approach of attempting to finish this by a deadline is that I didn’t give myself and readers to a chance to discuss different topics. For example, someone might respond to a prompt and I wouldn’t see it because I was so focused on a prompt that came later. I feel, that I could probably come back to different prompts to see if I feel the same way about them.

Another thing that I can attribute to doing more posting, is that I’m not as stressed about typos and grammar. I’m still feeling friction when it comes to the writing process, but I don’t agonize over trying to make things perfect. I’m in the mindset that writing more will make me a better writer versus the sitting in the draft folder and not doing anything to it.

Making new friends

I started going to IndieWeb meet ups infrequently last year and I feel that’s helped me increase the functionality of the website and give me a place to be social. Mark and James are great hosts and the time seems to fly by.

I also started to interact with Leon quite a bit. He’s got a lot of cool stuff going on.

Somethings that didn’t go as plan

I attempted to start a weekly podcast, but didn’t actually schedule the time to plan, record, and edit it.

I’ll probably make another attempt with this later this year, but it’s not a priority compared to other things in my life. Sometimes, it’s important to say no to things so that you can work on the things that are important.

What do I want to do on the blog this year?

I want to continue responding to more prompts and making my site something that I would like to read on the internet. I looked into different sites that offer a daily prompt, but I think I’ll stick to responding to different topics that I see pop up from people writing on the internet.

I’d also like to work on a longer piece of writing that is not related to changes on my blog or writing about writing. My longest post is about me debating on whether I should use popovers for footnotes. I’m proud of the writing and the journey it took to make it, but I want to have other things too.

I have been looking for this link for a very long time! I thought it was taken down for whatever reason and kept kicking myself for not saving it. I think it's a very good read as we start a new year

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50. Write about a news event from when you were still in school and how it made you feel.

One news event that I haven't written about is the California Energy Crisis of 2000. It marked the first time that I heard the word deregulation and will always have negative connotations for me.

For me, I didn’t suffer too much as the occasional blackout only inconvienced me. For some, such as people connected to devices that needed constant power or were hit with rates that lead to financial instability, it was devastating.

In addition, it lead to a recall of the governor that lead to an absolute joke of a political race that still echos to this day.

49. Do you have a set of rules or guidelines for your life? Did you write them? Why do you use them?

One of the key guidelines that I’ve set for myself is that I treat people the way that I want to be treated. People should be treated with the respect and dignity of being a human being and an understanding that you will not know what their story in life is.

I know at one point it time, I wrote down a series of principles that I’ like to strive for in my day to day life. Unfortunately, it’s in a folder somewhere that I can’t find. I think I should start scheduling time to go over these things in the future.

I’m also getting back into using themes in my life and recently [wrote about my desire to be more intentional.](Intention - Mandaris) How am I going to go about that? I haven’t quite planned, I have the concepts of a plan.