It’s been my experience that one of the best experiences one can have with art is to find a great piece of it before you know too much about it. There’s so much commentary, especially about movies — review shows, reviews, talk shows with clips, internet content, all of it. Don’t get me started on interviews with actors, etc., where SPOILER ALERT appears literally one word before the spoiler.
So, with all that said, I won’t spoil anything, or tell you too much, or anything at all. Just go see “One Battle After Another” and thank me later.
That was the highlight of the weekend, which was, as usual, filled with chores and, this weekend, yet another summer weekend — temps in the 80s. It won’t last past Monday, and I guess I should be sad, but I’m ready for fall.
And with that, I’ve kind of emptied my already shallow bin. Let’s try for better later this week.
Jeff Gill said on October 5, 2025 at 10:49 pm
Went to spend time with my mother, which I’m trying to do every two weeks, thereabouts. It’s getting stranger & sadder & weirder as her cognitive decline picks up speed. Where this situation will end up . . . no idea. I see so many different arcs of this sort of endgame. But eight hours of driving in a day is something I’m getting increasingly less able to handle well.
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Julie Robinson said on October 6, 2025 at 8:31 am
JeffG, I can so relate to that. Stranger, sadder, weirder. You mourn even as you pray for the end. My sympathies.
Also, for anyone else facing loved ones with grim diagnoses, I highly recommend Unexpected Journey by Emma Hemming Willis. This isn’t just the sad story of a celebrity wife, but a pathway forward. She’s got practical advice from experts, based on sound research. I listened to the audiobook as per usual, but I’m buying it in print too.
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Jeff Gill said on October 6, 2025 at 10:04 am
Sherri, on Pete and Ranger status, there’s an eight week assessment and selection program before you get tapped for Ranger School itself; in general, it’s said RASP is just over 50% attrition, while Ranger training just under that. The Army tends to not make the fact a person has tried & wasn’t successful public information, and folks avoid talking about it. In part, that’s because quite a few take multiple tries at it, and there’s no shame to trying three times and getting your tab the third time (but if you nail both first go ’round it’s certainly to your credit).
Some years back, in a staff training event, I talked about the power of failure, and was candid about my struggles and injury at OCS. Afterwards, a team leader I knew had been in the Navy beelined up to me. He had tried for SEALs twice, didn’t get past BUD/S each time. When you know their pass rate is about 20%, it stands to reason that among Navy men you’re often talking to people who’ve tried for SEALs and didn’t make it. This guy unpacked a lot of stuff with me over our next few conversations, because he had never talked about it with anyone before, and he needed to.
So did Pete take a shot at Ranger School? He might have tried RASP & not gotten through (for an assortment of reasons), or he could have gone on but not finished the full program as many do not. With an emphasis in Civil Affairs, if I understand his service record correctly, it might have been hard for him to get a slot anyhow. Of course, none of the above is meant to defend Sec. Hegseth, whose overall competency (& stability) is obviously questionable.
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Icarus said on October 6, 2025 at 11:05 am
If anyone is really bored, you can look at pictures of the Bathroom Remodel project here. Thanks to everyone who provided ideas and things to consider before we started. While I couldn’t incorporate everything suggested, it was still a big help.
i should add that I am temporarily employed and hoping to last long enough to make a dent in the HELOC this baby required.
https://www.mysteries-of-life.com/2025/10/bathroom-renovation-project-finished.html
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Suzanne said on October 6, 2025 at 11:17 am
Jeff, my mother is nearby us but spending time with her is increasingly difficult, not because of dementia or Alzheimer’s or any other debilitating disease but because she is, at 90, incredibly healthy but has no motivation to move and keep going. She has no heart disease, no arthritis, no lung issues. She broke a hip almost 5 years ago and had it fixed but has never fully recovered because she simply won’t do PT without a therapist standing over her making her do so. We have bought her resistance bands, a chair peddler, and made sure she had the papers with PT exercises she was given within reach, but will she make use of any of these? No. She says it makes her tired and sore. She is weak because she basically sits in a recliner most of the day and watches tv. She moved into an assisted living facility a year ago but complains it’s too far to the dining room and the meat is tough and the chairs outside are uncomfortable so she can’t sit out there on a pleasant day.
It honestly angers me to distraction to see her with no appreciation of her blessing of good health after I nearly died from cancer and my brother has battled type 1 diabetes since he was a young adult. If I had to drive hours to see her, I don’t think I would.
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Jeff Gill said on October 6, 2025 at 11:25 am
To be candid, I go to visit with my sister, with whom our mother lived for 4.5 years, and since January has placed in memory care; my sister finds it very difficult to visit on her own, but guilty if she lets too long go . . . it is much better to visit as a pair for her. So it’s complicated. If it were just my mom? I’m not sure how often I’d go; she doesn’t know who I am, but occasionally thinks I’m a childhood buddy from the 1940s, so I ring some kind of bell, or did. Words are not connecting at all anymore, except in erratic bursts.
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JodiP said on October 6, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Icarus,thanks for the bathroom remodeled update! It turned out beautifully. I really enjoy before and after remodel pictures.
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Sherri said on October 6, 2025 at 1:28 pm
There’s no shame in failing Ranger school, I agree, unless you’re defining yourself as the epitome of warrior ethos and physical readiness, as Pete does. (Though I would have been embarrassed to put those chin-ups on video, were I him.)
And Pete was in the National Guard, where it’s harder to get a slot to Ranger School. Still, his bio says he volunteered as an infantry officer for the 101st in the Iraq War, but didn’t go to Air Assault school. It was once he got his CIB that he switched to Civil Affairs.
I don’t see a warrior, I see a guy trying to get the “right” things for a potential run for office in the future.
If Pete weren’t in a position to do so much damage, I’d feel sorry for him. He clearly has serious issues about masculinity, among other things.
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Julie Robinson said on October 6, 2025 at 1:59 pm
Nicely done, Icarus! I too love before and after. Ours looked almost as bad as yours before, and the difference is night and day. You went with a couple of modern touches–black fixtures and lights within mirrors–that we debated long and hard about. Eventually we played it pretty safe on both of them. So I’ll be curious down the line how they work out for you.
Suzanne, you’ve described my mom’s approach to movement to a T. She moans about feeling weak and struggles to get out of chairs, but will she do the most rudimentary of movements/PT/exercises? She will not. And I’ve given up trying, but once again, she’s a marvelous role model for what not to do.
We’ve been having gray and rainy days because of the storms out in the Atlantic. I’d almost forgotten that when I don’t have sun for three days, I get lethargic and start craving carbs. I pray I never have to live another winter like that.
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Sherri said on October 6, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Walter Cronkite is well and truly dead: Bari Weiss is now “editor-in-chief”, whatever that is, of CBS News.
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john (not mccain) said on October 6, 2025 at 3:14 pm
Went to see a movie (One Battle After Another) in a theater for the first time since Star Is Born. Can someone tell me its unusual for the commercials to start 15 minutes after the showtime, and the movie to start 45 minutes after that? If not, it will probably be the last movie I see in a theater.
Great movie, though. First bit was a little rushed, but after the story is set up it’s riveting. Loved the little Taraninoesque bit (“THIS IS WHAT BLACK POWER LOOKS LIKE”). Feels like a mid 70s flick and one perfect for the Current Situation at the same time.
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Dexter Friend said on October 6, 2025 at 5:18 pm
I just returned from getting Covid19 + extra-strength flu vaccines at the Toledo CBOT (V.A.)
I then drove to Kapnick’s Orchard south of Tecumseh, Michigan and bought Jonathans, Cortlands, pears, cider, and a banana/walnut mini-loaf. I logged 106 miles in the ancient Honda Odyssey. The mechanics in Butler, Indiana fixed it right last January.
I wanted to be sure to go today, as yeah, rain tomorrow, then Fall arrives physically on Wednesday.
I bought a humdinger of a coffee mug at the Starbucks hut inside the V.A.
It is pretty damn fancy, made in Thailand, great U.S. Army decor. Huge handle which I like.
SEALS…in WWII they were Frogmen, and in some circles they are still Frogmen, but they preceded SEALS, and Frogmen were basically created to blow stuff up with underwater explosives. They also saved my great work-buddy, Tom. Tom was a swabbie on a ship in The Mediterranean in 1958. Moribund intentionally, waiting for orders, the sailors went swimming. Tom could swim, but he was of slight frame and not very strong, and he began drifting away from the ship. Yelling began, and lickety-split, some Frogmen went after Tom and rescued him. Tom , now long gone, told me that story over Budweisers at Cricket’s Bar in Auburn, and I remember everything.
And, well, to hell with he-man , all masculine beers anymore. Lightweight Michelob Ultra is now #1 in the U.S.A. in beer sales. If Otto, the last brewmaster at the old Falstaff Brewery in Fort Wayne, the old German man who resurrected Haffenreffer 40-some years ago because he wanted people to know what real beer tastes like, if Otto was alive to witness that thin pisswater ascend to the top, he’d jump in a vat and drown himself.
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Colleen said on October 6, 2025 at 5:21 pm
Suzanne, you have described my husband. He is significantly older than I am, but he has really gotten old over the past year. Sits all day and has mobility issues. I got him a chair yoga book…he doesn’t do the exercises. I am growing frustrated with his lack of motivation. Ya gotta use it or lose it!
I, on the other hand, am taking yoga so I can continue to get up off the floor…
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Jeff Gill said on October 6, 2025 at 5:55 pm
Sherri, I think your assessment of Hegseth’s billet selections is spot on. I’d just leave the door open to his having tried RASP & did not complete. In the spirit of full disclosure, I really would love to know his thoughts as he watched Trump speak to the room after him. The fact that he never considered that Trump would want to speak at such a gathering once called, as it’s pretty clear Hegseth didn’t tell the boss about it in advance, speaks volumes about his overall cluelessness and lack of administrative experience or skill. Of course Trump demanded to be put on the agenda, and at the end; if anything constructive had come out of Hegseth’s speech, it would have been washed down the drain by that tragic & pathetic display following it. No amount of pancake can cover the obvious issues with Trump, but Hegseth is a dry drunk with narcissism issues, who looks to be heading towards the same ditches Giuliani keeps driving himself into. Or Lonesome Rhodes…
“Suppose I tell you exactly what’s going to happen to you? You’ll be back on television… only it won’t be quite the same as it was before. There’ll be a reasonable cooling-off period, And then somebody will say… ‘Why don’t we try him again in an inexpensive format? People’s memories aren’t too long.’
And you know, in a way, he’ll be right. Some of the people will forget, and some of them won’t. Oh, you’ll have a show. Maybe not the best hour, or top ten. Maybe not even in the top thirty-five… But you’ll have a show. It just won’t be quite the same as it was before.
Then a couple of new fellas will come along… and pretty soon a lot of your fans will be flocking around them. And then, one day, someone will ask ‘Whatever happened to… what’s his name? You know, the one who was so big… the number one fella a couple of years ago. He was famous. How can we forget a name like that? By the way, have you seen, uh, Barry Mills? I think he’s the greatest thing since Will Rogers.'”
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Sherri said on October 6, 2025 at 6:24 pm
What made me think that about Hegseth was his pulling strings to get assigned as an infantry officer with the 101st, but not going to Air Assault school. That said to me that he was looking for a CIB with a cool unit, but not interested in doing the work. My understanding is that it is the expectation that combat arms of the 101st all go to Air Assault school.
Not a military expert by any means, just someone who still barely notices helicopters in the vicinity because helicopters were always in the vicinity where I was growing up near Fort Campbell, home of the 101st.
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Julie Robinson said on October 6, 2025 at 6:48 pm
Colleen, we just had another talk with Mom about this. She’s now scared of the step down from the living room to the lanai, even though we had a grab bar installed.
And this is where I put in my recommendation for a personal trainer. When you’re spending money, you show up, and if you’ve shown up, you might as well do the work. Of course, it’s not inexpensive, but neither is a fall/hospitalization/rehab.
Apparently I have enough Indiana ties that Beau Bayh’s face is all over my social media today. He’s modeling himself after his dad Evan, and starting his political career by running for Indiana Secretary of State. Wonder if he has more fire in his belly than dad did?
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Deborah said on October 6, 2025 at 6:48 pm
I saw a clip of the SNL open with Colin Jost playing Hegseth, it was hilarious, especially the way he came out and did a highly exaggerated aggressively masculine handshake and man hug with the guy who introduced him. The speech is funny too.
I still have my weird long covid lightheadedness and brain fog, this could go on for a while, it’s been three weeks so far. I’m either getting used to being slightly dizzy all the time or it’s improving a little.
Oh and Icarus, well done bathroom redo, big improvement from before, you made the right moves for the space. LB and I did a partial redo of the Santa Fe condo tiny bathroom about 10 years ago, by the seat of our pants. It was a great improvement but we had to watch a lot of you tube videos to figure out what we were doing. The ugly tub/shower was not part of our reno, looking forward to having that done by a someone else someday. Our tiny Chicago place bathroom could use a redo, but it’s not on the top of our list, just need to do some repairs. We gave up on getting someone to come in and do some stuff in our place in Chicago after the pandemic. It was impossible to find someone to commit to it and now it’s so much more expensive what with tariffs etc.
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alex said on October 7, 2025 at 8:36 am
Roy Edroso hits it out of the park today re: Bari Weiss.
https://edroso.substack.com/p/surprise-inspection
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Icarus said on October 7, 2025 at 10:33 am
thanks everyone for the feedback. This house was built in the late 80s early 90s and they used the same cabinets everywhere. We are jonesing to update the kitchen and the other bathroom next but I want to wait until we pay down this HELOC.
Julie Robinson @9: yeah the vanity has built in lights that are apparently radar triggered. They almost never turn off. My contractor had already installed ceiling lights that have a night-light mode so it is overkill but it will probably look cool to someone just viewing the house and considering buying it.
the good news is I have a new contract gig. The bad news is that it’s not quite what I expected. I like the team but the Mother Company is fly-by-night cheap. Hopefully I can stick it out long enough to pay off this loan and update my dormant skillset.
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Sherri said on October 7, 2025 at 2:47 pm
I see the lack of reaction to Trump calling his opponents the enemy within, thugs, evil, etc., and I can only conclude that Hillary’s mistake was in only using deplorables once.
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Sherri said on October 7, 2025 at 6:13 pm
You know, I’d be fine with Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize if it meant that he’d stop sending troops into blue cities.
I mean, Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, so it’s already been awarded to a war criminal.
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Sherri said on October 7, 2025 at 7:37 pm
This is a long, deeply strange article about Peter Thiel and his current obsession with the AntiChrist. Were he not a billionaire with incredible influence and a company (Palantir) that is basically a panopticon, it would be easy to dismiss him as a crank. But when he has the means at his disposal to implement his crazy theology/philosophy, he can’t be dismissed.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-real-stakes-real-story-peter-thiels-antichrist-obsession/
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Jeff Gill said on October 7, 2025 at 11:09 pm
Well, this is fascinating. A photog got a shot of one of Pam Bondi’s folders as she tried to counterpunch her way through the Senate Judiciary hearing:
https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1975725861023457595/photo/1
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basset said on October 8, 2025 at 1:25 am
Looks like “One Battle…” is not going over too well:
https://m.imdb.com/news/ni65499634/?
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Deborah said on October 8, 2025 at 3:45 am
I can’t read it Jeff G. What does it say?
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