Herbert Ross – Steel Magnolias (1989)

I have been waiting forever for Steel Magnolias to show up on Bluray. It did finally without any real notice but I have one of only 3000 copies Twilight Time was able to license away from the big name studio who does not want to make their own Bluray but they do not want anyone else making money off of it either. Honestly, if you want this movie on Bluray you will need to remember this cover and go scour the internet for it because it is sold out most places by now which sucks. That is how god awful broken our present system is thanks to the greed of the insane and I have a feeling it is gonna all fall down and go boom real soon and it won’t be pretty.

Gillian Freeman ~ The Leather Boys (1961)

There is a very British Kitchen Sink Drama for this from 1964 but as usual the movie is reported to be not anywhere near as good as the book which you can get on Kindle.

Roger Zelazny ~ The Great Book Of Amber (1970 – 1991)

A one shot deal with this volume which has all 10 of the original books of the series in one binding. The first 5 books written in the 70s are among my favorite. To describe it sort of James Bond type hero with Andre Norton (meet Philip K Dick in a dark alley) while a whole Game Of Thrones deal goes on in the background. Hard edge Sci-Fi Fantasy with lots and lots of contemporary political double dealing mixed with “time travel” and lots of swords and sorcery and then journeying through the strange shadow which is surrealistic to say the least. I think of it as a really cool twirling kaleidoscope of a Sci-Fi Fantasy that is hard to pin down and explain to people.

*I do not know what is going on over at Amazon but I got this thing on Kindle yesterday and today the Kindle link is not working. So if you want all the Amber books on Kindle keep an eye on this one because it may go live anytime now.

People are coming out of the woodwork over the whole MZB wank that she abused her daughter.

Now first off my background on this crap…

You do realize little boys get abused too right?

I was sexually abused by an aunt and an uncle and when I heard a discussion going on in the family about one of my female cousins claiming that same uncle did it again I came forward and supported her claim and gave a full description of what he had done to me. Did that stop me spending years feeling like it was my fault… blah blah blah… NOPE. I went through all kinds of emotional shit and suicidal crap. I eventually got over it all despite how uncomfortable my addressing the issue out loud in the family went over… well sorta he died recently and I had to explain to my father and I am 50 years old mind you… like hell I was showing up for the funeral and remind him of the issues I experienced in that relationship.

My point still is you show strength of character by confronting the person while they are alive while the issue is kinda appropriate to the matter of how you deal with that person. You are explaining your actions to those you care about because there are real honest to god reasons for not including that person in anything involving you or other younger kids in the family. You get healing from confronting “the secret” head on in public facing whatever excuses or attacks from the accused in a direct and open fashion or as in my case with the added bonus of uncomfortable silence of your family to the news.

You are pretty much creating drama after the fact in my opinion if you wait for them to die before saying anything publicly like it was some after thought that really did not matter that much to you.

I also stated…

I saw Mommy Dearest too. That does not mean I bought a damn minute of the thing as truth since the daughter waited till Joan was dead and buried to say anything.

You do not have to like or feel comfortable with anything I said. I stated the facts about myself and my background in dealing with this shit and why I felt the way I did about Moira’s actions.

Now let’s go over the court documents everyone is so quick to point to and nod their head and say YEP MZB didz it! Uh huh Uh huh, Durrrrr…

Actually read this shit people!

Let’s reprint one piece of information in particular concerning Moira Greyland and what she has told folks in the past…

Q. Could you please tell me what Moira Breen told you about her belief that she had been a victim of satanic ritual abuse? (Moira Breen is Moira Greyland by the way.)

A. She said that some men in white robes tied her up and hung her on the wall and poured hot coffee on her and spilled, I think, spilled hot wax on her skin and killed a baby in front of her and killed a grown-up in front of her and gave her something to eat and told her — something to eat — some funny meat and told her it was her baby brother, and she has never had a baby brother. She said a lot of stuff, and none of it made sense.

Now this is a third party discussing what she had been told directly while being employed by the family. This is a “stranger” not a family member being told this crap and from the sum total of her testimony it sounds to me like she was used to hearing some pretty crazy shit come out of all their mouths to the point of being jaded. This is what was written and sworn to in a court of law while the lawyers were digging for the juiciest bits. Just remember you never saw the other full grown adults like Patrick on that hot seat saying yeah mom raped him and you never saw Moira anywhere near that court room they remained silent. If you want to stop a person you claim to be a monster you do not run and hide or aid and abet them when this information you are claiming is “the truth” is being discussed publicly. Yes, I said “aid and abet” because if you honestly believe what that person did to you was wrong then you should not let them near other kids to fuck them up too or at least support the other victims claims at the bare minimum.

The thing is I for one do not buy into this being some evil plan to undermine Moira or her credibility years later. None of this testimony in regards to her comes across as malicious even just confused and annoyed. What she said to this lady as an adult and what this lady thought of all of it and her actions are all there in writing from years ago. All the parties were still very much alive, all the parties were fully adult, no wills had been read yet, everyone had a lawyer and this was an appropriate forum to have their say on the matter.

So no, the actions and the story are not new or consistent or believable to me in my opinion or I am sure the lawyers fully aware of what was being said in private in 1999 by whoever discussed this would have gone to court over it already and that is just the way it is. I do think we may have found a family more fucked up than my own and that is damn hard to do.

Nest Learning Thermostat

Look at what I got! Neener Neener Neener!

It’s a SMART home thermostat that I the stupid pig that I am can control from my iPad ANYWHERE. I installed it all by myself too. I have all the mechanical abilities of a freaking goldfish but I could even figure out this thing enough to talk to the wonderful helpful folks at Nest on the phone.

Let’s go over some of the things the sales people will not tell you up front OK?

Teddypig’s ground rules for owning a Nest Learning Thermostat…

1) It’s expensive yo! 250 big ones for a fucking home thermostat! There is no getting around this… You got to want this thing to save you money on your energy bill and make running your heating and cooling system a godsend of touch screen easy-peasy techno weenie living. Then you are going to pay for that privilege got it?

2) Before even looking at a Nest ask yourself one simple question… Do you have a home wifi system? If the answer is NO you do not get to have a Nest. Do not pass go, do not collect 250. Done!

3) OK, now go to your old home thermostat. Unhook that sucker from the wall and look for any wire or connection labeled 110V… if you see one run! Run for the god damn hills! Call your local heating and cooling guy and get a new everything installed in your home and while he’s at it have him install the damn Nest in a system that will not kill the Nest or you for that matter.

110V systems are ancient and must be destroyed before they burn the house down to the ground and you right along with it. Also, have you thought about changing your hair color…

4) Last big issue. While you got that old thermostat unhooked count the number of wires. Yeah, count em. If your have more than four go get any information on what is installed in your home. I mean get ALL the information… we are talking brand, build, serial numbers, is it a Heat Pump, is it a Trane, could it be a Humidifier on and on and on. You get the hint.

If you have four wires attached to your Thermostat then all the documentation on the Nest Website was made for you and you alone. The video along with the documentation is plainly about installing a four wire system. If you have a Heat Pump with 6 wires like I did you need to call them when you get the Nest with all that information I just told you to get and get ready to figure out how to wire it in with their help. I did it so it’s not impossible but you are gonna be experimenting. I had to call back twice because the air conditioning could not turn the fan on. Rearranging 6 wires in that little Nest back plate is a bitch I tell you.

I am telling you all this to just be prepared for some of the more obvious problems but remember… I am a complete idiot and you can probably do all this without a net.

So how do I like my Nest?

The unit itself is superb. The controls are crystal clear and the setup reminds me of setting up an Apple iPhone or iPad. They are that slick.

Some of the automated settings suck ass but this thing lets you turn them the fuck off À la carte. The “auto-scheduling”‘ feature comes to mind as being one of the things I turned the hell off the minute I figured out it was changing my settings while I was still in the house. They need to really rethink the calendar on that one, what the function is supposed to do next to how you are supposed to interact with it and the algorithm… Because WTF was that all about? They forgot important things like where is the god damned fan controls on my iPad app people? Stupid programmers! But that’s just some rough edges they can reprogram at will. Remember the wifi thingy the Nest requires you to have? Yes, this freaky smart deallio updates it’s software, checks the local weather report, and probably talks directly to the NSA about your nasty habits every day come rain or shine.

The quick summary is yes, I firmly believe the Nest is worth 250 big ones. It’s the best Apple iPad app I got because it does things. Real things, in my house.

Bubblegum Crisis Ultimate Edition (Blu Ray)

AnimEigo is going to be putting out this new Bubblegum Crisis set for Blu Ray sometime this year. You can still get into the Kickstarter to reserve your own copy of this great anime TV series if you want to.

It will probably be super limited if not impossible to find on store shelves after it hits knowing how the eBay trolls love to buy this shit up fast.

Hurry, you have been warned.