Month: March 2026

I wanted to love the film adaptation of “Project Hail Mary,” and it seems many have, some even uh, hailing it as a potential “Best Picture” candidate. It was a Larry David-esque “meh” for me. Andy Weir’s book was gripping, and like his previous effort, “The Martian,” full of well-documented science that made the plot possi… check that. Plausible. The book depicts a threat to Earth as a mysterious substance consumes our sun (and most other stars), denying its life-giving light to all on our spinning rock. Sounds serious, right?

The novel goes on to describe the global efforts to address the issue, culminating in Project Hail Mary, a mission to discover why one particular star seems immune to the cosmic blight. Once our human protagonist, Ryland Grace (well played by Ryan Gosling), enters the neighborhood of the vaccinated star, he discovers a neighbor. The book goes on to describe the eventual meeting of Grace and the stony alien across the space street, and does so with the trepidation one might expect when encountering a strange new lifeform. Then I recall a detailed description of the process Grace went through so the two could communicate. For me, it was an engrossing page turner of discovery.

Contrast to the film, Grace weightlessly navigates the tunnel between ships provided by his faceless neighbor, is briefly startled when he sees the moving pile of rocks, quickly does a little dance to display non-agression, then types a few keystrokes into a laptop so he and his new pal, “Rocky” can begin an R2D2 – C3PO schtick for the next two hours.

The film was visually beautiful, and Mr. Gossling’s hair was perfectly tousled in nearly every scene, but the pacing was too slow for one lacking the scientific content of the book, and too much of the effort seemed to be on making “Rocky” marketable as a toy. And it is. There’s also a cool LEGO set of the ship.

The highlight of “Project Hail Mary” for me happened on the dying Earth, the night before the launch, when mission head Eva Stratt (played by Sandra Hüller) sings a somber version of Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” during a going-away karaoke party for the crew. The scene was perfect, capturing the heaviness of the moment.

Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying, it’ll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here

I guess I like my space epics with gravity. “Interstellar,” “Contact,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Apollo 13,” “Arrival,” “The Martian,” and even “Gravity.” Speaking of George Clooney, “Solaris” was good, but the original 1972 Russian version is supposedly better. And while I’m fine with the comedy sprinkled into the original “Star Wars” trilogy, I didn’t finish “Galaxy Quest,” “Mars Attacks,” or “Spaceballs.” I don’t know. For me, space is serious. Now get that Millennium Falcon off of my lawn.

While watching the Oscars last night, I noted this was nominated for Best Animated Short Film. The show also piqued my interest in seeing some of the nominated films. To date, the only films I’ve seen that were nominated for anything are “Frankenstein” and “Zootopia 2.” I recommend both. Now on the list are “Sinners,” “Bugonia” (Emma Stone is a force.), “Hamnet,” and “One Battle After Another.”

The awards made me think it would be good for us to get off our phones for a couple of hours and into a movie theater with some popcorn. I’ll start on Friday with “Project Hail Mary.” The Andy Weir book was fantastic, and the previews look amazing.

Reminder: AI slop is in royal blue. The rest is original slop.

The saying “The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master” is an old proverb, likely Asian in origin, popularized in the West by authors like Robin Sharma, who used it in The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, and David Foster Wallace, who referenced it in his works, highlighting the idea of using your mind as a tool for problem-solving (servant) rather than being controlled by anxious thoughts and ego (master).

Consider how much thought goes through your mind in 24 hours. I’m talking conscious thought, not all the subconscious processing that keeps our heart beating, our lungs absorbing, and our kidneys and livers filtering. You know, when do I start the pasta so that it’s ready when the chicken parm and zucchini are?

Or why is the Leominster coffee shop so packed that I have to drive across town to the one in Lunenburg?

Or does the difficulty of my first bike ride of the season portend some overall decline of aging or just an early-season shake-off the winter rust struggle?

Or how badly will Trump and his band of incompetents fuck up this situation in the Middle East?

Or how will this chaos impact my retirement investments?

Or is this a time to buy, hold, or sell?

Or how high will oil and gas prices go, and what will the impact be to our overall economy?

Or with DHS/TSA staffing limited due to yet another government shutdown, how long will the security lines be for our flight to Arizona?

Or what will the crowds be like in Sedona?

Or are there really bedbugs in that Grand Canyon hotel?

Or will we get any more snow this season?

Or why don’t they plow the Nashua River Rail Trail like they do the Twin Cities Rail Trail?

Or when is Eliza going to start talking? I know that kid has a lot to say.

Or will there be more layoffs at UKG, and will people I care about be impacted?

Or when is Congress going to fix Social Security? In 2026, the maximum earnings subject to Social Security taxes (the wage base limit) is $ 184,500, so once a person earns that amount, they stop paying into Social Security for the year. For example, it’s estimated that Elon Musk makes $600,000,000 (six-hundred million) a day, so at that rate, it would take Elon approximately 26.57 seconds to earn $184,500. At that point, not 30 seconds past midnight on New Year’s Day, Elon stops contributing to Social Security.

Or will this Weiman glass cooktop cleaner work? Do I need the scouring pad? (Yes and yes)

Or what’s the best deal for me to purchase yoga classes, and will I ever be able to do a Happy Baby pose?

Or is this Costco membership going to be worth it, and what’s their best olive oil?

Or do I have any regrets? That will be the subject of a future post.

Or how the hell would anyone find their way back to Earth from some other galaxy? It’s not like there’s GPS or gas stations to stop and ask.

A: Not easily.
Finding your way back to Earth from another galaxy is practically impossible with current technology, requiring millions of years to travel millions of light-years. Theoretical navigation would require mapping intergalactic, multi-directional gravity forces or using technologies like pulsars and black holes as landmarks, likely necessitating physics beyond our current understanding.

Please note: AI slop is in royal blue. The rest is original slop.

An “earworm,” or Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI), is a song snippet that plays on a loop in your head, often triggered by stress, fatigue, or hearing a familiar tune.

For mine, I blame Alysa Liu. To cap off her win of the Women’s Singles Olympic Gold Medal in Figure Skating, the 20-year-old wowed the crowd in Milan, skating her long program to Donna Summer’s rendition of MacArthur Park. It’s been stuck in my head since, and the performance was on February 19th. I do hope you got to see Ms. Liu’s performance. She killed it, and in case you can’t read lips, that’s what the fuck she was talking about.

For the record, what’s on loop in my head is the Richard Harris version from 1968. That’s when the earworm was first embedded. It’s been lying in wait since. I host many dormant earworms from those days. My mom always had WRKO-AM playing Top 40 in the house, and it was the soundtrack to long summer days at Revere Beach in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

While cooking on a random night this week, the earworm took over my body, and I involuntarily belted out a bit of the chorus like a person with Tourette’s syndrome, then turned to my wife sitting at the island behind me and blurted, ‘Who left the cake out in the rain? Isn’t “someone” a little vague?’ She shook her head at my INMI-induced tic. “It’s just a metaphor.” She went back to her crocheting, but only after correcting my lyrical misinterpretation. “And it’s sweet green icing, not sweet cream icing.”

“Whatever. It’s cream to me.”

To stop them, try chewing gum, listening to the full song, or distraction.

When to Seek Help
While typically harmless, if the music is exceptionally persistent, distressing, and interferes with daily life, it could be associated with OCD or require consultation with a mental health professional.

I don’t (yet) need help from a mental health professional for this particular bout of earwormitis, but it was written by American songwriter, composer, and singer Jimmy Webb. <- Seriously, check him out. He composed many an earworm. In 1967, Webb wrote “MacArthur Park”; the inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with Susie Horton. The breakup was also the primary influence for his 1965 composition “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”.

Speaking of Phoenix, Beth and I will celebrate our first post-retirement vacation starting there, starting soon. My girl has never seen the Grand Canyon, been to Sedona, or experienced the sets of my many University of Arizona yarns. Like that time we drove from Tucson to Boulder, Colorado, to see the Stones… I mean, she’s listening while she crochets, right?