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[bimothecurious]

Not really sure what to write about in times like these

Currently reading: China Miéville, Embassytown

Currently watching: ST: The Next Generation (re-watch, by now progressed to season 6) ST: Picard, season 2 ST: Discovery, season 4

[bimothecurious]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A happy and safe Christmas to everyone! I figured in times like these we all might need a bit of "magic" :-)

[bimothecurious]

Happy Halloween! (I thought I should share...)

I just wanted to share the playlist that Deary!husband and I have created for this year’s Halloween! A Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates! :-)

Bimo

The X-Files Theme (Main Title: Materia Primoris) The X-Files Theme 03:21

Sunrise Uriah Heep, The Magician’s Birthday 04:20

Hide and Seek The White Buffalo, Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights [Explicit] 03:03

Time Warp Little Nell, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Original Soundtrack 03:19

I Put A Spell On You Nina Simone, I Put A Spell On You 02:35

Stairway to Heaven (Remaster) Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (Deluxe Edition) 08:02

Black Wings Tom Waits, Bone Machine 04:35

Sympathy For The Devil The Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks (1964-1971) 06:17

Highway to Hell AC/DC, Highway to Hell 03:28

Lady in Black Uriah Heep, Celebration 05:30

Where the Wild Roses Grow (2011 - Remaster) Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Murder Ballads (2011 Remastered Version) [Explicit] 03:57

Over at the Frankenstein Place Richard O'Brien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Original Soundtrack 02:45

The Nameless Murderess The Once, Departures 05:26

Black Wings Tom Waits, Bone Machine 04:35

Sympathy For The Devil The Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks (1964-1971) 06:17

Highway to Hell AC/DC, Highway to Hell 03:28

Lady in Black Uriah Heep, Celebration 05:30

Where the Wild Roses Grow (2011 - Remaster) Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Murder Ballads (2011 Remastered Version) [Explicit] 03:57

Over at the Frankenstein Place The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Original Soundtrack 02:45

The Nameless Murderess The Once, Departures 05:26

Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair Hugh Laurie, Didn't It Rain 05:26

See That My Grave Is Kept Clean B.B. King, One Kind Favor 04:48

Ghost Riders In The Sky Johnny Cash, Ze Best - Johnny Cash 03:47

Paint It, Black The Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks (1964-1971) 03:22

Ghostbusters (From ''Ghostbusters'') Ray Parker Jr., 80s 100 Hits 03:58

Bat Out of Hell Meat Loaf, Heaven & Hell 04:53

Personal Jesus Depeche Mode, The Best of Depeche Mode, Vol. 1 (Deluxe) [Explicit] 03:45

Red Right Hand (2011 Remastered Version) Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Red Right Hand (Theme from 'Peaky Blinders') 06:12

Vagabonds New Model Army, Thunder And Consolation 04:20 Bohemian Rhapsody (Remastered 2011) Queen, A Night At The Opera (2011 Remaster) 05:54

[bimothecurious]

Still out there :-)

Quite hard to believe that another year has gone by without any proper entry from me, when I’m actually doing fine (considering there’s a global pandemic going on) and reading and waching stuff just as usual. Albeit with a slightly nostalgic, comforting twist to it.

First a complete Babylon 5 rewatch, now ST:DS9. Oh, and lots of Doctor Who, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor, complete runs, before finally turning back to Ten and Donna. (No way on Earth I am going to watch any more Thirteenth Doctor episodes than I already have at this point, well except for the unlikely case Chris Chibnall should quit as a showrunner while Jodie Whittaker is still being around.)

As for books: Lots of them, yes. Mostly fiction from a variety of genres, the three most memorable novels probably  being Olga Tokarczuk’s  Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead  , Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Micaiah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds.

I guess that’s all for the moment.Greetings to everybody out there. :-) Take care!

[bimothecurious]

seen a lot of these with your favorites, but reblog with the CURRENT book you are reading, show you are streaming, the last movie you watched, and any game/puzzle/crafts you’re working on 

[bimothecurious]

So I turned 45 last Wednesday

Celebrating your 45th birthday at a time when the German federal state that you live in is also the federal state with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases (1041 so far, and rising) is a pretty strange experience, I can tell you. Filled with a kind of decisions I wouldn’t have dreamed of a month ago.

Deary!husband and I are, luckily, still young enough not to fall into any of the high risk groups; however it’s a different matter with our 75+ parents, especially with my father-in-law, who is terminally ill with colon cancer.

So we are thinking a lot about risk minimising measures these days, for example stuff like cancelling our reservation for the super-nice but also somewhat crowded Indian restaurant where we had originally wanted to take my own Dad on Saturday for a slightly belated birthday dinner. The restaurant owner, who is of the loveliest, helpful and most welcoming type you can imagine, is having a three course takeaway meal prepared for us now, so that we can enjoy at least part of what their sumptuous weekend buffet has to offer without having to consume our food in a room full of people.

Not that I believe contracting SARS-CoV-2 right at this point is all that likely, the case numbers even here in North-Rhine Westphalia are still too low for that. But what I believe in are the accumulated effects of people’s behaviour. Science, mathematics and expert projections. Everything coming down to the inconvenient, unpleasant fact that every decision with potential to slow down the virus’s spread is a good decision and a responsible one.

Thus I’m still rather torn about the Lichtburg Essen’s decision to have their great Star Trek: Wrath of Khan screening on March 11th take place exactly as scheduled. (The theatre usually holds 1250 people but apparently managed to keep the audience under 1000 by cancelling evening ticket sales and not putting any returned tickets back into sale.) William Shatner, in his late eighties now and still very much William Shatner as you know, love, or hate him, is touring Europe with Wrath of Khan at the moment. Movie screening followed by extensive Q&A stage program.

The film, with its opening scenes taking place on Kirk’s birthday, is a wonderful film to see on your own birthday. Especially if you are someone like me for whom Star Trek has been there all their lives. (One of my earliest conscious memories of watching TV is a Star Trek one, my Dad was watching, I was about three years old and sitting next to him on the sofa.)

Deary!husband and I had bought our tickets sometime last September, practically as soon as we had seen the event first announced. Very much looking foward to it and learning that, against all odds, Wrath of Khan would definitely take place, we decided to go (The ratio behind this being that it was just the two of us, and it would be several days before we would meet with any of our parents again.)

Wonderful evening, full of fun, excitement and the priceless experience of feeling like the Star Trek loving kid I once was all over again. But a lot of anxiety and scruples before and after.

To quote Mr. Spock: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Whatever you do, people,wherever you are, take care!

ETA: It has just been publicly announced that all North-Rhine Westphalian schools are going to be closed down until the end of the Easter holidays, which means no school until April 17th. We are living in interesting times...

[bimothecurious]

An awful lot of cooking

Our annual Burns Night supper, six guests, so altogether a group of eight. This year, Deary!Husband and I came up with the following menu:

My Heart is in the Highlands

~Traditional: The Skye Boat Song~

1st course: Traditional Cullen Skink

~Toast to the Lassies: Afton Water by Robert Burns~

2nd course: Black and white pudding and pan-fried scallops with pea and mint puree at the side.

~Traditional: Come by the Hills~

3rd course: Haggis with pumpkin, mixed vegetables and mash at the side

~Traditional: Loch Lomond~

4th course: Apple Crumble with blueberries (absolutely delicious and kindly provided by one of our guests)

~Auld Lang Syne: Sing Along ~

All in all an awful lot of cooking, since I did most of the food from scratch. (Well practically everything except the Haggis and puddings, which were store-bought.) Never having done the pea and mint puree, black pudding, scallop dish before, I was rather worried about it and also rather surprised how well it turned out.

[bimothecurious]

Almost a year without any proper entry

Which is really a shame, because just like I recently mentioned in a conversation with an old LJ friend of mine, there is this weird feeling that the older I get, the more I would actually love to have some sort of account of both my fannish and real life, just to look back and marvel. ;)

So it’s probably high time for me to get back into journalling again! Hello to anyone still out there! :)

Current book: Amy Waldman, The Submission

Current or recently enjoyed shows: The Expanse S4, Lost in Space S2, The Crown, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel S3, Mindhunter, Doctor Who Series 12 (Though after seeing “Orphan 55″  I’ve decided to give up on the current series/showrunner and quit, because for my personal taste that was just one cringeworthy script too many, and I’m definitely not in the business of hate-watching.)

[bimothecurious]

It seldom snows in north-western Rhineland

It seldom snows in north-western Rhineland, but the weather forecast says that it might, with the first flakes likely to fall around five o’clock this afternoon.

Current book: Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver.

Current shows: Only Star Trek: Discovery and A Series of Unfortunate Events, I’m afraid, since the latest seasons of other shows that I follow haven’t been released yet. (Or still aren’t $&/&!*** legally available in Germany. I’m looking at you, The Expanse.)

[bimothecurious]

Since Halloween is fast approaching...

Anyone else watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix? The show is a very smart, atmospherically intense reimagination of both the Robert Wise’s 1963 black and white genre classic The Haunting as well as the original Shirley Jackson novel. Somewhat sceptical at first whether any modern day TV adaption could pull off the same level of psychological horror and deeply intense fright, I was soon taken in by the effective story telling (seemingly non-chronologic and elliptical, but in fact revealing itself to be perfectly concentric in a dark, twisted dream logic kind of way).

Also, intriguing characters, well-nuanced and coming with fascinating dynamics. (If you are familiar with their Robert Wise versions, names and depictions will be a sheer delight!)

The show’s ensemble cast is as female-dominated as it is superb.

Oh, and then there is that! cameo! Chilling and brilliant! Hell, yes, on so many levels! ;)

[bimothecurious]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Yeah, I know. But BimoDad and I have been watching the various Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World movies together ever since the first one came out back in 1993.Thus, no way we were going to miss this latest installment.

A few mostly spoiler-free observations:

Pure popcorn entertainment and actually great fun, however offering very few surprises since the film displays exactly the same strengths and weaknesses as the previous one.

Cookie cutter characters, but perfectly likeable, or, in case of the villains, properly despicable.

Simply gorgeous dino animation, done in a way that really makes you care for these beasts.

It totally escapes me why Fallen Kingdom’s rather obvious Frankenstein theme (all complete with Gothic mansion, thunder, and discussion of scientific ethics) doesn’t show up in reviews. (I’ve read various ones, none of them cared to mention it.) Fallen Kingdom is Frankenstein, as much as one of its predecessors, The Lost World, was King Kong.

Oh, and I couldn’t help smiling about the scenes showing Chris Pratt’s character raising young Velociraptor Blue. So reminiscent of training Little Jasper. ;)

[bimothecurious]

Look who is keeping me busy...

After our old cocker spaniel Wesley had died in late November last year, Deary!Husband and I felt it was high time for a new fluffy housemate.

Little Jasper (right) and one of his brothers on the day we decided that it just had to be this pup, sometime in February. I think what finally won us over were his eyes and that special air of sensitivity and sweetness. That and the way how, within the space of five minutes, he managed to both steal my woolen cap and then fall asleep on my feet.

Playtime in our garden. Jasper has been living with us for roughly ten days by now, and it seems the garden is his absolute favourite place to be.

However, this carpet isn’t bad, either... ;)

Resting from so much excitement. :)

[bimothecurious]

Holland Chasing Mermaids

Every time I check out the Nice Guys tag and see an animated Gif of Holland in that pool, chasing mermaids, I can’t help but smile.

The scene in question is just a small piece of the puzzle, but one that never fails to remind me why, almost one year after first watching The Nice Guys, I still love that silly movie with all my heart.

All this incredible attention to detail and characterisation, all the work and care that crew and actor must have put into the creation of this brief onscreen moment. Just look at Holland’s drunk, uncoordinated underwater swimming movements. Or the way he is trying to get the mermaids’ attention, waving with his uninjured right arm. (Ryan Gosling strikes me as being a rather well-coordinated person in real life, clearly possessing an above average level of body control.)

I love how seamlessly the hilarious absurdity of the whole mermaid chasing blends in with the scene’s graver, more serious undertones and how it therefore seems to convey so much about Holland as a character, the fun-seeking, ingenious and imaginative extrovert aspects of Holland’s personality as well as his underlying despair and need for denial.

[bimothecurious]

Slightly belated Burns Night Dinner - Jan 28th 2018

What happens when Dearie!Husband invites a bunch of colleagues for a small belated Burns Night Dinner ;)

2nd and 3rd course provided by us, extremely delicious lentil soup, amazing cheese and wonderful dessert by above mentioned colleagues...

Btw., never having tried anything like this before I was at first super skeptical about the Whisky-Cured Salmon. (Essentially fresh Salmon generously covered with a mixture of casting sugar and salt and then drowned in a larger amount of Whisky.) Turned out  I need not have worried, because twenty-four hours in our fridge rendered the fish as tender and aromatic as could be. Perfect texture and taste!

1st course Soup of the Day

Toast to the Lassies

2nd course Whisky-Cured Salmon with Beetroot Dressing and Oatcakes

Address to a Haggis

3rd course Haggis with Mashed Pumpkin, Mixed Vegetables and Colcannon at the Side

The Corries: Oh Flower of Scotland

4th course A Selection of fine Scottish Cheese

Sing Along: Will You Go, Lassie Go?

5th course Surprise Dessert

Sing Along

[bimothecurious]

Meme Time :)

Tagged by @lillpon. Thank you! This was fun :)

1) Name: A real life Sybille

2) Nicknames: Well, actually Bimo (Shortened version of a nickname my dad used to call me by when I was still a kid.)

3) Height: 1.72 m / 5′6

4) Orientation: Very unspectacularly on the straight side of the spectrum

5) Nationality: German

6) Favorite Fruit: Pomegranates, cherries

7) Favorite Season: Autumn

8) Favorite Flower: Azaleas, Snowdrops

9) Favorite Scent: Fresh arabic coffee

10) Favorite Color: Burgundy, purple

11) Favorite Animal: Dogs, horses

12) Coffee, hot chocolate, or tea: Coffee

13) Average sleep hours: About 8

14) Dog or cat person: Dog person

15) Favorite fictional character: Obi-Wan Kenobi

16) Number of blankets you sleep with: 1

17) Dream trip: Iceland

18) Blog created: December 2015 (I’ve been on Livejournal ever since 2003, though.)

19) Number of Followers: 28

20) Random Fact: There’s a small BB8 figure on my writing desk ;) Not tagging anyone because of the “last little blog at the end of the lane” thingie. I’m sure everybody has already done this ;)

[bimothecurious]

Almost two weeks into 2018

I figure it’s high time I started to kick off the new year journaling-wise, if only just to wave at folks and say “Well, hi! I’m still hanging out here, having a good time :)”

TV Shows I’m currently watching or have watched just recently:

The Crown

Mindhunter

Star Trek: Discovery

Bates Motel (only season 1 so far, but definitely planning to catch up on the rest)

Movies

Nothing worth writing about at the moment. Well, during our New Year’s holiday, Dearie!Husband and I ended up seeing Victoria & Abdul (2017, directed by Stephen Frears) at the Spiekeroog island cinema. However, we found ourselves so frustrated by that movie’s amount of kitsch and gross diminishing of British colonial crimes that we almost would have got up and left. (We probably would have left if it hadn’t been raining so strongly outside. Both of us were without umbrellas.)

Hard to believe Victoria & Abdul came from the same director who did such a smart and brilliant film as The Queen back in 2006. But then again, The Queen’s screenplay was written by Peter Morgan.

Books

Paul M. Sammon, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner. Revised and updated 2017 edition.

Described as “The ultimate guide to Ridley Scott’s transformative Sci-Fi classic”, Sammon’s decade-long labour love so far 100% lives up to its promise. Well written, intriguing background infos and interviews on just about every aspect of Blade Runner’s making.

[bimothecurious]

Bookish This or That

hardback or paperback 

Borrow or buy 

fantasy or sci-fi 

love-triangle or love at first sight 

Wall shelves or bookcases 

Bad plot with good characters or good plot with bad characters 

Harry Potter or Percy Jackson 

Booklr or Bookstagram 

Contemporaries or Fantasy 

English books or books in your native language 

Buy in a bookshop or buy online 

amazon or book depository 

buy because of the cover or because of the description 

Alphabetical shelves or colour coordinated 

different sized books or matching sizes 

wait to marathon a series or read as they’re released 

movie or tv adaptations 

zombies or vampires 

Reading indoors or outdoors 

coffee or tea 

bookmarks or random objects to mark your page 

dog-earing or bookmarks 

Be your favourite character or be their best friend 

physical or e-book 

Read in bed or on a chair 

audiobook or ebook 

series or stand-alones 

Reading in the winter or reading in the summer 

Send some numbers :D