January 2018 Chit Chat

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year Melbert and all!!!

Happy New Year

Cheers to the New Year and to all on COH!  Best wishes to all to have a really good year 

A Happy New Year to everybody here on COH!

Happy New Year!

To my fellow East Coaster preparing for God only knows what Thursday.... we're tough- we'll get through this

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/us/cold-weather-arctic-outbreak/index.html
11 dead from cold as East Coast braces for winter 'bomb cyclone'
Nicole Chavez, associate writer CNN DigitalCNN Digital Expansion Shoot, Holly Yan
By Nicole Chavez and Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 8:51 AM ET, Wed January 3, 2018
(CNN)A massive "bombogenesis" will wreak havoc on the Northeast this week, threatening hurricane-force winds in a region already crippled by deadly cold.

The bombogenesis -- an area of low pressure that drops significantly in 24 hours -- will result in what's known as a "bomb cyclone." And the bomb cyclone, expected to strike Thursday, will likely dump 6 to 12 inches of snow in New England, which will be driven by 40- to 60-mph wind gusts.
But it's not just New England suffering winter's wrath. Freezing rain, sleet and snow will smother parts of the Southeast on Wednesday.
It could be the first time in years that some parts of the Southeast have snow.
Tallahassee, Florida, is expecting up to an inch of snow and ice Wednesday, but the city has not had measurable snowfall since 1989, said CNN meteorologist Michael Guy.
Track severe weather across the country here
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued a state of emergency Tuesday for 28 coastal counties ahead of the storm.
Authorities are urging people to stay home as millions in the eastern half of the US face below- and near-freezing temperatures Wednesday.
Many schools canceled classes and government offices closed across the Florida Panhandle and along the entire east coast shoreline.
Track the snow's path here.
Florida, southern Georgia and the coastal Carolinas will get a few inches of snow plus some ice before the storm turns into a monster storm, dropping heavy snowfall along the Mid-Atlantic coast and into the Northeast, forecasters say.
Deadly freeze
At least 11 people in the US have died since Tuesday morning in cold-related deaths, officials said.

A 27-year-old woman was found dead on the shore of Lake Winnebago after she left a New Year's Eve gathering in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Authorities said Lindsey Klima stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and could have fallen at the shoreline before she succumbed to the cold, CNN affiliate WLUK reported.
Klima's death is among five weather-related deaths in Wisconsin. Two other people have died in North Dakota and Missouri.
Four others have died in Texas, including two homeless people who died in Houston after being exposed to freezing conditions, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted.
The Southeast
The frigid temperatures led to temporary closures at water parks in Florida and prompted authorities to open dozens of emergency shelters.
In Pensacola, the weather turned fountains into ice sculptures and froze the top of an above-ground pool.
"My newest daughter started to cry saying that their pool was gone!" Alex Vieira told CNN.
Florida Department of Agriculture spokesman Aaron Keller said the cold weather could be endangering crops such as citrus, peppers and strawberries.
"The further south you go, the less cold tolerant the crops get," Keller said. "If the cold weather predictions go below Orlando, it could be a problem."
Forecasters warned about possible snow on the beach and high winds that could knock down power lines and palm trees coated in ice and snow, the NWS Charleston office said.
And the weather is going to be even more miserable in the next few days.
The bombogenesis will help usher in another round of blustery single-digit temperatures to the Northeast.

UK hit by cyclone, Canada is below zero
The US isn't alone in its winter misery.
Hurricane-force winds of Storm Eleanor are battering the western shores of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The UK's weather service, the Met Office, says the storm is expected to bring gusts of up to 90 mph to parts of the UK on Wednesday.
Homes and businesses were damaged by flooding and 55,000 customers lost electricity, ESB Networks, the main power utility in Ireland said in a statement.
Canada is also getting the brutal cold air. Temperatures and wind chills have been well below zero, and there are warnings in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for snow and wind due to the Nor'easter that is moving up the US East Coast.
The frigid temperature at the Calgary Zoo in Canada was too brutal for even the king penguins, a subantarctic species that usually strut their stuff outside this time of the year.
Zoo employees brought the penguins inside Monday when the temperature dropped to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 25 degrees Celsius), according to Dr. Malu Celli, Calgary Zoo's curator.

It's not that the animals didn't like the cold.
"If I opened the doors, they would come out," Celli said. "They enjoy being out, but we just like to look out for their welfare."
CNN's Judson Jones, Darran Simon and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.

Washington will only have to deal with the cold and wind.  It’s already been horribly cold here for days.  It’s going to be worse after today.  Brutal weekend.

You guys further north are going to get hit with blizzard conditions. Ugh!  Good luck, be careful and hold onto your hats!

PP - Keep safe. It looks like you'll get hit harder than we will. They're only predicting 2-4 inches of snow for the city, although Long Island is expected to get much more. The freakin' cold isn't going anywhere, dammit, so everyone keep warm!

To friends in the UK, be safe! Such a pretty name (Eleanor) for such a nasty storm! Hope everyone is o.k.

Very British reaction here, Lizzy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5230953/Storm-Eleanor-whips-Twitter-frenzy.html

PAN, it sounds like most Brits are taking it in stride.  Stiff upper lip and all that?

Hope you are in one piece.  Stay safe.

PAN - Love it! Especially love the cat blowing in the wind! I know you guys have the same attitude New Yorkers do in the face of trouble - suck it up and get on with it, so be smart and stay safe. Don't get blown away. We'd miss you!

So Obama first ?

T

LizzyNY wrote:PP - Keep safe. It looks like you'll get hit harder than we will. They're only predicting 2-4 inches of snow for the city, although Long Island is expected to get much more. The freakin' cold isn't going anywhere, dammit, so everyone keep warm!

To friends in the UK, be safe! Such a pretty name (Eleanor) for such a nasty storm! Hope everyone is o.k.

Saturday afternoon

Hi Lizzy

Just seen Sky News report of all the snow and cold temperatures
in your area !!

Hope you and yours are safe and warm ?

Hi, Jo! Thanks for asking. All's well. It's warm in the house and frigid outside, so I'm staying in. I shopped on Wednesday and actually haven't left the house since then. Thursday was impossible and yesterday and today just too cold. They said we got @12" of snow, but where I am it seemed more like 6-8". If it hadn't frozen it would have been gone by now.

I think PigPen probably had it much worse where she is. I'm hoping she's keeping warm and safe. I'm curious how our COH posters down south are faring. Everyone ok? And our friends in the UK -  did everyone come through Eleanor all right?

This is one interesting winter!

Yep Lizzy I think PP had it the worst.  Boston got hit hard.  We just got a coating of snow in DC but the cold is really tough!  Even wearing warm gloves and boots I came back from walking my doggy and my fingers and toes are frozen.  It’s the wind that just goes right through you.  Don’t think I’m going out again until Monday!  

Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy this weekend.

Nice to hear from you Joanna.   I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Just stay inside and try to keep yourself as warm as possible.

In my area we usually have a lot of snow, but apart of one quite cold week in December it's much too warm here. So we already have floods, and the trees and flowers start to blossom. I guess there will be a lot of snow around easter...

Donnamarie wrote:Yep Lizzy I think PP had it the worst.  Boston got hit hard.  We just got a coating of snow in DC but the cold is really tough!  Even wearing warm gloves and boots I came back from walking my doggy and my fingers and toes are frozen.  It’s the wind that just goes right through you.  Don’t think I’m going out again until Monday!  

Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy this weekend.

Nice to hear from you Joanna.   I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Hi gang,   real quick note.... 15 inches of snow.  Major flooding from high tides ( broke records), 3 city blocks flooded day of storm in one area, others in surrounding .  Last night Boston hospital water pipes burst inside the hospital- patient care areas.  Yesterday was minus 2 degrees (18.889 degrees Celsiusi) windchill of minus 35-( -37.222 Celsius)causing pipes to burst underground- flooding major part of Boston.   Supposed to snow tonight ( not too much)

Catch you all later.  PP

PP - Are YOU ok?

Sorry posted in wrong place.

Saw The Shape of Water. It's my least favorite of the 'good' movies so far. Good, but the idea was so much better than the execution.

BTW, I think this is a GG director's nom that 'took' a slot from a woman. I'm thinking Dunkirk will leave me with the same notion.

Way2Old - Isn't "The Shape of Water" the one everyone is saying is so beautiful to look at but short on substance - or is that something else? I expect "Dunkirk" is a well made WWII saga like "Patton" or so many other war movies - the kind of movie that would appeal more to men and to so-called "history buffs" - kind of a grown'up's action movie.

Lizzy - Probably. The description fits. I saw it on the recommendation of a couple of people, who really liked it. I wasn't so impressed. It's a cinematographer's movie, IMO. Felt like the script was filler for the visuals.

Definitely think Dee Rees (Mudbound) should have been nominated instead of del Toro.

Del Toro surely has a reputation. So I guess it's easier to be nominated than a relatively unknown director...

By the way:
Did anyone notice that a German movie won 'Best Picture - Foreign Language' at the Golden Globes?
'In the Fade' is a movie about a woman (played by Diane Kruger who's from a village about 40 miles away from where I live). Her Kurdish husband and their son are killed due to an explosion when visiting a Kurdish restaurant. At first the police expects the owner to be entangled in a criminal incident, until they realize that neonazis placed the bomb (it's losely based on the NSU crimes which happened in Germany at the beginning of this century). Somehow the accused re acquitted of this crime, and she's seeking for revenge herself.
Sounds quite interesting but got mixed reviews since it's very fictionized (which it had to be because the trial vs the real NSU survivors isn't finished yet) and mainly focusses on the woman's vendetta.
The director of this movie has Turkish roots and critisizes the Turkish president Erdogan very harsh. So maybe that's one of the reasons for the critics as well.

Hans Zimmer (German heritage as well) was nominated as well as a composer but lost to Alexandre Desplat.

I haven't seen any of the nominated movies so far.

Ive seen “Lady Bird” which I thought was really good. The mother-daughter relationship is real and so relatable. Saoirse Ronan is a wonderful actress.  I think I preferred her performance in “Brooklyn “ though.  l saw “Dunkirk”.   It was entertaining and visually beautiful.  But I found some scenes confusing, especially the aerial fighting scenes. The movie wasn’t character driven either which kind of bothered me.  

Just saw “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” last night.  I was thinking during the movie about what George said of Norman Lear’s comments about “Suburbicon” after he viewed it.  Lear said it was one of the angriest movies he had ever seen.  I feel that’s what I saw last night.  The performances, especially Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, were terrific.  But it reeks anger and rage.  A bit hard to watch.  I’m still trying to decide if I liked it.

I am not sure I understood


Did Lear say Suburbicon was one of the angriest movies he had ever seen?

D-marie, I loved ...Three Billboards..., but I get what you mean. It's that kind of movie. But if I may venture a theory -- one that makes sense for me, anyway:

Every avenue of 'anger' in Suburbicon is both privileged and misplaced, and so overwrought and graphic that any redemption that comes later is overwhelmed and too subtle to balance it. That's not at all true in Three Billboards, where the rage is justified and well balanced by the empathy the characters deserve.

JMHO.

...I'm seeing Lady Bird tomorrow and Dunkirk this weekend.

Have you seen The Big Sick? I think it deserved, at a minimum, a screenwriting nomination.

Way2Old4Dis wrote:D-marie, I loved ...Three Billboards..., but I get what you mean. It's that kind of movie. But if I may venture a theory -- one that makes sense for me, anyway:

Every avenue of 'anger' in Suburbicon is both privileged and misplaced, and so overwrought and graphic that any redemption that comes later is overwhelmed and too subtle to balance it. That's not at all true in Three Billboards, where the rage is justified and well balanced by the empathy the characters deserve.

JMHO.

...I'm seeing Lady Bird tomorrow and Dunkirk this weekend.

Have you seen The Big Sick? I think it deserved, at a minimum, a screenwriting nomination.

"Every avenue of 'anger' in Suburbicon is both privileged and misplaced, and so overwrought and graphic that any redemption that comes later is overwhelmed and too subtle to balance it.

That is exactly how life was then and it is the exact undertone of life today.

"Suburbicon" leaves the understanding "change" is in the hands of the next generation.

As we all know things did change. 

Today, We ALL see a resurgence of "anger" both privileged and misplaced.  It is up to us, to identify the real problems and work together to bring about continued change.

"Suburbicon" was a well written, well directed, well acted fictional movie.  There are two households: one that fit the neighborhood perfectly overrun with misplaced anger and the other diabolical and overlooked by members of the community.

I found it brilliant because evil did not win, the African American family did not move, and the end of the movie media coverage was classic.

"Suburbicon was fictional movie, not a social justice project with a political statement.

ladybug, are you defending Suburbicon against what I said? I'm not bashing it. I have been clear in my support of it. But it was not without its flaws, which, as I said before, I think can be laid to a script that was not as tight and balanced as it could have been.

I love George, but I'm not going to give him a Champion trophy when he finished just behind the leading pack.

Way2Old4Dis wrote:ladybug, are you defending Suburbicon against what I said? I'm not bashing it. I have been clear in my support of it. But it was not without its flaws, which, as I said before, I think can be laid to a script that was not as tight and balanced as it could have been.

I love George, but I'm not going to give him a Champion trophy when he finished just behind the leading pack.

I'm just giving my opinion based on your statement.

"Suburbicon" need no defense, it's a great movie; in my opinion brilliant.

"Champion trophy?"  What's the criteria and who's doing the judging?

"Antwone Fisher" taught me:  sometimes an excellent film does not meet the criteria of those doing the judging.

I put "Suburbicon" in that category, an excellent film that did not meet the criteria of those doing the judging.

Way2, to your comparison of anger portrayed in  “Suburbicon” compared to Billboards I can’t talk to it since I still haven’t seen ‘Suburbicon’.  I do think Billboards is an exceptional movie.  Buts it’s raw with emotion and the anger in this film almost never lets up. There are a handful of tender moments from Mildred (McDormand)  which helped me to sympathize with her rage.  There was also a few similar empathetic moments from Rockwell’s character that I found a bit contrived though but still effective.  There is so much to say about this movie and I’m still sorting through all of that.  But a well made movie should be compelling and make you think.  What was notable to me was the commentary on our current culture.


I have not seen “The Big Sick”.  I will check it out.  Didn’t it come out last summer?

D-marie, late summer/early fall sounds about right for The Big Sick. I thought it was an authentic portrayal of a modern relationship and family, and there's no 'fat' in it at all, which always scores points with me.

ladybug, I'll just drop this where it is. IMO, Suburbicon was inarguably good, and certainly undeserving of its bad reviews, but notably short of "brilliant."

There are always different opinions about movies. I know so many movies I loved although critics hated them and vice versa.
Sometimes it's because we expected something totally different, sometimes because we're not in the right mood for it. When I'm in the mood for a romance, an action film might not be the right choice, but maybe I'd made an appointment with friends to go there and don't want to step back.
I've heard so very different opinions on LaLaLand last year, from brilliant to 'It was so horrible that we left the theatre'. So when I was finally able to see it, I absolutely had no idea about what to expect.

It's similar with books. I've started reading books and wasn't able to continue because I wasn't in the right mood / didn't have the time at that moment to read a complicated story / didn't like it at that time. When I read them again later, I really loved them.

There are always objective and subjective critisizsm. When I don't like a movie or book because I'm not interested in the issue, it's my personnel opinion (like when people don't like Suburbicon because they don't want to be taught about how to feel about racism or because they don't like George or because they think the fact that George changed a Coen script is a crime). That's critisizm on an emotional level.
Critisizing it for wrong facts, logical failures or bad editing is much more easy to discuss with others.

carolhathaway wrote:There are always different opinions about movies. I know so many movies I loved although critics hated them and vice versa.
Sometimes it's because we expected something totally different, sometimes because we're not in the right mood for it. When I'm in the mood for a romance, an action film might not be the right choice, but maybe I'd made an appointment with friends to go there and don't want to step back.
I've heard so very different opinions on LaLaLand last year, from brilliant to 'It was so horrible that we left the theatre'. So when I was finally able to see it, I absolutely had no idea about what to expect.

It's similar with books. I've started reading books and wasn't able to continue because I wasn't in the right mood / didn't have the time at that moment to read a complicated story / didn't like it at that time. When I read them again later, I really loved them.

There are always objective and subjective critisizsm. When I don't like a movie or book because I'm not interested in the issue, it's my personnel opinion (like when people don't like Suburbicon because they don't want to be taught about how to feel about racism or because they don't like George or because they think the fact that George changed a Coen script is a crime). That's critisizm on an emotional level.
Critisizing it for wrong facts, logical failures or bad editing is much more easy to discuss with others.

Carol, when you get the chance to view "Suburbicon" I look forward to hearing your opinion.

There is no scientific formula to how a film is judge.  Every aspect on every level is subjective.

Unless you're assessing something purely on it's technical achievements, everything in the arts is judged subjectively and filtered through personal bias which is based on personal experience. Since no two people have the same life experience, no two people will see anything in exactly the same way.

For me it's more interesting to know why someone doesn't like something - and what brought them to that opinion.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Please take some time to reflect on the institutional racism impose on the African American Community.  I'm thankful everyday Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights Leaders were brave enough to take on that brutal system of government and achieve lasting changes.  

I'll never forget their struggle and I'm thankful everyday.

Prayers and love to our friends in the South dealing with most unusual, horrible weather.  Stay off the roads until it's safe, please.  When in doubt, stay home.


xxoo PigPen

The snow arrived here about 12 hours later than the forecasts predicted. We were supposed to get 1-3", then revised to 2-4". We wound up with about 6" in my area. It's not going anywhere today because it's still freezing.

... but temps will be close to 60 degrees (F) by the end of the weekend, they're saying.

Way2Old - I hope it warms up for you and all the snow melts away. If you're lucky it'll warm up and you'll get a little rain to wash it all down the drain. That's what happened here, although we're back in the deep freeze again. They say we'll be up into the 40s over the weekend, but they said we'd be around 35 degrees today and it just hit 30.

Be careful getting around and let someone else shovel the snow!

Thanks!

The scenario for the day is supposed to be that much of the snow will be melted around sundown, just as there's supposed to be a precipitous temperature drop. So the meltdown will be black ice tonight and tomorrow.

Any big city in an Eastern state should be able to handle this without too much problem. You would think. This place is shut down. Schools, malls, fast food restaurants. Even my gym is on a shortened schedule, and they pride themselves on being open through just about anything.

There's a big college basketball game here tonight, and the governor actually went on television and told people not to go.

When I was a kid in St. Louis, not only did we have school in this kind of weather, many of us walked home for lunch and made it back before the class bell rang.

In Western Europe we've had a heavy hurricane today. My kids' school was closed because it's in the mountains, and we decided to keep them at home tomorrow as well since the roads are blocked and we don't know if they will be open tomorrow. Rail traffic was closed in the whole of Germany so my husband wasn't able to come back from work and has to spend the night at a collegue's house. A few people were killed, many were injured.

Seems like Mother Nature is not a happy camper! Way2Old, I remember slogging thru knee deep snow to go to school when I was a kid, too - although when I was a kid my knees were a lot closer to the ground so the snow might not have been as deep as I thought it was! Anyway, it's a different world today.

I'm guessing your governor decided better safe than sorry, and I have to say I agree with him. Black ice is treacherous if you're driving, and it isn't much better if you're walking. And Carolhathaway, it sounds like you're getting hit really hard, too. If the trains aren't running I'd guess conditions must be pretty bad.

To all going through rough weather, be smart and stay safe. Curl up in front of the tv with a bunch of George's movies and wait for Spring!

Don’t mess with Mother Nature.  Makes me sound old to say that but it is so true.  And ice in particular is so dangerous.  I’d much rather deal with snow than ice.  We had a mere dusting of snow yesterday morning and the schools were delayed for two hours.  Local jurisdictions do not want to hear the wrath of parents complaining about sending their kids to school when it’s barely light out in the morning and getting stuck on a bus that skids off the road or gets into an accident.  But when schools open late or close for the day parents equally complain about having to adjust their work schedules.  It’s a no win situation for the schools and parents.  My daughter said last night that her Atlanta office (she works in DC) planned to be closed today because of the snow forecast.  I guess a lot of southern cities are just not prepared for ice and snow.  They don’t invest much money in the road equipment necessary to treat roads since they don’t normally don’t get snowy weather.

Carol and Way2, hope all is well and stay safe.

Thanks. We're pretty much defrosted here now. Woke up to a balmy 20 degrees and icy streets in the subdivision, but it started climbing to the mid-forties right around the time the salt truck got to our street.

Hope everyone else is warm and dry.

Yep! All good. Didn't even need boots today, although it felt colder out than I expected. Tomorrow is supposed to get up into the 40s. I hope they're right. My bones are still thawing out from last week!

Hello friends...I'm so pleased that you've all
survived your bad weather.



Here's hoping it's the end of the cold spell
and that the lovely Spring will soon arrive
with green trees and pretty flowers.

Jo - From your mouth to God's ear! Although we're having nice warmer weather it isn't expected to last . Rain is due for the next couple of days and then it's supposed to get colder again. As I was rudely reminded "It is still winter, you know". Yeah, yeah! Phooey! I like your version of things better.

On the almost last day of January, just popping in to say hello and see how everyone's getting on.  Did Santa bring lots of lovely things? Are we all set for Valentine's day??

Sorry for not being around the past few months. As always, new job and travels have taken me away, but it seems like George has been coping just fine without me!

Katiedot (just cruising on my admin user name to fix a few technical issues)

All really quiet

Thanks for your hard job

Katie - Nice to know you're still with us. I was beginning to worry.  New job? Still in the same place or have you moved on? You lead the most interesting life! Hoping all is well.