[Shello]

Welcome back!  Sounds like a lovely retreat, particularly the wellness center.  

[Mad Hatter]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:27 AM, TimovieMan said:

Who remembers the Mass Effect controversy?

 

"I have not played this game, but asked somebody what they had heard and they said it contains full digital nudity and sex and is like pornography."

 

This was about ONE optional 10-second "daytime TV"-friendly sequence (that was *so* explicit that all you saw was a naked rear end and some side boob), near the end of a 30+ hour game.

 

I'm a gamer myself. I will be making informed decisions, thank you. 😁

'Muricaaaa! Ok I'm making assumptions. But growing up in Scandinavia it's baffling when nudity and sex is somehow worse than violence and abuse. And equating normal nudity/sex with pornography can only lead to some messed up ideas about healthy body image, consent etc. Baffling! 

 

On 4/12/2024 at 2:51 PM, TimovieMan said:

So I have to offset this with a different Dutch song that is a similar earworm for me, but that is SO much better.

This is a trap isn't it? 😛 

[TimovieMan]

6 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

This is a trap isn't it? 😛 

Not at all. The song I posted is a beloved classic in Flanders and the Netherlands. If it gets stuck in my head, it gets to stay rent free.
Because "iedereen is van de wereld en de wereld is van iedereen" (everyone belongs to the world, and the world belongs to everyone).  😎

[TimovieMan]

I'll do a bigger update tomorrow because I don't want to get in bed too late.

 

Today I went for a walk when it was sunny out. It started drizzling halfway, and raining on the way back. Then we had some hefty winds. Then some sunshine. And then hail. There also was a beautiful rainbow when the sun came back out again. And more hail. And rain. And wind.

 

And I immediately thought of this next song, from the 1991 album "Woodface" - which is an album my dad had and that I absolutely LOVED back then. In hindsight, 10-year-old me had great taste in music. Even if I say so myself. 😇

When I was going over my list, and got to Crowded House, there were a lot of songs from this album. I hadn't listened to it in 25 years or so, but could still easily sing along to the songs. And the album has held up beautifully.

But like I said, this particular song seemed very fitting today:

 

Crowded House - Four Seasons in One Day

 

[Salinger]

Hey Timo, sounds like the weather in Manchester yesterday, crazy. 

 

Good song!!!!!!! not heard that for ages. 

 

Sending love xx

[TimovieMan]

Right, weekend recap.

 

I can be pretty short: the weather was good, so everybody in the neighbourhood was doing chores in the front yard or garden.

 

We got some supplies for similar work on Friday, and both Saturday and Sunday afternoon consisted of brushing the weeds out of the joints of the sidewalk tiles. With our house being the last in a row and next to a side street with a garage and driveway at the back, we have three sides to do and over 60 meters of sidewalk. So it's a LOT of work.

I also pressure washed the tiles in front of our house (I'm not doing all of them - just the ones at the front), and then sweeped some joint sand back in. And I *still* have to do part of the side of the house, and the driveway, so this will be continued next weekend.

 

I don't have "before" and "after" pictures, but I took one during the pressure washing to show the difference the pressure washing makes:

 

It's not a job I enjoy doing, but all the neighbours pressure wash their sidewalk, and with the difference being ^this^ big, we *have* to do it too...

Good thing we have a large rain water tank for jobs like this, because it just feels like a waste of water to me...

 

I didn't get a whole lot of steps in during this task, but the brushing and sweeping does add additional "steps" because of the hand movements, so the numbers are inflated a little. I'll let them count because I have no way of knowing the actual numbers, and it's activity regardless.

 

Last week looked like this:

	Week 3
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h42
Steps
Avg. steps	12.47K
Distance	22.68 km
Workouts	0.0
Days with (mini-)workouts	0

 

This is good food-wise, okay steps-wise, but dysmal sleep- and workout-wise.

 

As of yesterday, the walking challenge at work started to collective reach 150.000 km in four weeks - with 75.000 trees being planted in the Great Green Wall in Senegal if we succeed. My lunch break walk was an hour instead of half an hour, and I'll try to make more regular walks these coming weeks.

Unfortunately, yesterday's lunch break walk also made up 75% of all steps for the entire day. Working from home does that. 😅

 

I'll start the DailyDare exercises back up this week, but already forgot the first evening. Better put an alarm in my phone for it. Possibly using Electric Callboy's "Pump It" as the ringtone, for shits and giggles. 😁

 

 

Walk to Mordor

 

Distance walked this week: 22.68 km (14.09 miles)
Road to Mordor: total 946.4 miles - Lothlórien to Rauros - Feb. 16 - Day 1 since Lothlórien - Drifting on the river. Swept around a bend and the high banks hid the light of Lórien. Now there are bare woods on both banks. The land is silent and misty. Dusk comes early.

 

 

 

This week started okay. Calorie-intake was more than acceptable yesterday, despite a large chunk of chocolate intake. I will be glad when all the Easter chocolate in the house will be gone, no more temptation.

 

	Week 4
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h59
Steps
Avg. steps	9.97K
Distance	5.63 km
Workouts	0.0
Days with (mini-)workouts	0

 

 

 

I've started my prep work for the 3-day metal festival Alcatraz this summer. Listening to the 5 most popular songs on Spotify of all the bands to gauge how much I'd like to see them, so I can put together the list of bands I'm going to watch and then create a dedicated playlist for that.

 

This list has reminded me that Paradise Lost (who I saw two years ago and will gladly see again at Alcatraz) once did a cover of Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy". With Lord of the Lost (pretty much my favourite metal band right now) also having covered that on their latest album, why not post the original? Neither of the covers did Jimmy Somerville's falsetto after all, and it's an 80s classic...

 

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

 

Fun fact: I used to constantly mix up Bronski Beat and The Communards. Until I heard a song on the radio, instinctively went "Bronski Beat", only to then hear it was Jimmy Somerville solo. But they mentioned "of Bronski Beat and The Communards", and then it finally clicked in my head *why* I kept mixing both up... 😅

[Mad Hatter]

7 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

I've started my prep work for the 3-day metal festival Alcatraz this summer. Listening to the 5 most popular songs on Spotify of all the bands to gauge how much I'd like to see them, so I can put together the list of bands I'm going to watch and then create a dedicated playlist for that.

Wow that's so organized.

 

Bronski Beat always reminds me of my dad, he used to play a lot of BB and similar bands when I was a kid. 

[TimovieMan]

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Wow that's so organized.

I like being prepared. Did the same last year, and about 75% of everything that was played by the bands that I went to see, I had prepared. And I heard 90% of all my prep work Iive, so I'd say I was pretty efficient at it.

But it takes months. Festival's in mid-August. And in about two weeks' time, I'll be compiling a list of about 400 songs... 😅

 

 

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Bronski Beat always reminds me of my dad, he used to play a lot of BB and similar bands when I was a kid. 

My dad would never play that. He hated most of what came out of the 80s - unless it was by artists who were already around in the 70s... 😅

 

I had to discover new wave MUCH later. 😁

Unless it was mainstream - then I would have heard it on the radio.

 

But I did grow up with Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Judas Priest, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, etc.

And that's all kinds of awesome. 😎

[TimovieMan]

Well, it finally happened....

 

Ever since TimovieSon bought his PS5, he's been going on about how much better the controllers were than the PS4 ones...

And now he's playing FC24 at "Legendary" difficulty, and winning. Either FC24 has become easier than previous installments or he's playing at a higher level than I ever could, because I never got above "World Class" in any of the FIFA games...

 

And then we played against each other.

I had Man City, he had Arsenal. I won the match 5-4 after extra time (and after trailing 1-3 at half time). And frankly, the only reason I won is because Ederson was Man of the Match and because - as Man City - there's a cheat code called "Erling Haaland". 😅

We then played a match as Club Brugge vs. Club Brugge. Same team, same players.

I got my ass handed back to me 2-5.

 

Just a few months ago, I'd play as Club Brugge with him playing as Man City. I'd win comfortably, and then I'd play with a weaker team until we found a match-up that was close. And now I can hardly beat him with a similar team, much less a weaker one. Oh, how the tables have turned...

 

So... I have a 9-year-old who's now officially better than me at FC24... 😱

 

[Laghail]

late to the party but here!

[Mad Hatter]

12 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

But I did grow up with Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Judas Priest, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, etc.

And that's all kinds of awesome. 😎

This is what I had to discover when I got a little older.  😄

 

12 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

So... I have a 9-year-old who's now officially better than me at FC24... 😱

How rude. 😛

[TimovieMan]

The internet connection here has been iffy since yesterday. We get a minute of good wifi, then it stops for 2 minutes, then a minute good again, so I called our provider and they'll send a technician over. In the meantime, I'm mostly online using my phone as a hotspot. They've given me and the missus extra data capacity for this. Whatever works.

 

It did make working from home rather odd.

 

Went for a long walk during TimovieDaughter's football practice to get my steps in for the day, and for Mordor.

Food's been going well all week. Except I'm not working out as I should. *Again.*

Curfew was actually ok, but I'm still not seeing a big improvement in sleep length, even though I really should. Oh well.

 

Week so far:

	Week 4
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h57
Steps
Avg. steps	10.96K
Distance	16.27 km
Workouts	0.0
Days with (mini-)workouts	0

 

 

 

 

Here's something that doesn't happen very often. I got a song recommended to me by my mom.

One she's heard on the radio several times and really likes. I love the artist, but didn't know he'd released a new song. It's like his first in 30 years or so.

It never plays on the radio station I most often listen to, and it doesn't play on the one Mrs. Movieman listens to, so I was completely oblivious to this song.

So thanks for the recommendation, Mom!

This is Billy Joel's first song in decades, and it sounds like one he made in his prime.

I also love the video. The de-aging to show him throughout the years  is done well, and the use of AI to make him sound more like his younger self, adds to the trip down memory lane. And he kept a verse with his current older voice. But man, what a song again!

 

Billy Joel - Turn the Lights Back On

 

[Mad Hatter]

9 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

The de-aging to show him throughout the years  is done well

Have to say I disagree, most of the time it looks like still photos with a moving lower face. Zero expression or movement in the eyes. Interesting use of VFX and AI though, kudos to him for that. Though I think the song would work just as well with his current voice throughout. It's a nice song.

[TimovieMan]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Have to say I disagree, most of the time it looks like still photos with a moving lower face. Zero expression or movement in the eyes. Interesting use of VFX and AI though, kudos to him for that. Though I think the song would work just as well with his current voice throughout. It's a nice song.

Considering it's just a music video, I wasn't expecting Marvel-levels of de-aging. Michael Douglas in Ant-Man and Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel are still the best examples of de-aging done near-flawlessly, imo.

I agree that the song would work just as well with his current voice throughout. The video wouldn't, though, as that would only increase the uncanny valley effect. 😅

 

 

 

 

I need to take back my evenings, and that means toning down all the chess.

I have quit all but two of the teams I was on at chess.com, I haven't joined any new matches in a while, and I'm dialing down the amount of vote chess matches I play - since one of the teams I'm on is starting far too many of them. I *love* vote chess, because it provides excellent learning opportunities, but too much is too much.

I've quit all the matches I was on that had a 24-hour voting period (which halved all the vote chess matches I was in), and I'm no longer joining any with less than 3 days of voting.

I'm hoping this will go a long way to get my match count back down to more manageable levels.

 

I also urgently need to start moving again.

I may have joked about it earlier, but I have now actually put an alarm in my phone with Electric Callboy's "Pump It" as the ringtone. Hopefully that gets me doing mini-workouts again.

 

 

 

Yesterday I was listening to some of the bands that'll be on Alcatraz. The kids are starting to pick up which bands will be to my liking, and which won't.

And I got a remark: "are you going to *all* the bands that use bagpipes or an accordion?". Yes, I probably am. 😎

That'll be Korpiklaani, Finntroll and Feuerschwanz (at the least - there may be others I don't know yet, I've just started my prep work - although those three don't really need prep work).

But because they've heard me play Alestorm's "Drink" often - Alestorm were at Alcatraz last year - and because I had listened to Korpiklaani yesterday, I also got a "are those bands only making songs about drinking???". Yes, pretty much. 🤣

But it's FUN!!! 🤘

 

So here's one about vodka. The band is Finnish and their English is questionable, but man, how this is a party song!!!

 

Korpiklaani - Vodka

[sylph]

16 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

But man, what a song again!

 

Billy Joel - Turn the Lights Back On

Damn. Right in the feels.

[Shello]

Thanks for sharing the new song from Billy Joel.  I grew up listening to him since he was one of my dad's favs.  I had no idea there was a new one either.  Great video too.  I didn't watch it too closely (from work) but really enjoyed the montage scenes from him and his kids over the years.    

[WhiteGhost]

On 4/11/2024 at 6:53 PM, TimovieMan said:

*I* will be the judge of what he's ready for, not the ESRB.

100% this

 

On 4/12/2024 at 7:07 AM, TimovieMan said:

I came home from work.

 

"Hey kids, how was day camp?"

- "Good."

"What did you do today?"

- "A lot..."

Sounds like conversations at our house

 

"How was school?"

 - "Same as usual"

"Do you have any homework?"

 - "Some"

"What do you want for dinner?"

 - "Food"

 

 

[Kishi]

On 4/22/2024 at 10:23 AM, WhiteGhost said:

"How was school?"

 - "Same as usual"

"Do you have any homework?"

 - "Some"

"What do you want for dinner?"

 - "Food"

 

Come to think of it, I did this exact thing to my parents when I was about that age. Huh. It's a phase. It'll pass.

[TimovieMan]

6 hours ago, Kishi said:

Come to think of it, I did this exact thing to my parents when I was about that age. Huh. It's a phase. It'll pass.

Yeah, I used to do a toned-down version of this as well. Usually just "How was your day?" "Fine." "Anything in particular?" "The usual."

The idea being: I just got home, leave me alone for 20 minutes to wind down. I don't want to talk now, and if I do, then I'll start the conversation myself.

 

Although I still kinda do that.

The reverse as well: if I'm not interested, I'll tune out, and chances are that it's going to be highly visible that I'm not paying attention. 

 

I blame it on my autism spectrum disorder, though. 😇

 

 

 

 

On another note: yikes, I've been neglecting my own thread! 😱

It's not like I haven't been present, I've posted in the Weight loss PVP, and in the DailyDare threads. I just never got around to actually posting in this thread...

 

Maybe I need to make more posts, but shorter ones? That way I get to post what I want to talk about, without it being one big time-consuming write-up that eventually gets postponed??? 🤔

[TimovieMan]

Multiple posts coming up! 😁

 

 

Thursday:

The usual long walk in the evening didn't happen, because I had other priorities. Not going into more detail about that. 😇

 

I did do two DailyDare exercises, though, for the first time in quite a while. Although I thought it would be the start of actually doing daily mini-workouts again, that didn't happen. I did the two exercises on Thursday, and then nothing again until yesterday. Hopefully, this restart will be more successful... 😅

 

 

Friday:

Worked from home. Went for a walk during my lunch break, and for an extended walk during TimovieDaughter's football practice in the evening.

Mrs. Movieman went to see a football match with TimovieSon, so I had the entire evening alone with TimovieDaughter.

 

Saturday:

Early football match for both TimovieSon and TimovieDaughter. Since they got into bed late on Friday, that meant they were tired for most of the day.

Did some shopping in the afternoon. The kids both have a 3-day school trip coming up in a few weeks, and they needed some supplies.

Brother-in-law visited in the afternoon/evening, so that meant we (and by "we", I mean brother-in-law, TimovieSon and me) played a lot of darts, and that there were appetisers and takeaway dinner.

 

Sunday:

Got to sleep in for a bit. Should've spent part of the afternoon clearing the rest of the sidewalk of weeds, but between late breakfast, cleaning the litter boxes, vacuuming the house and making lunch, there wasn't a whole lot of time left before we went to my mother-in-law's. So I just watched the cycling on TV instead (Liège-Bastogne-Liège). The most important part of the weeds-job has been done anyway. The rest can wait.

 

World Championship Snooker started as well, so that potentially means there is going to be a lot of sleep deficit the coming weeks. Although I'm managing to get in bed relatively early for my doing lately. But that's because I'm tired. I have a cold I can't seem to get rid of - so I constantly have a runny nose, which means I can't breathe properly when asleep, so I sleep with my mouth open, which leads to a dry throat in the morning and thus a developing cough. It's one big vicious cycle. And I get nudged awake more at night, because open mouth = snoring. 😅

I'm not sick, but I'm not 100% either. 🙄

[TimovieMan]

It's Thursday today, but this is from last Friday. Just to lampshade how I neglected this thread... 😇

 

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 94.15 kg (-0.95)

Body fat: 22.7 % (-0.9)

 

The damage from my Easter week off has been undone! Although I have to say that - given how good the week went food-wise - I was actually disappointed that the drop in weight wasn't bigger...

I was a bit less diligent with the weight loss during the weekend after the weigh-in, but there wasn't any food shenanigans either, so I'm expecting another drop in weight next week. Well, I say "next week", I mean "tomorrow". 🤣

 

 

 

Recap of last week:

	Week 4
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h06
Steps
Avg. steps	10.50K
Distance	27.91 km
Workouts	0.3
Days with (mini-)workouts	1

 

Did well with intermittent fasting and calorie intake during the week, less so during the weekend. Same with walks: plenty of walks and steps during the week, less during the weekend.

The sleep deficit remains an issue, and the lack of mini-workouts is a problem too.

This week is shaping up to be a massive improvement, though. Not to jump to conclusions yet, but maybe the respawn is sticking this time?

 

 

 

Walk to Mordor

 

Distance walked this week: 27.91 km (17.34 miles)
Road to Mordor: total 963.7 miles - Lothlórien to Rauros - Feb. 17 - Day 2 since Lothlórien - Drifting on the river. Bare trees continue on both sides. No enemies.

 

 

The road between Lothlórien and Rauros is going to be less eventful than other parts of the road to Mordor. 😛

[sylph]

4 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Yeah, I used to do a toned-down version of this as well. Usually just "How was your day?" "Fine." "Anything in particular?" "The usual."

Same, but for me it was also that the question was so broad and showed that my parents did not have enough information about my day to ask anything more specific.

Most days aren't that memorable so (even now) when I get asked how my day is/was, 'fine' is the most likely response. Anything beyond that will involve either a lot of boring detail that makes no sense, or even MORE boring detail as I attempt to provide context. "Fine" is way easier.

 

If my parents had asked something like "How did your geometry exam go? Any tricky proofs?" or "How was the feedback on that history paper you worked so hard on" or "Is Jamie still mad at Eloise?" it may have elicited a more in-depth answer.

 

Or maybe not. Because teenagers.

[TimovieMan]

Monday:

Worked from home, went for an extended lunch break walk.

 

Tuesday:

Started working from home, until the technician from our internet provider came along (there was a broken coax cable apparently) to fix the internet issues we've had all week, then went to the office. Lunch break walk and another walk in the evening while Mrs. Movieman took TimovieDaughter to her swim class.

Stayed up too late watching snooker.

 

Wednesday:

Worked from home, went for a lunch break walk, and an extended walk in the evening during TimovieDaughter's football practice.

Technician came again because that cable wasn't the only problem - the issues had returned by Tuesday evening. We now have an entirely new modem. Wi-Fi 6 compatible instead of Wi-Fi 5. No more issues since then.

Did two DailyDare exercises. The ones from Monday and Tuesday. Was going to do the Wednesday one too, but it would've been the third quad exercise in a row and I wasn't up for that. Didn't do it later at night either, because I was too sleepy.

 

Today:

Office, and a lunch break walk.

Didn't bike to work for once, but went by car. TimovieSon has a football match in the evening. An away match. He's getting there with a class mate, but I'm going to go watch his game and bring him back home. Can't do that with my bike.

It kind of annoyed me that, with all my colleagues complaining about traffic and all the road works everywhere - which is typical for an election year - I still got to the office 15 minutes faster than I would have by bike. It would've made me feel better about always biking to the office if the biking proved to actually be faster - I have a speed bike after all. Alas.

 

 

Week so far:

	Week 5
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h14
Steps
Avg. steps	16.25K
Distance	24.46 km
Workouts	0.2
Days with (mini-)workouts	1

 

This is one of the prettiest logs I've ever had. Check out all the green!!!

This week's track record would've been perfect without the Tuesday night snooker sleep deficit.

Hopefully, I get to maintain this run of form for the rest of the week!

 

 

 

In other news: holy shit, the line-up for the Alcatraz festival this summer is impressive! 

I'm marking all bands with red, orange, yellow, green and dark green during my preparation, to gauge how interested I am in watching them. Dark green basically means "I know and love these guys and come hell or high water, I'm seeing them live!". Last year there were 8 bands like that, this year it's only three (Lord of the Lost, Paradise Lost and Feuerschwanz).

But I'm discovering a fuckton of bands that I either didn't know or only knew tangiantly, that I'm now marking green.

I'm only 2/3rds of the way in my preparation, but I've already marked *far* more bands green than I did last year. There's also a lot less red and orange.

That means that when they release their actual time table, I'll probably have to make some decisions about *which* band I'm going to see if two interesting ones are playing at the same time... 😅

Last year, I only had *one* moment in the entire weekend where I had to make an actual decision. I favoured Brutus over Killswitch Engage then. With all the green I'm marking now, I'll have a lot more decisions to make. And probably a lot less "downtime" where nothing really interesting is playing.

I'll have a *very* busy weekend it seems.

 

 

A lot of bands (even younger bands) that play "old school" metal or incorporate 80s influences, too. Even a few where I'm going "are these even hard enough for a metal festival?" - but since I'm not as much of a fan of the more extreme "death", "doom", "black" and "speed" metal subgenres, softer bands are far more up my alley.

 

Including these ones: The Night Flight Orchestra.

Never heard of them before. But they sound more like a classic rock band in the vein of Journey and Foreigner than a metal band. Which means I'm *definitely* going to go see them. 😎

 

The Night Flight Orchestra - Divinyls

 

[TimovieMan]

23 minutes ago, sylph said:

Or maybe not. Because teenagers.

"How was school today?"

- "Fine."

"What did you do?"

- "A lot."

"Anything in particular?"

- (blank stare)

 

Most likely with all of these conversations starting with me shouting their name until they actually hear me over the sound of their headphones.

 

Like you say: because teenagers. 😁

[WhiteGhost]

I found that if instead of "how was school?" I ask "Did anything interesting happen at school today?" I am more likely to get a thoughtful response.  Often nothing interesting happened, but sometimes I hit a gold mine