Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s mid-to late morning here in New Hometown, Florida on Saturday, May 22, 2021. It is a nice late spring morning here; the temperature outside is 76˚F (24˚C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 41% and the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 10 MPH (15 KM/H), the feels-like temperature is 74˚F (23˚C). Today’s forecast: partly sunny skies and a high of 84˚F (29˚C). Tonight, skies will be mostly clear. The low will be 62˚F (17˚C) The Air Quality Index is 39 or Good. We are also still under a Fire Weather warning, which means that conditions in this part of Florida are conducive to brush fires.
Last night I planned to watch Air Force One, which is one of my favorite films that stars Harrison Ford. I even went to my Blu-ray shelves and grabbed the 4K UHD edition…looked at the cover art…then put it back on the shelf. I’m not sure if I changed my mind because it was late at night – when I looked at the clock in the kitchen a few minutes later, it was 11:29 PM Eastern – and I knew I’d fall asleep well before Act Two of the movie or because I just wasn’t really in the mood. Probably a combination of both, I think.
The funny thing about that is that it seems that I do this a lot lately. I will turn off my computer and think, I think I’ll watch The Incredibles tonight. I haven’t seen it in ages! Then I’ll go to my Blu-ray shelves (I also have DVD shelves!) and grab The Incredibles, look at the package art, then listlessly return it to its place on the Ikea shelf from whence I plucked it. Then I’ll go to my futon – in its “couch configuration” – with my trusty TV remote in hand, and end up watching military-themed documentaries on my Amazon Prime Video app.
Hopefully this won’t happen today, which is one of my two days off from working on the script that I’m doing for my friend Juan Carlos Hernandez. I really need to have some fun down time that does not involve sitting at my PC from sunrise until I get drowsy. In my situation – where I don’t have local friends to hang out with – my only options are to read books or watch movies, and since I have over 300 movies (342 according to my Blu-ray.com Collection page, but at least two of those are in the Ordered category) and 55 TV seasons (53 owned, 2 ordered), in theory I’m set. (But, as you know, there is a huge difference between theory and practice.)
Speaking of my Collection, after some dithering on my part, I decided to add the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks to my Blu-ray hoard. I was a bit hesitant to do it; I’m not a huge fan of animated series (other than those from Lucasfilm Animation), and from what I knew of Star Trek: Lower Decks I was intensely “meh” about it. The show, after all, is a Star Trek comedy (the first such series in the franchise) created by Rick & Morty’s creator, Mike McMahan, and since I don’t subscribe to Paramount+ (formerly CBS All-Access), I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen Rick & Morty either, so…yeah. Meh.
However, I remember that when I lived in Miami I bought Star Trek: The Animated Series even though I did not have fond memories of that show from when I first watched in the 1970s. I wasn’t yet a Star Trek fan when Star Trek: The Animated Series was on NBC’s Saturday morning “kidvid” lineup, so back then my reaction to that show – which actually has good Star Trek stories (plus stars the voices of most of the Original Series’ cast) but has awful “limited animation – was also “meh.” So…Precedent No. 1.
Precedent No. 2: When the Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film was released in home media, I was so underwhelmed by the movie at first that I ordered the DVD rather than the Blu-ray. Over time, my opinion of Dave Filoni’s addition to the Star Wars franchise has mellowed, and even when I lived in Miami I tried buying the Blu-ray edition to complete my Star Wars BD collection. It wasn’t until last week that I finally found a third-party seller on Amazon that has copies of Star Wars: The Clone Wars for $39.99 – $20 more than its original 2008 MSRP of $19.98.
Thinking that perhaps someday I will regret not buying Star Trek: Lower Decks when it first came out on physical media at an affordable price, I bit the proverbial bullet and ordered it this morning, along with a pre-order of Star Trek: Discovery – Season Three, which will “drop” in July.
So, my Star Trek collection is mostly up-to-date; I still am on the fence about getting Star Trek: Short Treks, but I might order that later this summer.
I don’t know what the rest of my Saturday will be like – I have no set-in-stone plans – but I hope I don’t end up staying at my desk all day.
That wraps up another Musings & Thoughts post, Dear Reader. I hope your weekend is off to a good start, and until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.
A Certain Point of View, Too 