The Lollipop Guild

[I have no idea why the hyper links look the way they do.  Apparently the "new & improved LiveJournal chokes on HTML.]

The other day I happened to drive past the Ken Cinema in Kensinton. Many years ago, it was a place to see films that were "cult" classics, and would regularly show Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as The Rocky Horror Picture show. It would also so foreign films that otherwise would not have been seen locally. It, along with other locations, was owned by Landmark Theatres. I saw many movies I would otherwise never have seen including <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt00898…">The Quiet Earth</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt01039…">Man Bites Dog</a>, and many others whose titles I have long since forgotten. 

Back in early 2020, when the world went insane, the Landmark vacated the Ken, and it remained closed because if it were to remain open everyone on the planet would die. Since my chance passing last week, I have since learned that the Ken had been sold late in 2022. 

As of this writing, the marquee still says the theatre is closed, the article below states that the building will no longer be a theatre. As with Paras News, the advent of the internet and streaming services, coupled with rampant stupidity and gullibility, have ensured that these small gems will be forever lost.

Many years ago, I 'Googled' a lady whom I knew from local science fiction fandom.  She was a pretty lady, but slightly...odd.  I couldn't anything, and I forgot about it for several years, when I searched for her again.  This time I got a hit.  I found out that she had been killed by a hit-and-run driver whilst she was riding her bicycle.  The driver was never found.

I contacted someone I knew from the SF community to tell them of this.  Apparently no one was aware of what had happened.

Fast forward to last night.

A series of thoughts caused me to again 'Google' someone whom I had lost contact with a few years ago.  I found his obituary.  He died less than two weeks ago, the day before his birthday.

I contacted the only person I could to ask if he knew anything.  He did not, other than being told by a mutual friend back in November that he had been moved to a convalescent hospital in Lemon Grove. This second person was also unaware of his passing.

So, again: I look up someone from my past only to discover they had died.

Keep in touch...

All too often we hear espouse the UK's healthcare system as being FAR superiour to what is available in the US.  After all, in the UK, heathcare is free to everyone. 

The reality is far different.  Last year, 120,000 people ***died*** whilst waiting to be seen.  

The old saying 'you get what you pay for' was never more true.  In the UK, that's something you can bet your life on.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/nhs-wa…

Just in time for the upcoming Presidential election, we have "medical professionals" calling for mask mandates and lockdowns because the 142,742th COVID-19 variant, the one that will — and we really know we're right this time so you should believe us — kill us all.

I continue to be amazed at the mass stupidity of people who genuinely believe that a piece of cloth over their face will protect *them* from a microscopic virus.  

Lockdowns were, are, and will be stupid.  Because isolation from infections diseases worked so well for the the Aztecs and all the other people when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s.

Antibodies don't form in isolation, morons.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

Out of a combination of morbid curiosity and reminiscence I have started wading through past entries.  Apparently I was quite prolific in 2009 and earlier.  So far I have stopped at the end of 2008.

It is unfortunate that many of the links and pictures are gone.

It is also unfortunate that with two exceptions, I have zero contact with any of the people who, at the time, seemed to be so central to me existence, and how by 2015 had shown me that they were in actuality not worth the paper they were printed on.  In their defence, I am certain their opinion of me has equally soured, especially once they discovered that I have a low 'pain threshold' for bullshit and hypocrisy.

Eventually I want to get back to 2004, when I wrote several lengthy entries for my trip to Boston for the 2004 World Con.  I know it will cause memories of Kat to resurface, but after all this time I have zero feelings, and the realization I made a good call.  I put up with much more BS for a longer amount of time than I was originally aware.  I wish her no ill, but telling me at the time she couldn't see me because one of her cats was lonely should have caused a much greater reaction out of me than it did.

Maybe re-reading these entries isn't such a good idea after all...

I received an email in my spam folder reminding me that LiveJournal still exists.  Much to my surprise, Kremlin Gremlin (Putin) did not erase my account.

Apparently after six years I still have an account.  I had to reset the password to something undoubtedly more secure than whatever it was in 2017.

I have left the Librarian world behind, or more accurately, it left ME behind.  I am doing other things, that I am sadly very good at.  But at least I am making more per hour than I was ... in 2008, and I have this strange thing called "benefits."  Imagine that.

I may check in from time to time, as Facistbook has become annoying.  However, I suspect if I say too much in support of Ukraine my account will suddenly disappear.

I am going to need to relearn how to do many things.  Change profile pictures being the first, which I believe I have just done.

I am curious as to who all still see this.  I know the user Boltwalt has passed away.  Others, most others, have probably moved on over the preceding six years.  My intent is to use this as I did before: to record my thoughts and whims as they come across.  This is a much easier interface than Fascistbook.