Click images for desktop size: "Our Man Flint" by JW McGinnis Yesterday I was going on about how the drugs made me feel like a prisoner. Some people didn't get it.
I understand.
I'm not looking to run away. There's nothing to escape but myself and that would take some awful fast running. I just want an open door as an option.
Its a sense of freedom that's been born in me and purified over the years. No country is big enough to hold me. I need that as much as I need the drugs.
But with the drugs it was always a wearisome chore. I had to have them. I have to have them. Its a medical condition addiction, I guess.
They cost money and I always have to have a doctor write me a prescription. They very seldom will give me more than a month at a time. So I'm on a time tether.
It usually means if I go someplace I have to have a week to find a doctor, or a free clinic who'll write me the prescriptions, then I have to find a drugstore I can afford. Its funny, but one of my meds was like $125 at Ekarts, $85 at Walgreens, $60 at Walmart and I ended up getting it at a tiny corner druggist for $25 . . . So, yeah, I have to look and they won't always tell you over the phone.
And then I have four weeks before I have to start all over again.
I've always resented it. Always hated the bus rides, the walks and the bike rides, the time spent getting my drugs so I can stay alive, not go blind, not die.
So Three months supply feels like freedom. I like looking at the bottles and knowing I could go anyplace I can get to in 11 weeks.
Even now it means I don't have to go through the monotonous routine of getting them.
That's all I meant. I hate my drugs. I hate that they keep me alive but don't make me feel better . . . But I still look at them, my massive 3 month supply, and I feel wealthy.

I finished "Atom Man VS Superman". It was cool. Very.
I've already rabbited on about the acting and all. This would be "Highly Recommended" instead of "Warmly Recommended" because of three major caveats.
The first is the special effects. Its got cool space ships made of riveted tin, rockets and flying saucers (but, sadly, no robots!) but when it comes to the coolest effect, Superman flying, it cuts to a rotoscoped cartoon image. Sometimes they try and make it cool but the Superman flying over the horizons of Metropolis (A very very cool old LA) it is always a cartoon Superman . . . which is kind of disappointing. It never looses that jarring effect.
The second is common with Columbia serials.
Click images for desktop size: "I Remember Papa" by Unknown They LIE TO YOU! Like, you see a flood come rushing down a mountain and just sweeping a truck carrying Lois Lane over a cliff where the truck is dashed to bits and the announcer intones "Will Lois survive!"
But when you come back to the next episode it doesn't happen . . . Cartoon Superman swoops down and lifts Lois and the truck out of the way of the flood, just in time. No truck ever goes over the cliff . . . personally, I prefer the old pulls her out of the truck just in time sort of thing.
The final concern might actually be a plus. I found it pretty amusing. Seem Luthor has invented a device that can transport people anywhere in the world, he's invented a TV camera that can see and hear through walls, a heat ray, an earthquake machine that can level any city in the world, space ships, ATOM BOMBS and this criminal genius uses these fabulous inventions to commit a rash of robberies. In one night his gang robs a Shoe Store, a Dry Cleaners and a Candy Store . . . yup. A bit of overkill is what I'm thinking . . . And you can't help but wonder how many atom bombs can the day's take a candy store finance?
Then to avoid being busted for petty larceny he launches an Atom Bomb at Metropolis . . . to avoid a bust on a candy store stick up . . .
Still, it was fun through out. Next on the serial watch list is Michael J Foxe's fave, "Spy Smasher".
I've also come to terms with the fact that I'm a Jean Claude Van Damme fan. I have almost all of his movies and I find them diverting and enjoyable. They have no pretensions other than to entertain. Van Damme works within his limits and succeeds. And he looks great kicking people in the head!
His recent films have taken an interesting tact, presaging Stallone's again of his characters. Van Damme's heroes' are mortal, more so, often just aged and disillusioned. One he was a drug cop who used his position to get himself addicted to heroin!! Not to preserve anything but only from ennui, rage and loss. It was shockingly real and well played, but not so heavy as to detract from all the head cracking to come.

I've finally finished all the encodes for my big Apple TV encoding experiment. Now I have to watch and compare. That will take a bit depending on how my eyes hold up.
My eyes feel marginally better. I've noticed an odd thing about my face. Its not Bell's Palsy paralyzed but its not moving right. I can't clamp my eyes shut. I'm only smiling with the left side of my face.
The good part is that with concentration and effort I can still move the right side of my face. I'm not gravely concerned.
Click images for desktop size: "Death By Beauty" by Lai Nguye I figure it will pass. If it doesn't I've got a doctor.
The penicillin is doing its job. I wonder if its part of the semi-paralysis in my face - some weird eye infection its fighting. Its knocked a lot of the steady pain out. The only drawback to that is that its let me realize just how badly my right shoulder is aching! I'm used to that. Concentrating on one set of pain allows you to ignore the lesser pains.
The only grief from that, other than an upset stomach, is the sudden electric bursts of pain that escape. Nothing heavier than the previous constant pain so its just a wake up call reminding me to keep taking the pills.
Other than that its just the usual of my body readjusting to the chemistry of the drugs. I go through it every time I run low on the drugs in my system. Its uncomfortable but not debilitating.
And I'm looking at the world with the old stupid wry look.
I'm feeling quirky and as happy as I usually am.
But crabby always very crabby. It keeps me predictable.