Halo Episode 2 Unbound (Paramount Plus)

 

Master Chief takes temporary refuge in a place called The Rubble.  The Rubble is just outside a minefield and is filled with what another film might call "villainy and scum" who can't be safe anywhere else.

The Rubble is ruled, in a way, by Master Chief's old classmate Soren-066. Soren escaped Spartan training years ago, though just barely so, since John was thoroughly indoctrinated in the Spartan program, and it was either kill Soren for disobeying orders or let him have a short head start before sounding the alarms.

Soren has a section of his sprawling space city full of people who seem insane. Among them is a man who was captured by the Covenant and got away.  He mostly babbles but he takes to Kwan Ha, the teen refuge right away.  He can't tell them much except the artifact can lead to another object the Covenant want, a ring.

Master Chief again touches the artifact, causing waves of something blue to roll through the area, causing the inmates to scream. Reth declares Master Chief a "Blessed One" because he can interact with the object.

Also a  Blessed One, a mysterious girl who is revered among the Covenant asks to go into the human territory to get the "keystone" which will lead them to the ring.

Master Chief leaves a reluctant Kwan Ha with Soren and goes back to the Reach and turns himself in.

Here he's imprisoned but gets a visit from Halsey who tries to find out more about the artifact and what the changes Master Chief is experiencing mean.

She's cleverly manipulated the UNSC council to allow her to try out Cortana, a clone (?) of herself who is the next level above the Spartans and who can be controlled and control the Spartans.  I think that's right :)

Lots of characters to know, a complicated society, an implacable enemy.  What's not to like?

Picard: Fly Me To The Moon (Paramount Plus)

 

Picard manages to talk at last to The Watcher.  

She's a dead ringer for his friend Laris from the future but is not Laris.  Her job has been to protect a single individual in this time period without ever being seen or detected by her in any way.

Her charge is to protect Renee Picard, an ancestor of Jean Luc's who is preparing for the historic Europa flight.

Picard urges Tallin to help him avert the upcoming time event, and tries to explain Q and his machinations to her. She's willing, but the last opportunity to protect Renee is at a gala with impossible to crack security.

Naturally Jurati, who's thrilled to try out the old code she once studied goes in first.  Captured by secuity almost immediately, as planned, she's soon in cuffs in the security center, right where she needs to be.

Unfortunately, she has the Borg queen like a devil on her shoulder tagging along. Agnes was forced to shoot the Borg Queen, but somehow the Queen at the last reached out and infected her somehow, and now the Queen is part of her.

Renee has been stressed and deeply depressed, and as part of her preparations, talks to a therapist who is revealed to be Q, encouraging her to allow her fears to take over and pull out of the mission.

Q has been very busy, as he's also got Adam Soong on a string, promising to help his genetically ailing daughter with a cure, if only Adam will help Q with an obstacle.

Rios is rescued handily by Seven and Rafi, once cool headed Seven takes over.

It's an action packed episode, and yet when it was over I was once again thinking "Wait! You're stopping there?"

The deeper we go, the more complex things get. It's another excellent season of Picard.

Throwback Thursday Into The Garden

 Off we go to work in my first garden, my helper and I.

What's Cooking March 31, 2022

 Lemon Bars that are like lemon meringue sound nice and spring like, don't they?

https://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/whole-meyer-lemon-meringue-bars/ 

 

It's about that time of the year when I at least think of doing a Spring Cleaning List.  I have several printed, and do the parts I can. It's an appealing way to freshen things up.  

Here's an article from The Kitchn wherein one of their staff follow a daily cleaning routine from the 1920s.  In a time when the household was actually a job for a woman, the routine is reasonable (except turning the mattresses weekly, that's a bit much.

https://www.thekitchn.com/1920s-cleaning-schedule-23007987

 

For another spring treat, Strawberry Jello Fluff Salad.  I'm not sure about the bananas in it, but it does look pretty.

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/strawberry-jello-fluff-salad/

 

How about a salad to go with your next pizza?

https://www.acouplecooks.com/italian-salad/ 

 

For this week's cake, Easy Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting from Life Love and Sugar.  I'm considering making a cake a week :) This looks lovely and moist.

https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/moist-yellow-cake-with-chocolate-frosting/

 

Survivor March 30, 2022

 

Survivor: Knives Out Edition!  

Daniel is indeed the lowest of the low on his tribe. Good thing his group won one of the immunities.  He will have to start hoping for the merge to escape his fate.

Maryann was in no danger this week. Her tribe has dominated the last few challenges. Jonathan, nicknamed Thor by Tori, and viewed as too powerful by jealous others, did dominate physically, but he also really supported his tribe mates in other ways.

The major fighting went on at Ika where Tori was in trouble again, for blabbing confidential information around.  She was overtaken by quiet girl Swati, who somehow thought it was a good idea to go to every person and tell them they were her number one.  Once that got out...so did she.  Fifth person to leave, though she tried the Shot In The Dark, but was not safe.

I'm amazed at how popular the Shot In The Dark seems to be this season.  I suppose if you think you have no chance at all, it could appeal.  It hasn't worked for anyone yet this season.

I Am Mother (Netflix)

 

On day one after an extinction event, a robot puts an embryo in a small chamber and waits patiently while it develops.

She tenderly cares for the child, who we see grow through childhood to her teen years.  The girl is smart, sweet, well behaved, caring.  She's tested periodically, on her knowledge as well as her ethics.

First a mouse makes it's way into the facility. Mother disposes of it immediately as it likely contains the contagion that wiped out humanity.

Then, a woman bangs on the door. The girl is so thrilled to see another human that she hides her from Mother, as she doesn't want her to meet the same fiery end as the mouse.

The woman is almost feral, and claims there are other humans alive, and the girl belongs with them rather than with the murdering robots.

Mother insists the woman is not telling the truth about anything.  The bullet she was shot with came from a gun just like her own.  

The tension mounts as the girl and the viewer really can't tell which view of the world is correct.  As it turns out, both robot Mother and would be human mother are telling very little of the truth.

For myself, I was more distrustful of the human woman and her story.  Also, she had a very savage nature.

Having read a book called A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, with a large section dealing with a young girl raised by an AI, I was taken with the many scenes of care and tenderness shown by Mother and wanted her to be telling the truth.

Very enjoyable.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

 

The Classic for March is Little Women.  I hadn't read it in a long time, and as it turned out, my beloved copy, received when I was ill and about eight years old, was an abridged version.  The full novel, in my edition, is 535 pages.

For my re-read, I purchased a Seawolf Press 150th anniversary edition with all of the original illustrations.

The story and characters are charming as ever.  The daily lives of the March family, and all of the inventive ways they entertain themselves, is just the thing to read on a winter's day.

I did not remember the story being so instructive, morally, but with a few exceptions, I liked the thinking.  There's so much love in this family, which they spread to all around them.

I remember Beth being my favorite character, and not caring for Jo so much.  Meg seemed too grown up, and Amy was terribly vain and spoiled, I thought.

Reading now, I appreciated what Meg went through much more, I liked Jo, Beth was sweet but maybe too good, Amy was a spoiled, vain creature who I still did not care for.  As a whole, with wonderful Marmee presiding, they're exceptional.

Book Notes March 29, 2022

It seems I missed a new jigsaw puzzle on the Agatha Christie Official site.  Just click the link to give it a try.

https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2022/a-deadly-affair-a-puzzle

 

Check the sidebar for a new link list of Mystery news and review sites.  These are my favorites and a few new to me sites.  Look for this old magazine cover as you scroll down.

CrimeReads new books for the week i out with some interesting choices.  Don't jusge a book, and all that, but I like the cover of the Orchid and the Emerald quite a bit.

https://crimereads.com/10-new-books-coming-out-this-week-march-28-2022/

 

 

Well, doh, of course you spend time in the book worlds.

Slow news week!

Red Heart I Love Pink Blanket Part 6

 I have made progress since last week. I’m on the second to last color, Light Raspberry.  The edging instructions were making me buggy, so I dove in on a few squares to see how it went. 

The essence of the instructions are to do a half double crochet in each stitch along the sides. On the top and bottom of each square, do a set of four half double crochets in the spaces created by the double crochet groups of four. If this is wrong, it will show up in the next step when I attempt to “assemble” the squares.

I’m pulling the Jazzy yarn from the center of the skein, and so far there’s no color change. It’s all very crimson.  Somewhere in the edges and borders, those lighter colors should appear.

Librariandoa's Cipher Sunday Answer Key for the March 20, 2022

 Our quote is from another story in the New Tales of Space and Time Anthology edited by Raymond J Healy.  It's one of the oldest books in my collection, not held together by much.  

The story is Ray Bradbury's Here There Be Tygers

Librariandoa's Sunday Word Finds Trixie Belden and the Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell

 

Librariandoa's Sunday Word Finds: The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James

 

Sunday Puzzles: Picard A Word Find

 It's Week One in the puzzle rotation once again.  Here's a word find based on bits of season one and two of Picard.

DOA's Answer Key for the Nancy Drew and the Bungalow Mystery A Word Find

 

DOA's Answer Key for The Dragon Reborn Word Find

 

DOA's Answer Key for the Springtime Crossword Puzzle

 Wasn't that fun?  For me, in any case :)

First Line Friday March 25, 2022

 

Halo (Paramount Plus)

 

I haven't played but a few minutes of the game Halo, so I don't have the backstory of the universe and Master Chief's place in it.

The story begins in a small settlement, with the locals playing cards and complaining about the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) who apparently make life a misery for the colonists.  

The commander's daughter and her friends spot the arrival of hostile aliens from The Covenant (described later as relentless killers whose purpose in attacking is unknown).  These aliens attack and murder everyone in the settlement, even as the Spartans arrive and take out the alien attackers.

There's a single survivor, the commander's daughter.

While searching for the landing site of the Covenant craft, the Spartans find a cave with an artifact that when touched, triggers memories in Master Chief.

He takes the artifact and the teen back towards home in his ship.

When the teen refuses to make a video exclaiming the bravery and value of the Spartans, she's deemed disposable and orders go out to Master Chief to terminate her.

There's a complicated group back home who seem split between the scientists and politicians.  Some of these stand out in a good way as interesting characters, and when Master Chief decides, perhaps under the influence of the artifact, to save the teen, his own termination order is given.

The show does a surprisingly good job of presenting a complex future, and the role and abilities of the Spartans in the society.  I'm certainly rooting for the Spartan and the frightened, but brave girl to get away and sort things out.

Picard: Watcher (Paramount Plus)

 I feared a CGI Guinan would appear eerily in this episode, but there is a young actress instead.  She's young and angry and has a very disillusioned view of 21st century humanity.

 She doesn't know Picard, doesn't trust him, and is closing up shop before the big time anomaly event can occur.

Seven and Rafi try to track down Rios who has been arrested by ICE and is on a bus to...somewhere.

Their sequence is all about cops and robbers, and since they've stolen a police car, they're both.

Poor Agnes remains on the La Sirena with the dangling Borg Queen.  The Queen finds Agnes fascinating and keeps picking at her.  Burati has such a baby face, but we know she's capable of cold blooded murder, so I'm not worried about her.

The episodes continue to combine thoughtful science fiction with roaring action sequences, and excellent personal moments.

What's Cooking March 24, 2022

 Looks like Shepherd's Pie is back on the menu, boys.  I've tried various recipes that weren't quite up to expectations.  I'm liking the ingredients for this "cottage pie" (made with burger instead of lamb) from Life in the Lofthouse.  The cheese layer on top is particularly nice.

https://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/shepherds-pie-cottage-pie/

 

I love all cheesy things, so I'm thinking Cheese Balls should be eaten more often than just at New Years.

https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/classic-cheese-ball-recipe/

 

Chess Pie is disappointingly without black and white squares. It does however look and sound much like the Sugar Pie featured on a recent episode of This Is Us.

https://iambaker.net/chess-pie/ 

 

 I like the idea of this hybrid biscuit/muffin from the English kitchen.

https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2022/03/buttermilk-biscuit-muffins.html

 I made this great chocolate cake yesterday. These pictures are from a previous post on my now deleted 2.0. I needed to look the recipe up oops…while I was in the process of deleting the other blog because I hadn't printed the page with the frosting instructions.

https://bunnyswarmoven.net/small-chocolate-cake/

Survivor March 23, 2022

 This weeks episode of Survivor might be subtitled "Who Wore The Weasel Suit?"

Throughout the episode, Daniel of the Vati tribe was up to no good, though he tried to mask his efforts as bumbling behavior.

First, he insists on taking Mike's idol and advantage off to read and study. He sticks these deeply into his underwear. So gross.

Then when he gives Mike the items back, it's only the wrapper, not the idol itself or the instructions.  Did they fall out? Did he keep them on purpose?  He finds he did drop the idol where he read the Advantage instructions. But the instructions themselves seemed to be deep in his underwear, but he did manage to dig them out.  Bleh.

At tribal, his team was there, and he had gone to everyone before hand saying different things.  At tribal, then, he somehow tried to put all of the decision for who would go on Chanelle, who had no vote at tribal at all.

Poor Jenny went, but I'd think Daniel is now on everyone's radar.

One DOA To Rule Them All

 I've successfully deleted my Librariandoa 2/0 blog.  I hoped to import the posts from there to here, but differences in the coding language didn't make it practical. It was going to allow me to save my Media Library, but the download failed at six minutes twice.  Off we go.  Need that DOA in your life? you've come to the right place :)

The Tomorrow War (Amazon Prime)

 

I'm a huge fan of science fiction/action/adventure movies.  The Tomorrow War has Chris Pratt's Dan Forester joining a large group of untrained draftees in a time jump to the future.

In 30 years, earth is overcome by White Spikes, screeching, tentacled, loping devourers.  A group of soldiers comes back from the future and says they need help fighting these creatures or humanity will disappear.  All nations agree to a draft, and thousands are sent from all over the world each week.  Few return.

Dan Forester's group doesn't stand a chance as some glitch has them mostly falling from tall building height to the ground. The lucky few land in a rooftop swimming pool.  Pratt takes charge as he answers a com message. 

His daughter, grown up, is in charge of the operation. He follows her orders to try to retrieve lab personnel and their work.  Succeeding only in getting the lab test tubes and hard drives, the staff is dead--Forester works with his daughter to try to find a toxin that will kill the creatures before they wipe out humanity.

I thought the film was action packed.  I liked Forester's relationship with his daughter as a child and adult as a backbone of the story.   

All those ordinary people just tossed into the conflict with no training, yikes.  And Forester, a veteran, took as good care of them as he was able.

Good stuff.

Trixie Belden #3 The Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell

 

The Wheeler's large property includes an old abandoned Gatehouse that the girls and Bobby decide to explore.

Bobby rushes in the doorway before he can be stopped. He trips and lands on a sharp piece of glass that turns out to be a diamond.  It's not even buried, it was just lying non the surface of the dirt floor.

Naturally Trixie speculates that jewel thieves dropped it here, and will be back for it.  She wants to hold onto the diamond till they can figure out who the thieves are, and why they were here.  Honey reluctantly agrees and says she has a safe place for it.

Suddenly both girls hear a rustling in the shrubbery outside the Gatehouse and as they run out to see who has been listening, the person gets away.

Trixie's brothers are back from camp, and they're all in for trying to solve the mystery as well, and capture the thieves.  This is the first time we meet smart aleck Mart and cool headed Brian.  They're perfect additions to the group we know of Trixie, Honey and Jim.  Everyone brings something useful to the solving of mysteries.

Two suspicious new hires are watched carefully in case they're the thieves.  All possible clues are examined.  A club is formed and the Gatehouse is eyed as a possible club house.

I mostly enjoyed the introduction of the brothers to the group, and how easily everyone got along right away.  The mystery of the jewel thieves was intriguing though one of the thieves gave himself away pretty quickly.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

 

Secretly you live for my epiphanies as to the killer as I'm halfway through a mystery.  Well, by page 106, I knew that the killer was the dead mother!!!!

Incorrect, of course.  I could see it all, though. 

Shea Collins has a blog called The Book of Cold Cases.  On it, she discusses cases famous and not so famous, really digging into known facts and speculations.  Her blog includes a forum where cases are widely discussed.

In her day job, she's a receptionist in a medical clinic.  One day, she recognizes a local crime celebrity (a celebrity to her true crime loving self). 

This woman, Beth Greer, was accused of killing two men in cold blood.  The killings were completely random. There were no connections of any kind between Beth and the victims.  There was a witness who saw her driving away from the second killing. No physical evidence.

State and local police did everything they could to try to win the case that Beth was that unusual thing in the 1970s, a female serial killer.

She was acquitted, and remained defiant, and thus guilty in many eyes.

Shea boldly takes a break after Beth's appointment and follows her and asks for an interview. She's granted the interview, then gets access to some of those involved in the case.

As happens, digging into this old mystery changes Shea's life, and puts her in danger she couldn't have imagined when she asked for that first interview.

Another thrilling mystery from Simone St. James

http://www.simonestjames.com/

Book Notes March 22, 2022

 CrimeReads has a juicy article featuring 7 tales with high body counts, described with relish by Peter Swanson.

https://crimereads.com/the-unique-pleasures-of-a-mystery-novel-with-a-high-death-count/

 

 

I'm becoming a real fan of John Steinbeck the more I learn, and I have a shortlist of books to read by him next.  This letter to Marilyn Monroe really adds to his personal charm.

 

Also from CrimeReads their ten new books of the week (last week, actually).

https://crimereads.com/10-new-books-coming-out-this-week-march-14-2022/

I'm going to order from the list:

Cartographers Peng Shepherd

Secret Identity Alex Segura

Under Lock and Skeleton Key Gigi Pandian

 

From the Mystery Tribune for your TBR: 23 Best Crime, Mystery and Thrillers for March 2022:

https://www.mysterytribune.com/23-best-crime-mystery-and-thriller-books-of-march-2022/ 

 

 

Novel Suspects interviews Janet Evanovich about her new series which begins with The Recovery Agent.

https://www.novelsuspects.com/author-essay/janet-evanovich-qa/