Duckburg Gazette

Monday, June 30, 2025

My family?

Do you often see commercials for restaurants that say "when you're here, your family" or "you're family here" and others along those lines? Up till about 2012, Olive Garden had that very slogan for decades and changed it but now Red Lobster's new CEO is pressing the family and home vibe for the rebirth of the company. But a lot of local places kind of use that same slogan or motto and it had me thinking... if I invite people to my home for a meal or I go to a friend's (or family) home for a meal, they don't charge me nor I them. So, going to Olive Garden isn't like going to a family's place and neither is Red Lobster because again, family (or friends) wouldn't charge me or even expect a tip. So there is something wrong when a place or company suggest that because I am going to assume the food is for free and just a "Thanks for having me over!" will suffice! I can bring the soda or dinner rolls if that helps. But yeah, my family doesn't charge when you come over for a meal.

Weekly Update:
I miss eating Pringles... and why have I stopped? They just cost too much now. Just a few year ago, on sale they were only .99 a can and that was a good deal (but mind you it was the sale price). Now, they are on sale for $1.99 which is a 100% increase in that pricing. It appears normal pricing went from about $1.49 to 2.99 which is about a 50% increase in pricing in just the span of a year (or less). But that is not the only thing that has jumped in pricing, just a simple example plus my cravings for Pringles right now. But another example is eggs... a few years ago they were .99 a dozen (AA-Large), then since this year they doubled to $1.99 and now the average is about $4.15 a dozen. That is over 300% increase and I recently picked up a small seedless watermelon. Last year it was 3.99 and now it's 5.99 for that same size and kind (seedless). Things are getting worse as utilities are going up and taxes are taking more. Not a good time to be in the US and... I still I don't have Pringles (because they are too much).

At the movies:
Racing it's way to #1 getting the checkered flag is F1 The Movie earning 55.6 million for it's debut. Not a bad number but we are in the Summer season so it should have been higher. Word-of-mouth is good on the film so we'll see how it carries. Drop down to #2 is How to Train Your Dragon (live version) with an extra 19.4 mil as it hits the 200 mil mark. Doubt it will reach the 300 mark but still did well overall. Holding on to #3 is Elio with 10.7 mil and unfortunately won't carry to much further. New at #4 is M3gan 2.0 with 10.2 mil and below expectations for this thriller. Expect this one to tap out soon. Rounding off the top 5 is 28 Years Later with 9.7 mil more and also expect this one to tap out soon as well.

Quote of the week:
"The home is the chief school of human virtues." - William Ellery Channing.

Facts & Tips:
Honey does not spoil.

"I hope this is the right road? It doesn't even show up on the GPS - it's unworthy of global positioning." Anna Hutchison as Jules in The Cabin in the Woods.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Who can it be pecking at my door?

A bit of a cool down this week! The first part of the week continued to be very warm to hot (high 80's to low 90's) and even humid a bit which we are not used to here! But come mid-week to the weekend everything cooled down quiet a bit with back to 70 range weather and nights in the 60's but most importantly, the breezes were back. That is what really makes or breaks us are the breezes because they can add so much to the temperatures and lower it by as much as 10 degrees. But with no breeze, an 80 degree day can feel like close to 90 with stagnant area. So those ocean breezes do mean a lot and impact us even more than we realize! I don't want wind, I just want the breezes. Winds are too drastic and can also be warm on top of it. I mean winds are great but at higher altitudes please to power the wind turbines we have mostly in Northern California. Breezes are light and cool so they are just perfect and can make a hot day... nice again.

Weekly Update:
Over the weekend as I was trying to sleep in I had my window open (for some fresh and cool air) and I heard a woodpecker! I have heard them in the past from time-to-time but usually not outside my window and he (or she) was peckering away all morning. I haven't heard it since but not sure if they only do it during certain times of the day or was it just passing by to say hello? The image I found is a woodpecker common to California, I have no idea what it looked like as I didn't take the time to find the source and I'm sure if I did look I wouldn't find it as the trees around here are big, thick and not dense but plenty of them. I hope it wasn't setting up a home here because that would me future pecks to come. Do they peck to make a home or to find food or both? I guess they make homes in the holes the burrow into a tree, they are like the carpenter's of the bird species. I just hope it was just passing by for a spell.

At the movies:
Holding on to #1 for a 2nd week is How to Train Your Dragon (live version) for an extra 37 million as it closes in on 200 mil domestic cume. A sizeable drop of 56% but that is below the norm these days. New at #2 is 28 Years Later with 30 mil and that is a very decent number for this franchise. New at #3 is Elio with 21 mil and well below expectations, Disney may have lost its Summer charm. Hanging on to #4 is Lilo & Stitch (live version) with 9.7 mil and inches away from hitting the 400 mil mark. Holding at #5 is Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning with 6.6 mil and still struggling to reach 200 mil, still could get there.

Quote of the week:
"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." - Edith Wharton

Facts & Tips:
90 percent of the world's population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.

"Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We can not. We must not. We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other. Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth; more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."- Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa in Black Panther.

Monday, June 16, 2025

The heat is ON!

Summer starting now? This past weekend the temperatures really turned up substantially compared to the rest of the week. We were sitting pretty nice in the mid to high 70's but then weekend came along and BOOM, 91 degrees in most parts of the Southland. However, the nights did remain nice and cool so we had that to look forward to, dropped back down to the 60's and I slept with my windows open but there was no breeze to make it cold or chilly, just maintain a level of coolness. I hope this doesn't mean a long and hot Summer though, be nice if it was just this spurt but our planet is so out of whack, weather is getting drastically worse when you see the amount of storms and hurricanes that have been occurring across the country. No one listened or believed and here we are, paying the price for it and the irreversible price at that.

Weekly Update:
This past Saturday was hailed as "No Kings" day in a counter to the current president's birthday and military parade. To date is was the largest single day protest in the country (estimated to be over 15 million) from coast-to-coast. Some of the protests were marred by plants set to disrupt them but overall the majority of them were peaceful and exercising their rights as outlined the US Constitution despite it being ignored by the president. It is every US citizen's right to speak up and against what they deem unlawful. Now there is estimated 340 million people in the US and roughly about 161 million registered voters (2022 poll) so 15 million is a small percentage but that was those only roughly counted for and not every protest was accounted for nor every person, you just can't so I would say safely that is a low-end number. By most estimates it was north of 20 million and again that may seem low but have to consider how much of that population is elderly, disabled, sick or simply working. The largest protest recorded as in 2020 over the death of George Floyd estimated to be north of 26 million but over multiple-days. But I sense the protests are not over as the majority of the largest protests in the US have occurred during the current president's first term (Hand's Off, two different Women's March in 2017 and 2018 and March for our Lives).

At the movies:
Soaring into #1 is How to Train Your Dragon (live version) with a hefty 83.7 million to open. Reviews are mixed on this one as they say it's a shot-for-shot remake of the animated to live action. Time will tell after this weekend how it holds up. Drop down to #2 is Lilo & Stitch (live version) with 15.5 mil more and still on track to potentially hit the 400 mil mark. New at #3 is Materialists with 12 mil and not a bad number considering the competition this weekend. Slight dip to #4 is Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning with 10.3 mil and still possible to hit 200 mil but not any time soon. Rounding off the top 5 is Ballerina with 9.4 mil after a huge 62% drop and this one is unfortunately out of music.

Quote of the week:
"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." - Anne Sexton

Facts & Tips:
The average person blinks 14 to 17 times per minute.

"Lucky for you, that wasn't a rule when we fought." - Theo James as Four in Divergent.

Monday, June 09, 2025

Thunder bolt and lightning

Earlier this week I started to watch the series Star Trek Discovery that originally aired the first episode on CBS and then after went straight to their new streaming service at the time. I never saw past the first episode because I didn't want to get a streaming service for just one show plus, no time. But now I have it available to me and so far the first season is pretty amazing. Like the HBO model they do less episodes in their season (maybe like 10 to 13 versus a normal 20 to 24) but each episode gets a much higher budget. Watching each episode is like a mini-movie with the high level of special effects involved being a Sci-Fi drama. Great story-line so far and I'm glad they did not dumb it down and made the main alien race so far (Klingon) all speak English to each other and had subtitles. I think the show only had about 4 or 5 seasons so I hope it maintain this level of quality after the first. Looking forward to more!

Weekly Update:
This was exciting, on Tuesday I had to do a lot of driving around and in the late afternoon had a thunderstorm appear out of no where. Well, it was becoming a very thick overcast and then really small pockets of light rain, for just seconds and then stopped. But then a bit later, saw lighting strike and heard thunder after and the rain got so thick, could barely see more than 30-yards ahead! Not sure what happened and the weather report showed for slight cloudy skies but high 70's temperature wise. But when it started to rain, it dropped fast to 65 degrees like it was Winter weather. Talk about crazy and unexpected, just not weather we are used to here and it lasted for a couple of hours too. It did clear up and ended by the evening and nothing else the rest of the week either. Telling you, climate change is very real yet we continue to ignore it and it will continue to get worse and worse with no way of reversing it.

At the movies:
Still at #1 for a 3rd week is Lilo & Stitch (live version) with an extra 32.5 million as it passed the 300 mil mark and starts it's run to 400, potentially should get there but will take some time. New at #2 is Ballerina with 25 mil and not a bad number for this time of year but projections were a bit higher. Drop down do #3 is Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning with 15 mil as unlikely to hit the 200 mil mark at this pace. Drop down to #4 is Karate Kid: Legends with 8.7 mil and unfortunately this film ended before it started, this franchise may be out of gas. Rounding off the top 5 is Final Destination: Bloodlines with 6.5 mil and likely to fall out of the top 5 next week.

Movies that did not make the top 5:
Just one this week at #8 is Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye with 3.1 mil but also just over 1,000 screens. This one will burn out quickly.

Quote of the week:
"The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds." - John F. Kennedy

Facts & Tips:
The sun is about 400 times larger than the moon.

"It's not the plane, it's the pilot." - Miles Teller as Bradly 'Rooster' Bradshaw in Top Gun: Maverick.

Monday, June 02, 2025

M-I-C-K-E-Y, Mouse

This past Saturday was at the Disney Studio lot for an event. It was both fun, tiring and HOT. There was a lot of lifting and moving of things like tables to help set up for clues but the sun was coming out and starting to heat things up. It said the temps were only in the 80's but when you lose your shade and no breeze coming by, it felt well over 100 degrees. I started to get sort of dizzy sick from the direct sunlight and forgetting to bring my sunglasses. I think what really contributed it to this was always having to look at my phone every so often to check for messages and such in the sun, that did not help at all. By the end of the event (about 1:30) I was so exhausted and just really from the heat. Also, there was no more water, the catering had took the water (and OJ) away at 11:30. So, just had to sort of tough it out and try to do as minimal as possible. In the end though I think everyone had a great time and it appeared the event was a great success! Also, for the clue I mostly helped with, we had three Mousketeers from the 1970's version of The New Mickey Mouse Club and that was pretty exciting for the players. The three special guests were; Julie Piekarski, Mindy Feldman and Shawnte Northcutte! They were the answers to the puzzle part of the clue and then players got to meet all three once they completed the puzzle.

Weekly Update:
I've been watching a lot of Tik Tok's lately, hours of mind-numbing short vids but I noticed something... between Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, the latter is far superior than the first two! Let me explain why, not this is setting aside the person making the videos because that is on them and their filming and editing skills but the functionality of vids on Tik Tok is way better. So on Facebook you can sometimes control the video by jumping ahead but you can't control the volume. On Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) you can't control the video and the volume either. The ability to not control the volume on either of these platforms is very annoying and hence why it's a terrible platform to watch things on. Depending on the creator's settings, 99% of the videos are way too loud. Now, Tik Tok you can control that volume which is awesome and you can speed up, move back, jump head on pretty much any video. That makes it great when you simply just want to jump ahead if it's something boring and you want to see the end. Get a clue Facebook and Instagram!

At the movies:
Holding on to #2 for a 2nd weekend is Lilo & Stitch (live version) with 63 million extra and now just inches away from 300 mil total. At this rate it should hit that by mid-week and start it's trek to a potential 400! The drop from last weekend to this was significant but also it had a holiday weekend last week which gave it a boost. Also holding at #2 is Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning with 27.3 mil and has passed the 100 mil mark. This one is losing its steam so questionable if it will hit 200 mil or not. New at #3 is Karate Kid: Legends with 21 mil and a decent number but not shattering by any means. Slight drop to #4 is Final Destination: Bloodlines with 10.8 mil and quickly losing it's steam Rounding off the top 5 is Bring Her Back with 7.1 mil and this will quickly be out of theatres before it got a chance to begin.

Quote of the week:
"Be not simply good- be good for something." - Henry David Thoreau

Facts & Tips:
The Caesar salad was invented in 1924.

"I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap-high school and everything- just skip it." - Paul Dano as Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine.