Consortium of Seven: Year 4

      The professional event I'd been tied up in knots over in recent weeks technically went very well, though one person's bureaucratic power-trip continues to threaten as of this writing. I sincerely hope she will be made to see the light, this threat will fade, we can take our accomplishment in stride and move ahead into a brightened future. If nothing else, there has been much in recent weeks that has gone into my mental Things I Will Not Miss In Retirement file. Among the things to remind me of reality when  inevitably memory will go selective and I'll catch myself missing the good aspects of the job. All that, at least as plans currently go, is still a few years off, though.       Back to more entertaining and immediate things.     A couple of the ongoing FX series that I catch weekly on Hulu continue to move through their latest seasons.       Reservation Dogs is in its third and final se...

      This will be a restless, draining weekend for me, much as this past week's been, and as at least the first two days of next week will be. Wish me luck.     Moving on.       A light mix this week, swinging a little wider to include a podcast. One with a theme I could dearly do with, at long last, cultivating in my life.       Comedian, author, former and likely future tv host Craig Ferguson returned to a conversational interview format in August (a 2-minute introduction was posted a week earlier, on July 25th ) with a weekly podcast. Titled Joy (that link should take you to where you can access all of them to date) each Tuesday Craig speaks with someone he likes, speaking with them about their lives and pursuits, trying to connect with their perspectives on life, seeking a key to their personal source of joy.       Lurking as a sub-theme to this project is the idea of the importan...

       August rolls on, and it's steamrolling me!       An interesting, frequently entertaining, sometimes off-putting season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) did the expected season-ending shift, though about two episodes later than I'd expected early in the season. It also ends on a cliffhanger, which I'm hoping no one will see as a spoiler. It's more meant to manage expectations.       I've saved this week's Reservation Dogs (Hulu) for when I'm rolling into the weekend, in part because I enjoy the characters' company, and am in need of a little comfort.       Arriving today on Netflix is an action spy thriller starring Gal Gadot, Irish star Jamie Dornan, and Bollywood star Alia Bhatt. Gadot stars as Rachel Stone, an international intelligence agent tasked with protecting a mysterious borderline all-powerful MacGuffin known as "The Heart", keeping it from falling into enemy h...