ChiFlyer

"The Man from Earth" IMDB 7.8 2007 At 1:27 this movie is not a big time commitment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Earth I watched it this afternoon and I would recommend giving it a try. Probably not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. It has zero big name stars and the filming feels like an old B movie. Still the philosophical vent can be interesting. I pulled it from IPT after noticing it on a recommended list.

I have an iPhone and the answer for ios is the same -> Google Translate.

This is not my bike. It is being sold by the cousin of my Thai wife. He is a reasonably responsible 30 year old or so Thai guy coming out of a divorce. We have him over to the house for dinner from time to time. My read on the guy is that he is an upstanding young man with a very good job by Thai standards. If there is interest in the bike send me a PM and I can be an initial conduit. The young man lives/works in Chonburi and that is where the bike is currently located. He does not speak great English, but can communicate. The Mrs told him that I sold my bike fairly quickly by posting a few internet ads and asked me to post her cousin's info. I have no idea if this is a good or bad deal as stated. I suspect there may be some wiggle room. Nice looking bike though. Model - Yamaha 321 Year - 2018 Mileage - 40,000 kms Asking price - 90,000 Pics

@tommy dee Back when we purchased the company that owns the house we live in, I was looking to possibly re-tile the pool. Now that we are into the cooler weather (the water is uncomfortable for swimming at this point) I am thinking this would be a good time to do this. I have tried contacting a couple of firms that do this type of work, but not gotten any responses. IIRC you had this type of project done at one of your places. Any company that you might be able to recommend for a getting started conversation?

When we bought the shares of the company that owns our pool villa, I remember being told that we needed to pay some kind of property tax once a year. I have since fired the lawyer-accountant that we used for the actual purchase. He made a few mistakes and was not as responsive as I thought that he should be. Our pool villa is legally in Huay Yai. Anyone have any thoughts on how I can proceed on this. I have a new lawyer for our other matters (wills etc.), but I am under the impression that the property tax is something that I could do myself. Also, I believe this is a small amount of money based on what I have been told. Any comments?

IIRC (always a bet to hedge) Eric Clapton's most serious drug problems (primarily heroin) came well after the "Cream" and "Blind Faith" albums. His recovery (3 years later as I understand it) increased his abuse of other forms of mood altering substances (primarily alcohol and cocaine in Clapton's case). The release from heroin addiction led to the "461 Ocean Boulevard" album. btw - Clapton (like Slash) has been clean for decades and has done a lot to assist other recovering persons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/461_Ocean_Boulevard# "I Shot the Sheriff" was easily the most commercially successful cut on the album. I was partial to "Let it Grow".

Killers of the Flower Moon I made it through watching “Killers of the Flower Moon” today. IMDB 7.7. The IMDB is understated IMO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killers_of_the_Flower_Moon_(film) This is a powerful movie and well worth watching. At 3.5 hours long it is a bit much to get through. I split the movie in half and watched it over two days. Mesmerizing in many places. The movie is based on actual events. https://slate.com/culture/2023/10/killers-flower-moon-movie-true-story-osage.html Stephen Colbert interviewed Scorsese about the film and the exchange was interesting I thought. Basically, -> how dark is the human heart? https://youtu.be/XKy-68o_NpE “Killers of the Flower Moon” received 9 Academy Award nominations. “Oppenheimer” received 13. It could be a shootout. My money is on “Oppenheimer”, but “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a tremendous movie. DiCaprio not being nominated was a major snub. I pulled the movie through IPT.

Winwood and Clapton - "I Can't Find my Way Home". One of my favorite songs ever. I was lost and then I was found and then I got lost again. I'd like to think that I have been found again.

Stumbled into this cut while browsing something else. Steve Winwood and Carlos Santana -> "Why Can't We Live Together".

I have mentioned my "Shrimp Gumbo" dish before, but never posted directly about it here at T24x7. I prepare the Alton Brown version with a few enhancements. I made this dish tonight. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/shrimp-gumbo-recipe-1946875 I like using a dark roux for this dish, so I use Brown's oven method detailed in the recipe. For a blonder roux I would use a standard stove-top prep. A dark roux can be a little trickier as it can go from almost done to scorched quickly. I had a 4 cup container of Shrimp Stock in the freezer, so I did not make a shrimp stock. The Mrs. gladly accepted all the heads etc. in order to make a stock for one of her Isan dishes. Unfortunately, I discovered that my frozen container was a little short of 4 cups. Hmmm, as Brown states in the recipe this is a dish where one needs to be exacting with the proportions. I addressed this with the tomatoes. As I have said before I am not very fond of Thai Tomatoes. In this dish and others similar to it I use a can of diced tomatoes, but drain them through a strainer. I added the drained tomato liquid to the shrimp broth along with a little water and this yielded 4 cups. I would normally use White Wine to extend a shrimp stock, but I was out. I wonder who drank all that White Wine. The original version of Brown's Gumbo is very good with a clean taste. However, I like heat and also have a Thai wife. I pumped up the heat a little. I doubled the amounts of both the cayenne and black pepper. Also, after patting the shrimp dry, I sprinkled the shrimp with a Cajun seasoning (I use Emeril Lagasse's homemade Bayou Blast) before adding them to the pot near the end. Andouille Sausage can be dicey to find in Pattaya. I buy mine online through Smokey Mountain (used to be Prime I think). They are located in Pattaya, so the delivery charge is minimal, https://smokeymountainfoods.com/product-tag/andouille-sausage/ File Powder is probably impossible to find in Pattaya. I bought mine from an online source located in Phuket. hmmm, I am running low. Just bought some more. Looks like they are now selling this item through Lazada. This is the only dish that I use File Powder, so I only bought one bottle. That should last two years. https://thaiartisanfoods.com/product/cajun-file-gumbos-cajun-stews/ A few pics. The dish turned out very well IMO and the Mrs. thought it was good as well.

I recently started watching a TV series called -> "Prison Break". IMDB 8.3 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455275/ Plenty of action and plot twists. An implausible plot for sure, but I am enjoying the show. 5 seasons. 88 episodes and a 2 episode movie at the end of S04. Several Emmy awards as well. It is from Fox. I pull it from IPT.

Basque Chicken Revisited https://www.lovefood.com/recipes/78807/michel-roux-jr-basquestyle-chicken-recipe Although I was happy with my first try at this recipe, I decided to make a few changes. Trim the chicken (6 thighs) of any overhanging skin and fat. Pad the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with Kosher Salt and Smoked Paprika as stated in the recipe. These steps will give the chicken a crispier and more flavorful skin crust. I browned the chicken in a separate stainless steel pan. I went with two batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan. I used 1 TBSP total of EVOO for this step. I made sure that the EVOO was just short of smoking before adding the chicken. Skin side down first and 4 minutes per side at a medium high heat. After the chicken was browned and removed from the pan, I de-glazed the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine. I moved the Liquid from the de-glazing step over to a Dutch Oven and added 3 TBSPs more of EVOO. I then began the main recipe at the soften the red pepper strips step. I used red pepper flakes (1/2 TBSP) for the substitution for the piment d’espelette. When I added the chicken back in for the oven step, I place it on top of the underlying sauce so that it would not get mushy. I liked the way this turned out. The chicken was very tender and flavorful.

Jonathan Stewart will return to hosting "The Daily Show" on February 12th. Stewart will only host on Monday nights thru the 2024 Presidential Election. After that he will become Executive Producer thru 2025. The remainder of the week nights will be filled by guest hosts, as the program has done since Trevor Noah left.

To say that Oppenheimer led an interesting life would be a major understatement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer

I finally got around to watching "Oppenheimer" today. IMDB 8.4. I did a search on this thread looking for a post to add onto, but got zero hits. Maybe my search was clumsy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(film) I am on the fence as to whether or not this is a very good movie or a great movie. I was reluctant to fire the movie up as it is a little over 3 hours long. I had recently read that it is leading the count for the largest number of Academy Awards nominations this year. Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) is IMO brilliant as the title character. The cast includes such additional luminaries as Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, and Gary Oldman (in a lesser role as Harry Truman). I watched the movie straight through (3 Hours) and did not even break to make a sandwich. I was riveted start to finish, maybe because as a grade school kid I was taught to stick my head between my legs (they left out the kiss you ass goodbye part back in the 1950s). 🙂

I am most of the way through S01 (I pull it from IPT). I like the show.

And also this song -> "Bird on a Wire" by Leonard Cohen

I was feeling a little sadness today for a variety of reasons. This song popped into my head: George Harrison -> "Beware of Darkness" The Leon Russel version is also very good.

Same here. I am fortunate enough to be able to carry the 800,000 balance in my Bangkok Bank Account. I stop by and get the letter on my way to Maneerat.

I have a few friends in the Pattaya area who have given me the impression that there are quite a few meetings of "The Friends of Bill". I do not attend these, as I currently lack the one requirement needed to attend -> "A desire not to drink today". I do not believe that I have a problem at this time, as I have a few glasses of wine at night. At the same time, I would be interested in attending an open meeting. I think the Mrs might get something out of this given the problems she has as a family member of an addict. In our case a Thai meeting would be best.

Thank you @Krapow I spent 12 years in AA and it did me a lot of good. My larger problem (self-destructive wise was NA). Depressants in my case. I do thank God that I kicked before Oxytocin became an available alternative. I would not have survived the Statler assault on life. I do drink a little Red Wine these days here in my dotage. It helps to kill the old age body pains. Yeah, famous last words of an alcoholic. Take care. CF

Another sad story of a younger person falling victim to a growing addiction to mood altering substances. As I understand things Ice in this case. The oldest son of my wife has become a pretty sad story through years of drug abuse. I won't get into all the gruesome details, but he is 25 and a very bad bet to see 30. I really detest the entitled shit, for the number of times he has made his mother cry. Ok, I made mine cry a few times as well. Anyway, I Googled AA meetings for Thai Nationals in Isan, in case we can get him to one. I saw nothing listed for Khon Kaen. I am not paying for rehab for this guy. It just will not take at this time. Anyway, if anyone has some suggestions as to Khon Kaen locations it would be appreciated. I doubt he will go on his own, but maybe we can get his GF to get him to a meeting.

When I was working (up until about 2017), I had little time for TV shows. Now that I am retired I have taken to checking out shows from that time period that were well thought of. Sometimes it is worthwhile and sometimes it is not. I started watching "Six Feet Under" recently IMDB 8.7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Feet_Under_(TV_series) It is 5 seasons long with 63 episodes. I am enjoying the show. It is an HBO production. I am pulling it from IPT. Michael C. Hall (Dexter) is a key cast member. His character is not a serial killer, but instead a gay mortician. The man does have range. 🙂