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Siamese Crocodile (Taken 7.12.2020)

I was up alone on Friday night trying to stay up to see the comet Neowise, but when 4am finally came around, it was completely overcast with moisture in the air, so much so that it was hard even to see the moon. I felt like such a dummy for not have checked the sky earlier in the night. I tried again on Saturday night/Sunday morning but we're just not in a place where it can be seen, and apparently all those pro-photos I've seen everywhere are misleading because many are saying it cannot be seen with the naked eye. 

Between that and being so hot and gross outside all weekend, I got my share of movies in already this weekend. I was stoked to see that an old pal, Andy Siara, was the writer for Palm Springs on Hulu. The old days with Henry Clay People were super fun and Joey and Andy are both super rad people and I'm stoked they're doing great things. 

There was also a lot of news on the political and CoViD-19 fronts, the covidiot-in-chief finally wore a mask in public (albeit under his nose), and our numbers continue to break records. And of course, we did another trip to the San Diego Zoo on Sunday. I feel like it is the lowest risk because mask wearing is actually kinda enforced (more than in public anyway), social distancing is possible in ways not possible in other public settings, and the greenery offers cooler temperatures than in most places in the county. A Zoo employee who was trying to take pics of the leopard cubs told us two more ring-tailed lemurs were born over the weekend and should be on exhibit this week. Of course, we'll be back. 

Now it's Sunday night and Darren and I are in the speakeasy downing tequila, listening to Sirius XMU, and besides dropping my phone and spiderwebbing the screen and also laying Terro ant traps everywhere that are seething with ants, life is pretty okay. I've got some links and such after the jump per usual.

• Watchlist
• Palm Springs - Hulu
• A time loop comedy set at a wedding starring Andy Samberg.
• ‘Palm Springs’ Ending Explained: Writer Andy Siara Knows “Exactly What Happened” - Decider (7.10.2020)
• The Old Guard - Netflix
• An action film adaptation of a graphic novel about a team of immortal fighters. 
• Charlize Theron’s ‘The Old Guard,’ Netflix’s Most-Watched Movie, Is Another Franchise-Starter That’s Just Set-Up For The Sequel - Forbes (7.11.2020)
• Small, Beautiful Moving Parts (2011) - Amazon Prime
• A woman's first-time pregnancy makes her seek out her estranged mother for answers she'll never get.
• Contagion (2011) - HBO GO
• Gwyneth dies seizing and foaming at the mouth. Patient zero in a viral contagion. 
• Desperados (2020) - Netflix
• A 'girls trip' type comedy of three friends on a mission to Cabo to delete an angry email to a lover. Lots of familiar tropes here, but fun nonetheless. 
• CoViD-19:
• CoronaShock and Socialism - Tricontinental (7.8.2020)
• Keeping Up With the Coronas—or Why the Virus Is Winning: The climb in global cases is relentless. So what’s corona got that we don’t? - Wired (7.7.2020)
• Politics:
• For at least the last year, Darren has been saying that the November election isn't gonna happen. He's not the only one who thinks so, or if it does, that it will be a legitimate election. We've already seen how that worked out with Bush II and Trump. It's fucking scary what could happen come November. 
  Election Experts Warn of November Disaster - Government Technology (7.8.2020)
• Black Lives Matter:
• Warrant in fatal encounter between Breonna Taylor and police was linked to gentrification plan, family's lawyers claim - CNN (7.7.2020)
• Things To Do:
• I saw a very valid argument for readdressing "citizen science" as "community science" because of the implication of status. This article doesn't do that, but I'll add it to my CoViD-19 Activities. This weekend there were also dozens (hundreds?) of hot-takes on schools reopening. I feel like I addressed those in my past few posts, but in case I'm not clear, Nova will absolutely not be going back to any physical classes if our numbers don't start declining and some real solutions offered from leadership on all fronts. 
  Summer camp canceled? Here are some citizen science projects to do at home. - Mashable (7.11.2020)