A House of Sky and Breath (Sarah J. Maas)

Five years ago I reported on the frequency of throat bobs in Sarah J. Maas's books. She has since published four more books.  I've read three of them and am happy to share an updated chart of the progression of throat bobs across Maas's ouevre.  The steady rate since page 4800 has continued, with a few runs here and there during especially emotional moments.

One major change is the number of unnamed characters whose throats bob.  For the first 7000 pages or so, only named characters throats bobbed, and now four unnamed characters' throats have bobbed in the last 2000+ pages (though I suspect that the unnamed alpha mystic will get a name in House of Flame and Shadow).

  

House of Sky and Breath boasts the third-most throat bobs among the novels:

... and Bryce is now tied with Aelin as the queen of throat bobbing, with a whole book to take first place.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

I got Doctor Sleep out of the library and watched it last night.  It's Ewan MacGregor's "reluctant mentor" warm-up before the Kenobi series?  It's the sequel to The Shining that I'm not sure we needed?  At 150 minutes, it's a little longer than the original film, but there's a lot of material to get through.

This film is a sequel to the Kubrick film, which departed in a number of ways from the novel, and so Doctor Sleep the movie must make some changes to account for the fact that the Overlook Hotel survived while Dick Halloran did not.  

The cast is excellent all around, with special kudos to Alex Essoe, Henry Thomas, and Roger Dale Floyd, who play Wendy, Jack and (young) Danny Torrance.

I would have liked some members of the True Knot to feel less like nameless goons.  Rose, Andi, and Crow Daddy get distinct personalities; I couldn't even tell you what powers the others had.  Rose would only let people into her crew who could contribute, so each member of the True Knot should feel like a more fully fleshed out character.  If there isn't time in a 2.5 hour movie to develop them, they should be cut. 

I think I was hoping for a more introspective story about Danny and his past; the poster, which shows young Danny facing grown-up Danny facing each other in a hallway of the Overlook Hotel, seems to promise this.  Instead, this is really Abra's story of fighting psychic vampires where the titular "Doctor Sleep" plays a supporting role as Abra's mentor.  Which is fine.  It's just not clear that this needs to be a sequel to The Shining, or could instead have been an independent story.

Vermont Primaries 2024

While the Presidential primary was back in March on Town Meeting Day, the primaries for state offices and US Congress will take place in August.  There are three ballots to choose from: Democratic, Progressive, or Republican.  I'm going to vote on the Democratic one, because there are no contested elections on the Progressive ballot, and only one contested election on the Republican ballot (for Lieutenant Governor). 

The Progressive party will not have candidates for US Senator, US Rep, Secretary of State, State Senator, State Rep, or High Bailiff.  The Republican party will not have candidates for State Senator, State Rep, or High Bailiff, so the election for my local reps in the Statehouse is the Dem primary.  The Republican ballot also has the same guy, H. Brooke Paige, as the only candidate for Secretary of State, Auditor, and Attorney General.  This is not a serious candidate.

Going down the Demoncratic party ballot:

US Senator has a single nominee, Bernie Sanders, who will win again in the general election.  

US Rep has a single nominee, Becca Balint, who will win again in the general.

Governor has two nominees vying for the right to lose to Phil Scott in the general:

• Esther Charlestin, whose prior political experience is a a little over a year on the Middlebury selectboard. 
• Peter Duval, who was kicked off the Underhill selectboard three years ago. 

Lieutenant Governor has two nominees:

• Thomas Renner, who serves on the Winooski City Council.  His platform focuses on climate action, housing for all, affordability, and social justice.
• David Zuckerman is the current Lt Governor, after taking a break in 2020 to let Molly Gray take the role for a term to improve her chances at gaining the US Rep seat that Peter Welch vacated in 2022.  He doesn't have a platform page, but his About page notes, "He is particularly passionate about addressing the climate, healthcare, housing, and tax crises." 

State Treasurer has a single nominee, Mike Pieciak, the current treasurer.

Secretary of State has a single nominee, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, the current secretary.

Auditor of Accounts has a single nominee, Doug Hoffer, who has been excellent in the position, but has served for 12 years now and is 72.  I hope he is training a successor.

Attorney General has a single nominee, Charity Clark, who is the current AG.

State Senator has four nominees, from which we vote for three:

• Phil Baruth, the current senate president pro tempore, advocate for gun control, paid sick leave, and education (personalized learning plans, which have seen spotty implementation).
• Martine Larocque Gulick, a current senator.  Her top priorities are reforming education funding, housing, and healthcare.
• Stewart Ledbetter, who is new to running for office, but not to VT politics, having been a political journalist for 40 years.  His top priorities are housing, supporting the middle class, community safety, and climate change.   
• Tanya Vyhovsky, a current senator who previously served as a state rep.  Her platform priorities are economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, and reproductive justice.

State Representative has two nominees:

• Missa Aloisi, a small business owner with two children in Burlington School District.  Missa's priorities are dignity & safety, equity, and affordability 
• Abbey Duke, a small business owner with two children in Burlington School District.  😁 Abbey  was appointed to Emma Mulvaney-Stanak's seat after she was elected Mayor of Burlington in March.  Her priorities include housing, education funding reform, and climate action.

Green Up Day 2024

Green up day haul.  The usual bottles of liquor, plus a surprising number of protein shakes.

 

Jumping the Shark and Other True Stories - Except One; Bruce Richards; 2023

Read and enjoyed Bruce Richards' Jumping the Shark and Other True Stories - Except One (full disclosure: Mr. Richards was my sophomore year HS English II teacher)

I didn't know he spent a brief time working with Dick Martin at Takanassee Beach.  In the spring of 1988, while finishing up English II, I took Dick Martin's lifeguarding class.  We called him "the Terminator".  The pool test was a "multiple drowning simulation" where some of the instructors would get in the pool and try to drown us as we saved them, while Mr. Martin and the other instructors would shout, "Save my brother!  No, save my sister first!"  The ocean test was a 5k run followed by going out in the 42-degree ocean to bring in an instructor (who was wearing a wetsuit) who griped that I was taking too long.  Good times. 

(note: published this here on 3/30/26, backdated to 2024 when I originally shared with friends on FB)