Ramblin' with Roger

Lydster: home for the holidays

“That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do.”

This past year, I particularly enjoyed the Daughter being home for the holiday. I attribute this to two primary factors. One was that she was away for an extended period last year, from early February to mid-June, while studying at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

The other is that, in part because she had gone abroad, she had a different perspective. For instance, we were having a conversation about genericization, as one does. She noted that in South Africa, when one refers to toothpaste, they usually say Colgate. It’s like Americans say “Kleenex” for tissue paper, “Band-Aid” for bandages, or “Xerox” for a copier.

Famous quote

For some reason, my daughter said, “That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do.” I assumed she was referring to the 1995 movie Babe, spoken by taciturn farmer Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) after the title porcine does what it does.

But no! She was referring to dialogue in the animated series Gravity Falls (2012-2016) by Dipper (Jason Ritter) after the pig Waddles saves him from embarrassment.

Television/video

The Daughter has been a big fan of Crash Course, a YouTube series hosted by Hank and John Green. I recall she used several videos about the French Revolution when she was in high school. But she also checked out videos about geology.

She turned me onto Big History, which is “the history of everything. We’re going to start with the Big Bang, take you right through all of history (recorded and otherwise).”

On her own, she tends to watch some television which she knows I think are trash. And she doesn’t disagree, but she finds them sociologically interesting.

This fall, I was watching long enough that she asked me to guess the title. “TikTok Moms?” Based on the show’s history, it was not a bad guess. It was actually the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. This got my wife to watch it briefly because two of the Wives were on Dancing With The Stars this season, which she watches devotedly.

Cooking

There is a lot more food in our refrigerator when the Daughter is home. Part of it has to do with her being a pescatarian, which means she makes her own meals a lot.

The other is that she likes to bake, usually with her good friend Kay. She wasn’t always great at cleaning up, as the cutting board above shows.

It was nice to have her home.

Sunday Stealing says, “C’mon, Get Happy!”

walls of books

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

We found this one at CreativeGene. It’s designed inspire “happy thoughts on a frigid January day.” Obviously, temperatures vary based on locale, but it’s a lovely sentiment, so let’s go.

Before answering this, I should note how much the title “C’mon, Get Happy!” resonates with me. I was in a production of Boys in the Band in 1975 in Binghamton, which I wrote about here. The only music cue I can recall was Judy Garland singing Get Happy, from the 1950 movie Summer Stock.

This should not be confused with the Elvis Costello album. Get Happy!

Here are 10 things that make me happy:

1. Having enough money to pay all of my bills. I’m not one of those people who balances his checkbook. (What’s a checkbook?) I just want the money in (Social Security plus some other sources) to be greater than the money going out. It got out of whack in 2025 because some medical reimbursements were less than what they should have been. (It’s too complicated to describe here.) But it has been resolved as of February 2026.

The usual

2. Listening to the music, which should be no surprise. It’s just TOO HARD to wash the dishes, clean the office, etc., without listening to music. (Currently playingMega Hits Dance Classics, including Let’s Get Serious by Jermaine Jackson, which features Stevie Wonder.)

3. Knowing stuff. I will freely admit that I fare less well watching JEOPARDY these days because I’m less up on current popular culture. (How can I keep track of all the shows on all of the streaming services and the big hits on Spotify?) But I know a lot of other things. I keep up with current events. My wife and I do the New York Times news quiz each week, and generally get 10 out of 11 right. The 11th question is usually in the “who cares” category.

4. My office, specifically the wall of books therein, built-in bookshelves in every direction. Many I’ve read, but more I have not. But there are a couple of rows I refer to often, books on music (of course), movies, and television.

5. Singing in the church choir. It’s an oddly collegial thing, especially after retirement.

6. Living in a place with accessible mass transit. The CDTA buses will get me downtown (to the library and church), to the nearest hospital, and to the Best Buy, which is the only store in Crossgates Mall I actually shop at.

7. Reading scripture in church. I’m told I do it well.

8. Reading the newspaper, the physical manifestation, not online.

9. Writing this blog. It’s my therapy and, increasingly, my memory aid.

10. There is a 10th.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Mainstream and alternative rock #1s for 1991

So You Think You’re In Love

These are the mainstream and alternative rock #1s for 1991. There is some overlap. The mainstream tracks will be designated M and the alternative A.

Mysterious Ways– U2, 12 weeks at#1 M, 9 weeks at #1 A, #9 pop

All This Time – Sting, 7 weeks at #1 M, 2 weeks at number one A, #5 pop

Lift Me Up – Yes, 6 weeks at #1 M, #86 pop

Learning To Fly – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 6 weeks at #1 M, #28 pop

Right Here, Right Now – Jesus Jones, 5 weeks at#1 A, #7 M, #2 pop

Kiss Them For Me – Siouxsie and the Banshees, 5 weeks at #1 A, #23 pop

So You Think You’re In Love – Robin Hitchcock and the Egyptians, 5 weeks at #1 A. This is a great pop song, yet it did not reach the pop charts.

Run Around – Van Halen, 4 weeks at #1 M

Dream Line – Rush, 4 weeks at #1 M

Top Of The World – Van Halen, 4 weeks at #1 M

The Other Side Of Summer – Elvis Costello, 4 weeks at #1 A. I only bought Mighty Like A Rose since COVID.

Teenage Wasteland redux

Rush -Big Audio Dynamite II, 4 weeks at #1 A, #40 M, #32 pop. Samples Baba O’Riley by The Who

Highwire – The Rolling Stones, 3 weeks at #1 M, #57 pop

Losing My Religion – R.E.M., 3 weeks at #1 M, 8 weeks at #1 A, #4 pop

Get A Leg Up – John Mellencamp, 3 weeks at #1 M, #14 pop

Poundcake – Van Halen, 2 weeks at #1 M

Out In The Cold – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 2 weeks at #1 M

See The Lights -Simple Minds, 2 weeks at #1 A, #10 M, #40 pop

Get The Message – Electronic, 2 weeks at #1 A

Until She Comes – the Psychedelic Furs, 2 weeks at #1 A

Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2 weeks at #1 A, #73 pop. Grammy for Hard Rock Performance. I actually know this song better as Bedrock Anthem by Weird Al Yankovic

The Fly – U2, 2 weeks at number one A, #2 M, #61 pop

She Talks To Angels – the Black Crowes, 1 week at #1 M, #30 pop

Silent Lucidity – Queensryche, 1 week at #1 M, #9 pop

Heavy Fuel – Dire Straits, 1 week at #1 M, #22 A

Kinky Afro – Happy Mondays, 1 week at #1 A

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana, 1 week at #1, #7 M, #6 pop. And of course, Weird Al’s Smells Like Nirvana

At the time, I was mostly listening to U2, Sting, Petty, R.E.M., plus the Black Crowes, BAD II, and Nirvana.

Nick, the tick

the Wide River of manure

I have made several references to the absentee landlord of the property directly to the south of ours. On at least one occasion, I referred to him as Tick. His real name was Nick.

He was not a great landlord. His criterion seemed to be that he would rent to almost anyone. A couple of tenants were great (Dan and Andrew, I’m talking about you.) While some of the folks living there were okay, more than a few were problematic – see here, e.g. A handful of the tenants complained to my wife or me of the inadequacies of the dwelling place, not at all surprising.

Nick also scraped my wife’s car with his rusty truck. Even though my wife had TWO witnesses, he adamantly denied it. My wife dealt with the insurance companies (plural) for months.

His most egregious act that I was involved with, though, was the Wide River of manure that he poured out of his basement and onto our sidewalk.

I witnessed Nick being frequently verbally unpleasant to his wife. But we noticed that he had slowed down considerably over the past couple of years, and she was doing some of the tasks he used to do too infrequently, notably lawnmowing. Finally, they either hired someone or, more likely, got a relative to do it.

Huh

Then, on January 20, my wife told me she found out that Nick had died in late November! He was “surrounded by his loving family, ” according to the obit. I’m scratching around looking for a kind word to say. Alas, no. I feel for his family, who presumably loved him. Am I a terrible person?

I always thought he was a little bit afraid of me, the big black man, though I never did anything to intentionally intimidate him.

The next day (Jan 21), I hear this motorized noise. A guy in a pickup truck was cutting down the hedge in front of Nick’s property. It wasn’t your standard four- or five-foot growth. It was often taller than I am, spiraling wildly onto the sidewalk, narrowing one’s path. The monstrosity also looked ominous enough that someone with ill intent could hide behind it.

Pickup Truck Guy told me that Nick’s widow was told by the city of Albany that she had to get the item removed by February 15 or the city would do it and bill her.

I won’t miss the hedge.

Movie review- Wicked: For Good

My wife suggested we see the musical Wicked: For Good in early January. It was down to two shows a day in one of the smaller rooms at the Spectrum 8 in Albany. (In fact, the sign outside suggested it was showing Zootopia 2.)

I did see the first film, which I liked well enough. Still, as I wrote, ” I will probably see Wicked For Good, but it will make me cranky.” Yeah, I was feeling a bit manipulated about seeing another film.

So I’m here to report that, much to my surprise, I liked the second film a bit more than the first. Maybe it was my lowered expectations. Perhaps it’s because the film’s first half felt padded. I liked the darker tone and the unhurried pace.

In the sequel, Glinda and Elphaba were estranged and even antagonists for a time. So it was satisfying that their friendship survived the stressors, perhaps how real-life friendships sometimes work.

Even more than the first movie, it had a political subtext. Was Glinda selling out or working through the system? Should the animals rally around Elphaba’s leadership? It’s challenging to change the power of public perception, even when it’s based on lies.

There’s Dorothy!

There were some good songs that I was unfamiliar with. But mostly, I liked how the 1939 Wizard of Oz film timeline was grafted onto this film. Sometimes, it was at arm’s length; you never saw Dorothy in closeup. The storylines for the Tin Man and Scarecrow worked, though the Cowardly Lion, less so. And the movie explained some storylines involving the Wizard, one of which gutted the wondrous one.

The critics were so-so about the movie (67% on Rotten Tomatoes), though the fans were more forgiving (93%). Ultimately, the film lives on the passions of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, which generally carry the day. Unfortunately, Michelle Yeoh’s singing as Madame Morrible was subpar; one is pleased with her character’s fate.