Saturday, May 09, 2026
Friday, May 08, 2026
"Shrek, The Musical" - DMTC - April 25, 2026
On Saturday night, April 25th, I headed across the Highway-50 Yolo Causeway to see "Shrek, The Musical" at Davis Musical Theatre Company (DMTC). This show is important to me, since I was Stage Manager for the first time DMTC ever did this show, back in 2013.
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The Gauntlet of May
So many local musical theater productions to see this month! How can I find the time?
Finding Locations For "Honey Don't!"
I've restarted a project to watch as many movies filmed in Albuquerque, NM, as possible. Lately, I've enjoyed determining filming locations for "Honey Don't!", a sort-of hard-boiled detective mystery for the lesbian set, starring Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza.
The movie is set in Bakersfield, CA, and displays an all-too-familiar Hollywood bias, a disdain for flyover America. I don't like that bias. In a way, we are all from Bakersfield, or places like it. We need to respect Bakersfield.
At the same time, the movie has an opening credits montage sequence featuring gritty old Bakersfield. I love montages like this: a thumbnail tour of the city!
It Would Solve So Many Problems
I thought the term 86 came from law enforcement and meant killing, but now I understand it comes from catering and food safety and just means removal.
Jasper's 8th Birthday
Born on April 29, 2018, in Placerville, CA.
Don’t let exaggerated fears run your life, like Jasper here, afraid of a birthday balloon caught on the grass and dodging erratically in the wind.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Over-Lubricated Point of Friction
Occasionally, while protesting, there are moments of friction. One of these moments occurred on Saturday afternoon, April 25th, at the very end of our protest. A woman present at the protest with her family was using a megaphone to emphasize a theme popular among those of us on the Left: "Fuck Trump, and if you voted for him, fuck you too!" It's a bit of an abrasive message, I'll admit, but it's short and memorable.
A man approached her and pleasantly said, "I'd like to ask you a question." Then he abruptly started throwing fingers at her, and at all of us nearby. He apparently had no question to ask. Hmmmm.... He appeared to be hoarding anger, apparently not so much for her message, but at her. She was a loud woman. Very loud! It's hard to ignore a woman with a megaphone.
Given that the protest was ending, several of us immediately formed a squad to escort the woman and her family, with their various signs and belongings, back to their car. I got right in the guy's face as he backed up, flinging fingers at his cheekbones, pushing him at one point, and taking note of the alcohol on his breath. (He vehemently denied having had any alcohol, but the nose does not lie - I doubt he could have passed a breathalyzer test).
Pushed back by the righteous and sober Left, he eventually drove away in his extended-cab black Toyota Tundra. I placed a call to the California Highway Patrol, to help create a paper trail should he start yelling at more loud women on the way home.
If you ever see this Over-Lubricated guy, throw all your fingers at him. If you are a woman, make sure to yell at him using a megaphone.
Yuja Wang and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra - Mondavi Center, UC Davis - April 27, 2026
Courtesy of, and thanks to, Gabriel and Eleanor McAuliffe, I went on Monday to UC Davis' Mondavi Center. Gabe and Eleanor have good seats. I was able to clearly see Yuja Wang's fingers and just revel in her tactile mastery. (Wikipedia entry on Yuja Wang)
Part of her stagecraft is her dress. On Monday night, in the first half before intermission, she was wearing a white, form-fitting dress with a pronounced sort-of fluffy shoulder strap. She also wore what appeared to be Christian Louboutin red-bottom stilettoes (which the Breaking-Bad fan in me appreciated).
Gabe sent this example (first video) of Yuja Wang’s extraordinary virtuosity.
Mira Loma High School Taiko Club Performs at Sacramento's Buddhist Church - April 25, 2026
Opening Performance of a Music Festival.
Prediction Markets Can Be Manipulated So, So Easily
They are a menace:
@elenanisonoff The hairdryer that broke polymarket #ai #tech #news ♬ original sound - elenanisonoff
Amusing Rant, Describing Everyone I Know
@vandala_effect Replying to @Dunnphor ♬ original sound - Bella Vandala
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
A Nice, Rainy Storm!
The late-rainy-season storm that just blew through Sacramento produced more rain than I expected. The storm brought 1.71 inches to Sacramento Executive Airport. The slow-moving nature of the storm should mean less scatter than usual in rainfall amounts (I think the scatter on this map reflects that not all stations have fully-reported yet).
Despite the desperately-dry month of March (temperatures were above normal every single day from Feb. 23 to April 1), due to rainy November and December, we're about 94% of normal for rainfall for the 2025-26 rainy season in Sacramento. So, not too bad for northern California - we've seen worse. (According to a recent Univ. of Arizona paper, the California rainy season is increasingly becoming an intense one-month event, rather than something gentle.)
The biggest problem we have now in northern California is the absence of snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which will complicate water deliveries in the summer. The Sierra snowpack problem is part of a much-more severe snowpack problem in the Great Basin and Southern Rockies. Water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead are likely to reach emergency lows this summer. It's been nice to know ya, Las Vegas and the Imperial Valley! (Maybe it's time to start sacrificing Colorado-River-Valley alfalfa irrigation.)
Normally, the rainy season runs from Nov. 1 - April 15, but today's weather forecasts are suggesting the southern branch of the jet stream will intensify, with rains in the mountains this weekend and another storm passing through Sacramento on Tuesday next week. So, the rainy season isn't quite dead yet. It would be excellent if it extended into May. We had the rainiest May on record in 2019, just seven years ago. Wouldn't it be great if we had another one? (Just dreaming - it's just hard sometimes to take that complete Californian six-month absence of rain, until November.)
Bits From Saturday's Protest
Bits from today's protest at Howe at Arden (April 17, 2026). Lots of support from passing motorists, but one fellow in a red pickup throws a finger. Another fellow argues, plus my gallery of signs this week.
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