Category: To Occupy my Time

A24 is Great at Promo

People who attended the first week’s 70mm screening of Marty Supreme at the Hollywood got to take home not only a poster but also a box of Marty Supreme orange table tennis balls. (Never wear black again.) So. Much. Fun!

There was also a local table tennis club tabling, so I brought home their flyer.

All of this went to my friend S. North, who actually plays ping pong.

Fun Find in Hollywood

After dropping Matt, Linda, and Rick off at the airport, I went to Ikea, and then I had planned to hang about Hollywood for a bit of time before my 2:30 move showtime.

I discovered that unless one is eating (or seeing a movie, but it wasn’t yet time for my movie) there’s not a ton to do on a Sunday in Hollywood. The Rite-Aid closed and turned into a Planet Fitness and the antique mall is closed on Sundays, Ray’s Ragtime isn’t where it once was, and the clothing store I thought I would check out had gone out of business and were moving their naked mannikins into a U-Haul.

I ended up wandering slowly through Trader Joes and then took a tiny street behind the Hollywood Theatre that I hadn’t walked down before.

And what did I find? Lockbuster? What might this be?

In the tiny storefront was a huge display of VHS tapes. When I got closer, I saw that the labels were top-notch. Who wouldn’t want a “vaguely British/Hitchcock” category.

Or a “holy pursuits” category that included both Excalibur and Monty Python’s the Holy Grail.

This label elicited a bark of laughter:

And I also enjoyed the “movies that look like this” category as that packaging was very familiar to me and I had forgotten its existence.

On a return visit to this window, a passerby informed me that this is an escape room, pulling the “Lockbuster” name into focus.

Peacock Lane

Matt had the idea to go to Peacock Lane for our date this week, and I thought that was a great plan. I hadn’t been since I was in the single digits.

Peacock Lane is a few blocks of houses in southeast Portland where every house decorates big. This has been going on since the 1920s.

Here are some pictures from our walk.

For shear tons-of-stuff delight, this display of many unicorns was my favorite house. Some houses have elaborate themes (as you will see); but I liked this unicorn-centered house. Unicorns don’t even have anything to do with Christmas, but they were magical all the same.

Matt and I in front of the unicorns.

People live in these houses as we were reminded by this pair who were clearly standing at the door on business. I wonder how it is to try and drive in and out during the two weeks with the lights. There is a lot of car traffic (though it’s slow) and a ton of pedestrians. Do people just stay in? Park their cars on other streets?

Anyway, that was the Harry Potter house, and here we are walking through Platform 9 and 3/4.

The Home Alone house has a lot going on. It starts with this little shadowbox.

And includes several life-size depictions of characters from the movie.

The Star Wars house is nicely minimal. I liked that there were three distinct zones: red, Darth Vadar; white, Princess Lea; and green, Yoda.

A nice sentiment at this house:

And a fun homage to ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas at this one:

The Peanuts house was fun, including Woodstock on the Zamboni.

And here’s a nice greenery and white lights display:

On the way home, we stopped at our own Kenton neighborhood display:

I like to call it “I’ll have one of everything, please!”

Christmas 2025: A Visit to Rick and Linda

We had a good time celebrating Christmas at Linda and Rick’s new house. I had seen it just after they got the keys, but this time there was furniture! And a fun meal.

From left to right: Mary Stenaros, Pat Stenaros Matt Johnston, Larry Glass, Patricia Collins, Linda Johnston, and Rick Thalhammer

We also opened stockings, as you can see from these low-light action photos.

Many scratch-off tickets were scratched.

The tree ambiance was good too.

And here’s a picture of the Yule Log cake I made. It was my first one, and it turned out well.

Battleship Cinematic Universe Wins Big at The Movie Quiz

Did we win our very own Hallmark Keepsake ornament of Prince Dastan from the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? We sure did!

We won because we answered a specific question correctly, rather than for our high score, but I’m happy to win any prize at the Movie quiz.

And here we are again ranked number 17, holding up the bottom of the middle.

I enjoy that the top four winners all chose holiday-themed names: Miracle on 30 Farts Street; Menstrual Krampus; Porch Pirates of the Caribbean; and The Grinch Who Stole Quizmas.

Mark was our Father Quizmas, and a great time was had by all.

(Except our teammates Greg and Renee. They forgot to attend)

Matt and I Visit the Santas

It had been a few years, so Matt and I went to check up on the Bakelite Santas and see how they are doing. The riddle mentioned the old Pepsi factory, and I knew exactly where they were. I didn’t even need the words “sandy shore” to solve this particular riddle. Because the old Pepsi factory building is a thing of beauty:

While it did have some Santas in it, it didn’t have the Bakelite Santas.

These Santas were portraits painted by Terence Healy for the first year. You can see that one is a daytime version, and the other a night-time version.

The Bakelite Santas were across the plaza.

I agree with the write-up of the Santas; that you can see them glow from far aways is one of the coolest things about them.

This was a fun place to have them displayed because there were windows on three sides. This made it easy to spend some time looking at them.

They were standing in rows with packing peanuts serving as the snow.

I neglected to get any shots from the front, alas.

Spending More Money Might be Best?

My mom wanted to go to the Dollar Store, so we did, and I found this item while waiting in line at the check stand. It is not sneaker cleaner, as the price tag suggests.

I’m not sure I would trust the results of the VeriQuick pregnancy test sold for about the same cost as a candy bar. But there must be some market.

40 Presidents Facts and Fun

In elementary school, I purchased 40 Presidents Facts and Fun at a book fair. It was one of those books that had an outsized effect on me.

First of all, I can tell you immediately that Ronald Regan was the 40th president, because that’s where the book ends. Also, it shored up my interest in olden days stuff. And for some reason, the title has always delighted me. Most of the time when someone is referring to a president by number, I will think, “Forty Presidents Facts and Fun!” and feel a squee of glee.

In lieu of reading while I am awake in the middle of the night, I’ve taken to memorizing the presidents in order. And that got me to thinking about 40 Presidents Facts and Fun.

I had given my copy away, but it was time to welcome it back into the fold. I found a copy on Thriftbooks, and paid about five dollars more for it now than I did back at the Scholastic book fair.

My copy has arrived, and I have started reading. Verdict? This was not a book that prioritized good prose for young people. The sentences are short and choppy, and the profiles vary depending on the length of the presidency (which makes sense; there’s not much to say about William Henry Harrison’s short time in office) and how popular the president in question was when the book was written. The Andrew Jackson bio was quite lengthy in a way I don’t think it would be today.

It’s also bizarre what the text focuses on. I know, for instance, that John Adams was very fat, and that John Quincy Adams, was nearly as fat as his father. Not something that adds a lot of knowledge about the president.

When I finish reading, I’m looking forward to finding the modern equivalent of 40 Presidents Facts and Fun and seeing what the similarities and differences are.