The Seven Totems of St. Thomas

One thing that always stuck with me was that one episode of Season 2 of You where Love's friends tell Joe about the Seven Totems of Los Angeles. According to them, if you saw those 7 things it's a sign that you're a true denizen of LA and can NEVER leave. It turns out to be bullshit though because by the end of the season Joe isn't in LA anymore. I'm not considering that a spoiler. Season 3 is out and if you don't know he didn't settle down in LA you're way behind.

To recap, here were the 7 Totems of LA:

1. A Rollerblader in booty shorts
2. A police helicopter
3. A pack of coyotes
4. A palm tree on fire
5. Two starlets wearing the same dress
6. A dog in a stroller
7. An off-brand superhero

Then I was reminded of an episode of How I Met Your Mother where the gang talks about all the things you have to do or have happened to be considered a New Yorker.  Here's that list:

1. Spotting Woody Allen
2. Spotting Maury Povich
3. Stealing a cab from someone who needs it more than you
4. Crying on the subway and not caring what others think
5. Killing a cockroach with your bare hands

Important to note that the first 2 items were more implied than stated but I count them anyway since they were established in the episode.

Photo courtesy of Duffy's Love Shack Facebook Page. If you're in town you should check them out. It's a unique experience. I just wanted something totem-like to give this entry some color. Back to the task at hand...

I don't know why but this got in my head today and I wondered what would be the totems of St. Thomas.  I thought about it and came up with 7 Totems (one for each flag that has flown over the USVI). Here's my proposed list:

1. A lone person playing a steel pan or steel drum

It's not uncommon to see huge groups of people playing the steel pans and drums. In fact, the Rising Stars Steel Orchestra is very popular and well known. You could go years though and never see a soloist running around. 

2. A bar in an obscure or weird location

Most bars are in regular, well known, well traveled locations. They're their own building or part of a mall. Occassionally though you're going to find on in an obscure or weird location. There's quite a few here that fit the bill. You just have to be willing to do a little exploration. Notable examples include Percy's Bus Stop, West Zanzibar, Brooks Bar and The Rum Hut.

3. A mongoose and an iguana in the same location

We've got 'em both, but good luck seeing them in the same spot or within a few moments of each other. It's surprisingly not a common sight.

4. A WAPA lineman working the pole

We lose power. A LOT. But you'd still need to spend time here to even catch a lineman on a pole. It's a common sight but not common enough that you'd see it every day...or even ever week for that matter.

5. A non-traditional boat

Boats, yachts and ships are a dime a dozen around the island. Good luck spotting one that's...different. One that you would see uncommonly is the Kon Tiki. You won't see it every day though.

6. A mocko jumbie outside of the Carnival season

Like the steel pan/drum, this is mostly Carnival fare. There are rare occasions though where you can see on outside of the Carnival season. Most people that live here have.

7. A tourist driving in the wrong lane

There are actually a few great spots to see this happen, but this is an uncommon event...and tourism season is only so long. I last saw this happen about 2 months ago.

What do you think of my list? Is it worthy? Is it missing something? Lemme know. 

This Dream Seemed Important

I just wanted to get this all down before I forget it because it seemed important. Here I was leaving the scene of a completely unrelated dream arc. I was living in a big city and I wanted to find new areas particularly in the shopping district. It was Charlottesville, NC (Not a real place but somehow I always seem to confuse Charlotte with Charlottesville...go figure). I stumble unto an area I haven't seen before and I was delighted until I got over the stairs that separated it to find a area I was very familiar with. It was a University campus from a previous dream. Oh and for some strange reason I was looking for pants, hence the shopping. I sat on a marble bench when a familiar face appeared. I told him what I was doing since I left University and he seemed a little disappointed in me. "It doesn't work like that." he says. He says he knows that I wanted to be a dorm master(?) and said something to the effect of not basing my whole life around that. He notices my lack of pants and told me to follow him all the while lecturing me. I lost him when he quickly got by a couple walking slowly and stealing kisses. The woman in the couple was someone I knew and not a person I expected to appear in my dream. As I trailed behind the couple I noticed I was walking towards a boutique store. It sold women's clothes but there were some cool swim trunks hanging on the wall outside so I guessed they had men's clothes to. They didn't. An old, bored white guy was in charge. Seemed like he was napping. My friend then reappeared asking where'd I run off to and lead me towards the Campus Store. Before I even had a chance to buy anything he presents me with my phone and points out he added his number. I hear the ringtone Asha put on Todd's phone in Outsourced. I noticed his name was Shana and then I woke up. Got anything for me guys?

The Streaming Boom and My Viewing Habits

Welcome to 2021. We're still in a global pandemic and so more than every people are looking for things to do at home. Streaming services have been literal saviors during this time. Staying at home would have been pretty boring in  say the early 2000s when we were still marking the video store hoping a new release would be available to rent (or buy) soon.

The streaming market was already changing but it had to become something more in 2020. They stepped up. Market leader Netflix has been pumping out tons of original content and were even able to justify a fee increase as a result. DC Universe shuttered their streaming service, incorporated it into HBO Max and then stunned movie studios by announcing that all their 2021 new releases would be released simultaneously with brick and mortar movie houses and HBO Max. CBS started closing the door on All Access and it consolidating that into Paramount+.  NBC launced their Peacock streaming service. Disney+ launced several big releases on their streaming platform including the live action Mulan and the hit musical Hamilton. And this is just the stuff I was aware of.

Now that everyone wants a piece of the streaming pie though, it leads to some hard decision making in what you're willing to invest in and my viewing habits have changed as a direct result. They were already changing but because the streaming market is changing at such a face pace it's been a bit of a struggle to keep up.

1. The 2021 TV season is noticably deminished  

It couldn't be helped. Remember the writer's strike? We lost a ton of TV shows because there was either no writers or the studios tried to fake it with whoever they had lying around. 2020 was like that except there was a literal pandemic. The new Fall season has fewer episodes of everything and most were forced to feature aspects of the pandemic to stay relevant. New content has been difficult to produce during the pandemic. Even the streaming services are feeling it. Their saving grace was having lots of seasons of other new content to fill the void.

2. Can't Be Everywhere All At Once

This was it. The year that EVERYONE has a streaming service. All the broadcast networks have individual apps. Fortunately Hulu is still acting as an aggregate for ABC, NBC and FOX. CBS has always been the holdout and while I enjoyed having CBS All Access for a while it proved to be to finicky. I finally cancelled the service when it looked like they region locked me and wouldn't respond to my requests for support. Almost every Cable network also have individual apps (again, hooray for Hulu) including the premium services. In all the shuffle, I can't follow all the things I used to. Remember when I talked about AMC earlier in my blog and how difficult the app made it to keep up with The Walking Dead? I'm officially like 4 seasons behind now and I haven't picked up on any other AMC shows since. There's such a thing as being TOO exclusive.

3. I Can't AFFORD To Be Everywhere All At Once

Mo' apps means mo' money. Once you've got the Big 3 (Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime) things start to really add up. $13.99 for Netflix, $11.99 for Hulu (I like the no commercials options, okay?!) and $12.99 for Amazon (this is the only service I prepay for for an entire year). My bonus streams: Disney+ and HBO Max clocking in at $14.99 and $6.99 respectively. Technically $60 a month! It's still less than Cable but the thought of picking up any more services is cringe right now.

4. I No Longer Have Time To Even Try To Be Everywhere All At Once

In the early days of the pandemic I got a lot of television in. That didn't last very long though. I'm a sorta essential worker so after brief downtime I was back out there risking it all for the paycheck. That was when the FOMO kicked in. Everyone's ahead of me! It's only recently since more things have opened that things have evened out.

That's all I got for now.  Good to be back. Encourage me to post stuff more often. Later.

Netflix: Roll For Initiative

The 20 sided die of Netflix

Roll to determine what you watch

20 - Any movie you love that you could watch 1000 times over

19 - Any TV series that you love that you could watch 1000 times over

18 - Poll your friends for a movie. Top vote getter in 30 minutes wins

17 - Poll your friends for a tv series. Top vote getter in 30 minutes wins

16. Choose any movie from the Netflix Top 10.

15. Choose any TV series from the Netflix Top 10.

14. If you started a movie and didn't finish it you now have to.

13. If you started a TV series and haven't gotten to the finale you have to watch an episode.

12. Choose any stand up comedy special

11. You must watch an episode of an anime.

10. You must choose a foreign language movie

9. You must watch an episode of a foreign language TV show

8. Watch the first movie Netflix recommends 

7. Reroll. 7s are lucky :)

6. Watch the first episode of the first show Netflix recommends.

5. Watch the first thing that's Trending Now

4. You have to watch something from your list that you haven't watched. If your list is empty reroll.

3. Scroll to the Categories section. Roll again. Whatever you roll scroll right that many times. Watch the first thing recommended or listed in that option.

2. Watch the last thing in the Netflix Top 10

1. Download Tubi and watch Velocipastor 😂

If you don't have a 20 sided die, just Google "roll d20". ;)

Let's Talk About Captain Marvel

The big buzz these days is the theatrical release of Captain Marvel. I don't really want to talk about how the movie did (Saw it, liked it.  Not great, but not bad either). I want to talk about how Captain Marvel represents a turning point in the comic book superhero movie genre. It's something that kinda got left behind in all the controversy.

Think back to all the comic book superhero movies you can think of (I know, there's been a lot). What was the first movie all about? This is a no brainer: It's the origin story.  It's been done to death.  Even the X-Men origin movies, where the characters got their powers by BEING BORN THAT WAY do an origin.

This is where Captain Marvel kinda breaks away from the pack.  Y'see her origin story...is kinda blah.  That's not her fault.  Most origin stories are kinda blah.  I mean you can only have so many radioactive spiders, gamma bomb explosions or super soldier serums.  Her origin is so blah they even changed it for the movie.  It's all about how this story is told.  The big origin is mostly kept a secret until near the end of the movie because it's instrumental to the "twist".  If you've seen it, you know it but I'm not going to spoil it here.  I'll just say it's not very interesting and not fully explained (unless you were paying attention).  So instead of building up that origin we get a functional character codenamed Vers fighting along side her fellow Kree until a mission gone wrong lands her back on Earth and chasing her own identity as a result.

Personally, I liked this direction.  Let's face it, the slow build up to the introduction of powers was getting old.  Then we get a whole second act of learning to use said powers and finally a third act where the powers get to shine.  Captain Marvel pretty much changed up the first two acts.  The character has power from the beginning and is actually more powerful that the other Kree, but we soon come to realize that her time with the Kree is really all she knows.

Will this method of storytelling make it into future movies? Probably not.  Despite breaking a box office record the movie was still badly to moderately reviewed.  A lot of  hype was that this was a prelude to Avengers: Endgame, a movie every MCU fan is practically foaming at the mouth for. We all know Captain Marvel will play a huge role in it and we watched this movie to get filled in.  I feel that alone cast a long shadow on this movie.  Unlike Black Panther, this movie wasn't made to stand on its own. Even Spider-Man: Homecoming escaped this because even though it was tied to the MCU and even featured another Avenger the story didn't affect the overall Avengers plot line. Doing double duty as introducing this new character and providing the bridge to Endgame was too much. That doesn't mean a lot of MCU fans weren't hyped for this movie based on its own merits though. The film has some great and inspiring messages.  It even has that one scene where the main character rises above all odds and gives us that tingly feeling.  Overall, the movie is a C+. Not bad, but also not great.

Did you see Captain Marvel?  What did you think?

Outsourced vs. Outsourced

I think everyone on my Facebook feed knows that one of my favorite movies is Outsourced. For at least a couple years it's been a mainstay on my Netflix "Watch It Again".  I think I'd be embarrassed if there was a way to actually see how many times I've watched this movie.  Yes, it is my favorite romantic comedy of all time and I'm a sucker for a good romantic comedy.

Turns out they made a TV series based on this movie and I didn't know until I recommended the movie to my Facebook friends.  It wasn't until Netflix pulled Outsourced (September 2, 2018) (PLEASE COME BACK SOMEDAY!!! 😭).  It was only then I turned to Amazon Firestick's search feature and that's when it happened: I found the series on it was on Hulu.

So here I stand, having finished the one and only season of Outsourced and ready to compare.  Let's get to it!

 

VS 

1. The Plot

There are some slight differences in the movie and series plot.  In the movie, Todd Anderson is the top salesman for Mid America Novelties and one day he report to work and he's the only one there except for his boss.  His boss explains that they've outsourced his department to India and they want him to go set it up and train the guy who'll eventually replace him.  Naturally Todd protests but his boss dangles his stock options and a bad job market over him so Todd relents.  From here the storyline focuses on Todd trying to get the call center MPI (minutes per incident) down to 6 minutes. 

In the series, Todd (Dempsy in this version) just finished management training and learns that the job he trained for has been outsourced to India.  He's told if he wants to keep that job he has to go there and manage the call center.  In the series, this is the job.  There's no coming back unless he gets transferred.  The plot of the series centers around helping the call center employees get familiar with American culture while learning a few things about Indian culture.

2. The Characters

In the movie, there were only a few stand out characters but even fewer got regular roles in the series. Besides Todd, only Asha and Manmeet made the cut.  Puro in the movie is replace by Rajiv and they're polar opposites.  While Puro was attentive and eager to learn, Rajiv was manipulative, overbearing and constantly plotting to oust Todd despite actually needing his teaching.  Asha doesn't hold the same authority as she does in the movie and Manmeet quickly assumes the best friend role...until Todd meets Charlie.  He operates another call center.  I believe his character was based on Bob in the movie (he only showed up for a brief scene where Todd thought he could get a cheeseburger).  New characters include Gupta, Tonya and Madhuri.  It was pretty cool that they could make the show diverse but still feel wholly Indian.

3. The Verdict

I like both.  The series is not nearly as complex as the movie but it makes for good comedy.  I'm actually sorry the show didn't survive to a second season but I think the whole Todd/Asha dynamic would have been hard to maintain.  So it's definitely worth checking out but I don't feel like it has the same re-watch factor as the movie.

Virgin Islands Information and Communications Technology: What We Need

Yesterday morning I woke up to a question in Messenger.  When I saw it I immediately responded that I would need some time to think about it.  The question was what kind of support is local and federal government not giving to the Virgin Islands Information and Communications Technology community?  It's an odd question for me to think about because I've been technically out of the IT game for the last 8 years.  I still do some IT-ish things but it's not a specific job role.  I do however keep up and I'm still very observant. Okay so let's brainstorm!

FEDERAL

Well we've got viNGN. I consider that a win even if it's an underused resource.  It's availability has proven valuable after Hurricanes Irma and Maria.  The literacy programs from viNGN are also handy. And from what I hear there's a huge amount of funds coming to help repair and expand our telecom networks.  Hopefully that comes with stringent federal oversight.  I can't anything else on this end.  I think most of our issues lie with how we approach ICT locally.

LOCAL

1. There's no real strategy for linking every VI Government agency under the banner of the Bureau of Information Technology.  Sure there's one in the legislation that creates the office but given the myriad of duties the office needs to perform it is underfunded.  What's more, since the office is directly under the Office of the Governor, BIT tends to end up directing most of their resources there.

The history of BIT is why the problem has ballooned.  I like to tell the anecdote of how St. Thomas ended up flooded with cars and ultimately traffic.  Way back when the bus company was privately owned and was notorious for shrinking their fleet due to maintenance issues.  As a result, public transportation was erratic and this affected people's ability to get to work and make a living.  The car dealerships swooped in to fill the void of shoddy public transportation.  By the time the VI Government implemented a public transportation system it was too late.  Now imagine BIT as the privately owned bus company and everyone with their own cars and the government offices that couldn't rely on BIT so they went and got their own.

The few agencies that have their own IT staff loves that they have qualified people ready to assist their agency and their agency alone.  The agencies today that don't have IT staff have to put in a request with BIT and wait in the queue for services.

2. I don't know if there is a natural disaster emergency plan for the US Virgin Islands but I can guess if it does exist it's probably outdated and doesn't address ICT needs.  In the aftermath of Irma and Maria, we were lucky enough that WSTA was able to stay on the air but what would have happened if we lost them?  During the recovery I heard a lot of top officials claiming you can't plan for 2 Category 5 hurricanes.  To that I say bullshit.  You can ALWAYS plan for the worse case scenario.  We lost power (expected), landlines, cell service, pretty much EVERYTHING and the only thing we had in terms of communication is people delivering information BY HAND to the only working radio station.

3. While there are some education opportunities related to ICT and use of computers, there aren't a lot of them and VI Gov. employees aren't really encouraged to attend these trainings and seminars. Way back I used to be part of a Train The Trainer program when tech savvy individuals from different departments would learn advanced productivity software and bring the knowledge and training materials back to their home agencies.  They seemed to really have trouble recruiting trainers and the trainers in turn had trouble getting their fellow employees to attend a training session.  This problem still exists today.  Even for a time when I was formerly working in IT I tried organizing simple training sessions.  They were so poorly attended after a while I stopped having them.

That's all I have for now but if anything else springs to mind, I'll be sure to add it to the list.  As usual, if you have any feedback for me be sure to leave a comment.