{"id":11861,"date":"2024-06-20T22:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T03:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/?p=11861"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:24:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:24:04","slug":"keep-it-undercover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/blog\/2024\/06\/20\/keep-it-undercover\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep it undercover&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I started writing a different post and it quickly devolved into an extensive tirade about software and while extensive tirades are kind of the norm around here, I was annoying even myself, so&#8230;delete.<\/p>\n<p>In short: I Do. Not. Like. Windows 11 and I <i>Really. Do. Not. Like.<\/i> how every MF software is moving to the subscription-based model. Just let me buy a program once so I can run it into the ground until I am forced to upgrade when I buy a new computer with an OS that no longer supports the old version.  IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?  Apparently it is.<\/p>\n<p>When I was in the thick of the <i>Lemons All the Way Down Computer Debacle of 2024<\/i>, Bob sent me this video.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7eUoWqAHryU?si=BlvPk1DRp6GSs7h2\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7eUoWqAHryU?si=vwshf2O2V9sRbFzG\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Mermaid Sisters from Carole &#038; Tuesday\" rel=\"noopener\">The Mermaid Sisters<\/a> from <i>Carole &#038; Tuesday<\/i>.)<\/p>\n<p>And it was funny, because it was relevant.<\/p>\n<p>And swear-y.<\/p>\n<p>I thought it was some sort of parody that someone had dubbed over a different song in a nondescript anime.  But it turns out that is actually the song they were singing. It&#8217;s from an anime called <i><b><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carole_%26_Tuesday\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Carole &#038; Tuesday\" rel=\"noopener\">Carole &#038; Tuesday<\/a><\/b><\/i> about two teen girls working on a music career. The song got us curious and there&#8217;s an English dub on Netflix, so we watched the first season. It has ridiculous elements like any anime, but the story is cute. Seeing that song performed in context didn&#8217;t really reduce the confusion it caused, but it was amusing.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also a <b><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Oy0TtFkgCPQ?si=ylvim_i0EckD96Ja\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Galactic mermaid\" rel=\"noopener\">full version<\/a><\/b> they recorded for the official soundtrack. I have no idea why it&#8217;s called <i>Galactic mermaid<\/i>, other than the group singing it is called the <i>Mermaid Sisters<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Now Bob and I quote the song for every minor inconvenience in life and we laugh because it&#8217;s funny.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><b>R:<\/b> Here&#8217;s a movie you might be interested in. <i><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/video\/detail\/B0CV72X1BL\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Idea of You\" rel=\"noopener\">The Idea of You<\/a><\/b> centers on Sol\u00e8ne (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mom who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>S:<\/b> Why would you ever think I would be interested in something like that?<\/p>\n<p><b>R:<\/b> I don&#8217;t know. Maybe because it sounds like an amalgamation of at least two or three of your stories.<\/p>\n<p><b>S:<\/b> I mean&#8230;yeah I probably do have a few dozen stories using those same elements.<\/p>\n<p><b>R:<\/b> Exactly.<\/p>\n<p>So we watched it. It was better than expected, mostly typical rom-com fare. I&#8217;m curious to read the book now and see how it compares.  I do know there&#8217;s a bigger age difference in the book, but other than that&#8230;?<\/p>\n<p>Nicholas Galitzine is also in <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/video\/detail\/B0BYSVXXW2\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Red White &#038; Royal Blue\" rel=\"noopener\">Red, White &#038; Royal Blue<\/a><\/i><\/b>. (Which I <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/blog\/2023\/10\/08\/it-aint-nothin-new\/#redwhiteblue\" title=\"It ain't nothin new...\">still haven&#8217;t watched<\/a><\/b>.) Now I am much more curious to watch it and see how he goes from <i>Cougar-Chasing Boy Bander<\/i> to the <i>Gay Prince of England<\/i>. I may or may not cajole Bob into watching it with me so we can make snarky commentary if it is as awkward as I expect it to be. (And by <i>cajole<\/i> I mean say, <i>hey let&#8217;s watch this movie<\/i>, because he&#8217;ll watch pretty much anything with me.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<br \/>\n<a name=\"littlesecret\"><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/basil\/\" title=\"BASIL\">Basil<\/a> dropped a new <i>What-if<\/i> on me that was a barely half-baked <i>A Thing That Happens<\/i> but not a full story by any stretch.  In trying to develop backstory about how the characters get to that point, the backstory started sounding like a better plotline than the current <i>event<\/i> and now Ye Olde Muse is off and running on how to turn that into something instead.<\/p>\n<p>Typical.<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/media\/blog\/2024pics\/basilhasideas.png\" title=\"Basil has ideas...\" alt=\"[Basil has ideas...]\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<table style=\"width:375px;border:1px solid #cccccc;vertical-align:middle;\">\n<tr>\n<td col style=\"width:60px;border:1px solid #cccccc;vertical-align:middle;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/media\/graphics\/headphones50.png\" title=\"now playing...\" alt=\"[headphones]\"><\/td>\n<td col style=\"width:315px;border:1px solid #cccccc;vertical-align:middle;\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4N1iwQxiHrs\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Your Love by The Outfield\">Your Love<\/a><\/b><br \/>\nThe Outfield<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I started writing a different post and it quickly devolved into an extensive tirade about software and while extensive tirades are kind of the norm around here, I was annoying even myself, so&#8230;delete. In short: I Do. Not. Like. Windows 11 and I Really. Do. Not. Like. how every MF software is moving to the subscription-based model. Just let me buy a program once so I can run it into the ground until I am&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/blog\/2024\/06\/20\/keep-it-undercover\/\" class=\"readmore\">Keep reading&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Keep it undercover&#8230;<\/span><span class=\"fa fa-angle-double-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/media\/blog\/2024pics\/basilhasideas.png","fifu_image_alt":"Basil has ideas...","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,111,109,110,12,232,243,260],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-11861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversations-in-geek-love","category-some-things-are-only-funny-to-me","category-technology-hates-me","category-writers-block","category-writing","category-writing-doxie","category-writing-vices-nowthen","category-writing-vices-secrets","tag-254","content-layout-excerpt-thumb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/media\/blog\/2024pics\/basilhasideas.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11861"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13723,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions\/13723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getalifebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}