Once again, I'm participating in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to raise funds for cancer research and treatment.

The walk is on Sunday, October 05. I’ll be going for the full-marathon route this year, as I have a friend to walk with. Actually due to construction in Copley Square, we’ll have to walk an extra mile and the total route will be 27.5 miles.

Walk day is this Sunday. I’ve been behind on fundraising, but thankfully donations are open through the end of October, so I have time to collect donations.

Please support my efforts with a donation. Together, we can support research and care that help patients at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and around the world.

http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/wsanborn_nh

I'm participating in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to raise funds for cancer research and treatment.

I’ll be going for the full-marathon route this year, as I have a friend to walk with

Walk day is this Sunday. I’ve been behind on fundraising, but thankfully donations are open through the end of October, so I have time to collect donations.

Please support my efforts with a donation. Together, we can support research and care that help patients at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and around the world.

http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/wsanborn_nh

Finally got the video for October's vacation finished. Things kept on hitting and distractions kept on piling up, as soon as I got home. Good to have this completed. Fun video for a fun trip.

California Trip October 2023. Visiting friends in San Diego, with a road trip to Reno, Nevada to attend Biggest Little Fur Con. Lots of sights to see, adventures, fun times, good food and libations.

https://vimeo.com/930501670?share=copy

I'm participating in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to raise funds for cancer research and treatment.

The friend I usually walk with can’t make it this year, so I’m walking solo. Because of that I’ll be doing the half-marathon route this year.

Walk day is this Sunday. I’ve been behind on fundraising, but thankfully donations are open through the end of October, so I have time to collect donations.

Please support my efforts with a donation. Together, we can support research and care that help patients at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and around the world.

http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/wsanborn

Thank you to everyone who has donated to my Jimmy Fund fundraiser page. I'm really happy to be able to help this cause.

Thanks to some really nice donations, I've made my pacesetter goal, but help is still appreciated and the donations will stay open through the rest of the month.

The page is here: http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/was_nh

I walked the Boston Marathon course for the Jimmy Fund today. The walk was a couple of weeks later this year, and the weather was cooler, but it also meant we didn’t overheat like 2018 when it was in the upper 80s!

I finished the 26.2 miles in 9 hours, 45 minutes. The last 3-4 miles were rough. I kept slowing down, but I made it. A good accomplishment.

I checked and the last time I did the full walk was in 2018, so this is the farthest I’ve walked in 4 years!

I could have used some more training, but it all worked out okay. I’m sore and have blisters but nothing serious.

I'm participating in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to raise funds for cancer research and treatment. I will be walking the full 26.2 mile Boston Marathon course route on walk day.

I'm looking forward to the walk being back in person this year. I didn't walk in 2020 because of the pandemic and surprise health issues with my cardiac bypass surgery.

Last year was a "virtual" walk just going out on your own and logging miles. I walked 13.1 miles with a friend, so this year I'm happy to be back doing the official course with the same friend, but now back with everyone else walking together.

Please support my efforts with a donation. Together, we can support research and care that help patients at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and around the world.

http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/was_nh

I will be walking in the Jimmy Fund Walk on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, to raise money for cancer research.

It is a virtual walk this year, and I'll be logging my milelage on my FitBit. I will be walking 13.1 miles.

I walk in memory of my grandmother Dorothy Hart and my uncle David Sanborn.

If you would like to donate, please visit my donation page: http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/wsanborn

2020 was a hard year and I got way behind on lots of things, including finishing this video in a timely manner. It's done now though and I can get to work on slogging through 2020 and showcasing something fun and silly every day.

https://vimeo.com/496493150

Happy New Years! There is a lot of potential for a vast improvement in 2021 and I hope everyone can be safe and happy in the coming months.

2020 was definitely a tough year, with lots of bad surprises.

I am grateful my friends and family are safe and healthy. I am also grateful to have recovered from the surprise cardiac surgery in the end of August. I am doing well and continue to work on lifestyle changes, which are already paying off.

I started 2020 at a weight of 198 and am down to 184 today.

I have a standing goal of walking 2000 miles a year, keeping track of it with my FitBit. The cardiac surprise put a damper in that, but I was thankful to be able to get back to work and recover my exercise regime through rehab.

I finished the year at 1,910.3 miles. So I caught up and was under the goal by less than 100 miles. That's really good, all things considered.

I had a good follow-up appointment with the cardiologist today. Everything looks good. He cleared me to return to work 2 months post surgery, 10/28. I will also be able to discontinue Coumadin blood thinner after 3 months, 11/28. I will be able to enjoy alcohol in moderation after that. I have already saved a few pumpkin beers for the occasion.

Low fat and low sodium diets will continue. Sodium is hard, but forces me to have less packaged foods and will help in losing weight in the long run. Getting off blood thinners is a big win though!

For those who are interested, I got the details for the exact sternum hardware I have during the surgeon follow-up call today. Kinda neat, and confirmed it was MRI safe:

THORECON RIGID FIXATION SYSTEM
http://aemedical.com/products/rigid-fixation/
MRI-compatible stainless steel

Had a good follow-up appointment. I’ve been cleared to drive. Still a little worried on long trips with my poor sleep.

I also can start cardiac rehab therapy soon. That will be good

So this is going to be a long journal, and a big surprise to readers. I'll just say from the start that I'm doing okay.

So in a very on-brand 2020 turn of events, I had a crazy roller coaster ride at the end of August. As I described it to friends, I was going to celebrate my 50th birthday in New Orleans in May, but that was canceled do to Cover-19, and instead I got surprise heart surgery in August. What a year!

I'd been having a couple of symptoms which I was planning on calling my doctor about, but things came to a head on Wednesday night when I had chest pains while mowing the lawn and then my heart rate was elevated and wouldn't calm down, so I went to the emergency room.

My EKG looked a little off, and a heart enzyme was slightly elevated, so they admitted me. Later they figured I'd had a small cardiac event, but there was no damage.

On Thursday they did a cardiac catheter procedure to go in with a scope to look for blockages, and fix them with stints if possible. I have a family history of heart disease and my doctor has been watching my weight and cholesterol, but both of those have been borderline. I was expecting to need a stint to fix a blockage or two and then need to go on Lipitor, but I came out of anesthesia to much worse news.

It turns out there were five blockages, in areas they couldn't easily put stints in and I would need coronary artery bypass surgery. That was a shock and the rest of the day was getting me transferred to the cardiac surgery hospital, getting all the tests I needed and getting prepped surgery on Friday morning.

It was a crazy roller-coaster ride, but maybe it was better to happen so fast so I didn't dwell on it. I knew it needed to be done and was able to soldier through it. Being kept busy helped. I'm just glad it was caught in time and the surgery went smooth.

It wasn't fun. I felt like I'd been hit by a bus afterwards, but they had me on some good pain meds and every day got better. The worst of it was a day when my heart freaked out and went into arterial fibrillation, which is normal, but not fun. They got me through that and I've been recovering.

So it's been 3 weeks since the surgery and I've been home with my mom and sister recuperating for two weeks.

I'm doing well, getting a little better each day. My sternum only hurts if I cough, or occasionally bend the wrong way. My left leg where they took the veins for the bypass is still a little sore to touch, but doesn't hurt to walk or stand on.

They have me walking a little more each day. I'm up to 20 minutes and can do that without breathing heavy. My heart rate and blood pressure are excellent. I will also be able to start in on cardiac rehab in a couple of weeks.

The only downside, is that I'm still not sleeping well. One of the drugs I'm on to regulate heart rate, amiodarone, is what I believe is causing the issue. Thankfully I'm getting weaned off that and will be done with it next Wednesday. Also, the other side effects with overheating (flushing) and nightmares have been easing off.

Now I just need to be able to sleep more than an hour or two at a time before waking up. It's leaving me tired, but it should be temporary, and taking a nap during the day helps.

Otherwise, things are getting better each day, and I just have to take it a little at a time and have faith that things will continue to get better. I'm already doing very well continuing the surgery I went through.

I lost my sweet kitty Circe to cancer in January of 2020 and I wanted to collect a few video clips in memory of her, as well as my other cat Ziggy.

Here's a clip from 2017 with her stuffed turkey. It was a toy she had since she was little and came with her from the breeder. It was one of those stuffed birds which used to make noise (the battery long stopped working) and she had imprinted it on it long ago.

https://vimeo.com/393052587

It was a toy she took as her own and would carry it around in her mouth and meow for a several minutes while she carried it. I could never figure out if it was a pet or prey for her. If I left clothes on the floor, she would sometimes make a little nest with them and put the turkey in there.

Egyptian Maus have such cute personality quirks and Circe's "turkey time" was always so funny to watch. I made sure to have the turkey cremated with it, so she could have it with her on the final journey.

Here's a clip from 2019 where the two of them are done being patient waiting for breakfast and they're letting me know it. Circe could get especially vocal.

https://vimeo.com/393052767

Circe was the more vocal of the two. Ziggy would occasionally give me a little peep or chirp of a meow, but with Circe gone, he has become more vocal, chirping at me more often. It is quite cute.

He seems to be dealing with her passing okay, and has settled into being a solo cat. He was always snuggly and has gotten a little more so.

https://vimeo.com/393052288

Circe and Ziggy are both silver-furred variants of Egyptian Maus and look like little snow leopards.

Stephen King movies are usually on two ends of the spectrum, they tend to be either ridiculous or superb. Many times his monstrous horror stories don’t translate well to film. Things that sound laughable when described in a plot synopsis, he writes with style and nuance, and always impeccable storytelling. Those stories aren’t always handled with the deftness required, and the films they’re based on suffer for it. I was really happy that 2017 and 2019’s two chapters of “It” worked really well.

It’s often the more-psychological examples of King’s work that make the best film. “Doctor Sleep” is a perfect example of this. I’d been excited when I’d heard about a sequel he’d written to “The Shining,” but hadn’t managed to read it yet, so I was looking forward to seeing it in the theaters. I was really happy that the film delivered on all of my expectations.

The movie references the original in many places, and deftly emulates its look and feel. When I heard the same strains of the familiar score and a sweeping aerial shot opened the film, I gave a happy chuckle as I knew I was in for a good ride. There are several callbacks to the original events of “The Shining” and they recreate both the sets and also cast actors who resemble the original cast. It’s quite seamless and organic, and a quite a lot of fun.

Without giving away too much of the plot. The film deals with Danny Torrence, having survived his childhood ordeal and still haunted by the events and his touch with the paranormal. He’s stumbled through life adrift and out of touch with those around him, to try and avoid his shining gift, until he’s forced to confront a new terrific threat.

Like the original story, “Doctor Sleep” works because it not only tells and interesting paranormal story, but it also has compelling and fleshed out characters driving the plot forward. If you were a fan of “The Shining,” this film is definitely worth watching.

I went and saw "Terminator: Dark Fate" tonight and I really enjoyed it. It seemed on par with T2. It had similar themes and levels of energy and action and lots of story echoes from that film. It was definitely a lot of fun too.

Things got a little odd in the timeline, but they explained it well and this film felt like the logical and right sequel to T2. It shared a lot of DNA with that successor. Thankfully all of the other movies are in their own, easily forgettable timeline now.

Arnold was good in it. They had some fun with him and also used his character well. It was also interesting and nice that the three other main protagonists were all female, and the innocent person who needed to be protected this time was a Mexican woman. They even had a US border-crossing plot point in it. Not overtly political, but definitely a reflection of its time.

James Cameron, didn't direct this film, but had a writing credit in it, which likely helped this feel like more cohesive to the early films in the franchise. He has said that this is the last of the Terminator films and it's nice to see that they ended on a high note.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to walk in the Jimmy Fund Walk this year, to help raise money for cancer research and treatment. Travel schedules prohibited me from walking, but it's still a charity I love to support.

I've made a donation and in lieu of walking would like to encourage those who are interested to donate if they can. You can donate to the general fun, without needing to support a walker.

https://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/si.....0E34C771D84580

https://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/si.....amp;fr_id=1160


Thank you.

 n2o is an artist looking for watchers and hopefully more commission work. I've dealt with him on a couple of commissions and he's been good to work with.

He draws pinups of furry ladies, classic motorbikes and WW2 artwork. He does nice work with graphite/pencil shading.

I've been able to catch up on some older episodes of Escape Pod while exercising on the elliptical machine after work.

Tonight I listened to “Fandom for Robots.” It’s a lovely and fun audio story, not only for use of non-human characters, but catching how fans find community and collaborate around all sorts of fandoms

http://escapepod.org/2018/04/19/esc.....om-for-robots/

“Humans Die, Stars Fade” is another brilliant and moving story using anthropomorphism.

http://escapepod.org/2018/05/10/esc.....ie-stars-fade/

Daily video montage for 2018. Created with 1 Second Everyday (1secondeveryday.com).

Lots of cats and dogs and weekly cards nights, filling in the spaces around the rest of daily life and more-exciting adventures.

https://vimeo.com/312041706

My knee has recovered well enough to feel confident in entering the Jimmy Fund Walk to raise money for cancer research and treatment again this year.

I will be walking the full 26.2 mile Boston Marathon course next Sunday the 23rd. Please donate if you can, here is the link to my personal fundraiser page.

http://jimmyfundwalk.org/goto/wsanborn

It's not often I dream about media properties, but I dreamed up an episode of the animated comedy/drama series Bojack Horseman early this morning, which ended up inspiring me. It started with funny bits, then got darker, and afterwards inspired me to muse about the head-cannon.

In the episode, Bojack made a movie set in Germany and missed an obvious anti-semitic plot point and had to apologize. “Look, I’m an idiot, not a racist.”

The episode concerned Bojack learning he had German roots and wanted to make a film celebrating that. I remember a choice line of dialog was about wanting to play in a film where he learned German and it would seem natural and funny, “like those films where Jackie Chan learns kung-fu.”

He starred in a wacky movie where he went to Germany and won ownership of a pub, but some villain was trying to steal it from him. Originally that was a local German character, which Bojack didn’t like, but when they rewrote the script with an obvious Jewish stereotype he was oblivious.

I woke up early before my alarm with the dream fresh in my mind. It was just after Bojack fires those responsible for the movie and the whole thing left me with lots of sad feelings. I was feeling bad for him so I ruminated in bed half-asleep and ended up letting him have a one night stand with a lemur manic pixie dream girl where there was lots of cuddling and soulful talk afterwards.

I daydreamed more head cannon of Bojack and the younger lemur while mowing the lawn this afternoon.

I definitely feel like there would be some self-referential humor about her being a manic pixie dream girl, and how they always end up helping and healing the male protagonists. She feels like she’d have a bit of a sarcastic wit, though not as caustic as Bojack’s, so she’d probably say something like “it’s not like I have things all figured out yet, I mean I work at a coffee shop, so the only thing I’ll be fixing is your morning latte.”

The scene I had for them for the morning after their initial fling had them half-dressed and sitting around the kitchen island, while he attempts to make breakfast. I forget if he ever cooked on the show or not, so maybe he can make some eggs or pancakes, or maybe he makes a bit of a mess of it, which she kids him a bit about, but also finds endearing.

Afterwards she winks and suggests they hop in the shower before she has to leave, which was actually something from my half-asleep, half-waking dream musings this morning. Of course since it’s me, Bojack would get some sweet and playful sex the next morning.

Like most people in Hollywoo, she has a day job. He's surprised to see her working at a local coffee shop a day or two later. She flirts with him as she makes his order and he gives her a shy smile.

They end up dating for awhile. She ends up guiding him to be a better person, mostly with reminding him to "look outside yourself, dummy." She gives him a playful swat on the back or flicking his ears while she lovingly chides him.

Awhile later, he confesses "I know you're half my age, but this feels like the most grown-up relationship I've had in awhile." She kisses him on the nose "don't sell yourself short, silly."

She's a graphic artist and was doodling ideas based on a TV show someone he knows is working on. He wants to show her ideas off, but she doesn't think they're any good. He could easily drop it, and he also doesn't want her to leave him, but he also remembers how he sabotaged Todd's rock opera. He shows her work off to his colleague and gets her a job on the show.

She gets more art work and does eventually meet someone her age on the crew. They part as good friends and he feels good at the end, like he's done something right for a change.

She gives him a parting gift, a drawing she did of the two of them on an unused disposable coffee cup she swiped from her old job. That cup shows up in the background in later episodes, shown in a place of importance where Bojack keeps it to remember her.

And as silly as this is, this is the most creative work I’ve done in awhile. It felt good to do some structured day-dreaming. I need to do more of that.

I will be walking in the Jimmy Fund walk again tomorrow to raise money for cancer research and treatment. As with years past, I will be walking the complete 26.2 mile Boston marathon course.

If you are so inclined, I am soliciting donations for the walk, on my personal fund-raising page:

http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/2017/wsanborn

Thank you

I've been watching American Gods on Starz. Definitely a very interesting story, but it has been a little hard for me to get fully into it. I understand that all the characters are supposed to be dark, but it's hard to connect to a story without sympathetic characters. I'm hoping as the story unfolds, the intrigue will be enough to keep me interested.

So far the interludes which open up each episode have been the best for me. Both the scenes with Anansi on a slave ship and Anubis escorting someone to the afterlife have been some really wonderful character drama. The Anubis one reminded me of a classic Twilight Zone episode, where Death was a kind stranger.

"What's a virtual experience mean then?"

After watching the live-action film it was based on, I went back and finally watched all of the 1995 Japanese animated movie "Ghost in the Shell." Both movies follow similar stories, but it's interesting to see where they diverged.

The identity and motivations of the hacker known as the Puppetmaster is different in the anime, and some of the Major's decisions in interacting with him are not completely explained.

The Major's back-story is also less fleshed out. There are still the same musings on what makes a person "human" and she questions her humanity and if the memories she has are real or just implanted. Some of the dialogue around these questions become heavy-handed exposition, but it was nice to see them asked. I would have preferred both films to have delved into those themes more, but the stories at least offer some interesting questions to mull over.

The city in the anime feels much more authentically Japanese. The scope of the world is fleshed out deeper as well, with agents from America shown squaring off against government officials. There is a political sub-plot with the Japanese government trying to stop defectors seeking political asylum. The movie also shows tensions between that branch of government forces and Section 9, the anti-terrorism special police unit. The plot gets a little convoluted, but everything is shown to be necessary to the film in the end. The live-action film kept some aspects of the infighting between factions, with tensions between Section 9 and rogue elements operating in Hansa robotics, but it also streamlined the story to one central plot through-line.

The anime is visually striking, even more so than the live-action film, making full use of the animated medium. There is also a wonderful sequence in the middle of the film showing a couple of minutes of life in the city and long pans across the skyline. It is used not only as a transitioning shot, but also as a visual tone poem. It shows the passing of time, but also eludes to the Major's feeling of distance from humanity as she watches the city and its people pass by as she rides a water taxi. It's a longer segue than would be seen in a typical Hollywood film, and it stands out for that.

Both films show a world where technology is becoming more ubiquitous and integrated, and reveals the benefits and dangers that presents. Most people have cybernetic implants, and a large portion of the population has embraced transhumanism to some extent or another. A central plot point is that anyone with cerebral augmentation, is at risk from the Puppetmaster's attacks. A virus can travel through the network and invade their minds.

The horror of ghost-hacked humans with implanted memories is more effective in the anime. The film dwells a little longer with one suspect being interrogated by Section 9, only to realize that the reality he'd been living was a fabrication, and that he may never get his original memories back. He was given an illusion of a fake family, to manipulate him to carry out unwitting illegal actions, only to awake to the sad reality and to grieve for a wife and daughter he'd lost who had never even existed.

In the end, the films sort of complement each other. The anime, while a little more muddled in plot, has a good basis for a strong science-fiction story with some very inventive ideas. It also could have likely been one of the many pieces of culture which the Wachowskis used as inspiration for their ground-breaking film "The Matrix." The 2017 remake of "Ghost in the Shell" is more of an action movie, with a more straight-forward plot. The anime is more cerebral in its reach but clunky in places with its execution. In contrast the live-action film is more emotional, but not as philosophically deep.

Even if neither is a perfect film, the ideas they bring to the table are interesting. Questions on life, consciousness and humanity are always intriguing. I appreciated the examinations these two films offered into the possible future worlds and the ghosts in the machines which may inhabit them.

"They did not save your life. They stole it."

The live-action film adaptation of the anime movie "Ghost in the Shell" is a visual masterpiece with images that capture and echo the style and visions of the original. I have only seen pieces of the animated movie and television series, but there were many shots and scenes that echoed with the heartbeats of that world and struck vivid chords with my memories of the source material.

The movie deserves credit for capturing the style and feel of the original, but it isn't perfect. There are complaints of white-washing the cast, and while not a total detractor, it does take away something from the film. Scarlett Johansson portrays Major Killian perfectly, and it's it is possible to argue that given the stylistic portrayal of anime characters, they could map to Eastern or Western actors. While it was good to see a multi-ethnic supporting cast, it would've been nice to see more Asian actors playing major roles.

Major's boss, the head of Section 9, is the only character who speaks Japanese, and other than some bits of decoration in set pieces, the city felt more European or American than an Asian setting. It would've been nice to have a setting which felt more unique to the source material, and for all the diversity of the Section 9 team, all of the scientists and administrators at Hanka Robotics were uniformly white.

Those critiques aside, while the futuristic city does not have any defined place, the design and mood of it was entertaining. Neon signs light the night and the buildings and cityscape are plastered with gigantic animated holographic advertising, electronic images constantly vying for attention. That conjured up the mood of the source material and it was a delight to watch. The design and aesthetics of the robots and human-upgrades technology felt spot on as well.

Unfortunately the film was more style than substance. The plot wasn't horrible and the writing was decent, but it didn't have a lot of depth to it. A quick reference of the plot from Wikipedia and watching the video for the trailer, reveals that the current movie borrows heavily from the original anime, though not exactly all of the plot points.

With the merging of biology and technology, the lines are being blurred. Themes of memories and personality and what makes a person human and the contents of their soul or "ghost" are central to both films. I appreciated that, as those are thoughts that always pique my interest in these types of films. The new movie doesn't deal with them to the depth I would've liked, but it still tells an interesting story.

The story takes place in a future where the increasing interfacing between man and machine has made all sorts of human upgrades possible. Artificial limbs and organs can be made to replace damaged ones, and you can even go for enhanced versions if you're interested. When Batou’s eyes are damaged in a terrorist encounter, he opts for full-tactile replacements, with cold lenses sticking out of his eye sockets, aesthetics shunned for x-ray and infrared vision. Another member of the team jokes about how “every night is last call” thanks to his artificial liver, in a comedic moment. Cerebral interfaces also allow individuals to have enhanced cognitive abilities and direct connections to the computer network.

The plot opens with Mira Killian, a young woman who is shown having undergone a traumatic accident. They are unable to save her body, but instead perform a recently-developed procedure to transplant her brain into a robot body. She survives the procedure with only hazy memories of the accident and her old life, but with her cognitive abilities intact. Her new body may not have human feelings, but it excels in other dimensions and she is fortunate to be alive.

Upon recovery she is recruited into the anti-terrorist police unit Section 9, where her enhanced reflexes and senses and near-indestructible body are put to good use. Her strengths and assets are admired and she is treated as any other member of the team, even though she feels isolated from humanity. Her partner Batou comments that her lack of memories are a blessing, that it makes her more pure, but she still is troubled from echoes from her past.

There is not much time to dwell on her personal issues though, as Section 9 is on the trail of a deadly terrorist who has been able to hack into computer networks and compromise both robots and humans with cybernetic implants, to turn them into killer puppets. As they get closer to the trail of this mysterious killer, they may not like what they find.

The story for "Ghost in the Shell" is entertaining and held my attention, but there aren't any big surprises. I enjoyed seeing the tropes come up and the pieces fall into place, even though I knew pretty much where the story would take me. That doesn't mean it's a bad film. The ideas could've dug deeper, but there was enough of a foundation there. The characters are more archetypes, but they were fun and I appreciated the bits of interactions between Major and Batou. The story is decent and it's worth the trip; even if it's more of a popcorn film, it's an enjoyable ride.