How are you keeping occupied in this period of 'social distancing'

I've been downloading highly-rated subtitled Asian movies (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai) from YouTube and burning them to DVDs for us to watch.

Share a few names with us. I am a sucker for non-English classic flicks.


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Raining in the Mountain (1979)
Reign Behind a Curtain (1983)
The Burning of the Imperial Palace (1983)
Rouge (1988)
Ju Dou (1990)
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
To Live (1994)
Hana-bi (1997)
Three Seasons (1999)
Postmen in the Mountain (1999)
The Road Home (1999)
Kikujiro (1999)
The Guava House (2000)
A Samurai at War (2001)
Dolls (2002)
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Story of Pao (2006)
The White Silk Dress (2006)
Old Partner (2008)
The Message (2009)
The Floating Lives (2010)
Masquerade (2012)
Perfect Number (2012)
Sacrifice (2012)
Yellow Flowers on Green Grass (2015)

Thanks a lot. Shall explore...


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Will heartily second The Twilight Samurai

Probably the only modern Jidaigeki which really captures the spirit of the great Kobayashi and Kurosawa films IMO.

Somewhat ironically, while I like Takeshii Mike in general I have NOT been a fan of his period films.

Must watch is the Samurai Trilogy chronicling the life of Musashi Miyamoto. Brilliant if nobody mentioned it already

Must watch is the Samurai Trilogy chronicling the life of Musashi Miyamoto. Brilliant if nobody mentioned it already

that the one with Mifune? I liked those.

my 2 that IMO are unmissable are Harakiri (62) and Yojimbo.

I was at Badger and Blade, read a man’s essay about the death of his cat Chester, and now I wish to share it with you.

A little over 13 years ago a ginger tom cat named Winston stepped out of his cage at the animal shelter into my arms and over my shoulder. He stayed there, purring, until Karen came in from the other room full of cats. She took one look at Winston, and looked at me when I turned around, and said, "I guess we found our new cat." We renamed him Chester, because Winston was a little too pompous for such a laid back a feline.

Chester was immediately "my" cat, outnumbered as we both were by the other females in the house. Eventually he was outnumbered three to one by Sita, Anna, and Keira.

We lost his harem over the space of a year and a bit and, as is the way of things, new cats were brought into our home. Chester adapted to this new reality, secure in his place in the pecking order. And the two new additions quickly learned that they could run around the house to their heart's content, but that certain areas belonged to Chester, and to Chester alone.
Our bedroom, and specifically, our bed, were Chester's throne room and place of repose. It became a nightly routine of Chester coming to bed when we did, lying down between my pillow and the headboard, and purring until I fell asleep. He was my "white noise" machine.
The ginger tabby that entered our lives draped over my shoulder 13 years ago, left our lives the same way tonight, draped over that same shoulder He had some sort of seizure, and was gone in seconds, He was a good cat, and we were lucky to have had him as long as we did.

being that I work in IT and IT is almost always considered 'essential staff', I'm still working my normal, 40 hours per week.

being that I work in IT and IT is almost always considered 'essential staff', I'm still working my normal, 40 hours per week.

I am working 40+ myself. Many have retreated to their homes, but some of us have to "man the wall".

Our stay-at-home orders have been extended for another month at least.

It has actually been a really nice time for us, as there are so many activities that need to be done as spring takes hold. Landscaping, gardening, fixing up this and that. Long walks, and bike rides as a family are fun, and there's always cooking, reading and listening to music. We enjoy each other's company, and when we're tired of each other, we have the space to drift away and do our own things.

My wife and I still have to go in to work, of course. That hasn't changed.

Wow, talk about isolation. This morning we had a power outage for about 2 hours, so not only were we in stay-at-home lockdown, but we lost nearly all of our ability to see/reach the outside world (telephone, internet). We read our books by window daylight for a little then, then decided to go for a drive. When we got back, everything was back to 'normal.'