That Gerald So

Goodbye, .ai.

2026-04-04T05:30:00.058-04:00

Posted 5:30 AM by Gerald So

Updating my Bluesky profile the other day, I pinned a new post:

I don't want AI's help w/ anything, including social media. #Attie
— Gerald So (@sogerald.bsky.social) March 29, 2026 at 12:44 PM

Just above the post, my bio listed my Mastodon account at masto.ai, a bad look.

I joined masto.ai to ease the load on mstdn.social during the 2022 Twitter migration. The same great admin runs both, but .ai (for Anguilla) has always been too close to AI for my liking.

I only just realized I could return to mstdn.social. And so, happily, I have.

The Blog Shuffle

2026-04-03T18:00:00.071-04:00

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

Earlier today, the blog description I'd used for years caught my eye: "St. Mary's, Hofstra, Queens College...That Gerald So"

First thing: Without a period, it wasn't a sentence. Second: If I mean it to be a sentence that trails off and picks up, shouldn't "That" be "that?"

How to resolve these issues? Title the blog THAT GERALD SO and make its description a sentence that ends with an ellipsis.

Projekt Osterhase

2026-04-01T17:30:00.010-04:00

Posted 5:30 PM by Gerald So

Years ago, I made a Yahoo! Avatar of myself in an Easter Bunny costume. It involved mixing stock hairstyles, faces, outfits, and backgrounds.

Last March I began watching tutorials on how to draw faces, adapting the techniques to Inkscape, and I made a front-facing bunny costume avatar from scratch.

In time for Easter this year, I've made a three-quarter view version:

Image by Gerald So

March Away

2026-03-31T23:01:00.000-04:00

Posted 11:00 PM by Gerald So

I brought my weekly crime poetry site, THE FIVE-TWO, back from a 1.5-year hiatus in April 2025. By January 2026, submissions had slowed to a trickle, so I paused the site until yesterday.

I spent as much of the month as I could away-from-keyboard. About the past six weeks, I've been doing various fifteen- to thirty-minute kettlebell workouts and have noticed improved sleep I think has to do with proper fatigue.

"This is Jim Rockford."

2026-02-13T03:30:00.021-05:00

Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So

I became a fan of THE ROCKFORD FILES as I became a fan of P.I. fiction in the 1990s. The Emmys recognized ROCKFORD for turning the conventional P.I. show on its head. Jim would rather gab than fight. He'd rather go fishing than work a case once a client fired him. James Garner, of course, made it all sing.

So last month, when I read a new Rockford TV pilot was in development, I was skeptical. A previous pilot with Dermot Mulroney hadn't seen air. Another project with Vince Vaughn had fizzled. Still, fans on Bluesky couldn't help speculating:

BONES' Hart Hanson likened David Boreanaz to James Garner. Joanna Cassidy played Jim Rockford's ex-wife in the first 90s Rockford movie. Cassidy went on to play Seeley Booth's mother on BONES. Beverly and Timberman also produced Boreanaz's SEAL TEAM. Would they cast him as Rockford?
— Gerald So (@sogerald.bsky.social) Jan 14, 2026 at 2:47 PM

And yesterday's casting announcement:

I think this is probably fine - Boreanaz is a reliable actor who can be situationally funny and has even played a (vampire) private eye before. But I think I’d be more excited if NBC had gone a little outside the box, as we were all talking about a month ago.

[image or embed]
— Rick Porter (@rickporter.bsky.social) Feb 12, 2026 at 3:31 PM

Just like that, I'm onboard. I say Boreanaz's track record gives the show at least a half-season. This will be a fun role for him after a serious one, as Booth was after Angel.

Speaking of, they have to use this dialogue:

"Angel?"

"I'm Jim. He's Angel."

I also expect Jim to toss down his smartphone and listen to his messages on speaker, voiced by David's former co-stars.

Photo by Ritesh Singh from Pexels

UPDATE - Feb. 26, 2026: Michaela McManus, previously paired with Boreanaz in SEAL TEAM, has been cast in the new Rockford pilot as Kate, an East Hollywood police detective and romantic interest.

Along with McManus's role, Greg Mottola was announced as director. Mottola successfully updated Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch for the 2022 movie CONFESS, FLETCH. I'm confident he'll help bring Jim Rockford to 2026.

Very Much Snow

2026-02-10T06:00:00.043-05:00

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

I meant to post a couple more times last month, but the January 25-26 storm left about a foot of snow and convinced me to buy two styles of ice scaper: one with a triangular blade and one that reminds me of a pizza peel to dislodge ice from underneath.

Recapping some items of interest:

Irish strength athlete Pa O'Dwyer died of a heart attack January 3, aged 40. I had followed Pa the past four years or so, learning of his reputation as the funniest strongman. Near the end, the toll on Pa's body forced him to essentially retire from strongman contests, and an attempt to become a bodybuilder may have shortened his life.

His last YouTube videos were responses to social media, but I'll most fondly remember the ones with his physicist sister Kris, who knew nothing about his sport and apparently disagreed with many of his views, but clearly loved him.

Firing Brian Daboll amid a 4-13 season, the New York Giants pursued and eventually hired longtime Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who has begun reshaping an organization that sorely needs it.

Congratulations to former Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, who won the Super Bowl in his first season with the Seattle Seahawks.

Finally, last Friday marked my first year on Bluesky. It may be better than Twitter/X, but then Twitter had become unusable. I'm taking steps to make my social media experience better: not hanging around to be blindsided by what appears in my feed, not posting whatever comes to mind.

Below is a photo from last January. The latest snow is no longer pretty.

Photo by Gerald So

Commemorating

2026-01-11T04:09:00.008-05:00

Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So

Twenty-two years ago today was no occasion in my life, so I started this blog. I had no plans for it. I'd just post whatever I wanted.

By now it's developed an identity, but I have trouble summing it up, as I do myself. I like to think I'm full of potential, not finished at fifty-one. You're welcome to decide from everything posted here.

Image by Pixabay

Resolutions, from a Certain Point of View

2026-01-01T03:00:00.009-05:00

Posted 3:00 AM by Gerald So

"Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

Image by Gerald So

I've been against new year's resolutions a long time, a long time, thinking I had to stick with a resolution the whole year or I failed. Yesterday I realized a new year's resolution can merely be one made at the start of a year, not taking a full year to do.

Here Comes Santa Pause

2025-12-20T04:30:00.001-05:00

Posted 4:30 AM by Gerald So

Five days till Christmas and I don't know where my brother and I will spend it. The usual cousin who wrangles our schedules is just back from the Philippines. My brother cantors at several Masses between Christmas Eve and Day. That leaves us available for a short drive to another cousin's in Syosset, but he may be spending Christmas in Florida with his parents.

Anyway, the festive chaos is why I'm reposting a photo of my Christmas tree from years ago. My family may not get together, but we always are in spirit. Probably the biggest part of enjoying the holidays is letting yourself relax, put aside the outside world. If I can do that, I don't think I'll need to do it long. Just a moment to appreciate life is enough.

FUTURE BOY by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry

2025-12-07T11:41:00.005-05:00

Posted 11:30 AM by Gerald So

Published October 14 by Flatiron Books, FUTURE BOY is Fox's memoir of filming BACK TO THE FUTURE while completing Season 3 of FAMILY TIES, written with his longtime producing partner.

The 150-page book with photographs delivers in describing how Fox juggled his high-profile TV role of Alex Keaton and what would be his breakout, best-remembered movie role of Marty McFly. I'm a fan of FAMILY TIES, the first BACK TO THE FUTURE, and of Fox's writing style from his previous memoirs.

I recommend the book to anyone who wants to relive 1985 vicariously through one of Hollywood's most popular actors putting his talent, instinct, and stamina to the test.

'Twas the week before Thanksgiving

2025-11-21T06:00:00.007-05:00

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

My extended family is abroad the next two weeks, so my brother and I are thinking of a low-key Thanksgiving possibly featuring Dave's Hot Chicken. Yesterday, though, he went to the office, where there was a spread of Thanksgiving vittles, and brought home chicken, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and a slice of apple pie, all of which would gone to waste because there would be no one in the office today.

I'm grateful for the unexpected feast, so far the highlight of this year's Thanksgiving.

Squeezing In

2025-11-19T02:30:00.010-05:00

Posted 2:30 AM by Gerald So

Thirty years ago, I was a junior at Hofstra and went to a meeting about starting a student literary magazine. Six people who joined the staff with me have been my best friends since then. Four of us are still in New York.

In recent years we've managed to get together at Dinosaur BBQ in Brooklyn the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Determined to beat the holidays, I suggested we have dinner two nights ago.

L to R: Andrew Carbone, Deshant Paúl, John Ricotta, Gerald So

Andrew suggested Luana's Tavern. He and Deshant had the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. John and I had the Tavern Burger.

EON James Bond Movies Ranked

2025-11-08T02:30:00.024-05:00

Posted 2:30 PM by Gerald So

Image by Gerald So

Yesterday on Bluesky I ranked of EON's twenty-five James Bond movies:

25. No Time to Die
24. Spectre
23. Quantum of Solace
22. The World is Not Enough
21. The Man with the Golden Gun
20. Diamonds are Forever
19. Die Another Day
18. A View to a Kill
17. Octopussy
16. You Only Live Twice
15. Tomorrow Never Dies
14. Live and Let Die
13. Moonraker
12. Dr. No
11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. The Living Daylights
9. Skyfall
8. Licence to Kill
7. From Russia, with Love
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. GoldenEye
4. Casino Royale
3. For Your Eyes Only
2. Thunderball
1. Goldfinger

You can tell right away I didn't like the continuity of Craig's run, but I do appreciate all the Bond actors. Of the four who made more than two movies, you find some at the bottom of the ranks, some in the middle, and some at the top.

UPDATE: A day after posting the above, I realized I had yet to rank EON's six James Bond actors:

6. George Lazenby
5. Daniel Craig
4. Pierce Brosnan
3. Sean Connery
2. Roger Moore
1. Timothy Dalton

This is based only on time as Bond, not my overall opinion of each. I mildly surprised myself ranking Moore ahead of Connery. That's on the strength of Moore's redefining Bond for the 1970s and '80s where Lazenby failed. Without Moore, EON might have made only seven Bond movies.

Also, initially I ranked Brosnan fifth and Craig fourth because Craig made more movies. I decided the fun of Brosnan's movies edged out the number of Craig's. Dalton? Simply my favorite.

I welcome debate in the Comments.

Election

2025-11-03T02:30:00.005-05:00

Posted 2:30 AM by Gerald So

Electronic voting in New York reminds me of Scantron tests. I know I can take all the time I need, but I don't feel I can. I feel the familiar pressure to finish about the same time as anyone else. The candidates I vote for seldom win. I vote anyway and remind myself the best thing to do is usually very difficult, and because of that, unpopular.

Think of Donald Trump claiming he'd resolve decades-long conflicts in days, then failing. Think of all the times politicians have skirted or rewritten the rules because they thought following them too difficult. On a large scale, people don't want to do hard things, but I as a person and you as a person can vote for what's difficult because in the end it remains necessary.

New Perspective

2025-10-18T04:00:00.005-04:00

Posted 4:00 AM by Gerald So

Back in April, dissatisfied with cartoon effect photo filters, I began adapting line drawing techniques to Inkscape to create front-facing avatars. This week I challenged myself to make an avatar in 3/4 portrait view. I primarily used the variation of the Loomis method Darlene Nguyen shows in her Rapid Fire Art YouTube tutorial.

Images by Gerald So

The Place of Prayer

2025-09-29T03:30:00.040-04:00

Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So

I've been watching a YouTuber who's had a kidney removed and other organs partially removed due to cancer. He claims to believe in God and Jesus and to have seen an angel during a childhood hospital stay. As his current condition worsens, though, he feels all his prayers and those on his behalf have been for naught. He wonders why God is letting him suffer when he's already suffered much in life.

I have no answers and I'm no prayer expert, but I don't think all prayer is immediately or eventually supposed to yield physical affirmative results. If it were so transactional, everyone would do it, as often and necessarily as they put money in the bank. Whatever power we pray to would simply be a fulfillment department. Does that sound correct or fair to you?

Photo by Rodolfo Clix via Pexels

I've seen loved ones suffer and have prayed for their healing and eventually have seen them die. I don't think their deaths were my prayers going unanswered. I pray to understand, accept, and respond correctly to what happens. Prayer is spiritual, not physical. No one wishes to suffer, yet we all suffer in some way. I think prayer is supposed to help us mentally endure, so ideally what harms the body doesn't scathe the intangible part of our existence.

Even in death, only the body is gone. We remember our loved ones and if you believe their spirits achieve their reward, who could ask for anything more? If you believe this life is all there is, when we reach the end, any suffering ends.

Next Bond Unknown?

2025-09-27T23:30:00.044-04:00

Posted 11:30 PM by Gerald So

According to Deadline, Denis Villeneueve is looking to cast a fresh-faced British actor in his 20s or 30s as the next James Bond.

I like casting an unknown. It brings to mind how special past Bond actor announcements felt. The only drawback is Amazon won't be able to market its first Bond movie on the actor's fame.

On a side note, I made the James Bond text logo in this post. Unlike EON's official 007 logo, it doesn't suggest a gun. Instead suggesting stealth, the red numbers hide in "BOND," camouflage his license to kill. The two zeros lie lengthwise to mimic an eight, so if you spot the seven, they seem part of a countdown.

With my own graphics made from free-for-personal- or free-for-commercial-use elements, my posts can be eye-catching and clear of official-image rights issues.

I also made a Superman text logo for my review of James Gunn's movie.

SUPERMAN (2025)

2025-09-25T18:00:00.034-04:00

Posted 6:00 PM by Gerald So

I didn't get to see James Gunn's SUPERMAN in theaters, but I've just watched it on 4K disc. It meets its mandate of reviving the superhero movie for DC. It's rooted in Clark and Lois's love story yet full of far-out science fiction. Its two tones work because Superman in concept is both: the space alien raised in America's heartland.

As casting news dripped out, I wasn't sure about including heroes besides Superman, but they let viewers compare and contrast. Without then we'd only have Superman's version of doing good, and we might not grasp its nuance. Multiple heroes also let the plot be epic in scope. Superman couldn't be everywhere, but he didn't have to be. I also liked Gunn's fresh take on Eve Tessmacher.

In my Christmas 2024 post about the teaser trailer, I wrote I wasn't onboard with yet again riffing on John Williams' theme. I also could have ditched the Richard Donner-style swooshing credits. I give them a final-paragraph mention because neither detracts much from the movie. Gunn uses them like Bryan Singer before him, to show this is the Superman familiar to us from the Donner movie. From there, Gunn shows that brand of Superman can meet this moment in history. Neither Singer nor Zack Snyder did.

Passing Thought

2025-09-15T05:00:00.039-04:00

Posted 5:00 AM by Gerald So

A fan of mystery and crime fiction, I'm wary of the genre trivializing murder and gun violence, the inciting incidents of many stories. Later in my time with the Short Mystery Fiction Society, I proposed changing the group logo, a derringer pocket pistol illustrated by a past president's relative after the Society's Derringer Awards.

Well before my time, the group had chosen the derringer as a metaphor for the short mystery. I grew concerned the public would primarily see the gun and assume it represented a gun rights group. Members spoke up dismissing my concern. I left the Society in 2021 and the awards and logo remain, but I still hope they change one day.

To what, you ask. How about clocks, nonviolent imagery of short mystery's tradition, brevity, and urgency?

What, then, would the awards be called? The Stoppers, as in stopping to recognize winners; as in stopping crime, not capitalizing on it.

The current physical Derringer awards are medals with the illustrated logo in the center. The physical Stopper awards could be wall clocks matching the logo, showing category and year.

Why Don't I?

2025-09-01T02:00:00.098-04:00

Posted 2:00 AM by Gerald So

My post yesterday mentioned a life avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. This extends to caffeine and drugs, including performance enhancers.

Why? As I wrote for Disability Pride Month, I want to see what I can do without it all. I don't want it to impair me on top of cerebral palsy. I want to think and move as well as I can, whenever I may need.

To show I'm not overthinking, a memory:

During Bouchercon 2013 in Albany, a police officer stopped me walking from my hotel to the con venue around 7:30 AM.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Gerald," I said.

"Gerald?"

"Yes."

And he drove on.

I'll never know, but I guess he took my gait for drunken.

Showing Myself

2025-08-31T06:00:00.011-04:00

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

A YouTube video about Botox's effect on Hollywood actors and acting inspired this post.

Photo by Gerald So

Growing up in the time of instant film cameras, I recall posing for or taking few photos, denying countless shots where I blinked, looked away from the lens, or had my hand over my face. Unlike the hypothetical average person, I don't own a smartphone. Only two years ago did I start bringing my 2014 Kindle Fire HD7 outdoors, taking my own social media profile photos.

I correct the photos' lighting and color, but nothing to change my face besides a shave. I think I look good. A life avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and firearms has helped. I may give my cartoon avatars darker hair, but that's another realm.

Unlike me, actors and other on-camera personalities feel pressure to maintain youthful appearance to be considered for more roles. Besides, they may want to make changes for life beyond the business. Does it affect their acting? I don't know. Their faces or bodies haven't pulled me out of shows or movies.

One by one

2025-08-29T03:30:00.031-04:00

Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So

On my recent posts, I've noticed many more hits than usual. I don't know where from; I've never tracked stats that closely. Video creation (a.k.a. content creation) has become a viable career for some, but I don't have the numbers. I don't want to monetize my FIVE-TWO poetry videos and have ads drop in mid-line, and I'm not willing to put more of my life on YouTube for money.

That said, I happily sell my writing and I was a listowner in the heyday of email discussions. My three lists—about later P.I. fiction, Robert B. Parker's legacy, and crime TV and cinema—had 100–500 members each, like my videos far from popular, but there for those interested.

My target audience are individuals who "get" my writing, fans of the specific things I like. I created lists because few existed I would join. Today that translates to my FANS OF ROBERT B. PARKER public Matrix room, four users strong so far. I find Matrix a good option for end-to-end encrypted communication. On the side, its unencrypted public rooms offer running, saved chat and the freedom to enter and leave as you please, no need to sub or unsub.

Likewise I don't crave massive social media followings. If you want to follow my Bluesky or Mastodon, you're welcome. I purposely guard against becoming as reflexive with them as I had on Twitter until Musk took over and I quit. Because I had a relatively small following (1,200 in fifteen years), I didn't feel I had to stay longer than I wanted.

So Much to Talk About

2025-08-23T06:00:00.006-04:00

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

I wanted to make a minor change to my review blog SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT, but I wasn't seeing the change take effect, so I did a larger overhaul of the blog's elements and look, much like I did here last month.

Click over there for details of Putnam Books' publication schedule change for the next Robert B. Parker continuation titles, and for my advance review of Mike Lupica's November 25 third Spenser, ROBERT B. PARKER'S SHOWDOWN.

A.I. Don't Think So

2025-08-08T03:00:00.014-04:00

Posted 3:00 AM by Gerald So

You may have inferred from my Disability Pride Month post, and I've stated plainly on social media, but I also want to go on record here: I'm against the popular uses of artificial intelligence to write, make art, approximate voices...anything that originated as a human expressive endeavor.

I could rattle off the ethical reasons not to use A.I., but I have a personal one: I want to see what I can do unaided. Until I took the SAT, I declined extra time on tests. I wanted to see how much I could complete in the regular time. I always knew I wouldn't get extra time outside school, that I'd have to make time and others wouldn't.

The artificial in A.I. bothers me. It's not real intelligence; it hasn't been filtered through life experience and become wisdom; yet people and businesses lean on it with poor results. As for me, wherever I can, I will hone my critical thinking, creativity, and life skills. The unacceptable alternative is losing them.

Amazon announces Steven Knight to write James Bond film directed by Villeneuve

2025-08-07T14:30:00.050-04:00

Posted 2:30 PM by Gerald So

Five weeks after announcing Denis Villeneuve as the next James Bond director, Amazon revealed PEAKY BLINDERS creator Steven Knight as screenwriter.

As research on the next Bond, if you will, I've ordered the Knight-written EASTERN PROMISES and the Villeneuve-directed SICARIO on 4K disc.

Embed from Getty Images