At the Taj Mahal, Agra, India in January

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Us in the senbon torii (thousand gates) at Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan

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Our 2024 At A Glance

Watch This Space For Year-End Updates

Coming soon: 2024 in review in food, movies, books, stage, art, politics, and technology. (Well, not so much stage, movies, or art this year, but lots to say about the rest!)

2024 In Food

2024 was another great year for food. Our travels took us to many delicious as well as fascinating places. In India, we learned that Rajasthani cuisine features a number of traditionally gluten-free breads, like missi roti (spiced chickpea flour flatbread) or bajra ki roti (millet flatbread), and south Indian favorites like dosa (a savory rice-chickpea flour crepe) and uttapam (a thicker dosa with toppings) are also gluten-free friendly. In Austin, we enjoyed Tex-Mex and a great restaurant scene there (shout out to Canje and Suerte), and got to try the legendary Franklin Barbecue. In San Miguel de Allende, we found another great foodie town in the mountains of central Mexico, and we were there at just the right season to enjoy chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles in walnut sauce with pomegranate arils). In Japan, we got to enjoy many traditional Japanese foods such as kaiseki (a multi-course dinner highlighting seasonal foods) including a Michelin star take, ryokan fare (hearty multi-course country inn meals), tempura, teppanyaki, yakiniku (self-grilling), yakitori (bar food, mostly on skewers), ramen, okonomiyaki (a hearty cabbage-and-meat grilled pancake), karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and Japanese curry (which is a distinct flavor, spicy but more brown gravy-like), as well as sampling the food stalls at the famous Tsukiji market. Back home in Los Angeles, we devoured the unending feast on offer here. Our own neighborhood saw some exciting new restaurants open including Hummingbird Ceviche House (Peruvian fish-forward small bites from Chef Ricardo Zarate), Azizam (a fresh Persian cafe with not-the-same-old Persian food, like a kofteh tabrizi meat-and-rice ball stuffed with dried fruit and walnuts), Dada (a food speak-easy with a hidden entrance and a hidden menu), Tacolina (farm-fresh Baja style cuisine), and A Ti (a pop-up doing "elevated Mexican bar food" that we hope will stick around). Around the city, we found some new-ish and new-to-us eateries including Cassia (critically acclaimed southeast Asian brasserie in Santa Monica), Cabra (modern Peruvian from Chef Stephanie Izzard of Girl & Goat fame, in a fun space on The Hoxton Hotel rooftop on Broadway in DTLA), Mother Tongue (Hollywood rooftop with globally inspired cuisine), and Mirate (modern Mexican in Los Feliz). We discovered some ethnic gems like La Diosa de los Moles in Bell (who knew there were dozens of kinds of moles, the Mexican pesto of spices, seeds, and nuts) and Big Boi in Sawtelle, serving up Filipino comfort food with vegan options. At the Hollywood Farmers Market, Tom discovered Kirari West Bakery, who brings some great gluten-free Japanese-style sandwich bread. We visited the bakery down in Redondo Beach, where they have a cafe with a quite decent gluten-free Reuben sandwich. For pre-theatre dinners, we enjoyed Abernethy's on the Music Center plaza, where Chef John Cleveland of Post & Beam was being featured this season, as well as Asterid (Chef Ray Garcia) and Agua Viva (Chef José Andres). Over at the Pasadena Playhouse, our go-to choice has become the creative food stylings at Bar Chelou. For family dinners, as Tom's father's dog has become too anxious to be left alone, we've learned where the "dog friendly" restaurants are, like The Raymond in Pasadena, Manuela in DTLA, and a new fave Solidarity, a Polish restaurant in Santa Monica where we also celebrated Thanksgiving. We were sad to dine for the last time at restaurants that closed this past year, including Jewel (a creative modern Asian vegan spot in Virgil Village) and de Buena Planta, a really good vegan Mexican in Silver Lake with a great patio which we only discovered the week that they were closing. Our hearts were completely broken by the loss of one of our longtime favorites, Brera Ristorante, a modern Tuscan in a cool high-vaulted factory conversion in DTLA Arts District. We missed the off-menu farinata (a Tuscan chickpea crepe) that they stopped doing during the pandemic, but they would always make George his favorite mushroom risotto, even if it wasn't on the regularly changing menu. On the upside, we began the year with news that our beloved Pazzo Gelato in Silver Lake came to terms with the landlord and was able to renew their lease so they remain open. When we're not eating out, Tom still cooks at home four nights a week based on what he's found at the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday morning. Occasionally, he'll try to get home early and take on something special, like stuffed grape leaves in May when our vines have tender leaves on them, or handmade gnocchi al pesto in the summer when basil leaves are prime. This year he tried his hand at Ethiopian food, including homemade injera (the large sour crepes), which turned out quite well.

2024 On Screen

We started the year catching the 2024 Oscar frontrunners that inevitably spill into the new year. In American Fiction (best picture nominee), Jeffrey Wright (best actor nominee) portrays a black writer who, when his publisher gently suggests that his writing isn't "black enough", creates a pseudonymous satirical parody of popular black lit, which backfires and becomes a top hit. In Nyad, Annette Benning (best actress nominee) embodies the force of will and force of nature that is Diana Nyad as she attempts to swim from Havana to Florida. In Rustin, Colman Domingo (best actor nominee) shows us the untold story of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist, friend and advisor to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, who fought for discrimination on account of his race while being discriminated against on account of his sexual orientation. The Monk and The Gun (Nepal's submission for international feature film) was a charming story of a young monk serving a spiritual leader in a remote Nepal village who gets innocently crossed up with some international arms dealers. Perfect Days (international feature nominee from Japan) portrays the Zen-like life of a janitor servicing public restrooms in Tokyo, proving that beauty and satisfaction can be found in the most unexpected ways. We eagerly watched The Last Repair Shop (winner, documentary short film), which featured an old friend of George's as one of two musical instrument repair technicians serving the entire Los Angeles Unified School District. The Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films were a good crop though mostly serious, touching on hejabs, the Holocaust, and the last day of World War I. March and April brought quite a strong run of films, starting with Problemista, with writer-director-lead Julio Torres as a young unfailingly optimistic immigrant in New York City chasing the hope of employment sponsorship from a relentlessly exacting art exhibitor (fiercely played by Tilda Swinton). One Life tells the fascinating true story of a young Englishman in WWII who goes to great lengths to get Jewish children out of Czechoslovakia in the weeks and days before Hitler invades (with great performances from Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter). Wicked Little Letters is a wicked little delight with Olivia Coleman as a prim spinster and Jessie Buckley as her foul-mouthed neighbor, in a 1920s period piece about a petty scandal in an English seaside town. We Grown Now is heartwrenching visual poetry, the tender bittersweetness and nostalgic wonder of Stand By Me, the honest examination of Black American experience like A Raisin in the Sun, and some love for Chicago with a couple of winks at Ferris Bueller's Day Off (though none of those comparisons captures it). Spring also brought us Luca Guadagnino's very sexy Challengers, with Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist as three rising young tennis stars with a complicated relationship. Memorial Day kicked off the summer season with two light-but-fun action romances. In The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays a stunt man working for director Emily Blunt on an action-thriller-sci-fi-romance when real life starts competing with the film-within-the-film for hearts and thrills. (This film is also an unabashed petition to the Academy to finally create an Oscar for stunt work.) Hit Man was also great fun in this Richard Linklater helmed film-noir-romance-murder-mystery starring Glen Powell as a fake hit man working for the New Orleans Police, harkening Double Indemnity and Body Heat. We shifted gears with Ghostlight, a quietly moving ode to the power of theatre to bring unexpected healing, when a laid-off construction worker with anger management issues finds himself unexpectedly playing Romeo in a community theatre production. Robot Dreams is an unexpectedly beautiful story about companionship, relationships, and life's unexpected turns, told without any dialogue, just expressively drawn anthropomorphic animal (and robot) characters set in a gorgeously drawn New York City. Thelma was a fun romp in which a feisty 93-year old grandmother (June Squibb) gets swindled by a phone scammer, but then seeks revenge. Crossing follows a retired Georgian schoolteacher who goes to Istanbul to seek reconciliation with her long-lost niece who was rejected by her parents as a trans-woman. Sebastian is the fascinating story of a young aspiring writer in London who dabbles in sex work in order to gain some life experience worth writing about, but then finds his double life increasingly hard to maintain. Didi is a 13-year old boy trying to figure out how to fit in as a teenage American boy growing up in San Jose with an older sister, his Taiwanese immigrant single mother, and his grandmother. The end of summer brought a real gem in My Old Ass, a heartwarming and heartrending film about a free-spirited young girl who tries magic mushrooms on her 18th birthday, and ends up meeting her 39-year old future self. In November, the race for the Oscars kicked off in high gear. In A Real Pain, Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg are cousins who re-connect on a Holocaust tour of Poland to honor their late grandmother. Culkin is incandescent as a manic-depressive who is hiding some real pain and at times can be a real pain. The artful glimpses of Poland were a bonus. Conclave was a thoroughly enjoyable political intrigue set in the context of a conclave to choose the next Pope after the untimely death of a controversial Pope. Stanley Tucci and Jon Lithgow are cardinals ambitious to keep the conservative wing from seizing control, while Ralph Fiennes is awesome as the cardinal reluctantly leading the proceedings. Many great plot twists, some of which I anticipated, but not the very last one. Anora is the story of an erotic dancer who gets picked up by the playboy son of a Russian oligarch, they fall for each other and get married but the parents disapprove and now the whole Russian mob is after them. I was expecting something part Pretty Woman and part fugitive young lovers, but it was not at all what I was expecting. Mikey Madison gives a good performance as the feisty title character. Whatever hype you've heard about Wicked is absolutely worth it. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are both fantastic, and the film expands on the great stage musical with a bit more story and spectacular visuals. Totally loved it. Will & Harper is a fascinating documentary about Will Farrell and his friend and SNL writer colleague Harper, a late-in-life trans woman. After Harper transitions and comes out to Will, they decide to take a road trip across America. Before transitioning, Harper, originally from Iowa, always enjoyed road trips into the heartland, dining at truck stops and drinking at country bars. Now she wants to revisit those places post-transition. Will is along for the ride, for support, and to renew their friendship. It's honest and real and we enjoyed it. Queer is based on a pseudo-autobiographical novel by William S. Burroughs, a 1950s writer of the Beat Generation. Daniel Craig plays the Burroughs character, a queer writer smoking, drinking, and doing drugs and men in Mexico City, when he meets the enigmatic Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) who may or may not be queer. Director Luca Guadanigno (Call me By Your Name) does a great job visualizing the protagonist's emotions and experiences, including an ayahuasca trip in the jungle of Ecuador. I see Best Actress prospects in the film Maria, as Angelina Jolie personifies the original diva Maria Callas toward the end of her life, living mostly in reflections of her past and delusions of a possible comeback, partly fueled by questionable pharmaceuticals. Jolie is absolutely flawless in bringing to life the woman who defined the concept of a diva. I predict a Best Actor in A Complete Unknown, where Timothée Chalamet embodies a young Bob Dylan, first getting his start in the folk music scene, befriending early heroes Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and having a sparks-and-storms relationship with Joan Baez, before following his instincts into a stew of country, blues, and rock to season his music, much to the shock and scandal of his early folk-purist supporters. Chalamet portrays him faithfully, a magnetic ellipsis of a lyrical genius with little regard for anyone or anything else other than the brilliant music bursting out of him. (There are a handful of Supporting Actor/Actress contenders here too, with Ed Norton, Monica Barbaro, and Elle Fanning as an early girlfriend drawn to him like a moth to a flame.) Pedro Almodóvar wants us to talk about death in The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton as a war correspondent with a horrible diagnosis, and Julianne Moore as the friend accompanying her in her last days. A couple of great performances, without any violins or heartstrings, just sober conversations about looking back on one's life and making decisions with limited options. In Babygirl, we kind of squirmed as we watched Nicole Kidman playing a high-powered CEO exploring S&M in a highly inappropriate relationship with an office intern. At the end of the year, we also got invited to a rough-cut screening of a film set to be released next year called The Queen's Jewels, a rollicking pirate treasure hunt with Indiana Jones / National Treasure kind of energy. (Random LA story: the executive producer is a neighbor of our cousin Wendy. It was fun getting invited to the screening event at a cool screening space in the SAG-AFTRA building.)

On the small screen, we were entertained, but nothing particularly defined the year. We binged several serials, all of them continuations of old favorites. Bridgerton was back to form with Austenesque romantic intrigue in Regency England, with season 3 focused on Colin and Penelope: will they or won't they marry? will Lady Whistledown finally be unmasked? Good writing and strong plot are certainly married here to opulent visuals — costumes, stately homes and gardens, themed balls, and appealing bodies. Heartstopper's third season continued the endearing high school romance of Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), developed other relationships among their gang of friends, and faced various challenges including an eating disorder, an unaccepting parent, and looming choices about going to college next year. We continued to be charmed by Emily In Paris, in her fourth season, as Emily (Lily Collins) puts Alfie and chef Gabriel behind her (or does she?), all while juggling office drama, wearing fabulous outfits, and showcasing the romantic scenery of Paris (and now maybe Rome?). In the third and final season of Young Royals, Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) and Simon (Omar Rudberg) play out their tempestuous relationship in their final year at the private school which may or may not be closing in scandal. (George may have lost patience with Wille and Simon, and may not have finished the season.) One new show that Tom enjoyed was The Boyfriend, which he binged on the flight to Japan. It's a 10-episode Japanese reality show, where 9 gay or bisexual men live in a big house and work a coffee truck, and discuss their search for a relationship. It was a fascinating window on the state of gay acceptance in present-day Japan, and for me, a window just on Japanese society in general. One television event that did hold more interest for us than we expected was the 2024 Paris Olympics. Our interest was kickstarted by actually knowing one of the athletes (one of our friend's cousins whom we met last year in Croatia competed in the kite-sailing event). That strange-but-spectacular opening ceremony hooked us in. We watched traditional favorites like diving and gymnastics, and marveled at unfamiliar sports like kite-sailing and speed climbing (so crazy to watch!). There were moments of great achievement, like the Lithuanian discus thrower who broke an Olympic record set by his own father, a record that had stood for 20 years. Alas, his new record was broken only moments later. There were moments of great sportmanship, winners comforting their losing rivals. There was the triumph of the US women's gymnastics team lead by Simon Biles, and the confusion over the bronze medal that Jordan Chiles may or may not have won. And there were just unforgettable moments like the French pole vaulter who was foiled by being too well endowed.

2024 On Stage

We continued to support LA theatre with a full subscription to the Center Theatre Group, with the big news in the fall that the Mark Taper Theatre is once again open. We began the year with Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet. Matthew Bourne's choreography never fails to be breathtaking, and when combined with a creative reimagining of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet set to Prokofiev's dramatic score, the result is riveting. In April, we enjoyed the powerhouse performance of Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl. In June, we were treated to the 2022 Tony Award Best Musical A Strange Loop, which is a strange loop indeed. This meta-musical is a play about a fat gay black writer trying to write a play about a fat gay black writer trying to write a play about ... well, you get the idea. Before A Strange Loop, one could scarcely imagine how many internalized phobias, how much baggage a fat gay black theatre-geek wannabe writer might be carrying around. But now you don't have to, because this play shows you all the baggage in explicit (sometimes painfully explicit) vivid detail, leavened by energetic music and clever funny lyrics. August brought us a delightful comedy murder mystery in Clue. Based on the well-known board game, all of the characters like Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum are lured to a mysterious mansion, where they are trapped and have to figure out who is slowly killing them all off. The farce is strong in this one. In October, we were thrilled to return to the Mark Taper Forum to see Green Day's American Idiot, a vivid staging of this electric rock musical. At the LA Opera, we were delighted to see their sumptuous production of Turandot. The magnificent cast was lead by house-shaking soprano Angela Meade, the honey-rich tenor Russell Thomas as Karaf, and vibrant soprano Guanqun Yu who moved us to tears as Liu. (We had enjoyed seeing both Russell Thomas and Guanqun Yu a few years ago here in Mozart's The Clemency of Titus.) An expanded chorus voiced the hopes and fears of the people of Peking sensationally (of course we're partial since we know so many choristers). The sets, designed by David Hockney, were fantastic. The Pasadena Playhouse continued to have some great offerings too. We really enjoyed One of the Good Ones, a "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" for our times. When a young adult Latina daughter brings home her boyfriend to meet her parents, everyone is in for one surprise or another, in this very thoughtful and very funny dissection of racial and ethnic identity, layered on good old fashioned family dynamics. And we also enjoyed their production of La Cage Aux Folles, with Cheyenne Jackson as nightclub owner Georges. We also had experienced a small theatre gem in May, The Rhythm of Mourning at the Bethesda Repertory Theatre. On a bare stage with minimal props, a strong cast, with some subtle but effective lighting, costume, and choreography, tells a powerful story about loss and grief.

2024 In Art

After enjoying the Frieze LA art show so much last year, we went back again this year, even though we had to pay our own way (it's not inexpensive) unlike last year when we had an invite. It's totally worth it though. All of the big name galleries are there, with an eye-popping ensemble of artwork on display. Some of the most captivating this year were portraits. Miami-based artist Hernan Bas had a series of young men drinking absinthe. Nigerian artist Collins Obijiaku had some striking portraits of Nigerian women. And a take on the last supper by the late Trinidadian artist Geoffrey Holder was fascinating. But there were all sorts of sculpture and abstracts and other genres too. And as before, the people-watching is as good as the art on display. You see striking fashions. And that woman in the black-and-white plaid coat and hat doing a classic Diane Keaton look? That was Diane Keaton.

What a delightful experience to see Luna Luna this spring. We were just grinning the whole time. If you haven't heard about it, it was an art carnival staged in 1987 featuring a panoply of artists from Salvador Dali, David Hockney, and Roy Liechtenstein to Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many others. It was meant to tour, but never did, and was lost for 35 years and only recently rediscovered and restored. The whole carnival was set up in a big warehouse in the DTLA Arts District. While you couldn't actually ride the rides, it was delightful just to see them. The event included a carnival wedding booth, so George and I got married again.

2024 In Books

One book that we both read this year was The Old Gays Guide to the Good Life: Lessons Learned About Love and Death, Sex and Sin, and Saving the Best for Last. In the last few years, our friend Jessay Martin had stumbled into becoming a YouTube/TikTok star, along with several of his Palm Springs neighbors who became The Old Gays. This book is part autobiography and part life philosophy from each of the five "old gays", and together it provides an interesting window on the evolution of gay culture and gay life through the decades when these men were coming out and living out. While we're not quite as old as they are, we're old enough to relate to a lot of their experiences and appreciate them. Aside from that, this year was pretty sparse in books for Tom, who after learning Hindi, had to shift gears and learn Japanese, so most of his "reading time" was taken up with Pimsleur language courses. George, on the other hand, has discovered audiobooks this year, and often "reads" on his long walks through Elysian Park. He started looking for gay romantic fiction, found the author Anthony McDonald, and has gone no further. This year, he has devoured a good dozen of his novels!

2024 In Politics

Globally, Israel and Gaza dominated headlines, as Israel's military reaction to the Oct 7 Hamas massacre of last year extended into its second year and is still ongoing, with 62 remaining hostages believed to be alive and 34 reported dead but not recovered. Israel cleared northern Gaza, urging 1 million Palestineans to relocate to southern Gaza, then directed all of them to relocate into Rafah as the last "safe" place, and then ultimately bombed Rafah (against US objections). An additional 23,000 Palestineans have been killed this year, bringing the total death toll to 45,000, the majority of which are reported to be women and children. At this point, practically the entire population has been forcibly displaced, living in dire conditions, with starvation and exposure threatening to kill those who have so far evaded being killed by bombing or shelling. Between Israeli restrictions and lack of security, it has been impossible for aid organizations to deliver sufficient food and medical supplies. In April, a World Central Kitchen convoy bringing aid was destroyed by Israeli drones. Despite US efforts in conjunction with Yemen and Egypt to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire, that goal was ultimately elusive.

Military action expanded across the Middle East, as Israel responded to Iranian-backed Hezbollah attacks by targeting the Israeli consulate in Damascus, Hezbollah's leadership in Lebanon, and Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh, who was killed by drone strike in Tehran. Iran responded on two occasions with large-scale missile barrage against Israel, which was largely repelled by Israeli and American defense systems. The significant diminishment of Hezbollah and Iranian proxies in Syria (as well as Iran itself), combined with Russia's distraction in Ukraine, created an opening for Turkish-backed rebels in northern Syria to launch an offensive that lead to the surprising collapse of the Assad regime, which had been in power since 1963. This is the one possible glimmer of hope from the Middle East. The overthrow of a brutal autocrat is reason for celebration, and the group that captured Damascus, though formally declared a terrorist organization, appears so far to be acting very responsibly and aiming to set up a proper government with broad participation and religious freedom.

Elsewhere, Ukraine slogged into the third year of its war with Russia, making some incursions into Russian territory, while losing ground in its own eastern front, with high casualties on both sides, and no end in sight. Sweden formally joined NATO this year, following Finland last year. Anti-incumbent sentiment swept elections worldwide, with German and French governments both seeing votes of no confidence after far-right party gains, while England fired its Conservative government and put Labor back in power. Japan and South Africa both saw parties that had been in control for decades lose their majorities. Venezuela held an election in which autocrat Nicolas Maduro declared himself the winner despite substantial proof that he actually lost the election by a substantial margin. Sadly, Maduro remains in control while the real winner has sought asylum in Spain to avoid arrest.

Domestically, the big story was the US presidential election. On the GOP side, several contenders including Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy formally challenged Donald Trump, but Ron DeSantis dropped out after Trump ran away with the Iowa caucus in January, and Nikki Haley dropped out after "super Tuesday" in March when it became clear that Republicans wanted the twice-impeached and multiply-indicted former president to run again. For the Democrats, incumbent president Joe Biden insisted he would run again, and faced no significant challenge in the primaries. That seemed like a good idea in March, when an energetic Joe Biden gave a feisty State of the Union speech, including strong impromptu responses to hecklers. Unfortunately, it wasn't until late June at the first presidential debate that we learned that the 81-year old president has good days and bad days, and the bad days can be pretty bad. The Joe Biden who showed up to that debate was feeble and disoriented, immediately raising questions about his fitness for another term and whether (and how) he should be replaced on the ticket, given that most primaries had already taken place, and the convention was less than 8 weeks away.

In the meantime, Trump had been convicted of 34 felony counts related to his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, was grazed by a bullet in an attempted assassination at a rally, and was officially proclaimed the Republican candidate a few days later at the GOP convention. After an agonizing several weeks, Biden was finally persuaded to step down, giving his support to Vice-President Kamala Harris. Democrats felt a surge of energy, as it felt like a page was being turned. Despite questions about process, Harris worked to secure the delegate votes, and the Democratic convention in August felt like a triumphal affair. At the September debate (the first and only between Harris and Trump), Harris came on strong and was generally declared the better performer, while Trump doubled down on the crazy talk (e.g., Haitian immigrants eating other people's pets) and was live fact-checked multiple times. Nonetheless Harris ultimately failed to connect with and motivate enough voters. Trump won with ample electoral margin (312-226), and with more votes than Harris although less than an outright majority due to third party candidates. The Republicans regained their majority in the Senate, and though losing seats in the House, barely retained their majority there.

Since the election, Trump has been floating cabinet nominations, some of which are plausible, though several of which may be difficult even for fellow Republicans to swallow. Matt Gaetz, disgraced Florida representative, was pre-nominated for Attorney General but has already withdrawn in the wake of a damning House Ethics Committee report. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., notable for his quackish views on vaccines, has been nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Tulsi Gabbard, notable for a questionable visit to Syria showing support for the Assad regime while stating she could see no difference between any of the various rebel factions there, has been nominated as Director of National Intelligence. And Kash Patel, who has a published "deep state enemies list", has been nominated to lead the FBI, presumably in pursuing retribution against Trump's enemies. We've also been treated to a preview of the return to chaos that we can expect in a second Trump term: when the House attempted to pass an 11th hour continuing resolution in order to avoid a government shutdown, based on a bipartisan compromise, "first buddy" Elon Musk and Trump started a tweet-storm that nearly derailed the whole thing. After Trump issued a new demand that the bill would also eliminate the debt ceiling, Speaker Johnson dutifully brought it, but that bill failed. They finally passed a third bill that was substantially the same as the first bill, while Musk and Trump inexplicably declared a victory. Since then, Trump has been calling for taking back the Panama Canal, annexing Canada, and buying Greenland — all items that literally nobody had on their agenda but he's seen fit to devote his time (or at least his virtual hot air) to. We're quite apprehensive about what 2025 will bring in terms of our nation and the world, but will hope for the best.

2024 In Technology

We are generally late to the party for new tech, and one not-so-new thing that we finally caught up with this year is using our iPhones for payment. We'd done it once in a rare while before, but it was accelerated by our trip to Japan. When traveling Japan, one of the most useful things to have is something called an e-SUICA card on your iPhone, which can be used to electronically pay your fare on trains and subways all over. Just tap your iPhone at the turnstile and you're on your way. Moreover, a fair number of convenience shops, food stalls, and the like will accept e-SUICA as payment. In order to set it up, you need to have a credit card set up in your Apple wallet. I had one set up already, but it had foreign transaction fees, so I decided to get the Apple Card, a virtual MasterCard that has no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, and gives 2% cash back on Apple Pay purchases. It's a good deal and I've been using it regularly since we got back from Japan. Our phones were also immensely useful when it came to translation, as Japan does not spoil English-speakers the way that many other places do, not to mention the utterly foreign writing. Fortunately, the state of art of online translation available on our devices is quite amazing. Not only can you type in phrases and have them translated into Japanese text, you can speak phrases and your phone will speak it back in Japanese. The apps are oriented to conversation, so that you can pass it back and forth, and it will translate their response back to English. In many tourist-welcoming shops, the staff will have their devices with Google Translate at the ready. It also has a visual mode where you can open up your camera through the translation app, and it will replace any Japanese text in its view with English text. It is truly amazing how far this has come. The Babel fish is practically here!