When I started this blog/journal more than 20 years ago, I put myself on a schedule to publish a post twice a week. For most of the past 20 years, I was able to keep to that schedule. However, old age and real life in recent years has meant sporadic posting, particularly during the last six years. In 2025, I hope to get to a point where I am at least doing monthly postings. Like everything else in my life, we’ll see.
Historically, I’ve closed out most years with a musical tribute of some sort and this year will be no different. This year I will use Paul Simon’s rendition of The Boxer taken from his Paris concert some years back. It’s a song about taking the blows of life and still persevering. It’s something I intend to do a lot of in 2025.
Meanwhile, here are some of the things I didn’t write about 2024:
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, Zorro
– There is a French animated superhero television series that’s on Disney and Netflix that 
captured my fancy in 2024. The series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir was created by Thomas Astruc. It tells the tale of two Parisian teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively, to protect the city from supervillains. I like the series for a couple of reasons: 1) It is an internationally beloved series broadcasted on all the populated continents; 2) It’s heroine, Marinette, is French-Chinese and is bullied by a particular classmate because she considers Marinette her ‘inferior’ referring to her as “the baker girl.” Discrimination (class and racial) is not sugar coated in this series.
However, the main reason I like the series is because after many fits and starts, the series finally found its footing in the fifth season. Marinette and Adrien love each other, but don’t know that the other is their superhero partner and neither knew the villain they’ve been fighting for the last four seasons is Adrien’s father. The fifth season is stellar and the coda Miraculous World: London, At the Edge of Time brings the season finale to a fitting end (if you’re willing to forget all the plot holes time travel in the series creates in the first place).
(Don’t click on this NSFW link unless you are a true fan and want to know the problems with time travel in the series. – You have been warned!-)
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– When I was a child, I watched Zorro starring Guy Williams weekly on TV. Williams is, and will always be, Zorro to me. Everyone knows the “mild-mannered” persona of Clark Kent, but he could have taken lessons from 
Don Diego de la Vega. Guy Williams’ Don Diego is man of books, abhors violence or the threat of violence, is quick with a song or poem and a magnet for the ladies. On the other hand, Don Diego’s alter ego, Zorro (the Fox), is a man of action, quick wit and an expert swordsman. He is “the bold renegade who carves a ‘Z’ with his blade.” Accompanied by his man-servant, Bernardo, Zorro opposes those who would be tyrants in 1820’s Spanish California. The show is available on Disney+ and broadcast daily on GRIT TV. This bit of my childhood has brought me much joy this past year.
The Presidential election
Democrats lost control of the U.S. Senate and the Presidency. They did pick up some seats in the House of Representatives, but are still in the minority. Sadly, I am firmly convinced this country will never elect a woman as President no matter how competent or qualified she is. Others will parse how victory was turned into defeat, but I wish Democrats spent more time reminding voters that the following things happened without a single Republican vote over the last four years:
1) the unemployment rate is at 4.1 (Nov 2024) and compares favorably with the 14.7 unemployment rate of April 2020 during the first Trump administration;
2) 16 million jobs have been created during the last four years with 1.6 million of those jobs in construction and manufacturing;
3) that the stock market has never been higher;
4) the Federal deficit as a percent of the GDP for 2024 is now at 6.4% which is higher than the 50 year average of 3.5, but is lower than the 14.70% during the last year of the Trump administration in 2020;
5) the United States’ GDP is number one in the world and is growing at an rate of 2.8% per annum;
6) and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more Americans are now covered by health insurance than any other point in American history; coverage which is now in jeopardy.
I think had Democrats reminded voters that all of these things were accomplished without Republican party help (because Congressional Republicans walked away from their responsibility), the outcome of the Congressional elections might have been different.
The movies: Netflix’s Ladybug & Cat Noir the Movie and Deadpool & Wolverine
– Okay, I know that I mentioned Ladybug and Cat Noir upthread, but the movie on Netflix 
by the same production team stands out for a couple of reasons. It’s a musical and the animation has a different look from the TV show. Most importantly, it has all the characters (including the villains) from the TV show, but the storytelling is different (and better). In this movie, we see our characters, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste get their magic jewels, defeat the villains and learn each other’s secret identity (something that hasn’t happened in the TV show yet) and ultimately fall in love. In short, it’s a complete story, but there is a drawback. The movie assumes you are familiar with the TV show. If you’re not, the movie could be hard to follow. That said, I admit I enjoyed it a lot more than I should have.
– Deadpool and Wolverine was a fantastic movie that was pure fan-service. Ryan Reynolds 
fought hard to get the Deadpool character to the big screen and it is clear that no one understands this character better than he does. Incorporating the Time Variance Authority (TVA) from the TV series, Loki, in this third outing was a stroke of brilliance and provided a reasonable and logical explanation of how the events of the movie transpire. This is important considering that Wolverine is dead at the end of the movie, Logan. This movie was a joy and one of the most entertaining of the year.
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Finally, here is Paul Simon’s The Boxer. As I close out 2024 with this last post, I will say that Mr. Simon is one of the best poets of my generation. He is a wordsmith and the lyrics of The Boxer prove it. It’s about not quitting and that will be my mantra going forward in 2025. I wish all a happy and successful New Year.
