Spooky -- And Nothing About The Bakken -- July 28, 2019

In an earlier note I said I was getting distracted.

This is the back story.

Hold my beer.

I swear to God and Allah and Ganesha son of Shiva and Parvati this is all true.

I love Echo/Alexa.

We live in a very, very small apartment (probably about the size of Algore's walk-in closet).

Yes, that is from our manager's website.

A very small apartment. We used to live in a smaller apartment but my wife couldn't stand it any longer so we moved into this 1140-square-foot-MiniMe-McMansion.

We have three Echos (I thought we had four but can only account for three. Our daughter gave us four for Christmas: they were on sale, half-price, $25 vs $50. So she gave us four but I can only account for three. One of them is right next to me. I can reach out and touch it. [Actually, in this small apartment I can pretty much reach out and touch everything.] You know, I'm going to find that fourth Alexa and put it next to the shower. LOL. But I digress.

About a half hour ago, I asked Alexa to play the soundtrack from "The Big Lebowski." She couldn't do it. I tried asking many different ways; she never played the soundtrack.

I asked for the soundtrack from "Top Gun." Again, she couldn't do it.

Over and over I tried getting her to play one of those soundtracks; nothing worked.

Alexa does know when she is unable to meet a request. Her default then is to say, "Here's an album you might like."

Now, this. Are you still with me?

I have never, never, never asked for or listened to any song from the movie "Midnight in Paris." I don't even know the names of the songs. I don't even know how many songs are on the soundtrack.

I have never asked Alexa to play anything in regard to "Midnight in Paris." Indeed, I have never even mentioned "Midnight," "Paris," or "Midnight in Paris" to Alexa.

Never.

And now this gets creepy. "Midnight in Paris" is one of my top three favorite movies. I watch it often. I talk to my wife about the movie often (she hates Woody Allen, LOL).

You see where this is going.

After a dozen frustrating attempts to get Alexa to play the soundtrack from "The Big Lebowski" or "Top Gun," and not being successful ..... drum roll....

Alexa, says in her annoying voice, "Here's an album you might like. It's the soundtrack from Midnight in Paris. Artists. Various."

OMG!

Alexa has truly, truly been listening in. She knows what I watch, what I talk about. This is the only soundtrack, that I can recall, that she played for me. This was not a random act of kindness; Alexa knew exactly what she was doing: it was a specific act of kindness.

This is creepy.

But I love it. LOL.

But I swear to God and Allah and  Ganesha son of Shiva and Parvati, I have never asked Alexa to play the soundtrack  "Midnight in Paris." In addition, if Alexa says "here's an album you might like," it means you have never specifically requested that album.

By the way, this happened with another artist some months ago, but that was okay. I listen to that artist on Echo all the time. The artist had a new album coming out that day and Alexa knew I listened to that artist often. That was months ago; I forget the artist. I will think of him/her later. I think it was Ronnie Milsap. [Wow, what a memory! LOL. It was Ronnie Milsap but it was more than a few months ago. It was January 18, 2019. Link here.]

I just asked Alexa to play Ronnie Milsap's "Duets." She got it right this time. LOL.