It's always flies I need help identifying

This dead one I'm 99 percent sure is an Aedes mosquito, the genus that includes Asian tiger mosquitoes and yellow fever mosquitoes, and is notorious for biting in daylight hours and flying for miles to do so.  I think they also lay eggs in dry places that will be wet, and the eggs hatch when it rains.  It's the groovy black and white pattern that makes me think so.

But the live one I'm holding in the first picture is indistinct to me, since I don't know what to look for.  Any help, entomologists?

Summer Solstice Pictures

We celebrated Summer Solstice last weekend by taking the dogs into the woods around West Roxbury Quarry.  Since this isn't officially public land, we figured we wouldn't bump into other dogs there.  The sun was celebrating, too, blazing high in the sky; the plants roared with green, devouring the sunshine.  It seemed impossibly lush and overgrown.

( So much more green )

New Soylent Screen Up!

This time around I review Strange Invaders, 1983 alien invasion movie.  Is it a clever parody of 1950's alien invasion movies, or does it just suck?  Find out by friending soylent_screen.