Late Capitalism

Making products worse and more compulsive.

These are bad people.

Ouch

Armond White disses Noah Baumbach's new movie. His reviews make me want to see Get Hard and While We Were Young.

Baumbach lacks self-awareness the same way his solipsistic characters do. This is his eighth film that demonstrates the apparently incurable egotism of New York elites who think their self-centered hang-ups are of world importance.

and

Its true subject — egotistical jealousy — hides inside the characters’ unconfessed neediness and competition, a particular New York condition, frequently glorified as “neurotic.”

From what I've seen, the same could be said of Girls.

Logging

TV: The Jinx, ep. 5 and 6

Of course, the ending is great. I did not enjoy the 6th episode up until the interview, however. Too much of the filmmakers...just get to it already. Gosh, this thing was similar to Serial...even to the point of the investigators both commenting that Bob and Adnan both must've had really bad luck, were they innocent.

Is there anything worth saying re: the confession at the end? Only that he could've been speaking ironically when saying "I killed them all, of course." More of a giveaway was the burping, although as Adnan supporters would still like to say, this doesn't prove he did it.

Logging

TV: The Jinx, Ep. 3 and 4

I'd heard episode 4 was brilliant. And up until the last moments, I didn't see it. It's the bits at the end with the Galveston homicide detective (who is an awesome detective) and the bits with Durst rehearsing to himself completely elevate the episode.

Onto a separate matter - can a lawyer explain to me how you can be found guilty of manslaughter from a hit & run can accident and yet, if you accidentally kill someone in Texas and decide to not report it to the police and instead decide to chop up the body and dispose of it and then later go back and check on the disposal, you are not guilty of something...come on legal system, make some sense here...

Other issues/ideas related to the Jinx:

I think the show is great, yet I've fallen asleep three times watching it already. Once in episode 3 and twice while watching episode 4. As I said this past weekend to a friend, I've never fallen asleep during Game of Thrones. Take from that what you will. But, PS, I suspect others fall asleep to it as well.

Another interesting idea...so much of Serial involved the after-discussion of Adnan's guilt or innocence. I'd be curious to hear from the "Adnan-advocates," those folks I met during the airing of Serial who were disgusted by the legal process and racism and fill-in-the-blank, who are pretty sure he was innocent, etc, etc. Watching this past episode 4, they must be delighted by the broad minded Texas jurors who let Durst get off because it didn't meet their standards of reasonable doubt. I'm being sarcastic, of course. I'm positive the same pro-Adnan folks are steaming over the fact Durst weaseled out of justice. It's because the system is always wrong and not (what it truly is) a reflection of human imperfections.

Who Woulda Thought?

South LA bans new fast food joints and a study finds it has zero effect on obesity.

Wait a minute...are you telling me a government program didn't work as intended? I find this impossible to believe.

Logging

TV: The Jinx, ep. 1 and 2

One of the better true crime documentaries I can recall. Fascinating characters. A bit annoyed about all the news covering the story. Then again, it's probably the reason I'm watching it now. Considerably superior to another doc with a similar storyline, The Staircase. I can't imagine how a fiction piece could do justice to this story, but perhaps I'll watch "All Good Things" at some point. Great title.

Age of Irrational Parenting

Yes.

Back in the 1980s, the psychologist Jerome Kagan presciently noticed that something was happening to American parents: Absent having any other conspicuous way to prove moral worth — by taking care of their own parents, say, or heading up local civic organizations — we instead try to show our virtue through parenting. It’s become our new plumage, how we parent, peacockishly displayed on Facebook and in playgrounds and at birthday parties; the result is a culture of surveillance and judgment rather than compassion and collaboration, and frankly, it’s exhausting — nor is it doing anyone one lick of good.

And before thrusting all this sanctimony towards other parents and children, Americans find their moral worth via calling other Americans racists, sexist, homophobic, and any other -isms and -ists they can come up with.

HBO

A list of how many people view each HBO show. Since True Blood is over, it looks like more people watch Game of Thrones than literally all their shows put together.

"Productive"

Starbucks VP suspends Twitter account because of backlash against race discussion.

I guess he didn't want to have the discussion anymore. I'm going to buy one less Starbucks coffee because of this debacle.

Borland Retires

The Niners off season keeps delivering bad/strange news. Now promising rookie linebacker Chris Borland abruptly retires. And this happens right after Patrick Willis retires. Seemingly strange, but I watched Borland play and he is considerably undersized. I imagine he takes particularly harsh punishment playing inside linebacker, especially with the number of tackles/hits he records. Good for him for doing what he thinks is best for himself.

Logging

TV: The Fall Season 1

Unique TV show in the serial killer / procedural genre as they split the POV between the killer himself and the detective (Gillian Anderson). Also enjoyed some of the choices thus far, the main one being the absence of any type of red herring.

But, like all serial television dramas, I am annoyed by the fact that I need to watch season 2 to "see what happens." To my mind, TV is best as an episodic format. And it confirms my own taste that a good movie is more narratively pleasing than even a "great" TV show.

Logging

Film: Cinderella

Not my choice, but I found the thing pretty inoffensive. Frozen short movie beforehand. I tried watching the other one on the plane -- not sure I understand why this particular animation is so popular.

Niners

We lost our coach and we are losing the heart and soul of our team on both offense and defense - Gore to the Colts and Willis to retirement. Is all this connected? Clearly, the front office has done damage to this team. We couldn't recruit any top level coaches or coordinators and now the players with the opportunity to do so are bailing.

And now the rumors are a Kaepernick trade. Maybe everyone is bailing because of Kap and the front office is finally realizing it. Either way, the fact that the rumors are out there again point to a clumsy front office - just like the Harbaugh scenario.

Are we just completely rebuilding?

I said several years ago, our window was short and Alex Smith earned the right compete for a Super Bowl. Every decision since then has been downhill.

I Better Get to Work

1001 Movies To See Before You Die.

Using Force

Against ISIS.

We do not enter wars to withdraw; when we must fight, we fight to win. We should not set arbitrary deadlines which would only reveal that our hearts are not really in the game and would unintentionally embolden our enemies with the recognizable goal of outlasting us.

Yes.

Pure Nihilism

James Bond youtube movie. It starts off clever and turns into childish nihilism. Maybe all clever things go that way, ultimately.