Sunday, September 27, 2015

Republican Debate

Finally got to watch the CNN debate. Highly entertaining. Trump cracks me up. Fiorina handles herself well, as does Carson. Of the "politicians," I was most impressed this time around with Rubio. Actually thought Rand Paul was better this time, too.
Yikes

Kaepernick line today:

9 for 19, 67 yards, 4 ints, 0 TD

Highest paid player on the team. 15 mil a year. Where's all the voices who thought the Alex Smith dumpage was a good idea now? I haven't even watched these last two games, but they sound atrocious. I love how last week the news on Kap is that the offense got going in the 2nd half...meanwhile the score is 43-18.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

PC Police

Are making America a lousy place to live and are the reason why blowhards like Donald Trump are so popular.

The old sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me IS the solution to "microaggressions." That's it. Game over. Shut the fuck up.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Logging

TV: The Knick, season 1

I did not like the final two episodes. Entirely too bleak for my taste and devolved into what I would call a typical druggie narrative. Perhaps inevitable because of the Thackery character, but it was entirely familiar and made the show way less interesting to me than the initial exploration into surgery. In fact, I'm not much intrigued by the 2nd season at all.

I was particularly disappointed in how the Edwards-Cornelia abortion bit was played. It revealed pure pandering to an upper middle class white liberal audience and made the characters mouthpieces for political points of view versus real people. Upon finding out Cornelia intended to abort the child, Edwards was hurt and disappointed by the racial element. This seemed entirely ridiculous for the Edwards character, who would fully understand the implications to Cornelia (an engaged women) to having a mix raced child at the time. And at the same time, he expressed no opposition to abortion on a spiritual level. It seems to me his character would have religious objections to the practice. Later, he cannot go through the procedure because it was his child, but not because it was a child. This is a ridiculous position to take. It makes his emotional priorities about himself as a victim versus himself in relation to a larger, spiritual existence, or about the unborn child, or even about Cornelia and the fact it is her body and she is the one who stands to lose everything. An entirely problematic section, if you ask me. I won't even go into the vast numbers of dead infants in the show, which hit a tipping point for me.

Earlier in the season, there was a fantastic subtle moment about race when Edwards, Thackery, and Herman performed some clutch maneuver and were bonding in the aftermath and Herman offered Thackery a drink and neglected Edwards. The bottle was out of focus in the foreground and Edwards in focus in the background, realizing he was not going to be offered a drink because the men did not want to share the bottle with him. But that was the one good moment. Too often, Edwards was the magical negro.


Inaction

Is the Syrian refugee crisis Obama's fault? He can no, of course. But is it the result of the United States not playing a leadership role in the Middle East? Is it related to squandering the stabilization we had achieved in Iraq post surge? Or, can we also blame this on Bush?

We are damned if we do, damned if we don't in the Middle East and the Liberals who were vehemently against the Iraq war didn't acknowledge this point. Now, we see the cost of inaction.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Logging

Film: Jurassic World

Better than I thought. The character work is terrible, but the visual wit of the dinosaurs and gadgetry was fun.

TV: Hard Knocks - Houston Texans

I came away really liking their team and coach.


Angry About The Wrong Things

I'd say that sums up Black Lives Matter pretty well.

Friday, September 04, 2015

Cord Cutting

I finally figured out Mr. Robot and Seinfeld re-runs aren't worth $100 a month. And ESPN is terrible now.

Thursday, September 03, 2015

Logging

TV: Six Feet Under Pilot

Turned it off after 20 minutes. Strange this show ever got lumped with the great HBO dramas. I imagine this and American Beauty will fall in stature over time (I suppose they already have).

Logging

TV: Hard Knocks, e. 1-4

Love this show. And more than in other seasons, this one makes me really like the Texans. I mean, Watt, Wilfork, Hopkins, EZ, Charles Johnson, all these guys are incredibly likable characters. I like O'Brien, too. Only guy who comes across as a douche is Ryan Mallett. I felt bad for the receiver who got cut, but you just look at the guy physically compared to the other NFL players and I'm thinking to myself: no shot in hell. I'll be curious to see how the team does. My only request: more Clowney.



Oye.

Wednesday, September 02, 2015

She Can't Do That

A county clerk does not have the right to ignore laws that violate her conscience. She has the right to quit her clerk job, but she doesn't get to decide policy. If there's one thing that bugs me more than an overzealous court assessing the political winds and choosing a popular side, it would be an obstinate government bureaucrat believing she gets to dictate local policy based on her religious convictions. Get her out of there.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Logging

Film: The Gift

Pretty good, but not great. One jump out of your seat moment, but the set up a bit slow going and not particularly original characterization.

TV: The Knick e. 1-4

Incredible. Terrific show on numerous levels from the writing, acting, score. Shot in a fascinating way. One incredibly weird fight scene I didn't think worked.

Film: Heat

Obviously a re-watch. Love this movie partially for the narrative imperfections.