Incredible

Read it somewhere and can't unthink it - the socialists are furious at working class truckers protesting.

What more needs to be said.

Logging

Film: The Last Dual

First 45 minutes were among my favorite of the year in cinema. The story got progressively less interesting with the different perspective on events. Perhaps the perspectives were not different enough? Final battle incredibly intense -- gives Game of Thrones a good run for their money. And Ridley Scott is 84.

TV: Gomorrah S5 E1

In a show full of lovely, bloody, Italian ridiculousness, the end beat of S5 E1 jumped the shark for me.

TV: The Bureau S1 E1

First time I tried watching, too slow. This time, I was into it.

TV: The Other Two S1 E1-2

Don't see how this wasn't more popular

TV: The Gilded Age S1 E1

Showing solidarity with the wife. Missing some of the magic of Downton...

Film: The Lost Daughter

Interesting but a bit slow. Stopped midway through, will finish at some point.

Supreme Court

Why does Biden announce he will nominate a black woman? Herein lies the problem with affirmative action thinking -- by putting this out there, he more or less undermines the earned credentials of whoever he nominates. He advertises that the primary reason for her nomination is her race and gender. 

My point: just nominate the black woman. He only does this signaling to a) promote the ideology of his base and b) to show off the use of power to enforce such ideology.

Lab Leak

My personal odds - 90% chance COVID was created in a lab.

You know it was created in a lab by the reaction of the people in the best position to know, ie Fauci, etc. If they were sure it wasn't created in a lab, they would be open to the investigation and have "nothing to hide." Instead, they go quiet, secret, and accuse anyone who wants to investigate as being a conspiracy crank. It's completely insane. An obvious rational option would be to create an international Warren Commission to find out why a coronavirus pandemic broke out in the exact location of where the Chinese government was testing and manipulating corona-fucking-viruses. And yet all the powers that be oppose this very idea. It tells you the answer. 

Beyond Depressing

An argument we are not even close to peak wokeness yet. 

I'm afraid he's right. 

That said, my general philosophy is that it's never as good or bad as it seems. Problem with wokeness is that it can never actually "win" over biology, logic, physical reality, nature -- which is why it will always devolve into totalitarianism. This is both a good and bad thing. The conundrum is how much damage it will cause as it collapses. Or what comes "after wokeness."

Agree with his general idea, however, that defeating wokeism cannot be accomplished "politically." It's a cultural, generational battle. 

And for the first time in my life, I'm pretty sure classical "liberal" values are not strong enough to compete. The camps will be wokeism, Islamism, Chinese communism and whatever socially conservative forces emerge from the West. Right now, it seems to be in the shape of populism. Not sure how it will develop - could go down the Trumpism/strong man path, or some type of crazy, QAnon path, or some type of Christian, religious revival path. But good old fashioned "liberal" values are cooked. Might as well admit it. 

Logging

TV: Yellowjackets 

Got sucked in, totally enjoyed. Scared to reflect on how the themes resonate with contemporary American society...pretty much tried to enjoy it only on a pulpy, artificial level. Some commentary:

1) One of the best criticisms of the show might be - it's porn for plus sized women.

2) Thoughts on the survival strategy for the stranded girls--

a) At the very least, they ought to be using smoke signals to signal their whereabouts. Someone ought to be manning a fire 24-7 making sure they can be found.

b) They should be organizing teams of 2-3 to survey and map out the landscape using rock markers

c) They should be using their geographical knowledge and resources within the plane to estimate where they actually are and how they might be able to find civilization.

d) Within the first 2 weeks, they needed to organize 1 or 2 "no return" missions to go get help. These missions should not have been "voluntary," but rather the 2-3 fittest, fastest, most-capable sent out to either follow a river or a direction.

e) They should make long spear weapons using the knife for the "no return" mission and they should've left the moment they killed an animal and were well supplied with food. 

Critical Race Theory

Is a trojan horse for darker elements. It sure as hell is. 

Vaccine Hold Up

Why is it fashionable to say the unvaccinated have prolonged COVID and caused unneeded death, but unfashionable to say the bureaucratic and political delay to approve vaccines until after the election caused unnecessary death?

EDD

The only people competent enough to navigate the EDD system are criminals.

Logging

TV: Yellowjackets

I've been pulled in.

Film: Black Widow re-watch

One of MCU favorites. 

Covid Response

We've beyond the absurd now, aren't we?

I got omi, so perhaps it changed my perspective or just hardened a few things. Here those are:

1) The vaccinations were vastly oversold.

At first, 2 pfizer shots gave you 95% protection.

Then, it was 95% protection for 6 months. Then, it was 91% protection with the booster. Then, it was 91% protection against severe disease and death. Then it was some sort of high percent protection against severe disease and death and a little protection against the new variants.

And now, it's basically: this shit does nothing against transmission with Omi, but thank god Omi is weak, huh?!?

2) Tony Fauci's job was never to keep America safe based on "science," but rather to be a weather vane about what Americans would accept in terms of a COVID response without hanging government officials from lamp posts. 

3) The best argument in favor of the Feds "testing plan" for Omi is that even in the best case, the testing wouldn't have worked. 

4) Unbelievably, Biden's COVID response actually seems worse than Trump's...especially given he had all the tools to fight COVID -- vaccines, tests, and experience with the disease -- all of which had to be built under Trump. I mean...speechless...

5) Masks don't really work, do they? But for the record, I'm still wearing even at home with omi to help prevent spread. 

6) I get emails from 3 separate institutions regarding COVID rules - my employer, my son's daycare, and my son's school district. They all have different procedures and rules regarding testing, response to exposure, response to infection, etc. I'm sure everyone is experiencing something similar if you life has any level of complication.

7) Gregorio (my dark Jungian shadow persona) feels the trillions of dollars spent, the 2 years of lockdowns, and total ruination of American culture and society was not needed for what ended up being a worse than average cold. 

Whine

A whiny, bitchy take on America coming apart at the seems by a whiny bitchy man. 

Thanks David Brooks for articulating what everyone with a brain has known for the past 1.5 years. Glad you figured it out after the rest of us.

Debates

RNC won't let candidates debate without changes to format.

My suggestion: let Joe Rogan moderate. 

Omi not Omni

All this time I thought it was Omni like the hotel. 

DEI Work

If you show me someone dedicated to DEI work, I'll show you a woman without kids of her own.

Covid

Is anyone under the delusion these testing protocols are working at slowing the Omni spread? 

Logging

Film: Don't Look Up

Perhaps I enjoyed it because I didn't see the film as being about climate change, but rather a satire of our inability to solve problems. In that sense, I saw it as more about the pandemic. 

Favorite detail, JLaw works at a place called "Drink Mo."

Here's What They Mean By Equity

In Democrat controlled California, here are some results from the public schools. 

The results show that about half of all California students tested did not meet state standards in English language arts and about two-thirds did not meet standards in math. The scores of Black, Latino and economically disadvantaged students were significantly lower, with more than 60% not meeting English standards and about 80% not meeting math standards.

And the education establishment's plan to deal with this? Get rid of the testing. Just gross. 

Logging

Film: Licorice Pizza

First hour was one of my favorite PTA films. 2nd hour felt hastily put together. Almost like reading a really good 1st or 2nd draft of a script -- and it wouldn't surprise me to learn it was written that way. It was a hang out movie and a good one at that. But I must confess, by the end, I didn't really believe she loved him. 

Film: Don't Look Up

First 30+ minutes or so. Unsure about the critical backlash on this one so far...I feel it deserves praise for the ambitious premise and tone. Really hard to pull off a satire in this day and age -- and they're going for it. We'll see how it ends...

Fact

Not a single weapon on any of the 1/6 protestors. 

They decided to take down the richest, most powerful government in the history of the world with animal costumes.

Time to Listen

Institutions are telling us what they think of themselves right now. If an institution wants to close over this Omni thing it tells you it doesn't believe its mission is very important. Places that fall into this category:

1) Some public school districts

2) City services like Parks and Rec

3) "Great universities" like Stanford, Harvard, and Yale

4) Sundance

5) The Grammy's

I wouldn't cancel a birthday party.

Question for Medical Professionals / Test Time

Is it a good idea for someone with a bad case of COVID to be waiting 3+ hours to be tested? Can't they spread the disease this way? Isn't it unhealthy for a sick person to be waiting for so long?

Logging

Film: Licorice Pizza

I've been watching 30 minutes at a time the last couple nights and rather enjoying it...  

PTA compared it to Fast Times and American Graffiti, but on a conceptual level it reminds me more of Rushmore. 

Omnicron

Is giving organizations an excuse to do whatever they want. Schools are closing not for any safety issues, but rather when the people who work at the schools would prefer not to work and have enough power to do so. Dysfunction. 

NYC

Will not prosecute armed robbers with felonies. Unbelievable language here:

 "Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone."

Thus the incentive for storeowners are now to arm themselves and shoot to kill.  

Continued COVID Dysfunction

With a shortage of tests, why should asymptomatic people get tested to return to work or school or anything? It's completely pointless and takes tests away from people who might actually be sick. If testing were abundant, it would be another story. Chalk up another systemic failure. Thank goodness Omnicron is basically a natural vaccine. 

Logging

Film: House of Gucci

My rewrite opens on the scene with Jared Leto and Al Pacino when he gets out of jail -- and centers around the Leto character stuck between his heartbroken father and cousin/wife stealing the company out from under them.  

What Inflation?

The other day, I bought a bottle of vodka for the first time in a long time. Ketel One. The Tillamook cheddar of vodkas. In the early 2000s, when vodka was the drink of choice amongst my crowd, Ketel went for 35-40 a bottle if I'm remembering correctly. This weekend, it cost $25 for a "premium" type of Ketel. 

Supply and demand. 

Logging

Film: Dune (1984)

For filmmakers looking for a confidence booster - worth checking out! 

TV: Yellowstone S1 E2

Feels like a show I ought to like, but I find myself mostly bored. My wife was confused. Biggest takeaway - worth studying if only to see how a movie star (Costner) differs from other actors (everyone else). Costner can talk to the ground or look off into space and make it pleasurable to watch. Everyone else feels basically replaceable with some other actor - including the lead guy. Could I pick him out of a lineup with the lead guy from Sons of Anarchy or any other number of shows?