No Kings

I'm 100% convinced that the "No Kings" is a social event for many of the participants. Americans post-COVID stopped having parties and social engagements are probably down 20-25%. I believe this impacts what Alex Trebek would call "losers" the most. They want something to do. No Kings offers them this. 

Criticize youth sports in the US all you want, but all the parents I know are spending Saturdays at Youth Sports stuff, and not a single person would miss a sports event for No Kings. To put in perspective how important this thing is for regular people.

And as a political message, I can't remember a dumber slogan. We don't have a King. Trump was elected. Like it or not. 

Funny, If It Weren't True

How it started, how's it going... 

We shouldn't really be surprised young people are prone toward lunacy...John Walker Lindh showed us 25 years ago. What's surprising is when the Dems attempt to use these kids to score political victories.

Flashback

To understand why Hollywood is dead, look at this Variety article about the best one-liner in the past 15-20s uttered by none other than Alex Trebek. No mention of the brilliant timing or content, which transcends time and national boundaries or even the good-natured way in which even the contestent takes the quip. This is an all-timer. Also, the feather in the cap of Trebek's long career - like Messi finally winning the World Cup or Elway getting his Super Bowl. And yet...here is Variety's headline:

Alex Trebek Faces Backlash After Calling Nerdcore Hip-Hop Fans ‘Losers’ on ‘Jeopardy!’

 And their take: 

After an antagonizing sigh, Trebek replied, “Losers, in other words” before following up to say he was “teasing.”

 

All About The Oil

It was never true in Iraq p2, but now perhaps is. 

Logging

TV: DTF St. Louis E1

I came for Jason Bateman's sleaze, but I'll stay for David Harbor's belly.

Sounds About Right

Liberals believe the US should support our allies, but they don't need to return the favor. 

So is liberal now just synonymous with unreasonable women?

Threatening to Leave

Iran's flawed strategy to close the straits. Anyone who's ever dealt with a crazy partner knows crazy doesn't work for long. You threaten crazy shit, and the partner backs down the first time. But then they realize, wait...I don't need to deal with this shit and call the bluff. The crazy person might do the crazy shit, but by doing so, lose all leverage. 

We, the US, could sit on our hands and say, fine...keep the straits closed. Who says it's our responsibility to keep it open?

Welp

Open AI suddenly leaves text to video.  

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

One Addition to the Polyamory Discussion

Just want to point out that 15-20 years ago it was fashionable for liberals to mock Mormons mercilessly (for polygamy, among other things). I say these same liberals must mock polyamory; otherwise, I can only conclude they are religious bigots and not opposed to Mormonism on the grounds of their practices or beliefs, but just the fact that they are different.

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

In a spectacular grand finale, the man plays a game of shadow tag with a stranger he briefly connects with. Then drives around listening to music. 

Man drives around listening to music, a verifiable genre - Drive, Baby Driver, and Perfect Days

But in seriousness, I took the film to be about a celebration of the physical world and a total rejection of the virtual. The key line "Can I find this on Spotify?" And he responds, "Where's that place?" Exactly. 

Consider this - the film romanticizes the most unpleasant of all physical tasks - cleaning toilets. The man delights in playing the dumbest game in the world, tic-tac-toe. But these small things all exist in our physical world. There can be no pleasure in playing tic-tac-toe online. That is the point. 

In the Realm of Possibilities

I consider it very possible AI will, at some point in our lifetimes, seem like a charmless toy we played with for a little while and be a tad embarrassed that we did.  

Logic

Chicago Dem accused of blaming a student for her own murder. 

Notice the logic pattern - the student was expected to treat the presence of an armed illegal immigrant murderer as an inevitability. Many folks who critique the Iran war do a similar thing - treat the Islamic Republic and its actions as an inevitability. My question: Why don't we treat the student walking on the lake as inevitable? Or the "free world" as the inevitability? 

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

Now 2/3 of the way through, and the plot has really picked up. The man who cleans toilets has now eaten dinner, shared his musical taste with someone, played tic-tac-toe, gotten a visit from his niece, and developed a few pictures.

Wrong

Macaes thinks Trump doesn't want Israel to kill his contact in Iran. Trump is actually referring to the IRGC killing him. 

War Crimes

Whenever I see posts criticizing Israel or the US of blowing up hospitals, etc, they happen to coincide with people who think the wars they/we are waging are wrong to begin with. Which makes me confused. Would they support the wars if we didn't blow up hospitals and only killed terrorists, etc? Do these people oppose war in general? Or this particular war? More often than not, I think these folks actually favor war and are just wish-casting that we or Israel lose. To be honest.

Had I Known That Was Frowned Upon...

UN judge, human rights advocate found guilty of modern day slavery. 

Mixed Messages From Iran

Are perhaps because everyone who was in charge is dead. Just a thought. 

Logging

Film: 12 Angry Men

Haven't watched this since high school and boy... the main thing, you think this film is a courtroom drama about the sacredness of the legal system, etc. but that's not it at all. This film is about male personality types and dynamics. The moment when Henry Fond tells Juror #3, "you're a sadist" this entire concept locked in for me. Each character is a carefully drawn male type - the skeptic (Fonda), the racist, the analytical guy, the indifferent cynic, the sadist, the weary old man, the superficial ad man, the idealist, etc. And the film patiently shows you how these personality types interact with not only the legal and moral questions of the film, but with the other personality types! The film shows you more about male psychology than I imagine most psychologists understand. It shows you how men lock into positions. It shows you how men change their minds. It shows you what triggers men to rage. What triggers them into nobility. What triggers them into meanness and, sadism. It's really quite remarkable. The woke idiots will look at this film and say, oh it's a bunch of white guys and totally miss the point. Each character is so different and detailed. How do people miss this about the film? It literally tells you right in the title: 12 Angry Men. Nothing about legal shit, guilt or innocence, etc. It's just about men. 

Random Iraq Thought

Do any of the people who argue that the 2nd Iraq War was the worst foreign policy move in our lifetime simultaneously argue George HW Bush was the best President of our lifetime? Because it seems to me the only logical conclusion.

Hollywood

Blaming Newsom and Bass for Hollywood's downfall is like blaming a child for not knowing how to drive a car. We vote for fools whose skillset is renaming things when the omnicause asks them to. If we vote for incompetents; we can't expect them to suddenly became capable.

A Thought

Next time we plan a Middle East war, I would say the months ahead of time should be spent filling up tankers and all the strategic oil reserves of ourselves and allies. Just saying. 

My "Strong" Critique of Israel 

Would be they don't do much to offer the Palestinians a dignified way to co-exist. They might argue it's not their job to. To a certain extent, they are right. Yet it would benefit them as well for the Palestinians to express their energies differently than a hatred of Israel. 

Are You A Zionist?

Must be among the dumbest questions in our current discourse. As I understand it, Zionism was a movement to make the country of Israel in the Jewish ancestral homeland. The country of Israel exists. Whether one is a "Zionist" is as relevant as asking whether you are a supporter of the American Revolution or the Communist Revolution in China. 

Pointing out in 2026 that Israel shouldn't have been formed in 1948 has got to be one of the dumbest, most pointless, and self-defeating of all current political ideas. If anything, we should be creating more "Israels" - dynamic countries that people will be proud of and fight for. It's the countries and people that oppose a place like Israel that are the problem. What do they imagine? Should people continue farming olive trees in the same place their ancestors did for the next 1000 years? Should we turn the San Fernando Valley back into orange groves? For what purpose?

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

Only watched 1/3 or so last night before jet lag caught me. But my wife asked while I was watching, "what's the story?" And I said, a man wakes up and goes to clean toilets. Good use of sound design and music thus far... I got really excited about what he was going to eat for lunch.

Democratic Party

As far as I can tell, the only thing the Democrat party really can rally around and accomplish quickly is renaming things.  

Cesar Chavez

The lionization of the guy in the first place was obviously affirmative action. Because of demographics, we "needed" a Latino MLK, so we got one. Another nail in the coffin for the DEI/Affirmative Action movement, although they won't see it for what it is.

Final Day - Japan

Attempted to get up to Tokyo Skytree, but it was sold out. I've been to the tops of big buildings before. Relative to Taipei 101, or Burj Khalifa or Sears Tower, Tokyo Skeetree feels like it gets short shrift. It's massive and impressive. In the two films I watched last night and on the plane, Rental Family and Perfect Days, Skytree was featured. 

What else? An Indian meal. It was fine. More ice cream - banana flavored place in the Skytree mall. What is it about traveling and ice cream that goes together so well?

Plane ride home is shorter, more manageable. Films: Rental Family and The Family McMullen. I enjoyed both; perhaps I actually liked Rental Family a bit more. I feel so much more generous about films on planes. Maybe I should watch all movies this way. How much of our grumpiness about films and Hollywood simply reflects negative mood affiliation? I don't know. Or are things worse? The Family McMullen certainly felt "worse" than the Brothers McMullen, although I haven't seen that film in quite a long time.  I actually felt the beginning of the film was off, but once it got going, it picked up...felt like the actors weren't able to rehearse, so the opening scenes felt clunky. I wonder about this - my prediction: they didn't get rehearsal and shot the movie in order. The acting was very up and down. Michael McGlone was good except for this one terrible scene in the beginning. I hold Burns accountable for letting him embarrass himself. Connie Brinton, Tracey Ross, Burns were all good. A few of the younger people were good, too. But I thought the brother and sister dynamic didn't work at all. At no point did I believe these two were siblings. The sisters of the Italian love interest were great, but underutilized. 

Final thoughts on Japan:

1) I want to go again.

2) Best thing about it - truly feels like a different society than the "West" - down to every detail. Things are smaller, neater, more organized, and more modest in a way. More technological. Creative in a much different way. You feel less like an individual and more part of a "society," thus you pick up all your trash, clean up, don't overuse things, act polite, etc. You are also way less "free" or perhaps individualistc. People aren't as hungry to "stand out" - so you see far less idiosyncratic behavior, dress, etc. Probably for good and bad.

3) Biggest complaint, perhaps related to the above, some aspects of living there seem overly complicated. Metro system downright confusing. Events are in some ways over-organized. Why are they so stingy with things like napkins and towels? Personally, the bathroom system, while clean is a bit much with all the buttons.

4) Best thing to do: shop. 

5) Best thing to eat: ramen, waygu, sushi

6) Tokyo by far is the best city big I've been to for kids

7)  For all the talk of Japan's declining demographics, I saw quite a few kids around

8) Highlights: everything related to baseball - including game, seeing cherry blossoms, origami museum and making, wandering around the quieter streets especially early in the morning, eating