Logging

Film: The Far Country

Alaska set. A strange movie, because I know I've seen it before and yet somehow didn't remember so many details. It's really good.

Student Loan Debt Forgiveness

Supreme Court rules Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is illegal (which it is). Here's the thing: you can't legislate against stupid. If you're borrowing too much money for school, you are a sucker. 

1) The schools are ripping you off. They're taking the loan money and spending it on shit like DEI coordinators, campus gyms, film series, and every dumbass idea any midwit employee at the University can think of. And you're going for it.

2) So...when you get out of school and look at the bill, you're thinking: fuuuck. And now, you're ripe for exploitation by the Democratic politicians who take your "fuuuuuck" and say "you know this is the Republicans fault because they won't let us forgive your debt. But...if you vote for us, we will help you. So you vote for them.

3) But here's the thing: the Democrats know the American public doesn't support reimbursing college grads and they know it's not technically legal unless there is an act of Congress. But they just pretended to pass a law forgiving debt while knowing full well the Supreme Court will rule it illegal. Because it is! But they get to look like the good guys and their political opponents get to look like the bad guys and you will keep voting for them because you're like an abused wife who thinks her husband is about to "change." And meanwhile the interest is piling up.

Affirmative Action

Good read on the case in front of the supreme court which will likely find Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants (which everyone already knows they do).

How long before Universities start giving "plus points" to bad spelling on admission essays?

NOTE: Notice for all the talk about "democratic norms" when it comes to Trump, etc, the Left are the ones who systematically abandon the law when when the Supreme Court issues a ruling it disagrees with. Universities will react to the clear ruling with new efforts to "get around it" since they don't actually believe in our system of government, but rather their own emotional intuition.  

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Film: Rules of the Game rewatch

One of the most incredible back halfs of a film ever made. 

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Film: The Last Seduction

Shot in a very matter of fact manner. I wonder what a more stylish director would've done with the material. Nevertheless, enjoyable...

TV: The Idol pilot

Severely underrated by the critics, but feels like a lot of other provocations I've seen before. Shows and movies with this look-at-how-fucked-up-we-are attitude often fall into a trap of their own making where they start getting the characters doing crazy wild shit that get me thinking (if I may borrow the words of the Weeknd): "I don't believe you."

TV: The Bear pilot

Biggest cliche on prestige tv: the slumming it genius. Are all these shows sort of a variant of Sherlock Holmes in a way? Tortured genius in a kitchen?

Bailed Out By Belarus

A world power bailed out of trouble by Belarus...hardly a sign of a national resurgence. Putin pissing his nation down the toilet...

Ouch

Shot across the bow. 

Leftist and rightist contrarians at the white board desperately trying to find the anti elite take to have on Russia… Unable to have a single thought until they can figure out what the mainstreaming is saying wrong

Wagner Group

Everyone says they can't win against Moscow if indeed this reports of rebellion are true. Then again, Putin just got on a plane.

And for the record, I believe a group of psychotic mercenaries getting their hands on nukes is worse than Putin.

But if Prigozhin is working for the CIA, might this be one of their greatest operations ever?

US - More Powerful Than Ever on the World Stage

Sometimes it pays to sit still and not fuck things up. 

Qatar

Buying stakes in all the Washington DC professional sports teams. Nothing to see here, move along...

RFK

Wait...so now he's a threat to our democracy too? 

It is just me or does every single candidate not hand picked by Democratic party a "threat to democracy?"

Tesla

Maybe the true target for Tesla isn't the auto market, but rather the gas stations? 

Harvard Medical School Morgue Manager Caught Selling Human Remains

I guess you can't trust a guy with a face tattoo and spikes fused put into his scalp... 

Pronouns

A way to know whether a person will and/or is lying to you is if they're advertising their pronouns.

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Film: Nine Queens 

A lot of fun. Maybe worked better without the final twist, tho?

Film: Champions

A good plane watch, but less than what I was hoping for. 

Film: Spiderman Across the Spiderverse

Stunning for the first 70% of the story, especially the artwork and emotion. It's basically about being the parent of a teenager. But what is it with this whole multiverse stuff? It's strange, right? That every single superhero movie now exists in some type of parallel time and dimensions. My 7 year old kinda likes it and it provides some fun jokes, but ultimately makes the story somewhat incoherent and impossible to explain. Are these things now supposed to be gigantic in-group conversations for comic book fans?

I really liked what they did with Spot, the villain - giving him a character arc. Most fun character in the whole thing...

Book: Alaska by James Mischner

Unbelievable in terms of scope and research. Beyond impressive so far...

ChatGDP

Using ChatGDP to help prep a lecture on August Osage County and honestly, ChatGPT comes across a psychotic who is full of shit. Maybe I need the upgrade.

Alaska - Day 6

Bike ride along Coastal Trail (around Anchorage). Wonderful ride. Could've gone for 2x or 3x times as long. Besides a wonderful view, there are 15-20 houses along the trail that open onto the trail and ocean which seemed like the nicest properties I saw on the trip.

Lunch: halibut tacos. Better than I thought they'd be. Tried a "breve" which is a wet cappuccino made with half and half instead of milk. Never heard of this before. 

Afternoon trip to Byron Glacier. Hike 30 minutes to play on glacier through the rain. Another bald eagle sighting. Dall sheep sighting.

Dinner: 49th Street brewery. Tasty blonde ale along with Yak burger. 

Best food on trip: Halibut, moose sausage, a surprisingly good strawberry rhubarb pie. 

Alaska/Anchorage - Day 5

Fishing in the morning along Ship Creek. Wasn't successful, got incredibly muddy, but enjoyed casting out a line and teaching kids the basics. 

Needed to get home and clean up. Ate lunch at Snow City Cafe, a very popular lunch spot. Not overly impressed with the food. It was fine. I wouldn't recommend coming to Alaska for the restaurants.

Saw a strange photo presentation/movie about the Auroras at the performing arts hall. Don't want to disparage, but I'm puzzled by how the show runs every hour. There were 6 people in the 250 seat theater and that seemed about right.

Had ice cream at Wild Scoops a local ice cream spot. Quite good and reasonable prices by ice cream and Alaska pricing standards.

Dinner with family - sushi rolls.

Finished Never Cry Wolf. 

Rained a bit today. 

Note: I find folks here so far to be a little friendlier than I might've expected. 

Alaska - Day 4

Drive to Whittier, a small town (more like an outpost) on Prince William Sound. Most remarkable aspect of the drive - a 2.5 mile one way tunnel at the end where you drive along railroad tracks to get into town. Once in town, most of the activity are ferry tours to see glaciers, but also some locals fishing and boating out from the seaside.

Glacier tour took most of the day...saw seals, sea lions, a bald eagle, a lot of ice and several glaciers. Seafood chowder lunch was surprisingly good.

On the road out, spotted another moose. On the road back, another bald eagle. 

In the evening, watched the first half of Never Cry Wolf. Kids were engaged. I remember seeing this in the theater as a child. It's remarkable. From a filmmaking perspective I'm just thinking: how the hell did they do it. Werner Herzog has to like this film. It was made by Disney. 

Anchorage - Day 3

A drive out to Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin. Quick note: driving in Alaska is a blast. Roads are clear. Scenery looks so ridiculous - almost seems fake - like a painted backdrop in an old studio film. I almost would prefer to be a passenger than driver to keep my eyes peeled for wildlife. We wisited family friends lake house outside Wasilla. I discover Alaska has 3 million lakes. Most are inaccessible. The lake we visited is called Horse Shoe lake. There seem to be about 30-40 lakes nearby. Of note - once off the highway, we encountered maybe 1-2 other cars driving 20 minutes to the house. I've never been to a lake house in this remote a spot before. Most of Alaska basically feels like this - like you're in the most remote spot you've ever been. Just being here a few days I get the feeling of needing to know basics about how to handle a run in with a bear or moose. I find myself wanting to know basic car mechanics because you can simply feel like - oh man - I could be stuck here and basically need to figure out something here on my own. The people I've met are beyond outdoorsy-- they are self reliant.

In this lake, there are clams/oyster shells piled up at the shore. I guess the muskrats eat them. The oysters are no good for human consumption I'm told. In the water, pike eat all the other fish and can be caught - they're up to 3 feet long. We take a spin on a pontoon boat. See only 1 other boat on the lake. The lake does have a number of homes around it, but it's very quiet. In the winter it freezes and you can ice fish out there. 

For lunch we eat moose hot dogs, halibut, and smoked salmon. Halibut is the best thing I've eaten since I got here. Smoked salmon was the 2nd best. 

After the party, we drive up to Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine. The mine area was closed off to traffic, but many people were parking near Hatcher Pass and walking up in that direction. We were tired and I didn't like the thought of dragging the kids there. Just walking in the parking lot you could feel the elevation in your legs. But Hatcher Pass was this amazing little area. About 8 tiny little A-frame cabins and then a cafe/restaurant serving beer and playing music like it was a ski area (but with about 15 people hanging around). Skiers go here and hike up the mountain and ski down. It looked incredible, but there were avalanche warnings everywhere so one would probably need to be pretty knowledgeable to safely go.

Sitting on the deck outside of the bar restaurant had to be one of the most spectacular views in the world and being tired toward the end of the day - probably didn't get to enjoy it as much as I should have.

Dinner back at AirBnB tonight - save some dough and be a bit healthier...

Anchorage Notes - Day 2

Driving toward Kincaid Park in the morning, we spotted a moose grazing on the roadside. A young bull with short, hairy horns. He was very happy, we pulled up about 20 feet away to snap some pictures and observe. What a gift. 

Next, we visited a rocky beach right below the airport (near bootleggers cove) where you can see 747s fly right over and land. On this beach, we found a watch and two old, buried cars. Apparently in the old days, people would just dump stuff right over the edge of the road down a cliff onto the beach. I've now seen three partially buried abandoned cars around Alaska. 

Because the tides move so fast around Anchorage, they can move out and people can walk from this beach to Fire Island in the mud. But what's difficult is getting back on the same tide, so many will hang out there until the next tide recedes. Every once in awhile someone dies trying to make it back to Anchorage but the tide gets them.

Stopped near bootleggers cove and saw some mallard ducks.

Next stop was Kincaid park. Very crowded. Turns out there's a 40 team soccer tournament happening. Youth soccer blows Pride event out of the water - a reminder of how people actually live and what people actually do with their time. Kincaid park an interesting spot - feels like part State Park, part City Park. With the soccer tourney, it felt like Golden Gate Park, but with huge off-the-beaten-path trails. Ate a quick reindeer dog before hiking a bit. No animals, but we found old moose poop everywhere - turns out old moose poop makes good fire fuel. Kids enjoy picking it up and throwing at each other. 

Next stop was Flat Top Mountain - a mountain outside Anchorage with a view of the entire city where there is still snow. Kids loved messing around in the snow, snapped a few great pictures. Did a little hike. This is a place locals go to see the Auroras when the time is right.

Next, a quick stop at Potter Marsh. Some bird watching. Saw our 2nd (my third as I spotted one while driving) moose of the day just hanging out eating in the marsh. Saw an eagle's nest but no eagles. Took a gorgeous video of the moose in the foreground, a train passing in the midground, and mountains in the background.

Ate a small dinner with extended family before calling it a day.

Watched 15 minutes or so of Cocaine Bear. A good example of where not to put the camera as a film director...

Next Steps

Now that workplaces routinely force their employees into "respecting pronouns," I can't help but wonder if the next step will be forcing underpaid employees to say things like "I'm well paid" to keep their jobs.

Anchorage Notes - Day 1

Anchorage on is surrounded by snow capped mountains on the North and West. It opens out to the water on the other side. This body of water is an inlet off the Gulf of Alaska which then opens to the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Driving around Anchorage (and you basically drive most everywhere) is somewhat easy to get oriented. A good number of streets run one way and thus far, there seems to be very little traffic at all. Anchorage feels tiny compared to large American cities - surprised to find the population is only 300,000 people. First day, we spent getting oriented to the city. Downtown has a lot of "stuff." We drove around, scouting out restaurants and shopping areas around 4th street. Eventually went to the Anchorage museum in the AM - kids loved it - too much museum to accomplish in one visit but highlights were a discovery section geared toward kids with exhibits similar to the Exploratorium in SF but with some Alaska-centric elements such as volcano and earthquake areas. Weather is gloomy, a tiny bit of rain, but not unpleasant. Went to lunch at Golden Coral Buffet with extended family, which was packed with working people and families. In Alaska you feel the presence of a Native minority. Unclear to me whether this is one major group or several groups - some folks look polynesian / hawaiian and others look less so. You also notice more Asian people around than you might expect - particularly Korean. But I guess in the midst of the Cold War Alaska used to ship coal to South Korea and so quite a bit of business was done. They are geographically pretty close, after all.  

After lunch we did a drive and stop around Lake Hood - a small lake near the airport which is peppered/surrounded by small seaplanes. One of the more spectacular and unique arrangements I've ever seen - almost like a yacht club but instead of boats - small planes. One can drive up, sit in a park and just watch seaplanes taking off and landing. Residential apartments are right across the street. It seems like one could simply fly their plane, land in the lake, park and walk across the street to their home.

After a brief afternoon rest, we went back downtown and to the Alaska mint where we bought the kids some gold and silver found in Alaska by miners (yes, there are still miners here), who sell their finds to the mint when they make bars and coins, etc. Near downtown is a creek area. In the later afternoon/early evening (it doesn't get dark here until around 10-11pm) the creek is packed with salmon fishermen. Couldn't tell whether they'd been there all day or just show up after work to catch dinner. Didn't seem like many were having much luck - nor did we see any salmon swimming. I have it on a good account, the time to fish is low tide (and the tide is significant in Anchorage) because less water means more salmon per water area. 

We went back to the museum for a planetarium show and a jazz festival. It was busy by Anchorage standards, enjoyed a light appetizer dinner along with drinks. One thing I noticed - in the museum a huge video exhibit prominently featured about being "Black in Alaska" and nearby, a Pride event in downtown Anchorage. It seems even in the land of Sarah Palin and where the license plates read "the last frontier" the woke agenda is visible and vocal. 

We are staying in an area called Turnagain. Not much is walkable. The streets are generally quiet - not sure if because the population is sparse, the weather is on the cold side, or just because there is so much territory everyone drives everywhere. The area feels magnitudes less wealthy than California, yet nothing has yet been "cheap" other than gas. A noticeable brand is Kaladi brothers coffee - many coffee shops seem quite proud to be carrying it. 

Logging

TV: Succession Finale

They stuck the landing. Based upon internet research and discussion, I believe Kendall and Rava got a sperm donor for the first child. It tracks with Kendall's characterization, his heavy past drug use, and a hint from Logan suggesting Tom might be "shooting blanks" with a shot of Kendall in the background in a previous episode. 

Graphic Novel: Watchmen. Re-read. While in the past, I admired the tone, themes, and genre mish-mash, this time what really struck me was the depth of characterization in the middle chapters.