Agreed

GRRM on adaptations. 

Everywhere you look, there are more screenwriters and producers eager to take great stories and “make them their own.” It does not seem to matter whether the source material was written by Stan Lee, Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, or… well, anyone. No matter how major a writer it is, no matter how great the book, there always seems to be someone on hand who thinks he can do better, eager to take the story and “improve” on it. “The book is the book, the film is the film,” they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. Then they make the story their own. 

They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse.

Indeed. Adaptations should be held to a higher standard than originals. Instead, they've become a marketing gimmick. But all this is to be expected by an shallow, shameless, narcissistic elite culture.

Juneteenth

How much less racism is there since we established Juneteenth as a national holiday? 

Pay Elon

The man deserves every cent. I have no problem with CEOs who succeed getting paid. It's the CEOs who fail that should give up their salaries.  

Nice Job Zaslav

Charles Barkley retiring. 

What an absolute group of clowns we have running things in this country.

Thanks Gavin Newsom

In and Out raising prices due to minimum wage increase and inflation. 

Verify You Are Human

I get these buttons sometimes on websites that say "click here to verify you are human." I'm not a huge "AGI is going to change everything soon" guy, but I think they could figure this one out.  

Theory on Exhaustion

You often hear woke people describing their "exhaustion." They often emphasize needing "rest" like they are kindergarteners. Rest is fine. I like 8 hours of sleep. I like recovering after a workout. But that's not what these people are talking about. They are burnt out because they spend their time on unproductive endeavors. You will find the same thing with people who have shitty jobs. But at least with shitty jobs, you're getting money from it. When you're being productive, you feel energized. 

Logging

Film: Hit Man

A bad combination of corny and moral vacuity. 

Learning

Things I'm learning or re-learning in 2024: 

1) Better to swim then eat than eat then swim

2) Timing the cacio e pepe right

3) Chinese bit by little bit

4) You'd be lucky to see Mt. Rainier even when you're at Mt. Rainier

5) Don't give up, but try new tactics

6) Boil problems down to their simplest expression will help you manage them

7) If you eat salty chips you will also want a soda. Better not to eat the salty chips.

8) If something costs more, buy less. 

9) If you are watching more sports than exercising, this is a bad sign.

10) If subscriptions aren't worth double their monthly cost, you are likely wasting your money

11) Never interrupt your enemies when they are making a mistake. Similarly, never interrupt compound interest.

12) When in doubt, say "no."

More...

13) Spend some time doing something you are bad at. You will gain humility but also the learning curve is steeper

14) Whatever effort you think it will take, you will need 10x that amount

15) I've never experienced a runner's high but in only 20 minutes of lap swimming I've experienced a swimmer's high multiple times

Austin Powers (1997) - it's a man, man/baby!

For pride month, I owe the audience a succinct visual statement outlining my position on the T issue.

PS - Basil Exposition's acting performance here is incredible.

Simple Moral Clarity

Those opposed to Israel are against even the hostage rescue.  Completely unbelievable. The dumbass Westerners that are the audience for this are what allows Hamas to prolong the bloodshed. 

Hostage Rescue

It's a terrible tragedy that Israel must kill 200 people to rescue 4 hostages. But if you believe this reflects poorly on Israel, I don't even know what to say. The blame rests entirely on Hamas.

Makes You Wonder

Chinese hiker discovers the "biggest" waterfall in China is a construct - fed by a pipe of water.

And COVID 19 definitely occurred by animal origin.

Disgusting

Biden admin DOJ going after a doctor for "leaking" documents about gender affirming care. These people are using the justice department like big tobacco used the civil litigation system.

For everyone who supports the Trump prosecution, you better hope that you're never in the position to morally disagree with a popular consensus opinion of the time. 

Now They Tell Us

Secret cable post-Tiananmen square reveals 10k murdered and in some cases butchered. Thirty five years later, the depth of the truth comes out. I wonder how many in positions of power in the West covered this up and how much money they collected as a result? Clearly, this never leaked before because a lot people didn't want to throw shade on the CCP since they smelled money. 

So in roughly 31 years we'll be getting the inside scoop on the lab leak. 

Lab Leak

That there was no intensive institutional resources thrown toward answering the lab leak theory - something like the Warren Commission or the 9/11 Commission Report tells us the answer: it was most likely a lab leak and some US scientists were involved with funding it.

Logging

Film: Three Amigos!

Never loved this film. Still don't. Found a slight, more begrudging appreciation for Chevy Chase though. My favorite line in the film was him eating a taco where all the meat falls out. He asks the villagers "Do you have anything other than Mexican food?"

Martin Short is so weird. I wouldn't trust him around kids. 

A thing about John Landis: he embodies the difference between movies and film. He aspires not at all toward art - and puts all his energy to make sure the movie functions as a movie. He should be studied in this way. I actually think he kind of mocks the notion of a "film" by some of his shots - he's making fun of cinema like -- look at how pretentious this long lens is -- I can do it without any self importance whatsoever.

Film: Ferris Bueller's Day Off 

My son went bonkers for it. Several things to note:

-This is a very patriotic movie. The twist and shout sequence is like an ode to America. It's one of the best random, non-sequitur moments in American movies. Folks like to talk about the Rio Bravo song. Or the "Long Night" Game of Thrones episode where everyone just sits around talking before the battle against the dead. I'd say this sequence is better than both of those because it's straight up weirder in the context of the film. 

-Mr. Rooney and all the boring teachers and staff at the school are actually doing a decent job. The level of instruction and content in the classrooms despite being boring is quite high. Voodoo economics. Use of irony and symbolism in literature. I would send my kids to this school. It would be better than 80% of schools today. I think Rooney is in the top 60% of high school principals. The guy is not distracted by trying to change the system, in fact, he merely gets carried away and obsessed with punishing a kid who makes him look like a fool. This is a good goal! He is a man taking action and trying to keep dignity in his institution. Also, Rooney allows Ferris to be Ferris. In fact, he allows everyone to be who they are. The real bad guy of the film is Cameron's father. Why? Because of his absence. 

-The film is actually quite an ensemble - several characters go on meaningful internal transformations - Jennifer Gray, Cameron -- and several have quite the adventure, although they don't necessarily change as a result - Ferris, Rooney, and Sloan. 

Parent Thought #2034

Whenever I heard people talk about how much their parents sacrificed for them...it bothers me. Parents who let their children know how much they "sacrificed" for the children put too much strange, undue pressure on the children to prove themselves worthy of the sacrifice. Parents should live their lives, love their children, but not act like martyrs. It's poor taste. 

Bernie

Is better on the Palestinian question than nearly everyone else who criticizes Israel. Notice, he separates Hamas from the Palestinians and Israel from Netanyahu. Nearly everyone pro-Palestinian conflates Netanyahu and Israel and everyone who is pro-Israel (including me) conflates Hamas with the Palestinians.

An interesting counter-move from the one Israel did would've been to bring Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia into an alliance to take out Hamas together. Probably impossible - but one wonders post 10/7 would something like that have been possible?

TLC and Destiny's Child

Neither are my wheelhouse, but Survivor and No Scrubs are objectively 50x better than K-pop song I've ever heard.

UPDATE: On this weird rabbit hole - Rihanna an artist - the rest of these fools popstars.

UPDATE 2: All I hear when I hear Beyonce is a boring form of female ambition. When I hear Rihanna I hear pain.