He had some pretty good songs and I think his heart was in the right place.
Category: Reviews
Reviews of books, movies, tv shows and other items
You and Here
Because of their neurological abnormalities many Leftists are truly miserable people and therefore pathologically envious of normal people for being happy. And that’s why a big part of the leftist project is to make us miserable.
Taking the fun out of our lives is a very big part of their work. That is specifically why they are always in our faces about everything they don’t want us doing. We can’t enjoy sports or activities or entertainment the way we want to because they have to decide how those things get done. And worst of all they say we can’t do them without their participation. And that’s why they especially hate things that they can’t share in. That’s why shooting ranges and normal families are anathema. Those things are bad fun because they exclude them categorically.
And so, whenever we are happy, in a real sense, we are measurably hurting the leftist project. So, there is the justification for the “pursuit of happiness.” But over the last half century it’s gotten harder and harder to just enjoy life. Too many components of it have been compromised and degraded by the Left.
But that makes it more important than ever to find the means to bring joy into our lives. Even if you are a “happy warrior,” fighting the culture war 24/7 is not a recipe for hilarity. Sure, mocking the Left can be fun to some extent but there is a definite tendency to become a grim, glum purveyor of gloom and doom.
And I find that this very syndrome has infected me to a greater extent than I like. And thinking about it today I realized I need to begin prioritizing a lot more fun into my week. Chronicling the outrages of the week is mostly a dour and depressing occupation. Even schadenfreude over some leftist’s misfortune is a weak substitute for some constructive endeavor or even some mindless fun like watching a goofy movie.
As I’ve said previously, I’ll be trying to wean myself off the outrage stuff. To start with I think I’ll start publishing parts of my stories on the site and adding more content on creative topics like photography and science fiction/fantasy. I’ve lately been reading about how difficult it is to get genre fiction discovered on Amazon because the algorithms are specifically calibrated for authors who release materials exclusively through the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program. In addition, the algorithms are optimized for book series that release a new volume every month. For that reason, authors now write at least three series novels in advance in order to get noticed by that algorithm. Now this sounds like madness to me. Following that logic, an author should probably write a decalogy series all at once before finding out whether anyone wants to read it. And in fact, it seems that a really mediocre series has a much better chance of being a hit than a single novel even if it is remarkably well-written and interesting.
Well, we do live in a strange world. So, I figure I should start putting my stuff out there and at least have the satisfaction of publishing it on my own platform. At least I’ll get some constructive feedback from the sf&f fans on the site. And it’ll be fun.
H. L. Mencken is quoted as defining puritanism as, “The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” And I think he was exactly right. We need to enjoy life. We will still have to fight the culture wars but we can’t put our lives, our happiness on hold until we win. So let the someone, somewhere being happy be you, here.
Untruth as Fiction
Camera Girl loves reading crime fiction and things like crime fiction. Harry Bosch is one of the characters in her books and lately we started watching some tv series about him. So today we sat down to an episode and in this story one of Bosch’s associates, a cyber security professional/hacker is being investigated by the FBI to try and get him to become a confidential informant against Bosch. The FBI uses a woman who is a rising star in hacker circles to entrap this Bosch associate.
So, Camera Girl sees this woman working for the FBI and says, “She’s working for the FBI and trying to entrap him. That’s awful.” And I started laughing. I said, “Hon, if only that were the extent of what they actually do.” And I was about to go into a diatribe about J6 and the “plot” to kidnap the Michigan governor. But then I thought, why should I make her depressed about how our country is really run? It’s bad enough I have to know. So, I just let it go.
The old saying is that truth is stranger than fiction. And that’s absolutely true now. I mean if you think about it, since 1945 our military arsenal contains devices that were the stuff of science fiction right up till Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And in 1968 when “2001: A Space Odyssey” reached the theaters, artificial intelligence was a homicidal computer named HAL that was obviously an impossibility. And now we have AI stealing our jobs and insulting us in the comments sections. And just three years ago we probably saw the first large-scale event featuring a bio-weapon. Granted, it was a pathetic one but it caused a lot of damage to the world economy and destroyed most people’s faith in the honesty of the WHO and the American government.
So, stranger than fiction isn’t really surprising. What is surprising is how wrong fiction gets it. When Hollywood scripts the United States being threatened with a military coup it was always a crazy general who wanted to go to war with the Russians and blow up the world. But he was always a right-wing religious zealot played by Burt Lancaster. Instead, we get General Milley who wants to conquer Russia with drag queen special forces. And now there is this Civil War movie and currently they’re keeping the plot details under wraps but it’s pretty obvious that the president who is serving his third term will be a dead-ringer for Donald Trump. So once again they’ll trot out the old right-wing president who becomes new Hitler. That one was already old when Heinlein had the “Prophet” seize control of the United States and turn it into a Christian theocracy. And a while ago there was “The Handmaid’s Tale” which once again was an America as dystopian theocracy but added in the ever-popular sexual subjugation of the last few fertile females in the world. Sheesh, those feminists really do worry an awful lot about being forced to have sex. Just from a cursory analysis I think their problem tends to run in the opposite direction. Sexual offers seem to be few and far between for most of those gals.
Well, all this is leading up to a question. Does anyone think there will ever be a motion picture that accurately portrays the political and social dynamic that actually exists in the modern world? To make it interesting, I think it should be a dark comedy but with a redemptive ending. Lots of people are always saying that there is a large market for entertainment that doesn’t have a social bias. But I’m advocating for a right-leaning bias. I’d love to see characters that I can sympathize with. I remember when Tim Allen’s show “Last Man Standing” first came out. It was obvious that his character was a right-wing individual and it was very enjoyable and very funny. But then Disney put a stop to that and neutered the character and the show. Well, there’s a proof of concept. All anyone has to do is copy what was done in that show. They could even hire Tim Allen to star in it and as long as the writing is funny it would make money hand over fist.
And finally, how about a civil war movie where we win? The outcome is we let them live the way they want to and we live the way we want. We could have a postscript where we get to see what the two Americas look like in 2124. Blue America would look like Idiocracy with broken down wind generators and disheveled poor people dressed in rags and eating crickets. Red America would have nuclear power plants providing almost limitless energy, a thriving society based on meritocracy and well-maintained borders complete with 100-foot-tall fences.
24 GOP Governors Message Solidarity With Abbott in Texas
24 GOP Governors Message Solidarity with Abbott in Texas
So, I was watching the Big Lebowski tonight. That movie has an odd effect on me. It’s a comic tour de force. It piles absurdity on absurdity with nothing but bizarre characters as far as the eye can see. And I find most of the humor highly entertaining. But it always sort of depresses me too. I guess it’s because even in their comedies the Coen Brothers are always laughing at us. And it’s not a friendly laugh. They’re dramatizing the meaninglessness of human existence. Well, at least that’s how it affects me.
Then I read this.
The full list is:
Governor Kay Ivey (AL), Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK), Governor Sarah Sanders (AR), Governor Ron DeSantis (FL), Governor Brian Kemp (GA), Gov. Kim Reynolds (IA), Governor Brad Little (ID), Governor Eric Holcomb (IN), Governor Jeff Landry (LA), Governor Tate Reeves (MS), Governor Mike Parson (MO), Governor Greg Gianforte (MT), Governor Jim Pillen (NE), Governor Joe Lombardo (NV), Governor Chris Sununu (NH), Governor Doug Burgum (ND), Governor Mike DeWine (OH), Governor Kevin Stitt (OK), Governor Henry McMaster (SC), Governor Kristi Noem (SD), Governor Bill Lee (TN), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA), Governor Jim Justice (WV), and Governor Mark Gordon (WY). The only abstainers were Republican governors in Vermont and Nevada. But those aren’t conservative states so there’s no surprise here.
So, this is a mildly encouraging sign. Maybe the Republicans are starting to realize they have an enormous amount of leverage because of the panic about getting money for Ukraine. They should demand that Biden deport ten million illegal aliens before he gets a penny. But what are the odds of the House holding out for that? Probably pretty slim.
But I do see some good coming of the Republican governors finding common ground. And of course, I fantasize that they’ll go beyond a letter of support. What they should do is coordinate a plan to not only close the border but to eject the illegals whenever they show up in the red states. This is another case of federal law that is being ignored by the federal government. They could announce to the country that they are going to arrest all illegals and give them a chance to hand themselves over and instead get free airfare back to their homes.
This is the basis of what I was calling the Red State Council. The red states coordinating to circumvent the sabotage of the federal government and protect each other by enforcing the Constitution within their own borders. So there’s the tie-in to the Big Lebowski. It’s filled with nihilism, both explicit and implied. And that is what the federal government stands for and enforces. But luckily for us we don’t have to have a Coen Brothers moral to our story. It is possible to end up with a happily ever afterward story line. All we need is a bunch of red state governors who decide that twenty five states is enough to stand their ground and refuse to be stampeded on by Biden and his minions. Well, I guess I should get around to doing a review of the movie. After all, the dude abides.
Trixie, We Hardly Knew Ye
Joyce Randolph, best known as Trixie Norton, the wife of Ralph Kramden’s best friend Ed Norton of the tv show “The Honeymooners” is dead at 99.
Trixie was typically straight man to either Alice Kramden or her husband Ed wasn’t a commanding acting presence on the show but she was a familiar part of many of the set-up husband/wife battle scenes. Farewell oh, last link to the Honeymooners, a venerable part of tv history.
Can I Review a Movie Trailer?
It was bound to happen eventually. Hollywood needs to give us cautionary tales. I watched the trailer for an upcoming movie called “Civil War.” The scenario is a “fascist” president in his third term (probably named Donald Tromp, Ronald Trump or something else equally subtle) is fighting a war to recapture nineteen states that have seceded including the Western Alliance (or something like that) consisting of California and Texas. As an aside, the guy playing the president sounds exactly like Mike Pence.
The heroes of the movie are three intrepid “reporters” who travel across the country and witness the horror of Middle America in all its racist something or other. In the trailer we see white men with guns interrogating some seemingly Hispanic people and when told that they are Americans the guys with guns say, “But what kind of Americans?” And then it looks they’re going to shoot them. And there is lots of footage of jets and tanks attacking New York City and monuments in DC blowing up and I think it looks like the invaders breach the White House.
The Democrats are attempting to take Trump off the ballot. What a perfect time to have a movie showing what will happen if a fascist president is allowed to run for president.
My favorite part of the trailer is near the end where the intrepid female reporter says, “Every time I survived a war zone, I thought I was sending a message home saying, “Don’t do this.” And yet, here we are.” So even during a movie where the country is engulfed in war and the outcome should be the story we have “Karen” lecturing us about how we didn’t listen to the girl boss who knew best.
So really my only question about all this is how the hell did California and Texas form an alliance. Are they commies or good guys? Is it run by Gavin Newsome or Ron Paul?
Honestly, I’ll bet this movie will be incredibly annoying. All the people we are supposed to applaud will be urban dwelling, latte sipping progressives and all the people we’re meant to boo will be white red state Americans. I assume, at the end, once Donald Trump is dragged from the White House and burned at the stake, all of the seceding states will come to their senses and unanimously re-elect Barack Obama or some other BIPoC woman as president and we’ll finally reach nirvana.
Wouldn’t it be something if we could have a civil war movie where the bad guys were the people who were trying to destroy America for real? The Summer of George rioting wasn’t exactly a civil war but it came really close. It was akin to the Visigoths burning and pillaging the Roman Empire.
I’d pay some money to see a civil war movie where Joe Biden declares war on Texas and then gets his head handed to him. I mean that makes some kind of sense. I could see Texas just plain getting fed up with an immigrant invasion and putting a stop to it even in the face of federal intervention. I’d love to see a movie where Washington calls out troops to force Texans to allow illegal aliens in and the troops revolt and join the Texans. Now that I’d pay to see.
I guess I should wait until April and see what the actual plot turns out to be but I’d bet small change that I’ve just more or less spelled it out. It’s a warning against Trump as dictator for life. Please spare me this drama.
Ah Really, Aurelius?
So here I am in the ems. And next up (almost) is Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Yes that Marcus Aurelius. And really, I’m a big fan. Holding back the fall of the Roman Empire for almost twenty years is nothing to sneeze at. I guess he does have to take a hit for being Commodus’ father and all. I mean he really should have had him put down before he passed but it’s tough for a father to be objective about his kids.
And I like a lot of his quotes. They are quite enlightened. But I think sometimes he goes too far. For instance:
“Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable . . . then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.”
“Your destruction will mean its end as well“? What the hell!
I mean he was a military man. How about fighting against both the endurable and the unendurable? Can’t we ever push things out of fate’s hands?
Well, anyway, he’s going to donate several weeks of quotes to the site so I’m grateful. But I think there should be a limit to just how much silent resignation even a stoic has to exhibit. Now I know he was basically an Italian so I can’t claim an exemption based on my lineage. But I can tell you over the last eighteen centuries there has been a precipitous fall off in stoic tendencies among his descendants. Most Italians like nothing better than to complain loud and long about just about everything happening around us. You might say it’s our defining behavior.
I’ll end by saying I’m glad I didn’t have him for a boss. He probably would have continuously lectured me in soothing terms to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and eventually I would have gone mad and murdered him.
Well anyway, his first quote will be January 14th (showing up the night of Saturday, January 13th).
And he really should have made Russell Crowe emperor. It would have solved a bunch of problems.
Geriatric Twerking Madonna Adds Support Bar. AARP Applauds
Words fail me. I almost asphyxiated from laughing so hard at this clip.
This image is so grotesque that it’s beyond hilarious. The fact that Madonna doesn’t recognize how pathetic and absurd she looks performing this aluminum foil wrapped granny-twerk should give the shivers to her younger avatars; Taylor Swift and Beyonce. In this clip they can see their future. Twerking to the Oldies.
The Christmas Truce
A fellow on X had this clip pinned on his feed. I think the WW I Christmas truce was probably one of the truly lost opportunities to change the world for the better.
https://x.com/Resurrec_Ted/status/1727552093991641216?s=20
Imagine if hundreds of thousands of soldiers had just refused to go back to the trenches and formed a united front to end the war there and then. What might the world look like today?
Just my emotional response to the idea of common people revolting against madness. Maybe some day we’ll find ourselves in a slightly similar situation if we all revolt against our masters in Washington and tell them we won’t dance to their tune anymore.
Disney Doubles Down … Again
“I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special,” Obaid-Chinoy said of her upcoming sequel to “The Rise of Skywalker,” adding, “We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”
Well I guess the only fitting comment is from Cartman.
(Not Safe For Work)