Category: Uncategorized
Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
The Daily Gazette, an upstate New York newspaper, published an editorial that is an open letter to Elise Stefanik, crying about her appearing in front of a sign that read “Foxtrot Juliet Bravo,” (which basically means FTB, or Fuck Joe Biden). It’s one of the most condescending thing I’ve ever read and a perfect example of how journalistic calls for civility in politics only seem to go in one direction.
To the Daily Gazette, I can only say,
Norm MacDonald, R.I.P.
I’m still in shock about the news that Norm MacDonald died today, at the age of 61. He died of cancer, which he had been battling for nine years.
Norm MacDonald was the funniest man alive, though he often didn’t seem to get the appreciation that he truly deserved. There are so many comedians who claim not to care what people think about them and their jokes but, when it came to Norm, it was no act. He would joke about anything and anyone, delivering his punchlines with deadpan but savage nonchalance.
Like a lot of people, I first knew Norm MacDonald as the anchorman of SNL‘s Weekend Update. He was the last great Weekend Update anchor, which unfortunately led to him losing his job when NBC president Don Ohlmeyer took offense to his frequent jokes about OJ Simpson.
Personally, I liked Norm MacDonald’s takes on the movies:
After…
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Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
I’m probably not the only person to point out that Labor Day is supposed to celebrate laborers and that the strongest proponents for this holiday were labor unions and yet, it’s usually the blue-collar employees who actually have to work this weekend while everyone who wears a tie or spends the week sitting behind a desk takes off for three days. I’ve always felt bad about that, though I’ve also never given up the weekend.
Still, when you’re buying your weekend supplies, be kind to the people stocking the shelves and ringing you up at the front registers. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked retail but I do remember that the holiday weekends were Hell.
Am I saying you should slip a twenty to everyone working at your local Walmart or Target?
Yes, I am.
In Memory of Ned Beatty
For Through the Shattered Lens, I wrote about Ned Beatty.
Ned Beatty died yesterday, at the age of 83.
Ever since I heard the news last night, I’ve been thinking about what an amazing actor Ned Beatty was. He could play it all. He could play a hero, he could play a villain, and he could play the quirky comic relief. He could effortlessly move from the movies to television to the stage and he seemed to instinctively grasp how to modify his style for each medium. Physically, he was instantly recognizable but he still managed to disappear into every role he played. You never thought you were watching Ned Beatty. Instead, you thought you were watching Bobby in Deliverance or Detective Bolander on Homicide or Otis in the first two Superman movies.
It’s amazing that, in his long career, Ned Beatty was only nominated for one Oscar and it wasn’t for his film debut in Deliverance. Playing the…
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Wayne Messam’s Opportunity?
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida has died. He was 84.
Out of respect for the dead, I’m going to refrain from criticizing Hastings’s political career. Regardless of whatever else you may hear about him, his constituents apparently loved him and he looked after them and that is, after all, what a member of the House is supposed to do.
I was one of the few people to follow the 2020 presidential campaign of Miramar, Florida mayor Wayne Messam. Messam didn’t get much respect from the national press, despite the fact that Miramar was bigger than Pete Buttigieg’s South Bend. I think the only time that he made national news was when it was revealed that his campaign had apparently only raised $5 during one of the reporting periods. Messam dropped out before the Democratic primaries.
At the time, there was some speculation that Messam’s main motive for running was to increase his profile so that he could run for Alcee Hastings’s seat whenever Hastings retired or died. I guess we’ll find out if that’s the case now. Hastings’s seat will be filled by a special election. Given that it’s probably a lifetime seat, the field will be crowded. Will Messam run? I kind of hope he does, just to increase the number of former presidential candidates currently serving in the House of Representatives.
According to RRH Election, another possible candidate is Gregory Tony, the sheriff of Broward County. Tony is a controversial figure but at least he kept the truly loathsome Scott Israel from reclaiming the sheriff’s office in 2020.
Trump Has COVID
Having lost my aunt to COVID in August, I take no joy in anyone getting it.
Our country is so broken. At a time when we should be rallying together, we’re at each other’s throats. One side is cheering the possibility of Trump dying and I know that there are those on the other side who would be cheering if this was happening to Biden instead.
We’ve lost our way and I don’t know if we can ever find it again.
Police Academy (1984, directed by Hugh Wilson)
It’s come down to this. After being locked up for a month and a half, we were left with no choice but to watch Police Academy.
God help us, it has come to this. After a month and a half being locked down, Lisa and I watched the first two Police Academy movies last night.
The first Police Academy takes place in an unnamed city that appears to be in California. Due to a shortage of officers, the mayor has announced that the police academy will now accept anyone who wants to apply, regardless of their physical or mental condition. Naturally, this leads to a collection of misfits applying. Martinet Lt. Harris (G.W. Bailey) is determined to force all of them to drop out of the academy and he has a point because I wouldn’t trust Michael Winslow’s human sound effects guy to investigate any crimes that were committed in my neighborhood. What’s going to do? Make silly noises while I’m trying to figure out who stole my car?
The leader of the recruits is Carey…
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King Solomon’s Mines (1985, directed by J. Lee Thompson)
For Through the Shattered Lens, I reviewed King Solomon’s Mines.
After her archaeologist father disappears while searching for the fabled mines of King Solomon, Jesse Houston (Sharon Stone) hires famed explorer Allan Quartermain (Richard Chamberlain) to help her find him. After walking around in the jungle and exploring a nearby village, Allan and Jesse discover that her father has been kidnapped by a German military expedition who want to use King Solomon’s treasure to fund their war effort. Working with the Germans is Allan’s old enemy, Dogati (John Rhys-Davies). Allan and Jesse find themselves in a race against time to find the mines before the Germans. Along the way, they steal an airplane, fight German soldiers on a train, and nearly get cooked alive in a giant cauldron.
Because this is a Cannon film and it was made at the height of Indiana Jones’s popularity and it stars John Rhys-Davies and it has a score that sounds like it was…
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The Only Thing Worse Than Keeping People Out Too Long…
…would be bringing them back too early.
Trump undoubtedly wants to announce an end to all of the lockdowns as soon possible (even thought it’s not really within his power to decide when a city, a county, or a state reopens). Hopefully, he’ll listen to the doctors when they say not to.
Pop Politics 