Saturday, December 19, 2015

Petty Politics

There's a Democratic debate scheduled for tonight. I've been indecisive about whether to watch, because I didn't finish the last debate. Frankly, debates are boring to watch, and after I noticed so many repetitive answers from the first Democratic debate, I had no interest in rehashing the same stuff. I decided to just record tonight's debate and only watch it if anything interesting happens or if there's something new in reference to the DNC database kerfuffle.

Not a Star Wars geek

I won't be seeing Star Wars this weekend. If I go at all, it will be in a couple of weeks when the crowds thin and the hype has died down. I saw the original trilogy but remember very little detail from them, and I didn't see the prequels. The nonstop promotion campaign has made me curious, though also repelled me because they are so frustratingly vague about the plot and the characters beyond Han and Leia. I like that there are some women in this and whoever that stormtrooper guy is, but how am I supposed to be excited if I don't fucking know who these people are? So I won't be going unless I see spoilers about the movie that actually explain what the hell's going on.

Sadly, none of the other movies out right now interest me either. I don't care about Pixar anymore or whale movies or boxing movies or anything like that. Nothing until Kung Fu Panda in January I guess. So I'll probably stay home to watch some DVD movies I just bought or to watch some TV shows I recorded.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Scary Times

Meanwhile, the news has been disheartening, with hate crimes like the firebomb at the mosque, and the anti-refugee fever in several states. I'm glad that prominent Muslims like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have been speaking out lately. (By the way, I read Kareem's novel about Mycroft Holmes, and it was interesting for featuring Trinidad and a historical group of freed slaves there called Merikans. However, I felt that the mystery was more action/adventure/political conspiracy thriller than something solved by logical deductions. Sherlock appeared in minor scenes a couple of times as an annoying, cold younger brother; he was still in university and snotty and disapproving of Mycroft's educated fiancee.)

I have never found Donald Trump's campaign funny, and he's only gotten more racist and awful. I hate hearing idiotic soundbites from him on the news and try to skip past them, but even late night TV mentions him so you can't really escape. He often repeats himself over and over, as if he can't elaborate on a point with different vocabulary. He'll just keep saying the same simplistic lies as if repetition that will make them true.

Plus I've got to worry about the Supreme Court, which is considering a few cases involving Texas, such as affirmative action, Planned Parenthood, and voter ID laws... So this is Christmas, in the words of John Lennon.

Rotten Cold

I've had a runny nose and sore throat the last couple of days, but I've just started a new job, so I can't exactly miss training to take off sick right now. I've been muddling through, trying to eat soup and drink liquids to make me feel better, but it's hard to sleep when you're too congested to breathe. Hopefully I can recover this weekend.

I read that Ron Howard was promoting his new movie and made some comments about Arrested Development continuing, but it didn't sound like an official announcement. But I did have a dream that I was there at the press event, and that somebody asked about how the show should end. Because season 4 was so dark, would they go with an unhappy ending, like with all the Bluths in prison or something? Well in the dream, Ron Howard argued that people love the Bluths and they should have a happy ending. A dark ending would be "like Greg growing up." I have no idea who "Greg" is, nor did anyone in the dream. Maybe it was an obscure reference to some character he played as an actor. Anyway the context was that Greg was some innocent child character and that growing up would spoil the show. But I don't think that real Ron Howard would feel that way, since he was a child star himself (and so was Jason Bateman). Besides, AD has gone plenty criminal and dark already, what with the sex offender storyline and Tobias's awful plot with DeBrie. I do love most of the Bluths, though, and want them to be happy. I'll try to work more on my story this weekend after I do a bunch of chores I didn't have time for during the workweek.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Twilight Zone

Meanwhile the news about San Berdardino gets more surreal by the day. Apparently a bunch of press stormed into the shooters' apartment to gawk at the stuff like ghouls. It's crazy and seems to be distracting from any talk of gun control. So sad.

Apparently Texas backed down from refusing the Syrian family that's scheduled to come on Monday, but they still want a court hearing about refugees. I'm so afraid that somebody will try to leak info about the family (or other Syrians currently in the state) to put them in danger. It's so horrifying, and I'm afraid of more war too. The world's gone mad.

Holiday Cheer

Last night's The Wiz musical was really stunning, and so much better than Peter Pan last year. I've never watched the old movie with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, though I'm told it was a loose adaptation of the Broadway musical anyway. NBC's production team did a great job, especially with the flying and acrobatic stunts by Cirque de Soleil. I'm glad it got good ratings, and I hope the Broadway production will be successful too.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Need to Laugh

Meanwhile, sitcoms this week were especially good distractions from the world. The Muppets had a hilarious episode, even better than the one with the karaoke singing. I enjoyed the great duet with the guest star, and then Piggy had some crazy acupuncture beauty treatment. Gonzo finally got to do a daredevil stunt again, and Electric Mayhem did silly stuff too. I do hope they keep up this zany tone, to improve the ratings maybe.

Rotten Day

Shit. Another mass shooting in America. I don't know why they struck a San Bernardino center for developmentally disabled people. I'm so tired of this.

Meanwhile, there's a fight going on in Texas, with the governor suing to stop a Syrian refuge family from being resettled here. They were supposed to come this Friday. I thought governors had no authority to refuse refugees, so what does he think a lawsuit is going to accomplish? I worry so much about what will happen given all the xenophobia here, especially at that mosque in Irving. No wonder Ahmed's family felt they had to leave the country to be safe.

About the only hopeful news I heard lately was that Hillary Clinton's emails show that she strongly favors closing Guantanamo. So if Obama can't get it done, maybe somehow she could manage it. But then again, she'd still have obstruction from Congress. So disappointing.