Turning

Since I prolly won't be blogging tomorrow night, I may as well do it now...also, Lent is almost upon us...hard to believe.  Not that it snuck up on us, but...well, it hardly feels the time, in a way.  Of course, a little sackcloth and ashes at any time of the year is a good thing.

Crossed two more films off the list:  "The Negro Soldier," a 1944 war film showing the importance of African-American efforts to the war effort, and (nostalgia), a 1971 avant-garde film which was...well, extremely avant-garde, if you get my drift.  This gets me to 534, which is...well, progress, if nothing else.

One of my coworkers was complaining about "Moonlight;" mainly that it won and the subject matter.  I pointed out that last year we had a white coming of age film -- "Boyhood," I think -- and that at least the reviews were good (for the record, "Moonlight" is like 15 in the Netflix queue; I want to finish "Justified" and of course there are NFR selections...).  Also, more film diversity in the awards (not that I watched, of course!) is good...  Since this coworker was one of the few more conservative than I am at the office...well, everyone had a good chuckle at my new and progressive stance.

I was sort of amused by the blowback from Kim Mulkey's speech; I mean, I suspect that yes, slugging people in the face is bad.  That said, I suspect she is not completely wrong in saying other colleges don't have the issues BU does (PSU comes to mind); they've had it at Colorado, KU and Creighton hoops have been clouded by allegations, and of course OSU (Stillwater) and the hostess thing... I just wonder how many other schools (pre-Baylor) would have stonewalled away if something came up in the football program; honestly, I think a lot would.

Back in action

After what can only be described as a thrilling week of work, here we are.  I think the part about me working at home a couple hours every night is done, though when I will be physically there, it will be AS thrilling.  Alas.

From the ever-popular series of "Donald Trump is So Dumb Because He Makes People Do What He Would Want:"
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/opinion/sunday/are-liberals-helping-trump.html?emc=edit_th_20170219&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=31060267&_r=1&mtrref=undefined&gwh=F72B94FD293A26C2BC2E4A30BD954EF2&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion

In the meantime, I did manage to finish Season 5 of Justified, watch "Out of the Past" and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" on the list (532)...The first one was a film noir, very good, not that convoluted of a plot; the other...I could see why people would like it, but for me...for all the expectations, it wasn't that much.... I mean, if I did a lot of drugs it would be cool, but it was sort of preachy and...crappy.

https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/who-is-guy-fieri
Interesting...I am not really a fan of Fieri, or of Bourdain, but I think prefer Fieri's approach... I mean, I think it lacks pretension. which is what really pisses people off nowadays...

linx

It's been quite a swimmingly good week of work, if you get my drift, which explains the radio silence, the lack of progress on the film list, and minimal reading.  It is also going to continue for a little bit more, which, as you can imagine, is good for morale..

http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/
I thought this was quite interesting...I would argue government subsidies of such things as healthcare drive up costs in that segment, and elsewhere, it plays a role.  I also suspect the rise of the administrative state has the same effect...

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/obamacare-trump-congress-repeal-replace-235074

I think I should have a running series on Donald Trump, idiot, getting other people to do what he wants.  :P  Ok, maybe this isn't his fault -- passing a highly complex law without figuring out what could wrong and correcting it or better yet not doing it in the first place will do that to you -- but if the ACA implodes on its own...To me, one way around this (and to avoid further shitshows) would be to get the infrastructure plan out there... not that it would be a huge help, but the optics of people running around building things and hiring people would be nice.  Also, people with real jobs don't need Medicaid, and downsizing that program seems to be a GOP/Trumper goal, so...

Identity

After what can only be described as a thrilling week of work...here we are.  Ok, the Duke win last night was awesome...to be sure, UNC was short-handed, but...Duke did avoid their usual practice of playing with their heads up their asses, and even weathered the run the Tar Heels made in the second half.  Phew.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/devos-backlash-sees-parents-threatening-to-homeschool-kids/ar-AAmKXT2?li=BBnbcA1

I posted before about Trump's enemies doing his dirty work for him, and this article...well, made me smile.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/02/what_pro_trump_english_professor_mark_bauerlein_thinks_now_that_his_candidate.html

I found some of this a little disconcerting; I mean, NOT paying to attention to certain things Trump has done is, well, foolish, but there was one part I found most...correct:
I think what has happened here is that identity politics have forced everyone to start thinking in these terms. And I think on the left, you have an alarm: What if white men start playing the game of identity politics the way we have for the past 40 years? That is going to go very badly for everyone.

I would posit that in actually, white men just started to play the identity game now by voting for Trump, and if he can deliver on some of what he has promised, they will continue to do so.  On the one hand, this doesn't bother me; as Dems are going to discover, that which is done by you can be done to you, and if that sucks, well, too bad, you should have thought of it.  I really don't mind white men (and women), especially working-class ones, voting as a bloc; it's been done in the past before.

I think the issue -- which the good professor sees -- is that if white men decide to act like an aggrieved minority, that is when the problems start, because the media (as evinced by the questioner above) doesn't know how to handle it, aside from claiming hate (possibly but not always true) or some reactionary prejudice (ditto) and that of course will only fuel the grievance machine...as I like to say, if I really had white male privilege, my life would be a hell of a lot better, but it's not, so...

Holding pattern

It's been interesting, body-wise for me...not much sleep, I can feel the body dragging, but the workouts have been pretty solid at the gym.  My cold is in a holding pattern, but the worst seems to have passed.  Sleep quality poor, not helping.  Lots of crap food at work, which I eat due to the snackless home, but...you get the picture.

Up to 530 on the film list; watched some shorts and "Poor Little Rich Girl," Mary Pickford's big role...a little preachy, but it was 1914...  not quite my tea, but not uninteresting.

I have to admit, the Boone Logan signing is pretty solid; good LOOGY, can be used against weak righties, not too expensive, and it does fill the only bullpen hole out there.  I think the OF is still a little weak, Brantley or not, but, well, they will just have to live with it.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/6/14522424/trump-obamacare-executive-order

This could be me, but...yes, they should.  Rah,

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-06/obamacare-abortion-and-the-ease-of-extremism

I agree with this, which is why -- like many conservatives -- I feel that the Court really shouldn't be in the business of broad philosophical cases, if you will, especially when a political and legislative solution would be a hell of a lot more practical.    Yes, not everyone would like the decisions, but everyone would have a say in them, and that is a hell of a lot more...satisfying.

Sleepy Time

This could be me and my lack of sleep, but I have definitely been feeling like a sleepy boy over the last two days.  I suspect the drop in caffeine consumption between here and work contributes...alas.

Some progress on the film front; yesterday I watched "Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania" and today I watched "One Week."  The latter was a Keaton short from the 20s -- mildly funny, cool special effects -- while the former was a documentary about a man and his family going back to the ancestral home...interesting but not quite my scene.  Up to 527, yay...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-ban-on-migrants-trump-supporters-see-a-promise-kept/ar-AAmrjWD?li=BBnbcA1

I think I want the Trump tattoo, just for shits and giggles...

Catching up

A long blogging hiatus, especially given my recent efforts of staying in touch...anyways in the interim we won Pub Quiz...worked a lot, and that's it.  I haven't slept well lately, which is why my cold progress is stalling, so I am off to bed early tonight.  I am waking up early, part of the issue...

Good day today; taxes done, refunds to come...Regina Brett will column no more (pretty much), and Duke won...

I also realized I need to catch up on some of the fiction books on the top 100 list.  I figure once I get through the Xmas list and do some reading of some other things that have been piling up, I can...rah. I am right now about a third of the way through Seymour's Baseball:  The Golden Age, which I am enjoying quite a bit, not that this should surprise anyone.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/they-never-saw-this-coming-a-qanda-with-kellyanne-conway-on-trumps-victory/2017/01/26/2bf64c10-da96-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.3f1ace35b40a

The more I read about her, the more I like...