A sense of achievement

 Finished the Christmas festivities today -- sort of -- by going to my sister's and spending a few hours snacking, having some loaded egg nog in honor of Mom, exchanging presents, and being our usual loving selves to each other.  It was quite nice, actually; we all agreed that while it was a bit off not to Christmas on Christmas, it wasn't that odd -- certainly with the weather a lot of people moved the holiday to today (hell, I even saw two houses on her street where obviously Christmas was happening) and it certainly was a bit more relaxed.  Present-wise, I got some books and some slippers, so I really cannot complain.

Also finished book #49 today -- one about the treason trial of Aaron Burr; sort of a truncated but detailed look at the case from the legal perspective.  Quite interesting, and -- in a day and age when John Marshall is on the cancel list -- a reminder of why he deserves to be remembered... namely, that the case -- in addition to the legal and constitutional questions involved -- was a trap laid out for him by Jefferson that could have impugned, if not destroyed, the role of the Supreme Court.  Marshall was able to dodge the trap by a very careful -- yet nuanced -- approach to the law.  Reminded me, in some ways, of what John Roberts is trying to do now...

I watched "Scorpio Rising," which brings me to 800 on the National Film Registry.  It's a short film, rather avant garde, from the 60s...  as with a number of films, it would have been more enjoyable, I think, if I had been on something.  But I was not, so instead I got an interesting, if disjointed, visual tone poem with some odd themes.  Oi.

I also watched "Happy Valley," a documentary about the Jerry Sandusky scandal and, moreso, about the aftermath and effects of everything.  I am still of two worlds about this -- one, of course, demanding heads on a platter, the other...well, I have never been a fan of the damnation memoriae approach to history, so taking away the wins, the statue, etc., is...dumb.  On the other hand, as Joe Posnanski said...while JoePa did what was legally required, he was JoePa, and as such, he needed to do MORE than that -- the right thing to do, no matter how unpleasant that seemed to be.  He did not, and a large part of why things ended up the way they did was because of that.