A: Astoundingly.
Monday, March 26, 2018
Monday, October 16, 2017
Friday, June 09, 2017
School
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
(Edward Gibbon)
(Edward Gibbon)
Thursday, June 08, 2017
Stuff I Almost Put On Social Media
...before realizing that it'd do more harm than good, at most. But I'll tell you here:
It's kind of amazing to me to watch folks get all het up about things they can't affect (outside of some seriously math-impaired fantasies, at least), pretending it all changed even so much as their own opinion and that their rehashing it will change anyone else's.
Am I describing TV or sports? Could do, but at least that counts as entertainment. It's enjoyable. Nope, folks seem to get off on being angry to no effect. Thus the masochistic charm of politics.
Meanwhile I'm over here actually doing things. Which is why I haven't posted much anywhere for a while. Apologies.
It's kind of amazing to me to watch folks get all het up about things they can't affect (outside of some seriously math-impaired fantasies, at least), pretending it all changed even so much as their own opinion and that their rehashing it will change anyone else's.
Am I describing TV or sports? Could do, but at least that counts as entertainment. It's enjoyable. Nope, folks seem to get off on being angry to no effect. Thus the masochistic charm of politics.
Meanwhile I'm over here actually doing things. Which is why I haven't posted much anywhere for a while. Apologies.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Wolves
Once again, this is the most neglected part of a mostly neglected aspect of my life - and to think that, all things given their due, it'd be the most prosperous! Well, my quest for freedom continues (and begins to peek at blossoms, if not fruit just yet), and the stuff I've learned is mostly not yet ready for putting to text.
Sometimes there's something that cuts through so sharply, and is so on the nose with my own observations and experience, that I can't look away.
This is from commenter DC Sunsets, who I see all over the place but who doesn't seem to have a blog of his own. Pity. My reaction to his writing ranges from "Well, damn" to "Come on, man, you gotta be kidding," but even when I disagree with his conclusions I can't fault his insight.
This one is golden:
Sometimes there's something that cuts through so sharply, and is so on the nose with my own observations and experience, that I can't look away.
This is from commenter DC Sunsets, who I see all over the place but who doesn't seem to have a blog of his own. Pity. My reaction to his writing ranges from "Well, damn" to "Come on, man, you gotta be kidding," but even when I disagree with his conclusions I can't fault his insight.
This one is golden:
There are no (open) wolves in corporate America. The ambitious aren't wolves, they're (100%) sociopaths who know they face no real risk from their viciousness as long as they don't step on any of the 3rd rails (sex, race, etc., harassment.) The only wolves in the modern corporation are dog-mimics, any in 25 years I never saw anyone remotely like this move to and stay in management. No true man can tolerate the politics. This is reason #349 why American society is circling the drain. Virtue & honor are immediately disqualifying attributes for advancement in any organization.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
And The Oscar Goes To...
Eh, honestly I don't care. I've seen most of the Best Picture nominees and the Test of Time will not be polite to them.
Understand, when someone says a movie (or whatever) is "powerful" what they usually mean is "preachy." And "important" invariably needs, yet lacks, a "self-" before it. A vast number of films are lauded by people who would claim to hate formulaic features but which are as predictable as a Hallmark Christmas movie from scene to scene. Which, by the way, is why I find Hallmark movies to be easily as enjoyable as a lot of big production pictures: they have no pretension at all, and are simply a pleasant time. Everyone knows romantic comedies, action flicks, and the like have their formulae and no one minds acknowledging it. The dysfunctional family drama (for example) has it no less, but somehow is considered Important or something.
Whatever.
Let's have a look, shall we?
Understand, when someone says a movie (or whatever) is "powerful" what they usually mean is "preachy." And "important" invariably needs, yet lacks, a "self-" before it. A vast number of films are lauded by people who would claim to hate formulaic features but which are as predictable as a Hallmark Christmas movie from scene to scene. Which, by the way, is why I find Hallmark movies to be easily as enjoyable as a lot of big production pictures: they have no pretension at all, and are simply a pleasant time. Everyone knows romantic comedies, action flicks, and the like have their formulae and no one minds acknowledging it. The dysfunctional family drama (for example) has it no less, but somehow is considered Important or something.
Whatever.
Let's have a look, shall we?
Monday, February 13, 2017
Vanity
Why do I subject myself to award shows? Endless ego on parade, an industry patting itself on the back in so many ways, awful stuff.
Ok, I do have a reason to watch them. Two, in fact. First, the whole red carpet business is usually fun and picturesque. Second, there are often interesting performances embedded in the broadcast, and telling the DVR to record the thing and starting a bit late lets me skip most of the idiocy. Bless that little fast forward button!
But sometimes... well, sometimes something is so bizarre that it grabs the attention. Even as you see more and more clearly what a moral/staging/philosophical/whatever sort of trainwreck its very concept is, you just can't look away. It just keeps digging deeper.
Thus, the most gloriously self-congratulatory, hubristic, even self-deifying thing I have ever seen at the Grammys. I'm a little surprised lightning didn't strike.
Related, down to the hand wavy motions of the backuppriestesses dancers:
Ok, I do have a reason to watch them. Two, in fact. First, the whole red carpet business is usually fun and picturesque. Second, there are often interesting performances embedded in the broadcast, and telling the DVR to record the thing and starting a bit late lets me skip most of the idiocy. Bless that little fast forward button!
But sometimes... well, sometimes something is so bizarre that it grabs the attention. Even as you see more and more clearly what a moral/staging/philosophical/whatever sort of trainwreck its very concept is, you just can't look away. It just keeps digging deeper.
Thus, the most gloriously self-congratulatory, hubristic, even self-deifying thing I have ever seen at the Grammys. I'm a little surprised lightning didn't strike.
Related, down to the hand wavy motions of the backup
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