I've Never Met an American Named Nigel and Other Observations

Aubrey Plaza, a great talent

I’ve never met an American named Nigel, nor have I met an American named Basil. Surely there are some out there.

The missus and I went to a a film on Sunday that “started” at 10:45 AM (yes, rather early for a movie but there are fewer people and you get out at a good time to enjoy lunch). I put started in quotes because that was the advertised time. By the time coming attractions and all the other folderol they put you through was done it was 11:05. A full twenty minutes of loud nonsense. Ridiculous. It was an AMC theater. 

I saw an overweight couple and their overweight children at the theater carrying huge boxes of popcorn and gigantic sodas. They stopped to add butter and I’m tellin’ ya, they were not holding back. See you in the ER, folks.

If some things are unprecedented why don’t you hear anyway say, “that action was precedented”? Okay I admit that you hear there is precedent for something but still mundane actions are never precedented. Why is that?

You also hear that there is “no love lost” between opponents but never hear about there being “love lost” between friendly rivals. Wouldn’t know what it meant if there was love lost but that’s not the point.

Why do I continue to maintain a blog that no one but me ever reads? I’m really stumped on this one yet I’m the only one who can answer it.

It’s a pretty sad commentary on this country that the highest court in the land is full of corrupt jackasses. We can blame Trumpy for three of the aforesaid but then you’ve also got Alito and Clarence Thomas. They’re horrible.

It’s really sad that there are so many literate people who disdain books. I can’t even begin to imagine. If nothing else a good read is excellent food for the brain. When you read a book you’re entering into a whole world. It’s a great escape and intellectually stimulating. I not only have a book I’m reading but I have the next one, two, three or more lined up. Of course then I buy another book and it sometimes jumps the queue.

Queue seems a weird word to type. You start with your q which is not a common letter then you have — as the law commands — a u followed by — again as dictated by the rules of the game — a vowel, in this case an e then you’re back to another u and e. Which means that after your one consonant you do a u and e TWICE. Funky.

Hey there’s a word that’s fallen out of use: funky. Ya know I just realized I’ve mentioned that on this blog before. I must have a thing about funky. Great word. Bring it back. I think I’m going to vacation in Funkytown. Wonder how you get there.

Looks like we’re about to get an actor’s strike to go along with the writer’s strike. There’ll be no new movies or TV shows in the future. Pay the people who make art, you greedy bastards. 

I saw the other day that another racist person was caught on video yelling at people. In this case it was a woman in Colorado going on a poolside rant against “Mexicans.” Some folks on the internet immediately figured out who she was, where she worked and that fact that she’d once declared bankruptcy. The story has already started to fade and I wonder if anything worthwhile will come of the incident. Did she learn a lesson? Did exposing her teach her to keep her bigotry to herself? I have no sympathy for the woman but I don’t know that dredging up her past serves any purpose. I also didn’t see the point of commenters who criticized her physical appearance. As a society we don’t know how to heal. It’s also instructive that there are so goddamned many bigots still out there. 

I’ve finally started watching Parks and Rec, the sitcom starring Amy Poehler.  Funny stuff. For me Aubrey Plaza steals every scene she’s in. A great talent.

When the hell are we going to get Trumpy in prison where he belongs? My god look at all the laws the bastard has broken. If a poor person of color committed one of those crimes he’d long since have been behind bars. 

Check out this headline from CNN: “Tuberville refuses to denounce white nationalism in military, doubles down on past comments.” That’s Tommy Tuberville the Republican senator from Alabama. (Gosh, imagine a Republican from the deep south supporting white nationalists, who’d have thought?). So there you have it, a sitting senator who’s okay with racism. In the 21st century. What a country.

Couple weeks ago the missus and I saw Wes Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City. Think it’s his best since Moonrise Kingdom. As the kids would say: check it out!