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Showing posts from August, 2022

Inherent Vice article

Jim Ruland in Alta writes: "“For the old guard,” Carswell explained, “Pynchon was validation for literary criticism because you can’t read it by yourself.”" I guess with the internet you can glean enough background, the reading groups on r/ThomasPynchon was very helpful. Also being older helps. Also, "Justin St. Clair, associate professor of English at the University of South Alabama, takes the argument one step further: “This may be heresy,” he says, “but I think I like the movie better than the book.”" Also, "For Reilly, it ignores the most important aspect of the book: the many and varied references to the Manson Family. Set in the period between the Tate-LaBianca murders and the Manson trial, the novel captures the moment when Californians lost faith in the counterculture." I really need to watch Once Upon A Time In Hollywood . I recently watched Under The Silver Lake , and found it interesting. Had lots of naked women prancing around the screen, and

Liz Cheney

It's such a relief when the opposing party can call out their own assholes, it kind of lends a air of objectivity to a fairly subjective process. Liz Cheney's politics are rancid from my perspective, but she's potentially carving out a presidential run, after being voted out of office for breaking ranks and getting ahead of the curve. Oh and holding Trump accountable for his criminal behaviors. No small thing. Just like I can say Biden is doing amazing for American standards and criticize him for not doing more from a progressive viewpoint. Politics is about having ideas about how things should be, and then kludging something anyway. I can hate Cheney's voting record but also applaud her American decency.  (Did you read about the Florida candidate who got his twitter account suspended for saying he will make a law that it's okay to shoot FBI, IRS or other government officials? ( source )) I've always thought the first female president would come from the right.

Why I don't like Andrew Yang

First off he ran for president, based on no political experience. Then he ran for mayor based on no political or governmental experience. He lost his two political races, not even close. Solution? Create a party in between the right of center Democrats and far right wing Republicans. Really? He defends the sentiment that Trump should be let off the hook, that seeing justice as blind is a political act? Please, a shill for the status quo is not what a 3rd party is about. A third party is democratic socialism or green party, something that doesn't just fall between far right and center right.  I want representation, I want more Asian heritage candidates. There are some Asian American politicians from my area. I really like Lindy Li . Trying to harness the disaffected, "politicians don't do anything," sentiment isn't really productive. You wouldn't pick someone with no professional experience in almost any other profession. Working in government is a profession.

Gina Carano

A penny dropped, watching Mandalorian and thinking about the actress who was canceled. She made some tweets that were "political". She feels canceled. Disney is a woke corporation, pursuing a liberal agenda--is what they say. To me a political choice is abstractly wanting a smaller government, but not at the cost of lives. If people die, then it's not political, it's murderous. The canceling isn't politics, it's valuing human life. Pro-life. "Gina Carano will not be returning to The Mandalorian or the Star Wars galaxy after sharing a post on social media implying that being a Republican today is like being Jewish during the Holocaust." ( source  of quote, source , source ) So because you expressed a noxious death cult opinion, you lost your job, and you compare that to people being rounded up and murdered. And people get offended. Go figure. It's one thing to have a political difference. I think we should tax the rich to redistribute the grossly