Motley Kamuka

I didn't watch it. Nothing either one could say would change my mind that the felon Trump is not a viable candidate. The policies are a choice between centrist, that boost the economy and pay down the debt to get real value for the dollars, and far right wing grifter policy nihilism. Not a hard choice for me. Erode women's right to choose versus trying to hold the line on the onslaught of far right wing shenanigans that distract from climate change and the disappearing middle class.  I can't tell if the hysteria about Biden's performance is real or just right wing shrilling. The NY Times has been against Biden, so their editorial doesn't surprise me. Guess they're not going to play at bothsidesism on that one.  Anyway, Biden's age is why we have a vice president. A black woman who isn't far right wing is unacceptable. I think the first woman to be elected president will be right wing. But slipping in the side door? A black woman? Who isn't right wing...

I listened to Frank Zappa's Hot Rats album yesterday because it was recommended on a jazz subreddit. It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's quite jazz. Close maybe, more like prog rock, except instead of classic influences it seemed to have middle eastern influences.  I'm reading about Kashgar in The Silk Road by Bill Porter. Supposedly the city was saved by rats once, as they ate up the invading army's horse straps, they thought they were attacked by ghosts and left. Some people feed the rats because they are seen as allies. I think about the rat priest in Thomas Pynchon 's novel V .  I think about Liz Lemon boyfriend Dennis Duffy 's riff about the rat king, where they get tangled up together and become one, NYC myth.  They put a big inflatable rat in front of buildings where unions are on strike in NYC. Nibbles out of my bread let me know mice have access to my house. When I take care of a cat, he gets a mouse for me. Rats aren't mice, but they a...

I like to look up various spots in travel books. Porter starts in Hong Kong, and thrills us with tails of avoiding over priced travel. Traveling the silk road with Bill Porter in The Silk Road starts in Xian : I didn't know China is named after the Qin Dynasty .  Underground Warriors . Wikipedia calls it the Terracotta Army .  "Impressive thought it was, a person can only stare at such a sight for so long. After a half hour we had seen enough." (p. 14) There's a TV show called Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors (2024) on Netflix I probably won't watch.  Kukai, one of my many spiritual heroes, could have seen the Goose Pagoda when he was in Xi'an. They went to the Emperor Wu 's tomb, a hill, that those warriors were supposed to be guarding.  I'm not sure where I've read about  Yang Guifei before, but I've seen those statues. She's among the 4 great beauties of ancient  history.  Famen Temple . Supposedly there's a Buddha finger there...

I remember when I saw Mean Streets (1973), I got into a discussion with my friend about the negative movie. They lived kind of negative lives, and there's violence and dysfunction. I can sort of watch those kinds of movies, but they're not as fun. Realism maybe. Artistic maybe. Not really enjoyable.  Another friend took me to Irreversible (2002), a horrible horrible movie, but artistic and well done. At the time I didn't mind how horrible it was.  I remember Hotel Rwanda (2004) was a movie I tried to macho watch, take the suffering.  I remember watching The Lighthouse (2019) with my son, and I was horrified and confused, but he was really enjoying the movie. I kind of envied him enjoying it.  Recently I could get through Climax (2018) I just had such a sense of foreboding that it was just not worth it to me to watch more than 35 minutes.  Now I'm getting older, and I find the negative movies and traumatic experiences painful. I'm watching The Salesman, the 2016 ...

The felon Trump has taught me to back away, avoid, ignore politics, meanwhile enticing me to read endless condemnations and explanation of why people actually vote for him. A number of times I have caught myself mindlessly ranting about Trump, the big bowl of wrong that his is, connecting it in many ways to various values that I have being violated. To be sure that's part of his appeal to the sociopaths who love him. A candidate takes a recipe. One part rugged individualism, one part exceptionalism, one part manifest destiny, one part materialism. Served to conservative evangelicals, serve to conservative religious people, serve to ordinary conservatives, serve to people who hate liberals, and you've got a popular dish. They would rather a selfish ruler was just out for their own because that confirms their theory of human nature, and it's not liberals trying to do good.  This next election will be about what you hate, if Trump has his way. Do you hate liberalism, high tax...

Watched 5 specials of Maria Bamford yesterday and she's a genius. Online streaming changes quite a lot, but yesterday I had access to 5 comedy specials.  Interested to learn that her father is a doctor, her mother is a therapist, and her sister is a doctor and life coach. She does great impressions of them.  She gets funnier with age, so watching her most recent to her earliest will be my ritual on Maria Bamford Day, September 3rd, her birthday! I put it in my calendar.  Today I'm watching Lady Dynamite.  Links Ave Maria Bamford  (12 short bits)