Michael Hopcroft

The Falklands War.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Break down the door, and I'm calling the cops.
 

There is an old novel (which I have never read) based on the premise that if you give the Mafia complete control over the country, they will build a utopia. Now personally I disagree -- an open kleptocracy would be just as bad as a hidden one, especially if those forced to pass the gravy along to get everything done have no recourse when they are inevitably cast aside in favor of someone who can pay more.
 
Besides, mobsters don't care about utopia. They care about grabbing as much as they can for themselves.
 
I am personally convinced that organized crime is probably a major player in Putin's Russia, with each side of the law manipulating the other to keep Putin in power and keep the money rolling in. Which is why having a casino magnate with ties to Putin as President is not a pleasant prospect for this country.

True to form, I've begun following the advice I was given and binge-watching Steven Universe. This is an animated series (originally airing on Cartoon Network in the US) about a young boy (age not really specified) who is essentially being raised by three super-powered "Crystal Gems" -- heroines charged with protecting the Earth from other "gem creatures" Steven Universe is his real name -- his father is Greg Universe, a failed rock musician who runs the local car wash. His mother was the leader of the Crystal Gems until she "gave up her physical form" giving birth to him.
 
I'm going through it in sequence (although I did skip ahead to a couple of later episodes -- you'll see why that matters in a moment). The early episodes I've been watching are Steven essentially exploring the world, gradually figuring out what his own Gem Powers might be capable of, and being a kid -- enthusiastic, naive, and a little bit selfish. What prevents him from being insufferable is his eternal optimism and resourcefulness -- what he lacks in skill he makes up for in chutzpah.
 
Right now it's very light-hearted, but my understanding is that as the show goes on, and Steven gains more experience, the tone of the show will change dramatically -- not as much emphasis on the comedy, more exploration of the backstory behind the Crystal Gems, and some things that will fly right over the heads of juvenile audiences.

Supposedly if you put raw popcorn in the stuffing of a chicken, the chicken meat is nicely done when the chicken explodes.

Yesterday when I was young
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
 
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built, alas, on weak and shifting sand
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day
And only now I see how the years ran away
 
Yesterday when I was young
So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
 
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all
 
Yesterday the moon was blue
And every crazy day brought something new to do
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
 
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play
 
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young

How would it change the points to change the natives' attitude to something more rational? To not so much hate the Jungle Queen as to be uncertain what to make of her. They would watch her uneasily, but not ever encounter is going to be deadly combat. Perhaps she occasionally needs things she would have to trade with them for. Or perhaps she has so little experience dealing with people that her interactions with them are going to be extremely awkward regardless (communication is difficult, she can't quite comprehend what they might be asking her for, etc.)

She may be the face I can't forget
A trace of pleasure or regret,
Maybe my treasure or the price I have to pay,
She maybe the song that Salome sings
Maybe the chill that autumn brings
Maybe a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.
 
She may be the beauty or the beast,
May be the famine or the feast,
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell,
She may be the mirror of my dream,
A smile reflected in a stream,
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell.
 
She who always seems so happy in a crowd,
Whose eyes can be so private and proud,
No one's allowed to see them when they cry.
She may be the love that cannot hope to last,
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I remember till the day I die.
 
She may be the reason I survive,
The why and wherefore I'm alive,
The one I'll care for through the rough-and- ready years.
Me – I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs,
For where she goes I've got to be,
The meaning of my life is she.

I know I walk an unpopular line, but I have this belief that people should feel uncomfortable with some things in life. It makes them realize that not everything out there is sanitized for their convenience. Homogenization is bad in my book. 
 
That said, racism bothers me because it makes zero sense. Two of my greatest personal role models have been black (I am white) and their wisdom has seen me through some pretty rough times. Literarily speaking, the character Dembe from Blacklist is one of my favorite characters ever. He rarely speaks his mind, but when he does he reveals wisdom and intelligence far beyond the role of Reddington's personal thug. There are many other characters of various ethnic backgrounds that I enjoy watching or reading about. If I allowed the cloud of racism to obscure such great characters or, in real life, the wisdom of my role models, then I would have deprived myself of many rewarding moments. Being a selfish punk, I like experiences that I feel reward me.

I saw Apocalypse the other morning. It got off the bus, looked around, saw that it'd been recognised, walked over, told me that we didn't deserve to be put out of our misery. As it got up onto the next bus, it told me that it was going to follow the Grateful Dead until we got our stuff together enough to be worth apocalypsesing. 

And yet virtually destroying every shrine you can find in your path is not vandalism if you're a pipeline company.

Along those lines:
 
The Incredible Shrinking Hulk
 
The Incredibles' Hulk

The Fox of Crime. Anyone remember the Fox of Crime? A teleporting master thief who threw cream pies in people's faces because he didn't want to actually hurt anyone, at least not physically )financially, on the other hand....) I can see this guy driving opponents nuts. Besides, pies to the face!

Q: Why don't we hear much about shareware anymore?
 
A: Your children are garbage until they have proven otherwise. And I won't give them the chance to!

Hungry Samurai Jack. Better make darn sure he gets his pancakes.

Hungry Samurai Jack. Better make darn sure he gets his pancakes.

"Which of these candidates has a realistic chance to win, and of them, which is the least objectionable and will do the least harm to the most vulnerable?" is also a valid moral choice. If one candidate's election will put the lives and rights of some of the most vulnerable citizens at risk, then the maximum moral priority is not to vote for the candidate who most closely aligns with one's personal political preferences, it's to vote for the candidate who is most capable of defeating the candidate who will bring about that adverse outcome. YMMV but I think it's something to think carefully about.

The lighting of the torch is the signal for the Army to launch the coup.

Well, Goldwater did say he was not averse to dropping a few nukes on North Vietnam. That one statement was probably why he was defeated so soundly.
 
LBJ was the ultimate pragmatist, and in the end it cost him dearly. He apparently didn't see the disconnect between his foreign and domestic agendas, neither of which he was particularly enthusiastic about. Kennedy had already set the course for the American intervention of Vietnam, and Johnson felt he had to go along with it or he would lose ground in the Cold War. He didn't so much direct policy as go along with what he thought was the best plan under the circumstances. And that lack of leadership translated into the debacle to come.
 
Actually, Trump and Clinton bear strong resemblances to Goldwater and LBJ. Trump is a demagogue, pure and simple, and his primary attribute remains sheer megalomania -- the belief that America needs a savior and it's him. Clinton also has as her underlying ideology a strong, enduring faith in Hillary Clinton, but she is also a pragmatist who thinks in terms of what she can accomplish realistically (and also what she can get away with). Fanaticism almost always leads to disaster, but pragmatism without a clear moral foundation can also lead to disaster. That is, in fact, why LBJ failed. He had no moral compass. I don't know that Clinton does either.

Write plays.

Well, Goldwater did say he was not averse to dropping a few nukes on North Vietnam. That one statement was probably why he was defeated so soundly.
 
LBJ was the ultimate pragmatist, and in the end it cost him dearly. He apparently didn't see the disconnect between his foreign and domestic agendas, neither of which he was particularly enthusiastic about. Kennedy had already set the course for the American intervention of Vietnam, and Johnson felt he had to go along with it or he would lose ground in the Cold War. He didn't so much direct policy as go along with what he thought was the best plan under the circumstances. And that lack of leadership translated into the debacle to come.
 
Actually, Trump and Clinton bear strong resemblances to Goldwater and LBJ. Trump is a demagogue, pure and simple, and his primary attribute remains sheer megalomania -- the belief that America needs a savior and it's him. Clinton also has as her underlying ideology a strong, enduring faith in Hillary Clinton, but she is also a pragmatist who thinks in terms of what she can accomplish realistically (and also what she can get away with). Fanaticism almost always leads to disaster, but pragmatism without a clear moral foundation can also lead to disaster. That is, in fact, why LBJ failed. He had no moral compass. I don't know that Clinton does either.

I'm STILL thrilled that we know of exactly one species that sent a flying saucer to another planet to disgorge a nuclear-powered robot to drive around shooting lasers at things . . . and it was us.

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Buy me birthday presents!

Buy me birthday presents!