Signal Wave
Good morning to all!
I may have mentioned before that I've been having increasing trouble finding movies and tv shows I like. I may have mentioned before that I think that's because the media, generally, is corrupt as all get-out, and often funded by the DoD--or even the CIA. Consequently, the detective stories and science fiction I love are often ridden with noxious messages, some of which obtrude from the stories like strange tumors, obviously not part of the original organism.
Back in the day, the fact that Zero Dark Thirty actually admitted proudly to the CIA's involvement in its production made me blink. That was before it became a commonplace for champions of feminism (Look, there's a female Hollywood director making a movie that isn't a romcom! Ain't it grand?) to wrap their arms around the CIA, sort of like it was before it became a commonplace for anti-racism advocates to defend mass warrantless surveillance.
Things have gotten really weird since then, which has led me to do things like delve into Scandinavian and Turkish tv shows and movies. The more foreign the better seems to be the rule. Somehow, British fictional media remains a good source of stories, not always horrible, despite their news media being as firmly under the oligarchy's foot as their American counterparts (it's a special relationship, after all).
Wow. That just led me to a really surreal reinterpretation of Disney's "Small World" ride: "It's a special relationship, after all! It's a special relationship, after all! It's a special relationship, after all..it's so...spe...cial."
I'm kind of a sick puppy, ain't I?
I may have been partly inspired by this:
Anyway, I found this series, which is part of the ever-expanding ripple effect from the greatly beloved Inspector Morse series. This sequel series, Inspector Lewis, is centered around the junior partner, and protege, of Morse, once he becomes a Detective Inspector and gets a detective sergeant all his own, fighting crime in the mean streets of Oxford. It's good stuff.
Here's a taste:
I'm looking for a good book. Right now, I'm resorting to re-reading a beloved favorite, Gaudy Night:
Despite having an awfully conservative (in many ways) sensibility, Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorite mystery authors. She's such an excellent writer in general that it's a pleasure to read her wonderfully three-dimensional characters and their quite realistic (in my opinion) relationships; it's also fun,for those who like such things, to watch her playing with words, or, as she puts it, engaging in piffle.
This particular book is set in Oxford--I wonder why I'm so preoccupied with Oxford lately?--about one generation after women have been allowed to enroll. The women's college, Shrewsbury, is subjected to a horrendous series of poison-pen letters which are clearly coming from within the college. The solution to the mystery is magnificently gut-wrenching, and, in my opinion, provides no absolute resolution. Sayers, despite being, I think, conservative, classist, and anti-American, is scrupulously honest; no socialist, she still can't help but present the case of her antagonist clearly and fairly nonetheless. I hope I haven't given away the solution to anybody, because if you haven't read this, you should.
I think I know why I'm rereading it, and why, in fact, I re-read it often; Sayers published this book in 1935, and was writing about characters who were essentially current. Her characters sincerely believed civilization was standing on a precipice. Unlike the average guy on a soapbox yelling about the end of the world, they had good reason to think so. It's understandable, I think, that I'm drawn to their story. Probably it's also because the characters, like the author, are scholars, and have scholars' traditional values; those values also happen to be mine.
My boyfriend has been playing this song obsessively of late. I think he thinks it would be good for a rave.
How are you all doing today?
Comments
The Texas State Board of Indoctrination. Again.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLm4ZSpwkwQ]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
@The Aspie Corner Wow. "We're leaving
Wow. "We're leaving reason and sound scholarship behind." "We are placing our public school teachers in a precarious position, where they have to choose between teaching what they know to be true, and teaching to a political ideology."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@The Aspie Corner This seems to be the
This seems to be the pervading fight, both on the right and the left. The fight that's getting obscured is the struggle between attempting to tell the truth and attempting to follow an ideology.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Good morning, everybody!
I really need to stop watching TV at night. Damn blue light. The days when I could soothe myself to sleep with the TV are over.
Of course, I could remember to turn down the intensity between the time my boyfriend and I stop watching gaming videos and when I start watching mysteries.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Good Morning, Caucusers!
CStMS, you are on the money, almost literally, perhaps, about so-called fiction and entertainment vehicles being, with msm, part of the propaganda arm of what passes for our government. A good chunk of "fiction" seems to be aimed at, if not loving Big Brother, at least making us comfortable with his/her ubiquitousness. (That form of ubiquitous seems too pedestrian. How about ubiquituity?)
And speaking of Big Brother's "ubiquituity," Zero Dark Thirty was released in 2012, as was Argo. And, Michelle Obama "graced" the 85th Academy Awards with her presence, via satellite, right before Argo won Best Picture, thus falling only thisshort of a First Lady presenting the Oscar for Best Picture to Argo.
I don't know if everyone remembers, as do I, that, by 2004, that director of Argo's director and then Hollywood heartthrob, Ben Affleck, had taken a liking to one of the daughters of JFK (as in John Forbes Kerry). Media made a big whoop of Affleck's traveling with the Kerry Presidential campaign--until media sussed out that Affleck hadn't (yet?) made a habit of, well, actually voting for political candidates. (But I bet he was by then taking seriously voting for Oscar recipients.)
Time out: Oh, God, I just remembered Kerry beginning his appearance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention with "John Kerry, reporting for duty" and a lame salute. *bangs head against wall*
And, now, as always, I will digress. Maybe. (Is digression possible when posting stream of consciounsess?) About Zero Dark Thirty:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Dark_Thirty (Since when are filmmakers the ones to deny they received access to classified material? Should they even know what is classified and what is not?)
And the wiki for Argo is also enlightening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film) (Can you say "brink of war?")
Anyway..... Ms. Obama all but became a presenter of Argo's Academy Award for Best Picture. I must say that I am over Hollywood's now centrist celebrities and New Democrats acting as though the USA is their inside joke.
Once again, I blame Clinton--this time, Bubba. Allegedly because of JFK (as in John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who, unlike Kerry, was actually of Irish descent, as opposed to only playing an Irishman on TV for Boston's St. Pat's Day festivities), Clinton made "Hollywood" part of his campaign team. (Difference: JFK's brother in law was Peter Lawford, a member of Hollywood's then fabled "Rat Pack," led, after Humphrey Bogart's passing, by Frank Sinatra. JFK 'pal-ed around with the Rat Pack until that polled poorly. Presumably, "Hollywood" was not teaching JFK how to deceive the U.S.)
During the Lewinsky accusations, Bubba turned to the producers of Designing Women for advice. Supposedly, they were the ones who advised him to look directly into the camera and proclaim, "I never had sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
Speaking of Hollywood and Clintons, during Bubba's tenure in the White House, Candice Bergen and her daughter stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom, which most likely meant that Bergen had paid rent for the Lincoln Bedroom in the form of a large donation to the Clinton Gore campaign. (How did we not then guess that the Clintons would have a net worth of over a hundred million dollars soon after leaving the White House?)
And, on the rather sad premiere of The New Murphy Brown, there was Hillary Clinton, as an applicant for the perennially doomed position of Murphy's secretary, making extremely lame jokes about having experience with emails and telling "Murphy" that she (Hillary) could be reached at youcouldhavehadme.com The sad thing is the failure of Candice, Hillary and the (apparently) untalented writers of Brown redux to realize that all of America knew on election day 2016 that voters could have had Hillary and the ONLY thing that makes Trump even remotely bearable for many of us is that he is not Her.
Speaking of Hillary and Hollywood, when a group of people, supposedly Sanders supporters, demonstrated against George Clooney (one of the producers of Argo), he oh! so patiently and condescendingly schooled them that Hillary needed those "obscene amounts of money" (his words) that he was raising because she was going to funnel cash to down ticket candidates. Turned out, not so much. Literally, not so much: Hillary funneled precious little money anywhere, other than to her own campaign.
Sigh. Whatever happened to "Hollywood liberals?" Now, they're all either centrists or rightists.
O.K. I'll stop.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzagUypsrBg]
@HenryAWallace Oh my God. They were that
Oh my God. They were that blatant? Hillary actually was ON the new Murphy Brown?
/facepalm /facepalm /facepalm
One particular subset of this crap is the remaking of movies and shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Also in that subset is bringing new entries to franchises that started during those decades, entries which smash the premises of the original movies to pieces. A concerted effort is being made to reshape our understanding of those stories. I hope very much that Star Trek doesn't fall prey to the same thing, but I am quite concerned about the new Picard series, especially since Patrick Stewart said something like "He may not be the same man you remember."
If they manage to make Star Trek into a servant of the oligarchy or the police state I'm gonna be done with new TV series and movies.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Funny you should mention that. On *The Big Bang Theory,*
Sheldon's mom was trying to encourage him to try something. (I've already forgotten what.) She reminds him that he thought he was never going to like the new (Patrick Stewart version) of Star Trek, but he came to like it.
Considering those pigs at CBS already turned
the Federation into an imperialist galactic power, I can't say my hopes are high for this new Picard series. Is Sir Patrick really so desperate for a pay check he'd ruin one of his most beloved characters?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
@HenryAWallace all of America knew on
all of America knew on election day 2016 that they could have had Hillary and the ONLY thing that makes Trump even remotely bearable for many of us is that he is not Her.
Now, now. I think you haven't watched enough episodes of Madam Secretary.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
HA! When I saw *Madame Secretary* during its first season,
I believed that, much like The West Wing, it was preparing America for a real-life (though surreal) run by Hillary for the Presidency. That being my view of it, I could not bring myself to watch many episodes. So, you're right about that.
@HenryAWallace Pretty much everybody
Pretty much everybody my life partner worked with on the Hill agreed with you.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Good to know!
During the 2008 primary, I was posting on a board with maybe ten regular posters. Given its size, it became very chummy--in a good way.
One day, a Hillary fan from Texas posted that The West Wing plot of Jimmy Smits's character,Matt Santos (read: youngish member of a minority group) winning an election against Alan Alda (read: older member of the establishment) had been written to prepare America for President Barack Obama. At that point, I had not yet watched The West Wing; and, in any event, I thought she was a loon. However, look at what I just saw for the first time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Santos
Having thought she was a loon, I could not help but consider that possibility for myself when I thought that the genesis of Madame Secretary was preparing us for a Hillary Presidency.
BTW, The first run of the West Wing ended May 14. 2006, well ahead of the 2008 primary of Obama v. Clinton and the 2008 Presidential election of Obama v. McCain. Lawrence O'Donnell, now of MSNBC, was a writer and then an executive producer.
All of which leads me to wonder: Just how far ahead has this crap that we perceive as happening before our eyes, been planned?
Anyway, had it not been for that poster, I might have binge watched The West Wing differently. I'm not sure I could have missed Madame Secretary, though--even if that character is much younger than Hillary--the bleached blond hair, the pantsuits, etc.
I have to say, though, that, in the hands of good writers, the real story, Hillary, who'd stopped driving a car in 1992, Bubba perjuring himself over a blow job, etc. could have made a incredibly funny sitcom. Too bad it was not funny while we lived it.
@HenryAWallace Only the police state
Only the police state gets to open our imaginations now, like a drunk opening a fridge.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I never thought about a drunk opening a fridge,
mostly because I never opened a fridge when I drank. I simply went to sleep. That was only in college, though. I quickly decided I did not like being drunk.
Catch 22: Unfortunately, I become drunk after imbibing very little of anything alcoholic. So, I almost never drink anything alcoholic--and I do like the taste of wine.
@HenryAWallace I, too, get drunk
I, too, get drunk very quickly, which interestingly led to me not drinking much at all. It's no fun when you're exhausted and coming down from the buzz at the same time that all around you are peaking and partying their heads off.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
A half glass of wine makes me tipsy, but,
a hangover headache sets almost immediately in if I drink the second half.
What is even worse than dealing with losing the buzz while all around you are getting theirs? Being stone cold sober when adults have had too much to drink and are still drinking, like kids who don't know any better but to keep drinking until all the booze is gone. As Trump might tweet: Sad.
Need health care, can't afford it. MediFail 4 All.
Subject says it all, I have Medicare deducted every month, it pays for nothing I can actually use to better my health. The 2019 Handbook arrived yesterday. shit show of insurance scams
I need good life support, not more insured pharma soup. Better labor laws for all, not more public/private unions. Better housing laws for all, not more public/private investor landlord gougers. Better oversight, better judges, better law enforcement officers. California is a cesspool of unavoidable graft seekers. keep flushing
I guess Trump is supposed to give everyone so much pain, they'll want a D-Anybody to "save" further middle-class erosion. The poor must die, to save the middle class. Who else will run their programs, police their properties, "teach" their children, etc..
Welcome the new class war, same as the old class war.
I saw the barking dawg yesterday morning, a German Shepard head out the back window of a dark SUV. "to the realms!" I haven't been on the river path lately, it is full of pigs. Too lazy to get off their fat asses and patrol on foot, they just drive on the pedestrian path, looking for outlaw homeless people to "move along". Disgusting display of fascism, I think. I'm next, that's all. It is frightening to be at the mercy of cruel systems like here, where I live now. Stepford, Inc.
peace
Are you also on Obamacare (I assume?)
I don't even have the cheapest version of Obamacare, and my deductible is still over $6,000. As you say, this makes it basically useless for almost everything, even to a middle-class woman like me, though strict devotion to fact requires me to say that it does cover my gynecological exams for free. That and pharma products are all it seems to have any salutary effect on; the rest, I can go whistle until I meet the over $6,000 requirement.
They get mad about Medicare for All, and I start advocating for a National Health Service. That's what I've been doing since the Bernie Sanders/Medicare For All debacle. I might not have power, but I can still tell the truth, and the truth is, as you say, we don't need an alternative insurance package, we need the end of for-profit medicine via a public health service.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
NOPE no obama "care". thank gawd
After 2010, they started calling what I have "Legacy Medicare", it is part of the disability system and not something I ever chose for myself. In fact I tried to "opt-out" of Parts A and B, but the guy who answered talked me in to keeping it. The "new" Medicare looks like a bunch of insurance scammers to me, not health providers. I guess that's why the polls are favorable to "Medicare 4 All" now, capture is complete.
I am not supportive of any insurance providers at this point, since I don't even own a car anymore they are useless to me. After the Tubbs wildfire last year, all the property insurers became asshole, of course. I mean really disgusting displays of inhumanity to reap profit from disaster off of the community, all perfectly normalized by the media and the politicians. I don't know anyone who "uses" their health insurance except for emergencies. And labs, you can't even get a blood test without an insurance company knowing about it now, I guess. So much for privacy laws, digital is data is profit.
LIHOP, let it happen on purpose. That's the system. meh
@eyo Not that it would be
Not that it would be great anywhere, but I don't like thinking of you stuck in CA; as you experience (no doubt) daily, it's an especially punishing economic system.
I wish you and the dog could go "To the Realms!"
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hola, CStMS. Still on the road here (though far from being a
Dharma bum, heh). Dawn is breaking, si it's time to get going and doing, and will have to postpone the vids and music until I can drag out the headphones some other time.
Have a great day.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hi CSTMS. If you haven’t seen it already, you might like
Grantchester from the BBC. It’s a sort of dark, Anglican (C of E) version of Father Brown. Another series we enjoyed is going off Netflix tomorrow. Detectorists is a gentle series about British people with metal detectors. I avoided it for far too long. If you have Acorn or Britbox, you may still be able to see it.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
@Lily O Lady durn it, my comment to
durn it, my comment to you disappeared.
I love Grantchester and have watched it all. Haven't seen the Detectorists; I'm currently considering getting Acorn or Britbox (I fight shy of subscriptions, generally, but these might make sense, given my taste). Thanks for the tip on the show.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hey, e.l.
Have a (continued) great trip.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Always appreciate a good book
recommendation, especially if it's a mystery. I've just finished reading Sue Grafton's "Y is for Yesterday". I started reading her books back in the 1980's when I first read "A is for Alibi". Now after finishing her last book, I've come to learn Ms. Grafton passed away in 2017. She almost made it to Z. I will miss her, Kinsey, Henry, and the whole gang at Rosie's.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Sue Grafton was a Final Jeopardy clue the other day.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnMbrckOYoo]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
That made me smile
Thanks for that, Aspie
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Brilliant British TV
Have you seen Line of Duty? I think it is one of the best shows ever produced. I watched the series twice and I envy anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I'm kinda sorry I watched that
Don't know what repelled me more.
Her smug entitlement; using broadcast TV to flaunt her criminal tenure as SOS; or that the fact she actually had joke writers come up with "comedic" fodder about her corruption.
Youcouldvehadme.com? Jesus Fucking Christ. We really are going to have to drive a stake through her heart to get rid of her, aren't we?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
I am not going to watch Hillary Clinton, never ever ever! heh
thanks to snoopydawg but no way, and shame on Candice Bergen for fiddling her right wing PR switch. Her and Dan Quayle can go spell potato and fuck right off together. Yet another Hollywood retread! The death of creativity. Yeah my sentence structure sucks, at least I haven't supported killing anyone for profit, accidentally or on purpose. And I know how to operate email, with proper quoting and trimming and everything, unlike Her heinuous, Her majesty, sieg heil!
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/23594
Clinton wasn't home baking cookies in the 90s, she was doing big profit deals for her private pals, on the public's dime. The UniParty cannot look any samer to me right now. PU Corrupt.
NOBODY 2018
peace