It’s becoming difficult to follow the news and continue to suppress my lifelong desire to pack my tiny family into the CRV and hightail it to our private compound in a location I will not share on a public forum.
ITEM: Maybe we’re all burned out, but I haven’t seen much on this. Over the weekend, two stories were published that suggested Trump admin staff had hired an Israeli spy firm to do oppo research on the Obama staff who worked on the Iran nuclear deal, with the goal of derailing the agreement. In the Guardian and some additional confirmation in the New Yorker.
Two twitter threads from one of the targets provides some context.
ITEM: I watch Westworld, but I’m surely not a fan. The cast is excellent and would love to see any of them in another role (If Anthony Hopkins and Brian Cox are interchangeable septuagenarian British actors, I’d rather see Cox in the part) I feel like I’ve seen this all before, like we’re all stuck in someone’s narrative loop and this is the latest iteration of the LOST storyline: story unstuck in time; shadowy corporation being shady; who’s more truly “alive” and “free;” who or what is running the world; is it freedom to every scenario ends in your destruction?
Sunday night show pulled the old switcheroo, introducing Park 6, Raj World (my name) and a new character who is chased into Westworld by a Bengal tiger. Will we see her again? Who knows. I’m not sure I care.
I’m not sure if Delos is harvesting DNA as part of a titanic Big Data project to optimize razor sales or they’re creating clones of business leaders as part of a global hostile takeover. Will Thandie Newton’s character give birth to a hybrid? All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.
ITEM: Or, turn off the infernal beast.
I don’t know if Bezos knows this, but before he ruins the quality of life in DC Metro Area he may want to read up on these things we have here called libraries. I had forgotten about them until the wee Bairn decided she was interested in learning about words and pictures.
In addition to books, the Montgomery County Library system holds a good collection films, TV shows, and audio recordings. I’ve caught up on my Agatha Christie habit and have taken to Ann Cleve’s Shetland books, a series about a Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez in one of the northern most points in Great Britain. He doesn’t drink to excess, but he sure is miserable and his life filled with misery. The stories are good, not great (Cleve’s also wrote the Vera Stanhope books; both series have made good TV). When I’m done with those, there’s a 1000 more to choose from, even if 99% of the mystery books on their shelves include a cat protagonist. I can always re-read Raymond Chandler or Graham Greene.
And unlike Amazon Prime and Netflix, the cost is baked into your tax bill, like all those other things that make your day a little bit better, like parks and trash collection and schools that actually educate. True, you may need to have some patience, but, since neither of us are very good at it, I think that’s a good thing for me and the Bairn to practice.
ITEM: Speaking of, I bought myself a D750 to take better pictures; specifically, pictures of the Bairn smiling and in focus. Could have saved a packet if I had followed this guidance.
ITEM: WTF is wrong with us men?
ITEM: These kids seem like giant assholes. They learned from the best.