First Looks category archive
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Recommended Viewing 0
Constable Topinka (aka Sergeant Topinka), which follows the (mis)adventures of a self-important, but somewhat–er–less than competent police officer in a small town in the mountains of northeastern Czechia. As near as I can tell from the credits, it is a cooperative effort of Czechian and Slovakian television networks.
The episodes I’m watching are dubbed in English, without subtitles. Frankly, the dubbing is not great, but the stories are an absolute hoot and a lot of fun.
I’m watching it on Tubi, but a web search indicates that’s it’s available on a number of streaming platforms.
Recommended Viewing 0
Death on the Nile, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot.
Even if you are not a mystery buff and a Hercule Poirot fan, as I am, it’s worth viewing for the cast, which includes David Niven, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, and George Kennedy, among others. And much of it was filmed in Egypt, so the scenery is authentic.
I saw it on Tubi.
The Playbook 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Mark D. White looks to the Marvel Universe, particularly to a recent Captain America series, to draw lessons about how fascism works. He identifies three steps in the process; follow the link to see whether they remind you in any way of dis coarse discourse.
1. Inventing a “Mythic Past”
2. Setting “Us” Against “Them”
3. Presenting a “Strongman”
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Deficiency on Display 0
Lawrence O’Donnell points out that “net worth” does not equal “IQ.”
Grave Offense 0
Cliff Schecter reacts to Donald Trump’s desecration of deceased veterans.
“Good Enough” May Just Be Good Enough 0
I once had a boss–actually, he was the Director of Training a couple of levels above me–who was fond of saying, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
Now comes Dimitrios Tsatiris, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, to say, by golly, my old boss was onto something.
Condo Capers 0
We live in a condo. It’s quite a nicely run condo, with a Board that goes out of its way not to be obnoxious, while taking good care of the communal property.
One of the rules is that residents should not mess with the common areas, for example, by putting signs on the grounds, including, natch, political signs (which, politically inclined as I am, is fine by me).
One of my neighbors has found what is, I must say, a most clever way to circumvent the rules.
He has hung a “Trump 2024” sign from the ceiling of his garage just inside the garage door, so he can open the door and inflict the sign on the rest of us while not technically violating the rules.
“Dis” Coarse Discourse 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Ravi Chandra reviews what he calls “the 13 ‘disses’ of abusive power.”
Here’s the list:
Methinks you might want to read more of dat about “dis.”
Happy Birthday to Me 0
This blog first came live 19 years ago today from my guest room on one of the original IBM Pentiums (given to me by a co-worker who was cleaning out a closet) running Slackware v. 10.x. I wanted to learn how to self-host a website.
A lot has happened since then, including database crashes, data loss, migration to a hosting provider, migration from shared hosting to a VPS, etc., etc. I’m no longer self-hosting, but I’m still learning stuff . . . .
What’s in a Name-Calling? 1
At Psychology Today Blogs, Loriann Oberlin explores the psychology of name-calling, which has become an increasing aspect of dis coarse discourse. A snippet (which sounds a lot like someone in the news):
Those who do not have much ego strength build themselves up by tearing down innocent others. It’s a maladaptive pattern that could stem from learned behavior—that is, witnessing others do this in childhood. It may also arise from unresolved emotional issues.
Follow the link for her suggestions for dealing with this pestilence upon the polity.
Party Liners 0
Freedom of thought? What is this thing that you call “freedom of thought.”
Erratic Bloggery for the Next Few days 0
Visitors.
The Conversion Therapist 0
Walz is right. These folks are weird.
Weasel’s Words 0
Mark Meadows tries to claim that Arizona state law doesn’t apply to him because he was working for a federal official, i. e., President Trump at the time he recruited fake electors to overthrow the 2020 election.
