"Why Waffle House?"

I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for a few years while doing an M.A. and failing to do a Ph.D.  And I realize anyone who lives or has lived south of Charlottesville, or even the entire state of Virginia, would claim I never experienced the "real" south.

Scientifically speaking, fuck those guys.  I saw plenty enough Confederate flags and monuments to their dead traitors to make it real enough.

Anyhow, I enjoyed this piece on the enduring comfort and legacy of the humble, often gritty, Waffle House franchise:

"There was no way around it. These photographs contemplate our volatile political and economic climate and do so explicitly from the vantage point of Waffle House restaurants. My approach had its own rules: I would eat at every Waffle House I entered and make images only from where I was seated. I wanted to have a complete Waffle House experience every time. Not only did it give the photographs the authenticity I wanted, but it also compensated the restaurant for taking up a table, especially during prime dining hours. I ordered a full breakfast at the first restaurant of the day and would order coffee and a side of toast at the remaining stores, as it was customary for me to visit multiple locations in one day while I was traveling.

Why Waffle House? Why not McDonald's or Hardee's? Three reasons: consistency, personal relationship, and the chain's iconic status. 

I felt that I needed a constant from which to study our built environment, and the relative sameness of Waffle House restaurants allowed me that ability. Whether you like it or not, Waffle House is your neighborhood diner, replicated thousands of times over. The restaurants are relatively the same, architecturally speaking, as are the menu, the prices, and the experience. This replication of experience was the conceptual underpinning of this project, and that repetition is illustrated in the images."

Obviously, you have to click through for the great photographs.

If Not Now?

I've been more patient with Pelosi's dithering on impeachment than others -- she's right that 1) it will never pass a Republican Senate and 2) Clinton actually grew more popular when he became framed as a "victim" of an over-zealous House.

But honestly, fuck all that noise as of now.  We all knew Trump would try and ratfuck 2020 as well, but he's not even hiding it any more.  He's positively gloating about it.

And most significantly, he's broken the law multiple times already and is planning to do so again.

If we don't pull the trigger on Trump, his criminal family / network, and his Republican enablers, impeachment -- let alone the concept of an opposition party -- is meaningless.

Ad Astra -- What I Thunk Of It

We had some wet, humid typhoon action here in lovely South Korea this past weekend, so I pretty much stayed indoors.  I did make it to the movies to see Ad Astra and, as much as I usually like slow, non-action-y sci-fi, it was a dud.  It was dull and ponderous, with Brad Pitt making the same confused face throughout.

It also didn't help that in the near future, people are still really dumb.  We can build a huge colony on the Moon, but if we need to get through "Moon pirate territory" (!?) you'll have to take a crappy Apollo-era buggy with no real armaments or defenses.

It had a few interesting moments but overall the script just wan't up to what it needed to be.

"on your tippy toes creepin'"

The Interrupters, "Bad Guy"

This Billie Eilish cover goes from "clever" to "fucking rad" when the trombone comes in for the first time.  And yes, I'm a grown-ass man who still listens to ska music.

The little man inside of Google who tells me the lovely Daegu weathers says that near-90 degree days have vanished for good, and fall will be here soon.  I'm grateful to say the least.

"the cadence of games"

Emma Baccellieri on the unexpected joys of late season "meaningless baseball":

"The Tigers won, 5-2. It mattered as much as a game between baseball’s two worst teams can matter in September—which is to say, not at all, in any technical sense, unless you’re particularly concerned about the potential draft order for next year. But this technical sense is the objective, macro, big-picture sense. This technical sense may be why professional baseball exists as an enormously profitable business, but it is not why baseball exists. And, of course, there is no one clear answer to that second question—but whatever there is, it’s probably closer to the texture of a game between two terrible teams on September 16 than it is to anything else.

When I miss baseball in the winter, I do not miss the postseason. I do not miss the highlights, I do not miss the debates over who will deserve the Cy Young, I do not miss anything that seems as if it is meant to be remembered. I miss the cadence of games. I miss MLB’s copyright disclaimer on broadcasts. I miss background noise. I miss the Orioles versus the Tigers on September 16."

The Orioles have been terrible for about two decades now, but I still follow them somewhat closely.  If it was possible to listen to them on a Korean radio, as dreadful as they are, I would.

So when I moved to Daegu ten years ago (!) I was excited to have a local team, the Samsung Lions, who were actually quite good.   (They won four consecutive championships between 2011 and 2014).

Of course, they've fallen into mediocrity right on cue.  (Currently in eighth place out of ten squads.)

Still, I love that expression "cadence of games."  Walking home at night through the streets and alleys of Daegu, the fried chicken joints will be playing the Samsung game if it's on.  I check the scores in the morning.  I go to about three or four games a season, but it's those late season "meaningless" ones that somehow charm me much more than they should.  Honestly, I think it has a lot to do with weather -- fall has always been my favorite season, and there is something about days growing shorter rather than longer that makes me want to check out at least one more home game before the season ends.

Just Sayin'

the startling possibility that "edgy" comedians who are persecuted for their brave, insightful jokes are actually, deep down, just unfunny racists.

— Winterfell Barista James (@wetcasements) September 18, 2019

An Alphabet For Everyone?

The creation and history of hangul, the Korean alphabet, is fascinating in and of itself ("among the most phonologically faithful writing systems in use today").  It gets better (worse?) when it comes to modern intrigue surrounding existing artifacts of its creation:

"The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) can finally raid the home of Bae Ik-gi, the man who has held and concealed the nationally treasured document 'Huminjeongeum' for the past 11 years. On July 11, The Supreme Court dismissed Bae’s appeal asking the court to stop the CHA from carrying out a forcible extraction. In short, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the ownership rights of the Haerye segment of the 'Hunminjeongeum,' which Bae has been hiding, belong to the administration, giving the CHA the green light to take the 'Hunminjeongeum' from Bae by force.

But, the organization is pessimistic that Bae will hand over the 'Hunminjeongeum' despite court’s ruling."

It's a priceless artifact, and its authenticity has been verified.  But the story around this copy of the manuscript is straight out of a Nic Cage movie.

It's also worth noting that Koreans are a bit more sensitive to these issues since so many other national treasures were stolen during the Japanese occupation.

"Nights are gettin' strange"

The Cars, "Since You're Gone" live

They were undoubtedly more a keyboard than a guitar band, but that made Elliot Easton's lead work the ultimate secret weapon.

R.I.P. Ric Ocasek, from a kid who used to take guitar and music very seriously and in high school cut my teeth on covering The Cars' Greatest Hits with a bass player and his older brother on keyboard.  (We eventually hooked up with a drummer but at first we didn't let that little detail stop us.)

I'll also go out on a limb and suggest that image-wise, both for themselves and their album covers, they were way ahead of the game.

Also easy to forget just how many artists Ocasek worked with outside of his main band.

This Is Some Bullshit, South Korea

Koreans are, for lack a a better word, great big fucking babies when it comes to a little rain.  So I took the one hour subway ride out of town to the ball park yesterday, got to the stadium for the five p.m. start, and while it was overcast it was not raining.

Too bad White Devil, game cancelled because rain is not water from clouds, but actually toxic radioactive dragon piss.

What bullshit.

Anyhow, I went back into town and drowned my sorrows with fried chicken and beer and this really excellent Kim Stanley Robinson novel.

Sports fandom, much like life, is highly overrated.

Better Than The Beatles?

The Damned, "Help"

It's the second week of the semester and things are going along swimmingly, but a quirky thing about working in South Korea is that the end of this week is Chuseok, or the rough Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving.  So we've got Thursday off, and already I've got to start juggling make-up classes.  (It could be worse -- it's possible to actually miss Tuesday through Thursday, or Monday through Wednesday.)

The weather is still pushing 90 degrees as well.  Not good.

Usually I'd head down to Busan for a long weekend but I think I'll just stay in Daegu this year.  The Samsung Lions are home this Thursday and Friday, and Daegu FC is playing at home this Sunday.

Autumn Comes To Daegu, South Korea

I officially don't care about NFL football any longer.  The decline in my interest was a long time coming, and arguably if I wasn't born a Washington fan I might still care about some of the younger, better stories in the league.

But I don't.

Rooting for any professional sports team is, nine times out of ten, rooting for a poisonous, racist owner and his horrible, toxic offspring.

So I can't any longer.  (I mean, I'm hardly a Profile in Courage here, just thinking out loud.)

Go Dodgers!