Stay Classy, Frederick

I mean, I don't disagree.  Honey too though.

Five Years

Chingu seems to really like diet soda.

This is as good a time as any to recap the last five years of my life, no?

In 2021 I returned to America from my job teaching English in South Korea.  I moved in with my Dad in Bellingham, Washington.  He was 88 at the time and dealing with, well, age, as well as a very bad romantic relationship that had just ended.  Basically, he needed full-time care, and he couldn't drive any more, and he lived in the middle of the woods.  Neither of us were thrilled by all of this, but it was necessary short of putting him in a home.

I worked a weekend / part-time job with the Whatcom County Humane Society which changed my life, in no small part because I adopted the tuxedo terror (pictured above) and his sister -- Chingu and Mandu (Korean names for "friend" and "dumpling.")

In 2022 my Dad was finally diagnosed with vascular dementia.  It was a secret to nobody, especially his doctor, who seemed strangely reluctant to actually give him the test that would allow for the dementia diagnosis.  These were, understandably, very difficult times for everyone.  I cried when the doctor asked my Dad some simple questions -- Date? Location? Where are you, basically.  It wasn't just that he was "wrong" in his answers, but that he couldn't fathom the concepts of test, date, location, and, well, reality.

My Only Sunshine

This is the Tuscorora Crepe Myrtle blooming in front of my house.  I'll miss it!

"a loaded gun to an infant"

"'Let him speak,' Finn said dispassionately.

'We... I and others, I mean ... instituted an explosive increase of knowledge in the physical sciences, smothered or subverted all the social and spiritual sciences. We cranked your technology to a fever pitch of frenzied production, led you to build yourselves a suicidal ethic and culture, gave you toys like the atom bomb and lysergic acid to play with: we gave a loaded gun to an infant.  We manipulated elections and revolutions, staged assassinations, encouraged government to calcify the ability of its people to endure, touched off riots, provided you with news media that would carry the news of growing cancer among you, and did all we could to bring into the minds of men a frustration and a terror that would lead inevitably to chaos. You, the steers, are nearly ready to butcher yourselves for our tables.'"

-- Spider Robinson, "Unnatural Causes"

Spiderman -- Brand New Day: Wut I Thunk

I'm a grown-ass man and I still get just a little bit excited for these damn Marvel movies (sorry, D.C.).  And guess what -- this is definitely one of the better ones.  The script really nails down the problems of being a teenage superhero constantly having to choose between a normal life with friends and a heroic one of kicking villainy in the ass.  It helps that the film doesn't offer easy answers, or even a clean conclusion to the Zendaya love interest.  It really helps that Jon Bernthal as a convincing and surprisingly warm-hearted Punisher is willing to step in and let Peter Parker know that he's got to grow up, at some point, like the rest of us do.  At two and a half hours, it's too long.  But the obvious launch of not just a new character, but a new supergroup, is shoe-horned in as delicately as possible.  And a long overdue Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style climactic fight is more than welcome.  Enter the Spider, indeed.

Four weird girlfriend Zendayas out of five!

The Odyssey: Wut I Thunk

I think Professor Emily Wilson is essentially correct: Nolan's film takes the archetype of the crafty man of "twists and turns" and turns him into a generic Joe Action-Man.  But I guess I'm also more forgiving in other respects.  The performances are great (Leguizamo has to be an early favorite for supporting actor).  The set-pieces mostly work (Circe's Island being the best).  And sure, we could all be a lot nicer to one another.  But I'm going to stretch a bit and suggest there's another, larger message to the film: people in power and "leadership," one of the most powerful and meaningless words of our age, are toxic, corrosive forces that will lead you down a path where you might succeed, but the entirely expendable people under you will all die horribly.  That strikes me as about as zeity-geisty-2026-y as you can get.

Four underused Zendayas out of five!

Orioles Magic

My sister and her family took me to a ball game for my 52nd birthday.  Orioles won with a walk-off single in the ninth, which was great.

That's right, I'm 52!

The Wisdom of Crowds

Noticed a lot of these guys around my neighborhood recently.  They're crape myrtles, and the red color is really striking.

I went to Reddit to find out more.  Half the comments swore they were a horrible invasive species for Maryland.  The other half said they were a reliable, low-maintenance tree that gets planted all over the place.  They definitely weren't growing wild.

Take your pick!

"without a word without a breath"

All

All the beautiful women in my life

were called Sadie or Sadist I forget

the color of that flower also its name

now that you ask

where I have been these past few months

between the solstice and the total eclipse

of all that we once had known

or thought mistakenly to know.

Perhaps the snow blinded us

or we gazed too long at the startled sun

forgetting our strict instructions

like so many others

who had assembled there for the event

that came and went

without a word without a breath

while the dancers so young filled the streets

and the fields with a sort of silent song

thinking they could go on and on.

-- Michael Palmer, Little Elegies for Sister Satan

Tapas Over Tangos!

I watched the World Cup final with my sister and her family.  Glad Spain won over the Argentine goons, but it was honestly a pretty boring game by design.  I thought Spain would finally show a little offensive flash but there was nada.

Where does the U.S. team go from here after being humiliated by Trump?  I dunno, but they did better than Germany or Italy.  Went as far as Brasil.  U.S. soccer fans don't want to admit that in an NFL-NBA nation the best athletes are always going to go with the path of least resistance to the money.

"the weddings of the people who are no longer married"

"'You have your wonderful memories,' people said later, as if memories were solace. Memories are not. Memories are by definition of times past, things gone. Memories are the Westlake uniforms in the closet, the faded and cracked photographs, the invitations to the weddings of the people who are no longer married, the mass cards from the funerals of the people whose faces you no longer remember. Memories are what you no longer want to remember."

-- Joan Didion, Blue Nights

Sunny Side Up

This is Mandu a.k.a. Mandurita, Mandoodle, Mandu the Huntress, Princess Mandu.  Even with all that fur she will never let a patch of sunshine go to waste.

Soccer Sunday

I'm shopping for a new home online at a Starbuck's-within-a-Safeway grocery store as the Gods of 

Capitalism intended.  Central Maryland has gone down into the 80's and should stay there for a week, which is fine by me.  I'm going to my sister's house in a bit to watch the World Cup Final -- Viva la Roja!  I actually like Messi but can't stand Argentina -- they play rugby, not football.

Moving out of Maryland to live near the beach actually makes a lot of financial sense.  I won't get too far into it, but if it all goes to plan I'll be making a decent amount that can just go back into my investments.

The Gods of Capitalism say, you are boring and old now James.  I have no pithy response.

Spain 2 - Argentina 2 (Messi gets a late assist to tie), then Spain wins in penalty kicks.  Obvious.

"put on your animal suit and dance"

The first and third albums by Candy Machine, a Baltimore band that's legendary as far as I'm concerned but hey I'm old and my favorite band sucks.  (Candy Machine and Tune International.)

"Human as meat, human as object, human as tool."

"They were nowhere to be found, leading me to believe they were long dead. I would never find the bodies, because if their organs hadn't already been carved out and sold off, the corpses would have been disguised for insurance fraud. I'm not exactly sure when it started, this habit of always assuming the worst-case scenario. My parents, the moneylenders, everyone said the words. All you've got is your body. A body. . . not a person, not a human. Human as meat, human as object, human as tool. A person's value is proportional to their bank balance. Our society seems to think it's okay to look down on the poor. And when you're constantly broke and beaten down, you start to think money's the only thing that matters. The more you're knocked down, the more you cling to money, hoping it can put you back together. It's messed up, yeah, but that's how it is."

-- Jin-Young Choi, Hunger

World Cup and Stuff

Late to the party here, but it sure is tough for a second-tier team trying to make it to the elite level getting preferential treatment from FIFA and still shitting the bed against Belgium.  Does the USMNT ever live this down?  We'll find out in four years at the earliest!

But we already knew everything Trump touches turns to shit.

Meanwhile, I'm rooting for Norway and Morocco.  If I was betting, I'd put it all on France -- they look really good, and they look like they haven't really played their best games yet.

Pet-sitting continues.  Maryland had a killer heat-wave last weekend but it's died down to thunderstorms and cooler weather.  I'll take it.

We're at war with Iran again and this strikes me as much of a forever war as Iraq II and Afghanistan were.  Worse, actually, because instead of fighting insurgents Trump has basically declared war on a prominent global geographic feature.

Summer

Chingu in Attack Pattern Bookcase.

It's July!  It's hot as hell outside as we move into July 4th weekend!

1)  I'm pet-sitting for the fist half of July for somebody who owns an actual pool.  Yay!

2)  The US has made it into the Round of 16 with a tough game against Belgium ahead.  Did Balogun deserve that red card?  Well, he did step on the guy's ankle pretty hard.

3)  Trump's 250th Birthday for America has been and will continue to be a shit-show.  Never start a land war in Asia, and never plan outdoor events for D.C. in the middle of summer.  Seriously, wouldn't be surprised if people die of heat stroke.

4)  I'm offically looking at houses in North Carolina.  In August I'll actually drive down and look at a few, then buy one.  I am so ready to leave Maryland and Frederick behind.  As the kids say, the vibes are no good.

5)  I turn 52 at the end of July.

6)  I finished the Gene Wolf Book of the New Sun tetralogy.  I might have more to say other than I enjoyed it, and, I'm pretty sure a lot of it flew over my head.  I have the fifth book too but am taking a little needed break.

Enjoy summer!  Drink lots of water, or adult beverages of your choosing!

Backrooms: Wut I Thunk

It's more about what's scary than it is scary.  It's more about liminal spaces than it is a liminal space in itself.  It's certainly Lynchian in a few spots, but definitely not Lynch.  And for me this whole thing, despite an interesting setup, falls apart towards the end when an imitation of a Boogie Man, certainly not a scary or even interesting Boogie Man in itself, shows up.  I couldn't stop laughing.  And it was not a comedic moment by any means.  Ultimately this is a movie idea in search of some characters and plot to hang its analog jacket on.  I'll also admit, this probably works for a lot of people who buy into it, but I tried and couldn't.

Two beige ottomans out of five!

World Cup Fever

I was all set to write up a short, angry post about the World Cup and how moving to 48 teams has ruined all my Christmases forever.  Germany dispatches Curacao 7-1, and that's that -- mediocrity reigns.  But then Spain immediately shits the bed against (checks internet again) Cape Verde in a scoreless tie and here we are.  And despite losses, Iraq, Haiti, and Jordan have all put in worthy performances

So what the hell do I know?

And America and South Korea (my two teams, basically) are off to fantastic starts.

Update:  Congo just tied Portugal.  What even is football?

Disclosure Day: Wut I Thunk (Minor Spoilers!)

Spielberg has admitted this is his spiritual successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Which is great, because I'll take sci-fi speculative Spielberg over dreary historically "accurate" Spielberg any day.  Throw in some of Christopher Nolan's Inception as well.  As for the meat of the film, the first half is a colossal bore.  It's a first contact story and really doesn't need the depth of explanation provided (reminiscent, of all things, of Ghostbusters and the Keymaster needing to find the Gatekeeper).  And we all already know about Roswell, New Mexico!  Americans love the conspiracy shit, they really don't need it spelled out for them!  But the film eventually hits its stride, things fall into place, and I'd say it sticks the landing pretty well.  Another problem though: the corporate bad guys are appropriately well armed and, well, bad.  But even they seem to silently admit at the end that a decades-long coverup wasn't worth it given that the alternative is peace on Earth, forever.  Ultimately, it's peak Spielberg both for better and for worse.

Three animatronic cardinals out of five!