RIP Steve Albini

I'm late to the game, but a great musician and -- provocateur?  theorist?  righteous asshole? -- of creative independence is now gone.

To have worked on The Pixies' Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, Songs: Ohia Magnolia Electric Company and, I don't know, Nirvana's In Utero is incredible, and just the tip of the iceberg really.

He's also a guy who managed to grow up a bit and reflect on past mistakes, and that's something we should all strive for even if we manage to never buy a Taylor Swift record.

Damascus, Maryland

 

Never Alone

Frederick has some charms that I'm discovering as they come.  The downtown area is swell, and the west side of town where I live, while not much to look at, has some good restaurants and shopping (H-Mart!).

I'm still looking for a full-time job.  It's tough.  Being a bedroom community for both DC and Baltimore, there are a lot of smart, well-educated cookies out here.  As far as I can tell, Frederick County is the largest employer in Frederick County.  Now, as a Biden-loving liberal, I'm all for taxation and quality government services.  But it sure would be nice if some more private companies moved into here.  (It's highly reminiscent of Bellingham, actually.)  I've interviewed for some good things though, but just haven't managed to seal the deal yet.

So I've been doing online tutoring, which could be worse.  Next week I'll be a poll judge for the Maryland primary, which should be fun as well (and it pays!).  And we're making good progress on my Dad's estate -- almost done, actually.  He took the time to set his finances up meticulously and safely, so that's another thing to be grateful for.

And here I was trying to write an upbeat post.

So things are fine as we enter summer.  The Orioles are playing brilliantly.  I'm killing lots of dandelions.  I have incredibly vivid, mostly good dreams about both my mom and dad.  I talk to them sometimes, if I'm being honest.

My cats remain the goofiest sentient beings on the East Coast.

I'll take Kendrick over Drake any day.

Princess In Repose

 

Princess Mandu is meditating right now, but please return later with Churu and skritches.

Brunswick, Maryland

 

Some random shots in and around Brunswick, Maryland, right on the border with Virginia.  It's a very funky town -- MAGA flags fly freely next door to purple houses with rainbow flags.  The tank is party of a very strangely placed World War II memorial.

Civil War: Wut I Thunk Of It (Minor Spoilers)

Alex Garland is responsible for some of my favorite movies ever -- 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go, Annihilation.  Hell, I even liked Men.  (That was a comedy, right?)

But Civil War is something I can only describe as actively stupid.  It's the filmic equivalent of a college freshman realizing that the media is only interested in violence, man!

There is political violence, drained of all politics.  There are bizarre decisions made by the characters -- let's take an aging man into a war zone, just for lulz!

And in an age where journalists are routinely targeted by militaries around the world, there are many naïve scenes where the characters grasp their little PRESS cards and are all of a sudden adopted by different military units, or invited to witness atrocities that they would more than likely be trying to cover up.

And why are they, sometimes, still shooting on film?

This movie is awful.  It makes no sense.  The ending is not nearly as clever as it seems to think it is.

Best Life

 

Chingu finished his taxes early this year.

Point of Rocks Station, Maryland

 

As my job search continues I've had some extra time to explore the area around Frederick.  Point of Rocks, Maryland, is an actual town named after a geographical spot where the mountains come down to the Potomac River.  Lots of interesting Civil War era skullduggery took place here!

Today Point of Rocks is a very small town, as a newer and more useful station was built a bit to the north in Brunswick.  The station building itself remains though, and it's a beautiful Victorian thing that's only used for storage.  The building is defunct, but it's still a working light rail station that will take you to Silver Spring, Maryland (D.C., basically) or the other way up into West Virginia.

On The River

 

Little Potomac River, Brunswick Maryland.

Dune 2: Wut I Thunk Of It

It's definitely better than the first one.  It gets weird, especially on the Harkonnen home-world, in a very good (and disturbing) way.  Paul's character develops well and believably, which was an issue for me in the first installment.  I still feel like one long-ish film could tell this story instead of three, but overall it was good.  Also, while Christopher Walken is a great actor, it's hard not to just see a walking meme at this point.

Safe In Their Alabaster Shake It Offs

 Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson, BFFs:

"Dickinson and Swift are sixth cousins, three times removed. Dickinson, born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, is regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson lived as a recluse in her family’s home and only published anonymously while she was alive."

This is fine.  Charming, really.