Senator's Selects 2023/07/26
I want to believe
From the Desk of…
I have to write this in advance so I don’t get distracted by the Congressional hearing in which aliens are potentially confirmed to exist.
Anywho, back on Earth, Joyce Beatty had to pull out of a Chamber of Commerce fundraiser. I guess someone in her office realized that co-chairing the Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus with a Republican and then raising money for a PAC to fight for a fascist powergrab called Issue 1 might not be the best look, even if you are in a completely gerrymandered district in which you’ve consolidated years and years of power. Whoopsie! Speaking of Issue 1, an ad was released that, in my mind, finally goes on the offensive and plays with words the way that Republicans do. Meanwhile, in DeSantisLand, Ronnie got in a car crash (oh, so close!) and had to fire staff for… making and sharing online videos that use esoteric Nazi imagery to promote him? That can’t be right… no, yeah, that’s what happened. Weird how all the Nazis support Republicans these days, really makes you think.
The abortion amendment made the ballot, so congratulations to all the involved organizers, signature gatherers, and signers. Signatories? Whatever. A 69% validation rate is nice on several fronts. Let’s see what happens there in November, but first… the legal weed statute has ten days to collect 679 more signatures to make the ballot. Yes, weirdly, this campaign has been more disorganized, and after getting like half their signatures tossed, they’re just short of the goal. They’ve ten (10) days to collect the outstanding signatures, and people have been popping up events to grab them. There’s one today at Whetstone Library, I’ve been told, but I’m also fully expecting that to collapse. We simply can’t have nice things. Of course, the passage of Issue 1 would eliminate this ten day cure period to collect more…
Anyway, here’s an op-ed by Republican and former Ohio House hobgoblin Gene Krebs talking about how Issue 1 is such an overreach that it’ll kill the Ohio GOP. Wouldn’t it be so nice to dream like this?
The Brain Dump
[looking up from my phone] this movie makes nooooo sense, omg what even is going on who is that
the great thing about pointing out the myriad ways in which those supporting the fascist power grab are breaking existing laws is getting to pretend they might care or face consequences
It is 2023. I am in the kitchen shirtless, frying bacon and watching Venture Bros. It is 2007. I am in the kitchen shirtless, frying bacon and watching Venture Bros. It is 2018. I am in the kitchen shirtless, frying bacon and watching Venture Bros. It is 2003. I am in the kitchen
imagining a voter that votes yes on Issue 1 and then also yes on the abortion amendment in November
i didn't spend six years in wife grad school to be called a gal pal
Hey, that’s some decent work this week! I must be incredibly stressed or something.
At the Movies
I’m sure a lot of you have been waiting for this one… here’s my thoughts on some films about the horrors of atomic war and a feminist comedy about a blonde who’s more than just a pretty face!
Godzilla (1954), dir. Ishiro Honda ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
Takashi Shimura is great, Akihiko Hirata is great, the score is great, the shots of devastation and destruction are haunting, and the movie is legitimately an excellent dramatic parable about a giant radioactive sea monster.
Godzilla (1998) dir. Roland Emmerich ⭐⭐
What a mess. What a mess. You know, I think this would've been received more warmly as a The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms remake or pitched as being in the style of It Came from Beneath the Sea (which the film even features briefly) instead of tying itself to the Godzilla brand. Just update the classic atomic age monster Harryhausen tropes and have fun. That's what I think Emmerich and Devlin really wanted, but they didn't. Instead, we get a movie with simultaneously too much and too little going on at all times. We get a marketing campaign that pegs the entire thing on how big their version of Godzilla is when the creature is not actually that big. People have an expectation of how big Godzilla is, and this met it, but they were promised the big Godzilla what eats the Taco Bell. Nobody can decide what kind of movie they're in. You have half the cast of The Simpsons for some reason. The effects are fine for the time, but the movie just doesn't work. They should've done the 1994 script.
Having said all that, I will give a few props for casting Jean Reno as the French Secret Service agent when I literally cannot think of another Hollywood example of using a Frenchman in this action context. Would have been so easy to have some dude fake an accent and be "ex-KGB" or something. Anyway, the movie has Jean Reno spying on Kevin Dunn and Michael Lerner arguing about how to handle Godzilla, which seems directly targeted to my interests. Anyway, shame the movie isn't good.
Legally Blonde (2001), dir. Robert Luketic ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
watched this while baking and finishing a pitcher of pink lemonade... this movie is lowkey GOATed when overcoming stereotypes to find yourself and follow your dreams is the vibe... and what a cast!
Anyway, I’ll actually see Oppenheimer and Barbie this weekend, and I’m sure I’ll have thoughts.
One Picture
Eagle-eyed readers will know what this is.
In closing,
Herman Melville, in about the fifth chapter of his American epic and magnum opus Moby-Dick, says that to do anything coolly is to do it genteelly. It’s tough to keep cool under pressure, but if you can, if you don’t crack up, you’ll be able to get through it looking like you were born to take on whatever challenge presented itself. Maintaining your composure is tough, but it's the very thing that separates those who crack under stress from those who thrive in it. Pressure and heat are, after all, what turns coal into diamonds. Take a deep breath, acknowledge reality - and perhaps its absurdity - and keep moving forward. Otherwise, that whale’s going to get away. Until next time, well, you saw what the sign said.
hey that sign is where i used to get my car fixed