From the Desk of…
Insomuch as I had been glooming and dooming in the last couple days to round out everyone’s good vibes about yesterday’s election, I also took the time to go to the offy and pick up some good rum and good whiskey… in case. And in case it was! Almost 700,000 early votes. Over 3 million ballots cast - 38.54% turnout - in an August special election with sixty days of notice about an inscrutable issue. Millions of dollars spent by our so-smart and so-fiscally-conservative Republican leadership and on what? A 57-43 drubbing as Ohioans across the state cleaned the clock of all these hobgoblins. Goddamn, winning feels good. We should do this more often. Maybe November. What a huge bounty of data for our repro rights activists to incorporate into their universes this autumn! And maybe they’ll actually do something about the First Energy corruption! I won’t hold my breath though, even if these texts seem pretty damning.
Not everything is good, however. Ohio Senate president Matt Huffman vows to bring Issue 1 back like a Batman villain who thinks the NEXT evil scheme will be the one to bring Gotham to its knees. We’ve still got record levels of eviction happening in Columbus. New COVID variants are burbling up and no one in government seems to care anymore because the beaches are open.
But I’m going to relish this day and this victory, and I’m going to try to relegate some of that to the back of my mind for now. At least the middle. The good folks don’t often get the W in Ohio.
Also, I have Baldur’s Gate 3 to play instead of boring you all by writing this, so let’s move on, shall we?
The Brain Dump
just realized that someone who has said "Senator Meow" out loud was in Oppenheimer
well i was gonna vote but y'all went and made it all political
I was born in the Midwest, molded by it. I didn't know Miracle Whip wasn't mayonnaise until I was already a man, and by then it was nothing to me but zipless
nobly pulling a ballot tomorrow and returning it blank in an act of protest. everyone at the polling place is booing me. the joke is on them for participating in this sham democracy. everyone starts groaning as i open my Kroger bag of mimeographs. i am banned from the library
the mood is hot at the taco bell watch party and the patrons are lively
Gee, one guess as to what was on my mind in the past week?
At the Movies
Wow, it finally happened. With my HVAC being out and Baldur’s Gate 3 soaking up time and the election going on, I didn’t actually watch three movies since the last dispatch. Well, I did, but I didn’t log all of them. I guess I’ll fill in the third slot with a Senator’s Selects exclusive?
Stalker (1979), dir. Andrei Tarkovsky ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
one of the most interesting takes on The Wizard of Oz since Wicked!
Shrek 2 (2004) dirs. Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon ⭐⭐⭐⭐
i laughed
big stretch to have John Cleese voice a bigot
The Righteous Gemstones (2019-), created by Danny McBride ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
Before Gemstones, I wouldn’t say I liked Danny McBride. I got it, conceptually. I thought his appearance in This Is The End was great (remember that flick?). But stuff like Eastbound & Down just never appealed to me. Gemstones got good enough reviews and I was intrigued enough by the premise to give it a shot and… I get it now. I am enlightened to the perfect timing and awesome alliteration that Danny can just kick out. Of course, he’s aided by an exceptional cast around him - Edi Patterson and Adam DeVine as his siblings, John Goodman as his dad, Walton Goggins as his uncle and as one of my current favorite characters on television - and incredible production design for some of these megachurch sequences. I mean, HBO has to be spending boatloads on some of this stuff, and it shows! I think the thing that took me by surprise was that I anticipated by its concept that it would be a very jaded and cynical sort of ‘hurhur, these folks are ACTIVELY evil’ caricaturing. What’s surprised me is how kind and sweet it is. Yeah, they’re self-centered assholes. Yeah, they’re self-serving. But… it’s all in a very human way. You can see glimmering moments of realization and small attempts to become better and to overcome their base human natures. Maybe someday they’ll reach that. Until then, I’m going to enjoy watching them try.
I’m also about halfway through a Venture Brothers rewatch. Man, you want to talk about a good show? Just… one million chef’s kisses. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer should get to work on whatever they want to work on, including more Venture Bros if that’s the desire.
One Picture
as the old saying goes, RIP BOZO
In closing,
I had a whole long paragraph here, but it tasted like ashes in my mouth. So, I scrapped it and started over. Seneca said that every new beginning comes from another beginning’s end. We’ve seen a lot of closure this week, now that we’re past the special election. So begins the next trial, and I believe that a large coalition of people are prepared to fight as hard - if not harder - until November. After all, in our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold. The question seems to be if we’ll be able to stand together and use it. Until next time, try to understand each other better, and keep your eyes on the prize.