Duck, Duck, Goose

 

 One of these people lost their entire empire, signature items were cleared of shelves, contracts broken, shows cancelled, due to comments made years ago, and not in an interview.    The other, is the new anti-hero millionaire.  The difference ; one is a man and the other is a woman.  There  is nothing acceptable about either one of the behaviors of these individuals, but the outcome and results are certainly curious.


“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong. Sin becomes fine," he later added. “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers -- they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” Phil Robertson

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.” -Phil Robertson
“To them. If you were doing it against a Jewish person and constantly talking about — bad mouthing Jews or lesbians or homosexuals or Mexicans or blacks, if you continually beat up on a certain group, I would think that that would be some kind of harassment.” -Paula Deen

He's just different

 

 Oh and how things can change in a couple of days.
The boy, the one  that was the catalyst for a venue to share, lament, perhaps even, rejoice, asked Eva to marry him, and, she accepted the challenge.
I may be a Teenage Grand mom soon.  But, that is not the reason they are going to get married.  It’s love, love, love.
I immediately went into planning, spending, and sharing anxiety mode, which did not sit well with Jacob, so I’m letting that die down a little and trying to manage those waters with a little less boat rocking.
All of this stuff is inevitable, people get married , even your kids. Yet, it’s so astonishing to think, that I will potentially, in my life time, get to read, listen to, and or watch  his, and his brother’s versions of raising kids, either well, horribly or somewhere in between, and never ever laugh where they can see me.

I hope I never

There was a possibility I could have been under surveillance.
-Julius Rosenberg 

The new face of McCarthyism is the no face NSA, and that is not an accident. 
Having no one in particular to hold accountable, Just a  nefarious agency, changes the dynamic from the past, when we could  pinpoint where and when  a government agency went so far as to treat Americans as the enemy, especially, when they are  more of the time participating in the most benign of actions like talking on the phone or viewing videos on YouTube.
By eliminating  the individual , and there is one, or maybe two, who enlisted the doctrine on what and how the government was going to serveil  it’s citizens, then there is no rally point, no kernel, or center of the problem to focus on and either eliminate or instill limitations on the  power.
Ultimately, this is as close as George Orwell could anticipate, without the usual veil of” protections and greater purpose”, without any demonstration of need or well defined goal, just the whim of the 21st century Joe, doing what he does best.

And the most of the attentions is paid to lower things

I’ve mentioned this a few times, that when I started this project, I wanted to be able to give some dimension to the words, so I attached pictures, or various links to reinforce, and illustrate what I was trying to communicate.
 This one, this writing, is going to come up short, because I really just can’t connect the words to my brain so that what I am saying could possibly be as clear as what I see in my head.
Upstream Color, a movie by Director and all around savant, Shane Carruth, not unlike the recent film, The Sound of My Voice, leaves most of the interpretation to the  viewer to work through, diagnose and sit with.  How strange, to be expected to actively participate in trying to figure out what’s going on, on top of a mysterious storyline, and a  bunch of mumbling, and talking facing away. 
It’s so, good, so very, very good.  There’s the simple and then the underbelly, all for interpretation and dismantling.  At one point, I yelled “owned” at the screen, I had such a strong inclination, such a visceral reaction, when characters previously lost and confused had become empowered and ready to take action, but quietly, oh, it was exhilarating. 
 I texted Gus, who was in New York, as he was about to  board a plane to Israel.  When I should have been discussing my love and admiration for him and his bravery, I was mawing on and on about  this movie.  Shalom.

The spirit of the century

Finding a movie that doesn’t promise to be simple,  isn’t easily figured out, and is  also somewhat funny,  inspires me to  share it with the world, or the seven people who sometimes read stuff I write.
The New World,  not the one  directed by Terrence Malick, this one is a Korean crime drama,  but it’s more than that, it’s got so much going on, very stylistic, intrigue, moral ambiguity, and , it’s one of the best movies I’ve never heard of.
Not to say, that I should have, but, I should have.  This is too good to have slipped under the awards meter, and or” best of” listings.  Korean Directors like Park Chan-Wook and Park Hoon-Jung are making fabulous movies that are under appreciated, as originals, often remade for Western Audiences and are sorely overlooked.  It’s on Netflix, mark my words, it’s explosive.

Let me live that fantasy

I am grateful that I didn’t walk out and leave my family, get in my car with what I could carry and one dog, and just drive away.
That is what I am thankful for this year.  Amen.