The Art and the Artist: Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in a World of Controversial Creators

I grew up admiring figures such as Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, even O.J. Simpson, and others who have since been revealed to have led questionable, even criminal lives. Despite this, their artistic contributions remain significant. The challenge lies in how one can separate their work from their personal misconduct. Of if one should. What happens to the consumer of such "scandalized" or "discredited"  artists and performers who have proven to be "disgraced", or a become a too "controversial" figure?

I'll get to the point but first this is going to be a bit of a trip around the block...

While I still appreciate Allen’s art I now find it difficult. But I cannot avoid it as I had studied his work along with Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick at university. But expressing such things could expose one to criticism. As an artist myself, would it impact my professional standing? Should it? Shouldn't it? How can one ethically navigate this dilemma, balancing an appreciation for their art with an acknowledgment of their behavior? Especially when they have become unavoidably integral to who I am as a person and an artist?

What do you do with that? Even if one is not an artist and as a consumer who once enjoyed their works. This has bothered me for some time now. I have my own thoughts on it but it occurred to me to ask an AI what it thinks. First off, what do I think?

In point of fact, it pisses me off! It pisses me off because these artists whose lives were so warped, first they did those things to those they did them to. Then once you get past that, because they got us to buy into their brilliance and decades later waylaid those of us as fans with reveals of their despicable acts. But it's not them but their products and the brilliance of what hey produced. Respecting their minds, and their talents, but not their personal lives. I've always tried to give them their personal lives. They, most of them, deserve their privacy. 

So getting past all that, maybe ask the AI and see if it's more clear headed about the topic. Often when I do that I get an answer that includes things I had forgotten to consider, even though I would have later. Or it offers things I had not or would not consider. Or offers a new perspective.

So I asked ChatGPT what it thought.

But first, how did this come up. Well? That's a story. Two weeks ago I started binge-watching The West Wing. I'd tried to do that during the Trump presidency but I couldn't. I found it too depressing. Even though the staff at MSNBC was doing that to get THEM through that clown show. So when I considered it recently I thought I'd give it another try.

It worked. Took about a week to get through all 7 seasons. I learned a lot. Like Aaron Sorkin is a genius. Also, that Bradly Whitford and Lawrence O'Donnell were writers and actors on that show. I had a great time watching it. I did some research and found after that show, Sorkin did Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. 

Then The Newsroom. Which has one of the greatest opening scenes to a series perhaps ever (video). I'd watched The Newsroom when it was first on TV and loved it when it was on. But not Studio 60, about a Saturday Night Live type sketch show. 

I loved SNL when it arrived in 1975. I was sitting alone at home one night in Spokane in my downtown apartment waiting on my wife to get off work at the hospital a few blocks up the hill from me at midnight.

I was sitting on the couch wrapping the scabbard of my 14th-century Wakasashi (long story about how I got that for $2 in 1973 from a friend after we'd just graduated high school, hanging at my girlfriend's apartment. He was a garbage man and had found it in pieced on a garbage can. I'd offered him $2 thinking he'd laugh at me. He laughed at me and said, "Cool! Cost of a torpedo!" A "torpedo" is about 66 ounces of beer. 

I was alone at home wrapping the scabbard in string so it would not fall off, it's still wrapped from that. Then I painted it black. While I was doing that, took a couple of hours, I looked in TV Guide and saw Saturday Night Live was on. Never heard of it so I put it on. Long story short, it was amazing. 

Anyway, after binging The West Wing, I found The Newsroom on the MAX streaming channel and watched it. I got the idea to see if I could get the DVDs. I found them on ebay and bought them. Then I found Studio 60. Which just arrived and I'm watching it now. I can remember when it was first on TV but I ignored it back in 2007 not knowing what it was about and anyway, I wanted to watch The Unit about spec ops team, a show created by David Mamet, of whom I've long been a fan. Since studying screenwriting at university in the early 80s.

I thought about getting The West Wing DVDs but 7 years? That's about $80 so I figured I'd hold off. I'm really liking Studio 60. On the wall in Matthew Perry's character's office was a framed poster of a cover of a Life magazine with Woody Allen and Humphrey Bogart on it.

Mark McKinnon (from Kids in the Hall, playing a depressed writer), Bradly Whitford and Matthew Perry in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

I've had that magazine cover in a frame hanging on my wall forever but since I moved here 6 years ago in a too small house, it's in my spare room with all my other art and framed works.

I know, so said about his passing, my friends seemed to think back in the 90s when people were trying to figure out which "Friend" you were in your group of friends, that I was Chandler. I was never quite sure how I felt about that, but, he was funny, so... 

SO, finally getting to the point...I kept seeing the Life mag cover in the office in Studio 60 and I started thinking about where my framed copy was. Should I hang it? If I do, where? If in the living room and people see it who come over, well then what? How will they react? How should I react? Should I hang it? That pissed me off because I loved his movies, books, plays, and then he had to be human and do weird things and now what? 

Sigh... so many people like that. My mother couldn't stand Charlie Chaplin who was incorrectly maligned for leaving for France. I grew up separating the artist from their art or I felt, we'd have no art. Or much much less.

So that got me to thinking again about the philosophical, ethical and moral implications of all that all over again. Which led us to here, now.

Anyway, this is what ChatGPT said:

This is a challenging issue, especially as many public figures and artists have seen their legacies reevaluated in light of revelations about their personal behaviors. The tension between appreciating someone's artistic output and acknowledging their harmful actions is real, and there isn't a single answer that works for everyone. However, there are some thoughtful ways to navigate this, especially as an artist who has to balance personal ethics with public perception.

Here are a few approaches to consider:

1. Separate the Art from the Artist (to a Degree)

Some argue that art should be evaluated on its own merits, independent of the artist’s personal life. The work may still have value, evoke emotions, or offer insights regardless of who created it. In this view, you can appreciate Allen’s storytelling or Cosby’s comedy as cultural contributions, without endorsing their personal behaviors.

However, publicly defending this perspective can indeed invite criticism, especially if people feel it minimizes the harm caused by those individuals. If you choose this approach, be prepared to explain how you separate appreciation for the work from endorsement of the artist's personal choices. You could acknowledge their actions as reprehensible while recognizing the influence of their art.

2. Ethical Engagement with the Art

You could continue to engage with the art, but do so with critical awareness. For instance, you might highlight how problematic aspects of the artist’s personal life inform or even taint their work. In Woody Allen's case, some have pointed to themes in his films that might now be viewed differently in light of his personal controversies. By engaging critically, you demonstrate that you’re not ignoring the ethical issues.

This can also extend to how you publicly talk about the artist’s work, showing that you’re aware of the complex dynamics and not just passively consuming the art.

3. Reframe Your Engagement with Their Work

Instead of completely avoiding or wholly embracing the work of controversial figures, you might frame your engagement with it in a way that opens a discussion. For example, you could discuss how your feelings toward Allen’s films have evolved over time, or how you now see certain aspects differently. This acknowledges the impact of the artist’s actions without dismissing their artistic contributions.

As a fellow artist, this can be particularly valuable because you’re showing that you are conscious of the relationship between art and morality in a way that others might appreciate. You're not endorsing bad behavior, but you’re also not erasing the value of art.

4. Limit Financial Support

If it’s important to you to maintain some ethical boundaries, consider how you engage with their work financially. For example, you can still watch Allen’s movies but avoid purchasing new releases or giving direct support to ongoing projects. You could also donate the money you might have spent on their art to causes related to the harm they caused (e.g., supporting victims of abuse).

This allows you to still engage with the art, while making it clear that you’re not financially supporting individuals whose actions you disagree with.

5. Acknowledge Public Sensitivities

Publicly endorsing the work of controversial figures could harm your reputation as an artist. If you’re concerned about marketability, it might be worth carefully weighing how and where you express your appreciation for Allen or others like him. You can still privately enjoy the work while being mindful of the current cultural climate.

In creative spaces, especially, how others perceive your choices (even in terms of what you admire) can affect collaborations, opportunities, and audiences. Acknowledging that their behavior is wrong, while critically engaging with their art, can strike a balance.

6. Transparency in Personal Artistic Influence

If you draw inspiration from these figures, consider being transparent about how you engage with that influence. For example, instead of simply saying "I admire Woody Allen’s work," you might say, "Woody Allen’s earlier films have influenced my understanding of comedic timing and character development, but I struggle with reconciling that influence given what we now know." This demonstrates a nuanced position and shows your audience that you’re aware of the larger conversation around such figures.

7. Move Toward New Influences

If the ethical conflict feels too strong, it might be worth seeking out new influences that align with your values. The art world is vast, and there are many filmmakers, comedians, and creators who produce incredible work while maintaining ethical lives. Shifting focus to these figures can not only alleviate your ethical dilemma but also introduce fresh perspectives into your own work.

8. Open Discussion

Opening up a dialogue about these issues could humanize your approach. As an artist, if you express that you, too, are grappling with the complexities of separating art from artist, it could resonate with others who are having similar struggles. This might involve discussing these topics with your audience in interviews, on social media, or within your work itself. It could demonstrate intellectual and moral consideration.

---

Ultimately, it's about striking a balance between your personal enjoyment of the art, an ethical response to the artists' behavior, and your public positioning as an artist. There's no simple answer, but thoughtful, nuanced engagement can help you navigate this complicated issue.

So, about the framed Life magazine cover. What did I do about it? It's now hanging in that spare room with the rest of my art. Yeah, I don't know either, but is it we who have to suffer for someone being less than we expect of them, even if by far? I think in the end, it's a personal decision. 

I still haven't been able to watch a Woody Allen movie since it all came out about that family and Woody involvement. I may not be able to give him money for a new film because of it. Then, he may not be around much longer as he's 88. But the framed Life mag cover? It's just enough that it's still good and pays some kind of homage to that part of my personality that is still innocent. And always will be.

Walkabout Thoughts #79

Thoughts & Stream of Consciousness, rough and ready, from an award-winning filmmaker and author you’ve never heard of, while walking off long Covid, and listening to podcasts…

 
Weather for the day… starting out, 56°. It was 52° when I returned home under dark clouds, sprinkling rain and threatening much more, and after only walking a mere 2 miles. I was ready for 5.. Alas, the weather had another idea in mind...

Podcast today: WTF? with Marc Maron Episode 1542 - Molly Ringwald

So this is cool!

My book, “Death of heaven” is a May 2024 American Legacy Book Awards Finalist!

I can’t seem to get past finalist position on this book in contests. I think I have three more award contests that I’m in this year. So there’s still some hope. They’re all in the fall though, of 2024. It’s funny or ironic. From the beginning, people had trouble pigeonholing or categorizing my writing. I thought that was cool. Nope, not so much. My artist brother ran into that too. If you're too creative, it makes it hard for people to monetize you and take you on. Best to say to paint only flowers or butterflies or something, he said.

Which I find laudable. Being diverse, and multi-talented. I tried to learn how to write literally every kind of writing to better my favored style(s). But I think it’s hurt me in some ways. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to consider that I might be the kind of writer who dies and then somebody goes, "Oh, this book is good. Why didn’t it ever get anywhere?"

Yeah, exactly. Lots of talented people out there who never get anywhere for not having a strong sense of business or someone to help them with that. If not for Van Gogh's brother, or more so his brother's wife after he died, no one would know who he is. Everybody who reads my writings really seems to like them a lot. 

And no, they're not just being polite. I've won awards after all, it's not just my imagination or the politeness of others. I'm also not just full of myself. It's not ego, it's awareness. I despise touting my works or skills. I've always found distasteful, job interviews. Selling oneself to a stranger. But that is the industry of the arts and the goal is to pay one's way, or at least, to see one's efforts observed and hopefully enjoyed by as many others as possible.

"A good man knows his limitation." But also their quality, accurately. It's taken me many years to realize I'm the only one who will push my work out there until I can get an agent or manager. It was miserable at first. I still find it distasteful. But, one is a professional, or forever an amateur. Cheers!

Ah, well...I'd be good with that, fame after death if my kids benefit from it all.

I sent that book off to a publisher in Europe once and they said they liked it but as a first-time writer at that time, they didn’t want to take a chance. I thought that's what publishers did. Which I thought was kind of offensive. This is the same thing I go through with my screenplays. It just takes getting one produced and turning a profit. I’ve gotten as far as an actual Hollywood producer being interested, but then again I always seem to fall into that between-genres kind of thing.

You can go on Amazon and read reviews of my book "Death of heaven" [yes, "h" not "H", there's a long story about why that is] and make up your own mind. Yes, it’ll be a book you read like you’ve never read before. And it's massive and spans eons from before the Earth was created until perhaps, its end. It's a book you can read more than once and get more from it the second time around. It's a book that offers more insight if you read my first published book, "Anthology of Evil" in reading the ending novella, "Andrew" from whence "Death of heaven" evolved out from. And another short story, "Perception", about the first human ever to look up into the heavens and realize, however incorrectly that they were the center of the universe.

This reminds me of my other book, my last fiction published which Anthology of Evil 2 which is (obviously) a sequel to the original. I split that sequel two into two volumes. Volume one is short stories. Volume two was a novella that grew into a book I titled “The Unwritten.“ It’s a good story. Weird, but good. Three universes, one ending. Try writing that! Anyway, I really like the ending and the two angels debating, so much, so very much...

But whatever…

Molly Ringwald on Marc's podcast has been kind of an eye-opener. I loved John Hughes' films. By that time I was out of the Service and had graduated from university. I think I was working at Tower Video, when I really got to know the John Hughes' films, in the 80s. I saw "Sixteen Candles" and although I knew a lot of people who loved it...and I had seen "Breakfast Club" and I did love that movie. I just couldn’t bget into 16 Candles and I found Molly Ringwald really annoying. 

I thought she did good and was great in "Breakfast Club". I mean I thought everybody did great in 16 candles. Even though she wanted Robert Downey Jr. rather than John Cryer. I just didn’t like the film. And while I thought she was miscast, I guess I was wrong. I say all that because now on this podcast and hearing her experience and history, I am impressed and somewhat blown away. I watched her in the Capote series. I’ve always loved his writing. I read "In Cold Blood" in maybe 11th grade in 1971 or '72.

My interesting story about that book was... I can’t remember if it was a literature class in high school or an independent reading class... but one way or another I read “In Cold Blood“ and I was completely blown away by the story, topic, and writing. That next semester I had another class that required reading "In Cold Blood". I outright refused. I said I just read that book and I can’t just read it again. It was too intense. I am into intense. But that book being nonfiction just left me wanting to take a shower on the inside of my mind. Not to mention Capote’s obvious attraction to the protagonist or his antihero, to the point that he was there when he was hung and his description left one, confused? Certainly, it left this 15-year-old at the time confused.

My teacher was very understanding and he said, "OK pick a book of a similar kind of subject matter and length." So I chose “The Godfather “. Surprised to find it was also pretty intense. That book blew me away. But being fiction, I found it much more enjoyable. Or at least more palatable. Don't get me wrong. Both books were amazing.

The Trump criminal trial now has the jury deliberating. I will just be glad when this is over and I do hope they convict him. Enough of this denial from MAGA and Trump which he’ll continue to do, to deny until he dies. Which we can all hope is soon. America needs a break from all this lying and crime and authoritarian bullshit

I just saw that Dennis Quaid, long a favorite actor of mine just said in an interview that Trump was his guy. Good grief, dude. Really? How depressing.

So I mentioned in my last few "walkabout thoughts" that when I start my walks lately, there’s a tightness in my chest, which got down the last time to fading within the first quarter mile or so. Not noticing it at all today!

Back to the podcast and Molly… She’s talking about a film she did with someone. Jean Luc Goddard? She said she thinks it’s the most beautiful film she’s acted in (King Lear, 1986). It’s interesting hearing her talk about the experience. I’ll have to watch that movie now. I’ve been a fan of his movies and other auteurs from Europe since I was a kid. I always thought it was interesting how I was watching great European films by some of the best directors in film history on PBS in the 1960s, while my parents and everyone else I knew didn't have a clue about those films.

Molly says she’s written three or four pieces for The New Yorker magazine. I never even got a rejection slip from them. So color me impressed. And she never went to college.

She says she’s married to a writer-editor now of fiction and nonfiction and they share everything and edit each other. I think I made a huge mistake. I was married 3.5 times as I like to say, and not one of them was supportive of my writing. God how life could’ve been different perhaps, had I married a writer? Maybe?

My last year at university, when my girlfriend and I (we lived together), had both gone for psychology degrees. In our third year, maybe the beginning of our fourth, I was concentrating on phenomenology, as was she. Then she decided she was going to shift to be an existentialist. All the existentialists I knew in college used that philosophy as a way to rationalize having affairs on their partners. 

Our relationship ended with her having an affair the year after we graduated. So…to be fair, I remember saying before we graduated that if we were ever to break up it would take one of us hurting the other so badly that the relationship never could be mended. Long story.

In my final year I decided I could get a second degree but I would need extra classes so I just went for a minor in creative writing. My intro to Fiction class professor said at the end of the class (I was one of two top students in that class), I needed help with dialogue (I hated writing dialog) in my stories. He sent me to the theatre department for playwriting. What an eye-opener that was! The Theatre department is NOT the Psychology department, by a long shot. But as one of my classmates said in hearing I was from "Miller Hall" (the psych building): "We're the people you study over there, aren't we..." We laughed. I'd said, "Kind of, maybe. But I like it here. A lot."

From playwriting and I was chosen for year year-long team script and screenwriting class series. And I guess, just as I got disturbed with my girlfriend changing over to existentialism, she got disturbed with my moving from the field of psychology for screenwriting. I didn't abandon it, I just added writing to it.

I had a couple guys over from scriptwriting (we seemed to focus on team tv show writing), one night to brainstorm. When she got home she was really gruff and the guys left pretty quickly. Which I’ll never understand as she left me that next year. So I wasn't allowed to have new friends?

One of those friends, Mike Rainey and Dave Skubinna. Those two together with a few other friends on Bainbridge Island started the Annex Theatre. Which is still producing plays in Seattle.

After we graduated, I used up my last remaining money's worth of VA educational benefits to do the summer quarter and leave the university with a finished screenplay under my belt. My girlfriend moved back home, got a job, and found us a house. When the summer quarter was over, I moved back to Tacoma with her.

In response to Molly, talking about having a family and kids, one has to have a job and hustle. I think that’s the thing. I’ve hustled hard all my life. I’m done with that. I don’t mind hard work. I’m just sick to death of having to constantly sell myself. To convince every new person that I'm more than they think I can be. 

I have proved that throughout my life. You get settled in, think you're done with that, and then you find you're doing it all over again. What was really annoying was at a company, when they changed managers, especially when they came in from outside the company, even if you’re very highly thought of, they have to learn that first hand about you. Eventually, their opinion matures but you still have to get through their orientation period and it's just kind of annoying after a lifetime of it. I think that’s why I retired younger than I had meant to...nuts, it's starting to rain…

They’re both talking on the podcast about writing stories that are true life, about things that you’ve lived through and how others you include in the story, especially if you name them, can react to it. How no matter how light it is or funny it may seem, or how it may put those others in a good light, even if you're seen in a bad light, those people may well still want to control their own narrative. Or as Molly put it, their own mythology

I find this interesting and relevant because whenever I write something about my past, I throw it into a folder on my hard drive called "autobio" under my "non-fiction" writings area. Every time I’ve tried to write that book, I’ve felt like I've led too many lives with weird interesting stuff that turns it into writing a series of books. So how do you choose maybe one incident out of each life led?

I had considered each chapter titled for a whole decade. So the "1950s", which is only five years for me. And so on. But I don’t know, maybe one of these days it’ll go click and I’ll figure it out and whip it out into a book. Throw it out into the public. See what happens.

Well, that’s it. 2 miles today and the weather has turned against me

On that note, I’ll bid you adieu…

And I’ll leave you with that. And it’s nearly noon and time for lunch.

As always, I wish you all, all the greatest success and good health!
Just put in the time and effort for those successes.
Until next time!

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #75

Thoughts & Stream of Consciousness, rough and ready, from an award-winning filmmaker and author you’ve never heard of, while walking off long Covid, and listening to podcasts…day of walk, 5/14/2024

Weather for the day… starting out, 56° nice sunny day 72° upon returning home

Podcast Marc Maron ep. 1538 - A. Whitney Brown

So May 9, 2024 Roger Corman died. I grew up watching his movies. Thank you.

Marc on the podcast will interview A. Whitney Brown at his home in Austin, Texas, which is cool because I remember him well mostly on SNL (boy he had some interesting things to say about Dennis Miller, whom I had liked until more recent years when he turned into a braindead conservative of sorts...now I know why). But then Marc talks about being at the rock museum or something and someone pulls out a bunch of cool stuff, showing him things that’s pretty cool to hear him talk about.

Interesting story about Marc’s stand-up (sitdown?) show, when a guy yelled out “fuck you“ as Marc starts talking about "Jew stuff" (being Jewish) as he put it. After talking for a while about the event he said, "I don’t know. Maybe the guy just got triggered."

I do get a kick out of, after an entire lifetime of venerating, enjoying, and watching those who entertained me, to now hear the background stories to all of those things and those times in general. This is a good podcast.

I guess as someone born in the mid 1950s, growing up through everything I had, getting "triggered" was a luxury. I never understood those knuckle draggers who just spent their egos all over anyone in range, picking fights, arguing, generally showing their ignorance and using their egos like cheap, bad guy perfume (when real mean wear cologne, you see).

I spent most of my life biting my tongue about things I wanted to speak out about. I was raised to be polite, to fit into situations. Speak up for yourself, to be sure (if you met my mother, she lived that). Over time as society evolved, where eventually you could do that and feel somewhat protected, somewhat so in a group, to the point that you can often say it when you’re alone against some other person or even to a group...maybe. 

Some of us have enough privilege that we can walk away from those sitautions alive, or to at least survive the ensuing hospital visit, while some of us, won't, don’t, can't. All for what? An opinion? An orientation? Because you were born into who you are? WTF? What is wrong with some people's children? Like MAGA who punched people in a Walmart for wearing a covid mask. WHY? Who made you the fasion police, because that's what you're doing/being. That is, an asshole.

I have trouble with the word "triggered". "Activated" perhaps...activated? Someone came up with a better word but I can’t remember if it was "activated" or not. But to me "triggered" is not a lack of self-discipline, an issue of poor personal restraint, but something that goes to the root of one's soul. Something one truly can have no control over. While often today what we from many people being “triggered “is about shit that they just want to feel triggered over, or to let go, to respond to aggressively over for a variety of reasons. How can so many, have so many issues/problems. Some do, to be sure. I feel for them. But for too many? I suspect it's poor parenting. Perhaps not putting your kids through enough trials, to help them evolve to be strong individuals. To pay attention to that, to mature into it.

Fully, I agree some people should say things they say that trigger people. But we shouldn't get triggered. Annoyed, upset, irritated? Sure. Respond intelligently? Cleverly counter stupidity, ignorance? Sure. But we're not doing that as often as I'd like to see anymore. Not that we were even a race of geniuses about that kind of thing.

I'm not a person to say the kids are weak, stupid, whatever. We've evolved. Both sides however need to grow into these times so we're all more reasonable, aware, understanding, comprehending. That ain' "woke". Though on the other hand, "woke" is just better aware. What the Buddists (Buddha Dharma) refer to as Zanshin, or Enlightenment. React appropriately because you understand, or don't react until you do. React because you do, not react and realize later, you don't.

Both sides could toughen up a little. Especially, those who resent simply being better aware of other's needs who are less considered. 

I suspect there are many people who think they’re triggered in the way that they believe Black or Gay people have a life choice of who they are. It’s nice we can speak out more freely now. But too often people are speaking out when they should keep their damn mouth shut. Sorry, but MAGA comes to mind.

Too many delusionally believe (I'd say think, but I'm unsure where thinking comes into it) we live in a theocratic or totalitarian state where they are part of the majority. Which doesn’t matter then as long as you’re part of your beloved leader's group. Until he (probably "he") goes psychotic and you become part of those, as in the USSR when Stalin slaughtered at least 9 million citizens (somewhere between 6 and 20 million). Fun times. Authoritarianism. Yay! Rise up authoritarian autocrats! It’s all, fun and joking until you are the one that gets tossed in the camps, or shot in the back of the head after being dragged out of your bed at 2 AM while your spouse and children watch. Then it’s not quite so much fun.

Stalin by the way practiced the fun form of government called (wait for it) Stalinisn:

Key characteristics of Stalinism include:

• Totalitarianism: Stalinism is characterized by a totalitarian means of governing12.
• Marxist–Leninist policies: Stalin implemented Marxist–Leninist policies during his rule12.
• Socialism in one country: This doctrine held that a viable classless society could be built within Soviet boundaries, despite encirclement by a largely capitalist world1.
• Rapid industrialization and collectivization: Stalin launched a program of rapid industrialization and forced collectivization of agriculture1.
• Cult of personality: Stalin presented himself as the sole infallible interpreter of party ideology1

ANY of that sound familiar to any current America FPOTUS now in his own personal criminal trial with more trials to come?

Anyway, I think we need to be less triggered. 

And I agree we need to do less canceling. 

There’s a difference between confronting, or refusing to accept a concept. Than simply ignoring it utterly, or refusing it to be brought into the light were it tends to die after a while. I attribute that to a lack of patience in today society about the bad things we don't like and about the wrong things we think if you won't talk about them or refuse to acknowledge them, they'd go away. We really need to get that straight in our heads. You addrews evil, civily. When it becomes murderous, you act accordingly. You act proactively, in ways that are more intelligent than less. Holding your breath until it goes away? Is no solution.

So I’ve been doing these "Walkabout Thoughts" for a while now. Which, as you may know, started with my trying to walk off symptoms of long Covid and found that it worked. Somewhat (some is better than none) If I just walked enough miles. Before it would take me a few days to get around to doing a read through of my podcast thoughts and walking ruminations, toward getting it to a functional point of anyone else reading it. Now I’m often doing it the same day, putting it out the next day, at 6am in the morning. I’ve had my overall Murdockinations blog around for 13 years now? Something like that.

There was a time where a lotta people around the world were reading it. I think my biggest readership was during the Arab Spring when a lot of Egyptians were having trouble accessing information in country or about their country. So with this current rendition of my blog, with these "Walkabouts Thoughts", which I intersperse with various oddities intermittently, once the blog hits the internet and goes live, I then share it on social media. And I pretty quickly get hits by people reading it. It was nice to see this morning when my previous blog went live, even before I could share it I noticed there were already people reading it. Tthank you for that! Actually, I still haven’t shared that one on social media today, I forgot.

As for those intermittant blogs between these "Walkabouts", some recent ones include:

• AI Evaluation - "POTUS" Al Capone vs FPOTUS45 Donald Trump
• Mother's Day (or a holiday) blog
• Kicking Around What God Knows, With Copilot
• The MAGA Moebius Strip Conundrum
• Atheism was Created by Theists... Who Came Second

Anyway. Moving on…
Wow. A. Whitney Brown only got as far as eighth grade? He was always a really sharp guy. I always thought he was more educated. He just had that air. I guess like Dennis Miller. And according to Brown, yeah, book and it's cover, and all that...

A. Whitney Brown left home in 1968 at 15, leaving behind the kerosene lamps and outhouse and his family who was falling apart through alcoholism and mental institutions and he headed up to Canada to a rock festival with Steppenwolf and some of the people that were there were not long after a Woodstock. Then he went to Woodstock. How was that? Damn. Pretty cool.

My older brother is about his age. He had a band with my sister in the 60s. I think I remember him talking about wanting to go to Woodstock, to some big festival the entire country of young were headed to and it was going to be awesome! But he couldn’t get the money together and didn't go. He later regretted that.

For Whitney, he said LSD saved his life and that Woodstock had a lot of psychedelics. For me, I refuse to do that or heroin until I got out of high school. My brother turned me onto cannabis when I was 16, the summer before 12th grade (I turned 17 within a week). Graduated 1973 having tried weed for the first time with my brother that time in Phoenix on the way home that summer from Cape May, New Jersey where I was surfing with my cousin. My older brother lived in Arizona for about seven years. I went home and immediately stopped doing all the pills I was doing back then, which was gonna lead me to early grave. I didn’t get into psychedelics until I think '74 when I graduated,got a job, and moved out to my own apartment that summer of 73. Friend of mine turned me onto his fiancé’s girlfriend who was living a block away and who I eventually married.

I had acquired some acid from somewhere that first time. I wanted to try it, but was afraid to. But my girlfriend said she had done it before a few times and she would stay with me that night and what a great night that was. Then I really got into it over the next 10 years or so until the 80s when cocaine came on the scene. While there was still acid, more so... mushrooms. I’d have to say over the 70s and 80s I tried a lot of things. Make a good book or a movie, maybe.

As happened to Whitney as detailed on the podecast, I wonder if I can find a single moment in my life that I can trace everything back to when it changed everything? I want to say yes, but I also want to say, probably multiple episodes of that. I suppose the situation I mentioned above with my brother and the first time I tried weed in Phoenix, actually Mesa, Arizona, obviously changed my life (for the better) because I truly believed I probably would’ve done the wrong pills, probably with some alcohol, over that next year and never graduated. Or made it into the next yeara. I had a serious belief back then that I'd never live until 21. That belief freed me up to do a lot of crazy shit. Though I hadn't accounted for something. I think the reason I survived that, the crazy shit, was because I’d had so much professional training, already. 

Martial arts in grade school and early junior high, fighting tournaments, under a world class Sensei. Military training, search and rescue, and first responder first aid in Civil Air Patrol in Junior high when I flew and landed my first airplane, and took ground school. And damn just so much stuff. I used to say by the time I graduated high school had done more (back in 1973) than many adults had done in their entire lives. I mean, I wrote a screenplay about part of that, “The Teenage Bodyguard. “An internationally awarded screenplay, actually with a known Hollywood producer attached to it...if we can ever get it sold and find the right damn director who has a vision at least somewhat similar to mine, in telling a story of what actually happened, rather than trying to make it into a simple money making vehicle (That is, money, nice!). I mean, dude! Let’s do both!

Shhhh… Don’t tell anyone, the screenplay I wrote was my own biopic for a week of my life in the 70s. Apparently it’s bad form to let people know you’re the screenwriter for a story about you. I don’t know why it should matter. (no, I DO, with generally so many bad screenplays...I do get it, bad screenwriter, bad story, producer's/director's wasted time, they do get hammered with nonsense...)

But I have a university degree in psychology and phenomenology, both good training for self discovery, and professional observation and reportage. I’m also an award-winning writer/screenwriter and the screenplay is a multiple award winner. Now, if I can just sell the damn thing. So if you know any good preferably known, directors…

I pitched that bodyguard concept to a producer in London long ago now. I had adapted a paranormal romance novel to screenplay format, at the authors request. Which got me in touch with him. He asked, "What else do you have?" I told him I’ve got these written screenplays and I have these ideas that I’m thinking about writing. He said, "If you ever write that idea, “the teenage bodyguard", I want to see it first."

I’m not stupid. Over the next 19 days I wrote it as fast as I could and got back to him. That was no where near as good as it is now, by the way.

This was a while back I don’t know 2012 maybe. He said, "Thanks, I'll send it off to the readers and see what they say." And then, I never heard from him again. Over the next years I reworked that draft. I hadn’t send him my first draft, I sent my second. Never send your first draft to anyone. I  eventually worked with screenplay consultant Jennifer Grisanti and that producer I mentioned above, Robert Mitas, who still produces alongside producer/actor Michael Douglas. Loving his new series on Apple+ streaming about Ben Franklin in France.

Anyway, that London producer disappeared. Eventually, I tried to track him down. What I found was, he was actually a micro producer on very tiny projects. Too small for this story.Maybe he could have been a good connection, networking and all. I don't know. So I moved on.

Oh, one thing I did want to say about that London producer was, I offered to change the title. I thought it was too obvious. But he said he loved that title. Don’t change it, he said.It says everything right there. He also said the storyline reminded him of “The Place Beyond Phe pines". So I went and watched that movie and loved it and it re-oriented me on my screenplay. My first draft was trying to be a biopic, a dramatic documentary. I was trying to stick to the truth. But that’s not entertaining. That’s a documentary, which while it can be entertaining as a documentary, I was shooting for something else.

It’s a true crime genre film and a biopic. But that seemed to be working against me so I came to wonder, is it a biopic if it’s only covering one week of someone’s life? Nope. But the thing is, for people to accept the protagonist, they had to know his background so they would buy it all, buy into what they were seeing? So after years of not realizing I shouldn’t call it a biopic, I started calling it a true crime drama. 

Now I think I have a better chance at a director seeing what I'm hinking and take it seriously as a drama. Not to mention it actually happened as a true crime story involving a 1973 Tacoma Washington mafia family. And this kid how protects witness who is running from that family, who owned the Tiki topless restaurant in Lakewood Washington, the  greater Tacoma area's first topless joint. I researched these guys for years and the more I found the more I was stunned.

Turned out there was a federal court trial of these guys that had to be moved to San Francisco and became national headline news, because they couldn’t trust Seattle/Tacoma government as the crime family had their fingers deep into the sheriff's office, the prosecutor, and maybe even the governor, or at least his office.

There is a fascinating book by a Seattle newspaper writer who did write a book about the greater Seattle area mafia families. Good book.

VICE: STRIPPERS, PROSTITUTION, DIRTY MONEY, AND CROOKED COPS

by Rick Anderson

Just passed my 2nd mile, working on my third, hoping to get a fourth. Not really feeling 100% though.

Whitney is now recounting his travels on the podcast at this point, so awesome.

That’s something, he said, maybe remember something. 

After I got divorced in 2002, whenever my kids would be away for the weekend, I would hit the bars in Seattle. All I did was commute 4 hours a day, work hard in IT, then raise my kids. No time for dating, or adult oriented fun. I had a lot of fun with the kids, but you know, you need to blow off steam in a novel environment once in a while.

With the kids gone, I would take the ferry over from Bainbridge Island, and try to hit every bar in Seattle... over time. I'd wear completely different clothes each time: Grunge one time, dressed to the 9s another. Had some adventures. There was one bar I liked, owned by a Russian guy. Called the "Backdoor". A block or two up the street from Pioneer Square, which is a big party bar venue area, with the bar right next to the Seattle underground light rail entrance, on an incline and across the street up above...the county courthouse. 

There were steps going down to the light rail and a few feet away the back door of the Backdoor with steps going up (like 60 steps, they were killer when you'd had a few or many). This place was often packed, I remember fighting to get to the bar to order another drink so I could talk to the Russian owner. I gave him my card and said, "You know what you’re missing here? A website." Why that’s memorable is I said that and he looked around at that packed little room off the dance floor, which was off the other bar on the other side side. Everything‘s packed with people (almost every time I was in there, the only time it wasn't was one day I wandered in around lunch time and people were sitting around eating lunches). He took the card, nodded his head, smiled and said, "OK." Never heard from him. Days later, I realized how stupid that was. Why the hell did he need a website when a lot of people still hardly knew what a website was. And with little marketing the place was always packed.

I forgot to mention that I rewrote my bodyguard screenplay with Robert Mitas’ input. I’ve sent them both off to screenplay contests and for whatever reason, my longer more accurate version has won more awards. Although that shorter collaboration screenplay in a better screenplay format to be honest, has also won a couple.

You see, what I came to realize, or believe anyway, with the rewritten version, it is a better spec script, better sellable script. And the problem with that is even if the true crime drama is not as easy to sell, I personally find it (and apparently others do as well) a far better story. And for how I am, a far more accurate screenplay, depicting more of what happened more accurately. I found it was funny because I had cards in the screenplay with dates and Robert thought that would confuse the audience. Too many dates and jumping around. I was telling my childhood in reverse and the criminals actions in real time leading up to the beginning of "the week". Sounds confusing, it's not. And since we re-wrote it I’ve seen a lot of movies that have cards on screen with dates and by cards I mean on screen text, or inserts (SUPERS). Since we re-wrote it, I've seen a lot of movies that have those and a lot that don’t... so I don’t know. I wonder if it isn't just personal preference.

Well? I’ve got until I die to sell the script and see it produced. So I’m giving it my best shot. I’ve submitted it to several companies just the past couple weeks. If only I knew who would be interested I'd send it to them. But that's every screenwriter's dilemma, isn't it. Of course the problem is not sending it, but it getting to them, whomever would care to see it. I find it ironic because true crimes pretty popular, so WTF is the problem?

OK, I just hit 3.5 miles. That means I’m guaranteed 4 miles plus today. Yay! 

Whitney has a good point on the podcast about Mark Twain who he said was a stand-up comedian but they called it lecturing back then. He said he was his hero as far as doing stand up. I love Mark Twain, always have. I never thought of him as a standup, but I’ve often thought that about quotes of his.

Whitney said nobody made him laugh harder than WC Fields. Regardless of anything about him, I have always enjoyed his work since I was a kid, love those old funny guys, and duos (or trios). I was a huge fan of Woody Allen since I saw his first film back in this 70s? Aside from my psychology degree at university and aside from my minor in writing and screen writing, I had focused on the cinematic works of Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, and Hitchcock. Since then as I found out about all three of those guys being...problematic...characters, in their personal or professional lives. So, what are you gonna do? No one‘s gonna give a shit 100 years from now when they view their works.

On that topic, I first ran into problematic professionals and their art when my beloved grandmother told me as a kid she didn’t like Charlie Chaplin. She’s been dead for decades now and I’ve since learned Charlie was greatly misunderstood and malaigned. Sigh...

So the way I look at it is if they’re still getting money (and they’re still alive) from their art, consider not giving them more money. But if they’re dead, I don’t know, fuck off? They’re historical at that point.

Whitney said: “the casual brutality of life, day-to-day.” “to respond to that with laughter, to turn that into laughter… “

That’s interesting. I’ve long thought about writing my autobiography and I’ve been storing notes anytime I write anything that’s historically correct about my history, just toward that. I found a lot of humor in the tragedy in my life. Not alot, not always big, but it's there. We all have it. The tiny tragedies just to us? Maybe I need to focus more on that. It’s funny because since I was much younger, like high school, I would tell friends things that happened to me and they'd be rolling in the aisles laughing about it. I’d be like... you think that’s funny? But I was in on the joke because I would laugh with them because you could see the absurdity. The whole pain and anguish plus time equals comedy, thing. I never quite knew what to do with that. How to turn it into money, or a living?

In my way of thinking, a lot of my fiction, of my published sci-fi and horror, has a lot of comedy in it. When I think back in my life to just about every time I almost died, there was always laughter or a chuckle involved first and then it happened. Giggle, giggle, grin, then Boom!

And I got in my 4 miles for the day [this now is from after I got home: I finally took my prevsious walk's steps of 3 miles and subtracted from today's and found the "steps" for 1 mile at 2,190 (I'm just calling it 2220 steps equaling a mile, for me)]

OK, so I’ll leave you with that. It’s almost time for lunch.

As always, I wish you all, all the greatest success and good health!

Just put in the time and effort for those successes.  
Until next time!

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #64.5

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…

Walkabout Thoughts #64.5

.5?

Yes. Well? Here's the deal.

I had a minor accident. Three weeks ago. I tripped over something that caught my foot. Slammed my ankle into something which it then slipped down on, leading to a blister from a kind of "rug burn". That was doing well until it broke open and got infected. I was taking care of it, but apparently something got into it.

It's pretty bad. I thought I may have broken my leg. Yeah, that bad. I had it looked at for a third time in three weeks yesterday and indeed, it's not broken (finally got x-rays taken), but definitely infected. the wound was cleaned up, antibiotics administered, and next Tuesday I'm seeing a "wound clinic". So, no more 5 mile walks for a bit.

Yeah, that bad. I was told it's superficial though, I won't lose my ankle (oh, gooood). But it needs some serious attention and may take months to finally heal. 

Damn.

First I'll say one political thing today that I'm borrowing from a "Tweet" of mine yesterday, just because this is so aggravating

Considering continuing Republican rogue actions, the Insurrection "Freedom" Caucus in the US House of Reps, illiberal "Republican Party" laws, illiberal "Republican" Gerrymandering, "Republican" coup attempts, an insurrection, ongoing voter suppression, anti-pro-choice crap, electing of all people, life long criminal Donald Trump...only ONE NAME now fits for the once GOP: GOVP. The Grand Old #igilante Party. Because these are ALL Vigilante actions.

Considering how anti-governmental Republicans are, esp., MAGA, hating government, always trying to disable it, defund it, destroy, cripple it, then blame Democrats for it...I'd also settle for the name: "Grand Old Vigilantes". The G.O.V.

There is little more dangerous than a religious leader shunned by his flock, for another. Or a conservative cult divested of their self-infatuated leader. Beware MAGA, once Trump has fallen. For lost, they will need purpose, other repositories for their hate, and ignorance.

Right. OK. Moving on...I'd been using a crutch to walk with (tried a cane but it wasn't enough). Now that it's been cleaned by a medical professional (thing was, it's on my outer left ankle and hard to get close to by myself), antibiotics administered, 2x daily Epsom salt soaking, so it's doing better. Now that I know the leg bone isn't fractured, and with the infection more local to just the wound area, I can walk (limping a bit) without a walking aid.

And that's why there is no "Walkabout Thoughts" lately these past three weeks. I know I'm a bit intermittent on them normally anyway, but this time will be a bit longer... apparently.

I've gotten a lot of work done on my new film companion book on "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero" (not a simple book to write), but as the infection got worse, I'd not been in a state of mind where I can maintain writing a book for very long. While the film continues to garner international awards at film festivals. Which is always nice.

In fact, in the past three weeks I had entered two different film festivals, the Tabriz Cinema Awards (İstanbul, turkey) and, the Brandenburg International Film Festival in Germany. I had entered two films, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero" and my film noir, "Gumdrop", a short horror, as well as my already award winning screenplay, a true crime biopic, "The Teenage Bodyguard. I won for all three, at both festivals, within a week of one another.

The first win of three was a surprise. The second was a big surprise!

In other good news is, my book "Suffering Long Covid" is selling well at the regional health food chain a few counties over (long story). I just had to send them another shipment of ten as the Covid season approaches.

So, I'll end with that and...that's what's going on. 

Not a lot, but kind of a lot. 

I wish you all great success and health! Until next time!

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #46

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…June 30, 2023 Friday


Regarding affirmative action in the SCOTUS, shot me down this week, here’s the deal about that…one University where there were 9% Blacks have been cut down to 4%, in a country that has 13% Blacks who are living and paying taxes in America. Whenever we have a situation where there’s too few voters and taxpayers ethnocentrically in a group, in a workforce, an educational system, in the military, or prisons, workers, or inmates, and the percentage is way out of whack? That’s when it needs to be addressed. And that’s what we’ve been saying. In the case of Blacks, way too many are inmates. Way too few are in institutions of education. I could get what conservative members of SCOTUS are saying, if they see affirmative action laws as unconstitutional, even if I may disagree with them. But when you look at a group and see the disparity and the injustice that should be corrected, how do you do that? Are you proactive or do you react to that, that you’re just fine with it? And so we have had affirmative action laws, hoping to correct that. But not correct it 100%. Which AGAIN evokes the question… "What the fuck are whites complaining about?" Is it that they were that week and ineffective themselves, but today they have to beg forevermore for cushions to their existence? That while Blacks and Minorities should “pull them selves up by the boot straps“ because that’s those American's quote? But they don’t wanna do that for themselves? Because when They have to do it, it’s somehow reverse racism? I grew up, middle, maybe upper lower class, and through hard work and multiple jobs my stepfather worked us into lower middle and at some point (after I moved out) middle-middle class, although they were always in debt. There was no question when they died that they'd leave any money for their kids. 

I graduated high school at 17, immediately got a job and moved the hell out. I was going nowhere in life. And so I joined the Air Force at 20. I'd given it a few years to try to do better but just saw no prospects. Between that belief and a curious nature, and ability to absorb information easily in some ways, with difficulty in others because of ADHD, I struggled all my life to get out of debt myself. In positioning myself, luckily I found some opportunities, and never turned down opportunities out of fear. Plenty of times I was fearful of taking on a newer and harder position. But I kept my mother's dad in mind, our grandfather who always excepted challenges when half the time he didn’t know what he was doing, until he started doing it, or teaching it, but kept that to himself. He forced himself to succeed, and with that model in mind, I got through life bouncing around with plenty of knocks and bruises. Eventually with a small retirement, that should’ve been much larger. But at least I had one, at least I have something.

Some colleges, after hearing about SCOTUS knocking down affirmative action laws, say they will continue trying to do what’s right, regardless. Until OUR federal judiciary and SCOTUS, toxically and conservatively stacked and weighted with conservatives, at some point finally says it’s unconstitutional, remember always what they did with abortion. They won a little and they took a lot. They just wanted to pass it back to the states they said, and then they tried to pass federal laws against it to take it away from the states and nationalize an illegal ban. These are not trustworthy people. It’s not my orientation but their actions that prove this time and time again. Conservatism leans into religion, and so you can trust religion being pro-deity and anti-human in passing more absolutist laws.

How is Black SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas not what other Blacks used to refer to as a “Uncle Tom“? An apologist for white privilege. So I asked the AI:

"The term "Uncle Tom" originated from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel titled "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was published in 1852. The novel depicted the life of a slave named Tom, who was portrayed as a submissive and loyal servant to his white master. Over time, the term "Uncle Tom" has evolved into a derogatory term used to criticize African Americans who are perceived as being overly subservient to white people or betraying the interests of their own community.

"The term "Uncle Tom" is often used as an insult to demean African Americans who are seen as acquiescing to racism or supporting policies or actions that are detrimental to their own racial or ethnic group. It suggests a lack of racial consciousness or a willingness to conform to white societal expectations at the expense of one's own identity and community.

"It's important to note that the term is considered derogatory and offensive, as it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and oversimplifies complex issues related to race and identity. It is generally discouraged to use such terms, as they can contribute to negative racial tensions and misunderstandings."

OK, so maybe calling Justice Thomas, "Uncle Tom" is offensive. Then explain what the fuck he is doing?

However I have little respect for anyone who thinks like Thomas. "I put in the sweat labor to get to where I got to, everyone else had better appreciate that and do the same!" Not realizing that equating what he went through was the same for others, regardless how he grew up. To NOT stand up for your own, for those like you (regardless of race), so also giving due consideration for any of the poor, immigrants or, Native Americans who we took these lands FROM, or many Mexicans who were in a similar situation, though perhaps not quite so murderously abusive). 

With such considerations, I must here offer this from, "The Beat with Ari Melber", podcast on a special episode:
"BONUS: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Affirmative Action Dissent Read by Actress Alfre Woodard". "Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard reads Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s entire 29-page dissent to the affirmative action ruling." Why? Because of SCOTUS poor standing of late in their excessively conservative extremist rulings. The Republican Party and its supporters have gone off the deep end, grabbing things they've long wanted, regardless the consequences. Because it's easier to take and apologize later and retain some, than do what is right and receive little of what you want. No matter who unethical, immoral or toxic it is to the nation overall.

Is it time to rid the world of internal combustion engine leaf blowers and grass trimmers, yet? For that of battery powered ones? I read this thing decades ago, while it apparently doesn’t have scientific legitimacy, it does makes sense. That is that as civilization evolves, it becomes more advanced to the point that it becomes quieter. Maybe darker? Thus earth once shouted massive amounts of signals off planet and our cities and machines are noisy. But as we get more electric cars and such, we become quieter as we make advances. It also makes sense we would utilize lighting more adeptly so we'd direct smaller amounts of lights (at night) with more efficiency in various ways. But you get it concept.

How do we know that the Bible or the Quran aren't some of the largest “telephone game“ examples in the history of humanity? That being in writing things down after telling them by word of mouth for a long time, and then by translating them so that through time and history, we've been altering them? And we’ve seen how that subvert and/or Re-orients from the original message.

So, according to SCOTUS... racial Gerrymandering exists, but that’s where it ends? WTF?

One wonders if we sent back in time, well-educated individuals, from both sides of the ticket today, to when the US Constitution was being written, how would that alter it? Because I suspect they would tighten it up and better address certain issues that the Right is now trying to make superfluous. What I'm saying is, if we went back in time to tell the Founding Fathers what the hell we're doing with their US Constitution, they'd make some re-writes. And now how today's nutcase Right wingnuts would.

I like Pablo Pascal, the actor. He signed on to the writer's strike. I liked him in "The Mandalorian". I liked him in, "The Last of Us". I heard him in an interview recently where he said he had a lot to be thankful for in having been in "Narcos" on Netflix. So I watched that this past week. It was him and his blond haired, white partner with Pablo being a Spanish speaker in Colombia where they were DEA agents. I understand he didn’t think he would be in the show very long but he lasted two seasons and then they gave him the third season, losing his partner. Interesting they never mentioned what happened to that guy. But when I saw the third season, it was obvious to my why he did so well after that. It wasn’t so much the first two seasons, but they got him to the third and final season. I really liked it. Then they came out with "Narcos Mexico". Which I just started though he’s not in it. I remember when sinsemilla cannabis hit the streets in the late 70s as the seedless version of weed. In the 70s we were so sick of having to clean out the seeds, as Cheech and Chong had so famously said, "No stems no seeds that you can see, Acapulco gold is fine... ass weed!" But I didn’t know about how that all came into being. At first we thought it was brilliant. The weed was cleaned up. Everyone had a shoe box lid or something just slid under their couch usually with their weed in it and some stems and seeds off the the side. Maybe an expired credit card or something for the sifting. Holding the lid at an angle, using the card to drag the weed up and catch it repeatedly to allow the seeds to run to the bottom. Anyway, you got what you paid for with sinsemilla, not a bunch of bulk and seed nonsense you didn’t use. When one day we we’re sitting around getting stoned and  I looked at my friends, and I said, "Hey, this is seedless." They smiled, just puffing away and said, "Yeah, I know, cool...right?" "Yeah cool… but now we can’t grow our own." And everybody looked at each other surprised and went, "Oh shit that’s right." Until someone said, "Yeah, but we're not growing it anyway, right?" "Yeah, but now we can't, even if we wanted to." And suddenly, everyone wanted to. But it was brilliant marketing in that they didn’t have to ship the stems and seeds, which kept us from growing our own, but also made the packs smaller and they could profit more and ship more. The kilo is more dense, which was an all-around win-win for everybody. Except for anyone who wanted to grow their own. At that point, we started to try and find some seeds and no one had any. And if they did, they were valuable. When they had been everywhere at one point. It was a marketing awakening, in the illegal weed market. So Narcos Mexico. Pretty entertaining. An interesting show though so far I’m only a few episodes into it

But speaking of that, I watched the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" last night. It was a court trial, which usually I like, but not in a sci-fi show so much. But by the end of it, I liked it a lot. Actually, that was last weeks episode. And it was good by the end. Last night's episode was a time travel episode where they went back in time on earth. And again you might be like, "Hey, this isn’t space cowpoke fun romping around the universe stuff!" But by the end they tied it together, and you had to sort of smile and go, "Nice job."

The last episode of "Silo" hit for the season on an Apple+. Really like that show and it had a good cliffhanger season ending that left me with my mouth open, going, "Oh shit, hadn't seen that coming!"

Another one on that streamer is "The Crowded Room". Having a degree in psychology and always being interested in pathologies kind of like shows like that.

Another on Paramount plus is Joe about it Bureau of land management ranger. Like the character so much I haven’t read novels that it’s just a fun and at times difficult show to watch. He takes a lot of brutality in his job but keeps on pushing. And his family’s interesting his lawyer, wife, and two girls.

I also watched Mayans because I was a Sons of Anarchy fan. But there’s something missing from this series that "Sons" had. Maybe it’s 'cause I’m a white boy and not Mexican, Latino, Latinx or whatever, but I’m kind of looking forward to the end of the series. Hey, I still watch it. Though it's not meant to be some kind of sequel to "Sons", and well, it's not. Something isn't clicking for me with it.

Alaska Daily (now cancelled), how about a New York world famous journalist transplant to a tiny newspaper that’s on the edge, in Alaska. The first and only review I read of it when it premiered was not good and they shot the showdown. Screw them. I liked it. I'm sad it's cancelled (I just found out in looking for a link for this). But I think there’s elements for the show the reviewer entirely missed. We need more shows like this. Losing our small newspapers has been crippling America. Native Americans, First Nations...they're getting more attention, but still not enough. A Free Press is a necessary part of our democracy. Our toxic capitalism has worked hard to conglomerate, kill off smaller papers and allowed to monopolize, hampering a Free Press ever more so. Autocrats are doing it around the world. Our democracy and our haters of democracy on the right, especially autocrats like Trump and his MAGA infection, are using the boundaries of democracy to cripple our Free Press. 24 hour new cycles haven’t helped because then they have to always report something new even if it's nothing or worse, which is anathema to what should be loss leader news reporting. Short news cycles and shorter short term memories, news for profit rather as a loss leader for a company, or a network has been signing news death warrant now for years.

How in the hell can we have a fair and balance SCOTUS if it’s too heavily unbalanced one way or the other and why aren’t there laws to assure that NEVER happen? Obviously so that it CAN happen. And that’s got to change. I’m not asking for liberals to have a hand up. I’m asking for the entire country to have a fair and even hand up. Mitch McConnell and the GOP conservatively stacking our federal courts, as well as OUR SCOTUS, in illiberally disallowing Merrick Garland a seat on that court… If that’s not anti-American, what the hell is? Well, more "corporate thought" at work.

For those complaining that the Trump economy was better than Biden so far… First off Biden isn’t done and has he said what they have done and it is helping, it is working and it will continue to get better, such as reasonable projections all say. Let’s point out the disaster Obama took over and now he has a history of a better economy, so far better than Biden or Trump. But Biden still has time in his office before you can judge him. Especially if he gets a second term...if America has any self-esteem left whatsoever. Biden will, as opposed to say Trump getting a second term, which takes the consideration of any self-esteem whatsoever for America off the table if that happens, as he will have gone full on autocrat, giving him purchase to completely destroy our economy and our democracy. If you can’t see that, that’s a degree of ignorance so vast one don’t even know how to address it. Trump doesn't WANT to destroy our economy, just our democracy, but if he profits only by destroying our economy? It's toast.

A new Navigator poll shows that 75% of Americans are against tax cuts for the rich including Republicans. So WTF America? I remember saying when I got out of my university years in 1984 that priorities in America are fucked up. Well, thanks to conservatives they’re fucked up to a fantastical degree far beyond anything I had considered back then. And I have some pretty good "out there" fiction. Just check out, "In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear" (ebook free through July 2023). When I would have said all this now is just bad science fiction or really really poor speculative fiction writing and by a lazy writer.

This isn’t a difficult intellectual puzzle. We have to take money from somebody to run this government. I know my brother says we can run without taxes. I said explain to me how that works  but he couldn’t. But then he’s a conservative who supported Trump, so… But the point is, do we take those taxes more from people who don’t have the money or from those who do have so much money, they don’t know what to do with it? How is that an intellectual conundrum? I mean it's just common sense. The people with more pay more but also at a higher ratio. First of all nobody should have above a certain amount of money. No individual should have as much money as a country. No corporation should have more money than the largest country. Multinational corporations are dangerous. Just watch Rollerball. The original better one with James Caan. The problem as with so many other things in our society today is due to toxicity...in our conservatism and economy, leaning into autocracy, of those with autocratic desires, where common sense has been devalued, diluted and weaponized, all this against ourselves.

Inflation is down 11 months in a row, gas and groceries are down… But Biden they say is a doddering, old fool? And Trump isn’t? At the least, at very least Biden isn’t a criminal like Trump. Even if you believe Biden is, or that there actually is a "Biden crime family", which is stupid, which is fucking stupid, when you can see there is obviously is a Trump crime family, which is not mere denigration or ad hominems, which is why Trump keeps getting indicted ("criminal")… We just need to stop this juvenile fakery and get down to work.

Oh, another streamer show “From”, I like that one a lot because it’s really messed up.

I really like Kaley Cuoco, the actor from, "The Big Bang", who was in "The Flight Attendant". Another screwed up, show that I liked a lot. It was in fun and part is my older sister was a senior flight attendant all of her life. It was fun to tease her about, "Hey, did that happened to you?" No.

Oh, just saw the first few episodes of this season 3 of, "The Witcher" (last season for Henry Cavill as Geralt, replaced in upcoming seasons 4/5 by Liam Hemsworth). They just dropped on Netflix season three. Nice to see it back. I heard it’s the same actor as in "Superman and Lois" and for some reason I like that and watch it too (Emmanuelle Chriqui surely having nothing to do with it). But remind me of the Clark Kent, superman thing, where are the actors don’t look anything alike in each role. (I know, I know, see below further down).

This week I also watched Lamborghini with Frank Grillo as the elder character of the title name, and Gabriel Byrne, whom I have always liked his work. Since I first saw Ridley Scott's first film "The Duelists" with Harvey Keitel, opposing Keith Carradine through their lives, and the Napoleonic wars. Great underrated film.

Oh, and by the way, "Bidenomics" has given us the lowest unemployment rate for Blacks and Hispanics. So Hispanics really need to review this rush to the Republican Party who really doesn’t give a shit about anybody except their own leaders, donors and superPACs, lobbyists.

I se Hyperwrite as of recently and a company called Reword just pinged me with some spam. It looks interesting. But I need to make sure it’s hooked up to this blog. I don’t think it is. If I could make this stream of consciousness blog look a little more... well written without spending a lot of time on it, because I’ve got other things to do, I think we all agree... that would be awesome.

Sometimes I put things in these notes during walkabouts that are just for me to see so that when I get home and read them, I delete them from the blog and go do them. But sometimes I leave them in... like the one just above.

As I’ve spoken about in the previous two blogs, when exercising you can hit a point where you want to quit. Today that was at about mile 4 and a quarter. Usually I don’t start sweating till like the last mile or so. It’s hot today so it was by the end of the 2nd mile. But around mile 4 I started feeling I was overdoing it. So I stopped in a shady place. I looked down into a gully, or gulch, or whatever you wanna call it, that runs off downhill to the next main street below. I realized, I’ll have been in this house about five years now and in the first week, years ago, I would’ve already gone down into this thing out of curiosity. Just to search around to see what was there. I've always been like that. Going up in the mountains by myself to go hiking alone. Exploring local, wooded areas people tend to not go into. But with this time and age, it’s just not worth my effort. Or I just don’t have the motivation anymore, or my body isn’t so in shape (thanks so much Long Covid) so as to not give a thought about overdoing it in time or effort. Yeah getting old is not for the old, but it sure as hell isn’t for the young.

Damn talking about ADHD… I just posted on Twitter and social media today about it, because my son, who also has it, sent me a 20 minute comedy clip of a guy talking about his wife having ADHD. It’s pretty funny and more so if you have it. He’s exaggerating, but it’s pretty entertaining. And the reason I say this now is because above, I was gonna say something about getting to mile four, and wanting to quit today. And the reason for mentioning that, which I got distracted from… was that I had stopped to cool off And then saw something on my phone from someone who DM'd me about being a product ambassador or something. Which distracted me so I started walking again and then realized I feel fine now. So I’m now starting mile five and again I feel fine. My point is, was... that when you hit that point where you think you can’t do anymore, rest, then take your time to slowly move forward, get back up to speed and you may well find that you’re just fine.

I agree with the Biden administration consideration on if all Biden makes is a single term. They should get two. They have a strong story to tell that needs to be told to counter the bullshit from the right. This ain’t your grandfathers voodoo economics of trickle down nonsense by toxically capitalistic right wing nut cases who led us to first to the Tea Party, and then Donald Trump's MAGA and an insurrection. How you can see him being "worth his salt" is beyond all rational thought.

At what point do we make Nazism, neo or otherwise, illegal in this country? It will hopefully eventually die off, this core of the MAGA Trump personality cult, our current autocratic infection which needs to be curbed and made somewhat, somehow, illegal? Yes, yes 1st Amendment, yes, Freedom of Speech, and so on, but when it’s weaponized against our US Constitution itself, maybe it's time to act.

Want an easy element to indicate to you who not to vote for? Someone who is thin skinned like Ron DeSantis, like Donald Trump. Those are not leaders. Those are not men who can run a country. Run it into the ground, yes, sure... to be sure. But, let's not do that.


Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts 33a - ThrilzTV, Our New Streaming Movie Service

Well. Not much walking of late. But I thought I'd offer an update.

I've been saying for a while I was working on building a brand new streaming movie service. And so we have been. It recently went live online. We've yet to market it yet, holding off on that as we continue to build it up and other things. 

A streaming service by indie filmmakers for indie fiimmakers, and lovers of other than mainstream big studio films, with a taste for the unusual and unique. Some vintage, some bizarre, some docs on fimmaking, some movies you probably won't see elsewhere, and just stuff. We have big plans for it. Not just movies, but expanding beyond that.

Brief aside about streaming services from the WrapPro: "The Oscars Box Office Bump Is Dead – but the Streaming Lift Is Alive and Kicking"

I used to work at Tower Records, and Posters (started there) and Video (ended there, in Seattle, other than being a supervisor there, I took over Jeff Ament's job (of Pearl Jam). Our video employees would gather some nights to party, blow off steam after a week of dealing with the public (Have you MET the public?), and we'd bring some fun/weird films from work. And we'd always have a blast. We would have loved this, having a streaming service such as we're building. And no need to check out VHS tapes from work!

Mostly we're just testing it out, getting more movies on it every day, and already...somehow, we've  already acquired subscribers! So if you want to get in on something at the beginning...here we are!

From a post by our marketing department guy, Steve:

"I'm excited to be helping out with a new streaming movie service called ThrilzTV.  If you're a fan of fun, thrilling entertainment and looking for something a little different then come check it out.  Not your Hollywood blockbusters but a range of independent films and nostalgic "B" movies too. 

"If you're interested in being a beta tester and getting a free month send me a message and I'll give you a promo code.  All we ask is that you watch some movies and take a short 10 question survey."

So there it is! Thanks, Steve! 

Well, I said I'd share when it came online and here we are!  As always...

Cheers! Sláinte !