Friday, November 18, 2016

Things I learned in 2016:

1. There are a lot of stupid people, and they vote, thus possibly making them smarter than a lot of smart people.

2. We need to teach white dudes that the existence of non-white-dudes does not take away from their white-dudeyness, and in fact leaves more Axe body spray and Keystone Lite for them. Win/win!

3. Seriously, never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. Smart people: get on this.

4. And this is the really troubling one - you can't reason with people who simply choose to deny facts. So how do we beat this? Well, I guess a start would be removing non-facts from the conversation entirely. Stop making it an option. If something isn't true, keep calling it out and don't back down, cause they sure as hell won't. We need a return to a fact-based society. That's why everyone's so damn crazy now, we've flat-out lost the plot.

So that's what I hope we learn in 2017.

Monday, November 14, 2016

New Music Monday ~ The Pretty Reckless

Carrying on with some music that might make you feel some things that aren't bad.*

*optimism, 2016 version









Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Congratulations, President Internet Troll. May God help us all.

After 9/11, I remember Jon Stewart asked something like, "is satire dead?" And no, of course it wasn't, but for a time it seemed that way. Things were very hushed and reverent and sad, like being at a huge, confusing funeral. Jokes seemed very far away. What happened last night is the 2nd worst thing I've seen happen in America in my lifetime, and possibly in its history. While 9/11 remains the worst US tragedy (to date), here's the thing. For those of us who weren't directly involved, it was a day. For most of the nation, we grieved and moved on with life, because that's what we do. And we did start laughing again, not out of uncaring, but because it's essential to the joy of life. Where there's life, there's hope. And healing. And jokes.

But... how do you laugh knowing the bad guys won, and there's nothing you can do about it for FOUR FUCKING YEARS at least? This isn't something you can "move past." Where's the catharsis point? It's like trying to heal an open wound. Or... laugh at it. Ha ha, that's so funny, look at all the blood! 😐

My life runs on humor, finding the absurdity or the silly little details in a situation, and I'm completely lost here. Like, imagine if you read all the Harry Potter books and Voldemort wins at the end and you throw the book at the wall in disgust and just kind of stare at it for a while like, "what just happened?" And also it's real. That's how I feel today. And I know that somehow, the nature of life will have us carry on, it will have us laughing again, because we need that to survive. But I don't see how, right now. And that feels scary, and empty.

On a personal level, while I'm not a fan of Hillary, I was looking forward to her winning so I could at least sort of join the human race again. I've spent a lot of this year, especially the past few months, avoiding everything because the sight of Trump's face makes me physically, mentally, and spiritually ill. I now have to figure out how to spend at least the next four years that way, and it's very isolating. No news, and very limited social media, because I can't stand to look at that con artist who is so UGLY, inside and out, and know that 50 million people supported him. They say there's a sucker born every minute. I guess I believe that now.

And as isolated as I feel, and will feel, it's nothing compared to the people who might have their lives ruined by this power hungry madman. If you are one of those people, I support you. Lots of people do. Maybe this is the last stand of the horrible angry people and there's something beautiful in the not too distant future. I hope so. I'm glad I'm in Canada right now. But I'm so shocked, disgusted, and heartbroken for the US.

Thursday, November 03, 2016

There is currently a song in the Billboard top 10 called "Broccoli." I mention this because you must first know your enemy before you can fight it. But also ---



Oh Dana Carvey, you visionary genius!

(WHY didn't he make a movie about this pretentious "rock God" instead of that awful disguise movie? That could have been hilarious!)
I... I think I know how to fix everything. Theo Epstein fixed the Red Sox. Then he fixed the Cubs. Theo for President!!

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

WOOOOOO now 2016 can be "the year the Cubs won the World Series" instead of, y'know, literally the entire rest of it.