I was loafing about yesterday, and one of the things I saw was a torrent of nice comments about the fact that I’m getting even older — so many that I’m acknowledging them all now with one broad spectrum thank you. Thanks!
Here’s what I did to celebrate: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and caramel ice cream. I’d share, but you can’t get here now through all the drifting snow from our last snowstorm.
We have another big snowstorm blowing through, so she’s getting worried. She decides that this morning “we” need to drag out the roof rake and scrape off the heavier accumulations.
“But I’ve got a heart condition,” I said. Usually that’s enough.
Nope. Needs to be done.
I broke out the newest excuse: “But my vestibular instability!”
Didn’t work. She said she’d watch me through the window in case I staggered and fell into a crevasse.
So that’s how I ended up slowly circumnavigating around the house through thigh- and waist-deep snow drifts, wielding a 6- or 7-meter aluminum pole with a metal rake at the end, making snow thump down off the roof, only falling face-first twice, and eventually sinking into a mountain of snow to freeze to death and lie there entombed in ice until the spring. The blog will be on indefinite hiatus.
It’s peaceful in here. Quiet. No computers, no phones. All appetites suspended. Try it, you might like it.
I had a hot date last night: dinner at the Stone’s Throw Cafe, followed by a short walk to the Morris Theater (everything is nearby in a small town), where we watched Captain Marvel. there was a good crowd there. Another virtue of small town living is that even when the new blockbuster comes to town, it’s no problem getting in — show up ten minutes before, maybe there’ll be a short line, but you’ll slide right through and get a good seat. We parked ourselves way up front, maybe the third row or so.
And then we saw the show.
No spoilers, don’t worry.
First, a criticism: the beginning was very non-linear, jumping about rather confusingly in the Vers/Carol Danvers story. For a while I was wondering if this was going to be a time-travel story, which would annoy me a lot, but then about a third of the way through it all clicked and Marvel’s origins suddenly fell into place. If you’re not familiar with Captain Marvel lore, as I wasn’t, bear with it, it will eventually all make sense.
But then, I’m used to disjointed comic book stories. In my youth, when I was really into comic books, I couldn’t often afford to buy them off the rack, and instead would go down to the local Goodwill store where they’d have a pile of old comic books they mainly wanted to get rid of, so they’d sell them at 20 for a dollar (I was so annoyed when they raised the price to 10 for a dollar). Forget continuity, I’d come to the end of a Fantastic Four cliffhanger and then the next comic in my pile would be a Baby Huey or something. Adapt or die, man.
Minor spoiler: Baby Huey does not show up in this movie.
Anyway, once I got on track it was a good, fun story. It’s not a deep cinematic masterpiece, but as long as your expectations are focused on appreciating a solid genre story, you’ll have a fine time. In particular what I liked about the movie is that it really returns to superhero movie roots: she’s a good person with super powers who cares about other people, including aliens, and exhibits empathy. It reminded me a lot of that first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve — it inspired hope in humanity rather than the usual angsty “let’s watch people fuck up a miraculous opportunity and suffer while demolishing a city”. I kinda need that now and then, because I already have a tendency to lapse into grimdark attitudes.
It’s a good sign for the next big blockbuster out of the MCU, because the Infinity War thingie fully embraced the grimdarkness with a depressing ending, and all the trailers for the Endgame movie are similarly discouraging. Captain Marvel is going to be key to wrapping up that story line, I think, and she’s bringing light and hope. Or at least, she better.
Another good sign: we sat through the end credits (it’s an MCU movie, you have to), and when it finally went black and got up to leave, the entire theater was still full, and everyone was smiling and talking happily. This was also a community event, with little kids in the audience, college students, old geezers like me, and you could just tell from everyone’s expressions that they’d had a good time. It’s a relax and feel good sort of movie.
Also, about the cat…a lot of reviews are talking up the role of Goose the cat. That’s fine, but while he has a few crucial moments, it’s not a big central part of the story. I also wouldn’t call it comic relief. Goose has some anatomical elements that made me very happy, but otherwise, despite the different coloration, he made me think of my cat: dangerously hostile and with peculiar digestive habits. I’m thinking of trying that trick of holding her up, aiming her at my enemies, and giving her a little squeeze.
Maybe we’ve adopted a flerken, rather than a cat. Holy crap, suddenly everything clicked again and it makes so much sense!
Also, a video review!
Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Zizek are going to have a debate next month. I have a hard time imagining a more hellish prospect.
First, it’s a debate — regular readers know how much I’ve come to despise debate. They might as well make it a wrestling match or a tiddly-winks contest for all the relevance it will have. It will settle nothing, and just allow a couple of blowhards to shout past each other.
Second, it’s Peterson, a bloviating airhead with nothing but his biases to trot about. I want his 15 minutes of fame to end soon.
Third, Zizek. You can read the opinion of a man who totally favors Zizek; I’m not impressed at all. If he can’t resolve his own personal contradictions, why should I care about his philosophy? (Yeah, I know, a lot of philosophers seem to be colossal assholes, who still manage to say interesting things — Zizek is just one who has also put his personality front and center.)
But also, Zizek is going to lose this debate, not because he will do a poorer job of defending his position, but because a debate is never about who makes the most logical, best supported argument. Most of the audience will be there because of Peterson’s inexplicable popularity, and they will not be budged from their cultish idolatry, and they will totally shut off their brains while Zizek speaks. It’s going to be an ugly mess of childish assertions against a professional obscurantist, and the child will triumph with his audience of man-babies.
Zizek was nuts to consent to this, which is another reason to doubt his competence in performing in this circus.
There’s another common theme in comments to that video about Ethan Van Sciver: oh, no, he’s not using right-wing rage to promote himself. Uh, yes, he is. That’s what his entire channel is about, claiming that the SJWs are coming to take your comic books away. They’re killing your movies. They’re turning women into merciless, man-hating lesbians. He’s using the Fox News/Donald Trump model of engagement.
It’s all about anger as a tool.
In other words, anger is a powerful tool in the worlds of both politics and media. Anger is why narratives about people being “outraged,” written with the intent of actually making readers feel an outrage over that (real or imagined) outrage, are so popular in political media. A lot has happened since Ryan published his study in 2012, but the state of politics and media would seem to only bolster his conclusions.
Keeping audiences lathered into a perpetual state of outrage is good politics and good business. Look no further than Fox News for proof.
Was there ever really a “War on Christmas” involving mass calls to ban Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside? No. Is Purdue University trying to ban the word “man”? Also no. Does Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) want to steal your steak? Not at all. Is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) proposing that we “get rid of children?” Absolutely not.
Are the SJWs coming to rip the comic books out of your hands, replacing them with feminist tracts, full of flat-chested old ladies in loose clothing? Nope.
Although this idea of fanning the flames of hatred to drive traffic to your site has some merit. I’ve been doing it lately. Why do you think I’ve been posting all this stuff about spiders? It’s to get you seething and coming back for more.
Is it working?
Dinesh D’Souza thought he’d teach an uppity college professor a lesson.
Kevin you are a professor at a university no one has heard of. You might show a little intellectual humility. At least try to address the issue at hand. Pigeon jokes are not a way to win arguments, at least not in the Ivy League where I was educated
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 28, 2019
I kinda suspect that Dartmouth is rather embarrassed that D’Souza is a product of their education. Ivy League schools turn out asshats, just like every college — it’s a problem with being egalitarian and trying to educate even tendentious dullards like D’Souza. Don’t feel bad, Dartmouth grads, it’s not your fault. You tried. I don’t think that even the University of Minnesota Morris could have salvaged him.
Kevin Gannon, the target of D’Souza’s attempted snipe, had a great reply.
What all that means, Gannon continued, is that Grand View “serves students, many of whom come from populations or places that have not historically been well served by higher education.” The university is a liberal arts college with many pre-professional programs, and a liberal education should be accessible to all students, in all majors, he said, noting his institution is relatively affordable.
“And here’s the thing: there are a lot of folks at schools a lot like mine doing this same kind of work. The universities ‘Nobody’s heard of’ literally make this country go. We’re out here doing work, y’all. We support entire communities. We make our part of the world better.”
Yup. He could have been describing my university, too. As an undergraduate, I attended both the Giant State University and the Little Liberal Arts College, and I can say with an informed background that both have advantages…but if I were to do it over again, I’d have stuck with the liberal arts school. They provide more personal instruction and a broader background to students. And that’s why I switched from teaching at a large state institution to a smaller university myself in my career as an instructor.
I like this little comic.
Keep up with the good work and let them drown in their poison 🗯️✨ pic.twitter.com/RFgiw7FLzD
— renata nolasco 🌺 (@atxnolasco) March 1, 2019
Don’t read the comments though, unless you like to watch target shooting where everyone misses. Lots of people nitpicking and arguing that “But Movie X was a bad movie” — which doesn’t matter. Most of the stuff churned out by Hollywood is objectively bad, a lot of bad movies may be subjectively enjoyable, and the point of this comic is that the gatekeepers who want to tell you what you should like should be ignored. Like what you like, let other people like what they like.
Today was the day I set for myself to complete all the online coursework required to qualify for IRB certification, since I’m concerned that some of my proposed spider research might require approval. The fact that the work is on spiders isn’t a problem (it was weird discovering that invertebrates don’t seem to count as “animals”), but that I’m planning to survey people’s — you know, human beings’ — homes might be of some concern. I’m dotting those i’s and crossing those t’s to make sure.
Anyway, I hadn’t realized what a painful slog it was going to be. Lots of the modules have these little staged videos illustrating cases of problematic behavior. I’ve already decided that I hate Smarmy Grad Student and Smug PI so much. I have to take a little quiz after each module, too, which are usually easy, but the ones on financial reporting put me to sleep, and jeez, I had to take an online cours in Export Controls and Economic Sanctions which was 90% acronyms, I think. For instance, my work has to comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which is going to put a real crimp into my nefarious plans for spiders.
Now it’s done, at least, and my brain is only bleeding a little bit.
February is over! Winter is dead!
We’re supposed to get 3-7cm of snow today, and it’s -14°C. Nature does not care about our artificial boundaries or categories, so the lesson you should learn is that you are meaningless and the universe does not align itself to your desires. You can clear that path today, and it will be buried again tomorrow.
All is futility and purposelessness.
I’m sure that title gets your heart racing. The first lecture in the series is tonight at 7. It’s by Jeanine Weekes Schroer, who will be talking about “Race, Grace and Intractable Moral Problems”. Sounds fun, I think I’ll be going, although lately I’ve been leaning towards favoring utilitarian spider philosophy: if it disturbs your web, bite it, fill it with venom, and suck it dry. Maybe I need to pay more attention to human-centered philosophical solutions, though.
(Although…writing a book that takes a spider-centered approach to philosophy would probably be a best seller in the Intellectual Dork Web community (better than lobsters, anyhow) and would also exemplify its own philosophy by biting, envenoming, and sucking the wallets — and souls — of its devotees dry. Tempting.)
