David Foster Wallace on luxury cruises

Since moving to Monterey, I have been playing bridge a couple of days a week and the club has some people who love going on cruises and have done so multiple times. Then there are those (like me) who are mystified as to its appeal and would not do so even if the high cost were not a problem.

When I ask the cruisers what the appeal is, they talk of the good food that is constantly available and the variety of entertainment that is offered. But its seems to me that you could eat at good local restaurants and go to good entertainment events where you live at much lower cost and space them out for greater pleasure, rather than cram them all into one week. They also give as an appeal the fact that being on a cruise is like living in a floating hotel that takes you to different locations for sightseeing with you having to unpack only once in your cabin. I can see that constantly packing and unpacking as one goes from hotel to hotel while traveling could become tedious but hardly seems worth being stuck on a boat for a lengthy period where there is the constant risk of seasickness, not to mention epidemics of viruses. Who can forget the horror stories such as the Norovirus and Covid-19 outbreaks on cruise ships from a few years back?

I have been on long ship voyages (three in fact) but that was back in the days when I was a young boy, prior to jet planes, when this was the main mode of transport for long distances from point A to point. B, not for going on a round trip back to the starting point. My trips between Sri Lanka and England were on big ships but they were not luxury liners though they did have things to entertain people so that they did not go bonkers by being constrained for two weeks in a small space. So maybe any desire that I might have had for a long sea voyage has been satiated. Anyway, to each his own, and I figured that if these cruises satisfied the needs of others, that was fine even if I could not fathom their appeal.

But then I came across this essay by David Foster Wallace on luxury cruises that appeared in the January 1996 issue of Harper’s Magazine. Titled Shipping Out, it had two features. It described in acute detail what life on a luxury cruise is like and it also gave me a clue as to what their real appeal might be.
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Every sperm is sacred

A legislator in Mississippi has filed a bill in the state legislature titled “Contraception Begins at Erection Act”.

As written by Sen. Bradford Blackmon, the bill would make it “unlawful for a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.”

There are also fines involved, the third strike resulting in the loss of $10,000 from the perpetrator.

In a statement to WLBT News, Blackmon wrote, “All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are fifty percent of the equation.

This bill highlights that fact and brings the man’s role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I can’t say that bothers me.”

I am not sure if he is being genuine or this is a parody meant to highlight the extreme measures that anti-abortion extremists will go to to control the bodies of women.

Either way, it reminded me of this scene from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life (1983).

Back in the saddle again

This has been a somewhat long hiatus from blogging due to being down with flu. That may have suggested to readers that I was suffering from serious symptoms. But in actual fact, after the first two days, I was almost back to normal. ‘Almost’ in the operative word here. My temperature was back to almost normal but I could not get rid of a low-grade fever and had a residual dry cough. The latter is for me a common consequence to a flu, not to be shaken for a couple of weeks.

But what really kept me from blogging was sense of blahness that left me with no enthusiasm for doing anything, such as everyday chores or even an appetite. In that condition, the enthusiasm to write, which comes usually comes easily to me, deserted me until today. The fact that it took me this long to get back to normal may mean that this was a different flu variant or that as I get older it will take me longer to bounce back.

It is not that these days were totally wasted. I did find that I could enjoy reading and so took the opportunity to read books that I should have read a long time ago and watched some films and TV shows.
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The great pizza conflict

(Sherman’s Lagoon)

It used to be the case that people had very strong opinions for and against anchovies on pizza. But as the range of pizza toppings has greatly expanded over time, anchovies have faded into the background and the big divider now seems to be over the merits of pineapple.

I myself love pineapple as a fruit but revolt at the thought of putting it on a pizza, maybe because I do not like mixing sweet and savory tastes.

TV Review: A Man on the Inside (2024)

I recently watched this enjoyable comedy series consisting of eight half-hour episodes that is being streamed on Netflix. I expected it to be good because it comes with a pedigree and it did not disappoint. The series creator is Michael Schur who has had such hits as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, and The Good Place with the last also starring Ted Danson who acts in this series.

Danson plays a retired professor of engineering who, after his wife dies after a prolonged period of dementia, falls into a lethargy that worries his daughter, his only child. She recommends that he take up some hobby and he stumbles across a classified ad in the newspaper that is looking for someone aged 75-85 who knows how to use a phone. He decides to apply and the job turns out to be with a private detective agency that has been hired by the son of a resident in an upscale retirement home in San Francisco to investigate the loss of his mother’s expensive ruby necklace. The detective agency feels that having someone pose as a resident would be a good way to solve the crime by gaining access to the all the people who live and work there. He does not tell his daughter exactly what he is up though, fearing that she might not approve or be worried.
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How Nextdoor might react to the Rapture

I have written before about how the neighborhood app Nextdoor seems to be an outlet for people who like to complain and go off on tangents responding to other people’s posts.

Jay Martel writes about how people might react on the app if the Rapture signaling the End Times was to occur and the chosen were suddenly whisked up into heaven.

Does anyone know what’s going on in the Smithfield area? People flying around, hellfire, terrible traffic.

Inconsiderate driver partially blocked my driveway with his car, then flew up into the sky before I could get him to move it. Super annoying! What is wrong with people???

Anyone else experiencing a power outage? And hundred-pound hailstones?

These three suspicious men dropped out of sky in front of my house, on the 400 block of North Jones, hung out there for a bit, then ran toward my driveway blowing horns and flew off, heading toward Oakwood. They were wearing white hoodies, feathery wings, halos. Doorbell camera fortunately caught the whole thing. Be on the lookout—they may be the porch pirates who’ve been stealing our Amazon packages.

Anyone know of a reliable house cleaner? Can’t deal with flakes.

Have this ongoing dispute with my neighbor about his tree growing out of control over my fence, dropping staining seedpods all over my newly tiled patio (see photo), and he finally agreed to meet about it. But then he doesn’t show up! I go over, and his wife says he “ascended to Heaven.” Seriously? Some people will do anything to get out of their obligations! #neednewneighbors

Very suspicious man with wings seen on North Elm yelling about end of the world. Hate that mental patients are just free to harass whomever and the police can’t do anything about it.

Anyone notice the lake of fire blocking access to the park? You’d think the crazy property taxes we pay would be enough to keep a damn lake from burning!

Irresponsible motorists floating away have left their cars in the middle of my street, causing endless traffic jams. Tried calling city to get them towed but spent twenty minutes on hold. Typical.

Teri Garr (1944-2024)

The endearing actor had an offbeat zany charm that made her perfect for comedy. I always enjoyed seeing her in films and so was saddened by the news of her death at the age of 79.

She became famous after she appeared in Young Frankenstein.

Her big film break came as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in 1974’s Francis Ford Coppola thriller “The Conversation.” That led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who said he would hire her for the role of Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant in 1974’s “Young Frankenstein” — if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once recalled.

The film established her as a talented comedy performer, with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael proclaiming her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”

She was a popular guest on TV talk shows.

The actor Lisa Kudrow, who became famous for her role as Phoebe in the hit TV series Friends and then went on to act in many films, strongly reminded me of Garr, both in terms of looks and zaniness and charm. So it seemed like no-brainer casting to have Garr playing Phoebe’s mother in a few episodes of the show. I had not watched Friends and so was unaware of this until I read about it in her obituaries.

Here is a clip from one of those episodes that I found and you can see the resemblance in looks, personality, and acting styles.

The fallout from the insult to Puerto Rico and Latinos

An obscure comedian has managed to hijack the campaign of creepy Donald Trump in the final week of the election by giving a disgusting speech at the Nazi-style rally in Madison Square Garden. In his speech, he managed to insult Latinos in general and Puerto Ricans in particular.

Latinos “love making babies. There’s no pulling out. They come inside, just like they do to our country,” Hinchcliffe said to laughter inside the arena. He added: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

This was a bridge too far for even some Republicans, who generally have no problems with insulting people of color and minorities, because they realized that this could have serious blowback by undercutting their courting of the Hispanic vote and because of the large numbers of Puerto Ricans who live in the swing states.
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