Tag: Good News

Pleasant Surprises

Entertainment

I find Ricky Gervais’s comedy routines like a multi-layer cake made up of strawberry layers with the occasional Marmite layer mixed in:  some parts are wonderful, and others make you squinch your mouth up like you just bit into a lemon.

But his BBC-TV series After Life  (Netflix) is excellent, without reservation.  It is also amazingly funny:  at times dark and thought-provoking, and other times laugh-out-loud hilarious.  (That is, the first two seasons were brilliant;  but he’s just announced a third, in which he may jump the shark as these things so often do, or he may just have played out the premise, which is most often the case.)  A lot of people are annoyed by Gervais’s delivery and (sometimes) subject matter, but he’s probably the best comic writer extant so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The next pleasant surprise has been the BBC teen love story Normal People  (Hulu), even though it’s occasionally incomprehensible because of    and often-impenetrable Irish slang and accents.  Needless to say, I am not in the target demographic (still less psychographic) of the teen-angst genre (to put it mildly), but this show is lovely:  measured pacing, several relevant sub-plots, and sympathetic camera work.  I haven’t finished it yet, and I can’t wait to see the rest.

Speaking of dubious extra seasons, I see that Killing Eve  (which I’ve really enjoyed so far) is in its third — which, although I haven’t seen, I’m kinda pre-judging because I thought the final episode of the second season was a perfect ending for the show.  But no… Bobby’s going to come out of the shower and the thing will continue.  If I’m proved wrong, I’ll say so, but the odds are not good.

I am of the firm opinion that unless a show is completely episodic with no overarching storyline, it should end after its second season, almost without exception.  Even the incredible Hill Street Blues  (in my opinion, the greatest TV show ever made) got tired after its third season, and most other shows have to go on life support after two, because they’re only average.

But the above three offerings — Brit shows all — are good, despite my initial suspicion and misgivings.  If you haven’t already done so, give them a shot.

Good Things To Come Out Of The Coronavirus Pandemic

Good Stuff

In no specific order:

  • Rage Against The Machine 2020 tour canceled
  • the “NSFW” warning has become irrelevant as everyone’s at home anyway
  • “social distancing” means I don’t need an excuse to steer clear of assholes I don’t like
  • Taylor Swift kept out of the recording studio
  • the ChiComs have finally been exposed for the totalitarian pricks they really are
  • ditto most Democrat state governors and mayors
  • the “globalism is good” mantra has been discredited
  • maybe, just maybe, we’ll get our prescription drugs manufactured in the U.S. once more
  • …and lots of other stuff, too
  • gun stores classified as “essential services” (as well they should be);  and pursuant to that:
  • liberals discover the virtues of self-protection, are forced into buying guns, and discover that you can’t just order them off the Internet and that there’s a lengthy legal waiting period (that they voted for) before actual ownership can take place.  And following on from that:
  • California law (that they voted for) stops ammo manufacturers from sending them ammo from online orders, so they face empty shelves at gun stores
  • people who have provided for themselves in the event of calamity or disaster are no longer sneeringly called “doomsayers” or “apocalyptics” by the media, as liberals discover the benefits of “hoarding”

And finally:

  • daily Instagram pictures of Christine McGuinness in a bikini as she self-isolates.  Also the occasional video (sample).

   

Feel free to add to the above list, once you get out of the cold shower.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

Executive Summary:  Choirboy tries to break into Old Fart’s house;  Old Fart shoots choirboy dead;  choirboy’s family is upset.

“He could have used a warning,” Lakesha Thompson, Pipkins’ sister-in-law, said. “He could have let him know that he did have a gun on his property and he would use it in self-defense.”

And your brother-in-law could have chosen a life that didn’t include a lengthy criminal record and incarceration.  Sorry, sister:  a life of crime in north Texas will always carry the risk of sudden death.  Tell your friends, pass it around.

For the rest of us law-abiding folks, it’s one less asshole to have to worry about, therefore:

No News, Good News

Health

Went for my semi-annual checkup this morning, really just for a  blood draw because cholesterol.

Same ol’, same ol’ — heart fine, lungs fine, BP okay, results from earlier colonoscopy excellent… “Now get out and quit wasting my time, see you in six months” from Doctor Sawbones.

Oh, and despite my fears, I haven’t gained any weight.

I was the only patient in his office.   He’s struggling, big time.  Nobody wants to come in to see him — everything is over the phone.

Out of his entire patient list, he’s had ONE (1) positive Coronavirus test — ironically, his nurse’s mother who last February went to Las Vegas  (motto:  we’re #2 behind New Orleans for the Pox Capital of the U.S.A.).  She coughed a bit for about a week, then recovered.  No hospitalization necessary, despite age (72).  East Texas farm gal, what can I say?

It’s time to get back to work, folks.

Update:  forgot to mention that at QuikTrip and Raceway, we’re paying $1.20 for Regular, even less at Kroger with the 3c/gal discount.  Now all I need is someplace to go.

Proper Wording

Good Stuff

Tim Worstall makes an excellent point here:

Don’t ‘celebrate’ gay people, just accept us, says teacher at centre of schools row

Accept is reasonable, but I think tolerate is closer to the correct meaning. To accept Simon Cowell would be asking too much, toleration is about as liberal as I can get.
And yes, Mr. Cowell is a reasonable comparison for sexuality. Other peoples’ tastes are none of my damn business assuming that they’re not being offered directly to me to partake of, subject to the usual consenting adults only caveat.

Quite right.  I have no problem with, for example, Homosexual Pride parades;  I tolerate  them (as long as I don’t have to actually see them or be caught in the middle of one).  Do I accept  them?

No.

It’s a small but important distinction, and well done Tim for pointing that out.  And never mind “accept”;  you can forget that “celebration” bullshit, too:  that’s never going to happen.

We Have A Winner

Disaster, Drive Time

I love this country.  Here’s yet another reason:

Only a few months have passed since we reported that the New York-to-Los Angeles Cannonball record was broken. It’s allegedly been broken again. The 26 hour, 38 minute time—which beats the record set in November by more than 45 minutes—appears to be legitimate.
…
It did not escape many long-time Cannonballers that an immobilized workforce and hard times might create ideal road conditions for fast driving thanks to much lower traffic volumes. Musing in online chat groups ensued. But most decided that it was better to cast their lot with the rest of humanity and stay home. Most, but not all.
…
All we know about this new set of scofflaws is that there were three, maybe four of them, and that they were driving a white 2019 Audi A8 sedan with a pair of red plastic marine fuel tanks ratchet-strapped into its trunk. They started at the Red Ball Garage in New York City at 11:15 pm on April 4, and ended less than 27 hours later at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California, the traditional start and end points of a Cannonball attempt.

Which leads me to my question to you, O My Readers:

If you were going to Cannonball, what car would you choose to do it in, and why?

Remember that the only criteria are speed, reliability, comfort and (maybe) fuel efficiency.

Your answers in Comments.  But I have to tell you:  the Audi A8 was not the worst choice in the world…