Monthly Archives: February 2017
An Oscar Night Review
Yesterday, all the talk was about that CRAZY sequel to Bonnie and Clyde. Today I want to talk about the rest of the 89th Oscars: what worked, what didn’t, what most commentators have ignored. If you don’t like a drill down, then keep on driving. I thought Justin Timberlake’s opening was excellent. Why hadn’t anyone ever turned the show into a dance party (however awkward and white)? It’s a shame that the segue to the host, Jimmy Kimmel, didn’t really play:…
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The War for Mars United, Chapter 7: Memorial Cemetery
“…You know, when I first met John, I joked with him that he needed to stop acting on his best behavior. He answered me, what if this was his normal behavior? And I didn’t believe him then. But I do now.” Martina had always hated funerals. This was different; this was her husband being lowered into the ground. The yellow sky, the manicured green grass on the softly sloping hill, the birds singing in the sycamore trees: somehow all of…
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Triennial IEP
Recently, Dar did a once-in-three-years evaluation to ascertain his qualifying for services. The tl;dr version goes like this: yes, he still qualifies. One thing that was new for this IEP was something the district calls a “Psychoeducational Assessment Report.” I’m glad that Microsoft red-underlines “psychoeducational” so that I know I’m not crazy. You may recall from last week’s entry that wifey and I had some issues with the “Psychoeducational Assessment Report” – 22 of them. Now, to be a little nicer…
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Oscar Night Preview, 2017
I don’t offer a lot of advantages over the Oscar coverage at places like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, and The New York Times, but one asset of my decidedly less comprehensive coverage is that I’m less likely to convey the impression that the Oscars are a Very Big Deal This Year. As it happens, they’re not. Blame the president or blame the films, but America has mostly ignored the race this year. As it also happens, this may be something…
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The War for Mars United, Chapter 6: The War Room After The Battle of Melas
No matter the context, Prime Minister Norine Maciel hated to watch grown men high-five each other. But that’s exactly what was happening all around her. Well, at least her generals were happy. The war had gone well. The Melas Space Port was demolished, leaving New Jerusalem’s Space Port the only proper way on or off the planet. Her soldiers had behaved admirably, never gratuitously punishing the Bintons. In theory, the war room contained all the latest in 22nd-century technology: text,…
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“Psychoeducational Report” is under-educated, over-psycho
This week, Dar had his triennial IEP, something that happens once every three years to determine Dar’s ongoing eligibility for services. One aspect was quite unfamiliar from previous IEPs – a psychologist’s report. Basically, I had to fill out a long questionnaire and so did Dar’s teachers. This was the first time we didn’t see eye to eye on Dar’s abilities. Granted, the questionnaire was tricky; you had to label Dar’s skills with a 1, 2, 3, or 4, and in…
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Trumpism /= Conservatism. Trumpism = Short-Term-Ism
And ye shall know them by their words and deeds. Ye shall not know them by their empty, forgotten promises. And that means that we need to dispense with the illusion that Trumpism has anything to do with conservatism. There’s a much better term for it, or at least there ought to be: short-term-ism. The word “conservatism” implies, well, conserving. It implies preservation or at least rehabilitation of old ways, traditions, institutions. In our country, conservatism generally at least genuflects…
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The War for Mars United, Chapter 5: Binto City
Right, my bo, Julia thought, hearing her sister on her headset’s com. Of course it was obvious, but obvious doesn’t always present itself when you’re about seven seconds from landing splat on a concrete street. With trained efficiency, Julia pulled her bo off her leg and pushed the button that extended the stick to its full length: two meters, enough to see the entire Applokia logo on its side. As it extended, Julia used the last of the momentum from…
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Yesterday at Starbucks
Yesterday at Starbucks, an older homeless man growled at me, “You should control your kid, he’s gonna get hot water spilled on him.” I was near Dar as he did his usual walking; this man did a quick 180 from the cashier counter. I judged that in terms of invading personal space, it was roughly a draw. Granted, when this man was a kid, kids did not get half the deference they get now. I also factored in Dar’s “tee-tee-tee-ing” – as…
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Obama Bombed, But You Don’t Have To
I’m going to leave this right here. Ever since the #Muslimban Executive Order, Trump supporters repeat a refrain on social media and news site comment threads that goes something like this: “To all these liberals outraged at Trump banning refugees: Where were you when Obama was dropping bombs on their homelands?” The comment/tweet is meant to confuse and demoralize well-meaning liberals, to paint them as hypocrites, to stop their support of Muslim refugees in its tracks, and to make them question their…
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