ChrisW

24 December, 2020

I'll be home for Christmas. Where else would I go? I'm not getting anything either, somebody snitched on me.

Santa won't even answer my text messages. :(

Suspicion: The media hasn't covered it much lately but what little has come through seems to be some sort of security issues going on in France, Britain and possibly other European nations. Now the governor of New York has said all people arriving from Britain will be covered by men with guns because something something virus. And yesterday, LTC Miller thanked the Vice-President for help with the most complicated military action in history.

Is this something? If it is, will we ever find out? I've just seen an unconfirmed rumor that Congressman Adam Schiff [D-CA] was just escorted by over a dozen police through LAX. Were they guarding him or arresting him? The same rumor says he hasn't been seen since this happened.

Whatever's behind 2020 has done a lot to remove our hope and optimism. And yes, I'm deliberately saying this on Christmas Eve. I haven't listen to much Christmas music, but it's already been more songs than I've heard in many years and I'll probably hear more tonight. Not that it helps but it's something.

It would be really nice to believe that Santa Claus will be here in a few hours. It's basically the last grasp for hope I can see for the foreseeable future. The left will take over and they've been happy to work with Iran supporting terrorism, China supporting slavery, Venezuela supporting dictatorship and Europe trying to destroy its history.

We need help and it's not showing up. We could take action, individually or in groups, but no one has a clue what to do. There's a real need for a higher power getting involved and not just for Christmas.

MSNBC Doom and Gloom Doc: Don’t Get Overly Optimistic About the Covid-19 Vaccine, We’re in For a “Decades-Long Battle”
December 24, 2020

Congress Legalizes Smokey Bear Impersonations: The $2.3 trillion spending bill repeals criminal penalties for using Smokey Bear's likeness without government permission.
December 22, 2020

23 December, 2020

I asked for a pony this Christmas because Democrats are giving tax-breaks to people who own ponies.

De Blasio: “We’re going to Have Sheriff’s Deputies go to the Home or Hotel of Every Single Traveler Coming in From the UK”
December 23, 2020

Well, we're all just waiting for this year to end. Few people are doing much. We want a better year than this and I for one don't expect us to get one.

□ [“Acting Secretary of the Department of Defense Chris Miller Thanks VP Pence for Efforts in Most Complex Military Operation in History?"]

Of course there are things going on under the surface but WTF??? Obviously the LTC would be running whatever it was but what the hell was it? Against who? Doing what? It's above our paygrade, I get that, but it's not something that should be hidden from the American people.

□ [“Liberal Democrats Support Trump’s Plan To Increase Payments To $2,000"]

And this? If you support giving people money, I can understand raising the amount from the ridiculously low amount Democrats offered, but I don't see the point of this one either.

□ [“COVID Hypocrisy: Policymakers Breaking Their Own Rules"]

This is a list of politicians, mostly mayors and governors who broke their own rules of keeping people from going outside. They don't follow their own rules, they don't have to and you can't make them.

I don't know if everybody's in a low-energy mood at this point but I'm out of things to write at the moment.

On Earth-2, the second and third albums came out but they were just horrible. That's why Earth-2 no longer exists.

Still trying to figure out Gun'n'Roses. I don't know why, what else is there to do?

I heard "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" on the radio today and forgot how much I'd liked it. There are exceptions but I generally don't think of cover songs when I'm thinking about musicians and since I don't listen to a lot of music anymore, that's basically it. But one thing I had been wondering about this band is the bizarre use of overdubbed movie dialogue or even Axl just reciting it himself.

What the hell is the point of that? I'm sure other bands have done it, but nothing comes to mind at all, save the Beatles including themselves from their own movie between songs on Let It Be which isn't remotely the same as this.

"Heaven's Door" involves Josh Richman reciting "You just better start sniffing your own rank subjugation, Jack, because it's just you against your tattered libido, the bank and the mortician forever, pal, and wouldn't it be luck if you could get out of life alive."

What the hell is that? Wikipedia says Richman has a few bit parts in movies and tv shows, few of which I've ever heard of, and a Fergie video in 2014. He directed G'n'R's "Live and Let Die" video and had some non-camera role for "Don't Cry." Apparently he was in the movie Heathers which I've never seen but was the most famous of the batch and isn't even listed on Wikipedia's list of actors in it.

The vocal does build up to the female-sung chorus but a musical instrument could have done that. They never made a video for it despite releasing it as a single, the B-side was just a live version from the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, so there's never been any indication of what this means or why it's even there. And it wasn't the only G'n'R song to do this.

Appetite For Destruction had nothing of the kind with the possible exception of the girl having sex in the last song. Axl was banging Steven's girlfriend in the studio. We don't know why but it's a sensible build-up for the end of the album and it's not like sex hadn't been mentioned earlier. Anything Goes...

GN'R Lies had nothing of the kind either but its final song was written solely by Axl and bitching about police and niggers, immigrants and faggots. Shock value seemed to be his thing.

Use Your Illusions I didn't have much added dialogue but II were full of it. I did slowly start adding non-band members playing tambourine, the back-up ladies on "November Rain" or a song co-written with Paul Huge before G'n'R ever formed. Alice Cooper sang a verse on "The Garden" but he's Alice Cooper, that's understandable. "Coma" had the 'bitches' bitching about sex with Axl, but it was an epic song that closed out the album. It was still sensible.

Every song has plenty of lyrics but it's only in the last several songs that it's really noticeable, starting with "Garden of Eden." The song is 2:36 and a really fast tempo but there's just so many that it's mindboggling. The next song, "Don't Damn Me" has even more lyrics and it's 5:16. "Coma" has about as many and it's 10:08.

UYI II starts off with "Civil War" which includes dialogue by Strother Martin from the movie Cool Hand Luke and Axl recites lines by an unnamed Peruvian Guerilla General. "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" has already been discussed. "Get in the Ring" has back-up sounds but those make sense, added as part of the song as if to an audience. "Breakdown" has Axl reciting Cleavon Little's lines from the movie Vanishing Point. There's the end of the trilogy, "Estranged," the other version of "Don't Cry" and Axl ends it with a bizarre track that's basically homemade white-boy rap. Izzy - and possibly the rest of the band - didn't even know this was included until they received the actual record. "My World" was definitely Axl promoting himself, over the band and audience who were expected to keep track of him. "Guess what I'm doing nowwwww..."

Spaghetti Incident has none of this and Chinese Democracy only has "Madagascar" but it merges clips from movies - Mississippi Burning, Braveheart, Casualties of War, Seven and Cool Hand Look again - with two Reverend King speeches. What was the point of this? The music doesn't stand out although it might be nice to hear an instrumental version, the lyrics are completely ignorable and the movie quotes are needlessly tossed in and overworked. It's still gibberish, no matter how much time and effort you put into it.

I haven't looked at the various album booklets in ages and I'll admit to being a bit more impressed than I'd expected. Appetite was straightforward, no one knew where this band would be in a year or two. Lies had the newspaper cover added because the band was now controversial and very successful. The Illusions were pretty simple, just some odd images added in places and a central picture of band photos being surrounded by pictures of other people they were working with. It's amusing to note how many names are still recognizable to people who have paid attention to GNR all this time. And there's Alice Cooper. The outlying pics are the same in both albums, I just has a collage of band pics while II shows individual band pictures around the G'n'R logo. Spaghetti Incident has very little, just song credits and band pictures except for Axl, we only see his feet. Guess what he's doing now?

Chinese Democracy was obviously overworked, each song fills a page with lyrics and the designs/band pictures are reworked for whatever reason although it is understandable. It is an actual album, believe it or not. Axl did complain about the cover after it came out, he'd only had 14 years to work on it.

So now I've worked all that out, what have we learned? If you answered "don't be Axl Rose," you deserve a pat on the head. You'll get one when the next GNR album comes out.

22 December, 2020

Yes there were times, I'm sure you know, when I bit off more than I could spew

Prosecutors Decline to Charge Black Lives Matter Militant Who Ran Over Proud Boy in Washington
December 22, 2020

Joe Biden’s Niece Avoids Jail Time For DUI After Striking Deal with District Attorney
December 21, 2020

Cornell Student Government Fails To Disarm Police, So They Expel Opposition Members And Vote Again
December 22, 2020

Hypocrite Joe Biden Gets Vaccinated After Suggesting for Months It Might Not Be Safe
December 22, 2020

□ [“Dr. Birx to Retire After Transition; Blames Media Dragging Family After Outed for Out of State Holiday Get Together"]

Why didn't she just say that people whose daughters hadn't left the house in ten months would be allowed to go to Thanksgiving Dinner? Why didn't she just say that people whose parents had been isolated for ten months would get to go to Thanksgiving Dinner? Why didn't she just say that people who hadn't seen their son in over a year would get to go to Thanksgiving Dinner? That would have solved everything other than the problem of following rules she made up for everyone else to obey. Elites don't have to do that.

□ [“Congress releases 5,593-page COVID-19 stimulus bill hours before holding votes"]

Every US citizen would get a $600 check. Yes, there's mass transit and money given to other nations and the Kennedy Center - blanking on the name, the art museum that asked for money months ago when everybody else was shutting down - punishment for online streaming against copyright ownership, releasing felons after five years of their first imprisonment, ten years for later ones. It's all about a virus, doncha know?

Even AOC was complaining about it, having to vote with no chance to read it. I will assume she voted for it jus' because but who knows?

Having a master plan that would prove the election theft would be a nice Christmas present but given how long it's already been, there's nothing to expect there. I'm even starting to think Whitney Houston isn't coming back since she stopped taking drugs.

This is an article I haven't gotten to yet so I'm basically pasting as a note-to-self:

□ [“History Repeats Itself: Democrats Are Using Tactics of the Marxists of 1917 in Russia to Steal 2020 Election"]

And now the end is near
And so I drink Rococo Coffee
Because I don't have beer, I guess I'm really just a softy
I've lived a life that's full
But now my life is oh-so empty
So now, with all of this
I blame it on Two-thousand twenty

21 December, 2020

I guess tonight is another day where I ain't got nothin' to say. Hey, that rhymes...

20 December, 2020

Living it up at the Monopoly Hotel

□ [“Chinese Spy Rep. Swalwell Was Sleeping With Is Pictured with Chinese Agent Who Spied on Sen. Feinstein for 20 Years"]

I haven't been paying close attention to this but I thought it was pretty obvious what China was doing, they've been close to Democrat leaders for decades. I assume they've been close to as many Republican leaders as possible too, but that info hasn't come out.

□ [“'Existential Crisis' – Biden Says We Need to Address Climate Change with a ‘Unified National Response’ Just Like We did with Covid-19"]

Confine people to their homes and let the elites use their private planes? I don't think we've been unified at all, it's only Democrats running things that has done any of this and they had to bring it in from China. Coincidence?

□ [“Struggling New York City Restaurant Owners Ban Andrew Cuomo from Establishments"]

I have been pondering if this has all been set-up to have the left show itself which it's totally done for months now. I'm starting to wonder if "capitalism" is the wrong word, even as a subset of "individuality." It's probably based on the concept of "capital," i.e. "money" as it was known in the 16/1700s, but I'm probably too ignorant about that to really get much further.

But we see here that business owners can make their own decisions as well as work together. I assume there will be places Cuomo can continue eating, if nothing else he has men with guns to impose his demand for chop suey.

Capitalism is individuals making their own decisions. That's the opposite of what leftists want, they want to be in charge of everybody else and, magically, their decisions are all for "the good" because of it.

□ [“A California Plan to Chase Away the Rich, Then Keep Stalking Them"]

A "wealth tax" that lasts for a decade on anyone who's spent 60 days in the state. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

□ [“Public Schools Are Losing Their Captive Audience of Children"]

They're all about taking people permanently, no individual can dissent and have been doing it for decades. But by an amazing coincidence, the people demanding economic equality and teaching children the same thing never ever under any circumstances refuse to get a paycheck, even if they aren't actually doing any work and even if other people who aren't working don't get paid. Equality doesn't go that far for such individuals, they get paid. Sure, it might drive their students away but that's what the men with guns are for.

□ [“Congress Got Paid Their Full Salary of $130K for 9 Months While they Argued About Giving Every American $600 After They Killed Their Businesses"]

SOMETHING’S BREWING! Dan Scavino Posts Series of Tweets After Raucous Oval Office Meeting – Trump Is Ready to Take Action
December 19, 2020

‘The Stand’ being attacked for casting a NON-DEAF actor in a deaf role is proof ‘acting’ is a concept the PC world can’t grasp
December 20, 2020

19 December, 2020

Do illegal immigrants have to wear masks when they enter the US?

Maybe I'm amazed at the way he's still there

□ [“Paul McCartney - "Find My Way"]

So Paul has a new album out, his fourth new album since Axl Rose released Chinese Democracy. Of course that's a bit exaggerated, Paul has also released an album of classical music in 2011, live albums in 2009 and 2019, a greatest hits album in 2016, boxed sets of over a dozen of his previous albums, three promotional albums that I don't quite get why they aren't just called "live albums" but whatever, three singles that with other bands that aren't on his albums, nine performances on soundtracks or similar productions, ten other appearances on other people's live or studio albums, collections of videos...

Oh, and one day after Chinese Democracy was released, Paul released the third album by the Fireman, a two-man group he was in with producer Youth who had spent a year or two working on Chinese Democracy himself. Paul also has a wife, an ex-wife and Linda, the wife he's known for who's been dead almost as long as they were married. He has five kids and at least eight grandkids that can easily be found on Wikipedia. There's running the biggest privately-owned music publisher in the world which is composed of 25 smaller publishers while working with movies and his daughter runs the picture department, there's maintaining his part of whatever the Beatles franchise is these days, there's his hobbies like painting...

And he self-recorded an album over the last several months. Wikipedia says that one track has another guitarist and drummer and another track was written in 1992 but never got used.

The guy was legendary before G'n'R ever formed. Matt Sorum was born in 1960, Axl and Izzy in early 1962, Dizzy in 1963, Duff in 1964, Slash and Steven Adler in 1965, two of the three current members in 1966 and the third in 1990. Axl and Slash were legendary before she was born and at least Slash has been productive but even he would probably admit he's nothing compared to Paul.

Paul even made a music video for this song which is more than G'n'R ever did for Chinese Democracy despite promising to do so. The music video is quite clever, just filming Paul on various instruments in a nice arrangement of images. Nothing special but a lot of work done to promote the songs and it looks very good.

The song itself goes the same. Paul's singing has gone down quite a bit from how we knew it but he still knows how to sell it. It's a lot of fun and packed full of different parts that move smoothly from one to the next. There's noticeable verses and choruses moving back and forth from, then there's a noticeable change for the bridge and Paul builds on himself to climax the song.

I was a little disappointed to hear it just stop with the guitar/bass ending. I'm getting annoyed by songs that do that, then I checked and the video had only lasted for 2:50 and I was amazed, that was a ton of SONG going on and it was that quick? Is that even legal these days? Then the drums start up again, the bass rolls and Paul-as-a-band just jams for the next minute. Wow! The jam just ends quickly too but at this point, I don't mind in the slightest.

This is how music should be, ideas and variety that require playing instruments together. It takes talent it takes ability. Paul could just grow old and die - well, he's doing that anyway - but he's building on gotten him this far and it works out pretty well. He definitely found his way.

18 December, 2020

A few more notes: I think I'll try an E-sharp that racists have always kept silent.

□ [“House Democrat Colleagues Kneecap AOC in Secret Vote for Committee Seat"]

From what I can tell, she's been outright trying to take charge of House Democrats and is doing a very bad job. She still has the media but that accomplishes nothing except publicity. They can still vote in secret and that's what they did.

This won't be the end, they need to take Pelosi down and obviously AOC thinks she can do anything she wants. Obviously Nancy's not going to give up any time soon. She doesn't care how weak her side gets or how much people want her gone, all that matters is that she's in charge. I have to wonder if pushing up AOC part of the plan. But then, I still have to wonder if there's any plan.

□ [“Comrade De Blasio: 'I’d Like to Say Very Bluntly: Our Mission is to Redistribute Wealth'"]

Is it safe to assume he'll keep his millions though? Probably, he could have given them up years ago if he really believed this. Apparently he's only "officially" worth a few million dollars which, although it's far more than most people ever see in their lifetimes, makes him think he's entitled to it. And that's assuming he doesn't keep more under a fake name or two.

This is what we're up against. Leftists have spent decades getting to live in mansions and imposing their will on everyone else using men with guns. I still wonder if this has been arranged since post-9/11, knowing that they'd side with terrorists if that's what took to destroy western civilization.

Grand County, Colorado: 40% of COVID Deaths Were Actually Victims of Gunshot Wounds
December 18, 2020

You can tell it's a good movie when you remember having seen it. Not all of them have that going for them.

I'm trying to work out how the Avengers movie won me over. I'd read very few comics with them or even with the characters and I'd been pretty burned out on superhero movies by that point.

Trying to look it up. There was one issue of Avengers in my youth, it's #235, cover-dated September 1983. At some point I'd read the first issue in [blanking on Marvel's book-sized collection of reprints even though I read it many many times] and they did appear in things I read like Secret Wars or crossover with "Inferno" or the [not really a] crossover in the annuals for a couple years, "Evolutionary War" and something that involved Atlantis. It was just a get-together of characters whom I had very little interest in.

There were a very few issues of the characters, Thor #324, cover-dated October 1982, Captain America #271, July 1982, Hulk #279, January 1983. They'd obviously appeared in Contest of Champions around that time which is probably how I knew who they were. I liked the comics back then but I have an excuse, I was a little kid. It didn't take too much longer before I realized they were really horrible.

Then there were the superhero movies. I liked Superman of course, because duh. I won a free ticket to an advance viewing of the first Batman movie and saw it several more times in theaters and many more on video or HBO. I saw the sequel on opening night, the next sequel after a week or so and the final sequel at some point. I had been watching what I could of other movies, horrible Hulk tv-movies, some of the cartoons and things like that.

In the 90s and 2000s, I started out trying to see new movies based on comics - including one of Scarlett Johansson's first movies, Ghost World - but it wasn't working. The first Daredevil sucked, the first Hulk sucked, I didn't even bother to see the second. At some point I had an episode of the Nick Fury/Shield tv-movie on and didn't turn it off, that's about as much as I was interested in that.

I had noticed when Marvel finally started making popular movies. They purchased Malibu to get access to their up-to-date printing system and in the process, acquired characters like Men in Black, and suddenly had something Hollywood executives weren't already tired of turning down. They had a hit movie which led to Blade, then X-Men, then Spider-Man and a few others that were bombs. DC had failed to redo Superman but did have another Batman trilogy (which I did like although I've never seen the third movie to this day.) Around that point I was in the Army.

My understanding is that the first Iron Man movie was succeed-or-die. If it hadn't worked, that probably would have been it for Marvel. They were still in major financial problems that had built up for decades and hadn't been able to do much with the characters they'd based everything on. The superheroes had to save them or else.

My commander at the time told me Iron Man was an awesome movie, he'd said he used to read comics and I have no reason to think he was lying about either, but yeah, sure sir, whatever. Then the other movies started coming out. How the hell can anybody do Thor? There was that second Hulk movie but I was already burned out on it and had no interest in seeing Captain America. After Avengers, I realized it was actually quite clever. The movie was a monster hit and people other-than-me would want to see more. I wouldn't be surprised if the non-Iron Man movies made far more money after Avengers was released than they had before. I definitely think that was planned, as long as the first movies broke even, Marvel could keep going and build Avengers.

Obviously it worked. I may not be a movie fan but I will definitely give them credit for finally figuring out how to put characters and continuity that comics fanboys take for granted into many big-budget movies. I don't even see these movies and I can tell it's there. I do have a very-minor desire to see some of them just to see how it works. Not to mention that, at least as members of the team go, I'm more interested in them than I'd ever been before.

The Hulk is the Hulk, no matter how old you are, there's always some part of a little boy inside you who likes the giant green monster smashing stuff. Peter David had done a very intelligent run which, beyond an X-Men crossover here or there, I only read years after David had quit, but I did like it. Black Widow had been in several issues of Daredevil I had read, written by Denny O'Neil in-between Frank Miller's two legendary runs. I definitely give O'Neil credit for finding different things to do with her. Sometimes she was a helpless victim Daredevil had to rescue, sometimes he was not physically capable of doing stuff so she handled the heavy lifting for him, sometimes she was on her own mission and the two just ran into each other. They might turn out to be sharing the same enemy or just handle each bad guy together. Off the top of my had, I can't recall any other comics she appeared in that I'd read, at least not in any major role, but my understanding is that Natasha was always a vague character whose origins or purpose were changed for the purpose of whatever comic was done by whoever the creators that month. Other than being Russian, there wasn't much consistency.

I have never understood why they used Natasha instead of the One True Wasp, Janet Van Dyne. At least not using the Scarlet Witch makes sense, there were probably issues over whether she was sold as a mutant to the X-Men franchise. One reason Marvel used these characters is because they'd sold the rights to their big names to other studios.

[Wait, there was one of Jim Lee's first issues of X-Men where she and Captain America appeared. I assume Chris Claremont was consciously trying to include the rest of the Marvel Universe at that point which he hadn't done for quite a while and also trying to keep control of Wolverine despite having quit his solo series @ a year earlier.]

Iron Man had been in two hit movies that I had no interest in and just hadn't been an interesting character before that. I preferred Rhodey who wasn't much better but at least it was something. Thor didn't even have that much, I've never been interest in Nordic mythology and my understanding is that this Thor was very different from the myths. The "real" Thor isn't an intelligent hero but at least he's the heir to the throne. Hawkeye was never interesting either but I have always credited this movie for handling him in a clever way. Since we've never heard of these characters anyway, they need to cut down on time spent on each so they just make him a brainwashed servant of the villain. He gets to show off how awesome he is while causing the heroes major problems and then will join them after he's saved. Neat trick.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Captain America has just never worked. His best appearance was the cover of his first issue in 1940, punching Hitler. Chris Evans' performance in these movies comes in second and I have always liked how Kurt Busiek and George Perez handled him in JLA/Avengers which was less about the two teams and more about the two universes. Cap could stand on a level with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in a way that none of his teammates had a chance of doing, make of that what you will. It was also a clever plot point that he and Superman really didn't like each other.

So that was all in the back of my mind when this movie came out. I'd been having my own problems - completely burned out after running a Special Forces arms room by myself for a year - and needed a break. The movie was out, let's find out if it's worth anything and I wasn't optimistic.

Obviously I was wrong, it built very well. I'm not crediting the plot or acting so much as the movie as a whole that finally managed to use the genre well after all these decades. There's the set-up with SHIELD, the Cosmic Cube [We don't say "tesseract" in these-here parts!] and Loki, the latter having formed the Avengers in their first adventure. The opening credits and then we're seeing Natasha handle some Russian criminals by being tied and beating. Then she gets a call and has to cut this short. There's no sense of realism in her beating up the group but who cares? Colson will take care of Stark - people who've seen the previous movies know why it's better to not send her - she has to handle the big guy.

Cut to India, Bruce Banner is tricked into a house where Natasha is waiting for him. They don't get along well but it's also clever that the movie is about thirds of the way through before we ever see the Hulk. Great build-up, it's smart to give Banner the attention and totally worth it when it finally happens. Nick Fury has to defend these actions to mysterious governing officials, then he goes to get Cap in. Cap has no idea what to do with his life and there's a reference to Stark's father and Hydra's weapon which is how the Cosmic Cube arrived. Finally we see Stark and Pepper deal with Phil.

Phil brings Cap to the SHIELD aircraft carrier, explaining "people might just need a little old-fashioned." A bit with Loki, surrounded by henchmen and mentally contacting one of Thanos' minions. Back on the aircraft carrier, Phil introduces Cap to Natasha and Banner and we learn it's the Helicarrier. That was one of the first signs I had that this was working. The Helicarrier is just awesome. Their little group is looking for the Cosmic Cube, as is Loki with Barton. Phil's still sucking up to Cap and they've found Loki, time to move in.

Loki shows off that he's actually a good villain, something I don't think I'd ever seen before. Cap and Natasha take him down, then Stark arrives, shocking Cap with the loud AC-DC music. They're taking Loki back, Stark and Cap are already not getting along, then Thor arrives for his [adopted] brother. The three main members are now together in physical confrontation. Ok, it's definitely feeling like a Marvel movie.

One thing I did like about Thor in these movies is that he always seemed to be living on a completely separate level from the rest, essentially going on his own storyline through the epic. He's just there to get his brother and return the Cosmic Cube. Now they have Loki but can't figure out what he's up to. There's conversation that deepens the plot, the "big guy" gets mentioned as Banner is someone who definitely needs help and even Stark opens up to him, Cap is suspicous of what Fury's up to. Natasha uses her skill to find out what Loki's up to.

That scene is well done, showing Loki as an even better villain while hinting at the discoveries Cap and Stark are individually making. It's all about the Cosmic Cube and the Hulk. They all get together and argue. SHIELD is building weapons and blame it on Thor. They all start bickering on each other, making good points or throwing in bitchy one-liners. Cap and Stark are ready to get into a fight, then Hawkeye leads the attack.

I was definitely enjoying it at this point, the whole buildup of everybody arguing worked on story and character. Then Natasha and Banner are dropped away and Banner can only do one thing. This was where I had to wonder if this was really going to work. There's a moment or two of dark movement between the two of them. The reason the first Hulk movie bombed so badly was because they gave almost no attention to big green. Hulk is chasing her in the dark, there's little direct camera sight of him, he's chasing her and chasing her, then smacking her into a wall, a much-higher version of what was going in her first scene.

One thing that made the movie work was the different levels the characters were operating. Phil and Agent Hill could have handled an action movie themselves but they weren't on Nick Fury's level, or if they were it was only because he was really old. And Fury wasn't on the same level as Natasha and Barton who were at least capable of working with the others. Natasha is able to take down Barton - how realistic - which is the only win the heroes get in this scene. Thor fights the Hulk which is glorious but far too short. The Hulk gets punched off the Helicarrier, Phil is dead for real, he's never coming back, the villains escape with everything.

Then it all starts building together for the conclusion. Stark is realizing that there are others who matter. Cap comes in to see how he's doing and they figure out what's going on. Harry Dean Stanton makes a cameo, I am wondering what he's been up to in his life and not in a positive way. Why bring him in? Anyway, Stark takes off, Cap gets Natasha and Barton and they're moving in.

Stark even gives a little speech to Loki about the team that'll take him down and doesn't even mention himself. He's grown up slightly. Loki tosses him out of the building, the Avengers arrive, Thor confronts his brother, even Banner shows up. This is where I knew what I thought. It's not the greatest movie I've ever seen - maybe I'll figure out what is someday - but it's one of the most enjoyable. The team is together, it was totally worth the wait. Then Loki orders to "send the rest."

The rest is a fight scene, very entertaining, sometimes humorous. The Avengers win, they're better off than they were at the beginning and there's a hint of future movies which have all come to pass. Still never a sense of why they use that name though, what are they trying to "avenge"?

So that was the movie. There are many like it but this one cost a lot of money.

And Hulk... do whatever you're into, I won't judge.

Just a couple notes for the moment:

First of all, the book is accepted, I've paid for printing, just waiting on delivery. Four finished books in 2020. Yay me! They probably won't be delivered before January but as long as I get them, I'll be fine with that. I had to celebrate by watching my Avengers again, the most important scene which truly won me over in the first movie, the team is finally together and Cap gives orders.

□ [“Trump to Meet with Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller in the Oval Office at 3:30 PM"]

Ok, are we ready to wipe the floor? The LTC knows how to handle things and has plenty of front-line experience. I still remember what happened to Moqtada al-Sadr and I'm trying to remember the LTC's specific comment about it at the battalion get-together at the end of the deployment. The headline is probably eastern time zone so the meeting's happening in a few minutes.

□ [“Pentagon Halts Biden Transition Defense Briefings — Biden Team Caught Off Guard"]

I've been wondering about this. Bad enough we've let the fraud go on for so long, for over a month it's been taken as a given that Biden's staff will be moving in. Unless we've got a set-up on those things, it's a loss no matter what. The media's certainly in on it, I assume that's why 2020 has been such a mentally-miserable year for everybody.

Jeremy Bulloch, Boba Fett, age 75
December 17, 2020

17 December, 2020

I'm getting nothing for Christmas. So it's like the rest of the year then.

□ [“Rhode Island’s Dem Governor Caught Maskless at Wine Bar After Telling People to Stay Home"]

Shouldn't at least some of them stress that they fought against this every step of the way, they wanted to totally obey the rules they were imposing on everybody else but they lost the battle against whoever wanted them to hang out without masks? Failing that, they could at least tweet that they're getting ready to break their own rules and certainly can't claim any rights that others don't have so people were now free to go out without masks like she was getting ready to do, have fun.

□ [“Supreme Court Is Purposefully Delaying and Slow Walking Sidney Powell Emergency Petitions – State Responses Not Due Till January 14"]

Yet another reason not to trust the courts. I suspect they all get pushed to the left over their career, probably just living in DC does that. And whoever's been running this coup would be using everything possible to force them to go along.

Who is running it? No way to guess. Even the names that most obviously come to mind - Obama, George Soros - could very easily be the front man for the ones actually making decisions. Other names are possible and would have the same issue, no way to know who they're actually dealing with. It's not hard to comprehend the person in charge wanting to stay private and avoid publicity taking away his work hours.

It's definitely time to see some actual resistance. You'd think people not wearing masks and businesses opening up is the most obvious thing. I wear the mask just to avoid causing problems for workers who are required to impose this nonsense, but I do very little involving that so I almost never wear one anyway. If other people around aren't wearing one, I take mine off. But I'm not remotely involved enough with enough other people for it to be relevant. Other people however...

Maybe they're actively doing it now and I just haven't noticed yet. Anyway, Democrats in charge aren't going to let people disobey so that'll push to conflict sooner or later, so why not just get on with it?

French Court Convicts 14 Accomplices to 2015 Charlie Hebdo, Jewish Supermarket Attacks - It's taken over five years to convict them?
December 17, 2020

Data Scientists Break Down Voter Fraud in Arizona and It’s Shocking – 790,000 Laundered Votes Injected Into the System
December 17, 2020

We'll see how Amazon handles the new book. Today they rejected the cover because by whatever standard they use, it wasn't readable enough. That's something I dislike but can live with. It's obviously readable but I can understand the complaint. So I redid the lettering and it looks better. We'll see if this goes through. They didn't mention any issue with the text that they reject and I didn't even look at it much less make any changes, will that stay as it is?

I haven't really kept up on any issue with Amazon or its far superior Createspace predecessor, but given all the difficulty of getting the last book approved, I'm tracking it this time. Even worse, I just discovered a few comics pages that were totally printable and would totally have been in the last book if I'd found them earlier. Dammit.

16 December, 2020

Rococo Coffee is the answer to every question. What would you like to avoid for the rest of time until the universe ends?

Well, if nothing else can be said about 2020 (and it can't) I've finished my latest book. I still have to go through the hassles with Amazon so I have no idea when it'll get printed, but it's done, the third time in the last four years that I've finished four books in on year. I know I've made promises like this before, but now I really really really promise that I won't get another book done for a while. For a number of reasons, I need a time out before publishing another book. Not to mention dealing with Amazon for this one.

□ [“Joe Biden Asked About His Son Hunter… AGAIN During Press Conference"]

This is absolutely a deliberate plot. The media is obeying whoever their real masters are to ask questions they could have asked months ago. They're trying to get him out right away now that (as far as we know) they've gotten Trump out finally. Are they doing this for Harris or some other reason? In this case, Hunter asked the Chinese company he worked for in 2017 for $10 million and give it to him "quickly."

□ [“Marvel's Star-Lord is apparently now a polyamorous bisexual"]

I've been wondering about this, I'm not sure Chris Claremont created Star-Lord but I'm pretty sure this was the first major work of his pre-X-Men career, possibly even the first time he worked with John Byrne. They also created Kitty Pryde who has gone her own way and I'd swear when I was looking her up recently, she'd also become a Star-Lord, just as her actress in a couple movies is now claiming to be male.

[Looks it up]

Wow, my memory worked. Steve Englehart and Steve Gant were the creators in Marvel Preview #4 (dated January 1976) but Claremont, Byrne and Terry Austin soon followed. He is now engaged to Kitty and she's replaced him as "Star-Lord." That may all be over by now, all I can do is glance at Wikipedia. But it seems better than actually reading the comics, yikes!

Chicago Schools Hiring People to Supervise Kids in Class While Teachers Work Remotely
December 15, 2020

MI Judge Grants Attorney Matt DePerno Permission To RELEASE Results Of Forensic Examination On 16 Dominion Voting Machines In Antrim Co.
December 14, 2020

Joe Biden Snaps Back at Reporter Shouting Questions About Hunter Biden – Then Shuffles Away
December 14, 2020

BREAKING: US Treasury Reportedly Breached by Hackers Backed by a Foreign Government
December 13, 2020

Shots Fired at Manhattan Cathedral During Christmas Concert — Ends in Officer Involved Shooting
December 13, 2020

I may have already posted that one but since I can't check right now, I'll just make sure it's posted. That's one of the reasons I've started including dates on these headlines so that I can keep track of when they happened.

□ [“IT’S HAPPENING: President Trump Issues Warning – Swing States that Found MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, which is all of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes"]

This also came from the 13th. Today it's started coming out about something that may actually provide hope, the specifics of how the elections are handled. If true, I still think it's mindbogglingly insane to hold out for this, but it's also one of those things that make suspect there's an actual plan.

Even if the Electoral College vote is over, it's not fully done yet, the two houses of Congress have to certify the results. It's usually simple, but if a senator+congressman opposes any part of it, it has to be handled first. Members of the House did this four years ago, constantly interrupting then-Veep Biden who basically told them to shut up unless they had a Senator with them which they didn't. That obviously is not going to be the case here.

It's should be noted that seven states, the ones that caused all these problems, have selected "alternate electors." No idea what that specifically means although I've seen the claim that now Biden and Trump both have enough people to get 270 votes. This has happened before in 1887. I know that was a very unusual election but other than getting the South involved for the first time since the Civil War, I don't know any details. My understanding is that it also involves each state having one vote in this, not the population-based numbers that are usually used, and in this sense, Republicans have a solid majority because they run 90-something% of the country, Democrats keep themselves in big cities.

From this point it gets very unclear, just in case it's all made total sense for the last six weeks. There are specific requirements for the House and Senate and I don't pretend to understand them. The current Veep is also involved. The Senate can pick a new Veep and the House can pick a new President. Of course the Senate would pick the current Veep and the House would say this is total nonsense, they'd already stolen the election fair and square. I don't get how a decision could be reached and there's no way everybody's going to go along with it but I do suspect this was what was always being aimed at. Why they didn't pick a more sensible method, no idea, but it does stand by the Constitution, definitely a plus.

□ [“NFL Ratings Drop Leaves Networks Scrambling to Make Advertisers Whole"]

This is interesting, Thanksgiving had about half the viewers from last year. It's another example of the left taking over everything they can and removing all the interest people had in it and have no way to force people to pay attention. Sports have always been about enjoying the highest level of skill and ability, now it's just showing off all the new records being set by women with penises because *somebody* thinks that's more important. Oh, and skin color's crucial too.

I think that's enough writing for the time being. I could use a break. I have a new comic to read. I can't wait to see what Star-Lord does next.

15 December, 2020

I actually had enough headlines available to fill up the next book. Ok, I'm not saying they're funny or any good, but still...

Focusing on the book, would really like to get it done, so again I'm not sure what I'll have to say.

Boko Haram Claims Responsibility for the ‘Kidnapping of Hundreds of Schoolboys’ in Nigeria
December 15, 2020

NFL Ratings Drop Leaves Networks Scrambling to Make Advertisers Whole
December 12, 2020

Joe Biden Holds Parking Lot Rally for Ossoff and Warnock at Empty Wearhouse — Photos
December 15, 2020

MSNBC’s Dr. Gupta: Just Because You Get Vaccinated Doesn’t Mean You Should be Traveling or That You’re Liberated From Masks
December 15, 2020

Oregon’s New Secretary Of State Caught Hosting Birthday Gathering In Defiance Of Governor’s Covid Orders
December 15, 2020

San Francisco to rename Abraham Lincoln High School because 'black lives didn't matter to him'
December 15, 2020

Marvel's Star-Lord is apparently now a polyamorous bisexual
December 15, 2020

This isn't even all the headlines I have available but I might want to look into some of them. It's theoretically possible that I might write something about them in the future. I know, that makes no sense, but it's still 2020 so we're stuck with it.

14 December, 2020

I wrote this hours ago and forgot to push "Publish." That's the worst thing that's ever happened in history. Sorry.

Not sure I'll have much to say today. I'm almost done with the book. I just need to go through one more draft and, honestly, it's more about making sure the format is right and noting all the subjects for the index. I started out doing those right away on my books but it quickly became pointless given all the changes made in later drafts. I rarely start on them now until I've got the proof copy in my hands.

Today is the day, the Electoral College should have met and voted. I've barely looked at any websites or news headlines but it's not clear if that happened. Are electors making two sets of votes, at least those from the problem-states, which will go the Senate and the President (i.e. Vice-President Pence) will decide? That makes no sense.

Six Swing States (PA, GA, MI, WI, AZ and NV) and New Mexico Pick Slate of Electoral Delegates for President Trump and Joe Biden

At this point, I definitely wouldn't limit it to these states. Furthermore, this is just too ridiculous to see as an option. There's no way to see this as anything other than a desperate prayer which is not what his supporters want to see, or anybody who thinks elections should be fair.

Maybe I'll say more later. Or tomorrow. Or never, is never good for you?

13 December, 2020

You can't keep a promise without drinking Rococo Coffee. You can't break one either without drinking Rococo Coffee. You can't even breath oxygen without Rococo Coffee. Get the hint?

Working on the book all day, not sure how much I have to say about anything going on. Don't even know what's going on. I'm doing a book about what's going on, duh.

Four Stabbed in D.C. Proud Boys vs. Anti-Trump Melee; One Shot in Washington State
December 13, 2020

Shots Fired at Manhattan Cathedral During Christmas Concert — Ends in Officer Involved Shooting
December 13, 2020

Biden in Leaked Audio Says GOP Misused ‘Defund the Police’ to Defeat Democrats in November
December 11, 2020

The Hunter Biden case is starting to appear on leftist news sites. I doubt Kamala Harris is telling China what to do, quite the opposite. They've known for a long time how to get rid of minor puppets which she and Biden are and have always been.

I guess I don't have anything to say right now. I guess I'll just have to get back to the book. I still have my promise that under no circumstances will it be finished by December 31 but I will admit that at this point, I'm trying to break the promise.

12 December, 2020

Imagine there's no "Imagine," it's easy if you try...

I'm listening to John Lennon's "Primal Scream" album, officially called Plastic Ono Band. It's very limited but that was basically the point. It was the first time he had to create a full album without Paul's help and the whole point was to get away from the incredibly-complicated "Beatles" style. Ringo plays drums, Klaus Voorman plays bass, Phil Spector and Billy Preston play piano on one song each, everything else is John.

I was skeptical what I'd think of it, having not listened in many years. I started off doubtful, some of his singing on the opening track "Mother" isn't as good as he should be and the song itself didn't didn't seem as full as it should have been, three verses, then screaming.

That's about as bad as it got, at least so far. I've just started "Remember" which sounds as full as it's possible to be given the simple piano, drums and bass. It might sound better with a full band but that's not required. "Isolation" sounded great with the same limitations, almost epic. It's not a bad thing to limit the possible creative outlets, especially given what he'd been doing for the last several years.

One thing he was able to bring with him was the variety. Despite the simplicity, every song sounds different from the previous one. "Mother" is screaming, followed by "Hold On" which is much softer but not remotely a ballad. "Working Class People" is about the only song going outward like a bloke at a bar ranting after several pints and it's just Lennon on a guitar. "Love" is a ballad ["a ballad is love"?] with Spector on piano. "Remember" was a straight rock song opening Side B that ended with humorous fireworks, "remember the fifth of November." "Well Well Well" just sounds weird, the vocals and guitar have the same melody line for line, the band is closer to noise for its own sake, as is John's yelling at the end. It's the longest song on the album and probably its worst song but it's not remotely bad.

Music and albums are mostly successful in ways closer to emotion than intellect and that includes how they're designed. All these different sounds, one after the other, create a different effect than anything else would have. Essentially they're different moods and the thought goes into how they work next to each other. John and Paul spent around two days putting "The White Album" in order, that would be just listening to song after song over and over in different order. 'Song A works better if it comes after Song B but then how do we follow Song C?' That is on full effect here and it's fabulous.

"God" is obviously a finale and sounds like it, Side B's equivalent of "Working Class People," building up to the line "I don't believe in Beatles." It could have had a dozen musicians and a full orchestra and the effect would be the same, this one only adds Billy Preston. That's very effective. Then there's the nursery-line epilogue, and that's the end.

Well that was fun. I've never been enough of a Beatles fan to hear many of their solo albums but this was always my favorite of the ones I have heard and I'm glad to have taken the chance to listen to it again. It's about as mature as one can get and still be rock'n'roll. John's mostly following his own self-absorption but that's a legitimate method of creation and even there he's still smart enough to include other aspects, both "Working Class People" and "God" which climaxes with "Yoko and me." Probably wasn't worth the last twelve years of his life, but at least in that line, even I have to smile at the very sweet line which he sings perfectly.

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of this album's release. Next February 7, John will have been dead for as long as he was alive.

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. What would Batman do?

□ [“Army-Navy Crowd ERUPTS into Chants of “USA! USA!” as President Trump Steps on Football Field at Game"]

Ok, there's people definitely on his side. He knows that and, although I assume he attended previous Army-Navy games, I think it's safe to assume he was at this one for a deliberate reason. I just wonder if we'll ever learn the reason. Also if LTC Miller was with him although obviously we won't be hearing anything about what he's working on.

Congress will also be involve in the conflict, Republicans in the House have been demanding the voter fraud be investigated and now Bill Pascrell [D-NJ] demands that those 126 members not be seated in the House. He cites democracy and the Constitution which is rare for a Democrat these days.

Still working on the next book. I still insist that it won't be finished by the end of the year but I am working on breaking that promise. If it gets to where I'm just down to having the problems with Amazon that they've added this year, I'll consider it done.

Anyway, one thing I've noticed is that I definitely singled out "individuality" as the target of leftism in history. As always, I have to cite that "leftism" isn't an accurate term, I only use it out of convenience because everyone else does. "Center" and "edge" would be more accurate than "right" and "left" but still iffy. Can't individual right-wingers go to the "edge"? How else would the "center" be able to expand?

One problem is that even the "left" is made up of individuals. No matter how much they insist otherwise, they are all individual human beings. That alone makes it difficult to identify them because we can't perceive enough of our wife or husband, much less dozens of people we barely interact with, much less thousands, millions, billions of individuals.

Then there's the way leftists can immerse themselves in non-leftist organizations without being perceived. Someone on the right has no reason to join a leftist organization, there's nothing to gain except pussy or maybe men with guns who impose the leftist leader's will on everyone else.

While editing today, I noticed having written a comment about racism being leftist. Sure, it removes individuality as the primary reason of existence. And it does link with the history of Democrats, from segregated areas to "blacks only" areas, the KKK training and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden who said they're only black if they vote for him, LBJ knowing how to keep blacks where they are for 200 years which is still going...

I don't really have a conclusion, as much as anything this was a 'note to self' for something to work on later. "Race" is by definition not about individuality but "racist" individuals are possible. [Of course the left now says everything is racist, making it completely pointless.]

China Furthers Its Hong Kong Takeover – Now Politicians Who Spoke Out About China Are Targeted and Arrested
December 12, 2020

11 December, 2020

Still three weeks left to go in 2020, what else could happen?

□ [“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Time Magazine’s 2020 Person of the Year"]

You think that's a good idea? They represent all the violence and destruction that's gone on since January? They represent all the dictators of cities and states ignoring their own rules like, well, Democrats have been doing?

Most states are now on one side or another with the upcoming Supreme Court battle. 24 support the Texas lawsuit, 17 support the voter fraudsters. This comes up from the state attorney generals - I think some legislators are making statements as well - so when will it come down to individual people?

The evidence is all on one side - 174,000 fake votes have been found in one Michigan county! - but will the court go for it? Apparently not, I just found they've rejected it. I haven't trusted the courts on this and obviously I was right. What now?

□ [“Harrison Ford to reprise Indiana Jones role for fifth and final movie"]

What the hell is this for? He's 78 years old now, that's not how to do Indiana Jones, 12 years younger than Sean Connery who played his father. The only way it could remotely work if it's basically a cartoon, all special effects, no real people involved.

I've never understood why Ford claimed to like Indy so much. Sure, he's a fun adventure character but so is Han Solo and Ford absolutely didn't like him. Neither of them have much personality beyond being the Hero (or in Han's case, the smuggler) and they both get into similar scenarios. The only thing I can think of is that Ford's just not interested in that kind of space fantasy, he'd prefer movies that are more basic.

Even that's speculation, I assume he grew up seeing things like Buck Rogers. Perhaps filming Star Wars was really not fun for him or being the star in Indiana Jones made it different or the reaction fans had to each role. But he's only been Indy once in the last 30 years, now he wants to do it again? He needed large paychecks to play Han more than once ever and has done that twice in the last decade.

Gov. Cuomo Closes Indoor Dining in New York City Indefinitely Due to ‘Rising Covid-19 Cases’
December 11, 2020

US Supreme Court Throws Out Texas Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin
December 11, 2020

Joe Biden Already Planning Executive Orders On Gun Control
December 10, 2020