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Word salad with all caps

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We Survived Breitbartpocalypse!

The Math Demands It!

Our job is not to persuade Republicans but to defeat them.

This blog is Obama’s Katrina.

This is a big f—–g deal.

No one could have predicted…

This Blog Goes to 11…

We can agree to disagree, but I’m right.

Hot Air and Ill Informed Banter

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This is how realignments happen…

The house always wins.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Women: They Get Shit Done

Nevertheless, she persisted

What fresh hell is this?

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

The revolution will be supervised.

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In Need Of A Good Book?

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In late February/early March, when everything was juuust starting to fall apart, I read a lovely book that enveloped me in a comfy fantasy world, much like the warm honey that is one of its motifs. The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern’s sophomore novel, tells the story of… well, it tells a good number of stories. The throughline is Zachary, graduate student and son of a fortune teller, who is pulled inexorably towards The Starless Sea, a mysterious land full of stories, every story, all the stories.

Each of the book’s sections alternates chapters between Zachary and another text, often a storybook he has found. While it first seems like these are exposition dumps or thematically-appropriate asides, in the end it all weaves together to be a meditation on love, narrative, and the nature of stories. At its core, it is also a romance. Here is one example of an interleaved text, which should give you a good idea of whether you want to read the other pages; click through to see the end:

Looking at reviews to jog my memory, now, I’m seeing that some readers found it weird, pretentious, and too intertextual. But I won’t let that stop me! Besides, I have a feeling there are more than a few weird, pretentious lit-crit types here. I can see where the reviewers are coming from, though. And it does take a little work, as with any non-linear narrative. So if you find such things off-putting… you have been warned. I’ll file this one under “it’s not for everyone, but it is for me.”

Consider this a recommendation thread for all your book, TV, movie, etc. needs! I’ve been watching Bosch, which one of you yokels recommended, and it’s pretty good. Going to start Homeland and Upload soon. What about you?

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Open Thread: Programming Notes for the Weekend

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And since at least a couple commentors will be interested — Perry Mason:

… From avid armchair detectives to Supreme Court justices, everyone loves Perry Mason, right? But what did we ever really know about the guy, other than he almost always won his cases? Gardner, who died in 1970, wasn’t inclined to give Perry much of a backstory — believing, perhaps, that too much personality interfered with the formula. Perry was forever right, and could always dig up the evidence to prove his case at the last minute. He’s a classic character, with the all the dimension of cardboard.

That’s why Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald’s superb new “Perry Mason,” an eight-episode miniseries premiering Sunday on HBO, is the perfect lesson in how to update an icon, honoring the character by giving him the emotional depth and complexity that he previously never had.

Don’t get the wrong idea. The Perry Mason we meet in this version isn’t a pushover. As played by Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”), this Perry is a day-drinking (and night-drinking) underemployed private investigator who gets into plenty of unseemly scrapes. He makes his living, barely, by surreptitiously taking pictures of movie stars in flagrante delicto, in violation of moral clauses in their contracts; the studios then pay Perry to make the photos go away.

Perry’s wife (Gretchen Mol) left him and took their young son with her. He clings to what’s left of his deceased parents’ defunct dairy farm on the outskirts of a rapidly expanding — and always corrupt — Los Angeles. He’s also suppressing some pretty intense trauma from his time on the French battlefields in World War I…

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – What Helped Shape the Person You Became?

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Tonight we kick off Episode 9 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

You can find the whole series here:  Medium Cool with BGinCHI

Tonight’s Topic:  What Helped Shape The Person You Became?

Take it away, BG!

We’re going to keep this week’s Medium Cool simple, as it’s been a trying, emotional week. I’d like this to be a space where we not only stretch ourselves and do some thinking, but also where we can just come together as a community and talk about the things we love and are passionate about.

So, for today’s Medium Cool, tell us about a book, or a movie, or a TV show that shaped how you see the world, how you treat people, or some other life lesson you learned that has always stuck with you.

*****

Note: BG has a “thing” with kids in his neighborhood today – the dad of his son’s friend is a musician who is playing a neighborhood porch concert.  Complete with social distancing and masks, of course!  So we will be on our own much more than usual as BG will have to bail early and then come back to the thread later. ~WG

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – What If?

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Tonight we kick off Episode 5 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight’s Topic:  What if?

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – What If...

Take it away, BG!

In this week’s Medium Cool, we ponder the now only half-hypothetical question, “What if you and everyone you knew were forced to stay at home for 2+ weeks and could only choose one author or filmmaker?”

The twist is that once you’ve made your choice, you get the use of one of those Men in Black Neuralyzer thingies that erases your memory of that person’s work. So you’d be reading or watching it for the first time.

What literary or cinematic body of work would you gift yourself?

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Dubious Conversion Open Thread: Tucker Carlson, Jedi Master of the CYA Corps

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He plays a bigoted thug to perfection on TV, but either Mr. Carlson isn’t quite as dumb as he acts, or he’s at least smart enough to hire competent advisors. Lo, a Damascus moment for one of the richest ‘conservatives’ on Fox News!

Though it’s hard to believe, Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his very first visit to Mar-a-Lago only a week and a half ago. The resort was hosting a birthday party for former Fox host Kimberly Guilfoyle, also attended by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, and Donald Trump Jr.,—but Carlson wasn’t there for the party. He didn’t even know about it, he says. Instead he’d come with an urgent message for the president. He was there to pull Donald Trump aside and speak frankly about the dangers of the coronavirus epidemic, the gravity of which had not yet fully registered with Trump or his White House.

For his troubles, Carlson was actually exposed to the coronavirus, along with Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, all of whom had been in the room with infected Brazilian officials attending the party…

Tucker Carlson started talking more extensively about the virus on his Fox News show on February 3, spurred, he says, by harrowing reports emerging from China. Trump, it seems, was the last to know. A White House adviser arranged for Carlson to meet with Trump so the TV personality could, in essence, penetrate Trump’s bubble. They talked for two hours. The oncoming pandemic, Carlson told him, was an existential threat to the nation. To translate it into Trumpian language, an existential threat to his reelection. Mike Pence joined at one point. Carlson won’t discuss the president’s reaction on the record, but suffice it to say that Trump’s denial went on for another week while the pandemic ballooned and right-wing allies—many of them on Fox News—suggested the virus was a liberal hoax and members of Congress, as recently as three days ago, told people to continue going out in public as if nothing was happening.

I’ve known Tucker Carlson for 20 years, since before his infamous Jon Stewart debate on CNN in 2004 and before his paleoconservative tendencies—he was always sympathetic to Pat Buchanan—found their moment in the election of Donald J. Trump, reanimating his career. Carlson has always been one of the most intelligent and reliably savage observers of Washington—even more so off camera. A canny TV diplomat, he won’t say Trump is terrified, weak, politically doomed, in deep denial and surrounded by toadies and mediocrities. But what he does say is enough to make you realize we’re entering uncharted territory…

A sample of the ensuing tonguebath:

We’re at the point where conservative media and right-wing politicians take their cues from Trump and from the White House. Tell me when you decided that maybe something had gone out of whack.

So a lot of Trump voters believe that all news about Trump is designed to hurt Trump. And they’re absolutely right about that. It’s been monomaniacal, the coverage of Trump. So when the moment came, when there was something that ultimately really didn’t have anything to do with Trump, which is the emergence of a weird new virus from Eastern China, they were trained to believe that all coverage was designed to hurt Trump. Because that’s been true. So it was very hard to convince a lot of those news consumers that this was fundamentally not a political story.

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – You’re the Producer

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Tonight we kick off Episode 4 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight’s Topic: You’re the Producer

I’ll let BG explain the photos.  But wow, I want to be there, and I especially want to be in the bottom photo.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – You're the Producer 3

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Ethnicity

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Tonight we kick off Episode 3 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight’s Topic: Ethnicity, as it’s expressed in books, films, and TV.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Ethnicity

Photo courtesy of ruemara – thank you!

Take it away, BG!

In this week’s Medium Cool, we’re talking about ethnicity, as it’s expressed in books, films, and TV.

I just finished teaching a course called “Ethnic Literatures,” in which we read a bunch of terrific books: a few for context (on the constructions of history and on race), the rest novels, and a couple books of poetry. What emerged in the class was a deep dive into the ethnic groups/minority cultures struggled with poverty, racism, and language, kept traditions vibrant, and worked to construct new lives.

What books or films or TV shows do this in ways that have been interesting to you? How did they do it? If it’s your own ethnicity, how did they get it right or wrong? If it’s another ethnic group, what did you learn? If you’re outside the US, or there’s a work about ethnicity in another country, let us have it.

~ Bradley

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Diversions

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I suspect lead singer Natalie Maines would have been more than happy for this not to be true, but: Impeccable timing for the new single!

There are a half-dozen serious, weighty posts waiting to be written, but after this week I’m tired.

What are y’all doing as a respite from politics, at this point in time?

Spousal Unit & I both really enjoyed the first two seasons of Death in Paradise, every episode a sprightly Christie-style stand-alone mystery. I’m having trouble getting into the unlovely third-season replacement for the central character, but the rest of the cast is still sharp, and I console myself that the blemish in question eventually gets replaced in his turn…

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Noir!

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Tonight we kick off Episode 2 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight’s Topic: Noir!

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Noir!

Take it away, BG!

In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk about noir.

Typically, noir is defined by the moody, dark, psychologically-acute films of the ‘40s-‘50s, involving femmes fatales, gumshoe detectives, pessimism, etc. Contrarily, New Yorker film critic Richard Brody argues that, while this genre is difficult to define, “film noir is historically determined by particular circumstances.” Let’s use this as our jumping-off point.

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – The King (2019)

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Tonight we kick off our first episode of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series last week:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

BG sent me this last night:

“Fresh off re-watching The King, and am doubly, triply amazed by it. I have tons to say, and will do so in comments as the thread unfolds.”

Without further ado, I bring you Bradley Greenburg on The King:

This week’s Medium Cool takes a look at “The King” (2019, dir. David Michôd). The film showed up on many people’s radar because it stars Timothée Chalamet and features Robert Pattinson. As I said in the comments of last week’s introductory thread, this past fall I taught a grad Shakespeare seminar devoted to the Henriad (Richard II, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Henry V). So, when “The King” came out I was dreading seeing it, and held off til the end of the semester.

Watching it, I was floored by its smart, insightful interpretation of its source materials. Especially interesting is its portrayal of filial & fraternal relations, its keen attention to the brutalities of power, a reinvigoration of Falstaff’s character and relationship with Hal, and a savagely confrontational Catherine.

Let’s use this thread to discuss how the film tells the story of Henry V, the so-called “mirror of all Christian kings,” who united England after many years of civil unrest and beat the French against all odds at Agincourt.

What works? What doesn’t?

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Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

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I have always loved the threads where we talk about movies and books, and some of our best open threads of long ago were when BGinCHI would toss out a question or a comment about a book or a film, and the thread would be off and running for a good, long time.  In that way, I have always kind of thought of BGinCHI as the John Cole of movies and books, who can start a 300-comment thread with a single thought.

So I am happy to announce that BGinCHI has agreed to do a regular weekly guest post on Balloon Juice, where we can all talk about popular culture.  Books, films, TV.  This is something we can count on once a week, same time, same station, as one more hedge against this soul-sucking political miasma we’re living in.

Who knows, it might help us all remember why we liked each other and started spending so much time here in the first place!

If you are a newer commenter, or a recent lurker, you might not know BG, but you are in for a real treat. This guest post series will be featured every Sunday, starting at 5pm Balloon Juice time.  (Also known as eastern time in some circles.)

I’ll let BG tell us more about himself.  We are lucky to have him!

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Strange You Never Knew

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Let’s talk soundtracks, not the filler music, but the songs chosen to accompany a movie or TV show. It may shock you that a guy that titles most of his posts with a song reference would have opinions on song choice — I hope you’re sitting down, because I do.

Lots of movies have featured popular music in the background, but I think it was The Big Chill, a self-indulgent boomer fable, that really kicked off heavy use of popular music that wasn’t composed for the movie. It had a lot of Stones and other ’60s hits. At the time, it was innovative. But today, use of old R&B hits is derivative at best, and to me it’s just lazy music choice. No offense to the estate of Marvin Gaye, but let’s give “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” a rest in movie soundtracks. In fact, let’s give any Motown 60’s hit a rest – they are totally overused, in my opinion.

Another song that is in an amazing number of soundtracks is Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You. It’s almost as if the soundtrack pickers (sound designers?) have an automatic go-to whenever there’s a melancholy moment in a movie. I do like the song, and Hope Sandoval in general, but it’s another lazy choice.

For me, the ultimate movie soundtrack was chosen by Paul Thomas Anderson for Magnolia. It’s almost all Aimee Mann songs that PTA weaves into the story, and used to inspire his characters. The cast singing her song “Wise Up” during the movie is, to me, a great moment.

More recently, like a lot of things movies and TV series, the music choice has gotten really good. There are a lot of good examples, but one you might not expect is the soundtrack to the British TV series Sex Education. It’s a combination of original work by Ezra Furman (here’s an example), plus a very eclectic and wide ranging song choice, including 80’s bands like The Smiths and The The, to good covers like the Hot 8 doing Sexual Healing. Somebody put a ton of work into it, and when they use a cliche song like Sexual Healing, at least they picked a good cover instead of the original (again, apologies to the estate of Marvin Gaye).

I don’t know if anyone else gives a shit about this stuff, but if you do, share some good examples of movie or TV show soundtracks.

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Monday Morning Open Thread

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Our long national nightmare…

Better ideas!

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Weekend Movie Suggestion: Weathering with You

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If you have any romantic inclinations whatsoever — and can deal with reading (very well done!) subtitles — it’s definitely worth going to see Weathering with You on a big screen.

The title is… well, I’m sure the production company did their best. According to the Spousal Unit, the original Japanese Tenki no Ko is literally ‘Heaven’s Energy’ (ten) with ‘suffix attached to girls’ names’ (ko). I’d have gone with something like Finding the Rain Maiden, but perhaps you’d need to have seen the film already for that to make sense.

***********
This was one of the trailers at the showing, and I’m looking forward to it, because I have a weakness for fox demons…


Unfortunately, that won’t happen immediately — it was due for release in China this week, but (quite sensibly!) Chinese authorities have shut down all new releases due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Let This Be A Good Omen

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… Clinton appeared at the press tour in support of the Hulu four-part documentary series “Hillary,” which details the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State’s time on the 2016 Presidential campaign trail through never-before-seen footage. The series also features interviews with Bill and Chelsea Clinton, as well as friends and journalists.

She fielded a range of questions from the audience, including what she feels the most important message of the series will ultimately be.

“I think the most important message is we are…in a real struggle with a form of politics that is incredibly negative, exclusive, mean-spirited, and its going to be up to every voter, not only people who vote in Democratic primaries to recognize that this is no ordinary time,” she said. “This is an election that will have such profound impact so take your vote seriously. And for the Democratic voters, try to vote for the person you think is most likely to win because at the end of the day that is what will matter. And not just the popular vote, but the electoral college too.”…

“It wasn’t so long ago that we actually had a President that we didn’t have to worry every morning when we woke up about what was going to happen that day, or what crazy tweet would threaten war or some other awful outcome,” she said.

“You can disagree with the facts, but there are facts,” she continued. “You can choose not to vaccinate your children but there are facts. You can choose not to believe in climate change, but there are facts. And somehow we’ve got to shoulder that responsibility not only at a political leadership level but literally at the citizen, activist, concerned human being level.”

 
Elsewhere, the end of the beginning.…

… The deadline for voting is still over a month away. But the chance to participate in the state’s first presidential primary since 1992 — and cast a ballot before first-in-the-nation contests have their say — was enough to motivate some voters to brave frigid temperatures and a looming snowstorm to show support for their candidate of choice.

“We can’t afford to wait,” said Sean Duckworth, a Joe Biden supporter who attended an early vote rally for a range of Democratic candidates in Ramsey County. “We need change now, and he’s the person who is best able to do it, so I’m here to vote for him.”

Votes in Minnesota won’t be counted until after the polls close March 3. And some other states, including New Hampshire, have already started accepting absentee ballots for voters who can’t make it out on Election Day. But Minnesota’s election calendar and early voting laws mean the state can “confidently say we’ll be the first state in the country to open up the presidential contest to all eligible voters,” said Secretary of State Steve Simon…

“There’s some kind of special magic to the idea of getting to be one of the first people to cast your vote,” said Mitchell Walstad, a Warren supporter. “I thought it would be kind of fun, to go make a tweet out of it … and have an opportunity to show my support and do it in a loud fashion.”

In Duluth, City Council Member Arik Forsman joined a handful of Klobuchar supporters who showed up at City Hall right as early primary voting opened Friday morning.

“I think she has a really great track record in Minnesota of bridging that rural/urban divide,” Forsman said.

In South St. Paul, two local officials showed up at the polling place early Friday to not only cast ballots for the primary but to symbolically mark the city’s legacy as the first place in the U.S. where women voted after the 19th Amendment went into effect in 1920, officials said…

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