These were taken from a moving car — my friends and I were headed for dinner in Salem. As I’ve explained before, I have a weird thing about blurry pictures taken from a moving vehicle. And the foreboding and colorless quality of these shots makes them extra trippy.
The disembodied black blurs that you see are actually trees close to the roadway; I thought the effect was pretty damned cool — especially in that last shot. The second-to-last shot would be great to accompany a haunted house story.
I DO care about the nazis and the KKK in Charlottesville.
Pointing out that most violence is intraracial is an example of “whataboutism.” I’ve heard this argument made by conservatives before, and it is based on a logical fallacy known as the “false dilemma.” The incidence of intraracial crime has no bearing on whether we should be outraged about neo-nazis and white supremacy. We can easily be outraged by both; it isn’t a choice between one or the other. I can be concerned about the murder rate in Chicago, and also outraged about the Nazis killing a woman in nearby Charlottesville a town that I have adored since I discovered it as a student in my youth.
Red Pill Black’s references to others decrying a “race war,” in my case at least, is a straw man argument. I have not seen evidence of a broader “race war,” nor am I concerned about it. Nobody I know is saying that. I am concerned about the potential rise of a fascist political movement that has historically demonstrated that it has tremendous appeal to certain whites — nazism.
Nazism is a genocidal political ideology, with proven potential for overtaking a nation, if the economic and social conditions are right. Again, history has shown that it is potentially powerful stuff for gaining traction and propelling its leaders to power. Consider the rise of neo-nazism in Russia, for example, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which I understand has been underreported in the western press. (Human rights activists claim that its power there is derived largely from right-wing leaders who condone it.) Nazis aren’t a street gang like “the bloods” or “the crips.” Nor are they just another white hate group. They wield a far more dangerous weapon — an ideology with a terrifying track record for seizing power in western nations.
If this woman is thinking critically about how media coverage can engender or increase the likelihood of violence, then I totally understand the questions that she is asking. But … what is the alternative? Less coverage? No coverage? After the nazis marched on Charlottesville, right through the UVA campus in a blatant attempt to intimidate students, I would be furious if the media failed to cover that extensively.
I have no doubt that many of you will find it strange, but sometimes I really like blurry photos of a rainstorm. They have a dreamlike quality and, every once in a while, you’ll get a shot that resembles an impressionist painting.
With all of the (frequently quite poor) buzz about the arrival this summer of “The Dark Tower” and “The Mist,” “Mr. Mercedes” might be the Stephen King adaptation that has slipped under the radar. And that’s a shame, because the pilot episode suggests it might be one of the best King adaptations ever. I’d rate it a 9 out of 10.
It really is that good. The show’s first episode begins what looks to be an intelligent horror-thriller that is surprisingly faithful to King’s outstanding novel. David E. Kelley’s script is excellent. After a brutal prologues that sets its plot in motion, the story proceeds with three-dimensional, likable characters who are well played by their performers — especially Brendan Gleeson in the role of the grumpy, retired-cop anti-hero who is harassed by a mass murderer. (Yes, that is indeed the Dad from 2002’s “28 Days Later.”) Gleeson is just great — even though I found myself wondering why a retired Chicago cop should have a heavy U.K. accent.
The script even surprises us by being incongruously sweet during its odder moments. Like its source material, the show effortlessly sets up characters that are easy to like. (An exchange between Gleeson some kids playing hockey outside his house, for example, was truly inspired.)
The story’s plot-driving horror elements are disturbing, too — both in terms of its grisly violence and its sexual taboos. This is not a show for the faint of heart.
This also seems like it could be a King adaptation that could easily appeal to people outside his usual fanbase. There are no supernatural elements to this story, or any tangible connections to King’s sprawling, interconnected “Dark Tower” multi-verse. (The original novel seemed to show us King trying his hand at a Thomas Harris-type serial killer tale.)
The only reservation I might have about “Mr. Mercedes” is what I am guessing about its pace. The original novel was quite slow, despite being an engaging read. After its gut-wrenching mass murder is depicted in graphic detail, the plot moves forward rather lethargically. The one-hour pilot episode here seemed to mirror that, in its apparent loyalty to its source material. I predict that viewers turning to “Mr. Mercedes” for a fast-paced horror tale will be disappointed.
I think that’s probably a subjective quibble on my part, though. I’d still enthusiastically recommend this.
So I’ve been ransacking the cooler at my local Dunkin’ Donuts a lot lately, looking for just the right novelty bottle. Because I am an emotionally disturbed 44-year-old man, with too much time on my hands, and not much in the way of an actual agenda.
This is what my search efforts recently labored to produce. I plopped it down, looked the girl at the counter directly in the eye, and belted out, “LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!!!”
She looked at me as though I had just demonstrated severe mental illness, like maybe I had addressed her as “Mom,” or tried to pay for my soda with cotton swabs or something.
Is the joke that old? Is the reference too obscure?
I feel certain she knew I was not simply crooning my own real name. I look and sound so much like a New Yorker that I cannot possibly pass for a “Leroy.” Probably not even a “Jenkins.”
Oh, well. YOU people get me.
DC Comics.
I arrived here with a friend to pick up a third arriving from DC. These stations are always so much cleaner than their counterparts in New York.
[The memes are not my own:]
I took this video a year ago today. It seems like another age. So much has happened between then and now. It’s feels surreal how our perceptions of time can be so subjective.
This was one hell of storm. Summer thunderstorms in Southwest Virginia seem absolutely commonplace. It is an extraordinary experience watching them roll in over the mountains, each of them a rapid fog ragnarok — and then moving on just as swiftly.
I don’t think I’ve seen a storm around Roanoke yet that can match the wet armageddon below, though.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 