Neo

I’m not interested in anyone who considers The Godfather a deep and nuanced novel.

Go Blues, but there will always be ...

Yesterday, SabreSpace. Today, the world. “It’s complicated ...”. https://sports.yahoo.com/buffalo-bills-finally-reissue-no-32-jersey-for-first-time-since-oj-simpson-wore-it-143513031.html Edit to add: In my efforts to frame a larger discussion and express an understanding of NB’s opinion, I ignored the original issue, jersey 32. With a good night’s sleep, I have come to respect shelving (never remind, again) without retiring (honoring). And, to Smell, who graciously used “sociopath” correctly in lieu of my “psychopath” without feeling the need to publicly correct me! I had to googlize!

To Hoss ... you went straight to the heart of my post. I edited. I still didn't get it right. Ali was a complicated person. OJ is a complicated topic. At first, I just said they were both complicated. That’s inadequate. My edit isn’t much better. The complicated topic refers to separating what OJ gave me from who he is. I dont think he’s a particularly complicated person, anymore than any other narcissistic psychopath. Ali, well he was a complicated person. Since seeing Leaving Neverland, I’ve wondered about enjoying Michael Jackson’s music. A bartender said to me “I just celebrate the music and forget the musician”. Works for her. I’m sure she’s a good person. As to using the two, together, I refer only to their stature and ability to transcend their art. They were two bests who became more than that. I revere Ali, today. Some quarrel with me over this. I think there’s room to understand NB and what he remembers about OJ because it was all joy. I can acknowledge this, and still condemn OJ.

I don’t look at OJ as either/or. I don’t think North Buffalo does, either. I hear NB. It’s just as simplistic to say “he killed two people” as it is to say “he was the greatest”. Both are true. I’m not conflating the significance of each sentence. OJ as a topic is complicated. I wrote, once, that Mohammad Ali, the person, was complicated. They stand alone as sports and cultural phenomena. There’s not another athlete I can put into their category. Not Ruth, not Mays, not Michael, not LeBron. When “Buffalo was the armpit of the east”, The Juice lived here. He’d tell you how great it was. They’d read that in NYC, LA, Dallas and Chicago. I’m not able to feel the personal pain the victims and their families feel. I am left with disappointment, certainly a lesser burden. OJ thrilled us. As importantly, he represented us. We hitched ourselves to his star. Life’s funny. I played keep away football with him at the Thruway Exit 56 motel in the early 70s. Imagine that training camp site in simpler times. Later in life, I saw him in a nearly empty bar, in Buffalo. He was with an Oakland Raider training staff member, in town as part of a broadcast crew. Breaking a celebrity rule I have, I approached him to tell him I’d chased him through fields 25 years earlier. He asked me to sit down and we had a beer, together. I vibrated. I understand NB’s connection. Disappointed is the best I’ve got. Something meaningful to me died that June night. I don’t care happens to the number. That’s my loss. NB’s not lost that feeling. Good for him.

Well done .... Not Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, but not Seinfeld, either. This was so large it couldn’t close. If GoT taught us anything, it’s that every death is a birth and every answer a question. Anybody else feel “comic moment” trepidation in light of the various situations in which they arose? Edmure’s campaign speech, Sam imagining democracy only to illicit jeers AFTER a group comedic pause, brothels vs. ships ..

With all the magic, I’d have loved to see Ygritte waiting for Jon ... in the tree line. “Maybe you knew one thing, Jon Snow.”

I just read seasons 9 to 16 have been announced. Seasons 9 to 15 will start with the Middle Ages and move through Camelot, The Crusades, The Inquisition, Reformation, The New World, The Age of Reason, The Enlightenment, The American and French Revolutions, The Industrial Revolution and end with Kitty Hawk. Finally, season 16 will race through WWI, Lenin, WWII, The Cold War, Mao and end with .... Donald J. Trump as leader of the free world. I suspect it will satisfy few.

I am inspired ..... the wonder of authoritarianism. It could deny danger, refuse help, recognize its clean up technology was useless ... and simply send men into the silent inferno. I found parallels to the USSR’s approach to the invading Nazis. Ten unarmed soldiers against a German machine gun. Ten men with shovels against a pile of super radioactive fuel, graphite and water.. You need not be particularly good when you’re willing and able to send millions of serfs to their deaths. ******** “It's certainly true that Chernobyl, while an accident in the sense that no one intentionally set it off, was also the deliberate product of a culture of cronyism, laziness, and a deep-seated indifference toward the general population. The literature on the subject is pretty unanimous in its opinion that the Soviet system had taken a poorly designed reactor and then staffed it with a group of incompetents. It then proceeded, as the interviews in this book attest, to lie about the disaster in the most criminal way. In the crucial first ten days, when the reactor core was burning and releasing a steady stream of highly radioactive material into the surrounding areas, the authorities repeatedly claimed that the situation was under control. . . In the week after the accident, while refusing to admit to the world that anything really serious had gone wrong, the Soviets poured thousands of men into the breach. . . The machines they brought broke down because of the radiation. The humans wouldn't break down until weeks or months later, at which point they'd die horribly.” ― Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

HBO’s Chernobyl. So many angles to be interested in. Science, Political Science, Man and Nature, Man and Government, Science and Political Power. It’s hectic and wildly fast paced. Initially, I considered criticizing the fast edit storytelling. It isn't that the pace confuses, but that each quick cut leaves you wanting more from the last. I made peace with art, concluding that’s probably the intention for this particular story. Youtube helped me make this accommodation. I watched a dozen videos that explained and explored. In short, Chernobyl is a fantastic and unplanned collaboration between HBO/Drama and YouTube/Science. I was alive. I knew it was bad. I had no idea how cataclysmic it nearly was. The earth almost lost a continent for 100 plus years.

For the record, and in light of my snark, my position on the virtue ladder is no higher than anyone else’s. I just believe figs are figs, troughs are troughs, and spades are spades. Language!

Well, I cut the cord. Thirty years of cable tv and over $60 thousand after tax dollars later, I am a high speed internet only viewer. My monthly bill drops from $215 (internet, landline, tv) to $60 (100/100 internet). I added DirecTVNow ($50) and Netflix ($11, five users). I get iTunes, HBO, HBOGO, and Amazon Prime. Oh, and TED and Pandora and stuff .... I’m pretty set. I believe I’ve cut my bill in half. I have a few months to figure out how to get my Sabres. I’m using AppleTV with my streaming service and my Apps. NHL.TV is the only option I’ve discovered with my configuration. I have the App and an account. I’ve not made the purchase, yet. It looks like $140 for one year, which is approximately what I paid for the NHL package with my cable company. I will investigate the MSG App and its cost. Any other legal options, I’d be much obliged .. Now, I have to go. My neighbor has a lawn mower in his garage and I’m going to take it. I pay enough for home maintenance and don’t think a lawn mower is worth the price I’ve seen at Home Depot. Pffft, the hell with that. I do enjoy a mowed lawn, though! I figure that if my neighbor wanted me to pay for my own mower, he’d lock his garage.

I like it .... plain and simple.

^ because if left to chance, fate, or circumstance, they may grow up to be Leaf, Bruin, Flyer or Patriot fans. I still think of Lewiston-Porter’s Daryl Johnston and his absentee family. Oh, the shame ... a Dolphins Jersey for his birthday!

Ever meet him? RIP, True Fan to the End.

Deja .. Rue!

I had hair.

The rushed pace of season 8’s been discussed here and everywhere. Setting that aside, there was a very thoughtful, dramatic, few minutes amidst tonight’s slaughter. The Lannister army dropped their swords. Bells began to ring. Hundreds of thousands could live. Calm emerged. And, then ...

There once was a poster Zamboni .. .Posh, and really quite tony. In and out with a zinger, Not one to linger .. Real deal and never a phony. The circle of life ... perspective. Outstanding “box above the Lincolns” and “squadron”.

Lotsa reasons ... the birds notwithstanding! What a vantage point.

Pics!

Like, weird ... Vogl. Regarding Jim Kelley ... I enjoyed his work as a hockey fan. Life gave me several interactions with him, largely, but not solely, tangential. Investigating and reporting a story can be tough, dirty, business. I love to write and edit. I don't have it in me to be a reporter.

Keeping the epic fantasy book / film theme .... aka, He Who's Name Must Not Be Said in some parts.

Money saving for a small market, cash strapped, Kingdom. They killed the scouts and switched to reviewing raven imagery several seasons back.

So, how did Tyrion and Varys learn of Jon’s birth? What did I miss? Did Sansa tell Tyrion? Never mind ... found it.