What I watched: The Trial of the Chicago 7. I’m familiar with the basic outlines of the history of this trial: The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the riots, Bobby Seale being bound and gagged in open court, etc. While this film is NOT a documentary, and is therefore prone to artistic license, it does cover the events of the trial in great detail. The one thing that really stuck out to me while watching it is that the judge in this trial acted a whole lot like the piece of shit that is currently presiding over the Rittenhouse trial—only in reverse. Anyway, excellent film and a definite recommend.
What I read: The Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I’d first been introduced to this book by an old friend of mine, way back almost 30 years ago and decided to read it again. Niven and Pournelle are great storytellers and this modern take on Dante is as good as I remember it. The basic premise is a science fiction writer dies, winds up in Hell, and is guided by a mysterious man named Benito to get through Hell. It helps if you have a good grasp of 20th Century history while reading this. Failing that, have your favorite search engine on hand.
What I listened to: One of my oldest friends introduced me to a band that I’ve never heard of before—but it seems they’ve been around for 20 years—called Here Come the Mummies. My friend knows one of the band members, but these guys take their secrecy VERY seriously because when he asked Mummy Ra who the other band members were, Ra refused to say. What he did say is that these guys are all under contract with various and sundry other labels and/or publishing houses so they can’t be open about it for legal reasons. Also, they really commit to the makeup. Anyway, I just need to know what rock I was living under while these guys were tearing it up.
Mrs. Butcher and I flew to the thriving metropolis of Dayton, OH last weekend to visit two old friends of mine (one of which being the person who introduced me to Here Come the Mummies). We had a great visit and it was so good to see them again after 25 years. I got to visit the National Museum of the US Air Force and saw a B-26, which my grandfather flew in as a bombardier, and that was a moving experience. Mrs. Butcher enjoyed walking through JFK’s Air Force One. The only downside to the trip was the actual travel part. On the way out, and on the way back, Delta just couldn’t get their shit together. Maintenance problems delayed planes, they didn’t have enough ground crew to load baggage or push the planes away from the gate, and they just generally didn’t seem to know what the hell they were doing. So, this is your public service announcement: never fly Delta. They suck.
So, DeadSplinterites, how’s your weekend shaping up? Spending more time inside, or are you saying “fuck that shit” and just adding an extra layer while enjoying time outside? Getting your fall baking plans together, or are you freeloading off of your friends and family? To what are you reading, watching, or listening? Tell us all about it in the comments.
I watched The Harder They Fall on Netflix. It’s a old west movie starring an all Black cast and it was fantastic. I loved every aspect of if from the cast, the setting, the music, the costumes, the writing, etc. It also had two very cathartic scenes which dealt with white people. Those scenes were glorious because none of the white people were integral to the plot. They reaffirmed that this movie does not serve the white gaze. The one thing that fell short for me was the ending. But I haven’t thought too hard about what it symbolizes and am probably missing out on its deeper meaning.
ooh, thanks for this. I was thinking of starting it last night but it was over two hours long so I decided to wait. We watched Young Frankenstein instead, but we were kinda falling asleep. Gonna watch it, but want to start earlier lol
***slight SPOILER***
I just read what the ending means to the writer/director and it is as straightforward as I thought…it resists glorifying the cyclical nature of generational violence and revenge against your own people (even though the whole movie is about revenge). While that is a good message, it makes for an underwhelming ending.
Now I want to know who the Mummies were!
I read a book a bit out of my normal genres, These Toxic Things: A Thriller, by Rachel Howzel Hall. She blends layers of dangerous mysteries within the mundane and the LA-typical to form a Californian chiller of a book.
I’m saving the rest of my content inhalation for next week’s Brain Drain. (Content hoarding is real.)
Happy weekend DeadSplinterites!
I’ve got the last episode of Locke and Key to watch. And I finally got sucked in and just ordered Britbox. Been rewatching Inspector Linley, which I watched when it first came out but it’s been a minute.
While decluttering in Better Half’s absence I came across a Barnes & Noble gift card (!) I used it to buy a Library of America compendium of four novels by Dawn Powell. Three of them are satires set in (contemporary for her) postwar New York. I’ve always wanted to read Powell but somehow never have. I just dipped into the first, The Locusts Have No King, which deals with the Manhattan literary scene. It came out in 1948 but my experience with the publishing world leads me to believe that little has changed since then. Very funny so far…
I had recommended to me but haven’t started yet Midnight Diner (Shinya Shokudo).
A summary goes “Shinya Shokudo is a tv series from Japan since 2009. It tells many stories about ordinary people eat in shinya shokudo, which means a restaurant at midnight. This small restaurant opens from 12 in the evening to 7 in the morning.”
To finish up my horror reads for October I chose The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. I enjoyed this book although I’m not sure it’s horror. Ted is a lonely alcoholic who lives with his cat, Olivia. He rarely sees anyone outside of visits from his troubled young daughter, and therapist. Is he also a kidnapper of children? His new neighbor thinks so and sets out to find the evidence. I could see where it was going early on, but it has something to say about who we find to be sympathetic characters, would recommend.
I’m watching Maid on Netflix. It’s well done, and very depressing.
Here Come the Mummies are great, I was going to pick something from them on Halloween but most of their songs are more innuendo than Halloweenie, although this one is kind of weenie…
been listening to the new Public Enemy, good stuff…
Fuck! For some reason both links won’t show up together…
well…that was new…i wrote out my post clicked post comment…and it logged me out…and ate my post
how rude!
anyways…ive been watching japan sinks : people of hope (cant find a trailer but its on netflix) which i assumed would be a live action remake of japan sinks : 2020
but whilst it shares most of the name and the same basic premise of japan sinking the live action seems to be its own story
the anime is pretty much japan is sinking!disaster! now watch these people suffer and die (its not the most fun anime to watch)
the live action so far seems to be japan is going to sink! what do! suspense!
for now anyways…theres only 3 episodes…weekly release…which feels pretty damned archaic
what do you mean i have to wait for the next episode?
i demand a refund!
in unrelated news….im incredibly impressed by the missusses ability to fall asleep whilst holding a phone/tablet/cup of tea and not dropping it
just sat there….perfectly still…movie going on the tablet shes holding…snoring
how?
i cant even reliably not drop things whilst awake
I’m back from my trip!
AHAHAHHAHAHAHah also I’m laughing yet sobbing about your message about Delta.
I am going to Hawaii in December with a bestie and American Airlines was such a fucking shitshow on this trip that this morning I booked the flights on Delta despite having decent status and a rewards credit card with American.
On the way there, there was a 20 minute delay leaving St. Louis due to an issue with the air conditioner. Then we had to circle Charlotte for 20 minutes due to some backlog issues at the airport. Which shouldn’t have been an issue, I had an hour layover. Except thanks to the delay leaving and the delay before landing and the taxi-ing on the runway, I missed my connection flight by less than 4 minutes. Soooooo long-ass boring day at Charlotte airport in order to be there for the next flight to my destination. I hate Charlotte airport.
Yesterday was super duper fun. We all got on the plane, and the flight attendant accidentally partially deployed the emergency landing slide while fucking around to try to get the door closed. Naturally, none of the mechanics on-site at the airport were certified to do shit with that part of the plane…so waiting… and then they get the mechanic finally there only to determine we all had to de-plane so they could fully deploy the slide.
Except those things are one-and-done and OF FUCKING COURSE American doesn’t have a spare slide in storage at the airport, so they had to fly another one in. Needless to say, we all had to get put on other flights because none of us could make connection flights and I ended up getting home about 6 hours later than I was supposed to.
When I flew American in June, I had delays as well due to mechanical issues. So at this point, I’m over dealing with their fucking shitass old fleet for personal travel. Work travel? Sure, why not. But I don’t trust them to get me from St. Louis to one of their locations that actually does fly to Hawaii on time, based on how this year has gone for me. And while a few hours delay is annoying for going to or from Virginia, missing the first leg for a flight to Hawaii probably means you miss the entire day.
Yup some of that shit sounds familiar, minus the slide.
I stopped using American Airlines years ago mostly because they couldn’t bring themselves to stop losing my luggage.
I’ve had better luck with Delta than American, but any flight with connections can turn into a shit-show.
READING:
– Finished “The Big Sleep”. Nice, well-paced read, and my earlier opinions still hold.
– Plowed through “The Stranger in the Woods” in one evening. Pretty fascinating, and author Michael Finkel does a good job portraying the subject of the book as a very complex character. Highly recommended.
– Also raced through “Faster! Louder!“, which is about fell runner Gary Devine and the ’80s punk movement. Really fun read for me. If you like old-school punk and/or a very specific form of running, this will appeal to you. Also highly recommended.