by John Walters
Tweet Me Right
I’m sorry, why was everyone angry with Colin Kaepernick again?
Starting Five
Iowait
From Des Moines to Dubuque it was caucus chaos, as a new app and a phone hot line failed. Only the Democrats could hold an election/primary/caucas consisting of no one but their own and still fail to produce a winner.
Pile this on top of what promises to be an incredibly robust day in the stock market and tomorrow’s impeachment acquittal vote and it all adds up to one incalculably insufferable State Of The Union speech later this evening.
The race for the presidency has only just begun and the Donkey party have already made asses of themselves. This is like playing Monopoly and you’ve just been ordered to go back 3 spaces.
Up Schiff’s Creek
The Democrats are also going to lose tomorrow in the Senate chamber, but at least congressman Adam Schiff will earn an A+ in oration and rhetoric. This is a brilliant speech, but alas, it’s a little bit like having the Rolling Stones open for Baby Shark. Still worth a listen.
Trail Oregon
In Storrs, No. 2 Oregon doesn’t just overcome the ordinarily insuperable home-court advantage the Huskies own (last loss: 2013) at Gampel Pavilion, but the Ducks rout them: 74-56.
The Ducks led 10-2 early and rarely did UConn ever get the lead lower than that the rest of the night. It was 19-12 in the waning seconds of the first quarter, UConn ball, and then Oregon got a steal. The Ducks pushed it up court, made the extra pass, and one of their bigs took a three just before the buzzer sounded. Swish. 22-12. Ball game.
Geno Auriemma, who donned a Kobe Bryant shirt under his blazer, had NEVER seen his Huskies lose by this much in the 30 years of Gampel’s existence (1990). And to watch them be out-UConn’ed on their home floor…. surreal.
Oregon is a fascinating squad. Sabrina Ionescu is their recognized first-team All-American, but then there are the Sabally sisters (Satou and Nyara, the former of whom put up 17 and 10) of Berlin; 6’5″ Lucy Cochrane and 5’9″ point guard Jaz Shelley of Australia; 6’4″ forward Ruthy Hebard (22 and 12) of Fairbanks, Alaska; and guard Holly Winterburn of England.
Oh, and this shouldn’t matter, but Geno was never shy about understanding it doesn’t hurt to have strong, attractive and feminine players: the women on this Ducks team are “gaw-jus!”
This wasn’t the most talented team to ever visit Gampel Pavilion, not at all. But it was a confident one, one that recalls losing to UConn in the Elite Eight in Bridgeport a few years back, and this is also the weakest Husky squad Geno has fielded in ages, perhaps even back to 1990.
Paige Bueckers, a high school senior from Minnesota considered the nation’s top player who has been committed to the Huskies for two-plus years, cannot get there soon enough.
“You Don’t Support The Troops”
This essay from Drew Magary on medium.com is freakin’ tremendous. And if you think what he is saying is unpatriotic, try again. He’s actually calling out the legions of faux patriots who think that someone else’s suffering and sacrifice gives them the right to puff out their chests and bellow, ” ‘Merica.”
If someone ever hires me to teach a journalism class (and why haven’t any of you???), this essay is being taught to my students. This is how you write an opinion piece. God bless you, Drew Magary!
Five Films: 2008
Coming off the century’s best year, 2007, you have to be prepared for a minor let-down. The good news is that it’s not as precipitous a fall that faced the protagonist of our No. 2 film on this list (fortunately, he never found out how that would’ve felt).
- In Bruges: Come for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson’s bittersweet and doomed friendship but stay for Ralph Fiennes’ hilarious turn as a mob boss. What a wonderfully idiosyncratic little film, and our favorite ever set in Belgium.
- Man On Wire: The true story of the most audacious non-violent criminal enterprise perpetrated by foreigners upon the World Trade Center. Again, bittersweet to see this after 9/11 as it harkens to a more innocent era in the U.S. and abroad. It’s hard to believe this really happened, yet I remember it as a boy. What stays with you after you see it is the perpetrators of this prank looking back and realizing that the planning and execution was the most thrilling time of their lives.
- The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow directs the most tense and least jingoistic film made about the Iraq War. There must be a metaphor about this all blowing up in our faces, no?
- Slumdog Millionaire: An implausible yet delicious plot conceit sends us on our way into a boy’s struggle for survival in India overlapped by his highly unlikely and suspenseful climb to the summit of a quiz show. Wondefully told, magical and harrowing at the same time. The kind of story Frank Capra would have loved to tell.
- Gran Torino: Go ahead, take my car. Clint Eastwood plays Dirty Harry in the suburbs of Detroit.
Almost made list: “Taken.” Never saw but want to: “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Never saw but don’t need to: “Doubt,” “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Synecdoche, New York.”
******
Odds and ends: The coronavirus has now been responsible for more deaths (427) than the 737 Max (346), but don’t worry, NRA: You’ve still killed more Americans in 2020 (1,387, and that excludes suicides) than the coronavirus and 737 Max combined… Yes, we’re taking a victory lap on yesterday’s Tesla (TSLA) call, where it was up $129 (or 19.89%) and it’s already up another $111 (14%) in today’s pre-market. Now here’s today’s stock tip: roll some of those earnings and any pocket change you have into Disney (DIS), which reports after the bell and just announced that it will be releasing Hamilton as a movie (with the original cast…it was filmed their final week together a few years back, so it’s not like Rent where they got the cast back together 10-plus years later) in October of 2021. I’ll be surprised if Disney’s not up at least 5 to 10% between today’s opening minutes and tomorrow’s. And if you can afford to pass up a 5 to 10% gain over one day, good for you.
Burying the lede: We can’t (afford to). Our very successful restaurant, which had been in operation since World War II and whose owners also owned the building in which it was housed (read: they did not even have to fork over a ridiculously high monthly rent), closed last month. We employees were given three days’ notice. Three days. Oh, and a $200 “severance” for remaining the final three days. Turns out the owners—three generations of the same family, all still living—got an offer they couldn’t refuse (and not in the Corleone way) and decided they’d rather be full-time landlords and/or retirees. Rent, I hear, will be approaching $100K per month on the restaurant. Yes, you read that right. So, we’re retired. Again. As Arthur Fleck would say (or dance to), “That’s life/That’s what people say…”
You’re going to need to build a pool on top your apartment building to swim in all your TSLA cash, jdubs McDuck. And maybe one day they’ll make a movie about you : T-dubs Millionaire. 🙂
However, the smell of TULIPS is getting stronger by the minute.
It’s back! It was here, then gone, now back! Hate to say it, jdubs, but you need a GHOSTBUSTER!
Very odd – I wrote a congratulatory comment, posted it ( I saw it, it was HERE!) & now it’s vanished! Has the Coronavirus, er, infected your site?
Very sorry about your restaurant. Isn’t that the 2nd one to go bye-bye in less than 6 months? You’re becoming ‘the cooler’ of food service. Maybe it’s time to go visit mamadubs in the land of the sun. Plus, all the lasagna you can eat!
My original comment stated that you’ll need to build a pool on top of your building so you can swim in all that TSLA cash! However, before they can make a movie about you, “T-dubs Millionaire”, you’ll have to brush up on your dancing skillz. 🙂
And it still smells tulipy to me!
I thought The Hurt Locker was a 2009 film, so I looked it up. Turns out it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008, but didn’t open in the US until summer 2009 and thus was eligible for the Academy Awards ceremony in 2010. Not sure what standard you’re using, but if you wanted to make space for Taken, that’s an easy out.
Also, I would give Doubt a chance if I were you. Very strong performances all around. It was the first time I really saw Viola Davis in something, and she blew the doors off that film.
Definitely tulips. Have to agree with Susie B(eware).
With the upcoming March Madness, perhaps you could pick your favorite film from each decade (1930s-2010s) in an Elite Eight battle to the ultimate winner?
Not a bad idea, Kurt. I’ve been getting wistful that we’re coming to the end of this little project. I may go back and do the early era but only one or two films a year. I’m very undereducated in that regard.
As for TSLA, I’ve taken off some of my exposure. But I think you’ll see it keep climbing for awhile. This stock represents the green future better than any other single stock. Folks want to invest in it.
Thanks for writing in…
Also, Kurt, keep an eye on WORK (Slack). While I detested the product/service when I worked at Newsweek, I love the stock. Bought a bunch when it went down to $20. It’s up 10% this morning.
I’d still buy if I were you.
I’m strictly an index fund investor now. I do enjoy your stock takes and it would be fun to have a little sandbox money to invest. Hmmm…
That Drew Magary piece is a horrible example of an opinion article. It’s an angry blogger rant whose style undercuts any good points he was trying to make.
Isn’t DIS supposed to be adversely affected by the Coronavirus? Probably not seen in this quarterly report but the next one? They have closed Shanghai Disney, plus Chinese tourists are probably barred (for now) from coming to America’s Disney wonderlands & I don’t know the breakout of what is spent in these parks by Asian tourists, but I believe it’s quite hefty.
Still, DIS is my 4th largest holding & I’ve had a limit order to buy more whenever the 15 or 20% “correction” occurs.
Also, you may have not seen this but Mikaela Shiffrin’s father died unexpectedly on Sunday. The cause of death has not been stated publicly but I’m guessing either a heart attack or aneurysm since it was a shock, although he looked in great shape. He was only 65. Both of Mikaela’s parents had just spent a month or so with her over in Europe to help her with her World Cup “slump” so at least she was able to spend time with him fairly recently. Mikaela’s “slump” seemed to come out of the blue & was extremely unusual for her, so it almost makes you think some “grand design” got her parents over there because of what was coming. No word of when or even if she will return to the World Cup this season. I just hope she does whatever feels right for her & doesn’t feel pressured to go back before she is ready. Such a tragedy.
How do you leave off Role Models?
Good catch. I didn’t see it on the list. It’s definitely worth a mention. Thanks.