It's a holiday movie, no matter what retconning publicity dorks say.
Nice suit — John Phillips (London). I had two myself.
- Unfortunately, sometimes one must Commit Mall (to pick up shipped-to-store orders and put an eyeball on the actual sizing of clothes, if nothing else). Which, at this time of year, means being subjected — as a trained musician holding on to the vestiges of perfect pitch — to so-called holiday music. And cover versions of holiday classics.
And exam questions arising from recasting the music of my misspent youth into the "holiday spirit" — badly. I'm sending the Dream Police after these jerks, right after I vanquish those annoying ghosts.
- At least I need not worry about misuse of trademark law by arrogant entertainment lawyers. I do not know that singer; maybe — just maybe, however improbable based on public persona — this was The Entourage pushing things. But it was thoroughly disreputable and arguably harms that singer's brand (even if it can't harm her… performances).
- Since I mentioned clothing, here's a load of coal to the fashion industry. Joe Manchin's worst, highly-sulphured bituminous coal.
- These days, when Gollum asks "What does it have in its pocketses, Preciousssss?" Frodo's answer will be "What pocketses?" (And women will tell men "Get over it, we're used to it.")
- I'm not looking for [brand name redacted]. I'm looking for sweaters, or polo shirts (see previous item about "with pocket"), or casual pants, but virtually every store subdivides casual clothing by brand and not by type of clothing. Are they really that afraid of "comparison shopping"?
- I suspect so, because the branding seems to be the most-common distinguishing characteristic other than price — and I'm not your [expletive-deleted] billboard, you jerks. Neither your name nor your logo goes on visible-when-worn surfaces. Once upon a time, Uncle Sam's did… but never out of uniform. Just Bite Me™.
- So the Jackasses are shuffling primary season in 2024. I will happily give that part of the midwest the finger; the Iowas caucases have been remarkably hostile to candidates who prioritize education, who prioritize issues relevant to city slickers (not forgetting the demographic differences), who don't tolerate quasitheocratic dominionism, who think of immigrants as something other than cheap labor for megaprocessing meatpacking plants. Which is not to say that South Carolina will prove a better, or more appropriate (let alone more just or tolerant), first-mover… but the Jackasses have a lot more to worry about concerning a state that keeps electing jerks like this one, and shouldn't be setting a national agenda in that state or that context.
The real problem is that "primaries" should begin not more than six months prior to the election, and last not more than two months. Both parties are to blame for that, and it reflects their disdain for actual ability to govern. The emphasis on "campaign charisma" gave us some real disasters — Mr Peanut (although the alternative was probably no better), Dubya (the alternative wasn't great), the last guy (not indicted… yet, even though he has demonstrated to my satisfaction that he is neither capable of nor interested in fulfilling the oath of office).
Remember, too, that the Grinch was a great guy before that last-act episode of hypercardia that completely ruined his refreshing perspective on all the noise, noise, noise, noise. And if you think this is part of some war on a politicized and commercialized appropriation of pagan winter solstice celebrations, I have only one thing to say: Yippee-ki-yáy—