The Ground Below

So I just finished a 41-day post binge writing about my favorite songs of the years 1978-2019. I started on May 3 and finished up on Sunday, and in between, well, all hell broke loose. Although the George Floyd killing is the focal point, this stuff has been going on pretty much forever. And there have been incidents since Floyd died on May 25. But this doesn't seem like an issue that's going to be forgotten any time soon, and that's a good thing.

There are a lot of pissed off people out there and for good reason. I've always been cynical about seeing meaningful positive change from our government, and that probably still won't happen overnight with the current administration. But hopefully it mobilizes people to get out and vote in November.

In the meantime, we're still dealing with this pandemic, which has been showing signs of coming back (or not going away) in states that have jumped the gun on opening things up. They seem to be treading with caution here in Mass., which is good IMHO. Believe me, I want to get back to doing the stuff I used to do, but not until there's a proven vaccine out. So for now, we keep our heads down and our masks on.

Counting the Scars

Happy hump day. It's absolutely beautiful out right now--sunny, dry, about 80. Hopefully next week will be like this when I'm on vacation. Yeah, I know I already took a vacation a few weeks ago, but next week is Deb's last before school starts up again, so I figured I'd spend it with her and the girls.

We've been officially bat-free for 10 days. Just sayin'.

Deb's definitely got Olympic mania. She's been watching it nonstop. I've been poking my head in from time to time to see what's going on. Man, that Michael Phelps has been insanely good. Five golds as of this writing, with three more chances to win. He's already the winningnest Olympic athlete in history. Meanwhile, tough times for Canada, which has yet to bag a medal.

I'm into the second week of my training for the Philly Marathon, which takes place just before Thanksgiving. I did a 13-miler on Sunday and will run 15 this Saturday. Just got some new shoes, which should make things that much easier. Gotta love the cushioning in new shoes.

Blowing the blues away:

• There's a fair amount of controversy brewing this week over the film Tropic Thunder, which has seen protests from activist groups upset over the film's use of the word "retarded." The movie is a satire of Hollywood, but the folks urging a boycott don't seem to get the joke. The ones being made fun of are Hollywood stars who play mentally disabled characters in bids to win Oscars, not the mentally disabled themselves. But just like any joke, when you have to explain it in minute detail, it's not as funny anymore. If we're supposed to stop making jokes or satire because of the fear of offending people, we might as well stop making jokes or satire altogether.
• Sad to hear of the deaths of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes in the last few days. Both of them were leaders in their respective fields. The theme from "Shaft" was positively kick-ass. And Bernie Mac was a funny dude (clip is NSFW).
• As a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, it has been fun to see OG host Joel Hodgson and crew come back with a new movie riffing venture, Cinematic Titanic. Basically, they follow the old MST3K formula of taking a crappy movie and making wisecracks over it. I've seen the first movie they did, The Oozing Skull, and it was hilarious. Meanwhile, second MST3K host Mike Nelson and a couple of the other dudes have their own movie riffing effort, Rifftrax. Haven't seen any of their work, but they've been riffing on movies of more recent vintage. Check 'em out.