It absolutely is not just you. You know, for whatever that’s worth. Chuck Wendig just did a post on it too, comparing it not to being drained but being filled: the news right now is like toxic groundwater, seeping into all the places you thought were your safe retreats. If I find a good blueprint for a better sandbag wall, I’ll let you know.
I have to hard agree, and instead of focusing on the horrorshow I am instead going to say "And not the heroic exhaustion you got from winning a hammer fight with three shrieking cocaine monkeys on the roof of a motel in Denpasar that one time" is a very oddly specific example.
I was more caught wondering whether the cocaine monkeys dealt in coke (cute little backpacks or satchels jammed with the white stuff slung over their backs) or were coked to their crazed eyeballs as they attacked with hammers. Or both. I had a lively anime clip playing in my mind. I could only see the back of JB's head and the swoosh of his hammer.
All a pleasant distraction from the horrors of reality.
Yep. I've had to limit the attention given to news and social media to stay sane and (somewhat) positive lately.
That said, I am mightily disappointed at the way Albo and Penny Wong have just fallen in behind the Mango Mussolini who is being led by the nose by Israel into illegal attacks on Iran. I just wish they'd have some balls and some principles. Sure, the Iranian government ain't the good guy, but it doesn't justify it.
The thing was with normal statesmen we could predict what they were doing because by and large they listened to their intelligence community and other people with a reasonable amount of knowledge about what is going on. However with the ideologically driven idiots like Trump, Netanyahu and others around the shop we don’t have the luxury of being able to predict what they are going to do because they will just make their decisions on the fly and using gut instinct rather than reason and evidence.
"geopolitical rhumba class" 🤣 you paint the most insanely funny pictures, JB. I agree - we are TIRED. There's a scene in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where the Nazi guy's son is torturing the journalist and then he offers him water - only to prove the point that people always get their hopes up that they would be spared from death by gestures of humanity... I think we keep getting tiny hits of good stuff and too much bad/confusing fukkery and now we're just tiiiiired.
Go for a walk and listen to a podcast like My Dad Wrote a Porno. You can look this shit in the eye again on Monday.
It chronicles a wealthy but dysfunctional family, at the heart of a global media empire, and their bitter struggle for control over the country as their father's health wanes.
"But not even halfway through bashing the grim pinata of the week’s news feed, something in my enthusiasm simply… failed. It wasn’t a spectacular moral collapse, more like the small, polite pop of a decaying spinal disc finally disintegrating in the middle of the geopolitical rhumba class I had intended to teach this morning."
How do you come up with lines like this? Seriously, I think you could write in intricate detail about the beauty of balance sheets and I would have tears welling up in my eyes about your hilarious word smithery.
It’s relentless isn’t it? Netanyahu is a schemin homicidal maniac, Trump is a demented old fart that parrots what the last demented fart told him, and Albo is a big disappointment - to say the least. Put your big boy pants on Albo, grow a spine! Nobody who voted for you expected you to be a sycophant, sucking up to Trump and Israel.
“…the corrosive, low-grade spiritual drain of repeatedly hoping for mere competence and decency in public life.”
This hit hard this morning, although with the sad comfort that it’s not just me feeling it 😭
It absolutely is not just you. You know, for whatever that’s worth. Chuck Wendig just did a post on it too, comparing it not to being drained but being filled: the news right now is like toxic groundwater, seeping into all the places you thought were your safe retreats. If I find a good blueprint for a better sandbag wall, I’ll let you know.
I have to hard agree, and instead of focusing on the horrorshow I am instead going to say "And not the heroic exhaustion you got from winning a hammer fight with three shrieking cocaine monkeys on the roof of a motel in Denpasar that one time" is a very oddly specific example.
Er, yes. Yes, it is.
Well, let me tell you about this one time at band camp....
"is a very oddly specific example." I thought the same thing. There's astory there, my dodgy knee can sense it.
I was more caught wondering whether the cocaine monkeys dealt in coke (cute little backpacks or satchels jammed with the white stuff slung over their backs) or were coked to their crazed eyeballs as they attacked with hammers. Or both. I had a lively anime clip playing in my mind. I could only see the back of JB's head and the swoosh of his hammer.
All a pleasant distraction from the horrors of reality.
I'm sure I saw Shrieking Cocaine Monkeys do a Friday night gig at the Prince Bandroom in the early 'noughties
Yep. I've had to limit the attention given to news and social media to stay sane and (somewhat) positive lately.
That said, I am mightily disappointed at the way Albo and Penny Wong have just fallen in behind the Mango Mussolini who is being led by the nose by Israel into illegal attacks on Iran. I just wish they'd have some balls and some principles. Sure, the Iranian government ain't the good guy, but it doesn't justify it.
Penny... Penny!
There are no good guys.
‘Shitshow’ is all I’ve got ATM, so you’ve done well John.
Our leaders are not in a position to say anything. Australia is the castrato of the 21st century.
I fear you mirror the feelings of many, or all, of us. These days I find my nightmares a respite.
The thing was with normal statesmen we could predict what they were doing because by and large they listened to their intelligence community and other people with a reasonable amount of knowledge about what is going on. However with the ideologically driven idiots like Trump, Netanyahu and others around the shop we don’t have the luxury of being able to predict what they are going to do because they will just make their decisions on the fly and using gut instinct rather than reason and evidence.
But we can always predict our "leaders" tagging along behind like faithful, doe-eyed puppies or perhaps more like those 1960s nodding head toy dogs.
They don't know what the F they are doing...and neither do I !!!
I claim to have never known anything about anything ever to try and keep outta trouble.
"geopolitical rhumba class" 🤣 you paint the most insanely funny pictures, JB. I agree - we are TIRED. There's a scene in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where the Nazi guy's son is torturing the journalist and then he offers him water - only to prove the point that people always get their hopes up that they would be spared from death by gestures of humanity... I think we keep getting tiny hits of good stuff and too much bad/confusing fukkery and now we're just tiiiiired.
Go for a walk and listen to a podcast like My Dad Wrote a Porno. You can look this shit in the eye again on Monday.
You could pretend that it’s Succession Season 5.
It chronicles a wealthy but dysfunctional family, at the heart of a global media empire, and their bitter struggle for control over the country as their father's health wanes.
☹️
Yup, sums up my feelings too. :(
"But not even halfway through bashing the grim pinata of the week’s news feed, something in my enthusiasm simply… failed. It wasn’t a spectacular moral collapse, more like the small, polite pop of a decaying spinal disc finally disintegrating in the middle of the geopolitical rhumba class I had intended to teach this morning."
How do you come up with lines like this? Seriously, I think you could write in intricate detail about the beauty of balance sheets and I would have tears welling up in my eyes about your hilarious word smithery.
My first thought was that if JB is ever considering a rebrand, “The Grim Pinata” is a great blog title.
It’s relentless isn’t it? Netanyahu is a schemin homicidal maniac, Trump is a demented old fart that parrots what the last demented fart told him, and Albo is a big disappointment - to say the least. Put your big boy pants on Albo, grow a spine! Nobody who voted for you expected you to be a sycophant, sucking up to Trump and Israel.
Namaste, JB. Get some rest.