This was from March 21, 2021 and I never published it. Again, some decent things here but unfinished. We’re about to enter our second winter post snowpocalypse. And not enough has been done to improve things so I guess we’re all just crossing our fingers that it goes well? The Republican party still has a hold on Texas whether that’s due to stupid rednecks or redistricting/gerrymandering. Abbott successfully defeated a challenge from Beto. At least I’m about to be rid of Chip Roy as my representation in the US House.
The last twelve months have been the most stressful of my nearly 50 years on this planet. I’ve had a few extra stressors on top of the ones that everyone else has had. But this post is not about me. This post is about what we want and expect from our government. It’s not a shock to anyone who knows me or has read the intermittent posts on here or my more frequent posts to Twitter that I tend to lean more progressive and therefore Democrat. However, I try to remain open and consider the other side on many issues. Given the last twelve months though and particularly the last week in Texas, it’s undeniable that the Republican party and leadership in Texas are solely to blame for the severity of the situation that we all faced with this unprecedented winter storm.
This wonderfully helpful article on the Texas State Legislature and the wikipedia page on Texas Governors back up what I suspected. The Republican party has had control of the state House since 2002, the Senate since 1996 and the Governor since 1995. So that’s control of all three since 2002 or 19 years.
I wrote this on Jan 14 2021 and never published it presumably because I wanted to get all of the songs finished on the ratings / commentary and I probably had other things to say, but it’s clear that’s never happening so I’m posting it as is from then because I think I had some good stuff here anyway.
I don’t normally listen to the Talk is Jericho podcast and I honestly don’t have a very high opinion of him (and it wasn’t improved by this episode), but since the topic was comparing Anthrax’s Spreading the Disease with their subsequent Among the Living, I have to weigh in. I feel I owe it to…whoever. He had Charlie and Scott from Anthrax and Eddie Trunk who I didn’t know it, but was working at Megaforce when Among the Living was released.
The premise of the episode format is that you take each track head to head and pick the winner. Scott and Charlie acknowledge at the start that they’re biased. I think it’s kinda arbitrary to use the album order to compare the tracks, but I don’t know the history for this particular idea. I’ll bet you’re shocked but I have opinions. First, I have some back story to relate to what the “panelists” also shared.
My introduction to thrash metal started with Metallica’s Master of Puppets. I remember buying the album. I’m pretty sure I was in Arlington and might’ve been on my way to a Rangers game with my father. I was already haunting Bill’s records (RIP Bill) by that time, but the store I remember was similar and I must’ve found it via liner notes. We didn’t have the Internet in 1986, kids. Anyway, up until Master, I had been mostly into bands like Ratt and Iron Maiden. Master of Puppets blew me away and I, of course, read the liner notes to that record which led me to Anthrax’s Spreading the Disease. Much like Eddie who mentions this in the podcast, I was blown away by Joey’s vocals over the thrash. I’ll save my opinions so I line them up with the ones from the podcast.
Track
Me
Chris
Eddie
Scott
Charlie
A.I.R. v. Among the Living
Lone Justice v. Caught In a Mosh
Caught
Madhouse v. I Am the Law
Law
S.S.C. / Stand or Fall v. N.F.L.
N.F.L.
Enemy v. Skeletons in the Closet
Skeletons
Aftershock v. Indians
Indians
Armed and Dangerous v. One World
Medusa v. A.D.I. / Horror of It All
Gung-Ho v. Imitation of Life
Separate from the decisions comes the commentary…
I always wondered why they used the preacher from Poltergeist II to represent Randall Flagg from The Stand. I thought it worked on the album cover but it was a little odd. Jericho had no idea. It also sounds like nobody came after them about it.
I love that Eddie Trunk is the one who bought the original headdress for the Indians video
The talk about I’m the Man being safe as a b-side to I Am the Law in the UK and being obscure if it failed is hilarious in retrospect. Also, I own that 12″ and we fucking loved it when it came out. I need to digress to the Z-ROCK and Arcadia theater live recording that ended up on the I’m the Man EP
Scott translating all of the acronyms was great. Adolescence in Red was supposed to be a clever update of Rhapsody in Blue? I NEVER would have guessed that.
I’m as torn as Eddie on the Lone Justice / Caught match up. I LOVED Lone Justice and how on top and out front Joey’s vocals were but I have to give it to Caught. That was by far the hardest choice.
I wrote this in March 2021 and never published it. I have no idea why. It’s not just about COVID and now it’s sort of dated as I have watched a lot of other things since. Maybe this should be a recurring theme. And given the implosion of Twitter, we should all go back to blogging anyway. So, here’s the original post unchanged:
I’ve had some life changes that have meant that I have more time and control over evening television lately. It’s meant that I’ve had time to watch more of what I want instead of compromising with the other three members of the household.
Here’s what I can recall watching over the last month or so:
Fargo
I hadn’t finished the first season on FX but I thought it was great at the time and always wanted to go back to it.
The subsequent seasons (3) have been a mixed bag but it’s all generally pretty good. I think season 2 was my least favorite of the four so far.
Gonzo
Learned some things about early Hunter that I didn’t know, but he sure did become a victim of his own success. I didn’t know about his Jimmy Buffett connection
Speedwalking
Europeans generally do a much better job of coming of age movies than Americans. This is another example.
Haunting of Bly Manor
Henry Thomas does an interesting British accent
It’s appropriately creepy. Waiting to see if my daughter wants to join
Cobra Kai
First season was great. We’ve stalled on the second season. I don’t think it’s as good. In fact, now that I’ve watched the entire season, the finale was really just terrible. Even my 11 year old agreed. I don’t think we’ll watch the third season.
Ozark
First season was great. The exchange in the car between Bateman and Linney when he describes his take on her lover’s demise sold me on it or they might’ve lost me. It’s a mixed bag but still recommended. I’ll watch the fourth season when it arrives
El Camino – interesting add on to Breaking Bad. I shouldn’t have waited so long to watch this.
Gits – I ended up re-watching some of Hype because that’s where I remember seeing the most about Mia Zapata. I was not into them at the time. Super tragic about her and how that affected the band. At least they caught the dirtbag who killed her.
I’m Now – Mudhoney – confirmed my love for this band.
Mentors – legendary from t-shirts of people like Scott Ian and James Hetfield. Who knew El Duce could actually play.
Rambo – Last Blood – super violent and not all that great.
D.O.A. – covered most of the Sex Pistols US tour including the Dallas and San Antonio dates
Skinhead movie with Tim Roth
Game of Thrones
Squid and the Whale
I forgot that he also did Marriage Story which I watched in March as it became clear I was about to embark on my own divorce (the catalyst for all of this freedom to watch what I want for the first time in as long as I can remember)
The dad is insufferable but Jeff Daniels does a good job.
Various YouTube things. Mostly:
First We Feast (aka Hot Ones)
3 Years Apart
Two Minutes to Late Night (with Gwarsenio Hall)
Ratched
Lily convinced me to watch this one. She’s an American Horror Story fan and it seems like stylistically, they’re related
It’s supposed to be a prequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but it’s very loose in my opinion. Very Kubrick influenced in the visuals
Great British Baking
This is the one that I and both younger kids can watch together. We just finished the most recent season where Peter won. We’ve watched a few other seasons in the past. I miss Sandy. I can’t imagine anyone other than Prue and Noel.