Airbnb? Not for Me!

I read a story about a guy who rented an apartment for a month via Airbnb and hated it because it didn't live up to his standards, so he was fighting to get his money back. Every time I read a story about someone's bad Airbnb experience, I shake my head and wonder how people can go to a stranger's house and stay there. I'm all for independent driving services like Uber, but I draw the line at Airbnb. I'd rather stay at a hotel or a real BNB instead of shaking up in someone's apartment or house. At least at a decent hotel, there are standards of cleanliness that are usually adhered to. When you bunk down in someone's house, how do you know when the place was cleaned? Yes, hotels can be dirty also, but nicer hotels do have a housekeeping staff who clean the rooms daily and they wouldn't stay in business for long if they didn't. Another reason I'm anti-Airbnb is because folks have a license to discriminate against you. At least at a hotel, you have some legal protections. People are finding out the hard way that Airbnb hosts can deny you accommodations because they don't like the way you look or the sound of your name. I think the whiz kids who create services like Airbnb and Uber don't factor human emotions into their business models. Everyone isn't down with anyone coming into their home and everyone doesn't treat everyone else equally.

When I was younger, I probably would have been willing to bunk down in less than stellar accommodations, but not now. I'd gladly pay more to have a nice, clean place to stay when I'm out of town. I don't want to sleep on someone's grungy futon. I'd rather eat McDonald's every day on vacation to save money rather than scrimp on my hotel accommodations.

In totally unrelated news, I really do wonder if Anthony Weiner enjoys humiliating his wife.Maybe he really hates her or something. I don't know. I fail to believe his online proclivities are strictly sexual.

Good Day, Sir!

I was so sad to hear about Gene Wilder's death today. I am a huge fan of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That film is such a part of my 70s childhood. I love the weirdness of it along with the music and the underlying sarcasm that I can now appreciate as an adult in a way I couldn't as a child. Gene was the only Willy Wonka I knew and he was great! He was also a joy to watch in films like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Good day, sir! We'll miss you.

Phony Baloney

I worked for a company in Philadelphia years ago that strongly encouraged all employees in the office to have their photos taken for marketing purposes. Photographers were hired to come in and take head shots of all participating employees. Some of the photos, we knew, would be used for promotional materials for the company. I didn't think much of it at the time and had my picture taken along with other employees in my department. When the marketing department showed us the marketing brochure some weeks later, I was surprised to see my photo along with the only two other non-white women in my group, right on the cover. The brochure had a number of employee photos featured, but the marketing people seemed to seek out anyone who wasn't white to put those folks up front. This company wasn't exactly the most diverse place either. There were hardly any non-white people in my own office. You could probably count the minority employees on two hands. Really. I felt that the management put the brochure out to try and convince others that the company was more inclusive than it really was. The minority employees were few and far between but, according to the marketing brochure, the place was like the United Nations: black, Latino, Asian...and some white folks. This marketing phony baloney angered me and I vowed never to participate in any kind of shenanigans like this again. At my current day job, employees are encouraged to post photos of themselves on the company's intranet page, but I have refused. All you'll see for Kim Davis is a blank avatar. I'm not letting these corporate overlords use my photo for some fake diversity marketing campaign. (This place isn't exactly a model of diversity either.)

I was reading comment on the Datalounge blog a week or so ago about commercials people hate (and there are many), but one person commented about seeing so many black people in commercials lately. The person basically said seeing black folks hocking everything from laundry detergent to car insurance was great, but it wasn't real and I agree. If I watched television and didn't know any better or came here from another country, I'd think the US was more diverse than it really is. What you see on TV, as we all know, isn't reality. Most of the advertising firms who create these commercials are filled with non-white people (men mainly) who make the final call on how many non-white people (if any) to put in a commercial. Groups of interracial young people are a really hot thing right now. I could see a bunch of guys sitting around a conference room table bouncing ideas off of each other (a la Mad Men). Hey, let's get an attractive multiracial group of kids together to go and get hamburgers and fries. None of the black kids can be too black, you know. Get some biracial ones and a few fair-skinned Hispanics. Or: Hey, let's have a choir of black people singing an 80s song by the Go-Gos while this blonde woman looks at cars. Yeah. Great. This, my friends, is fake diversity.

Weekly Wrap-Up

So, as another week draws to a close, what have I learned?

1. Paul LePage is still a bigot. (What the hell kind of people [other than Stephen King] live in Maine? How did this guy ever get elected?)

2. Ryan Lochte apparently has a new cough drop endorsement and an upcoming spot on Dancing with the Stars. Jeah? Jeah. (By the way, the Brazilian government is delusional if they think this guy will ever return to Brazil to face any charges. Dream on dreamers!)

3. It's time for the USA Network to end Suits after this season. It's so awful right now.

4. I've got to pick up the pace with my writing. I had hoped to be farther along with the book I'm working on, but the process has been really slow going. I'll try to do better.

Not Good Enough

Every day there's a plethora of articles on the internet criticizing what people eat, what they drink, what they like, how they spend their vacation, what they read, etc. I read an article today about how lousy popular ciders are. According to the writer, ciders like Angry Orchard aren't "real" ciders because they're made with Fuji apples and their too sweet and fizzy, blah, blah, blah. As someone who doesn't drink beer, I enjoy having a cider and I'm a big fan of Angry Orchard's green apple flavor. I like the way it tastes, it's affordable, and I can usually find it at my local grocery store. But, according to the snobby d-bag who wrote the article, my cider choice is a poor one and not worthy to be classified as a cider. What I drink is on par with a mere soft drink, not a tasteful alcoholic beverage. Whatever. I like what I like and the haters can go pound sand for all I care. I'm so tired of people whose sole job in life is to tell others what they're doing wrong. You're eating the wrong foods. You shouldn't wear that when you're over forty. You should get this many hours of sleep a night. You shouldn't say this to your child. With so many of us doing the "wrong" things, it's a wonder we can even function or leave the house or go to the freaking bathroom without keeling over. And, speaking of bathrooms, I read an article on Gawker before it shut down where the writer talked about why he chose to pee sitting down rather than standing up. He said sitting rather than standing made him feel a sense of solidarity with women. Really? Okay. Maybe he couldn't come up with anything else to write about that day so he went with the urination story. Also, TMI. But I digress. The point is that there will always be people out there throwing shade your way because they don't like something about you (the way you look, where you live, how you live, etc.), but you have to do you and try to block that noise out. That doesn't mean everyone's advice is not helpful. Sometimes people are truly trying to help when they tell you something like, "You need to change those pants and that shirt." I'm just saying all advice isn't good advice and some people just criticize because they enjoy trying to bring somebody else down. Hey, shade throwers, try some self-reflection! Take a look in the mirror and deal with your own issues before trying to tell me how to deal with mine.

A to Z

Over the weekend, I enjoyed reading entries on a website that gives you an A to Z dictionary of words used in various Steely Dan/Donald Fagen/Walter Becker songs. It's called The Steely Dan Dictionary (http://steelydandictionary.com/) and it's great. Have you ever wondered, as I did, who Little Eva and Dr. Wu are/were? The Steely Dan Dictionary can answer these questions. The site also gives you the song, album, and lyric where the dictionary term is mentioned. Although I love Steely Dan, I often have no idea what their songs are about. Some, like "Hey Nineteen" are obvious, but others are just downright confusing. You need not only a dictionary but some interpretation would help also. I was listening to "Pixeleen" recently (another great Dan song) and I could't figure out half of the lyrics until I went online and Googled the song. 

In other music news (because, for some reason, I'm in a musical mood this week), I was listening to Journey's Greatest Hits this morning and "Only the Young" was on. I love this song, especially when Steve Perry sings, "Only the strong..." I can almost forgive him for that "born and raised in South Detroit" line in "Don't Stop Believin'"...almost. There is no South Detroit, Steve! I read an article in New York Magazine a while back when he was asked about that line and he pretty much said he liked the way it sounded, so he used it. He's aware (at least he is now) that there's no South Detroit. There's a Southwest Detroit, but no South Detroit. Detroiters like myself groan at that line because we know it's ridiculous, but that's okay. We still love you, Steve! We're willing to forgive you for that faux pas. 

Not Ashamed!

When I watched the first season of Mr. Robot recently, the main character hacked his blonde friend's boyfriend, found out what kind of music the guy liked (Josh Groban, Maroon 5), and basically turned his nose up at the guy because of it. That attitude, to me, is so typical of a lot of folks. They judge people based on the kind of music they like or the food they eat or where they went to school. I admit, I've done it also, but in my older age, I'm making an effort not to do that. Also, to write someone off because of his or her musical taste is ridiculous. I like a wide variety of music including Josh Groban and Maroon 5. (Hey, I was listening to Groban's "Awake" CD on my way to work this morning.) I like what I like and I refuse to be ashamed. If some music snob looked at my downloaded music, that person would probably be horrified, but I don't care. You've gotta do you and if you like Josh Groban or freaking Milli Vanilli, then admit it, hold your head up, and be proud. Don't let the haters bring you down when they turn their noses up because you're not into Frank Ocean or Wilco or some other performer who gets a lot of media attention for being the hot new thing. Hey, I like Barry Manilow. Ugh, you say? I don't care. Your Manilow hate won't stop me from listening to "I Write the Songs" or "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again."

Halloween Candy?

I was at the grocery store today and saw bins near the front entrance with bags of Halloween candy on sale (2 bags for $6). Halloween candy...in August. When is the Christmas stuff going on display? In September? Crazy. I don't want to think about Halloween in August and I'm sure the school kids hate seeing "Back to School" stuff in July while they're still on summer vacation. No wonder sales are down. These marketing people need to realize pushing specialized sales (like holiday sales) so far ahead of the actual holiday probably doesn't help. I suspect there's a large contingent of people, like myself, who resent that kind of thing. I've been reading about the problems Macy's stores have been having and that a lot of stores are scheduled to close. I love Macy's. They make a brand of jeans that I like and I've been a steady customer for a while now. However, the stores are often a mess when I go in and sometimes it's hard to find an actual register open when I'm ready to check out. I'll continue to be a customer, but they could do better on the customer service side. But department stores like Macy's have a bigger problem. I think a lot of retail businesses are suffering because a lot of companies don't require their employees to dress for work anymore. This change has removed an entire segment of shoppers and has really hurt department stores like Macy's. My day job dropped its dress code a few years ago so that meant I didn't need to buy "work" clothes anymore. Also, the kids today don't seem to be interested in shopping for clothes and when they do, they're not going to department stores like Macy's for those purchases.

I did a blog post yesterday about the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago and I wanted to share another picture from the display.

Terracotta Warriors

Today I visited Chicago's Field Museum and checked out the Terracotta Warriors display. Fascinating. I highly recommend seeing the exhibit if you're in the Chicago area. I believe it runs until January 2017. The detail of the statues done by the workers is amazing.

Weekly Wrap Up

So much news this week. Let's dig in!

1. So Gawker is dead. I can't say I'm surprised by its demise. I've blogged about the whole Gawker/Hulk Hogan debacle so I won't rehash that. But I will say I don't understand why Gawker's founder Nick Denton is blaming Peter Thiel for his media site's demise. Thiel only funded Hogan's defense. He didn't find Denton guilty. A Florida jury found him guilty/liable/whatever. Denton's editor who took the stand didn't do him any favors either. If Denton wants to blame anyone he should start with that editor and then do some serious self-reflection. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there are no winners here. Denton, Hogan, Thiel are all no bueno for various reasons. However, does Hogan not deserve to have the best defense Thiel was willing to pay for?

2. LochteGate. Oy! This whole Ryan Lochte thing has been quite entertaining to read about. I'm sure it's been a nightmare for the people involved but for me, it's like a train wreck I can't turn away from. Lochte is such a d-bag for snowballing this thing into an international incident. If he had simply kept his mouth shut instead of crying to his mother that he was robbed or at least waited until he and the other athletes had returned to the US before shooting his mouth off, this whole "incident" wouldn't have made the headlines it did. I can't believe the people who are defending Lochte et al as "kids." Kids? Lochte is a grown-assed man! He's 32 years old! Yes, the other swimmers involved are younger, but they're not teenagers either. People need to show some personal responsibility. I said yesterday I do believe the swimmers were shaken down for cash at that gas station, but I'm sure none of them expected for the Brazilian government to come after them as a result of giving up some money to some fake cops. The guy who was fined more than $10K should go straight to Lochte and say, "Jeah, douche, you owe me $10K." If there were medals for douchebaggery, Lochte would win the gold, hands down.

3. Mr. Robot. What the hell is going on with this show? Are they pulling a Bobby Ewing in the shower thing (Dallas, for those of you too young to remember) where everything that has happened was all a dream? And where's Tyrell? That Swede is one of the few reasons I'm still tuning in to this hot mess of a show right now. He'd better not be dead.

Jeah? No.

I've been reading about Ryan Lochte and his Olympic teammates and their account of supposedly being robbed at a gas station in Rio. Now that the robbery story seems to be unraveling, I find it interesting that Lochte got the hell out of town earlier this week while his teammates are being detained in Brazil. Did Lochte just ditch them or did he tell them to get out of town when he did and they didn't heed his warning? Like a lot of people, I was prepared to believe Lochte's account of being robbed. I just figured it was a shakedown, but now that new details (and videos) have emerged, I'm ready to reconsider my initial opinion of events. There still may have been some shaking down that occurred, but things didn't seem to happen the way Lochte et al said they did. Don't these folks watch Locked Up Abroad? Don't they know the ramifications of getting into trouble in a foreign country? While I highly doubt any of these guys will end up in a Midnight Express situation in a foreign jail, I do think someone's going to have to pay somehow for this debacle whether financially or in some other way. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out. Reading about Lochte in the news reminds me of a m/m book I read recently about a swimmer (who resembled Lochte) who got involved with one of his former swimming teammates. It was hard for me to read the book and NOT think of Lochte. Clearly, the author has or had some kind of thing for the guy.

In other news, I read that NPR is going to suspend comments on its stories starting next week. I say good for them. Far too often, the comments sections of various media outlets just descend into total chaos often with the same people arguing with each other online. Very little actual constructive or helpful comments are posted and the vitriol of many people commenting makes others hesitant to respond to a story because they fear being accosted themselves. My feeling is that if you want to comment about a story you've read, do it on your own social media platform (your blog, Twitter, etc.).

Underwhelmed

I've been watching Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City miniseries on DVD and I find it totally underwhelming. I haven't read any of the books (which is surprising because I have read and do read a lot of gay-themed fiction), but I decided to watch the miniseries to see if I should read the books afterward. Uh, no. I'm up to episode four and I have found episodes 1-3 to be really boring (especially the scenes with Olympia Dukakis--I've started fast forwarding through those). Also, a lot of the acting isn't good and the story lines just aren't holding my interest. I'm sort of interested in the relationship between Billy Campbell and his boyfriend, but even that isn't great. The recently fired NCIS actor Thomas Gibson is very good looking in this miniseries, but his love triangle with Laura Linney and his wife feels like a soap opera plot. I read he goes gay later in the series, so maybe things will pick up after that happens.

I never read any of Maupin's books because I didn't think I'd enjoy the stories enough to finish any of them, so I passed. Apparently the Tales books and the miniseries were a big hit with the public. I guess the miniseries was groundbreaking for its time (1993?) with the gay-ness and nudity, but now it seems cheesy and cliched.

Late Night Laughs

I read that Comedy Central is giving the boot to Larry Wilmore's show. I can't say I'm surprised. His show never really was a big ratings draw when he took over Colbert's time slot. I can't say I watched it but then I had stopped watching The Colbert Report before it went off the air also. I like Larry and I'm sure he'll manage to keep himself busy with other projects. I'm wondering when Trevor Noah will be heading out the door. If you read my blog, you'll know that I'm no fan of Noah. I think hiring him to be the Daily Show host after Jon Stewart left was a mistake. I also think Comedy Central relied too much on Stewart and Colbert and when those two left, they didn't really have a Plan B and now that lack of planning is coming back to bite the network in the ass. I don't normally watch any of the late night comedians because I have day job and I have to go to sleep, but I catch the hot clips via the internet. Colbert is struggling now against the Jimmys (Kimmel and Fallon). I can't say I've watched his show much either. The few episodes I have seen didn't exactly thrill me. I like Colbert, but I don't think he's the kind of guy to sit and schmooze with movie stars like Kimmel and Fallon or even Corden. He's too cerebral for that. Seth Meyers is a guy who seems to be able to walk that line and be both smart and entertaining no matter who his guest is. Colbert isn't able to hide his disdain for having to talk with people he doesn't really care for. CBS will probably cut him loose soon also and put Corden in his spot because Corden is jolly and he has cute skits that make people laugh and get a lot of hits on the internet. The late night comedy business is cutthroat!

Hairy Situation

I stopped going to my local hairdresser more than a month ago. After my last appointment (that, ironically, wasn't with my normal stylist but with another stylist at the place), I never rescheduled a follow-up appointment. This didn't happen on purpose. I actually just forgot but when I thought about it later, I figured the lack of a follow-up appointment gave me the perfect opportunity to bail entirely. (I did get my hair cut by my old New York stylist while I was there last month.) I'd been thinking about dumping my local hairdresser for some time now for a variety of reasons, but I didn't pull the trigger and do it because I didn't have a back-up plan. I have worn my hair short for many years and that means I have to get it cut on bi-weekly basis, so I wanted to have a new stylist in place before I dumped my old one. That hasn't happened and now my hair is getting shaggy and I need to decide what my next step will be. One thing I won't be doing is going back to my old stylist. She was okay, but lately I'd found myself growing more and more frustrated with her for a variety of reasons. She recently had a baby and her work schedule changed. Okay. Fine. I could have dealt with that if the scheduling was the only issue she and I had, but it wasn't. I had other issues with her. I felt like she didn't clean her instruments between clients as well as I would have liked. I also felt like she wasn't listening to me when I told her about problems I've been having with my hair (i.e. a really dry scalp). So, I'm being my own stylist at the moment. At least I know my combs and brushes are clean and being used on my head only. Plus I feel like I'm doing a better job of dealing with my dry scalp problems than my stylist did and it's not costing me more than $50 every two weeks either. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do about having my hair cut because that's something I really don't trust myself to do.

Weekly Wrap-Up

I had a conversation with a co-worker earlier this week about Matt Damon's role in the upcoming film The Great Wall and all of the controversy that's on the interwebs about yet another white actor playing the hero to a group of minority folks (Asians this time). My feeling is that the overseas market (including Asia) seems to like having movies with white male saviors and white male superheroes, so why is Damon being singled out for criticism now? I've read one article after another about how the overseas (mainly Asian) markets can make or break big film and films that have minority actors in the lead don't sell well overseas. So I assume the folks who are backing The Great Wall are just giving the overseas audiences what they want. Don't hate the player, hate the game, folks. That's why, as I've said before, television is the place to get some real diversity on screen because those folks don't have to pander to audiences overseas. There's more freedom in casting on the small screen (not a lot, but more than what you see in films).

In other news, I'm glad to read that Simone Manuel won a gold medal at the Olympics for swimming. Take it from this black person who is making an effort to learn how to swim: black folks need to learn how to swim. Seriously. Maybe Simone will be an inspiration to others who are afraid to take the leap.

I'm still watching Mr. Robot but I wanted to mention how much I'm enjoying Martin Wallström's character Tyrell Wellick. So much crazy going on there. They certainly picked the right guy for this role. Fun fact: Martin and I share a birthday (not the same year, of course, because I wasn't born in 1983!).

And, finally, I'm loving my Big Boy bobble head. I picked it up at (where else?) Big Boy while I was in Michigan last weekend.

Mr. Robot

I've been watching the second and first seasons of Mr. Robot and I like the series. I started watching the second season and then figured I needed to go back and watch the first season so now I'm watching them both. (I'm going to try and wrap up watching the first season this week.) As I watch the shows, I find myself becoming more paranoid about social media. Can you ever really get off the grid? Uh, I don't think so. And, with these recent "glitches" in the computer systems of Delta and Southwest Airlines, I'm really starting to wonder if the airlines are covering up something more sinister. Were these airline systems actually hacked? We'll probably never know, but it's a question that has crossed my mind especially during my Mr. Robot viewing.

One of the things I like about Mr. Robot is that the cast is diverse and the show gives me some insight into the mind of tech-savvy millennials. It's interesting. I've said before that the really great Hollywood productions are coming on the small screen these days. There's more room for creativity and more of a chance to have casting that defies the usual expectations.

Car-less and Lights Out

My car is in the shop after my sister backed into a concrete parking lot pole and caused a malfunction in the backup sensor. Now the thing won't stop beeping as soon as the car is put in reverse. I was hoping the repairs would be a one-day job, but no, an additional day (and I hope only one day) is needed, so I'm without a car. It's a good thing I'm taking a few vacation days from my day job. At least I live in a place where I can get around without a car, so it's okay. Since I can't go far, maybe I can actually get some writing done while I'm off. (I am working on something new, but the progress is slow!) My sister will be ponying up the cash for this repair since she caused it. (Sigh.)

In other news, I saw the horror movie Lights Out today and enjoyed it. In Lights Out, one of the characters hears something in her closet that sounds like someone scratching on the floor or the walls. Now why, then, would she go and look into that dark closet? If I hear something that sounds like scratching in my closet, I'm not going in for a closer look. I am proud to say I only screamed once during Lights Out. (Yes, I am known to give a little scream during a jump cut in a horror movie.)  I like a good scary movie with an actual plot, not just some film where a crazy guy is on a killing rampage. Lights Out was the latest in a series of movies I've seen lately that focus on women (mothers) who have mental problems such as The Babadook, the Conjuring movies, and Mama, just to name a fewAre crazy mothers the new Freddy Kruger/Jason/Leatherface/Insert Killer's Name Here? I certainly hope not.

Departure from the D

I am back home after my weekend trip to Detroit and I had a great time seeing my family while I was there. I've lived a number of places and I have said I wouldn't go back to Detroit or anywhere in the state of Michigan to live again because I'd been there and done that. However, after this visit, I opened my mind to the possibility (a small possibility) that I could return to the mitten state. I saw a lot going on in metro Detroit. Detroit itself is still a work in progress and I doubt it ever comes back to the way it used to be when I was growing up there. There's still a lot of decay and poverty in the city, but there are signs of growth also, particularly in the downtown area. I was shocked to see so many white people downtown and at Belle Isle while I was there. Detroit has been a largely black city for a long time and a lot of white suburbanites rarely, if ever, set foot in the city. But things are changing. There was a Tigers game last night and when the game was over (the Tigers won 6 to 5 over the Mets), a lot of those baseball fans headed over to the MGM Casino (where I was last night losing $40 on video poker). It would be nice to see Detroit come back, not just downtown, but in the neighborhoods also, but that may just be wishful thinking. Still, I was happy to see progress being made and the city trying to move forward.

Belle Isle

I'm back in my hometown of Detroit for a quick visit and every time I come back to the city, I see things that have changed since my last visit. I went to Belle Isle yesterday for a family picnic and the island looked great. The park has been taken over by the state now and that takeover has helped to rehab the area and clean it up. Visitors also get charged a fee to enter the park now, something that wasn't done when the city ran the park. But you need money to maintain the park so I understand why a fee is charged and I'm happy to pay it.

Sickle Cell

A study came out this week that revealed people who carry the sickle cell trait (and I am one of those folks) supposedly don't have a higher risk of death from overexertion. I had no idea people with the sickle cell trait were in danger of death if they overexerted themselves. Apparently, we sickle cell trait carriers must be careful to stay hydrated when doing strenuous activities. Carrying the sickle cell trait usually doesn't affect me, but I was forced to give up donating blood when I lived in New York because the NY Blood Bank folks eventually rejected me and my sickle cell trait carrying blood which is odd because they used to take my blood and, suddenly, they didn't want it anymore. Fine. No more questionnaires asking if I've been in a 24-hour lockup, ate Mad Cow beef in England, exchanged sex for money, blah, blah, blah. I know the blood donation folks have their reasons for not allowing some people to donate blood, but to ban all sexually active gay men from donating seems archaic and unnecessary. Isn't all of the blood donated tested anyway? (Mine must have been because how else would they have found out about my sickle cell? That wasn't on the questionnaire, I don't think.) Plus, people lie on those blood donation questionnaires because people lie about a lot of things.

I Go to Rio

This post isn't about the great Peter Allen song "I Go to Rio" but about Rio itself. I've been reading far too much about preparation for the Rio Olympics lately. While I hope the critics are proven wrong and the games are successful (with no major illness outbreaks or deaths), I have a bad feeling disaster is on the horizon for this year's games. What's really sad is that the Olympic officials and the Brazilian government just haven't done what's needed to get the country adequately prepared for the games. Put the Zika issue aside for a moment and just look at the basic infrastructure problems in Rio: unfinished or sub-par facilities for the athletes, contaminated water, inconsistent security. And what about the people of Rio, particularly the huge population that lives in poverty? Will any of the funds generated from the games actually trickle down to the people who are in need? Not bloody likely. Then the Brazilian economy collapses and Zika hits and what you have, my friends, is a recipe for disaster. 

I went to Rio more than ten years ago and I loved it and it's disappointing to me to see a great city just turned into one hot mess. I certainly hope the city recovers after the black eye of these games and maybe I'll have an opportunity to visit again once that recovery happens.

Bourne Again??

I went to see Jason Bourne over the weekend and, compared to the other Bourne movies in the series (not counting that Jeremy Remmer film), this one was no bueno. Has Jason Bourne turned into a cyborg or something? How does a guy fall five stories, land on concrete, and just get up and limp away? How does a guy get hit in the head with a barbell and he's still able to fight the dude who clocked him? How does a guy with a bullet in his torso survive a car crash and then have enough energy to fight a guy? These were just some of the questions that came to mind as I watched Jason Bourne. I could see if Bourne was like the Six Million Dollar Man, part man and part machine, but he wasn't. The government made him into a killing machine but I don't believe they rebuilt him like a used Chevy. Maybe that will be the next movie in the series: Bourne Again: Rise of the Cyborg (or something like that).