007 Exhibit (and Other Stuff)

A few weeks ago, I went to Chicago's Griffin Museum of Science and Industry to see an exhibit of gadgets and cars from various James Bond movies. The exhibit, while small, had some great stuff included. I have some pictures below. I also highly recommend checking out the museum if you're in or around Chicago. I went there with my sister's girl scout troop when I was a kid, but I had not been back since moving to the Chicago area. I checked out the rest of the museum after seeing the Bond exhibit and really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful museum. Parking is ridiculous though: $22 regardless of the time you spend at the museum is insane! That was almost the price of admission for the Bond exhibit! 

In other news, the Democratic National Convention is going on in Chicago this week. Is the political tide really turning now? God, I hope so. I'm really looking forward to the time when Donny T's entire political career will just be a bad memory. Remember that guy? Ugh. I'm trying to forget him! What's Kamala's slogan? We can't go back? No, we can't and God help us all if we do.

I'm currently reading Stephen King's book of short stories now called You Like It Darker. I haven't read a Stephen King book in some time and I have to say, I'm enjoying this short story combination. To paraphrase a line from one of my favorite movies, The Big Lebowski, that dude can write! King is very good at writing about regular people faced with irregular circumstances and that's something a lot of writers can't do or can't do well. I commend him for writing so well for so long. He really is a national treasure and reading his recent work has inspired me to get on the stick and get my own writing going again. After a lot of starts and stops, I think I'm on track to get a short story done in the next few months. Thanks, Stephen!

Lazy Nina (and Lazy Kim)

I was listening to the Yacht Rock station on Sirius today (as I often do while I work my day job) and they played the song "Lazy Nina" by Greg Phillinganes. I had not heard this song in a really long time, probably since I was living in Detroit many, many years ago. I heard it frequently on our local jazz station, WJZZ, while I was growing up. I texted my sister about it because I knew she'd remember it also and she did. She mentioned that Phillinganes is from our hometown of Detroit, which explains why I heard it so much growing up. It's a really great song. 

Anyway, hearing this song today led me down the rabbit hole (but not far down) and I read on YouTube that not only is Phillinganes from Detroit, but he and I went to the same high school (at different times since we are not close in age). I also learned that "Lazy Nina" was written by Donald Fagen. I never knew this until today and I'm a huge Steely Dan fan. How did I miss this? The song sounds so much like a Dan song or a Donald Fagen solo track. I totally should have picked up on this, but I wasn't as into the Dan back in the mid 1980s when I was a teenager and when this song came out. It's always nice for me to hear something or see something that takes me back to my youth and that's what happened today with me and "Lazy Nina."  

In other news, the Lazy Kim portion of this post pertains to me. I haven't been writing much at all even though I have something on my mind to write. I even have several pages written, but I keep stalling out. I think I'm going to have to make some changes to the material I have or move on to something else. I hate not writing. It's been a lazy summer for me (and a lazy spring also) when it comes to writing and I have no one to blame but myself for the lack of writing. In my defense, I've been very busy with a project on my day job that had me working during the week and on the weekends many times, but that project is winding down, so I'm hoping to devote more time to my own projects moving forward. Lazy Kim needs to get on the stick and get some writing done.

OPKs

I'm fascinated with the views of Republican VEEP candidate (for now) JD Vance regarding childless people that have come to light recently. Vance seems to think that childless people (women, in particular) are morally deficient and that the childless should have less of a vote than people who have kids (who should get more votes in elections because they have more at stake or some nonsense he proposed). As someone who doesn't have kids, how about I take back the tax money I contribute to pay for public schools and government programs like WIC, etc. that help kids because I'm tired of supporting OPKs (other people's kids)? How about that? 

Vance is annoying for a variety of reasons and if I was to put him on the couch (no pun intended) right now, I'd say that he has some really negative feelings about single people and primarily single women because of how he grew up and how his own mother and father failed him. I didn't read his book (and I don't intend to), but I know enough about it to know that he had a rough upbringing and it seems like he's trying to overcompensate for his shitty early life by pushing the theory that having a nuclear family (a spouse and kids) is the only way one can be whole or fulfilled in life. Bullshit. Just because I don't have kids of my own doesn't mean I'm a miserable person or one who doesn't care what happens to OPKs. 

My extended family is huge. I have over 30 first cousins just on my father's side of the family. I care what happens to these kids and their kids. I care what happens to my friends' kids too. I care about the kids in my community. I care about humanity as a whole. Besides, there are many bad parents out there who have kids and they treat them like shit, so being a parent doesn't necessarily make you a more empathetic person. There are plenty of assholes in the world who have kids (looking at you, JD) and plenty who don't.

(Try to) Get the House in Order

Today's big news is that Biden has dropped out of the race for POTUS. This is something that should have happened a long time ago. Hell, he shouldn't have even run for a second term, but he did and we are where we are, so my advice to the Democrats is to pick up the pieces and try to do the best they can to move forward and avoid another four years of Donny T. (Ugh.) 

Democrats are their own worst enemy sometimes. They often manage to shoot themselves in the foot. When Biden shit the bed at the debate a few weeks ago, I found myself wondering if he'd been set up by people inside of his inner circle who knew he was sliding downhill and wanted to expose his decline to the American public (and to the world at large). As the weeks passed, I found myself believing that scenario more and more. (The calls are coming from INSIDE of the house, Joe!) Look, I would have voted for Biden if they'd wheeled him out on a stretcher in a straight jacket and face mask, a la Hannibal Lecter and I'll vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is who'll replace him. That's how strongly I feel about NOT suffering through another four years of Donny T. (Ugh again.) (RFK, Jr. is a non-entity in my mind, so no use even going down that road.)

The Dems have their work cut out for them and I have low expectations that they'll truly be able to get their house in order and nominate someone who can win. It's possible, but the road to victory is difficult and time is not on their side. In the event that Donny does become POTUS once again (ugh x 3), I'm not going to curl up into a ball and cry. I. I'm going to keep on keeping on. I won't allow allow some nut job to make me into a nut job too. I was born during the Nixon administration. My parents didn't let some loser in the White House stop them from living their lives and carrying on and neither will I.  

Karma Police

Regarding last weekend's event with Donny T, get the Karma Police on the case. (Apologies to Radiohead.) When you incite violence against others on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, are you really surprised when violence comes knocking on your door looking for you? A smart person would learn a lesson from this and make some changes in his/her life, but I highly doubt Donny will because he's not the kind of person to learn anything from anyone anymore. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

I went to see the musical version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil at Chicago's Goodman Theatre last weekend. It was...interesting. Having read the book, seen the movie, and visited Savannah, GA and took the "Midnight" tour many, many years ago, I was interested in seeing a staged version. Some of it was good, but some of it wasn't. I have to say, Midnight turned into The Lady Chablis Variety Show and that wasn't a good thing. Yes, Chablis is a huge character in the book and movie, but she's not the main focus of either. Midnight is about Jim Williams and the murder of Danny Hansford. That's the main story here, yet the musical overshadowed the actual murder to showcase Chablis, the drag queen. I wouldn't have minded that much if the actor playing Chablis on stage had a better singing voice. Sadly, that wasn't the case. (I'm using the term "actor" here for all actors in the play whether male, female, trans,  non-binary, etc.) The actor's voice wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that great and to keep giving musical numbers to someone who isn't exactly what I'd call a "Broadway singer" was just a mistake. The actor who played Jim Williams didn't have a great voice either, but he didn't have as many musical numbers as Chablis. There were some really great performances in the play by the actor who led the Savannah preservation group and the actor who played the young black debutant. Those two ladies had wonderful voices. Too bad there were no Johnny Mercer songs. How do you do a musical about a murder at the Mercer House and there's no Mercer music in it? Come on!

Seeing the play made me want to re-read the book. I used to have a copy, but I must have gotten rid of it. I purged a lot of books when I left New York 10.5 years ago. I've been listening to the movie soundtrack also. It's got some great Johnny Mercer songs including a really beautiful version of "This Time the Dream's on Me" by Alison Krauss. Krauss has such a lovely voice. I could listen to her sing the phone book. I highly recommend checking out her song that, unfortunately, only seems to be available on the soundtrack. I'd like to see the movie again, but I don't think it's available on any of the streamers. I might have to get the DVD from my local library. I'm willing to suffer through Kevin Spacey to see it also. (He's not a bad actor, just a terrible person!)

Sleeping in the Bed You Made

I only had to watch the first 10 or so minutes of the presidential debate last night before realizing that Joe Biden would shit the bed last night...and he did. Aside from his meandering answers to the moderators' questions (when he did actually try to answer without losing his train of thought), I was amazed at how clueless he looked throughout the debate. At one point, there was a split screen of Biden and Trump while Trump was gesticulating and spewing his usual lies and exaggerations and Biden was standing there with his mouth agape. He looked like a nursing home patient waiting for the health care worker to bring him a juice box. Seriously. What a disaster for the Democrats that this is our candidate. What a disaster for our country that Biden and Trump are the best we can do for this next presidency. Neither of these old guys deserve our votes. Why can't we get decent candidates for POTUS? Because all of the decent candidates are smart enough to NOT get caught up in the shit show that is our American political system.

The Democrats are freaking out today and rightly so, but this is the bed they made for themselves. In my opinion, this goes all the way back to Hillary Clinton. If Biden had run against Trump back in 2020 instead of stepping aside so Hillary could run (because it was "her time" you know/s), I'm pretty confident he could have been victorious and stayed in office for two terms. Even if Biden had done as initially promised and agreed to serve just one term and the Dems had got on the stick over the past four years and got someone ready and waiting in the wings to step up as the next POTUS candidate, we'd be in a better position against Donny T. But none of that happened and now we are where we are.