Hoops

I took the boys out yesterday, took advantage of the ongoing unseasonably warm weather we've been having (strange, it's like being in a...hmmm...greenhouse). Taught B1 the rudiments of basketball; since he's so clearly going to be even taller than I am, I figure he should at least learn about it.

It's supposed to be this hot all week. I've been taking advantage of that to bike to work; as I may have said already, I never ride this early in the season, but with these temps in this whole Year Without a Winter, I might as well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Bitches

I'm taking the boys downtown for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which is always a good time. They love all the throws that people toss and it's fun to see the river run green. B1 is fascinated by that, the plumber's dye they use to transform the river.

80??

I'm rather floored to find that we reached 80 degrees today. That's unheard for Chicago in March. Historically, we get a couple of weeks of warmth in April, before a temperature crash for most of May, but never in March. At any rate, I got my bike out and rode today, the first ride of the season. Again, I never ride this early, but when it's that warm, there's no excuse not to. And it looks like much of the week will be as warm, so I'll bike on those days, even as I wonder whether we'll get an inevitable temperature drop in the coming weeks. Or maybe it will just get warmer. This felt like the Year Without a Winter, at least here in Chicago. I'm amazed at what a non-event winter was for us this year. Again, entirely unfamiliar to me in all the years I've lived in Chicago. Makes me wonder what's in store for the summer, weatherwise. All the same, it was nice to have my bike out of storage.

Emilia Clarke

I do have to say that Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in "Game of Thrones," is quite the juicy little morsel. Apparently she got the part after the original choice (Tamzin Merchant) dropped the role (I wouldn't be surprised if Merchant balked at all the nudity required of the role of Daenerys). But, seeing both actresses, I think Clarke is a much better choice for Daeny. She's a far better fit than the first choice. She absolutely looks the part, exactly as I envisioned it.

One frustration for me -- they just list her birth year (1987 -- what a baby!) but they don't list her birth month! So, I'm left to guess her sign. I'm guessing Pisces, because she has the doe eyes going, and has a rather nice ass (two qualities I've noticed with Piscean women). But I don't know for sure. Anyway, she's well-cast, and she's rather tasty, and she's playing one of my favorite characters in the books, so that's nice, too.

I hope HBO funds the series all the way through. I want to see it from start to finish (again, assuming George R. R. Martin finishes it!)

Thrones

I finished watching it, and they were, indeed, very faithful to the source novel, from start to finish. If they follow the one-book-per-season formula for the series (and if HBO is smart and keeps renewing it, hello?) it should give Martin enough time to finish the series! He sure as hell better.

I personally felt he'd gotten into a speedbump in Book 4, which was why it took him so long to get to Book 5, but (haven't read Book 5, yet, but it's on its way) maybe he'll have written his way out of the hole he'd dug for himself.

All the same, having enjoyed the first season, I'm still tempted to craft a "Game of Thrones" drinking game out of some of the things portrayed in it. Stuff like...

Bare ass (male or female): Take a drink
Bare breasts: Take a drink
Medieval sex scene: Take a drink
Joffrey acts like a shithead: Take a drink
Someone carries a torch: Take a drink
Homo-erotic scene: Take a drink
Actor playing Varys calls to mind Donald Pleasance in his acting: Take a drink
Someone's throat gets slit and they die gurgling: Take two drinks
Someone gets a blowjob: Take a drink
Character looks gravely on at something or someone: Take a drink
Cersei scowls with wrinkle-browed disapproval: Take two drinks
Battle scene is implied but never shown: Take two drinks
Catelyn acts like a bitch: Take a drink
Sansa does something stupid: Take a drink
The Imp does something witty or charming: Take a drink
Lord Baelish ("Littlefinger") smirks and/or grins: Take two drinks
Someone reminds Jon Snow that he's a bastard: Take a drink

And so on.

A Game of Thrones

I picked up the first season of "Game of Thrones" on DVD. One of my favorite fantasy novels of the 90s, I'm glad to see it finally realized in a show, and I have to say that the casting is perfect, and they've done credit to it.

For those unaccustomed to the series of books, however, I imagine the body count is startling and/or shocking. Which cracks me up -- welcome to the world of George R. R. Martin, who is crueler and harder to his characters than anybody. I'll keep a running tally (without saying who falls, for those who aren't familiar with the work):

GT SEASON 1 BODY COUNT: 4

These aren't just minor characters, either, but are major ones in the story.

Anyhow, it's just getting started. I'm pleased to see the show so faithfully and successfully execute (pun intended) the novels. I haven't read Martin's Book Five, yet, since it took him so long to get that one done, but I'll get around to it.

Great series, though. Can't wait to see how far they run with it, once things really get out of hand. And I dearly hope Martin actually lives long enough to finish what he started. Finish the series, man!

Trumped

For all of his associated hoopla, I have to hand it to Trump with the Trump Tower -- it's perfectly situated downtown, has managed to seamlessly integrate with the skyline, and has amazing residences therein (to say nothing of their five-star restaurant, Sixteen). The floor plans for the various condos look sharp. If you're even remotely cosmopolitan and urbane, the appeal of the place is undeniable. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, just because it was a Trump property, but having seen it up close, I'm admittedly impressed. Even the landscaping around the base of it is impeccably chosen, fully integrates with the surrounding area in ways that neither the Hancock Building nor the Sears/Willis Tower do -- likely reflective of architectural advances in aesthetics. For a building as tall and large as the Trump Tower to do all that it does as well as it does is worthy of recognition -- it's another architectural jewel in the crown for Chicago, which is already an abundance of architectural treasures. I can't help but think that even the most aesthetically benighted of rural-suburban bumpkins from the collar counties would be able to look at that tower and think "Wow." Whomever Trump entrusted to oversee that project did a very good job.

Oh, Hi! Oh.

Meanwhile, Ohio continues to accelerate its race down the toilet. Talk about a death spiral. Exene and I left Ohio in 1993 -- 19 years ago. It was a different state, then; it still was some semblance of itself remaining when we left the sinking ship, before the GOP had its way with the place.

Seriously, though -- the state GOP has dominated Ohio for most of those 19 years, so, following their ideological claims, the state should be thriving, since it's followed Republican policies for so long.

And yet, hmmm, it's in freefall. Funny, that. In fact, their condition parallels most Republican-dominated states: economic freefall, widespread destitution. It's almost like their cockeyed economic tropes don't actually deliver what they claim they to. Huh. It'll take Ohioans another 30 years to make that realization.

G-Ain't

So, looks like no G8 for Chicago, after all. No doubt Obama, Inc. are sweating having riots in the home city in an election year; they're opting for Camp David for a more secure place to conduct business. The NATO summit will still be here, so there'll still be enough craziness to go around, for sure.

Speaking of that, it's Stupor Tuesday. No doubt the GOP will continue cutting its own throat. There's not enough voter fraud and voter suppression in the country to enable them to win this year. They'd have to create massive ballot bonfires to be able to prevail with whatever candidate they belch up at this point.

Romney's the only actual threat to Obama in the general election, but only because Obama's the most Republican of Democrats to ever be President; he makes Bill Clinton look like a radical by comparison. But the Republican voters want some serious fascist Kool-Aid this year, and won't stomach Romney, it would appear. Gonna cut their noses off to spite their faces. It's going to be a GOP flameout of epic proportions. Maybe they're banking on a putsch or something, but, in terms of elections? No way. Obama's going to mop the floor with whichever sorry soul the GOP trots out. Except, of course, for this last dirty trick up their sleeves. But doing that would create a situation where there would be a president-elect robbed of even the semblance of legitimacy; it would make the Bush/Cheney electoral theft of 2000 seem almost quaint by comparison.

That's not to say Obama's particularly good; he's been a big disappointment precisely because he's governed so far to the right. In the overcooked atmosphere of today's politics, if he were actually governing as a moderate, the GOP would declare him a socialist -- oh, wait, they already have. Actual Republicans from the 90s back to the 50s would look at Obama and recognize him as one of their own. Only cross-eyed Republicans from 2000 onward fail to see that. The beast is eating its own tail, and it's not pretty (although, as somebody from the left, I welcome that partisan ugliness endemic to the GOP; let'em eat their own tails). It's just unfortunate how much it's cost this country for the last 30+ years.

Anyway, onward into the abyss.

Whew

Had stomach flu over the weekend, most likely norovirus, judging from the symptoms. I had hoped to make it through gastroenteritis season this year unscathed, but no such luck. Got wrung out like a dishcloth Saturday, although, thankfully, after about 10 hours of hell, it promptly ceased. It was like a gastrointestinal Mongol horde riding over me, then, having decimated all that they surveyed, rode on. B2 has already had this one. B1, so far, has not caught it. Nor has Exene. Anyway, nasty bug, but I'm actually glad it hit over the weekend, as it let me just hunker down and deal with it, versus being at work or something.

City of Big Shoulders

Happy 175th Birthday, Chicago! You know you rock!

Irony Man

The boys were thrilled to have me pick them up tonight. As we were walking back, watching the rain turn into winter mix, we were humming the melody to "Iron Man" -- waiting at an intersection, this babe was with her date, standing next to us. When she realized what the boys and I were singing, she joined in -- I didn't realize it until I heard her, and she looked on and smiled in approval, bobbing her head -- her look cracked me up, because she was processing that, like this image of a dad and his boys singing "Iron Man." That amused me, and her boyfriend/date was like "What song is that?" (HUH?!) and she said "Iron Man! You know?" and she sang a few more lines of the melody. Sorry, dude -- you're in dire trouble manwise if your girlfriend knows Black Sabbath and you don't -- that's too much woman for you! He probably likes Dave Matthews Band. I thought about mentioning that B1's FIRST SONG he'd ever sung was "Iron Man" -- like when he was two or something! But I held back, for the sake of the guy, who clearly had no idea what the song was.

Then, a few blocks later, the boys and I were heading home, and this cab pulled up and this older woman walking with two canes worked her way across our path. I stopped the boys so she could make her way (I framed it like "Hey, [B2], let's wait for your brother to catch up." Once she'd passed us, I said "Alright, Gentlemen, let's go." (I tend to call the boys "Gentlemen") -- the older woman said "And you ARE a gentleman!" That caught me off-guard. I just blushed and thanked the lady. For me, it's just self-evident to be courteous, but anymore, not being an asshole practically qualifies as courtesy, so actually being courteous must seem otherworldly?

Off the Deep End

Seems like a Leap Year is the perfect time to consider the ongoing drive toward war with Iran. The latest bout of saber-rattling on our part, relative to Iran, is reflective of a long-simmering neoconservative wet dream about going to war with Iran. It's something they've wanted to do since the Bush/Cheney co-presidency -- hell, I saw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Rounds One and Two for the war with Iran, as a rather pernicious Round Three.

Anyway, when the Republicans lost the White House, the drumbeat for war with Iran was somewhat muted, although the war drums did pick up volume at two discrete intervals in the Obama years, among DC policy elites. And now that's kicking up again, with more force than I've seen before, so I'm more than a little worried that our country is seriously contemplating a war with Iran.

This would be a disaster for our country, and an apocalypse for Iran. I really, really hope we don't do this. I remember reading up about Iran and seeing that its rank-and-file populace had several key qualities:

1. They liked American culture -- yes, they disliked our government's hostility to their own country, but the people of Iran had a surprisingly positive view of America. Sadly, their rank-and-file were far more positive about Americans than the rank-and-file American is about Iranians.
2. They were more than a little disenchanted with the reactionary theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 70s. The Iranian Revolution has failed to help everyday Iranians live better, and they know this. Much of that revolution's energy came from Iranian resistance to the dictatorship of the Shah (who was our man in Iran for generations)

Now, left to its own devices, I believe that Iran's theocracy will eventually be toppled by a "Persian Spring" much in the way that the Arab Springs have been scuttling dictatorships throughout the Middle East (again, dictatorships America has supported for decades).

The ONE THING that could give a shot in the arm to the theocrats in Iran would be -- you got it -- American invasion of Iran. It would be exactly what those dunderheads would need to unit their guardedly pro-American populace against an invading foreign nation.

It's very frustrating, because if our country pursued peaceful diplomacy with Iran, engagement instead of aggression, it would put the theocrats at odds with their own populace, and would erode what little legitimacy those creeps have on the reins of power.

But our foreign policy is so tone-deaf to this kind of stuff, that I'm worried that we're going to rush headlong into war with Iran and have a fight on our hands that is far worse than the Pyrrhic victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's just so damned needless, even by our own standards of pointless warmongering.

A war in Iran, should it actually occur, will be a disaster, and will set back healing the wounds between the US and Iran for a generation or more.

Obama has, unfortunately, governed much like the "third term" of the Bush/Cheney co-presidency, continuing so much of their policies that it's caused this country incredible harm. It would be a terrible shame if he continued along that path and went to war with Iran.

So, I'm hoping we're not stupid in this, but hoping against American stupidity is like hoping that the sun isn't going to rise. And, yes, cynics will point out that Iran has tons of oil (and, gee, that wouldn't possibly motivate us to go to war, now would it?) but the vastly larger population in Iran, the terrain, and everything about it would make Iraq seem like a walk in the park by comparison.

And it would absolutely give those tottering theocrats -- who are in serious danger of being consumed and overturned by their own people in a few years -- a stranglehold on power as they sought to unite their country against "The Great Satan."

The above opinion is, of course, completely outside of the mainstream. The "Beltway Consensus" about Iran is something like this: "We should invade them NOW." (hawk position) or "We should invade them LATER." (dove position) -- and it's sad but true, reflecting just how little range of opinion is allowed in this issue of vital national importance.

Our country does not need another pointless foreign war. We really, really need investment at home, not squandering money abroad.