Overheard at Table 1: Fact Check Trump I Can't Breathe

I thought so as well, that Trump was making fun of George Floyd, but it turns out that the clip was from February, when he was making fun of Michael Bloomberg's lackluster performance in the Democratic debates.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-trump-cantbreathe/fact-check-trump-was-mocking-bloomberg-not-floyd-in-i-cant-breathe-clip-idUSKBN23A2XA


OK, fine ... but then, let's also state that the "I Can't Breathe" didn't start with George Floyd.  It started with Eric Garner, and had already been used as a rallying cry for systemic racism in policing across the country.

And if Trump knew that and still used it, he's still disgusting.  And if his supporters knew it and still think it's funny, then they're disgusting.

And if Trump didn't know it, then shame on him.  In the position he currently holds, he should.

Overheard at the Counter: (FROM THE VAULTS of 2012)

Niall Carter says, "You know what I just heard? I just heard that the Vatican is going to allow people to text their confessions. They no longer have to go to a Priest, they can just text their sins and hit send!"

John Steppenwolf says, "I thought that was called Facebook."

Overheard at Table 2: Luv in the Time of COVID

1: Hey, baby, whaddaya say we flatten some curves?

2: Six feet apart or six feet under, pal!

1: Well, no one ever accused you of opening too quickly.

2: And you wonder why everyone wants to keep their social distance from you.

Overheard at Booth 2: Birds of Prey (2020)

Birds of Prey, and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Well, to be honest, my wife thought this movie was "Sucker Punch" and she started watching that and we finished it just to see if the main character ever came out of her "dream within a dream" stupor and nothing was ever really resolved and we were left wondering what the hell just happened, so then we watched "Birds of Prey" to get "Sucker Punch" out of our heads, and in comparison, this Harley Quinn vehicle seems like Casablanca by comparison.

But, even without the comparison, this is a fun movie, and decent.  Margot Robbie gets so completely into the Harley Quinn character that she is completely fun.  The fun never stops, even though you know Harley is completely batshit crazy and volatile and a total caricature, but she also somehow seems REAL, if that can be believed.  I can't even believe I'm writing that.

True though, the rest of the characters don't seem particularly well-drawn, but they do have some kick-ass fighting moves.  I don't particularly care for the story line of the black woman who lives in the stereotypical slum, but I suppose that's the typecast for every tragic black superhero.  Still, though, it seemed a bit trite.

But maybe I'm trying to make this movie into Casablanca.  I should stop trying to analyse it so much, and just say that it was a fun movie, although I enjoyed "Suicide Squad" a lot more (even though a lot of people didn't like that movie, *shrugs shoulders*)

Well, anyway, watch it if you like superhero movies.  Watch it if you like cool action scenes.  Watch it if you like Margot Robbie.  If you don't like those three aspects, then steer clear of this one.

And ... remember, I have now watched "Sucker Punch" twice so that you don't have to.

Overheard at Booth 1: Fourth of July

So the firecrackers are going off in the street in front of my house, echoed by deeper works somewhere in the distance.  I feel somewhat like I am sitting inside "Fever Dream" - a novella by Wallace Shawn told from the point of view of a man with a fever, holed up in a hotel room while a revolution explodes in the streets below.

To be honest, this seems a bit surreal.  We seem to be celebrating for no other reason than we can buy firecrackers and it's what we've always done.  It's like eating when you're not hungry, or having sex with someone just because you're living together and you're bored with nothing else to do.

We are going through the motions this year.  This Fourth of July, even the flags hanging in front of the neighbours' houses seem sad, as though they really have lost the spirit as well.  Maybe it's just because it's already hot as August in Houston, these miasmic summer days that make you wonder why the hell do we even go out in this?  Who can live in this?

And the heat is just a reflection of the sullen apathy that is gripping us all about the state of our country and the state of this miserable year.  Racist spouting White Nationalist hate in front of Mount Rushmore, while we are all wearing masks and my son has locked himself in his room because he thinks he has COVID.

This is how we live in 2020, this foetid, miserable year, that will be so much better in the past.

Another explosion.  Then another.  Now the smell of gunpowder seeps into the house.  The wife thinks that something has hit the roof.  Better run outside to check and make sure that our house is not on fire.

Which ... as we all know, it is.

Overheard at Booth 3: Survivor

First of all, I didn't even know Survivor was still on. I mean, Jesus, how many seasons does this make it?  50?

But I heard on the news yesterday that now there's a big stink because only 5% of the winners have been blacks, even though they've been 30% of the cast.  So, it's like they're over-represented on the cast, but under-represented on the winners.

AND! another thing!  They're all talking about how behind the scenes they've had people being rude and quoting movies with the n-word and how that led to a toxic work environment, and that's when I went

HOLD UP!

This is a television show whose very premise is to METAPHORICALLY KILL PEOPLE ... each week, they vote someone off the island... as though they are killed off!  The whole fucking POINT of Survivor is to make alliance and stab each other in the fucking back until you're the last one standing.

Losing that show should be a point of PRIDE!  "Hey, I've got some shred of decency ... those other assholes have no fucking moral code."

I think the fact that most winners are white should tell you something: that white people are trash assholes who will lie, cheat, steal, and backstab in order to get ahead.  They will use others and then shred them when their usefulness is over.

Survivor should be a goddam testament to the entire notion of Manifest Destiny and White Supremacy and all that shit!

So, people should not be wanting Blacks to win more Survivor.   No way.
In fact, no people of color should even want to go on the show.  Let the white folks kill each other off!

Overheard at Booth 1: We Always Go Low, We Never Go High

The movie Frida had a line in there in which Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo said that she always used the "tu" form with everyone, not the more respectful "Usted" in order to show that everyone was equal.

Which is good.  Equality is good.  Sure, yeah.  But I always wondered why she then used the more familiar "tu" instead of just using "Usted" with everyone.  Wouldn't that have shown that all people are deserving the respect that we normally reserve for kings?

This came to mind last Sunday when the pastor during his sermon said that pornography among women was at an all-time high.  Made me think of the current cultural trend that allows women to pursue an unchecked libido, something which had, in prior eras, been reserved only for men.  This is evidenced by my high school children's reports that, "Dad, you just don't know or understand ... girls just practically throw themselves on top of guys, right in the classroom.  You can't really get what you and Mom used to think of as just going out.  Girls wanna do it on the first date.  They expect it."

Again, I know the culture is saying YAY!  WOMEN GET THE SAME AS MEN! And while we think we can celebrate the unchecked libido of the American female, why did we promote that instead of, for once and for all, tell men to keep it in their pants?

But instead of telling men to keep it in their pants, we told women to unzip their flies whenever the mood strikes.

We always go low.  We never go high.