Overheard at Table 1: Fleetwood Mac Discography

Fleetwood Mac (AKA Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac) (1968) - straight up Blues album, and while yes, Peter Green is superb on this, both in performance and in songs, Jeremy Spencer is no slouch either.  So, already I'm reminded that some great musicians in this band are oft overlooked by the bright shining stars of the various lineups.

    Best Tracks:   
     Heart Beat Like a Hammer
     Hellhound on my Trail
     Looking for Somebody
     I Loved Another Woman
     The World Keep on Turning

Mr Wonderful (1968) - Seems like this was not released in the US.  Much like an extension of the first album (in these days they probably would have been released together as one album) - great stuff, but it did not break any new ground

   Best Tracks:
    I've Lost my Baby
    Evenin' Boogie
    Trying So Hard to Forget

Then Play On (1969) - One of the best albums ever made, in my humble opinion - it takes the Blues into a Psychedelic/Folk realm, with touches of a Western Cowboy Movie.  This album was one of my dad's favorites (and rightly so) and it inspired the character of Fleetwood MacGreen, AKA Psychedaelic Cowboy.

    Best tracks: ALL OF THEM!

Kiln House (1970) - Quite an overlooked album, what with everyone's Green vs Buckingham/Nicks love.  This is the one album in which it seems like Spencer/Kirwin/Christine McVie were able to share songs with each other, and while it doesn't have quite a coherent track list or progression, it seems like a compilation of just song quite lovely, relaxed tunes.   

    Best Tracks:
        This is the Rock
        Station Man
        Jewel-Eyed Judy
        Buddy's Song
        Earl Gray
        One Together
        Tell Me All the Things You Do

Future Games (1971) - While this has never been one of my favorite Mac albums, it has some good numbers on it.  Kirwin is in control of this album, but Bob Welch has joined on guitar and Christine McVie is now a full-time member of the group.  Most say that this album starts into their romantic pop leanings, but I kind of hear it as an extension of Then Play On (perhaps the quality of the recording and the somnambulant drift)

    Best Tracks
        What a Shame
        Lay It All Down
        Show Me a Smile

Bare Trees (1972) - This one is a bit of a stronger offering than Future Games.  The group seems to be gelling here, as though they are learning how to augment each other's songs instead of simply playing session musicians on them.

    Best Tracks:
        Sunny Side of Heaven
        Sentimental Lady
        Danny's Chant
        Spare Me a Little of Your Love
        Dust
        Thoughts on a Grey Day

Penguin (1973) - This one is when you can truly tell that they have merged into a new band, and all of the Peter Green blues have been left behind - except for the two songs by David Walker, who seems to be a complete anomaly.  His two songs (one of which is actually a good track) completely throw off the rest of the balance of this album that they probably should have been cut altogether.

    Best Tracks:
        Dissatisfied
        The Derelict
        Revelation
        Did You Ever Love Me?
        Night Watch
        Caught in the Rain

Mystery to Me (1973) 

    Best Tracks: ALL OF THEM!

Can't really say much more than this is my favorite Mac album.  Great songs start to finish, great overall album arc

Heroes are Hard to Find (1974)

    Best Tracks: ALL OF THEM!

Another banger of an album here.  I suppose I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys the Bob Welch-led Mac best of all ... even though I respect all incarnations.  But this album follows close on the heels of Mystery to Me and is just as good.

Fleetwood Mac (1975) - While the McVie songs still sound like her previous fare, you can tell that the addition of Buckingham's guitar work truly stretches them into new territory.  And while the first nine albums show a subtle change from one style to another, this album definitely lets you know that this is altogether a new band.  The recording sounds fresh, bright, sunny, new and yes, this album still rocks almost fifty years later.   

I understand that these days it's now "cool" to diss the Buckingham/Nicks and blithely say that the Peter Green period was their "best" but that's bollocks.  While my favorite albums are the two before this, I know that's for emotional reasons as much as musical ones, but THIS album and THIS line-up is rightfully the most popular lineup.  The musicianship is tight.  These guys GEL.  And the songs are top notch and wholly unique.  You can truly tell how each musician is fully involved with making certain that everyone's song has the best treatment.  

The only tracks that leave me a bit cold are the last two tracks on side two, but up until then, absolutely beautiful.  And World Turning is one of Mac's best songs.   World Turning rocks like very few songs can, and the fact that it reads like a completely group effort is a great accomplishment as well.

"Blue Letter" is an oft overlooked gem.

Rumours (1977) - Structurally, this album is a copy of the eponymous 1975 album.  Almost down to the order of who wrote what, and the styles of the song orders.  It almost seems as though they took the original as an outline and then pumped it up into stratospheric heights for this one.  Every superlative you can mention about the previous must be doubled for this album.  Again, this album is a known masterpiece because it is.   Such much has already been said about it that there is truly nothing original than I can add.   

Except that, listening to it now, I can actually see how it could be almost considered a Country album, which is strange, because I never noticed that before.  That might be interesting, though, to have some Country artists do an homage to this album.  (and by "Country" I hope y'all know I mean real musicians with true soul, not that bougie pallid pop-crap "Nashville Country" - YUCK!)

As for the tracks, the only one on this one that doesn't quite live up with the others is "Oh Daddy" - but that's OK, as Christine McVie has some of her greatest contributions elsewhere on this album.

And, as an aside, when I was a kid, I always sang the song as "Don't - stop - thinkin' about yo' mama!"

Tusk (1979) - As you already know, this album was roundly dismissed upon release, comparatively speaking to the two previous, but then, truly, how could any band really follow up to Rumours?   I remember thinking upon first few listens that it seemed like cast-offs or outtakes from sessions for the previous albums; I only really liked the title track.  Over the decades, however, I've grown to respect the album a bit more, but still feel that they could have whittled it down by half and pushed out one great album.

Best Tracks
    Over and Over (frankly, though, this should not be the opening track.  This is definitely an ending track, either for side 2 or side 4.  Whoever thought of this order was high at the time)
    Sara
    What Makes You Think You're the One
    Storms (This has actually become one of my favorite FM tunes.  I covered this one once, a great song to play)
    That's All For Everyone (OK, THIS should be the final track, just after Over and Over)
    Not That Funny
    Angel
    That's Enough for Me
    Brown Eyes
    Never Make Me Cry
    I Know I'm Not Wrong
    Honey Hi
    Tusk (Yeah, they definitely should have opened with this bad boy!)
    Never Forget

Mirage (1982) - Like most young men of the tween/teen age, that video for Gypsy was one that kept me glued to MTV, waiting for the next showing.  That song was great, and frankly, "Hold Me" is one of the most perfectly crafted pop songs in all of Rock.  But my goodness, the Buckingham contributions to this album are annoying as hell.  It's like he was reliving his own youth and wanting to recreate late 50s bebop.   But even with that, his guitar work on the Nicks and McVie contributions are truly magnificent.  It's almost like he's a different guitarist.  But how he can bring forth everything that a song could be on their tracks, if only that could have happened on his songs.  From what I've read, Buckingham was kind of difficult in the studio.  If so, this feels like he may have a difficult time allowing others to help with his songs.   But then that shows that even great musicians can have blind spots.  And while "staying true to your vision" is always en vogue, that only works when "your vision" is clear-sighted and not myopic.

Personally, I find it interesting to compare "Empire State" with "The City" from Mystery to Me, recorded a mere nine years apart; gives you a sense of the different bands

Best Tracks
    Love in Store
    That's Alright
    Gypsy
    Only Over You
    Eyes of the World (and I give this only to the music.  Man ... this should have been an instrumental)
    Wish You Were Here

 

Tango in the Night (1987) - I remember completely eschewing this album when it came out.  Don't remember why.  I was probably in my punk phase and thought that it was too syrupy and poppy.  I remember thinking Little Lies sucked but secretly liking "Everywhere"

However, upon subsequent listens over the decades, this album has grown in my estimation, and now, listening to it in order of the discography, it is evident that this album is more even, solid, and balanced than Mirage or Tusk.   I understand that Nicks was barely involved with this, and that Buckingham shouldered most of the responsibility and that the band slogged through 18 months of sessions and no one wanted to be there, but dang! they actually made some of their best crafted songs on this one.  The tracks I mentioned before are great and "Big Love"

Indeed, really the only dull tracks are "Welcome to the Room ... Sara" and "Isn't it Midnight"

Yeah ... this is definitely a very pleasant album.  Sad that this is the one that "broke" Buckingham from the band.

Behind the Mask (1990) - I find this album uninspired and dull.  It might be the production. Perhaps it was 1990, when 80s synth and adult pop was bland and grunge and alt/Country hadn't pushed bands back to their roots yet.  Maybe if this album had been recorded a few years later, some of this songs could have "shone" a bit more.

Best Tracks
    Love is Dangerous
    Affairs of the Heart
    When the Sun Goes Down (seriously, how come no one ever caught on that this is a Country band?)
    Behind the Mask
    Hard Feelings (this song has such great potential.  Definitely needs re-working, but I included it here because it could be great, instead of just decent)
    Freedom
    The Second Time

 

Time (1995) - Is this even a Fleetwood Mac album?  I suppose that since Fleetwood and John McVie played on it, then it is, but dang, this certainly sounds like that type of album that everyone would like to imagine never happened.

But then, this is the closest to Country Rock they came to admitting.  They should have just gone "all-in" in my opinion.  But I suppose after a certain amount of success, bands tend to play it safe.

Best Tracks
    Talkin' to my Heart isn't all that bad.
    Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town)
    I Do 
    Sooner or Later <= basically, it's looking like only the C McVie tunes on here are decent.
    I Got It in for You
    These Strange Times <= now THIS is at least something completely different, and for that, it is the best track on the album, because it shows at least some bravery to step a small step beyond

Say You Will (2003) - I was blown away when I heard this album.  Those opening tracks are like wildfire, and the whole album sounds clear, tight, taut, and full of energy.  So much of a difference from their languid previous offerings.  This is a Buckingham/Nicks album with the FM as a rhythm section, but that's perfectly fine.  Others may disagree, but this album has the same energy as Mystery to Me and Heroes are Hard to Find.  

That said, the songs that could have been cut are "Come" "Running Through the Garden" "Silver Girl"

All the rest of the tracks are killer, with the standouts being

    What's the World Coming To
    Murrow Turning Over in His Grave
    Say You Will
    Steal Your Heart Away
    Bleed to Love Her
    Say Goodbye
    Goodbye Baby

That last track ... knowing that it's the last song on their last studio album, that truly was a tearjerker, I must say.

Final Thoughts:

Whatever anybody's opinion on which was the best incarnation of the 'Mac, truly it must be said that their contribution to Rock and Roll history has been a long and winding road, wholly unique, and they have given the world a plethora of beautiful songs to delight all people in all moods.

    

Overheard at Booth 2: A Touch of Class

1: You drink wine out of a box.

2: Don't be insulting! ... I drink it out of a paper cup.

 

 

Overheard at Table 3: Wasting a Bit of Your Time

"I can confidently say that even though I slept with a lot of women over my lifetime, it was always consensual and never coerced in any way.   Now, I'm sure a lot of them went away a little disappointed afterwards, but if the worst I ever did was waste a bit of their time, well, that's not all that bad, now is it?"

Photograph: Saul Leiter "The Staircase"

Overread at Table 1: When the Pastor Tells Us We Need to Cut Back on Our Screen Time

 

When the Paster Tells Us We Need to Cut Back on Our Screen Time

(October 2026)

 

My sister has a brain tumor.

The doctors gave her two years.

She’s now going on five.

 

My employee emailed the Director.

She said that I hurt her feelings

when I asked her to adhere

to the company mandated hours.

 

My husband told me last week

that he loves me deeply,

but he doesn’t find me sexually attractive.

He said it as gently as he could,

in that sweet, calm voice of his

that makes me want to bash in his teeth

with my mother’s cast iron skillet.

 

My adult daughters don’t call anymore,

not since they got married.

A mutual on Twitter

(I will never call it “X”)

told me that they will start calling

once they start having babies.

They’ll need grandma for babysitting

while they go out for mimosas with their

girlfriends.

 

My youngest son, still living at home,

takes only 3 hours of College classes a semester.

I don’t even know what he’s studying.

He only comes out of his room

fifteen minutes each day, to heat up

some Hot Pockets and return to his

gaming.

 

And my feed,

my God,

my feed tells me of women being raped

at Cornell,

murdered in mass graves in South Africa,

a botched execution of a woman

who killed her rival

who was putting the moves on her boyfriend,

a woman in a wheelchair

after killing her babies,

and my phone tells me that I used it

1 hour and 14 minutes longer than the previous week,

and my pastor said that we touch our phones

at least 100 times per day,

and another article says that we spend

four to five hours per day

on social media.

 

And still they wonder why

women are always so angry.

 

Some mornings, I awake,

and for the briefest instant,

I am fifteen years old, and the day is

bright and filled with friends to hang out

with at the mall after school, and we’ll

have pizza and ice cream

and we’ll laugh and talk about boys

and stupid teachers and dimwitted parents

and whatever movie is playing that week.

 

Then, I’ll turn in the bed, see

your hamhock shoulder, you

snoring like a bear, and I will again

be

all that I am now,

and all that I am now

will have an overwhelming urge,

to run out the room,

out the front door,

down the street,

naked but for the nightgown

with print of reindeer and sheep

shouting HAPPY SLEEP-MAS!

and I will scream

and scream

and scream

and never ever stop

 

screaming.

[note: thought of this just before going to sleep last night and I was thankful to have remembered it almost word for word upon awakening this morning.  So many times I totally forget what I had written in my head the previous night.  Going to add this to Anomaly, assigning it # 83]

Overheard at the Counter: AI on the Zen and Tao Acoustic Cafe

Just tried to look up my own blog and it seems that even AI has overlooked me

 

Overheard at Table 4: Nostalgia for Nostalgia

"I so miss the days when I could be nostalgic for the days that I never knew because they happened before I was born."

Photograph from the 1930s, photographer unknown

Overheard at Booth 1: Not Suitable for Work (2026)

Not Suitable for Work (2026)

Season 1

Hulu original

Not renewed, so there won't be a season 2.  13 episodes.

 [NOTE: spoiler alert!]

 

Focuses on the lives of five twentysomethings trying to navigate work, love, and life in Manhattan in 2026.  Most of us will find this reminiscent of Friends and Seinfeld, but in start contrast to both of those shows, these characters actually have some heart underneath what, at first, seems to be the shallowness of youth.

Three guys live together in one apartment, and two gals live in the apartment across the hall, and they cross paths and try different romantic entanglements and gain jobs and lose jobs and there are some really good lines along the way.

While this series does have the usual aspect of having Bourgeoise Bohemians living in an impossibly unattainable living conditions, it does tackle the subject of going from riches-to-rags and how easily that can happen.

For more specifics: Kel's parents want him to become a doctor, but he leaves medical school to focus on his acting and has to take a job as a substitute teacher in a girls private school, where the 14 year olds prove to be quite emotionally savage.

Abby (his neighbor and crush) is apprenticed to a celebrity stylist, and she takes the bold move of stealing a client, which ends in her having to work in a retail clothing store.

Her friend, AJ, moves in with her to take a job at a high-paced financial firm, where she becomes romantically entangled with her boss (which is the most predictable and somewhat tedious part of the entire series).

She is the focus of the rather disturbingly romantic Davis (who falls in love with any human with a XX chromosome), who is the roommate of Kel and is also her coworker. 

Rounding out the crew is Josh, who is possibly the most interesting character: he hooked up with AJ during the COVID year for one night, which leads to some tension throughout the episodes.  He is also the spoiled rich son of a media mogul, who owns the television station for which Josh wishes to intern.  He gets the job on his last name alone; however, he is imbued with an idealistic reverence for the anchor of the top show,  Wes.   However, Josh's opportunities for advancement are stymied by Wes's ex-wife, Paula, who is the producer - and as we find out - the true power and intellect behind Wes's success, and she sees Josh as nothing more than a Nepo Baby.

Thirteen episodes.  That's all you get.  Unless someone comes along and picks it up for another season.

For me, some of the minor plot lines showed true promise.  For one, I would have liked to have seen Kel's character come to the realization that, while he dreamed of being an actor, his true calling is teaching.  The 14yo's that I mentioned before had several scenes in which they were truly hurt by his skipping class, because they need someone they can trust, someone to depend on.   That is something very deep, and could have been delved into more deeply had the show continued.

Also, there was, in the last few episodes, a deepening respect of Paula for Josh, as she realized that he truly does believe in the dying art of journalism.  It would have been interesting to have Josh slowly redirect his reverence for Wes and focus on Paula as a mentor.

But, alas, Mindy Kaling will most likely come out with another good project, if this one does not generate a second season.

I do wish, though, that when they cancel these shows, instead of a cliffhanger, they would give just enough cash for the show to wrap everything up in an hour or hour & 1/2 long finale. 
 

 

 

Overheard at Booth 3: Some Thoughts on AI

"When AI is generating words to spew onto a page, it will never suddenly see a cloud, and note its odd shape, which will lead the story into a completely different direction.

"AI will only ever regurgitate what has been fed into it.  It will take an instruction and cull through everything it has absorbed and spit something out, but there will never be that intimate connection with the world, those sensory perceptions that will inspire different thoughts, and thus, there will never be any different outcomes."

Overheard at Booth 4: The Curse of King Tut's Tomb

 "You know King Tut's Tomb was cursed, right?"

"I've heard that people believe that, yeah."

"Everyone who took part in opening it is now dead."

"Well, since it was opened over a hundred years ago, that's kinda what you would expect."

Overheard at Table 3: Alopecia

Wife: Went to the doctor today.

Husband: How did it go?

Wife: She says I have alopecia.

Husband: Alopecia?  Who is she?

Overheard at Table 4: Sneaky Freaks

"You're a freaky sneak!"

"Correction: I'm a sneaky freak."

"What's the difference?"

"The noun is a state of being. The adjective is a personality type."

Overheard at Table 4: The New Intern

The New Intern

Tattoos of speckled stars
down the length of her freckled arms.
Tiny shouldered, she types
on thick clacked keyboard,
highlight filling spreadsheet rows 
stretched across two tilted monitors.

written 2026-0722

Overheard at Table 2: Red Eye

Red Eye

From their seats in Business Class, Claude and Ivan heard the screams from the back of the airplane.

Claude, in the aisle seat, turned around to see the Flight Attendant with her hands over her mouth, staring in horror at something propped on the bottom shelf inside the trolley cart.

"Oh!" said Claude.  "So THAT's where I left the head."

"What?" said Ivan.  The other passengers were now turned around, standing up, straining their necks to see the commotion.   "Are you telling me you couldn't control your urges for ONE 5-hour flight?"

"The bloke in 12B smelled like a most delicious A-negative," Claude replied.  "Tasted the same, as well."

Ivan shook his head.  "So where's the rest of him?"

"Most of him is in the toilet in the forward lavatory.  Most likely that'll back up should someone use it."

Ivan sighed.  "Impossible. You're like a traveling Carrion Feast!"

"Annnnd, an arm or two are in the overhead compartment to our left," Claude said.  "Also, I wouldn't look under 5B if I were you."

"I swear by the Dark," Ivan said, "I am never flying with you again!"

 

Horrorprompt #2223 Carrion Feast

Overheard at Table 3: Ladies First (2026)

Ladies First (2026)

Has a lot of silly laughs, but it seems a little outdated. Yes, it just came out this year, but the theme of "males run the corporate world and women never get to the top of the corporate ladder" really seems like something that would have been more appropriate 20, or even 30 years ago.  In other words, this movie was far past its time in the making.

That said, it's always a bit of a laugh when misogynists get their comeuppance, and you know that Cohen's character does learn the error of his ways, but only by falling in love with someone he finally considers a true equal, and not by truly changing his ways.

Also, I do find it a bit of an old trope that the whole "if women ran the world" schtick always makes a world in which women act like the worst male stereotype possible: farting, belching, and cat-calling.   

To be honest, if women ran the world, they would probably be more subtle with their power.  Men would be pushed out of decision making primarily because women would consider men too short-sighted to truly take a holistic approach to solving problems.  In this movie, women change tires while men just stand around trying to look pretty.   Really, in a world in which women led, men would still do all the hard labor because of their physical strength, but that would be ALL the men would do.   It would be seen as their just, rightful, and God-given position: to work, and leaving the strategizing and higher thought processes to women.

But that's just me: don't let me forget Rosamund Pike, who is her usual splendid self as the cut-throat power hungry person who will do anything to get her way.  She will forever be the Gone Girl who Cares A Lot, in my book.  Although I do have to admit that she does play the uncertain, self-doubting career woman and mother quite well.  A great actress, but she truly shines when she is being low-key scary as hell.

The whole "bra for the testicles" thing reminded me of a feminist book I read in college (can't remember the name, it was either translated from original Norwegian or Swedish, I can't remember which) in which men were called "menwim" and were "househusbands" ... still the old trope of "if they were switched they would just have the same roles as we have now" ... but since that book was written in the 60s or 70s, that was most likely a fresh take then.   I am certain, however, that the writer & director of this film have at least some knowledge of that original book.

I did like how the standard "Oh my god I messed up I need to make sure they don't leave my life" part of the romcom was turned around by her going to his door, and the part in which Pike decided to go look after her daughter instead of staying to make the big pitch for the top job led to Cohen helping book his dentist sister for her daughter.   That was a good humanizing moment which, for me, brought the film slightly above mere silly schtick.

Regardless, I'm certain this one will probably get some negative reviews, but hey, it's an hour an a half, and at least I didn't waste it trying to plow through Citadel.

 

 

Overheard at Table 4: Mi Querida Señorita (2025)

Mi Querida Señorita (2025)

This movie reminds me much like the new biopic Michael, in that Elizabeth Martinez (the protagonist), like Jaafar Jackson, seems made for this role and this role only.   It is difficult to imagine her doing any other work that doesn't build on this role of an intersex (or trans) person.

Which is not to say that this is a bad film.  It's quite good, actually, although frankly, it does not break new ground.  Notwithstanding that it is based on the 1972 film of the same name (which I have not seen but which I am certain was more of a shock to the sensibilities of the viewers at the time than this one is), it is replete with the expected supporting cast of "outsiders" (a somewhat-girlfriend with a bubbly personality and no filter, a sexually fluid raconteur, his possible girlfriend who has foul mouth and a baby, and a priest who entered the priesthood because his lover died of AIDS).

Of all the characters, the priest is actually the most interesting to me, because it is refreshing to see a Christian portrayed as something other than an abuser.   The cast, as a whole, play their roles with great skill (especially the mother) but it does show that Elizabeth Martinez is new to acting, as her emotions often seem somewhat forced.  However, to be fair, the complexity of playing such a role would be a daunting task even for the most experienced of actors.

I hate to be critical of the movie inasmuch as I usually wish Americans would watch more Spanish cinema, which truthfully is some of the best there is, but unfortunately, this movie drags in places, seems overly melodramatic in others, and suffers from what consider to be a "cultural snobbishness" in that, being set primarily around the year 2000, it seems to be saying, "Look how much more culturally enlightened we are now."

Maybe we are, or maybe we just feel we are.  Regardless, if the movie brings that idea across, then it has diminished its primary point of showing how a person can come to full acceptance of themselves.

Now, a movie about that priest and how he came to be a priest, THAT sounds like a story arc worth telling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overhead at Table 4: Wife Asks Husband a Question

Have you ever cheated on me?

No.

Are you sure?

Do erotic dreams about Salma Hayek count?

Yes.

Well, shit.

Overheard at Table 2: Surviving Armageddon

Billy: So ...

Joe: So ...

Jim: Yup

Bob: Survived Armageddon yesterday.

Billy: Yup.

Joe: Yet again.

Jim: Like always.

Bob: Yup.  Like always.

Billy: Good thing too, I s'pose.

Joe: Always a good thing when Armageddon doesn't happen.

Jim: Would be better if it was never threatened at all.

Bob: Now where would be the fun in that?

Billy: S'pose you're right.

Joe: Yup.

Jim: Yup.

Bob: Wonder what tomorrow might bring.

Overheard at Table 1: The Overwhelming Violence of the Ungodly Aggressor

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-prayer-violence-pentagon

 

The main problem with Hegseth reciting this prayer (other than it shows that he has no original oratory but must live off the words of others) is that the context is wildly different.

When that prayer was first uttered, the USA had already been at war for four years, and they were about to attack a small island that they knew was heavily fortified and would be defended to the death.  They were sending young men into battle knowing full well that the casualty rate would be 50-75% if they were even able to take the island.

Hegseth repeats this prayer for the US military forces that have attacked a sovereign nation that poses no credible threat to the country.  Additionally, the US military in no way faces the kind of casualty rate that it expected and suffered at Iwo Jima.  

Additionally, WWII, the Pacific conflict in particular, was a response to an unprovoked attack by Japan. In the modern scenario, the USA is Japan and Iran is the USA.

And yet, here is Hegseth, praying for "overwhelming violence" - when it is the USA that is the aggressor and holds the militarily superior position.  

That's an obscenity in the eyes of God.

But, I must say, that when he asks for God to "break the teeth of the ungodly" then everyone in the USA better start looking for an orthodontist.

 

 

Overheard at Table 3: A Group of Witches

H: What is a group of witches called?

M: A PTA?

H: No, a coven.

M: Oh.

Overheard at Table 3: James Baldwin "Nothing Personal"

Nothing Personal

James Baldwin 

 

More of an extended essay than a "book" per se, this writing was originally published along with some artwork that a friend of Baldwin's had completed to go hand in hand with the words, but the editor and preface writer found this essay profound enough to present in book form, without the accompanying art.

I wish I could write solely about the essay, but frankly, the preface and the afterword overshadows the magnificent perceptive writing by Baldwin, by attempting to apply what he wrote in 1964 after the death of Medgar Evers to the Trump presidency of our present day.  They attempt to ascribe some sort of prescience to Nothing Personal; in effect, making it very personal ... to them.   

This dilutes the work itself, which speaks to a much more universal theme of the overall American character: our self-loathing, our inability to be truly honest with ourselves and our past, our inability to articulate what it is we truly long for.

While I write this, I think perhaps, then that the words written by the preface writer and the afterword are perhaps integral to that book, or that edition, to be more accurate.   Their words are not as brilliant or as thought-provoking as Baldwin's, and it is easy to see who, of the three essays in that tome, is the true master storyteller, who is the true master of thought.  It is Baldwin, and the others merely try to use Baldwin to defend the point that is emotionally painful to them in the here and the now.

But these times will move on.  They will change.  And if anybody reads this particular edition of Nothing Personal one hundred years from now, they will find that Baldwin's essay still holds some inspirational message, whereas the writings that bookend the essay will seem like antiquated rantings.

 

 

 

Overheard at Booth 3: Watching TV

 ANOMALY

A husband and a wife were watching television.

The man on the television said to his son, “It’s OK if you don’t win as long as you tried your best.”
 

The wife said to the television, “That’s a lie.  No one cares if you are just mediocre.  You have to win.”
 

The husband said to his wife, “We should not work for the glory of me, but to honor God.”
 

The wife said to the husband, “This is not a religious talk.  This is about the real world.”

Anomaly 22

[reworked on 2026-0927]