“There are places where cops are not hated, Captain. But in those places you wouldn’t be a cop.” – Raymond Chandler, ‘The Long Goodbye’
Not even a week after my “Majesty of the Great Links” Friday links, the the icy climes of lakefront winter attacked me and everyone I know. The four-year-old’s play cousins and his parents got sick. Any Chicago friends I talked to got sick. My wife got sick. The four-year-old got sick; his teacher said “make sure it’s not RSV before he comes back!” It wasn’t RSV, but the pediatrician said flu rates for Chicago were like 20-some-odd percent, and that’s just for people who go to the ER and get tested. My best bet is all of Chicago is sick. Everyone, protect yourselves.
Being legendarily terrible at taking care of myself/admitting I’m sick, I actually took a sick day Thursday and spent the day shivering away chills under a weighted blanket. Seriously, this is a big step for me. I said, “hey, do I get credit for taking a sick day?” and Mal got like one sentence out before saying, “one of your flaws is not admitting you’re sick.” So, y’know, I took a sick day. Cue up Jeb!
There’s one sick day I remember crystallizing my Star Wars fandom. The special editions must’ve come out, which would put me about 10. My mom put them on and told me stories about going to see Star Wars when it came out and loving it, then taking my Grandmom and her being super weirded out by the aliens in Mos Eisley Cantina. Today, I watched a bunch of Unsolved Mysteries in the middle of the afternoon. Both franchises are great reminders that cops are bad.
I am not a True Crime guy. I love mysteries, I love thrillers (David Fincher movies are comfort food to me), I love a good look into the mind of evil. But True Crime is inherently at least a little exploitative, and I always find myself doubting cops/local news. Because cops are liars and local news knows dead bodies get clicks/viewers. That said, Unsolved Mysteries is great comfort food, and JoAnn Romain was absolutely killed by a cop. Watch that “Lady In The Lake” episode. The cops are absolutely doing that “Code of Silence” BS the entire time.
Speaking of lying cops, here’s tabloid rag The Daily Mail with an outright lie of a headline (link goes to screenshot), saying a cop “nearly died” after “fentanyl exposure.” Fentanyl is dangerous. Cops and local news spreading lies about how it affects people does nothing to help anyone. Read this.
Told you we’d get to Star Wars: here’s some excellent writing from Aaron Bady on police, empire, and how the crushing weight of “just doing your job” is felt in Andor.
Here’s a solid YouTube breakdown of the banality of evil in Andor, from The Canvas.
For some good ol’ fashioned “get revenge of Nazis,” here’s on Nakam, a terrorist group of Holocaust survivors who, uh…sought revenge on Nazis. Part 1 | Part 2
Finally, something that’s pure fun: I do not know if Chicago writer Matthew Sigur, over at his blog, is doing fiction or non-fiction with “The Saga of Fart Turd Sports.” I also do not care. Googling “fart turd sports” turns up news stories about Dan Orlovsky farting on-air, and googling the only name that seems google-able, Ryan MacClane, turns up a very handsome male porn star who’s OnlyFans bills his as “a top tier performer and paragon on physical perfection,” which looks inarguable, based on images alone. Anyway, NOTHING in those two sentences is as hilarious/intriguing as “The Saga of Fart Turd Sports,” so please go check it out: Part 1 | Part 2
Sorry you got an email,
Chris