I’m pleased to see the UK holding some of its sexual predator celebrities accountable. They’re definitely ahead of the US, where we only hold sexual predator celebrities accountable if they’re Black. (Or more accurately, only the Black ones face legal proceedings. Okay, Harvey Weinstein. Name another.)
But Russell Brand’s imprisonment and David Walliams’ exposure (definitely the most exposure he’s ever had here in the USA, where if they ain’t on Taskmaster, Derry Girls, or Great British Bakeoff, we don’t know ‘em) has me thinking about all the people who enabled them.
Every fall, undesirables from outside the city descend on Franklin Park. They vandalize the park with spray paint. They leave their garbage around. They are rude to other park users. And apart from the vandalism, they damage the park to an extent that grounds crews have to come in and remediate the damage they’ve done.
I’m talking, of course, about cross country runners.
If you’ve ever published a book, you’ve probably gotten one of these AI-generated emails all “I love your book [insert AI slop summary here] would you like me to work on publicizing it for you?”
The Wayans family built a comedy empire (and made Jim Carrey a star) with In Living Color in the early 90’s. Now, at last, we can peek behind the curtain into the workings of this seminal show to witness the birth of brilliant comedy, as this transcript of an early pitch meeting shows.
Keenen Ivory Wayans: Okay, people, what have you got?
I’ve seen some people lamenting the lost integrity of the NBA, which is now partnering with gambling sites Kalshi and Polymarket. Sorry—not gambling sites. “Prediction markets.” Where you can put money on your prediction and get more money back if your prediction comes true! Not gambling at all!
Anyway, I thought I could tell you a story of the NBA’s integrity and what’s been lost here.
Governor is the only office Massachusetts republicans have shown that they can win, though only if they run someone who is tall, handsome, and not a politician. Their current candidate for governor, Mike Minogue, is tall (I assume, as he’s a former CEO, and C-suite jobs are pretty inaccessible to short men) and not a politician, but he’s currently running over 20 points behind incumbent Democrat Maura Healey in the polls.
He’s going to get crushed in the election. This is a foregone conclusion. And he sunk 17 million of his own dollars into this vanity campaign. Which presumably isn’t real money to him, but think of what else he could have done with it!
So imagine my surprise when I got a mailer sort of supporting his campaign yesterday!
I adored Babel and Yellowface, and I too once spent some time in Taipei (in 1990, when it was apparently a vastly different place than it is now), so I was excited to read Taipei Story. Unfortunately, the brilliant, vicious, incisive author of those two books didn’t show up for this one, which is utterly conventional and bland.
I am not doing the 31 Horror Movies in 31 Days challenge because I don’t need that kind of pressure, but I am doing my best to watch as many horror movies in October as I can!
Here are the ones I’ve watched so far. All are new to me, but most aren’t new.