Month: December 2021

Biden’s fine work on appointing judges

Massacre at Central High

I recently watched Massacre at Central High (1976) in the outstanding Blu-ray/DVD package from Synapse.

This is a unique low-budget horror film about high school students. A new student at Central High finds that the school is run by bullies, one of whom is an old friend. He challenges the bullies who cause him to have a crippling accident. He takes revenge but finds that the oppressed students (the fat kid, the nerd, the pot smokers) are no better now that they are no longer intimidated. There are no adults in the film until the end which is at a high school dance.

Synapse includes a long extra with new interviews of actors and others involved with the film.

Only 6% of Republicans think Biden’s victory was definitely legitimate

It’s over a year now. The Republican party will never accept their loss in 2020 and they won’t accept future ones either. There could be more insurrections in the future.

Alex Chilton

Alex Chilton was born on December 28, 1950. He had three music careers. He was a teenage star with the Box Tops in the 1960s and a great but not popular at the time run with Big Star. He later had a solo career.

There’s a fine book about him A Man Called Destruction by Holly George-Warren. There’s a fine film about Big Star called Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. The Replacements recorded a song about him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kbYVZ8eR-o

Andrew Vachss

I was very sorry to read that author Andrew Vachss had passed away. He wrote excellent gritty crime novels and was always interested in protecting children. I saw him speak at the Barnes & Noble store at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore many years ago.

I haven’t read all of his books but certainly recommend him to readers who haven’t tried them. I would start with Strega (1987) which was his second novel featuring Burke, a private investigator.

https://twitter.com/robwhart/status/1475678145147768841?s=20
https://twitter.com/thomaspluck/status/1475670777131376641?s=20

Recent tweets about the insurrecton mob

Tweets about Jews and Chinese food on Christmas

Many American Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas since most other restaurants are closed.

Covers: Substitute

“Substitute” is a great Who single from 1966. It reached #5 in the UK but didn’t do anything in the US. It’s really funny but I guess our sense of humor is different. It’s on the fine compilation Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy from 1971 which has other excellent Who singles that were successful in the UK but failed here. The Ramones covered it. Here‘s a list of covers from the great Second Hand Songs site.