tvwriteups

[tvwriteups]

Just got recommended a video about people’s nightmare Antarctic cruise. Folks paid a lot of money and never got to set foot on the continent or something and are fuming mad. I get it.

But, also, why do you need to go to Antarctica? It’s almost like those people who pay lots of money to see the Titanic on the ocean floor to me.

[tvwriteups]

I am the kind of person who used to love the whole pageantry of sports presentations. I used to dream of being the person who would make the intro clips set to copyrighted music. With the tools available now there’s really not much in practical terms that would prevent me from doing it strictly as a hobby,

The problem is there is a whole lots that disgusts me now. I feel that in the post-9/11 world a lot of these American sporting events have become patriotic, political statements in themselves and while elements have always been there whether it’s the national anthem or military recruitment ads peppered throughout NFL commercials there’s an extra added element that fills me with dread and disgust.

And no one says anything about it. But when players would take the knee it became a ridiculous media and cultural circus over something so basic and fundamental.

And all this while watching a sport where we watch athletes wreck their bodies for our entertainment, billionaire NFL owners and gambling companies.

[tvwriteups]

I don’t know why I’m listening to “Talk of the Nation” —- all these stupid Republican sound bites —- as someone who actually worked on USAID projects and found them frustrating these answers on tv are seriously fucking retarded

[tvwriteups]

It’s depressing and all but…

Not ironic even…

And I don’t even know if news is accurate…

But the mid-air collision supposedly had one air traffic controller doing the job of two.

…and it happened at the airport named after the guy who f*cked over air traffic controllers to begin with.

[tvwriteups]

Watching one of those YouTube videos about a thing…

…and … and …

I feel a lot of these film breakdowns and critiques take so much for granted or makes assumptions that…

Sigh…

Like a lot of people did a lot of hard work to make a thing and a lot of these video essays don’t seem to acknowledge hard work as a thing.

It hurts my head.

[tvwriteups]

What I hate most about all of this is how transformed people are by this -- how much worse they are as people.

But at least I know for sure that they're sh!t and I don't have to care about them anymore, I guess.

Politics is not an isolated thing. Social media is not an isolated thing. There are cultural aspects at play too. I don't have the energy to get into it right now because I'm working so damn much to freakin' survive in general right now because of the sh!tload of bad policy decisions this country has made for the last 40 years but it's a whole lot more.

[tvwriteups]

As someone who used to walk through the North End often (but just don't have time for it anymore)...

Rats. Also rats. More and more rats.

[tvwriteups]

I grew up in the suburbs but have been in the city for over 15 years now. My mom still lives there so I’m often out there and I have to say that I occasionally experience racism out there that I hardly experience in the city.

It feels worse than I remember but maybe I grew up so accustomed to it that I was able to shrug it off easier then or was just oblivious to how racist it is.

[tvwriteups]

I like to LOL at SDWorx when they fail but it doesn’t apply to Vollering.

…because it doesn’t feel like she is really in the team. Like this is not a real team.

[tvwriteups]

This closing ceremony and handoff presentation feels so boring and unimaginative.

Like LA did the Eiffel Tower thing and cheaply relying on star power here.

Glad Boston did not get this thing.

[tvwriteups]

That weird feeling when you’ve been sitting in the Apple Store for two hours (don’t ask, it hasn’t been fun) and realizing you’re probably the only person in here who has personally interacted with Steve Jobs.

[tvwriteups]

I am just a casual fan of road cycling but the professional commentary and even board community commentary puzzles me, especially when it comes to the Olympic RR for the women.

Even as I was watching it I was commenting to my cousin (who has a vague understanding of cycling) what was happening at the end of the race, basically because the tv commentary was driving me crazy.

It was before the final climb when Vos and Vas were ahead and the second group was still together. Commentary was asking a question like, "Can group 2 catch the leaders?"

I had no idea what further nonsense was going to come out of the commentary and turned to my cousin and said, "Kopecky and Faulkner have to work together and ditch the rest of them to read Vos/Vas because that's their only chance of catching them."

And then when Faulkner and Kopecky caught up to Vas/Vos I was all, "Faulkner's best chance is to do a flyer because these others can sprint and Vos is too smart."

Then once Faulkner took off and it was clear she was going to win I was all, "Vos will be second."

It seemed easy for me as someone who's been watching some of the women's races this year. So it was completely befuddling when I went to boards after the fact and saw a wide variety of commentary.

Times like this I really miss my dad because he was my IRL cycling chat buddy and he had far more years of following this than I had (though since he's been gone for nearly twenty years now I've probably caught up or surpassed him except he got the fun years of Hinault and LeMond and co.)

[tvwriteups]

Kristen Faulkner having a great Olympics with team pursuit and the road race.

Her parents must be having the greatest time in Paris! I can't imagine how thrilling it is to watch your kid win Gold Medals, especially when one of them was pretty unexpected. And they get to do that in a beautiful city like Paris with its fantastic food!

[tvwriteups]

The last week and a half everyone's been interested in my Peacock account.

[tvwriteups]

I still don’t understand Carl Lewis and Serena Williams being part of that, especially with Los Angeles having the next summer games. I’ll throw Nadia Comaneci in there too. Rafa I kind of understand but that’s pushing it.

But is Los Angeles 2028 gonna have French Olympians in their torch relay ceremony?

[tvwriteups]

The masked assassin guy needs to randomly show up at events as if he’s the unofficial mascot of the games.

[tvwriteups]

I think Barcelona 1992 is still my favorite torch lighting due to the sheer audacity but Paris 2024 is clearly #2 for me.

I really don’t remember torch lightings aside from these two, Atlanta, Nagano (because big Midori Ito fan) and the Vancouver fail.