I’ve lost a lot of people over the past four years.

They haven’t died, as much as they’ve vanished down the various rabbit holes that opened up after the election of Donald Trump.  A few of my acquaintances jumped down the MAGA rabbit hole.  However, since the majority of the people I know tend to lean towards the left, an even larger number of them disappeared down the Resistance rabbit hole.  A few of them, both on the right and the left, never returned.  Those that did make it back to the surface usually returned as different people.  It was as if they’d entered the Black Lodge and their doppelganger had returned while the person they had once been remained behind the red curtains.  People who had previously been witty and properly skeptical of outlandish conspiracy theories were suddenly spending all of their time talking about shadowy organizations and cartoonish villainy.  Discussions of art and creativity were replaced with dark talk of revolution and revenge.  I watched with growing sadness as some of my favorite writers went from writing thought-provoking stories and reviews and instead transformed into the type of people who stayed on twitter for 24 hours a day, replying to every Trump or Pelosi tweet and defending even obvious grifters like Lin Wood and Michael Avenatti.  I’ve watched as some former friends went full anti-Vaxxer while others started to find evidence of secret conspiracies in even the most mundane of events.

(It was never enough, of course, that they felt they had found evidence.  You were expected to see it too or you ran the risk of being accused of being a part of the cover-up.)

For the past four years, as paranoia and perpetual rage have been normalized, I’ve watched one mental collapse after another.  What was particularly upsetting was knowing that, while the majority of these people were at least sincere in their delusions (i.e., they truly believed that they were battling an immense conspiracy and that their tweets were the only thing standing between freedom and subjugation), the leaders that they were following and looking to for direction often were not.

Naively, I hoped that the election would provide some sort of relief or, at the very least, people would mentally have no choice but to start moving on.  Instead, some of the same people who previously pointed out that the Russian collusion theories didn’t really make much sense suddenly accepted the existence of an even bigger and more improbable conspiracy, all designed to steal the election from the man they supported for president.  The riot that occurred at the Capitol has resulted in both a new round of conspiracy theories and, far more ominously, new calls for an enhanced surveillance state.  By being so quick to buy into all of the various conspiracy theories, people may have brought about the very world that they believed they were stopping.

On Wednesday, we changed presidents and despite all the claims that Trump was going to apparently going to lock himself in the Oval Office, he instead flew down to Florida.  I’m not even going to guess what’s going to happen over the next four years.  All I know for sure is that I’m going to miss the people who have disappeared down those rabbit holes.  I still hold onto hope that they can eventually make it back but that hope is fading.  Once you buy into a conspiracy, it’s really hard to get your money back.

(On the plus side, the AV Club has announced that they’ll no longer be covering Trump.  Personally, I’m of the opinion that they should have never have started in the first place.  In fact, I would argue that….)

Okay, sorry.  Moving on!

In other news, it’s been a rainy and cold week down here in Texas.  I’m not complaining because I know that we’ll be back to 100-degree weather in just a few months.  I’ve currently got a cold but I’m trying not to complain as much as usual because, obviously, a cold is nothing compared to what’s currently out there.  It’s interesting to think that, a year ago at this time, the “experts” were stills saying that COVID fears were overblown and that there was no need for people to start wearing masks.  Now, 12 months later, you’re liable to get a dirty look if you leave your house only wearing one mask as opposed to two or three.

We had a nice big thunderstorm today and I was happy for that.  I always love ending the week with the chaos of thunder and lightning.

In conclusion….

Yes, yes, I know.  I have rambled on a bit today but if not now, when?  Anyway, here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week!

Films I Watched:

1. Body Bags (1993)
2. Hell or High Water (2016)
3. La Dolce Vita (1960)
4. Let Them All Talk (2020)
5. Lisa (1989)
6. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
7. The Outpost (2020)
8. The Pay-Off (1942)
9. Roped (2020)
10. The Third Man (1949)
11. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
12. The Wrong Man (1956)

Television Shows I Watched:

1. 9-1-1
2. 9-1-1: Lone Star
3. Agatha Christie’s England
4. ‘Allo ‘Allo
5. Antiques Roadshow
6. The Bachelor
7. Bar Rescue
8. The Bold and the Beautiful
9. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
10. The Cafe
11. The Chase
12. Cheaters
13. Community
14. Coronation Street
15. Coupling
16. Days of our Lives
17. Degrassi Junior High
18. Degrassi High
19. Degrassi: New Class
20. Degrassi: The Next Generation
21. Dr. Phil
22. Euphoria
23. Fawlty Towers
24. Friends
25. General Hospital
26. Ghost Whisperer
27. Hell’s Kitchen
28. Hill Street Blues
29. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
30. King of the Hill
31. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
32. The Listener
33. The Love Boat
34. Mister Winner
35. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
36. The Musketeers
37. The Office
38. The Office (UK)
39. Open All Hours
40. Parking Wars
41. Pawn Stars
42. Police Story
43. Robot Chicken
44. Saved By The Bell
45. Seinfeld
46. The Simpsons
47. The Sopranos
48. Twin Peaks
49. Twin Peaks: The Return
50. U.S. Figure Skating Championship
51. The Vicar of Dibley
52. Walker
53. Yes, Minister
54. The Young and the Restless

Books I Read:

1. From Blood and Ash (2020) by Jennifer Armentrout
2. Plain Bad Heroines (2020) by Emily M. Danforth
3. Regretting You (2020) by Colleen Hoover
4. Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde (2001) by Brad Dimock

Music To Which I Listened:

1. Above and Beyond
2. Adi Ulmansky
3. Armin van Buuren
4. Ashlee Simpson
5. Bee Gees
6. Big Data
7. Billie Eilish
8. Blanck Mass
9. Bob Dylan
10. The Brady Bunch
11. Britney Spears
12. Cage the Elephant
13. Camila Cabello
14. The Chemical Brothers
15. Chris Willis
16. Chromatics
17. Chrystal Bell
18. Codeplay
19. Daft Punk
20. David Gray
21. David Guetta
22. deadmau5
23. Donna Summer
24. Drake
25. Fatboy Slim
26. Fitz and the Tantrums
27. Franka Potente
28. Icona Pop
29. Jakalope
30. Jake Bugg
31. John Carpenter
32. Julee Cruise
33. The KLF
34. Lara Snow
35. M/A/R/R/S
36. Marlhy
37. Muse
38. Nine Inch Nails
39. Nova Rockafeller
40. Phantogram
41. The Prodigy
42. Public Service Broadcasting
43. The Robber Who Robbed The Town
44. Run DMC
45. Saint Motel
46. Scarlett Johansson
47. Selena Gomez
48. Sleigh Bells
49. Steve Aoki
50. Swedish House Mafia
51. Talking Heads
52. Tiesto
53. twenty-one pilots
54. Upsahl
55. The Verve
56. The Who
57. Yvonne Elliman

Awards Season Links

1. Philadelphia Film Critics Winners
2. Hollywood Music In Media Nominations
3. San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Winners
4. Denver Film Critics Society Winners
5. Houston Film Critics Society Winners
6. Online Film Critics Society Nominations
7. Black Film Critics Circle Winners

News From Last Week:

1. Oklahoma lawmaker proposes Bigfoot trapping season
2. ‘A Quiet Place 2’ Gets New Release Date
3. Disney Moves ‘The King’s Man’ Release Date to August
4. ‘No Time To Die’ Release Date Pushed to October
5. Sony’s Camila Cabello ‘Cinderella’ Dances To Summer, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ To Fall, ‘Uncharted’ Eyes 2022 & More
6. Every New Movie Release Date Delay This Week
7. Larry King, legendary talk show host, dies at 87
8. Piers Morgan Receives Backlash for His Larry King Tribute Following the Legend’s Death
9. Mira Furlan, Actress on ‘Lost’ and ‘Babylon Five’ Dies at 65
10. Screenwriter Walter Bernstein dies at 101
11. Hank Aaron dead at 86: Baseball’s forever home run king was a true American hero
12. Health Professionals Hope Hank Aaron’s Death Won’t Deter People From Getting Vaccinated
13. Pixar’s “Soul” blows up Disney Plus, Nielsen says
14. The Washington Post Tried To Memory-Hole Kamala Harris’ Bad Joke About Inmates Begging for Food and Water
15. Oscars 2021: Who’s up, who’s down, and where you can watch all of this year’s contenders
16. ‘Hamilton’ Returns to Dallas as Part of Dallas Summer Musicals 2021-2022 Season
17. Jackson Michie faced drug withdrawal on BB21; Big Brother casting director quit for BB23
18. Kenneth Branagh to Play U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Michael Winterbottom Drama for Sky
19. Sylvester Stallone lists LA mansion for jaw-dropping $130M
20. DUSTIN DIAMOND STRUGGLING WITH CAUSE OF HIS CANCER … Moldy Hotels to Blame???
21. Saved by the Bell: Mario Lopez Supports Dustin Diamond’s Cancer Fight
22. Phil Collins Finally Got His Ex-Wife to Move Out of His $40 Million Mansion After “Armed Occupation and Takeover”

Links From Last Week:

1. Franco Nero Strikes Again
2. Celebrating Martin Luther King Day…”Dream. Believe. Unite. Do.” A Powerful Kelly Clarkson Performance…
3. The Best Trump-Era TV: Watchmen, Chernobyl, and more
4. The Woman Who Read Hank Aaron’s Hate Mail
5. Can Billie Eilish Propel Philosophy Away from Old Men?
6. The Most Terrible Things Spider-Man Has Ever Done
7. Every WWE Studios Horror Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
8. Bite Into This Booze Burger! Tokyo’s Got Your Alcohol-Soaked Cheeseburger! Here Are Details – Plus My Favorite “Plastic Food!”
9. Cancel Culture Comes for Will Wilkinson
10. I’m No Longer Sorry For Who I Am
11. Thursday Movie Picks: Police Detectives
12. My Hemingway Wish
13. Diamondback: It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Links From The Site:

1. Leonard shared the trailer for Godzilla vs. King Kong!
2. Erin shared: Martin Luther King Mural, Spicy Detective Stories, The Insiders, Startling Detective Stories, Nice Fillies Finish Last, The Six Weekers, and Female Convict!
3. Jeff shared music videos from Elliott Smith, Europe, Men At Work, KISS, Ollie and Jerry, Eddie Money, and Pink Floyd!
4. Ryan reviewed The Kingdom of Raspberry Blue Untitled, Star Kisses From The Queen, and Castrovalva!
5. I paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, John Boorman, David Lynch, Radley Metzger, and Henry King!  I reviewed The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Outpost, Roped, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Let Them All Talk!

More From Us:

1. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
2. On my music site, I shared songs from Ashlee Simpson, David Guetta and Chris Willis, The Who, Marlhy, Scarlett Johansson, David Gray, and twenty one pilots!
3. On her photography site, Erin shared: January 18th, January 19th, January 20th, January 21st, January 22nd, January 23rd, and January 24th!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Or maybe just 9 hours.