Friday, October 28, 2022

The Friday Link for 10/28/22

Ghostbusters was the last film I went and saw in the theater where I had no idea what the movie was about. 

I saw it at the old Knollwood Movie Theater (that was in the basement of the mall) on opening night, and I was with my friends Jeff and Steve.  I asked, "what's this movie about?"

"It's about ghosts."

"I don't want to watch a horror film."

"But Bill Murray is in it.  It's supposed to be funny."

"A funny ghost story?"

Of course, it was amazing.  I remember how the movie theater constantly laughed the entire movie, something I've only experienced once or twice since.  And the sound the audience made when the line "It's the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man" was delivered; I've never heard a louder laugh in my life.

First up the Hotel scene from the first movie.


And let me repost the scene from Ghostbusters II from the courthouse.


Finally tonight a hilarious bit from Stephen Colbert's The Late Show.  Meanwhile is always such fun, but the last story in this segment, about the guy from his writing staff and his take on the Swedish Cobra story, is just spectacular.  Watch and laugh.


Have a great weekend.  Happy Halloween and if you're not, please make sure you get vaccinated! 






Friday, October 21, 2022

The Friday Link for 10/21/22

As we get a little closer to Halloween, let's start focusing more on Halloween videos.

To start this week, let's talk about the neighbor who goes overboard on Halloween.  I love a good Halloween-decorated house, but that's not what I'm talking about.  It's the people who set up lights, computers, video, special effects, and even animatronics, all timed out to a 6-minute routine complete with a soundtrack.  This is also what happens with some houses at Christmas.  These displays cause massive neighborhood backups, not to mention enough noise and light pollution to cause every neighbor to curse their exuberant fellow resident under their breath. 

Now the decorations have kicked it up a notch. Drones!  I'll admit this is cool to look at, but if this was my neighbor, I'd sue them.

Enjoy this Halloween light display.  By the way, if you are wondering why Metallica is featured it's because the recent season of Stranger Things featured the song as a bit of a plot point. 


Also tonight we explore the actual history of how carving a pumpkin came about. There definitely seem to be some differing opinions (some of them not so politically correct) about the beginnings of Jack O'Lanterns.  The History Guy elaborates.


More Halloween fun next week!

Have a great weekend and remember to get vaccinated! 


Friday, October 14, 2022

The Friday Link for 10/14/22

Let's just call this week the triumphant return of Jon Stewart.  

I'm not sure what happened in the last few months to reinvigorate Jon Stewart, but he's been as sharp and politically astute as ever.  I remember when people were terrified of him, but still would go on The Daily Show during his tenure because it was so damn popular.  His takedown of New York Times enabler Judith Miller was amazing.  It left me asking what would've happened if he was ever able to 'no holds barred' confront the W. Bush Administration after the Iraq War.

I wonder if he finally came to the understanding that his comedic style and his relentless interviewing ability are best served in a show reminiscent of his Daily Show days, a format he's now embracing more with the Apple TV show The Problem With Jon Stewart.

See for yourself.  Watch his methodical takedown of a clearly outmatched Arkansas Attorney General. He annihilates the state's arguments to ban gender affirmation in the state.


Here's another fantastic clip where he destroys the Right's argument that more taxes lead to unhappy people. Stewart juxtaposes exuberant Europeans happy to pay their taxes with the US' low tax rates and near non-existent quality of life for most. 


Welcome back, sir! You've been sorely missed.

Have a great weekend everyone.  Remember to get vaccinated! 



Saturday, October 8, 2022

How the Democrats Win (Advice from the Town Fool)

Dear DFL,

It is me, Matt.  I know you think of me like that cousin who dropped out of college to join a prog band, performs Doctor Who cosplay, and screams at walls.  I'm flattered, but that's not me.


What I am is a needed element of a unified political front; the sledgehammer.  I'm the person who makes factual arguments with the passion and determination most Democrats can't.  I can be fire and judgment, the 'bad cop' to the party's 'good.'  That's how the GOP uses their media voices, and it works pretty dang good for them.

The Democrats don't use their media allies.  Over the years, I've felt a palatable reluctance to work with me.  I seem to be more of an annoying bee buzzing around your picnic, one you're not trying to kill, but rather one you're terrified of getting near you, hoping I just fly away.  Where the interaction between GOP party leaders and their media outlets is non-stop and well coordinated, my personal purgatory is the number of unreturned voice messages, emails, DM's, and texts begging for a DFL candidate to be my guest; free air time to promote their brand, something many DFL'ers don't seem to think is important.

But it's time to put that all aside.

I come to you today with a plea. You're screwing up, and screwing up badly.  The Minnesota Republican party is a dumpster fire of candidates, many of them with deranged and disturbing alliances, belligerent comments, and extremist associations; a vat of lies and loon ball conspiracy theories, a party with almost zero policy points, running on a campaign of fear, desperately trying to scare people into voting for them. 

And they're keeping these races close! 

But how?  Almost all the issues are on the DFL's side.  Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade, actually taking away rights from people nationally while the Minnesota GOP vowed to make access to abortion illegal in Minnesota.  Every plan of action they had during the pandemic was a train wreck, from the laughable (putting horse dewormer up their backsides) to the Machiavellian (scolding the Mayo Clinic, the best hospital on the planet, on how to hospital) to the mentally unstable (threatening to kill school board members and their families for mask mandates).  They have promised to go after workers' rights and unions.  They have vowed to gut the public education system.  They've promised to sell off Minnesota's pristine wilderness to the highest-bidding foreign mining conglomerate. They should have no chance, but they are holding on closer than they have any right to.

The problem the DFL has is two-fold.  First, you're not attacking. Too many people in the DFL have fallen in love with the argument "When they go low, we go high."  I do find it funny most of the people who rely on this narrative are Democrats from incredibly safe DFL districts.  It's easy to stay "high" when you have nothing to lose.  For the most part, I think the sentiment is fine, but the mistake Democrats make is they think going "high" is smugly staying silent, ignoring the attacks.  That's wrong.  If you're going to take this path you need to be promoting what the DFL does stand for, if not directly addressing the attacks being levied on you.  Going "high" is not being quiet, but rather LOUDLY counterpointing the "low."

The other problem is a harsh fact.  A lot of DFL candidates don't inspire voters.  Let me give you an example.  I've already done at least 20 interviews with DFL candidates in competitive districts who tell me first and foremost they're going to work with Republicans.  I understand their trying to establish a 'bipartisan compromise' tone, but what they really end up sounding like is "I'm a Democrat, and I'm on the Republican's side!"

Let me help.  Instead of "I promise to work with the other side"...

"I'm from the DFL.  I'm from the party of healthcare for all, women's rights, quality education, a fair tax system, safe streets, common sense gun regulations, supporting the farmer, clean energy, saving the environment, and helping all people.  Will I work with the Republicans to pass legislation?  Sure, but I will not sacrifice my principles for a quick, cheap victory!"

TA-DA!!!

That's inspiring.  You not only tell people what YOU stand for, but you also hint you'll work with the other side as long as they drop their "my way or the highway" mentality.

The Minnesota DFL needs to, in unison, go on the attack now!  They supposedly have a massive money advantage, so use it.  TV ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, billboards, mailers; they're all good.  Most importantly you need to get on your social media pages and start calling out Republicans for the flawed candidates they are.  Social media is FREE, and something the Republicans are almost using exclusively to keep these races close.  Democrats need to get over their 'wishy-washy, milquetoast, I'd rather do a well-worded 70-page memo' arrogance and start attacking on the venues most of the voters reside in for hours each day.

Let me help:

Governor candidate Scott Jensen is a far-right extremist loon ball.  His stances on abortion, and COVID are the epitome of 'low hanging fruit.'  It's clear from his furry comments he and/or his inner circle is immersed in the far-right extremism of the web.  Plus his running mate is the living embodiment of the word 'Duh.'

Attorney General candidate Jim Schultz has close ties to an EXTREME anti-abortion organization, hasn't ever prosecuted a crime, or even spent a lot of time in a courtroom (while Keith Ellison has not lost a case as AG).  And Schultz needs to answer if he would've prosecuted the four officers who murdered George Floyd. 

State Auditor candidate Ryan Wilson seriously doesn't seem to understand what exactly the State Auditor does.  Most of the things he says he'll do if elected don't fall under the purview of the State Auditors' office.  There's the question of whether he'd push state retirement money away from clean energy investments and put it all into polluting fossil fuels.  He also has a penchant for making up outlandish exaggerated stories.

Secretary of State Candidate Kim Crockett is an absolute kook!  She's an election denier, who doesn't seem to have the slightest grasp on how Minnesota elections actually work.  She's repeatedly stated the 2022 election is happening on a different day than it actually is.  She has given mixed signals on whether she'll accept the results of the upcoming election, even though there's no reason to question the results in advance.  She's also made racist and bigoted comments, and played an anti-Semitic video at the GOP convention which was greeted with applause from the GOP audience.  It's a disgrace her race with Steve Simon, probably the best Secretary of State in the nation, is not a 20-point blowout.

There is also the official GOP platform they passed in May which shows how extremist they are: https://www.mngop.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-MNGOP-Platform-adopted-May_14_2022.pdf

And there's an amazing amount of Republican Minnesota Senate and House candidates who seem to be TERRIFIED of people finding out they're Republican candidates.  Call them out for "trying to be me!"

DFL, this is an easy layup, if you don't overthink it.

You've got one month.  It's time to go on the FREAKING attack!  Get over your weaknesses and self-induced criticism, don't outsmart yourselves into not taking the clearest path to victory, stop arguing against your own party and platform, and stop rationalizing the future loss by implying we'll be okay if only 'Walz" wins.  No, we won't!  The DFL has the opportunity to win both the MN House and MN Senate.  If you do, you can make REAL change happen.

But only if you go on an all-out attack, NOW!!!  

DFL, I want to win in November.  Do you?




Friday, October 7, 2022

The Friday Link for 10/7/22

It's all Weird Al tonight...well with one exception. 

Weird Al Yankovic is a freaking comic genius.  Anyone could pull off one parody song, but to do it consistently without sounding repetitive is amazing. He's been doing this since 1979! How many bands are still having success after 43 years?  I'm glad to see him get the comedy respect he deserves.

Let's run down what I think are his biggest successes, starting with what could be his best video, 'Tacky.' This is such a fun watch. 


He became a superstar in my generation with 'Eat It.' Not saying he wasn't popular beforehand, but after 'Eat It,' people were waiting for his version of the biggest songs.  Apparently you have to watch that one on YouTube.  Click on the link.


Also tonight 'Amish Paradise' and 'The Saga Begins' (based on 'American Pie' from Don McLean), two more of my favorite Weird Al songs. 



And I know I already posted the movie trailer once, but I'm posting this again. It looks amazing. 


Finally the one non Weird Al related video.  SWEET LORD does Miles Teller do an amazing impression of Peyton Manning.  Here is the opening skit from the season opener of SNL.


Have a wonderful weekend.  Make sure you get vaccinated and be safe.