The confluence of nerd culture and culture wars still strikes me as deeply weird when I stop and think about it. Every now and then it hits me that people in their 30s and older are publishing think pieces in grown up magazines about stuff my friends and I argued over when we were 10 years old.
I wonder how much worse it is because Hollywood's quest for risk management took it into nerd properties rather than, say, romantic comedy.
I may be misunderstanding this but: isn't Hollywood _already_ in romantic comedy? And has been for decades?
Also, interesting from the linked article that James Bond is now a public domain character in a lot of countries (such as Canada).
I picked up, for £1, "Thalassaemia" in the OUP's extremely readable "Biographies of Disease" series. Well worth a look!
In Canada, Bond has a license to be impolite.
Spiderman is fine. Ironman is stupid. So is Thor as a comic book character.
I thought the Star Wars where Luke drank green milk and died after pointing out how useless the Jedi were was pretty good.
"Who would win in a fight: Batman or Luke Skywalker? A literary roundtable."
Maybe I should pitch this idea to The Atlantic. Or perhaps the New Yorker.
Nightwing is just something I don't understand.
Stupid nerd fights and culture wars on Twitter would be happening anyway, but I wonder how much worse it is because Hollywood's quest for risk management took it into nerd properties rather than, say, romantic comedy.
Seems like an odd use of the phrase "risk management." I would substitute "money."
Sometimes I feel bad about gradually falling behind popular culture. Then I think of comic book movies and Post Malone and figure I'm not missing much.
Isn't one of the reasons superhero stuff won out (for now) that it is more conducive story-wise to sequels, tie-ins, and series that drag butts into seats over and over?
I wonder how romantic comedy would have to be warped to meet that criterion. Maybe multigenerational stories that keep zooming into different parts of a family tree.
2: They get made, but as one of many niches; they seem to have declined significantly in market share this decade.
According to that same source in 2019 so far:
Adventure: 31%
Action: 34%
Thriller: 9%
Drama: 8%
Comedy: 8%
Horror: 7%
Romantic comedy: 1T
2.1: Yes. I meant where they're concentrating their budgets, their bet-the-studio money. Also, I stand to be corrected, but believe the studios are making less romance than they used to, at least as a proportion of their development spending.
11: I'm so behind in popular culture, that I don't even know anything about Malone, let alone the sequel.
12.1: Precisely. Risk management.
12.2: Precisely. Soap operas, but with feature films for episodes. (Which is what the MCU largely is, but without adult relationships.)
(Their distinction between "adventure" and "action" baffles me. Star Wars, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and LOTR are adventure while Avengers, The Dark Knight, and The Fast and the Furious are action. Possibly adventure requires a callow and doe-eyed youth.)
I just had the billion dollar idea that will bring the rom-com into the era of sequels. Elizabeth Taylor! There are at least 4 rom-coms before she even reaches 40. Now I just need to find the right actress.
Post Malone could play Eddie Fisher.
Speaking of Post Malone (who did the credits track), Into the Spider-Verse is now canon and was totally awesome, so we can go ahead and make everyone public domain.
12.1: The explanation I heard is that superheroes are better suited for the international market, where a lot of the $$ is nowadays.
It turns out that movies about giant robots and athletic looking people in funny outfits beating the crap out of each other require less familiarity with American cultural cues than romantic comedies do.
I wonder how romantic comedy would have to be warped to meet that criterion.
Traditional romantic comedy isn't really conducive to sequels because it has to end with a wedding. But you could have something like the Thin Man series, where the lead characters are married already. Or you could do what the studios did in the 1940s and just roll out one Cary Grant romantic comedy after another which are not actually sequels in plot terms but are very much "if you liked that you'll like this", like kung fu films tend to be.
The slow death of cinematic romantic comedy - per Minivet's link - is a very interesting phenomenon. Is it already effectively dead, in the same way that Westerns are effectively dead?
21: If k-dramas can cross borders, so can Hollywood.
Traditional romantic comedy isn't really conducive to sequels because it has to end with a wedding
It's like you didn't even read 18.
12.1: The explanation I heard is that superheroes are better suited for the international market, where a lot of the $$ is nowadays.
Also you can re-cast the characters. And have infinite sequels.
The other aspect of this is that you have to give people a reason to go to the movie theatre these days. The special effects/action in superhero movies make seeing the movie in the theatre a special experience.
If American romantic comedies really are dead, I blame Judd Apatow.
26: Giving people FX is one way to do that; giving people something to build a date around is another.
just roll out one Cary Grant romantic comedy after another which are not actually sequels in plot terms but are very much "if you liked that you'll like this"
Which again is largely what the MCU is. They swap out the characters in the movie instead of swapping out the movies around the actor, but they're similarly formulaic. The brand is just tied to the studio, not the actor.
28: Millennials don't date. I read that somewhere.
And Hollywood was all, OMGWTF, yellow people like to live vicariously? And have in-law issues but also want to get married? Who knew?
Does anyone know of a way to compare Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu financially with film finance? Either (subscription+ad revenues):box office or comparison of production budgets. Disney just bought Hulu unfortunately, and they are I think smallest, so maybe just the other two.
Hulu has a bunch of good programming IMO, hope that continues.
I've probably spent as much on films through amazon in the last year as I have in the theater.
31. True, they'll still be in fashion when we're all dead and gone.
The Marvel movies are not at all formulaic. That's why people are willing to see so many of them.
I think what did romcoms in is that Hollywood half-assed them for so long that they just destroyed the image of the genre. They were cheap movies to make that made lots of money, like horror, but instead of trying to move upmarket the way horror movies have done lately, they just kept doing it. "Crazy Rich Asians" made lots of money partially because it was exactly that upmarket romcom.
I think what did romcoms in is that Hollywood half-assed them for so long
See 27.
#1 is also really interesting. Maybe a cottage industry of commentary was inevitable as ad spending interacted with social media and an oversupply of graduates, but couldn't it be twittering about more profitable things?
Well, if Bollywood is any indication, what Hollywood really needs to do is make rom-coms musicals again, and--this is important--use playback singers who are actually good instead of forcing everyone to suffer through Pierce Brosnan or whoever trying to warble. The big dance numbers make them worthwhile to see in the theater, they are natural date AND family movies, and a hit song or two will pull the property into the black even if the movie tanks. (Bollywood show tunes are like half of what's on the radio in India, it's a whole second revenue stream). They just need to train Western audiences to understand playback singers as aural stunt people and there you go.
Here, enjoy a worthwhile dance number from the first Bollywood DVD I bought so I could watch it over and over a million times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPPgGHoCoCA
39: Marvel Universe musicals! What could go wrong?
My recollection is pretty dim that far back, but I think in the very early 70s one of the SF TV stations regularly ran Busby Berkeley movies.
LA story was romantic and had a few funny intervals, made money.
Maybe Costumed animals?, they are often funny. I guess not really upmarket though. Perhaps I don't have helpful suggestions on this particular topic, though I like romantic comedies and other comedies also.
Great musical number from Dil Se, a film with a pretty nuanced political perspective on terrorism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6SxK88jNEU
39. Into the spiderverse with more musical interludes would work for me.
40: Were you referring to the Julie Taymor-U2 collaboration? I just remembered about that. A few things did go wrong!
42: Praise and awards for LA Story show that Hollywood wants musicals to happen so so badly. See also all these Disney remakes; the animated ones like Beauty and the Beast but also a new Mary Poppins (why?).
The blockbuster superhero musical will have its day sooner or later.
I watched the crossover musical episode of The Flash / Supergirl and it was ... not good, but I have faith in the genre.
45.1: Are you confusing LA Story and La La Land?
L.A. Confidential was another great musical starring the lead singer of 40 Odd Foot of Grunts.
48. I looked up the fucking the name of the movie just before posting, thinking explicitly, "wait, it's not LA story". But I see that's what I wrote. Yes, I meant LaLa Land
Didn't like the movie very much, not my style of nostalgia. I prefer memory to be depicted more idiosyncratically, not a rehash of ads and pop styles from the past, also much less saccharine
Movies with lots of music (mostly not true musicals) -- A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Yesterday, La La Land -- have been very successful in the last few years.
Bollywood though (at least judging by the trickle of films I happen to watch) seems to be moving away from lavish dance numbers, maybe even less music in general.
MobyHick, you think you're kidding, but there is actually a pretty good Bollywood partial remake of L.A. Confidential called Khakhee, which revolves around political corruption lurking behind communal rioting and alleged terrorism rather than drug money.
Indian movies that touch on terrorism are usually really interesting, maybe because various communities in India have embraced political violence at one time or another, so there is usually a more nuanced perspective (although when it's about India vs. Pakistan the films can be extremely nationalistic). Probably the most complex treatment of terrorism that I've seen is Haider, which is a version of Hamlet set among the 1995 conflicts in Kashmir.
I loved Dil Se too, but the people I showed it to were put off by retrograde hero harasses heroine into liking him plot. I still think it's worth seeing though and the songs are terrific.
lw, that's my impression too, though I don't know how representative the small handful that show up at my local theater are of the film scene in general. It's starting to look like it's time to switch to Telugu and Tamil films, which are supposed to be more traditionally "filmi."
Technically, I think if I didn't know that, I'm correct when thinking that I'm kidding.
Anyway, as far as Gen X is concerned, The Simpsons were where we saw musical numbers.
sequels, tie-ins, and series that drag butts into seats over and over?I wonder how romantic comedy would have to be warped to meet that criterion.
Romance novels do that a lot now -- the second leads in one novel are the HEA (Happily Ever After) leads in the next. All the siblings in a family, or several generations of a family, or the clients/neighbors/employers of a dressmaker/spinster/governess. Or, in one particularly demented but reliably entertaining series, the numerous children of the English aristocracy who were raised from extreme youth as rebel infiltrators, deep-cover Napoleonic spies, or cracksmen.
The books make bank.
I love the Marvel movie about the arrogant guy who learns humility as he gains powers.
I like the one with that guy who hates Mondays and eats lasagna.
I love the Marvel movie about the arrogant guy who learns humility as he gains powers.
Dr. Doom?
I feel I should share my other big idea for the movie industry -- since the MCU has reached a conclusion to its glorious saga, and Disney continues to make live-action version of all their animated movies, maybe it's time for something truly out-of-the-box.
Yes! You guessed it! Animated versions of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies! Won't the nerd hordes be thrilled to relive all the thrilling adventures in a different format? I'm thinking "YES!"
61: Do any of the Marvel movies have that plot?
40: That's basically Guardians of the Galaxy, right? (And the Immigrant Song scene in Thor Ragnarok.)
That was a good scene. The rest of the movie was pretty meh.
Anyway Captain Marvel, Thor Rag, and (to a lesser degree) Black Panther were all pretty great, Infinity War was okay, and Endgame was kind of bad. Based on my extensive viewing of superhero movies on airplanes. Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 were also decent to good.
Honestly the Immigrant Song scene is pretty much all you need of the Marvel movies.
Did they use Karen O's superior version? Robert P is a big girl's blouse, so is Jimmy.
65: Iron Man, except for the learning humility part; Doctor Strange, except for the learning humility part; MCU Spider-Man, except for the gaining powers and learning humility part; Captain America, except for the learning humility part; Thor, except for the gaining powers and learning humility part; Hulk, except for the learning humility part; Black Panther, except for the learning humility part; Captain Marvel, except for the learning humility part; Guardians of the Galaxy, except for the learning humility part.
Now if you substitute "having setbacks" for "learning humility," then maybe you're onto something, but it's something pretty banal. With fantasy stories, it's hard to avoid the Hero's Journey, just as it's hard to avoid having somebody running (or driving) after somebody else at the end of a romantic comedy.
There's a certain sameness to the stories in a given genre. That's what makes it a genre, right? You either like it or you don't, and some genre stories are better executed than others.
I'm as appalled as the next liberal about the concentration of media, but the MCU works because it's actually consistently entertaining in a way that, say, Fox's X-men or the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man were not.
Okay, Moby Hick, you're right. Please accept this video of a dancing policeman by way of apology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkm5y875G8Q
You sound like a cop when you address me as "Moby Hick" instead of just "Moby."
I should probably turn the sound on before I play that.
There's a certain sameness to the stories in a given genre. That's what makes it a genre, right?
The same genre, in the same period, has produced movies as different as Logan, Deadpool, The Dark Knight, and this. The MCU has restricted itself to a very small part of the possible range.
60: All the siblings in a family, or several generations of a family, or the clients/neighbors/employers of a dressmaker/spinster/governess.
Is there a named subgenre for this kind of thing? Any notable authors?
76: It's not even correct to say that different movies within the same MCU series are the same, though admittedly there seems to be a common thread that nobody learns humility. (Steve Rogers and Peter Parker started out pretty humble.)
They're both just exhibiting that legendary New York City humility.
How come Superman is universally portrayed as kind and polite where in real life Kansas is full of assholes?
47: Reading about that, I'm after wondering if Netanyahu's internal polls aren't really bad. I'm not much for optimism these days, but that doesn't strike me as the kind of thing you say a week before an election you expect to win, especially if you say that Trump is all in with you and the only thing Trump does that day is fire the administration's most mustachioed supporter of Israeli territorial aggrandizement.
That said, Israeli politics have always confused me.
IIRC he only called the election because he couldn't form a government, and couldn't form a government because other parties refused to support any bill to immunize him.
I think it was something about one side didn't want the religious people to be drafted and the other side insisted that they be drafted.
According to Vox, which must be full of smart people because it is named after the lead singer of U2, we're both right.
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A state health agency head has resigned or been fired after making rude comments about antivaxxers on Facebook. They've been filling up the Capitol halls being obstreperous as they failed to stop two new exemption-limiting laws. It's vaguely sad given it's the right outlook for an administrator to have, but I also expect a political appointee to have better judgment.
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We had our city council primary today. Three of our six wards had more than two candidates, so they had primaries. Two years ago, the city saved money by not having a primary, only to find that in one of the wards, the two Democrats split the vote, and the Republican won. He's particularly outspoken, and recruited people to run in 5 of the 6 wards. So the results in the three?
1. Incumbent Progressive 56; Republican 27; Progressive challenger 16
3. Incumbent Dem 71; Republican 16; Progressive challenger 13
4. Dem 59; Dem turned Rep 32; Dem Troll 8
Earlier this evening, I'd told the winner in ward 4 that if she lost to the troll, she'd probably have to move to another state. She didn't think this was as funny as I did.
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76: Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy are practically the same movie.
I miss the 70s in movies as much as the next person, but saying that MCU movies are the same is crazy. Good or bad, there has literally never been a movie like Infinity War in the entire history of cinema. The closest would be some Biblical epic back when everyone was already familiar with the contents of the Bible.
Superhero movies are not going to make a profound statement on the human condition, but Marvel Studios has experimented heavily with the genre. Compare their movies with an old-fashioned superhero movie like Christopher Reeve's Superman, or Spider-Man 2.
39. There are several companies (LyreBird and Modulate.ai are in this space, among others) out there that do deep fake voices for good rather than evil, depending on how you define those terms. They can mix Pierce Brosnan's voice with that of someone who can actually sing, but the voice would still sound like Pierce, except on key. They can provide a booming, manly, game voice for a 12 year old whose voice is breaking. Lots of other stuff, some of it still in the demo phase (ha-ha, the MIT Media Lab is involved, and Joi Ito is quoted).
There's really no reason to have non-singers sing, or to have movies with terrible dubbing any more.
93: Your state and/or city seem politically eclectic enough to embrace ranked-choice. Any prospects?
Or a unicameral legislature like the cool kids.
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Wasn't there a Buffy episode about this ?
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So, how do you all rate Johnson's chances with the Supreme Court?
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but saying that MCU movies are the same is crazy.
There's an argument (in all kinds of different contexts) that takes the form: if you aren't doing everything, you aren't doing anything. MCU didn't do Spiderverse either, so you can also fault Feige for not dipping into animation.
97 Beyond potholes and plowing snow, all the energy is on climate change, affordable housing, and winter shelter for the homeless. Property taxes have gotten pretty high, because de-industrialization has property owners paying a higher proportion of the costs of government. The Republican response is, and I kid you not, that we can bring property taxes down by making it a less pleasant place to live, so people won't want to move here. And stop supporting tourism, because that just means more people who come here and decide they'd like to live here. There's a solid 30% of the population who'll support King Canute railing at the tide; they're mostly spread out enough, though, that so long as we just have a primary, we can keep them out of office in most wards. (Mine is the weakest link, weaker now because it includes a bunch of newly annexed people who are finally paying for the benefits they'd been getting for free. Will they vote against our incumbent, who voted for their annexation?)
I don't think anyone wants to spend any time on process stuff like RCV.
In my city council race I'm up against a progressive and an anarchist troll, so that means I'm having to run a more centrist campaign that I might prefer. So my focus is more on "lets fix up the neighborhood," rather than on "#Resist," which is where my non-troll opponent seems to be going. My troll opponent is going with "Eat the Rich."
Oh, looks like I have another opponent who just filed yesterday..... that should complicate things a bit.
Can't you split the difference? Eat the rich while fixing up the neighborhood.
103: Hmm. I dunno. From your description, I'm thinking you're my third choice. Many of the rich are plump, juicy and tender.
(I'm kidding, of course. I'll always vote the straight Unfogged ticket. Good luck!)
Years of CrossFit have rendered the richest people tough and stringy.
I'm usually on board with eating the rich, but the other plank to the troll's platform is MOAR BITCOIN. So: fuck that.
I'm a bit concerned about my new opponent though, he seems to have influential friends.
Here's my take on local politics: Don't worry about carving out a distinct niche from this guy. Voters are listening for signs of intelligence and that you understand complexities. Give the best answer, even though it sometimes overlaps with that guy. Give the answer that goes, "Well, we're balancing X, Y, and Z when you ask that. The tradeoff is [this] either way. I place a higher priority on X than Y, because I'm not dodging your question, but I realize that impacts people who prefer Y." That's what local voters want.
Just give that other guy enough rope to hang himself with. As for the well-connected guy, that is tougher.
Based on local elections, try having very strong feelings about bike lanes.
Also flooding and where students should live.
Most of local politics is people having no idea who's who, but knowing that they have one friend they can say, "you pay attention to these things. Who do I vote for?"
Everyone here knows everybody or their cousin.
I don't even own a working bike, but I've learned that voting for whoever the people complain about putting in bike lanes is basically going to get me who I want.
Do you live in a logic puzzle?
And social media really extends the reach of said friend. (Folks who see me at the other place are going to see quite a bit about my council candidate).
Our city races are non-partisan, but both parties make endorsements. And both parties publicize them, and have the candidates meet people at their booths at the Fair, and such. Also, candidates knock on a lot of doors, so a lot of people get the chance to meet them.
Traditionally, Dems have endorsed every candidates who's actually a Dem -- even 2 or 3 in a race. This year there was a push (I resisted this, but unsuccessfully) to just go with one candidate per ward. I don't think the election results would have been much different if we'd endorsed incumbents and challengers in 1 and 3, rather than just incumbents.
You can't just come out and say, "I think well-off, mostly white liberals will get stuff they want by voting for me". The direct approach doesn't work. So you do bike lanes.
This really undersells her expertise in planning, transportation, and housing.
Heebie, I am so hoping you are right. I'm pre-gearing up to run for office and I truly hope it works the way you say (which really does sound plausible to me).
Pre-gearing up means doing work for other people to start to have connections and shit. I suppose gearing up would be working on my own projects. My goal is a minor, minor position next fall, so I'm a plausible person in 2024.
Of course, if Trump wins next year, my focus will switch to being a survivalist prepper.
122 ++
The first thing they'll teach you is how to ask your friends for money. Don't be shy.
Dude. I'm applying for the Emerge training and they've already touched on that. The prospect is horrific.
That, and the fifteen years of saying stupid shit on the internet are the two biggest barriers.
And my new misanthropy (I switched from being an extrovert to an introvert during my difficulties. As I've recovered, my interest in people is rebounding, but not to where it was.).
Possibly, people have just gotten that much worse during the interval.
DaveLMA, I dunno, that sounds like just CGI-ing every action scene so it really is at least somewhat the named actor under there somewhere every second instead of just using a good stunt double, who actually looks human. The electronically-altered voice of Pierce Brosnan is just no match for an artist like Sukhwinder Singh (I don't even know who the U.S. equivalent would be, Tony Bennett or Nat King Cole maybe). The dubbing in Bollywood movie songs isn't terrible, it's just lip-syncing, which actors have to do even if it's their own voices being used on the soundtrack.
Of course I know I'm being tiresome about this, but I would really love to be able to watch gorgeous musicals without having to put down my knitting to read subtitles. It's an important issue!
"I think well-off, mostly white liberals will get stuff they want by voting for me". The direct approach doesn't work. So you do bike lanes.
I'm actually focusing on sidewalks, which are in terrible shape. One of the things I actually do deeply care about is accessibility for people with disabilities, so that's my angle there. Most of our sidewalks are made of broken-ass blacktop and its a mobility nightmare.
I'm very happy that this race is low-budget enough that I don't have to ask anyone for money.
Except I did just get a bill for $300 from the lawn-sign printer, so....
60: All the siblings in a family, or several generations of a family, or the clients/neighbors/employers of a dressmaker/spinster/governess.
77: Is there a named subgenre for this kind of thing? Any notable authors?
No named subgenre, but examples I can think of within romance and romantic suspense include books by Courtney Milan (e.g., the Worth Saga, the Brothers Sinister series), Julie Garwood (e.g., the Buchanan series), Nora Roberts (e.g., the Chesapeake Bay cycle).
Our sidewalks suck in my neighborhood, but are really horrible in the poorer ones. I was going to start calling the city on the really bad parts, but someone else did. This was back when I had occasion to push a stroller.
heebie's take on local politics is 100% correct IME.
Here our progressive candidates for local office have been phenomenally successful in the past few years. We now have both a progressive mayor and a progressive supermajority on the local assembly, both of which have remained popular and cruised to reelection even though the overall political and economic context has been very difficult lately.
The intersection of politics and policy is interesting at the local government level, especially in contrast to the state and federal levels. The scope of what you can do is much narrower, but it's largely things that directly and tangibly affect people's lives. It's a lot easier to change things because the procedural structure is much simpler and more efficient (small unicameral legislature, generally nonpartisan so no majority/minority caucus organization, year-round meetings rather than a dedicated session), so if you have committed, like-minded people in office you can accomplish quite a lot between elections and have results to point to in campaigns.
I would love my for campaign to be about Impeaching the Motherfucker, but that doesn't seem to be like something local government can do. So, sidewalks it is.
I just got the newsletter from my House member and it doesn't mention impeachment either. I may send an email.
Also, "Heathers" is the best romantic comedy ever.
Agreed, though I thought "I love my dead gay son" was more affecting than funny. That dad was the most sympathetic character in the movie.
138: No way! Vertigo is so much better!
I can never remember whether Vertigo or North by Northwest was the funny one.
135 Right. Also, you can go to the meetings, and say what's on your mind. Or, in my case, just smile and nod when someone (including a member) says something you like. Give $20 to Bernie Sanders and you're a statistic (and a name on a list that gets traded around). Give it to a municipal candidate, and you've got someone glad to talk to you after the meeting -- or in the grocery store or whatever -- about urban forestry, TIF funding, zero waste, or whatever they're excited to be working on.
* Not valid in NYC, LA, or, probably, Pittsburgh.
I've never donated to a local candidate or gone to a meeting. I did join the dues-paying group. Mostly that means I get emails to go to meetings.
I don't really worry about the local stuff much anymore. I did write my state House member to oppose deer hunting on Sunday. It's not that I care more about that than other local issues, it just seemed unimportant enough that constituent pressure might be enough to make a difference.
134 People who believe in government are usually going to do well in local elections, since that's a level where most people want government to be doing stuff. Half our city budget is police and fire, and maybe streets are another 20%. I guess in a big enough place you could have a citizenry so alienated that they think too much is being spent paying firefighters or cops, but mostly fire, police, and bike lanes are going to get a following motivated enough to mail in or drop off a ballot.
I think most of the people who hate the bikes lanes live in the suburbs.
Hey! I am in NYC until around 2200 on Friday night. Tonight is out but tomorrow night or maybe lunch-ish on Friday, yes!
141: North by Northwest.
There are some supposed great film classics that I only saw well into adulthood: Citizen Kane, Casablanca and Vertigo. I still don't get what the big deal was about Vertigo.
142-145: If I had had the energy to be active in the DSA it would have been very easy to interact with lots of local politicos. I imagine the local independent democrats group is similar. Even with no effort I got a followback and a few likes on twitter from the man who'd become our Lieutenant Governor.
149.last: I dunno, but I stayed in the hotel featured in it. They had bed bugs.
|| So, the WaPo is sending people to see us. |>
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Whatever the sequence of events in this firing, we may at last have in Bolton a piece of scorched debris from Trump's inner circle disgruntled and disloyal enough to write a scathing tell-all memoir.|>
151:
Since I can't live in Missoula, I'll just visit as often as possible, waiting for the trip when I discover the rest of the world has found my secret mountain getaway.
You mean found like via a godamn Wapo article. I would like to not so cordially invite all reporters to shut the hell up about NW Montana as I would like to retire there in a decade or so and prices have gone up enough already.
Yeah, sorry, ten years is a long way off. Maybe you could look at buying some land now -- Ninemile or Frenchtown if you want to be in the country, or Arlee. Or a little fixer upper in town that you can sell for a nice profit 10 years hence.
155: I've been watching the market up there and had the same thought. In June we bought a five acre lot about four miles south of Columbia Falls.
If I buy an RV, can I park it there and run the poop hose down the storm sewer?
The storm sewer on a different block, if that works better for you.
It's a pretty good bet that there aren't any storm sewers anywhere near Chez GSwift.
No storm sewer, its outside the city just off a state road. But seriously, there's no HOA or covenants, anyone who wants to dry camp there in an RV is welcome to (a co worker did just that last month, nice location to rest before heading up to Banff)
Banff is also nice. Next summer should be a Rocky Mountain vacation. But no RV yet.
That state highway (if I'm guessing right) used to be US 2. The main road. From the 50s to the late 70s early 80s there was a little roadside attraction zoo along there. The Trap Zoo. I lived in the Flathead for a few years, but never went there. It was considered pretty sketchy.
163: Farther east, other side of the river off of 206.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/VW5nDrExttwkxUdW6
A lot of big properties and county zoning that allows small businesses so you get a fair number of people running businesses out of their home. The highway though is zoned as scenic corridor so billboards and such are banned so for the most part it looks residential.
Right. 206 used to be US2. Everytime I drive that stretch I think back to what is was like with all the RVs, and semis. Doesn't it seem to be a little narrow to be the main east west route over the continental divide? You get the same feel when you look at the surviving snippets of old US2 between Hungry Horse and West. It wasn't actually that long ago . . .
Trap Road is where the zoo was.
Looking at that map, which is basically the vintage of my tenure up there, it's amazing how much development there has been. Also, all the elevations are metric! On a government map! What a quaint artifact of an era where one might think we were going to join the civilized world . . .
In June we bought a five acre lot about four miles south of Columbia Falls.
You're about an hour north of my in-laws.
167: I didn't know that. Hell yeah that road is narrow to be a main highway. I thought for sure you were talking about a different area when you said sketchy. Sure has gentrified since those days. Been a bit since the zoo closed, the owners obit says closed in '82.
https://www.dailyinterlake.com/archive/article-827a1c7b-3595-5811-9181-fbff6b798554.html
169: Down on the south end of the lake?
Aside from taking four days for us to drive there.
From the cadastral, you see that Vandevanters still own a lot of that land.
Is cadastral usually used as a noun like that? Real question.
There's a website called Montana Cadastral that is maintained by the state, that lets you find any parcel in the state, searching by owner or by map, and gives you all sorts of information about improvements and other aspects of the property. It's really a terrific tool. You can change the background of the map from a regular line diagram to a USGS topo or an aerial photo.
Lots of us use it often, for one thing and another, and everyone I know calls it 'the cadastral.'
If you want to see how it works, you can look up geocode 49-0704-31-1-01-01-0000 and read up on Jeff Bridges' house, for example.
frivolously returning to series romances - the *really* silly ones I was referring to are by Joanna Bourne, try The Spymaster's Lady. And in general, Smart Bitches Trashy Books is pretty clear about what they like or dislike about a romance.
Any time a romance book mentions (equally handsome, and yet so different with green eyes instead of blue) siblings, I assume it is part of a series. Generally, a later book in the series will throw out a mention of the original couple happily chasing after their toddlers, and still sending each other smoldering looks.
