Changing seasons - a blog, in 1000 Words or Less
I said in the last post that I was taking a few months off. In television terms it was the end of the season. Well, spring became autumn, new TV began airing several weeks ago and this is the first post I've written since June, so I guess I’m not running as punctually as a Swiss train.
Part of the delay in getting back to it was circumstantial: we’re all busy, especially during our way-too-short Canadian summer. I had no interest in spending extra time indoors in front of a computer. Another part of the delay was deliberate and stemmed from our so-called leader’s vanity project, the expensive and unnecessary federal election. There was so much wrong about the election that I had to aggressively avoid being sucked into the headline black hole. I knew if I was, much of my anger would show up on this page. I suspect that might get boring to some people, although I’m sorry to say (not really) that I’ll probably re-visit the subject.
I’ll say this much though: as abysmal a leader as Justin is, I’m equally annoyed with the conservative party. Erin O’Toole and his team started strong and ended up blundering through the campaign. How a conservative leader isn’t prepared to answer the inevitable firearms question, is beyond me. Now, while Justin methodically destroys our country, the conservatives are fucking around with internal politics. We’ve seen this movie before with Andrew Scheer. Get your act together people. You should be concentrating on how best to toss the man-child out on his arrogant, incompetent ass.
Anyway…
Last year at this time, we were all looking forward to 2021 with desperate hope; it had to be better than 2020, right? What a laugh that turned out to be, and by laugh I mean kick in the groin. The first few months of 2021 were as bad, if not worse than 2020, what with the man-child’s bungled vaccine procurement and roll-out. When the vaccinations finally began, it must be said, they were delivered seamlessly and with organization by countless people who worked hard to help make life better for everyone. And that was the goal, wasn’t it? Get vaccinated and normalcy would return. Well, that didn’t happen. We’re still wearing masks, restaurants are still at limited capacity, everywhere you go someone says, "Papers please..." Despite the fact that lockdowns don’t work (in zero case terms), Austria just imposed its fourth Covid lockdown based on case numbers, a value that has very little meaning. “Booster” has become the new buzz word and I can’t help but wonder how many we’re going to need and how often they’ll be required, before we reach something that resembles life as it was in 2019.
Summer in BC had all the climate change whack-a-doodles smiling fit to split. According to them, the unprecedented heat wave proved what science has not…human behaviour is significantly contributing to a dangerously warming planet. Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, there’s “human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.”
It’s a little much to take.
How about this, whack-a-doodles…let’s agree the climate is changing because that’s what climate does. Remember history class when the teacher talked about the Ice Age, a little thing that ended because the globe warmed up? Let’s further agree that human behaviour might be affecting the rate at which the climate changes. Possibly.
I realize the words “might” and “possibly” undermine your whack-a-doodle crusade. You’ll counter with, “The science is settled,” but you should understand that when you say that, you lose credibility. Science is never settled, or more precisely, it’s only settled until it’s not: a few hundred years ago the smartest people on the planet agreed the earth was flat and existed at the center of the universe.
If you truly believe that human behaviour is massively and irrefutably causing climate change, you should take a trip to Delhi, India. You’ll still carry on like a zealot and say the city’s suffocating pollution strengthens your case but maybe at the same time, you’ll realize that anything we do in Canada, including paying a carbon tax and hamstringing our resource-based economy, hurts Canadians and will not prevent or even slow the change you claim is occurring. Not when India and China pollute as they do.
Today, flooding in BC, along with deaths and catastrophic damage to infrastructure, tops the headlines. A breathless and excited media say the province is, “…bracing for my rain.” How about we don't allow the media to freak us out anymore? It’s the west coast. It rains in November. Nobody should be surprised.
As bad as conditions are, as devastating as the flooding was, the apocalypse the media seems to want, has not occured. At its worst, the west coast wasn't isolated from the rest of Canada. Vancouver has a huge international airport, there are ports large and small, and at least two roads leading away from the lower mainland remained open. A great number of people worked really hard to reopen the other roads. I suspect when the looming Covid fifth wave didn’t happen as the media hoped it would, and when the West Coast variant storyline didn’t gain traction as they wished, they had to find a new big-red-panic button and that's why we’re seeing headlines like, "BC to experience a 'parade of storms' as atmospheric rivers make landfall."
"Why the BC Floods are not a Climate Change Issue."
Late last year the media kept repeating, “…there’s reason for optimism.” I disagreed. I hoped it would happen but at the time, I saw very few reasons to be optimistic. I think we'll see an improvement in 2022, based on the easing of restrictions that were unnecessary or poorly thought out and a belief that shutting down economies around world caused massive social and economic damage and consequently, probably won’t happen again. Fingers crossed. We'll see what happens with the new Omicron variant. Given the WHO's track record, I'm not overly concerned about falling ill from the variant but I'm extremely worried about the media's coverage of it and the inevitable overreaction by decision makers.
Since fall TV season is upon us, who’s watching season 4 of Yellowstone? That’s a good program. I could do without all the scenes of horses dancing in corals and once again, Kasey’s wife and child are the weakest part of the show. In general, children in TV dramas bring down the quality and Monica has never acted in a consistent or likable manner. Get rid of both of them and the program improves immeasurably. As TV shoot-outs go, the first episode is epic. Everyone’s favourite couple, Rip and Beth, are as fun to watch as ever. I hope the writers don’t screw up that relationship. Discord between couples is a cheap and easy way of creating conflict but I don’t care for it and feel as though smarter writing would make for more interesting situations. If you’re not watching Yellowstone, I’d recommend giving it a try.
Dexter New Blood is okay, I guess. I assume the show is meant for fans of the previous eight seasons, but after a ten year break, I doubt season 9 is drawing many new viewers. Most people agree the show peaked at the end of season 4. Some act dismissively toward the following seasons but that does the series a disservice. Season 6 is when everything came off the rails. The producers made some ground back in season 7 and lost it all in season 8; there’s a reason the ending of Dexter is one of the most disliked finales in television history. Maybe season 9 will redeem the program. So far, it’s not consistent enough to do the job.
The Wheel of Time on Prime has potential. It’s an obvious play for people (which is to say, everyone) who want a program to replace Game of Thrones. There’s a Lord of the Rings vibe to it. The first few episodes resemble the epic fantasy Robert Jordon wrote and published thirty years ago, with the added detriment…uhm…benefit of a healthy dose of identity politics. Why? Game of Thrones couldn’t have existed without Cersei, Daenerys, Arya and eventually Sansa. None of these ladies had to be forced into the Strong Female Protagonist role. George R.R. Martin wrote convincing source material, the writers adapted it for television and talented actors brought the characters to life in an organic way. Unlike the first ten minutes of The Wheel of Time, I didn’t have to be told they were strong characters. Every one of them showed me.
The Expanse season 6 is coming in December. Ozark season 4 in January. I’m looking forward to both.
I said back in June that I’d finished my fourth novel, Femme Fatale, and needed some time to polish it. Well, that job is done and the novel is available at Amazon in eBook and hard-copy formats. It will be available at iTunes as well as many other retailers soon.
For a synopsis, hit the following link:
https://www.kevinlamport.com/femme-fatale
That’s all I’ve got for today. Thanks for reading. Take a few minutes and navigate over to my website. There’s free downloadable chapters, an inexpensive novelette in eBook and audio format and links to my full length novels.
Remember, books make inexpensive Christmas gifts!
Kevin