Happy New Year!
2021 is over. Phew.
The Fitzsimons Clan got together on Christmas Day for food, fun, and festivities. All who were there were vaxxed and boosted. Well, my son hadn’t been boosted yet, but he is now.
We had been invited by another part of the family for a Christmas Eve gathering for food, fun, and festivities, but we begged out. We had other plans. Plans that were to spend a quiet night at home watching Breaking Bad.
And Then There Was Omicron
Let us not dwell too long on the latest variant that has taken the world by storm. It rose right up the charts to hit number one in no time at all. Omicron is more contagious than delta, the previous number 1 variant, but it appears to be milder, especially for those who have been vaccinated and boosted.
So, for the love of Mike, getting vaccinated and boosted if you haven’t already. What are you waiting for? The next letter in the Greek alphabet?
Speaking of Breaking Bad
Amy and I binge watched Breaking Bad over the Christmas season. It was our second time watching the series and I have a few observations.
First is the observation made by plenty of other folks about the series being an indictment of the American healthcare system. Not the quality of care, but how a hospital stay can bankrupt people without good insurance. Memes have been made to point that out. But, it’s not just lead character Walter White that is hit with that American reality. There is another of the main characters whose health insurance isn’t enough to provide the top quality treatment they require. And that character works for the government!
Some might argue that without America’s horribly expensive healthcare system we wouldn’t have great TV shows such as Breaking Bad and its spinoff Better Call Saul.
Hmmm. It is a hard choice, but I’m willing to sacrifice a couple TV shows for a Canadian style healthcare system in the States.
Second, Amy had told me the show’s creator Vince Gilligan wanted to see how far he could push the audience’s liking of Walt. Walt does some pretty horrible stuff. He goes from Mr. Rogers to Scarface over the course of five seasons. And I still rooted for him.
The show gave us likeable villains. But there was one group of villains I never warmed up to: The Nazis that showed up late in the series. They were assholes right from the get go. Well, one of them was likeable, I guess. However, he never does or says any of the Nazi nonsense. He seems to be able to take it or leave it. He’s an absolute psychopath, but not much of a Nazi.
Third, I think the main characters must all be somewhere of the Autism spectrum. There are so many scenes in which one of those characters will talk and talk and talk to another of the main characters and never notice that character’s emotional state. We in the audience can see it. Hell, I took to crying out “Read the room!” whenever one of those scenes came up.
But finally there was this scene!
Joe Biden Is The President!
On the anniversary of Fearless Loser’s failed coup attempt, President Biden gave a speech in which he laid into the loser of the 2020 Presidential election and his supporters in the Republican Party. Fearless Loser lost. He lost by seven million votes. He lost. He lost! For fuck’s sake! He lost!
It was a great speech. The best I’ve heard from Biden.
I haven’t heard how the Fox Propaganda News entertainment hosts have reacted to the President’s take down of the Loser (He lost!), but I have heard that they took exception with VP Kamala Harris comparing the dark day of January 6, 2021 to the dark days of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. “Psssh! That day wasn’t like Pearl Harbor! Now, the day our Christmas Tree was burned down – that was like Pearl Harbor! But not the peaceful tourist visit on January 6th. As if!”
And, you know what? They are kind of right. They are wrong if they are suggesting it wasn’t a dark day for America, but they are kind of right that it wasn’t 9/11 or Pearl Harbor. Those events were attacks on America from the outside. 1/6 was an attack on America from the inside. Instigated by a sitting, albeit lame duck, President. HE LOST!
A better comparison, in my opinion, would be April 12, 1861 and the attack on Fort Sumter, the beginning of the American Civil War. That was an attack on America by Americans. They just didn’t have a President egging them on back then. They did have a sitting US Senator (Jefferson Davis) cheering on the attack, though.
Dipshit congressperson and wannabe racist standup comic, Loren Boebert tweeted on the day of the assault on American democracy that “Today is 1776.” Wrong. It was 1861.
Watch Pres. Joe “I won by seven million votes” Biden’s 1/6 Anniversary speech here. It’s brilliant!
Cool Thing: Dry Cleaning (The Band Not The Laundering Process)
Not wanting to end the show on a bummer, I recommended checking out the video for UK band Dry Cleaning’s Scratchcard Lanyard (I mistakenly called it Scratched Lanyard, d’oh!). It’s a cool song. They’re a cool band. And it’s a cool, if a little creepy, video.
Mask up! GET VACCINATED! GET BOOSTED! And if you have been vaccinated, THANK YOU!
Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: Monkeys by Echo & the Bunnymen and Cig Machine by The Suburbs
Second ad break bumpers: Second Guessing by REM and The Queen of Eyes by The Soft Boys
Closing song: Angler’s Treble Hook by $5 Fiddle
That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
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