Fatness.

I don’t know when it happened, if it was them or me, but I’ve kinda lost my taste for NPR.

It’s been so long since I was a regular listener to commercial radio I can’t even remember — 35 years? Forty? A long time. Obviously nothing should stay frozen in time, especially not a journalism outlet. I don’t miss Bob Edwards, but I miss the personal essays they used to run. I miss the offbeat stories from corners of the world I’ll probably never visit. They’ve been replaced by sometimes painful, flop-sweaty pieces to satisfy someone’s diversity agenda, and what’s worse, they’ve elbowed out actual news.

The other day Alan remarked that one of the January 6 hearings had gotten 30 seconds in the top-of-the-hour news roundup, while a stupid feature on a group called the Lesbian Avengers had gone about eight minutes. What are the Lesbian Avengers? “…An organization that focuses on lesbian issues and visibility through humorous and untraditional activism.” Thanks, Wikipedia. Alan only remembers that they sometimes pass out Hershey’s Kisses with notes attached: “Smile, you’ve been kissed by a lesbian.”

OK, then. Today the story was about Brendan Fraser’s six-minute standing O at the Venice Film Festival, where his latest film debuted. Called “The Whale,” it’s (quoting from the NPR story):

…about a reclusive English teacher (Fraser) who weighs 600 pounds, and as he struggles with his health, tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. A combination of prosthetics and CGI help Fraser as he portrays this character.

The first half of the story was about how beloved Fraser is, by fans and colleagues alike, and how recent years have been rough on him, for a variety of reasons. He’s had some health challenges, and gained weight, although nowhere near 600 pounds. Maybe 40. He’s no longer Hollywood-slender and matinee idol-handsome. He looks like a Green Bay Packers fan. So what, though. In Darren Aronofsky, he’s probably found the ideal director for his comeback. (Remember what he did for Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler.”) So why does the headline for this story read Why Brendan Fraser’s Hollywood comeback story is both warming hearts and raising ire, hmm?

Because an advocate for fat Americans is miffed, that’s why:

Indeed, critics have turned to social media to say that the movie’s premise is inherently dehumanizing. There’s a question of whether it should have been made at all.

Aubrey Gordon, an author and co-host of the Maintenance Phase, a podcast focused on debunking health fads, took to Twitter to call out the movie’s aim.

“It’s so telling that so many only see fat people as ‘humanized’ in media that shows us doing exactly what they expect: living short, small lives; ‘eating ourselves to death’; feeling sad & regretful. All reminders of how tragic it is to be fat, and how superior it is to be thin,” she wrote.

This kind of media just “reinforces viewers’ anti-fat bias,” she wrote.

Gordon is smart, and I’m with her on the inherent societal bias against obesity. (She’s fat, if you haven’t guessed.) Fat acceptance, sign me up. Different-size models in advertising? Yes, please. Fat doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy. But 600 pounds? Any way you slice it, that’s pretty damn unhealthy. One of the undone stories of my career, one I wanted to do for Bridge but left before I could put it together, was on super-obesity, those whose weight has passed the quarter-ton stage and suffer mightily as a result. I met a doctor who paid house calls on those patients, and told me what it leads to, i.e., a spiral. The bigger you are, the harder it is to move, the harder it is to move, the less you move. The less you move, the worse you feel. Which leads to more eating, weight gain, etc. Most of his patients that size were virtual shut-ins, afraid to get out much in the world, for all the reasons you can imagine. Needless to say, everything hurt, especially hips and knees.

Tommy Tomlinson is a gifted writer, a former columnist in Charlotte, married to a former colleague of mine in Fort Wayne. At his heaviest, he weighed 460 pounds, and his memoir, “The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America,” was full of excruciating detail about the million calculations one has to make when you’re that size: Will that chair hold me? Will any other furniture hold me? If I’m not sure, can I stand without social awkwardness? And so on. I read excerpts and felt not anti-fat bias, but deep empathy – we all have our addictions, our weaknesses, and the idea of seeing an actor as talented as Fraser bring this complicated emotional stew to life sounds pretty great to me.

I’m reminded of the backlash to “Fatal Attraction,” the way feminists hollered over the idea of a crazy spurned lover, that it dehumanized single women, etc. As a sane single woman at the time, I didn’t feel dehumanized.

So while I appreciate that NPR is stretching like Elastoman to include the fat person’s perspective, I think this is fairly ridiculous in this context, and if it weren’t for the musical weekends on WDET, I probably wouldn’t give them another dime. There’s a question of whether it should have been made at all! Mercy.

So, bloggage:

It was a pretty fun long weekend for us. We saw Kate play in both of her bands, at the Hamtramck Labor Day festival, and both performances were pretty great. The second band, the side project, is GiGi, which got a little ink ahead of the fest, and I had NO IDEA it had appeared, which shows where my head’s been of late.

A local theme park, Cedar Point, announced it was retiring one of its very edgy coasters, following the injury of a rider a couple years back. The park was not held responsible, for the record. I always thought there was a book in the development of a modern roller coaster. When I started taking Kate to Cedar Point, I was amazed at how high-tech and insanely scary they are, yet still (mostly) safe. They gave me heart palpitations just to look at them, honestly. But I’d read a book like that. Cedar Point, hire me! I’m a good explainer.

Finally, in the bottomless pit of indignities our former president has visited upon our land, here’s this: He tried to pay a lawyer – a Jones Day lawyer, no less! – with a horse.

That’s a good note to end on. Happy Wednesday.

Posted at 8:37 pm in Current events, Media, Movies |
 

49 responses to “Fatness.”

  1. David C said on September 6, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    I remember the last story I listened to on NPR. It was a Planet Money story about people going on disability. I don’t remember who the reporter was. It might have been Adam Davidson. He was talking to people on disability due to back pain. All of them worked either in retail or in manufacturing. They were doing heavy lifting and on their feet all day. Anyway, he throws in “I have back pain too”. Well, so do I. It had such a if I can work through back pain, so can they, libertarian, get back to work you lazy bums feel. That was it for me. I once in a while see something Adam Davidson Tweets and it looks like the Trumpies have cured the worst of his libertarian tendencies. Good for him, but too late for NPR.

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  2. alex said on September 6, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    I thought maybe the hullaballoo would be about Brendan Fraser playing a 600-pounder and not a genuine 600-pounder. Because actors are no longer allowed to play anything they’re not, never mind that acting is supposed to be all about sustaining illusion, not appeasing angry nitpickers.

    Surprised the witches haven’t called for a permanent ban on The Wizard of Oz.

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  3. brian stouder said on September 6, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    My daughter and I gabbed about thrill rides a day ago (she and her friends were discussing a venture to Cedar Point) and I repeated to her my standard policy regarding ‘thrill rides’ – which is “Nope. Not for me” (and/or “I’d hold your stuff”)…. but I DID agree that Cedar Point rides are probably 1000 percent safer (and better maintained) than whippey-whirly-spinney thingeys that roll in on semi trucks, in the outlots of shopping centers and/or fairgrounds. And – that umpteen years ago…..before they built Demon Drop….. I rode all the biggie roller coasters there (I think there were 5 at the time)….and when I did, I screamed every cuss word I knew at the time, and held on tightly, and was ‘stoved up’ for the next week after that! So indeed- they ain’t for me

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  4. beb said on September 6, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    Yes, but the horse was a $5 million brood stallion. You know when you’re a star the mares let you grab them by the withers. (Actually they use a twitch on the mare to keep her from kicking the cojones out of the stallion.) But it raises the question why doesn’t Trump just pay his bills. At least his legal bills since he’s in court so much. Is he really that poor or does he experience some kind of sick pleasure in cheating people?

    I’m going to miss Deadline Detroit. There was usually at least one article each day that I found interesting. And of course there the the “Picture of the Day,” which were uniformally cool. My only regret is that I could not click to enlarge the images the better to see them.

    There is a show on TLC called “My 600 Pound Life” which follows people as they try to lose their weight. This is “immiseration Porn” The subjects whine about how hard it all is, which without a doubt it is, then go and eat several Big Macs and fries. It’s hard to feel sympathy for these people and yet they are sad, cursed people. You don’t gain 600 pounds just be over-eating. There has to be something wrong with their body that allows calories to build up like that. It’s very sad.

    I’m not a thrill-junkie. The one time we went to Cedar Point I looked at their roller coasters and said “No way in hell.”

    Kate in TWO bands? When does she have time to sleep! But good for her.

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  5. FDChief said on September 6, 2022 at 10:52 pm

    When Prairie Home Companion used to air on NPR I’d tune in occasionally while driving, but I’d shut it off as soon as the news came on; reminded me why it was usually referred to as “Nice Polite Rpublicans” – there was no “conservative” atrocity NPR couldn’t BothSides the shit out of.

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  6. Sherri said on September 7, 2022 at 1:06 am

    On our screwed-up health-care system.

    I have a second cousin (the grandchild of my grandmother’s brother). He’s in his 50s now, but has needed care his entire life. He was born with severe developmental problems which meant he was never going to be able to care for himself, and then in adulthood broke his neck and became quadriplegic on top of it. His parents cared for him until his father died, and his mother has cared for him with limited help since then.

    His mother is in her 80s now, and this is no longer sustainable. So she and my cousin are going to move to Texas, where her daughter lives. (Daughter is also in her 50s, and has no children of her own.) the problem is, my cousin is on Medicaid. There is no way to move to another state and maintain coverage with Medicaid. They figure it will be a minimum of three months before they can get him back on Medicaid.

    One of my best friends is married to someone whose brother is in a similar situation. Severe development issues, though without the quadriplegia, been cared for at home by parents for over 50 years, parents now in the 80s and situation becoming less tenable. They’ve long expected that their retirement would mean moving back to his home state to care for his brother, but she’s also an only child, and her parents are not aging well. Plus, while they’re both more conservative than I am, his parents have fallen down the Fox hole and they’re finding it harder to cope with the concept of moving back near them.

    It’s a shame that we value jobs that care for people so little, and provide so little support for people who need care.

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  7. Dexter Friend said on September 7, 2022 at 2:04 am

    As a kid of the 50s and 60s, AM radio was it. Not until about 1970 did FM become sort of claimed by rock and roll and metal, and proclaimed themselves ‘head stations’. At that time softer music stayed with AM stations, and entertainment radio shows hung on a little while, like The Arthur Godfrey Show.
    Car companies started installing FM radios and we had choices as you all know.
    The most important change for me was satellite radio around the turn of the century. I bought mine in 2005 and was instantly hooked. I purposely kept it at home and resisted having it in my vehicles as I wanted to listen to free radio in the car and van. Well, of course now it is on my phone and I can listen to Sirius-XM anywhere, but since I probably have my XM boombox on 6 hours a day in the house, I still listen to regular FM, or silence, in the van. Satellite radio is so cheap (it’s easy to call and say you can only afford like $6 per month, and they’ll hook you up) that I wonder why I never once convinced anyone I know to just go get it.
    NPR, for me, is as lame as my old favorite TV show, CBS Sunday Morning News, which is pitiful these days. Yeah, Charles Kuralt died like 27 years ago and time goes by quickly, but that show crashed and burned after Charles Osgood passed the torch to Jane Pauley. I am convinced the producers must be NYC college interns with no ability to come up with interesting segments.

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  8. Jeff Gill said on September 7, 2022 at 7:42 am

    Was it the entire horse, or just the part the producer got in “The Godfather”?

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  9. Mark P said on September 7, 2022 at 8:46 am

    I heard a promo for an NPR show. They’re doing a deep dive into how Biden handled the extraction from Afghanistan and what he could have done better. Just what we need, and what better time, a piece tearing down Biden’s handling of a big pile of shit left by the former guy. We need that, we really do. Or at least someone does, and they’re wearing a red cap.

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  10. Lou Gravity said on September 7, 2022 at 8:59 am

    Read the article on GiGi. Too bad Jonathan Richmond gave them a song, instead of Boston legend Jonathan Richman.

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  11. Jeff Borden said on September 7, 2022 at 10:06 am

    So, it appears some of the stolen documents discovered at Lar-a-Lago were about nuclear capabilities. Now, what would an incurious dolt who couldn’t be bothered to handle a daily briefing unless it was filled with photos, charts and video links be doing with highly technical, super secret data about nukes? I can only think of a few dozen things and each is more awful than the others. The man is a flat-out traitor and those who support him aren’t much better. Who knew “owning the libs” might mean sharing nuclear secrets with Russia, Saudi Arabia or whoever else might pay a price?\

    Damn, we are a stupid country.

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  12. Julie Robinson said on September 7, 2022 at 11:58 am

    Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, often on podcast, is about the extent of NPR for me these days, for all the reasons mentioned above. Sometimes a few minutes on Sunday morning for the puzzler. The Orlando station is crap. Or is that all of them these days?

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  13. LAMary said on September 7, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    I’ve been a KCRW listener since I moved to LA. Back in the eighties and early nineties they had some quirky local programs about gardening and health. The health show was especially odd. The doctor eventually was sent packing for promoting some questionable medical theories. Nothing dangerous, just odd. That show was satirized regularly on Harry Shearer’s weekend show. The real attraction of KCRW was and still is the music. I can put up with ATC and Morning Edition (but not Scott Simon) as long as they keep the DJs on Morning Becomes Eclectic.

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  14. Icarus said on September 7, 2022 at 12:11 pm

    Because actors are no longer allowed to play anything they’re not, never mind that acting is supposed to be all about sustaining illusion, not appeasing angry nitpickers.

    I know there aren’t a lot of Sci-fi/Fantasy fans here, but some of the latest racist ramblings from the gamers and the incels is that there are too many strong female leads and POC in shows like Ring of Power, She-Hulk and whatever the Game of Thrones spinoff is called.

    On a BSG-1978 FB page I follow, old dudes are still whining that a few major characters were changed from men to women in the reboot. It’s not a good look for them and they cannot figure out why (even with my occasional trolling).

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  15. FDChief said on September 7, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    Re: the current tsuris surrounding the Tolkien casting, it’s kind of adorable how the bros have no issues with “elves” but are insane at the notion of black “elves”.

    The stupid is strong with these gomers.

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  16. Suzanne said on September 7, 2022 at 1:16 pm

    Does anyone remember the news story a few years ago about how most of the people who appeared on The Biggest Loser had gained all the weight back and completely ruined their metabolism in the process? It was incredibly sad. I always thought that show was awful but this confirmed it.

    Trump stole nuclear secrets about other countries. Shocking. Not.
    I am sure he did so his whole time in office. And now he (well, the powers behind him. He’s too stupid) can hold countries hostage and he has leverage to not be indicted by the DOJ (“Nice country you have. If you try to indict me, Saudi’s might slip up and bomb somebody”) I am trying to be optimistic but the GOP is following Viktor Orban’s plan to a tee. Get in office, strip it clean, get rid of any reasonable people, control the courts, and do whatever the heck you want.

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  17. basset said on September 7, 2022 at 2:29 pm

    “to satisfy someone’s diversity agenda…”

    Exactly. We are privileged to have one of the country’s best NPR affiliate newsrooms here in Nashville, but the national stories are generally way too predictable… jusst about everything that’s wrong with our world is either a manifestation of some inequity or the cause of it.

    So when are Shadow Show and/or GiGi going to tour?

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  18. Heather said on September 7, 2022 at 4:39 pm

    I have a friend who is morbidly obese and was in the hospital for the greater part of this year after complications from an operation. I’m not sure how she got so big (she has been for as long as I have known her) but I think the spiral is a major factor. I suspect there are some mental issues involved but don’t really know the details. I was really concerned she was going to die, but she is at least home now.

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  19. Sherri said on September 7, 2022 at 5:28 pm

    It seems that “advise and consent” has become “what can I extract from this process?” Plus Republicans are just generally terrible.

    Senate confirmation is ridiculous, but the Senate itself is ridiculous.

    https://puck.news/washingtons-new-crisis-of-diplomacy/?sharer=9910

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  20. Jeff Borden said on September 7, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    Republicans are weasels. . .hateful, angry, resentful, envious and ignorant as mud. I’ll never vote for another one for any office from dog catcher on up.

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  21. brian stouder said on September 7, 2022 at 5:44 pm

    Basset – and I’m saying this with a smile on my face – isn’t it self-evidently TRUE that , indeed, everything that’s wrong with our world IS a cause or manifestation of inequity? The weather, for example, is always the result of warmer or colder air and higher or lower atmospheric pressure interacting and changing? Human interactions with other groups of humans is subject to all sorts of ‘atmospherics’, including different customs and aspirations, discoveries, fears, misunderstandings….and indeed, one-stop willful ignorance/self-serving belief systems, wherein one group insists WE DO IT THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE DONE! (etc), and y’all are doin’ it wrong….. etc

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  22. Jim said on September 7, 2022 at 6:28 pm

    I think NPR is clearly suffering from a having turnover from older more experienced news staff. Along with “Wait Wait “we really like “Hidden Brain” and “Radiolab”. However, with so many podcasts available now those offerings clearly cannot sustain a national following. Still, IMO, really good local/regional programming.

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  23. Deborah said on September 7, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    About the only thing I listen to anymore on NPR is Fresh Air, and then mostly only when we’re on road trips. I have to sift through their archive to find topics that will be interesting, but most are when we actually listen. I used to listen when I drove to work when we still lived in St. Louis, when we moved to Chicago I walked to work and quit listening. I listened to This American Life a lot when I walked on weekends too. I used to listen to Wait Wait, but haven’t for a while, just got out of the habit.

    Now I listen to a lot of different podcasts, but I skip around choosing what interests me most at the time. I like Heather Cox Richardson’s Now and Then, she and her co-host compare history with current events that I find interesting.

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  24. Deborah said on September 7, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    Have you seen the official Whitehouse portraits of Obama and Michelle? I think Obama’s is quite good, but Michelle’s less so. I like the one of her done for the Smithsonian better. Obama’s done for the Smithsonian is amazing too. Robert McCurdy did Obama and Sheryl Sprung did Michelle for the WH. These portraitists were chosen by the WH historical society. I had heard of McCurdy before, when I was looking for someone to do the portrait of Borlaug for the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, but our client bonged him for a guy who did an official portrait of HW Bush for his library, that artist who was chosen to do Borlaug was a relative of the money behind the WFP. It turned out to be a good portrait anyway, but not spectacular in my opinion.

    Trump was so petty in not allowing the Obama’s portraits to be unveiled while he was in the WH. I hope Biden doesn’t do that to Trump even though Trump and Melania would seem to have no place there because of the crimes committed but historically Trump was elected so… even Nixon and Pat were included along with some other less than distinguished folks.

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  25. Dexter Friend said on September 8, 2022 at 1:42 am

    Barack’s is being mistaken for a photograph, which it is not. Obama told McCurdy to paint him “warts and all”,as realistic as possible. It’s a helluva work of art. Michelle’s is more what we would expect, classic, flattering, wonderful. My sister-in-law crossed paths with Michelle when they both worked at Sidley-Austin LLP, 1 S. Dearborn, Chicago. Michelle was about to quit when my sister-in-law was just starting, as a corporate nurse consultant for damage claims.

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  26. basset said on September 8, 2022 at 6:58 am

    Brian, weather is one of the most egregious examples of that essential unfairness – a worldwide system, controlled outside public scrutiny, which affects a massive variety of underserved and even unrecognized communities. There’s a reason that millions of people have to spend their money on warm coats and rain gear instead of avocado toast, and here’s a professor from some expensive private college to explain what it is and why it affects some constituencies more than others.

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  27. Dorothy said on September 8, 2022 at 8:32 am

    My husband had an aunt, never married and was likely mentally retarded to some small degree, who was morbidly obese. She did work at a hospital in the laundry, but eventually retired from that position.

    We visited her once when we were about 20, and the living room reeked of urine smell. It was difficult not to gag. Later Mike explained that since Rita had gotten so large, she really did not go upstairs anymore. It was a very small row house on Pittsburgh’s South Side, a steelworker’s home. She had a port-a-potty in the room but she evidently had accidents. The only bathroom in the house was upstairs – the staircase was steep and very narrow. Rita’s older sister Dolores visited regularly and took care of her laundry, etc. But that sister resented it and never had a nice thing to say about Rita. It was pathetically sad. When Rita had a stroke she went into a nursing home and never went back home. Dolores was a nasty, vindictive person and I could barely tolerate being around her. She became Mike’s responsibility when she had a stroke and was found on the floor of her condo after four days or so. She too never returned home after that, and spent the remaining few years in nursing facilities, ending up at the VA because she was a retired Army Major. I’m pretty sure I mentioned her before here.

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  28. Dorothy said on September 8, 2022 at 9:04 am

    I forgot to say I watched the live broadcast at the White House yesterday and absolutely loved it. I think both portraits are amazing. And I laughed out loud when President Obama said “When people ask me what I miss most about the White House years, it is not Air Force One that I talk about. Although, I miss Air Force One.” It was the way he said it that was so funny. If you haven’t seen the clip please search for it.

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  29. Julie Robinson said on September 8, 2022 at 10:06 am

    Weren’t Obama’s quips great? The painter of his portrait refused to take gray out of his hair or reduce the size of his ears, but he did talk him out of wearing a tan suit. And of Michelle, it showed her grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she’s fine. Barry O, you remain mighty fine yourself.

    Anyway, some exciting news I’ve been waiting to share: our niece has a book out and an accompanying article in Vanity Fair! Chris is an architectural historian and the book is about the role of architecture in Hitchcock movies. She’s been laboring on this book for almost 10 years, and D has been helping in his areas of expertise, marketing and general all-around hand-holding.

    Here’s the article: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/modernist-building-in-north-by-northwest-changed-cinema-forever

    And here’s the book: https://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Suspense-Hitchcock-Midcentury-Landscape/dp/0813947677/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QH91C79K0OCH&keywords=the+architecture+of+suspense&qid=1662645717&sprefix=the+architecture+of+su%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1

    Sorry for the long links. Most of it’s over my head, but Deborah, I think you’d enjoy it.

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  30. Deborah said on September 8, 2022 at 10:59 am

    Julie, I’m definitely ordering that book, thanks for mentioning it here. My husband will find it fascinating too, he’s a huge Hitchcock fan too.

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  31. Julie Robinson said on September 8, 2022 at 11:30 am

    Thank you, Deborah. She’s been working on this for so long, trying to get traction in her field, that it feels like a triumph for her. We got an early copy and the print is so dang small we may have to get the ebook too. Can’t really sign an ebook, though.

    The print version of the magazine releases tomorrow, and we have to get her to sign that too.

    She’s been getting so many speaking requests that she can’t do them all. As a result she’s bumping up her fees.

    This is most excellent because they now have two in college.

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  32. basset said on September 8, 2022 at 11:34 am

    Been watching BBC coverage of the Queen’s situation on my phone and imagining how overwrought it must be on Fox’s corporate cousin Sky News… will be home shortly and fire up the Roku for a comparison. Not looking good for her, though.

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  33. Dorothy said on September 8, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    I think you’re right, basset. People don’t rush to the bedside of someone unless the end is near. I’m guessing she had a major issue – heart attack or stroke maybe – in the last day and they’re saying their goodbyes and paying respects. Harry must be relieved (is that the right word?) that he was already in Europe so he’s going to get a chance to see his Gran.

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  34. FDChief said on September 8, 2022 at 12:51 pm

    Every so often something reminds me what a ridiculous idea that “hereditary monarchy” remains a government option in the 21st Century.

    That said, the one thing about the news from Windsor that I’d be fascinated to actually know is how much of her seemingly endless tenure owes to Liz despising her eldest crotchfruit and vowing to outlive him and prevent his accession if humanly possible. Seems at least possible given the appalling domestic saga of the family…

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  35. ROGirl said on September 8, 2022 at 1:35 pm

    BBC has reported the Queen has died.

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  36. FDChief said on September 8, 2022 at 2:27 pm

    THAT was quick!

    Somehow it seems less interesting without a muttering crowd of vulturine courtiers hovering over the Royal Deathbed and the Heir carousing away in some rural hunting lodge to be interrupted by the messenger shouting “The Queen is dead! Long live the King!”

    We live in a sadly drear age for royalty.

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  37. Joe Kobiela said on September 8, 2022 at 2:29 pm

    Rest In Peace Elizabeth.
    If you have time, look up fox19 out of Cincinnati there is a short feature on the Kenton county library.
    My cousins son Sam is the guest.
    Pilot Joe

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  38. LAMary said on September 8, 2022 at 3:18 pm

    RIP Queen Elizabeth.
    I am a terrible shallow person. The first time I heard the commentator on the BBC refer to King Charles I thought of a spaniel.

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  39. Dave said on September 8, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    Basset, as a huge fan of all things Beatles, have you heard of a fictional book named The Boys Next Door, a story of a American student spending the summer as an exchange student in Hamburg, who ends up living in a disgusting room next to John, Paul, George, Stuart, and Pete? I’ve just started reading it, he meets Astrid, is smitten, but finds himself in competition with Stuart.

    The Queen is gone, longevity seems to run with those folks, I had to look up to see just how old the Queen Mother was. She was 101 and has been gone 20 years already.

    About the only radio station I ever listen to on broadcast radio is NPR because I didn’t find much else either here or in Tampa Bay that I wanted to listen to. Can’t listen to endless oldies, certainly don’t find modern music doing much for me, so NPR. There are so many things one can search out to stream, though.

    Joe, is your family member the young man sitting at a table by himself looking at a laptop or the bearded man looking at a laptop?

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  40. Kath said on September 8, 2022 at 3:28 pm

    I’m amazed that Charles went with Charles III as his regnal name. I would have gone with trusty old George VII.

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  41. FDChief said on September 8, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    Charles 3, first Chaz for the Brits since the 17th Century (and the only non-Stuart).

    So far I’d say they’re 1-1 for Charleses. #1 was a disaster, #2 was fun. This one looks like a parody of a Python Upper Class Twit, but we’ll see…

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  42. Joe Kobiela said on September 8, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    Dave@39,
    He is being interviewed by a local anchor, fox 19
    Pilot Joe

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  43. Sherri said on September 8, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    Of the Queen, I think she served an outdated, problematic institution well. She held it all together, which I think she saw as her job. Someone is going to have to redefine or wind it down, but that was not Elizabeth II. She was status quo.

    There’s a lot to be said for being able to do that for 70 years. I don’t think King Charles III will be nearly as good at it, nor do I think he’ll be the one to redefine it effectively. Personally, I would have started by not taking as my regal name a predecessor who was deposed by Cromwell…

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  44. Dave said on September 8, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    Joe, I think they’ve cut him out: https://www.fox19.com/video/2022/09/06/kenton-county-library-library-card-gives-resources-far-beyond-books/

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  45. Joe Kobiela said on September 8, 2022 at 4:28 pm

    Dave I think it was on this morning it was about a African American exhibition.
    Not sure how to link it.
    His name is Sam Bloom
    Pilot Joe

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  46. Icarus said on September 8, 2022 at 4:33 pm

    The whole Royal Family/Monarchy thing is fucked up. If someone has twins, the first one out of their Toddler Tunnel gets to be the next heir to the throne. And didn’t some people have to abdicate in order to marry someone they loved because that person was (gasp) divorced? And wasn’t there a thing about Princess Diane needing to be a virgin?

    Burn that shit to the ground.

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  47. Deborah said on September 8, 2022 at 4:34 pm

    Betty was impressive as a young woman during the war, she served well. I also aways liked her corgis they’ll probably miss her but will be well taken care of, I’m sure. I hope King Charles’s consort, Camilla doesn’t take charge of them, she’d probably kick them around.

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  48. basset said on September 8, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    Sounds really interesting, Dave, and I have a brand-new Amazon gift card sitting here just waiting to be used.

    Ego bump of the day is Mrs. B’s sewing machine going over 25,000 views on the YT since it was posted last Friday. It was a prop in a story which ran on cable and recently got posted to YouTube… a Singer “Featherweight,” from just after WW2 if I remember right, replaces a 1939 model we lost in the flood.

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  49. Dorothy said on September 8, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    Basset Featherweight machines are highly sought after for quilters (and other kinds of sewing folk) but my primary focus is quilting). If you can find one in good working order, it’s a good idea to snatch it up if it’s priced reasonably. I do not own one. But they’ve been a desired object for a long time. (I’ve been quilting since 1986).

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