My Coldest Damn Winter in Spain

 I have been such a whiny little bitch the past two weeks as we've experienced what I think is the longest cold snap of my time here in Spain. Low temperatures are below five degrees and daytime highs are around fifteen. As you can see in the photo above, there is no end in sight.

In the street, I'd never complain about the cold because it isn't that cold. The problem is my drafty, un-insulated apartment with no central heating. I have a couple of butane gas heaters which do a good job, but if they aren't one, the place is colder than it is outside.

In an effort to make my life a bit more comfortable, I bought an electric blanket. It's no substitute for spring weather, but it makes being in bed more tolerable. I feel like a cold-blooded lizard in this cold and have so little motivation that my bike must think I filed for divorce, although I am making it to the gym to lift.

I'll survive, maybe, but I'm not going to take it like a man or whatever. This is why I never complain about about the heat in the summer. I'd take that seven days a week over these frigid weeks. For me, the cold is like a low-level and constant pain.

                                                15FEB23

 

The Oscar Winner in the Category of “No One Gives a Shit” Goes to…

 

Do we really need to always be talking about race and gender? Is there nothing else? This is from the NYT article I linked:

 The nominations were a mix of welcome surprises and perplexing snubs, as our awards expert Kyle Buchanan noted: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led the tally with actors of Asian descent making a particularly good showing. Yet Viola Davis and other Black stars of well-known films were completely shut out of the running for best actress, and Andrea Riseborough unexpectedly succeeded with an out-of-the-box campaign for her little-seen “To Leslie.” (How little seen? As of this writing its box office take stands at $27,322.)

Our co-chief critic Manohla Dargis is more optimistic about Hollywood*, specifically about the status of women in the industry. Citing a raft of female-driven movies in the last year, she writes, “Despite continuing biases and barriers, women are now directing movies with a variety of budgets, topics and casts. It’s made my job as a critic more exciting.”

Do they hand out race and ethnic scorecards so these writers can keep track? It's not like these awards were ever based on merit (judging art like horse races if just too stupid to ponder in the first place). Why don't we just give everyone an award like we do for children's sporting activities these days?

Rich fuckers giving themselves prizes for being rich and famous. That should set the world right. If the Academy Awards are so racist and sexist, then let’s do away with them altogether. I’m OK with that because I don’t care about prizes for rich creeps, not even a little

*This is what Manhole writes:

“I find it an agony to compile a Top 10 list. There are just too many good and great films, too many titles that I want to celebrate.”

Wow! Really? Great films? I thought that almost everything was pure crap, including most of those being celebrated by the Academy.

Give Peace a Chance?

 Why the world seems so invested in the Russia-Ukraine War is a mystery to me. War is always wrong and stupid and counter-productive. Always. Two third-world countries at war is a normal event in this age when the world’s military elite have everything to say in our day-to-day politics. Everyone in the American military establishmement if foaming at the mouth watching this skirmish roll out as more kindling is thrown on the fire, if you can call tens of billions of U.S. dollars in military hardware “kindling.” It’s like a group of pig farmers cheering on a hot dog eating contest, except they’re complicit in mass murder. 

Give peace a chance? Where’s the money in peace?