Nothing Succeeds Like Excess

Oh, man. . . the Times has bee reading my blog again. Trump and Swift--Barnum and Bailey, MAGA and Progressives--two sides of the same coin.

Many writers have invoked the Roman writer Juvenal’s phrase “bread and circuses” when discussing the White House’s recent U.F.C. fight on the South Lawn, depicting it as a gladiatorial spectacle meant to distract the masses from the increasingly bleak circumstances of their lives. An American royal wedding unfortunately has the same vibe, a big-budget display of status that will, in the best-case scenario, serve as escapist entertainment for us proles. (One thinks of Ms. Swift’s invocation of the movie “Gladiator”in her Time Person of the Year interview: “Are you not entertained?”)



No one roots for the overdog.

As she sang to her 15-year-old self on her second album, “Fearless,” “In your life, you’ll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team.”

It’s not just that she is finally settling down with the boy on the football team, but that such a highflying spectacle of “having it all” appears to be the culmination of the singer’s three-year career victory lap, ever since she pulled off the record-breaking Eras Tour, which helped make her a billionaire.

Ms. Swift’s music is best enjoyed on headphones in bedrooms, with intimate, evocative lyrics about childhood, breakups, complicated love and secret yearning. Now it seems she feels most at home in stadiums, judging from the broad pop schlock of her most recent album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Even for this momentous milestone in her private life, Ms. Swift apparently can’t imagine a place to stage her next triumph other than a basketball arena.

She is now 36, old enough to run for president.  

2028!

Power to the People!

But that is just me. . . and the columnist.  

I know, I know. . . you'd rather hear about my miserable life.  I'm working on a project idea.  I needed to see storyboards, so I used A.I. to cook some up.  Here's one. 

I'd need a crane for this shot, though.  I might be able to get a ten foot ladder, but I'd need someone to climb up and take the picture, so. . . .  

Even at the Dollar Store, it would cost me $$ to buy everything.  And I'm pretty lazy, or maybe just worn out, these days.  Still, if I could get all my mother's neighbors to be in the picture, it might be fun.  

My mother slept most of yesterday.  I took a sleep aid last night and did ok, too.  I watched a lot of soccer.  My car wasn't ready for pickup, so I will get it today.  My sleep aid was a Xanax, so my nerves aren't as shattered this morning.  I would like to take myself to a good sushi place for dinner, but that remains to be seen.  

I got the broken Ricoh camera shipped yesterday, and I am feeling good about that.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Yes I do.  I know exactly what I was thinking.

"Why don't I have one of those?"

Thinking isn't getting me too far these days.  And don't get me wrong about Taylor Swift.  I don't want to get on the wrong side of things.  I'm no hater.  I hear she did really well in her high school classes.  And as Oscar Wilde so famously quipped, "Nothing succeeds like excess."

Make America Great Again!