Day: January 29, 2025

From HE commenter Fabio Silva (posted today):

“While doing press in Brazil Karla Sofía Gascón accused the “Fernanda Torres team” (i.e., those representing Walter Salles‘ I’m Still Here, in which Torres stars) and “those around her” (her words) of talking badly about her and Emilia Pérez in social media, adding that this “says more about them and their picture than about herself (Karla)”.

“While Oscar campaigns are known to be dirty, and I certainly wouldn’t put my hand in the fire for Sony Pictures in this occasion, this is the first time that I can remember in which a major nominee has accused a fellow nominee by name [of playing dirty pool].

“This is a violation of Academy rules.

“Waldemar Dalenogare is a Brazilian journalist and member of the Critic’s Choice Association.”

Essa entrevista aqui é lamentável. Já tinha avisado desde o começo de janeiro: Netflix usa a Karla na linha de frente da campanha para criar uma narrativa que as críticas ao filme não são orgânicas. E aos poucos vão tentando colar isso nos brasileiros. https://t.co/0JvFqaYtRz

— Waldemar Dalenogare (@DalenogareW) January 29, 2025

…but when it comes to children being preyed upon by lunatic lefty teachers and administrators allied with the trans community, I’m not altogether upset by this one. I see it as a form of possible protection for my granddaughter, so I’m sorry but I’m in agreement.

The trans community undoubtedly sees this as a setback. The fact is that they overplayed their hand. They brought this on.

@michaelshellenberger

Trump has, blessedly, restricted gender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers for kids. But why did this scandal go on for so long? Part of the answer is money. Another is the rise of the "trauma" therapy cult. And, at the heart of trans medicine, is an anti-human nihilism.

♬ original sound – Shellenberger

I’m not actually “serious” about trying to launch any of these therapeutic or advice concepts into actual going concerns, but I could easily dispense HE-styled wisdom and insight along these lines if so required. I have the ability to bullshit people and convey meaningless-but-harmless insights in a kindly, thoughtful, considerate way…as much of an ability of any licensed therapist or psychologist or social counselor.

1. HE Dating Academy, an HE-related, interactive dating advice website: “How to attract top-tier women if you’re a socially primitive shut-in…an under-educated 20something or 30something flatliner who’s generally un-travelled, spends most of his time online and who’s either unemployed or has a relatively low-paying, going-nowhere job. And who drives an older, starting-to-feel-shitty car.”

2. HE Advice to the Lovelorn (self-explanatory): A lifetime of experience and gathered wisdom offered to young men & women whose prospects of finding someone really special to fall in love and partner with in the mid 2020s are, let’s face it, pretty close to zilch. How to look good (get in shape & lose weight, avoid shitty foods, don’t wear whitesides or collared flannel shirts), how to smell good and wear interesting hair (no shaved heads or tennis-ball coifs) and how to speak intelligently about…well, many things.

3. HE Philosophical Counselling (self-explanatory): What does it all mean & where are most of us headed? Don’t ask. A been-around, seen-it-all veteran of hard-knocks living and the proverbial, turbulent romantic trenches is offering improvisational but serious, solemn but freewheeling therapy. Unlicensed or Mumford-styled counselling. (It goes without saying that Mumford sessions are not synonymous with the lessons of Roger Dodger.) Less costly than what licensed therapists charge but just as good in terms of exploring the vagaries of life and discovering various eternal / mystical truths and possibly even attaining tangible, take-it-to-the-bank results, and which will certainly be more entertaining than traditional therapy.

Has anyone noticed? Nobody talks about it. The hate conversations are about Emilia Perez and The Brutalist, of course, and the love conversations are about Anora, Conclave and A Complete Unknown, and the “yeah, liked it, really good” conversations are about A Real Pain and I’m Still Here and maybe September 5. But nobody even mentions Wicked. It’s “there” but nobody’s paying attention. It’s totally fallen by the wayside. Not happening. Unless, that is, Ariana Grande wins for Best Supporting Actress. Which is possible.

It was one thing to listen to Caroline Kennedy’s recollection of the behavior of young Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: “I watched his younger brothers and cousins follow him down the path of drug addiction…his basement, his garage, his dorm room were always the center of the action”…that was one thing. But the remainder of her sentence really put a chill into my system: “…where drugs were available and he enjoying showing off how he put baby chickens and mice into a blender, to feed to his hawks.”

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“Anyone who posts a video of herself crying and posts it to the internet should be disregarded and ignored automatically” — agreed.

I didn’t know what to do or say when Selena Gomez‘s weeping video hit a couple of days ago (i,e, sometime on Monday), although I did know right away that she/it pushed too way hard.

Plus it struck me as a tad ungenuine for an actress who “grew up speaking Spanish but lost her fluency around the same time she began her Hollywood career as a kid“, and was therefore obliged to “spend months relearning the language for her Emilia Perez role as the trophy wife of a Mexican cartel boss.”

42 and 1/2 years ago I interviewed this famous, emotionally emphatic 50 year-old woman for an Us magazine interview to promote E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. She was 7 years old at the time, and now she’s on the fucking cover of AARP’s print publication.

I feel like I’m on a time toboggan, and it’s going faster and faster.