Briefly Zurich
JFK flight landed at 6:15 am. The Nice flight leaves around 7:30 am. I love floating around, feeling like a rolling stone. Zurich airport is at least 15 times more pleasant and soothing than JFK.
Repeat: Netflix Inviting Wokesters To “Find Another Job If You Don’t Like Some Netflix Content” Is Historic
Is this the first major anti-woke pushback move from a corporate heavyweight? Is this a one-off or (if it turns out to be some kind of seismic indicator) an early indication of an emerging “we’ve had it up to here with your extremist social overhaul routine…we’re good people, we’re not your enemy, but sometimes you might be your own” — almost a Howard Beale moment.
Okay, that’s probably too extreme of a comparison. But Netflix has said that while their commitment to basic humanist-corporate values — caring, decency, respectful, fair pay and zero-tolerance attitudes re hate speech, Netflix will not automatically jump through woke hoops.
What Netflix essentially said to certain employees was “we’re in the mass-appeal streaming business, and not the political-cultural guidance business. So if you don’t like certain topics or plots or themes or jokes or stories (like that relatively recent David Chappelle performance flick), it may mean that Netflix and you (or maybe some of your workplace colleagues) might not be a match.”
Swiss-Lufthansa Purgatory Agony
I arrived at the JFK Swiss Air-Lufthansa terminal a little late — 2:35 pm. (The southbound A train wasn’t running in Manhattan due to signal maintenance.) Right away I sensed trouble. The Chicago stockyards ticket line was moving so slowly (it took 35 minutes to advance 35 feet) that it seemed obvious I wouldn’t make the 4:30 pm flight. Because I would still have the miserable security line to cope with.
So I went into hardcore theatrical do-or-die mode. I began pleading in a muted way. I was begging for mercy but without sounding too much like Blanche DuBois. I rolled my eyes a couple of times. I did everything but drop to my knees and weep. Inwardly I must have hissed “Jesus H. Christ” three or four times.
And I wasn’t the only one. I was watching a 40ish German couple have a fit — “But we’re going to miss our flight!”
I ran through the terminal and made the flight with less than five minutes to spare. God in heaven!
If I hadn’t made such a fuss and demanded that they get the lead out, I would have had to take another flight. If I had the power I would bring those awful JFK Swiss-Lufthansa desk agents up on charges. (Or certainly their managers) Understaffed, overwhelmed, indifferent.
4:59 update: Our plane has been waiting a half hour to take off. 5:15 pm: Liftoff achieved.
12 Hours of Confinement
HE’s Swiss Airlines flight departs JFK at 4:30 pm. Arrives in Zurich (great town!) around 6:15 am, a final commuter hop to Nice that arrives…I forget exactly but probably 9-ish. No bus or shuttle — take the local train to le gare de Cannes.
Third photo: Mickey Rourke, Roman Polanski on the set of The Palace.
Relied on Samsonite
If your Samsonite suitcase loses a wheel, you can supposedly obtain a replacement by way of a ten-year warranty. Actually not so much. The second photo is the Wilton pad — three stories, garage & laundry room. spacious interiors, nice forest view, squawking geese flying over, etc.
Dancing With Mr. G
All sorts of different metaphors could apply to the idea of George Lucas roaming around and popping in at random, but let’s say he’s an emissary of death — Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black except older and with a blue-white checked shirt.
Seems So Unfair When There’s Love Everywhere
…but there’s none for me.
Rod Stewart did a brief interview on Real Time with Bill Maher last night, and it was during this chat that I decided that “Some Guys Have All The Luck” is my all-time favorite Stewart track. In my head the 1973 Persuaders version (written by Jeff Fortgang) doesn’t even exist. The 1984 Stewart version is too perfectly realized — an open-and-shut case.
Stewart was 39 when he recorded “Some Guys” — he’s now 77. He doesn’t look drastically younger, but his appearance is pretty good, considering all the partying. And he seems happy.
In ’86 or thereabouts I party-chatted with Alana Stewart Hamilton, who had divorced Stewart (or vice versa) a year or two earlier. I don’t precisely remember how long I lasted, but it was somewhere in the vicinity of ten minutes, give or take. I remember feeling good about that.
Alito Absolutism Is A Brutal Thing
The current abortion divide between the states “makes me think about the Civil War…pre-Civil War. Because we seem to be going toward this place in America where we’re gonna be two countries. One where you’re a free woman, and another in which it’s a Dred Scott situation.
“When you look at some of the things that are being proposed in some of these [red] states. I mean, Louisiana says flat-out that [abortion] is homicide. When you drive from L.A. to Nevada…on one side fo the border you’re a free person and on the other side you’re a criminal. You can fly across the country and gain and lose your reproductive rights 20 times.”
For Your Consideration
As HE regulars know, Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone is a standout contributor to Voir, the David Fincher-produced Netflix special about movie worship.
Sasha authored and narrated “Summer of the Shark,” a short film about her movie-impressed childhood in the mid ’70s. I shared my enthusiasm five months ago.
Anyway, Netflix is pushing Sasha’s work in two Emmy categories — Outstanding Narrator and Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program.
Wokenstein Cult Robots
These Portland State University students who are former PSU professor hassling Peter Boghossian because he’s playing a “game” that might rattle the delicate sensibilities of trans people or which doesn’t necessarily involve kowtowing to the wokester party line…these students are bad news.
YouTube guy: “These are spoiled children and adult enablers who have never learned anything and want a special status given to them because they demand it. If you disagree it’s ‘harmful’ and if you question it, it’s ‘violence’ against them.”
Anyone who infers that free and open speech might “hurt” or cause “harm” or “trauma” to a non-binary person who uses “they” and”them” pronouns…no offense but if we were living under a third-century Roman dictatorship and I was the dictator, I might have these PSU students thrown to the lions…who knows? It would depend on my mood.
Boghossian: “Following the unexpected cancellation of our Reverse Q&A at Brown University, we created an ad hoc event on the streets of Portland. Here, we are exploring the reasoning behind agreement or disagreement with the claim: ‘There are only two genders.’ We were approached by a group of students and here’s what happened.”
Boghossian’s crew filmed this video on May 11, 2022 outside a Portland State University building that houses the department of social work.