Welcome To The August 12th Edition

1. Star Trek...the JJ Abrams Series  
2. The Rio Olympics Week One.
3. Spuditorial – The Trump Funeral Procession

Star Trek–The JJ Abrams Series

Over the years I have become a big fan of JJ Abrams. He has more energy than 1000 Energizer Bunnies and he really knows how to create incredible amounts of excitement in a movie that doesn’t just depend on CGI effects.
Tonight we watched the very first in his Star Trek movie series, which introduced Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock respectively.
This film was released in 2009, but its effects are so good that it really looks like it could have come out last year.
There’s an art to making these kinds of movies. Part of it comes from a deep reverence for the source material and the legendary characters that were created literally half a century ago now.
The other part is creating stories that make sense to the audience, because the audience is a mix of people, most of whom have some sort of prior experience with the franchise either from TV or the earlier movie series with the original TV cast.
I’m not very good at remembering plots of movies like this, which is a good thing because, to me, watching this nine year old flick was kind of like seeing it for the first time.
What I saw was the beginning of a new franchise with a great cast, a pretty amazing story and a guy running the show who really knows what he is doing.
This movie is floating around on Bravo these days. So if you’re looking for a couple of well wasted hours, this is as good a bet as almost any to fill the bill.

The Rio Olympics 2016

Despite all the hype that was being generated about the political turmoil in Brazil (oh gee), and how the venues were way behind schedule yadda yadda, everything appears to be coming off without anything other than the regular Olympic hitches.
I’m really getting to the point where I’m starting to understand just how fucked up the media has become. Somehow they have got it into their collective tiny brains that that everything has to be some sort of train wreck before people will pay attention to it.
That may very well be true, but honestly, it’s nothing more than a conditioned reflex that too much exposure to too much bad shit will generate in people.
This of course, leads directly into a new world order discussion, but I won’t go there, because I don’t want to play that game.
What we watched this week mostly was bike racing, with a very fast talking almost incomprehensible Aussie commentator, women’s rugby, with is a pretty interesting game that I only pay attention to during the Olympics, men’s volleyball, which makes hockey look like a pussy sport, beach volleyball which is less violent than the full game but pretty nasty nonetheless, women’s gymnastics, which I’m not too big a fan of. (way too much arched-back perkiness for me) and swimming and diving.
Being big sports watchers we were thrilled to see Michael Phelps on his way to being the most awarded swimmer in Olympic history. But being Canadians we are extremely proud to see a 16 year old girl named Penny Oleksiak achieve the honour of being the most awarded Canadian swimmer ever.
She got there (her 4th medal) in a rare tie in the 100 metre freestyle event. And as of this posting I think she still has a couple more races to go. Woot Woot.
Bottom line. It doesn’t matter what you think about politics. It only matters that you like to watch amazingly talented people doing whatever it is they are amazingly talented at for a couple of weeks every four years.
This may not always be a level playing field, and the organization that runs the Olympics may be as corrupt as it gets. But the athletes (except for a few cheaters) are what make this a great event. Screw all the rest of that crap. Let the insipid media talking heads rip it to shreds politically.
This is world class sport at its best.

Spuditorial: The Trump Funeral Procession (Mostly on CNN and my Facebook Wall)

As many of you know I am a big fan of Donald Trump. He’s my hero. He is, by his own admission, the only American, with emphasis on the only, who can wipe out ISIS and make America great again all in the space of a couple of days once he is made president.

I don’t let the fact that he is a narcissistic asshole get in the way of my admiration for him. I see him every day on CNN and he’s all over the Internet. I also admire his ability to get people to believe anything he says no matter how crazy it sounds. Because it’s a crazy world out there folks, and you need a crazy guy to light the way.
Mr Trump’s sense of family values are off the charts as well and we all know how important a quality that is for a great president. He’s only been married three times, which for someone like him is not actually a lot. He freely admits that his daughter is so hot that if she weren’t his daughter, we would definitely be dating her. Can’t you feel the love?
One of thing that makes him a great politician is his astounding ability to reposition his competitors simply by calling them names like Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, and then his classic, Crooked Hillary, and then using his finely tuned management skills to completely control the narrative.
He also possesses this uncanny ability to pander to any group he’s talking to. Just a couple days he was speaking to a group of pastors and announced that the only way he is going to get into heaven when he dies is if he is elected president.
This is pure genius. Right on the same level as speaking in Alabama and holding a bible in one hand and his ghostwritten bestseller, The Art Pf The Deal in the other, defying Christians to tell the difference.
I also greatly admire the way Mr Trump is playing his policy statements very close to the vest. There are a lot of people, many of them Republicans, who are arguing that he keeps his platform well hidden because he doesn’t actually have one. But I don’t believe that for a minute. This man is a great thinker and I’m sure it’s all up there under that beautiful blonde comb-over.
The only thing that saddens me about Mr Trumps campaign is the way it’s starting to crumble beneath his Gucci loafers. What is wrong with the American people? Don’t they see that the only way forward is with a man who knows how do deal with bankruptcies, is a master at screwing his suppliers and making deals that benefit only himself? I mean all this is obvious.
Just think of how all that deviousness could benefit the country, and make them the envy of the world.
I am mystified. Donald Trump is the perfect candidate for the times we live in. But it’s quite likely that by November, all he will be left with is the same bunch of ignorant redneck assholes he started out with.
How sad is that for America? Electing another Democrat who will carry on the current administration’s policies and, if possible, improve on them.
A fate worse than death, according to Mr Trump, and he should know as he has been a big democratic supporter…until he wasn’t.
This is a tragic time in American history…a time that will be remembered for the valiant and hard fought effort of one man to become supreme Dictator of the world's greatest democracy. To build his personal brand to world class status. And to put in place a system, not dissimilar to that of his good friend Vladimir Putin, who is reportedly syphoning off more than $20 billion a year.
I do hope America has a change of heart over the next few months and starts to see the futility of democracy, especially when they have a world class demagogue to put into power.
Don’t fuck up this moment in history, America. Do the right thing, eh.

The Couch Potato Chronicles is a semi regular feature in BeBee Publisher. It's opinions are my own. Please feel free to like, comment and share as you see fit.

If you want to read more of my stuff, you can do that here:

https://www.bebee.com/publisher/@jim-murray

Download my free ebook, Small Business Communications For The Real World, here:

https://onwordsandupwords.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/small-business-communications-for-the-real-world/

All my profile and contact information can be accessed here:

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/this-post-is-my-about-page

All content copyright 2016 Jim Murray.

"""""