Ken's Blog

We have already seen that our current president values holding onto power above anything else. It is clear from his recent actions that he cares not at all about either the health, safety and economic well-being of Americans nor about the freedom to express opposing ideas that until recently was largely taken for granted in the U.S.

It’s also obvious by now that the upcoming midterm election will result in Republicans losing their majority in the House. As we saw in Wisconsin, anger will now drive Democratic voter turnout to consistently surpass Republican turnout.

Which means that the only play left for this rogue president and his enablers is to scuttle the midterm elections. So the important question now is this: What pretext will he use for declaring martial law between now and November 2026?

And here is the logical follow-on question: Given what’s at stake, what can patriotic Americans do to counter that move?

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Microsoft. Far from the behemoth that it is today, it started out as just two guys creating a partnership in Alberquerque, New Mexico.

I wonder how many stories we could tell about the humble origins of mighty corporations. For example, The Walt Disney Company started out as a ragtag little independent animation house in Kansas City, as a partnership between Ub Iwerks and some other young fellow.

I am watching my favorite TV show yet again. This is my fifth time through the entire series, and it gets better each time.

I am in the middle of Season 1, Episode 3, and one of my favorite lines was just spoken:

“First vampires, now witches. No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale.”

How can you not love such a show?

An NYU film student asked me today what I thought about making movies for VR. I’ve seen a fair number of VR movies, and I’ve made some myself, so I guess I’m qualified to answer.

My opinion, after seeing (and taking part in) the past decade or so of experimentation in this area, is that it’s not a very good idea. Not that I have anything against VR.

In fact, I think VR is awesome, and there is a lot of amazing content out there. But I’ve reached the conclusion that the frame, the proscenium, whatever you want to call it, is essential for good storytelling.

A good filmmaker will make powerful use of that frame, to focus the attention of the audience, to create dramatic tension, and to define the world that contains the action. If you lose that rectangle, you are losing one of the most powerful and effective tools of visual storytelling.

So while I love VR, I don’t think it’s the future of movies. And that’s what I told the student.

I had an unsettling thought today.

I realized that if you were to say “Wow, it’s as though The Onion has become a documentary,” everybody would know exactly what you were talking about.

That’s not a good thing.

In many parts of the United States, it has long been understood to be dangerous to be DWB. As you may know, that is shorthand for “driving while black”.

In a somewhat parallel development, it seems that it is now dangerous in the USA to be SWI. Or, in other words, “studying while Islamic”.

For some reason, last night I started thinking about John Astin. I wasn’t sure why.

He had many wonderful roles, but my favorite by far was Gomez Addams in the original Addams Family TV show. His unique sense of intelligent playfulness in that show was a great inspiration for many people, including myself.

But then I started to wonder — why did I start thinking about John Astin just now? And by the way, what has become of him? Is he still alive?

Then today I happened to see on Wikipedia that today is his birthday. The great man was born on March 30, 1930 — and yes, he is still with us.

Now I am wondering — did I somehow already know about his birthday? Or was my thinking about him just now simply one of those magical coincidences?

In any case, I am delighted that one of my childhood heroes is still around to inspire us. And I hope that many people will join me in wishing him a very happy 95th birthday!

It’s not the meanness and focus on petty retribution that worries me most about what is going on now in Washington D.C. — although those things are indeed worrisome. It’s the astonishing level of amateurish incompetence.

It’s like somebody says they will fix your car, and then they proceed to smash it to bits with a sledgehammer. But in this case it’s a government that is being smashed to bits.

And that means the stakes are very high. When idiots start dismantling the mechanisms required for a nation to function, people suffer and people die.

After these goons are voted out (assuming that your vote will still count by then), I wonder how people will remember all this.

I’m imagining a future poll in which citizens are asked how they voted in 2024. I suspect that the number who are willing admit that they voted for this clown will be very close to zero.

Somebody asked me today whether it bothers me that I am getting older.

Without really thinking about it, I responded: “I have no problem with getting older. I have a problem with not getting older.”

Let’s all hang out on Signal
I hear it’s quite the hoot
Where you meet the finest people
And journalists to boot

You can plan attacks on Yemen
And share that with your bros
And with everybody else, in fact
‘Cause that’s the way it goes

When a very stable genius
Picked you to head armed forces
‘Cause he likes your pretty TV hair
So critics, hold your horses

For at least one person’s happy
I can tell as sure as shootin’
See, what’s happened to our country is
The greatest gift to Putin