Success is a dangerous drug

Safe to say Stephen King has written things that I like. Notably The Shining, Misery, and the stories in Night Shift and Skeleton Crew. But with the volume he's put out I haven't read everything he's written. From the excerpts of it that I've seen, his latest, Holly, looks quite dire.

This article by Kat Rosenfield reviews it and looks at the recent authoritarian turn King seems to have taken. And if I may, there are a few other things that might be going on here. For one thing, having that much money would tend to isolate you, even if you don't want it too. This is the root problem of a lot of celebrities (and wannabes) who express disgust at the corona-spreading MAGA hat people they assume make up the general public. You could call this A-List Syndrome.

Addiction might play a role too. People with substance abuse issues often displace that energy onto other foci. Social media, the chance to gain millions of Twitter followers within days and have them hanging on your every word? It's basically free crack.

No place

I have to admit, I'm wary of utopians. Have been for a long time, I think, although I wasn't able to articulate why. But it comes down to this. There's making improvements, and that's very nice. But when people want to create a better world, who for? You may find that you and yours―and for that matter, people as they actually exist―don't have a place in this future.

This has played out in many areas, I think. Whether it's the idea or the immaturity of those pursuing it is debatable.

Their mark

 

The above picture shows a Minoan seal with what is known as Cretan hieroglyphs. It's rather beautiful in its way. You hear the word "hieroglyph" and right away you think of Egypt. But Crete, off the coast of Greece, had a different set. There were also hieroglyphs in Anatolia, which to us is part of Turkey but which hosted a number of civilizations before that. You could probably call some South American scripts hieroglyphs as well.

Cretan hieroglyphs later developed into Linear A and Linear B, the latter of which was the script for Ancient Greek before they adapted the Phoenician-based Greek Alphabet. I don't know if the other Old World hieroglyphs could have been influenced by the Egyptians'. Obviously a lot was already being said.

Paws for effect

Today while waiting for a bus I saw a woman carrying a small dog. White with brown splotches on the coat, with a sort of pointy snout. As I say, very small. I don't entirely know if this was a puppy or just a small breed. Quiet and well-behaved for either. 

The woman started telling me about her nephew, who had offered to get her some things from the store but apparently (according to her) was just looking for an excuse to get out of the house. Not long after she started my bus showed up, so her story got cut off. I don't regret that.

Still, she was keeping a nice dog. Have to hand that to her.

Men without hats

Current reading: The Mad Hatter Mystery by John Dickson Carr.

Carr was originally from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, which I guess would be considered a suburb or exurb of Pittsburgh. He moved to England, though, because he believed it to be the best place to write detective stories. Moved back and forth between countries a couple of times.

The Mad Hatter Mystery is one of Carr's novels featuring Dr. Gideon Fell. Fell is based on G. K. Chesterton, right down to physical appearance, i.e. heavyset with mustache and eyeglasses on a ribbon. The plot is quite entertaining. And it's a success for Carr as a mystery writer and tourist, as he gets to use the Tower of London as a crime scene.

And I call that education, sophistication

I recently came across an article that was written a couple of weeks ago about David Byrne, a personality in whom I have some interest. The author is evidently a fan too, albeit a disappointed one. And it's true that Byrne's quirky vision seems to have given way to standard wokeness in recent years.

If that's a tragedy, though, it's one that's common to life. There's always been an element of elite judgment to Byrne's work. As Collins himself notes, "The Big Country" expresses disdain towards the natives of America's heartland. It just does so in a bracingly honest way. 

The difference is that in the late 70s and 80s Byrne was a genius, and now he's someone who has been a genius in the past. The spark of divine madness isn't there now.

Again, it's an old story. When was the last great Dylan album? I mean the last that could stand with Blonde on Blonde. It could be argued that David Bowie went out on top with Blackstar, but he certainly had some fallow years. 

So maybe sometime in the future Byrne will return to form and amaze the world with something no one was expecting. Or perhaps not. How much can you fairly expect?

More of the same

Why do the same American politicians keep getting elected, even when they're discredited and/or incapacitated? Polarization, mostly. Most states and congressional districts aren't competitive as regards the major parties. That means that in almost any circumstance, people elected from the favored party can count on being reelected in the general. That being the case, their primary opponents are stymied from making the argument that they'll have a better chance in the November election. And officeholders who don't have to worry about competition from the other party or their own will just keep running until they drop.

How did the states get so polarized when most people aren't extremists? Dunno. Is there a solution? I'm not sure anyone with power even wants one.

John Fetterman beat a weak opponent in 2022 and since then has shown numerous signs of still being afflicted by the stroke he suffered in the middle of the race. The Senate's change of dress code may have been put forward to accommodate him. Whether Pennsylvania is sufficiently blue to reelect him in '28 will be revealed in the fullness of time. 

As for Lauren Boebert, she won't lose her House seat for being a fun date. There's no one in Washington with the right to expect she will be.