BIG LITTLE LIES

A key to understanding the rigor of this show is how thoroughly it rejects the possibility, raised by Jane, that "violence is part of Ziggy's blood." That would imply that she's to blame for hypothetical acts of violence on his part, or indeed any fallout from her fateful encounter. When in fact she's a lovely person and a very good mother, and that's never in doubt to those reading between the lines.

Instead, the finger is pointed where it really belongs. When Ziggy finally reveals the kid who's been hurting Amabella, I exclaimed "Oh my god" out loud. I knew it, but his revelation closed the enormous circle this show had been drawing. Everything made sense and it was just as horrible as it needed to be.

There's an unusual inversion to the Greek chorus conceit in BIG LITTLE LIES. The onlookers are just ignorant commentators, and the main characters' problems can't be reduced to snide quips. Everyone's pain is deeply felt and expressed. Outsiders can't understand, nor do they want to.

(Crucially, none of the supporting characters play much of a role in what unfolds. Celeste, Jane, Renata, Bonnie, and Madeline are changed forever, while the community at large can only smirk from afar. To give any more weight to the glib outside perspective would be to deny the seriousness of what was really happening in Monterey.)

Week 10

East and Southeast Asia will soon become a major trading bloc all their own.

Here's something unexpected: for decades, indeed almost all of post-war US American history, it was the Democrats who benefitted most from gerrymandering. Recent Republican gerrymanders can therefore be seen as an overcorrection, though of course anything the Republicans do will have a more pernicious motivation.

No amount of alcohol use is safe, as all benefits of moderate drinking are outweighed by the risks. Bleak, honestly.

Kelley Dong on Twilight.

Week 9

Before Ross Perot came Pat Buchanan, and before him: David Duke. Great epidemiology here, though I'm going to add that Buchanan's influence lives on quite literally through The American Conservative, a publication I monitor for trends in the conservative netherworld. More than just a symbolic forebear, Buchanan's influence persists to this very day.

Speaking of epidemiology. More proof that the scientific can't fully be understood without the social.

Really needed this argument that Abe is a lame duck with constraints facing him on every side.

I always thought my need to document disappearing places was something personal and melancholic, maybe shared with a few others at most. Turns out there are thousands upon thousands of others, and they've been digitally archiving the real world with obsessive intensity. I'm amazed at the connections Kate Wagner was able to draw from this phenomenon, many of which dovetail with my own perception of life under capitalism.

The economics of K-Pop. Hard not to feel like the best years are behind us, and that K-Pop is destined to become smaller and more niche. I've definitely been wondering how a group like Loona can expect to see any revenue with all the money lavished upon it by BlockBerry.

I was surprised how much this article describes my own experiences online. (And yes, let continental drift take Facebook away.)