Great Characters Make Great Stories

Two sides of the same coin.

John Daniel Davidson has a piece in which he talks about the "literary genius" of Justified, it's good and worth a look, but I think it could be more accurately titled "Great Characters Make Great Stories".

In the world Yost and Leonard spun out of one of those “oddball tales,” Boyd is no more a villain than Raylan is a hero; each man is a kind of shadow of the other, ill-suited to their assigned roles and unfit for the wider world. Cold and remorseless, justified in all his killings, Raylan is knotted up with anger and violence. His moral conscience amounts to allying himself with the law, though he ignores it when it’s convenient and flouts it openly to protect an ex-wife he loves but refuses to be with.

By contrast, Boyd exudes a kind of joie de vivre amid his many depredations while betraying a moral sensitivity far more developed than Raylan’s. He does wrong but doesn’t try to justify it to his conscience. In season three, Boyd kills a man on his crew, Devil, after learning of the man’s plans to betray him. While dumping the body, Boyd quotes something his father used to say: “Once you make up your mind to kill a man, ain’t nothing left to talk about.”

For me, what really makes Justified a great story is the complexity of Boyd and Raylan. Neither man is the classic one-dimensional hero or villain, and their interactions are the best part of the show. It's almost like they are each other's alter-ego, and I could almost see Boyd coming over to the right side of the law as easily as you could see Raylan slipping into a life of crime. Perhaps there's something to be said about how these two characters embody the opposing forces in human nature, and how they struggle against one another.

Similarly, the character of Walter White is probably why I liked Breaking Bad so much. Walter White was a complicated character, and it was fascinating to watch his story unfold. The transition of Walter White from a high school chemistry teacher to drug kingpin was quite a character arc than ended the only way it really could.

Hopefully, Justified wraps up as nicely as Breaking Bad did. Boyd Crowder may be one of the few "bad guys" I'd like to see get away. Maybe.

The NFL and the Nature of Large Organizations

By now, everyone has seen the horrible video footage of Ray Rice knocking his then fiancee (now wife) out cold in an elevator during an argument. It's an absolutely horrible thing to watch.

The big story now is not the domestic violence itself, but rather, how the NFL handled the issue. Originally, the NFL suspended Rice for two games. Now, after the release of this video, the Ravens have cut (fired) Rice, and his football career is all but over - permanently.

Of course, there are now all sorts of stories with the point of The NFL Knew About Ray Rice....And Did Nothing!

This morning, I was watching knuckle-head Joe Scarborough and company talk about how large organizations (like the NFL) always cover up bad things, and how horrible that is. You're going to see these stories everywhere. People are going to pile on the NFL and condemn the NFL for essentially sweeping this all under the rug, circling the wagons, and trying to cover up a horrible event. You're going to see stories about how private entities are only self-interested! Eleventy! For the most part, all that's true, but you know what?

The NFL covering up a player beating his fiancee pales in comparison to all of the things that the Obama Administration has done over the past six years and covered up...and no one gives a damn about it. Yeah, this is kind of politicizing sports, but who cares? I'm pointing out all the hypocrisies in our country.

Everyone is upset about Ray Rice. You know what I'm still upset about? Susan Rice going on national television and blaming a terror attack on a YouTube video. Do any of these people shrieking about the NFL give a damn about that? Nope. It's just laughable that so many people get worked up about the NFL, but they can't seem to muster any outrage when a government official comes on television and just lies to us like we're stupid little children. But that's what happens in politics. People just overlook things like that nowadays, because they don't want "their team" to look bad.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not sticking up for the NFL or Ray Rice. They both deserve shame, but you know who else does? Your President who covers up everything. How can you care about one and not the other? It's wildly inconsistent.

The IRS was used to target conservative organizations in an effort to squash one side of a political point of view, and then all the e-mails from everyone are just magically gone? Yeah, nothing to see there folks. Zero outrage. No big deal. People who get subpoenaed in a Congressional investigation just happen to delete all the evidence of their conspiracy and....crickets. The VA puts veterans on secret waiting lists and then covers up their own cheating? Eh, just give them some more money.

Once again, leftists see large private organizations like the NFL as self-interested and willing to cover up problems that should see the light of day. And they're not totally wrong. They're right to be skeptical. However, their distrust of skepticism of people's motives completely disappears when applied to government organizations, because apparently, everyone just magically becomes an angel with completely altruistic motives when they work for the government.

Right.

So before you tell me how large organizations like the NFL circle the wagons to avoid bad publicity, and before you tell me how horrible that is, tell me how upset you are about your own government doing the same damn thing.

Otherwise, you're a hypocrite and hack.

What Happened to Bubba Watson?

I follow golf fairly causally, which means I pretty much know who wins the major tournaments.

Sometimes I'll watch a little golf, but that's usually because there's nothing else on. However, I know Bubba Watson, and I always kind of thought of him as a madcap, hangin' loose, fun guy. I mean, he is one of the "Golf Boys" who make funny music videos. He's even got the actual General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. Heck, when your name is "Bubba" you can't really be that uptight. I think that's a rule somewhere.

Accordingly, I was really surprised when Will Vereen brought this to my attention via Twitter.

I find Bubba Watson extremely unlikable. http://t.co/5mq10frT6o
— Will Vereen (@wolverine280) August 7, 2014

Apparently, Bubba was too uptight to participate in a long drive competition during a practice round? This doesn't sound like the Bubbba Watson I know. That sounds like the behavior of an Assistant Principal at a middle school.

What's changed in Bubba? I don't know, but I have to agree with Will. I find this version of Bubba Watson unlikable as well. Someone needs to tell Bubba: "Lighten up, Francis."

Disney and Human Nature

Happy Monday, y'all.

I can safely say that no actual turkeys were harmed in the making of this past weekend. So, if you were worried that I might have killed an innocent turkey, you can breathe easy. Oh, and for the record, they aren't as innocent as they look.

To start your week off right, here's a piece about what goes on behind the scenes at Disney-World and it pretty much covers everything you need to know human nature.

You really don't want to know what's inside these trunks.

I'll try to have some more newsy stuff up later today, depending on how the day goes.

Navy Yard Shooting

I'm not really going to have much on the Navy Yard shooting, other than to say it's a tragedy.

The human condition has certain problems that cannot be solved with a magic law. Evil exists, and blaming inanimate objects when bad things happen isn't productive. It may make some people feel better, but it's not productive.

That's all I have to say about that.

The Telephone and Politics

Remember the movie Wall Street?

When I am speaking to students, I like to show them a still from the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street in which the masterful financier Gordon Gekko is talking on his cell phone, a Motorola DynaTac 8000X. The students always — always — laugh: The ridiculous thing is more than a foot long and weighs a couple of pounds. But the revelatory fact that takes a while to sink in is this: You had to be a millionaire to have one. The phone cost the equivalent of nearly $10,000, it cost about $1,000 a month to operate, and you couldn’t text or play Angry Birds on it. When the first DynaTac showed up in a movie — it was Sixteen Candles, a few years before Wall Street — it was located in the front seat of a Rolls-Royce, which is where such things were found 25 or 30 years ago. By comparison, an iPhone 5 is a wonder, a commonplace miracle. My question for the students is: How is it that the cell phones in your pockets get better and cheaper every year, but your schools get more expensive and less effective? (Or, if you live in one of the better school districts, get much more expensive and stagnate?) How is it that Gordon Gekko’s ultimate status symbol looks to our eyes as ridiculous as Molly Ringwald’s Reagan-era wardrobe and asymmetrical hairdos? That didn’t just happen.

If you don't know the scene, it's this:

The quote above is from a great piece over at National Review. Go read the whole thing, sport. It's worth it.

[h/t Maetenloch at Ace's Place]

When You Gotta Go...

Ok, which one of you did this?

Manti Te'o's Girlfriend

College football has the best offseason ever. The most inspirational story from one of the most storied programs in college football history has one of their most celebrated players at the center of a hoax.

Ok, first this is funny. It's like the Indiana version of "Weekend at Bernie's" or something. I don't know. All I know is that this is a ridiculous fact pattern. I have a hard time accepting ND's version of events.

As I said before, this is funny.

HMAV Bounty Coming to Charleston

It's not the original HMAV Bounty, but a pretty good replica will be in Charleston next week. I love seeing these pieces of history. If you're in the Charleston area next week, this should be a sight to see.

The story of the mutiny always makes me wonder what I would do in a similar situation.Faced with an idyllic life in Tahiti versus severe discipline on a British ship, I can certainly see the attraction of Tahiti. However, the mutiny is also a good example of "be careful what you wish for" as almost all of the mutineers eventually were killed in conflicts with the natives (and each other). Say what you will about the British discipline system, but it did have the advantage of not devolving in to a massacre.

Being a rule follower, I would have probably not joined the mutiny, and I would have ended up in the small 23' boat with Bligh. In what is probably one of the top ten feats of seamanship, Bligh sailed that little boat 3,618 nautical miles back to Timor (the Dutch East Indies) with out any maps or charts. He did it with only a sextant and a pocket-watch. Bligh may have been a harsh taskmaster, but he knew how to sail. Pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

It's Just My Nature...

Have you heard the fable "The Scorpion and the Frog"?

The Scorpion and the Frog

  A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the 
scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The 
frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion 
says, "Because if I do, I will die too."

  The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream,
the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of 
paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown,
but has just enough time to gasp "Why?" 

  Replies the scorpion: "It's my nature..."

Obama can't help himself from making a straw man argument. It's just his nature.