2025-2026 NFL Week 1

I’m really look forward to this season, not only am I interested in seeing the Seahawks, but I’m equally interested in watching the Raiders. And I haven’t felt this way in a long, long time–probably going back to the 90s at least. I actually real hope for the Raiders, not that they will win a lot of games, but they will start playing better and become a solid team. I’m really hoping this happens, but I think their week 1 match-up against the Patriots is going to be tough. I really like Vrabel as a coach, and I think he’ll get the Patriots to play well. Watching some of their offense, it reminds of what the offense looked like under Belichick–good balance, and a good mix of spread and under center looks. I’m hoping the Raiders run defense is good (It looked awful in their first preseason game.), they play physical, run the ball well, and cut out the boneheaded plays. If they do this and lose, I can live with that. It would be a good first step.

With the Seahawks, I’m really looking forward to watching them, especially against the 49ers. My sense is that Klint Kubiak is as good as his father, Gary (or close enough), and the regular season games will start to show that. (This would be Klint’s 3rd year as the OC, not counting a partial season of being the OC in Denver.) If he is, the run game and the offense should be a delight to watch, especially the former. Kubiak’s match-up against Robert Saleh should be a good one (although I don’t have a good sense of how good the 49er defense will be as they have a lot of new, younger players). The match-up between Kyle Shananahan, with CMC fully healthy, and Mike Macdonald, in year 2 of his defense, should be really good, too. I can’t wait for this game!

Oh, I guess we should make some predictions, and initial power rankings of the teams. I’ll try to do that later.

Portland, Oregon 2025

Leaving the Portland airport, seeing the architecture of the homes and evergreen trees made me feel like I was back in Seattle. But as we drove into downtown Portland, two things stood out, distinguishing Portland from Seattle–namely, the Willamette River and the bridges, one after the other, a few rising high above it. Water features prominently in Seattle, but the water there is like an amoeba surrounding it, whereas in Portland, the Willamette is a strong line, cleaving the city in two, creating western and eastern sections. The Western side is more of the urban core, including the downtown area. The Eastern side is more suburban, with several portions of the longer streets and avenues filled with shops, restaurants and even movie theaters, creating a kind of charming main street vibe. I really like Seattle, but I might like Portland even more. The food scene seems just as good as Seattle, if not better, and they have probably the best bookstore I’ve been to. I want to talk about that store and also a used vinyl/cd/video store which I really liked as well.

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A New Type of American Voter

I’m not sure if you guys have heard of the Bulwark, but it’s a news site made up of Never Trumpers (a few key people worked for The Weekly Standard and started the site after the former shut down.) Three of the pundits there, Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Jonathan V. Last (JVL), recently had a discussion about the impact the Epstein story is having on Trump. I haven’t been paying attention to the Epstein story, ever, but Longwell’s explanation as to why she think this could really affect Trump’s support interested me.

To get a better understanding of it, I’m going to try and sum it up here.

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The New York Times 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

I was debating whether to start a separate thread or include this in the thread about Film Comment’s best films of the 2010s, but a separate thread seems appropriate, even though there is a lot of overlap. In this thread, I’m going to discuss the list ten films per post, starting with the 100th film. Here’s the link to the article: The New York Times 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century (Note: I had trouble making this a gifted article, but if you want that, let me know, and I’ll try again.)

Some random thoughts before I begin:

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A Plan to Culture Jam Trump

(Note: I wrote this in 2018, and I think it’s still relevant today in 2025.)

In this thread, I want to discuss and develop a blueprint for beating Trump based on the essay, How to Culture Jam a Populist in Four Easy Steps by Andres Miguel Rondon. Rondon is a Venezuelan who opposed and tried to defeat Hugo Chavez, the populist dictator. In the op-ed, he gives advice to Americans who oppose Trump, drawing on lessons he’s learned from opposing Chavez. In my opinion, Rondon’s analysis is spot on, and if Trump opponents fail to understand his points, they could keep Trump in power.

Here’s a summary, based on my understanding of Rondon’s position. Continue reading “A Plan to Culture Jam Trump”

What Should Be Done?

Several political commentators have expressed surprise not at the slide to authoritarianism, but the speed and variety of ways this has occurred. The amount of these actions has been overwhelming and paralyzing. What actions, by the Trump administration, should patriotic Americans oppose? What should patriotic Americans, do? Answering this is not easy, but I will say that identifying and focusing on one theme or policy is preferable to addressing many. But which one? In this thread, I’m going to mention a idea or narrative that should be considered.

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Edward Hopper Thread

I recently watched a PBS documentary on Hopper–Edward Hopper: a Love Story (an odd subtitle, if it references Hopper’s relationship with his wife, Josephine Verstille Hopper, as the subtitle doesn’t seem like a great fit), and I wanted to jot some thoughts that came to mind while looking at Hopper’s work.