Starship

I forgot to blog yesterday and nearly did the same today. Pretty exhausted at the moment and I want to stay awake tonight to catch the last debate. I’ve also had a long week and yesterday was especially busy with phone calls. Yes, I do find it strange to write that line. I never get phone calls.

I’ve also been busy writing new articles. The first, about the effectiveness of the Lincoln Project, you can read it over yonder.

Part of my argument is that satire hasn’t really hurt Trump in the way that Nixon was the subject of particularly scathing art. I wrote this a few hours before the Borat news broke.

At first, I wondered if my argument was about to be unpicked or, at least, require a rewrite. I thought the whole “Rudy G. in underage sting” angle would have played more than it did but, again, it’s surprising how much of this is already baked into the cake. When your opinion of a person is so low, it’s hard for that person to do much to surprise you. I think that’s where America’s public opinion sits now. I find it really hard to believe there are many Americans who still can’t decide what they think about their 45th president.

Then there are problems with the story. First, it was a sting and the girl was an actress pretending to be younger than she was and nothing happened. Hell, Rudy might have been tucking his shirt into his pants. The only point you can really make is the one about the president’s lawyer falling for a scam that could have been orchestrated by Russian intelligence. I think we’re too close to the election for this story to get much traction. Perhaps things will change on Friday when the film is released but reviews aren’t exactly reporting it as though it’s staggering. Like I say: Giuliani is now pretty much baked into the cake.

In other news: I remain obsessed with SpaceX. For every awful thing that’s happened this year, there’s also been the development of Starship. I sat watching the nose cone being transported to the launch sight last night and will probably spend too much time today checking in to see if it’s been attached. It’s the stuff I dreamed about as a kid and even the ship looks like something I’d have drawn. Sure, it’s a big hunk of metal and the rapid prototyping approach means they’re making something that’s more efficient that it is good looking. Yet catch it when the sun is at the right angle, it’s straight from some Arrow SF novel from the sixties.

5 thoughts on “Starship”

  1. Agree about Giuliani (and for that matter trump) I think they’re behaviour has been so ridiculous that it’s been I’m possible for satirist to keep up.
    I was just thinking yesterday that it’s hard to think of anybody who reputation has gone down hill more than Rudi Giuliani. 19 years ago he was feted as ‘America’s Mayor’ he than ran a disastrous campaign for president in 08 then basically disappeared (to the casual viewer of US politics at least) until trump hired him as a TV lawyer. These thoughts were prompted by The Trump Show on BBC 2. Have you seen it? Maybe a bit dumbed down for you but I thought it fascinating.

    1. Not seen it but sure it’s not too dumbed down for me. I’ll be sure to check it out.

      Giuliani is fascinating. There’s an excellent Netflix documentary series about the New York mob called “Fear City” in which Giuliani emerges as a real hero. Proper lawyer going after truly bad people. Then, as mayor, pretty good reputation, but I think power probably started to corrupt him. “America’s Mayor” was probably an unhealthy thing to be called. I think it was Michelle Obama who said that the presidency magnifies your flaws, reveal who you truly are, but I think that’s true of power. You forgot to mention that crazy drag stunt he did with Trump which was… Well, I think maybe that was the start of something dark. Lots of muttering among pundits about his drinking. I remember watching the Al Hunt dinner that the nominees always attend before the presidential election. It’s a weird event because it’s meant to be a bit of a roast but Trump took it too literally and was awful to Hillary in her company. Giuliani sat behind him, eating and laughing with his mouth open. Couldn’t recognise what he’d become but now I think it’s pretty obvious. Sad to see which is why, with 24 hours of thinking about it, I think the Borat stunt was too cheap. Giuliani’s hands were all over that woman he was with at the crazy RNC thing they held at the White House recently (I think he even wiped the sweat from his face and then wiped it on here arm… awful…). He clearly has issues in that respect. Borat’s team presented this young actress as a journalist (hence she was obviously not underage) and she made him feel important. Was it hard to imagine how he might respond? Not saying it was right but there was something about it that exploits a vulnerable man who probably needs help. That said, the stuff he’s spreading about Hunter Biden is so toxic, it’s hard to have any sympathy. It’s like Trump. There are moments (just a few) when I feel sorry for him — loveless father, life of excess, yadayadayah — but then I just think the FBI need to take a close look at the lot of them so this can never be allowed to happen again.

  2. Curse you David! I had not forgotten about the video of him in drag being felt up by trump-I’d had the great fortune of knowing nothing about it! Now thanks(!) to you I will never be able unsee it. 🙈

    As you say sad in a way. Especially if it’s down to a drinking problem or some such.

  3. Given your misanthropy, I’m always a bit surprised by your enthusiasm for space travel David. I’m not sure any planet really deserves a human infestation.

    1. Oh, I think I’m actually an optimist who likes people. It’s just that I don’t like all people and usually not people with power. My misanthropy is really just disappointment that things aren’t as good as they could be. Space travel seems like the best bit of us. As for other planets: I’m not a believer in life being out there (not in a reachable manner) so I have no problem with us colonising places like Mars, even if it might disrupt a few microbes. It’s the last frontier left to us that can excite my romantic soul.

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Why Dunciad.com?

It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?

Really?

Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.

So this is satire, right?

Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.