Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

No one could have predicted…

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Bark louder, little dog.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

We still have time to mess this up!

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

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I have always loved the threads where we talk about movies and books, and some of our best open threads of long ago were when BGinCHI would toss out a question or a comment about a book or a film, and the thread would be off and running for a good, long time.  In that way, I have always kind of thought of BGinCHI as the John Cole of movies and books, who can start a 300-comment thread with a single thought.

So I am happy to announce that BGinCHI has agreed to do a regular weekly guest post on Balloon Juice, where we can all talk about popular culture.  Books, films, TV.  This is something we can count on once a week, same time, same station, as one more hedge against this soul-sucking political miasma we’re living in.

Who knows, it might help us all remember why we liked each other and started spending so much time here in the first place!

If you are a newer commenter, or a recent lurker, you might not know BG, but you are in for a real treat. This guest post series will be featured every Sunday, starting at 5pm Balloon Juice time.  (Also known as eastern time in some circles.)

I’ll let BG tell us more about himself.  We are lucky to have him!

Hello all from BGinCHI, AKA Bradley Greenburg. I’m a Professor of English at Northeastern Illinois University, where I specialize in Shakespeare, but also teach film, creative writing, and an array of contemporary lit courses.  I’m here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in (there’s so much good stuff happening there).

We’ll start next Sunday, 2/23, with a post on “The King” (2019, dir. David Michôd), which streams on Netflix.  I’ll provide some brief context from the chronicle histories & Shakespeare, which will hopefully prompt some robust discussion of the film from whatever perspectives everyone wants to bring to it. Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools unsuffered.

With thanks to WaterGirl and John for inviting me to do this, I/we hope it’s a welcome break from the world of shit falling on our heads daily in the political sphere.

Reader Interactions

197Comments

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    I’ve not seen the show, but am looking forward to the discussion.  Too many people here know too much about films and TV and music and stuff.  It should be good!

    Thanks BG, WG, and JGC.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Poifect. Have The King sitting in the queue and now have added incentive to get to it.

    Where there’s a Will, there’s a way.

  7. 7.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Awesome!

    For whatever reason yesterday, a random idea popped into my head about Sherlock Holmes going up against Jack the Ripper. Not that surprising that it’s been done a lot. Though what was surprising and almost counter-intuitive is crossing Sherlock Holmes with HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. There’s whole anthology series, called Shadows Over Baker Street, containing short stories of the famed detective set against the Cthulhu Mythos backdrop. Including a short story by Neil Gaiman! Gonna try to see if I can find a copy of it.

  9. 9.

    West of the Rockies

    Sounds fun! I did my thesis many years ago on tragic elements in Romeo and Juliet. I was so young and enthusiastic.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    I hope you’ll give “The King” a chance.

    This past fall, I taught my grad Shakespeare seminar, devoting the entire semester to the Henriad (Richard II, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Henry V). We close read the plays, criticism, and a ton of chronicle historical material. This is my wheelhouse. So, when “The King” came out I was dreading seeing it, and held off til the end of the semester.

    And then, when I watched it, I was floored. It offers a really challenging and fascinating interpretation (the key word, here) of the source material in both its forms (early 15th C. English history and Shakespeare’s plays). It’s like nothing else that’s been done with that material. I couldn’t believe two Aussies (one an actor/director) had done such a thing and actually gotten it made.

    I’ll outline some of those details next week, then hoping we can have a robust discussion.

    Looking forward to learning something.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    Professor of English at Northeastern Illinois University, where I specialize in Shakespeare, but also teach film, creative writing, and an array of contemporary lit courses.

    You seem overqualified for this position.

    Then again, I didn’t see any pet information in the post, so maybe you are unqualified.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:

    Then again, I didn’t see any pet information in the post, so maybe you are unqualified.

    If BG has a dog, perhaps it wears one of those Elizabethan collars all the time?

  17. 17.

    TS (the original)

    Always something different about BJ – loved the recent thread on what are you watching – found many on Netflix that I hadn’t previously considered. Being not so great health wise lately, books & TV have become a larger part of my life than ever before – I love escaping into someone else’s world/reality. Look forward to the posts.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    Who knows, it might help us all remember why we liked each other and started spending so much time here in the first place!

    I appreciate the use of the past tense.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:  Uh oh.  I may have given away too much about how I have been feeling for the past week or so.

    edit:  The political threads lately have been kind of slog and I don’t seem to have much tolerance lately for going round and round on the same (upsetting stuff) over and over.  So a bit culture will be a welcome relief for me.

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    BGinCHI, as a professor who teaches creative writing, do you have any advice for anyone aspiring to be a creative writer? In particular, for anyone wanting to try short story writing? Is it a good start for a beginner?

    For myself, I think one of the greatest obstacles I’ve encountered is actually starting writing! When I try to put my ideas together into a coherent plot, I often find I get plot holes all the damn time and I have a difficult time settling on what kind of tone I want as well.

    On top of all this I’m mainly afraid of creating not just something terrible, but something “problematic”. Like trying to avoid unintentional undertones in how female and minority characters are portrayed. Such as the “Not Liver Other Girls” or “White Savior” pratfalls. Critics often read into these flaws as a reflection of the author’s (even unconscious) beliefs.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    If BG has a dog, perhaps it wears one of those Elizabethan collars all the time?

    The dog’s name, of course, is Ruff.

    ETA: Curse you, [email protected]!

    (Shakes first, wanders off muttering “Thou cream-faced loon….”)

  31. 31.

    BGinCHI

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I don’t think there’s any easy answer to this beyond the clichéd-sounding “write what you want, and revise, a lot.”

    How about a continuing ed creative writing class? Or anywhere that holds such things (cities have lots of CW programs). A classroom with a workshop and a good instructor means have deadlines (helpful) as well as feedback and a community of people working at the craft. Because the hardest part is the isolation, and the starting of any project, and not having any useful feedback.

    Writing stories well is very hard. Writing novels is even harder. Crazy harder. One plays the long game or one doesn’t play.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The greatest scene in a movie starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah is when Joan Plowright introduces her French bulldog, who’s sitting in a restaurant wearing a ruff, as “William Shakespeare.” Found it.

  33. 33.

    dexwood

    This topic and BG are great additions to the blog, much needed. The Election 2020 posts began wearing me down six fucking months ago.

  34. 34.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    You seem overqualified for this position.

    Then again, I didn’t see any pet information in the post, so maybe you are unqualified.

    I thought the only criterion to gain the BSoA (Baud Seal of Approval) was whether the commenter or poster was wearing pants. Has that changed? Or have I confused you with someone else?

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    @BGinCHI:  We haven’t talked much about this yet, but I am hoping we will have a mix of serious books and films, and some lighter ones, too.  Is that a reasonable hope / expectation?

    Or with you being a professor and all, will it always be more serious and scholarly?

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    Culcha? We need more culcha in this joint? Didn’t someone here once say “we got culcha comin’ out of our ass”?

    On a more serious note: looking forward to your post!

  41. 41.

    Anne Laurie

    Looking forward to this, BG — thank you!
    (I remember when your son was born… he must be old enough to have his own opinions about culture by now… )

    Also, thank you WaterGirl for arranging it!

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @zhena gogolia:

    Joan Plowright is great, especially as she matures. I’ve never seen that movie (apparently it’s called Bringing Down the House) but it sounds charming. Funny scene. Thanks.

  44. 44.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    Sorry about that. I didn’t think it would be an issue

    @BGinCHI:

    That’s really good advice. A class would probably help a ton. Beta readers too. One thing I am afraid of plagiarism though.

    Anyway, it probably won’t be until after I graduate from college (after this semester) and get a job and become settled that I’ll try it and focus on it. Thanks!

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    (Shakes first, wanders off muttering “Thou cream-faced loon….”)

    Hardly The Bard but am somewhat partial, when circumstances warrant, to Londo Molari’s line from Babylon 5, “You moon-faced assassin of joy.”

    :)

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax:  We love the title, it’s just too long.  Maybe we can just eliminate every other word?

    Culture, a Hedge this Sucking Miasma… Living.

    As Hedge, this Soul Miasma, Living.

    I would have to vote no on both of those.

  50. 50.

    BGinCHI

    @WaterGirl: It will also be fun. We’ll do some crime TV, detective novels, and so on.

    If you’re all lucky I’ll boss you around about coffee and wine at some point. Not all culture is consumed through the eyes and ears.

  53. 53.

    ziggy

    @dexwood: agree!

    I don’t usually watch movies, but this actually sounds interesting–I will give it a shot! Rooting for non-fiction here.

  54. 54.

    BGinCHI

    @Anne Laurie: You’ve always been so generous here.

    Yes, lo those many years ago (Jan. 2012), my son was born and I was on the front page, sleepless and happy. He’s a fabulous kid: irreverent, sharp-tongued, and perfectly sweet.

    Thanks for asking!

  55. 55.

    dexwood

    Simply Sucking Miasma might bring in those looking for internet satisfaction. Leave that one out.

  61. 61.

    Marcopolo

    I have anecdotal: just now a very nice AA gentleman canvassed the house I am at in St Louis MO for Bloomberg. Our door answering rep told him we were all glad he is being paid to do a job but that none of us (we are 9) had any plans to vote for him in the primary.

    As a Warren supporter I know Warren volunteers are doing canvassing but no one else i am aware of is using paid canvassers in MO.

    This is the only contact any of us have had w/ the Bloomberg campaign to date—maybe not the last.

  63. 63.

    dexwood

    @BGinCHI: It beats BG’s Playhouse. Sorry, when my son was a toddler we watched Pee Wee’s Playhouse every week. I don’t know who giggled more.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: I take it that “medium” in the title isn’t a reference to middle or average, but to media, instead?

    If that’s the reference, I am liking Medium Cool more and more.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Didn’t bring it up to insert any discussion of the movie, merely to give credit as to where it was used as a title (that itself derived from McLuhan) while suggesting the same two words as a concise title to be used here.

  68. 68.

    oldster

    This will be awesome. I should look at the TV series, since I too am an old lover of the history plays. (I kept all of my Furness Variorum editions even when I had to purge much of my library at retirement — there’s a nerd flex for you.)

     

    If you like imaginative re-imaginings of this material, you will likely enjoy Josephine Tey’s novel “The Daughter of Time.” It’s an extended argument that Shakespeare got Richard III all wrong. Great fun.

  69. 69.

    BGinCHI

    @dexwood: BG’s Playhouse is just me on a couch after Mrs. BG goes to bed, watching old noir or 70s New Hollywood and drinking a nice Ventoux.

  74. 74.

    eddie blake

    (also, the king was pretty awesome if a bit historically inaccurate in terms of events, locations and armor/accouterments and costumes.)

  78. 78.

    BGinCHI

    @oldster: Her biography published by my (Scottish) publisher!

    There’s also “The Hollow Crown” series, which is Shakespeare’s Henriad. It’s good, but not much in the way of an interpretation.

  86. 86.

    BGinCHI

    @delk: I like to think of it as Albany Park, but yeah.

    You live in the neighborhood?

    Future meet-up at Big Hill on Bryn Mawr, perhaps.

  94. 94.

    eddie blake

    @BGinCHI:

    well, i STARTED my life-long fascination with gaming playing asteroids and pong but the medium has evolved CONSIDERABLY since then and there are some REALLY impressive titles out there for the ps4 and xbox one.

    oh well. maybe on another culture-ish thread.

  100. 100.

    BGinCHI

    @eddie blake: I sort of tried gaming on our PS3 ten or so years ago, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. I wanted something that would hold my interest without necessarily having to just shoot things, but I couldn’t get into it.

    Any recommendations?

    Also, I find the controller commands really hard to master, and wondered how many hours I’d have to invest to get there. Ultimately, I’d rather watch films or good TV, I guess.

  105. 105.

    Emma from FL

    I join with my fellows in thanking you. Nothing like diving into cultural matters, especially with a good stiff shot of history thrown in to soothe the rage.

  107. 107.

    Anya

    I am looking forward to this. The King was on my “to watch list” for a while now and this will motivate me to watch it. The King combines two of my interests: Medieval times and Shakespear.

    This will be going to my roots, my first online group discussion was about tv shows. This was when I was 15 and pretending to be 20 or something (because online, when you’re young it is easier to say you’re older so that you avoid so many things). But I digress. I am so glad this will be a thing.

  115. 115.

    eddie blake

    @BGinCHI:

    (sorry, was playing a match in titanfall 2.)

    i’ve been on team xbox since the beginning, so i really only know the cross-console titles from personal experience, but i’ve heard magnificent things about ‘horizon zero dawn’ for the playstation.

    i’m enjoying the tail end of assassin’s creed: odyssey, which just has been an incredible game.  the scale of the game is fairly breathtaking, giving you pretty much ALL of greece and the surrounding isles to explore and adventure across. a DEEP dive into ancient greece during the peloponnesian war with mostly historically accurate figures and locations, where you get to sail about the entire aegean sea seeking your fortune and your mysterious past.

    there’s also AC: black flag, where essentially, the entire caribbean is yours to play with including southern florida, which i enjoyed immensely.

    ..and, as i was saying, i was just in a match in titanfall 2. if you like FPS games, i’ve never played a better one. four years old, still holds up, still has thousands of people on the multiplayer servers.

    don’t get me wrong, i have an extensive library. i really like good storytelling and immersive visuals, so i’ve been into books, comics, movies, cartoons, anime and gaming for a very, very long time. before streaming, i collected all of the above VORACIOUSLY.

  118. 118.

    eddie blake

    @BGinCHI:

    oh, yeah, re: controller? as i said, i’m on the xbox one, so i really don’t know personally, but the playstation controller DOES seem more complex and harder to handle than the xbox’s. there are quite a few more buttons.

    eta: oh, i see you’re not really down with shooting things. there are great driving games like forza: horizons, which i think is up to #5, ace combat #7, which is a really great flying sim (there are modes you can play where you just fly through the environments if that’s your cup of tea)

  123. 123.

    kindness

    Thank you for organizing this WaterGirl & thank you for agreeing to put up with us BGinCHI.  Should be fun.

  126. 126.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I second the suggestion to take writing classes.  I’m a professor in the sciences with active research grants and I teach at least one graduate class in my discipline a year. I write short stories when I can; I’m very far from an MFA in creative writing.  I learned from taking writing classes how to accept and make good use of critiques from people with a variety of literary tastes, how to submit to literary journals and how not to take a gazillion rejections personally.  No one ever stole my stuff.  After a little over a decade of writing short stories, having about half of them published in different literary magazines (one time even getting to be a finalist for a literary award), I have enough of them for a book.  I was always told (even in those writing classes) that no one really reads short stories but I recently managed to get an agent who is interested in selling my book.  It remains to be seen whether a publisher will bite, but I’m here to say that you can work full time on nursing and write short stories and get them published in literary magazines.  It’s pretty thrilling, so go for it.  I have a writing group that meets monthly because I’m the kind of person that needs a deadline to stay on track but do what works for you.

  134. 134.

    eddie blake

    @BGinCHI:

    it came out in 2018. available on playstation 4 and windows as well as xbox one. it really is a mind-blowing game.  as i’ve said, i’ve been at this for a long time, and i don’t think i’ve ever played in a prettier, better presented or larger environment.

    there’s all sorts of intrigue, your mysterious past, a murderous cult, mythological beasts, the churning battle between the leagues, plague sweeping the land, and looming over everything, the fate of atlantis.

    crazy stuff.

    also, you can pick your gender at the beginning of the game when you are ‘building’ your character. the one you don’t pick becomes one of your antagonists for part of the story, but the voice actress for kassandra is MUCH better than the one who plays her brother, so most people go with the girl.

    such an amazing game. i’ve put literally HUNDREDS of hours into it, still have a bit of the story to churn through, and i’ve pretty much enjoyed ALL of it.

  136. 136.

    BruceFromOhio

     

    I’m a Professor of English at Northeastern Illinois University, where I specialize in Shakespeare, but also teach film, creative writing, and an array of contemporary lit courses.

    You had me at Professor.

    It is vital that the fascists be kept at bay. They’ll be here for awhile (not that they really ever went away) and the cultural memories kept alive in language, music, theater, and art are instrumental to that end. They are already trying to erase the past, let’s give the two-bit ratfuck soulless criminals a run for their Gaia-damned money.

    Welcome, friend!

  137. 137.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @BGinCHI: My favorite dog literary joke has always been the line from 101 Dalmatians (the book), “I devoured Shakespeare as a pup.”

    This is a wonderful thing! Really looking forward to it.

    I’m finding politics kind of overwhelming, like many of us here, and not spending a lot of time dwelling on each day’s new crimes.

  138. 138.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BGinCHI: The advice given to the protagonist of Bright Lights, Big City always stays in my head:  Write before breakfast.  As does the protagonist’s sotto voce response:  Shake it a little more before you put it away and you won’t have a stain on your chinos.*

    *The conversation took place in the men’s room of a barely fictionalized New Yorker.

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @oldster: It’s an extended argument that Shakespeare got Richard III all wrong. Great fun.

    He did.  Even if you aren’t a Ricardian.

  144. 144.

    West of the Rockies

    @dexwood:

    Just watched a DREADFUL program called Ryan’s World–basically a reality TV/Elmo’s World thing.  That kid will be insufferable before he’s 10.

  145. 145.

    CaseyL

    Oh, I’m so looking forward to this! Even though it might force me to join Netflix, so I can watch the series being discussed.

    …now that I think about it, I don’t watch TV much anymore.  There are maybe a couple of shows I make it a point to watch, and they’re the kind that are on hiatus for a year or more between seasons (*cough* Westworld *cough*).  Movies, though: I still do see movies.

    …and now that I think about that, I remember that this is Balloon Juice, y’all, where not having seen the subject being discussed in no way precludes one from having, and sharing, one’s opinion of it :)

    Anyway:  Many thanks to BGinCHI and WaterGirl!  This is gonna be fun!

  146. 146.

    FelonyGovt

    So glad to see this!
    I’m just back from a book signing by Charles Yu (author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) in support of his new book, Interior Chinatown.

  149. 149.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I think it’s actually “*He* (as in, Pongo) devoured Shakespeare as a pup, in a tasty leather binding.”

    there’s no more annoying pedantry than kid’s book pedantry, is there?

    My other favorite pun from that book was when the dogs all break into the cellar of the bad guys’ house and roll around in coal dust to disguise themselves and then eat all the baddies’ food. Missus frets about leaving them with nothing, as she is tender-hearted to a fault, to which Pongo replies, “Let them eat coke.”

    Took me *years* to fully grok that one!

  150. 150.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @prostratedragon:

    Doesn’t or didn’t Atlanta have a Perimeter Center?

    Still does. I was there two days ago for a haircut. It’s now officially Perimeter Mall, but pretty sure I’m not the only old-timer to retain the oxymoronic name.

  151. 151.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Also, on topic:  I’ve had some things to say about The King and the historical Henry V for a while and haven’t found a thread where I could jam them in.  So, woohoo!

  152. 152.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: Excellent.

    I think some of the stuff that’s historically accurate will surprise some people. Not like the costumes and trebuchets and that shit. The rewriting of Oldcastle/Falstaff as a soldier who actually, um, soldiers, for ex.

    Looking forward to it. Though now I have homework.

  153. 153.

    MuckJagger

    “A Few Brad Movies”

    “Screenburg”

     

    I’ll stop now; the Well O’ Bad Titles has already run dry.

  157. 157.

    zhena gogolia

    @CaseyL:

    I think The King is a one-shot — a movie, not a series. I’m not on Netflix and I don’t think I can stomach the violence, but I’ll follow the discussion anyway!

  159. 159.

    Gin & Tonic

    OT, but whoever is murdering The Star-Spangled Banner right now before the NBA All-Star game is setting new standards in awfulness. I have heard many badly overwrought renditions in my lifetime, but this may very well be the worst ever.

  173. 173.

    Valdivia

    @WaterGirl:  Hello! :)

    So glad you guys are doing this.

    Will make sure I am here next sunday for the next one. Was swamped with work today!

    @BGinCHI:  see I made it.

     

    Hi everyone else — I have been gone for too long. I have missed you all!

  183. 183.

    scribbler

    Looking forward to some Shakespeare confab.  Especially with a moderator from the city of broad shoulders and little cat feet.

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    Books. I’ve nearly stopped buying physical hardbacks… we have  thousands of them and are about out of shelf space. Hell, I’m nearly out of floor space in the upstairs floor of the garage/shop building. Then I built several hundred feet of shelving in the basement, that’s all full.

    Last fall we got two new puppies, they were 9 months old and around 40-45 pounds each. They chew things. Did a couple of shoes, we taught them not to do shows. Did baseball caps, we try to teach ghem not to eat caps.

    Books! I heard a thump one night, went back to sleep. When I got up, a Dave Robochaux novel had been well chewed, especially the lower back corner. I fussed at the puppies, and they have let up a little on books. Newspapers, don’t bother trying to slow them down. There are lots of them — and magazines. They don’t tend to do heavy scientific journals, so far. Wish me luck!!

    People fuss about foxed covers, dog-eared pages, mess inside the pages of a book. Dog spit and chewed edges, well, there it is. What to do with dog eaten books???

  194. 194.

    MoxieM

    late as always…caught a bout of gastroenteritis. (Don’t do this; most unpleasant). I liked The King, and also enjoyed Brannaugh’s scenery-chewing in his Henry. Can we include a cinematic compare & contrast? Fun and pudding bowl haircuts! what’s not to love?

  195. 195.

    Avalune

    This is awesome! I’ve been meaning to watch The King – or rather listen to it while I knit because that’s how I consume most of my television. I look forward to the post series.

  196. 196.

    Sourmash

    BGinCHI, I got my teaching degree from Northeastern!  Loved the school and the experience. Thanks for doing this!

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