Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

He really is that stupid.

I really should read my own blog.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

We won’t go back.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Speaking of Escapism Open Thread

Speaking of Escapism Open Thread

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Speaking of escapism, I am on episode 7 of The Morning Show Season 3.  Apparently shooting has been wrapped up for Season 4, but it will be awhile before we get to see it.

Is anyone interested in a free-wheeling conversation about the show on zoom?   I figure that’s the best option so we don’t have to worry about spoilers.  If you think you might be interested, let me know in the comments and I’ll get that going.

I would also happily do the same for a conversation about Slow Horses, if there’s interest.

What’s everyone else doing as an antidote to all the ugliness?

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Scamp Dog

    I’ve been taking piano lessons for almost a year now. When it’s not tax season, I practice for an hour a day, but I’ve had to drop back to a half hour now. It’s still enough to make progress and I’m enjoying creating a little bit of beauty in the world.

  2. 2.

    Percysowner

     

    I watched the final season of Cobra Kai. You can’t get much more escapist than that. It was a fun series and the final part was really good. I’ve been rewatching Legends of Tomorrow from season 2 on, which was wildly underrated in the Arrowverse. Season 1 was not good, but in season 2 they found their footing and by season 3 they decided that they were going to lean into the funny side of the Arrowverse, which most of the other shows were doing or doing less

  3. 3.

    NeenerNeener

    I’m stress eating. And overfeeding the bluebirds in my yard. They’re really going to town on the meal worms I put in the bird feeder with the camera.

  4. 4.

    Anyway

    I went to the Eagles parade on Friday (with thousands of my closest friends)! It was fun, played hookie from work and hung out in the cooooooold with some old buds — As a fan of cities I am proud of Philly for having pulled off a nice event.

    ETA Sports snobs can bite me :P

  5. 5.

    PJ

    I’ve been reading a lot.  I can highly recommend:
    1) Stories by Turgenev;
    2) Stories by Chekhov;
    3) Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, about two out of work potters in late 5th c. BC Syracuse who, after the failure of the Sicilian Expedition by the Athenians, stage two plays by Euripides with captive Athenians – it’s funny and sad;
    4) You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, a Borgesian, psychedelic re-imagination of the first encounter between Cortez and Moctezuma, it’s great at conjuring the attitudes and atmosphere (but – spoiler alert – it is not historical fiction);
    5 and 6) Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, stories and a fantasy novel about boys in small town 1920s Illinois – Bradbury is also great at conjuring atmospheres and emotional states.​

  7. 7.

    SpaceUnit

    I’ve never watched The Morning Show but since I’m grouchy I just popped into the thread to say that I never found Steve Carell funny.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @SpaceUnit: Oh my gosh, I had no idea that was him playing Mitch.  It is not a comedy role at all in The Morning Show.  He’s very good in The Morning Show and the role has a lot of depth.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, fastest big foot stomp EVAH!  But they are distinctly different open threads.  Light mood vs dark mood, so jackals can choose.

  11. 11.

    KateP

    Stress eating, having a glass of wine every night with dinner (formerly only a couple times a week). And the thing that surprises me the most, reading fantasy books. I used to be a serious reader, check NYT Book Review every week, look at all of the award winners, reserve those books on Libby for my kindle. Now I don’t want to read anything connected to reality. I read books about dragons, faeries and so on. Many are vert formularic, but I don’t care. The stories take me far away and that gives me peace.

  14. 14.

    AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team

    WG – have we already done a thread on what to do with savings, 401k’s etc now that we know the arsonists are unleashed and moving fast?

    I know very little about this topic and just have a small 401k through my new since June full time job.

    Would be very grateful if we had expertise in the community about how to not go broke when they break every last freaking thing.

  15. 15.

    Kelly

    We’re watching “Resident Alien” season 3 Netflix good silly fun. We just finished “The Diplomat” on Netflix. It’s fun. About as realistic as “Bridgerton”

  16. 16.

    SpaceUnit

    @AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team:

    A lot of us are worried.  Most of my portfolio is invested in managed funds, and typically I can count on that management to minimize the effects of economic downturns.

    The problem is that most of those Wall Street boys are Republicans, and I have precious little faith that they’re going to see this leopard before it eats their face and mine.  Maybe I should put everything into curtain rods and sparrow seasoning.

  17. 17.

    frosty

    @AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team: This is a good idea. I emailed my financial advisor who said they are moving stocks at the peak to “buy the winter coat now”. But he also said he thought the markets will be happy in 3-5 years. That was two weeks ago and I’m still mulling how to respond. Except to tell him to move me into more EU or Canadian stocks.

    The markets ain’t gonna be happy in 3-5 years. Basically to tell him throw out everything you know from the past because we’re suddenly in different times.

  20. 20.

    AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team

    Frosty & SpaceUnit – yes, exactly.

    (sorry, don’t know how to reply to two comments at once)

  21. 21.

    frosty

    Damn. WP just ate my whole comment.

    Anyway, to answer your question, WG. Still playing guitar but I picked up harmonica again after a couple decades. Did a year of one-on-one Zoom lessons with the guy who wrote Harmonica for Dummies, then worked through Beginner to Boss and now I’m at an intermediate level and trying to move forward, which is a little difficult because everything is focused on Chigago Blues and I’ll never be Little Walter. Or even want to be.

    Other than that, traveling, reading, trying to stick to the diet plan the nutritionist gave me (it works!) and drinking too much. Which she didn’t recommend LOL.​

    ETA I really liked Slow Horses. I started with the books then watched the show. Both the first book and season sucked. Kidnapping, terror, etc. A crappy plot line which got repeated a little bit in other books as it went on and then the author hit his stride.

  22. 22.

    frosty

    @AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team: ​Reply to the first commenter as usual. Then go back, reply to the second commenter, which will open up in an empty comment block. Copy the commenter’s nym. Go back to your previous comment and hit edit. Paste the nym in where you want it.

    Then if you’re like me, flip back and forth between text and visual (if visual works at all) to make it look good. I wish I could fix this to be visual all the time but FYWP has decided it’s not a good fit for me.

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    I just started season 3 of White Lotus and am hooked already.

    Otherwise: WORK WORK WORK

    Crossword puzzles

    Soviet films of 1970s-80s

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    @frosty: @AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team:

    I only use the visual tab and the process seem a little less complicated. I just hit reply to any number of commenters I want to reply to.  All their @nyms automatically post into the comment box.

    Then you can post your reply to all (as I did above) or post a  reply comment to each @nym separately.

  29. 29.

    Chigail

    I’m knitting scarves to donate and watching the food channel, which is getting boring.Thanks for suggesting the Morning Show.

  30. 30.

    Wag

    Slow Horses, either the TV series or the books is a good idea.  I wonder then the next season drops?  It has been interesting to compare the way the storylines in the TV series get tweaked compared to the books they’re based on. The writers have done a nice job of tightening up storylines and also updating storylines to take into account our worldwide evolving political situation.

  31. 31.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @frosty:

    I think that would be a bad idea.

    From the Bogleheads subreddit:

    You should ignore the noise regarding tariffs and (geo)politics and just stay the course. But for some, this may be a wake-up call as to why diversification is so important.

    You should ignore the noise regarding tariffs and (geo)politics and just stay the course. But for some, this may be a wake-up call as to why diversification is so important.

    It’s been building for weeks but today I woke up to every investing sub on reddit flooded with concerns about what tariffs are going to do to the stock market. Some folks are so worked up that they are indulging fears that this may bring about the collapse of America and/or the global economy and speculating about how they should best respond by repositioning their investments. I don’t want to trivialize the gravity of current events, but that is exactly the kind of fear-based reaction that leads to poor investing outcomes. If you want to debate the merits and consequences of tariff policy, there’s plenty of frothy conversation on r/politics and r/economy. And if you want to ponder the decline of civilization, you can head over to r/economiccollapse or r/preppers. But for seasoned buy & hold index investors, the message is always the same: tune out the noise and stay the course. Without even getting into tariffs or geopolitics, here is some timeless wisdom to consider.

     

    Jack Bogle: “Don’t just do something, stand there!”

    Jack Bogle spent much of his life shouting as loud as he could to as many people as would listen that the best course of action for an investor is to buy and hold low-cost total market index funds and leave them alone until they are old enough to retire. It has to be repeated over and over because each time a new scary situation comes along, investors (especially newer ones) have a tendency to panic and want to get their money out of the market. Yet that is likely to be the worst possible decision you could make because market timing doesn’t work. Pulling some paraphrased nuggets out of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing:

    Most equity fund investors actually get lower returns than the funds they invest in.…. why? Counterproductive market timing and adverse fund selection. Most investors put money in as a fund is rising and pull money out as it is falling. Investors chase past performance.

    Instead, embrace market volatility with patience. Market downturns are inevitable, but reacting to them with panic selling can lead to poor outcomes. Bogle encourages investors to remain calm, keep a long-term view, and remember that volatility is a natural part of investing.

    Bill Bernstein: “What I tell all engineers is to forget the math you’ve learned that’s useful, devote all your time to now learning the history and the psychology. And one of the things that any stock analyst, any person who runs an analytic firm will tell you, because they really don’t want to hire a finance major, they actually want philosophy and English and history majors working for them.”

    My impression is that a lot of folks who are getting anxious about their long-term investments in the current climate may not know enough about world history and market history to appreciate the power of this philosophy. The buy & hold strategy works, and that is based on 100 – 150 years of US market data, and 125 – 400 years of global market data. What you find over that time is that a globally-diversified equities portfolio consistently delivers 5-8% real returns over the long run (eg 20-30 years). Can you fathom some of the situations that happened in that timeframe that make today’s worries look like a walk in the park?

    If you’ll indulge me for a moment to zoom in on one particular period… take a look at a map of the world in 1910. The Japanese Empire controls the Pacific while the Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire control eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire has most of “Arabia” and Africa is broadly drawn European colonies. In the decades that followed, these maps would be completely re-drawn twice. Russian and Chinese revolutions collapse the governments and cause total losses in markets and Austria-Hungary implodes. Superpowers clash and world capitals are destroyed as north of 100 million people die in subsequent wars in theaters across 6 continents.

    The then up-and-coming United States is largely spared from destruction on home soil and would emerge as the dominant world power, but it wasn’t all roses and sunshine for a US investor.

    Consider:

    There was extreme rationing and able-bodied young men were drafted to war in 1917-18

    The 1919 flu kills 50 million people worldwide

    The stock market booms in the 1920’s and then crashed almost 90 % over the following years

    The US enters the Great Depression and unemployment approaches 25%

    The Dust Bowl ravages America’s crops and causes mass migration

    Hunger and poverty are rampant as folks wait on bread lines

    War breaks out, and again there are drafts and rationing

    During this time, prospects could not have looked bleaker. Yet, if you could even survive all this, a global buy & hold investor would have done remarkably fine over 35 years. Interestingly, two of the countries which were largely destroyed by the end of this period – Germany and Japan – would later emerge as two of the strongest economies in the world over the next 35 years while the US had fairly mediocre stock returns.

    The late 1960’-70’s in the US was another very bleak time with the Vietnam War (yet another draft), the oil crisis, high unemployment as manufacturing in today’s “Rust Belt” dies off to overseas competitors, and the worst inflation in US history hits. But unfortunately these cycles are to be expected.

     

    JL Collins:

    “You need to know these bad things are coming. They will happen. They will hurt. But like blizzards in winter they should never be a surprise. And, unless you panic they won’t matter.

    Market crashes are to be expected. What happened in 2008 was not something unheard of. It has happened before and it will happen again. And again. I’ve been investing for almost 40 years. In that time we’ve had:

    The great recession of 1974-75.

    The massive inflation of the late 1970s & early 1980. Raise your hand if you remember WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). Mortgage rates were pushing 20%. You could buy 10-year Treasuries paying 15%+.

    The now infamous 1979 Business Week cover: “The Death of Equities,” which, as it turned out, marked the coming of the greatest bull market of all time.

    The Crash of 1987. Biggest one-day drop in history. Brokers were, literally, on the window ledges and more than a couple took the leap.

    The recession of the early ’90s.

    The Tech Crash of the late ’90s.

    9/11.

    And that little dust-up in 2008.

    The market always recovers. Always. And, if someday it really doesn’t, no investment will be safe and none of this financial stuff will matter anyway.

    In 1974 the Dow closed at 616*. At the end of 2014 it was 17,823*. Over that 40 year period (January 1975 – January 2015) the S&P 500 (a broader and more telling index) grew at an annualized rate of 11.9%** If you had invested $1,000 then it would have grown to $89,790*** as 2015 dawned. An impressive result through all those disasters above.

    All you would have had to do is Toughen up and let it ride. Take a moment and let that sink in. This is the most important point I’ll be making today.

    Everybody makes money when the market is rising. But what determines whether it will make you wealthy or leave you bleeding on the side of the road, is what you do during the times it is collapsing.”

    All this said, I do think many investors may be confronting for the first time something they may not have appropriately evaluated before, and that is country risk. As much as folks like to tell stories that the US market is indomitable based on trailing returns, or that owning big multi-national US companies is adequate international diversification, that is not entirely true. If your equity holdings are only US stocks, you are exposing yourself to undue risk that something unpleasant and previously unanticipated happens with the US politically or economically that could cause them to underperform. You also need to consider whether not having any bonds is the right choice for you if haven’t lived through major calamities before.

     

    Consider Bill Bernstein again:

    “the biggest psychological flaw, the mistake that people make, is being overconfident. Men are particularly bad at this. Testosterone does wonderful things for muscle mass, but it doesn’t do much for judgment. And one of the mistakes that a lot of investors, and particularly men make, is thinking that they’re able to tolerate stock market risk. They look at how maybe if they’re lucky, they’re aware of stock market history and they can see that yes, stocks can have these terrible losses. And they’ll say, “Yeah, I’ll see it through and I’ll stay the course.” But when the excrement really hits the ventilating system, they lose their discipline. And the analogy that I like to use is a piloting analogy, which is the difference between training for an airplane crash in the simulator and doing it for real. You’re going to generally perform much better in a sim than you will when you actually are faced with a real control emergency in an airplane.”

    And finally, the great nispirius from the Bogleheads forum: while making emotional decisions to re-allocate based on gut reaction to current events is a bad idea, maybe it’s A time to EVALUATE your jitters:

     

    “When you’re deciding what your risk tolerance is, it’s not a tolerance for the number 10 or the number 15 or the number 25. It’s not a tolerance for an “A” turning into a “+”. It’s a tolerance for accepting genuinely-scary, nothing-like-this-has-ever-happened-before, heralds-a-new-era news events…

     

    What I’m saying is that this is a good time for evaluation. The risk is here. Don’t exaggerate it–we all love drama, but reality is usually more boring than we expect. Don’t brush it aside, look it in the eye as carefully as you can. And then look at how you really feel about it–not how you’d like to feel or how you think you’re supposed to feel…If you feel that you are close to the edge of your risk tolerance right now, then you have too much in stocks. If you manage to tough it out and we get a calm spell, don’t forget how you feel now and at least consider making an adjustment then.”

  32. 32.

    Timill

    Reading more (because Amazon finally blinked and offered me 2 free months of Kindle Unlimited), learning Spanish with DuoLingo, and coming in third in trivia contests (both this week and last, winning $10 each time).

  33. 33.

    xephyr

    Always lots to do around here. I have seven cats, so rarely a dull moment in that dept. Today I’ve been listening to all the versions of Oye Como Va I could find, haven’t gotten tired of it yet! Snow removal daily for most of the past week. Went to the protest at the Capitol in Lansing, cold and a biting wind, but people were fired up! Plenty of books to read. I love libraries… Also binge watching Resident Alien.

  34. 34.

    LauraInNC

    Let’s see…

      Whatever books and/or audiobooks Libby has available (and a few on hold)

      Re-watching all of Dexter (up to Season 6)

      DuoLingo (French)

      All the NYT games (sorry, wish I could quit you…), Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, Waffle

      Throwing myself into work, although my whole group is devoted to supporting the research community at a major university, so that’s not a bit stressful…

      Girl Scout cookies

    Notice what’s not on there is exercise and eating right, sigh.  I’m flying out to CA tomorrow to spend a few weeks living in my daughter’s apartment and taking care of my grand-kitties, so that should be fun and distracting, and hopefully a bit healthier since it will involve a lot of walking.

    Weird.  I edited the comment to add DuoLingo and it removed all my bullet points.  Oh well…

  35. 35.

    Sally

    @KateP: Yes me too – I am thinking of going to Alexander McCaul Smith books. Sweet. I’m reading Unruly, by Dave Mitchell at the moment. Easy reads. And a few laughs. I’ve got an Aldous Huxley “Eyeless in Gaza”, a Martin Amis, and “A Short History of Economics” by Andrew Leigh in the queue but they will have to wait. Might read “Karla’s Choice” by Nick Harkaway (Le Carré’s son) and Kathy Lette’s “Revenge Club” next.

  36. 36.

    Sally

    I have read all the Mick Herron Slow Horses books, and was very immersed. Loved the TV show and on the edge of my sofa waiting for the next series. Apparently it has been renewed for the following one as well. Herron is currently writing another book in the series – why wouldn’t he?! Oldman has said that he will happily keep making the show as long as they want to. I will happily keep watching the show as long as they keep making it.

    I didn’t like Morning Wars at all. For a variety of reasons that I am sure no one is interested in.

  38. 38.

    Gloria DryGarden

    There’s a geography game I found called worldle, found on blue sky geography feed. I can’t copy the link, but it’s fun. I couldn’t guess today’s map at all, but learned a lot about a new place. I’d tell, but you might like to play it. New game every day. Worldle.teuteuf.fr I think.

    Im reading stuff about how to reverse diabetes. It’s a recent thing, and it’s not very escapist, but I got a lot of lab numbers the day after inauguration. Have to do something about it.

    It seems, as the world is undergoing upheaval, so is my personal world. I’d like to eat cookies, and pasta with pesto, and comfort foods while I rewatch the mentalist on Hulu, or find books and movies on YouTube, Kanopy and Libby. I’m watching, and reading, and following here, but I’m trying to stick to 100 grams of carbs a day, to get those blood sugar numbers down, and hopefully  the rest of the haywire stuff will also improve. If anyone here has any tips, or suggestions, I’d be glad of it.

    I also need to be looking for different work. This doesn’t seem like a good time for it.

    I’m hanging out a lot on bluesky, especially on the micropoetry page, where I’m writing haiku, and short poems, and getting inspiration from others. Many people are writing poems about our anger, current events. I’m writing positive hopeful poems in between the sharp biting ones. Today I got world events from a poem: in haiku, someone told of the plane that landed upside down in Toronto tonight.

    I’d attend a zoom about Alexander McCall Smith, or Barbara Kingsolver, or about the Mentalist; I haven’t seen most of the other shows listed. It’s lovely to read all your book and show recommendations.

    Just cuz it’s an escape-from-the-pain thread, here’s a little micro “poem” for uplift

    Hope grows in the sidewalk cracks,

    Winters freeze open a way.

    Kindness flourishes

    in small moments

    Even with strangers.

    We hold each other up

    for another

    Moment of sunlight

  39. 39.

    David_C

    Watched both Morning Show and Slow Horses. Fun distractions. Right now, though, it’s Severance season. I’d be up for a Zoom.

    Other distractions? Working with insurance and the shop to replace a stolen catalytic converter. Checking emails to see if I got fired. Adding to a genealogy blog I started this year.

    Was planning to attend a local protest yesterday but it was my wife’s birthday and her “go ahead if you want” didn’t sound convincing.

  40. 40.

    Don L

    I am living like a twenty-something  in his mother’s basement–playing video games and smoking pot.

  41. 41.

    Liminal Owl

    @Gloria DryGarden: Love your poem, as usual.

    How do you feel about quinoa? I also find pasta-with-pesto comforting but have swapped out the pasta (mostly) in favor of quinoa: lower carb, higher protein.

  42. 42.

    Betty

    @PJ: Only recently got to know Chekov and read everything. Fascinating life and engrossing stories of life in Russia.

  45. 45.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Liminal Owl: quinoa is fine. At this point, all my pasta is lentil or chickpea based. The quinoa pasta has corn, which I don’t eat. Even w quinoa pouches, or my bean pasta, I think a cup comes close to the whole 100 g of carbs. I want more, but I want to feel better, too.

    Thanks about the poem. I see you found me on bluesky. I’ve been dashing off 4 or 5 most nights. It’s all in my feed page, or in my replies, if you want more.
    I write a few sharp or dark ones, then find some wisp of optimism to light up,
    like layering browns and greens for compost.

    im accepting writing prompts if someone wants a poem about something. I surprise myself when the words arrive.
    Anyway, it’s my new fun, glad you liked it.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    But for seasoned buy & hold index investors…

    Counterpoint:  that may be great advice for “investors”.

    Okay, we all want to make money off of our investments, but there’s a big difference between people who are relying on that $ to keep them alive in retirement, as opposed to people who are in the business of making money, and even if they lose a bunch they can make it up over time.  Those people aren’t investing the $$ they need to live in retirement.

    That’s a totally different mind set.

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