Don Hall 10/13/19 Don Hall 10/13/19

I Like To Watch | Enter the Mollusk (2019)

When I watched Vincent Truman and David Himmel’s Enter the Mollusk, I laughed… hard. It’s both very funny and very on point as all good parody should be. The characters are all very recognizable for someone with my personal connection and yet are universal to someone unfamiliar. Sending up all the pretense and pompous posturing of the entire Chicago storytelling community with a laser-like focus on The Moth in specific.

Don Hall 10/9/19 Don Hall 10/9/19

I Like to Watch | Unbelievable (Netflix)

While I understand the argument that no one can genuinely empathize with someone else’s journey — the most recent of these is that white people can’t possibly understand the trials of being black in America — I believe we have to at least try or eventually faction off into castes and tribes with no attempt at finding anything resembling common interest. Stories give us that chance.

Don Hall 10/7/19 Don Hall 10/7/19

I Believe... [The Quixote Zone]

…that we have now entered the Quixote Zone when old men declaring they are knights, reality stars declaring they are presidents, and the very declaration that you are defined by your belief in your own, specific reality contrary to every indicator otherwise is normal.

Don Hall 10/2/19 Don Hall 10/2/19

Problematic Movies of the 80s | Trading Places (1983)

If you can get past Justin Trudeau in blackface, then you can probably get over Dan Akroyd in blackface but, if not, that’s definitely a jarring moment in the endgame of Winthorpe and Billy Ray executing the switcheroo on the Duke brothers in the last thirty minutes.

Don Hall 10/1/19 Don Hall 10/1/19

The Artist’s Cross to Bear in an Increasingly Strident AntiArt Paradigm

Currently, the artistic form most under fire is comedy. Oh...and movies. And theater, fashion design, television, museum art, and knitting. Yes. Knitting is under fire for not being appropriately woke in the wake of the Great Over Corrective Wokeness Patrol.

Don Hall 9/30/19 Don Hall 9/30/19

I Believe... [Probst for President]

…that if I really wanted a reality TV star to be president, it would be Jeff Probst of Survivor.

Don Hall 9/29/19 Don Hall 9/29/19

Be Your Own Snopes: When Everyone Has a Megaphone, the Truth Matters Even More

With the digital world, however, the speed and frequency of baseless accusations and confirmed ideas with no foundation is overwhelming. The addition of memes has exacerbated the difficulty of separating fact from fiction. Without hours of time to research every claim, we tend to allow the propagandized messages to go unchallenged.

Don Hall 9/24/19 Don Hall 9/24/19

The Inevitability of the House Winning (If the House is the Earth and We're Just Playing Penny Slots)

We know we aren’t going to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent. Ever. We know it and yet we keep barking and marching and lobbying for substantive change while driving to the marches, using paper to print the pamphlets while drinking out of plastic bottles filled with water stolen by Nestlé and grabbing a Hot Pocket or packaged bowl of yogurt.

Don Hall 9/23/19 Don Hall 9/23/19

I Believe... [Packers vs Joe Biden]

…that there is almost no substantive distinction between a rabid sports fan and someone on either side of the political fringe.

Don Hall 9/16/19 Don Hall 9/16/19

I Believe... [Too Much {Clap, Clap} Time On Your Hands...]

…that if the hill you die on is whether or not there is a female 007, that a Popeye’s chicken sandwich is less homophobic, or how many black people were in Game of Thrones, I’d suggest you have far too much time on your hands.

Don Hall 9/15/19 Don Hall 9/15/19

I Like to Watch | IT Chapter 2

It occurred to me about a third of the way into the film that this second half of the story isn’t about the clown, it’s about the people fighting the clown. As an older man, it hit me that this second act of The Losers Club was about adults suddenly being forced to deal with how their past shapes their present in both conscious and unconscious ways.

Don Hall 9/11/19 Don Hall 9/11/19

Escaping the Crushing Need

This is not fucking fair. We’ve been together under false pretenses and I’m now expected to be the good boyfriend to two slowly declining grown women, both requiring my full attention and prone to demanding things rather than requesting help. If I leave, I’m a monster. If I stay, I’ve been consigned to a life of servitude.

Don Hall 9/9/19 Don Hall 9/9/19

I Believe... [Certainty is a Sign of Error]

…that when it comes to economics, sociology, psychology, politics, meteorology, and craps, if you are dead certain of something you’re probably wrong.

Don Hall 9/4/19 Don Hall 9/4/19

Hardware, Software, and What to Call the Apple Running Windows

When it comes to those sometimes brave, sometimes narcissistic folks born in the wrong biology, I suppose I just don’t get the hostility against them. It was once explained to me that all computers are basically the same machine. Some may have a few more ports or gadgets attached in construction but an iMac is substantially the same as a Dell. It is the software that truly changes the game.

Don Hall 9/2/19 Don Hall 9/2/19

I Believe... [We Hate the Ones We Feed]

…that your stance against billionaires is only undercut by your reliance on a gas-powered vehicle, your adherence to googling things when you want to know something, wearing shoes made by mega-corporations, and your lunch at McDonalds/Burger King/Popeyes/KFC/Taco Bell.

Don Hall 8/29/19 Don Hall 8/29/19

The Infantilization of Other People

An element of our reducing groups into easier to digest figurines, the stereotyping of people in order to process the ridiculous numbers surrounding us, is to almost unconsciously assume some sort of base stupidity on their part for choices they make.

Don Hall 8/27/19 Don Hall 8/27/19

Competing in the Victimhood Marketplace is More Difficult Than It Used to Be

Victim status has gained genuine ground in terms of restitution to the victims of medical malpractice, the poisoning of water in rural areas, and the burning of a woman's labia by way of an incredibly hot cup of coffee.

Don Hall 8/26/19 Don Hall 8/26/19

I Believe... [The Poster Child of the Early 21st Century]

…that the poster child of the early 21st Century is a twenty-year-old wearing ass-less chaps, misspelled tattoos, and a multi-colored bandanna taking Instagram selfies with a sign that says “Don’t Judge Me.”