Haul away, you rolling king

[sovay]

So the first pieces of news that greeted me when I woke up were the death of Jeffrey Epstein and the punishment of Arisia for supporting a strike, neither of which was a great chaser to the realization that yesterday's excruciating headache did not have the decency to buzz off overnight, but I also saw via spatch this wonderful production still of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984):



It is so effectively in character and outside the plot that it looks like fanfic. Have some links.

1. Elie Mystal and Ken White, "Should the North Carolina Gun Store Billboard Targeting 'The Squad' Be Unconstitutional?"

2. Ethan Siegel, "Astronomy Faces a Field-Defining Choice in Choosing the Next Steps for the TMT."

3. Philip Miller, "Biennale." The magazine is dedicated to islands, which I love.

I was supposed to spend the day with my niece, but the current circumstances are looking like spending the evening with her. She wants to watch Ponyo (2008), which I haven't seen in almost a decade. I think I can manage to do that.

Comments

[sholio]

That photo is delightful and reminds me how much I enjoy that weird, trippy movie.

[cmcmck]

Epstein dies in a prison supposedly the safest of all for 'suicide watch' prisoners.

Epstein has the dirt on lot of rich, well connected and privileged white male people.

Not rocket science, is it? :o/

[gwynnega]

I'm sorry to hear that about Arisia.

I hope your headache lets up soon.

[imagine_that]

I was just talking yesterday about possibly watching Ponyo with my littles. They haven't seen it yet (or maybe my big one saw it when she was tiny, but neither of us remember). We went to Ghibli-fest at the children's museum yesterday, and they were very pleased to meet Totoro and Kiki (movies they adore). So, I was thinking Ponyo was a good next one they could watch together.

[pameladean]

Wow, to hell wotj the Marriott and the horse they rode in on.

That photo is just pure gold.

I love Ponyo. In addition to its other beauties, it has the best weather. I hope you and your niece have a lovely evening.

P.

[rosefox]

The decisions against Arisia seem pretty clear-cut based on the terms of their contract: the force majeure clause applied if the Westin and Aloft were unable to provide services (they were open, with non-union workers) and had to be invoked within 5 days (Westin) or 10 days (Aloft) of Arisia learning of the strike (Arisia sent notice 44 days later). Arisia claims that the use of non-union labor made it impossible or impracticable to provide attendees with the event they expected, but there's no evidence to support that (such as a petition signed by a large number of attendees saying they'd cancel their Arisia memberships in the event of Arisia crossing picket lines, or a mass cancellation of reservations). So Arisia's on the hook for cancellation fees as set out in the contract.

I think Arisia tried to minimize the risk of having to cancel the convention altogether by waiting to cancel the contract until there was a backup plan with the Park Plaza in place, but they could not then minimize the risk of paying cancellation fees, and they chose the lesser evil.

IANAL, but it looks to me like the lessons here for conventions that care about not crossing picket lines is that they should negotiate non-liability cancellation clauses regarding strikes that have longer lead times, because strikes are rarely resolved within 10 days, and stating that the use of non-union labor will constitute making the hotel unusable for the convention's purposes.

[kaffy_r]

Oh, my goodness, that wonderful Buckaroo Banzai picture! Just what I needed! Thank you - and now I should probably read about the North Caroline gun store billboard, little as I'd like to. Sigh.

[sara]

I once taught Buckaroo Banzai as an example of a utopia. Good times.

I have a lot of questions about the Epstein thing. I notice he's dead the morning after the night before, e.g. after the disclosure of all those affidavits. It looks pretty sketchy.

Or he's a narcissist who couldn't resist the urge to stir the pot one last time, which...is certainly a thing I've seen people accomplish via suicide in the past.

[alexxkay]

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. You don't have to be mean. 'Cause remember: no matter where you go, there you are."

In a semi-recent deep-dive cleaning, I found my old newsletters from the Blue Blaze Irregulars (official fan club). Don't recall at the moment whether I kept or purged them. But I will never give up my official headband, no matter how old and stained :-)