Jay Peterson
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Time lag sucks. Don't make it suck harder.

7/21/2016

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A while back I pointed out that I can't make a judgement call of a shooting that doesn't actually occur on camera, even if I have a video of the aftermath. I can tell someone what the aftermath looks like, and how it could come to that. But how the actual shooting looked? No idea. Let alone whether it's considered legal or legitimate by American society.
But what's concerning me now is people who want judgement before the news cycle moves on. Trial and judgement, Dredd-style. (Assuming the worst isn't true and they're not actually looking for validation and vengeance instead).
There's plenty of people willing to judge. If nothing else, it gives them ready clickbait headlines.
But here's a couple numbers:
Oscar Grant shot and killed: New Year's Day 2009
Johannes Mehserle found guilty of manslaughter: July 8, 2010
Mike brown shot and killed: August 2014
Grand Jury decision: March 2015
Tamir Rice shot and killed: November 2014
Grand Jury decision: December 2015
Walter Scott shot and killed: April 2015
Officer indicted for murder: June 2015
Trial set to begin: October 2016
Samuel DuBose shot and killed: July 2015
Officer indicted for murder: July 2015
Trial set to begin: October 2016
And some of you want investigation and summary judgement before the next news cycle?
You're in the jury pool. Stop tainting yourselves.
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Ghostbusters

7/19/2016

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Go see it. Fuck the haters.
Spoiler potential below the cut.
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I'll admit, coming out of the theater, I had to work at finding something to complain about at this movie. Really work. Which is a good indication that a summer blockbuster has entertained the shit out of you.
The main cast worked. They were funny, they were tight, they were flawed, they were entertaining. Admittedly, that may be my heist-film junkie coming to the fore (I love seeing teams of hyper-talented and deeply fucked up people turned loose). The nods, easter eggs, and cameos were all fun without being distracting.
The story itself was weak in places, but usually masked by the characters being so much fun you don't care. Kevin irked me on occasion by going ~too~ over the top. Hemsworth had his work cut out for him, but there's fine lines between, "dumber than a jar of mayonaise," "legitimately brain damaged," "bugnuts insane," and "seriously, how do you speak English and clothe yourself?" and a couple times I'm not sure which way he was going (until act 3, when he suddenly had more to do).
The villains, such as they were, were pretty weaksauce. I found more entertaining lines from the community college dean chasing the girls out with a baseball bat than I found from Andy Garcia, his aide, and the homeland security bubbas combined. The supernatural villain, meanwhile, was more plot device than character. That's ok, though, in that the real journey was seeing the busters be recognized and legitimized, both as individuals and as a team.
It also changed with the times in a very legit way. For all that Ghostbusters is an action-comedy, it's also a horror movie that's based in fear. The original Ghostbusters feared that government meddling with what they were too lame to understand would cause all hell to break loose (a legit fear from people doing SNL with Belushi, dodging the NBC censors at every turn). Nowadays, what people fear is an unnoticed loser who wants to watch the world burn gaining the power to destroy all the lives he pleases. And Ghostbusters delivers us exactly that.
Now that my film school dropout analysis has been thoroughly purged, I'm gonna get personal. I'm an actor. I work in hollywood. I know all about California beauty standards and the economics behind it all and just about every argument you could make, I've participated in.
Because of this movie, for the first time ever, I got to sit in a darkened theater and watch my wife see someone who looked like her being a badass main character. Character even shared her first name. There she was: brunette, zaftig, thirties, glasses-wearing, strapping on a proton pack and fucking up the underworld. Last time she saw anything remotely close to that was when Molly Weasley opened up the whoop-ass jar, and that was after 7 1/2 movies of mommying the rest of the cast to hell and back.
I'm no romantic lead myself, and I came to terms with that long ago. But I also know that for all I'm scrabbling in the corners to see myself as the heavy sidekick to someone or another, the ladies get shafted when it comes to seeing themselves far more than I ever do.
I wouldn't be pointing this out if the movie had sucked. I'm firmly in the camp of "compose your cast how you will, but you damn well better entertain me." And this movie did both.
Holy shit, seeing her face light up like that was awesome.
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A police organization apparently wanted open carry suspended in Cleveland during the RNC.

7/17/2016

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"We are sending a letter to Gov. Kasich requesting assistance from him. He could very easily do some kind of executive order or something -- I don't care if it's constitutional or not at this point,"
Stephen Loomis, president of Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association
"Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested."
- Kasich's response.
Holy fucking shit. An elected official pointing out that A) rights mean something, and he's not above the law. GOP should've stuck with this guy as their candidate.
I realize that there's a lot to scream about, people. But open carriers aren't even in the top twenty. If any of the pearl-clutching bullshit had any credence whatsoever, then it would have shown itself in Dallas: where 20-30 people were open carrying when a sick fuck started gunning down cops. Not a single open carrier was shot by police. Not a single open carrier went hunting for the shooter (though I'm willing to bet a few kept their heads on a swivel while they were otherwise unoccupied) Not a single open carrier made the area "more confusing"
(I really, really hate this fucking term. Gunfights are confusing and sucky by nature, people. Good luck making them moreso, no matter what you carry)
Each and every one of them either surrendered to the nearest officer or got the fuck out. Exactly what they're fucking supposed to.
And someone who's representing police needs to give all the damns about whether an action is constitutional or not. Or they need to step down, because they don't have the chops to do the job.
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    Jay Peterson

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