Black List 2017

Ken AshfordPopular Culture, Random MusingsLeave a Comment

The Black List was compiled from the suggestions of over 275 film executives, each of whom contributed the names of up to ten favorite  scripts that were written in, or are somehow uniquely associated with, 2017 and will not have begun principal photography during this calendar year. This year, scripts had to receive at least six mentions to be included … Read More

The Left And Language Orthodoxy

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

I got into a discussion recently about who gets to talk about what, and how to talk about them, when it comes to topics of racism, feminism, etc. That’s what came to mind when I read a certain part of an interview, excepted below, in The Atlantic. The writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the subject of that interview. She has firsthand experience … Read More

Why Identity Politics Sucks

Ken AshfordPolitics, Random MusingsLeave a Comment

I have been ruminating on this for a while. Maybe too long. But we have an entire generation now of progressives (the millennials) who only understand politics through the fabric of identity politics. Although identity politics had been in the air for a couple of decades already, it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, that it really began … Read More

You Say You Want A Revolution?

Ken AshfordCulture & Education & Religion, Random MusingsLeave a Comment

Well, what do you even MEAN by the word “revolution”? It’s often said that reformists are former revolutionaries who simply got old, tired and beaten down. Maybe.  But reformists get things done and actually bring about social change.  After all, revolutionaries tend to gripe about the problem (terrible society) and the process to change that problem (revolution), but always fall … Read More

Chuck Woolery Weighs In

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

It took him a month after the Womens’ March on Washington to come up with this: Thanks for your input, Chuck. UPDATE:  Chuck is having a very bad day… and clearly drunk  

Giving Tuesday 2015

Ken AshfordPersonal, Random MusingsLeave a Comment

Giving Tuesday follows Cyber Monday, which is such a 1990s name, by the way.  Who uses the word “cyber” anymore to describe Internet transactions? Anyway, Giving Tuesday is the only designated day of the three (the third being Black Friday) which is truly in the spirit of the season. Last year, Black Friday sales were down, but Giving Tuesday had a … Read More

What The Hell Is Going On At The London Zoo?

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

First sentence of an AP story: LONDON (AP) — A former meerkat expert at London Zoo has been ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked with a wine glass in a love spat over a llama-keeper. Yes.  Another meerkat-expert-loves-monkey-handler, meerkat-expert-loses-monkey-handler love story.

Stop It Everybody!

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

I am getting a little frustrated with the issue-hijacking every time there is a national tragedy, particularly mass shootings.  Whatever is in the news, people dovetail their own pet issues onto it. No, Catholic League.  The Oregon shooting does not reinforce your argument that the world is anti-Christian. No, right wing nutjobs. The Oregon shooting does not reinforce your argument the … Read More

His Parents Must Be So Proud

Ken AshfordRandom Musings, Youtube2 Comments

I’m not a fan of the public shaming of private people, but this is going viral.  And with good reason. A drunk kid from the University of Connecticut staged a coup for some bacon jalapeño mac & cheese, and inadvertently revealed himself to be the worst person ever. He came to the university dining hall really drunk, in search of that spicy porky mac. He … Read More