Wednesday, 11/6

Really?  I had to be right about this?

You may recall yesterday when I wrote that I thought last night's election wouldn't be as close as all the polls showed, and I have to say I was correct about that, although not in the way I thought. I'm still processing everything after not sleeping last night AND having to go shoot "High School Bowl" in a few minutes.

So I'm gonna put up the flower pictures I had originally planned on posting, for a calming few seconds before you delve head-first back into whatever your day holds.  And since mine holds TV in 25 minutes, I hope you'll forgive me.

8-)

And, as Mr Bee says in the picture above, don't forget to breathe.  I think it's really good advice on a day like today.

(jim@wmqt.com) 

Tuesday, 11/5

I wonder if I should do it again. I wonder if I'll even NEED to do it again.

First of all, welcome to Election Day, the day we may (or may not) find out who will be leading this country for the next four years. As I both wrote in here yesterday and talked about on TV last night, it's been a stressful few months, and that stress will continue until there's a definite winner. And if it's anything like the LAST election, that could take a bit.

While we were waiting for a winner to be declared four years ago, I took to posting pretty pictures of flowers in here. As it turned out, several people actually looked forward to the pictures as a way of relieving, if only for a few minutes, the uncertainty of what was going to happen. I had no idea that's the effect it would have, much less that it would help people get through a stressful time, but if it helped, I'm glad I did it.

And that's why I'm wondering if I should do it again.

Now (and this is just me), I don't know if it'll be necessary. I have this feeling—and I could be entirely wrong about this—that the election won't even be close. I have a feeling-and I could be entirely wrong about this—that we'll look back on this election and wonder why we thought it could have been so close. That's just a feeling, and if I'm wrong about that—and I very well could be—then we may not know how things turn out until, perhaps, later this week.

So if that's the case, you may be seeing a lot of pictures like this--

Will I be posting more of them? Well, I guess we'll find out tonight.

Or tomorrow.

Or, if history repeats itself, some day later this week. We'll see...

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 11/4

Tomorrow, we hope, it's over.

I think many of us have been watching this year's ever-evolving Presidential election with a mix of fascination and fear, much like one might watch an innocent little puppy running into the path of an 18-wheel truck. Well, with the election finally tomorrow, and the final results of it known (hopefully) not soon after, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it has almost run its course.

Almost.

I'm not gonna delve into the politics of the election; after all, we try to stay as non-partisan as possible around here. But I do wanna talk about a trend I've noticed this year, especially on social media, that I don't think is a good trend, and that's the vilification of people who think differently than you. I can't tell you the number of times I've been scrolling down my Facebook feed only to see someone sharing an article that says “so & so DESTROYS Politician One” or “Science proves the followers of Politician Two are stupid”. And those are just the headlines of the articles; once or twice, I accidentally read the comments under the post, and then felt like I had to take a shower.

They were that bad.

Now sure, you can disagree with people on the issues and what they think should be done about those issues. I have friends with whom I disagree politically, but that doesn't mean I think they're morons or should be rounded up and thrown out of the country. That's just...wrong. They're people just like you, people who are concerned about the future of the country and in which direction it's headed. You may disagree with people on something, but that doesn't make them the devil incarnate. It just means they have a different opinion than you. But there's something about politics the past few years, and this election cycle in particular, that has brought out the worst in people. In fact, there have been times this year when I thought things couldn't get any cruder or ruder than they were.

And then I was proven wrong.

I would not want to be whoever gets elected tomorrow night. I would not want to have to take over a country filled with such venom and hatred, a country where half the people think think the other half are morons or the Anti-Christ. Yet whoever does win tomorrow is going to have that job, faced with the task of trying to lead a country where half the population thinks they should be drawn and quartered. I'd like to say I have hope we'll get over this. However, I've lived in this country the past eight years and, however, I've read some of the comments posted online, and I know that's not gonna happen any time soon.

I wish I had an answer for this; I really do. Because then I could run for President under a platform of national reconciliation, and not find my reputation, my life, and the actions of the people supporting me torn apart, ridiculed, and shoved into the smelly Mason Jar of partisan politics.

So remind me not to do that any time soon.

Maybe, once the election's over, we'll have a cooling-off period, and some people will look back on their Facebook feeds in wonder and disgust at some of the stuff they've posted. Maybe, once the campaign ads are done and cable news goes back to talking about something other than politics as a blood sport, people will be able to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

And maybe, while we're at it, I can get that spaceship I ask for every year on my Christmas list. Because I have the feeling there's a better chance of that happening than there is of peace, friendship, and goodwill occurring after tomorrow night.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 11/1

Finally—FINALLY--I'm going to get around to writing about those two TV shows you should check out.

But now I'm gonna make it three.

This all started earlier this week when I wrote about the never-ending stream of political commercials on the air- and streaming-waves, and how it'll be nice to watch something OTHER than those spots back to back to back (to back). I have a couple of international shows I've been watching recently to escape just that, and wanted to recommend them.

So now, I finally am.

The first is an Australian show on Paramount + called “Colin from Accounts”. It's a romantic comedy of sorts, about a couple of who find themselves taking care of a dog one of them runs over with a car after the other flashes him. It's funny, it's weird, and, like all comedies these days, it makes you squirm a little. But for such a show it has a surprisingly romantic heart, which is perhaps due to the fact that a husband and wife team created and writes it.

That's one.

The other show is a German police show available on PBS Passport called “Luna & Sophie”. Loraine and I decided to watch an episode just because it's set in Germany (and in German with subtitles); now, we're almost half way through the series. It's that good. Sure, each episode has a murder to solve, but that usually takes a back seat to the two lead characters, women who are best friends and partners on the force. One's single, one's (unhappily) married, and it's that part of the show that makes it so worthwhile. It's filled with humor and some biting social commentary, two things no one would ever suspect Germans of being good at, but trust me.

They are.

So, those are the two shows I keep meaning to recommend, should you want to avoid political commercials the next few days. But now I'm going to add a third--

The 46^th season premiere of “High School Bowl” is coming up tomorrow night at 8 on WNMU-TV...hint hint.

Speaking of which, I have to go shoot another episode of it now, so I'll take my leave now. Have a great weekend...especially considering it's the last one you'll have to spend avoiding all those political ads!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 10/31

I realize I keep meaning to write about two TV shows you should check out, but today ain't gonna be that day.

I will, however, still talk about TV. At least for a bit.

Specifically, I will talk airdates for the “Marquette @ 175” show that I co-produced, wrote, and hosted for TV-19. The show itself is done, and you'll have the chance to check it out on four different days--

Sunday, November 10^th at 11pm.

Sunday, November 17^th at 1130am

Sunday, November 24^th at 1130am

And, as a special holiday treat--

Wednesday, December 25^th at 6pm.

Plus, the show will be available online, so there really won't be an excuse not to watch it, right?

8-)

Now to pivot (in a non-”Friends” way) to history without TV. It looks like History Jim's 2025 calendar is slowly coming into focus. Jack & I will invade Kaufman for our annual January show (on either the 23^rd or 30^th) for “Legends & Lore II: Even More Legendary”. I have no idea what my stories in the show will be, but it's three months away. That gives me two months and a couple of weeks to figure it out, right?

Then I'm going to do two big walking tours next year. The first will be on June 18^th, and called “Wild Wild West—The Forgotten Story of West Washington Street”. We'll stroll up Washington Street from Fourth to Seventh (and back) and talk about all the fascinating (and occasionally sleazy) stuff that used to be there. Then sometime in early August we'll be hitting the streets of downtown Marquette once again for “Happy Hour”, in which we'll discuss all of the old bars at which people used to kill their brain cells.

THAT one will be fun.

That, of course, isn't including pop-up tours or videos or documentaries or anything else that may occur. But the calendar looks to be full, so buckle up and get ready to hear me whine about not having any free time for the next year.

I'd really appreciate it.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 10/30

Well, what do you know. Someone got the joke.

I know I was going to write today about two reasons to actually want to watch television again after being subjected to 82 kazillion political commercials in the past month, and I will do that tomorrow, but another TV related item popped up, and that's what I want to babble about now.

I received a Facebook message after my “Life in the 906” aired Monday, from someone who wanted to compliment “my writer” for managing to “work in everything from Greek philosophers to 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'” in the bit, which actually dealt with (possible) UP-themed Halloween costumes. I told them I'd pass along the kind words, logged off, chuckled for a second, and then patted myself on the back.

I guess my secret's safe with me.

I'm not quite sure why people don't think I write those pieces myself; maybe they think that everyone on TV is just a talking head who has to be fed their lines by the little writer gremlins that live in the basement. Thankfully, my gremlin doesn't live in the basement; instead, it resides in my head, where it has the ability to write in the style in which I speak, complete with bad jokes, lots of whining, and the occasional odd reference to people like Diogenes and/or Charlie Brown.

Plus, that writer gremlin works cheap. Really, really cheap.

I'm glad that someone noticed, and felt strong enough to send me a note. I appreciate it. And so does my gremlin writer.

Wanna see what they were talking about?

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 10/29

As we get into the scariest season of the year, here's perhaps the scariest thought that can come into your brain--

You still have another seven days to sit through what seems to be non-stop commercial breaks filled with nothing but political ads.

Sorry. Didn't mean to send THAT much terror through you.

Doesn't matter if you're watching TV or listening to your favorite radio station (and you DO have a favorite radio station, right?). You'll either see or hear upwards of 20 political ads during an average one hour period. In fact, while it's not quite as bad on the station where I work, I have seen an hour of TV on a local station where they had nothing BUT political ads. It's almost enough to make you long for the days of non-stop drug commercials listing their side effects, you know?

Well, okay. Maybe not THAT bad, but I think you know what I mean.

It's probably not much a surprise, either, that in our highly polarized political climate most of the ads you see or hear aren't positive ads. For the most part, they don't tell you what the candidate wants to accomplish or what the candidate stands for. Nope; we're so lucky in the fact that most of the commercials we see and hear are negative ads, either telling you that one candidate is a horrid human being, or trying to twist facts so much that you start to believe if you vote one way or another you'll end up with brain cancer.

And that helps the democratic process how?

I don't know that their system is any better, but I've written in here before about how German elections are relatively peaceful affairs. There are no non-stop orgies of negative ads, no dark money political action committees, campaigns are limited to a span of just a few weeks, and they hold elections on Sundays so that everyone can vote. In the end, they have a higher percentage of their citizens voting, and, if I had to guess, a lot less stress caused during their election season.

But, for better or worse, that's not how we do things here. And that's why for the next seven days any kind of media you consume will constantly remind you of that. So if you're looking for a scary Halloween fact, there you go. But at least one week from today, it'll all be over. Or at least it'll be over until, say January, when the 2026 gubernatorial & congressional campaigns gets underway.

Boo!

8-)

Tomorrow, two reasons to actually WANT to watch TV again.

(jim@wmqt.com)