A busy weekend in the past and a packed day ahead of me, so we\u2019ll get caught up tomorrow. For now, some links I\u2019ve collected in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
First, a rather chilling account by a Ukrainian from the front lines of the war with Russia.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t had a chance to personally kill any Russians. They say it\u2019s good luck to kill someone in front of you. But in this war you rarely see the enemy. If you\u2019re stationed in a trench for a long time, you\u2019ll probably see Russians. But mostly it\u2019s bombs and shelling and drones. I was involved in one operation to catch a Russian, and he was alive and uninjured so I had a conversation with him. I gave him tea and treated him as a human being. I saw in front of me not an enemy, just a poor guy. We are all humans. We\u2019re not fighting against orcs. We\u2019re fighting people who look like us, who mostly speak the same language, who were our friends or even family before. They have their own truth and we have our truth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Diary of a Ukrainian Filmmaker-Turned-Soldier<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSomewhat in the same vein is this piece, which examines declassified documents from the Soviet archives regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. As the authors point out, in the lead-up to the Ukrainian war, Vladimir Putin made similar errors to those Nikita Khrushchev made in 1962. Fortunately, as the quote below shoes, Khrushchev eventually regained his sanity. I\u2019m not sure we can be as hopeful about Russia\u2019s current leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory tells us that in order to stop a conflict, one should begin not by exploring the reasons why it happened but by pursuing a cease-fire,\u201d he explained to that Indian visitor on October 26. He added, \u201cWhat\u2019s important is not to cry for the dead or to avenge them, but to save those who might die if the conflict continues.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Blundering on the Brink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nContinuing with our Russian theme\u2026A few times each year I think about going back and re-watching the entire run of The Americans<\/em>. I always end up looking at my list of all the other crap I need to watch and tell myself to revisit the idea in a few months.<\/p>\n
The fifth anniversary of the show\u2019s wonderful finale just passed. The Ringer brought together its show runners, director, and actors to discuss one of the best finales ever filmed.<\/p>\n
Keri Russell (Elizabeth Jennings):<\/strong>So emotionally devastating. It really shocked me.
\nMatthew Rhys (Philip Jennings):<\/strong>She was texting me, going, \u201cText me when you read it. Text me!\u201d
\nNoah Emmerich (Stan Beeman):<\/strong>I just read it, and I didn\u2019t skip ahead to see my stuff. I wanted to really experience the story in real time, and it just swept me up.
\nHolly Taylor (Paige Jennings):<\/strong>I was blown away. I loved it.
\nKeidrich Sellati (Henry Jennings):<\/strong>I couldn\u2019t even comprehend it. I read it, and I sat there staring at it for 15 minutes, and then I reread it because I was like, \u201cNo way. What?\u201d I guess I\u2019m a crier. I started bawling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWith or Without You: The Oral History of the \u2018Americans\u2019 Finale<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAs has happened way too often lately, The Onion responds to the events of the day best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even want to be a woman\u2014I just want to win at swimming. Imagine how I\u2019ll laugh with glee up there on the winners\u2019 podium, knowing that all I had to do was lie about my gender identity issues through months or years of psychiatry sessions, take a shitload of androgen blockers, go to speech therapy, and recover from multiple invasive surgeries!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThis lady is a badass.<\/p>\n
Competitors sail small boats, navigate with paper charts and sextant, catch rain for water, hand-write their logs, communicate by radio, and cannot accept outside assistance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Kirsten Neusch\u00e4fer Wins the Golden Globe Sailing Race, Dubbed a Voyage for Mad Men<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhy am I not surprised that people have been upset for 12 years about a CARTOON CHARACTER<\/strong> not being the white guy they were used to? People know Spider-Man isn\u2019t real, right?<\/p>\n
Across the Spider-Verse\u2019s greatest feat is the way it takes Spider-Man\u2019s fandom to task<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFinally, a fantastic profile of Bryan Cranston. This anecdote cracked me up. This would have been in the late \u201870s, which seems about right.<\/p>\n
In his early 20s, Cranston took a two-year motorcycle trip<\/a> with his brother, during which he had the epiphany that he wanted to be an actor and not a law enforcement official, the career that he\u2019d been studying for. While planning their itineraries, Cranston triangulated the locations of women he and his brother had already hooked up with to create routes where they\u2019d most likely encounter someone who\u2019d give them a free place to stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n