Good morning. Hello. How are you? #819
A shocking lack of Walmart content, ethnocentric colonoscopy diet advice, Lina Khan's lonely but vital strategy, petition for Rachel Leigh Cook as Jaesa Willsaam in the live action Old Republic series
Good morning! Hello there! Happy Friday! Happy Bandcamp Friday! I just discovered this great site isitbandcampfriday.com which is very convenient. Hats off to whomever made that site it is great. Consider going to Bandcamp and buying something today. Maybe Medicine’s limited edition reissue of Her Highness, the first vinyl edition ever, but also a completely different mix as originally intended by the band before, I guess, that brute Rick Rubin came and stomped all over an artists dreams? No idea. Not sure what’s going on there.
I am, alas, writing to you before the Walmart trip this Friday. I know it’s the highlight of the week’s GMHHAY content, my missives regarding America’s greatest retailer. Schedule’s all outta whack this week because of my colonoscopy and some other stuff.
I have started my pre-procedure low-fiber diet, which realize basically means “eat garbage,” so that’ll be fun if not slightly nauseating for the next two days. The instructions for these things are abyssmal. Ethnocentric and incomplete. The sheet my doctor gave me didn’t even include… oils? Alcohol? Things normal humans tend to consume with some regularity? Never mind literally anything from any other country, not even Mexico. It’s so bad. There needs to be some universal “can I eat this before a colonoscopy” site that includes things people eat besides boring American foods. The region has the largest Indian population in America but they don’t list a single Indian food. Some of them you can intuit, like ghee is sorta like butter, but, like… samosa wrappers? Naan? Who knows? Fish sauce? Is a jalapeno skin too fibrous? Who knows. Useless.
My rambling about Evan Spiegel of Snap resulted in several of my LA friends to write in talking about what a lovely person he is, and how he is the exact opposite of the bro vibe and how he is a father and all and yeah I guess people really like Evan Spiegel that is just great good for him. And I was correct to revise my previously incorrect assessment of him and issue an apology. Gotta admit when you’re wrong. Kids they grow up so fast.
The courts ruled against Lina Khan and the FTC in their suit against Facebook (never Meta) acquiring Within, the VR software company behind the popular fitness app Supernatural. This was the right decision. I have spoken on this topic before and I don’t think there was a whole lot to stand on here. BUT I am coming around to Khan’s general approach about this. Let me quote a bit from the WSJ article on the topic:
Though the judge did not find that this particular deal was anticompetitive, the order did affirm some of the arguments that the FTC made in its case, including that acquisitions of nascent companies can hurt competition and that companies not currently in a marketplace can still have influence over the marketplace, the person said. This is the first time since the 198os that a court has affirmed such theories, the person said.
I don’t really countenance filing suits against the big guys that are obviously wrong, but I do think Khan is playing a long game here, and a smart one. She is tilting at windmills a bit, and she knows it, because the courts are monstrously, horribly biased and ossified in their antitrust thinking, and that is the single biggest hurdle to having realistic and effective antitrust legislation in the US. I wonder if she is jurisdiction shopping at all. Whether she is or not, it’s becoming clear that the strategy isn’t necessarily to win all the time, it’s to slowly, incrementally, change the rules. This is smart because these rules will stay changed even when a Republican administration takes over. Because the courts change far more slowly than the presidency flips. And historically, Republicans have been very good at dismantling whatever incremental progress has been made in antitrust during Democratic administrations.
Must be hard, though. She is going to lose far more cases than she wins. A lot of people won’t understand the strategy. She is mostly right and it must be hard and I am coming to admire and feel for her. She must have thick skin.
Speaking of Antitrust the trailer for the really-not-bad 2001 film Antitrust had a very sexy shot of Rachel Leigh Cook in it, with whom I was quite enamored at the time. The shot did not make it into the movie and it was the first time I ever experienced that. I am, I admit, somewhat still bitter about it. Still though, not a bad film. Rachel Leigh Cook’s time in the sun as a leading lady was way too short, though I am pleased that IMDB tells me she is still working constantly. She voices Padawan-turned-Sith Jaesa Willsaam in the Star Wars Old Republic games so, you know, seems like a perfect opportunity to keep the ball rolling in the franchise of having the voice actors play the live action versions of them selves like they did with Katee Sackhoff. Bring it, Filoni. BRB starting a Rachel Leigh Cook as Jaesa Willsaam in the upcoming Old Republic Series petition.
I got my calendar poster — I ended up ordering a dry erase-compatible calendar poster, and I laid it out on one of my big workbenches in my office. It is VERY satisfying. My dry erase markers don’t have a fine enough tip, though, so I need some new ones from Walmart later this morning to really go to town on the thing, but man, I am pumped for it. Being old and reclusive is fucking awesome man.
Speaking of which I missed Ride and Charlatans this tour, I’m a little sad about that, but no traveling for bands you’ve already seen that’s the rule. Well, mostly. Of course this rule negates going to two of the shows I have paid monstrous amounts of money for tickets for: Taylor Swift and Cruel World. I will justify these I suppose because I’ve never seen Phoebe Bridgers live which seems weird, and I’ve never seen Billy Idol, Adam Ant, or Animotion. Also I’m sort of trying to get Jane to see a few of the aging greats before they’re gone so when she’s 80 she can tell someone she saw Iggy Pop and freak them out.
Here’s a rare whole family photo that Emma took the other day on our walk, which has been disappointingly rare this rainy week. Also she would like to remind everyone there were twelve whole photos of us on our holiday card, and I apologize for my insinuation that we did not have photos on her really very lovely card design.
A post rock mix for you today, on the long side, but what are you gonna do these doom rockers do go on. Just discovered this Sadness band but man that song is awesome.
Have a lovely weekend. Perhaps on Monday I will regale you with tales of my 10 AM Friday trip to Walmart. Or meticulously explore the effects of Sunday’s all liquid pre-colonoscopy diet. Man I really did warn you when you signed up this email was basically about nothing.
i look forward to monday's "nothingness"—i'm pretty sure i'll enjoy the colon prep rundown!