Bryce Moore's Blog, page 180

Happy Birthday, Denisa!

That’s right. Another year has come and gone for Denisa, though you’ll have to ask her how many that totals. I’m smarter than to blog about that.

How are we celebrating today?

I took the day off work and am home with MC while Denisa takes TRC and DC off skiing to Sugarloaf, where a friend got her a free ticket. They’ve never been skiing there before, and we’d thought about having us all go, but in the end decided that it would be more fun for her to actually be able to ski there, and not just go around slowly with the two unskilled skiers in the family.

(Judging by how I was last week, I put myself slightly below MC at this point.)

MC has decided she wants to watch Sleeping Beauty, so I’ve got that set up for her, and I need to crank this blog post out and then move on to writing and exercise. Quite an illustrious day off, I know. I’ve already mopped the floors and vacuumed. Be still my beating heart.

When she gets home, word on the street is that we’re having pie instead of cake.

But in any case, I hope she’s having a super day, and if you get a chance to wish her many happy returns, I’m sure she’d appreciate it.

Happy Friday, all!

A Belated Review of Grease: Live!

Yup. That’s how far behind the times I am. Denisa and I took a few weeks to watch Fox’s entry into the live musical trend, going with Grease this time. I turned it on, apprehensive. I watched The Sound of Music, which I thought was pretty much a train wreck, and because of that experience, I stayed away from Peter Pan and The Wiz.

But while I heard middling things about Pan, I heard good vibes coming from the Wiz, and Grease is a musical I’ve always enjoyed, so I thought . . . why not? What could it hurt?

It was supposed to be a mix between the movie version and the stage version, and my brother was in the stage version, so I had some familiarity with both. Still worried that it would try too hard to ape the Travolta pic, but I’m very pleased to say that it managed to do its own thing and be very successful with it, for the most part. If you like musicals at all, I encourage you to check this one out. It’s going to be re-aired on the 27th of this month.

What was to like about it? It did some really cool things with costume changes and set changes, for one thing. It was fun to try and see what they were going to do and how they were going to pull some things off. Not always 100% successful, but always entertaining to watch them try.

Another big plus is the fact that they chose people who can actually sing to be in the roles. I particularly liked the production of “Magic Changes.” Great voice, and a lot of fun. The cast really seemed to be invested in the production in a way Carrie Underwood never was in Sound of Music.

Of course, it wasn’t flawless. The Boyz II Men number had some issues, and the climax of the whole thing felt like a blatant rip off of the movie, which was too bad, but other than that, good times.

Then again, there’s the underlying message that runs throughout Grease that kind of rubs me the wrong way. The concept that you need to sell out on who you are and become someone you’re not to make it through high school. But at the same time, in this production, it came across a bit differently to me, and maybe that’s because it’s been a while since I watched the musical. This time through, I couldn’t but reflect on how fleeting high school really is, and how the identity you create for yourself in that strange environment can end up being pretty far from who you really end up becoming. Not always, but some of the time.

Can you blame kids for flailing around a little to figure all of that out?

Anyway. Perhaps deeper thoughts than what this production was going for, but there you have it. If you haven’t already seen it, I encourage you two watch it when it comes back to the airwaves. I gave it a 4/5.

The Wire 4:3 and 4:4

Episode 4:3

This season. I feel so bad for these kids and what they have to go through at school. True, some of it is on them, I suppose, since the teachers are trying their best to control the chaos, and if the students would just behave, then life would be ever so much better.

But a lot more of the blame is on society for allowing this situation to develop. Up until this season, I’d always looked at the Wire as depicting two sides of the Game: cops vs. robbers. You’ve got the good guys and the bad guys. And sure, some of the good guys aren’t so good, and the bad guys aren’t so bad, but the sides they’re fighting on? They’re strictly good and bad, right?

Season two muddied that up a little, but it seemed like more of a one-off to me. It showed the dock workers, and how broken their lives have become since life started changing, but none of that was part of the Game was it? Well, other than that was how the mass amounts of drugs were coming into the country . . .

Season three had some politics, but again, that seemed like a separate beast from the rest of the Game. A side show to the Stringer vs. McNulty main show. True, it focused a bit on how the political beast was interacting with the Game, but that seemed tangential for the most part.

Season four is when it all came together at once for me, and I think the one scene that did it was the face slashing at the end of this episode. It comes out of nowhere, and it’s so violent. So extreme. I was shocked by it, and it really stuck with me. The two girls involved aren’t players in the Game, are they? But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the Game is much more than cops vs. robbers. It’s the whole mess of life in Baltimore, and everyone’s a player.

I never had anything like this happen to me (or around me) in my high school. The way these students behave is so far outside my realm of experience, I wish it were fantasy. But the great thing about the Wire is that because it spent so long laying the foundation and showing what was going on, when it gets to this point, you can’t dismiss this as fantasy. It’s all too real.

The Game affects people’s lives. It’s not just police or drug dealers. It’s families. Students. Teachers. People who would be like me, if not for the fact that they were born into this twisty turny complicated mess of a situation. It’s self perpetuating at this point, with people playing it as best they can to help themselves as best they can. Because that’s the Game, and you don’t win by being nice to other people. (Except for the few people who have managed to see beyond themselves, like Cutty or Bunny or McNulty at the moment.)

Having this season focus on these boys is the smartest move of the smartest show on television. Because we get to see how the Game begins. How the sides are chosen. How it doesn’t care who you are or what you want out of life. It will still grab you and own you.

Anyway. What else happened in this episode?

Prez is doing his best to teach, but failing miserably. The boys are letting us know more about who they are and what they want. Randy wants to sell candy, not drugs. He just wants to make some money. He seems one of the most childish of the four, something that fits in with him pretending to be a sixth grader still. Dukie is the smart one in the worst family. If only he had a better home life, maybe he’d be much better off. Michael is the strong independent one. Strong enough everyone he meets sees his potential. Namond is the one who’s being forced into the drug Game, even if he really has no desire to play it.

Carcetti, meanwhile, is walking the tightrope between sleazy politician and actual human being, showing up at the funeral to score political points, but unable to go through with it because he still feels bad for the people and isn’t 100% devoted to his own self interests.

And Bunny being forced to see how life in the private sector runs is another great scene. Here’s a guy who just wants to do the right thing. Always. And that’s not how it’s done in the private sector. (Or the public sector, alas.) Very happy to have him back for this season.

It’s a solid episode all around. 4/5 from me, and very thought provoking.

Episode 4:4

Can there be any doubt of how low Marlo has brought his side of the Game? When he has the rent-a-cop killed because the man called him out for shoplifting a couple of lollipops? Think about that for a moment. Marlo has tons of money. He pays for the water in the store. Why steal the lollipops? I think it’s because he saw the rent-a-cop watching him, and he wanted to show that he could do it.

For Marlo, the Game is all about power. Proving to people that he has it and they don’t. He never misses an opportunity to make his case, and he’s cold blooded and ruthless about it. His scene with Omar is key, because Omar just essentially stomped all over that image. What’s Marlo going to do about it?

He’s controlling everything at the moment. Omar’s the only one who’s been able to so much as ruffle his feathers. The police can’t touch him. The bodies disappear. He takes over Bodie’s corner casually. If he wants it, he gets it. Scary. And what’s worse is how little anyone has thought to care about him. Major crimes was following him and getting close on the wire, but the system shut them down because Lester got greedy with the subpoenas.

Sigh.

And I have to talk about Sherrod and the whole concept of “social promotion.” How sad is it? There is no way the  boy can hope to succeed. He’s behind three grades, but the school can’t do anything for him, so at this point, it’s just too late. He can’t read, and Bubs can see that now. Just another example of a player getting played by the Game.

Is it frustrating that the school hires Cutty to run around and bring kids in for a single day in September and one in October? Sure it is. They’re playing the Game the same as everyone else. But what else are they supposed to do? That’s the way the system set up their funding, and they desperately need that funding. It’s one of the main takeaways of this series: someone sets up the rules, and when the rules are set up, they might make sense.

But once you start playing the actual Game, the rules are used and abused by everyone to get the most out of it they can. Fact of life.

But McNulty seems truly happy, so I guess we’ve got that at least. Great to see him off the booze and really content for once.

Anyway. I spent so much time discussing the first episode, I’m of time for this one. Another 4/5. Compelling stuff, but nothing that really shoots it to the 5 level.

What are you thinking of the season so far? Still easily the best opening to any of the Wire seasons.

How the Radio Show Went

So I did my first foray into radio broadcasting yesterday morning, and it was an interesting experience, to say the least. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect ahead of time, so it’s hard to say if my experience met those ambivalent expectations, but I definitely had a good time.

Leading up to going on the air, I was fairly nervous. Not knees shaking or anything, but some definite butterflies. I’d be speaking into a live microphone, and I’d have no idea who was listening. What if I sounded stupid? Not only that, but I’d be working with a variety of new technologies I’d only been told about. I’d never touched a single one of them. What if that went wrong?

Lots of what ifs.

But one thing nerves don’t care about is time. It keeps on plodding along, whether you want it to or not. And so the time came for the show to go live, and there was nothing for it but to sit down at the mic and turn it on. And once it was on, several things occurred to me at once. First, the world hadn’t ended. Second, this felt just like talking to people without having a mic involved. And third, I had no idea if anyone was listening at all.

There’s no way to tell. So other than remembering to speak into the mic and not move around too much, it wasn’t all that difficult once I got rolling. (Which is so often the case with me and nerves. Being nervous about things that really aren’t that difficult, in the end.)

We talked about Go (the game) and artificial intelligence. It was genuinely enjoyable, which I’m honestly a bit surprised at. I’m a fan of talking on the phone, for instance, but only when I’m talking to friends. I’m not a fan of talking to strangers. I thought maybe that dislike would bleed over into not wanting to talk on the radio. But no, it didn’t.

The plan now is to start recording our broadcast and then putting it up online as a podcast, so that more people can listen to it on their own schedule. In the meantime, we’ll keep going with the experiment. No show next week, though, since school will be on break. But the week after that, we’ll be back!

Maybe I won’t be so nervous next time.

Be a Post-Apocalyptic Mad Max-esque Character in My Book

Psst. Hey you. Yeah! You! You’ve always wanted a post-apocalyptic version of you to exist, right? Something that could be immortalized in literature? Well do I have good news for you . . .

It’s March Madness time again, and that means I’m running my yearly blog bracket challenge. The rules are easy. You create a bracket (one per person, please, though there’s no age limit or restrictions other than that), and the winner of the whole shebang gets the prize. Last year, it was the chance to be violently killed in MAGIC AT 30,000 FEET, a feat that went to James Jackson Sanborn, one of my coworkers. The year before that, it was the chance to name the parents in THE MEMORY THIEF. (A book which, by the way, is coming out this fall, with the named characters totally in place.)

The project I’m working on at the moment is codenamed UTOPIA. I haven’t spoken too much about it on my blog, but I can tell you enough details to make it interesting. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic society with a Mad Max feel. Crazy people, quite violent, lots of body modifications.

And now you can be part of it.

Win the contest, and you can create a character of your choice. I can’t promise a huge role, but I guarantee the character to have a (mutually agreeable) appearance that you determine, the name you want, and at least a few lines of dialogue.

Interested?

Then head over to espn.com to enter the bracket today! Entries are due before the tournament starts on Thursday at noon EDT. Don’t miss out like some people did last year and procrastinate away your chance at immortality!

Here’s the link and all the details on how to join:

Group:
Password: vodnik

Guerrilla Radio

Have you ever wished you could just listen to me talk for a half hour or so? Well wish no more! That’s right, woodchuck chuckers. I’m starting a radio show!

Or more precisely, a couple of coworkers and I are starting a show.

Why are we doing it? To promote the library where I work and try to connect to students in a new and fun way. (At least, that’s the theory.) We’re also hoping to have some fun in the process, so don’t think you’d just be listening to 30 minutes of droning about library programming or anything like that.

I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m honestly a bit nervous about it. Not that I can’t talk with the best of them, but still . . . there’s a certain base level of nerves when you embark on a new endeavor. Plus, the agony of listening to your own voice and wondering how in the world you people can stand it when it sounds like that all the time.

What are we going to be talking about? I imagine it will be like this blog in many ways. in that we’ll discuss whatever we feel like, with the stipulation that it has to be library related. Politics is completely verboten, so I guess I’ll have to wait for a while before my dreams to take my Trump bashing to the airwaves. But television, movie, book, and music reviews and discussion? Totally fair game.

I don’t know what we’re going to call the show yet, and I don’t know exactly how it will play out. We’re contractually obligated to play at least one song and one Public Service Announcement every half hour, so there’s that. At the moment, I’m thinking about having a different discussion topic each show, along with a chance for each of us to make one recommendation a week, whether it’s book, movie, or music related. (There’s going to be three of us sharing the booth. We all like to talk and get along well. Let’s hope that carries over to the show.)

But what you really want to know is “When can I listen to it and where?”

Wonder no longer, my friends. We’re going to be broadcasting on WUMF 91.5 for you hyperlocal folks. Every Monday morning when school is in session, from 10:30am-11:00am. (That’s the plan for now, at least.) If you want to tune in online, go to shoutcast and search for WUMF. You can stream it right in your browser. You can also listen through iTunes and the like. To find out how, read here.

If this goes well and we actually enjoy it and find that other people do too, my plan is to record it each week and post it as a podcast. Because why not? If that happens, I’ll be sure to let you all know how to tune in. In the meantime, look forward to Monday at 10:30am EDT, and cross your fingers it goes well . . .

Say Hello to Our Robot Overlords

It might not be making front page news, but I’ve been following a game of Go that’s happening over in South Korea at the moment. What’s at stake? Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence is matched up against one of the best players ever, Lee Se-dol. Ahead of the matches (they’re playing 5 total), the human was totally confident, predicting a 5-0 victory or maybe (if he was feeling generous) a 4-1 win.

DeepMind took the first game, stunning the Go world.

And now DeepMind has won the second game as well.

Why do I think this is particularly noteworthy? For a couple of reasons. First, I loved reading about the way DeepMind won the second match. Viewers didn’t understand what the computer was up to for most of the beginning of the game. It seemed to be making random misplays, and there was some question if there was something wrong with its programming. Fast forward to the end of the game, and those “misplays” turned out to be key strategic decisions that none of the Go fans (or even the experts) understood at the time. Now in retrospect, the experts are seeing why it was a great move, and contemplating how that will change strategies in the future.

In other words, the computer was playing beyond the ability of our experts to understand it.

Second, there’s the way DeepMind has been programmed. Or, rather, not programmed. I’m not well-versed in the field enough to really understand this, but somehow they aren’t programming the computer to win. They’re letting it learn from watching games and through trial and error, in a process that resembles much more how humans learn.

Think about that for a bit. A computer is teaching itself to beat humans at an incredibly complex game, and it’s doing it so well that it’s now outthinking humans in that game.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow, friends. Next stop? Skynet.

The Wire 4:1 and 4:2

Bring on season 4. I think this might be my favorite season. It’s definitely the one that stood out to me the most in hindsight. Some great characters and as always a great storyline, but let’s get right into the review to talk about the episodes.

Episode 4:1

I don’t believe it. The first episode of a season, and it’s actually a really good one? Maybe I’m biased in this case, since it’s a season I remember pretty well, and so I already know and love the characters, but even considering that, I believe this is the strongest first episode of any Wire season so far.

Sure, you’ve got some random things going on. The conversation between Snoop and the home improvement guy is hard to follow, and it seems more than a little bizarre, but that’s cleared up by the end of the episode, so you at least have some idea what’s going on. The cops are wondering why there are no bodies, and we now know the reason. Snoop and Partlow are nailing them into the condemned housing projects.

There’s some deep meaning to be found there, if you think about it even a little. How the decay of the city helps cover up additional evils.

But beyond that, you’ve got some other great plots getting set up. Prez is back! And he’s a teacher, which is pretty cool in my book. I love how they set up the parallel between his current job and his old job, cutting back and forth between the two training sessions, and showing how little interest both groups have in what they’re hearing. (And how little relevancy the mandatory training has for them.) Two sides of public service, both bogged down by the same hoops that don’t actually appear to help at all. (It’s the result when something sounds good on paper but then is enacted for the sole purpose of getting it done. A cargo cult that ends up helping no one.)

McNulty is carefree and loving life, and it’s so nice to see him like this, even if it means we don’t see him as a main character at the moment. He has figured out what makes him happy, and he’s content to stick with it, even when Daniels begs him to step up, in an amusing turn of events.

Lester and the Major Crimes Unit have a new boss, and he’s not exactly keeping an eye on them, which gives Lester just the opening he’s been dying to have all this time to finally bring some pressure on the big wigs in the city. (I love that this plot, which was introduced in season one and then went nowhere, is brought back at last. One of the many reasons the show is so good. Everything’s in there for a reason.)

Carcetti, meanwhile, has realized what a futile endeavor this campaign is, and he’s mainly running through things just to say he did at this point. The scene with him sitting in his office wishing he were doing anything other than making phone calls for fundraising is great. All the fire and hope he had for his career advancement in the last season has pretty  much evaporated at this point, and it’s interesting to see how quickly things can go from promising to hopeless.

And then you have the highlight in my opinion: the boys. The kids who are too young to really be involved in the Game just yet, and are still innocent for the most part. Namond (the one with the hair), Randy (the one with the candy), Michael (the muscle), and Dukie (the poor one). Each one of them comes from a different background, and each one has different strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, each one is at a crossroads year in their lives. How do people go from being children to being full fledged players in the Game? This season will show the arc.

4/5 on this episode for me. Great stuff for a first episode, like I said.

Episode 4:2

Another solid episode that builds on the successes of the first episode. Looking at these two together, I think what the show did really well is connect things from this season back to threads from last season or even earlier. Last season we had Carcetti arguing about the witness shootings, and he was told what to do and why, and how it might come to help in the future. And then here we have the payoff at last. Because of the amount of time that went between the setup and the payoff, it really feels earned in a way most shows can’t pull off. Usually, a big debate reveal would feel a little deus ex machina at least, but here it’s a cool connection. Bravo.

Carcetti really is a tough character to read, and I think that’s why I like him (or try to, at least.) Because sure, you have him cheat on his wife and weasel his political way through life, but then you have him playing Battleship with his daughter. He’s put into a situation that seems hopeless, but he keeps plodding along, and now and then you see that he really does seem to care. He’s a lesson in contrasts, which is great. Not all good, not all bad. Just a regular person with highs and lows.

And how cool was it to see Wee-bay back, and to find out that he’s Namond’s dad? This is the first instance I can remember that the show depicts the Game softening instead of just getting harder. Namond is so unlike his father. He has no real drive to excel in the Game. He just wants to go out and have fun, and hopefully not get roughed up in the process. Compared to pops, he’s a powder puff. But stranger still, both his dad and his mom are really pushing him to take up the family business. They don’t view the drug trade as bad. It’s what pays the bills, even if it landed Wee-bay in prison. Go figure.

Seeing the subpoenas delivered was fun, and Clay Davis remains the easiest person to loathe but enjoy watching. He makes me want to wash my hands every time I see him and he opens his mouth. Funny to see that he’s paralleled with Namond, though. Both are willing to take a free handout and say as much in the course of the episode. When Namond took it, it didn’t necessarily seem too bad. He wasn’t committing to do anything for it. But when Davis does it, we see it for what it really is; buying influence. Dangerous stuff, bribes . . .

Bubs’ last protege might have met an untimely end, but that doesn’t mean he’s giving up, and here he is once more, trying to school a new kid. Except this time, he seems to be doing his best to keep the kid from falling into drugs and misery. His exchanged expression with Prez at school was awesome, and it’s nice to see Bubs back and doing his best, even if he never managed to kick the habit. He’s a good person. despite his flaws, in the same way that Davis is an evil person, despite his apparent shine.

And Valcheck is back, being a weasel against the mayor in two ways. He’s the one who informs Carcetti about Royce’s weak spot, and he’s the one Herc goes to for advice on how to deal with Royce’s . . . indiscretions. The man is greasy, but he knows how to play the game of politics, which is why his post as major makes more sense. Sad but true.

Really, this season is all about school and youth, and how best to handle those youths. You have different teachers: Bubs, Prez, Cutty, Bodie. You have different curricula: the Game, normal school. small business, politics. Everyone seems to be learning something or teaching something. It brings to mind Snoop’s opening scene with the home improvement guy, doesn’t it?

Anyway. I’m out of time for now. Another 4/5 for me on this one. Great stuff. Looking forward to next week!

The End of Downton

And now our watch is ended. Denisa and I caught up with the finale of Downton last night, and it was pretty much as we both expected it to be: one long “let’s fix every problem we ever came up with” session that was about as close to fan service as any series finale I can remember. In the immortal words of Vanilla Ice, “If there was a problem, yo I’ll solve it.”

And lo, all the problems were solved by the end of the episode. Let’s just run them down one by one, shall we?

Edith didn’t have a husband? No problem! We’ll have Bertie Bott show up and say he can’t live without her. And because Mary was the one who messed things up, we’ll have her be the one to fix things. And that mother we mentioned last episode? We’ll have her get over her internal hangups and presto! Marriage. Happy happy happy.
Anna kept on not being able to have a baby? Cue the time jump to her being fully pregnant, and on comes the baby! I know that in pass Downtons, this is where Anna would die in a horrible child birth scene, but no more! She has the baby in Lady Mary’s bed, and everything is 100% wonderful.
Carson’s been a gigantic jerk? We can fix that! Give him the palsy out of nowhere, and suddenly we all feel super bad for him, and hope he gets better soon. (Though of course he can’t. Introduce a major illness and magically cure it in a single episode? What sort of chicanery do you think we’re up to here? This is Downton Abbey! We must have some standards!)
Isobel still isn’t married, and Dickie has a shrew of a Daughter-in-Law? Pair up Isobel with Lady Violet, and together the Wonder Twins will swoop to the rescue. And because Dickie turns out to have a heretofore unknown illness, Isobel gets over her hangups and marries the old man anyway. And then to make sure that we’re all extra happy, we’ll take away the death sentence and cure Dickie! (What was that about Carson still being sick? Hush. This is Downton Abbey! Standards are for the weak.)
Thomas has no job? We’ll give him one! And then when he hates it (because he really turned out to love Downton all along), we’ll give him Carson’s job! You get a job! And you get a job! And YOU get a job!
Molesley wanted to be a teacher? Make it so! Give that boy a house and a career.
Chewbacca Nurse still was attached to her past ex-con love? Fix it! In this case, all she has to do is reach deep inside herself and realize she doesn’t need that ex-con anyway!
Mary married a guy who loves racing, even though she hates it? Not anymore! Now he doesn’t like racing, and instead just wants to . . . sell cars! That’s the ticket!
Who else can we fix? Tom! He doesn’t have a sweetheart anymore. That’s okay, we’ll imply he’s going to get together with the Editor Girl.
Daisy! She’s been a nincompoop for forever  We’ll have her make an idiot of herself with a hair dryer, then solve that problem and hook her up with Farm Boy. Bingo!
But what about Mrs. Patmore? Hook her up with Farm Man, of course!
Violet shouldn’t be angry at Cora anymore. Fixed!
Spratt might be in trouble for writing articles for the paper? Not in my finale, he’s not!
Dumbledore died in Harry Potter! Not anymore! Lady Mary used the Time Turner and . . . what? Oh. We didn’t fix that? Okay. Sorry about that.

I’m sure I’m missing a couple, but it’s all good. Everything’s good in Downtonville. And I must admit, I really enjoyed the ending, despite how blatantly it was fixing everything. Really, I was quite impressed with how they managed to salvage Carson. I didn’t see the debilitating illness card being played not once, but twice in a single episode. Impressive.

And Thomas . . . Think back to season 1. Who would have thought that the finale would involve him taking Carson’s place, and everyone being good with that? Bizarre, but they pulled it off. Put characters into a bad enough spot, and it turns out your audience can root for just about everyone.

It’s been an interesting road, these six seasons. Some really great television, and some real stinker episodes. On the whole, I’ve enjoyed it, though I wouldn’t mind an edit that leaves us with just the great stuff and skips over the bad.

And of course, none of you saw the alternate ending they filmed for the series, where it turns out Thomas poisoned the wine at the New Year’s/Wedding party, and he killed every single character you’ve ever loved. It was just a five minute scene that was going to be tacked onto the end, just for kicks. You know. As a sort of “And then Matthew died in a horrible car wreck” good bye to the characters. For old times’ sake.

Thanks for watching and reading. I’ll have to find something else to obsess about now. Any suggestions of shows you’d like me to review?

Caucusing Against Trump

I wasn’t planning on going to the Republican caucus in Maine on Saturday, mainly because I no longer really consider myself a Republican. But when I woke up and decided to check out if I could still caucus if I wasn’t registered (I wasn’t sure if I was still on the rolls or not) and discovered I could register the same day if I was independent, I decided I’d go and participate. Not because I really wanted any one specific candidate to win, but rather because I felt it would be hypocritical of me to be such a loud mouth against Trump online, only to do nothing against him if I could when I had the chance.

It wasn’t a vote for Rubio. It was more a vote against Trump.

And I’m very pleased my state didn’t end up in the Trump category (though I’m not really doing cartwheels that Cruz won instead . . .). The experience itself was fairly different, so I thought I might as well report back on it.

First off, there were a lot of people there. A lot, especially compared to four years ago. The official numbers I read afterward was something like 15,000 people, which doesn’t seem like many, but when you see that only 5,000 or so showed up four years ago, you understand it was a significant surge.

Just eyeballing the crowd, I saw a slew of older folks, almost all of them white. There were some younger people peppered throughout, but I can’t off the top of my head remember seeing a single person of color. I wouldn’t have called the crowd “diverse” by any stretch of the word. I did hear a number of conversations in the crowd that disturbed me, with some casual racism chit chatted about like it was no big deal. (Pro tip, folks. “Muslim” isn’t synonymous for “terrorist.”)

I did not feel like I fit in very well with the crowd, although there were a number of people there whom I know and am friends with. (Important note: my acquaintances and friends are most definitely NOT the people I overheard.) I’m not meaning to say the group was a bunch of old white racists, but I also couldn’t say that it didn’t include any OWR, either. (Another note: I didn’t go to the Democratic caucus the next day, so I can’t compare how well I would have fit in there, either.)

General observation: I think these party caucuses tend to attract many of either extreme. I don’t really imagine I’d have felt right at home with the Democrats either. There are stereotypes on both sides of the aisle, and just because I saw a few representatives of the one side doesn’t mean the other side didn’t have their reps too.

The bulk of the people I saw who had stickers affixed to them somewhere were either Trump or Cruz supporters, which lines up with how the results played out.

Strangely enough, we all voted first, and then after everyone had voted (more or less), there was a chance for representatives of the campaigns to get up and make a case for their candidate. This felt pretty silly to me, and clearly I wasn’t alone: only 50 people or so stayed to listen to the speeches. I wanted the full experience, so I did too. Trump sent a 19 year old kid from New Hampshire who didn’t really say anything of substance other than “Trump might say awful things, but at least he hasn’t been bought out by anyone else,” so . . .  Okay. Cruz’s guy went on and on about how awful Trump was and how great Reagan was (and then proceeded to say nothing about Cruz), and Rubio sent no one, so a random guy in the audience got up to speak about him.

Fun times, all around.

The whole process took a bit over two hours for me. Democracy in action? It left some to be desired on Saturday, I’m afraid. If I were to make a suggestion for improving the process, it would be to switch things around so that speeches happen before registration opens, or at least during registration. It makes no sense to have the pitch after you’ve already paid for the product, so to speak . . .

But remember the source: I’m thoroughly disgusted with politics in general, and so I started off the day with a chip on my shoulder. I did speak with a number of friends, and we had good conversations about politics and what can be done to help the country. It wasn’t all bad by any means, but a few bad apples is all it takes to really sour you on an experience . . .

And that’s all I have to say about that.