Greetings from the Far Left Coast where yesterday afternoon I took my annual stroll through the Belmont Street Fair. For all the palaver about keeping Portland weird, seemed pretty bourgeois to me as festival goers of multifarious ages, styles, sexes, and genders, male, female, miscellaneous variations, uncommitted delegates, took in arts and crafts booths, music stages, a beer garden. Assorted colorful costumes, as with a fellow in pirate garb at a table outside Belmont Inn, added to the festive air.
Among activist and otherwise politically oriented booths was one bearing a sign urging support for brown and black antifascists. Another promoted the campaign of one of some twenty candidates for three city council positions from District 3, inner SE Portland, to be chosen by ranked choice voting under our new city charter. No one knows quite how this will work out. I am not looking forward to sorting through it all.
Yet more entertainment of sorts was provided by self-styled DJs with music droning in full blare from less than state of the art sound systems, random street performers, and the ubiquitous smiling signature gatherers for petitions and initiatives in support of animals, the environment, and other lefty causes. A generous taste of the neighborhood was on offer from establishments up and down Belmont, Hoda’s Lebanese, Norah (Thai), India Oven, Stumptown Coffee, Tao of Tea, to name but a few.
Far from least was a très cool Kids Zone sponsored by Portland Preschool of the Arts, where spellbound kids took in circus and other performers at the Hangout Stage, bounced gleefully around bounce houses, and swayed with hula hoops. Alas, I missed some choice events from earlier in the day, a baby race, the waddlin’ walkers race, and pre-K scooter relay races. People watching is still the main draw. Kids are the best.
Do Something Department
Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water: newsletter “dedicated to saving democracy, addressing the climate crisis, preserving our freedoms, electing better lawmakers, and, in general, creating a better country—one simple action at a time”
Indivisible Oregon: write letters to get out the vote, phone bank, canvass, share views on issues of the day with congressional representatives
Vote Forward: letter writing campaigns to get out the vote in crucial swing states and districts
Donald Trump told reporters in the spin room after the debate that it was his best ever. On Truth Social he cited Kamala Harris’s call for a second debate as evidence because only a loser would want a rematch. Less there be any doubt, he wrote emphatically in all caps on Truth Social that there will not be a third debate.
From the Harris perspective, a second encounter could be a replay of the first where she can drive the stake deeper into his dark heart. It is also possible that his rejection of a rematch if he sticks with it will redound to her advantage by making him appear weak.
Readers who have been with me for a while know that I am an eternal pessimist. No one is immune from a misstep or gaffe. Trump could be more disciplined the second time around, highly unlikely but maybe not inconceivable. Anything less decisive from Harris, even if still a clear-cut win, will be portrayed as a letdown. I say take the win and keep working. Why give him a crack at a better, even if only less bad, outcome?
Impressions from the first two debates
That Did Not Go Well, June 28, 2024. As Jamie (Margaret Qualley) put it in Drive-Away Dolls, it was, like, really, really bad.
That Went Well, September 12, 2024. Kamala Harris was poised and in command throughout, impressive, presidential. Donald Trump was missing his hinges.
Speaking of unhinged, twice-failed congressional candidate, “proud Islamophobe,” “white advocate,” and dedicated conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer got considerably more press last week than might be thought warranted for someone so factually challenged even by MAGA standards. Most amusing was the back and forth reported by Charlie Sykes after he triggered Loomer by calling her a freak on “Morning Joe.”
Loomer took exception, swiping back on social media that Sykes is “a washed up radio host,” “doing the bidding of communists and propagandists for the DNC on MSNBC,” and an “oxygen thief.” Sykes opined in a column on Friday that “oxygen thief” “was an underwhelming way to conclude the rant,” which included language too colorful to quote in this family friendly publication. “It is extraordinary,” he added.
Laura Loomer is not just a bigot, she is a freak. She is at the far edges of the fever swamp. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene described her as racist and offensive. And yet Donald Trump is associating with her; these are the kinds of people who have his ear right now. So, at this moment of the campaign—I mean think about this we're less than two months away from the election—Donald Trump is associating with some of the craziest, weirdest figures on the right. (Sykes, Trump's bigoted, freaky new BFF...)
Trump, open-minded kind of guy that he is, has described La Loomer as “a free spirit” and appeared to welcome her presence in his entourage, where she was one of the people feeding him tales about Haitians stealing and eating pets. She goes too far for even Lindsey Graham and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Graham said she is “toxic.” Taylor Greene denounced a Loomer post about Kamala Harris and curry in the White House as “appalling and extremely racist” and not representative of MAGA. If Harris wins in November, Loomer wrote,
the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand. (Loomer quoted in Allison, McGraw, Trump ally)
Imagine the depths to which one must sink to be effectively excommunicated from MAGA and declared anathema by Graham and Taylor Greene.
Full disclosure: I am fond of curry myself and enjoy it regularly at my local India Oven.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday sought to distance himself from far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, whose presence on the campaign trail drew rebukes from both Trump's allies and the White House, but he did not disavow her.
In a statement released on Friday, Trump said he did not agree with Loomer's past statements, but he still welcomed her support. Trump made clear that she does not work for his campaign, even though Loomer traveled on his plane for much of the week. (Ulmer, Slattery, Trump backs away)
Natalie Allison, Meredith McGraw, Trump ally Laura Loomer swatted down after posting bigoted attack on Harris, Politico, September 11, 2024
Charlie Sykes, Trump's bigoted, freaky new BFF..., To the Contrary, September 13, 2024
Shelby Talbott, ‘She’s a free spirit’: Donald Trump defends Laura Loomer as GOP unrest grows, Semafor, September 13, 2024
Alexandra Ulmer, Trump refuses to disavow far-right activist Loomer, Reuters, September 13, 2024
Alexandra Ulmer, Gram Slattery, Trump backs away from far-right activist Loomer's comments but welcomes her support, Reuters, September 14, 2024
Meanwhile, in Israel,
While the Israeli media this weekend concerned itself, with infinite seriousness, with the mud ball that was allegedly thrown at Itamar Ben-Gvir at the beach, the entire country continued to sink into the real mud, courtesy of the national security minister and his partners: that is, the project of turning the West Bank into Gaza and Gaza into the West Bank.
…
The killing of innocent civilians [in the West Bank] on a scale that was unimaginable before the war in Gaza has become routine, normalized by what is happening there. (Noa Landau, Israeli Government's Apocalyptic Vision: Turning Gaza Into West Bank, and West Bank Into Gaza, Haaretz, September 8, 2024
TOI staff, Woman indicted for throwing wet sand at Ben Gvir, refusing to cooperate with police, The Times of Israel, September 9, 2024
The situation in Ukraine also remains grim. More on that anon.
Memo from the Cinema Desk. Tytöt tytöt tytöt (Girls Girls Girls). 2022. Dir. Alli Haapasalo. With Aamu Milonoff (Mimmi), Eleonoora Kauhanen (Rönkkö), and Linnea Leino (Emma). Trailer.
Tytöt tytöt tytöt was released in the US under the title Girl Picture because Haapasalo thought the literal translation Girls Girls Girls would convey images of neon signs outside sleazy clubs.
Teenage best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö are classic outsiders, Mimmi more so than Rönkkö, as contemptuous of her classmates as the classmates are of her. Tytöt tytöt tytöt opens in gym class with the girls playing a variation of hockey with a ball instead of a puck on ice. Mimmi stands to the side, bored and disdainful as the action swirls around her. She remains motionless when a teammate passes her the ball for an open shot on goal. The teammate yells at her. A brief, angry exchange concludes when Mimmi walks over and whacks the other girl on the ankle with her hockey stick before making a sullen exit.
Rönkkö is distressed because her sexual experiences do not measure up to what she imagines others feel. She tells Mimmi she wants to be so close to someone that it is not enough that your skin touches. Mimmi reassures her, advising that she just needs more practice. Rönkkö tries.
Mimmi and Rönkkö work together making smoothies at a shop in the mall where the names of the drinks serve as fodder for sexual innuendo. Unfortunately Rönkkö has a gift for blurting the exactly most awkward thing at the exact wrong time. Mimmi props her up only to be rebuffed herself when she makes a pass at tall slender Emma.
The girls more or less crash a party, Rönkkö in pursuit of satisfying sex, Mimmi thinking of Emma. Rönkkö tries to mingle but winds up lying alone, fully clothed, in a bathtub. Mimmi finds the whole scene trivial. Wandering off by herself she spots Emma in another room staring at her phone. Asked what she is doing, Emma says she is watching video of the triple Lutz. Why? Because I’m a skater, she says. Mimmi asks if she is any good. Emma replies quietly, with a bare hint of a smile, “Outrageously good.”
Emma is another outsider, her life absorbed by the fierce drive to be a championship skater. She practices four times a day and keeps exercise, food, and sleep diaries. Her crisis is that she lost her triple Lutz, cannot land it, and trials for a spot in the European championship competition are coming up.
Then she falls for Mimmi, who bears her own psychical scars from the very close relationship she had with her mother as a young girl lost after her mother remarried and had a son, a much younger brother Mimmi adores. Torn between desire to spend time with Mimmi and the demands of training, and increasingly frustrated by inability to find her triple Lutz, Emma must decide what she really wants.
Exchanges with Rönkkö and Emma suggest there is more to Mimmi than the self-absorption and cynicism evident on the surface, a self-awareness buried beneath cynicism, depths, broader interests. She watches films like Last Year in Marienbad and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and has probably read a few books of substance. Slowly, painfully, she grapples with the possibility that she is causing Emma to turn away from something very important to her. Meantime, Rönkkö continues practicing.
Parents and other adults are conspicuous by their absence in the lives of these teenagers who live in nice houses or apartments, Mimmi seemingly in her own place apart from her parents. The film plays out over three successive Fridays with most scenes set at the mall, Mimmi’s place, and parties at the houses of friends, or at least schoolmates. Emma’s coach and Mimmi’s mother are the only adults of consequence, their appearances intermittent and brief.
I was up and down on Tytöt tytöt tytöt as I watched it. The film seemed not quite frivolous but definitely slight. Like many films it could have done with some judicious editing. In particular too much of Mimmi and Emma staring deeply into each other’s eyes diminishes emotional impact rather than enhancing it.
Sex scenes tend to run on. They are not particularly graphic, but there is no doubt what is going on. Dialogue on the other hand is quite graphic. Some may find it crude. It took a little getting used to even for someone who has read the likes of Joyce’s Ulysses, admittedly with no excess of comprehension, and Ginsberg’s “Howl.”
The tale unfolds with moments of suspense when the viewer fears thing may go truly badly and quirky humor that propel it along until almost unexpectedly I found myself coming to care about what would happen to each of these girls as early glimpses of complexity blossomed into something compelling. Haapasalo, Milonoff, Kauhanen, and Leino team up to nail the ending. I would love to see more of each of them.
Matt Fagerholm, Sundance 2022 Interview: Alli Haapasalo, Eleonoora Kauhanen, Linnea Leino and Aamu Milonoff on Girl Picture, Cinema Femme, August 11, 2022
Marya E. Gates, Female Filmmakers in Focus: Alli Haapasalo on Girl Picture, RogerEbert.com, August 2, 2022
Keep the faith. Stand with Ukraine. yr obdt svt