Final thoughts on The Crown
- Caveat: I still have one episode to watch — but deadlines are deadlines.
- Here’s the thing about this series: It’s true that there’s been a drop-off in quality, from the first few seasons to the last few. And yet, individual scenes and episodes from the later seasons at times equal anything we saw in the early years. Case in point: episode 8 this year, titled “Ritz,” which explores (again) the relationship between Elizabeth and Margaret. I got goosebumps watching it. Much as I rarely “laugh out loud,” I don’t typically get goosebumps.
- The Crown has always tested my ability to hold two contradictory ideas in my head. I do believe that Britain’s monarchy is a ridiculous holdover from the past. I also believe that Britain’s monarchy is (probably) an invaluable asset to the country. It’s this tug-of-war about the institution that makes the show so compelling.
“Ritz”
**
Who the hell knows what Christmas 2024 will be like? I’ve seen others make this prediction, and I’ve decided to join them: A year from now we won’t know who the president of the United States is. The election results will be tied up in the courts, with both sides refusing to budge.
Won’t that be fun?
**
Lex Fridman spent more than two hours chatting with Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos. There was much talk about space travel, much time devoted to Amazon’s customer satisfaction.
But unless I missed it (I did fast-forward a bit during the space conversation), there was no time devoted to employee (dis)satisfaction at Amazon workplaces.
This stuck out to me because I just finished reading On the Clock, in which the author exposes the nightmare of working in an Amazon warehouse. (Granted, the book is five years old; but have Amazon working conditions improved since then?)
**
Listen, I don’t want the draft reinstated for anyone.
However … in recent decades, women have enjoyed pretty much every benefit made possible to them by feminism.
Isn’t it about time they experienced some of the downsides of equality to men?
© 2010-2024 grouchyeditor.com (text only)
