The Grouchy Editor

Asleep While the World Ends

A funny thing happened when I woke up this morning. After enjoying coffee and a cigarette, and a quick check of the morning news, I remembered that I watched A House of Dynamite the night before.

“Oh, yeah,” I thought. “It was pretty good.” Then I forgot about it.

That’s strange because the Netflix movie, while I was watching it, kept me absorbed throughout. And yet … I don’t think it will stick with me. Not like Fail Safe. Not like Dr. Strangelove or Crimson Tide or any other nail-biter about nuclear war.

I suspect House doesn’t hold up because of its structure. Director Kathryn Bigelow mounts a fine production with numerous tense scenes. The setup: Someone has launched a nuclear weapon aimed at Chicago, and the U.S. government scrambles to decide what to do. In just 19 minutes.

But the script plays out this horrifying scenario in a nonlinear fashion. We see the same 19 minutes from the perspective of three different characters. Just when suspense should be reaching fever pitch, we cut back to witness the same events from someone else’s point of view. This undercuts tension.

The result is a gripping story that starts and stops, starts and stops. After the first segment, we know what will happen in the next playouts.

House is a good movie but, unlike Fail Safe, not a particularly memorable one. On the other hand, we do need periodic reminders that civil war and pandemics are not the only nightmares we have to be concerned about. The nukes are still there.

**

On a lighter note, Sabrina Carpenter guest-hosted Saturday Night Live.

For those of us who prefer not to listen to her hit song “Manchild,” we can watch her dance in her underwear, instead:

And look what demonic A.I. has done to poor Sabrina’s panties:

© 2010-2025 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Peace in the Middle East!

OK, everyone needs to settle down. Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of Fauda on Netflix. Or maybe I’m so damn old that I can’t completely buy “peace in the Middle East.” Seen that movie before, and it never ends well.

These people have despised each other forever — almost literally.

Give it a few years. Then check back with me.

Editor’s note: This review was written Saturday, October 18. I woke up this morning, Sunday, October 19, to this “breaking news”:

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Short review this week because I am busy battling Amazon in an attempt to get my book published on its site.

In the meantime, I noticed a hot actress named Cleopatra Coleman on Black Rabbit. I did some research and unearthed these clips of her in another film, which I will call Black Backside:

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Trump’s Achilles’ Heel

It’s probably too late — Donald Trump is 79 years old — but the dude really, really needs to stop currying favor with institutions that despise him.

What is blindingly obvious to most of us is to Donald the holy grail. He craves the respect and admiration of the New York Times, the Nobel Peace Prize committee, and every other once-venerable institution.

He grants interviews to the Times, then watches as the Old Gray Lady twists facts and stabs him in the back. He appeals to the Nobel voters — a group that cemented its liberal bias by awarding Barack Obama before he’d done a damn thing.

These people are never going to embrace you, Donald. They are hopelessly corrupt. Give it up.

**

Word Games

From Lingo Digest

Whenever there’s a dispute over the meaning of a word (often), I prefer to refer to the ultimate authority: an old-fashioned dictionary.

But I worry because, reportedly, the woke police have been busy changing the meanings of words and phrases in that formerly ultimate authority.

Here is a good task for artificial intelligence: scan a 2025 dictionary and compare it to, oh, say a 2015 dictionary. Find out how many definitions have discrepancies between the two.

In the meantime, I’m not buying any new dictionaries. I’ll use an old one.

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Deportation Dilemma

Well, this deportation uproar was predictable. Many people predicted it. I predicted it, years ago.

The left — “progressives,” “liberals,” “independents,” all of them voting for Democrat policies — created an illegal-immigrant crisis. Now they complain about the people trying to clean up their mess.

They are like children who, after making a cluttered nightmare of their bedroom, complain that their parents moved toys where they can’t find them while cleaning up the clutter.

Mistakes will be made by ICE. Some people will be detained who shouldn’t be detained. A lot of people will be inconvenienced. What would you expect when the mandate is to deport millions of illegal immigrants? An episode of Law & Order?

**

Potter Wars

I’d like to jump on the J.K. Rowling bandwagon over her takedown of Emma Watson. I’d really like to because I’m on Rowling’s side.

But from what I can tell, Rowling is still full of shit on a host of other liberal issues. 

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Sellouts of the Week

Bill Burr, Louis C.K., and Dave Chappelle, all of whom decided they don’t have enough money and so decided to go kiss ass in Saudi Arabia.

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X Files

Milo gave this girl a backhanded compliment, I guess:

So did I, I guess:

I thought her photo shoot looked like A.I. handiwork. Turns out I was (gasp!) incorrect. She posted the pic above to prove me wrong.

Not sure about the authenticity of the picture of her below:

**

Jonie tells it like it is. You won’t see her selling out in Saudi Arabia.

At least, not yet.

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When I watch horror movies, the scariest villain, to me, is not the monster like a vampire or a werewolf, nor is it the masked slasher like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. It’s also not the crazed serial killer.

The most frightening monster is the angry child in an adult’s body.

This type of monster — I think of “Billy” in the original Black Christmas — is recognizable because, at some level, he or she exists in all of us.

That’s what scares me about this culture war, or civil war, we are now in. I’m seeing millions of citizens behave like angry children: unreasonable, crazed, and often violent. Thanks, Boomers, for unleashing these scary brats on the nation.

The bad news: They are hysterical, and there are a lot of them. The good news: They are not very bright.

I used to think these adult-children just needed a good spanking. Apparently, that’s not enough. A lot of them need to be sent to their rooms (i.e., jail) without dinner.

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I think it’s time we drop the word “conspiracy” from conspiracy theories. Too many conspiracy theories turn out to be factual.

But the term has a negative connotation. Sounds like something dreamed up by shadowy cultists in a smoky basement.

Let’s just call them “theories.”

**

Is Donald Trump pulling MAGA’s leg because Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling Trump’s strings?

Is Israel somehow behind the Charlie Kirk assassination? The Epstein files? Dancing with the Stars?

Conspiracy theories? I have no clue.

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Speaking of the Kirk assassination, I admit I am enjoying the mass firings of leftist celebrants, thanks to doxing on sites like X.

On one hand, it’s a satisfying case of giving them a taste of their own medicine.

On the other hand, what comes next if both sides do nothing but seek vengeance? Civil war? Or is that a conspiracy theory?

My head spins.

**

Speaking of X, some poster is catching flak for complaining about creeps filming scantily clad chicks at water parks. He did this by posting a video of scantily clad chicks at a water park.

I suppose I will catch flak for posting pics from his pics about creeps taking pics.

But she does have a nice ass. It’s her fault for showing us her bare ass at a water park.

Since we’re on the topic of female rear ends, let’s check in with Morgan (top) and Lauren (bottom) in the backyard of the Big Brother house:

Let’s check in a bit closer:

THE END

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Turning Point?

This woman scares me. And I’m on her side.

*

I was not a big fan of Charlie Kirk. I was on his team politically, but personally there seemed to be something vaguely off-putting about him. He reminded me of those earnest Mormons who come to your door hoping to convert you. I don’t exactly dislike them, but I wonder how they can seem so certain about everything.

But Kirk’s murder was shocking. I can’t help but believe this is some sort of “turning point” in the culture wars. We do indeed live in interesting times — but not in a good way.

*

Kash Patel — I’ve wondered why this guy has such ardent supporters, like podcaster Tim Pool. From the Epstein files to his early bungling of the Kirk-killer manhunt, he doesn’t inspire much confidence. Plus, he has a perpetual deer-in-the-headlights look:

Please prove me wrong, Patel.

*

The shooting of Kirk made me angry. I don’t want revenge on leftists in the streets. I do want a strong response from Trump. I have no faith in our hapless congressmen and congresswomen.

I hate to say this, but this seems like civil war and, as the saying goes, all’s fair in love and war. So go ahead and bend some rules, Donald; even break them, if you have to. It’s what the left does.

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The gleeful celebrations by leftists on social media —

If I’m honest, there were times the past five years when I’ve wished Joe Biden dead. I thought if he was killed, or just died, the world would be better off. I think this is human nature. So, I can’t get too worked up over the leftists and their tasteless, often odious, celebrations.

But I’d like to think that those feelings are temporary, and that they won’t transform into something tangible. But obviously, sometimes they do.

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“Let’s just admit that both sides are guilty of this.” No, let’s not. There are exceptions, but 90 percent of political violence comes from one side, and it’s not the right.

And let’s not forget the non-political violence that stems from Democrat policies (below).

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Pet Peeve

It’s a slow news week (not really) so I thought I’d take the opportunity to vent about a pet peeve.

People I admire and/or respect keep committing this sin. These people are usually well-educated. They are famous, published writers, or acclaimed public speakers. People who ought to know better do this in print, they do this on TV, they do it on social media.

They say “unconsciously” when they mean “subconsciously.”

I rarely see this mistake the other way around.

I am posting the explanation below, taken from a grammar and English usage site:

Please get it fucking right.

You’re welcome.

There is nothing approaching the importance of this matter in the news this week. That completes the “Weekly Review.”

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If I wrote the headline about the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce engagement:

Dumb Jock Lands Mid-Looking Feminazi

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In theory, I should love The Thursday Murder Club. The novel is a “cozy” mystery, with elderly protagonists, and I dig cozy mysteries by Agatha Christie with older heroes like Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. I also enjoy the 1960s Miss Marple flicks with Margaret Rutherford.

But I was bored by Thursday the book and I was bored by the Netflix adaptation.

Being an old person doesn’t automatically make you interesting. Being Pierce Brosnan or Helen Mirren doesn’t mean you get to play interesting characters.

If you subscribe to the school of comedy in which older people cursing — or expressing an interest in sex — strikes you as hilarious, this movie is for you. I call it the “oldsters acting like teenagers” genre. That sort of thing was mildly amusing in 1971, when Ruth Gordon starred in Harold and Maude. Today, it’s an uninspired cliché.

I watched Thursday with cautious optimism. I thought British star power might overcome a weak story. After 20 minutes the movie became background noise as my thoughts drifted elsewhere. After 45 minutes I turned it off.

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