Mighty Fall

FBR First Day in Day Care

There is some good coming out of the precipitous fall of serial molester Harvey Weinstein as a Hollywood heavyweight due to his decades long abuse of women. The good lies in the very public shaming of the supposedly progressive and always self-important Hollywood scene where this predator was allowed to prowl for years in what is now revealed as a very open secret. I also grew up in the 60s and 70s which Weinstein is offering as some kind of weird defense for his crimes and yet I don’t feel that entitles me to prey on women.

I’ve had fairly responsible jobs for the past couple decades, many of which involved numerous female employees and never felt this gave me the right to use my authority to victimize. Of course I do have a wife who’s pretty handy with a machete but I digress. Weinstein is sad dude but again his crimes are now open and actresses are coming out of the woodwork to recount their interactions with him. I hope this empowers the very insular Hollywood community to take a long look in the mirror and stop re-victimizing the women involved in these type crimes.

Who's Sneering Now?

It speaks volumes about the need for curbs on the powerful in any industry and now we get to the sticky wicket. I saw the need for it in my last assignment in the military. I was in charge of a group of investigators charged with looking into allegations against general officers. As you can probably imagine many of those involved sexual misconduct. A certain type of general thought he was made more handsome along with his promotion to general. In the rank conscious military society a general with a Weinstein like predatory nature was bound to come under scrutiny of the organization I worked for. I know this type setup wouldn’t work in the civilian world, but wait a minute, why not?

I’ve heard we have a law enforcement system. I know it is a crime to take advantage of the opposite sex without consent. We finally arrive at the point I’m laboriously trying to make – women shouldn’t be stigmatized for calling out an abusive predator. We should treat the predator as the criminal not the victim. The powerful will always be hip deep in lawyers but hopefully the exposition we’re still in the middle of will create a more empowered reporting of the malfeasance that is still going on.

Some very big news out of the New Hampshire branch of family operations. Both the ABFA and my Favorite Son earned huge promotions at work. The ABFA interviewed for and yesterday learned she was chosen for a big job in her company. The only downside is the addition of a Boston commute further complicated with the BRS now part of the calculus. I’m more than certain this superb young lady will handle this with her usual aplomb. My Favorite Son was promoted to Project Manager for his company. He sent me a posting from his company’s internal net announcing the promotion. The announcement had some very nice things to say about him. It’s always nice to learn your opinion of your child is shared by the other people he interacts with.

The FBR’s first day in day care was a rousing success. She showed me two paintings she created during the day and both her parents were extremely complimentary of the day care provider. Wingman was freed up to start the job search process in the interim. I’m so proud of the job he has done with his precocious young charge over the first couple years of her life. I think he’s a keeper. Meanwhile down in Panama my wife had a very full day charging around in her Abrams tank (see yesterday’s blog). She was supposed to buy a couple items of furniture but only browsed. This is where the marital dynamic came into play. She hates making decisions (except when it comes to my behavior). She walked me through a dozen photos during our call last night. I was probably less than gentle in reminding her that the whole point of her going down there was to make these purchases. We were just about done with our conversation when she meekly brought up a final subject – she’d lost her passport! Yep – the same document we went through such gyrations earlier in the week to acquire. She asked me why I was getting angry when she revealed the missing document. I tried to explain I was mad at the situation and not her (I think she bought it). UPDATE:  I just received a text – the missing passport was located, she’d left it at the rental car place.

I went to see The Foreigner last night. This represents a huge change in course of the two main actors. Jackie Chan, the most dangerous senior citizen alive, is actually asked to emote instead of beating enemies into a pulp amidst his swirling clouds of fists and feet. It turns out behind all those kicks and punches lays a pretty effective actor. He is convincing as the father of a tragically slain family seeking revenge for his daughter killed in an IRA bombing. Brosnan is even more surprising in a multi-layered villain role as a former IRA leader trying to go straight and politic around the mess created by the bombing. They may have tried to do too much with the IRA subplot but we still have Mr. Chan dispensing justice where needed. I really liked this departure for these two cinema stalwarts.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #30 out of 100, with The Snow Creature – a sad tale of a Himalayan yeti with INS issues.