A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Lieutenant governor watch. Angela McLean starts her new job in education on Monday, and may actually go on the payroll on Friday, New Year’s Day. Therefore, Gov. Steve Bullock probably will appoint his new lieutenant governor on Thursday, the last day of 2015. Whom will he appoint? I have no idea. But he’s down to his third strike, so he’d better smack at least a clean single to the outfield.
Neither Bullock nor his aides should suppose that announcing his appointment on New Year’s Eve will lessen news media scrutiny of his choice. Reporters will take a couple of days to toast the New Year and recover from their toasts, then they’ll start asking questions, a lot of questions. So will Republican opposition researchers, perhaps even the same folks who unearthed John Walsh’s academic indiscretion.
I wish both Bullock and McLean well. May their new year be happier than 2015.
New Star Wars movie: box office hit, artistic bust. Maybe even a ripoff. Here’s an excerpt from Michael Hiltzik’s review, Admit it: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ stinks — and here’s why, at the LA Times:
It was said of George Lucas that he originally envisioned “Star Wars” as the first of a trilogy, which became reimagined as a series of three trilogies, and ended with two. Now we’re at seven films, and anyone who thinks “Star Wars” will end at nine features doesn’t know their Disney. The company, you see, is not really a movie studio, but an entertainment conglomerate. For Disney, “Star Wars” will be the gift that keeps giving. You, the consumer, are the mark who keeps paying.
“Star Wars” sequels, prequels, and requels are destined to be part of moviemaking into the infinite future. One can envision Hollywood eventually turning out only two products: “Star Wars” movies and James Bond movies, each periodically “rebooted” for a new generation of customers by casting the latest new young stars in new costumes facing the same old perils and uttering the same old quips, with every other vestige of creative originality relegated to the void and forgotten.
Sanitation logging at the old Flathead County Courthouse. The tall evergreens flanking the old courthouse are top heavy, one is rotting, and both must come down to assure public safety, says Jed Fisher, director of the county’s parks. He has supporting evidence in the form of two reports — reports that the county commission should put online. He also has a certain amount of trepidation about sawing down the trees early one morning, given their iconic status, so he and the commissioners appear to be softening-up the public for the felling.
Presumably the old trees will be replaced with healthy new evergreens and not a pair of giant flagpoles or antenna towers.
Before the chainsaws start, the building and trees should be thoroughly documented photographically, and at least some of the photographs should be stored at the Flathead County Library and placed in the public domain. The height and volume of the trees also should be documented.