The Chargers Aren't Coming Back to San Diego

There's been a string of reports recently of the Chargers "panicking" over their preseason attendance numbers. That may or may not be true, but one thing is for sure: they're staying in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future.

Some people don't think Dean Spanos or the National Football League meant it when they moved the Chargers to Los Angeles in January? Not even when they moved their equipment and materials from Murphy Canyon this summer? Not even with their "Fight for LA" campaign?

Maybe the team and league is panicking over their preseason numbers. One (unidentified) source alleges this is the case. Spanos says otherwise.

I hope it's true, for my own personal schadenfreude regarding the Spanos family, but that hope certainly doesn't make it true.

More importantly, the problem I have is the long leap people are making from the alleged panic over preseason attendance to the possibility of the Chargers returning to San Diego.

Every single one of the stories which lay out why the Chargers are eventually returning to San Diego are built on speculation and fantasy. Nothing has been stated or proposed which would indicate a return to San Diego is a real possibility.

I'll go a step further... people who tell these stories are trading on the anger and heartbreak of San Diego sports fans for personal gain, and I think that is utterly fucking terrible.

All that said, let's get into why the Chargers are going to be staying in Los Angeles for a long time.

More below the jump...

The Heroes We Need: Moana & Wonder Woman

Of the movies I've seen in 2017, two have hit me with an emotional punch that no others have. Those films are Moana and Wonder Woman. This won't be a traditional review of either film, rather an unpacking of ideas and feelings about why they really hit a nerve with me.

Author's Note: I'm aware Moana was released theatrically in 2016.

SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT.  CONTINUE READING AT YOUR DISCRETION/PERIL.

I loved both Moana and Wonder Woman. 

I love the brightness, vivid color, and clarity both films presented. Both films are buttressed by a terrific musical score. Both women are portrayed beautifully, by Auli'i Cravalho as Moana & Gal Gadot as Diana, and they get splendid support from Dwyane Johnson as Maui and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor. Both films touched a nerve for me in really unexpected ways. Both are elegant in the simplicity and directness with which they engage their audiences. 

There's real pleasure and joy in watching these women fulfill their destinies. As befits great heroes, they have to overcome everything: their parents, social norms, overbearing machismo, and finally using love to both overcome the final challenge and fulfill their own considerable potential. Both films' heroes achieve greatness by simply becoming that which they have always been, and being willing to commit the ultimate act of love - sacrifice - to save humanity.

With this in mind, I'm going to spend some time comparing these two films and seeing what it is they've done well and why I've felt so moved by both of them.

There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get to it. More below the jump.

Looking Back at Old Stuff

If anyone wants to read or review old stuff I've written, here are some links:

Movie stuff: A Beachfront Cineaste.

Political stuff: An Undeclared American.

Sports stuff: Fathers, Suns, and Lightning Bolts.

I suppose that I may repost this stuff periodically, just to give people something fresh to read from time to time.

Chasing The Damn Cat

I wanted to come up with something which nods back to 'Alien', my favorite movie, and so settled on 'Chasing The Damn Cat', in honor of Harry Dean Stanton's character Brett. You might recall (spoiler warning) that Brett is tasked with chasing down Jones - the ship's cat - so the crew searching for the alien aboard the ship wouldn't accidentally pick up the cat on the motion tracker.

Needless to say (and as is always true of people chasing damn cats) it doesn't go well for Brett. And so, we have the blog's title.

Since I can't always write about Chargers stadium shit without losing my goddamn mind, I think it's time for me to get back to writing about other things from time to time. Mostly, it will be about movies, but sometimes it will be about politics. Even more rarely, it may be a travelogue with a  bunch of random historical, geographic, and geological detritus scattered throughout, with maybe some pictures thrown in for good measure.

I'll also post links to anything I wrote for Bolts From The Blue in here.

Don't expect anything regular at the moment.

Not sure what the first writing will be about, but the leading contenders are movie analysis posts, specifically Thelma & Louise and The Untouchables.