Thanksgiving Thoughts

There is a video of First Lady Jill Biden welcoming the delivery of the official White House tree. So, it is like Christmas season came (even without holiday films on multiple channels, including now Lifetime) and Thanksgiving is a bit of an also ran. 

But, the holiday remains of some importance. The American Thanksgiving experience, especially the turkey, is in various ways a creature of 19th Century culture (see here on turkey). Examinations of Christmas traditions also can point to that era though the whole Santa Claus experience was truly completed in the 20th Century.  

The basic concept of a fall harvest celebration, including remembering to give thanks probably has ancient roots.  The United States mixed in some of the Pilgrims and Native Americans stuff (that for a long time was largely only a New England memory), including having a mixed (at best) relationship with the latter.  So, though Thanksgiving very well has a general message, it is more complicated in this country. 

The House had a hearing recently on the assumed never fulfilled treaty obligation of having a Cherokee delegate to Congress.  The Republican ranking member of the relevant committee is a member of a tribe himself.  The whole thing did not have a partisan flavor.  Also, separately, an Alaska Native just officially won re-election -- currently filling in a short term -- as the representative to Alaska.

The delay in Alaska is based on the use of a form of instant run-off voting that has multiple "rounds" when there are more than two candidates.  The net result here is basically the NYT predicts a 220-213 House with two candidate races left (I guess) plus the Senate run-off (50-49 now with the only credible candidate favored to win).  So, maybe 221-214 final?

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We also had the official "pardoning" of Chocolate and Chip, the ceremony now largely a lighthearted affair that gives presidents a chance to be goofy.  The ceremony began as a more sensible official presentation of a turkey to the White House for a variety of reasons, including to promote the turkey production industry.  

George Bush Sr. apparently started the more asinine "pardon" tradition as if turkeys could be pardoned.  I am not sure what the exact point of that is supposed to be, other again as a chance some fun.  Is a sort of "dollar and a dream" lottery for turkeys -- over 200 million turkeys are raised by this country a year? As a vegetarian, it does seem perverse.  At least, Biden did by this point use his actual pardon power for human beings. 

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Another more benign (up to a point) tradition these days is football.  There was a tradition of Detroit and Dallas games. Now, there a third game on night as well (NFL Network).  The Giants played Dallas this year ("early dinner" game) and the Bills played the Lions (usual first game).  The Pats played the Vikings. Each game turned on one score though the Giants game did so in the final seconds (onside kick attempt, fail; end of game).

[So, that is 0-2 for the Giants, including another hole they couldn't get out of -- if quicker that time -- versus the Lions.]  

The Bills (that blew a Vikings game, the Vikings again having a come from behind victory vs. the Pats) beat Detroit.  The Bills was beaten by the Jets too, which puts the Dolphins in the driving seat for the time being.  The Jets then blew their rematch with the Pats (after the Jets had a bye) on a punt return in a game that seemed ready to go into OT (10-3).  

Zach Wilson, who has been pretty good this year when not playing the Patriots, then had a dubious post-game press conference where multiple people (including otherwise sympathetic media observers) thought he did not take enough responsibility.  This led to talk about him not being ready for prime time and so on. Again, he just beat the Bills, right?  

Anyway, the head coach decided to bench him for the upcoming game versus the Bears.  This game provides a somewhat soft blow since that team is not very good though their raw but promising QB has the potential to score a lot of points.  Mike White -- the veteran QB dubiously signed last season shifted a few weeks back to #3 -- will start.  You recall White had that one charmed game versus the Bengals last season.

I understand the move, especially to teach the kid -- shall we say -- a lesson.  But, the blame to me should be spread around (I'm not alone in so thinking).  Wilson -- who the hoodie clearly got psyched as he does various youngsters -- was doing NOTHING during that game.  That game. He started and won the Bills game.

He should have been benched at some point.  Now, the coverage I saw suggested the idea Wilson already was "soft" (though again, they won games) psychologically, but not taking him out seems to help send the message the lack of offensive effort was not his fault.  Again, failure has many fathers.

Plus, there was the basic point that the Jets were doing nothing offensively.  Mike White is no savior.  But, if one thing doesn't work, you try something new.  Zack Wilson for two straight games vs. the Packs was lousy, if in that game not choking up the ball repeatedly (thus the 3-3 score until very late).  

There is talk how this change will spice things up.  Yeah.  Again, they beat the Bills.  Wilson was bad versus the Pats.  I'm not sure, but it might even be that the Jets are usually slow after a bye.  So, if the Jets do win now versus the Bears, let us not do a "correlation means causation" thing that ignores who they are playing and how Wilson won before.  At least, if we do, the whole thing would be a bit stupid.

I think it still might be valid to give him the game off as a "teaching moment," especially after his post game remarks.  But, the smarter move probably would be to remove him during the Pats game and put him back in the Bears game. If he started slow, THEN maybe it would be a sign that it wasn't just the Patriots. Since, to belabor it, didn't he start the Bills game?

[There is also world soccer stuff.  I don't really care though John Oliver -- in his season finale -- flagged FIFA and Qatar has issues.]

Of course, there are lots of Christmas movies on, including now on Lifetime. I do not have as many channels as some (there are three Hallmark channels alone; I have one), but there are lots of them.  Southern Family Christmas was on last night; what caught my eye there (not being a Grey's Anatomy fan) is that the horror film king, Bruce Campbell was in it.  

These films regularly have actors who are familiar for various character roles they did (Moira Kelly is a supporting character here and I know her from a couple things).  It turns out Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead etc., as well as some t.v. work, including a character on Xena) was in a Hallmark film already.  He plays a "straight" role here as someone who abandoned the star of the film when she was a young girl. So, unlike many of these films, romance is not really the main focus of the story.

(We also learn a French/Cajun Christmas tradition.)  

The film is overall well done, but I think it basically tells its basic story by around the hour mark [minus the reveal]  so would have worked better as a ninety minute film.  I think the two sets of parents (her mom/stepdad and birth dad/step mom, played by Moira Kelly) each were well acted and well written as dramatic characters (other than her birth dad, you can imagine a thinly written affair).  Films often turn on good supporting characters.  

The lead (who played in another Hallmark film as a designer in a film that promoted different body images in fashion) also is an interesting character since she comes off as a bit different than some (often happy go lucky types) in Hallmark films.  But, again the whole "secret" part of the story is not really paced good enough for me not to think "okay, sorta bored" here.  

Overall, the movie is a mixed bag, but does stand out.