In all aspects of my Life, I’m pretty damned critical — introspective, that is, self-critical. What I do and how I do it, product and process, principle and practice, I demand more of myself than anyone else asks of me.
I’m aware of others’ perceptions. I rely on my own judgment.
Lately, maybe the last few months, I haven’t been satisfied with Ubi Libertas Blog. It’s gotten stale. I’ve become lazy in what I say and the way I present it.
I recycle content. I repeat myself. Often I find myself skipping a day or two because I have nothing much to say.
So is it worth continuing? Probably. A number of you have told me how much you enjoy it — now 1,128 posts and counting. Stats reported by WordPress reveal that on a typical day, Ubi Libertas Blog attracts more readers than ever.
But I say that something has to change.
I say.
At the risk of giving you the impression that I’ve fallen into some pathetic “New Year’s Resolutions” trap, I’m setting a target of January 1st, 2024. Whatever I decide to do — and I can’t tell you exactly what that is, ’cause I don’t yet know myself — it’ll show up next month.
I have some ideas.
There are a few things that won’t change. I won’t, for example, be turning on comments — I have neither the stomach for nor interest in the kind of drama and trolls that’d unleash. For much the same reason (and more), I won’t make a wholesale shift from this medium to YouTube or Rumble. I’m just not cut out for video. Vlogging ain’t my thing.
I do believe that video can play a bigger role here. The trick will be producing content of satisfying quality — something I can be proud of, that is — without it becoming a colossal time-suck.
I’m pleased with most of the still images I publish, but they’re also the clearest evidence of my laziness. I have so many photographic tools at my disposal — DSLRs and lenses, high-end point-and-shoots, GoPro, drone — and yet I lean on my phone like it’s a crutch. And truly, that’s what it’s become.
You can expect better (and more creative) photographs in the New Year.
My intent for this blog, and indeed its driving force, is that it be (you should pardon the expression) organic. In other words, what appears here must flow from my experiences, both day-to-day and over the span of my Life. I don’t answer to algorithms or a contrived idea of what’s likely to generate clicks.
That’s why Ubi Libertas Blog isn’t monetized. I don’t believe it’ll ever have respectable cash potential (although I guess you never know).
And what, come January, will I be writing about? I have no clue. It goes back to the whole organic thing — I can’t predict what might come from experiences I haven’t had.
Our American Life on The Mountain, certainly, will inspire and inform what I say. Liberty will guide my steps. Joy, wherever I may find it, will sustain me.
Stay tuned.
It was well past bedtime last night when Deb and I started watching a movie with a running time of almost two-and-a-half hours. Tipped off by one of our regular YouTube channels, we waded into “Leave the World Behind,” which debuted on Netflix only a couple of weeks ago.
The premise of the film was, to me, more compelling than its plot and far more intriguing than the characters — a family vacationing on Long Island is forced to reckon with events of unknown origin and scope. Transportation, communication, power and other infrastructure go offline. Wildlife in the woods surrounding the house they’ve rented act strangely. A loud, piercing and inescapable sound assaults them.
A father-daughter pair, owners of the house, show up, and together the six try to understand and deal with WTF is happening.
It is, in fact, a grid-down (or grid-going-down) scenario. Ultimately it assumes cataclysmic proportions. The movie never explains (or definitively identifies) the cause, which leaves us no choice but to evaluate the characters’ behavior in a crisis.
Denial — refusal to accept what’s happening until it’s confirmed by someone in authority. (That’s unlikely during an information blackout, by the way.) The inability to process facts and experience and turn observations into rational action. Overall practical ineptitude, born of living a life of entitlement and consumption. But those flaws don’t indicate that the characters were crafted poorly or the roles acted badly.
To the contrary — what I saw was an accurate (if disturbing) representation of how the vast majority of Americans will react when the SHTF.
The most instructive thing I took away from the film was a reminder, not a revelation. When the grid goes down, and communications along with it, we’ll know what is happening (to us) without knowing why. People who survive those pivotal moments (and thrive beyond them) won’t need to know why. Their preparations and their mindset will carry them through.
No, LTWB isn’t a great movie. The script is choppy and it drags in places. The cast is made up exclusively of flaming liberals — it’s a POTUS #44-backed film, after all. (Ironic that it portrays woke urban elites as virtually useless in a crisis.) The acting is merely adequate — by no means is it as good as Ozark, but it’s also not as wretched as, say, Virgin River.
The CGI deer are cool.
In the end, I have to say that the movie didn’t waste my time. I recommend watching it.
There’s a lot of buzz about a sequel, reportedly being referred to as “the civil war,” and even turning LTWB into a woke franchise. I can predict with confidence that it’ll pit Right against Left, with the latter portrayed as good and the former… well, you know.
They hate us.
Tonight’s sunset on The Mountain was one for the ages.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB