Tag: Rona

The Post Rona World Is Upon Us: Summer Is Looking Good


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m calling it — it’s going to be a party in the USA on July 4th. That’s when I think Rona will finally be behind us and things will get back to “normal.” Everyone who wants a “jab” as the British would say will get one. Travel will get back to normal. Wealthy people will go back to making poor people like me “curse the bread” and doing secret back channels in the Seychelles.

It’s very possible that the 18 months of Rona will be completely value free. The only thing to come from it all will be a defeat of Donald Fucking Trump at the polls. Otherwise, it will go down the memory hole and we get to enjoy our Weimar America leading up to the final strangling of our democracy by the Nazi Republicans in 2024.

At least, that’s what it seems like.

Really, the only thing I’m nervous about is the age of some of the people in power right now. Prince Phillip is old as fuck. The Queen is no spring chicken. And Joe Biden is almost 80. I hope all of them live for many more years, but we have to be honest with ourselves at some point.

But anyway, the point is, by this fall, it’s very likely it will be like Rona never happened. Republicans, of course, will still be screaming about “cancel culture” and having absolutely no policies other than “fuck your feelings but my feelings are sacred.”

Post-Rona Media: Idle Rambling About The Need For A Successor To Gawker


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Because of all my obsessive ranting about Gawker over the years, its founder Nick Denton has blocked me on Twitter. I have to say that one kind of hurts — even if, from his perspective, I can see I kinda deserve it.

Now, let me be clear — I’m working on a novel (which is going well, thank you) and so this is just me letting off some steam. Absolutely no one, but NO ONE, listens to me. I really am, for the time being, just talking to myself on this blog. I’m a complete and total nobody. But occasionally, I like to think, I do write something interesting on this blog.

And I know I’m writing some pretty interesting things in the novel I’m writing. Some of them are pretty thought provoking, in fact.

Regardless, I’m old enough now to have some perspective .Looking back on what I’ve experienced, it definitely seems as though occasionally a New Era pops up that changes things in a big way. Thinking back, it seems as though there were big shifts in mass perception just after Watergate and in the 1991-1992 era.

It seems logical to me that…maybe?…the fact that both Trumplandia and Rona are set to end at just about the same time might be enough to reset things? A New Modern era? Young people will reference THIS as “the modern” going forward?

A lot depends on the economy and how stable things are on an economic front. Though, of course, you could say that the next four years may be the last gasp of America as a liberal democracy, so, as such, we’re ripe for some Weimar Republic levels of creativity in a short burst before ICE agents begin to patrol Broadway looking for “non-American themes and ideas.”

I wish I was joking.

But the point is — where’s our new Gawker? It would be fun to have a new Gawker-like site that would follow in the traditions of Late Night with David Letterman, Spy Magazine and Gawker. I know what’s going on — the Internet is just as mature as the rest of media, so the start up costs for a Gawker-like site would be staggering.

The dynamic just isn’t there for a site to grow organically anymore.

As such, I think we’re in for just more of the same. The economics of the infotainment industry as such that we’re just going to have bland everything from here on out.

I’m doing my part to create something fun and different with the novel I’m working on, but it just takes time. Be patient.

My Personal Experience With COVID19


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

In the end, it felt like a really bad Korean cold.

When I first went to South Korea, my body wasn’t prepared for the make up of colds there and every once in a while, I would be felled by a really horrible cold. It happened a few times and really, really knocked me out for maybe 24 to 48 hours.

Then I would slowly bounce back.

Well, when I got the Rona, it felt just like that. In fact, it was eerie how much I felt my body was telling me, “Don’t worry, we got this — we saw this shit before in South Korea.”

But, then, I do have an extremely over-active imagination.

Anyway, I got the Rona. I’m going to quarantine for about two weeks and then maybe get tested again. My elderly father is, well, elderly. For the moment, at least, I feel 100% again.

But, obviously, I’m still infectious so I can’t go anywhere or do anything other than read and write.

It’s a very surreal feeling.