The Seth MacFarlane movies, Ted and Ted 2, aren’t for everyone, to put it mildly. The humor is slapstick, raunchy and juvenile, for sure. (Slapstick and juvenile — two of my favorite comedic elements.) But I never fail to laugh, even after watching certain scenes for the millionth time.
One particular scene stood out during a recent re-viewing of Ted 2 (AYMG’s in-house cinephiles Tyler and Dustin no doubt turning up their noses as I type). It involves Ted — a talking Teddy bear come to life, for the uninitiated, last name of Clubberlang — catching his best friend and fellow protagonist John (Mark Wahlberg) in a very compromising situation at the “doctor’s office.” We’ll just leave it at that.
Ted pulls out his phone and takes a picture of John, fully “compromised,” and proceeds to post it to social media with the hashtag, “Errrrrrrr. I hate Mondays.”
2020 has been an “Errrrrrr, I hate Mondays” kind of year. That’s not intended to make light of the serious issues being addressed in 2020. Not at all. But a pandemic. Shootings. Racial unrest. Riots. Weather and cancel culture gone wild. (John Muir, of all folks, outed as a racist?) Then there’s the limited-run series, An Evening with LeBron and His Friends in the Broadcast Booth, er, I mean, the quarantined NBA playoffs… (Personally, I’ll take MJ every time.)
Plus, we’re still two months out from what promises to be the most surreal election in the planet’s history. Seriously, aliens are making runs on alien popcorn right now, binge-watching this reality TV event we call, well, Earth. The 2020 season is sure to be remembered, if not fondly. (Not unlike season 8 of Game of Thrones, come to think of it.)
And in a season that won’t fully count, or will at least likely be stuck with an asterisk, would it really surprise anyone if the Hogs somehow, miraculously, went undefeated? And your Hogs finally poised to attain past glories on the hardwood? We’ll see your billowing optimism and raise you a pandemic that threatens to limit or even cancel the season thus sending your returning star on to the draft.
Sooo Arkansas.
On a personal level alone, 2020’s been a kick in the gut. In the last month, we delivered our younger of two boys for his freshman year of college, just two and half hours away but nevertheless, away; sent back our older to school in New Orleans, after six months at home and our having gotten used to him being around again; and we lost our 12-year-old black Lab, Sophie, perhaps the most human canine I’ve ever known and a member of our family. Really, is there a more significant tribute than “a member of our family?”
First World problems and all, I know. But a collective kick in the gut, nonetheless.
I know what Ted and John would do right now. But I suppose I’m older and wiser (if not wider) than I used to be… Sigh.
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Meanwhile, Listapalooza continues in our September issue, in which you’ll find our readers’ favorite financial advisors, a list of the state’s Powerful Women in Banking and more. All are deserving contributors to Arkansas industry and economy, and we’re pleased to recognize them. (And as it turns out, our banking list includes a “Dollar” and our advisors list a “Wages” — go figure.)
Also inside, Angela Forsyth talks to a few of the state’s female banking execs about their journey in a male-dominated field; Dwain Hebda (Is that a bell I hear? DMH just had another piece published!) enthralls with a feature about one Augusta man’s rise from meth to mayor; Kenneth Heard (Rex Nelson? A poor man’s Ken Heard) tells a tale of two cities in Independence County that is Arkansas to its core; and David Conrads, a wily veteran of business pubs in NWA and Kansas City, looks at the emerging film industry in Benton and Washington counties.
Good stuff. As underrated ’80s-era comic Jeff Altman would say, it’s sweet… and meaty.
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And we say goodbye this month to Associate Editor Madeline Burke, worth her weight in gold and off to full-time duty at the Clinton School of Public Service. We wish her well and beseech her to remember us little folk when she hits the big time.
As always, thanks for reading. We hope everyone is holding up well, or as well as could be expected. Hit me up with any questions, concerns, story ideas or vents. I’m always open at MCarter@ARMoneyandPolitics.com. (A little precautionary housekeeping: Yes, I do hope to one day convey an actual point. I’ve got it written down on a Post-It note stuck to my monitor. In other words, done.)
