Weekly Roundup (Sep 1, 2023) (Patreon)

Here we go. It's my last semester of college, seven-and-a-half years after I started. Gonna make the most of it, but I'll also keep writing here. I have more American's Guide to Czech Movies in the pipeline for you, and I'm going to start writing about L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Writing about Gilliam and Švankmajer made me realize Baum was an inevitable subject, so let's have fun with it.

Lots happening in the world lately too. Trump's mugshot was fun. The wave of transphobia less so. Biden's apathy to the plight of Hawaiians and immigrants is a pretty grotesque reminder that even a pretty good President basically sucks. And North Africa has been absolutely fascinating lately, so let's dive into that. Gabon's president getting Praetorian Guarded is interesting. Almost like the IMF fucking over an entire continent destabilizes it beyond the point where it can pay for infrastructure and coups happen in that space. Similar thing in Niger, which seems to have U.S. connections. Same hat as Burkina Faso last year. We should probably care more about this stuff.

Iran is also censoring a bunch of professors a year after the murder of Mahsa Amini. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is no doubt punching the air in his corner of Hell. I might be doing my thesis about this, actually. Wish me luck.