I’m All Lost In, #144: Black Swan; an old letter from Mom; and alcohol-free whiskey from Kentucky. Plus the Week in X>Y.
I’m All Lost In…
the 3 things I’m obsessing about THIS week
#144
The Week in X> (is greater than) Y
Judges > Goons Just consider President Trump’s dangerous but flailing playground-bully version of law enforcement, i.e. his military operation against brown immigrants.
The NYT did a thorough review of cases the Trump administration has brought against immigrants who supposedly attacked ICE agents. The feds are losing these cases at a revealing rate: Typically the government wins about 90% of cases like this, yet Trump has lost more than half of the 400 cases resolved so far.
These reality-check rulings are also providing comedic MAGA metaphors :
A judge last fall dismissed assault charges against an immigrant, ruling that the agent involved had been cut by shards of glass from a car window he himself had smashed.
Trump Policy = KKK Policy Consider Trump’s latest fantasy-driven nativist policy initiative to revoke legal licenses for immigrant truck drivers— and give them to veterans. (I wonder if Trump knows not all vets are white.)
Immigrants rights groups are already suing the Trump administration over his earlier, related provincialist tantrum:
The parallel effort to prohibit immigrants who are authorized to live and work in the country from obtaining truck driver’s licenses drew fierce criticism and legal challengeswhen it was announced last year. It targeted asylum seekers, refugees and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
The Athens Open in Greece, the Iași Open in Romania > Wimbledon I’m reveling in watching these 250-level WTA tournaments right now; this month’s earlier Wimbledon extravaganza is a 2000-level event.
The 250-point events (and 125s as well) give fans an opportunity to watch lower-ranked players shine and pirouette on center court. For example, I’m enjoying watching World No. 97, Egyptian player Mayar Sherif. I originally started following Sherif and her loopy game at three in the morning when I stayed up to watch a 125-level tournament from Antalya, Turkey last March as Sherif made it to the semifinals. She was world No. 111 then.
This week she’s blazed her way into the finals in Iași, beating World No. 52, Oleksandra Oliynykova in the semis today.
This Week’s Obsessions
1) How Bad the movie Black Swan Is
Earlier this year I was obsessed with a quasi-literary paperback novel about the elite, backstabbing world of professional ballet—City of Night Birds [I’m All Lost In, #135, 5/16/26.] When a flight attendant noticed I was reading it on the plane, he recommended I check out the 2010 movie Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Barbara Hershey. I was aware of this movie and had always thought I’d missed a classy art film.
Nah. I tried watching it this week. I stuck with it for about a half hour; initially, the jump-scare flashes of psychosis that foreshadowed Portman’s pending mental breakdown were pulling me in. They reminded me of my favorite mid-60s art film, Roman Polanski’s Repulsion.
But Black Swan’s over-the-top sexist story—edgy male auteur coaxes sheltered ingenue out of her frigid state (by instructing her to masturbate!)—was exponentially trite and cliché.
I’m sure there’s a way to go with this movie as a camp masterpiece—and Hershey as the Evil Queen certainly spoofs the script in real time. But after giving it a second try, I could only get another ten minutes in. Maybe to the part when Cassel’s male-gaze-genius character explains to Portman that her predecessor was talented because she followed her impulses.
I followed my own impulse to turn off the movie.
2) Mom’s Wit
I remembered a perfect anecdote about Mom’s wicked sense of humor this week. And I shared it with anyone I could:
The time she sent me a Halloween card. It was an envelope full of cookie crumbs with a note that read: "They were witch, ghost, goblin."
The fact that Mom (RIP) was sending me Halloween cards when I was in my 20s is also killer.
3) NKD Whiskey
This Kentucky brew leans into mushrooms instead of corn mash. It must be a magic ingredient. Or at least an addictive one. This is the third time I’ve written about NKD Whiskey—an alcohol-free concoction made from oak concentrate, distilled water, mushroom extract, and agave.
First it was an obsession after I had a few glasses this spring at an NA bar on the Lower East Side [I’m All Lost In, #137, 6/2/26.] And then again last week in an X-is greater than-Y item when I noted that my NKD shipment had arrived in the mail [I’m All Lost in #143, 7/13/26.]
It’s only five days later and I’ve finished one of the two bottles they sent.