Winning implies a lot of things. It means you bested your opponent, you did better, or you were simply a lucky son of a bitch. Sometimes the other sumbitch just stopped or was too up his own ass to notice you were coming, rabbit and turtle style. Hard to know how things went down without perspective.
Take Brenda for example. She's the reigning checkers champ for the county, three years going. The Banned County Checker Club all meet every week in the basement of the Methodist church and play for hours. In November, they hold the county championships right here in the library meeting room. Twenty souls of the BCCC and some non-members compete.
Brenda's main competition is Toxi Dashel. Toxi plays hard and that's about all. Dirty tricks, like moving pieces when you aren't looking and spiking the complementary punch with LSD. If you've never tried playing checkers while wrecked out of your skull, I suggest you give it a try. Hell of a good time, but you won't really be competition worthy.The winter becomes the president of the BCCC throwing a lot of power around the club.
This year Brenda beat Toxi during the final round when he sprained his kinging finger. I didn't know that was a thing, but it happens. Brenda said she didn't give a shit cause she won. But she won't stop going and playing every week. She'll keep her edge up in case Toxi comes back next year and wins, casting the BCCC into a year of darkness. The last time that happened, Frank Bottler was president for over a decade and he outlawed any checkers that weren't red or black.
Anyway, keep on your guard lest bad folks worm their way into power and you have to kill them with a brick.
Wildwood (2026)
Directed by Travis Knight, written by Christ Butler, starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Trembly, and Carey Mulligan
Hell of a good movie. So good. Dark and unpleasant as it is beautiful and charming. You will fall in love with at least one character that will die horribly.
The plot is a bit of a mishmash of fables, fairy tales, and movies. A baby is stolen by an evil queen and her crows and coyote army so the baby's teen sister enters a labyrinth with a nerd friend, and they fight bureaucracy alongside a Robin Hood in kind of a jungle Narnia land. It's stop motion and amazing looking.
The best bits are all the characters. Dark backstories, hard deaths, funny sidekicks, and complex motives drive the action and devastation that happens. In the end, bandits and farmers lead the charge to save the world, so that's a good enough message.
Check it out.