Monthly Archives: August 2020

A Few Quick Movie Recommendations

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I have been doing pretty well lately at picking the movies, so I thought I’d list a few here that I’ve seen lately that are highly recommended. All of them are better than Birdman.

Top Five: This 2014 Chris Rock film might have fallen below the average movie fan’s radar, but it is a must-see. Rock plays comic and movie star Andre Allen as he is interviewed in a day-in-the-life piece by Times reporter Chelsea Brown, played by Rosario Dawson. This film is smart, hilarious, and it will have you tossing around your own “top five” list. I believe I’ve mentioned this film in a previous post. It is worth mention again.

Joker: Origin stories for the most enigmatic super-villains of all have been fast and loose since the character never really had such a backstory in the comics. Hangover director Todd Phillips and actor Joaquin Phoenix may have created the best such story yet. A satisfying yet subtle story arc for the guy whose brand of evil everyone hates to love.

The Nice Guys: Russell Crow and Ryan Gosling schlemiel and schlimazel it up as would-be PIs who get entangled in a fiendish, twisted plot that has them way in over their heads. This 2016 “neo-noir” effort is just about worth seeing to watch Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell, who would next go to play a pivotal character in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Knives Out: I most recently witnessed Knives Out, a true, effective whodunnit led by Daniel Craig but with countless surprising notables including Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Christopher Plummer FTW. No matter how many steps ahead you think you are of this 2019 mystery, you’ll only see this plot zooming out to pass you hard. Apparently writer/director Rian Johnson should stick to more earthly works.

Gloomy Day

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The sky was gloomy today, maybe our effect from the hurricane, or is it hurricanes, which reflected the mood I was in. It’s Jacob Blake. Then it’s that kid murdering people in the street who walked right by the cops with his long-gun in tow, and they just waved at him. Isn’t that astonishing? The kid just murdered two people, then he walks right by the cops, and they’re like, how yinz doin’?

And the Republican National Nightmare marched on for night three. It’s got to be some kind of day when former Notre Dame Coach Lou Holt questions your spirituality, but that’s the kind of day Joe Biden had today.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany hasn’t been in the White House Press Room in 13 days. But she showed up to advocate for Trump’ reelection today, one of many highly inappropriate appearances that I hope will be ripe for investigation by Congress.

Philadelphia Eagles Sportsball Player Jack Brewer ended up speaking, though this was in some question as he is under investigation for insider trading. Nothing weird about that.

And there were more lies and more propaganda, and I yelled at my TV a lot.

Most of the day though, I’ve been thinking about the horror show that happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the cop who grabbed the black man’s shirt and shot him seven times in the back; the white teenager striding down the street with an AK-47, murdering people and then skipping past the police officers, likely because for some reason a caucasian person with an assault weapon doesn’t ring any bells for 5-0.

What is wrong with us?

Macy’s

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A few years ago, there was a Macy’s in the mall near where I lived, and it was closing. I was trying to outfit my apartment, so I figured there would be bargains to be had, so I walked in. And it was one of the most depressing scenes I have ever witnessed. They were mainly selling rugs, some arcane furniture nobody would buy, and the store fixtures themselves, the counters, the display cases, anything anything, you could probably make an offer on somebody’s toupee and they would have sold it. And as I walked through this disaster knowing I would not be buying anything, I walked by one former jewelry counter, and there was a black woman saying “stop it, no, we can’t go back home, you play with that phone and sit there” or something like that. This woman took this job, probably as a temp? or she worked for them before and was trying to earn a few bucks before everything got closed? I don’t know which. But she had a 4 or 6 year old kid sitting on the floor in her counter in the midst of a situation where she would only in a few minutes or a day or a week or a month where she would be losing her “job.” And despite that desperate, hopeless choice for a “job” that was destined to end, that promised no future, no sustainable living, despite that, she had to make her child play on her phone on the dirty carpet in a department store just to keep paying the rent. Every time I think about public policy these days, I think about that woman. The only thing that government should be doing is taking care of her. And it does nothing but. Shame on this country. Shame on your stupid, short-sighted ass.

“The litmus test for America is how we are treating black women.” (Kamala Harris)
I told somebody to go shit in a lake. Then I told the person how. “Squatting off the end of the dock with your pants down is not the best way. You should probably just jump into the lake and then do your business in the lake. The water might be really cold at that time so your bowels might tighten up. But you are a guy in control, so you can probably handle it. Maybe bend your body back and forth a couple of times to make your bowels ease up. I would recommend wearing a lifejacket.”
The President of the United States should not be advocating a boycott of an American business for any reason. Republicans have often been critical of Democratic politicians for “picking winners and losers.” But Democrats have never done anything as flagrant as to name a specific, American based company and saying “this company sucks” for political reasons. This is unpresidential, this is bad for our country, this is an abuse of the bully pulpit, this is horrible. This alone should invite Congressional hearings, but it won’t because here are 1300 more of these a day with this idiot. Vote Biden, FFS, vote Biden, do not shove your own vote up your nose. This impeached president is so bad for your country and for you.