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Film: Another Round

A good film, but an exceptional drinking film. Had to stop around the first act break to fix myself a drink. 

Obviously, you pair this with Sideways.

Then Give It To Me

60% of Ohio nursing home staff refusing vaccine. 

Seriously, they pass give it to someone else. We don't have time for this shit.

This Is Really Incredible

Haverford and Bryn Mawr both experienced student "strikes" this year. The students (I mean parents) are paying the colleges 60 grand a year for the students to strike classes.

The parents ought to organize a coalition to demand every penny of their tuition to be refunded.

Let the strike go on until the striking students get hungry. Let's see how committed they are to dismantling the obviously racist environment of these schools.

I'd laugh if it wasn't so serious.

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Film: Palm Springs and Home Alone 

Palm Springs very solid. Most unusual element from Home Alone - between Kevin and one set of cousins, the families have 11 kids, meaning 5 or 6 from each family. I cannot imagine such a depiction of an American family in 2020. Depressing, isn't it? Was it so long ago?

TV: Normal People (parts), House of Ho, A Teacher (parts)

Parts indicates catching parts as my wife watched the show. Normal People had a storyline that was: Beat 1 - character gets accepted into an MFA program, Beat 2 - character does not want to go because girlfriend won't go, Beat 3 - character changes mind and decides to go. That should give you a good sense of whether you'll like the show or not.

House of Ho and Selling Sunset were my two favorite shows this year. 

Amen

Great line: "When I see Josh Hawley, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump behind an idea, it's time to run for cover." 

Be Real

Deadline reports MLK hospital overrun with COVID. And of course, the suggested narrative is that this is due to systemic injustice.

But at the same time, I can't help but notice other headlines in the LA Times (hardcopy) about cops shutting down underground parties in DTLA and Compton last night. Which, of course, are right near MLK hospital. 

Connection? 

This Is Where We Are

And a preview of where we are headed. 

Coronavirus Case Map For LA

My two criticism: doesn't include Burbank and doesn't indicate what the colors mean.

 

How Guilty is the FDA?

For every day they delayed approving the vaccine, 3,000 extra Americans died. Consider that number. Then, add in this additional variable that the virus has a mutated strain that may spread even faster (as found in the UK). 

Within their existing slo-mo bureaucracy, the vaccine approval was delayed AT LEAST two weeks. That's the floor number. Ceiling is: they could've got this vaccine out earlier if they had any ability to move fast.

 

Election Fraud

I've not been persuaded by any of the election fraud claims thus far, but when Peter Navarro releases a report, it's probably worth looking at. After all, he was the first one with any real influence to suggest taking government action against COVID 19. 

Who Gets the Vaccine First?

It appears the CDC is gonna recommend essential workers over old people for get this -- diversity reasons.

I've not followed this closely, but it doesn't strike me as a totally easy call. I'm most in favor of Alex Tabarrok idea of giving more people 1 dose versus less people 2 doses to blitzkrieg this thing.

 

There Is No Line

Wokesters come after Helen Keller.

Their true target is anyone who accomplishes anything of substance.

Antifa In Portland

Have taken over a house. 

The militants laid out piles of rocks, metal spikes and glass bottles at strategic points to act as supply points for projectile weapons. They lined the road with impromptu “booby traps” — upward-facing nail strips, caltrops and more.

Are we sure they aren't just doing a Home Alone reenactment? 

Inclusivity

Inclusivity doing good according to Anita Hill, but meanwhile the movie theater just died. 

Consider This

On vaccines:

Addendum: Countries in the world that now have a vaccine: the UK, Canada, Bahrain, China, Russia. One country without a vaccine: the United States. The US FDA advisory committee is meeting today.

 

Professional Screenwriter

My son told a story in the tub tonight (loosely based upon real events):

One day, I walked into the bathroom and saw a poo in the toilet. I flushed it. The end. 

I told him the story was a bit boring and maybe he needed to do something in the story. He protested. "I did do something - I looked at it."

I offered to pitch an alternative take:

One day, I walked into the bathroom and saw a piece of chocolate in the toilet. Yummy. I reached in to eat it, but realized it wasn't a piece of chocolate at all, but a small piece of poo. Yuck! I threw it back in the toilet and flushed it away.

This story was a great big hit. They asked me to repeat it 6-7 times. I now have a contract to write a sequel.

Can This Be True?

The vaccine was built in a weekend.

Part 2: The cost of perfection. The vaccine was invented in a weekend, available in February. In free market land, we would not have had a pandemic, or a recession. 284 thousand people would be alive today. That is the cost of FDA "protection."

Unbelievable. 

Yes

I don't understand much of this article, but he is onto something. 

This much is all true: I believe that “quality television” is in fact of extremely low quality, that “YA literature” is not literature, that “OA literature” as it were looks more and more like YA with each passing year, that superhero movies are of course not cinema and that no self-respecting adult should ever watch them, except perhaps as an expression of love to some li’l tyke in their lives. If we were living in a culture dominated by grown-ups, Martin Scorsese would be considered the purveyor of middle-brow forgettable fare rather than the gold standard of sophistication, and at least the childless among us would not even have to be aware of Spider-Man’s existence.

He Said It Better

Chris Nolan on WB:

“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,”

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Film: Mank (first 45 min or so)

For a film about a screenwriter, not written particularly well.

Film: Freaky

On a whole, disappointing. Nevertheless I laughed out loud a number of times. Tremendous Vince Vaughn vehicle -- wish he could've insisted on a bit better execution of a terrific concept. Wasn't there something more interesting to do with the killer who seemingly had no other human desires other than to murder anything he saw?

I Can't Help But...

Wonder how Charlie Brown would feel about Apple TV buying up the exclusive streaming rights to his Christmas special. 

Deliberate Downfall

AT&T executives are turning what was until recently the crown jewel of the entertainment industry - Warner Brothers - and turning it into a Netflix knock off.

This is like French Laundry becoming a franchise.

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Film: Red, White, and Blue - ep 3 - Small Axe

TV or a Film? Who knows, but it's a pretty solid, contained drama. The topic is racism, so if you feel like the subject is a bit overexplored, it might not be your cuppa. Details on the Jamaican-British family dynamics and community were my favorite parts.  

LA Sheriff Will Not Enforce Lockdown Orders

How do politicians expect their laws to be enforced when they support defunding the police?

Also, and I hadn't thought of this before, if you alienate the cops who are paid to enforce the law -- what happens when they choose to not to enforce laws? How do you police the police?

BLM - care to comment?

(hint: they will build another police -- what other societies have called a secret police)

Advantage: Brexit

Brexit enabled the UK to approve the COVID vaccine quicker. 

And if I had to guess, the distribution will be better and more efficient.

They're Listening

I mentioned the rather unmemorable film Lord of War in my classes to illustrate an example of a unique montage (in the film opening).

And then later, Lord of War appears in my Youtube recommendations - way up at the top.

Most certainly not a coincidence.

Logging

TV: The Undoing (all episodes) and A Teacher (one episode) 

I hate tv.

The Undoing's first two episodes were compelling. David E Kelly has found his niche - milfy murder mysteries of the 2%. The problem was the show became too much about the murder and court case and did not have enough mystery moves by the end. 

A Teacher is cheap, unwatchable trash.

Bring me a vaccine shot and reopen the movie theaters please.

Defund the Police

Minneapolis carjackings up 527% 

Almost as impressive as Tesla stock.