Logging
Book: Incubus by Ray Russell
A fairly outrageous horror novel about a small coastal Californian town under siege by an Incubus. Fun if only to be reminded how different our country was when such a book could be written.
Film: Tom and Jerry Movie
Not good.
TV: Allen v. Farrow
Offers a pretty compelling argument that the social conservative, family values people were right all along.
Though of course, no one will take any heed.
Golden Globes
All this sanctimony re: non-diversity at the Golden Globes. This is the awards ceremony where we watch the stars get drunk, right? Just making sure we're talking about the same thing...
Vaccine Priority
In LA Times this AM, there's an article about pre-schools filling the gap for public schools while they remain closed.
If I were the governor or mayor, I'd flip things around - vaccinate all the pre-school teachers and anyone who is currently working over the public school teachers who refuse to go back to work. I bet they might change their tune. Incentives matter.
African American Representation In Hollywood
I only caught a piece of a radio segment today where an African American man was calling out Hollywood for needing more African Americans at the top of the food chain. The quote he used was that we need people who understand hot sauce goes on fried chicken and goes into the collard greens while cooking. Or something to that effect. And I'm in my car thinking...really? Is this what cinema needs? Just last week, I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and Pickpocket, two films that contend with massive themes -- civilization and masculinity evolving with the times and alienation from society and justification for deviancy and crime. And now, the themes that need to be addressed in cinema are when to add hot sauce to a dish? Maybe I'm missing something, but so much of what passes for "diversity" these days would merely be footnotes to other stories. Is the reason Godfather is a beloved film because of Clemenza's ragu recipe or because of Michael Corleone's character arc? I feel like the contemporary version of the film focuses only on the Italian-ness rather than the universal and deeply humanistic problem of rising to power and losing one's soul in the process.
Good
Chinese American parents come after Critical Race Theory.
Where the rubber meets the road on the CRT stuff, it will be Asians who suffer and lose out out first. The time is now to stand up to the lies.
Logging
Film: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
A film made by men who would be considered heathen, oversimplified brutes today. Both Ford and Wayne would be in the cancellation queue if the wokescolds were film literate, but thankfully, they are not.
And yet, this film made by ogres in 1962 is vastly more complex on nearly all levels of construction than any film made in 2020.
Not even mentioning the themes, cinematography or steady handed direction, there are two Oscar worthy character actor performances by actors who I didn't even know. Absolute scene stealers (and we're talking scenes with Jimmy Steward, Lee Marvin, and John Wayne).
It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery.
Logging
Films: The Rock and The Last of the Mohicans
All I could think about watching The Last of the Mohicans (after being on set this past fall on my own Western) was how the fuck did they shoot that final sequence? On a side of the cliff?
See my previous post on The Rock. The Rock is a great film study for the Action genre. What other action film features a scientist as an action hero? The film is also commenting on the very foundations of the genre itself, ie through Connery playing a caricature of Bond. Beyond that, the themes of military radicalization and lack of appreciation from the civilian government remain resonant. And a hugely underrated aspect of the film is the assemblage of acting talent that would make Sam Peckinpah snicker - Cage, Connery, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, David Morse, William Forsythe, John Spencer, Philip Baker Hall, Vanessa Marcil (who's good in the film!), Bokeem Woodbine, Tony Todd...
Maybe I go too far.
Logging
Film: Pickpocket
I'm probably the only person in the world who watched this film twice yesterday (for teaching purposes). It's brilliant. And I've been thinking about it a lot because I wrote up a quiz on it and am thinking through the answers and the various valid ways of interpreting the film.
As for a personal influence, it's sort of like Marie Kondo, it inspires me toward more minimalism but such a tendency does not come natural to me.
I actually think The Rock (90s film) and Pickpocket are a fantastic movie pair - Michael Bay is a total maximalist and Bresson a minimalist and to be honest, I really like both.
Dignity of Work
I admit to probably leaning too hard on "hard work-> dignity scale" of thinking. Ezra Klein article about how this ethic can be super flawed.
Personally, I believe the Romney family plan is one of the better domestic policy proposals of the last decade. I hope it comes to pass.
"Feminists"
Western feminists strangely silent on mass rape of female Uyghur prisoners.
They aren't feminists. They're careerists who use a variety of strategies to undermine competition, ie American men. Which explains why "mansplaining" riles up their passions, but mass rape and forced abortions are completely ignored.
Storms In Texas
Note when the electricity and water goes out, a number of things go way up in value and a number of things become of more dubious value--
UP: Water, charcoal, radio, batteries, generators, good relationships with friends and neighbors, gas powered vehicles, jackets, blankets, flashlights, canned food, etc.
DOWN: Electric vehicles (can you use them?), internet, computers, appliances
Oy Vey
Kamala won't answer Samantha Guthrie about whether teachers need to be vaccinated in order for schools to be reopened. She already won the election! Quit campaigning Kamala and start governing for crissake...
Why do these people even seek these offices? They don't want to use their power for good, I think they just want the title and resume and accolades.
LA Times
Oped calling on LAUSD to reopen schools.
If these schools can't get fully reopened by Fall, parents ought to organize a counter-teacher union protest and pulls kids from schools to eradicate the funding.
The Eight White Identities
As published by a NYC public school.
Maybe we need to defund public schools. And by defund, I mean not give them any money so they no longer exist. Unlike what the supporters of BLM say defund means (which I don't know, I've only been told to look it up).
Question
Gina Carano fired from Star Wars for her mocking of pronoun usage.
Has a single liberal lost a Hollywood job for expressing any type of political or politically incorrect utterance? How come this only happens to conservative or conservative leaning individuals?
Witch hunt. We have another one.
Cancel Culture
Some NY Times dude apologizes for his racism because he offended "high school" students.
Something overlooked in the McNeil cancellation is the demography of the “students” who complained about him, to wit, that they have parents willing to shell out $5.5k for a two week teen tour to pad their college applications.
Cancel culture is an ugly game bored privileged people play against other privileged people. No one living their actual life gives a flying fuck about this stuff.