AI or Not?

I cannot tell if this press conference with Josh Shapiro passing a law about hair discrimination is AI or not. 

2022

Reading some random screenplays from 2022's blacklist for a student assignment and damn, what a gloomy mood people were in.

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TV: All Her Fault miniseries

By the end, this show becomes unintentional Trump propaganda. Because the majority of Americans would rather live in our actual 2025 world with Trump as Pres than the world this show imagines. Could've been a satire of middle aged female madness, but instead takes itself seriously. Beyond being bad on every dramatic level, the key thematic takeaway of the show is it is perfectly morally acceptable to steal babies, murder husbands, and participate in corruption to get your kid into fancy private schools . The "peaceful resolution" of the show - is two middle aged women sitting together drinking wine - having jettisoned their husbands in different manners. For all the decades of investments in female empowerment, this is the big beautiful worldview they can come up with? Drinking good wine and sitting together with a bestie. Shit, the Sicilian ladies in Godfather had it better than these women - at least they had more people to sit around with and a better view. 

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Film: Sirat

Three terrific elements here: faces of the cast, location filming, music. A few sequences - shots - that were incredible. But the movie? Disinterested in the characters or telling a story which makes it hard to enjoy. I mean people aren't avatars for ideas - especially not very interesting ones. 

TV: All Her Fault

Ridiculous, terrible, laughable, but somehow watchable. Even engaging. Should be studied why this shit sometimes works.

TV: The Chair Company

Makes me laugh.

Book: Adventures of Pinocchio the original book

One of the best children's books I've read. Dark, weird, full of wonderful lessons about life. 

Exactly

No, NYC is not a city of international law. It is America. 

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Film: Frankenstein

There is a sequence in the film when the monster picks up Paradise Lost to read and that's when I turned to my wife and said, "let's turn this off" and she agreed. 

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Was this GDT's idea? Or Netflix's? Hey guys - I was thinking here we could do a sequence where the monster goes around helping on a farm and learns to become an English professor. Good?

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The two new and era defining genres of the last 10 years: Middle Aged Woman Wanders Around and Aktschually,  the Monster Is The Good Guy.

This Is Called Stalking

The quest by an unknown Hollywood actor to cancel an unknown Hollywood actress. 

I Find This To Be The Weirdest Thing In The World

Never ever once have I ever "wondered" about black people's hair, never ever felt the urge to "touch it," never ever to be honest, ever thought about it at all. It might be the least interesting topic of all topics in the entire universe. I'm being serious here. But I hear black women talk about this a lot - and here is Michelle Obama - who one would think might have other things to think about or do - lecturing whitey about how not to be worried about her hair. What the hell is going on here? What is she even talking about? She's straightening her hair because of white beauty standards? WTF? If that were so, just don't do it. I don't like Facebook. So I don't do it. I don't like pilates. So I don't do it. Seriously. How much power and money and worldwide acceptance does one need in order to cut and wear their own hair the way they want? My sense is that everyone on the planet save for young children pretty much get the choice on how to wear their hair. It barely costs a thing. And yet here we have Michelle Obama - pretty much the closest thing we could have to a queen on earth - complaining that she can't wear her hair the way she wants. If you think on this, it is seriously the most bonkers thing on the planet. And tells you something about people who ask you to think or believe or do something that helps validate them-- they'll never be happy.

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Film: Red Rooms

By no means do I recommend this film to the average viewer, but fans of serial killer stories and independent cinema - someone who might like a film like Holy Spider - for them, I'd call it a "must see." Or, Ryan Murphy fans should watch it to see how it can done in a more interesting manner.

That this film is more or less unknown suggests to me the death of indy cinema, murdered by wokeness. The film isn't easily categorized but it is "about" the depravity lurking for us within the internet. Which seems to me "relevant" and "timely" and "purposeful" all those buzzwords the wokie folks tell us are important. It initially presents itself as a courtroom thriller, but quickly jettisons the concept. On the surface, it is also about women who fall in love with criminals and killers, but that's not the most interesting question asked in the film.

The movie got reviewed and can be found on AMC+ via amazon prime. On Rotten Tomatoes, it is one of these films with 75+ critical reviews and only 250+ audience reviews - now there are entire categories of films whose central viewership are "critics". I don't mean critical darlings. I mean literal critics - if you add up these numbers we are talking about 30% of the people who've actually seen (and I suppose rated) the film are critics. That's just weird. 

All that said, it was "refreshing" to feel like I "found" a film - a recent movie that was fascinating and totally flew under the radar. 

Gavin Newsom's Legacy

UCSD students can't do basic grade 1-grade 8 math. This is UCSD, one of the more prestigious UC colleges - oddly, known for their science programs. This isn't some right wing conspiracists calling this out, this is coming from the faculty who observe through the classroom, the kids can't do basic shit. Why has this happened? They will say learning loss from the pandemic. Okaaaayyy... Maybe if the AP scores went down a bit, or the kids couldn't do calculus like they used to. No...this is remedial stuff. Stuff my elementary school kids could actually do. And we have freshman college students unable to pass these basic tests. 

Why has this happened? We all know why. The entire CA educational establishment spent the last decade working on "equity" issues, DEI, and putting up land acknowledgements while lowering any and all standards to laughably low levels. And to cover it all up, they make it illegal to NOT participate in the DEI of it all. So they insist on letting in total incompetents into college. The total incompetents they refused to teach for 12 years or hold to any standard. 

So why will we get socialism in NYC and rent control in our cities? Because people cannot do math. 

Damn

That's what I call heroic. 

Streaming

I wonder if one of the fallouts of the streaming system will be people start watching more streaming movies vs TV shows? Like the ratio shifts...

Japan-China-Taiwan

While China - I suppose - has a claim on why they should "control" Taiwan, it being in their sphere of interest...Japan could make a similar, counter-claim. And note, both have. If you go to Taiwan, it was ruled by Japan from something like the 1860s-1945. A lot Japanese buildings and structures everywhere. 

We Are So Cooked

Paramount making 15 movies year, all of which sound lame. 

Childcare

Mandami apparently wants to make more childcare free in NYC. I love this. His constituency of broke, downwardly mobile, childless young folks who voted for him will now be paying for their fellow citizens childcare now. Hilarious. 

Attack the Central Nervous System

I actually quite agree with this idea: the Republicans should get rid of the charitable tax deduction. It's a no lose for them. If Dems "complain" about hurting the non-profits they can retort: we're not stopping you from contributing to non-profits - just contribute your post-tax money all you want. But of course, the Republican churches might complain. I'd still say the same thing...

The 50 Year Mortgage

I agree it's a dumb idea but it is an idea. We got people around here voting for rent control, an even worse idea... If someone supports rent control, I imagine they would also support the 50 year mortgage because it would get more folks into ownership positions in homes. 

Seems Not Good

On the impact of Somali clans on the Minneapolis mayoral election. 

Genocide

The different between the holocaust and the Palestinian "genocide" is the Jews in the holocaust didn't strategically trigger the holocaust to shame the Germans in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Also, the Palestinians modeled their resistance on the FLN in Algeria. The Algerians wanted to collapse the French colonial state by triggering a nasty response by the French such that the French couldn't live with themselves. I view this as a tragic strategic miscalculation by the Palestinians. See the difference between the French and the Israelis - the Israelis have no home country to go back to. So they picked a fight with the only group with more at stake than them. And this group happens to be richer, better organized, and more moral. So that explains why the Palestinians keep losing.

Middle Age

When buying things, I now think about how to dispose of them. Where will they go? Too easy to buy shit and pile up junk. Then you need to buy the space to store it. We should all think about these things more. I told my wife when we bought a Peloton it would become an expensive clothes hanger.  It's not even that, just something in the way now. 

Healthcare and Housing as a Right

When people say this all they mean is they want someone else to pay for theirs.

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Film: Ballad of a Small Player 

In the same way Liberals will never criticize to the Left and MAGA will never attack to the Right, I will never insult a gambling film where I like the lead actor. 

PS - the move to go by Lord Doyle alone worth 5 stars on letterboxd for me.