Overheard at Table 4: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

NOTE: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
BUT THEN, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE BY NOW YOU PROBABLY WON'T ANYWAY SO WHAT THE HECK...

Juan: So what'd you think about the movie?

Ann Otter:  It was OK.   Better than I expected.   Didn't get the ending, though, so, was he right?

Juan:  Who?  John Goodman?

Ann Otter:  So, was he right about the aliens?

Juan: It was more like he was right but didn't know he was right.  Remember?  He said it could be the Russians, the Chinese, or the Martians.   He was a survivalist.  He just knew something big was going down and he rushed back to his shelter.

Ann Otter:  So he meant to run the girl off the road?

Juan:  No, that's the whole point.  That part was an accident, but he felt bad about it, so he brought her to the shelter.   But that's what was really cool about the whole movie, you didn't know until the end if the thing was all in his head or not.

Ann Otter:  Well, I kinda knew it'd be the aliens.   I mean, it had the same name as that other movie you showed me, remember?  The one in New York where the giant aliens knocked off the Statue of Liberty head?

Juan:  Oh.   Oh yeah.  Crap, I forgot about that one.   I was wondering where I had heard the name before.

Ann Otter:  You don't remember all the boring movies you make me watch?

Juan: If they are so boring then how can you remember them?

Ann Otter: Probably because I love you.

Overread at Table 3: Book Review of "Sway"

Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior

Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman

Broadway Books: New York, 2008

 

Contains many compelling anecdotes regarding human aversion to risk that manifests in making choices that are truly against economic self-interest.  The science (sociology, psychology) behind all this is a little thin, such as citing studies conducted on only a handful of samplings, but it’s an easy read and very engaging. 

 

Truly, it’s beneficial to spur someone who is interested in this topic to devle into the studies cited, and the greatest benefit I can see is to have someone inspired by this book continue the sociological study further and possibly expand the theory of Economics.   Currently, the field is still largely dominated by the idea that each person makes decisions driven by their own economic self-interest, and this book, as well as other emprical evidence, suggests that this is simply not true.

 

Sway helps show this, even while not being a fully developed tool on its own.

 

However, I have to admit that one of the insights pointed out in this book is that we as consumers will make value judgements based on the price of an object.   So, I have to admit, I will never be truly certain if my critique of this book is based on the fact that I got it for $1 at a Library Book Sale, and it has a huge 50% sticker on the front cover.

 

Erick Manana Ny Fitiavako An'I Mama (Madagascar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtH0FP19T8w

Overheard at Table 3: Black Panther Breakups

Crystal:  So I'm driving to work yesterday morning and I'm flipping through the stations and sometimes I get tired of that and leave it on one station and it's on the R&B station and there's this guy on there talking to the DJs about how his white girlfriend got him tickets to go see Black Panther.  And he was talking about how after seeing the movie he realized he had been lying to himself and really just going against his race by dating a white girl.


Maurice: Going against his race?


Crystal:  Yeah, what kind of shit is that?  Is there something in the movie about a special race of women?


Maurice:  The Wakandan special guard is all-female.  Badasses.   Supreme.


Crystal: Well, that's what this guy was talking about.  He wanted a real woman.  So the DJs they call up this guy's girlfriend and have him break up with her live on air, and he's telling her how he needs a real woman and she hears the other guys laughing and she said, "Who are those people?" and the DJs just rip her to shreds, man, saying, "Hey, you don't get to say 'THOSE people'!"  And they were calling her colonizer and shit like that.


Maurice:  That's horrible.  


Crystal: I mean, why do they let that shit on the radio?


Maurice:  Money.  You can say anything on the radio as long as it makes money.  When people stop listening to shit like that, then it'll go away.


Crystal:  Well, getting dumped like that is a sure way to create on more white racist, is all I can say.
I mean, now this girl's got the story of how she was dumped just because she wasn't black.


Maurice: Wakanda forever.

Overheard at Table 2: Trump believes he would have run into Parkland

"Trump said today that he really believes he would have run into the Parkland High School even if he didn't have weapon.  I would count that statement as true.  I really believe that he really believes he would.

"But that's the issue.  He BELIEVES he would.  But there is really nothing in his history to indicate that he has the courage, the training, or even the physical ability to run into a dangerous situation.

"And this guy has been in the public eye for decades!  His affairs have been front page Enquirer throughout the 90s and he's in the Home Alone movies and he's never shut up for once since he called for the lynching of the Central Park 5!

"So OK, let's all face it - the man does not live in the same reality as any reasonably minded human being.  Sure, all his followers will babble like insane monkeys all saying, 'Oh yeah! Hero God Trump!' but his followers are just in slavish devotion to cult leader.  Any halfway sane human being would know that Trump is no longer in touch with reality....

"Which is what brings us to the 25th AMENDMENT!

"But the 25th Amendment won't save us, because ultimately it requires 2/3rds of Congress and the VP to state that the President is incapable, and even though we all think that incapability means frikkin insanity, these guys are talking about a bullet in the brain.   Remember that the 25th Am came out after Kennedy was shot.

"So, don't look for anything to save us from this monster anytime soon.  Sorry folks!   We're in for a long hard road.

"But hey, when there is another school shooting, maybe Trump will be nearby.   And maybe he WILL rush in ... and hey, maybe he'll be unarmed, just like he said!"






https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/politics/trump-florida-school-without-a-weapon/index.html

Richard Thompson - Vincent Black Lightning 1952

'Twas a grand night at the Z&T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg

Overread at Booth 3: Lyrics to "Marshall County"