Monday, August 31, 2020
Overheard at Booth 4: The Twist in the Road
The twist in the road.
Tires over gravel.
The scrape of grass against the undercarriage.
We roll toward the cabin tucked
into a pocket
of the woods.
MR
2019-0823
[from a weekend trip to a cabin just outside Brenham TX]
Overheard at Booth 2: Oxygen
Notes from a National Emergency
Day 562
He will die next Tuesday, when his daughter will tell them to take him off the machine that oxygenates his blood.
This man whose story started in Nicaragua, to Florida, to Dallas, to Houston.
To this death in the year of COVID.
Overheard at Table 4: The Caravan
Found the caravan that Trump wanted everyone to be so scared of!
Turns out it was already in America all along.
Nope. It's not a thousand Latinos ... it's a hundred pick-up trucks filled with Trump supporters shooting people and spraying teargas.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-30/armed-standoff-in-woodland-hills-after-shots-reportedly-fired-at-trump-car-caravan
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/morning-briefing/biden-accuses-trump-encouraging-violence-u-s-tops-6-million-n1238837
https://www.startribune.com/caravan-of-trump-supporters-rallies-in-oregon-s-biggest-city/572264652/
Day 564
Notes from a National Emergency
Turns out it was already in America all along.
Nope. It's not a thousand Latinos ... it's a hundred pick-up trucks filled with Trump supporters shooting people and spraying teargas.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-30/armed-standoff-in-woodland-hills-after-shots-reportedly-fired-at-trump-car-caravan
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/morning-briefing/biden-accuses-trump-encouraging-violence-u-s-tops-6-million-n1238837
https://www.startribune.com/caravan-of-trump-supporters-rallies-in-oregon-s-biggest-city/572264652/
Day 564
Notes from a National Emergency
Overheard at Table 3: No Work No Eat
Well, it's Biblical. If you don't work, you don't eat.
It's one of those verses that's been misapplied. It's in 2 Thessalonians. Paul was telling them about the Second Coming. He said, "Don't lose hope because it hasn't happened yet, and don't believe those who say it's already happened and you missed it." Then he went on to address those who were so sure Christ was coming back literally the very next day that they stopped doing everything. Just sat in their houses not doing a darn thing, because hey! Christ is coming in the morning!
Really?
Yeah. THAT'S what he meant. He meant you still got work to do.
But what about John Smith. He said it. That's what this country was founded on.
Also misunderstood. He said that to the rich who came over, the ones who paid for the passage of the others for the trip and thought that they could set up shop like they had in England: with other people working and they could sit on their butts all day long sipping tea. John Smith said that everyone had to work. The No Work, No Eat rule was never meant to be something about "If Johnny's dad doesn't get a job, Johnny doesn't get a school lunch."
It's one of those verses that's been misapplied. It's in 2 Thessalonians. Paul was telling them about the Second Coming. He said, "Don't lose hope because it hasn't happened yet, and don't believe those who say it's already happened and you missed it." Then he went on to address those who were so sure Christ was coming back literally the very next day that they stopped doing everything. Just sat in their houses not doing a darn thing, because hey! Christ is coming in the morning!
Really?
Yeah. THAT'S what he meant. He meant you still got work to do.
But what about John Smith. He said it. That's what this country was founded on.
Also misunderstood. He said that to the rich who came over, the ones who paid for the passage of the others for the trip and thought that they could set up shop like they had in England: with other people working and they could sit on their butts all day long sipping tea. John Smith said that everyone had to work. The No Work, No Eat rule was never meant to be something about "If Johnny's dad doesn't get a job, Johnny doesn't get a school lunch."
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Overheard at the Counter: Two Ways to Stop Immigration
I always have said there were only two ways to curb illegal immigration to the US: either make the source countries into great places to live with stable economies, peace and prosperity for all, and opportunities ... or destroy the US to the point where it is just as miserable as the source countries are now: with authoritarian rulers, a wealthy class that oppresses the poor openly, with rampant poverty and no opportunities for good paying jobs.
I just never imagined we in the US would go all in for option 2!!
I just never imagined we in the US would go all in for option 2!!
Overheard at Booth 2: The Gentlemen (2019)
Matthew says,
"The Gentleman is a satisfying movie. Several twists and turns, good dialogue, stylish sets, nice acting, good story, interesting plot, a couple of buckets of blood ... and marijuana.
While I lately have been getting quite bored with the whole "Drug Dealers Are Our Heroes!" movement in cinema and film, this movie really does do a good spin on the whole, "I'm getting out of the business - oh no you're not!" tale.
Without giving too much away, Matthew McConaughey is himself ... in the role of a marijuana grower in England who is looking to cash out. Hugh Grant is a sleazy writer who has something on McConaughey's second in command, I forget the actor's name but I think he starred in Sons of Anarchy ... anyway, it's also got Michelle Dockery who is always elegant and Colin Ferrell who is always awesome in any role, but is especially good in this role of a guy who just want to teach street kids how to box so that he can keep them out of trouble.
The best part of this movie is how the kids he helps try their best to help him .... but I shan't give away too much! You have to see this film.
So basically, if you like films like Layer Cake and Snatch (which I think are also Guy Ritchie films but I could be wrong) then you will enjoy the hell out of this one.
My daughter doesn't like those films too much, but she loves watching Matthew McConaughey.
Which is pretty gross, because he's about my age. She says, that doesn't matter, he can be her sugar daddy, and I am suddenly very uncomfortable and wondering why I wasn't a better father."
But dang! This guy didn't like this film.... and what's wild is that I agree with him on all the others he mentions in his tirade: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-gentlemen-review-a-dated-tawdry-trifle/
"The Gentleman is a satisfying movie. Several twists and turns, good dialogue, stylish sets, nice acting, good story, interesting plot, a couple of buckets of blood ... and marijuana.
Without giving too much away, Matthew McConaughey is himself ... in the role of a marijuana grower in England who is looking to cash out. Hugh Grant is a sleazy writer who has something on McConaughey's second in command, I forget the actor's name but I think he starred in Sons of Anarchy ... anyway, it's also got Michelle Dockery who is always elegant and Colin Ferrell who is always awesome in any role, but is especially good in this role of a guy who just want to teach street kids how to box so that he can keep them out of trouble.
The best part of this movie is how the kids he helps try their best to help him .... but I shan't give away too much! You have to see this film.
So basically, if you like films like Layer Cake and Snatch (which I think are also Guy Ritchie films but I could be wrong) then you will enjoy the hell out of this one.
My daughter doesn't like those films too much, but she loves watching Matthew McConaughey.
Which is pretty gross, because he's about my age. She says, that doesn't matter, he can be her sugar daddy, and I am suddenly very uncomfortable and wondering why I wasn't a better father."
But dang! This guy didn't like this film.... and what's wild is that I agree with him on all the others he mentions in his tirade: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-gentlemen-review-a-dated-tawdry-trifle/
Overheard at Booth 1: Cuties
So there is a petition to have Netflix drop the French film "Cuties" because it supposedly promotes pedophilia, but no one in America really knows why or how because no one has yet seen the film.
Netflix started the conflict by putting out a flyer with tween girls in sexually explicit costumes, which apparently is a scene from the movie during a dance number. The original poster in France for the original title Mignonnes, shows the same girls laughing and shopping.
Looking only at the trailer, which is the only access I have to the film, I have made my snap judgement after a few seconds.
Yes, it is a coming of age film. Europeans have ALWAYS had coming of age films, usually about 11 year old boys in love with 40 year old women just at the outset of World War II; this film appears to have the implication that this young Senegalese girl will become attracted to a French girl, but I would rather hope that they are only friends, simply because Lesbianism is part and parcel of every film genre these days and frankly is becoming a bit banal.
About the hypersexualization: young girls in dance and tight clothes will probably bring out the pedos, but then the pedos already get their stuff off the internet, so real pedos will probably find this movie a bit boring because they have so much worse videos in their personal possession.
That said, what I find interesting is that the Conservatives want to ban this movie and Liberals are relatively silent. Should be the other way around. Conservatives should love this movie and Libs should hate it.
Why?
Glad you asked.
It's about a Muslim girl who is saved by white French girls. Saved from a domineering mother, saved from her oppressive religion, liberated into being free.
In Modern America, this should play right into the worldview of each: Conservatives should see it as the triumph of White European Colonial culture, and Liberals should see it as just another glory of imperialism using the old trope of the White Savior.
But then ... they haven't watched the movie yet. Maybe they will all change their minds when it drops on September 9.
Netflix started the conflict by putting out a flyer with tween girls in sexually explicit costumes, which apparently is a scene from the movie during a dance number. The original poster in France for the original title Mignonnes, shows the same girls laughing and shopping.
Looking only at the trailer, which is the only access I have to the film, I have made my snap judgement after a few seconds.
Yes, it is a coming of age film. Europeans have ALWAYS had coming of age films, usually about 11 year old boys in love with 40 year old women just at the outset of World War II; this film appears to have the implication that this young Senegalese girl will become attracted to a French girl, but I would rather hope that they are only friends, simply because Lesbianism is part and parcel of every film genre these days and frankly is becoming a bit banal.
About the hypersexualization: young girls in dance and tight clothes will probably bring out the pedos, but then the pedos already get their stuff off the internet, so real pedos will probably find this movie a bit boring because they have so much worse videos in their personal possession.
That said, what I find interesting is that the Conservatives want to ban this movie and Liberals are relatively silent. Should be the other way around. Conservatives should love this movie and Libs should hate it.
Why?
Glad you asked.
It's about a Muslim girl who is saved by white French girls. Saved from a domineering mother, saved from her oppressive religion, liberated into being free.
In Modern America, this should play right into the worldview of each: Conservatives should see it as the triumph of White European Colonial culture, and Liberals should see it as just another glory of imperialism using the old trope of the White Savior.
But then ... they haven't watched the movie yet. Maybe they will all change their minds when it drops on September 9.
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