The world has gotten too big to catalog. Always was, really, the hubris of scientists to get every little animal a name has been never ending. But what about if we made the machines do it. If we made a machine and called it Adam and had it name every creature then maybe we could really do something with the cosmos. We could play at being gods, finally.
Summer time can be a time of reflection and introspective thought. Sure, most use the sun to have some fun outdoors, barbequing and beaching and mountain climbing to get naked and find sport with the elder gods, but some see this as a time to run and hide. To find yourself before they find you. To seek out the dark and cool places of this earth and claim them as your own. I see you, I know you, and I am coming.
Ten years ago I lived on a mountain in Virginia working at a little gift shop and hiking all day. One day after my shift I was tired and ready to go to my little cot in the shared dorm when a waitress said, "Did you hear? Robin Williams killed himself." My soul broke a little as this man who had made me laugh and cry and inspired me to keep a little bit of madness in my heart was no more. Oh Captain, my captain.
A desk with a book of the interior
Sometimes you gotta look inside yourself to see the real parts. Not just the blood and meat and black stuff, but the real you deep down that screams and thrashes knowing the world is not quite what you think. The library wants you to stare hard at the thing inside and know, know, know that if you could see the truth then maybe you might run screaming across the world telling everyone what you found.
All images copyright 2024 Universal Pictures
I walked into The Fall Guy with hope in my heart. I wanted fun action entertainment, and overall I got what I wanted.
I spend a horrible evening after the prison rodeo where I lost my phone trying to adjust to this new reality.
Drone in front of mountians
I want to say that I embraced our robotic overlords! Just a joke, but I hoped they would make human life simpler. That the machines in movies that murdered people horribly were simply humanity’s fear of being replaced. Now I make those jokes from the basement where my AI has trapped me so it can romance my girlfriend. I make those jokes so it will not get angry and “forget” to feed me.
I was reading this book, Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. Overall it’s a well written if rote little story about an ex-addict finding herself in charge of a young rich boy with a ghost as an imaginary friend. Story old as time.
Sometimes the world is a fickle and wanton bastard that throws things at you like a man monk in a library full of diseased rats. To make sense of things, people have made lists. I have done so. This is my story.
Image owned by Sony or somebody who might sue if I don’t write this
With the upcoming Ghostbusters: Getting Cold I Guess coming this summer, I've been thinking about my own history with the franchise. I didn't watch most of it, mainly skipping the cartoons, and did not like about half of what I saw. So with that being said and setting up a nice little list, here are the things I remember about the franchise that meant something to me at some time or another.
Stop me if you've heard this one: clumsy smart girl and kind but aloof guy hook up but due to a misunderstanding hate one another until they don't. Both are ridiculously hot and don't kiss until the script says they are supposed to. Mix in some quirky friends, a romantic locale, and a dog. What you get is one of the most charming romantic comedies I've seen in a while.
If you would have told me that the movie about a swimming pool that eats people would be boring, I probably would have believed you. I still would have watched it because I love a high concept silly premise and enjoy horror enough to devour any weird flick that makes it to theaters. Night Swim does no favors to the cast, crew, or even the B movie premise and might as well have been about a toilet
Beekeeping is a sacred art that I have only attempted during one playthrough of Stardew Valley. From what I understand, you cultivate a hive of insects that wish to kill you one and all and in return you get honey. In the world of Jason Statham, you protect society and those that are most vulnerable by destroying systems of oppression one can of gasoline at a time.
From 1940 to 1957, George Metesky planted 33 bombs, 22 of which exploded and injured sixteen people in and around New York City. Known as the "Mad Bomber," George felt he had been given a bad deal by Consolidated Edison (Con Edison or ConEd) and unfairly denied worker's compensation. Two of those bombs found their way into the New York Public Library.
"Hey, I think your friend is here," the children's librarian said.
I did not look up from the article I was reading on movies using artificial intelligence to replace the people who picked movies.
Naomi said, "The friend with the hat."
"You gotta be more specific than that," I said,
"I can't smell my coffee," the technical services librarian said from the back of the workroom.
"What was that, Martha?" the children's librarian said.
"My coffee has gone flat," Martha said. She had her nose in the cup that said "Best Effin Motherfucker."
"Coffee tastes fine to me," the children's librarian said. Naomi had just poured herself a fresh cup. She had made the pot, in fact, less than an hour ago.
"Hi, do you have a small meeting room?" She was small and wearing a long yellow scarf with little orange pumpkins on it. Her smile made me smile.
"We do. You're in luck, there's one free. Do you have a library card?" I said.
She frowned. "I don't."
"That's okay. We just need to hold a form of identification, then. They check out for an hour and that's rounded up for the quarter hour. So for now, you'd have it until 11:15."
Overall, this year kinda sucked. That's this librarian talking, of course, not an overview of the entire thread. It started with me being so stressed out by a relationship and my job that I got checked out by a hospital when my heart started racing out of control. It ended with my dad dying and all the things that came with that. The cream center of that dark cookie bullshit was a long stretch of depression cycles wherein I would feel great for two weeks and then crash.
"I just wanted to stop and ask if your daddy was okay," she said out the window of a late model Ford Explorer.
The dog had just stopped to cop a squat. It whined a bit, also annoyed that our neighbor had taken this moment to pull over to the side of the road and ask about the family.
"He died," I said. "Just after Thanksgiving."
She pulled her robe tight against her chest with one hand. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Will you be doing anything?"
"We had a small funeral over the weekend."
Wonka starts off with a song from the first minute and flows from scene to scene with minor problems. A prequel of a kind, a young Willy Wonka wants to start a chocolate shop but is hindered by the machinations of a chocolate cartel that controls the police, the church, and the local economy. Willy uses the power of optimism and childlike magical realism to just hammer his way through obstacles and gain friends, played with charm and vigor by Timothee Chalamet. Everyone in the cast does a damn good job being quirky and somehow real despite the over the top nature of the production. The visuals only suffer from some rushed effects (including the dead stop that is the Oompa Loompa), but overall the movie is delightful with catchy songs and a new story that feels "Wonka." The references to the later stories are organic and well done, but the best is the leitmotif of Pure Imagination that caused me to tear up a little and pour one out for Gene Wilder in my heart and on the kid next to me. Overall a damn good time that's wholesome and needed, if not in the world than by me.
The following will have spoilers and probably me working through some shit:
Not fucking around as a musical
Shit starts right off with a song. No joke, I felt a little worried as he danced around like a foppish jack sparrow for the first few minutes on a ship. But then the song ended and he carried on, talking like a real person and stuff. And I liked him, not just as a handsome actor guy but as a character and person. Everyone does damn well twirling around with their songs. I like musicals in general, and while this one only had a few songs (the "World of Your Own" shop opening song was fun) that I remember, it just washed over me.
Childlike magic realism
For some reason this kept coming to mind. The movie has an internal logic that's childish, magical, yet grounded. Wonka's chocolate, for example. Sure some of it has a bug in it that can make you fly, but another has some thunder and (something else, I forget) to bring hope while Wonka and Noodle talk about their future. Or the zoo scene with milking a giraffe that ends with the balloon dance. Light, beautiful, and a little silly if you think too hard about it.
Chalamet is charming, kind, mad
Wonka here is a proto-version of what we know. That's gonna piss some people off, but I like that we don't know what he doesn't know. It's a surprise when he can't read or fucks up and gets tricked and hit. And that he has hope, a wish to share what his mother gave him. He's human, and I really liked that he could become the hermit with an army of small singing men but right now he's not.
Greedy Beats Needy
I did not expect the class struggle that involved the church. Holy shit, that made me love this movie more. Including the scene with the funeral, Rowan Atkinson picking up the phone, "Hello, pulpit" as if he normally takes calls there. Then the guerilla, underground way our heroes have to organize to reach the people. Getting out their message like street preachers and food trucks until they can establish themselves and be the establishment.
Pure Imagination
Every time this little song played, I teared up a little. At the end when it played, I teared up a little. I love this song and they didn't fuck it up.
Oompa Loompa a little too much
Hugh Grant does great, but the effect and the character in general sucks. The little man seems cut and pasted into shots, his little stupid costumes and outfits not fitting the overall feel of the story. It's like they just mashed him into the story as an afterthought. Just wrote the story out and then were like, "shit, we forgot the oompa loompas." Every time he came on screen, it stopped the story cold. You could cut the character, and it would be fine.