Apologies for missing my second entry last week – my review of 2014 British horror movie The Forgotten will be posted NEXT Monday morning. I’ve been traveling for work lately and unfortunately between that and lots of other stuff (fighting practice, the gym, writer’s group, family stuff, friend stuff, life stuff) I haven’t had the mental energy to sit down and really dive into a movie. But more reviews are coming! Horror movie month is TOO IMPORTANT for me to fall down on the job!
In the meantime, please enjoy this delightful music video about Russian history*.
*It was a joke. I am kidding. Putin hasn’t destroyed the Earth with his fire dance moves… YET.
Happy belated Star Wars day! May the Forth is Star Warth Day, ath everyone knowth.
Unfortunately life has ramped up, and I didn’t have time this week to write up my piece on stop-motion animation. I will go ahead and disappoint you ahead of time by saying I won’t have time next week either, OR the week after. Although I will try to get something done, I can’t promise anything and it makes me sad. Work basically exploded, so it’s keeping me mega-busy with no time to blog. It sucks, but hey, it’s a new opportunity to learn some neat new stuff. So, a mixed bag!
In the meantime, please enjoy reading about two new species of Tarsier that were discovered. If you don’t know what a Tarsier is, here is a helpful video.
Have a great couple of weeks! Look after yourself!
Still buried under personal projects, I am also sick this week. Yay me. In lieu of real content, please have:
This beautiful song from Kubo and the Two Strings, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Written by George Harrison, there are many versions of this song, including one with Tom Petty and Prince, but this one includes the shamisen and other Japanese instruments.
Some Texts From Superheroes. These ALWAYS make me laugh and are a great way to lose an afternoon. If you have even a passing knowledge of the Marvel and DC movies, you’ll be able to keep up.
Check back next week for A Stop-Motion Celebration! Have a great weekend!
“Wish I’d stayed home with Rod and Sid.” ~ Chris, probably
The IMDB description for Get Out is comprised of eleven hilariously understated words:
“A young African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s mysterious family estate.”
Eleven words that anyone with a pulse and/or functioning intellect would understand to be incredibly complex and full of subtextual nuance, especially in the USA.
Chris, a successful photographer in New York, takes a weekend trip with his girlfriend Rose to meet her family at their estate in the country. The trip is off to a troubled start when he asks if her family knows he is black, a point she glosses over as unimportant. She just can’t believe her family would care about such things! Obviously Chris, having a little more experience with such things, has misgivings.
Yeah, he’s right.
Lots of people will go into the theater expecting a horror movie. They will get one, and walk out sated on violence, witty dialogue, and thrilling suspense. It has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes (I feel very proud that I guessed the one bad review was by Armond White). They will also get a brilliant and subtle psychological thriller that unpacks a variety of racial tensions in the US without doing a disservice to the audience’s intelligence.
Although the action and violence are well-done, for my money the awkward social situations were where the movie really came to life, particularly the dinner scene with Rose’s prep-school/ivy league psycho brother. So did a heartbreaking and also terrifying scene with the family maid, Georgina. Overall the tone in the film is tense and foreboding, and although there are jokes, they are of the nervous laughter type and mostly come from Chris’s interactions with Rose’s vast number of elderly white relatives or Chris’s best friend Rod.
You should totally go see Get Out. Great performances and tight writing all around. I suspect it will be a sleeper hit, and I cannot wait to see what writer/director Jordan Peele, of Key and Peele fame, does next.
And just because it’s Friday, here’s one of my favorite skits of theirs, which showcases the utterly bugnuts flavor of their comedy, if you are somehow unfamiliar.
My new life goal is to become a character actress just so I can play a creepy white person in Peele’s next movie. I think I’ve got a pretty good shot at ‘scary bar hag’ at least!
Not much in the way of a long entry today, but here are some little bits!
John Wick 2 – I wasn’t going to say anything, but I am pregnant with this movie’s offspring. At least one week. But seriously, it was MAGNIFICENT and you should see it. The movies are intended to be a trilogy, so this one is a bit of a bridge, but it still is AWESOME. Loved it from start to finish.
Life Stuff – Going well! Cooking, writing, peopling, and in my downtime I’ve picked up playing Skyrim again. The memories! The memes! The hilarious moments! I had completely forgotten how unprepared for fighting giants I was!
Fewds – I did my taxes*, got my tax return, and got a new (but irregular) All-Clad 12-inch skillet from Cookware and More and a mandoline slicer. I already have used the skillet a few times and it is MAGIC!
Politics – *drinking sounds*
Please enjoy this thing, which I saw years ago and forgot it existed until I was reminded the other day. I love rediscovering old things! It’s like rummaging in your attic and finding old treasures! NOTE: this video is totally fake and was created in a studio with greenscreens. No cats were thrown out of planes in the making of this video. Their little back paws floating in the air like ^V^ make me laugh very hard, though.
“Whatever.” ~ Skydiving cats, probably.
*Being an unmarried, childless, landless peasant with no side hustle means my taxes are wonderfully simple. I do them on Turbotax every year!
