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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: Thanks for stopping by!  |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies  The Amateur The Bad Guys 2 Caught Stealing Freakier Friday Highest 2 Lowest Jurassic Park: Rebirth K-Pop Demon Hunters Relay The Smurfs MovieI've been seeing a lot more movies in theaters lately, thanks to a new Regal Crown Club Unlimited membership and a friend of mine who got one too, so now we see the late showing of a movie almost every weekend, after the kids are in bed one night. That's how I ended up seeing Caught Stealing, Highest 2 Lowest, Jurassic Park: Rebirth, and Relay, all of which I generally enjoyed for different reasons. Relay was probably my favorite of the bunch, which was a decent thriller starring Riz Ahmed about a corporate whistleblower mediator who gets in over his head, but Highest 2 Lowest (a Spike Lee remake of a Kurosawa film) was really engaging as well. There were also quite a few movies I saw with the kids and, other than The Smurfs Movie, they were all pretty good. The Bad Guys 2 was a great sequel to the first movie (which I really enjoyed), and Freakier Friday was a lot better and more heartfelt than I was expecting. But the real surprise was K-Pop Demon Hunters which was actually really, really good. The songs are incredible, and the movie itself is pretty good with a solid message. My kids are obsessed with it right now and have watched it a dozen times... and honestly, I'm right there with them rewatching it.  Television The Bear (Season 4) Better Caul Saul (Season 1) Countdown (Season 1) — DNF On Call (Season 1) Paradise Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Season 1)I was pretty disappointed in the fourth season of The Bear, which didn't really work toward anything. The entire season was presumably about the restaurant trying to get a Michelin star... but then they spent the entire season on "character development" episodes and by the end of the season, there was no mention (let alone resolution) to the restaurant storyline. It felt kind of like they were just stalling for time and telling everyone "come back next season and maybe we'll move the story forward!" Countdown and On Call were a pretty generic action/thriller and procedural, respectively, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was a solid series from my employer that I finally got around to watching the finished episodes of, and I finally started watching Better Call Saul, which was really entertaining and well done. My favorite show of the month, though, was Paradise, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery from Dan Fogelman that was really well acted and well produced. TOP PICK: K-Pop Demon Hunters |
 Day 3936: “Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.” — Cormac McCarthy. What do your scars say about your past? As I get older, the more scars I develop. Not just physical ones on an aging body that has seen it's share of nicks, scratches, surgical incisions, etc., but also emotional scars that come from loving and losing people, life throwing you curve balls, etc. There was a time when I used to lament the scars I'd built up. Having dental cavities that needed to be filled, or an imperfection on my side where my appendix was taken out; these are the kinds of things that society often teaches us that we have to be self-conscious about. Imperfections that should be covered up, or concealed, or at least never spoken about as we pretend they don't exist. But like the scene in Lethal Weapon 3 where Martin Riggs and Lorna Cole are exchanging battle scar stories, scars tell a story of where we've been. The same is true of emotional scars. That said, I don't know that I fully agree with the McCarthy quote that they "remind us that our past is real." I don't think I've ever had an issue accepting the reality of the scars I've carried; I've just previously had an issue with thinking of them in a positive light.  Prompt: What are your thoughts about forgiveness of sin? Are there any unforgivable sins? According to the Bible, if I'm not mistaken, the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit ("Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” —Mark 3:28-29). That said, forgiveness of sin is not a question I ultimately spend a lot of time thinking about because it's not ultimately up to me to make that decision. Christian theology posits that we're all sinners and we're saved by grace, and since the grace we need is not mine but God's, there's not a lot I can do in terms of the forgiveness of sins (except for those sins against me, which I believe we're called to be merciful about). That said, I would imagine God is more concerned about the state of our hearts rather than the specific deeds we've done during our time on Earth. If someone commits a murder and is genuinely repentant and dedicated to changing their life for the better in the aftermath, I have a hard time believing that a kind and graceful God would tell someone that they're denied entry to Heaven because of something they did (and learned from) earlier in their life. By the same token, if someone maintains an appearance of piety on the outside but has hate in their heart for any of God's creations (especially their fellow man), I have a hard time believing that a just and fair god would tell someone that they get a pass into Heaven because they went to church every Sunday and put on a good show. At the end of the day, other people's salvation is not ours to determine, so it shouldn't be of concern to us. What we should each be concerned with is the forgiveness of our sins, and forgiving others who have sinned against us. And since I can't seems to find any sins against other people that are unforgivable as per the Bible, I think that means we're tasked with finding a way to forgive anything another person can or has done to us, no matter how difficult or painful it may be, or how reluctant we may be to let go of our grudges and resentments. |
Day 3934: On this day in 1998 The American search engine company Google Inc. was formally established as founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page filed incorporation papers. Do you feel Google is a reliable search engine? Did you know Google discriminates against some content, and in favor of other content, and maintains guides and tools that favor some websites in search results ranking? Is Google a reliable search engine? Sure. If you go searching for something, chances are very low that you'll get something just completely unrelated to the topic you're searching for. But is it a good search engine? I'd argue it's become a victim of its own success and the quality has been deteriorating for some time as a result. Case in point, yes, I'm aware that Google has been the subject of (and has lost) numerous lawsuits about their unfair business practices of deprioritizing some content (i.e., the content that doesn't pay to advertise our use their web tools) and favoring others (i.e., the content that does pay to play). I'm also aware that the quality of search results has degraded significantly in the past couple of years, thanks to two specific choices that Google has made. First, it's expanded the presence of its advertising, to the point where it's difficult to even tell which results are organic anymore. When you search for something on Google, the first four to six results are sponsored links. Plus there are the "Find related products & services" links. And the integrated local businesses on Google Maps that have paid to be associated with that keyword. Maybe, maybe half the content on the search results page is organic. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual number were much lower. Second, the integration of AI has been a real disappointment. Now, whenever you search for something, at the very top of the page is an "AI Overview" which attempts to predict what information you need and summarize it for you. And while I'll admit that the feature is handy in some cases, the AI is still wildly inaccurate at times. Some of the search results that Google's AI Overview feature has returned include: Advising people to include their name and birthdate for passwords to make them memorable. Recommending boiled mint leaves and a high-fiber diet to treat appendicitis. Reporting that gasoline can be used in cooking, the only caveat being that it's flammable. Adding non-toxic glue to pizza sauce to help the cheese layer not slide off the pizza. Chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes can improve performance in sports. When asked which U.S. Presidents attended the University of Wisconsin, it listed several presidents who never attended the school, and in some cases cited graduation dates that occurred after their deaths.And, look, I understand that AI is an emerging technology and is bound to have some kinks that need to be worked out. But putting those kinds of results right at the top of the Google search results is creating a dangerous precedent where you're bound to have people just look at those topline results and assume they don't need to read any further. And while I don't necessarily worry about Darwin Award eligible people who are dumb enough to take AI's advice to treat appendicitis with a bran muffin or mix some Elmer's in with their tomato sauce for "added texture," I do worry that some of the more subtle errors will start to pervade the general consciousness (and in some cases already have). AI doesn't do a great job of making weighted value determinations. It scrapes data from the internet and presents it all equally. So when you get some of these wonky results, a lot of times it's because it'll take multiple conflicting sources and present them as equally valuable, saying things like, "Some believe that Barack Obama was America's first Muslim president while others believe that there have been no Muslim presidents," when there is overwhelming evidence and reliable third party sources that confirm Obama is Christian, but one nutty conspiracy theory website claims that he's Muslim. I think Google is a remarkable company that has developed some incredible products and technologies. Unfortunately, I think the quality of their search results is quickly becoming an afterthought as they continue to pursue new ventures.  Day 2663: What is your idea of a cozy home? Write about this in your Blog entry today. For me, a cozy home is one where everything has a place, there's plenty of room to spread out and give people privacy, and there's a clear sense of personality to the home without going overboard on decor or furnishings. I spent a lot of time looking at houses online. As a fan of architecture and someone who just finds interior design interesting, I like to see what types and styles of homes are out there. Some of the features that I would want in my cozy home include: Work and entertaining spaces that are separate from the sleeping spaces. I've been and lived in too many homes where it's a pain to do anything after the kids' bedtime because their rooms are directly above the dining room where you're having a dinner party, or where the living room is sharing a wall with a bedroom so you can't play the TV too loud after someone goes to sleep. I would love to have one of those houses where there's a basement or detached room for entertaining (or even on the other side of the house from the bedrooms) where you can be loud after hours and not disturb anyone who chooses to go to bed early. Extensive organized storage areas. I refuse to pay for an offsite storage unit, so I need everything I own to fit in my house. And while we certainly do our best to try and keep things pared down to a reasonable amount, I've only ever lived places where every closet is packed full because it's holding the winter coats and the suitcases and the board games and the vacuum cleaner. I'd love to have enough space to have a game closet, a cleaning closet, a storage room in the garage for occasionally-used items like the suitcases, etc. Creative places for personal effects. I get really tired of hanging pictures on flat walls. As someone who likes some personalization but not too much clutter, I'd love a variety of spaces that can be accented with things that make a house feel like a home. Some built-ins, shelves, nooks, etc. where I can put the souvenir I bought on that one vacation, or the treasured gift I got that one year at work. Plenty of parking. Granted, I live in a very urban area, but I've lived sooo many places where parking is impossible to find. The kind where you can't invite anyone over after 5pm because they'll spent an hour hunting for a parking spot and end up parking six blocks away, or where you can't park a car outside, or have to move it for street sweeping. My dream would be either ample street parking, or a long driveway that can accommodate several cars so that when we host, people can park right at the place they're supposed to be. Natural light and a view. Last but certainly not least, a big part of a "cozy" vibe for me includes natural light and some kind of a view to enjoy from inside the house. Living in a city, I've had my fill of tiny windows on one side of the residence only which mean you have to have your lights on all the time. And of windows that look out on an exterior wall of another building, or worse, into someone else's apartment. I'd love a little bit of space, and to work some elements of the natural world into the ambience of the home. Prompt: How has WDC affected your Spiritual journey? I don't really know that WdC has had a huge effect on my spiritual journey. I attribute that mostly to my wife, my pastor, and a few key relationships in real (offline) life that have heavily influenced my beliefs. Not that WdC is lacking for groups and activities that do a great job with that; it's just that the reason I'm here on the site has more to do with my interest in writing, being creative, etc. I know some members here see WdC as a "one stop shop" for all their needs and get their socializing, their writing, their faith, their other interests, etc. all poured into in the same convenient place, but I've never really lived my life that way. For me, it's more like WdC is where I go for my writing needs, my church is where I go for my spiritual needs, my weekly game group and my movie-watching friends are who I go to when I just want to be entertained, etc. I'm generally okay with the fact that there isn't a ton of crossover between different areas of my life. Which is not to say there isn't any... my game group, for example, is mostly Christians and we often talk about faith-related topics when we're chatting before and after the games... but that just kind of highlights why WdC isn't really necessary for the spiritual journey that I'm on. That said, I do really enjoy the spiritual and religious community on this site, as it's a chance to get to know people all over the world with both similar and radically different faith traditions. While not strictly connected with my own spiritual journey, I do enjoy the sense of community that comes from sharing and learning from others. |
Day 3929: On this day in 1997, Netflix was founded by American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Originally a DVD-rental company, it later moved into streaming, content creation, and live programming. It's available in 190 countries. Do you watch Netflix in your home? If so, do you think they offer a good selection of programming? If you don't use Netflix, what streaming service do you use? I've been a Netflix subscriber since the direct-mail DVD days! And since the rise of the streaming era, I now subscribe to most of the streamers out there: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Peacock, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Paramount+, HBO Max, YouTube Premium, Dropout TV, etc. Part of it is for work (I often have to check credits for other programs), but it's mostly because I enjoy watching all kinds of shows, and there's good stuff on every streamer. If anything, I think Netflix might offer too much programming. They seem to really churn things out, and have been accused of not really investing in their programs the same way that traditional broadcast television does. There's so much content, it's hard to keep track of it all... and Netflix is by far the highest volume distributor in town. Day 2659: Who was born on August 29, 1915 and also died on August 29, 1982. This same person was involved in a scandal and reprimanded on the Senate floor. Can you name something their famous for besides the scandal? I'll admit that "being reprimanded on the Senate floor" is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Ingrid Bergman. She's one of the most celebrated actresses in cinema history. She has three Oscars (one of only four actresses to have won three times or more), two Emmys, a Tony, and four Golden Globes. She worked multiple times with famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock on commercially successful films. I'd be shocked if the "scandal" that got her reprimanded by the United States Senate is on many people's Top 5 list of things you'd associate with Ingrid Bergman. And boy, that reprimand was sure a sign of another time, huh? For those reading this that aren't familiar, Bergman began having an affair with her director (Roberto Rossellini) on the set of their film Stromboli, and Bergman became pregnant with their first son. That's it. And what happened in response? Senator Edwin Johnson accused the actress of "perpetuating an assault upon the institution of marriage" and called her "a powerful influence for evil." Art Buchwald was allowed to read her mail during the scandal, and recounted that she received over a dozen large mail bags full of mail from conservatives, calling her a a bitch, a dirty whore, etc. Funny how, in my research on this scandal, I don't think I read anything about Rossellini getting any kind of criticism for his role in the affair, even though he was also married (to his second wife) at the time. Incidentally, he then cheated on Bergman with the woman who would become his fourth wife.  Prompt: If you were to write a letter to a loved one in Heaven, who would receive it and what would it say? At this point, I'd probably be writing a letter to my mom, and filling her in on everything that's happened with my family over the past five years. She only had about a year (and a pandemic-curtailed year at that) with the kids while we were fostering them before she passed, and one of my biggest regrets is that she didn't have more time with them, and that they didn't have more time with her. My mom loved kids, and she spent as much time as she could with ours before her health took a turn. If there were a chance to write and know that she'd have a chance to read it, I'd probably go on and on about all the things I've experienced as a parent, and all the way I've watched my amazing kids grow up. |
Day 3928: What is your favorite ice cream dessert? While I usually prefer ice cream by itself, and can appreciate ice cream-based desserts like ice cream sandwiches or ice cream cakes or sundaes, if I were going to pick a dessert that incorporates ice cream but isn't comprised of a majority of ice cream, I think I'd have to go with a basic fresh-baked cookie/brownie topped with ice cream combo. There's just something about a warm, gooey chocolate brownie or cookie topped with cold ice cream that you have to rush to eat before it melts that's just so comforting and delicious. If I'm feeling really fancy, I might go for one of those chocolate lava cakes where you cut into it and molten chocolate flows out. Top that with some vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle it with chocolate sauce and maybe put a couple of raspberries or strawberries on top for garnish?  Great, now I'm hungry and want some ice cream... Day 2647: "I haven't lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that's from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them." — Kevin Costner. Do you often regret things and what do you do about your feelings of regret, if you have any? When it comes to "regrets," I make a distinction between big regrets and small regrets. I consider big regrets to be life-defining regrets that will stay with you for years, perhaps even a lifetime. Regrets like, "I wish I would have spent more time with a loved one before they died." Or, "What if I had taken such-and-such a risk earlier on in my career?" Or, "What if I had asked out my high school crush instead of just pining over them for four years?" On the other hand, I consider small regrets to be the little day-to-day things that just happen in the course of living life. Regrets like, "I wish I had been more patient with my kids rather than yelling at them." Or, "If I could rewind time by fifteen minutes, this is what I would have said instead." Or, "I should have stopped and offered my leftovers to the homeless guy with a sign asking for food." Generally speaking, I don't have a lot of big regrets. I always wonder about the "what ifs" of life, but I'm also very content with the life I'm currently living, so I don't often look back at the things that have happened in it with a lot of regret. I mean, sure, there's the occasional, "I should have stayed at this job instead of going to this other job that didn't work out," and "OMG why didn't I buy a house when I had a chance even if it would have been a stretch?" kind of things, but I'm one of those people who sees value in the experiences we have, so I don't regret those decisions as much as just wonder what would have been different if I had taken that path instead of my own. When it comes to small regrets, I have those all the time. A thoughtless comment I regret making, or a poor choice that I wish I could go back and do differently. Nothing that I think would drastically change the course of world events or anything; just things that I regret not handling better in the course of the day. Prompt: What advice would you give to a new believer about developing their relationship with Christ? The advice I'd give to a new believer about developing their relationship with Christ is the same advice that I'd give to a nonbeliever who is interested in learning about Christ from outside the faith. Which would be to simply read the gospels in the Bible that detail Christ's time on Earth. The centerpiece of a Christian's faith should be his or her relationship with Christ, and in order to have a relationship with Christ, you have to know who he was and what he believed in. Unfortunately, I think that's something that a lot of longtime believers and established Christians need to do too, because many of lost sight of the foundational principles of the faith. Too many have prioritized the accumulation of wealth and influence, or sought the power to control others, or who have ignored the basic tenets of Christianity in pursuit of a sociopolitical outcome. Regardless of your stance on topics like abortion, immigration, religious freedom, etc., if you're not pursuing those objectives with love, compassion, forgiveness, and acts of service, then you're not pursuing them with a Christian perspective. I fear that a lot of reputational damage has been done to the Church (and by the Church!) by deviating from Christ's teachings. If someone is interested in developing their relationship with Christ, they should first read about what Christ was like and what he said. It all starts there; everything else is a distraction at best, and a mischaracterization at worst. |
Day 3924: I'm looking at the forum and the daily response is me, occasionally another blogger but primarily me. Neva and I take time to do the prompts. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth keeping the group active. We're pledged to help with a WDC Birthday celebration but after that who knows. I've asked before for your thoughts, I'm asking again. Why you aren't blogging? I am blogging, I'm just really bad about posting in forums to let people know that I've been blogging and responding to the prompts.  I'm also guilty of being pretty selective about the prompts I respond to. I keep tabs on a variety of blogging groups and will peruse the topics almost every day, but will only respond to the ones where I immediately think to myself, "Yeah, that's something I want to write about." That's been paired with a tendency to respond to a single blog prompt in more of a longform format (i.e., more than 500 words). I have been thinking about shifting to a more regular blogging habit where I push myself to respond to more prompts more regularly, albeit with shorter form answers. I'll give it a try for a couple of weeks and see if that's a better format.Day 3925: What is the most viewed movie of all time? Look no further than the groundbreaking 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, one of cinema's most famous efforts. Legendary for its famous scenes, memorable characters, oft-repeated quotes. The movie was actually a commercial bomb when it first came out - making less than a million dollars over its budget. Have you watched The Wizard of OZ? More than once? Who's your favorite character and why? I've seen The Wizard of Oz a number of times (most of them in film school where it was required viewing for more than one class!). More than the film itself, I think I enjoy all the behind the scenes stories about how they actually pulled off a production that advanced for its time, back when they didn't have visual effects and when even practical effects were in their infancy. It's a really impressive movie in that respect, even all these years later. In the original movie, I always thought the Wizard of Oz was the most interesting character. There was such an air of awe and mystery about him that I enjoyed that aspect of the original film. And then, of course, Wicked came along and gave audiences a whole new take on the characters of Glinda and the Wicked Witch. I really loved that musical, because it was such a unique take on this familiar story. Day 2645: On this day in 1977, American singer Elvis Presley, known as the “King of Rock and Roll,” died of a heart attack brought on largely by drug abuse. Were you an Elvis Fan? If so favorite song? How about a few trivia questions about Rock and Roll? Who was the first rock-and-roll superstar? What singer was inducted three times in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? What was the first rock song to become famous around the world? Which single was the last number one given by Elvis Presley in 1969? I'm not a huge Elvis Presley fan. I definitely appreciate his career and there are quite a few songs that I really like (particularly, "A Little Less Conversation," "Burning Love," "You're the Devil in Disguise," "Suspicious Minds," and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You"), but he's never one of those artists that I ever really intentionally decide to listen to songs from. If something comes on the radio, or if someone else is playing it (I have a friend who loves Elvis and listens to his music almost every day), I'll listen to it and enjoy it, but I can't remember the last time I put an Elvis song on one of my playlists. The one time in recent memory I got into a bit of an Elvis groove was when the ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits album was released in 2002, which included the JXL Radio Edit Remix of "A Little Less Conversation" which was a huge hit and popularized by it use in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven starring George Clooney, as well as (I think) the show Las Vegas. That was also the same year that the original animated Lilo & Stitch was released in theaters and it just seemed like Elvis was resurgent for about a year and a half. Like I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed that year and a half and still like his music; I just haven't really made a conscious effort to listen to Elvis more than here and there since. My guesses for the trivia: Q: Who was the first rock-and-roll superstar? A: I'm not even sure when rock and roll became popular... the 1950s? Ugh, my knowledge of "oldies" is admittedly not that great. I guess I'll go with either Chuck Berry or Bill Haley. Q: What singer was inducted three times in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? A: I'm assuming it's someone who was a member of multiple musical acts, so I'll guess Eric Clapton... or possibly Paul McCartney or Phil Collins. Q: What was the first rock song to become famous around the world? A: Same answer as the first question. I'll go with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets or something by Chuck Berry (I think "Johnny B. Goode" was later... so maybe "Roll Over Beethoven"?). Q: Which single was the last number one given by Elvis Presley in 1969? A: I want to say "Suspicious Minds" but I'm not totally sure on that. Prompt: Who are your favorite Christian singers? What are your favorite Christian songs? I've been listening to a lot of Christian music over the past few years. The singers that I really like (i.e., not considering entire worship bands or someone's instrument playing or songwriting ability) that have really impressed me recently are: Taya, Jon Reddick, Ryan Ellis, Elyssa Smith, Tauren Wells, and Brooke Ligertwood. There are so many artists I really enjoy, but I think the vocal/singing ability of those six are phenomenal. I can't think of a bad song that any of them have done. In terms of favorite songs, that's something that changes from season to season. At the moment, my favorite songs to listen to are: "The Father's House" by Cory Asbury "Goodbye Yesteday" by Elevation Rhythm "Loved By You" by Riley Clemmons "Move Your Heart" by Maverick City Music "Open" by LO Worship "Sinking Deep" by Hillsong Young & Free "Time and Time Again" by Bethel Music & Josh Baldwin |
Prompt for Day 2639: Bored? “I’m never bored anywhere; being bored is an insult to oneself.” — Jules Renard. Do you feel bored sometimes? What bores you? Like anyone else, boredom is a thing that happens to me occasionally. Sometimes there are moments when I'm not particularly motived to do anything and find myself succumbing to boredom, but not all that often. As long as I have certain amenities — internet, someone to have a conversation with, something to read, etc. — I can keep myself occupied for long stretches of time. There are almost always several projects that I'm fiddling around with, things that I want to research or learn about, and random activities or interests that I'm eager to look into. There literally are not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do, so I don't often find myself bored when I have time to kill; that's just time I can be using to check off one of the many things on my to-do list! The things that do bore me are situations where I'm not particularly engaged or interested in what's going on, but can't (or shouldn't) pass the time by focusing on other interests. I often find myself bored at social functions, in meetings, during school events, etc., especially if those things are slow-moving. The bane of my existence is corporate nonsense like town halls or training modules. A lot of that stuff is just so predictable and goes so slow I find myself easily prone to boredom in those situations. It's one of the reasons why I actually really like remote work; it's so much easier to pass the time and keep myself engaged in other interests when I can have a corporate all-hands Zoom meeting up on one screen, and a couple of websites up on another. |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies Deep Cover Eddington The Fantastic Four: First Steps Fountain of Youth G20 Heads of State Sinners SupermanLet's get the bad out of the way first: G20, Fountain of Youth, and Deep Cover were all pretty forgettable streaming titles that were fine to watch but didn't really impress all that much. Of all the streaming titles, Heads of State was probably my favorite and while not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, re-teamed John Cena with Idris Elba. Their not-so-friendly competition was the best part of 2021's The Suicide Squad, and they picked up right where they left off, this time as a President of the United States and British Prime Minister that detest one another. There was a solid amount of comedy and the action was well choreographed, which helped offset the fact that there wasn't much character development or a sophisticated plot. It was a fun way to spend two-hours if you don't think about it too much. The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman were both pretty good. I'm partial to the first, for obvious reasons, and I'm glad to see it doing pretty well. This one was really, really challenging to make (owing to a lot of last-minute decisions and changes), so it's always nice when something you worked really hard on is well received, as opposed to working hard on something only for it to bomb. Superman was probably the best movie out of DC Studios in a long time, but I think it kind of highlights the limits of James Gunn as a filmmaker. I think he has a high floor and a low ceiling as a director (i.e., rarely makes a truly bad movie, but doesn't have many really great ones either), and I think he sacrificed his greatest asset (his sense of humor) trying to make a more "serious" movie this time around. I think it's definitely a step in the right direction for DC Studios (it'd be hard not to improve over the more recent offerings), and I'll be curious to see how the rest of the franchise unfolds. Supergirl should be fun next summer. My highs and lows of the month were Sinners and Eddington, respectively. I thought Sinners was a really creative, fun take on vampires from Ryan Coogler who continues to impress as a filmmaker with a unique point of view, and the soundtrack was incredible. I've been listening to it a lot on its own even after finishing the movie. The performances were all great (especially Michael B. Jordan, who plays dual roles as twins), and the ending with the time jump really made the film. I'm not normally a horror movie guy other than on Halloween, but I really thought this one was great. Eddington, on the other hand, felt like a complete mess. I went to see it without knowing a whole lot about it other than that Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal play a small New Mexico town sheriff and mayor, respectively, at the height of the COVID-19, and compete against one another in the mayor's race over differing views of how to handle the pandemic (Pascal's mayor being in favor of mask mandates and other safety measures, while Phoenix's sheriff thinks the whole thing is overblown). Honestly, the first half of the film was really compelling and did a great job of capturing what a bizarre time that was in all of our lives. But the second half went completely off the rails when... spoiler alert... Joaquin Phoenix gets COVID and is humiliated to the point where snaps he kills Pedro Pascal's character (and his teenage son). And his wife joins a cult. And Antifa militants associated with the corporate interests trying to break ground on a new AI data center in town are dispatched to blow up the sheriff's deputies and run through town shooting everything up. There was literally a point during the movie where I leaned over to the friend I was watching the movie with and whispered, "Is this whole thing going to be a dream? Like, Joaquin is going to wake up on a ventilator or something and we're going to realize this is all a COVID hallucination?" But nope, that's actually how the story of the movie played out. It was so absurdist and divorced from the hard-hitting realism of the first hour that I found it jarring and completely bizarre. And maybe that was the point, but if that's the case, it wasn't a good choice for the film, in my opinion.Television Ballard (Season 1) Blindspot (Season 1) — DNF Dept Q (Season 1) Hightown (Season 1) — DNF Poker Face (Season 2) Slow Horses (Season 1) — DNFLots of DNF television this month. Blindspot definitely felt like a show from the 2010s where it has a great premise that probably would have been better as a movie because they just seemed to be dragging it out episode after episode. The actual episodic stories in the show weren't particularly interesting, and after watching a half-dozen episodes and seeing how many seasons of this show they made, it seemed pretty clear it was going to be a "let's see how long we can string this out" situation and I figured I would just read the Wikipedia plot summary rather than sit through another 100 hours of programming. The other two DNFs this month were Hightown and Slow Horses, neither of which were bad; they just weren't very compelling either. Hightown was sort of interesting (and very clearly a show where Monica Raymund was looking to do something more risque after more than a decade on a network procedural) but the characters and the storyline just didn't really grab me. And Slow Horses was good — maybe I'll even go back and finish it at some point because I like the concept of a bunch of spy agency rejects working a case — but the show was aptly named because "slow" is exactly the word to describe it. After three episodes, it seemed like the story was only just getting started with the main plot. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a slow-burn show, and this month I just wasn't. Dept Q was okay; it feels like they've remade this book series from Jussi Adler-Olsen, but every single time they start with the same book: The Keeper of Lost Causes. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, but it makes me wonder if they're any good because this is the same specific book they keep using every time they reboot the franchise. I guess we'll see what happens if they get a Season 2, now that they've used their most popular and prominent storyline for Season 1. The second season of Poker Face was a real miss, in my opinion. Twelve episodes and only two or three of them were interesting or even connected to the main narrative. The rest seemed like one-offs where a bunch of famous guest stars would show up for an episode completely unrelated to the main story. It's really a shame because the first season of this show was excellent, and it seemed like they were really coasting for this one, relying on the charm of Natasha Lyonne (who I don't find that charming) and the appeal of the sheer number of stars who would show up in episodes. If they make another season, I really hope they put as much effort into the story as they do the casting. Ballard was easily my favorite show of the month. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Michael Connelly's characters and the world he's created. This is the second spinoff of Bosch, and I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of having a world of shows that run for a handful of seasons before a "new" show starts, spinning off with a different character and main cast, while still bringing others back in for cameos from time to time. It doesn't hurt that Michael Connelly has a lot of books with great plots, so this seems like a franchise that will continue for some time. Probably three or four seasons of Ballard, and then maybe they'll spin it off with a Ballard: Legacy show, or move on to one of Connelly's other protagonists like Terry McCaleb, Rachel Walling, or Cassie Black. I'd love to see the last of those; Void Moon was one of the first Connelly books I read and still one of my favorites. TOP PICK: Sinners |
 Prompt #28: If you could create a charitable foundation with billions of dollars in resources, what causes would you try to tackle? If I were answering this question a couple of years ago, I probably would have said that I would fully invest an entire fortune in championing education. It's something that my wife and I really believe in, and it's been so disappointingly underfunded for years. The availability of public education is one of the greatest things that this country has ever done, and it's a shame how underfunded and under-prioritized it's been for years if not decades. The conditions is some of the schools are horrendous, and it's unacceptable that so many educators are paid so little and have to invest so much of their own resources into their classrooms. Even if my current vision of a charitable foundation weren't entirely focused on the field of education, I think I would definitely have some form of program or initiative that addressed that. Most likely a subsidy for teachers to help with their classroom expenses, or for families whose kids need extra support (tutoring, after school care, etc.) but can't afford it. Future generations are too important to just abandon and hope they figure it out for themselves. That said, in recent years I've been doing a lot of reading about a lot of different problems in the world, and have been really discouraged by the lack of progress that's being made on pretty much every front. It seems like there's always some established enterprise that has a vested interest in making sure things stay the same. As a human race (and particularly as Americans), the progress — if you could call it that — we've made on things like climate change, income inequality, poverty, pollution, gun violence, corruption, etc. have been abysmal. And I'd be really hard pressed to identify a specific issue or couple of issues that I'd want to invest in, because so much of it seems so awful right now. It's no secret that I'm fairly progressive in my politics. And I don't mean that strictly in the sense that I'm on the "radical left" side of the political spectrum or that I don't hold moderate views on a number of topics; the actual definition of progressivism is just the belief that the human condition is most likely to be advanced through social reform. And I am the kind of person who thinks that things can be better, and that we should try to make things better. There are very few areas of society where I think we've just absolutely nailed it, can't possibly improve, and where it's therefore not worth trying to improve things. I think a lot of that change can potentially come from our current system of government, if we can fix two things about that current system. The first is the sheer amount of money that's in politics right now, and the second is the "team" nature of our two-party system that prioritizes party loyalty over all else. It may sound strange to fight that problem by throwing more money into the system, but I have a feeling it's one of those "you have play the game before you can change the rules" kind of situations. It's actually relatively cheap to invest in local-level politics (as opposed to national-level politics), so I'd probably want to start a foundation that supports other organizations like Run For Something (which is focused on recruiting and supporting young progressive candidates who want to run for down-ballot offices), to encourage candidates to enter politics who aren't part of the current system and who believe in actually serving their constituents and effecting change. I'd want to use that model to show that it can work on a local level, in order to then make the case to voters that the same thing on a national level would be good for people's interests. Over the years — and especially in recent years — I've come to realize that we have a lot of elected representatives who care more about the power and wealth that comes with their position than they care about the constituents they represent. I really want to see more elected leaders who take seriously their oath to represent the People. It would most likely be a very long-term project, and maybe even one that isn't realized in my lifetime, but if you could recruit a new generation of elected officials who don't feel as beholden to national parties or monied interests (and I fully acknowledge that would require my organization to be clear that there's no strings or expectations attached to the financial support we would give), and who would vote for reasonable legislation that would prevent things like political gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, etc., we could get Congress back to being an institution that represents the People first and foremost, and which sees the job as public service more than personal enrichment. Which I think would, by extension, then have a dramatic downstream effect on the kinds of people who get put on the judiciary and appointed in the executive branch. It's hard to convince people that government is useful when all three branches are unpopular. And Congress' approval rating hasn't been above 50% since June 2003. Which means that it's been 22 years since the People have had a positive opinion of the branch of government that represents them. That needs to change, and if I had billions of dollars to pour into a charitable foundation, electing people who are committed to getting that approval rating back up would be a worthy cause to fight for. Because it's what all the other changes in the world I'd like to see could potentially stem from. |
Prompt #75: Do you enjoy going out alone (e.g., to dinner at a restaurant, to see a movie, etc.)? Why or why not? I actually really enjoy going out and doing things on my own. I've never had a problem sitting by myself in a movie theater to watch something, and about fifteen years ago I went on my first business trip where I had to eat alone (a city I don't live in, and none of my coworkers from that branch were available to go out), and ended up enjoying the experience. I'm a naturally introspective person and someone who likes to observe the world around him, so it's not really that big a deal for me to sit by myself for a meal, or be out and about in the world by myself. There are definitely a lot of times when I want to be around people (I'd rather go see a comedy movie with a friend because we can laugh together about it, and I'm always up for some quality dinner conversation), but I've definitely reached a point in my life where the backup of a solo outing isn't something that bothers me. For example, it's really common for me to tell my wife that I want to see a movie that's in the theater, and if it's one that she actually wants to see, we'll go see it together. If it's not one that she wants to see, I'll go catch a late showing by myself one night after the kids are in bed while she stays home and does her thing. I sometimes wonder if the reason I like that stuff, though, is more for its novelty than anything else. My wife and I have been living together for twenty years, so it's rare that we have a moment where we're not together, outside of the usual work schedules, errands, etc. I think we can both probably count on our fingers and toes the number of nights that we've spent away from one another since we've been married. So going out and doing something on my own is a bit of a novel experience compared to my usual day-to-day lifestyle. I honestly don't know if it would be the same if circumstances suddenly put me in a place where isolation was the norm. For example, if I were to suddenly have to live alone for some reason, would I still be inclined to do those same things on my own? Would I still find novelty and enjoyment in eating alone if I did so two or three meals a day, every day? I suspect that my preferences would reverse, and I would then seek out more communal activities. I have a few friends who are still single (or married and they have a lot of free time because they and their spouses have radically different schedules or interests), and they're always the ones texting and going, "Hey, want to grab dinner tonight?" or "Does anyone else want to go to that concert that's coming to town next week?" I suspect I'd probably be "that guy" if I were living alone, where I'd be looking for opportunities to connect with people. At the end of the day, I think I'm all about balance. I don't mind going out alone currently because I'm very rarely alone at any given hour of the day. But if I were alone as a default, I imagine that I'd probably be less inclined to do activities solo and would more actively look for companionship for whatever I wanted to do. |
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