The Impending Collapse of Islam

David Wood has spent more than a decade exposing the inconsistencies of Islam.  He does this by quoting the Quran or the various authoritative Hadiths.  He started down this path because his best friend in college happened to be a Muslim.  Though once an atheist, David had converted to Christianity and pursued a doctorate in theology.  By the time they graduated, his friend was also a Christian.  As he had spent time converting his friend, he expanded that to YouTube.

In his latest video, he details the quandary that Islamic countries are now in.  An alarming number of Islamic youth have abandoned Islam while still observing the rituals of Islam.  Many have watched videos by Act 17 Apologetics, driven there by the constant denunciations hurled against Wood.  Really, I first watched Alex Jones after he was called out for something in the MSM.  It's that Barbra Streisand Effect.  The leaders know that a sizable portion of the flock no longer believes in Islam, but maintains the fiction to escape apostacy.  Apostacy is a death penalty offence.   What to do?  To address it openly might expose to all just how widespread it is.  Not to address it allows it to spread further.  Neither option is good.  However, the second option provides the appearance that all is well.

I have long complained that our leaders have failed to understand who we are fighting when Islamic terrorists attack.  Always they would tell us that Islam is a religion of peace and the terrorists are just bad apples who misinterpret the Quran.  While Western leaders have deluded themselves as to who we fight, David Wood knows the truth.  Like sappers digging under a castle wall during a long siege, he and his fellows have undermined the ideology.  As he has used the Quran and the Hadiths to dig his tunnel, Islamic apologists have no defense.  To deny his arguments is to deny Islam.  To accept his arguments is to demolish Islam.

Recommended.

The Madness of Crowds

Peter Robinson interviewed Douglas Murray about his latest book, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity.  During the discussion, Murray outlined four issues that have been tearing at the foundations of America.  First, feminism.  Though initially a movement to provide equality to women, it has morphed into an excuse for misandry.  Hatred and revenge against men who are long dead is now the desire.  Second, civil rights.  Like with feminism, the initial goal of equality has given way to a desire for payback.  Again, those who committed the misdeeds against blacks are almost all long dead.  Third, gay rights.  As with the prior two, it is no longer acceptable to be equal under the law.  Churches must stop teaching against homosexuality.  Religion must tolerate us, but we do not need to tolerate religion.  Lastly, there is the trans-rights movement.  Murray was more circumspect with this one as it is in its infancy.  However, he notes that it has already had clashes with feminism.  Murray describes these four movements as a new ideology, a new religion.  With the vacuum created by the flight from religion, this has taken its place.  Unfortunately, they are not compatible with traditional Western values of the Enlightenment.  Is Western Civilization going to give way to this new ideology that embraces new prejudices?  Murray is on the fence.

His previous book was The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam.  That was touched upon in the discussion.  He brought up the murder of a French teacher by a recent Islamic immigrant.  President Macron reacted very strongly, seeking to defend the secular values of France against Islamist radicalism.  He was denounced by the leaders of Turkey and Pakistan.  Not surprising.  However, he was defamed by Western editorials in The New York Times and the Washington Post.  He saw this as very revealing that France was framed in the wrong for seeking to maintain the secular values.  If Islam were to gain control, there would be no tolerance the other way.

At one point, Murray likened the United States to an elephant being taken down by small predators.  If the elephant had just stomped them as they arrived, it could weather the attack.  He had recently toured America, notably Portland, Seattle, and Washington DC.  To him, the outlook is grim.

Peter Robinson is an excellent interviewer who does a great deal of preparation.  His Uncommon Knowledge interviews are highly recommended.  In fact, he has some of the best exchanges with one of my favorite economists, Thomas Sowell.

The Third Man (1949)

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is an American pulp novelist who has arrived in Vienna, Austria, to stay with his friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles).  In 1949, Vienna is a divided city, having English, Russian, American, and French sectors, very like Berlin.  No sooner does he arrive at Harry's flat than he learns that his old friend died in a car accident only a few days prior.  He finds his way to the funeral.  Afterwards, he is invited for a drink by an Englishman named Calloway (Trevor Howard).  Holly eventually realizes that Calloway is a policeman probing for information.  Indeed, Major Calloway announces that Lime was a criminal who escaped arrest by his untimely death.  Unsatisfied, Holly starts investigating the death.  He meets Harry's girlfriend, Anna (Alida Valli), an actress.  She was not there when Harry died, but Holly finds that he is attracted to her.  He meets the two men who were with Harry at his death.  Still looks accidental.  However, a local says that he saw a third man on the scene.  Now, Holly believes his friend was murdered and Calloway is blind to it.  Before Holly can learn more, the witness is dead, and he is being accused of the murder!

Cotten is terrific as the clueless American who doesn't realize he's in a foreign country that follows different rules.  Despite being clueless, he is persistent.  Welles is excellent as Harry Lime, a thoroughly charming rogue who rationalizes misdeeds with witticisms and offers a what-can-I-do shrug about the ill fate of his allies.  He can threaten death in one breath and abiding friendship in the next.  For such a small role, he does a lot with it.  Howard is his usual commanding self.  I can't recall a role where he wasn't the stern commanding type.  However, his back and forth with Cotten provide some amusement.  Alida Valli plays a surprisingly deep role, possessing loyalty to Lime, affection for Holly, and reasons to avoid the authorities.  A conflicted character that is well-portrayed.

The classic thriller, one of the all-time great Film Noir movies.  Not only does it have Welles, Cotten, and Howard, it also boasts two future leaders of MI-6.  Bernard Lee (M from 1962 to 1979) appears as the tough yet genial Sgt. Paine.  Robert Brown (M from 1983 to 1989) appears as a nameless policeman.  The assistant director was Guy Hamilton, who would go on to direct four Bond films, notably Goldfinger (1964).  Another Bond director, John Glen, was only a teenager when he worked as an assistant sound editor on this film.  He went on to be editor of three Bond movies and directed every Bond film in the 1980s.

Highly recommended.  In fact, Roger Ebert listed it among the 10 best films of all time.

Nothing to See Here. Move Along

Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman who procured minors for Jeffrey Epstein, has been found guilty.  Good news.  On a related topic, the guards who notably failed to prevent Epstein's suicide and sought to cover up their failure by falsifying records were also in the news.  Yes, the charges against them have been dropped.  Nothing to see here.  I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but really?

Was Epstein the only person who engaged in sex with the minors that Maxwell acquired?  Epstein had dealings with people high up in government, academics, and even British royalty.  Some names - Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Alan Dershowitz, Prince Andrew - have been revealed.  These are people of power and it is likely that they would want this case closed.  That the case against the guards has been dropped gives the impression that the Epstein Scandal is being swept under the rug.

Move along.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Starship Grounded

The FAA had initially planned to finish its Environmental Assessment on December 31st.  Nevermind.  It is now scheduled to finish on February 28.  Of course, government bureaucracies are always slow, but one wonders how the Boca Chica site was approved 7 years ago for rocket launches but now needs more studies to approve rocket launches.  Huh?  Or is this payback?  Has Senator Warren contacted the FAA and put some pressure on this freeloader who mocker her on Twitter?  Or, now that his latest lawsuit against SpaceX was dismissed, has Jeff Bezos lobbied for a new delay so he can make up some ground with his New Glenn rocket?  Whatever the case, it is sad to see that progress and innovation are being slowed by government.  I can guarantee that China is not putting roadblocks in front of its space program.  Heck, the Chinese have boosters falling on remote villages almost every launch.

We are in a space race to see who will dominate: the China or the West?  China understands the stakes.  Apparently, the US government does not.

History Debunked

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

- George Orwell

Recently, I happened upon a YouTube channel: History Debunked.  The host has written several books on history that cover unusual subjects: The Suffragette Bombers, British Concentration Camps, The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam, and many others.  He discusses these topics on his channel.  However, most of his recent videos - which are numerous - touch upon the rapidly changing demographics of the UK and efforts to convince the populace that it has always been thus.  To hear him tell it, Winston Smith is working diligently at the BBC to convince the voters that populations of African and Indian people have been present since Roman times.  This is absurd.  However, three years ago, I watched Mary, Queen of Scots and was annoyed by the anachronistic casting.  Was this just another effort to convince the viewer that the British Isles had been multicultural for centuries?  That strikes me as crazy.  Then again, I have a degree in history and read history books for entertainment.  Most people only learn what is taught through high school, which is very basic.  I have often been amazed at how little history many people know.

History Debunked mostly discusses England and the English, but, as the center of the Anglosphere, that has had ripples throughout the world.  Definitely worth a look.  Recommended.

Barbarella (1968)

It is the distant future and Barbaralla (Jane Fonda) strips off her space suit in Zero-G.  No sooner is she naked than the President of Earth contacts her.  She must go to Tau Ceti and find the missing scientist, Durand Durand.  He explains that the scientist has created a positronic ray that could lead to war, something unknown in the current era.  She sets course and soon crash lands on Lythion, where she is promptly captured by delinquent children.  After tying her to a post in the ruins of Durand Durand's ship, the children (multiple sets of twins, oddly enough) unleash a mob of razor-toothed animated dolls upon her.  Luckily, she is rescued by Mark Hand the Catchman.  It is his job to catch errant children and send them to the city of Sogo.  The Catchman tells her that Durand is likely in Sogo and suggests she look there.  He has made repairs to her ship.  She once again wrecks her ship but this time in the labyrinth that surrounds Sogo.  Here she meets Pygar (John Phillip Law), a blind angel.  He introduces her to Professor Ping (Marcel Marceau in a speaking role), who offers information on Sogo and the Great Tyrant.  Most notable is that the city rests upon a living lake called the Matmos, a being that feeds on evil.  Serving as eyes for Pygar, she flies over the labyrinth and infiltrates Sogo.  Both she and Pygar are captured by the Concierge and the Black Queen, aka the Great Tyrant.  Sentenced to death, she is locked into a glass cage and set upon by swarms of birds.  Before she is finished off, a secret door opens and she is spirited away to the secret lair of the resistance where she meets Dildano (David Hemmings).  Dildano provides the means to enter the Black Queen's private chamber in exchange for weapons from Barbarella's ship.  Once again infiltrating Sogo, Barbarella is again captured by the Concierge.  He tries to kill her with his excessive pleasure machine, but the machine is no match for Barbarella.  Infuriated, the Concierge ponders some new fate for her, but, upon learning that she has a means to enter the Black Queen's chamber, he has a new plan.  He locks both Barbarella and the Black Queen in the chamber then crowns himself the new tyrant.  However, Dildano has launched his rebellion.  The Concierge, who is in truth the missing Durand Durand, uses his positronic ray to eliminate the rebellion in a flash.  The Black Queen has a secret weapon of her own: she can unleash the Matmos to destroy Sogo.

The film is thoroughly 1960s.  The effects are all psychodelic and the costumes outlandish.  Barbarella mostly proves to be a hapless heroine more reminiscent of The Perils of Pauline.  The big selling point for the film is the nudity and sex kitten nature of Barbarella.  She uses sex as a reward for the Catchman, an incentive for Pygar, and for humor with Dildano.  Her seemingly insatiable sex drive is what destroyed the excessive-pleasure machine.

A goofball sci-fi adventure that is more an excuse to have Jane Fonda in various sexy outfits or no outfit at all.  Of particular note, Fonda was married to the director, Roger Vadim, at the time!  Definitely a movie to see once.

China's Ghost Cities

A few years ago, I watched a video by a couple of guys on a channel called ADVChina.  They were touring a building and poking fun at the poor workmanship and declaring that this was quite common.  Winston had moved to China from South Africa while Matthew was from the United States.  Both found jobs as language teachers.  They both had an interest in motorcycles and touring the country, which led to their channel.  Both fled China in 2019, which coincided with the Hong Kong crackdown.

Here is a recently reposted video that provides some on-the-ground evidence that China has a serious real estate bubble that is popping.

If that looks interesting, check out some of their other videos.  Each spent more than a decade in China and married Chinese women before returning to the West.  Here are Chinese-speakers who can untangle the cultural differences.  In addition to their combined channel, Winston has an individual vlog as serpentza and Matthew has laowhy86.  Highly recommended for an inside look at China.

China's Coming Collapse

I have read articles and watched programs that declared China was headed for disaster.  However, to look at the news, one would conclude that China is on the brink of being the lead economy of the world and likely to replace the US as the top superpower.  I follow the space industry fairly closely and China is proving to be more energetic than NASA or the ESA.  If not for SpaceX, there is no question that China would be winning the current space race.  Are rumors of impeding doom just wishful thinking from envious competitors or is there something to it?  Here's an interesting take:

This does sound grim.  Has China trod the same path that Japan took 30 years ago?  Will their housing bubble be more destructive than ours from 2008?  As China has tended more and more toward a totalitarian state in recent years (e.g. Uigur concentration camps, Hong Kong takeover), I would not be unhappy for it to crumble.  Unfortunately, China will take the world down too, much as the USA did in 2008.

The Amazing Spider-Man II (2014)

The film opens with Richard Parker - Peter Parker's father - fleeing the country with his wife.  It goes badly and his private jet is plummeting toward the sea as he finishes sending a file called Roosevelt to an undisclosed server.  Switch to Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) plummeting between New York skyscrapers and joining a police chase of Russian Gangsters, most notably Aleksei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti).  During this harrowing action scene, he takes a call from girlfriend, Gwen (Emma Stone), who warns that he is going to miss graduation.  As an aside, he saves goofy nerd Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) from being run over.

Sometime later, Norman Osborn - CEO and founder of Oscorp - dies of a rare disease but not before telling his son, Harry Osborne (Dane Dehaan), that it is genetic and Harry is doomed to a similar fate.  Thanks, dad.  Max, who is a brilliant engineer but a social basket case, is treated very poorly by Oscorp.  Sent to fix an electrical failure in the building, he gets electrocuted and falls into a conveniently placed tank of electric eels.  Though apparently dead, he revives in the morgue as a human taser.  Though he is worshipful of Spider-Man from his earlier rescue, he turns against him when Spider-Man joins the police to stop his rampage.

Peter Parker is also a basket case.  He is wracked with guilt over dating Gwen.  Gwen's father (Dennis Leary) died in the previous movie and asked that Peter leave Gwen out of his superhero antics.  Peter regularly sees him scowling, a disapproving ghost.  Nonetheless, he can't help himself.  Then there is the issue of his father, who by all accounts was a criminal.  His efforts to unravel the Roosevelt mystery are thwarted until he gives up hope.  Whenever Andrew Garfield is playing Peter Parker, he's this pathetic oaf who is lost without Gwen.  By contrast, he's this happy-go-lucky, unflappable go-getter when he's in his Spider-Man suit.  Rather than being funny in his Peter Parker awkwardness, it was more often cringy.

All the villains were shallow.  Electro goes from meek introverted nerd to extroverted lightning bolt with little explanation beyond feeling betrayed by Spider-Man.  The bond between Harry and Peter is poorly done.  Unlike in the previous trilogy where they had been friends through high school, this Harry was sent to Europe at age 10 and the pair haven't seen each other since.  Now, they are best buddies.  Weak.  Also, Harry is in a panic to 'cure' his genetic ailment.  Dude, your father died in his 50s or so and you're just 20.  Hey, how about I take this experimental drug and see if that works.  Sigh.  Weak.  Then there is the return of Aleksei at the end of the movie.  Hey, he's an over-the-top Russian gangster and now he's got an armored suit that looks like a rhino.

I am unsurprised that the Andrew Garfield series of Spider-Man films were canceled in favor of the Marvel reboot with Tom Holland.  I had seen all of the Toby Maguire Spider-Man films in the theater but only just now saw Garfield's second outing, 7 years after the film's release.  However, as Garfield appears in the latest Spider-Man, it seemed like required viewing to understand his return.

The Whistle Blower (1986)

Bob Jones works for British intelligence as a Russian interpreter.  On account of recent scandals in British intelligence, the workplace has become a low trust zone where everyone is encouraged to rat out any suspicious behavior.  Bob finds this difficult and discusses it with his father, Frank (Michael Caine).  Frank is a former Navy officer who has had a difficult time since leaving government service.  He encourages Bob to muddle through.  He's even a bit disappointed in his son's apparent lack of patriotism.  Soon after their conversation, Bob is dead and Frank doesn't accept it.  He thinks his son was murdered and he starts poking around.

A run of the mill spy thriller in which the West is killing its own agents in order to prevent the public exposure of a high-ranking and unprosecuted traitor.  Imagine how embarassing that would be.  Yes, better we kill some low-level intel officers and a pesky journalist.  Sure, the Soviets are bad but we're just as bad, maybe worse.  Mostly disappointing.  Not one of Michael Caine's better movies.

Skip.

Elon Musk & Babylon Bee

The noted innovator and world's richest man joined the creative team of the satirical Babylon Bee for an interview.  I was unaware that the Babylon Bee did interviews.  At more than an hour and a half in length, it covers a wide variety of topics, from his youth in South Africa, his philosophy on going all-in for any of his businesses - even when that might risk bankruptcy, views on the role of government, his recent clash with Senator Elizabeth Warren, perspective on Woke-ism, where things stand with Neuralink and what he hopes to achieve with it, and many other subjects.  For a satire site, it is not the interview one expects.

In one humorous exchange, the hosts asked if he considered becoming Batman or Iron Man.  No, but he did propose Irony Man.  "Defeat villains by the power of irony."  Ha!

Check it out here: Elon Musk Interview

Amazon Documentaries

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World: Here is a documentary about Thomas Sowell, PhD economist who studied at Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Chicago.  Jason Riley outlines his career and interviews various friends and associates of Sowell.  As a longtime fan and avid reader of Thomas Sowell, I was already familiar with most of what the documentary covers.  This is a good primer for Sowell, but only scratches the surface.  There was not enough of Sowell himself in this documentary about him.  A search on YouTube will provide some great videos of Sowell covering a wide array of topics.  Recommended.

Val: The life and career of Val Kilmer, narrated by his son, Jack.  The story is told both in the present with a dramatically diminished Kilmer (he has survived throat cancer) and in the past through home movies.  Val had carried a video camera with him throughout his career and had captured a great deal of behind-the-scenes video, both on the sets of his movies and of his home life.  Val Kilmer has always seemed like the coolest of the cool, but his autobiography is one long tragedy interrupted by moments of joy.  At least, that is how the documentary paints it.  Well-made but depressing.  Proceed with caution.

Shatner in Space: On October 13, 2021, William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk, went to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket.  Here is the background of how he met Jeff Bezos and then launched into space to become the oldest person ever (90) in space, surpassing the previous record holder, Wally Funk (82), who had flown on the first crewed New Shepard.  Shatner is astonishingly spry for a man his age and still mentally sharp.  He does not seem 90.  Though sometimes saccharine sweet and occasionally preachy about the environment, it is mostly fun and worthwhile.

Finch (2021)

It is the post-apocalypse and Finch Weinberg (Tom Hanks) lives in St. Louis, MO.  He spends his time salvaging what food he can find at the ransacked stores.  As the ozone layer was destroyed by a solar flare, he must wear an environmental suit to protect him from UV radiation.  Upon returning to his base, he greets his dog, Goodyear.  It is almost immediately clear that Finch is dying from radiation poisoning.  As he does not want to leave Goodyear alone, he has built a robot caretaker.  Before the robot is completely ready, they must flee St. Louis to avoid a superstorm.  So begins a roadtrip to California and the education of Jeff the Robot (Caleb Landry Jones).

The story is mostly boring.  Finch is usually in a panic or frustrated with Jeff.  He has little time left and it doesn't look like Jeff is working out as hoped.  Jeff follows Finch's instructions too literally at times and causes trouble.  Of course, the time period is the near future and a robot with Jeff's abilities and capacity to learn are quite impressive.  Too often, Jeff is comic relief.  What kind of story is this?  Finch is particularly wary of people, declaring that it is a kill or be killed world.  When they are followed by car, Finch breaks out a revolver.  Despite his great distrust of people, he does not offer any lessons to Jeff on how to deal with them.  Yeah, don't want to create a terminator.

Mediocre.  If you like Tom Hanks, you'll probably enjoy this.

Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Thinking I would watch the live action reboot of the series, I decided to watch the original Anime.  Before I finished watching all the episodes, word came that the reboot was canceled.  Hmm.  Maybe I won't be watching the reboot.  Anyway, the original was some really good stuff.

Spike and Jett are a pair of bounty hunters in the year 2071.  Bounty hunters are colloquially called 'cowboys' in the future.  The pair travel the solar system on the Bebop - Jett's ship - to capture various criminals.  Along the way, they recruit Ein the Corgi, Faye Valentine the femme fatale, Radical Edward the computer hacker.  In their adventures, they visit Venus, Earth, Mars, the moons of Jupiter, various space stations, and asteroid colonies.  Most of the time, the bounty gets away and the crew often goes hungry.  Food, or more often the lack of food, is a regular facet of the show.  Though they all call the Bebop home, they often work against one another, most especially Faye.

Spike Spiegel is the central character, a man with a dark past.  He had been part of a crime syndicate on Mars and that history regularly rears its head.  He has a talent for sleight of hand, is a skilled martial artist, and a daring pilot.  He has a single-seat craft - the Swordfish - that he frequently uses in dogfights.

Jett Black is a former cop who lost an arm when he got sloppy.  Though flesh and blood arm replacement was available with the future tech, he has a mechanical arm to remind him not to be careless.  In contrast to Spike's lithe build and lightning speed, Jett is muscular and blunt.  He is called the Black Dog for his tendency not to let go of something once he sinks his teeth into it.  He is the father-figure of the crew despite only being 36.

Faye Valentine loves to gamble and usually burns through any money she has in short order.  Of particular note, she was born in 1994.  She was frozen in 2014 in the wake of the gate accident and not unfrozen until 2068.  Therefore, she is 77 years old in one sense and 23 in another.  To make matters worse, she has amnesia about anything prior to waking from cryogenesis.  She wears hardly anything and lives for today.

Edward is one of the great computer hackers of the solar system and she is a thirteen year-old girl.  She joined the Bebop by hacking the computer and having it come to her, much to the others dismay.  She is a ray of sunshine among this gloomy group, a happy though often incomprehensible member of the crew.

Ein is a Corgi.  Though outwardly a normal dog, he shows insights beyond that of a normal dog.  In one episode, he managed to hack a system that had frustrated Edward.  Most of the time, he's just a dog.  He bonds to Edward when she joins the crew.

The show is noted for the music and style.  It is very unlike the usual fare in the anime genre.  It is not surprising that this anime had been selected for a live action reboot.  It is also not surprising that Netflix failed to capture the magic of the original.

Highly recommended.

Blow-Up (1966)

Thomas (David Hemmings) is a successful photographer.  He is working on a collection of his photos with a publisher, works with top models such as Veruschka (as herself), and has young would-be models offering sexual favors for a chance to pose for him.  One morning, he drives to an antique shop that he is interested in purchasing.  He notices a nearby park and decides to wander with his camera, taking pictures of random things that catch his eye.  Then he spots the couple.  The pair are flirting and walking up an incline.  Thomas is entranced and moves to intercept.  Hiding among the bushes and behind trees, he snaps a series of photos.  Spotted, he decides to leave but the woman (Vanessa Redgrave) purses him, demanding the film.  She even tries to steal his camera.  She runs away and he snaps a few more photos as she goes.  Later, she shows up at his studio, again demanding the photos.  He gives her a bogus roll of film and commences to develop the shots.  As he looks at the shots, he sees one where the woman is gazing off to stand of trees.  Blowing up that section, he sees a figure hiding.  Further blow ups show a gun.  In one of his later shots of the woman running away, he notices a figure on the ground.  Is that the man who had been with her?  It is hard to tell, the picture has been blown up beyond recognition.  When he goes back to the park that evening, he finds the man lying dead.

The movie does not go where one expects it to go.  It is not a murder mystery but an exploration of Thomas' grasp of reality.  In person, he saw lovers in the park.  In first developing the film, he saw the woman constantly urging the man to a particular spot in the park.  In blow up, he saw a figure in the woods.  In further blow up, he sees the outline of a body?  Maybe.  When discussing it with others, he repeatedly says he saw nothing.

The film is scattershot.  There does not appear to be a central narrative.  Best described as a character study of Thomas himself who has an eventful day.  He is not a likable man.  Though clearly wealthy (he drives a Rolls Royce) and successful, his life is empty.  He lies pointlessly (e.g. he claims he has no time then sits idle, he claims to have a wife, and then modifies that it is the mother of his children, then says they have no kids).  What is the point of it?  His first reaction to realizing he has photographed a murder is that he'd like to get clearer photos of the corpse.  Though advised to call the police, he doesn't.  In the end, he goes back to take pictures of the corpse, but the body is gone.  Dejected, he wanders the park and finds mimes playing tennis.  He joins the game and fades from reality.

An artsy film that probably gained its fame more from the full female nudity (a first at the time) than the story.  Mediocre.

Chaos

As a longtime reader of Bernard Cornwell, I have seen Patricia Cornwell novels on the shelves of book shops since the 1990s but had not read one of her novels until now.  I was given Chaos, which is the 24th novel in the series.  The story opens on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge.  Kay is walking across the campus and noting the extreme heat when she is contacted by longtime colleague, Pete Marino.  Pete is upset and demands to know where she is.  She is on her way to meet her husband for dinner.  Marino intercepts her and discusses a complaint call about her.  Both seem to make a lot of this call, giving the impression they are paranoid.  Kay has hardly sat down for dinner with her husband, FBI Profiler Benton Wesley, when she gets a call about a dead woman in a park by the Charles River.  Kay is a medical examiner and leaves to investigate, again joined by Pete Marino.  Eventually, Kay examines the body and determines the woman died from electrocution.  She heads back to her facility and performs an autopsy in the wee hours of the morning, confirming electrocution but now finding traces of an unusual alloy that lead her to decide it was murder.  She arrives home to find her archnemesis, Carrie Grethen, in the backyard of her house, holding family members hostage by means of an electrified drone that is hovering nearby.  Kay uses a nearby fishing pole to bring down the drone and save the day.

It took almost 350 pages before Kay was examining the corpse by the river.  During all this time, she, Marino, Lucy (her niece), various dunderheaded policemen speculated one what could have happened.  Kay was constantly curious if the dead woman was the same one she had met twice that very day.  When she finally arrived on scene, the reader is happy for this to be resolved so Kay could stop obsessing over it.  Conversations were hard to follow as Kay would think about her history with the person in the conversation.

"Good to see you, Doc," random character says.

Kay thinks about how she met random character, how well she knows random character, and various events in their shared history.  She ponders how random character is unusually talented in their field and Kay knows that and has always known that.  She would not want anyone else working in this position.

"Good to see you," she replied.

By the time she gets around to the next part of the conversation, one has to go back and see what was being said.  Worse, there are times when characters provide information that both know, but it gets provided nonetheless for benefit of the reader.  For example, when talking to Lucy, she mentions that Carrie supposedly died in a helicopter crash off the coast of North Carolina.  In addition to the constant rehashing of previous novels in the series and the excessive character sketches and location descriptions, the narrative is further muddied by the impending arrival of Kay's sister.  As with everything, Kay obsesses about her younger sister who is shallow, vain, and dimwitted.  To listen to her thoughts, Kay finds her sister to have no redeeming qualities and yet she is going out of her way to welcome her.  Ugh.

The characters are all unlikeable.  Kay is arrogant, paranoid, obsessive, unfocused, and self-conscious.  She frequently thinks about how she is going to upbraid someone for their temerity and then doesn't.  There is what she thinks she should do and then what she actually does.  That both are revealed give her a wishy-washy personality.  Despite constantly demanding that no one jump to conclusions or speculate on what might have happened, she spends much of the lead up to her initial examination speculating what might have happened based on the secondhand reports she has received.  Heck, she has already decided that Carrie Grethen is involved before examining the corpse.  Pete Marino is always either angry or frustrated.  He liberally seasons his conversation 'damn' to show how angry he is.  He was a blowhard who, like Kay, couldn't keep his speculation and conjecture to himself.  By contrast, Benton was unflappable and cold.  Of course, the endless character backgrounds tell us that Kay had an affair with him while he was married to his first wife.  Oh, great.  She later mentions how she had a fling with a colleague.  The more I learned of Dr. Scarpetta, the less I liked her.

Most of the novel is repetitive filler.  The novel could have been cut in half and still dragged.  Too much inner monologue from Kay and not enough events.  The villains are taken down with ease but promise to return in a future novel.  Not that I'll be reading it.

Hard pass.  Do not read this book.

The Late Show

Renee Ballard is an LAPD detective who works the night shift, colloquially called the late show.  She had been on a good career track in RHD on the Special Homicide Unit until she lodged a harassment complaint against her superior.  He kept his position, while she was transferred.  She and Kurt Jenkins, her partner, are the only 2 detectives on the night shift and mostly just take notes before handing investigations to the day crew.  On this particular night, a mass shooting occurred at a local club, resulting in several deaths.  The day shift was summoned, but she and her partner arrive to assist.  Leading the investigation is none other than her former supervisor and unpunished harasser.

Though she had come to like working the late show, Ballard longs to work cases from start to finish.  As such, she offers to pursue an assault case on a transwoman.  Kurt is against the idea; he is on the late show because it allows him to spend days with his cancer-stricken wife.  She is also keen on running her own investigation of the mass shooting, a potentially career-ending move.

Ballard is single and in her mid-thirties.  Her father was a surfer from Southern California who moved to Hawaii and married a native Hawaiian.  She has some casual relationships and a dog name Lola.  Her job is her life.  She is similar to Harry Bosch, but more reckless.

Though a good yarn, I found Ballard off-putting.  She was only too happy to repay a parole officer's favor with sex.  He's got a good body, after all.  Um, okay.  She also reveals that she has a sexual relationship with a lifeguard at the beach she frequents.  In fact, she usually sleeps in a tent on the beach.  She drives a van with a surfboard on top and changes of clothes inside.  The closest thing she has to a home is her grandmother's house up the coast from LA where she does her laundry on the weekends.  She sometimes treats herself to a hotel with room service.  Maybe this should have been called The Homeless Detective.  This lifestyle seems more like a man than a woman.

With simultaneous cases running and a constant chip on her shoulder about the sexual harassment incident, the story is scattered.  With a new character, maybe limit the number of threads to follow.  While her private investigation of the mass shooting is well-handled, her clashes with the rapist are inexplicable.  So much of the mystery here is left unsolved.  A lot is made of her confronting men who are much bigger and yet she wasn't able to handle a drunken supervisor.

Not a bad read, but certainly not on the level of Harry Bosch or the Lincoln Lawyer.  Maybe about like Jack McAvoy's first outing.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye

The story opens in Vietnam as several men race to a helicopter for evac.  The chopper has hardly risen into the air when snipers shoot it down.  As the helicopter plummets, the medic whispers, "Vibianna."  It crashes in a rice patty. leaving a flaming wreck.

Harry Bosch works as a private investigator, but only to keep himself busy.  He has been summoned to a security firm office by a former colleague and offered $10,000 just to meet with a noted local billionaire.  He accepts.  The billionaire is in his eighties and in poor health.  He never married and his vast fortune has no heir.  Or does it?  He asks Harry to find out what happened to a girl with whom he had an affair when he was in college.  She was pregnant when they parted ways.  Perhaps he has an heir?  The girl's name was Vibianna.  In addition to PI work, he also has a part-time job working cases for San Fernando PD, a tiny jurisdiction within Los Angeles.  He mostly works cold cases.  His search for Vibianna distracts him from the rape case he was working with Detective Bella Lordes at SFPD and she has suddenly gone missing!

An excellent Bosch story with two engaging mysteries to solve.  Recommended.

The Crossing

No longer with LAPD, Bosch has time on his hands.  His half-brother, Mickey Haller, needs an investigator as his has been put out of commission thanks to a car accident.  Bosch is less than keen on working for the defense; he has spent his career on the prosecution side of cases.  However, a brief look at the case and he is intrigued.  Though DNA evidence appears to make it a slam dunk case, Bosch is troubled by the lack of opportunity to meet.  Typically, such crimes have a crossing point, an incident where the killer encountered the victim and began stalking them.  He can find no instance.  Soon, it is clear that the car accident that took down the last investigator was not accidental.  Someone doesn't want Harry poking his nose into the case.

Here is another page-turning thriller by Connelly, an excellent crossover case with the Lincoln Lawyer.  Recommended.

Dune (2021)

It is the year 10191.  The story opens on Dune.  Chani (Zendaya) explains how the Harkonnens have ruled the planet since before she was born.  The Harkonnens have become richer than the emperor thanks to the spice, a substance found only on Dune.  Now, inexplicably, the Harkonnens are gone by imperial decree.  She wonders who the next oppressor will be.

On Caladan, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) awakens with a dream of Chani still lingering in his mind.  He has visions, not all of which come true.  He is a skilled swordsman; he fights sword master Gurney Hallek (Josh Brolin) to a draw.  He has some training in controlling others with 'The Voice.'  His mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is a Bene Gesserit, an order of women with seemingly magical powers; the powers have been achieved through selective breeding and consumption of spice.  Paul idolizes Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), a skilled warrior and big brother figure.  Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), Paul's father, has been called upon by the emperor to assume command of Dune and make the spice flow.  He accepts the assignment but knows there is more to this than it seems; it's a trap.

Arriving on Dune, Leto seeks to ally himself with the native Fremen; he doesn't want to be an oppressor like the Harkonnens.  However, the Harkonnens have left Dune in ruins, making it nigh impossible for Leto to meet the spice demands.  Worse still, there is treason afoot and saboteurs hidden.

Despite a two and a half hour runtime, the movie ends in the middle.  The sequel will have to complete the epic.  What is here is vastly superior to the 1984 version, and not on account of the better special effects.  The characters are given an opportunity to develop.  Duncan has lots of interaction with Paul and shows the bond between the pair.  Whereas anyone who hadn't read the book would wonder at the inclusion of Duncan in the previous attempt, here he comes to life and plays an important part in Paul's journey.  Lady Jessica likewise has more opportunity to develop.  Rather than an occasional support figure for Paul, she is a main player in the events.  Gurney has dispensed with the funny guitar, dramatic quotes, and laptop dog to become a hard-as-nails military man.  He's less quirky than Patrick Stewart's portrayal.  Likewise, the Harkonnens are much better.  Stellan Skarsgard's Baron Harkonnen offers measured and thoughtful villainy, rather than the obnoxious rants of a madman.  Indeed, where the last incarnation was wild and out of control, this baron is a chessmaster who has planned many moves ahead.  Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) is full of anger and brutality, but he isn't a grinning, mindless thug with food spilling out of his mouth.

This is an excellent sci-fi epic and should definitely be seen on the big screen.  Thumbs way up!

Dune (1984)

The story opens with exposition about the universe in the year 10191.  The Emperor (Jose Ferrer) is confronted by members of the Spacing Guild.  The Guild is unhappy with his political machinations that appear to threaten the flow of spice, the life blood of the Guild.  He explains that he is seeking to undermine House Atreides and that House Harkonnen will resume control of spice mining soon after.  Before they leave, the Guild demands that Paul Atreides, the son and heir of the current Duke, be killed.

Meanwhile on Caladan, homeworld of House Atreides, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) demonstrates his skills.  He has keen senses to know who is approaching simply by the sound of their gait, adept in knife combat, and in use of the sonic weapon of the weirding way.  Next, he is tested by the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit.  The Bene Gesserit are a sisterhood with the power to bend others to their will, not unlike the Jedi Mindtrick.  After surviving the ordeal, Paul joins his father, Leto (Jurgen Prochnow) and the notables of House Atreides in instantaneous travel to Arrakis, the planet of spice.

On Geidi Prime, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) plots the destruction of House Atreides.  Among his retinue is Feyd-Rautha (Sting), the heir of House Harkonnen.  The Harkonnens are wildly outlandish.  The baron shrieks and yells, just about his only form of communication.  One might say he has a short fuse, but he doesn't seem to have any fuse at all.  He's a series of emotionally-charged outbursts.  Rabban (Paul Smith) and Feyd-Rautha stand around with wicked grins while the baron berates everyone.  Only Piter De Vries (Brad Dourif) appears to possess a coherent thought.  As a whole, the Harkonnens are portrayed as comically evil.

As the source material is extensive and time is short, the movie is densely packed with exposition and the voice-over inner thoughts of the various characters.  Then there are Paul's enigmatic visions with more narrated thoughts.  Some characters who are obviously important feel tacked on.  Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan) is greeted warmly by Paul, intimating a strong bond.  Duncan is a great warrior, but, when the Harkonnens attack, he dies after the briefest encounter.  I guess he wasn't that great.  Clearly, he was important in the book but he could easily have been removed from the movie.  Then there was Shadout Mapes (Linda Hunt), a Dune native who serves as housekeeper.  As with Duncan, it feels as if there was more to the character in the novel.

Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart) is bizarre.  He is introduced with a musical instrument over his shoulder and called a troubador-warrior.  He even offers some music to the Atreides principals before they travel to Arrakis.  He offers a melodramatic oration after Paul survives an assassination attempt.  During the Harkonnen attack, he charges to battle with a dog tucked in his jacket.  What the heck?  This may have seemed really cool in the book, but he looks like a crackpot here.  It is amazing that Gene Roddenberry cast him in Star Trek after this performance.

The constant reference to prophecy gives the eventual conclusion of the film the feel of inevitability.  Look, Paul has met this part of the prophecy.  Hey, there is yet another sign of prophecy.  The introduction of his younger sister in the climax doesn't fly.  There needed to be a lot more streamlining and editing to fit this much story into 3 hours.

Not terrible but far from good.  Most of the special effects have not aged well, especially the personal shields that make the characters look like Minecraft characters.  The fish-like navigator swimming around to fold space was entirely unnecessary.  However, it is worth seeing now to compare with the Denis Villeneuve version that is currently in release. 

Captain Kirk Boldly Goes to Space

William Shatner took a flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket this morning, ending Wally Funk's brief tenure as the oldest person to go to space; Funk is 82 and Shatner is 90.  Combined with last month's civilian crew of the Inspiration 4 on a SpaceX Dragon and the current Russian film crew on the International Space Station, it is clear that access to space is expanding rapidly.  As with many innovations, the wealthy are the first to enjoy the new technology.  Soon, prices will drop and allow more access to space.  Whereas I tell my kids that there were no iPads when I was a kid, they will tell their kids that there were no space hotels when they were kids.

Mortal Engines (2018)

It is the 32nd Century and much of humanity survives in giant mobile cities that hunt the barrens of Europe in search of smaller cities to devour.  London has recently crossed the land bridge to the continent and has spotted a small Bavarian town.  The chase begins.  Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) is the prime mover of London though not the political head.  He seems a genial fellow though there are secrets behind him.  No sooner has the little Bavarian town been consumed by London than one of the refugees attacks Valentine!  This is Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) and she is out for vengeance.  Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) intervenes and soon finds himself chasing the would-be assassin.

Though entertaining, it is entirely too ludicrous to not laugh.  London is a mobile mountain that should sink into the earth rather than roll across it.  They find thousand year old technology that they manage to give a nice polish and it works again.  Aircraft appear to be based on Zepplins or anti-gravity.  In the final confrontation, the villain pushes his new weapon to its very limits, risking an overload.  Um, what's your hurry?  Fire again in a few hours.  Well, that wouldn't be as exciting or climactic.  However, I did enjoy that thousand year old Twinkies were still edible.

Just your run-of-the-mill young-adult fiction.  Meh.

Afghanistan

During the Spanish-American War (1898), the United States seized Guantanamo Bay.  A US Naval Station was established there soon after.  That station is still active.

As a result of World War II, the United States established bases throughout Europe and the Pacific, most especially in Germany and Japan.  76 years after the war's conclusion, the United States military maintains bases in England, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Japan.  The areas have been peaceful since.  Germany and Japan are economic powerhouses and US allies.  Mostly.

The Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, 68 years ago.  To this day, the United States maintains a considerable force in South Korea.  Though there have been skirmishes over the decades, peace has brought prosperity to South Korea.

In 2001, the ruling Taliban refused to hand over Al Qaeda terrorists who had plotted the 9/11 attack.  The United States overthrew the Taliban and spent 20 years, billions of dollars, and many American lives to better the condition of the region.  However, it seems that 20 years is too long a commitment for the United States.  No sooner did the United States begin its withdrawal than the Afghan government collapses and the Taliban filled that vacuum in an instant.

Though no fan of nation-building, the US withdrawal is a tactical blunder on the global stage.  This especially true on account of how badly it was done.  This is a huge signal of weakness to both our allies and our enemies.  In the wake of this, is China more or less likely to invade Taiwan and press its claims on the South China Sea?  Is Russia more or less likely to make further advances in Ukraine?  What happened in 2011 when the United States withdrew from Iraq?  ISIS happened, creating vast waves of refugees into Europe and a return to heavy fighting in Iraq and Syria.  No sooner has that been quelled than we repeat that failed strategy in a different place.  I'm sure it will work out well this time.

In 1975, Freshman Senator Joe Biden argued in favor of an immediate withdrawal from Vietnam as it was being overrun.  The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 were a casualty of Watergate.  With Nixon gone and Ford a literal President-Select (he had replaced Agnew by appointment), it was up to a Democratic Congress to hold the line.  Nope.  Joe Biden was also in favor of total withdrawal from Iraq.  And now Afghanistan.  His fingerprints are on several US military failures during his Washington tenure.

The Outpost (2019)

The story opens with a helicopter full of soldiers arriving at their new assignment at a remote outpost in Afghanistan.  Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood) is immediately aghast at the poor placement of the outpost.  It is in a deep valley with towering mountains all around.  He views it as indefensible.  Pot shots are a daily occurrence.  However, Captain Keating (Orlando Bloom) has a good relationship with the locals and manages to keep the conflict at a low simmer.  When his replacement arrives, the heat rises to a boil.  On October 3, 2009, hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked.  But for the tenacity of the soldiers and the arrival of air support, the base would surely have been overrun.

The story is told primarily from the views of Sgt. Romesha and Specialist Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones).  Romesha is a highly respected soldier who is competent and willing to speak his mind.  By contrast, Carter is a loner who has not bonded well with his fellow soldiers.  When the fight comes and Romesha repeatedly takes charge and presses the attack, that is expected.  When Carter repeatedly puts himself at risk to aid soldiers, one cannot help but admire him.  Caleb Landry Jones is amazing in the role, clearly the stand out performance.

All the soldiers are real and at least one played himself in this movie.  The Battle of Kamdesh resulted in the death of eight US soldiers and the abandonment of the outpost.  Both Romesha and Carter were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle.

Highly recommended.

The Burning Room

The Open-Unsolved Unit has doubled in size.  All the partner pairs have been split to welcome aboard a slate of rookies.  Bosch has been paired with Lucy Soto, a young officer who was promoted to detective in the wake of a shootout that killed her partner.  Bosch has doubts about her, thinking her elevation is more of a political move than a meritorious one.  She bypassed a lot of officers with more experience.  On this particular day, Bosch is at the autopsy of a man who was shot 10 years earlier.  Despite living 10 years after his injury, his death is classified a homicide.  Though originally assumed to be a random drive-by shooting, the recovery of the bullet that was lodged in the victim's spine leads to a different conclusion.  There other case involved an arson from 1993.  This is the inspiration for the most recent - and final - season of the TV series.  However, beyond the initial setup of an arson and dead residents, there are no similarities.  The book storyline is much more satisfying.  Of note, Rachel Walling makes a brief appearance, hinting at what Jack McAvoy has been doing since leaving the LA Times.

Bosch has had a series of unappealing partners since he left Jerry Edger.  Lucy Soto proved to be a nice change of pace and an excellent partner.  All in all, another great book by Connelly.  Highly recommended.

Iron Fist, Season 1

Fifteen years ago, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) was on a private plane with his parents en route to a city in China.  The plane went down in the mountains where Danny was the sole survivor.  He was rescued by monks from the reclusive ancient city of K'un-Lun, a place that was accessible only once every 15 years.  Today, Danny is in New York and trying to recapture his old life and join the Rand Corporation - the company that his father and Harold Meachum established.  Though Harold has since died, his children - who were also Danny's childhood friends - now run the company.  Both Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy (Jessica Stroup) are doubtful that this young martial artist is really Danny Rand.

Danny is aided in his efforts to reclaim his birthright by Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), the master of a local dojo who occasionally fights in cage matches.  Then there is Clare Temple (Rosario Dawson), who joined Colleen's dojo on account of all the recent trouble she had encounter with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage.  There is also Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss), Jessica Jones' lawyer, who manages Danny's legal affairs and provides sound - though usually ignored - advice.

Though the story arc is interesting and the villains are formidable, Danny is a sad excuse for a protagonist.  The trope about martial artists - especially the ones who could achieve the Iron Fist - is that they are even-tempered and unflappable.  Self-control and discipline are requirements.  However, Danny is a hothead, a guy with a short-fuse and no ability to stop and think.  The character made no sense.  He's this walking contradiction and it doesn't work.  Often, he does really stupid things because he can't control his emotions.

Some parts were particularly irksome.  In fact, after a couple, I abandoned the show completely for 2 years.  First, Danny is in a board meeting at the Rand Corp and argues that a drug should be sold at cost.  This is obviously stupid but not one of the board members is able to explain why beyond "This is how business is done."  Yes, corporations are evil.  Mwhahahahaha.  Then there was Colleen in the cage matches.  She isn't Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel, just an ordinary woman with extensive martial arts training.  If she meets some random goons in an alley, I have no problem excepting her pounding them to a pulp.  However, when she enters a cage match against two experienced fighters who tower over her and outweigh her by 50 to 80 pounds each, that's too much.

Easily the weakest of the Netflix MCU shows.  However, it does provide the foundation for the team-up series, The Defenders, in which Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist combine forces against the Hand.

The Gods of Guilt

Mickey Haller is back though his life is as troubled as ever.  It has been a year since his run for District Attorney was ruined when a former client killed a mother and daughter in a drunk driving accident.  Mickey's teen-aged daughter, who has always had trouble understanding how her father defended criminals, has refused to see him.  It is a rough patch for him.  Out of the blue, he is called upon to represent a pimp who has been arrested for murdering one of his prostitutes.  When asked who referred him, the pimp says that the dead prostitute said he was the best lawyer.  Mickey had never heard of her.  Or had he?

There are a lot of callbacks to the Lincoln Lawyer in this novel.  Not only is Earl back as Mickey's driver, but we also see the return of lawyer-hating Detective Langford.  A major plot point to the novel was a throwaway deal that Mickey had engineered for a client during the Lincoln Lawyer.  Added to the callbacks, there is a cameo by Harry Bosch.

Can Mickey convince the jury, the titular Gods of Guilty, that his client is innocent.  It looks like long odds but the client is paying in gold bricks and Mickey has an angle.  Extremely entertaining and highly recommended.

Bosch, Season 7

Amazon's long-running series came to an end with the latest installment.  Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) investigates an arson case that resulted in 5 deaths, most notably that of Sonia Hernandez, a 10 year-old girl who was found dead of smoke inhalation next to a locked emergency exit.  His daughter, Maddie (Madison Lintz), is still working for Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers), a noted defense attorney.  Chandler's latest client floats a deal that puts him, Chandler, and Maddie in mortal danger.  Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) is haunted by his misdeeds from last season and is often more of a liability than an asset; can he make things right with the department and, more importantly, Bosch?  Lt. Grace Billets (Amy Aquino) is known to be lesbian and some of the officers have started to obliquely harass her.  Her captain proves less than sympathetic even as the harassment gets worse.  It's still an old boys club.  Lastly, there is Chief Irvin Irving (Lance Reddick).  He had dropped out of the mayoral race last season and put his support behind the new mayor, Susanna Lopez.  The agreement had been that she would support him for a second term as chief, but she is now balking.  Can Irving corral enough votes on the police commission to retain his job?

This felt more political than previous seasons.  The apartment building management company hired a new landlord to chase off drug dealers and unspecified others.  They were driving out illegals too with notions of gentrifying the area.  They deny any blame for the locked emergency door.  Apartment managers bad.  From hedge fund managers to small businessmen, we find they are crooked and evil; business is bad.  Obviously, this is a crime drama so we are going to encounter criminals, victims, and cops, but this too often felt like political messaging.  Again and again, police proved to be bad.  There were the cops who were harassing the lesbian cop and women cops in general: cops bad, especially the white and Asian ones.  Then there was the sellout of Sonia's murder case because there were bigger fish to fry.  The FBI torpedoes Bosch's efforts to clear the case by taking witnesses and suspects into federal custody: law enforcement bad.  Chief Irving, who is a far more likeable and forthright character than he is in the books, tosses principles aside to retain his job: political machinations, not freely-cast votes, determine the outcomes.  Considering the level of corruption shown among the police in this season, one wonders why Maddie is so eager to join them?

Welliver is still awesome as Bosch and carries this stinker of a season.  The villains were weak or mostly absent.  When they are taken down, it is mostly a yawner.  We didn't see enough of them to care when justice came.  As an interesting side note, the character of Money Chandler was both introduced and murdered in The Concrete Blonde (Book 3).  She has had a far more successful career in the TV series and has stood-in for Bosch's half-brother, Mickey Haller, AKA The Lincoln Lawyer.  The rights for Mickey must still reside with Lionsgate.

There are plans for a spinoff series which currently has Bosch, his daughter, and Honey Chandler slated to return.  I hope it turns things around.

Cancel Culture on the Brink

Though no fan of Sean Penn's politics, he had some choice words for the current trend in casting.  Regarding his role as Harvey Milk, he commented:

Today, almost certainly, I would not be permitted to be cast in that role. We’re living in a time where if you’re playing a gay lead character, you would have to be a gay man. And there have been these casting issues. In terms of finding the balance — you have a period of evolution that certainly has an opportunity for people who have had less opportunities to move forward, that has to be supported.

Yes, it has progressed far enough that a Hugo Chavez cheerleader is having second thoughts about identity politics.  Here's the key quote:

And yet, in this pendulum-swinging society that we’re in, you wonder at some point if only Danish princes can play Hamlet

That's both funny and illustrative.  However, it isn't true.  We have seen plenty of off-type casting in these cases.  Anne Boleyn has recently been played by a black actress.  Lancelot was played by a black actor.  The atrocious Mary Queen of Scots (2018) was filled with anachronistic casting.  It was entirely okay, even commendable, to have black and Asian actors portraying historical figures who were white, but it was racially insensitive for a white actor - Hank Azaria - to merely voice a fictional Indian-American cartoon character, Apu.  This is a one-way street.  Sean Penn is on the wrong side of that street or he would, even now, not have protested.

Stowaway (2021)

The crew of the MTS-42 are set for a two-year mission to Mars.  There is mission commander Marina Barnett (Toni Collette), biologist David Kim (Daniel Dae Kim), and medical researcher Zoe Leverson (Anna Kendrick).  They have hardly begun their Mars Transfer orbit when Barnett discovers blood on the floor.  After unscrewing a panel, a man falls on her, breaking her arm.  The man is unconscious.  However, he had a badge that identifies him as Michael Adams (Shamier Anderson), a launch support engineer.  Unfortunately, the carbon-dioxide scrubber was damaged beyond repair and the ship cannot support everyone all the way to Mars.  The one potential solution is deemed too risky.  While Barnett and Kim are resigned to tossing Adams out of an airlock, Zoe is determined to save him.  The risky solution would have them climb the tether to the counterbalance that provides the artificial gravity.  It may have unused liquid oxygen.  Zoe is determined to try.

The movie only has the four characters.  There are no scenes with ground control.  In fact, all the conversations with ground control are one-sided since you cannot hear what ground control is saying.  Very different from Apollo 13.  Zoe is the central character and Anna Kendrick does a good job in the role.

There were some things that were annoying.  How did Michael get sealed behind a panel?  One expects a story about him sneaking aboard and having a cohort seal him in.  Nope, he just accidentally got stuck behind a panel where the mission critical life support system was housed.  Okay.  Speaking of the mission critical life support system, why is there no backup?  They couldn't even jury rig a fix.  Why weren't they using some sort of tether when doing their spacewalk?  They have special equipment to climb the tether but nothing to attach them if they slip.  Gah!  Since the stowaway angle was hardly explored, the movie could just as easily have been the same system failure that required all the same steps.  The stowaway angle added little beyond knowing which person was likely to get spaced.  Finally, why did the man have to be pathetic?  During the launch, he vomits in a bag.  When transferring to the space station, Zoe carries his bag.  When climbing the tether, he's winded and clumsy.  And it wasn't just him.  Michael is too uncoordinated to help.  Save us, strong woman, save us!  Ugh!

There were too many inconvenient coincidences to make the story work.  It looks good and the ship is cool, but the plot is too much of a stretch.  The plot holes just grated.  Skip.

The Black Box

It is May 1992 in Los Angeles and the riot is in full swing.  Harry Bosch and partner Jerry Edgar are in the back of a squad car as they go from crime scene to crime scene.  There is not time for real investigations, just an opportunity to photograph the scene and collect any obvious evidence.  Perhaps the murders can be solved after the riot.  They arrive at an alley where National Guard troops have found the body of a Danish photographer.  Before they can do more than a cursory investigation and locate a single 9mm cartridge, they are called to another murder.

It is 2012 and Bosch is working Open Unsolved.  There has been a match on the cartridge he found 20 years before.  Multiple gang murders can be linked to the gun and Bosch learns of a gangbanger who is doing time in San Quentin for one of those murders.  He learns who gave him the gun and who he returned it to.  That man is dead and the gun hasn't been part of a crime since, as far as LAPD knows.  As Harry pursues the case, he finds roadblocks from his Lieutenant and even the Chief of Police.  It is nearly the 20 year anniversary of the LA Riots and it would look bad if the only crime solved was that of a white woman.  Despite a bogus investigation by Internal Affairs, Harry presses the case and even goes rogue to keep his momentum.

Definitely a good read but I must be getting too familiar with Connelly.  I picked out the twist in the opening and was a bit miffed that Harry didn't.  Recommended.

In the Heights (2021)

Usnavi is a bodega owner in Washington Heights with dreams of moving back to the Domincan Republic.  He has a crush on Vanessa, a hairstylist from Daniela's Salon, who has dreams of being a fashion designer.  His best friend is Benny, who works for Kevin Rosario's cab company.  Kevin's daughter, Nina, has just returned from her freshman year at Stanford.  She and Benny had a thing that may rekindle.  Claudia, an elderly woman from Cuba, has become the abuela (grandmother) to most of the youth on the block.  Sonny is a teenager who works for Usnavi.  There are other lesser characters, including Lin-Manuel Miranda's cameo as a street vendor.

Much like Hamilton, the majority of the story is told in song.  There is dialogue, but rapping is the driver of most of the action.  It is a singing, dancing extravaganza.  The characters can be charming but their 'problems' are often juvenile.  Usnavi is too shy to ask Vanessa on a date.  Nina doesn't have a Puerto Rican community to support her at Stanford.  Vanessa needs a cosigner to rent a place closer to the fashion district.  It is hard to get invested in the numerous little dreams of the plentiful characters.  It is very busy and, at nearly two and a half hours, quite long.  There are imbedded messages about racism, immigration, and gentrification.  This often came across as whining.  When Sonny turned out to be a Dreamer, it was just par for the course.  America is so unfair.  Nonetheless, every backstory about the 'old country' is always a much worse situation; America offered opportunity and employment, but a lot of focus goes to the negatives.  Wonderful.

Not being a fan of rap, this was mostly boring.  It drags on as every story is a foregone conclusion.  Well, Usnavi's story was a bit of a mystery on account of the framing, but it all turns out as the standard happy endings.  My favorite part of the movie was the revelation of Usnavi's naming; when his father migrated to America, he saw a ship and liked the name: US Navy.

If you are a Lin-Manuel Miranda fan or like rap, this might be for you.  Otherwise, skip.

To Catch a Thief (1955)

On the southern coast of France, someone is stealing jewelry from the wealthy and all eyes turn to John Robie (Cary Grant), a former jewel thief know as "The Cat."  Though Robie vehemently denies the thefts, no one believes him.  His former colleagues, who now have menial jobs, are certain he is guilty.  No help from them.  The police are determined to arrest him.  No help there.  He does find an ally in H. H. Hughson (John Williams), whose company had insured the stolen jewels and is suffering huge losses.  Hughson provides a list of potential targets and Robie plots a stakeout to uncover the real thief.  Along the way, he meets American millionaire Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her beautiful daughter, Frances (Grace Kelly).  Can Robie uncover the true thief before he is sent to prison or killed?

The chemistry between Grant and Kelly is terrific.  The scenery is positively amazing and makes one want to travel to France.  The movie won an academy award for cinematography and I can see why.  This is the third of four collaborations between Hitchcock and Grant.  It is the third and final collaboration with Grace Kelly.  Highly recommended.

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Day 1

Lee Abbot (John Krasinski) drives down the street and walks into a local market in his small town.  The owner is staring at the TV, watching something smoking.  When Lee asks about it, the man says there was an explosion.  Continuing about his day, Lee grabs some fruit and then makes his way to a baseball field where his son, Marcus, is playing.  Among the spectators is Emmett (Cillian Murphy) with his son.  There is also Evelyn Abbot (Emily Blunt), Regan Abbot (Millicent Simmonds), and Beau Abbot.  During the game, a fireball is seen coming down from the sky in the distance.  The game breaks up and everyone leaves.  And then the first monster descends on the town.

Day 474

With her newborn in her arms, Emily gets Regan and Marcus to collect what they can from the farm before setting out.  Regan uses her father's map to find another survivor.  Perhaps they can find shelter with someone else.  To their surprise, they find Emmett.  He is alone, his wife and son both having died.  He'd rather Emily move on but circumstances are dire.  Regan is determined to make use of the newly-discovered feedback sound that practically disables the monsters.

The movie is an amazingly good prequel/sequel.  The story is tight and well-told.  Events are setup so that the audience can enjoy the eventual payoff.  The tension is kept high.  Very impressive.  If you liked the first one, you will definitely like this one.

My big qualm about this movie and its predecessor is the fact that these things were able win so easily.  I'll accept that their hide is thick and might protect against shotguns or small arms but a .50 caliber gun would cut them in half.  And now it turns out they can't swim.  The Navy should be sitting just off the coast making a racket to attract them and wipe them out.

Nobody (2021)

"Who are you?!"

"I'm nobody."

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is an ordinary guy with an ordinary life.  His marriage has lost its spark, his job is a drag, and he keeps forgetting to get the trash cans out to the curb before the trash truck drives away.  One night, a couple break into his house.  Hutch proves to have some impressive tactical awareness as he follows them through the house.  Then his teenaged son tackles one of the burglars.  Hutch immediately surrenders and gives the pair what money he has.  His son is clearly disappointed in his father.  Even the police look at him as a loser when they arrive.  The next day, his brother in law - with whom he works - sees him as a loser and gives him a gun to protect his sister.  When he gets home, his daughter is looking for a worthless keepsake which was in the change cup, the very cup the burglars had emptied.  And something clicks.

Hutch stops at an old folks' home to see his father (Christopher Lloyd).  He borrows a gun and FBI badge then goes on the hunt.  Eventually, he tracks down the burglars and proves to be the most dangerous man in the room, clearly capable of dispatching the two of them during the robbery.  However, their situation is sufficiently dire that he leaves even more depressed.  And then he encounters some drunken bozos.  In a fight reminiscent of John Wick, he takes down four goons.  Unfortunately, one of them is the nephew of a Russian gangster; the uncle wants revenge.

At this point, the real fun begins.  The movie is a combo of Homer Simpson meets James Bond.  The action is intense and plentiful.  Lots of fun.

Influence

Robert Cialdini, Psychology Professor of Arizona State University, explored the tools of 'compliance professionals.'  Compliance professionals are people who try to get us to do or buy things that we might not otherwise do or buy.  What tools do they use?  Cialdini has discovered six.  Of note, these six principles of influence are handy shortcuts that allow us to make good decisions while using minimal mental energy.  However, compliance professionals have discovered the shortcuts and make use of them, often tricking people into decisions they would not have made.

Reciprocation: If someone does you a favor, you are obligated to return a favor.  A practiced influencer might make a wild request.  When you decline, he makes a more reasonable request.  As such, he had 'given' a bit on his request, which often creates an instinctual need to reciprocate.  It's a trick but it works.

Commitment & Consistency: People want to be consistent with their past statements or actions.  If an influencer asks if you consider yourself helpful and you say 'yes,' the influencer can then request help in some way.  To be consistent, you are obligated to help.  People who were not first asked if they considered themselves helpful were far less likely to offer help than those who were first asked.

Social Proof: If people similar to oneself are doing something, then it's probably the right thing.  Influencers will use this shortcut by saying 'most popular' brand or making commercials that show people doing or buying something.

Liking: People are more likely to do what they are asked by people they like.  There are lots of ways to be instantly more likeable.  Simply being attractive is a great way to be likeable.  Offering compliments make you likeable.  Mirroring body language can make you likeable.  Using these techniques, an influencer can quickly become likeable and greatly increase the odds of getting compliance.

Authority: In general, people will comply with an authority figure.  By merely assuming the attributes of an authority figure - whether or not one has any authority - will increase compliance.  A man in a suit has more authority than a man in a t-shirt and jeans.

Scarcity: If the supplies are limited, people want them more.  By convincing the target that something is scarce, an influencer can increase the chances that the target will buy.

The book offers extensive examples of all of these principals in action.  Cialdini also offers ways to counter these influence techniques.  Really great book and highly recommended.

The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

It is 1953 and American film star Marina Rudd (Elizabeth Taylor) has come to England to star as Mary, Queen of Scots, in her comeback movie.  During a reception at the manor where she and her husband, Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson) are staying, a village local, Heather Babcock, dies from poison.  As chance would have it, Cherry was working as a server that day; Cherry is the housekeeper for Miss Jane Marple (Angela Lansbury).  Miss Marple quizzes Cherry in detail about the events prior to Heather's death and concludes that Marina was the intended target.  As luck would have it, Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox) of Scotland Yard is dispatched to investigate; he happens to be Miss Marple's favorite nephew and also something of a film buff.  He interviews all the principals and then discusses it with his aunt, serving as an Archie Goodwin to Miss Marple's Nero Wolfe.  Among the suspects are Rudd's personal secretary Ella Ziellinsky (Geraldine Chaplin), movie producer Martin N. Fenn (Tony Curtis), and Marina's arch rival, actress Lola Brewster (Kim Novak).

The most interesting aspect of the movie is trivial.  Pierce Brosnan had a non-speaking role where he played Jamie, husband to Mary Queen of Scots.  The director, Guy Hamilton, rose to fame as director of Goldfinger (1964).  As such, Hamilton directed 3 Bond actors: Connery (Goldfinger & Diamonds are Forever), Moore (Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun), and Brosnan.

By the movie's conclusion, the solution is irrelevant.  Marple's deductions explain the plot but at no point change the events.  That she was always one link away from the action made the movie slow and a little boring.  Strangely enough, where Marina Rudd was trying to stage a comeback from a several year hiatus from movies, Elizabeth Taylor hadn't had a leading role in several years prior to this movie; good casting.

Only for the diehard Agatha Christie fan.

Running Scared (1986)

Det. Ray Hughes (Gregory Hines) and Det. Danny Costanzo (Billy Crystal) are on the streets of Chicago when they spot a Mercedes in a sketchy neighborhood.  "In this neighborhood, a Mercedes is probable cause."  Snake (Joe Pantoliano) and a recently paroled drug dealer, Julio Gonzales (Jimmy Smits) step out of the car.  Though Gonzales gets away, they manage to catch Snake and find he has a suitcase filled with cash.  They force Snake to assist them in tracking down the bigger fish, Gonzales.  Though they arrest Gonzales, it proved to be a fiasco that nearly cost them their lives.  Captain Logan (Dan Hedaya) sends them on a mandatory vacation.  The pair go to Key West and are soon seduced by the sunsets and pretty women.  They buy a bar and plan to retire to Florida.  Back in Chicago, they turn in their 30 day notice for retirement.  However, Gonzales is back on the streets!  The duo are determined to put him back in prison before they leave for Key West.

A comedic take on the buddy cop movie, Hines and Crystal have great chemistry.  When there is action, it follows the standard 80s playbook of Uzis, hole-blowing shotguns, crazy car chases, and macho bravado.  But when it switches to comedy, it gets zany.  The police lineup where 4 officers in uniform stand next to the suspect was outlandishly funny.  Or when the detectives, neither wearing pants, chase after a suspect.  "We lost the suspect, our keys, our car, OUR PANTS!"  The shifts in tone work amazingly well and it is unfortunate that the sequel never materialized.

A really fun 80s movie.  Highly recommended.

The Drop

Detective Harry Bosch and partner David Chu work in the open-unsolved unit.  A DNA match from a 20 year-old crime is assigned to them.  However, the matched drop of blood belongs to a man - a sex offender - who was only 8 years-old at the time of the crime.  Did forensic mix up a sample?  He is told to look into it quietly.  Before he leaves to tackle the case, his superior informs him that his DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Plan) has been partially approved.  Bosch is at mandatory retirement but gets an additional 39 months through the DROP.  Bosch and Chu have hardly begun their case when they are summoned to the chief's office.  George Irving, son of Bosch's longtime nemesis and former Assistant Chief Irvin Irving, has been found dead, an apparent suicide.  On the other hand, there are indications that he may have been dropped while unconscious.

The two cases are independent of one another, which makes this feel like two books in one.  The investigation of George Irving dominates the first part of the book while the DNA match consumes the second half.  Each bleeds over but one is clearly the dominant case at those points in the book.  Bosch's latest partner is another disappointment.  The departure of Jerry Edgar and Kiz Rider has resulted in mediocre replacements.  Connelly has put a lot less effort into Iggy Ferras and David Chu.  Both feel more like a burden than a partner.  Maybe Bosch is becoming a crotchety old man compared to his younger partners.

Though the title is simple, it is probably one of the best titles ever.  Everything is a drop, just not the same kind of drop.  I wonder if he came up with the title and then the various links.

Highly recommended.

Drink Bleach

It has been a year since the 'drink bleach' story swept the country.  Did President Trump really suggest that drinking bleach would be a treatment for Covid-19?  Let's check it out.

During a briefing on April 23, 2020 that included William Bryan of DHS, Trump said the following:

"A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To Bryan) And I think you said you’re going to test that, too. Sounds interesting, right?"

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful."

From this, the press latched onto the words disinfectant and injection.  It was a short step from their to drinking bleach.  Then again, injecting light sounds pretty wild too.  Is that a thing?

Yes, it is a thing.  Check out Healight for more details.  Given the opportunity between informing the public about a potential treatment for Covid-19 or making President Trump look like a moron, what did the press choose?  Is it any wonder he called them "Fake News."

Charade (1963)

Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) returns from her vacation to find her Paris apartment stripped bare and her husband missing.  She has hardly finished walking the empty rooms when a police inspector reveals that her husband is dead.  Though he reportedly earned $250,000 from selling the contents of the apartment, no money is found among his meager possessions.  Where is the money?

At her husband's funeral, three men arrive to view the body; none of them seem to mourn his passing.  Leopold sneezed on the corpse, Tex (James Coburn) held a mirror under his nose to test for breathing, and Herman (George Kennedy) stabbed his hand with a pin.  Soon after, each visits Regina and demands the money.  However, she has an ally.  While on vacation, she met Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) and he has arrived to offer condolences and otherwise assist her.  She is soon falling for him.  She is also contacted by Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), a bureaucrat from the American Embassy with ties to the CIA.  He explains that her husband had stolen US money during WWII with 4 other men but then absconded with all the money.  He assures her that the money is still out there and she should find it before the others do.  If not, one of them is sure to do to her what happened to her husband.

Though directed by Stanley Donen, it has an Alfred Hitchcock vibe.  Throughout the movie, one is never sure whose side Cary Grant is on.  He has a variety of aliases and backstories that are highly suspect.  Still, he is ridiculously charming and Regina finds him irresistible.  There is a peculiar mix of humor and danger; at times, it feels like Grant is in a zany comedy while the rest of the cast are in a suspense-thriller.  Even so, it is quite entertaining and recommended.

Guilty

Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all counts.  I hardly paid any attention to the trial but I did read one report that George Floyd had an alarming amount of drugs in his system according to the autopsy.  In fact, one witness testified that, based solely on the autopsy and toxicology, it looked like a classic overdose.  Both fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in abundance in his blood.  Moreover, he had Covid-19 too.  Reasonable doubt?  Apparently not.

One wonders if the jury took into account the politics outside the courtroom when deliberating.  One of the trial's witnesses had his house vandalized with pig's blood and a severed pig's head.  Congresswoman Maxine Waters called for protesters to stay in the streets and be more confrontational if Chauvin was acquitted.  It is a given that riots would follow an acquittal.  With that, do you convict on all counts in order to avert a devastating riot like the ones that tore through Minneapolis last year?  Two people died in the riots and there was $500 million in damages.  Send one man to prison to save the city?  Heck, anyone who saw the video would be glad to toss this guy in prison, all the better if it prevents further mostly peaceful protests.