From the Desk of…
Too many meetings. Head full, too many thoughts. Need to buy more suits, apparently? I’ve been forced into corporeal form too much, and it is way more exhausting than I remembered it being from the Before Times, in the Long, Long Ago. Interesting moves happening at the Ohio Statehouse. The Merrin Republicans, those more inclined to a theocratic fascism, they’re moving to form their own caucus outside the reach of Speaker Stephens, whose election presumably comes from those more inclined to a deregulated corporate sort of vibe. Who can say what this means? Will Stephens have to reach across the aisle and work with Russo to moderate the House, or does it really just mean that nothing is going to happen in the Ohio Legislature for a while… say, now that I’ve said it out loud, that might not be so bad. Also, reading this while driving is now a primary offense, so expect to be pulled over if you didn’t come to a stop before checking your emails. How was my brain this week?
The Brain Dump
[Zack de la Rocha Bulls on Parade voice] skills in demand
bad time to announce it but i have also been subpoenaed in a massive public corruption case
can't believe it'll be 23/23/23 soon 🤯
two years ago I got yelled at for not being solemn while they took the Capitol, as though I was gonna fix things by posting West Wing GIFs with a 😿
I then got blocked for not reacting with gasps of shock and horror when they did the thing they were talking about doing for weeks
these push pops are awful
I was at a party this January 6th, and someone gave me 30-year-old googaws from various fast food restaurants and soda companies as a late holiday gift. It rocked, and I’m definitely not going to overuse the new-to-me Batman Forever cup from 1995. Maybe it’s gauche that I didn’t hold it as a solemn day of remembrance. Maybe my brain has eroded to the place where it can only hold sacred corporate products like 7-Up and McDonald’s. Y’know, like an American.
At the Movies
Oh, and in relation to last week’s movie round-up, you do not, in fact, have to hand it to Andrew Callaghan, whose documentary has brought to light not only the lead-up to January 6th but his history at Loyola and accusations of sexual assault.
Beauty and the Beast (1946), dir. Jean Cocteau ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
a sumptuous visual feast
also the first recorded instance of petplay on film
Ghostbusters II (1989), dir. Ivan Reitman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
As you know, I have a very developed critical lens about Ghostbusters. I have some familiarity with the development and finished film of Ghostbusters II. In revisiting it for the first time in a while, as it is not part of my annual traditions, I find there to be a lot of compelling ideas ripe for discussion buried underneath its set pieces and designs, and I find the script to be more complex and its characters more mature than the original film. More thinking is required here, but there's something about the slime as a negative undercurrent surfacing to dredge up the horrors of the past that can only be countered with positivity (and, perhaps, solidarity?). There's also something about how all the main villains are Eastern European (itself likely a holdover from the script drafts wherein the Ghostbusters effectively fought Rasputin, which I still find an intriguing plot) with the climax being an animated Statue of Liberty being weaponized.
That said, the film still suffers from my long-held critiques, that I do not believe that the Ghostbusters who publicly saved New York City and also the world would somehow be washed up over the course of five years, that the film does not contend with the theological ramifications of not only life after death being evidenced in a very serious way but also the confirmation of a Sumerian deity existing (though that part, perhaps, would be a matter of conjecture, as no one else was really on that rooftop), and also that Janine is romantically seeking Louis instead of Egon which is the most implausible thing in the movie.
Magic Mike (2012), dir. Steven Soderbergh ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Good, but uneven.
Yet again, I promise I will watch a new movie just once. Probably. Maybe.
One Picture
I already did a picture because people were tickled over the push pops, but here’s the Instagram.
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In closing,
Have a respectful and hopefully restful weekend.