From the Desk of…
I’m not going to talk about the Oscars because you either already know or don’t care. Fun watch, for the most part.
Okay, that was a lie. It took 70 years but Godzilla is now an Academy Award-winning franchise. I used to pray for times like these.
Next week will be the exciting news. You know, primary election results and all. You have voted already, right?
Governor Mike DeWine, feeling the heat of the scandals at his door, has waded into the waters of the Republican Senate primary, endorsing Matt Dolan. This leaves Bernie Moreno with the backing of Donald Trump and Frank LaRose out to dry. Who will come out on top? Only you can decide. Well, probably not you, since you’re probably not voting in a Republican primary. Speaking of, here’s a stellar opinion piece on how the state Republicans want to screw around with our primaries and make them harder for voters to participate in. You know, since so many people participate in our primaries and all. Savvy readers will know what verb original drafts of this post used instead of “screw around with,” but this is a family newsletter. Of course, any and all initiatives of theirs are likely to stall out due to the unprecedented amount of infighting and squabbling they’ve been having this year.
At a national level, and you’re not gonna believe this when you hear it, some legal experts are claiming that the Supreme Court is “selectively [applying] the legal methodology known as originalism, which focuses on the original meaning of the law at the time it was written.” I am just so shocked to hear that this Supreme Court could be biased. Oh well, guess that’s just how it’ll have to be! There’s nothing anyone can do about it. We’ve tried nothing, and we’re all out of ideas.
I have little to say about the State of the Union, but I have a lot to say about the Republican rebuttal to it. Firstly, and I want to preface with this, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) is a baldfaced liar who is distorting a woman’s suffering for political points. With that out of the way, man, I’ve watched this so many times. I’m now blessed with a deluge of articles describing “Fundie Baby Voice,” and it’s all brought together by her weird emotional pivoting and the most sensitive microphone ever affixed to a lapel. God, I love hearing people like this get mad. It’s like I’m back in high school interrupting the school board to tell them they can’t cancel Halloween and keep Easter Break without my calling the ACLU. I honed my argumentation skills against that voice. That voice… I’ve heard some of the most wretched things I’ve ever heard in my life in that voice, and it tickles me that there’s a spotlight on it now. Stay mad, evangelical fundamentalists. I will never shut up.
The Brain Dump
shook the hand of our so-called mayor today... he's on watch at best
you know... setting up the MeowPAC would probably give me an avenue into VAN access... to use for good and not bits...
going into the second round of interviews for a trusted advisor... they're all qualified, and Déorman scored the best on the aptitude test, but there's just something about this Gríma Wormtongue... almost hypnotic... and he seems to keep a mindful eye on my niece, which I like...
just tried to come up with a generic protagonist name for a joke and my brain spit out "John Goodman"
wow,,, didn't think the director of the Auschwitz movie was gonna go there at the Oscars... smh when did movies get political 🙄
Here, reproduced in full, is what the man said when getting his Oscar that has caused such a fuss:
Thank you so much. I’m gonna read. Thank you to the Academy for this honor and to our partners A24, Film4, Access, and Polish Film Institute; to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for their trust and guidance; to my producers, actors, collaborators. All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, “Look what they did then,” rather, “Look what we do now.” Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the — [Applause.] Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist? [Applause.] Aleksandra Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk, the girl who glows in the film, as she did in life, chose to. I dedicate this to her memory and her resistance. Thank you.
I would’ve expected the firestorm of a response, but I do think it could’ve used an editor to preclude some of the warping and twisting.
At the Movies
I’m working through some stuff. Don’t worry about it.
Poor Things (2023), dir. Yorgos Lanthimos ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
Terry Gilliam's Flesh for Frankenstein with a few dashes of Moll Flanders thrown in for good measure. Good!
George Washington (2000), dir. David Gordon Green ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
One part Gummo, one part Eve's Bayou... a coming-of-age tale tender and tense, one with the unique tones and textures of the rural Upper South. Now to take a big sip of coffee and look at what else the writer-director ended up doing...
Pickup on South Street (1953), dir. Samuel Fuller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐❤️
Beautifully shot with the great blocking and dynamic camera movement I expect from a Fuller, some good lines and a GREAT performance from Thelma Ritter. Widmark is believable, and Peters manages to be strong, sultry, and sincere.
One Picture
These cannot be the best names they could come up with.
In closing,
It’s getting nice out. Go outside when you get the chance. Touch grass once in a while.