Review: Bros (2022)
Katie and I finally sat down to watch Bros, and holy shit is it a good movie. I really enjoyed it.
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Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & The Six by
This isn't the normal sort of book for me, but I love Almost Famous and based on the blurb I read, it felt like it might be in the same space. The book is about a group of people, Daisy Jones, and the band, The Six. It's set in the 70s predominately and it takes you through the journeys of all the people, on a journey to stardom. The book is surprisingly touching and even brought me to tears. Overall I loved it and highly recommend it for folks.
Here are a handful of my favorite lines, none of which spoil anything for future readers.
I think you have to have faith in people before they earn it. Otherwise it's not faith, right?
I guess I'm saying… if you redeem yourself, then believe in your own redemption.
I'll tell you: If a friend lied to me the way I lie to myself, I'd say, "You're a shitty friend."
You can't love someone back to health and you can't hate someone back to health and no matter how right you are about something, it doesn't mean they will change their mind.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - 5/5 stars
Katie and I finally got around to watching Everything last night. We had meant to see it in the theater but then life got in the way, and then it just languished in our "eventually" list. So, last night, we finally sat down and turned it on.
To be honest, even with hearing the positive reviews, I had very little idea of what it was before we watched. So, to say it wasn't what I expected, would be unfair as I had no real expectations.
It was, to put it mildly, very good. It was engaging and it carried an important message. It was also quirky and weird as hell, but we really enjoyed it.
As I posted on Mastodon yesterday: I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as Michelle Yeoh saw the script for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
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"Ministry of the Future" By Kim Stanley Robinson
The Ministry for the Future by
This book is exactly why I read science fiction. Set in the modern to near future, it delves into the climate crisis and what might be needed to recover and save the planet. It is not an easy read, dragging at points, with different characters, viewpoints, and even writing styles. But, I found it incredibly rewarding and enjoyable. But, more importantly, it pushed me and my perspective on things. It made me even more burningly aware of the climate crisis around us and how we, as a people, and me as an individual, aren't doing enough.
Highly recommend!
What follows are excerpts I highlighted while reading the book. Some are interesting tidbits, some are philosophical, and some were moments I enjoyed in the book.
Chapter 20
But it’s important also to take this whole question back out of the realm of quantification, sometimes, to the realm of the human and the social. To ask what it all means, what it’s all for. To consider the axioms we are agreeing to live by. To acknowledge the reality of other people, and of the planet itself. To see other people’s faces. To walk outdoors and look around.
Chapter 28
The Hebrew tradition speaks of those hidden good people who keep the world from falling apart, the Tzadikim Nistarim, the hidden righteous ones. In some versions they are thirty-six in number, and thus are called the Lamed-Vav Tzadikim, the thirty-six righteous ones. Sometimes this belief is connected with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God’s promise that if he could be shown even fifty good men in these cities (and then ten, and then one) he would spare them from destruction. Other accounts refer the idea to the Talmud and its frequent references to hidden anonymous good actors. The hidden quality of the nistarim is important; they are ordinary people, who emerge and act when needed to save their people, then sink back into anonymity as soon as their task is accomplished. When the stories emphasize that they are thirty-six in number, it is always included in the story that they have been scattered across the Earth by the Jewish diaspora, and have no idea who the others are. Indeed they usually don’t know that they themselves are one of the thirty-six, as they are always exemplars of humility, anavah. So if anyone were to proclaim himself to be one of the Lamed-Vav , this would be proof that actually he was not. The Lamed-Vav are generally too modest to believe they could be one of these special actors. And yet this doesn’t keep them from being effective when the moment comes. They live their lives like everyone else, and then, when the crucial moment comes, they act. If there are other secret actors influencing human history, as maybe there are, we don’t know about them. We very seldom get glimpses of them. If they exist. They may be just stories we tell ourselves, hoping that things might make sense, have an explanation, and so on. But no. Things don’t make sense like that. The stories of secret actors are the secret action.
Chapter 37
He would say we are all like quarks, which are the smallest elementary particles, he told us—smaller even than atoms, such that atoms are all made up of quarks held together by gluons. He made us laugh with these stories. And like quarks, everyone had a certain amount of strangeness, spin, and charm. You could rate everyone by these three constants
Chapter 40
The orienting principle that could guide all such thinking is often left out, but surely it should be included and made explicit: we should be doing everything needed to avoid a mass extinction event. This suggests a general operating principle similar to the Leopoldian land ethic, often summarized as “what’s good is what’s good for the land.” In our current situation, the phrase can be usefully reworded as “what’s good is what’s good for the biosphere.” In light of that principle, many efficiencies are quickly seen to be profoundly destructive, and many inefficiencies can now be understood as unintentionally salvational.
Chapter 54
Yes. You can short civilization if you want. Not a bad bet really. But no one to pay you if you win. Whereas if you go long on civilization, and civilization (therefore) survives, you win big. So the smart move is to go long.
Chapter 55
Strategy comes from below and tactics from above, not the reverse
Chapter 64
Rent goes to people who are not creators of value, but predators on the creation and exchange of value.
Chapter 69
This was the world’s current reigning religion, it had to be admitted: growth. It was a kind of existential assumption, as if civilization were a kind of cancer and them all therefore committed to growth as their particular deadly form of life. But this time, growth might be reconfiguring itself as the growth of some kind of safety. Call it involution, or sophistication; improvement; degrowth; growth of some kind of goodness. A sane response to danger— now understood as a very high-return investment strategy! Who knew?
Chapter 72
The Midwest has been treated like a continent-sized factory floor for assembling grocery store commodities, and anything that got in the way of that was designated a pest or vermin and killed off.
Chapter 74
He wrote that they had a saying in their cold little villages, to deal with the times when fishermen went out and never came back, or when children died. Hunger, disease, drowning, freezing, death by polar bear and so on; they had a lot of traumas. Nevertheless the Eskimaux were cheerful, the man wrote. Their storm god was called Nartsuk. So their saying was, You have to face up to Nartsuk. This meant staying cheerful despite all. No matter how bad things got, the Inuit felt it was inappropriate to be sad or express grief. They laughed at misfortunes, made jokes about things that went wrong. They were facing up to Nartsuk.
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Moonfall (2022) - 2 of 5 moons
I had an itch for a disaster movie, so I turned to Roland Emmerich. It did its job. And now, I'll treat it like a shameful secret and never mention the movie again.
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For All Mankind (2019) - 5 of 5 Lunas
Just finished Season 1 of the show. When I tweeted that I was watching it, a friend of mine replied as follows:
Overall, I loved the first season. It wasn't perfect and I have my gripes, but I heartily recommend it to others to check it out.
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Daily Rituals - 3 out of 5 cups of tea
I finally finished this book. It's a string of entries about the habits and routines of famous artists, authors, architects, etc. I started out reading every entry but by about halfway I began skipping entries for people I'd never heard of. But it was still interesting to be able to compare Isaac Asimov to Stephen King to other great authors, etc.
It's firmly infotainment, no shocking revelations - the vast majority of entries boil down to "Put in the hours to get the work done" no matter the type of art or work they do. Very few claim to be driven purely by bolts of brilliance rather than dogged determination and work habits.
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The Gray Man (3.5 out of 5 shades of gray)
I wouldn't call it great. It's a good first step for a new action franchise. It sets up the myserious "Six" and dumps him into action against his handlers. They've already greenlit a sequel and I'm not mad about it. Am I clamoring for it? Not really. But I'm a sucker for action movies.
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The Bear (2022) - 4/5 beef sandwiches
Starring Jeremy Allen White, who I know from the US adaptation of Shameless, The Bear is about a struggling Chicago restaurant. White, who plays Carmen Berzatto, a chef who trained and cooked for some of the best restaurants in the world - has come back to his family owned eatery to take it over after it was left to him by his brother. A brother, who we learn is a drug addict, and also who commit suicide.
The show is entertaining and also vexing. I really enjoyed its first season and was tempted to give it a full 5 out of 5, but it is unevenly paced and leaves you with some pretty big questions going into season 2 - the biggest of which is sure to be the entire premise of season 2.
I also need to shout out the performances of Ayo Edibiri, who plays Sydney, as well as Ebon Moss-Bachrach who plays Richie. I wasn't familiar with either of them, but I really appreciated their performances and seeing the evolution of their characters in this eight episode season.
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Death on the Nile (2022)
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Belgian Mustaches
Been meaning to watch it and finally sat down with Katie and her mother. Overall it was fine, but it was nothing amazing.
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Only Murders in the Building - Season 1 (2021)
My Rating: 4 out of 5 murders
I held off watching this, but have ended up bingeing it while my mother-in-law is here. Quite enjoyed the first season. Haven't jumped into season two yet.
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Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Lightsabers
I wanted to like the show a lot more than I did. I'm not hating anyone who loved it, to each our own. Overall I found it plodding and unremarkable. By far my favorite part of the show was Moses Ingraham.
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The Courier (2020)
Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan in a Cold War era film. My first movie of 2022. Overall quite good though the ending dragged.
3.5/5
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Dune (2021)
I just got home from seeing Dune, and this is my spoiler free review.
TLDR: The movie does a lot to get the book to screen adaptation right, possibly too much. I'm not sure how much people who aren't familiar with the story will enjoy it.
Now my longer thoughts:
First, some very important context: I have read the book probably a dozen times. It was one of the books I'd name as being very formative for me, and has been a mainstay for me as something I regularly would revisit. I have a half-dozen copies of it in various printings. I love the book.
Second, the story itself has its problems as it comes from another era. Sexism, racism, and all sorts of other -isms. Looking at it requires looking through the lens of awareness and time.
Now, I saw the movie in just a regular theater. And, for a solid portion of this movie, I had tears leaking from my eyes at the beauty and story that was on screen in front of me.
There have been a number of previous attempts to tell this story on the big screen. First was the movie that included such names as Patrick Stewart and Sting. Second was the TV miniseries for Syfy.
This one nailed it in so many ways. I don't agree with everything. I don't agree with all of the casting. But... man they got so much right.
That said, to make the movie they did, they had to cut from the story. A lot of what they cut would have made a lot of what they kept make more sense, or in some cases, is completely needed for things to make sense.
For example, there are people in the story called Mentats. You'll know them by a black stripe on their bottom lip. They are essentially human computers. Why are they there? What do they do? You get no context to them in the movie. And there is importance for them to the sides in the story.
The soldiers in the movie all fight with blades, even though you see lasers and projectile weapons? Why? The book gives you a reason, but they skip explaining it in the movie so you are forced to just accept this.
They also barely provide the context that is the intergalactic setting for the defining conflict of the story. You get bits of it, but I am not sure how obvious it is to people who don't have the book in their head to fill in the gaps and it definitely lacks some of the larger context.
Now, I get it. Things had to go otherwise this would be a series of four four-hour epics. But I air these as examples of why I think reading the book before seeing the movie is so beneficial, it lets you appreciate the story at a deeper and more complete level.
The visuals and the way they portrayed the story is largely true to the book. It also hits the tone and epic feel of the story; unfortunately I think that to hit those things, lends to the way that many will find the movie slow and plodding.
I am thrilled to see it getting such good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes; I am just worried we're about to see those ratings dip as others are enticed to see it.
Lastly, I understand why they did it, but it was not advertised that this is not the whole Dune story. It's just "Part 1." No, I don't mean multiple books as the story of Dune. I mean the first book of Frank Herbert's series. My estimate is that they see it being a trilogy, but I have no idea if we'll get more than just this movie.
We'll see.
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Hank Green's - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
I just finished the audiobook for Hang Green's latest book. I haven't read any of his other books, but this was overall an enjoyable listen. I won't say it is amazing, it feels for much of the book like a thin veil over the events of 2020 but it is still an enjoyable story. As with most books, I found the finish of the book a bit unsatisfying. I don't know if I simply have too-high expectations for books, if endings are that hard to pull off, or more likely a mixture of both.
I give it a rating of 🤖 🤖 🤖 / 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖
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In case anyone was unsure, Hidden Figures still remains an amazing movie
I put it on the TV while I was making chili this morning. I saw it when it came out in theaters and I came home to immediately told every friend who would listen to go see it and I stand by that assessment. It reminds you simultaneously about the social low of segregation and that what is going on today is not a new issue, while also reminding you the amazing heights to which humanity can rise if given the opportunity.
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The Towering Inferno - 🔥🔥🔥/5
I was in the mood for a disaster movie last night, so Katie and I watched The Towering Inferno (1974), starring Paul Newman & Steve McQueen. Overall it was good, though in the modern day felt kind of quaint in its effects and narrative.
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Beyond Meat - End of Week Thoughts
So this week I made my lunch for the week. An orzo dish that I whip up and eat over the week. Normally I use chicken or Italian sausage and this week I decided to give Beyond Meat Italian Sausage a try. I'd never tried any form of Beyond Meat so I was going in blind. I also bought normal sausage (it was on sale) as a backup, so I was covered either way.
Cooking
I normally boil the sausages on the stove and then finish them as coins in the meal while the orzo boils. Can't do that with Beyond Meat, as I quickly realized. About 60-90 seconds into them heating up in the water I realized the water was getting extremely oily and my brain clicked that their casings wouldn't be meat, so were likely soy or something that was deteriorating in the water. So I pulled them out of the water. The casings felt like some sort of jelly. So I dumped the water and cut the sausages and cooked them in the pan with oil as coins. Cooking was fine, but it also was the first clear sign that this wasn't meat. It left a lot on the pan, more than I would expect from similar sausages. Is it a big deal? Not really, there was still plenty of meat, but was a bit of a pain to clean.
Once I was convinced they were done cooking I decided not to transfer them to the cooking orzo, for the same reasons I didn't boil them to cook them. I didn't want the boiling orzo to ruin the casings and the sausage to disassemble. Once the Orzo was mostly boiled, I added the sausages for the last few minutes of cooking.
Eating
The food was put into a plastic container and refrigerated overnight. The next day I reheated a portion for lunch. The meat reheated fine, and the best part of the Beyond Meat product is the mouth feel. It feels like meat when you bite into it. The sausage was supposed to be "Hot Italian" but it honestly barely registered for me. The flavor was muted, if anything. It didn't have the umami of sausage, but also, it didn't taste like anything else to me. So as a vehicle for other flavors, it works well enough. It held up through the week with no discernible shifts in flavor or texture.
Verdict
Overall, I'm a fan. I am not going to be giving up sausage all together, but in this recipe I think it works and I'll be trying it again when I make it for lunch next time. There's another brand friends recommended, Field Roast. I plan to give them a try next and we'll see.
The truth is I've considered going vegetarian for health and environmental reasons, but... I love meat. Steak is so delicious. Burgers. Sausage. Chicken... I love it all. But if I can begin to cut into the ones I eat and find the suitable replacements, that is exciting. Maybe one day I'll be a Vege-steak-tarian. We'll see.
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