JULY - EPISODE VII: SUMMER 2018

WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE VII: SUMMER 2018

Hello People of the World;

Yeah, yeah, weather jibber-jabber. Earth turns. Seasons too fast for you. You get it.

 All right, let’s get going:

1:[ I have been involuntarily saying the word “fudge” at the end of my yawns. I suppose I do so because I do not want to swear. Replacing the F-word with something more benign. But this has become such a habit that I have been doing so involuntarily in front of people. I suddenly feel embarrassed that I say “fudge” near co-workers, catching myself only after I have done so. It must be kind of funny seeing a huge, fat, Arapaho guy saying, “oh fudge” at the end of his yawning. Humility, there has to be a better way of gaining it, right?

2:[ More Movie Reviews:

Ant-man and the Wasp:

One half of the BW Top Review Team went out and watched the sequel to the Edgar Wright-less "Ant-man". Paul Rudd's Scott WhatsHisName returns after the events of "Civil War" and must suit up again to prevent Pym's tech from falling into the wrong hands and the main "villain" Ghost want it for their own ends. Pretty much the same as the last. Reed plays it save with an enjoyable caper and some heart. Not much of a tie to the larger MCU as a whole but a fun movie punctuated with a Paul Rudd being Paul Rudd Montage.

RECOMMEND - If you enjoy Paul Rudd.

Sorry to Bother You:

Where to begin with this one. Whew! Probably the best movie I saw so far this year, easily. Here Riley takes on a lot of huge societal targets in the guise of a young man, Cassius Green, (Lakeith Stanfield) rise at his telemarketing job just as his co-workers work to form a union.

People have been calling this one an "alternate-universe" but I can see many of the issues happening now. Armie Hammer is great, as is Tessa Thompson and all of the cast. It weighs issues and humor perfectly. It goes into some dark territory which are punctuated with humor in such a correct way you cannot believe you laughed at the situation. Such as Cassius' rap.

I kept thinking that I had a lot to say about this but amazingly, this is one of those very few films of late that can actually speak for itself! That puts it on my Best Of list already. When we left the theater, Bonnie and Char could not stop thinking about it. I still do from time to time. Maybe, it will leave you in the same space of thought. Go, check it out. Plus, the soundtrack is awesome.

3:[ Well, it looks like I will be moving from 7301 N RIDGE after 10 years. Now, I do not harbor any sentimental feeling for the place but it has been my home for over 10 year. I first moved there after I separated from my wife, before our divorce. It is a small studio with a “walk in” closet and kitchenette. I hosted my daughter and my friends there. One of my best memories is my girl and I playing video games before we went to the movies. But now, as the gentrification of Rogers Park begins to take root, the rent is going up, and I cannot sustain the payments with my limited income.

I guess I could seek higher-paying work and I have been but I am too long-n-the-tooth that most folks will not hire me. So, I will keep on with the jobs I have and move someplace else. But the ground is shrinking below me. Therefore, I will be leaving my place that has been home these past 10 years….

4:[ Posting to FB has had its unintended consequences – it makes us too comfortable with horrible things that happen. We just keep posting until we get comfortable with it the worst things going on in the world now – Puerto Rico, ICE seizures & child cages, homelessness. Name it. As long as we can post about it and “feel” like we are doing something about it, we will continue to get comfortable with horrible situations. I mean, really, look at how comfy we are getting with corporate mergers just because we want Deadpool to fight Thor. Geez.

So, we will just stand in line for our coffee, stare at our phones, and keep posting to FB so long as we feel like we are doing something about the situation even though it does not help. We will allow Facebook to shape us into being comfortable with horrible things that happen. As Postman put it in his fantastic book, we “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distraction.”

So, let them continue stealing and murdering Indigenous women and let Puerto Rico slide into the sea, so long as we can pat ourselves on the back by marching in support of the issue, or posting a ‘blog like as idiot like me, or sharing the meme that doesn’t do anything. So long as we can walk away and drink our drinks and watch reaction video, we’ll be fine….

5:[ There has to be a breaking point for people. Right? I guess I have too much faith that humanity would want to do the right thing, that people at their core are decent. But seeing people just stare at their phones and getting their coffees rather than fight injustice, is breaking my heart. So much for the evolution of thought.

I mean, what good does posting about something and pretending your active and “doing something”? What happened to us? What happened to looking out for one another? Now, we get mad and evil over a fucking Star Wars movie….

6:[ Why are we automatically suspicious when strangers get along with each other? The other night on the train, these folks, who had just met on the platform it seems, got on. They visited with each other loudly, one man offering the traveling ladies advice on how to travel in the city and what to see. They chatted and laugh until the ladies make their stop. Yet, the people sitting all around them, stared and gave looks, seeming annoyed with them.

I could never do that – talk with someone I just met or see in public; to talk so openly with strangers for little reason than we are going in the same direction. I guess that is how I measure my introversy – by my ability to strike up and maintain a conversation with people I just met. I don’t know, it bothers me when people try that with me. I never initiate contact (beyond a “hello”) with co-workers. Some will press and ask questions. Mostly, I just retreat and move to someplace where I can stand by myself. Other times, I will chat with someone I see on the regular. Then, I leave it to them to continue the conversations. But these folks on the train that night, I wish the whole community could act this way….

7:[ The Killer – I went and saw one of my all-time favorite films on the big screen at the Music Box. It was such a treat to see it projected in 35mm. The movie was as awesome as it had always been. But, some of the “Cool” kids had to laugh at some points as if they were supposed to laugh. One fella sat near me beforehand and asked if I liked the movie. He wanted the print to be terrible to lend it that grindhouse feel. But I expressed my fondness for the film.

Afterwards, I spoke with him again (which is very unlike me.) and he was happy to have seen it but was disappointed that people were laughing at certain parts, to which he remarked, “I guess earnestness does NOT play well these days.”

I had to agree. I had to think about it. It made me come to this realization: We are not movie watcher anymore, rather Movie reactors. Of course, I came to this conclusion on the way out of the theater and was unable to say this to the fellow. I am not much for quick-thinking responses.

But it did get me thinking more about it the idea: We are more Movie Reactors rather than Movie Watchers.

Remember, when it was only one, or maybe two, viral videos of people reacting to XXXXXX XXXXX’s death on “Game of Thrones”? Now, it is a fucking cottage industry. There are entre corporations devoted to making reaction videos on YouTube! We actively give money to watch people react to stupid shit! Let’s face it: We are not movie watchers anymore. We are movie reactors.

We all want to be Mystery Science Theater. We think being above the film by making fun of it shows how sophisticated we are and how we are intelligent about it. But this is not a good form of intelligence – it is a trivial intelligence. But it is comforting to think we are smart about something, isn’t it? It goes back to being comfortable with our own apathy and as long as we think we are doing something, or worse, that we are intelligent about something, that is enough, because it is too hard to actually try and fix the wrong things in the world. So we might as well, post about it and laugh at what we think are supposed to be goofy things happening during an earnest moment in a film….

That is it for this month.

As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.

Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”

2018 Ernest M Whiteman III