APRIL - EPISODE IV: SPRING 2019

WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE IV: SPRING 2019

Hello People of the World;

It is raining now as I type this. It is almost as if it is trying to be spring out there. Yet, people seem to be caught off guard once again – oh no! it rains in spring!

 All right, let’s get going:

1:[ I have started working on several video projects suddenly. I have decided that I really need to get back into the filmmaking game. I started pre-production on a couple of short films – “Fortinbras: Prince”, a proof-of-concept short for my “Hamlet” feature, and “The Future: A Story of Blue Woman”, which will bring the character of Blue Woman to the screen for the first time.

I am working on a video version of my review of “Wind River” and critique of “Escape from LA”. Hopefully with my busy schedule, I can get these done sooner, rather than later.

2:[ I finally got to see “The Other Side of the Wind”, the now-final film of Orson Welles. I wanted to see it on the big screen rather than on Netflix. It’s okay. It didn’t really feel like a Welles films. I went and saw “F for Fake” less than a week later and that is such a strong Wellesian film.

3:[ Here are my Doctor Who Series Eleven thoughts: I felt it was a stronger season than that Capaldi series’. Each felt like a unique adventure not mired in “The Feels” and nostalgic callback. I miss the gang already and cannot wait for season twelve.

4:[ I did a poetry reading a few days ago at the American Indian Center and debuted the second part of my spoken word piece “One”. It seemed to have gone over well with the audience.

5:[ I never understood the anger at “Star Trek: Discovery”. It was a great first season. Some things did bug me but I found the crew very likeable and the adventures to be really good. Tyler was just annoying after a while. The cinematography was great and Michelle Yeoh was awesome. Michael Burnham was a good character. I did not mind the additions to canon. So, dudes need to quit freaking the fuck out about it. All they complained about was “they are explorers, they should be going to planets and having adventures!” They did. I could not help but see the astounding hypocrisy of this coming from a fan base that worships “The Wrath of Khan” as the greatest Star Trek thing ever.

6:[ I have to say it: the Battle of Winterfell was the most stupid thing ever. Stupid, because the producers would rather play to the audiences caring for who sits on the Iron Throne rather than have to deal with a more complex threat of the coming winter. The message and story are just out the window because stupid audiences want stupid action and “cool, the feels” shit…

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.”

2019 Ernest M Whiteman III

MARCH - EPISODE III: SPRING 2019

WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE III: SPRING 2019

Hello People of the World;

 All right, let’s get going:

1:[ I am reading a new book, "Cixi, the Empress Dowager" and so far it is very interesting in how she took power and really reformed China.

 

2:[ Went out and saw Jordan Peele's "Us". I can only imagine it would be so tough to follow up a debut feature like “Get Out”; it really would. But Jordan Peele shows us his talent for contemporary urban horror and avoids the old “sophomore curse”. Whereas, “Get Out” feels, by comparison, overt in its subtextual messaging, “Us” is far more subtle and deeper in its own messaging. Where “Get Out” dealt with race relations, “Us” deals with class.

Adelaide Wilson, (Lupita Wyong’o) returns to the beachfront home she grew up in. Once there with her husband, daughter, and son (Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright, Evan Alex) Adelaide begins to experience trauma from an event that happened in her childhood. As this happens, the family is accosted in their home by a family of strange doubles. (You have seen the trailer). Then a fight for survival ensues as the doubles begin to attack.

The more I think about this, the more I like it more than “Get Out”, and “Get Out” is on of my Top Ten films of 2017. The main theme I took away is how, when we move up in class, we seem to forget, or try to forget, those that are still in the underground of sociatal class struggles. It is a subtle message about as we gain and seek to gain more, we become the monsters.

Lupine Nyong’o is fantastic in a stellar performance as both the traumatized Adelaide and her doubt Red. When I was in the theater watching, when Red first speaks, you could hear folks around the theater being creeped out. It was awesome. There is just so much to unpack and it is all done neatly so inside a scary, violent, at times funny, sorry film. Kudos to Peele for this.

Bonnie and I also went and saw "The Mustang" but the only thing we came away from with that movie is that Bruce Dern is definitely cornering the "Crotchety Old Coot" market....

3:[ I just realized that on my last birthday, I am the same age my Dad was when I was born. It is hard to fathom me having a child right now. I have been blessed with two beautiful stepchildren – that despite my divorce, I still call them so. You may say I adopted them Arapaho Way.

4:[ I am uncomfortable being a “regular”. It makes me uncomfortable to be treated different than other customers - like everyone acts like they know you. I don't like that.

 MORE TO COME SOON

That is it for this month.

My apologies for not posting completed writings last year. As you can see it hs extended to this year as well. With the move and all the jobs I rarely have time to sit down and plot out any of the month’s editions. But I will get to finishing them once I have a consistent time-off schedule. I know you all waited with baited breath to read my ramblings on the news of the day. Also, worry not, I will be re-posting for August, September, October, and November, once I have those writings completed.

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.

Happy New Year. Again.

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

2019 Ernest M Whiteman III