Soylent Sundance

This week is the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City. You wouldn’t know it though, as the streets are devoid of all the PIBS (people in black), the hotels are empty, the restaurants uncrowded and the usual film venues shuttered. Sundance has once again gone virtual, as announced in early January, due to mounting concerns over the Nu-Wu-Flu cooties.

On January 5, 2022 it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor of a virtual festival due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

Just as “virtual” education advocates proclaim there is “virtual learning” going on, the Sundance promoters pretend there is a film festival going on but the reality is neither is happening. And just as the lack of real classroom education is a great loss for children, the lack of a real festival is a huge loss for the local businesses here who often rack up over a third of their annual income during the fest’s 10 day period.

From an artistic perspective however…meh. How many sappy dramas, docu-dramas, biopics and documentaries spouting the same MS messaging on global warming, overpopulation, abortion ‘rights,’ ‘food insecurity,’ bad cops and - of course - social injustice!! can one endure? The correct answer is 82 by the way, in case you wondered.

I’m only going to mention two of the 82 films in this year’s lineup.. The first is Fresh from Disney. And I mention it only because it is either a ripoff or a tribute film to a movie that debuted nearly 50 years ago: Soylent Green.

Raj and I saw this movie with my brother and his wife in the summer of ‘73. We were all young newly weds then, just whiling away a hot summer evening on a double-date at the local drive-in. I doubt Gen Zillennials even know what a double date is, as most of their social interactions are virtual – just like ‘education’ and  Sundance. And I’m quite certain the only drive-in they’ve ever been to is either the kind where you get handed your fries or where they get a free COVID cootie brain swab.

But back to my show-piece: Soylent Green. In the days before the Internet the only thing you knew about a movie before you went was what the publicists thought necessary to suck you into the theatre. That pretty much consisted of the “movie page” ads in your local paper. So all we knew in the summer of ‘73 was that Soylent Green was a futuristic sci-fi flick set in, coincidently, 2022 New York.

“By the year 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution and an apparent climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing.”

Some things never change. But needless to say none of us had a clue what those swell looking green food wafers that people were rioting over actually were until we were well into our buttered popcorn. Ee-yew! People!!

And that brings me to Sundance ‘22 and the Disney Searchlight movie Fresh. I find its odd premise distinctly derivative – a dastardly pejorative in filmdom – of Soylent Green. Although it’s perhaps higher-concept and more socially-conscious than Soylent let’s face it: they’re both about cannibalism.

No Mickey, nor Minnie, no Donald, no dancing princesses no lions; just a real Disney charmer about a doctor who murders his dates, cuts them up and sells the portions to high paying customers/cannibals for dinner. It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea:

Written by Lauryn Kahn, I guess “Fresh” is supposed to be hip. It’s way too hip for me, that’s for sure. (Hip may be on Dr. Steve’s menu.) Disney will release it not on DisneyPlus but on Hulu, and try and distance their brand name. But it’s Disney, folks, nonetheless.

…“Fresh” may be considered hip because a woman wrote it and another one directed it. But women can make the same mistakes as men. Just because you’ve got a good cinematographer and production designer doesn’t mean you’ve got a good movie.

I mean, I know beef, pork and chicken prices have gone through the roof (Let’s Go Brandon!), but is this the answer? I won’t rush to judgement. I’ll let the “artist/writer/director” of Fresh help me do that.

I’m sorry to report that there are no more screenings of this delightful film on the Sundance schedule, virtual or otherwise. Nor will you be able to catch it at your local neighborhood movie theater – assuming you have one anymore. No, this gem is going directly to streaming. They already sold the worldwide distribution rights for the film to Searchlight Pictures which will release it on Hulu.

And that brings me to the 2nd Sundance movie I wish to discuss with you, also Disney related: The American Dream & Other Fairy Tales. Co-directed by Abigail Disney (granddaughter of Roy Disney) is a “compelling Disney expose” of pay inequity at…DISNEY! The only compelling thing about this flick is it’s demonstrable evidenc of why most really successful family businesses go belly up with the third generation - who tend to be entitled trust fund babies seeking relevance.

So I think Raj and I will rent Soylent Green on Amazon Prime Video for 3 bucks this weekend and celebrate it’s continued high-minded social consciousness raising relevance nearly 50 years on. And we’ll have some green popcorn.

I’ll just have to watch out for the eyeballs.

“I Told You So” Doesn’t Even Begin To Do It. Honk If You Agree.

I had a different post in mind for today but this is what is known as breaking news. I would title it ‘Breaking America,’ The New York Post calls it: ‘Betraying the American people’: Leaked video reveals Joe Biden’s ‘hush hush’ migrant invasion

While Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi go all out to protect Ukraine’s national sovereignty, at the same time they are orchestrating a clandestine invasion of America across the southern border.

Two million illegal immigrants from dozens of countries crossed over from Mexico last year, and the Biden administration is facilitating the cartels’ people-smuggling operation — at taxpayer expense.

Under cover of darkness, every night the federal government is transporting illegal migrants as fast as they can away from the border on secret charter flights into unsuspecting communities around the country. Officials have lied and obstructed the few journalists who have tried to reveal the truth.

This is nothing short of a betrayal of the American people.

I’m quite certain this would be an impeachable offense were Donald Trump still president. But since he isn’t – due to The Big Steal™ - it hasn’t even been reported by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Drudge or America’s most dubious newspaper of record, the New York Times (I checked).

It’s hardly as if this should be news, as it’s been going on since Obama set about to fundamentally transform Amerika. And Donald Trump, among many others, tried to tell us so.

But he, and we, were called “racists” and demonized as “deplorable” haters. Deplorables standing in the way of them lining their pockets and giving our country over to global rule. So let ME be clear: “undocumented” – a euphemism for illegal alien – isn’t a race, it’s a criminal. So stop calling me a racist for objecting to 25 million criminals being dispersed throughout our country. We’re being overrun by people whose primary interest in this country is getting better stuff for free courtesy of the American taxpayer, and we’ve got an old man at the wheel yelling at the sky about the end of the world because…weather.

When you live in a country where you can get arrested for fishing or hunting without a license or for trying to eat in a restaurant without your vax card

but not for entering the country illegally…well, your country is being run by a bunch of idiots. Most of them being what the mafia would call “made men” regardless of which of the 31 flavors of gender they choose to deploy.

Build the Damn Wall! Honk if you agree.

 

 

Do You Want To Touch Dieter's Monkey? Hint: NO, You Don’t

Remember that accident involving a truck full of lab monkeys the other day? It seems that a good Samaritan who stopped to help is now sick. As the Instapundit said “It sounds like every sci-fi virus film ever made.” But let’s not start another wild conspiracy theory that will turn out to be true in 6 months. It’s probably nothing.

It’s probably just me and my slow-moving COVID brain, but every time I see anything about this monkey story all I can think about is Michael Myers and the Sprockets.

Sprockets was a recurring comedy sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live, created by and starring comedian Mike Myers as a fictional West German television talk show. The sketch parodied German art culture in the 1980s…The sketch parodied German stereotypes, especially those pertaining to German seriousness, efficiency, and precision…Myers played "Dieter", a bored, disaffected West German expressionist and minimalist who interviewed celebrities in whom he was demonstrably barely interested, and then invariably sought to bring the discussion around to his "limited" monkey, Klaus, seated on a platform atop a miniature column.

The repeating skit always included Myers creepy Dieter character asking his guest “do you want to touch my monkey?”

For the record: the correct answer then, and now, is a definitive “no.”

Eventually Dieter would grow weary of his guest and announce, “your story has become tiresome, now is the time we dance.” The line was supposedly based on a waiter Myers encounter while a struggling comic in Toronto. As the story goes, he would go to a cheap restaurant where all he could afford was a hot dog so that’s what he ordered every time from the waiter, Dieter.  Meyers thought Dieter’s, character could be exploited for comic gold at some point so he kept going back and ordering a hot dog. Eventually Dieter told him “your order has become tedious.” And now you know the rest of the story.

Now isn’t that better than any actual news you’re likely to encounter today?

If SNL had stuck to corny, stupid spoofs of modern culture – which is limitless these days - it might still be funny. And have an audience.

Old Man Yells At The Un-Cowed

There was a time when these words – the first regarding his drug addled son, the second aimed at a respected journalist –

would have been taken as evidence that the sitting president uttering them was off his rocker, rounding the bend, losing his marbles.

But that time is not now. Not when the old man spends half his waking hours these days yelling at boogeymen and specters in the sky.

January, 11, 2022: The PIC (potato-in-chief) sputtered, squawked and coughed his way through a speech about the made-up threat of voter suppression in Georgia.

The devil goes down to Georgia…

I swear on Charlie Daniels grave, he wrote this song with Biden in mind:

The devil went down to Georgia, he was lookin' for a soul to steal
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind
And he was willin' to make a deal

When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot
And the devil jumped up on a hickory stump
And said, "boy, let me tell you what"

"I guess you didn't know it but I'm a fiddle player too
And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you
Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy
But give the devil his due
I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul
'Cause I think I'm better than you"

The boy said, "my name's Johnny and it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret
'Cause I'm the best there's ever been"

Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia, and the devil deals the cards
And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose, the devil gets your soul

…

The devil bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat
And he laid that golden fiddle on the ground at Johnny's feet
Johnny said, "Devil, just come on back if you ever wanna try again
I done told you once you son of a bitch, I'm the best that's ever been"

Everything Disappears When You Go To Sleep

A PSA for politicians/bureaucrats and criminals – 3 not mutually-exclusive categories

I’m throwing you an open thread this morning. I didn’t sleep much last night until 4:45 am at which point I fell soundly asleep and slept till 6:45 am, my time, 8:30 Eastern.

So I awoke noting that the American people now (unexpectedly) list prices/inflation and crime as their top concerns. Where did that come from? What about all the wokesters out there who’ve been more concerned with inequity, social justice, defunding cops and replacing them with social workers? And when did the COVID COOTIE MONSTER drop from #1 for everyone? See why I’m afraid to go to sleep? Everything disappears when you go to sleep and when you wake up, everything’s different.

It’s jarring. So I turn this Monday post over to you, and the dogs.

Who keep their eyes on everything while we nap.

The Ice Hoar Cometh

Do you know the difference between Hoar Frost and Rime Ice? Most people don’t.

Rime ice is a deposit of ice formed during a freezing fog, often accompanied by high wind and temperatures well below freezing. The supercooled water droplets freeze rapidly when coming in contact with objects such as branches, fence posts, etc..

Rime ice definition from the American Meteorological Society's Glossary of Meteorology:

“A white or milky and opaque granular deposit of ice formed by the rapid freezing of supercooled water drops as they impinge upon an exposed object. It is denser and harder than hoarfrost, but lighter, softer, and less transparent than glaze. Rime is composed essentially of discrete ice granules and has densities as low as 0.2–0.3 g cm-3.

Boy, leave it to a meteorologist to take the romance out of everything. Here’s a cool snap of rime ice formed in high wind.

So how does this differ from hoar frost? Again, let’s have the AMS take the fun out of it:

(Hoar frost) is a deposit of interlocking ice crystals (hoar crystals) formed by direct deposition on objects, usually those of small diameter freely exposed to the air, such as tree branches, plant stems and leaf edges, wires, poles, etc.

And a slightly less technical explanation from Cal Tech physics professor Dr. Ken Libbrecht.

Frost is to dew as snowflakes are to raindrops.  When water vapor condenses into liquid water, you get raindrops and dew.  When water vapor condenses directly into ice, then you get snowflakes and frost. Snowflakes are not frozen raindrops, and likewise, frost is not frozen dew.

Here’s a close up of the crystalline structure.

My non-technical (and probably non-correct) distinction: rime ice forms spikes during freezing fog, hoar frost forms crystals during non-foggy but moist cold snaps. Most people can’t tell the difference and don’t care. They just enjoy the scene. This is a picture I took through the windshield on the way to Home Depot the other day. Given there was dense fog at first light that day I’m going with rime ice.

It was fuzzy ice and it made everything it touched look enchanted. What more do you need to know?

As with all appealing things though, there is a downside to rime ice. It’s the same phenomena that causes you an additional half hour on the tarmac waiting for the deicing treatment before take off. without the deicing rime ice would attach to the plane’s wings while flying through super-cooled moist air and decrease the wings’ lift. Not good. And in the mountains a thick layer of rime ice makes it hard for fresh snow to form a good bond thus making slippage of the top layer more likely -avalanche!

Apologies to those of you who thought this post was going to be about Kamala Harris just because she once compared ICE to the KKK. 

via Peoples Cube

The D’oh! Of Joey

Some believe that The Simpsons represents the apogee of Western philosophy.

The Brandon Administration must be among them: Biden Admin uses Tom Hanks for ‘credibility’ in new video, just like ‘The Simpsons Movie’

In a 2007 episode, the Simpsons predicted “that government would become so inept they’d need to enlist the help of actor Tom Hanks to gain back credibility.”

As some wag once said, “you can’t make this stuff up.” Or can you?

As you may recall however, The Simpsons has a long track record of predicting the future. For example, the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016, Marge was all over it – in 1997!

So what at first appears as an anomaly is simply another example of art imitating life…imitating art.

The D’oh! of Joey

We Are Ruled By Pocket People. What Could Go Wrong?

Some people are born to be the pocket

…some are born to be the pocket pet.

Unfortunately people like George Soros are the former and the majority of our political class the latter.

And that reminds me of a song: Willie Nelson, Everywhere I Go

 

I'll take you with me everywhere I go
I'll put you in my pocket, who will know?
Right next to my heart at every show
I'll take you with me everywhere I go

No matter where our trails will finally wind
Our paths will just keep crossing, yours and mine
Until then, and in my pocket you must go
I'll take you with me everywhere I go

Happy Friday, all. I’m grateful for having made it through another week and trust you are as well.