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2001: A Space Odyssey
The Qatsi films
Solaris (2002)
Been a student. Been a clerk. Been a salesperson. Been a manager. Been a teacher. Been an expatriate. Am a husband, father, and chronicle.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Qatsi films
Solaris (2002)
Viewed. Thought it’d be even more catastrophic.
That’s the one. I’m holding off on watching the ending. After I see it, this meme will be broken for me.
I’ll finish watching the dishes, and then I’ll view the ending.
"… Two boats were launched from eastern Colombia toward the Caribbean coast of Venezuela north of Caracas, carrying approximately 60 Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets employed as mercenaries by Silvercorp. Both boats were intercepted before they reached land. At least six Venezuelan dissidents in the first boat were killed, and all but four of the invaders were captured during the attempted landing or subsequent search operations, including the two Americans from the second boat, whose interrogations were broadcast on state television.
Venezuelan intelligence agencies and the Associated Press (AP) had prior knowledge of the operation. Commentators and observers described the operation as amateurish, underfunded, poorly organized, impossible, and a suicide mission, and divergent narratives led to questions about how the plot unfolded. Sources criticized the poor planning and execution, alternating between characterizing Operation Gideon as an attempted invasion, infiltration, raid, ambush, assassination or coup.
My preferred quote on this line:
“Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.” ~ Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune
It takes the will of a saint to be incorruptible — to not become addicted to the exercise of power. Those who do not desire power, like saints, may have it thrust upon them.
Even when left to own devices, a person can only exercise power within a society that has desires, wants, and fears. The whole society would need to be incorruptible. This is improbable. In the unlikely case of such a pure society, it would also need to be incorruptible when in contact with “the other” — peoples, species, events, and ideas. This is exceedingly improbable. So, the whole of existence would need to be incorruptible.
Power corrupts.
QED (using the slippery slope, I know)
Lucy (2018) - some mild insanity, remorselessness
Genie from Aladdin (1992) ‐ everything is a joke
Bruce Almighty (2003) - can’t actually control himself
I’m going to go off on a comic-book tangent here:
Wielder of Infinity Gauntlet (1991, 2018) - potential insanity, later radiation scarring
Phoenix Force (1976) ‐ heavy insanity, desire to consume planets (see: Dark Phoenix Saga (1980), (X-Men '92, S03E11), Avengers vs. X-men (2012))
Omega-Level mutants - tendency toward megalomania (see: Jean Grey, Magneto, Kid Omega, 4 horsemen of Apocalypse… even Ororo Munroe (goddess), though Iceman seems well-adjusted)
Beyond - remorselessness, destruction of universes (see: Secret Wars (1984), Time Runs Out Event (2014))
Yeah, I don’t mind it. Thor is a name and a title/power. God (presumably) is a name, and Thor has the power of a god.
Prince is a title. It’s also a name. And, to some musicians, Prince is a god.
It’d be rare to win an argument by invoking Prince, but there you go.
Going forward is the worst of corporate-speak. I refuse to use this phrase.
I almost couldn’t finish Irreversible.
I saw Baise Moi (Kiss/Rape Me) in a theatre just before it was banned. I was not expecting that
This is about the same time that Kids, Gummo, Happiness, and the Brown Bunny were all released.
Each film is fucked up for its own reasons. Though, I understand, Salo and A Serbian Film are next level fucked up.
I saw Being There about 10 years ago, and it was made 35 years before that. It is a masterwork.
I have nostalgia for my late-teens early 20s cartoon consumption. I was still watching Batman:TAS and the 90s Spider-Man series. There were flashes of high-intensity (if not well told) brilliance from the 90s Real Adventures of Jonny Quest series. I have to admit, the CGI they used was not as well executed as Reboot. Darkwing Duck, Peter Pan and the Pirates, and Gargoyles were shows what I looked back on fondly.
Daria, Clone High, and Ren and Stimpy all made an impact on me as a young adult. Daria, for its sardonic, anti-establishment stance. Clone High for its mockery of sitcoms and rom-coms and teen angst. Ren and Stimpy for pushing everything past its limit.
In the end, though, it was Samurai Jack and 90s X-Men that stood head and shoulders above them all. X-Men because it was what I collected and knew the best. Samurai Jack because it was cinematic, well- paced, and offered me something that no other TV show, movie, cartoon series, or comic book did or could: “… [a] fool [who] seeks to return to the past to undo the future that is Aku!”
Marina. And, I feel you on the Gargoyles.
My favourite trope is the Xanatos Gambit.
Purple by Crustation as remixed by J Dilla (6:47)
and
“Lonely as the sound of lying on the ground of an airplane going down”, the first three tracks off of He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms by A Silver Mt. Zion (19:54)
Jóga by Björk interpolated with the coda from Timabaland’s video mix of Hit 'em wit da Hee by Missy Elliott. (about 6:28)
and
You Got Me by The Roots (4:19)
and
Roads by Portishead (5:03)
So… end credits for 42:31.
and, finally, after the credits
Last Donut of the Night by J Dilla; played on an hour-long loop. In my head canon, when he was in hospital, just before he died, this was the last track Dilla constructed.
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a pretty straightforward action movie from 1996 starring Geena Davis in the lead. Samuel L. Jackson co-stars.
Working backward from there:
La Femme Nikita (1990) and the American remake Point of No Return (1994)
Foxy Brown (1974) and Coffy (1973) are offerings from the blaxploitation angle.
In 2007, I, a non-white non-Korean, took a job in South Korea. Then, I took another. Then, at the third job, I was hired, but the owner’s brother was amenable to some of the more racist thoughts that guided the approach to business in SK. He thought I would hurt the business. He resisted hiring another non-white, non-Korean.
The owner asked me to write a letter. Instead of saying, “that’s not my job”, I wrote the letter. I made the case. They hired another non-white, non-Korean after me.
I’m still pretty proud of that letter.
No one has posted an example of one read by the author, so I will: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Funny, insightful, and a truly incredible autobiography in his own voice and with full knowledge of all the languages he can speak.