Random Thoughts After Being Offline for Two Months, Approximately
I recommend going completely offline for two months, longer if you can manage it. Most people can manage it, they just don’t want to, because the Internet is the new TV — something that could change the world for the better that we use as a toy. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, which is a topic for another day.
But…if you can do it, do it. Your brain changes. I’m not joking.
It’s interesting to be my age and see how things in society change. I was recently in an E.R. and was treated the way non-white guys used to be treated. It’s not right, of course, but so much of society today is less concerned with ‘equality’ than they are in ‘revenge for things you didn’t do and weren’t done to me.’
TAR was great, even with the diss to Jerry Goldsmith. I forgive that because that’s what the character WOULD say.
The world doesn’t need anymore Youtube channels from guys who bash bad movies.
It could use a lot more channels with recommendations for books, movies and music that are actually good, but which don’t have Disney promotion money.
Great post-apocalypse novel, maybe the very greatest: EARTH ABIDES by George Stewart. Orson Welles considered making a movie of it, and it could have been one of the great science fiction films.
The Soviet post-apocalypse film LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN (1986) shows how Andrei Tarkovsky’s style influenced Soviet film in surprising ways. There are shots that echo shots from STALKER (1979), but they are only approximations of Tarkovsky’s style. They are powerful in context, and though I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, if you dig Tarkovsky (who doesn’t?!!??:P ) you should give LETTERS a look.
Joe Biden is a fool and a moron and an incredible liar and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the poor.
Joy Behar is a truly shitty human being.
“J.B.” Nothing to see here…(scratches chin thoughtfully)
Terry Gilliam’s career sure is an odd one. TIME BANDITS, BRAZIL, THE FISHER KING, 12 MONKEYS and even FEAR AND LOATHING all hold up. The rest, not so much. No idea what happened to him.
If I could make just three recommendations to everyone, I wouldn’t suggest “Eat properly, when you get to be my age you’ll wish you did” or “Stay physically active,” as important as those ideas are.
I’d recommend you:
Turn off the TV and only watch media you own, i.e. movies or TV shows on disc, without ads, without TV news.
Limit your time online to 15 or 30 minutes per day.
Read one book per week.
Being offline for weeks changes the way you process information, and forces you to take your time when reading and writing.
You only need to have a functioning brain and an average I.Q. to believe the virus came from a lab that just happened to be in the same area as the bat market.
From the beginning.
The reason Woke Canel culture is so awful is it ends discussion. The ones pushing it don’t agree with those things they’re trying to silence, obviously. So how is it anything but censoring views they disagree with.
You have to work real hard to make a bad pizza.
THE LOST CONTINENT (1968) is one messed-up movie, and I love it. Seeing it again after many years, I was disappointed with how long it takes before we get to the actual lost continent (which isn’t a continent, really, but whatever). But once they get there, this movie is wild. But take care, because I imagine that if you are intoxicated while watching, you might pull your face off.
I know I’m a little preachy after my sabbatical, but when someone is preaching at me, I often end up thinking about what they preached. I can agree or disagree, it’s not the end of the world. And being preached at often means someone has something interesting to share.
Pete Buttigieg is terrible at his job, and it’s interesting to see how his airplane habits are being treated, compared to how John Sununu’s were.
If you want to be treated as an equal, then don’t cry when someone bashes you for your flaws, just as they do everyone else.
Unless, of course, your REAL aim is to get special treatment.
“We don’t believe anything we don’t want to believe.” Theodore Sturgeon (who wrote a couple of great books, and a bunch of really good stories)
