Just saw Joker. Oh my goodness, not much of a comic kind of guy. But this is Taxi Driver of the 21st century. Unbelievable. Mind blown. Joaquin Phoenix deserves every accolade.
EDIT: There seems to be a huge backlash from the social justice warriors online. The Guardian offered a very favourable review in line with others at the preview and now another Guardian reviewer has now relegated it to 2 out of 5 stars. This is in line with the present trend online to suggest the film is nothing more than an "incel" white man raging. I hope the film is remembered for the incredible performance of Phoenix.
Watched it last night...brilliant!
Joaquin Phoenix was amazing, he wrung out every human emotion out of his character
Recently I finished watching the tv series "The Man in the High Castle". This is one brilliant tv series, pure genius! The fourth and final season is scheduled to premiere on November 15.
The Man in the High Castle is an American alternate history television series depicting a parallel universe where the Axis powers win World War II. It was created by Frank Spotnitz and is produced by Amazon Studios, Scott Free Productions, Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd Productions, and Big Light Productions.[1] The series is based on Philip K. Dick's 1962 novel of the same name.[2]
In the parallel universe, Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan have divided the United States into the Greater Nazi Reich in the east, with New York City as its regional capital, and the Japanese Pacific States to the west, with San Francisco as the capital. These territories are separated by a neutral zone that encompasses the Rocky Mountains. The series starts in 1962 and follows characters whose destinies intertwine when they come into contact with newsreels and home movies that show Germany and Japan losing the war. The title of the series refers to the mysterious figure believed to have created the footage.
The pilot premiered in January 2015, and Amazon ordered a ten-episode season the following month which was released in November. A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016, and a third season was released on October 5, 2018. The fourth and final season is scheduled to premiere on November 15, 2019.[3]
Well, I read Dune as a kid many years ago. Much of it went over my head. I have been reading it again and thoroughly enjoy the way the worlds and empire has been created.
The movie was absolutely stunning and doesn't require reading the novel (although it helps). It is nothing short of an instant classic and absolutely immersive in a bladerunner kind of way.
Interesting side-observation about the language of the Atreides military:
The House Atreides is known to be proficient in war. Its army includes swordmasters, warmasters, and mentats. These three types of warriors join forces in battle: while some of them take care of the pragmatics, others are in charge of strategy and battle development.
In order to communicate without being intercepted by enemies, the Atreides soldiers use a special language. It's a form of the Chakobsa language - a mixture of Romani language, Serbo-Croatian, and Arabic, invented by Herbert, whose name is inspired by a real Northwest Caucasian language.
The author, Frank Herbert, is known for his dalliances with psilocybin and I can't imagine the worlds he created would have been possible without a few mycorrhizal pathway trips.
He was a staunch freedom advocate and I like this quote from him:
All governments suffer a recurring problem: 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
Risto the Great MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA "Holding my breath for the revolution."
Almost finished watching a TV show called "Dopesick" featuring Michael Keaton. The show highlights the corruption that allowed opioids (Oxycontin to be precise) to become a pandemic of addiction and death.
Watch it and I dare you to not draw parallels with the kind of devastation presently unfolding with the corona vaccines.
This is how the owners of the family owned Pharma organisation were punished for what they have done to millions of people:
A slap on the wrist
In a 2021 settlement agreement, the Sackler family agreed to pay $4.3 billion to mitigate OxyContin misuse and forfeit ownership of Purdue Pharma.
However, the deal also granted the Sacklers immunity from liability lawsuits.
The family, which made north of $10 billion selling OxyContin, admitted no wrongdoing and offered no apologies to the victims of their drug and its marketing.
“It’s outrageous,” said Macy. “There’s two systems of justice — the guy who was selling weed is in jail, and the Sacklers are not only not going to jail, but even after the settlement, the family will walk away even wealthier than it is now.”
Well, I read Dune as a kid many years ago. Much of it went over my head. I have been reading it again and thoroughly enjoy the way the worlds and empire has been created.
The movie was absolutely stunning and doesn't require reading the novel (although it helps). It is nothing short of an instant classic and absolutely immersive in a bladerunner kind of way.
Interesting side-observation about the language of the Atreides military:
The author, Frank Herbert, is known for his dalliances with psilocybin and I can't imagine the worlds he created would have been possible without a few mycorrhizal pathway trips.
He was a staunch freedom advocate and I like this quote from him:
— Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune
I have been reading through the Dune Chronicles myself.
I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.
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