Busybodies, A Legend & Lying and Stealing
From an article at nypost.com by Paula Froelich, edited by yours truly: Three years ago Chris Apassingok, 16, caught a bowhead whale near the Siberian Yupik village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, a place that has a 2000 year-old hunting tradition. He was celebrated by the community, as the whale would feed everyone in an area where, without subsistence hunting, people would starve. He was lauded in a local newspaper. The story was noted by a busybody whose Facebook rant accused the kid of murder and incited attacks from fellow yahoos. Disgraceful and pathetic - behavior typical of armchair know-it-alls.
RIP NHL legend Henri Richard, 84, younger brother of Maurice “The Rocket,” so named because of the speed of his slapshot. That moniker led to one of the all-time great sports nicknames for his sibling — “The Pocket Rocket.” Henri was only five-seven, 160 pounds but had the heart of a lion. He was captain of the Montreal Canadiens from 1971 to his retirement in 1975. In his 20 year career he played 1256 regular-season games, a team record. He scored 358 goals and had 1046 points overall, third in the history of that storied franchise behind fellow Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur (1246) and Jean Beliveau (1219). He also had 129 points in 180 playoff games. He was a member of an incredible eleven Stanley Cup champions, a league record, one that may never be surpassed given the number of teams in the modern NHL. Magnifique, sir.
It seems a photo of Emily Ratajkowski is in the paper every day. She is not only beautiful, she has the x-factor that makes certain people so photogenic, and she exudes self confidence. I hadn’t seen much of her work, only Gone Girl (2014), which I’ve forgotten most of but recall liking a lot. She does solid work in Lying and Stealing (2019), which I watched last night courtesy of Netflix. It is the story of a young man paying off his late father’s gambling debts by stealing art work from the homes of the rich. He is capably played by Theo James. The two leads have good rapport. The ever-reliable Fred Melamed lends his talents to the role of the ruthless fence. This is familiar ground but entertaining. To my chagrin, it is yet another film that takes place largely in dark settings, a trend I hope ends soon. It was directed by Matt Aselton, who co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Nagata. Aselton has had an odd career. There was a gap of six years between his first and second features, and five between the second and Lying… It runs 1:40, and seemed much shorter, moving swiftly despite a couple of lulls. It is minimally violent compared to most modern movies, although the threat of mayhem is ever present. There is some sex but no full frontal shots. This is a film that will likely be forgotten soon after viewing, serving only as a stepping stone for those involved in the production. The flick’s best aspect is it’s hip, jazzy-funky score, which is credited to Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli. 2700+ users at IMDb have rated Lying…, forging to a consensus of 5.2 on a scale of ten. I suppose I added it to my list because of Ratajkowski’s presence. Its box office take was woeful, less than a million. I found no numbers on the cost of production, but I imagine the budget was modest. Unless DVD sales and rentals and streaming are brisk, Aselton may have another long wait before he gets back into the director’s chair. Here are the leads in character:
It was a great day to sell books curbside, not nearly as cold as I’d expected. My thanks to the woman who bought The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William P. Young and, for her ten-year-old son, Twerp by Mark Goldblatt; and to Bill Brown, author of Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed’s Music, who selected Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia by Max Egremont; and to Yelena, who purchased A Hitch in Twilight and asked me to sign it, saying: “You never know.” Although I’m pretty sure I do know, I gladly complied.
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