Crustaceans & More
Friday night’s movie fix, courtesy of Netflix by mail, was a winner, Where the Crawdads Sing (2022). Set in an isolated swamp area of North Carolina, moving back and forth in time, it begins in the 1950’s. A wife leaves her alcoholic, abusive husband. Soon three siblings depart as well, leaving the protagonist, a pre-teen female, alone with dad. He too soon disappears, leaving her to fend for herself. Fortunately, local shopkeepers treat her kindly, and she thrives. A talented artist, she is able to draw the abundant, varied wildlife about her. She falls in love with a shrimper’s son who soon leaves her to go off to college. She is then seduced by a rich kid who mistreats her and winds up dead under mysterious circumstances. She is arrested and tried. London’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith and London’s Harris Dickinson are excellent as the leads. David Straithairn turns in another terrific performance as the defense attorney. Garret Dillahunt is scary and creepy as the father. Michael Hyatt (female) and Sterling Macer Jr. are fine as the compassionate shopkeepers. Jersey’s Olivia Newman honed her craft directing TV shows. …Crawdads… is her second full length feature. It would be surprising if she isn’t assigned a lot more projects. Lucy Alibar adapted Delia Owens wildly popular novel, her third credit. The flick did great business. Made on a budget estimated at $24 million, it returned more than $144 million worldwide. 100,000+ users at IMDb have rated …Crawdads…, forging to a consensus of 7.2 on a scale of ten. I don’t recall any profanity, but there are a few instances of men striking women or kids. I loved the ending. The title refers to freshwater crustaceans. The film runs a bit more than two hours, too long. As usual, I found myself thinking “move on already” during the love scenes. The “singing” is attributed to a thin appendage that draws water and air through the gills and makes a noise called a “pulse train” that sounds a bit like Morse code. Here are Smith, Edgar-Jones and Dickinson in character:
The mainstream media no longer likes whistleblowers. What changed?
Headline from newsmax.com: “Nearly 35 Percent of Americans Worked From Home in 2022.”
From NM: “US Files 1st-Ever Charges vs Chinese Fentanyl Makers.” It was just revealed that actor Adam Rich’s death, as I suspected and always do these days when a celebrity dies young, was from such an overdose.
For those keeping score, headline from foxnews.com: “Body mass measurement deemed ‘racist’ new medical report: ‘Politics, not medicine’.”
From FN: “US pedestrian deaths in 2022 highest number in more than 40 years: report.” The article by Sarah Rumpf-Whitten cites alcohol and speeding as the main factors. To my surprise, it doesn’t mention marijuana.
Lacking a crystal ball, and given the forecast, I took the floating book shop to the viaduct at Avenue Y. Of course it didn’t rain. The results were predictable. My thanks to the lovely young mom who bought The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman. It’s 5:14 PM and still hasn’t rained. Aargh!
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