Dogs & Bowls
Anyone surprised that Quid Pro Joe’s student loan forgiveness pledge was a con?
Headline from foxnews.com: “Madonna licks water out of dog bowl, continues to share eerie videos.” Crazy like a fox. The Material girl is fighting to prevent becoming immaterial.
Headline from FN about one of the stars of The Office: “Rainn Wilson changes name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson to raise climate change awareness.” In case you weren’t aware of the hot air coming from environmental zealots.
There’s a new addition to the ever-growing list of things deemed racist: The Lottery. According to some, the organizers cajole poor communities into playing despite the astronomical odds. My only objection to it is that it’s giving money to politicians, the lowest form of life. Were the poor victims of racism when they played the numbers? Is playing the numbers still done?
At least there’s some good news, headline from newsmax.com: “Kherson Liberated, Putin Suffers Humiliating Defeat.” May it continue.
This week’s movie fix, courtesy of Netflix by mail, was/is puzzling. The Power of the Dog (2021) is a western set in Montana, 1920s. It is the story of a snarky alpha male closet homosexual who resents the woman his brother marries, and at first despises her sensitive teenage son. It is cryptic psychological profiling, intelligently done, though at a snail’s pace that had me gazing at the clock repeatedly, gauging how much longer it would go on before reaching its two-hour-plus running time. Guess who comes out on top in the end? I’m not sure why I rented it, probably because of the recommendation of a friend. Critically acclaimed director Jane Campion and I are not even remotely on the same wave length, maybe because she’s a lot smarter than me. I have not liked any works of hers I’ve seen. In this instance, I give her credit for being uninterested in commercial appeal. This film has zilch, which is reflected in its box office take, less than $300,000. But it is wrong to judge works of this nature by how much money is made. It is art, and I expect it would improve dramatically on subsequent viewings. 173,000+ users at IMDb have rated The Power…, forging to a consensus of 6.8 on a scale of ten. I’ll go with five. Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee are solid in their roles, all but Cumberbatch underplaying. The title refers to a Biblical passage. Fans of traditional westerns should pass. This movie is geared to those who prefer the most serious fare. Location shooting was done in New Zealand, and it is beautiful for the most part, the exception being the arty scenes in sparse light, which seem de riguer these days. Nominated for twelve Academy Awards, The Power… took home one, Campion winning Best Director, her second Oscar overall, having won Best Original Screenplay for The Piano (1994). She adapted the screenplay for The Power of the Dog from the novel by Thomas Savage. Here are Cumberbatch, Dunst & Kodi Smit-McPhee:
It may have been the last mild day of the season, perfect for doing business curbside. My thanks to the young man who overcompensated me for To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; and to the woman who purchased Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon; and to Bill Brown, author of Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed’s Music and other fine books, who bought The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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