New & Old

Mass shootings in Milwaukee and Buffalo — our national curse continues.

Seems it wasn’t only shoes she was collecting. Headline from nypost.com: “Surreal: Missing Picasso painting spotted at home of Imelda Marcos.” It has yet to be authenticated. Life never ceases to amuse, despite the prevalence of brutality.

Friday night’s movie fix was a bleak tale of horror from M. Night Shyamalan, Old (2021). It’s the story of a group of vacationers transported to a remote corner of a tropical island and left there to spend the day by management. Soon everyone begins to age and, a bit later, any ailment anyone has accelerates, leading to chaos and violence. It is brutal and uncompromising. I expected no resolution, no explanation, but was pleased that an intelligent one is supplied. That saved this grim film for me. The only member of the cast I recognized was Rufus Sewell, who plays a surgeon struggling with mental illness. Shyamalan adapted the screenplay from the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre-Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters. Running time is 1:48. I find it difficult to predict to whom the flick would appeal other than fans of the director. Made on a budget of $18 million, it returned more than $90 million worldwide and added another $6+ million in DVD sales. 96,000+ users at IMDb have rated Old, forging to a consensus of 5.8 on a scale of ten, a bit low in my estimation. Here is Sewell in character. He is not the main character but has the juiciest role:

And here’s a panel from the novel:

More good news out of the hellhole Ukraine has become. Headline from NYP: “Flop command: Putin rumored to have fired another top general as invasion flounders.” How ‘bout axing the guy at the top?… And here’s a headline from newsmax.com: “Russia Sends ‘Experienced Torturers’ to Deal With Mutinous Soldiers.” What a world.

Following Texas’ lead, headline from NM: “Arizona Now Busing Migrants to D.C..”

Also from NM: “Americans Bet $125B on Sports in 4 Years Since Legalization.” Unfortunately, even the windfall of taxes on that sum barely puts a dent in the deficit/debt created by our spendaholic representatives.

Headline from foxnews.com: “MSNBC column claims homeschooling is racist.” What if minority parents do it?

No book sales for the second straight day, but the main aspect I’d hoped for happened, so it was a successful session. I’d been carrying a music player for a woman for at least six months. Unfortunately, her schedule and mine did not jibe. Whenever she passed she was coming from, not going home. A couple of weeks ago Monse`, who’s been a regular supporter of my curbside endeavor, happened to mention she was in the market for a cassette player. I asked Nell for permission to unload it, and she granted it. Monse` took it home today. It also has a radio and CD player. I didn’t want any money because I’m not sure it will work after a winter in the car, and I was happy just to have the space on the front passenger side for those days when I’m bombarded with donations, but she gave me a couple of bucks, preventing a second straight goose egg, and promised more. That wasn’t even the best thing that happened this day. I check my Amazon account every Saturday morning. Someone purchased eight of my books, all print copies. Lately I’ve included a suggestion in my Facebook book promotion rotation, citing that five of my books could be had for a bit more than $25, which qualifies for free shipping. Maybe somebody heeded it. My thanks to whomever bought, and to Monse`.

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