Rhythm & Blues

Even anyone who doesn’t own a gun should be troubled by this headline from foxnews.com: “Missouri couple who defended home have rifle seized during police search.” This is what totalitarian states do. The couple did not fire a shot while confronting protesters who had broken the gate to enter the community.

Also from FN, edited by yours truly, an article that makes one feel sad and helpless: Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano served six full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment and a half dozen more combat tours overseas. A Green Beret, he was a Silver Star recipient. He was referred to as Captain America by his peers. He had just moved to Washington, D.C. to start a job at the Pentagon. Two days after the 4th of July, he took his own life in front of his wife. He had three small children. His suicide was the 30th from this battalion. 20 combat veterans take their lives each day. How do we stop this?

I believe the President was right in pardoning Roger Stone. It seemed Stone was arrested, tried and convicted solely for supporting Trump. Lying to Congress, to those who lie for a living? Please.

Common sense reflected in another FN headline: “Somalia-born human rights activist blasts Rep. Omar: ‘Why flee from Mogadishu [and] turn Minnesota and the US into Mogadishu?’”

This week’s Friday Netflix movie fix was disappointing. The Rhythm Section (2020) stars Blake Lively, playing a Brit, and Jude Law. It is a familiar tale of revenge, based on the novel by Mark Burnell, who wrote the screenplay. A young woman of high IQ has her life shattered when her family is killed in a jetliner blown up by terrorists. She was supposed to have been aboard. She descends into prostitution and drug abuse. She is thrown a lifeline by a journalist who claims to know who was responsible for the atrocity. It leads her on an odyssey that includes training with a former MI6 operative. The narrative’s best aspect is that it is uncompromising in portraying the screw-ups, the ugly unintended consequences. Lively gives it her all, at times unrecognizable from the glamorous woman who graces newspapers and web sites. She is fine, as is Law. Is it plausible? It strains credulity, as most action flicks do. Of the supporting cast, I recognized only Raza Jaffrey, who did a number of episodes of one of my all-time favorite series, Spooks, titled MI5 in the states. Reed Morano, a woman, directed. She has worked mostly as a cinematographer, 50 titles under her name at IMDb. This was another of those films that feature very dark settings where it’s hard to see what is actually occurring. Okay, maybe that’s due to the eyesight of a 70-year-old. 7000+ users have rated The Rhythm Section, forging to a consensus of 5.2 on a scale of ten. It fared miserably at the box office, returning less than six million on a budget of $50 million. I’m not surprised. It is average, its appeal restricted to fans of the stars. The title refers to a training tip likening heartbeat and breathing to drums and bass.

It looked like it would be more disappointment at today’s session of the floating book shop, then two buyers showed as I was packing up. My thanks to the young mom who bought five books in Russian, and to the one who purchased one; and to the young man who selected Best Self: Be You, Only Better by Mike Bayer.

My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts

Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza