Uncynical
Will the word “Resist” be banned? The cry now, after four years of clamor, is: “Unity!”
Interesting headline from newsmax.com: “Rasmussen: Trump’s Approval Rating Rises After DC Protests.” It’s 48%. This will be a surprise only to the left. The only solace for the right is that it will rankle the most sensitive of the opposition, the snowflakes.
Everyone knows Mike Pence is a conservative. No one, including me, had any idea Trump would govern as one. The chances of Pence being elected president as things stand now is nil. The country would have to be in complete economic collapse for that to happen. That will take more than four years of bad policies, although the Dems got a swift kick in the butt after Obama’s first two disastrous years. Trouble is, the path may not be reversible if the Dems manage to get their current wish list passed.
I’m contemplating leaving Twitter because of its banning of President Trump and its willy-nilly enforcement of what it deems hate speech, as this headline from foxnews.com attests: “Twitter bans Trump, but Iranian ayatollah, Louis Farrakhan, Chinese propagandists still active.” I favor free speech, although, for instance, I’d nix instructions on bomb-making. I want to know what the enemy is thinking. My use of the platform has always felt cynical — free advertising for my books. I doubt it’s led to more than a few sales, so what would I lose? Facebook is also a wing of the Democratic party. Should I leave it too?
I just deactivated.
Friday night’s movie fix, courtesy of Netflix, was interesting. The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019) focuses on the art world. Denmark’s Claes Bang plays a failed artist, successful art critic summoned to the Italian villa of a collector, played smoothly by Mick Jagger. Given the fact that Jagger has been one of the most successful men in the world, writer of intelligent song lyrics, I don’t know why I was surprised by his acting skill, especially since singing requires acting. Donald Sutherland plays an artist whose works have been destroyed by fires. The collector connects the critic and artist, who is living in a house at the villa. He hopes to land a painting by the legendary artist. Elizabeth Debicki, who grew up in Australia, plays an American teacher trying to rally after the bitter fallout from an affair with a married professor. Adapted by Scott B. Smith from the novel by Charles Willeford, it is a low key, intelligent character study that has echoes of film noir. The dialogue is first rate. Imagine how happy Sutherland must have been to be able to interpret an original script of such caliber at his age, mid 80’s. I knew nothing about Bang and Debicki, despite the extensive credits of each. They are excellent. Debicki played Princess Di in The Crown series, and Jordan Baker in the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby. New Jersey’s Smith received an Oscar nomination in 1988 for the adaptation of his own novel, A Simple Plan. That flick is excellent. … Heresy was directed by Italy’s Giuseppe Capotondi, who helmed four episodes of the highly regarded TV series Berlin Station, which I’ve resisted renting hoping it will pop up on a PBS channel. … The title refers to a painting. … Heresy is not a perfect work. One aspect of the climax did not work for me. I enjoyed the segues into existentialism. This is serious work of limited appeal, to which its box office take, less than a million, attests. 2000+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of six on a scale of ten, a bit low in my opinion. Here’s a publicity photo of the four principals:
It was a gorgeous day to sell stuff curbside. My thanks to the young man who selected Dragon by Clive Cussler, and to the handicapped man who bought poetry collections of Robert Burns and Thomas More; and to the burly guy who purchased Cooking Basics for Dummies, Eat This, Not That, The Best (& Worst) Foods in America! by David Zinczenko, and Scarne’s Complete Guide to Gambling, the Bible on the subject; and to the gentleman who chose two books on Spanish instruction; and to Monse`, who went home with a GMAT book on sentence structure; and to the woman who opted for How to Think on Your Feet by Marion K. Woodall; and to the gent who bought two paperbacks in Russian; and to author Bill Brown, who bit on The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho. Bill’s most popular work is American Colossus: The Grain Elevator, 1843 to 1943, published in 2009. Each year about 16 copies sell. Yes, in this great nation of infinite variety yet to be completely ruined by politicians, there are grain elevator aficionados. He got the idea while he was living in Buffalo, which had a famous one. Kudos.
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
