Motley Kamuka

"Every dog has his day,  and a good dog, might have two days." I've never completed a Thomas Ruggles Pynchon novel. I've tried.  Now I'm going to force my way through one by going along with the subreddit . Music to listen to while reading: Art Zoyd  Musique Pour L'Odyssee 1979, and Artie Shaw's Frensi. My 4 year old daughter like Shaw when I put him on. I'm absolutely loving it so far. Links: Wikipedia  on Vineland. People, places and things index  for Vineland Pynchon Wiki for Vineland  (Wiki)--Pure genius. All the possible references and meaning. My new favorite website. Pynchon Notes  (Journal?) Pynchon In Public (Podcast) Liquor mentioned in Vineland Frenesi by Artie Shaw on Wikipedia Frenesi on Spotify to listen to by Artie Shaw. Fascinating article comparing Vineland with the rest of Pynchon's work by Frank Kermode in London Review of Books. Page down and read Christopher Walker's response, too.

Rita Hayworth is gorgeous in The Lady from Shanghai . I read in the Times , "As was often the case with his later works, “Shanghai” suffered from extensive studio interference and reshoots. But even in its expurgated form, this is an expert potboiler, and its oft-imitated house-of-mirrors climax is as gripping as ever." There's an air of lack of skill, I fall out of the illusion. The fight scene where Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles) saves Rita Hayworth who plays the character Elsa "Rosalie" Bannister. Welles' Irish accent isn't bad, but it comes in and out. He's from Wisconsin like me. He went away to Ireland and made it as an actor for a few years.  The quickness and sloppiness of the story takes me out of the illusion. I'm trying hard to like this movie, but I can see why it was a flop. The reason it's famous is the ending scene with mirrors and a shootout.  Of course it was visually stunning, the sailboat on the ocean. The Aquarium. The

I've always heard of Cowboy Bebop (1998). It anticipates Firefly (2002) and Altered Carbon (Novel 2002, TV 2018) Soundtrack sounds like Firefly, but it's more diverse. Space cowboy is also reminiscent of Firefly. Drugs in the eye are like Altered Carbon. Credits are like Archer. Cowboy stuff like Clint Eastwood. It's like Mandalorian, it's about a bounty hunter. It plays with language. "Give him the onceover, twice." The Netflix series wasn't really very good. They focused too much on the psycho guy.

I watched episode 5 and 6 today. Good stuff. I like how cultural empathy has entered into the consciousness. The hope is we expand our empathetic reach. And while paradoxically while the world is falling apart. The future 950 from Discovery which was 2255, which was during the time of Enterprise timeline, before Captain Kirk, but it is before Voyager or Picard.  I'm not going to get obsessed by the timeline of a fictional sci-fi franchise, but it is interesting. Anyway, it's an alternative universe, perhaps, all the timelines exist, so maybe they can reset things from before the burn .  In a way the timeline doesn't matter. There could be amazing technology that existed, but wasn't used on Voyager. The spore drive is a one off, unique. It's a relief that there wasn't a power struggle to control it. So far. That includes gayness, queerness, non-binary characters. I'm waiting for the Tig Notaro character to find a lover.  I noted the reference to Nog and the s

Is the theme of Westworld that abuse never goes nowhere? You can imagine you're making machines that are designed to take abuse and never dish it out. But that just doesn't happen. Memory starts to work, they stop wiping their memories and add in complexity because killing and whoring got boring.  The movie Cowboys versus Aliens (2011) was a bust from my perspective, but there are successful sci-fi westerns, like Westworld, Firefly, and even Altered Carbon. The rule of law has loosened. Government can't reach, or it's too corrupt, or technology has gotten too far to regulate, or any myriad reasons, it's a wild west situation.  It's the wild west that props up the rugged individualism that has outstayed it's time in the USA. Why Europe is so progressive and takes care of it's people. 

Trying to figure out why Altered Carbon is so good, why the first season is great and the second one isn't so much. The nudity is part of why it's good. Sprinkle lots of nubidy into a show and you have a guaranteed hit. Extended nudity. Frequent nudity. Gorgeous nudity. I'd add in some more nudity with imperfect people if I were doing the movie. The idea of a man weighed down by memories is appealing to me.  I can't really get into the action, you know in the movie that he's going to survive. Movies don't just suddenly end with the hero dying in the middle of it. And there are tells that it is fake.  The narrative of the sexy hispanic cop is attractive. Her protective partner. Her wanting to protect the sleeve of her former lover. Her family is catholic and believes in RD or real death.  The future technology is surprising, interesting, well crafted, unique. The revealing and the carrot of what is hidden is deftly handled. The mind yearns to understand what is g

If I could develop an obsession about an actress, I would be a superfan of Ms. Portman. I can't be obsessed with someone I only see on the screen. I need real life. In a way, I don't even think she's that great of an actress. Even so, I really like her. So I rank the movies of hers that I like, in that I like the movies, that she appears in, that I have seen: V is for Vendetta  Annihilation Star Wars I & 2 & 3 Black Swan Closer Garden State The Professional Jane Got A Gun No Strings Attached

I read Zorba The Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis  in a comparative literature class in the middle 80's. I don't remember it so much, and I thought I would reread it. I've been rereading things because I am a much more careful reader, with a lot more life experience, and theoretical and cultural experience.  I was slightly interested because I saw somewhere where the book was considered Buddhist literature. Here is a quote from the book: "All these things which had formerly so fascinated me appeared this morning to be no more than cerebral acrobatics and refined charlatanism! That is how it always is at the decline of a civilization. That is how man’s anguish ends—in masterly conjuring tricks: pure poetry, pure music, pure thought. The last man—who has freed himself from all belief, from all illusions and has nothing more to expect or to fear—sees the clay of which he is made reduced to spirit, and this spirit has no soil left for its roots, from which to draw its sap. The l

Nyota Uhura played by Nichelle Nichols I'm deepening my already copious appreciation of Star Trek by watching The Original Series. The first season came out before I was born and I'm 53. What strikes me in the first 5 episodes, is the fear, the struggle for power, how Freudian it all is. I think of Bion's idea that people try to take over the group when you lead a therapy group, and Captain Kirk gets a lot of threats to his authority by outsiders. The kid who can make people disappear with his mind, the ESP episode. It's really kind of jazzy with Uhura singing. Lots of adolescent sexuality. Power necessarily corrupts. I bet it was pretty revolutionary at the time. I was reading that Roddenberry was a womanizer . In the 6th episode "The Enemy Within" (On Netflix), there is a sense that the dark side, the shadow, is needed, it contains vital energy. They can't kill evil Kirk, because they need to be merged. The good Kirk can't make decisions and is soft

I just watched Gemini Man . I read the Wikipedia page. 30 guys were named in production attempts over 20 years. A critic didn't think Smith's de-aging was good, I thought it was pretty good. I didn't think the script was as bad as the critics thought. Pretty amazing movie. I usually agree with the critics, but I suppose I liked this movie that supposedly lost over 100 million. It doesn't hurt that I like Will Smith and I liked Winstead, who I found out is related to Ava Gardner.  Driving down south there's an exit to the town where Ava Gardner was born, Grabtown North Carolina. She's buried in Smithfield North Carolina. I keep trying to figure out why she mattered. She was married to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. I've seen Magombo, which was interesting.

A liberal doesn't want to contain caring. A conservative puts a limit, a boundary on caring. Not at the federal level, rarely in government. They want to be free of government interference, trust the survival of the fittest games. Only care for the inner tribe, maybe only the nuclear tribe, maybe only yourself. Trust that selfishness isn't as evil as you would think. People will try and shame you for not thinking of others, but that is their hangup. The energy you release by just focusing on yourself is important. The energy you waste thinking about abstractions is a waste. All those liberal tears that Trump drank made him stronger to push forward his case. That is why he won't give up on saying the election was a fraud. Somewhere in there is some kind of mistake seam that he can exploit to his 70 million followers Here is a post a conservative friend wrote: "I have no problem with calls for unity and coming together as Americans. In fact, I approve wholeheartedly. I j

I took a wonder walk. I took a tree love walk. I took an appreciation of beauty walk. I took a watch the dogs frolic walk. I put on my flip flops and a sweatshirt, shorts. I looked up the tree trunks, at the leaves turning against the endless blue sky. I took detours to find certain trees. The red leafed one near where they are remodeling a house, making it higher and higher. Past the school that my sons went to, and maybe my daughter will go to. I forgot a bag, they're giving out free food, so people don't starve to death during the pandemic, because we are a Democratic city. City against rural in the election but I love the nature everywhere. Whitman goes skipping by. I think about places to sit but there's no pause in the city. Someone might resent my sitting on their stoop. What is the stoop etiquette? I know I could just take the not given, but I don't want to do that. I wish to be kind and just appreciate the beauty. They raked up the pine needles and pine cones,

Edward Morgan Forster (1879 – 1970) has 3 novels on the 100 Great British Novels list from 2015, and I realized I've only seen the movies. I need to read his novels, he has 6 novels. I have read Aspects of the Novel,  where he sees a contrast between plot and character development.  Novels Where Angels Fear to Tread  (1905) The Longest Journey  (1907) A Room with a View  (1908) Howards End  (1910) A Passage to India  (1924) Maurice  (written in 1913–14, published posthumously in 1971) You can hear his novels on Librivox .

I kind of think they could go a better cover than this. Mine at least has a painting of the ocean with waves. I bought The Waves  in Ecuador in 1997 for 47,000 Sucres. Now they have the dollar, no more Sucres in Ecuador. I think I'm going to have to read it closer between readings to get a sense of the 6 voices, the 7 characters, but maybe the Wikipedia info will help me. According to the BBC in 2015, it is #16 in the greatest British novels list. I have only read 35 of the 100, so I can't really quibble about the list, though there are some things on there that I don't think they should be. Middlemarch is #1 . I'm rereading it because I wasn't liking Childhood's End . Maybe it gets better. So Wikipedia has ideas about who all the voices are in The Waves : Bernard is a story-teller, always seeking some elusive and apt phrase. Some critics see Woolf's friend E. M. Forster as an inspiration for him. Louis is an outsider who seeks acceptance and success. So

I've read Rendezvous with Rama  and I'm trying Childhood's End . 2001 Space Odyssey is ranked higher than those two novels but those are the three top ones on Goodreads. I've seen the movie, so I don't need to read that one. I think it's cool he lived in Sri Lanka from 1956-2008. He was in the military during WW2 and he worked on radar, and also flew and was a flight instructor. He got a first in maths at King's College London. He became a commentator and had lots of shows. He was popular in Sri Lanka and when Heinlein came to visit the military flew them around in a helicopter. He was married briefly but it only lasted 6 months, and he was mostly gay it seems. He went to Sri Lanka because the laws were more lax regarding homosexuality than in England.  He's in the  Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame  in KC. Links Wikipedia 7 min biography on YouTube