Motley Kamuka

Spoilers...beware. Two episodes have come out. There will be 6 in the end, they come out on Wednesdays.  Quibbles first. I don't like the scrubbed violence. Third Sister cuts off a woman's hand and you don't hear her screaming in the background, like I imagine you would if you hand was chopped off. I get it that Star Wars has to have a limb flying off at some point. I've decided it means that life cuts off pieces of you, but you can still find wholeness through the trials of life. The hanged man isn't hung by his neck, he's strung up and it doesn't really show how he died or a wound.  Quibble, I didn't like how Leia's father says, "one more fight," because there is no last fight. It's almost like American liberals who find themselves fighting for abortion rights. It's perennial, it's never going to go away. There is no one last fight. Little Leia is pretty cool, she's sassy, she has the energy. The younger generation brings ...

There is a guy in rural America who is afraid that if you take away his AR-15, you're going to take away his great great great grandfather's musket from the Revolutionary War. So to ease his fears, we sacrificed a random 21 people in an elementary school, 19 children and 2 teachers. But are his fears really eased? He's still afraid because he knows it's what will eventually come, and what should come. Heather Cox Richardson writes, "90% of Americans want to protect our children from gun violence, and yet those who are supposed to represent us in government are unable, or unwilling, to do so?” I read someone that said there were laws to prevent the Uvalde massacre, more laws would not prevent it. I disagree.  Why is America so distinctly more prone to this error? The availability of guns. I can bet if you took away half the guns in America this wouldn't happen as much. Take 75% of the guns away and it happens even less. Take 99% of the guns away and it never hap...

Yesterday was supposedly the anniversary of Star Wars 45 years ago. Wikipedia says it was released May 25 1977. I didn't see it then but probably a month or so later. I kept thinking that it's a under rated movie, but I'm pretty sure it's gotten some praise and fame and rewards. So I started watching the movies to prepare for Friday's release of a few episodes of Obi Wan on Disney +. I think about Obi Wan's advice to listen to your inner voice. I think about all the limbs that are cut off, from the monster in the snow in the second one, to the arm of the guy in Mos Eisley when he tries to shoot Luke. Every once in a while I say in Darth Vader's voice to my children, "I am your father," and I expect them to scream, "NO!" Those first three movies are great. I love it that Lea didn't wear a bra because there was no need in the future. I wonder at the intrigue behind the scenes. Does Harrison Ford adopt the persona of a rascal after playi...

 I said, “Is anyone in your family crazy?” to my cousin’s fiancé. She didn’t like the word, refused the conversation. I find that pretty annoying. Of course I’ve said similar things. “Crazy” out of a mother’s mouth at the park about her daughter disturbs me. But I still reserve the right to call my family crazy. I want a heated judgmental word. I said, “white trash,” to my friend and he said nobody is trash. I felt shame and don’t use the term. There still is an underclass of poor white people, but they are not trash. My friend talked about his adolescent daughters dressing provocative, and I said I dread the hoochie phase in my daughter. I’ll celebrate her sexuality and body, but I have a strong feeling modesty is important. I’m not interested in shaming or against sexuality, but dressing certain ways feels wrong to me. Yes, maybe it stirs up feelings in me and that is my problem. Still, how do you describe that? Provocative feels clinical. While I need to be careful with language...

I don't think social media or the internet are responsible for my skittish attention. It's being a parent. The constant needs of a child interrupt everything. Even though my daughter goes to school, I find myself switching from one thing to another as though she's around.  The concentration of meditation can help one defrag their brain. Unlimited input, surfing the net, input all the time. I used to be a person who turned off TVs, but now I feel OK with them on all the time. Input input input. I love taking baths and reading. I'm not going to drag my computer into the bathroom and I don't feel comfortable using my phone in the bath. A book can even be dropped, I've dropped a book into the bath before. You can dry it out, but it expands, so it's pretty much dead unless it's the last book on earth and then you'd preserve it.  I've seen so much apocalyptic fiction that I imagine things from that perspective, like I can flip with other kinds of persp...

From a NY Times article about problems in having the governor of Florida speaking at the Jewish museum. "“As American domestic politics has become more and more ferociously polarized, and increasingly as people see conservatives not just as different but fundamentally anti-democratic or illiberal or authoritarian or racist, holding together this big tent is really, really difficult,” said Peter Beinart, a writer and editor-at-large for Jewish Currents, a progressive magazine, who also writes for The New York Times." It's recently come to my attention that polarization is used by Russia and China to attack an open society, where we have freedom of the press, freedom of the internet, and more democratic features. The democratic features might seem pathetic: We need term limits because incumbents gather power to buy votes through slick advertising, and the choices we have are pretty slim and unrevolutionary.  The conservatives have utilized radio and Faux news to whip up th...

Black Panther gave us an African American superhero, and Moon Knight gives us an Egyptian woman superhero.  I tried to get a screenshot but Disney+ has figured out how to make that not work. Turns out there's one on the web. And a photo of my screen... What are Layla's powers?  She's an avatar of Taweret. Taweret is the Egyptian answer to Aphrodite of the ancient Greeks; she is believed to have helped women in childbirth and is known for being a fierce defender of mothers and children. She is also referred to as the “Lady of Heaven” and she was revered by the gods of the pantheon. Her appearance is mostly denoted as a hippopotamus head, with the paws of a lion and the tail of a crocodile. Besides her ability to aid in childbirth, Taweret also helps deceased people who have arrived in the realm of the Duat, the Egyptian underworld. Her task is to guide them in their journey through the afterlife, cleansing them as they are prepared for the next stage of the afterlife.

Rocky Horror Picture Show Hamilton West Side Story Grease Hair Wizard of Oz Sound of Music Les Miserables Porgy and Bess Willy Wonka Little Shop of Horrors Avenue Q Tommy Tick, tick, tick…Boom! Rent Chicago A Chorus Line On The Town Guys and Dolls All That Jazz Cats Momma Mia The Prom Into The Woods Frozen Moana Newsies Annie Kiss Me Kate Other people like, but I didn't connect: Wicked, Phantom, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, In The Heights, Kinky Boots, Moulin Rouge, The Producers, Matilda, Legally Blond, School of Rock, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Billy Elliot, Evita, Lion King, Mary Poppins, Oklahoma, Funny Girl, Fame, Hunchback, My Fair Lady, Miss Saigon. I like Gigi, but the frame is all wrong. I need to see: A Gentleman's Guide, Urinetown, The Book of Mormon, Dear Evan Hansen, Falsettos, Sweeny Todd, Beetlejuice, Hadestown, Legally Blond, Heathers, Six, Fun Home, Amelie, Great Comet, The Band's Visit, Be More Chill, If/Then, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Compa...