Motley Kamuka

Prüfstand VII , at the moment free on YouTube, is a German movie based on Gravity's Rainbow  by Thomas Pynchon . The movie is German absurdity and doesn't have much to do with the book. Even so, a good bit of fun. I could only watch 20 of the 111 minutes, but perhaps I can get through it in 5 minute chunks throughout my day.

The most revolutionary fiction I can think of White Orchid: juvenile justice system, foster car, prison. Florida Project: marginal experience next to Disney. Star Trek is post currency. 

Resident Alien is just preachy enough without being too preachy to my taste. Everyone is going to have their own lines on that one. I love that various perspectives are taken and that an actress with Native American heritage is a star. I find it odd that Sara Tomko doesn't have a Wikipedia page, she must not want one or something. "I am not a part of a tribe or a community,” Tomko explains, “and so it’s respectful to acknowledge and showcase that there are so many wonderful native actors on this show." ( source ) Mare of Easttown is realism with a serial killer. I still find it amazing that British people can do flawless American accents, but American actors can't do British accents. Or Scottish, or Welsh or Irish of any of the finely chopped move a mile and have a different accent of those blobs of islands of English speaking Europe.  Joyce Carol Oates interviews Philip Roth .  I’ve also watched Orville 3 seasons. I don’t hate it but it feels like discount Star Tre...

I was playing a game for free but I’m pestered in many ways to pay extra to keep going, basically cheat. I’m playing a game for free, agree to the manipulation. Capitalism is a cheat code. You have an advantage. I need to study cooperatives. I play this game where you shoot a ball and the goal is to make it bounce around and get extra hits to the blocks that count down until they disappear. That's what capitalism is, you send money in and you hope it does more and comes back with more.  I feel like some of the more fuddy duddy square community looked at the 60's and said, what can we protest? We don't care about human rights, inclusion or justice. We want our own do nothing autocratic republican in office, so we protest. It's like some weird inverted hippy movement. We experience the people we can't understand as lying, or just wrong, so we're going to lie lie lie. Bowling Green Massacre?  That's our feelings about liberals. Liberals don't listen to us a...

Jim Ruland in Alta writes: "“For the old guard,” Carswell explained, “Pynchon was validation for literary criticism because you can’t read it by yourself.”" I guess with the internet you can glean enough background, the reading groups on r/ThomasPynchon was very helpful. Also being older helps. Also, "Justin St. Clair, associate professor of English at the University of South Alabama, takes the argument one step further: “This may be heresy,” he says, “but I think I like the movie better than the book.”" Also, "For Reilly, it ignores the most important aspect of the book: the many and varied references to the Manson Family. Set in the period between the Tate-LaBianca murders and the Manson trial, the novel captures the moment when Californians lost faith in the counterculture." I really need to watch Once Upon A Time In Hollywood . I recently watched Under The Silver Lake , and found it interesting. Had lots of naked women prancing around the screen, and ...

It's such a relief when the opposing party can call out their own assholes, it kind of lends a air of objectivity to a fairly subjective process. Liz Cheney's politics are rancid from my perspective, but she's potentially carving out a presidential run, after being voted out of office for breaking ranks and getting ahead of the curve. Oh and holding Trump accountable for his criminal behaviors. No small thing. Just like I can say Biden is doing amazing for American standards and criticize him for not doing more from a progressive viewpoint. Politics is about having ideas about how things should be, and then kludging something anyway. I can hate Cheney's voting record but also applaud her American decency.  (Did you read about the Florida candidate who got his twitter account suspended for saying he will make a law that it's okay to shoot FBI, IRS or other government officials? ( source )) I've always thought the first female president would come from the right. ...

First off he ran for president, based on no political experience. Then he ran for mayor based on no political or governmental experience. He lost his two political races, not even close. Solution? Create a party in between the right of center Democrats and far right wing Republicans. Really? He defends the sentiment that Trump should be let off the hook, that seeing justice as blind is a political act? Please, a shill for the status quo is not what a 3rd party is about. A third party is democratic socialism or green party, something that doesn't just fall between far right and center right.  I want representation, I want more Asian heritage candidates. There are some Asian American politicians from my area. I really like Lindy Li . Trying to harness the disaffected, "politicians don't do anything," sentiment isn't really productive. You wouldn't pick someone with no professional experience in almost any other profession. Working in government is a profession. ...