Monthly Archives: September 2024

Mind Control

19 September 2024 By in History, Movies, Politics Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Ted Kaczynski, a domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, had his 35,000-word anti-technology manifesto published on this day in 1995 by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Kaczynski was a math prodigy and entered Harvard at the age of 16. While working towards a BA in math he participated in a Harvard psychology study that attempted to understand how to manipulate one’s psyche.

The study was led by Henry Murray, a former U.S. intelligence employee. Some have suggested that Murray was working with or under the CIA’s MKUltra program. This program tested procedures and drugs to lower individuals’ defenses during interrogation and brainwashing.

Source: NBC News. Sott.net. Graphic: Movie poster and trailer, copyright Cinedigm.

Caged

18 September 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Longlegs: Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), mildly clairvoyant, rookie FBI agent, tackles a satanic serial-killer case with the enthusiasm of a vampire seeking high noon.

The movie possesses a few good, creepy scares molded around a very predictable plot with characters needing the IQ of twigs to make the story work.

Nicholas Cage elevates the movie to watchable while simultaneously establishing a serious deficiency in talent for the remainder of the cast that chose to perform in front of the camera.   Unfortunately, his acting is not enough to salvage this flick.

Trivia: Three songs by Marc Bolan’s band, T-Rex are woven into the Longlegs’ plot: Get It On, Jewel, and Planet Queen. All three songs provide a creepy, lyrical cadence to the horror that is Longlegs.

More Trivia: Zilgi who is credited with the music score is Osgood Perkins brother, Elvis Perkins, both of whom are the sons of the late actor and director Anthony Perkins.

Genre:  Crime–Horror—Mystery—Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: Osgood Perkins

Screenplay by: Osgood Perkins

Music by:  Zilgi

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt

Film Locations:  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Els: 5.0/10

IMDb:  6.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  85

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  60

Metacritic Metascore: 77

Metacritic User Score:  6.3/10

Theaters: 12 July 2024

Runtime: 101 minutes

Budget:  <$10 million

Worldwide Box Office:  $104.1 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Movie trailer, copyright Neon.

Santa Brasa Malbec 2020

17 September 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Malbec from Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina

Purchase Price: $13.99

Vivino 91, ElsBob 87

ABV 13.5%

Aromas of leather and dark berries, medium-bodied, slightly tannic, with medium acidity. This will pair well with spicy foods, especially chili.

A very good table wine but don’t pay more than 8 or 9 bucks for a bottle.

She Sure Could Sing

16 September 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Emmylou Harris’ voice is as soothing as light summer rain dancing softly off the lilies in a Monet Pond. Peace and grace personified.

Most prefer her mostly country 1975 album ‘Pieces of the Sky’, but I find that her 1977 album, ‘Luxury Liner‘, is a more complete representation of her genius as an interpreter of songs across the genres of country, rock, pop, and her masterful blending of all three.

Source: Apple Music. Graphic: Luxury Liner album cover, copyright Reprise Records. Audio: Luxury Liner title track from her 1977 eponymous album.

Western Taste–Georgian Style

15 September 2024 By in Architecture, Art Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Great Room or Library at Kenwood House in London, built from 1767-1770, was and still is considered the creme de la crème of English interior architecture during the reign of the Hanoverian Kings.

The designer of the Great Room, Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect during the Georgian Era. (All the Hanoverian Kings were named George.) This period spanned most of the 18th and early 19th centuries and Adam was singularly responsible for the revival of classical architecture throughout the west from 1760 till the end of the 18th century.

Trivia: Hanoverian King, George III, prime American Revolutionary War antagonist, ruled England during the height of Robert Adam’s influence on architecture and interior design.

Source: Robert Adam by Jeremy Musson and Paul Barker, 2017. Graphic: The Adam Library, Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, Joe Adamczewski photo, copyright English Heritage.

Journalism–Brian Williams

14 September 2024 By in Journalism, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

NBC journalist and anchor Brian Williams fraudulently and consistently inserted himself into his news reports.

He claimed he was flying in a helicopter in 2003 over Iraq that was hit by an RPG. He wasn’t. Washington Post called it a memory flub. The New York Times, Newsweek, and others suggested it was a false memory.

He claimed to have been at the Brandenburg Gate when the Berlin Wall came down. He wasn’t.

He claimed to have flown to Bagdad with Seal Team Six. He didn’t.

Source: CNN, Medium, New York Post. Graphic: New York Post cover.

Bad Gas, Happy Drinks

13 September 2024 By in Chemistry, Climate, Science Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Researchers at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin, Germany have developed an experimental process to convert the green-house gas, carbon dioxide, CO2, into ethanol, aka C2H5OH. This is done by introducing copper and zinc oxide catalysts to reduce carbon dioxide into ethanol.

Outside of alcoholic beverages, ethanol is used as an additive in gasoline to produce gasohol. The conversion of CO2 to ethanol directly would help solve two problems at once.

One it would possibly help reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2, and secondly, it may put an end to the idiotic practice of putting food into the gas tanks of cars and trucks.

Trivia: Alcohol or ethanol is second only to caffeine as the most consumed drug on the planet. Stimulants vs. depressants. We can’t make up our minds, so to speak.

Source: Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society. Graphic: A carbon dioxide molecule.

It Goes On

12 September 2024 By in Philosophy Tags: , , Leave a comment

“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.” 

So said Robert Frost on his eightieth birthday when journalist Ray Josephs asked him what the most important thing he has learned about life.

The full quote as captured in Josephs’ ‘This Week Magazine’ article:

“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. In all the confusions of today, with all our troubles . . . with politicians and people slinging the word fear around, all of us become discouraged . . . tempted to say this is the end, the finish. But life — it goes on. It always has. It always will. Don’t forget that.’

Source: Quote Investigator. Graphic: Robert Frost c 1910s. Public Domain.

Ride

11 September 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Bikeriders: To Kathy (Comer), Benny (Butler) was everything she wanted in a man, handsome, quietly romantic, and wild. She slipped into Benny’s life with the ease of a merge into 3 a.m. traffic, marrying him 5 weeks after first meeting him.

Benny was an enigmatic cross between Peter Fonda’s Easy Rider’s Captain America aka Wyatt and James Dean’s, Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause. He didn’t fit into life but Kathy, his bike and the Vandals’ motorcycle club was his universe except he couldn’t resolve their correct order of importance.

Trivia: In real life, the motorcycle gang that inspired the Vandals in the movie “The Bikeriders” was the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a criminal enterprise. The film is loosely based on that club in which Outlaw member Danny Lyon dramatized in his 1968 photobook, ‘The Bikeriders.’

Genre:  Action—Biographical–Crime–Drama—Historical

Directed by: Jeff Nichols

Screenplay by: Jeff Nichols

Music by:  David Wingo

Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy

Film Locations:  Cincinnati, Ohio

Els: 7.5/10

IMDb:  6.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  80

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  75

Metacritic Metascore: 70

Metacritic User Score:  6.3/10

Theaters: 21 June 2024

Runtime: 116 minutes

Budget:  $30-40 million

Worldwide Box Office:  $35.8 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. History vs Hollywood. Graphic: Movie Poster, Focus Features.

Santa Brasa Malbec 2020

10 September 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Malbec from Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina

Purchase Price: $13.99

Vivino 91, ElsBob 87

ABV 13.5%

Aromas of leather and dark berries, medium-bodied, slightly tannic, with medium acidity. This will pair well with spicy chili.

A very good table wine but don’t pay more than ten bucks.