Monthly Archives: October 2024

Storm Chasers and Death Wishes

10 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Twisters: Kate Carter (Edgar-Jones), retiring her youthful death wish as a storm chaser starts afresh in NYC as a cubical bound meteorologist. In the Big Apple we learn she really didn’t want to be there because it was a pointless plotline with her resolve having the staying power of a dust devil in a snowstorm. With that drama out of the way she’s back in the OK prairies chasing her dream in a Ram truck.

Glenn Powell as Tyler Owens is worth the price of admission, the CGI is impressive, and the cinematography astounding but the screenplay lowers the movie back down to pedestrian status.

Trivia: Downtown OKC was transformed into NYC to shoot Kate Carter’s away from life hiding place.

Genre:  Action—Adventure—Disaster—Fantasy–Thriller

Directed by: Lee Isaac Chung

Screenplay by: Mark L. Smith

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glenn Powell, Anthony Ramos

Film Locations: Oklahoma City, USA

ElsBob: 6.0/10

IMDb: 6.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 75%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 91%

Metacritic Metascore: 65%

Metacritic User Score: 6.2%

Theaters: 19 July 2024

Runtime: 122 minutes

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Twisters movie trailer and poster, copyright Universal and Warner Bros.

Dona Paula Estate Malbec 2021

8 October 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Malbec from Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina

Purchase Price: $12.99

James Suckling 91, Robert Parker 90, ElsBob 90

ABV 14.5%

A dark violet color with aromas of black fruit and spices. A medium to full bodied dry wine, soft tannins and a medium finish. Will pair well with beef or lamb.

An excellent wine at half to a third the price you would pay for a comparably rated wine. This wine should easily last another 10 years in the bottle so stock up if you can find it under $13.

Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 2

7 October 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 2. — I Got A Woman

Kenny Wayne Shepherd has recently unveiled his 2024 follow-up, Vol. 2, to the acclaimed 2023 release, “Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 1“.

Conceived at the Muscle Shoals’ Fame Studios, brought to life in L.A., the album offers seven new electric blues tracks, plus one cover, each featuring outstanding hooks, riffs, guitar solos, and lyrics that fans have come to expect from his music.

Just like in Vol.1, the horn section featuring Joe Sublett on sax and Mark Pender on trumpet infuses the band’s sound with a delightful, soulful funky mix. Stax couldn’t have done it better.

Continuing the tradition from Vol.1, which included a cover of Elton John’s rockin’ 1973 hit “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” KWS and the band leap six years beyond “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to perform ZZ Top’s rollicking “She Loves My Automobile” from their 1979 album “Deguello”. Wonderful.

Trivia: The first hit record from Fame Studios was the 1961 smash “You Better Move On” by Arthur Alexander, which was later covered by the Rolling Stones on their 1964 EP, The Rolling Stones.

Source: Apple Music. AllMusic. Graphic: Kenny Wayne Shepard, Dirt on My Diamonds Vol.2, Official Lyric Video, Provogue and KWS Music, Inc.

Thought for the Day

4 October 2024 By in Philosophy, Physics, Physiology, Physiology, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

T.H. Huxley, Darwin’s Bulldog, anatomist, and autodidact, reflecting upon time and matter, makes the humorous connection that, “It is very possible that atoms which once formed an integral part of the busy brain of Julius Caesar may now enter into the composition of Caesar, the housedog in an English homestead.”

Source: Elementary Physiology, T.H. Huxley, 1902. Graphic: English Sheepdog, AI generated.

Matt Taibbi—First Amendment Absolutist:

3 October 2024 By in History, Journalism, Politics, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Taibbi delivered a righteous and necessary speech on the need to preserve the First Amendment to the Constitution, in particular the right to free speech at a ‘Recue the Republic’ gathering in Washington D.C. on 29 September 2024.

Taibbi makes the pertinent point that the current government efforts to eliminate dis-or-misinformation from the public discourse is not the real goal but that “The endgame is getting us to forget we ever had anything to say.”

He continues that the writers of the constitution’s Bill of Rights were absolutist in how the First Amendment could be interpreted, stating: “[James] Madison [author of the First Amendment] famously eschewed the word toleration or tolerance when it came to religion and insisted on the words freedom or liberty instead. This became the basis for the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which in turn became the basis for the Bill of Rights. That’s why we don’t have “toleration of religion” or “toleration of speech.” We have freedom of speech.”

Read the entire speech, link below. It’s a quick read and entertaining to boot.

Source: My Speech in Washington: “Rescue the Republic” (racket.news). Graphic: First Amendment, Melissa Randall, LibreTexts.

No Country with Laughs

2 October 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Greedy People:  A rookie cop and a partner from a B-List precinct, a pair that couldn’t direct traffic in a parking lot, cover up a killing to steal a million bucks. From getting rich to not getting caught, Greedy People takes enough twists to make Rick Gervais’ bent wit resemble the lines of a B-52 runway.

For all the unexpected turns and plot reversals the movie is entirely predictable, even the ending. Fortunately, by the time you tire of guessing, correctly, the next unforeseen development the movie is over. Watch it for a few laughs, competent acting, and the plot, although predictable, is solid.

Trivia: Patel played Mahir in the Sci-Fi movie Tenet. Mahir, a bit character in the movie, crashes a plane into the Freeport to create a distraction for the protagonist.

Genre:  Comedy—Crime—Drama–Suspense

Directed by: Potsy Ponciroli

Screenplay by: Michael Vukadinovich

Music by:  Jordan Lehning

Cast: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Joseph Gordon-Leitt

Film Locations:  Southport, North Carolina, U.S.

ElsBob: 5.5/10

IMDb: 6.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 58%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 56%          

Metacritic Metascore: 45

Metacritic User Score:  6.2/10

Theaters: 23 August 2024

Runtime: 90 minutes

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Movie trailer and poster, copyright Lionsgate Films.

Decoy 2021

1 October 2024 By in Red Wine Tags: , , Leave a comment

Cabernet Sauvignon from California

Purchase Price: $17.99

Wine Enthusiast 92, ElsBob 93

ABV 13.9%

Aromas of black fruit, a hint of vanilla, full-bodied, slightly tannic, dry, and a wonderful long finish. This wine will pair well with all meats and is also great on its own.

An excellent wine at about half the price you would expect to pay for a 92–93-point wine. Stock up on this wine if you can find it at this price.