![]() Briefly in the News - Feb 1 A very busy month! Wharton Willy did not see his shadow - early spring. I woke to rain ahead of a predicted "big storm" - up to 30 cm (12 inches) of snow. It arrived as advertised. The next morning, after the snow, the house was without power. It came back, was lost again and then back for good after an hour. Erin O’Toole, leader of the Conservative Party was ejected by his caucus in a 73 to 45 vote. He needed at least 50%. This party is splitting down the lines of the old Brian Mulroney Tories and the Preston Manning Reformers. The Trucker War Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge is now world-famous thanks to the anti-vax demonstrations. The omicron (and other corona virus strains) are probably here to stay. We must now learn to live with it. More virulent and more deadly than the flu, this may pose a serious threat to seniors going forward. Even a third dose (the booster) appears to fade in efficacy after a few months. I predict a Liberal - Justin Trudeau majority - next election as a backlash from the silent majority of Canadians who have been embarrassed (I’m sure there are other words) by this trucking demonstration. People do not understand why the emergencies act was put into place. I believe the reason was that the various levels of law enforcement were refusing to act - the emergency legislation took responsibility for a possible fiasco away from these agencies and placed it squarely on the Federal government. The Emergencies Act was revoked 10 days after it was announced after Ottawa was returned to normal. All the crazies can put their tin hats back in the closet. Rex Murphy is long past his best before date. A Brief Rant about Self Importance The situation you are born into is random. As a result your religious views, your pride of country, your moral compass is simply a random event - why buy into it? Did you choose to be a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew - in almost all cases the answer is no - so why are you defending something you had no say in adopting? Did you choose to be born in Ireland, Russia, China, no!!! So why have you invested so much in defending that which was a random sexual act on the part of your parents? ![]() Records Can Follow You This is a 3200-year old attendance sheet found in Deir el-Medina, Egypt. Reasons for worker absence include "embalming brother", "brewing beer" and "bitten by scorpion" Now if only they could find a single shard that mentions Moses - just one! We Are The Dead The average Facebook user has about 350 friends. I’m average. I currently have 5 friends who still appear on my friends' list, but they’ve passed. There are currently about 2.6 billion monthly Facebook users. There are almost 7.96 billion people on the planet. (There were 2.7 billion when I was born - almost two more complete “earths” have appeared since 1954.) It's estimated that in 30 years there will be more dead people on Facebook than living. (sometimes it seems like that now - brain dead perhaps) There are an estimated 7.26 billion cell phones in use. Out of the North (Brampton) Sister Holly and her husband Kim arrived for a brief overnight visit. On the 24th we woke to the news that Putin had attacked Ukraine. Numbers One night I woke to the clock reading 3:21. The very next night I woke to 1:23. A few nights later, 3:45. As mentioned last month, I have been remembering more dreams than in years past. Late in the month I also realised there have been more people who I know in my dreams. A short list here, but next month I will make an effort to record them: Phil B, Tom B, Mia S (CICA), Paul B., Cathy JJC., Kim B (WLMT) Sanctions on Russia Freezing assets of rich Russians is designed to anger Putin’s inner circle. For a few months, Putin will be able to control these billionaires, but as time goes by, he will not. They will slowly come to a boil and perhaps conspire to remove him - to get their money back. ![]() Read Greenlights Matthew McConaughey 2020 An autobiography. He’s an interesting person. After his breakout hit movie “A Time to Kill”, which was immediately followed by “Contact” (Jodie Foster), he buys a van and an expensive (but smallish) motor-home and lives on the road for the next three years with only his dog. He liked the motor-home campgrounds because no one bothered or knew him. He would park and leave it for weeks at a time if making a movie. We learn of his early life up to his college years in a family that many readers describe (see Goodreads reviews) as dysfunctional. Then we have his three seminal “wet dreams” which he chooses to view as messages from his soul. He acts on these dreams - the first taking him to the Amazon, the second to Africa and I don’t recall the third. He lives a charmed life. A quick read. Not really motivational. Goodreads reviews The Life and Visions of Yeshe Tsogyal: The Autobiography of the Great Wisdom Queen FTW: “A new biography of Yeshé Tsogyal, the mother of Buddhism in Tibet, who is considered an enlightened being by millions throughout the Himalayan region as well as the West and remains a powerful female role model of spiritual accomplishment and perfection.” (c. 757 or 777 – 817 CE) “Whether there is enough historical evidence to confirm or deny Yeshe Tsogyal as a historical figure, from the perspective of the spiritual traditions within which she is prominent, the details of her life are rich” Goodreads reviews ![]() Viewed The Hero 2017 I enjoyed this. Sam Elliot put it all out there - maybe his best performance. An aging movie star way past his prime, he learns he has pancreatic cancer but doesn’t tell those around him. Trying to come to terms with it, he meets and begins an affair with a woman who is the age of his daughter. (Laura Prepon) An honest look at aging, life, and love. His real-life wife, Catherine Ross plays his wife in the movie. View trailer here. Yesterday 2019 There is some kind of “event” and certain things in world history disappear, yet a few (3) people remember. Some of the things lost are Coke, cigarettes, Harry Potter, and the Beatles (and all their songs). The protagonist is a failed entertainer but soon realizes that he remembers and can play the catalogue. He rises to become the greatest songwriter in the world. We get to enjoy many of the Beatles songs. A fun movie. View trailer here. ![]() Arctic Drift 2020 FTW: “It's the largest Arctic expedition of all time. In September 2019 the German icebreaker "Polarstern" is on its way to the North Pole. A scientific, logistical, and also an adventure of a community of researchers and crew members who let themselves be frozen with the ship for a year in the ice desert near the North Pole, in order to use the natural drift of the ice, captured for the audience in impressive images.” View trailer here Arctic Sinkholes NOVA - PBS U.S. and international scientists to Siberia as they attempt to get to the bottom of this bizarre phenomenon. They find evidence that entire Arctic landscapes are ticking timebombs as vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, are released by melting permafrost. In Alaska, experts discover a lake the size of twenty football fields bubbling with methane from below and vast layers of frozen methane trapped under rapidly melting subsoil. Local communities recount their experience of a landscape shifting irreversibly right before their eyes. View trailer here ![]() I Walk the Line Prime 1970 FTW “Henry Tawes (Gregory Peck) is an aging sheriff in the small town of Gainesboro, Tennessee, who is becoming bored with his wife, Ellen, and his life. He meets young Alma McCain (Tuesday Weld), oldest daughter and de facto housewife of a poor family led by her single-parent father. Her age is ambiguous, but she is clearly far younger than Henry. Henry and Alma become romantically and physically involved, meeting secretly at various points around their town, particularly an abandoned house. Her family quickly learns and is very accepting of the relationship, appearing also to take his forceful advice to destroy their still and all evidence it had existed before a visiting excise official named Bascomb returns and is likely to find it. Henry Tawes clearly doesn't see the harm in the manufacture of moonshine but needs to balance his personal views and his role as county sheriff. The couple starts to discuss running away together”. I found this sad yet on point. How many men marry and then when they reach a certain age, regret their choice? Their marriage has lost its spark and then love (infatuation) appears. Henry believes Alma loves him but is shocked in the end when he realises he has created this dream. Truly a cautionary tale. View trailer here Let Them All Talk Netflix 2020 FTW “Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film stars Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen, Lucas Hedges, and Gemma Chan. Much of the dialogue was improvised by the cast, and Soderbergh shot the film using natural light and little equipment aboard the Queen Mary 2.” Interesting that much of the dialogue was improvised - it showed. OK film. View trailer here ![]() The Card Counter 2021 FTW “William Tell is a gambler who taught himself how to count cards during an eight-year stint in military prison. Seeking to avoid attention – either fame or casino bouncers – Tell's gambling philosophy is to bet small and win modestly. Despite gambling nearly every day, he never stays in a casino hotel. He lives out of two small suitcases and stays in motels, where he removes any decor and covers all the furniture in plain sheets secured with twine. At a casino, Tell encounters La Linda, an acquaintance from the gambling world. She runs a stable, a group of investors who back gamblers for a portion of their winnings. She offers to stake William but he refuses, unwilling to be burdened by the responsibility.” Touches on the horror and failure of US policy at Abu Ghraib prison where only the guards in the famous picture were held responsible - not their superiors who ordered and sanctioned the torture. Oscar Issac who plays the lead is excellent - his performance is almost a must see. View trailer here. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967 FTW “One of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the US. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.” Sidney Portier passed this January. Spencer Tracy died before he could see the final cut. View trailer here ![]() Munich - the Edge of War 2021 FTW “In 1932, friends Hugh Legat, Paul von Hartmann and his girlfriend Lena celebrate their graduation from Oxford University. Hartmann insists they visit him in Munich to experience the "New Germany". Six years later, Legat works as British prime minister Neville Chamberlain's secretary as Europe is on the brink of war. Chamberlain strives to obtain peace with Adolf Hitler at any cost, even if that means allowing Germany to seize control of the Sudetenland from Britain's ally Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain writes to Benito Mussolini in an effort to halt military action; it seemingly works and Hitler agrees, inviting Chamberlain and French prime minister Édouard Daladier to Munich for a conference”. Jeremy Irons is excellent as Neville Chamberlain. View trailer here
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AuthorI believe we are what we think. What we think depends on what we feed our brains. This is a partial record of what my brain has been eating. Archives
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