2020 Mix

Sundrops on the Water, The Sharp Flatpickers 

Pow, Corridor

Luz de Candeia, Madrepaz

Music from the 'Llama Nature Scene' on Love Nature

Banjos, John Henry

She Breaks Me Down, Bears of Legend

Electron, Cyanna

Nosferatu, Peter Peter

Doubleback (Extended Version), Alan Silvestri, Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill, & Frank Beard

VIENIMI (a ballare), Aiello

Vigilantes del Espejo, Triángulo de Amor Bizarro

Plastic Banana, Tony Rice

Pendant

Preposterous innate endeavour

challenging concise and clever

grand intuitive excitement

wild inordinate enticement

just dive in from shore or cliff

into imposing august scripts

what's to be found unedited

elastic oceanic riffs

as hostile back on sturdy land

a belly full familial strands

the trek to nurtured nascent nests

through critical vouchsafed snowdrifts

a tour complete return back at it

resubmerge immersive magic

what a mesmerizing feat

them startling sojourns, synergies. 

*It's cool how penguins just dive into the forbidding ocean in search of fish, and then eventually jump back out, to then walk across slippery shores to bring food to their families. 

The Cobweb

A secluded institution abounding with practical reforms, struggles with its newfound freedoms as competing visions clash.

Responsibility has been encouraged and decision making facilitated, for one learns to productively cooperate by showing respect for individuality.

Two psychiatrists collegially compete to constructively promote level-headed convalescence, their authority granted by a distant board who casually observes on infrequent occasion.

The daily operations are overseen by a self-assured resilient administrator, who's worked there for quite some some time and prefers how things used to be.

At one time management unilaterally decided how to manage and decorate, and freely pursued grand interior design with neither coax nor consultation.

But as democratic reforms have been progressively accepted, patient committees have gained cultural influence, their tastes attempting to diversify integral home decor.

Ms. Inch (Lillian Gish) is restrained yet furious and wishes they could quickly chose then buy new drapes, instead of waiting for collective reckoning to agree upon a course of action.

She also thinks new age liberalities are glibly obstructing bureaucratic efficiencies, and collusively sets about introducing conflict to egalitarian cohesivities uprightly sought.

Thus, as the residents wholesomely discuss the merits of different fashions, the superstructure begins to break down as it tries to coldly reassert itself.

The new age doctor (Richard Widmark as Dr. McIver) stands his ground having devoted his life to his inclusive vision.

Be he spends little time with his family.

And his wife's (Gloria Grahame as Karen) grown rather irritated.

It's a brilliant unaffected microcosm cleverly enacting universal criticism, each character motivated by personal ambition yet frustrated by general resolve.

It's not about making correct decisions although every character maintains unabashed omniscience, but more of an insightful fluid investigation of ideology in political action.

Strengths and weaknesses a chaotic case comedically nurtured and tragically obscured, the perils of professional isolation tasked with self-centred piqued initiative.

The point perhaps may be that if you seek definitive clarification, you'll be frustrated by interpersonal practicality as the level of your commitment increases.

To function you have to go with the flow but to change things you have to innovate, and engrained historical preference will likely resist ethical reforms (even if juxtaposed historical preferences duel in time, as they do in politics).

But if competing ethical intensities become so specified they lose sight of the overarching picture.

People lose faith in the resultant confusion. 

Best to keep general health in mind.

Spock's needs of the many, conversation and dialogue.

*Perfect for political science students. What an animate illustration of work/life balance. 

If everyone knows everything, and there's no mystery or curiosity or conjuring, is trash comedy an inevitable byproduct of the enlightenment, inasmuch as it stultifies what's to be expected?

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a lot cooler the second time round.

It's not the greatest, but it's still pretty chill. 

It Happened One Night

Surrounded by luxury, everything you desire at hand or accessible, no need to work, struggle, justify, elucidate, toot toot, the gravy train, chugs onwards ever after.

Yet within the boundless infinities of grand ostentatious profound torqued hebetude, the imposition of paradigmatic pressure still traditionally refrains, and blasé prim prognostic propriety banally beckons with callous call, as gender roles crafted by ancient custom reemerge to contend and classify.

Ellie (Claudette Colbert) breaks free casts off the bonds of disquieting matrimony, swimming away from her father's yacht to life on the random exuberant road.

Meanwhile, a freespirited journalist castigates his editor's hackneyed rebuke, standing up for the integrity of free-verse, sweetly flowing unfiltered, unpasteurized (they're old friends) (Clark Gable as Peter Warne).

They wind up on the same lively bus heading south through carnivalesque cascades, an understanding reluctantly reached as lacklustre finances briskly balk.

Her father's enlisted the press and manifold detectives to track her down, fellow travellers on their communal steed eventually figuring their story out.

Escape is necessary to actively deconstruct the limits of their sly emancipation, so they vigorously font du puce and have soon procured their own automobile.

Lost indeterminate flux wildly drives their spontaneous momentum.

It's possible they'll never return.

Unless they fall in love.

It's solid rebellious romance firmly frenetic in loquacious languor, earnestly exercised enigmatic ursine, otherwise known, as begrudged true love.

He's not after wealth or prestige and like Lone Starr, he doesn't take the million, yet a kindred and quaint yet quizzical clutch still clasps in clamorous cuddle.  

Even though I love It's A Wonderful Life and watch it every Holiday Season, it never occurred to me to watch something else by the oft lauded sincere Frank Capra. 

And the genuine concern for chillaxed common dignity found in his yuletide yarn, is intriguingly present in rambunctious rapture disgruntled dispute heartfelt happenstance.

Several scenes don't end quite so quickly, they're much longer than one might expect, the cultivation of clandestine character acclimatized patient demonstrative depth.

It must have been a wondrous time when people still believed in dignity beyond wealth or station, when there was perhaps cultural support for public education and widespread constructive activism.

Otherwise, how do you explain the nimble bus scene where its passengers burst forth in song, unconcerned for rank or nobility, simply laidback, relaxing, resting?

And its focus on spirited improbability rooted in frank materialism?

Where things suddenly work out.

As they often do.

I hope virtual pets never compete with actual pets, or that the novelty of having an "electronic" red panda/porcupine/skunk/raccoon quasi-patronus is never as appealing as a traditional cat, dog, etc.

It might be kind of cool to see the different entities reacting.

But not at the expense of biological integrity.

The armadillo.

Slipshod

Shored upon risible rock

in coastal climes communal flocks

a' chillin' bobbin' bellies floated

nautically embrined encoated

plunge within emerge perspective 

undulating surf detected

divin' deep curvaceous routes

ze paunchy perspicacious sleuths

a rest return to cuddle cozy

ring around the subtle prosy 

perched inquisitive impacting

waves ubiquitous distracting

not too much today to do

a bath a bite a nap a shoo

symphonic shifty surgin' seaside

blanketed cascading cat's eye

rem. 

NFL Conference Championship Picks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Green Bay Packers: things are looking pretty good for the Pack, after they scored 32 points versus the league's best defence last Saturday, never really letting up, even if L.A fought with irascible vigour. They're at home in late January, they've won 7 in a row, Rodgers is playing incredibly well, and for the first time in a long time, I've thought, the Pack's really gonna make it this year. Plus, Cleveland defeated rival Pittsburgh with multiple turnovers (5 if I'm not mistaken), a Pittsburgh team that generally defeats them, and then lost the following week in Kansas City, while the Bucs beat New Orleans with multiple turnovers (4), a Saints team that generally defeats then, so perhaps they'll lose this week in Green Bay in a similar fashion. Tampa did crush the Pack 38 to 10 earlier in the year in the only game Green Bay really let get away from them, but that was a long time ago, and I'm sure the Pack's ready to make amends. As to who to pick, I know someone else in Montréal who's indeed a loyal Packers fan, and he's an inspiring politician for whom I've volunteered for many years. He's a true person of the people and someone I genuinely trust to fight for democratic rights, and equality, it's been great volunteering for him, playing a small role on a multivariable team. I imagine he would recognize that my snow shovelling memory, in which a loyal Bucs fan expressed support for the Broncos the year they won Super Bowl 50, comes from a good place, and was the result of constructive labour. And that therefore I can't stop picking the Bucs, unless they're playing a team who's never won the Super Bowl. It's strange, on the one hand, I'm picking Tampa Bay, who's had zero success in the playoffs for the longest time, but on the other, I'm picking Tom Brady, who's about to enter his 14th, that's 14th, Conference Championship. What an odd blend. The last time the Bucs won the Super Bowl I remember hearing that they had never won a game when playing below a certain temperature. Here's a related article, it looks like up until 2002 Tampa had never won a game when the temperature was below 40 degrees (I think they won one that year, the year they won the Super Bowl, and have possibly won more since). So in terms of teams overcoming traditional odds, the Bucs did beat the Saints last week, so they're bound to lose like Cleveland lost to the Chiefs last weekend, but since Tampa hardly ever wins when the temperature is below 40, assuming it's that cold in Green Bay this weekend, the ridiculous against-all-odds parallels cancel each other out. If that helps clear things up, you're less confused than I am. Hoping it's an amazing Rodgers/Brady showdown. Brady vs. Brees one week, Brady vs. Rodgers the next. It's really too much. Glad he switched over to the NFC. Picking the Bucs. Thinkin' the Pack will win. 

Buffalo Bills/Kansas City Chiefs: nice to see the Bills back in the coveted Conference Championships. I was but a wee lad the last time they made it, and it's great to see their success inspiring new generations. They played well last week picking up a tight win over the Ravens in a game where the wind was treacherous, and it was close till the fearsome third quarter, that makes 8 straight wins derived from integrity and confidence. Even if Mahomes doesn't play, Kansas City's still imposing, and they won several games without him in 2019, they're built to withstand sincere disappointment. They beat the Bills earlier on in the year by a score of 26 to 17, when Buffalo was still finding their stride, and not as well versed in victorious tenacity. Still, the Chiefs are formidable and require nothing less than perfection to defeat them, and going for it on fourth down, if you're trailing late in the fourth quarter. I recommend not giving them the ball back late in the fourth even if it's fourth and nine, I could never even come close to being a football coach, but I figure it's best to keep the ball out of their hands. If trailing. They've met three times in the playoffs long ago, once for the AFL Championship, twice during the Super Bowl era, Buffalo winning post-1966. I hate to see athletes injured and unable to play in big games, but sometimes injuries can't be avoided although I suspect Mahomes will play. Hoping it's incredible either way, so glad Buffalo made it. Dig in deep, dissonantly distract and outdistance. Looking forward to salient enterprise. Picking Buffalo on the road. 

Barefoot in the Park

A newlywed couple moves into their first apartment, freely intent on necessitously nest(l)ing.

Their dynamic is somewhat old school inasmuch as Corie (Jane Fonda) doesn't work, yet applies her industrious inclinations to recreation and home decor.

She excels at entertaining and embracing newfound pastimes, her open-minded inquisitive temperament wondrously courting jazzy vigour.

Mr. Bratter (Robert Redford) is a bit more cautious, much less improvisationally disposed, feeling safe within a steady paradigm wherein which everything fits trusted custom and precedent.

He's trying to advance his career or at least make a productive start of it, so he gets used to lively nights intermingling work and conjugal creation.

They live in a provocative building abounding with random curious character, one eccentric neighbour in particular full of vivacious lofty spirit (Charles Boyer as Victor Velasco). 

He invites them out on the town and Corie thinks he may make a good match for her mom (Mildred Natwick), the four of them heading out to a playful restaurant to sample tantalizing ethnic cuisine.

But Mr. Bratter proves less experimental than his enthusiastic wife anticipated, somewhat too sheltered by codes of conduct which don't permit enigmatic alternatives.

A dispute resultantly erupts back at home later on in the evening, which leads to passionate calls for divorce and general flustered mayhem.

It's an endearing amorous investigation of well-matched compassionate opposites, the congenial juxtaposition coaxing clash and conviviality. 

I usually love trying new things especially food from other countries, but I've found this can be just as off-putting as obstinate full-on unbridled dismissals.

I think it's because my traditional embrace of difference conflicts with gender based preconceptions equipped with historical complaint.

That is, it's more endearing to engage in standard arguments derived from habitual expectations, than to wholeheartedly agree on a course of action that doesn't involve varying degrees of intrigue.

I haven't had many relationships, but I've noticed that most people have been having them consistently throughout their lives, and that typical discussions regarding potential actions, are actually rooted in decades worth of stereotypical role play.

When Mr. Batter tries to move beyond his traditional role in Barefoot in the Park, the results are catastrophic, and since he lacks extemporaneous composure, distressing calamity sets in.

But they work things out and forge a consensus as rich with discord as it is cohesive.

A mischievous examination of married life.

Overflowing with constructive wherewithal. 

Raptors!

Glad to see a changin' of the guard down South.

Hopefully things settle down a bit.

Cat Ballou

A promising recent graduate heads home to teach school, instructed to read the classics, even if she prefers trendy westerns.

Prone to seek justice yet mischievously enthused, she accidentally aids two ne'er-do-wells in their pursuit of reckless freedom.

Back home on the range her kind-hearted father (John Marley as Frankie Ballou) has enraged his covetous neighbours, who have corruptly engaged a cruel hired gun to dispose of his innate virtue.

She immediately responds in kind after having learned of the disgraceful deception, and hires a renowned gunperson of her own who turns out to lack reliability.

Soon woe melancholically descends with no recourse to lauded panaceas, and her gang of unorthodox misfits has relocated to a forlorn corral.

Yet Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) is well versed in storied ethically clad adventurous pastimes, and refuses to let impregnability coldly prevent her from reacting non-traditionally.

Her newfound friends see sudden success after embracing strategically sound comeuppance, sincerely kerfuffling entrenched trajectories which presumed to cajole discordance. 

It's blunt and brandished bounteous barm proceeding in sultry sing song, the underprivileged thoughtlessly dismissed as they reimagine communal identities. 

Integrity harnesses spirit and exuberantly coaxes conundrums, which bewilder through sacrificed innocence impenitently reified. 

It's light of heart and rather merry as it confidently elucidates, upholding honest feminine strength through tribulation and testy temperance.

With insightful thoughts about marriage or relationships or plain old courtship or perhaps a fling, Cat deconstructs hardboiled gender bias yet still finds herself falling in love.

The musical accompaniment playfully enlivens crafty clemency cascading, direct yet quaintly coated in enchanted new age charm.

The traditions of the western see lay radical reversal, those oft dismissed their cares remiss enlightened brave dispersals.

Perhaps an oddball comedy like Cat Ballou would make more of an impact than serious drama, as it reaches a wider audience less immutably disposed.

A lot of people prefer absurdity since it more accurately reflects prim daily life, wherein which the application of reasonability sometimes leads to bumptious bedlam.

The immersion of absurdity in the arts anyways, not politics, reliable political leadership is preferable to instinctual madness.

Political leaders who don't toy with global tensions.

Because they respect their power and influence.  

Whiskers are the feature I most often don't notice when observing wildlife.

Like angelic nectar celestially radiated and ethereally distilled; with neither complaint nor compromise.

Nanaïmo

Marketed anticipation

spry environmental radiance

agile flexible impassioned

souls diversified unfastened

innovative futuristic

seasoned versatile holistic

biodistillates cohesive

wise momentum unimpeded

sponged biodegrading capsules

soothed salubrious unsatchelled

rhizomes cultivated cultures

macrobatically unfaltering

the will indubitably

exists desires for carbon free

commercial flows endemic soil

the multivariable unfoiled

fertility.

NFL Divisional Round Picks

Los Angeles Rams/Green Bay Packers: Green Bay had another great season abounding with preponderant resilience, only really slipping up once, to a team they may face again next weekend. They scored at least 30 points 12 times, that's 12, times, and scored at least 40, 4 times. They led the league in scoring with 509 total hard-fought points (Buffalo had 501), and are playing at home in mid January, that's a huge crazy freakin' advantage. They let in the 7th fewest number of points in the NFC as well, that's some solid equanimous dialectic convergent balance. They've played the Rams twice in the playoffs, and one scenario may be appealing to Packers fans, that being their win versus the Rams in 1967, which eventually led to a Super Bowl win. The Rams were victorious in 2001 (then playing in St. Louis) and went on to lose the Super Bowl that year to New England, it was New England's first Super Bowl victory, so long ago I was cheering them on. Green Bay's traditional playoff success could be a strange inexplicable hindrance, since L.A did take out Seattle, who has also seen success in recent Januaries.  The key to beating the Pack seems to be to score early and often. Sometimes teams are so used to playing with the lead, they have trouble engineering the come back. I doubt that will happen myself but I underestimated the Rams last Saturday. Picking the Pack, go Packers! Hoping it's a tight game.

Baltimore Ravens/Buffalo Bills: both of these teams were evenly matched last weekend and both of them picked up the win, Baltimore stifling Tennessee's running game, the Bills fortunate the Colts kind of blew it (kick that field goal). They've never met in the postseason and didn't play during 2020, Buffalo a bit more sure and steady, Baltimore having to come from behind. The Bills have won 7 in a row, the Ravens 6, the Bills played tougher teams throughout that stretch, the Ravens looked impressive versus Tennessee last weekend. I think the Bills know they got away with one last Saturday and will be all the more formidable this weekend, their defence revved up to take on Lamar Jackson, who'll be looking for at least another 136. From my oddball analysis of the game, and I'm light years away from sure and steady NFL commentary, the Titans relied on their running game far too heavily throughout the despondent afternoon. If they had established an effective passing attack it would have confused the Ravens much more, but they kept running it again and again, for short yardage, it was like Baltimore never had to struggle to come up with a play. If Buffalo can pass the ball effectively it'll put the Ravens on edge and open up lanes for their stalwart running. After taking a quick look at some of the numbers Buffalo put up this year, there's no doubt in my mind they can make that happen. Who's going to win this game?, I have no idea, both of these teams have a lot to prove, and are determined to prove it. But I'll pick the Bills at home in January. And emphatically exclaim, Buffalo, good on ya!

Cleveland Browns/Kansas City Chiefs: the Chiefs were the team that (almost) always won this year, picking up eight wins in 9 games decided by 8 points or less. Thus, they can be beat, since they don't win by much when faced with stiff opposition, although in order to beat them, you have to play your A++ game. Cleveland played their A++ game last Sunday versus the Steelers and impressively won on the road, scoring 48 points no less, but still allowing Pittsburgh to generate 37. You watch a lot of football and come up with a lot of parallels but Patrick Mahomes is something else, I've never seen a quarterback come up with so many unexpected passes, the only professional athlete I'm reminded of is Derek Jeter. Nevertheless, I think the Browns can take him, but they'll have to score steadfast and often, Kansas City's good but not unstoppable, and Mahomes may suffer from the Rodgers/Brees/Favre/Wilson curse. That is, isn't it strange that those four quarterbacks, overflowing with mind-boggling exception, have each only won the Super Bowl once, emerging victorious back in the day (Favre is retired of course), but never repeating, even though it seemed likely (it's still likely). Will Mahomes suffer the Rodgers/Brees/Favre/Wilson curse and never win the Super Bowl again, or will he find a way to overcome it, and emerge like Elway, Manning, or Brady? I think he probably will but I've thought Brees would win again for the past forever. If Mahomes wins again I hope it's not this year. For I'm picking the resurgent independent Cleveland Browns. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers/New Orleans Saints: it sounds odd to say that things don't look good for 6 time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, so perhaps they don't, but New Orleans didn't have much trouble defeating the Bucs twice this season, although it will be a divisional game on Sunday (and Cleveland emerged victorious last Sunday in Pittsburgh). The Saints have won 15 of their last 20 though, including 5 straight impressive wins, but Brady is a competitor like none other, and somehow even won more Super Bowls than Montana or Bradshaw. Nevertheless, back in the day, another Super Bowl approaching, the Broncos once again picked as underdogs, my nerves were indeed on edge. I sincerely believed they would win and was used to never finding support, but still found it annoying when disbelievers chirp chirped, and disseminated lively criticisms. But as I shovelled snow in downtown Montréal in the wee hours of a frigid morning, a humble Bucs fan expressed support for Denver, and had several positive things to say. That week I also kept noticing orange and blue wherever I looked and saw a fascinating horse mural while walking down Boulevard Monk (I usually don't walk down Monk in Winter). I saw so many signs the Broncos would win, my co-worker's commentary was the pièce-de-résistance.  Thus, I'll pick Tampa again although I'm worried that by picking them New Orleans might win, because they usually lose the second time I pick them, so if I want them to lose it makes more sense to pick them. But when I reach this point in superstitious pick craziness, I tell myself, let it go, there's nothing you can do.  So I'll pick Tampa, criticisms be damned! Nice to see Brady playing Brees in the playoffs. Another interesting fact of note: the Bucs have played the Rams twice in the NFC Conference Finals (1979 and 1999), losing both games. Green Bay's never played the Saints in the playoffs.

  

Wander

Like an episode of The X-Files reconstructed through hungover flashbacks, Wander frenetically examines zealous bright shocking psychosis. 

The subject under examination lacks traditional plausibility, and therefore struggles to nurture reason as it's typically pontificated. 

A detective remains obscurely aware of conspiratorial potential, but lacks the reliable focused balance to rationally share his distraught ideas.

Through recourse to the non-linear he follows leads and gathers evidence, disjointed points of clarification eclectically construed.

The circumstances are theoretically sound inasmuch as they construct a translucent narrative, lacking substantiated coherence yet still argumentatively profound.

He has a partner who trusts his instincts and inquisitively tags along, the two attempting to lucidly gather plotted disconcerting memorabilia. 

Wander proceeds through amorphous haze to medicinally materialize malcontent mayhem, the inordinate structure like a swelling head-wound pulsating disproportionately. 

The resultant opaque confused malady grimly transmits wild hypotheses, as a bewildering uncanny impetus interrogates mild obsession.

Validity esoterically stultifies as improbability brazenly baffles, the unpronounced dismayed mélange characteristically scaling scowl.

A private investigator unlike any other detects with comatose import, resultant maligned chaotic diagnoses discombobulating dissonance.

Perhaps Fox Mulder would have ended up like this if he hadn't been supported by the F.B.I, and The X-Files would have seduced in cryptic innocent conjured stupor.

If you're looking for dependable trajectories oft elucidated in detective fiction, you may be somewhat disenchanted with the unorthodox dazed Wander.

A sure and steady sense of sentience has been feverishly forsaken, like you're randomly bushwhacking unhinged through verdant jungle in ancient ruins.

Wander stands out as it employs obfuscation to generate unsettling purpose, if a situation like this indeed existed its revelation would invoke peril.

If you're in the mood for otherworldly exposition crafted through borderline realistic sci-fi, Wander may harrowingly enthuse in seeming barmy batshit blunder.

If you're looking for something more sober you may find it somewhat vague.

I like to promote variety.

Great for a late Saturday evening.

I think Laurence Fox has the coolest voice I've ever heard.

Favourite Films Viewed in 2020

The following is a list of my favourite films viewed in 2020. Those that I saw in theatres before the pandemic began are listed at the top. No particular order otherwise.

Tenki no ko (Weathering with You)

The Photograph

Sorry We Missed You

The Entertainer

Bunny Lake is Missing

21 Days

Domicile conjugal (Bed & Board)

L'Extraordinaire voyage de Marona

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Museum Hours

Flash Gordon

The Social Dilemma

Q Planes

Ace in the Hole

David & Lisa

Sedmikrásky (Daisies)

Neko to Shôzô to futari no onna (Shozo, a Cat & Two Women)

Mank

Coincidentally, I had no idea this film (Mank) existed when I started writing about movies from a different age during the pandemic (different ages), that seemed to me much more daring and literary than 21st century outputs, as the idea applies to mass markets and their obsession with sequels, and not the less commercially oriented laissez-faire narrative scene.

It's difficult to situate Mank within a specific scene since it was released by Netflix (without being too obvious), whose matrices cover a wide divergent spectrum, and often impress when they aren't bewildering.

I would argue that the room for creative endeavour (and have previously) within Netflix (and other online streaming sources) is vast and modestly expanding, it's a different business model less dependent on advertising (as far as I know) and perhaps therefore retaining more vital independence (flush with cash).

I don't see many films like Mank or The Irishman or Marriage Story or Roma on Netflix (that's quite a few good ones come to think of it), but to have thought I would have seen such films on their site 10 years ago would have seemed utterly preposterous.

I shouldn't be too hard on contemporary cinema for lacking my oddball literary qualifications either, its current strengths are fantasy and adventure, not that it's impossible to blend the two (see William Gibson).

Besides I forget ye olde mutations as they apply to unexpected epochs, when suddenly there's a tangible utopian surge that hasn't been calculated through strategic planning (Aliens).

Who knows when it's bound to erupt but I think it's best not to search for it or attempt to cultivate it.

Just hopefully become viscerally aware when it happens (different styles, different tastes, relativity).

While keenly focusing on independent cinema.

Mank heads back to the '30s and '40s to recapture a waylaid aesthetic, eventually abandoned as tastes transformed and the unforeseen reimagined cinematic life.

It follows prominent screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he writes Citizen Kane in alcoholic dismay, and reflects upon the just calamitous social confrontations that motivated bygone days.

A series of flashbacks leading to conflicts with a daring ambitious headstrong Orson Welles (Tom Burke), loves lost and uncompromised confidence spearheading bold mischievous caricatures.

Just think something up and pitch it if you have to come up with something.

In flux to subtly entertain.

People who are tired of boredom.

*Just to be clear, I find strategically planning in the arts to be somewhat dull, or to lack the excitement oft generated by spontaneous endeavours. Not that planning something isn't important, it's just that if the plan is too strict, it may miss out on many thrilling accidental opportunities. I suppose not planning something leads to mistakes, but playful mistakes are so much more fun than preplanned pretensions.

**I do think strategic planning is very important when combatting a pandemic. I'm glad I don't have to make such decisions. Hospitals are being overrun and frontline workers must be extremely stressed. I've never seen a more serious no-win situation. Eventually, a vaccine will be available. Patience and prudence.

I'm surprised I haven't seen Lupita Nyong'o in more serious drama films.

Her Oscar winning performance is one of the best I've seen.

Opossums get a bad rap.

They cute!

Laser Beam

Slow and steady at the ready

bold transformative spaghetti

green industrial transitions

phased sustainable emissions

prudent planning frugal costs

avoiding disengaged job loss

environmental reverential

solar powered incremental

verdure economic optics

products serializing ontic

flourishing communal cadres

longitudinal aggrandéd

visions cogent reified 

through practical expounded fly

'daptations to resounding change

to fluctuating markets tastes

emotions.

NFL Super Wild Card Weekend Picks

Indianapolis Colts/Buffalo Bills: it's great to see the Bills competing at a super high level again. It's been so so very long since they've had such an outstanding season. They've never met Indianapolis in the playoffs so there are no super old school grudges to consider, and they've split their last 4 so things are pretty even in the not so far off past. The Colts picked up impressive wins versus the Packers and Titans this season, but fell short to Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee, meaning they only defeated 2021 postseason appointees twice. Buffalo defeated the Rams, Seahawks, Dolphins (twice), Broncos, Steelers, and Patriots (twice), and swept their division for the first time in forever, only losing to Arizona on the last play of the game, if I remember correctly, Kansas City, and Tennessee.  They are playing in Buffalo which could give the Bills a significant edge in January, although it's hard for any team to play under such conditions, nevertheless, Buffalo's likely more used to it. I'd hate to see Philip Rivers lose another playoff game, and there's no question that he'll be ready. But I think the Bills will prove too striking, stalwart, sure, and steady. Picking the Bills by 10. Go Buffalo Go!

Los Angeles Rams/Seattle Seahawks: if the playoffs had been in September there's no doubt I would have picked Seattle. They were scoring more than 30 points every week, and looked totally unstoppable, before their offence slowed down a bit, while still picking up a bunch more wins. Divisional matchups are tough to pick because the teams play each other so often, thus even though Seattle played exceptionally well this year, they still lost to the Rams and Cardinals. The Rams played rather well too (as did Arizona) but I didn't think either of them could take the Seahawks, but you introduce the divisional factor, and there's no telling who's going to win. The Rams played better against the NFC East, picking up 4 wins, two by large margins, and it's surprising Seattle didn't clobber the Giants (who beat them), or Washington, or even the Eagles. They've only met once in the playoffs back in 2004, a game which the Rams won 27 to 20, in the Wild Card Round. They've split their last 4 regular season games, L.A winning 4 of the last 6, the Seahawks scoring 87 more points during the season, the Rams letting in 75 fewer. Seattle's more seasoned, more accustomed to the postseason, but the Rams recently made the Super Bowl; assuming Jared Goff plays, the Rams are no stranger to football in January. Nonetheless, I'm taking the Seahawks and hope Russell Wilson picks up another big win. Hoping the score is high. And victory always remains uncertain. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Washington Football Club: and I was transported back to a different time when I made my living shovelling snow during the night in downtown Montréal. It was cold and tough and silent as I aided a resolute team member, tranquil peace and calm abounding, in the wee oft slumberous hours. He was fun to work with and worked hard while having fun, and when the Broncos made it to Super Bowl 50, he had positive things to say about Denver's prospects. I'm used to generally hearing misgivings about Denver's chances of winning any Super Bowl, from anyone I happened to be talking with, so when my friend mentioned he was rooting for the Broncos, around 4:30 in the morning while we were shovelling, I was relieved to not have to argue, or introduce impassioned criticisms. He's a Bucs fan if I remember correctly and I feel I should return the favour. Not that Tampa should have any trouble defeating Washington, but still, hey, why not? Criticisms of Brady aside, I still like that he went to Tampa. He left New England to play for the Bucs and lead them to an 11 and 5 record. New England isn't in the playoffs. Brady won round 2020 big time. I would never have wanted him to win again with the Patriots. But winning in Tampa Bay? That's a great story. Don't misinterpret, Washington winning's an awesome story too, but the odds against that happening must be astronomically high. Even if Seattle did beat the Saints with a 7 and 9 record so many years ago. Hoping it's close. Picking Tampa Bay. 

Baltimore Ravens/Tennessee Titans: there are just too many teams that I want to see win this year, too many teams I don't want to see lose. I want to see Lamar Jackson make up for his loss in last year's postseason for instance, but not against the Tennessee Titans, who defeated him. Titans's running back Derrick Henry ran for over 2,000 yards this year, and who doesn't want to see a team with such an outstanding rusher and offensive line progress throughout January?  Too difficult to make these choices. What a rematch though, which could be similar to Denver's rematch against Jacksonville in the 1997 season. In the 1996 season Denver was heavily favoured to beat the Jags who arrived at Mile High and won. But Denver returned the favour the following year, on Wild Card weekend no less, winning 42 to 17. Jacksonville didn't have a 2,000 yard rusher, if memory serves correctly, however, and the Broncos had improved in the meantime (with a rather impressive running back of their own). Baltimore didn't win as many games this season as they did in 2019, but they've still won 5 in a row, although the only team they defeated during that span with a plus 500 record was the Browns. Baltimore and the Titans played earlier in the year and Tennessee won in overtime so there's really no telling who'll win this game (unless there's a significant COVID factor). I'm still upset that Air McNair lost on Super Bowl XXXIV's last play. Picking the Titans. Could there be a Music-City-Miracle rematch? 

Chicago Bears/New Orleans Saints: the Bears played relatively well this year even if they only won 8 games, 10 of their matchups decided by a touchdown or less, picking up a win versus Tampa along the way. But they didn't win often against playoff bound opponents, if that means anything, falling short against Indianapolis, New Orleans, Tennessee, Green Bay (twice), and the Rams. They took the Saints to overtime but couldn't pull out the win, New Orleans kicking ye olde field goal to emerge indeed victorious. The Saints had another great year winning 12 even with Drew Brees injured for a while, scoring at least 30 points 8 times, 52 against the Vikings in Week 16. They couldn't outmanoeuvre Kansas City or Green Bay but picked up two wins versus the Bucs, also overcoming the Broncos (Lock was out due to COVID protocols), and San Francisco for good measure. It would seem like New Orleans would win this game with ease if they hadn't experienced so much playoff misfortune, strange plays near the ends of their games often stifling grand ambitions. But the Bears don't have much to brag about in January for the last 25 years, in fact they've only won three playoff games during that time span, which includes a trip to the Super Bowl. I want to see New Orleans win, I want to see them have more success in the postseason, I've never seen such an amazing team blow it so often, but 2020 is a brand new postseason. It would be cool if Brees eventually played Brady in the 2020 playoffs as well, it's looking unlikely that they'll play, but I can't abandon hope. It would be cool if the Bears won, no question, and made a run like the Titans did last year. I'd love to see it happen. I imagine they'll be tough to beat. But, in keeping with tradition, I'll be picking the Saints one more time. Anticipating something incredibly strange in the fourth quarter. That may ensure a Chicago victory. 

Cleveland Browns/Pittsburgh Steelers: felt old the other day when I heard that the last time Cleveland made the playoffs was 2002. I remembered they made it once since forging a new team, but I didn't think it was that long ago. I like the Browns, I'd love to see them win, they've had so much trouble pulling it together. But at times this year they looked great, notably in a thrilling win versus the Titans. Pittsburgh looked like a Super Bowl contender for a while before losing three of their last 5, to Cincinnati and Washington no less, although the Bengals are a division rival. Pittsburgh beat the Browns with Roethlisberger 38 to 7, and lost to them without him, 24 to 22. They're in the postseason so often it seems like they're always going to win, and they've won some big time games, not to mention a league leading 6 Super Bowls (tied with the Patriots). The Browns on the other hand have struggled forever and were lucky to make the postseason this year. But they're playing like a true feisty Wild Card and perhaps will generate related spirits. It's been a wild year full of crazy high scores that I'd never have been able to predict. Hopefully this game follows suit. Picking Cleveland by 3. 

Deepwater Horizon

You'd think that if you were about to engage in dangerous intricate underwater oil extraction, you would want to make sure your equipment was running smoothly before enabling workplace operations.

You would just have to run some tests to ensure technological sustainability, to reasonably assess your endeavour's viability in terms of probable dependable reliance.

You've invested hundreds of millions, the project will make billions, it's just a matter of time before the cash starts rolling in.

Why wouldn't you take steps to maximize workplace health & safety simply by testing your multi-million dollar equipment?

It's not just the integrity of your mechanical infrastructure that's at stake, but, much more importantly, the lives of your vital workforce would be imperilled if something went wrong.

Then you lose versatile hands-on resolute practical know-how, knowledge possessed by resilient workers who have actually worked in the productive field.

Life is more important than fluctuating budgets or financial forecasts, more integral than the projected bottom line.

I've never worked in an environment where people didn't take their jobs seriously.

But if you work somewhere where you feel your health is at risk, perhaps it's time to consider forming a union.

In Deepwater Horizon, a worst case scenario chaotically and volcanically presents itself, as managers overly concerned with budgetary delays neglect workplace health & safety.

Other managers contradict them and attempt to proceed according to safety guidelines, but they're unfortunately overruled and extreme disaster strikes.

A true story, it really happened, and many integral lives were lost, their names chronicled at the end of the film, so they'll never be forgotten.

Not to mention the environmental chaos that consequently ensued (and is likely still polluting delicate ecosystems to this day).

Catastrophic coastal confines.

What happened to all that oil?

It's obviously not simply offshore oil rigs that need to manage resilient efficiencies, if you casually apply economic relativity manifold applications effortlessly emerge.

If the company in Deepwater Horizon (BP) had tested their equipment, they would have hopefully found the problem, and many lives would have been saved and their rig wouldn't have been destroyed.

The profits may have started rolling in at a frustrating much later date.

But they would have kept rolling in after that.

And their workforce would have been safe.

Perhaps artists are more like raccoons than cats or dogs, stopping by to check out the domestic life at times, but still preferring to live in a tree or the backyard.

Canada's junior hockey team still played exceptionally well in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Tournament.

I'm totally proud of their accomplishment.

The Midnight Sky

What to make of the future?

Some forecasts are incredibly grim.

They've been made by the brightest minds in the business, however, and predict an increasing preponderance of natural disasters.

Judging by the ways in which natural disasters have harrowingly increased in recent decades, and how the planet continues to rapidly warm, it seems likely that they're correct, even if it's rather depressing to consistently think about it.

Steps clearly need to be taken to halt the increasing preponderance of natural disasters (and save koalas), and the last I heard Canada was on track to meet its Paris Accord targets, but what else needs to be done beyond international treaties, and how do we save the planet while keeping people working?

That seems to be the most serious question facing responsible politicians these days, to me anyways, how do we save the planet while keeping people working?, I resolutely want to see the effects of global warming rapidly decrease, but it would also be nice to avoid mass unemployment at the same time.

I don't want to live under totalitarian lockdown conditions until the Earth cools either. I've never experienced anything worse than this necessary lockdown. The sooner vaccinations bring it to an end the better.

Another serious problem we face regards how reliant contemporary infrastructure is on oil. So much of the economy is dependent on oil; how do you suddenly redesign everything?

Factories, cars, toys, houses, industrial equipment, oil, it's mind-boggling how much plastic you take home sometimes when you order takeout, and if you don't like cooking, the problem intensifies.

I personally think industry needs to find a way to transition to an environmentally friendly economy, it has the resources and the means to make such a transition, but seems to uniformly lack the will.

I suppose that will never happen but if it did there would be so much less conflict. And so many people could continue to keep productively working, managing the tectonic shift.

Governments can legislate transitions but it's only a matter of time before the Republicans are elected again. If they miraculously started taking global warming seriously, cultivated hope would significantly increase.

But this is so grim and serious, people still have to go about living and working, and there's a great scene in The Midnight Sky where that's precisely what astronauts do (cool Netflix film).

On one of the coolest spaceships I've ever seen, three astronauts head out into space to fix something, and suddenly find themselves listening to music, to none other than the lively Sweet Caroline. 

At first I was confused by the scene, it seemed bizarre to suddenly take 10 minutes to focus on fixing something, when so many other things were happening, I admit, I was initially skeptical. 

But then I realized it patiently captured the fluid vivacious nature of teamwork, how wonderful it is to work while listening to music, you don't see that focused on too often in film.

Wouldn't industry still own practically everything if it transitioned to a green economy? Is it worried about losing power and influence? Even with all those trillions?

It'll be interesting to see what happens regardless, glad things seem on track in most of Canada anyways.

Even if the vaccinations are taking a while to roll out.

Remember, many countries aren't much bigger than New Brunswick (I imagine).

And how much easier it would be to vaccinate 30-60 million people if they lived together tightly packed into New Brunswick. 

It would be cool if there were sporty video games where instead of choosing teams from the previous football/hockey/basketball/soccer/baseball season, you could choose championship teams from any previous season.

And play them against one another.

I don't really play video games so I don't know if this is already a feature within related annual releases.

I'm hoping the Giants make the playoffs.

Go Giants Go!

*It would have been so cool to see a 6 and 10 team make it. And advance!

Fare thee well Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol. You're missed for sure back home with the Raptors.

Rather annoyed that the L.A Clippers keep scoopin' great players from the Raptors. Lakers too I guess.

Fare thee well Floyd Little in the great beyond. Hopefully things go just as well for you wherever you end up.

Broncos! Raptors!

Jojo

Abundant visceral gradations

incremental vaccination

bold resurgent recrudescence

routine tactile convalescence

lots o' spry imaginings

predicting macro shifts and swings

too many grandiose deployments

clashin' with utopic 'joyment

slowly cultivate the path

that equanimity impacts

so many diverse populations 

well-attuned to remonstration

best to prudently envisage

jurisprudent quibblin' quidditch

obsessions with the upper hand

undemocratically grandstand

be cool to see equality

re-resonate widespread and free

to harmonize eclectically 

with difference so patiently

embracing sundry thoughts and sounds

apart from cold despotic bounds

old school emphatic polled inclusion

effervescently a' musin'

regardless.

Body & Soul

I wonder what it was like during the early days of cinema, without sound or elaborate effects, just a narrative and intense emotion, gripping unheard of fascination.

Strange to witness the birth of a new art form, the emergence of such grand distinction, whose origins were much less self-evident, much more dependant on study and technology.

The phonograph still amazes me, how did anyone ever figure that out!, to apply sound to a text of vinyl and then play it with an intricate machine.

Camera and film similarly fascinating, abounding with mysterious alternative applications, the resounding capture of jocose fluid movement, exotic presentations of vivacious life.

The captivating leaps and bounds still a matter of clairvoyant conjecture, perhaps these early films generated equivalent degrees of imaginative wonder, even without the brilliant sets and enormous budgets, with much more streamlined visceral accounts.

It must have been fun to provide musical accompaniment, to orchestrate dynamic soundtracks in real time, so much work for versatile musicians (jobs), so much complementary impacting exegesis. 

Films still struggle to depict the multivariable syntheses of books, with much more freedom to postulate the impossible, novels conjure with infinite reckoning, currents taking on lives of their own.

But film brings together so many diverse elements as it symphonically structures less complex ideas, communal abundance ample work mesmerizing texture creative constellations.

It would have been cool I imagine to have been there during film's silent heuristic genesis, as artists sought to inform and entertain while driven by consistent progress.

Was there an emphasis on sequels in the early moments?, series flowing freely unbound, there would have been so much less precedent to work with, futures motivating enthralling pronounced.

It's amazing to see how much sci-fi and fantasy films have progressed in recent decades, special effects having expanded exponentially, it's still mind-boggling what they can currently do.

But the idea of an adventure film made once again with puppets and physical sets, is one that I find quite intriguing which computational scores can't offset.

Perhaps it could also be silent or presented like old school silent film, with modest musical accompaniment, a rather long length, bears, Mark Hamill. 

Body & Soul brings to life silent film with animate spry invention, transformations testaments tracks tribulations, the tantalizing history of film.

There's so much out there beyond the present, so much lying in curious catalyst.

Conflicting epochs, peaks and valleys.

Awaiting reimagined interpretation.