Schizopolis

The _________ had made the Stanley Cup Finals again and people throughout the country were pumped. I was hoping they would pick up the underdog win and heavily cheered in their traditional favour. A friend texted one day with a question about their chances, but before I could answer I saw a turtle on the road. I picked the turtle up and helped him or her cross to the other side. But upon reaching the safe embankment, it turned around and scampered back whence he had come. I couldn't text my friend and state that this sign likely meant that ___________ was going to lose the series, I could only hope and pray I was wrong. Fortunately, I never told anyone about the prophetic turtle. It made things much easier when __________ lost and people were fuming mad.

My dad was really sick and mom and I had never really thought he would pass away, we figured the doctors would help him out and he'd recover soon posthaste. But on my daily walk when he was in the hospital over a dozen turkey vultures suddenly appeared chillin' in the trees. I hardly ever see them in that wooded area. I hoped and prayed it wasn't a sign (it was).

A month before that, I went for a walk to a convenience store to buy some things, when I saw a bad car accident that an ambulance had already reached. I was hoping it wasn't a sign that dad was really sick, but 5 days later we had to admit him to a hospital. 

The last time the Broncos won the Super Bowl I saw horses wherever I went. Plus Montréal's métro shared the Broncos colours. The colours had given me hope a couple of years before after the Broncos lost in the Super Bowl. I tried not to take them too seriously but still totally felt hopeful.

Sunlight passing through tree branches makes interesting patterns on the ground. Did ancient spiritual leaders use them to make wild predictions? 

When you visit the same location each time it snows the snow accumulates in a different pattern. Did ancient shaman note divine sculpted difference within and look to the future nimbly and confidently?

Who knows?

The spiritual age before science and reason must have been tumultuous nevertheless.

So many people earning a living doing such things.

The voodoo mysticism at times even governing. 

With the internet's lack of critical oversight this kind of thing seems to be reemerging, as groups fed up with hearing they're wrong wildly pursue irrational agendas. 

And people who never thoroughly embraced scientific reasoning remain immersed in magical realism. 

Logic and reason hovering undetected.

In lucid heartfelt agile wonder.

Lucky Logan

Disreputably discharged, scintillating strategy, fraternal fervour, impenitent perfidy, perfecting the penetrating pardon piecemeal, a brother creates a plan to holistically heist, recruiting resins and residents and siblings and stealth, his team patiently exercising precise pitch adjudicatively, jigsawing the jabs and jettisoning apprehensions they not-so-delicately divide up the labour, differing divergencies conditionally coordinated with concise collocation, the moment of truth ascends, departures and infiltrations seismically systematized, they shift into high gear, and tenaciously tear up the track.

I imagine Lucky Logan will find a supportive audience.

It's one of those films you can't help but love even if you really don't like it.

The situations and sequences and shivers and synergies are certainly well thought out, but it's like it blew a tire during the first lap yet continued trekking round and round, aimlessly sans objectif, the idea being much stronger than the execution, which is unfortunately resoundingly flat.

It has its moments, notably scenes with Daniel Craig (Joe Bang) or those involving a distressed warden irreverently operating in isolation.

It's fun to watch while the thieves engage, plus it's super Robin Hoody which is awesome.

But there are so many exchanges which seem like they should be hilarious, like you should be boisterously busting a gut, but it never really happens, it's just too plain, too dull.

Just my opinion though.

And I don't get it sometimes.

Love Lucky Logan, excel and thrive.

Daniel Craig does have multiple scenes.

I'm bloated.

Contagion

Wasn't that impressed with Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. It successfully manages several different plot threads and introduces a wide variety of characters, positioning them in various socio-political quadrants as they react to the spread of a devastating global plague, establishing friendships, watching as loved ones die, exploiting the situation for personal profit, falling victim to the ludicrous ambitions of a culture of desperation. It starts out well, getting right down to it, not spending much time investigating historical details while still encouraging interest within its accelerated format, disease, widespread contamination, diagnosis, containment. But as it unreels, it inconsistently delivers its subject matter, some scenes astutely demonstrating the talents of its superstar cast, others falling flat and causing you to wonder if Soderbergh ran out of time and didn't have the resources to encourage multiple takes. I suppose that if everything is 'normal,' or the world isn't distinctly suffering from the effects of a plague, and then the disease quickly spreads and disseminates chaos, it makes sense to have orderly and traditional opening scenes followed by poorly executed bourgeois hokum (the film itself is infected). This device can work exceptionally well if the director carefully crafts a seductive self-awareness. I didn't spot such self-awareness within Contagion, however. It seemed more like actors with established reputations running through the motions, as if they had taken Law and Order or CSI's format, tweaked it for the big screen, made a number of definitive, instantaneous, unalterable conclusions based upon a shallow degree of ready made research, waited for the content to easily slide into its manufactured mindsets, threw in something heroic yet disengaged, and gingerly cantered towards an incredible turn out at the box office. Some scenes and performances stand out and it was better than mediocre, but still, a very formulaic piece disguised as hip and innovative entertainment, quietly fading into the trivial.