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| source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_(film) |
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_(film)
- https://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Rosamund-Pike/dp/B08CMTQF2S
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6017756/
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Film: Radioactive (2019)
Sunday, July 26, 2020
All Things End
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| Photo by Melani Sosa on Unsplash |
Life is filled with beginnings...and endings.
Once broken, some things cannot be made whole again.
Some things can be mended - others cannot.
Some things - though treasured - can be stolen away, or may yet be broken beyond all repair.
T.S. Eliot once wrote:
"What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from."
Into the twilight I peer - and as the darkness gathers, I stand alone on the bow of my ship - sailing into the deepening gloom.
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| Hell, as depicted in the film "What Dreams May Come" |
To suffer loss - is an unavoidable part of the human condition.
To attempt to grasp something forever - our strength will eventually fail us.
Nature's natural course is to teach us that we must learn to let go - for nothing lasts forever.
To cherish the time that is given - whether for an hour, a day, or a season - is wisdom.
To demand that people must stay the same - is madness.
The cure for bitterness and despair - is to be found in gratitude. To be thankful for that which has been given and received. Sometimes that may be love, friendship, kindness - or a lesson that needed to be learned (although, not all lessons may be pleasant).
"Nothing you love is lost. Not really. Things, people—they always go away, sooner or later. You can’t hold them, any more than you can hold moonlight. But if they’ve touched you, if they’re inside you, then they’re still yours. The only things you ever really have are the ones you hold inside your heart."
~ Bruce Coville
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Try. Fail. Try Again.
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| Photo by Sushobhan Badhai on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/LrPKL7jOldI |
Even when you try to help others - It is easy for your intention to be misunderstood.
Try anyway.
Most people will ignore your attempts to engage with them - on behalf of helping others.
Try anyway.
Many people will not acknowledge your efforts to help them.
Try anyway.
There is merit in trying to help others.
You may fail in the attempt.
But others may see you trying - and do likewise.
That is why you must not stop trying.
From such actions - although through your personal lens your every attempt may seem to result in failure - it is in the unseen seeds of your actions - that hope may yet spring eternal.
Be The Light For Others.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
W. Somerset Maugham - Of Human Bondage
I have enjoyed several of the works of William Somerset Maugham that I have read.
There is a deliciousness in the oft found simple pleasures of his turn-of-phrase that one finds in his writing. Not always. Not everywhere - but they occur with a randomness that they are like surprise treats for a hungry soul - on a long journey.
For a writer - to read the work of such a master of prose - is one of the great joys of this life.
The crafting of story, character, plot - the intricate weaving of purpose, motivation, faults, and strengths - creating a tension that ensnares the attention of the mind from the realities of your daily life. This is the mark of true mastery in the craft of writing.
There is a deliciousness in the oft found simple pleasures of his turn-of-phrase that one finds in his writing. Not always. Not everywhere - but they occur with a randomness that they are like surprise treats for a hungry soul - on a long journey.
For a writer - to read the work of such a master of prose - is one of the great joys of this life.
The crafting of story, character, plot - the intricate weaving of purpose, motivation, faults, and strengths - creating a tension that ensnares the attention of the mind from the realities of your daily life. This is the mark of true mastery in the craft of writing.
I have only read some of the chapters in this book so far - but will enjoy coming back to it to read it more fully.
"a 1934 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and is widely regarded by critics as the film that made Bette Davis a star. The screenplay by Lester Cohen is based on the 1915 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025586/
Monday, July 20, 2020
Sunday, July 19, 2020
President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson - on tRump's Racism
President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, has a message for people who are excusing President Trump's racism:
"I had fully intended to ignore President Trump’s latest round of racially charged taunts against an African American elected official, and an African American activist, and an African American journalist and a whole city with a lot of African Americans in it. I had every intention of walking past Trump’s latest outrages and writing about the self-destructive squabbling of the Democratic presidential field, which has chosen to shame former vice president Joe Biden for the sin of being an electable, moderate liberal.
But I made the mistake of pulling James Cone’s 'The Cross and the
Lynching Tree' off my shelf — a book designed to shatter convenient
complacency. Cone recounts the case of a white mob in Valdosta, Ga., in
1918 that lynched an innocent man named Haynes Turner. Turner’s enraged
wife, Mary, promised justice for the killers. The sheriff responded by
arresting her and then turning her over to the mob, which included women
and children. According to one source, Mary was 'stripped, hung upside
down by the ankles, soaked with gasoline, and roasted to death. In the
midst of this torment, a white man opened her swollen belly with a
hunting knife and her infant fell to the ground and was stomped to
death.'
God help us. It is hard to write the words. This evil — the evil of white supremacy, resulting in dehumanization, inhumanity and murder — is the worst stain, the greatest crime, of U.S. history. It is the thing that nearly broke the nation. It is the thing that proved generations of Christians to be vicious hypocrites. It is the thing that turned normal people into moral monsters, capable of burning a grieving widow to death and killing her child.
When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame. It is the violation of martyrs’ graves. It is obscene graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. It is, in the eyes of history, the betrayal — the re-betrayal — of Haynes and Mary Turner and their child. And all of this is being done by an ignorant and arrogant narcissist reviving racist tropes for political gain, indifferent to the wreckage he is leaving, the wounds he is ripping open.
Like, I suspect, many others, I am finding it hard to look at resurgent racism as just one in a series of presidential offenses or another in a series of Republican errors. Racism is not just another wrong. The Antietam battlefield is not just another plot of ground. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is not just another bridge. The balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel is not just another balcony. As U.S. history hallows some causes, it magnifies some crimes.
What does all this mean politically? It means that Trump’s divisiveness is getting worse, not better. He makes racist comments, appeals to racist sentiments and inflames racist passions. The rationalization that he is not, deep down in his heart, really a racist is meaningless. Trump’s continued offenses mean that a large portion of his political base is energized by racist tropes and the language of white grievance. And it means — whatever their intent — that those who play down, or excuse, or try to walk past these offenses are enablers.
Some political choices are not just stupid or crude. They represent the return of our country’s cruelest, most dangerous passion. Such racism indicts Trump. Treating racism as a typical or minor matter indicts us."
— Michael Gerson
God help us. It is hard to write the words. This evil — the evil of white supremacy, resulting in dehumanization, inhumanity and murder — is the worst stain, the greatest crime, of U.S. history. It is the thing that nearly broke the nation. It is the thing that proved generations of Christians to be vicious hypocrites. It is the thing that turned normal people into moral monsters, capable of burning a grieving widow to death and killing her child.
When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame. It is the violation of martyrs’ graves. It is obscene graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. It is, in the eyes of history, the betrayal — the re-betrayal — of Haynes and Mary Turner and their child. And all of this is being done by an ignorant and arrogant narcissist reviving racist tropes for political gain, indifferent to the wreckage he is leaving, the wounds he is ripping open.
Like, I suspect, many others, I am finding it hard to look at resurgent racism as just one in a series of presidential offenses or another in a series of Republican errors. Racism is not just another wrong. The Antietam battlefield is not just another plot of ground. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is not just another bridge. The balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel is not just another balcony. As U.S. history hallows some causes, it magnifies some crimes.
What does all this mean politically? It means that Trump’s divisiveness is getting worse, not better. He makes racist comments, appeals to racist sentiments and inflames racist passions. The rationalization that he is not, deep down in his heart, really a racist is meaningless. Trump’s continued offenses mean that a large portion of his political base is energized by racist tropes and the language of white grievance. And it means — whatever their intent — that those who play down, or excuse, or try to walk past these offenses are enablers.
Some political choices are not just stupid or crude. They represent the return of our country’s cruelest, most dangerous passion. Such racism indicts Trump. Treating racism as a typical or minor matter indicts us."
— Michael Gerson
Friday, July 03, 2020
Movie Recommendation: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
I watched this movie last night on Netflix
I usually do not find Will Ferrell's movies to be that good - especially when he is in a lead role.
But, even though this movie is a bit sappy, a bit corny - there is a gentle sweetness to it.
A wholesome goodness.
And, it does not have any glorified violence.
Well, if you exclude that one moment, allegedly, with the elves...but, he had it coming.
Anyway - I highly recommend this movie - it is a goodness for your soul.
And, the singing (features appearances from many past Eurovision
Loved Graham Norton's bit in this movie (see his actual, real-life bits from the real Eurovision Song Contest in 2015).
And, the scene on the boat, between father and son - priceless.
Some more information that might be of interest:
- https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/every-real-reference-in-eurovision-the-story-of-fire-saga.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BAsav%C3%ADk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest
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