Movies, Drama
The hype is well-deserved. Big Little Lies is a fantastic TV mini series. I highly recommended the series to a friend and she made the mistake of watching the last episode first. This was very unfortunate because rarely has a series done so well in gradually building up the tension and suspense, only to reach a dizzying climax in the final episode.Big Little Lies
Movies, Documentary
The most fundamental reason one paints is in order to see. –Brett Whiteley I had never heard of the painter Bret Whiteley. A new documentary is a fantastic portrait of a superb talent who was born in 1939 and died much too young at the age of 53 in a motel room. Once again it was drugs that finished creative man. I felt sad for him but much sadder for his daughter. I highly recommend the film because Whiteley no doubt was an innovator in 20th century painting. Here you can see some of his works displayed: LinkWhiteley
Diary, Politics
Peggy Noonan just published (May 18) this very strong piece in the WSJ. When the circus comes to Washington, it consumes everything, absorbs all energy. The president of the United States has produced a building crisis that is unprecedented in our history. The question, at bottom, is whether Donald Trump has demonstrated, in his first four months, that he is unfit for the presidency—wholly unsuited in terms of judgment, knowledge, mental capacity, personal stability. That epic question is then broken down into discrete and specific questions: Did he improperly attempt to interfere with an FBI criminal investigation, did his presidential campaign collude with a foreign government, etc.Peggy Noonan: “Democracy Is Not Your Plaything”
This will be unpleasantly earnest, but having witnessed the atmospherics the past 10 days it’s what I think needs saying:
Democracy is not your plaything.
This is not a game.
By BELLA DEPAULOMAY (NYT)
In a nation as divided and contentious as our own, it is rare to find a belief we all share. But trust in the transformative power of marriage is close to universal — and it has endured for decades. This isn’t just a matter of faith, we’ve been assured. It’s science. Research is said to have established what our fairy tales promised: Marry and you will live happily ever after. And you will be healthier, too.
A new study challenges the claim that people who marry get healthier.
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Diary, Politics
Not surprisingly but still disappointingly, the WSJ editorial pages wholeheartedly supported the firing of the FBI. The left-leaning predictably compared the firing to Watergate. Below are the two most interesting articles from this week. First the Guardian’s take on the week and then an opinion piece in the WSJ that argues that not FBI but congress should investigate whether Trump’s Russian connections constitute an impeachable offense.Good Summary of the Week: Trump fired director of the FBI who investigated the Trump campaign
Movies, Phantasy
As an adult you walk into Beauty and the Beast not expecting suspense how the story will end. Of course the beast will get the beauty in the end! The open questions are about their journey. What challenges will the couple face before their happy ending?
For me the best part of the movie had very little do with the two story itself. The makers of the film use the plot and the characters as an excuse to show off mesmerizing feats of imagination and creativity. The most stunning scene happens as the beauty (Emma Watson) takes her first dinner in the castle of the beast. She is alone. Only with the staff, who have been years transformed by curse some years ago from human beings into clocks, candle holders and walking closets. The beast is mad with fury in his quarters. We already have learned that the staff has a very strong incentive to ensure the beauty falls in love with the beast: If this happens before a rose dies the staff (and the prince who is trapped in the body of a beast) will be transformed again into their human form. But the rose has not much longer to live. I can assure you have never seen a staff figuratively and literally pulling out all the stops as in this scene. My gut feeling tells me that people behind Pixar movies had their hands in ‘cooking this scene”. In any case, go watch Beauty and the Beast have your iPhone ready and when this scene starts, record it on your phone. And next time when you get poor service at a restaurant, instead of complaining, ask the waiter or waitress to quickly watch this scene with you. This will give them clear ideas how you would like them to lift their service game.Beauty and the Beast
Travel, Africa
The weather is bad and I am dreaming of going to Mauritius…Dreaming of Mauritius