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.
Surprising New Finding: “Get Married, Get Healthy? Maybe Not.”
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.
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