It looks like my alien overlords have ignored my warnings to remain inconspicuous and decided to have a little fun with my neighbors. I keep telling them that they’re putting the entire invasion plan at risk with these shenanigans, but they just wave their pseudopods dismissively and order me to find them another abductee.
Director Neil Blomkamp gives us another politically-minded science fiction romp with Elysium. We meet Max, an ex-con living in the blighted Los Angeles of 2154. The Earth is an environmental and economic wreck, the super-wealthy departed long ago to live on Elysium, an orbital habitat where everything is sunshine and dinner parties. Max gets a lethal dose of radiation at the factory where he works and his only hope of survival is to somehow get to Elysium and use one of the magical med-pods that furnish every rich person’s living room. And so Max decides to take that One Last Job that might earn him a ticket to space.
Blomkamp also directed District 9, another science fiction film that had a political subtext. District 9 managed to convey its message with a light touch and even some humor, but Elysium is a bit more heavy-handed. It still works quite well as an action movie, particularly in the first two-thirds. It’s when Blomkamp tries to drive home his message about how everyone deserves to be treated decently by society that the eye-rolling begins. Still, Matt Damon delivers a compelling performance and it’s fun to watch Sharlto Copley, who played a nebbish bureaucrat in District 9, swagger across the screen here as a psychopathic mercenary.
Somebody also needs to explain to me how a space station can maintain an atmosphere without any visible enclosure. Because that really bugged me.
The latest trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity has already sold a future ticket to me. In what looks like a single tracking shot, we see a space shuttle mission quickly go south as orbital debris wreaks havoc on everything, sending astronaut Sandra Bullock flying into space while fellow astronaut George Clooney does his utmost to remain calm amidst the chaos. It’s a gorgeous yet terrifying scene that reminds me a bit of another continuous shot in Cuaron’s Children of Men that had film geeks feeling faint. Let’s hope the rest of the movie is just as gripping.
Here’s the trailer:
I recently cancelled my subscriptions to World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was never much of a hardcore MMORPG player, but I did enjoy the exploration and story-based elements of these games. It was a pleasant way to while away a weekend afternoon. Over time, though, playing these games felt more like tedium than entertainment. Weeks or months could go by between log-ins. I eventually realized that it didn’t make sense to pay a monthly fee for games I play only sporadically.
It’s not as if I have a shortage of other games to occupy me. But I’m more inclined to play games that can be picked up and put down easily, like FTL and Dungeons of Dreadmor. I seem to be getting more impatient in my old age.
Over at the Amazon Daily Washington Post, Sarah Kliff has a great piece about the young people who are trying to persuade their peers to not sign up for Obamacare. Funded by conservative groups like FreedomWorks, these college kids are doing their best to keep young people out of the insurance marketplaces, which will drive up insurance premiums for everyone else. They are even co-opting a bit of Sixties counterculture symbolism in an effort to drive their message home. They invite people to burn their “Obamacare cards” as a gesture of civil disobedience. But like a lot of conservative attempts to borrow from youth culture, this effort has all the forced awkwardness of Mitt Romney showing up at the Pitchfork Music Festival in a faded Replacements T-shirt.
Let’s set aside the fact that Obamacare cards don’t exist, which requires activists to mock up and print out their own cards for burning. They are trying to draw parallels between refusing to participate in an unpopular war and screwing yourself over by not obtaining health insurance because freedom and stuff. Maybe I’m underestimating the potency of their message and in the fall we’ll see wall-to-wall coverage of people taking a lighter to their fake Obamacare cards. But I’m guessing that most Millennials are smart enough to figure out what’s in their best interest.
I’m among those who aren’t terribly familiar with Peter Capaldi, the Scottish actor who will play the 12th iteration of the good Doctor. Like a lot of fans, I was hoping we might get someone other than a white male, but that may have to wait until showrunner Stephen Moffet hands over the reins to someone else. In the meantime, it will be refreshing to see an older actor in the role after watching a string of younger dudes bring varying levels of manic energy to their interpretations. Matt Smith had a great run, but his sudden shifts from mischievous hyperactivity to solemn speechifying could give me whiplash at times.
And perhaps we can get Armando Iannucci to pen an episode. I’d love to see the Doctor unleash an expletive-laden diatribe on some hapless alien bureaucrat.
The latest trailer for the final season of Breaking Bad does a great job of foreshadowing what is likely to be a bleak ending. Bryan Cranston (Walter White) reads from Shelly’s “Ozymandias”, a poem about an empire in ruins. I’ve been watching the early episodes and had forgotten how quickly White descends from average guy to violent criminal. It’s not a story about a guy who goes astray in a misguided effort to provide for his family. It’s a story about a guy who finally embraces the darker self that he kept repressed so long.
Here’s the trailer:
The Strib looks at the recent attention given to Minneapolis in media outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Buzzfeed. The Buzzfeed list is rather meh (although I’ve experienced #7—the awkward talk with your parents after passing by Sex World), but the WSJ piece is a good travelogue for a weekend in the city. Minneapolis is experiencing a bit of urban renewal as the economy recovers, so the press comes at a good time. Like a lot of longtime residents, I often take the city for granted. So an outsider’s perspective helps remind me that I’m lucky to be here.
And not to worry, people of St. Paul. I’m sure someone will do a write-up on whatever it is you do in your quaint little hamlet.
Constituent service is one of the more mundane responsibilities of Congressional members, but it’s a vital service for the people they represent. When people have trouble with their Social Security or veteran benefits, they can call their representative or senator and expect to receive assistance. However, some GOP members have decided that they will not assist people who have issues with obtaining health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Here’s a couple choice quotes from Republican representatives:
“Given that we come from Kansas, it’s much easier to say, ‘Call your former governor,'” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R), referring to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
“You say, ‘She’s the one. She’s responsible. She was your governor, elected twice, and now you reelected the president, but he picked her.'” Huelskamp said.
“We know how to forward a phone call,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
Conservatives’ pathological opposition to the ACA is one thing, but refusing to help constituents access a legitimate government program is breathtaking in its nihilism. It’s yet another example of the sabotage mentality that has consumed the Tea Party faction. It’s also another reason for the Obama administration to ensure that it runs an effective outreach campaign that bypasses the intransigence of elected officials.
“Given that we come from Kansas, it’s much easier to say, ‘Call your former governor,'” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R), referring to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
“You say, ‘She’s the one. She’s responsible. She was your governor, elected twice, and now you reelected the president, but he picked her.'” Huelskamp said.
“We know how to forward a phone call,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/305777-gop-to-constituents-questions-on-obamacare-call-obama?wpisrc=nl_wonk_b#ixzz2aeSGonOn
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I’m getting a new bed to replace the 20-year-old model. But this presents certain logistical problems. The equipment vendor won’t take away the old bed and I don’t have room to store it. I can probably give it away via Craigslist or donate it, but I don’t want to have a hospital bed taking up space in my living room for several days. It’s times like this when I wish I had a garage.