Sloth, Maybe?

  NOTA BENE:   This review contains spoilers. Tribalism and alienation have been part of the youthful experience long before modern times. In the late 1970s, a teenage girl going by the name Christiane F. was interviewed by two journalists from Stern magazine about her experiences as a heroin addict and prostitute in the seedy Berlin Zoologischer Garten station - commonly known as Bahnhof Zoo.   The series of articles soon became the bestselling book Christiane F. - Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo (We, the Children from Bahnhof Zoo).   It was adapted into a film in 1981, which received great critical acclaim. Christiane’s misadventures were once again adapted into the 2021 miniseries Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo which was produced in part and released by Amazon Studios.   The series expands from Christiane being the sole protagonist to an ensemble cast of six and their individual experiences with life, love, drugs, joy, and sorrow. Christiane begins her adventure ne...

I was a bit groggy when Susan and I set out to the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom to see Mystery Science Theater 3000:  The Time Bubble Tour.   When we arrived, the ticket takers and security detail weren't very organized, which put me in a foul (but temporary) mood.  It was a ritual akin to going through airport security:  Metal detectors and plastic trays to put in your wallet, keys, and phone.  A woman ahead of me had to inform the security guard that she had a hip replacement.  Upon hearing that my mood went from foul to (temporarily) grim.  This woman was probably close to my age, and she had had a hip replacement.  Generation X is getting older, frailer, and already in need of spare parts. We boarded a spacious elevator with some of our fellow MSTies.  One woman was with her daughter and a friend discussing how her husband was off to see John Zorn do a live performance elsewhere in the city.  I am well familiar with Zorn's more n...

  I have a peculiar history with this Aztec deity. By Unknown author - Own work using: John Pohl's MESOAMERICA ANCIENT BOOKS: Borgia Group Codices CODEX LAUD, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103011319 In grade school, my pop was helping me with research for a school report about “The Conqistadors.”   You know, those guys who stopped imperialism and human sacrifice among the Aztecs by presenting their own brand of imperialism and human sacrifice rituals?   Ah, but that was called “conversion by the sword.”   I digress. The history book tailored for grade schoolers about Hernán Cortez said that he was mistaken for a god by the Aztecs.   The details are a little hazy, but it had something to do with their ships, their armor, their boom-sticks, smallpox… okay, I’m going off track again.   My point is, my pop and I started investigating the names of gods that the Aztecs actually worshipped.   The most prominent name w...

I remember seeing disaster-from-above films like Deep Impact and Armageddon in the nineties.   They follow the same formula:   A comet or asteroid the size of (enter large body of real estate here) is going to collide with the Earth in (enter sliver of time before doomsday here).   The wise leader of the free world takes the helm as a small crew of plucky scientists / astronauts / oil riggers that crack wise as they set a nuclear or seismic whatchamacallit on said asteroid of comet to fragment it or vaporize it.   They avoid total devastation by the skin of their teeth.   Swell of inspirational music by Aerosmith or some other schmaltzy 70s rock act and roll credits. In Don’t Look Up , I found myself laughing all the way to armageddon when I realized that the leader of the free world was asleep at the wheel.   Three scientists - heralds of doom - go unnoticed.   As for the general public, they bend where the winds of social media, algorithms, and tre...

There's something peculiar about me. Horror movies help me sleep. Metal albums help me sleep. Jello Biafra's politically charged spoken word albums help me sleep. I noticed this happen for the first time when I purchased a DVD for the horror movie The Oozing Skull .  In the film, the brain of a dying tycoon is graphically transferred from his aged  body into that of a super strong giant with a disfigured face. The first few times, I watched The Oozing Skull all the way through.  Then one day, after a long day's work, I popped The Oozing Skull into my player, hopped on to my couch and prepared myself for some heart pounding fun. I watched the prologue scene with the dying man in his hospital bed as he made preparations for immortality.  Then I watched the opening credits. The next thing I knew, I saw the caption "The End." What in the wha--? The next day, I tried watching it again.  Again, the last thing I remember seeing before the closing card were the openin...