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Sharlken Barkem Nargotam! Making up words is easy when you listen to drunken writers and comedians speak in tongues to do invocations against REALLY mean and sassy skeletons. Speaking of that fact, know my truth….  BONES ARE THEIR MONEY…. here’s Bozo Dubbed over PART II. But yeah, lotta nonsense there. Harmontown and “I Think You Should Leave” YEAH YOU KNOW ME.

But also, not much nonsense in here. We all get the political newsletters and painful reality checks.

Now for something completely different:

SPACE

 

 

  • Sorry, but gotta share Perseverance doing stuff:

  • This is not fake, but it is unreal.

 

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

  • The World Health Organization has traced Covid-19 virus all the way back to Southern China Wildlife Farms, and yes, I am acting like an actor saying something out loud after the computer below just stated *on screen* what you were all going to read anyway. But hey… bat guano, man.  Read “The Hot Zone”, or if you like visual Cliff Notes, there’s apparently a new series, and I bet it’s paywalled on Apple. NO APPLE I WILL NOT, but the clip is a listen shorter than my lead in here, so:

  • Carl Sagan explains the experiment in how they were able to understand the earth was not flat…

“How the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round. All you need is sticks, eyes, feet and brains.”

 

The abstract is here: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1707/1707.00934.pdf

 

 

  • David Bowie, 1999 – on the internet:

 

Movies and Television

 

  • One of the more exciting finds is that Season 1 of “Resident Alien” with Alan Tudyk just wrapped, and it’s renewed for a second season. It’s a darkly charming and wild romp of an Alien on earth failing it’s immediate mission, and having to blend in amongst humans to finish it. That’s *ZERO* spoilers… you’ll get that in the first 20 seconds. But they pull off some wild concepts well, and ALAN WILL WIN AN EMMY. We all adore him (especially as you learn he’s in the Alien universe below), but this is the perfect showcase and he’s SO WEIRD, and funny… it’s like watching Vincent D’Onofrio from Men in Black crossed with someone who doesn’t see ANY social queues. MASSIVE RECOMMENDATION

 

  • ALIEN, Disney’s next mega-franchise. WHOOOooo Boy. To save 10,000 words of excitement and insight, I’m thrilled. Please greenlight Alien: Isolation about Ripley’s daughter searching for her between the events of Alien and Aliens, and Neil Blomkamp’s Alien 5. Thank you. Then, couple that to Noah Hawley showrunning the Hulu series that takes place on earth?

“This expansion of Alien will go hand in hand with more Predator projects, too. Remember, 10 Cloverfield Lane‘s Dan Trachtenberg is already working on a movie”.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/disney-reportedly-alien-megafranchise/

If we actually saw a R rated Predator crossover, or series? Ooph. Then dig into the IP to tie up Alien, Predator, Angel/Buffy, Firefly/Serenity (Weyland Yutani is in both those universes), Blade Runner, and the “Soldier” side-quel, they have QUITE the interconnected universe. Ok. I am almost rabbit holed on this for proof, but… I did actually rabbit hole here, with evidence, and it’s the prior hyperlink of text on the universe.

 

  • This is easily one of the most jaw dropping things I’ve ever seen, and I think it’s this tricky interplay of The Expanse doing physics so well, what we watched with the SN10 looked overly cinematic, like a movie, when it’s just the faithful representation of physics in the show. This side by side is impossible to relate… just unreal where reality sits at right now. Couldn’t figure whether to put into space, or here. ALMOST DID IT IN BOTH, because I think this is my favorite thing in this week’s Newsletter.

 

 

  • Training Day just hit Netflix and if you’ve not seen, or haven’t rewatched since its release, it has aged unbelievably well. With police brutality, policing conversations, systemic racism, corruption, and even Russians… it’s held up brilliantly. https://www.netflix.com/title/60021234 Also, Macy Gray deserved a few awards for that brief role! =)

 

  • Prospect and Predator one pages for films / cover art. She also does conceptual art, and the stuff is wonderful

ARTIST—-> https://www.instagram.com/lauriegreasley/

 

Image

 

WHEN YOU SEE IT! SERIOUSLY LOOK FOR A BIT (same artist)

 

  • If you’re note into Oscar films in the run up to that very, very important show (jokes!)… 1996’s “The Arrival” that got buried by Independence Day a month earlier is Directed by David Twohy, starring Charlie Sheen in what is likely his best acting role, and a solid B-movie of sci-fi, action, aliens, that all holds up pretty well!

 

MUSIC

  • 1948 – 1966, 83% of the music in this collection is not digitized and not available in any form.

This 7 1/2 minute documentary on the largest record collection in the world is amazing, and somewhat sad.

THE ARCHIVE from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

 

 

Still, it’s a white whale of an album, and YES I WOULD PLAY IT.

 

  • I was thinking that the next Burning Man, the old joke “Daft Punk is playing at the fence” might actually happen as an in joke. LOL Could you imagine? Until then, Get Lucky on a calculator and thanks JOE!

 

  • Inside Baseball? This will hit 1-3 friends, all DJs. But Bobby Oroza is in Oslo, like 9hrs by train and fjord ferry, but seriously it’s an hour flight and Espen Horne is up in them hills still toting the Kinny and Horne lounge vibe, and the most demonstrably ferocious Hammond driven funky soul jazz since… err.. soul jazz. Bobby Hughes Experience plus Bobby Oroza please.

 

GAMES

  • Train Valley is a relaxing puzzle game I really enjoy. That is all.
  • Capcom’s resilience must be from a strong internal corporate philosophy. I believe I watch more interviews with their devs talking about the games than playing them. In this case, we’re looking at an unbelievably beautiful Resident Evil 8: Village. Whether you like horror survival, it does look like a masterpiece already. We’ll see… I’m not a pre-order not immediately buy guy. But during the pandemic, I’ve played and beaten RE2 Remake and RE7:Biohazard. They were, get this… enjoyable experiences. I understand people who like horror are coping better during the pandemic. I certainly realized my brain has had a pretttty, pretttttty, prettttty easy time in life so far, so this was not super. I wouldn’t call myself better prepared for it, just because I like post-apocalyptic disaster films. Half-Life:Alyx in VR was like that… a worse reality than ours by MILES.  And after playing Alien: Isolation in VR and Simulacra-adjacent literally being chased by a Xenomorph around a failing space station losing orbit was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done, and the most fun media experience ever. Because the moral of the story… IT CAN ALWAYS GET WORSE.  Resident Evil 8 looks beautiful, but maybe too scary?  I am sure it’s “light” inventory updates, but after No Man’s Sky and Skyrim I’m over inventory control games.  https://www.gamesradar.com/inside-resident-evil-village-capcoms-attempt-to-create-the-best-survival-horror-game-to-date

 

  • Epic Games Store has some unbelievable free games. (link below) I get what they’re doing… take games off first run interest, make them free, grab people into your ecosystem. I’m not sure what would break me out of Steam at this point. And Steam has a bunch of BRILLIANT VR games, like “The Lab”. So fun. But Epic has been doing a great job, and this list of many-varied genre stellar games that are free is worth a waltz into that ecosystem: https://gamerant.com/epic-games-stores-free-fall-surviving-mars-cycle/

 

Culture and Society

 

“Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.”

 

  • This article is simply depressing, that the psychological / mental rift of QAnon and some other fringe people might be too forgone to ever reach again. =(  —>

“My Mom Believes In QAnon. I’ve Been Trying To Get Her Out. Because she sees me as a member of “the liberal media,” it’s impossible to persuade her.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albertsamaha/qanon-parents-millennial-children

As I went to publish this… LA Times article on the heels of that longform:

Parents, spouses and siblings feel like a cult ensnared their loved ones, and are unsure if they should intervene or focus on protecting their own mental health. Lonely & isolated, family members have been seeking support wherever they can find it., QAnon’s ‘collateral damage’: Families struggle to pull loved ones back from the brink: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/post-trump-qanon-conspiracy-side-effects-divide-families

 

  • SPOILERS MAYBE: The last episode of Wandavision was fantastic in addressing some philosophical issues about how stale “good vs evil” is, in our modern world. Marvel has tried to struggle with conflict, and the notion of intent, such as whether accidental actions can be cruel or evil? And I won’t even get into the Tannhauser Gate stuff… I’ll say it’s probably a clue, so think about it. That being said, the philosophical concept of the “Ship of Theseus” is a favorite riddle, to me, about the experience of both existence and the human condition.

So, color me surprised when Inverse went whole hog on the philosophical concepts as tied to MCU, and talks about the developing philosophical complexities and notions within the universe, inclusive of Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue Ethics, and identity. It’s likely academic enough, and about other MCU films, to not totally ruin it, but thar be spoilers, for sure.  Maybe bookmark the link and then consider it after the series runs its course for you: https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/wandavision-just-changed-the-mcu-in-1-major-philosophical-way/amp

 

  • It is so fascinating that our fame culture devolved from talking about the art… to talking about the person. This Johnny Carson interview deals less with quirky real-life situations (Oh man! I was pulled over and I’m just like you!), vs this sort of brilliant conversation about the craft and the complexity, because the audience still cared about the cinema as artform vs human as a famous person. This is remarkable:

 

 

 

 

 

The 3-D recreation of the Antikythera mechanism.

 

  • Service employees are treated poorly, example #203. But this is a great response. Have fun with Karens!

r/rareinsults - A local brewery’s response to a customer complaint.

 

NFTs

 

 

 

 

STAND UP COMEDY

  • “Up and coming” (ie grinding it out forever now) San Francisco Stand-Up Comic Mark Smalls. Guess what? HE HAS A PODCAST! Guess what? Everyone does and there’s too many to figure out! But he’s brilliant, will catch you off guard, and reminds me of Mitch Hedberg. You’ll see him again when we’re back at live shows. I think Cobb’s and Punchline both made it. 12 minutes, but TIGHT set.

 

  • Shayne Smith about neck tattoos, approx 3mins:

whole 38m special: https://youtu.be/vXYEqHgWcSg

 

 

For Americans still waiting for infrastructure week

In Japan, making an above ground train line into a subway in 3 hours time:

Dutch tunnel build in a weekend:

 

CRAZY PEOPLE

  • WHO DID THIS? Order now!

Secret Jewish Space Laser Corps Enamel Pin

SPEAKING ABOUT CRAZY PEOPLE…. QAnon and MAGA:

a) Do not want to take the Vaccine.

b) Get angry and reacts when Biden says take the vaccine.

c) HOWEVER DESPERATELY want Trump to get credit *for* the vaccine, in lieu of literally dismantling every single response to the pandemic and taking zero role in anything beyond disinformation. For example, telling people not to take the vaccine, AFTER TAKING THE VACCINE!!!

d) Then, they cheer when Trump says “take the vaccine”. And actually more complex than that for sure, because his Q-Anon and MAGA people are confused as we’ve ever seen anyone.

 

 

CAMPBELLS WOKE CULTURE ON LOCK BACK IN 1990s

Can we end with the fact, in celebration of a hip hop / rap song, that even though a deodorant commercial has evolved to singing to their demographic (I think it is Speed Stick). But Campbell’s Soup has been using hip hop and rap since the mid 90s…. a LOT. I could only find 3, but there’s a chicken noodle soup one I know existed. Here’s a few 17 second commercial spots:

By Uncle FishbitsCategories: advertising art Astronomy Beautiful &/or Wonderful brands business Content Cosmology Food / Beverage futurism health and nutrition Insane movies music Nature philosophy Physics politics science tech television Uncategorized video games virtual reality