knives out wake up dead man good spiritual film. Recently, I saw knives out wake up dead man on Netflix and was surprised at how poignant and special some of the scenes with the earnest priest were.
In many ways, it kind of reminds me of how this Uptrusting platform is trying to be.
In one scene, the earnest priest and the atheist detective are talking about the Catholic Church. A bit of a tense scene as I was watching with a devout Catholic with me as the detective named all the ills and lies of the church.
But at the end, the priest responds, "it's true these are all just likely stories and make believe pageantry. But the real question is whether these stories lead to a beautiful truth or a terrible lie?
It reminds me of Ernest Becker's Denial of Death where he takes an existential view that everything humans do from ambitious projects to having kids are attempts to avoid the vital lie of our mortality.
I asked at a Becker conference, is there any way out of this trap of whatever I do being based on a lie to avoid the truth of my mortality?
One scholar responded, I suppose it depends whether the vital lie is delusional or illuminating. Does it bring out truth or is it covering it over?
Anyway, strong recommend to the film. The detective who-done-it was also spectacular.
On intimacy and sex in movies and TV. I was watching a movie a few weeks ago, and after a reunion thing between a man and a woman happened, there was this implied sense of knowing each other, of real connection, and then they immediately jumped into bed. Something about this seemed totally off, and it occurred to me that sex in TV and movies is often used as a substitute for 'real' intimacy, that bc intimacy is so hard to do in real life, and likely harder in film, it's easier to just represent it with sex.
I suspect this has had a knock-on affect in that in consuming such representation, people have learned that the thing you do when you want to feel really connected/intimate with someone, is sleep with them. Ofc, this isn't the height of intimacy, but a pale reflection of what is possible, and it's ability to create a sense of connection varies wildly.
I think Lalo, from Better Call Saul, is the only deeply embodied villain I've ever seen portrayed on television. He's embodied in both the sense that he has strong physical energy in every scene, and also importantly the way the character seems to navigate the world through intelligent, but 'non-conscious' actions. He's like, a Taoist hero.
It sharply contrasts him with the other villain, Gus, who is a cerebral planner thinking everything through. This difference goes hand in hand with their conflict. I thought both actors portrayed their roles and their mindsets magnificently; here's a great analysis of the subtle ways that Tony Dalton brought that to the role https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddXnhoQ1I-4&ab_channel=JustanObservation
#quicktakes
Timeline of Events in Brian Thompson Assassination. On December 4, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The suspect, later identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, shot Thompson multiple times before fleeing on an e-bike. Thompson was pronounced dead shortly after. Mangione, who stayed in NYC for 10 days prior, was arrested on December 9 in Pennsylvania and charged with second-degree murder. The attack is believed to be a symbolic act targeting the healthcare industry.
It's too intimidating for men to be men. Alright, here’s one of my most controversial opinions, and I’m gonna try to take the filter off as much as possible:
Feminism has played out as retribution instead of solution. The Barbie movie is an entirely thorough example of what I’m talking about. You suppressed us, so we’re gonna use any means necessary to take over.
And then they recreated the same imbalance in its opposite.
I see most social movements do this too. True solutions to imbalances aren’t fair because they don’t have human-enacted payback. You suppressed us, so we’re going to move toward balance.
I’ve been spending about 2 years trying to set aside my learned default into my masculine energy (having grown up in highly feminist orange/green) and learn how to root in my feminine. But my feminine longs for a tether to something rooted. Masculine energy feels rooted, solid, grounded, and my feminine very much doesn’t (though it is held by a spacious ok-ness, but it’s so airy it easily gets chaotic when not balanced in connection with a grounded masculine.)
But I’ve had a hell of a time finding grounded healthy masculine men. Many of them can do it for a time, but then flee to an extreme, like angry resentment at one end and non-binary softness at the other end. And I think it’s because the culture has become super aggressive to men who are solidly men.
I Don't Have To. I’ve had an intellectual understanding that I don’t have to do things, but I’ve recently realized that it was tethered to old beliefs. I don’t have to visit my grandmother if I’m willing to be a bad granddaughter/bad person.
or I don’t have to buy my friend a birthday present if I’m willing to be a shitty friend.
I’m freshly looking at a new version of I don’t have to
which is just a literal seeing of reality without the tether. I don’t have to clean up my stepmother’s hoarding house after she dies.
It’s just true, I literally don’t have to.