#33 Musings from the Bunker (Thursday May 20)
Good morning!
A HAPPY CUSTOMER
This makes me happy, from Chris Maling:
“This is great stuff! I look forward to my Daily GS email with a large mug of my of my non-fat Latte with and extra shot to start my morning.” Happy to be there with you, Chris!
QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
The problem with seeking to succeed by presenting better ideas in the policy debate is that, well, you actually have to have some ideas. Whatever else they may be, lies and grievances and manufactured enemies are not ideas...
--Peter Bain
FAVORITE RECENT MOVIE REVIEW
From Adam Torson (who thinks Star Wars is an epic of grand and apparently meaningful proportion, so take this with a grain of salt). Here are excerpts from his review (it’s too long to quote in its entirety) of the much-heralded 1917, set during World War I:
“1917 is just a shorter version of Lord of the Rings, starring pudgy Ben Shapiro. : ). A long, often tedious journey full of peril and occasionally war, and everyone has British accents and it’s olden times. In addition:
1. War is bad.
2. There was a dead dog outside the farmhouse, I think you may have deceived me on purpose. I had asked and been assured there were no animal death scenes.
3. The guy who dies at the farmhouse is pudgy Ben Shapiro.
4. The guy who makes it to the end is pudgy Steven Merchant.
5. They have aerial photos of the new lines, why not just fly the orders calling off the attack? It's only nine miles, it would take a few minutes.
6. When he jumps in the river it's dark, when he gets out it's light. How long was he in there?
7. His playing around with the baby and stopping for the soloist's performance cost the lives of hundreds or thousands that didn't have to die in the first wave, I hope he knows their blood is on his hands.
8. Short cameos from big stars, wut evs.
9. What was the deal with all the random Germans in the town with the lady and the baby? Also they are terrible shots.
10. So they get blown half to death to walk to the farmhouse, and then like 30 guys roll up in trucks? Who is running logistics in this operation? Fog of war, I suppose.
11. Everyone seems to be wearing much more clothing than is convenient or practical.
12. I give it a B. Held my attention, but a lot of tedious dreading over lonely violin music and contemplating the enormity of the tragedy. And I wasn't impressed by the cinematography, I'm not sure I would have noticed it if I hadn't been told about it…”
FOR A BETTER STORY OF WORLD WAR I
Try They Shall Not Grow Old, a true gift from the acclaimed director, Peter Jackson. Ostensibly a documentary about the war, the magic is how Jackson takes old herky-jerky black and white film and smooths out the speed, rids it of pops and flashes and subtly colorizes it. It is a wonder. This 2-minute trailer is worth watching for the effect alone: