Night on Earth: A Door's Howl Review

Source: Indiewire (review here)

Synopsis

Night on Earth is a Netflix documentary series. Like many nature documentaries it follows a narrated story of animal interaction. Unlike other documentaries Night on Earth utilizes latest camera technologies capturing animals at night. Using infrared, extreme light sensitivity and thermal image cameras the Night on Earth footage is incredible.

I'm 3 episodes in to the 6 episode series and I am blown away. Here are just a few highlights:

• The incredible footage of cheetahs hunting at night, 
• The spectacular colors of scorpions in ultraviolet light, 
• The bioluminescent beauty of mushrooms and frogs
• The amazing blooming of cactus flowers under moonlit skies 
• The wondrous "roar" of a scorpion killing mouss

This series reveals the natural world in a powerful and beautiful way. Yes, it's a nature show, so you will see animals hunting each other, killing each other and living together. But I wouldn't hide it from kids, it's all part of learning. And they just might surprise you. As one of my own son's said after watching a lioness take down a Wildebeest, "What a John Cena move!" He doesn't even watch wrestling that I know of, so yes, surprising!

Since this comes on the heels of a recent post about the importance of the environment, I think this is worth watching. It's beautiful and educational. The narrator, Samira Wiley, is excellent, with the same gravitas and beauty of David Attenborough. The footage is well shot leaving me wondering how they got what they got. The stories are written to evoke emotion and they do a good job. It's a great documentary.

Now to go watch episode 4!

Score

Night on Earth scores a New Moon.

Scoring System

Wolves are thought to commonly howl at the moon. So, the better the moon, the greater the howl. Description of scoring system below.

Full Moon - best you can get, must watch and must own
New Moon - great movie, worth seeing and buying
Crescent Moon - average to above average, good to watch, but may want to wait for DVD
Sliver Moon - below average, not worth seeing and only get it on DVD when you have nothing better to do, like having a root canal
Moonless Night -not even worth mentioning - avoid at all costs!

Happy new year and a little controversy!

Photo by Carson Arias on Unsplash

Happy new year everyone!

Welcome to a new year and a new decade!

The arrival of 2020 brings with it much anticipation, excitement and trepidation: three words that all mean the same thing and totally different things at the same time. I hope your new year starts off well and grows in success every month.

Netflix has removed Friends from its streaming options and ended the #2 streamed show on its service. I have been watching regularly as I thoroughly enjoy the show, but have no fear - I own the DVDs.

Now to that controversial piece! Probably, the most controversial thing I will say all year.

I think Rachel should have ended up with Joey!

There! I said it.

I think the Ross-Rachel ending was wrong. Yes, yes, they were the biggest romance of season 1 and 2. But the painful break up (were they on a break or not!) and fighting was painful to watch. And the love expressed between Rachel and Joey was something real, deep and wholesome. I think they should have been together. Sorry Kevin Bright, Martha Kauffman and David Crane. I just don't buy it!

What do you think?

1. Who should Rachel have chosen (Ross, Joey, No one because who needs a man anyway)?
2. Were they on a break?
3. How did they afford those apartments anyway?

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker: A Door's Howl Review (No Specific Spoilers)

Photo by Agnieszka Kowalczyk on Unsplash

Door's Howl Review: Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker

A spoiler alert: I have tried to write this review without any specific spoilers, especially of movie plot lines. However, I do reference generalized thoughts and directorial decisions which may be viewed by some as spoilers. Therefore, move ahead under caution.

Synopsis

It is the last of the Star Wars main story arc movies. Faced with outrage from the Episode VIII poor performance (at least to purists), J.J. Abrams returns as director. The movie is fast paced with typical humor inserted elements for which Abrams is known. It pays homage to past characters, past battles and even revisits planets and scenes from previous movies.

As I said, it is fast paced. The movie is 2h21m, and doesn't let up in action all the way through. At times it feels squeezed and everything is being crammed into a predetermined time limit. It possibly could have benefitted from an extra 20 minutes. We follow the resistance across the galaxy as they fight the First Order and once again we see the two sides of the force at war.

I found the movie choppy and rushed and personally didn't think it was good. On the other hand, my family all loved it and thought it was great. Perhaps this is what happens with a movie arc that is 42 years long. Star Wars is a movie for kids, and the kid within us. It's fantastic, spectacular and amazing, but when you engage your disbelief, it kind of fails. Perhaps my own joy would have increased with a more emphatic audience (no cheers, no celebration, no shock, just...silence...even at the end with a muted smattering of applause led by one of my own children, which never went further than that). Maybe, it is better than I thought. You be your own judge.

There was one phrase, that repeats throughout the movie that seemed to be a prophetic challenge to the ordinary person: there are more of us than they want you to think there are. We are not victims and at the mercy of armies, tyrants and leaders...we have power...together. This was a moment worth cheering for in the movie (but alas...our audience was quiet)! I found this little piece of commentary on our times well done and powerfully displayed. We can always resist evil, and there are more good people than bad...we just need to realize we are not alone.

Perhaps I need to see it again to get a better experience!

As IMDB stated for the plot line: the resistance faces the First Order in the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga.

That sums it up quite well.

I hope you go and enjoy it!

P.S. I am sure Lego will make another small fortune off the figures and models from this movie...there are tons!

Score

Episode IX scores a New Moon.

Scoring System

Wolves are thought to commonly howl at the moon. So, the better the moon, the greater the howl. Description of scoring system below.

Full Moon - best you can get, must watch and must own
New Moon - great movie, worth seeing and buying
Crescent Moon - average to above average, good to watch, but may want to wait for DVD
Sliver Moon - below average, not worth seeing and only get it on DVD when you have nothing better to do, like having a root canal
Moonless Night -not even worth mentioning - avoid at all costs!

A window to my past: Stranger Things Thoughts

Photo by Puneeth Shetty on Unsplash

So, I'm late to the Stranger Things party and only just getting into season 2 (second episode, so no spoilers please!).

But as I watch this complex, well written, wonderfully interesting show with too many jump scares and not enough real scares, it reminds me of my teenage years. It feels surreal to look into a time when I was a teenager and things from my past.  Things like movies I remember, events of my teens and the clothing (oh my word we were weird - stove pipe jeans anyone)!

I have enjoyed Stranger Things and my oldest son and I watch it together. It's a great bonding time as we explore the Upside Down world, try to make sense of the monsters and who really is the bad guy in the show. And mostly, I enjoy every now and then just getting my own jump scare on my oldest, which requires a lot of laughter and rewinding to watch what we missed.

Some of those surreal times were the arcade scenes in episode 1 and 2. Who remembers Dig Dug and Centipede. I hated Centipede, but loved Dig Dug. I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to play Dragon's Lair, but agreed with the sentiment that it was a money sink hole. I must say, I don't remember the cartoon princess though.

Anyway, that's a window into my past as I watch Stranger Things. 

What do you think about Stranger Things and do you have any recommendations for what to watch next?

New Amsterdam: simplistic answers or profound simplicity

Photo by Richard Catabay on Unsplash

I am currently watching New Amsterdam. Spoiler alerts follow.

I love it.

The show captured me in the first season with a new medical director who arrives at a massive hospital called New Amsterdam. On his first day he fires the entire billing department, cardiac department and provides increases of interns and attendants. His catch phrase is "How can I help?" He is harassed by board members, but as the hero of the show, begins to gain popularity and influence. He is also hiding cancer from everyone. All that happens in episode 1 of season 1 and about 5 minutes into the episode.

The show deals with a variety of issues: adoption, foster care, psychiatry, gender issues, addiction, relationships, lying, racism, family values, multiculturalism, religion and grief to name a few.

For example:
When faced with the problem of the rise of African-American heart disease and the problems of health care for African-Americans that has grown out of systemic racism of the past, the show offers an intriguing solution: have hypertension diagnosed and prescription medication prescribed by people African American men trust - their barbers. Medical help provided with the oversight of the doctor involved. The hospital board chair is obviously furious and accuses the medical director of "decentralizing and de-professionalizing health care".

Another example:
Season 2 focuses on grief and how to deal with the love of a lost one. They delve into illusion, denial, anger, bargaining, anxiety, withdrawal and a host of other issues. This story line is a story arc of the second season, so I don't know how it resolves yet. But it is fascinating and intriguing.

I find myself pondering the problems and the solutions the show poses. Are the solutions fictional nonsense and simplistic answers OR are they profound in their simplicity and reveal a lack of courage on our part to really fix the problems we face.

I personally believe it's the latter. We are afraid to try as people. We are afraid to attempt solutions out of fear for what might go wrong, or what might not work. We are afraid. I find the show pushes me to face that fear and to at least try something. Try to make a difference. Try to find a solution. Try to contribute.

And before any of you Star Wars fans send me meme's from Yoda, when I say try, I mean do.

What problems face you these days? Are you afraid to try something? Why not try it and see what happens? Maybe it will be simplistic nonsense, but maybe, just maybe, it will be a profound solution that changes your world, or those you are trying to help.

The One Eyed Man

Photo by Jeremy Lishner on Unsplash

"In a world of blind people, the one eyed man is king"

But what is the blind person in a seeing world?

A few days ago I used 5th grade music as an analogy for politics. Today, I had the joy of watching the Ashland 7th, 8th and High School bands perform. Each band showed improvement, progression and variation from the other and from their own previous versions. Attending these concerts is a cultural mystery to me because I did not grow up in  a musical household and I myself am not musical at all. Even the shower asked me to stop singing!

I am amazed at the Arts in American schools, even though they are increasingly underfunded and limited in ability. It is the strength of a culture to develop artists, musicians, and creatives despite what The Book of Lord Shang says. The Arts is critical to our culture!

And here's where the blind man analogy comes out. I am the blind man in a world of seeing people or more correctly, I am the deaf man in a hearing world (figuratively). I love music, of all types. But, I neither sing nor play. I do have a guitar gathering dust that I occasionally pick at, but I am not musically gifted.

However, my family, both immediate and extended, are quite gifted.

• My wife sings and plays harp and piano (most often at weddings, but she has led worship and assortments of bands excellently in the past)
• My youngest plays the piano and is learning the trombone and is about to enter the musical world of band next year (and he can't wait!)
• My eldest plays piano and french horn, a member of the school band and Wind Ensemble that has won silver at the MICCA Festival.
• One sister in law was on a championship winning marching band.
• The other one sings like an angel.
• Both brothers in law are strong singers with one being on numerous choirs and ensembles.
• One nephew sings in plays regularly and will probably win a Tony or Oscar at some point. I just hope he remembers me!
• The other is already musically famous and wrote a piece for the radio show, On Point, which they heard and raved about. You can see the thread here about what the radio show thought: https://twitter.com/onpointradio/status/1137057715698581505?lang=en

All that to say I am proud of their musical prowess and blessed by what they do. I sit at a buffet of musical delicacies and am allowed to eat to my hearts content. But often, in the midst of those banquets, I wonder what they hear. I'm the deaf man, so I wonder, "Am I hearing what they hear? And if not, what do they hear? What am I missing?"

I enjoy music in an entirely different way than they do, an ignorant way.

So, what's my point? 

I don't really have one, other than to show off the gifts of my family, tell you I'm proud of them and try to persuade you that the Arts is important. Fund it.

Oh, and maybe to ask: how might I hear music better?

Tom Selleck and Japanese Culture

Door's Howl Review: Mr Baseball

Synopsis

It's an old movie (1992) intended to be a comedy that plays off cultural and racial stereotypes of both Japanese and Americans. It probably would be viewed as offensive today. But it has something to offer. It certainly helped me.

Jack Elliot (Tom Selleck) is an aging baseball player in a slump. He is traded from the Yankees to the Dragons (a Japanese baseball team). What follows is a period of expected humorous interactions related to cultural arrogance, misunderstanding and conflict. It is a comedy, romantic at times and sporty at times.

But for me personally, when I first watched it, and then rewatched again and again, it taught me about the complexity, sophistication, and stunning beauty of Japanese culture. It taught me about learning my own cultural blindspots and how to learn from another culture. It showed me what could be possible when we attempt to get along. Perhaps this 1992 movie has some 2020 relevance.

As the movie progresses Jack Elliot learns about his own deficiencies, incorporates his learning of Japanese culture into his worldview while at the same time his coach learns to adopt some American culture. It's a synthesis of cultural learning and worth watching.

As a side note, there is a lot of push back today about cultural appropriation (or misappropriation). I don't believe Mr Baseball does that. Instead, what I see is cultural assimilation where both sides learn from each other and emerge stronger and better because of it. Today it would be filmed and edited differently of course, but it was a great help to me learning how to approach other cultures.

Score

Mr Baseball scores a Crescent Moon.

Scoring System

Wolves are thought to commonly howl at the moon. So, the better the moon, the greater the howl. Description of scoring system below.

Full Moon - best you can get, must watch and must own
New Moon - great movie, worth seeing and buying
Crescent Moon - average to above average, good to watch, but may want to wait for DVD
Sliver Moon - below average, not worth seeing and only get it on DVD when you have nothing better to do, like having a root canal
Moonless Night -not even worth mentioning - avoid at all costs!

For The Lost Ones

I came across this powerful song by Craig Morgan, titled My father, Son and the Holy Ghost. Written to his late son who was killed in a tubing accident. It's powerful, strong, tender and beautiful.

To those parents who have lost children, may you look forward to that day when you wake up with them again.

Door's Howl Review: Raising Dion

We just started watching a new show as a family: well, one child is 6 episodes in, another is one episode in with me and the other parent isn't watching at all - so yeah - the "family" is watching it!

Raising Dion is about a young elementary aged kid who discovers he has super powers. Like all origin stories, he has one parent, the other has died and his powers are developing in preparation to save a world catastrophe. But the way the season is shot, the music, the characters are quite different and beautifully done. The pace is unhurried and is interested in character development beyond the super hero. The story gives a wonderful insight into parenting, life and relationships in the modern world.

Check it out! Raising Dion, a Netflix show. I'll let you know more as a I see more episodes.