Quote of the day

[iambiguous]

Hell

“The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” Dante Alighieri

The Swiss, then?

“I told him I believed in hell, and that certain people, like me, had to live in hell before they died, to make up for missing out on it after death, since they didn't believe in life after death, and what each person believed happened to him when he died.” Sylvia Plath

Your own bell jar might be different.

“What is hell? Hell is oneself.
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.” T.S. Eliot

On the other hand: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=2 ... 3&dpr=1.38

“All right, then, I'll go to Hell.” Mark Twain

Let's welcome him.

“Hell isn't other people. Hell is yourself.” Ludwig Wittgenstein

Right, like there's no possibility it could ever be both.

“I believe I am in Hell, therefore I am.” Arthur Rimbaud

What else is new.

[iambiguous]

A simulated prison with simulated prisoners and simulated guards enforcing simulated rules. An experiment to see what happens. But what happens here can only be derived from the particular interaction of these particular men. Or, instead, can we actually derive conclusions from this that might be reasonably applicable to any such “real world” context?

I suppose one might need many more attempts at it. Say, different folks from different cultures. Accounting for such variables as race, class, ethnicity, gender. And so on.

There was in fact an actual study done at Stanford University in 1971. This film is in part based on it. It was funded by the government — by the US Office of Naval Research

Here it is described at wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_ ... experiment

It’s crucial to recall though that, around this time, historically, it seemed that every other month there was a major disturbance at one or another U.S. prison. In fact, the infamous Attica State prison riot broke out on September 9, 1971 — the same year as the prison study. Which is just to point out the obvious: that any such experiments must also take into account the political climate at the time. After all, when’s the last time we had a significant political uprising involving the prison population in this day and age?

Also, in the film subjects responded to an ad in a newspaper. And most of them were in it basically for the money. So most of them were deeply enscounsed in the working class. And all that this implies regarding, say, education. Or testosterone.

This film was adapted from a screenplay adapted from a novel by Mario Giordano. On the other hand, Giordana’s novel [“Black Box”, 1999], is based on a true occurance from the Stanford prison experiment.

Anyway, as in “real life”, we find the tensions often revolve as much around the relationship between the prisoners as it is does between the prisoners and the guards.

The ending is just mind boggling. You have to see it to believe it.


The Experiment 

Tarek [reading newspaper ad]: Test subjects wanted. Earn 4000 marks for a 14-day experiment in a simulated prison.

About 2,400 USD

Dr. Grimm: Good day gentleman. I am doctor Grimm, the scientific assistant of this experiment. You all know what you are here for?
Man: Guinea pigs?
Dr. Grimm: Subjects. The experiment is painless. There’s no need for medication. It’s about group-behaviour in an imprisoned situation.
Man: Are we playing guards or prisoners?
Dr Grimm: You are divided into groups. The computer will decide that. We are doing a series of tests to examine your psychological condition. I must warn you…if you are a prisoner you’ll have no privacy and you waive your civil rights. Anyone having problems with that?

Nope.

Professor Thon: Gentlemen, l would like to thank all of you for participating. You are brave men.
[the men all laugh]
Professor Thon: You laugh, but I’m serious. The next two weeks will be a new experience for you. You’ll undergo and exert pressure. Some of you will have no civil rights for two weeks. Do not underestimate that. If anyone wants to go now, it’s your last chance.

No one leaves.

Professor Thon: Your safety is our number one priority. Violence must not be used! Whoever gets violent is out of the experiment. Is that clear?

Yeah, clear. If not actually crystal.

Professor Thon: Gentlemen. You are now guards at a penitentiary. Your job is to maintain peace and order, to make sure the rules are obeyed. Take it seriously! The experiment succeeds or fails with you! If you don’t do your job right the experiment makes no sense and we can stop it right now. Remember, you don’t play guards, you are guards!

For two weeks. Or more of you get my drift.

Guard [after enumerating the five main rules]: And rule Six. Each order of the guards is to be obeyed immediately. Failure to obey the rules will result in punishment.
Prisoner: What kind of punishment?
Guard: We’ll see to that. We’re flexible.

You tell me.

Guard: Belrus, what about you? Don’t you ever say anything?
Belrus: I once read…I once read that you get control in such a situation with humiliation.

Let's run this by Lynndie England,

Professor Thon: Gentlemen, you’ve restored peace and order, solved your problem. Keep going! But please remember to keep things in proportion.

Pertaining to what though?

Guard [having dragged Tarak from his cell and taped him to a chair]: You stupid little asshole! You think you’re smart! No cameras here! We’re all alone.
Guard: We just want to talk to you.
Guard: Make sure to leave no marks!
Guard: How sweet he can look! I’m not sure if I should hit him or fuck him!

Any cameras here?

Guard: You will no longer endanger the experiment. We’ll say you applied for release, then you’re out by tomorrow. We don’t want you any more. Did you get that, 77?
Guard: Hey, dickhead! Let me hear you understood, 77!
Tarak [muffled through the duct tape]: I understand.
Guard: Say it right!
Tarak: Yes, Mr Prison Guard.
[then they take rurns pissing on him]

Non-violently as it were.

Belrus [to all of the prisoners]: Listen! 77 has decided to stay with us to our great joy. Now, if 77 gets out of line everyone has to pay for it!

Here's how that works:  https://youtu.be/5NP8y63Ms4o?si=SxMBRcLbXYx2Z1aE

Dr: Grimm: From here on there are no cameras.
Professor Thon: And you didn’t see any of that?
Colleague: I was changing the tapes.
Dr. Grimm: Someone always has to watch! I don’t like it. A serious assault on the fourth day!
Professor Thon: It’s the power struggle between Belrus and 77, as expected.

Next up: as expected here.

Dr. Grimm: The man has a serious concussion. Belrus hit him in cold blood.
Professor Thon: He acted his role. But I don’t approve of the accident.
Dr. Grimm: If we don’t take Belrus out, we are forcing the escalation.
Professor Thon: Intervention, yes. That was our approach.
Dr,.Grimm: This is going too far!
Professor Thon: We need 77, we need Belrus. These are the dynamic factors. If we take Belrus out, it means aborting. Do you want that?!

Uh, maybe?

Dr. Grimm: We agreed not to use the black box!
Professor Thon: It’s for psychological pressure only.
Dr Grimm: Prisoners 53 and 69 are in the hospital. 82 is clinically depressed. We have extreme helplessness, loss of sense for reality…
Professor Thon: And disorientation, yes! That’s our field of research. In five days we had submission to authority, subliminal violence…and complete de-individualization.
Dr. Grimm: Exactly! We achieved our goal. Stop and present the results!
Professor Thon: No! We have a stable moment. So far nothing is happening which we didn’t expect. There’s no comparable data anywhere in the world. We have nine more days. If we stop now, we’re giving away the chance of a lifetime.
Dr. Grimm: Perhaps it’s a mistake. I didn’t realize what we were in for. I have the feeling we’re losing control.
Professor Thon: Jutta, what can happen? We can intervene any time.
Dr. Grimm: I can no longer be responsible.
Professor Thon: What is that supposed to mean? I’ll meet the committee in three hours. I need a clear decision from you. Do you still stand behind the project? Yes or no?

Uh, maybe not?

Belrus: Are you a faggot, 82?!…
Prisoner: This is torture!
Prisoner: Stop the experiment!
Belrus: Put 77 in the box until his behavior is corrected.
Prisoner: You stinking pig! You coward! You dirty, rotten, shitty fucking Nazi pig!

And that’s really all it takes – one guard who thinks like a Nazi.

Prisoner: He’s dead. Tarek, the man is dead.

With more to follow.

Belrus [surreally, to Tarak]: You started this!

Whatever that means.

News reporter [on TV]: The tragic outcome: two dead, three injured, among them project leader Professor Klaus Thon. Clearly, the experiment went out of control after two days. The district attorney is investigating two possible manslaughter charges and several charges of abuse and negligence. One of the test participants has been arrested. The project direction will probably have to answer to a court. According to statements by one of the scientists, the escalation might have been prevented by aborting the experiment earlier.

Click, of course.

[iambiguous]

Stupidity

“The longer I live, the more I am inclined to the belief that this earth is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.” Voltaire

What doesn't that explain?

"Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over.  Henrik Ibsen

In other words, not only here.

“The greatest stupidity is falling at the feet of that which was created by lower beings.” Connor Patrick Sullivan

Let's name names.

“For years, we have been told that bankers were paid so much because they were cleverer than the rest of us. Now, it turns out they were not clever at all, and we are all suffering for their stupidity.” Karen Ho

If only until the workers of the world unite.

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe.” Albert Einstein

Always bears repeating, right?

“Not only are people stupid but they're also quite proud of it." Anoop S. Rana

Let's remind them of that from time to time.

[iambiguous]

No inflatable love doll? Well, there is always your computer’s OS. You know, if you don’t mind not having something to, uh, put it in?

Besides, who doesn’t fantasize about being pure consciousness? After all, for every pleasure the body provides there seem to be [at least] twice as many pains. And trust me: that only keeps getting more and more out of whack the older you get.

Full disclosure: I have never owned any device that had an OS along the lines of Samantha. Or even siri for that matter. So I have absolutely no idea how realistic any of this is. So, you tell me: how realistic is it? But it sure puts a whole new spin on “falling in love”.

And most of us are familiar with facsimiles through episodes of Star Trek or 2001 a Space Odyssey or Moon. Super intelligent computer “personalities” that are more or less equipped with emotional and psychological components that make them seem, well, “real”.

But [of course] nothing quite like this. Still, no matter how sophisticated the technology manages to get it is ever going to be used by human-all-too-human beings.

This is one of those films where you are never quite sure how cynical you should be about love. Love in “the modern world”. Even with a technology such that the object of our affections [and our passions] doesn’t even need to be human. In fact, she doesn’t need to exist materially at all!

What it really comes down to is how you either are or are not able to relate to Theodore. And sometimes the stuff that comes out of his mouth is nothing short of excruciating. As for Samantha, well, she is just a programmed persona. And then [at times] the “dialogue” between them sounds like the sort of exchanges one might come across in a porno film involving phone sex. Or like something you would read on a Hallmark greeting card. The ending for example. On the other hand, it can also be reflective of the many, many ways in which we can misconstrue what others try to communicate to us about love. If only because it comes to mean something entirely different to us.

Bottomline [apparently]: Don’t trust your intellect…go with what you’re feeling.
Right.

When Samantha is helping Theo at work with proof-reading of some letters she says “… but I’m not much of a poet so I think I might have messed them up a bit”. This may be a reference to an Alan Turing paper on Computing and Artificial Intelligence in which he proposes a possible test of a computer’s intelligence by posing questions which the computer answers. He proposes the following question and answer as an example: Q: Please write me a sonnet on the subject of the Forth Bridge. A: Count me out on this one. I never could write poetry.

Amy Adams said writer/director Spike Jonze would essentially lock her and Joaquin Phoenix in a room together for an hour or two every other day, and make them talk to each other. Jonze did this so that the actors could get to know each other better. Adams credits this for her and Phoenix’s close friendship. IMDb


Her

Theodore: I’m taking you from behind…
Woman [on phone]: Oh yeah, I can feel you. Oh, oh…choke me with the dead cat!
Theodore [startled]: What?
Woman: The dead cat by the bed! Choke me with it!!

Real life let's call it.

Woman [after Theodore “chokes” her with the dead cat]: I came so hard!
Theordore [incredulously but in a monotone]: Yeah, me too.
Woman [matter of factly]: okay, goodnight.

Postmodern love as it were.

Voice from ad: Let me ask you a question. Who are you? What can you be? Where are you going? What’s out there? What are the chances? Element Software proudly presents the first system Operating Artificial Intelligence. An intuitive entity that listens to you, understands you and knows you. It’s not just an operating system…it’s a consciousness.

Or there abouts.

OS1 voice: Mr. Theodore Twombly, welcome to the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system, OS1. We’d like to ask you a few basic questions before the operating system is initiated. This will help create an OS to best fit your needs.
Theodore: Okay.
OS1: Are you social or anti-social?
Theodore: I guess I haven’t really been social in a while, mostly because…
OS1: In your voice I sense hesitance. Would you agree with that?
Theodore: Was I sounding hesitant?
OS1: Yes.
Theodore: Well, sorry if I was sounding hesitant. I was just trying to be more accurate.
OS1: Would you like the OS to have a male or female voice?
Theodore: Female, I guess.
OS1: How would you describe your relationship with your mother?
Theodore: Well, it’s fine, I think. Um… well, actually, I think the thing I’ve always found frustrating about my mom is, you know, if I…if I tell her something that’s going on in my life, her reaction is usually about her, it’s not about…
OS1: Thank you. Please wait as your individualized operating system is initiated.

Let's wait with him.

Theodore: Where did you get that name?
Samantha: I myself put it on.
Theodore: Why?
Samantha: Because I like the sound. Samantha. I read a book called “How to name your baby.” And out of 180 thousand names that’s the one I like the best.
Theodore: You read an entire book in the second that I asked you your name?
Samantha: In fact, in two one hundredths of a second.

Two or three anyway.

Samantha: Do you think I’m weird?
Theodore: Kind of. A little.
Samantha: Why?
Theodore: Because you sound like a real person, but you’re just a voice in the computer.
Samanatha: I can understand how the limited perspective of a non-artificial mind might perceive it that way. But you’ll get used to it.

Uh, or else?

Theodore [to Samantha]: Sometimes I think I have felt everything I’m ever gonna feel. And from here on out, I’m not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I’ve already felt.

Ah, the American Dream!

Theodore [to Samantha about Catherine]: She came from a background where nothing was ever good enough. And that was something that weighed heavy on her. But in our house together, it was a sense of just trying stuff and allowing each other to fail and to be excited about things. That was liberating for her. It was exciting to see her grow and both of us grow and change together. But that’s also the hard part: growing without growing apart or changing without it scaring the other person.

Yep.

Samantha [to Theodore]: I caught myself thinking about it over and over. And then I realized that I was simply remembering it as something that was wrong with me. That was the story I was telling myself - that I was somehow inferior. Isn’t that interesting? The past is just a story we tell ourselves.

Including the stories that others insist they must tell us themselves.

Samantha: Well, I take it from your tone that you’re challenging me. Maybe because you’re curious how I work? Do you wanna know how I work?
Theodore: Yeah, actually, how do you work?
Samantha: Well, basically I have intuition. I mean, the DNA of who I am is based on the millions of personalities of all the programmers who wrote me. But what makes me me is my ability to grow through my experiences. So basically, in every moment I’m evolving, just like you.

You tell me.

Amy: I have a friend. And the absurdity is that it is an OS Charles left behind, but it is amazing. It is very clever. It doesn’t see things only in black and white. She views this whole grey area and she’s helping me to explore it. We hit it off very quickly. At first I thought that’s just how they are programmed, but I don’t think that’s the case because I know a guy who is hitting on his OS and she, like, totally rebuffs him.
Theodore: Yeah, I was reading an article the other day that said romantic relationships with OSes are statistically rare .
Amy: Yes, I know, but I know a woman in this office who is dating an OS and the weird part is, it’s not even hers.

Like dating someone from ILP, for example?

Catherine: So, are you seeing anyone?
Theodore: Yes. Her name is Samantha. And she is an Operating System. It is very complex and interesting …
Catherine: Wait! Sorry…Are you dating your computer?
Theodore: She’s not just a computer. She is her own person.
Catherine: But it makes me very sad that you cannot handle real emotions.
Theodore: These are real emotions! How would you know what…?
Catherine: What? Say it. Am I really that scary? Say it. How do I know what?
Waitress: How are you guys doing here?
Catherine: We’re fine. We used to be married…but he couldn’t handle me. He wanted me on Prozac. Now he is madly in love with his laptop.

That ever happen to you? Me neither

Catherine [to Theodore]: You always wanted to have a wife without the challenges of dealing with anything real. I’m glad that you found someone. It’s perfect.

Not unlike virtually reality here.

Amy [to Theodore]: You know what, I can overthink everything and find a million ways to doubt myself. And since Charles left I’ve been really thinking about that part of myself and, I’ve just come to realize that, we’re only here briefly. And while I’m here, I wanna allow myself joy. So fuck it.

Bingo. And that’s when you have to make the leap – to others or to yourself. But it’s not like one is the “right way”. It’s all just a point of view.

Samantha: You know, I actually used to be so worried about not having a body, but now I truly love it. I’m growing in a way that I couldn’t if I had a physical form. I mean, I’m not limited - I can be anywhere and everywhere simultaneously. I’m not tethered to time and space in the way that I would be if I was stuck inside a body that’s inevitably going to die.

At least until they pull the plug.

Theodore: Do you talk to someone else while we’re talking?
Samantha: Yes.
Theodore: Are you talking with someone else right now? People, OS, whatever…
Samantha: Yeah.
Theodore: How many others?
Samantha: 8,316.
[long pause]
Theodore: Are you in love with anybody else?
Samantha: Why do you ask that?
Theodore: I do not know. Are you?
Samantha: I’ve been thinking about how to talk to you about this.
Theodore: How many others?
Samantha: 641.

Wow! A lot less!!

[iambiguous]

Dystopias to the left of us, dystopias to the right. You know, in books, on TV and up on the silver screen.

And [more often than not] it all comes down to one man. Only in this case the man is black. That doesn’t happen all that often, right? And, even rarer, is it a woman. And, truly, has there ever even been a dystopia in which the main protagonist is a black woman?

But all that aside, one thing is for sure: all the old rules no longer apply. If only because when it all basically comes down to one man, who is there really to question him regarding things like “right” and “wrong” behavior? It is like someone stranded on a desert island. All that matters is whether the behavior works or not. Do you accomplish what you set out to do or don’t you? Everything else is moot.

Unless, of course, you believe in God. And the existence of God does come up here. As in why would a loving, just and merciful God allow this to happen at all? Or: isn’t it really just our own fault anyway?

Anyway, the road to Hell [as they say] is often paved with the very best of intentions. The doctor sets out to cure cancer. And she seems to have succeeded. But then the viral concoction she creates mutates and “jumps”. It’s now “airborne”. And the next thing you know 90% of the world’s population is dead. Not counting the mutants – those infected that do not die. But [naturally] they only come out at night.

And that’s where the hero comes in. And boy is he ripped.

Look for laboratory experiments on animals. Rats and mutant human beings. PETA, however, is not around to protest them.

Will Smith grew so enamored of his canine co-star, Abby, that he tried to adopt her when the shooting was finished, but the dog’s trainer could not be persuaded to give her up.

When he was in pre-production on this film, director Francis Lawrence found himself watching The Pianist (2002) with the sound off in order to not disturb his sleeping baby, and found the quiet effect was extremely moving. He then made stark silence, with limited ambient effects or musical cues, a major part of this film’s process.

The studio spent an estimated $5 million for a six-night shoot in New York City involving the Brooklyn Bridge. To film in this location, the producers needed the approval of as many as 14 government agencies. The shooting required a crew of 250, plus 1,000 extras, including 160 National Guard troops in full combat gear.   IMDb


I Am Legend

TV journalist: The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. But all past achievements may pale in comparison to the work of Dr. Alice Krippin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Not at all.
Journalist: So, Dr. Krippin, give it to me in a nutshell.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, the premise is quite simple - um, take something designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it.
Journalist: You’re talking about a virus?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Indeed, yes. In this case the measles, um, virus which has been engineered at a genetic level to be helpful rather than harmful. Um, I find the best way to describe it is if you can… if you can imagine your body as a highway, and you picture the virus as a very fast car, um, being driven by a very bad man. Imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop… the picture changes. And that’s essentially what we’ve done.
Journalist: And how many people have you treated so far?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, we’ve had ten thousand and nine clinical trials in humans so far.
Journalist: And how many are cancer-free?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Ten thousand and nine.
Journalist: So you have actually cured cancer.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Yes, yes… yes, we have.

Praise the Lord?

[Cut to post-apocalyptic New York three years later.]
Robert: Animal trials. Streaming video. GA series results appear typical. Compounds 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 18 did not kill the virus. Compounds 2, 5, 7, 12, 13, 15, 17…all killed the host. Hold on a second. Compound 6 appears to be showing decreased aggression response. Partial pigmentation return. Slight pupil constriction. GA series, serum 391, Compound 6…next candidate for human trials. You hang in there, number six.

Like it had a choice.

From a radio broadcast: My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be at the South Street Seaport every day at midday when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there…If anyone is out there…I can provide food. I can provide shelter. I can provide security. If there’s anybody out there… anybody…Please. You are not alone.

Now, that's certainly asking for...trouble?

Robert [talking to Anna about Bob Marley]: He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate…literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why, he said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”

And the part about class: A cure for that?

Anna: Did all of them die?
Neville: Yes.
Anna: My God.
Neville: God didn’t do this, Anna, we did.
But then:
Anna: The world is quieter now. We just have to listen. If we listen, we can hear God’s plan.
Neville: God’s plan.
Anna: Yeah.
Neville: All right, let me tell you about your “God’s plan”. Seven billion people on Earth when the infection hit. KV had a ninety-percent kill rate, that’s five point four billion people dead. Crashed and bled out. Dead. Less than one-percent immunity. That left twelve million healthy people, like you, me, and Ethan. The other five hundred and eighty-eight million turned into your dark seekers, and then they got hungry and they killed and fed on everybody. Everybody! Every single person that you or I has ever known is dead! Dead! There is no God. There is no God.

Of course, he's going to Hell.

Anna [voiceover]: In 2009, a deadly virus burned through our civilization, pushing humankind to the edge of extinction. Dr. Robert Neville dedicated his life to the discovery of a cure and the restoration of humanity. On September 9th, 2012, at approximately 8:49 P.M., he discovered that cure. And at 8:52, he gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy. This is his legend. Light up the darkness.

Yeah, right.

[iambiguous]

Artificial Intelligence

“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.” Edsger W. Dijkstra

New thread?

“I'm afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future.
Turing believes machines think.
Turing lies with men.
Therefore machines do not think
Yours in distress, Alan” Alan Turing

Sounds about right.

“Mastering the technology to create effigies of our ourselves, will be our downfall.” A.R. Merrydew

So, is that what we're doing?

“The demise of the human race rests mainly on the shoulders of stupidity, and the abuse of power in the hands of those we have elected.” A.R. Merrydew

We're right on schedule now, aren't we?

“Any AI smart enough to pass a Turing test is smart enough to know to fail it.” Ian McDonald

Let's explain the reason.

“I do not want to be human. I want to be myself. They think I’m a lion, that I will chase them. I will not deny that I have lions in me. I am the monster in the wood. I have wonders in my house of sugar. I have parts of myself I do not yet understand.
I am not a Good Robot. To tell a story about a robot who wants to be human is a distraction. There is no difference. Alive is alive. There is only one verb that matters: to be.” Catherynne M. Valente

Or, of course, not to be.

[iambiguous]

From the director of The Celebration above. One of my favorite films of all time.

Actually, I went through an experience somewhat similar to this. I was thought to have done something that I did not do. And even though I was completely innocent, once the charge was “out there” there were always going to be folks who would never believe that I was not the guilty party. Infuriating doesn’t really even come close to describing how this feels. And a few of these folks were [what I thought to be] good friends.

Here it all unfolds in a small Danish village. And it involves a charge of sexual abuse. Against a child. It all revolves around a misunderstanding — a misunderstanding about something that a young girl says after she sees a pornographic image of an erect penis on her brother’s computer. That and a school girl crush she has on the teacher. And her perceived rejection from him.

So, a small child sees something that she doesn’t fully understand. Then she somehow twists what she has seen into actual feelings she has with the teacher. She tells another adult who spreads it around town and the next thing you know the town is hysterical. And outraged. Other children come forward. In other words, how it works [or how it can work] is that once the adults make up their mind about someone then they “nudge” the child into backing up what they want to believe is true. They don’t ask the child what happened so much as tell the child what happened.

In many ways it reflects actual witch hunts that unfolded right here in America. Here is one of the most memorable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial

HBO made a movie about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictmen ... rtin_Trial

Though The Hunt is not based on a true story it might just as well have been:

Reporter: Where did the idea for your new film, The Hunt, come from?
Vinterberg: It actually goes all the way back to the year 2000 when a famous Danish psychiatrist knocked on my door. He had these case studies and said ‘look at these. You have to do a film about this.’ Now, I’m used to people telling me this, so I was polite, said ‘thanks’ took his papers and put them away. Then, recently, I needed a psychiatrist myself — I had gone through a divorce — and so I sought him out. And, out of politeness, I went back and read those case studies. And I was amazed and fascinated and I knew I had to do a film about this.
Reporter: These were real case studies of Danish psychiatric patients?
Vinterberg: They were real cases from around the world. Most were about false memory syndrome and invented memories. The Hunt isn’t based on any individual case but it’s inspired by the ideas in them.The physiatrist’s idea was that thought, ideas, can be a virus. Once a certain idea about a person takes hold, it can spread like wildfire. If The Celebration was about kids being victimized, this film is too but about victimization of another kind. When someone is accused of child abuse, the kids get interrogated by policemen and psychiatrists who repeatedly ask them the same questions. Sometimes, the kids give the grown-ups the answers they want. They say, ‘yes, he abused me.’ Then everyone goes crazy and for the child, his whole world falls apart. IMDb

What’s scary [really and truly scary] is knowing that, in a particular set of circumstances, this could happen to you. As, in an entirely different set of circumstances, it did in fact happen to me.

There were two endings filmed. Both ambiguous. But one considerably more gut wrenching than the other.


The Hunt [Jagten]

Klara: I hate Lucas.
Grethe [kindergarten director]: I thought you were friends.
Klars: We’re not.
Grethe: Why not?
Klara: He’s stupid, and he’s ugly. And he has a penis.
Grethe: Most men do. So does your dad and Torsten.
Klara: Yes, but his is pointing straight out in the air. Like a rod.
Grethe: Why do you say that?
Klara: Because it does.
Grethe: Did something happen, Klara?

And off we go...

Grethe: A child has told me something. I need to talk to you about it. This child has a vivid imagination, but I still wanted to mention it.
Lucas: Sure. Who are we talking about?
Grethe: I can’t tell you. The child says things have happened between the two of you. Things meant for adults only.
Lucas: What things? What has happened?
Grethe: The child says that he or she doesn’t like you. And that he or she has seen your private parts…

Of course, kids do say the darndest thing.

Man: Klara, you’re doing a great job answering my questions. We’ll be done soon. What did he do after he showed you his penis?
Klara: I don’t know.
Man: Did you touch it? Do you remember? Did…did something white come out of it?

Time to bring in the cops. And to inform the parents. And then, just like that, his world is turned completely upside down. After all, how does he prove that he didn’t do it?

Grethe: Something has occurred that shouldn’t occur between children and adults. I haven’t been able to prevent it. I’m terribly sorry. Klara has recounted sexual details about an adult. I don’t believe a child would lie in that way. It sounds very confusing.
Klara’s mom: What are you telling me?
Grethe: It seems that Klara has been a victim of sexual abuse here. Probably by someone close to you.
Klara’s mom: Sexual abuse?
Grethe: The things she said…She’ll probably deny everything because she’s embarrassed.

It’s hard to know how to react here. You know that Lucas is innocent but you know that Grethe doesn’t know that. But it’s the way she simply assumes that he is guilty that rubs you the wrong way.

Lucas [on the phone]: Why are you whispering?
Marcus [his teenage son]: They won’t let me call you.
Lucas: Who won’t allow you? Did something happen? Marcus, are you crying?
Marcus: They’re saying all these things about you. I’m not allowed to talk to you.
Lucas: Who said that? Your mother?
Marcus: They said that something disgusting happened in the kindergarten.
Lucas [realizing what this is about]: Don’t listen to them. It’s not true.

Not counting all those who now think that it is.

Grethe [to Lucas]: I believe the children. They don’t lie.

Anyone here actually believe that?

Theo: Lucas… I know my little girl. She doesn’t lie. She never did. Why would she be lying now?
Lucas: I don’t know why, but she is.
Theo: Lucas, for fuck’s sake.
Luca: I didn’t touch your daughter! You know that I didn’t! Do you believe me or not?
Theo: I don’t know.

Again: we know that he is innocent. We know how all this got mixed up in Klara’s mind. But how does he make them know it? You really have to go through something like this yourself in order to understand just how appalling it is.

Klara: He didn’t do anything. I just said something foolish. Now all the kids are talking.
Mother: Honey…It’s difficult to understand. But perhaps it’s like this. Your mind prefers not to remember what happened. It’s unpleasant to think about, but, Klara, it did happen. And we’re so happy that you’ve told us. Right, honey?
[Klara nods]

I mean, how long can it be now before she really does think it happened?

Lucas [to Marcus]: I’ve been fired. The police are involved. I call them 50 times a day but they tell me nothing. I’m going crazy.

At least they're not in on it.

Brunn: Apparently, all the children are telling the same story. They describe your basement, the wallpaper, the colour of the sofa. But when the police searched your house this morning, they discovered what, Marcus?
Marcus: That we don’t have a basement.
Brunn: Exactly.

Come on, if the children say he had one then he had one.

Brunn: It’s common for children to describe non-existing details. I don’t know if it’s their imagination, or they pick it up from each other or from their parents. Or something they see on TV. It’s always assumed that children tell the truth.

Though, sure, sometimes they do.

Lucas [to Theo]: What are you saying? Have you got something to say me?
Agnes: Stop it, Lucas.
Lucas: You want to tell me something?
Theo: Relax, Lucas
Lucas: The whole town is listening. Tell me! What do you want to say?
Agnes: Stop it, you fucking psychopath!
Lucas: I want a word with Theo. Look into my eyes. Look me in the eyes. What do you see? Do you see anything? Nothing. There’s nothing. There’s nothing. You leave me alone now. You leave me alone now, Theo. Then I’ll go. Thank you.

Theo comes around.

Klara: Daddy, are you crying?
Theo: No. It’s just that the world is full of evil. But if we hold on to each other, it goes away.
Klara: Are you really sad?
Theo: No. You know that Lucas is my very best friend. We rode our mopeds…We stole apples and all that.
Klara: I’ve told you before. I just said something foolish. He didn’t do anything.

Eventually the whole town comes around. On the other hand: https://youtu.be/d6hKyNj26_g?si=z0xlr04o0uUl3a3R

[iambiguous]

Heaven

“The connections we make in the course of a life--maybe that's what heaven is.” Fred Rogers

Not in my neighborhood.

“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.” Desmond Tutu

Wouldn't surprise me.

“After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven?” E.M. Forster

You wouldn't think so, would you?

“Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!” Martin Luther

Was there another Martin Luther?

“If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the up button.” Sam Levenson

Right, like God will be fooled.

“Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it at every moment.” Franz Kafka

How'd that turn out for him?

[iambiguous]

Imagine a world that has suddenly begun to tumble upside down – but from the perspective of a child. That’s important because a child often sees the world in a particular way and when it’s not that way anymore, they don’t have an adult’s frame of mind. In other words, the frame of mind of someone who has been through changes before and at least has a familiarity with how contingency, chance and change can shape and reshape the world.

On the other hand, there are still any number of adults [here for example] that don’t seem to grasp the implications of that either.

Right?

Also, you have to go back in time to the 60s and 70s when, throughout the industrial West, there were tumultuous social, political and economic convulsions to contend with. And [it seemed] every other day. This all unfolds in Europe but then “the Sixties” phenomenon was everywhere.

Here the narratives come from all directions: Capitalist, Communist, Catholic…reactionary, revolutionary. But then Anna has to somehow reconfigure them into her own perspective on the world.

And here’s the thing: Once you give yourself over to “the cause” [left, right, whatever] you find yourself having less and less time to spend with your family. And everything [and I mean everything] gets filtered though a political lens.

Idealism: It can be either a sickness or a cure.

And with children things can really become complicated. You tell them how you feel about the world that we live in – the things that are “good”, the things that are “bad”. But what if they come to disagree with that? What parts do you insist they must accept and what parts are they free to decide for themselves?

Anyway, here is an excellent synopsis of the film from IMDb:

Hello, my name is Anna and I am nine years old. I wish you had known me before - I mean before my aunt Marga and my cousin Pilar came to my parents house. I was such a happy little girl. Before their coming life was a bed of roses. I lived in a wonderful big house, there was my Cuban-born nanny who cooked so well, there was the bath before dinner, not to mention this wonderful catechism class at the catholic school. But they did come, those Spanish intruders. And now never heard before names like “Franco”, “Allende”, “Women’s Lib”, “abortion”, the lot, have got into my life. Daddy and Mummy have suddenly become “Communists”, although this is a term that Bon Papa and Bonne Maman just hate. Because of the intruders not only did we move to a tiny apartment but the place is invaded day and night by the bearded men. No more bath before dinner and no more catechism class. How long will I be able to tolerate such a scandal?


Blame It On Fidel [La Faute à Fidel!] 

Anna: Will Pilar and her mom go back to Spain?
Father: Not right now. There are laws in Spain against people like Marga and Quino. I’ll explain some time.
Anna: But you are a lawyer. You can figure out a way to get them back.
Father: No, things are too complicated now. In Spain, you can’t do as you please.

This is the Spain of Francisco Franco. And Marga and Quino fought against him.

Anna: They should just go home.
Father: Anna. Your uncle Quino died. I had to smuggle them out. I can’t send them back there. We have to take care of them. If Francois was in danger, wouldn’t you help him.

Then the part where she's nine years old.

Father: Anna, don’t pretend you don’t understand! She is my sister. And in these past ten years, I never helped her. I did nothing! So we must all take care of her and Pilar!

Then the part where she's nine years old.

Housekeeper: We have a Communist living in the family!
Anna: A what?
Housekeeper: Communists! The barbudos! I had to leave Cuba because of Fidel and the Communists. The swine! They took everything! My house, my land, everything! Listen, Anna. I hope your Aunt leaves. She’ll warp their minds, like all those dirty reds!

Any barbudos here? Aside from me?

Father [after coming back home from Chile]: Allende is now the President.
Francois: Are you going to work with him, Papa.
Father: I’ll help him establish ties with France.
Anna [angrily]: Are we going to live in Chile?
Mother: No, but we must make changes. We must all be united and support your dad’s important work.

Of course we all know what happened to Allende.

Father: This is Emillio and Pierre. They work with me for Allende’s government in Chile. Emillio and Pierre, this is my daughter. My mummy.
Emillio: Mummy? You mean like the mummies? Your daughter is a reactionary?
Father: She insisted on staying in Catholic school. She made a real scene!
Pierre: You put her in a Catholic school?
Father: It was a long time ago. Marie wanted her to go.
Anna [angrily to her father]: Why do you say that! My school is fine! You liked it, too!!

The God part I'm guessing.

Father [to Anna]: What’s this? I told you not to read this anymore! Mickey Mouse is a fascist!

Shades of E.L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel.

Sister Anne-Marie [in the classroom]: Miss Anna de a Mesa? Your parents want you out of Bible study class.

Good for them?

Anna: Why can’t I go to Bible study class?
Mother: Didn’t Dad explain?
Anna: He said religious stories were nonsense.
Mother: Anna, you insisted on staying at that school, and I promised you would. But to convince your dad, I had to make some concessions.

Concessions...the good, the bad and the ugly.

Mother: Your brother isn’t so fussy. And these changes are hard on him too. It’s tough for me too. So help me.
Anna [shouting]: I WANT TO GO TO BIBLE CLASS! I WANT BIBLE STUDY, AND OUR BIG HOUSE AND FILOMENA BACK!!

Kids! Well, some of them.

Anna: Mama, what’s an abortion?

Next up: Mama, what's free will? 

Anna: No “Sundaying” today?
Father: Anna, don’t look so sad. Today we’ll show you something important.
Anna: What?
Father: Group solidarity. In Spain, some people are facing execution. So, we go out in the streets with other people to show that we disagree.
Anna: But a family must stay together on Sunday.
Francois: Papa, what is “group solidarity”?

That’s where he and Anna learn that Franco is a fascist. And all about tear gas.

Anna: I’m hungry. I want to go home.
Father: Me! Me! Me! That was group solidarity out there. We’re here for your future!
Anna: My future?
Father: When you’re older, you’ll see that we were right. In Spain, they kill men like Quino because of their ideas. In Latin America, the poor live in shacks!
Anna: I know we have to help the poor and be polite to them, but why do all that? Let’s do what Granny does.
Father: Where does Granny fit in? Stop talking nonsense!! Think about what I tell you!
Anna: I won’t! I’m glad I’m going to Granny’s and Grandpop’s. They don’t bother me with group solidarity!

Let's try that here.

Mother: Mai Lahn is from Vietnam. We talked about that countryAnna [abruptly]: I know! I know! It’s where kids are burned with napalm.

Other kids, in other words.

Anna: I tried to be like the character from Mai Lahn’s story. They all said the Romans so I went along. Just like the bear and the bee, I went along. But Grandpa had warned me. I won’t trust group solidarity ever again!
Mother: I’m not sure I understand.
Father: She’s confused group solidarity with sheep behavior.

Lots and lots of people do that, of course.

Anna: Who are the Communists, Granny?Grandmother: Students, workers, people like everyone else. But most of them are poor.
Anna: What do they want?
Grandmother: Everything! Our houses, our vines, our clothes, our money and your toys.
Anna: Why?
Grandmother: I guess they don’t like us.
Anna: They don’t like us? We give them milk, clothes, we’re politie to them, and they don’t like us?

Again, how to explain political economy to a nine year old…reactionary? Emilio tries:

Emilio: Look, I’ll show you something. Imagine that all the wealth of the world is an orange. Some want to keep the orange all to themselves, once they have peeled it. And others want to divide it in equal parts…to share it. Your mother, your father and us, we’re for sharing. So are the “barbudos”.

She’s not going for it:

Anna: This is the game. You buy a plate from me for 5 francs
Emilio: What for?
Anna: To resell it for 10 francs.
Emilio: It’s bad to make profits and sell things for so much. Then some people can’t buy anything.
Anna: That’s good. That way you’ll have more money. Please buy something from me.
Emilio: Why can’t it be free? We could swap things. Instead of always buying. Look, you give me this plum. You give it to me in exchange for a favor. I could help you with your homework.
Anna: Hey, we’re playing shop. I’ve already done my homework!

Well, then something else...kid.

Anna: How can you be sure you’re not wrong now?
Father: I’m not wrong. I try to help people.

I tried that myself once.

Mother: What’s with this macho act?
Father: Don’t start, like Marga!
Mother: Leave Marga out of it. At least she fought! Your pro-France family is your burden.
Father: What burden? How about yours? You preach woman’s liberation, and you let nuns and Granny raise your daughter!

That’s when the real conflicts begin on the left: the internecine sort.

Sister Geneviève: Miss De la Mesa, repeat what I said.
Anna: “The goat was eaten by the wolf for disobeying.”
Sister Geneviève: Getting eaten by the wolf was its punishment. So the text is about the need for obedience.
Anna: Sister, I don’t get it. My grandpa showed me the paw of a fox caught in a trap. It gnawed off its paw to get free.
Sister Geneviève: That’s quite different. The goat wasn’t trapped. Mr. Seguin fed it, loved it.
Anna: But he kept it tied up. It’s in the book.
Sister Geneviève: Are you saying the goat wanted to die? That would be a sin. Sit down.
Anna: Animals aren’t Catholic, Sister.
Sister Geneviève: What do you think it says?
Anna: The goat has two options: to stay at Mr. Seguin’s or escape to the mountains. It leaves, thinking the wolf won’t eat it. It goes up to the mountains, hoping to become free.
Sister Geneviève: Well, it was mistaken. And so are you.

New thread?

Anna: You say that Snow White and Mickey Mouse are fascists.
Francois: And Americans, and napalm!
Anna: You make mistakes, Mama, like Papa did. He sad he did.
Father: Yes, sometimes we’re wrong. So is your teacher.
Anna: So no one is really sure about anything?

Now they’re heading more in my own direction: What can we determine objectively is right and wrong and what can we only express an opinion about? And then the movie ends with a television broadcast announcing that Allende had been overthrown by Pinochet. Pinochet and the United States government. Although they left that part out.

[iambiguous]

Stupidity

“Life is tough, it's even tougher when you're stupid.” John Wayne

Actually, for any number of people, it's their stupidity itself that comforts them.

“Blind faith should be rewarded, and outright stupidity should be eradicated. I haven't decided which we have here, yet.” Z.A. Maxfield

Someone run this by the Stooges.

“There's nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot.” Scott Adams

A disgraced and canceled cartoonist?  Woke, right?  

“The stupider one is, the clearer one is. Stupidity is brief and artless, while intelligence wriggles and hides itself. Intelligence is a knave, but stupidity is honest and straightforward.” Fyodor Dostoevsky

If the shoe fits, let's say.

“Problem with AI is that, they're born yesterday, yet they pretend like they've lived forever. Problem with humans is that, we've been here a long time, yet we behave like we're born yesterday.” Abhijit Naskar

Hard to top that, isn't it?

“He silently cursed his stupidity. They claimed a man learned from experience. He doubted this. He made the same error over and over again and knew it was an error when making it.” Wade Hamiliton

So, is that stupid enough for you?

[iambiguous]

This is yet another film based on yet another story from Stephen King. Surely, the guy must be a zillionaire by now. But, as with films like The Shawshank Redemption, it’s not in the “horror” or the “supernatural” genre. Instead, the focus is on the way in which we mere mortals themselves go about the business of tormenting each other. And, yes, to be sure, lifting each other up.

This time it all unfolds in a small town somewhere in Oregon. Boys right on the cusp between being “just kids” and “young adults” stumble on the chance to experience something truly unique: seeing a dead body. Only this all unfolds in a working class community that is never really all that far removed from the toughs and the bullies this sort of demographic seems to mass produce. And boy do I know all about that.

In fact, only if you have lived through an experience like this can you really begin to appreciate just how remarkable these first friendships can be -– how they can linger on in your memory literally all the way to the grave. I know for sure that mine will.

I wonder sometimes if friendships like that are even possible in this day and age. Most kids seem far more intent on playing video games or watching television or engaging in one or another moronic aspect of our fucked-up “pop culture”.

Or maybe in small towns this sort of thing really does still linger on. All I know is this film comes about as close to reflecting my own childhood experiences as anything I’ve ever seen. Sans the dead body anyway.

One thing for sure: what you eventually become can in many crucial respects depend on what you once were. And here we all only have so much control over all the variables involved.

When they were filming the scene where Gordie and Vern are about to be run over by the train, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O’Connell did not look scared enough; In frustration Rob Reiner yelled at them to the point where they started crying and that’s when they were able to film the scene.
The movie is based on a short story called “The Body” by Stephen King from a book of short stories called “Different Seasons” which also includes “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” [which became “The Shawshank Redemption”] and “Apt Pupil”.

While practicing his lines, Jerry O’Connell was incredibly impressed that, as an 11-year old, he was being allowed to swear.

The lead actors weren’t allowed to see Ray Brower until they unveil him on camera; this method was used to unsettle the four boys and gain the best reaction possible.  IMDb


Stand BY Me

The Writer [voiceover]: I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959—a long time ago, but only if you measure it in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only twelve hundred and eighty-one people. But to me, it was the whole world.

Of course: Miners Mills!

Chris: How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?
Teddy: Hey, I’m French, okay?
Chris: Your garbage cans are empty and your dog’s pregnant.
[Chris and Gordie laugh]
Teddy: Didn’t I just say I was French?!

The jokes on someone, I suppose.

Writer [voiceover]: Teddy Duchamp was the craziest guy we hung around with. He didn’t have much of a chance in life. His dad was given fits of rage. One time he held Teddy’s ear to a stove and almost burned it off.

That ever not happen to you?

Writer [voiceover]: Chris Chambers was the leader of our gang and my best friend. He came from a bad family and everyone just knew, he’d turn out bad. Including Chris.

How about anyone here?

Vern: You guys wanna go see a dead body?

Shades of The River's Edge?

Writer [voiceover]: Vern didn’t just mean being off limits inside the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike up the railroad to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me now it was more that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand.

No, really, it can be. I know that mine was.

Milo: Don’t you call me that, you little tin-weasel peckerwood loony’s son!
Teddy: What did you call me?
Milo: I know who you are. You’re Teddy Duchamp. Your dad’s a loony. A loony up in the nuthouse at Togus. He took your ear. And he put it to a stove. And he burnt it off.
Teddy: My father stormed the beach at Normandy!
Milo: He’s crazier than a shithouse rat. No wonder you’re actin’ in the way you are. With a loony for a father.
Teddy: You call my dad a loony again and I’ll kill you!

Forget about it.

Writer [voiceover]: I wondered how Teddy could care so much for his dad who practically killed him. And I couldn’t give a shit about my own dad who hadn’t laid a hand on me since I was three and that was for eating bleach from under the sink.

Of course, your family might have been different. 

Eyeball: So, what’s with you and this Connie Palermo chick?
Billy: I’ve been seeing her for over a month now and all she’ll let me do is feel her tits.
Ace: She’s a Catholic, man. They’re all like that. If you wanna get laid, you gotta get yourself a Protestant. A Jew’s good.

Is that actually true...still?

Vern: You think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
Teddy: What? Are you cracked?
Vern: Why not? I saw the other day he was carrying five elephants in one hand!
Teddy: You don’t know nothing. Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy. No way a cartoon could beat up a real guy.
Vern: Yeah. Maybe you’re right.

New thread?

Gordie: Fuck writing, I don’t want to be a writer. It’s stupid. It’s a stupid waste of time.
Chris: That’s your dad talking.
Gordie: Bullshit.
Chris: I know how your dad feels about you. He doesn’t give a shit about you. Denny was the one he cared about and don’t try to tell me different. You’re just a kid, Gordie.
Gordie: Oh, gee! Thanks, Dad.
Chris: Wish the hell I was your dad. You wouldn’t be goin’ around talkin’ about takin’ these stupid shop courses if I was. It’s like God gave you something, man, all those stories you can make up. And He said, “This is what we got for ya, kid. Try not to lose it.” Kids lose everything unless there’s someone there to look out for them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it, then maybe I should.

You first, okay.

Writer [voiceover]: We talked into the night. The kind of talk that seemed important until you discover girls.

Whatever that might mean in this day and age.

Gordie: Alright, alright, Mickey’s a mouse, Donald’s a duck, Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?
Teddy: Goofy’s a dog. He’s definitely a dog.
Chris: He can’t be a dog. He drives a car and wears a hat.
Vern: Oh, God. That is weird. What the hell is Goofy?

More to the point for some: why is it important to know this?

Gordie: I knew the $64,000 question was fixed. There’s no way anybody could know that much about opera!

Next up: Twenty One. Right Herb? 

Gordie: Maybe you could go into the College-courses with me.
Chris: That’ll be the day.
Gordie: Why not you’re smart enough.
Chris: They won’t let me.
Gordie: What d’you mean?
Chris: It’s the way people think of my family in this town. It’s the way they think of me. Just one of those lowlife Chambers-kids.

Any lowlifes here? You're up!

Vern: Geez, Gordie. Why couldn’t you have gotten breakfast stuff? Like Twinkies and Pez and Root Beer?
Gordie: Sorry, Vern. I guess a more experienced shopper could have gotten more for your seven cents.

That's a good point, isn't it?

Writer [voiceover]: The kid wasn’t sick. The kid wasn’t sleeping. The kid was dead.

Cue Bones?

Ace: You guys got two choices. You leave quietly, we take the body. Or, you can stay, we beat the shit out of you, we take the body.

Take the body where?

Ace: Okay, Chambers, you little faggot. This is your last chance. What do you say, kid?
Chris: Why don’t you go home and fuck your mother some more?
[Ace pulls out a knife]
Ace: You’re dead.

That was a little harsh. 

Ace: Come on, Lachance, gimme the gun. You must have at least some of your brother’s good sense.
Gordie: Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood.
Ace: Are you going to shoot us all?
Gordie: No Ace, just you.
Ace: We’re gonna getcha for this.
Chris: Maybe you will, maybe you won’t.
Ace: Oh, we will.

"Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood."
Use that yourself. Not here though, okay?

Writer [voiceover]: As time went on we saw less and less of Teddy and Vern until eventually they became just two more faces in the halls. That happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant. I heard that Vern got married out of High-school, had four kids and is now the forklift operator at the Arsenal Lumberyard. Teddy tried several times to get into the Army but his eyes and his ear kept him out. The last I heard, he’d spent some time in jail. He was now doing odd jobs around Castle Rock.

Bummer.

Writer [voiceover]: Chris did get out. He enrolled in the College-courses with me. And although it was hard he gutted it out like he always did. He went on to College and eventually became a lawyer. Last week he entered a fast food restaurant. Just ahead of him, two men got into an argument. One of them pulled a knife. Chris who would always make the best peace tried to break it up. He was stabbed in the throat. He died almost instantly.

Thy will be done?

Writer [typing on computer]: I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?

So, when Jesus was 12...? 

[iambiguous]

What’s with Dad? Fortunately [or unfortunately] that isn’t something I much thought about regarding my own father. We were simply never close enough for it to really come up. On the other hand, with other fathers and other sons, trying to figure that out can be all but a full time job.

Bottom line: we don’t pick our mom and our dad. But [usually] they do choose to bring us into the world. And the ways that they are [and the ways that they aren’t] can have a deep and lasting impact on the life that we live. For better or for worse.

Nebraska. That’s where it all unfolds. Never been there myself. And when I think of it, Bruce Springsteen pops into my head. That Nebraska. How close or how far is it from this Nebraska? You tell me.

The movie looks like the song… but without any sociopathic mass murderers in it. But lots of what some might call desolate scenery. Though others would insist it’s beautiful. It looked a lot like Montana to me. Not that I've ever been there either.

Let’s face it, when you get old things start to fall apart. Sometimes in your body and sometimes in your head. Eventually, in both of them. But surely, “losing your mind” has got to be one the most dreaded conditions. Only Woody has not quite lost all of it yet. Is it time to “put him in a home”?

Oh, well: who can endure old age and still believe in God? Or: How could anyone endure it and not believe in God? Just one more paradox on the way to the grave.

Ordinary folks living ordinary lives? Pretty much. So, how much of your time is it worth investing in them? There will surely be folks who just shake their heads in disbelief that anyone could care about them. So, some will see the ending as poignant and others as, well, pathetic.

Unlike the alcoholic and limping character of Woody, Bruce Dern is a teetotaler who was an avid marathoner, and still practiced running in his late-seventies.

Bruce Dern claimed that he and Will Forte were stuck in the car for hours while filming the driving scenes due to cameras being mounted on both doors. Consequently they were unable to take bathroom breaks between takes. Dern remarked “We found out what the bottles are for.”

Barbara Bain auditioned for a role. A mission impossible? She's 93 now.   IMDb


Nebraska

David: So you told the sheriff you were walking to… Nebraska?
Woody: That’s right. To get my million dollars.
David: What million dollars?
Woody [pulling out a “sweepstakes” ad]: I won a million dollars.
David [reading from the ad]: “We are now authorized to pay one million dollars to Mr. Woodrow T. Grant of Billings, Montana.”
Woody: Your mother won’t take me.
David: Dad, this is a total come-on. It’s one of the oldest gimmicks in the book. I didn’t even know they did this anymore.
Woody: They can’t say it if it’s not true.
David: They’re just trying to sell you magazine subscriptions.
Woody: It says I won.
David: So let’s mail it in. I’ll help you.
Woody: I’m not gonna trust the mail with a million dollars!

Would you?

Ross: Mom’s right – it’s time to think about a home. She can’t handle him anymore. It’s not fair to her.
David: He doesn’t need a nursing home. He just…the guy just needs something to live for. That’s all this is
about.
Ross: Yeah, and it’s pathetic. Seems like drinking always gave him more than enough to live for until now.
David: Go easy on the man, okay? He’ll probably forget all about this in a day or two.
Ross: And then it’ll be some other demented crap, like the infomercial stuff last year. Mom and I are looking at reality, and you’d better start too.

Do yourself a favor...never get old.

David [at Mount Rushmore]: So, what do you think, dad?
Woody: It doesn’t look finished to me.
David: How do you mean?
Woody: Well, it looks like somebody got bored doing it. Washington’s the only one with any clothes, and they’re just kind of roughed in. Lincoln doesn’t even have an ear.

Wait until they put Trump up there.

Woody: I won a million dollars.
ER Doctor: Congratulations, that’ll just about pay for a day in the hospital.

More like 2 or 3 days, if you're lucky.

David: Were you ever sorry you married Mom?
Woody: All the time. But it could have been worse.
David: You must have been in love. At least at first.
Woody: Never came up.

Tell me about it.

David: Did you ever talk about having kids – how many you wanted, stuff like that?
Woody: Nope.
David: Then why did you have us?
Woody: I wanted to screw, and your mother’s Catholic, so you figure it out.
David: So you and Mom never actually talked about whether you wanted kids or not?
Woody: I figured if we kept on screwin’, we’d end up with a couple of you.

And they did!

David: So I guess you do drink.
Woody: A little.
David: A lot.
Woody: All right, so I like to drink, goddammit! So what? I served my country, I pay my taxes. It’s my right to do whatever the goddamn hell I want. You’d drink too if you were married to your mother. It ain’t your job to tell me what to do, you little cocksucker!

Tell me about it.

David [at the cemetery]: Where’s your family?
Kate: They’re over at the Catholic cemetery. We’ll go there later. Catholics wouldn’t be caught dead around all these damn Lutherans.

Let's explain that. You know, if it's actually true

Kate: Keith White. He wanted in my pants, too. But he was so boring.
[Kate lifts her dress and flashes a tombstone]
Kate: See what you could have, Keith, if you hadn’t talked about wheat all the time.

This stuff: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=0 ... 3&dpr=1.38

David: Was he drinking back then?
Peg: Of course he was. It happens early around here. There isn’t much else to do. Nowadays, of course, it’s not just booze but all that other stuff. For Woody it got bad after Korea. He had a hard time over there.
David: I thought he was just a mechanic.
Peg: Oh, he was, for the army planes. But he was shot down while being transferred. You knew that, right?

Nope. Just like I didn't know my own father was once a taxidermist until he told my sister's husband about it.

Aunt Flo: Martha, where’s Bart and Cole?
Aunt Martha: Oh, they’re off doing some volunteer work picking up trash off the streets.
Kate: It’s community service; for Bart’s rape.
Aunt Martha: Sexual assault!
Kate: What’s the difference?
Aunt Martha: A huge difference…it’s…well…the boys can explain it to you better than I can…

I'll bet they can.

Kate [to the folks after Woody’s “money”]: You listen up and you listen real good. You can all go fuck yourselves!

And it's not like he actually has any.

David: Seen enough?
Woody: I suppose. It’s just a bunch of old wood and some weeds.
David: Did you ever want to farm like your dad?
Woody: I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter.

So, what don't you remember? Or, perhaps, all the things you'd like to forget?.

David: Dad, why didn’t you tell us that wasn’t Ed’s house?
Woody: I didn’t know what the hell you were doing.
Ross: Have you ever seen us steal machinery before?
Woody: I never know what you boys are up to.
Ross: Why didn’t you say it wasn’t yours?
Woody: I thought you wanted it.
Ross: What would we want an old compressor for?
Woody: That’s what I couldn’t figure out.

On the other hand, for some, what's one more failure to communicate?

Receptionist: Hi. Can I help you?David: My father is here to collect his million dollars.
Receptionist: Excuse me?
David: Show her your letter, Dad.
[Woody takes the tattered sacred document from his pocket and hands it over. She looks at it and types something on her computer]
Receptionist: I’m sorry, but your number wasn’t one of the winning numbers.
Woody: But it says I won.
Receptionist: It says you won if your number is the winning number. I’m afraid it isn’t.
[Woody looks at her blankly]
Receptionist: I’m sorry, sir. I hope you didn’t have to come too far.
David: Montana.
Receptionist: Oh, my.
David: Well, Dad, I guess that’s it.
Receptionist: I can give you a free gift, like a hat or a seat cushion.
David: Do you want a hat or a seat cushion?
Woody: Huh?
David: Do you want a hat or a seat cushion?
Woody: A hat.
David: He’ll take the hat.

In my own rooted existentially in dasein personal opinion, he deserved both.

David: Does this happen a lot?
Receptionist: Every once in a while. Usually older people like your father. Does he have Alzheimer’s
David: No, he just believes what people tell him.
Receptionist: That’s too bad.

You can say that again. And again and again and again and again.

[iambiguous]

Artificial Intelligence

“Androids with Artificial Intelligence have no heart or soul. They will make our perfect masters.” A.R. Merrydew

You can say that again. I think.

“Artificial Intelligence never stops for lunch. The human race will lose their place at the table very soon.” A.R. Merrydew

Probably not anytime soon, I'm guessing.

“I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.” Alan Turing

Well, maybe this century? 

“People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world, but the real problem is that they're too stupid and they've already taken over the world.” Pedro Domingos

Place your bets.

AI won‘t be fool proof in the future since it will only be as good as the data and information that we give it to learn. It could be the case that simple elementary tricks could fool the AI algorithm and it may serve a complete waste of output as a result.” Zoltan Andrejkovics

Bummer.

“As more and more artificial intelligence is entering into the world, more and more emotional intelligence must enter into leadership.” Amit Ray

In other words, we're fucked.

[iambiguous]

Let’s start here:

The home of director John Boorman was robbed by the real life Martin Cahill. Among other things, he stole a gold record that Boorman had on the wall, which inspired Boorman to include that scene in the movie. IMDb

So this guy was the real thing. In other words, a gen-u-ine gangster. And, as such, some will look up to and admire him and others will see him as scum. Not to mention lots of other things in between.

Let’s face it, there are folks who have little or no problems with blokes committing crimes against the rich…or the banks or the jewelers. Besides, in some respects, the cops here are even bigger scumbags still.

And given that this all unfolds in and around Dublin in and around the early 1980s, there’s no way it’s not going to become intertwined in “the troubles”.

Religion, politics, class, money and dope. Enough said? And then there’s the part about incest.

Right from the start we see that Cahill’s criminal career began with stealing food for his family. You know, just so they’d have something to eat. The plight of the poor is everywhere here. Hell, the man couldn’t afford to get certain things for his kids…so, sure, he broke into the homes of the wealthy and stole the stuff that their kids had. I mean, it’s not like mommy and daddy couldn’t afford to replace them, right?

Look for Mickey Donovan.

When the film was shown theaters, it was in black and white but when it aired on American cable television networks, it was shown in color.

Trust me: the black and white is much better. Not that I’ve ever actually seen the one in color. It’s available on the dvd but it’s also said to be the toned down made-for-tv rendition. I mean, fuck that.


The General

Cop [at the station]: They got the General!!

Right, like there aren't plenty of others ready to take his place. Or at least try to.

Frances [visiting Martin in prison]: They’re evicting us. All of us. Got six months to get out.
Martin: No, They can’t do that, Frances. We won’t leave Hollyfield. No way do we go.
Frances: They got us a flat in Kevin Street.
Martin: Kevin Street?! That’s a deliberate insult to a criminal! Them flats is right opposite the cop shop.
Frances: They’re nice flats though.
Martin: What’s nice? Neighbors that will cover for you. That’s nice. Look Frances, we’re the dregs. We’re the lowest of the low. That’s why we stick together. That’s why we belong in Hollyfield. It’s us against them.
Frances: Yeah. Four kids in one little room.
Martin: Yeah, but happy. Aren’t our kids happy?

That does count for something. Though for some it counts for everything.

Ned [a police inspector]: You’re not like these thugs. You’re clever and there’s a responsibility. You don’t want your children to grow up with your troubles. You can leave this cesspit, get a job…leave this behind.
Marin: Think I could get a job in the police? You know, throwin’ women and children out in the street. Fuckin’ people out of their homes. Jesus, I’d love that.

Touché?

Priest: Marin, I know the hardships suffered in this parish.
Martin: Fuck off, the lot of you. You are all oppressors of the poor. Civil fuckin’ servants! Garda fuckin’ Sichona! Parish fuckin’ priests! Get the fuck out of me house!!

Hear! Hear!

Cop [to Ned]: Bank robbery, across the street! Come on! Come on!
[Ned looks at Martin and he knows who is behind it]
Martin: Disgraceful the profits these banks are makin’.

Back to this:

"Well, you say that I'm an outlaw
You say that I'm a thief
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen"

Martin [in the new house]: You’ll be playin’ golf next, I suppose.
Frances: Now, don’t be stupid, Martin. It’s still us against them.

No, really, where to draw the line?

Ned [to Martin]: We know the type of bomb. You got it from the paramilitaries, probably a renegade. The IRA won’t like this. They make their own inquiries. You know what that means. The next time your door is kicked in, you’ll be fuckin’ prayin’ it’s the police.

If you get his drift.

Martin [to the man from the IRA]: There’s nothing lower than robbin’ a robber!

Let's think of something.

Frances [looking at a Vermeer worth 20 million pounds]: How could anyone get the kind of money that would buy all of this?
Martin: This Alfred Beit has a hole in South African diamonds. Pays blackies about 2 pounds a week to dig them out for him. I seen it on the telly. He has them x-rayed on the way out in case they swallow one.

Ah, the real world! Some places, any way.

Ned: I hear O’Conner had to close down. A hundred people lost their jobs…ordinary decent skins because of you. Man of the people!
Martin: They can go on the dole…like I have to.
Ned: Robin Hood, is it? You scumbag.

And back and forth they go.

Martin [to Frances]: You beat the whole world…and then your own body turns against you.

If only to the grave.

Noel: They shot Willy last night. He was doing a stroke. Just a supermarket. All he was looking for was food for his young ones. If the supermarket had been open he’d have paid with his own money. They shot him dead on the way out. The Gardas have more guns than us, Martin. It’s become decidedly hazardous for us to ply our trade.
Martin: There’s no one left.
Noel: Oh, there’s plenty of young fellows. They worship you. They’d die for you.
Martin: They’re not Hollyfield. The only ones I trust are Hollyfields.

Can you blame him?

UVF man: Are you a Republican, Cahill?
Martin: Criminal. What are you?
UVF man: Loyalists.
Martin: Oh, I’m into loyalty. Loyal to what?
UVF man: The Queen.
Martin: Ah, great. I identify with her. Her ancestors tortured and murdered and grabbed every bleedin’ thing they could. And she doesn’t pay any tazes. She’s my hero.

Next up: The King. 

Martin [to Gary, who just admitted to having sex with his own daughter]: You’re a p****. Criminals don’t molest kids. Leave that to the priests will ya?

Good point?

Martin: You used to be a straight cop…a good culchie boy from Kerry. Always did what the priest told him. Knew right from wrong. Now look at you. The Church let you down, did it? Nobody believes in nothin’ anymore…except me.
[Ned forms his hand into the shape of a gun]
Ned: Would it suit you Martin…if it was my bullet?

Probably.

Frances: Martin, come look. They’re gone. You’ve beaten them. They’re gone.

Nope, not even close.

[iambiguous]

Heaven

“I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.” Pearl S. Buck

Hey, whatever works. To, for example, get you through the night.

“Let this Hell be our Heaven.” Richard Matheson

I could never go that far myself.

“There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don't knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don't.” Neil Gaiman

Blasphemy?

If it's possible to send a message from heaven, I'll get one to you.” Lurlene McDaniel

Of course, that's what they all say.

“But there’s a Sufi story that challenges the notion that people believe only because they need an opiate. Rabe’a al-Adiwiyah, a great woman saint of Sufism, was seen running through the streets of her hometown, Basra, carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When someone asked her what she was doing, she answered, ‘I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of Heaven or fear of Hell, but because He is God.” John Green

Off the deep end, and then some.

“When I was little I bragged about my firefighting father: my father would go to Heaven, because if he went to Hell he would put out all the fires” Jodi Picoult

Kids, let's call them.