Quote of the day

[iambiguous]

It’s all about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam

Of course, to “hustle” has always had two meanings. Especially here in America. On the one hand, someone who hustles is often applauded for being in alignment with the American Dream. You make it here if you work hard, if you’re willing to pay your dues, if you bend over backwards to make something of yourself. Everything is said to revolve around individual effort. So, if you are one of the winners you earned it; and, if you are one of the losers, you have no one to blame but yourself. Conservatives of course love this particular narrative.

Liberals, on the other hand, are often more in tune with the other meaning. This one: hustling as something that involves conning others, exploiting others, using others for your own personal gain and then dumping them along the side of the road [to riches] when you have used them up.

Anyway, the second meaning is something that folks from other countries often don’t even have a translation for:

The American term “hustle” has no direct translation in many other languages. The studio approved the alternative titles American Bluff in France, American Dream in Israel, American Scandal in Argentina, American Sting in Portugal, and American Scam in Quebec. IMDb

In “reality” of course each point of view may or may not be relevant depending on the individual involved and the circumstances in which he finds himself. Or herself. There are just too many complex variables involved here. And always they are open to interpretation. And even then only to the extent that you understand them or are able to actually control them.

In other words, what a cluster fuck this either 1] turned out to be or 2] almost turned out to be.

On the other hand, these two [three? four? more?] were real slime balls. You sort of have to be when the whole point of your business to is to prey on desperate people.

Of course “hustling” can be just as much personal as political and economic. All the games that are played on the suckers. But then we often find ourselves wondering: Am I the sucker? Oh, and never get emotionally involved with the mark. Not even if it’s just male bonding.

The film is a fictionalized telling of the Abscam (short for Arab scam) scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, an FBI operation that began as an investigation of trafficking in stolen property, but was later expanded to include political corruption.

The fight scene that takes place in the bedroom between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence is completely improvised. A version of it had been written in the script, but the actors were struggling to connect with it, so director David O. Russell ultimately decided to allow them to say what they wanted.

According to Christian Bale much of the movie was improvised. So, during the shooting of the film he noted to David O. Russell, “You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track.” To which the director replied, “Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that’s it.”

Tied with Gangs of New York (2002) and True Grit (2010) for second-highest number of Academy Award nominations with no wins at 10, following The Turning Point (1977) and The Color Purple (1985) at 11.  IMDb


American Hustle

Title card: Some of this actually happened.

Most of it still is. And then some in Trumpworld.

Irving [voiceover]: Did you ever have to find a way to survive and you knew your choices were bad, but you had to survive? I learned how to survive when I was a kid out on the streets. And I would rather be on the taking side then the getting taken side, any day of the week. Especially after I saw my father get taken. I mean, seeing that scarred me for life.

What scarred you for life?

Irving: Is that Duke Ellington, on your bracelet?
Sydney: Yeah, as a matter of fact it is. He died this year, you know?
Irving: I know. I doubt anyone else here knows or cares about it.
Sydney: Well, I care about it. He saved my life many times.
Irving: Mine too. Which one?
Sydney: Jeep’s Blues.
Irving: Jeep’s Blues?
Sydney: Yeah. Jeep’s Blues.
Irving: You wanna hear it?
Sydney: Right now?
Irving: Yeah.

Sure, why not: https://youtu.be/1nmHivlRfWI?si=AqyQeiY8V-GxXxJv

Cosmo Interviewer: Our cover story right now is about cunnilingus. What do you think about that?
Sydney: I like it.

That's always a tricky one for some.

Irving [voiceover]: I felt like we had a secret. Just the two of us. You know, like that thing when you just wanna be with the one person all the time. And you feel like just the two of you understand that nobody else gets. I could just tell her everything about myself. And I never had anybody like that in my life before. It felt like, finally, I can truly be myself. Without being ashamed without being embarrassed.

Yo, Supannika, tell them about it.

Sydney [realizing Irving’s angle]: Everybody at the bottom crosses paths eventually in a pool of desperation and you’re waiting for them…
Irving: How about we?

The "hustle" part. Both of them.

Irving [voiceover]: As far as I can see people are always conning each other to get what they wanted. We even ‘Con’ ourselves. We talk ourselves into things, you know. We sell ourselves things whether we do need or want. You know, we are dressing 'em up. We leave out the risk. We leave out the ugly truth. Pay attention to that. Cos, we are always conning ourselves in one way or another. Just to get through life.

I'll con you if you'll con me.

Rosalyn: We fight and then we fuck, that’s our thing.
Irving [voiceover]: She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate. She was better than any con artist I ever met. Including myself. And she had me like nobody had me…I was her mark.

I'll be your mark, if you'll be mine.

Richie [to Sydney]: I know you think - look at me, hey, Edith - I know you think Irv loves you. I know you think you know him. You think that he sees the world as this cold, dark place. He cares about nobody but a very few people on a short list: His son, his father, Rosalyn, and you. You think you’re on the top of the list? What if you’re not? What if you’re not on that list? What if you’re not even on that list at all? He’d be in here right now if he took the cheque, but no, you did. God, it’s so clear to me, it’s crazy, it’s clear to me, but it’s not clear to you. He uses you, Edith, to protect himself, to protect his son, and his wife in Long Island. No? Yes. He put a ring on her finger, he adopted her son. They have a huge house and they have two huge cars, what does she do all day? I’ll tell you what she does: She plays with her nails, she watches TV, and she spends your money; the money that you make. I don’t like that you’re in jail while he’s going free, I don’t like any of that, I want to help you. All the razzle-dazzle that he does? It’s not good, it’s not real, it’s fake, it’s not real. Who you are is who you are, between you and God. You and your soul, that’s what matters, that’s what counts, that’s what I’m about. That’s what I see in you. Tell me you didn’t feel it the first time we saw each other? Am I crazy? I don’t think so.

Cons on one side of the law trying to out con cons on the other side. Meanwhile the biggest cons are often perfectly legal in the United States of crony capitalism. Federal, state and local. And that’s before we get to the Mob. And these guys go all the way back to Nucky Thompson. For all practical purposes.

Sydney: Rosalyn will never let you go. She used Danny against you. Because she’s too messed up to let you leave.
Irving: I can’t leave him. I love him, alright? He is my son.
Sydney: Richie said you will say that.
Irving: Richie? The cop?
Sydney: Yeah.
Irving: You’re on a first name basis?
Sydney: Yes, I am. I am not even on your list, am I?
Irving: What list?
Sydney: Your list. Your short list…your long list. I’m not even on any of your fucking lists. I thought that you loved me.
Irving: I do love you.

No, really. And not just all the way to the bank.

Richie: How do you know the Sheikh?
Irving: Because he’s my friend Al, from Queens.
Al “the Sheikh”: I do aluminium siding and roofing.

Any "Sheikhs" here we can scam?

Irving [in a museum]: I wanna show you something. This Rembrandt here, people come from all over the world to see this.
Richie: Yeah, he’s good. Yeah.
Irving: It’s a fake.
Richie: But, come on, it’s impossible.
Irving: People believe what they wanna believe. The guy who made this was so good that it’s real. To everybody. Now, who is the Master? The Painter…or the Forger?
Richie: That’s a fake?
Irving: This is the way the world works. Not black and white like you say. Extremely grey.

And getting greyer all the time. Not to mention grayer.

Irving [voiceover]: The crazy thing about people: the more you say ‘no’ the more they want in on something. It is so stupid.

It's how you say it, in other words.

Richie: You playing me? You doing this… or are you playing him? It would be very bad for you if you’re playing me.
Sydney: You’re gonna have to decide for yourself, kid.

Same here, of course.

Irving: I believe that you should treat people the way that you want to be treated. Right? Didn’t Jesus say that, or something?
Carmine: He may have.
Irving: Also, I think you should always take a favour, over money. I think Jesus said that as well.

No, really, did  He?

Rosalyn [to Irving]: You wanna be more like Carmine? Why don’t you build something, like he does? Instead of all your empty deals; they’re just like your fuckin’ science oven. You know, I read that it takes all of the nutrition out of our food! It’s empty, just like your deals. Empty! Empty!

Good point, among other things.

Sydney [to Irving]: You’re nothing to me until you’re everything.

Trust me: for better or for worse.

Richie: You got any other questions?
Paco: Yeah, I think the name of this operation is offensive. What, Abscam? “Arab-scam”? It’s racist!
Irving: Are you fucking kidding? What do you care? You’re Mexican.

How idiotic is that? Especially these days.

Irving [voiceover]: What are the fucking odds, you got an Italian guy from Miami knowing Arabic. It turns out, he’s got casino investments, in the middle east.

That'll do it.

Sydney: What the hell do you think you’re doing?
Rosalyn: What do I think I’m doing? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You’re going to come in here and judge me for flirting with someone else when you’ve been fucking my husband for how many years?
Sydney: You don’t have any fucking clue what’s going on!
Rosalyn: I have a ring on my finger. We have a child together!
Sydney: He doesn’t love you, Rosalyn. He loves me. And you know it, and I know it, and he knows it. And it might be done now, but it was beautiful, and it was real…
Rosalyn: Stop it.
Sydney: …and we loved each other.
Rosalyn: Shut up.
Sydney: You scare him, and you manipulate him, and you use your son!
Rosalyn: Well, he must like it on some level. He must want it, because he keeps coming back for it. It’s like that perfume that you love, that you can’t stop smelling even when there’s something sour in it. Can’t get enough of it. Well guess what? He’s never gonna leave me. He’s always going to want me, and I will make you so sorry, Edith. I will make you so sorry for what you’ve done to my family. Mark my words!
Sydney: That is fucked up! I would never say anything that fucked up to anybody, but you do because you’re gross inside. You’re so fucked up and gross.
Rosalyn: Oh, I’m gross inside?
Sydney: Yeah!
Rosalyn: Maybe you’re gross inside. What, robbing people and all that shit that you do? Maybe we’re both gross inside. That’s what Irving loves about us. At least he’s consistent. You know, sometimes in life, all you have are fucked up, poisonous choices.
[She kisses Sydney and laughs]

But not for long.

Richie: I love you. It is real now. I just…I just said it. So, now is the time. Look at me, look at me. I love you. I love you. I just said that.
Sydney: Do you want the truth? Do you want real?
Richie: I’m ready for real.
Sydney: This is real. Do you hear my voice? This is real. This is real. I want you to hear what’s real.
Richie [startled by her change of accent]: What?
Sydney: This is me.
Richie: What do you mean? Well, you’re doing an accent? Your American accent?
Sydney: No, there is no English. There’s only American. There’s no English.
RIchie: What are you talking about? Stop it, you’re Edith. Your birth records say…
Sydney: I falsified my records back to birth. I falsified them. My name is Sydney Prosser. I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’m not Edith Greensly. There is no Edith Greensly.
Richie: You’re…freaking…me…out.

Think Aaron Stampler. More or less.

Rosalyn: Life is ridiculous. And you know that I would never say anything bad about your father in front of you, but your father is a sick son-of-a bitch.
Danny: Daddy’s a sick son-of-a-bitch?
Rosalyn: Don’t repeat that…but yes.

Well, he sure as shit could be.

Carmine: Irving…look, I’m a good person.
Irving: You are a good person.
Carmine: I’ve been doing this for a long time. For twenty years! Do you think I would’ve taken that money. If it wasn’t the right thing to do?
Irving: You’re a good person. I know that, but in all honesty…
Carmine: You said that was the only way Irv. You chased me, you remember?
Irving: They fucking made me do it. I was asked to do that or go to jail.
Carmine: You made me go back to the plaza, To take that money. You piece of shit! I was gone! You fucking p****! You motherfucker!!! You fucking chased me, you piece of shit! I was gone! I left!!

Whatever works, let's say.

Sydney: People believe what they wanna believe, Richie.
Richie: No, because you conned me. That’s why. Because you fucking conned me. You did.
Irving: That…that doesn’t sound so good either. You know what I mean. But, let’s just assume you wanna go with that story. Really? That’s the story, you wanna go with? That’s what you want the New York Times to hear. That you got conned by the very con men who you forced to entrap the members of congress in the first place. That’s what you wanna go with? That doesn’t sound so good for your whole thing does it? How ironic…that the ones who’re working hardest to get the economy of New Jersey’s going…those are the ones you round up. Why? Because they are the easiest to go after? What about the real bullshit artists? You didn’t even come close to the big leagues. Those big guys. The money men.
Richie: That’s what I was trying to go after.
Irving: Well I’m sorry to be telling you, you got none of 'em.

It's not called the deep state for nothing.

Irving [voiceover]: We took down some very big guys. Some of whom, they were just doing business as usual, helping their communities or their states, but some of them knew they had larceny in their blood, and they even admitted it. But in all, it was six congressmen, one United States senator, and my friend Carmine Polito. We gave the two million back, so that Carmine got a reduced sentence, 18 months. The loss of his friendship would haunt me the rest of my life. When the story was written, Richie DiMaso’s name was never mentioned. Syd and I, we moved in together. Rosalyn? She would always be interesting. Our conning days were behind us. You can fool yourself for just so long, that your next reinvention you better have your damn feet on the ground. We got a loan from a bank and were able to go gallery-legitimate. The art of survival, is a story that never ends.

Until, one by one, we're dead and gone. Or something like that.

[iambiguous]

Here is a heterosexual male playing a homosexual male exposing all of the homophobic foibles of heterosexual men and women in America. What could possibly go wrong? Let’s ask Ron Paul.

And how in the world could…would…should one react to it without pissing at least some folks off?

Bottom line: Ask yourself: Is this funnier than it is inanely stupid? And can this possibly be known for sure?

It’s especially funny if you like to see folks being made complete fools of. Sure, it sounds cruel but you almost always think that these folks are complete fools – so that makes it okay. Well, if your politics are liberal and progressive.

On the other hand, sometimes he goes too far and things get downright…crude. Repulsive even. If only from a particular point of view. Even mine from time to time.

It is alleged that, aside from the skit with Harrison Ford, all of these encounters are supposed to actually be nonscripted. Maybe. But I don’t believe it. Paula Abdul sitting on the Mexican? The focus group? The interview with Ayman Abu Aita? The Dallas talk show? The extreme fighting bit?

On the other hand, the “interview” with Ron Paul seemed utterly genuine. The Libertarian bigot? Let’s ask his son, Rand.

According to Sacha Baron Cohen, Harrison Ford is in the only scene that was scripted, and was the only actor that was in on the joke.

In October 2006, entertainment blog website Defamer.com jokingly reported the title would be “Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt”. Numerous websites around the world - including IMDb - reported this to be the actual working title

The sequence where Bruno enrolled at the Alabama National Guard, filmed at the Alabama Military Academy in Fort McClellan, Anniston, went undetected until a young cadet who recognized him from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), notified elder officers who were unfamiliar with the actor.   IMDb

Nope. Doesn’t ring true at all to me.


Bruno

Bruno: Modelling, a lot of people think it’s easy. But it’s the hardest job in the world, isn’t it?
Heather Hahn [supermodel]: It’s very hard. Standing in heels all day, and everyone’s watching you, so you have to make sure your walk is good.
Bruno: Yeah, it’s really hard, 'cause you’ve gotta remember, like, to put your right leg forward and then put your left leg forward and then, like, which one now? Right leg again, and then, like, the left one. And then sometimes you even have to turn.
Heather: Yeah. And especially the turn. It’s so scary.

And now we know.

Bruno: In September 2008, I left for Milan Fashion Week to shoot a new season of Funkyzeit. Brüno had backstage access for the hottest show of the week, de la Prada. So I wore the jewel of mein wardrobe, a suit made entirely out of Velcro.

So, which is more hilarious: Bruno in the Velcro suit or the fashion show itself:

Bruno [voiceover]:I realized that night that the fashion world was superficial and vacuous. So, I decided instead to go to Los Angeles to become a celebrity. I was going to be the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler.

That's some challenge!

[at the Pink Cheeks anal bleaching salon]
Bruno: You were actually my second choice. I was going to go to the salon that maintains Salma Hayek’s inner thighs, but the team that do it were booked up for the next four days because she’s got the Elle Style Awards. And they said they’re, like, really, really exhausted after they do her.
Lady: They’re exhausted after they wax Salma Hayek? She must have a lot of hair.
Bruno: They say that after a waxing, there’s enough to stuff a mattress.

Well, for a crib maybe.

Bruno [pointing to a photograph of Mel Gibson]: The Fuhrer?

On the other hand, praise the Lord?

Focus group advisor [after the focus group views Bruno’s video for a TV show]: So if you could describe this show in one sentence…Can anybody give me one sentence? Go ahead.
Focus group member: The worst piece of crap I have ever seen.
Focus group member: What sick human being came up with something like this?
Focus group member: I wanted to poke my eyes out with hot needles.
Focus group member: You’d have to borrow the needles from me.
Focus group member: No logical person would consider a show like this unless they had some sort of a mental or moral defect.
Focus group member: It was worse than cancer.
Focus group member: The only way this guy will ever be famous is in a sex tape.

That's just what we don't need here, a focus group. So, I won't start one if you won't.

Ron Paul [after Bruno strips to his underwear]: All right! Get out of here! This has ended.
Bruno: What’s going on?
Ron Paul [to his aide]: That guy is queerer than the blazes. He took his clothes off. Let’s get going.
Aide: What happened?
Ron Paul: He’s queer. He’s crazy. He put a hit on me. He took his clothes off!!

Of course, he's not allowed to say queer is he?

Bruno: What’s the coolest type of charity to get into at the moment?
Nicole: Save Darfur.
Bruno: Save what?
Suzanne: Save Darfur. Angelina Jolie.
Bruno: Is that in, like, Iraqi or something like that?
Nicole: Yeah, that’s in the… It’s in… Yeah. Yeah.
Bruno: Is there anywhere in the world that no celebrity has tried to fix? Darfur is the big one now. What’s the new one? What’s Dar-five?

Let's find a celebrity to fix what we're doing here.

Brüno [voiceover]: I was going to become famous by solving a world problem! But which one? Clooney’s got Darfur, Sting’s got the Amazon, and Bono’s got AIDS! Luckily, there was still one shithole left to fix: the Middle Earth.

He means the Middle East of course.

Bruno: Can I give you guys a word of advice? Lose the beards, because your King Osama looks like a kind of dirty wizard or a homeless Santa.
Ayman Abu Aita: What did he say?
[the translator translates and Ayman Abu Aita reacts]
Translator [to Bruno]: Get out! Get out now!
Bruno [voiceover]: I was encouraged to leave the Middle Earth.

Next up: Lower Earth.

Bruno [at the airport lifting a black infant out of a cardboard box on the luggage carousel]: Madonna has one. Brangalina has one. And now Bruno has one.

Anyone here want mine?

[Bruno interviews parents who want their children in the movies]Bruno: Would you be ready for your baby to be strung up on a crucifix next to mine?
Parent: Fine. Yeah, I don’t mind her being up on a crucifix. Sure.

No, really, what wouldn't you do to be famous?

Bruno: Is your baby comfortable with bees, wasps and hornets?
Parent: George is comfortable with everything. He’s fine.

That's still how it works.

Bruno: Is he comfortable with dead or dying animals?
Parent: Yes.
Bruno: Great.

He gets his 15 minutes.

Bruno: Is your baby fine with antiquated heavy machinery?
Parent: Yeah, she’s fine. She’s been around that.
Bruno: Would she be fine to operate them?
Parent: Yes.

Cue America's Got Talent?

Bruno: Is your baby fine with lit phosphorus?
Parent: Yes.
Bruno: Excellent. Does he like it?
Parent: Loves it.

How about when you were a baby?

Bruno: A little sensitive subject here. How much does she weigh?
Parent: She’s about 30 pounds.
Bruno: Thirty pounds. Can she lose 10 pounds in the next week?
Parent: In the next week, seven days. I’d have to do whatever I could.
Bruno: If there’s a problem losing the weight, would you be ready to have her undergo liposuction?
Parent: If that was a last resort and she didn’t lose the few pounds, then, yeah, we’d have to do that.
Bruno: Great. Fantastic news. We have chosen your baby to be dressed as a Nazi officer pushing a wheelbarrow with another baby as a Jew in it into an oven.
Parent: Into an oven?
Bruno: Congratulations. How do you feel?
Parent: Great, if she got the job.

Oh, she's got it alright.

Brüno [on talk show]: There’s a lot of African Americans in Africa!
African-American Lady: No! There’s a lot of Africans in Africa!
Brüno: That’s racist!

Too close to call?

TV Host Bey: All right, but wait a second. You are the baby’s father now. And you chose to dress that baby up in a T-shirt that says what?
Bruno: Gayby.
Bey: That’s not the baby’s name, is it?
Brüno: No, I gave him a traditional African name.
Bey: So what’s that?
Bruno: O.J.

Another Simpson!

Bruno: Things have got to change. I want to become straight.
Pastor: Awesome.
Bruno: Once I’m straight, can I still play the clarinet?
Pastor: If it doesn’t remind you about some of the behaviour that you engaged in when you put your lips around it. If it doesn’t remind you of that, then I say go for it and play the clarinet with everything inside of you. If it does remind you of that, then I say put it down, give it away, let a friend hold it until you know in your mind you’re ready to pick it up again and it wouldn’t remind you of that.

So, what reminds you of it?

Brüno: So you were never gay?
Pastor: [shakes head] Mh-mh.
Brüno: It’s ironic that you should have amazing blowjob lips.
Pastor: These…these lips were made to praise Jesus.

Blowjob lips. New thread?

Brüno: Look at the four of us; we are so like the Sex in the City girls!
Donny [the hunter]: Oh no, we aren’t either!
Brüno: Which one are you, Donny?
Donny: I ain’t any one of them, I’m Donny.
Brüno: That is such a Samantha thing to say!

You tell me. 

Brüno: Look me in the eye.
Angry Swinger: This is a fuckin’ swingers’ party. OK? If you don’t want pussy, if you don’t want fuckin’… then quit fuckin’ touching me and quit looking at me. I definitely ain’t lookin’ at you in the eye. OK? I didn’t come here for no fuckin’ queer shit, OK? I know what you’re doin’.

Not really, of course.

[iambiguous]

Suicide

“A book is a suicide postponed.” Emil Cioran

What's that make a post here then?

“The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” Albert Camus

Uh, define literal?

“The parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die.” David Foster Wallace

So, what did push him over the edge?

“They tell us that Suicide is the greatest piece of Cowardice... That Suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in this world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.” Arthur Schopenhauer

Women too these days.

“I'm the girl nobody knows until she commits suicide. Then suddenly everyone had a class with her.” Tom Leveen

Don't look at me.

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.” Mahatma Gandhi

Not many that's not applicable to.

[iambiguous]

The Cube. Is it just another metaphor for existence itself: I never asked to be here but now that I am what the fuck does it all mean? Either that or being “imprisoned”: In “what exactly?”

As for all the folks in here with me – why do they have to think and feel the way they do, and not the way I do. And what happens when we do get out? Are we really better off out instead of in?

And then, in any event, what is the right “attitude” to take about however we construe the situation to be?

And the existential element: you never quite know what is around the corner. Or, here, in the next room.

And [as always] that tricky relationship between whatever reality might actually be and whatever it is that we think [believe] that it might actually be.

You know, like in here.

Only in the cube one of them was actually in on its creation. Though not in the sense that they invented it or designed it. In other words, not in the sense that God designed or invented human existence. Everyone it seems is only so far up or so far down the food chain.

Summed up best perhaps this way:

Quentin: Why put people in it?
Worth: Because it’s here. You have to use it, or you admit it’s pointless.
Quentin: But it, it is pointless.
Worth: Quentin…that’s my point.

Look for the nihilist. And [of course] prime numbers.

Not only are the characters named after prisons but they reflect the prisons themselves. Example: Kazan (the mentally challenged character), in Russia is a disorganized prison. Rennes (the “mentor”) was a jail that pioneered many of today’s prison policies. Quentin (the detective) is known for its brutality. Holloway is a women’s prison, and Alderson is a prison where isolation is a common punishment. Leavenworth runs to a rigid set of rules (Leaven’s mathematics), and the new prison is corporately owned and built (Worth, hired as an architect).

Director Vincenzo Natali directed a follow-up short film in which we see what is outside the cube. Natali has made a solemn vow never to reveal what was outside the cube, and destroyed the video years ago.  IMDb


Cube

Quentin: How many people are in this thing?

I'll never tell.

Quentin: Listen, we can’t go climbing around in here.
Holloway: Why not?
Quentin: There’s traps.
Holloway: What do you mean traps?
Quentin: Booby traps. I looked in the room down there, and something almost cut my head off.

You won't believe some of them.

Quentin: Does anybody remember how they got here?

Think Saw. Only more bizarre.

Holloway: It’s like Chile. They always come in the middle of the night.
Quentin: Who?
Holloway: Only the government could build something this ugly.
Quentin: It ain’t government.
Holloway: Then what is it?
Quentin: I don’t know.
Holloway: Aliens.

Okay, but which ones?

Holloway: We have about 3 days without food and water before we are too weak to move.
Leaven: Well, they have to feed us, don’t they?

They? Who the fuck are they?

Holloway: Why would they throw innocent people in here? Are we being punished?
Leaven: I’ve never done anything to deserve this.
Quentin: Forget about all that! You can’t see the big picture from in here, so don’t try.

Sound familiar?

Quentin: Let’s start with us. We got an escape artist and a cop. There’s gotta be a reason for that. You’re a doctor, Holloway. That gives you a function, a reason, right?
Holloway: No! It just makes me go, “Why me and not one of the other ten million doctors out there?”

Now you're talking.

Holloway: I think we have to ask the big questions! What does “it” want? What is “it” thinking?
Worth: “One down, four to go.”

Yep, that checks out.

Quentin: Why don’t you tell us what your purpose is, Worth?
Worth: Often wondered that myself. I’m just a guy, I work in an office building doing office building stuff. I wasn’t exactly bursting with joie de vivre before I got here, life just sucks in general.
Holloway: Oh I can’t stand that attitude.
Leaven: 'Cos he’s right.

Spotted the nihilist yet?

Leaven [looking at the “room numbers”]: Prime numbers! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!

Admittedly, I missed that too.

Quentin: Somebody has to take responsibility around here.
Worth: And that somebody has to be you?
Quentin: Not all of us have the luxury of playing nihilist.
Worth: Not all of us are conceited enough to play hero.
Quentin [growing increasingly angry]: This is a will to live. Everybody’s got it, Worth, even you. Especially you! Hiding behind that cynical front.
Worth: A will to live. That’s the warm, cozy feeling deep inside? Thanks, Quentin, I’m a new man.
Quentin: Oh. Poor Worth. Nobody loves me. If that’s the chip on your shoulder, why did you lug it all this way? Why didn’t you just lie down and die?

Uh, distractions?

Worth: You think we matter? We don’t.
Quentin: Put us out of your misery so we can get on with getting out of here!
Worth: Oh, you’re not getting out of here.
Quentin: Yes, we are.
Worth: No, you’re not.
Quentin: Yes, we are!
Worth [shouting furiously] There is no way out of here!
Quentin [suddenly realizing Worth knows more than he’s telling them]: Gotcha.
Holloway [shocked]: How do you know that?
Quentin: Answer the question, Worth.
Holloway: Oh, God.
Quentin: Who are you?
Worth: I’m the poison. I designed the outer shell.

The plot thickens.

Holloway [speculating on what is behind Worth’s “sarcophagus”]: It’s all the same machine, right? The Pentagon, multinational corporations, the police. If you do one little job, you build a widget in Saskatoon, and the next thing you know, it’s two miles under the desert, the essential component of a death machine. I was right! All along, my whole life, I knew it! I told you, Quentin. Nobody’s ever going to call me paranoid again! We’ve gotta get out of here and blow the lid off this thing!Worth: Holloway, you don’t get it.
Holloway: Then help me, please. I need to know!
Worth: This may be hard for you to understand, but there is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It, it’s a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan. Can you grasp that? Big Brother is not watching you.
Holloway: What kind of fuckin’ explanation is that?
Worth: It’s the best you are gonna get. I looked, and the only conclusion I could come to is that there is nobody up there.
Quentin: Somebody had to say yes to this thing.
Worth: What thing? Only we know what it is.

Me, I’m backing Holloway.

Worth: I mean, somebody might have known sometime before they were gone, they got fired, or voted out, or sold it, but if this place ever had a purpose, it got miscommunicated, or lost in a shuffle. I mean, this is an accident, a forgotten perpetual public works project. Do you think anybody wants to ask questions? All they want is a clear conscience, and a fat paycheck.

Hell, we're all in one cube or another. Well, not counting the folks in Flatland.

Quentin: But why put people in it?
Worth: Because it’s here. You have to use it, or you admit it’s pointless.
Quentin: But it, it is pointless.
Worth: Quentin… that’s my point.
Holloway: What have we come to? It’s so much worse than I thought.
Worth: Not really. Just more pathetic.

Anyone happen to know how much more? Just for the record.

Worth: We’re both part of the same system. I drew a box, you walk a beat. It’s like you said, Quentin, is keep your head down, keep it simple, just look at what’s in front of you. I mean, nobody wants to see the big picture. Life’s too complicated. I mean, let’s face it, the reason we’re here is that it’s out of control.

And now with Trump, already this close to cracking up...? 

Leaven: Ok. The biggest the cube can be then is…26 rooms high, 26 rooms across, so…17,576 rooms.
Holloway: Seventeen thousand, five hundred and seventy-six rooms?!
Leaven [thinking]: Descartes! Cartesian coordinates. Of course, coded cartesian coordinates. They’re used in geometry to plot points on a dimensional graph. These numbers are markers, and grid reference, like latitude and longitude on a map. The numbers tell us where we are inside the cube.

Next up: our own virtual cubes. In other words, not just this one.

Worth: Hey! Listen to what I’m saying. There was a room there before. We haven’t been moving in circles, the rooms have.

All 17,576 of them?

Leaven: At first, I thought that they were identified by prime numbers, but they are not. They are identified by numbers that are the power of a prime.
Worth: Can you calculate that?
Leaven: The numbers are huge. Maybe if I had a computer.
Quentin: You don’t need a computer.
Leaven: Yes I do.
Quentin: Figure it out! I’m not dying in a fucking rat maze!
Leaven: Look. Nobody in the whole world could do it mentally. Look at the numbers…567, 898, 545 There’s no way I can factor that! I can’t even start on 567! It’s astronomical!

Enter Kazan: the autistic-savant.

Leaven: So, guess what? This is the room we started in. I was right. We should never have moved in the first place.
Worth: The bridge…

Either that or a trestle.

Leaven [reaching the exit of the cube]: What are you doing? You can’t quit now. It’s not your fault!
Worth: I have nothing to live for out there.
Leaven: What is out there?
Worth: Boundless human stupidity.
Leaven: I can live with that.

But only one makes it out alive. And it’s not her.

[iambiguous]

Umberto Eco from Foucault’s Pendulum 

How clear everything becomes when you look from the darkness of a dungeon.

Uh, start here: https://knowthyself.forumotion.net/t308 ... -now-forum

I believe all sin, love, glory are this: when you slide down the knotted sheets, escaping from Gestapo headquarters, and she hugs you, there, suspended, and she whispers that she's always dreamed of you. The rest is just sex, copulation, the perpetuation of the vile species.

Just?

“Well, Diotallevi and I are planning a reform in higher education. A School of Comparative Irrelevance, where useless or impossibe courses are given. The school's aim is to turn out scholars capable of endlessly increasing the number of unnecessary subjects.

There must be hundreds of them by now.

I believe that you can reach the point where there is no longer any difference between developing the habit of pretending to believe and developing the habit of believing.

I knew it!

You are always born under the wrong sign, and to live in this world properly you have to rewrite your own horoscope day by day.

Properly? You first.

But if there is no cosmic Plan? What a mockery, to live in exile when no one sent you there. Exile from a place, moreover, that does not exist.

It's actually harder than you think.

[iambiguous]

Think Cube with a bigger budget. So, sure, it seems more sophisticated. More CGI stuff for example. But it’s not nearly as good as the first one because that is basically where all the new bucks go: making it look better. The cube is now a tesseract. And a tesseract is said to be to a cube what a cube is to a square: it adds another dimension.

But that can then introduce an element of “reality” that increasingly becomes just sheer speculation. Fun but the foundation is often considerably less stable. It can also make interactions between the folks in the cube [and between the folks in the cube and the cube itself] become considerably more, say, hyperbolic.

Alas, what they should have spent the additional bucks on is the script. Gone [basically] are the provocative characters asking provocative questions.

It seems that the first cube had rules. A gigantic puzzle. Like a Rubik’s Cube. But it revolved around numbers. Decode them and there was a chance to get out. No numbers here though. Well, one. But significantly less intriguing. And it was as though the inside of the Rubik’s Cube was suddenly surging up to the surface…crushing everything in its path. Think multiverse and quantum interaction here. Though no mention of Rational Metaphysics or Affectance Ontology.

What is the “meaning” of it all? What lies “behind” the cube? ? Here is one take on it: https://horrornews.net/58894/the-cube-m ... franchise/

There is also a third movie in this franchise. But it is the prequel. I have it somewhere in my collection but haven’t gotten to it yet.


Cube 2: Hypercube

Maguire: Numbers. Where’s the goddamn numbers?
[the portal closes before he can decide what to do]
Maguire: Oh God, oh God. There has to be something.
[he opens a briefcase, but it does not contain whatever he was looking for]
Maguire: Oh, goddamn it! I mean, they’re my numbers! Don’t I at least get a shot at my numbers, you stupid fucks? I want a chance! I want a chance, like everyone else!

Hey, the script's the script.

Kate: This is Sasha. She’s blind. And she’s very scared.
Jerry: What a bummer, to be blind in this place.

On the other hand, was she born blind?

Kate: What are you doing?
Jerry: I’m marking the rooms.
Kate: This is the fourth room you’ve been in?
Jerry: Yeah.
Kate: I thought you said you’ve been wandering these rooms for hours.
Jerry: Yeah. That’s the weird thing isn’t it? Each one of these rooms has six of these doors and portals, but no matter how many different doors and portals I go through I always end up in the same three rooms. Until now.
Kate: It’s as if the rooms were moving around…or something.

Moving is exactly what I'm guessing it was.

Jerry: How do you do, Mrs. Paley?
Mrs. Paley: Hello.
Jerry: You don’t happen to know why you’re here, do you?
Mrs. Paley: Oh, dear, I was never very good at philosophy.

The second best answer, let's call it.

Sasha: It’s getting closer.
Kate: Sasha, do you know what “it” is?
Sasha: No, not really. But I can hear it. All the time, even when you don’t. And it sounds…it feels wrong.
Mrs. Paley: Maybe we’re in Hell.

The other one, for sure.

Jerry: I designed the door panels in here. The touch sensors. I was freelancing for a subcontractor, I…
Kate: You didn’t think this was worth mentioning before?
Jerry: I signed a confidentiality–
Simon: Well, given our current situation, I’d say it’s null and void. What the hell is this place?
Jerry: I don’t know. Look, you don’t think the guy that makes the toilets in the space shuttle, gets to see the plans for the rest of it?
Simon: You must have had some idea what they were building.
Jerry: It was experimental. It was a prototype.
Simon: For what?
Jerry: I’m not sure. Leading-edge stuff. There were rumors…
Simon: What kind of rumors, Jerry? What rumors?
Jerry: Quantum teleportation.
Max: You mean, like…‘Beam me up, Scotty’?

Either that or beam me down, Scotty. It's so easy to get them confused.

Jerry: Let’s call one dimension, length, and represent that with a simple line. Now, two dimensions are length and width, which can be represented by a single square. Now if we extend that square, one more dimension we get a cube, which has three dimensions. Length, width, and depth. If you take this cube, and extend it one more dimension we get a tesseract.
Rex: I thought time was considered to be the fourth dimension.
Jerry: Sure. That’s one idea. But what if you have a fourth spatial dimension?
Kate: Let’s just say that we are in this hypercube…that it is real – does this diagram show us how to get out?
Jerry: Well, uh…no. A hypercube isn’t supposed to be real. It’s just a theoretical construct.
Simon: Well, is there a theory on how we might get out of this theoretical construct?

In other words, like coming down out of the clouds here?

Jerry: 60,659 rooms?
Kate: This place must be huge.
Mrs. Paley: Oh yes. In a hypercube there can be 60 million rooms.

Give or take a few dozen.

Kate: Is it possible that you worked for Izon Research Affiliates and your dog’s name is Skippy?
Mrs. Paley: How did you know where I worked?
Kate: Oh, God. She worked for a weapons manufacturer.

See, I told you Holloway was closer to the truth above.

Mrs. Paley: Some things should never be created. They exist for theoretical purposes only. It would never last.

You know, like compatibilism.

Jerry: I know what just happened there was a little shocking, but it actually makes total sense if we’re in a really multi-dimensional quantum environment. One fundamental idea of a quantum universe is that parallel realities can actually exist simultaneously.
Simon: How do you know that, Jerry? All you designed were the door panels!
Jerry: I read it in Rosenzweig's book, it was a big part of his theory. What if whoever designed this stinking thing somehow managed to create a place where parallel realities can crossover like that?
Kate: So what you are saying is that we just saw Simon and Mrs. Paley in a parallel universe?
Jerry: Yes! Yes!

And then, of course, how we fit into it.

Simon: Don’t open it, Max! Say Jerry’s right. I think all of this is a hoax, okay? I think Jerry’s either full of shit or part of this experiment. But I’m agreeing with you, Max. I think we’re all pumped so full of LSD and I think we’re hidden in some CIA hospital in Area 51…or whatever. But let’s just say, on the off-chance that Jerry is actually right. Then what happens if whatever the fuck it was in there that killed the guy, killed me, what happens if that fucking thing gets in here?!

A bummer at the very least.

Mrs. Paley: It’s stunning. The math of it. It’s a perfect quadrangular oscillation.

But then it starts…darting about.

Sasha: It is hopeless.
Kate: No, it’s not. I’m gonna figure this out.
Sasha: ‘Figure it out.’ Trust me, precious, if I haven’t figured it out, you sure as shit aren’t going to.
Kate: What did you just say?
Sasha: I’m sorry, Kate. I didn’t mean to–
Kate: Why do you think that you should be able to figure this out?
Sasha: I wasn’t kidnapped. When I found out they were putting people in here, I tried to blow the whistle on them. So they came after me. I escaped into the one place they wouldn’t dare follow me–in here. Poetic justice, don’t you think?
Kate: Who are you?
Sasha: Max was right. Jerry was wrong. I exist.
Kate: Oh my God. Sasha. Of course.
Sasha: Sasha is the nickname for Alexandra.
Kate and Sasha together: Alex Trusk.

Uh, a character from Saw?

Kate: It’s Jerry’s diagram. It’s all the numbers. They’re all just suddenly in here. It’s Jerry’s markings–that dead physicist’s equations-- and that damn colonel’s corpse, just hanging there as if we never even rescued him? Everything keeps appearing over and over again.

Get it?

Kate: Who are you?
Simon: Yeah, it’s me. Good old Simon. Do you remember this, do you? Well, I’ve waited a long time for payback.
Kate: But, that was just seconds ago.
Simon: Don’t be so stupid Kate. You know time works differently in this place.

Anyone know how it works here?

The Man: Hello, Kate. Welcome back. So, you figured it out.
Kate: Yes, sir. No time to spare.
The Man: The device–any luck?
[Kate says nothing]
The Man [referring to a small, clear plastic box with an object inside]: We’ll take that to Darcy and see if anything recorded on it.
[a soldier shoots Kate in the head…a phone rings…The Man answers it]
The Man: Sir? Yes, sir. Phase two is terminated. I see. Yes, sir. Right away, sir.

Wow. A very mysterious ending. Completely unintelligible to some no doubt.

[iambiguous]

When it comes to gangs, Johannesburg is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on earth: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1919382.stm

This film is “inspired by real events”. That seems particularly tricky when trying to decide just how true it is. But one thing seems reasonably clear: there are gangsters…and then there are gangsters. These gangs literally take over entire buildings.

Or you might ask yourself this: Was Robin Hood a gangster? Or is such a comparison simply preposterous?

Crime does pay. Or it sure does for some. And in the ghetto it is [for all practical purposes] the only way to pursue an “empire” without, say, a college degree…or an inheritance.

But here the man [Lucky Kuene] is wanted by both the law and the lawless. He is a hero to some…and a steaming pile of shit to others. His philosophy of life revolves around this:

Lucky [voiceover]: I have two heroes, Karl Marx and Al Capone. Al Capone said, “If you’re gonna steal, steal big and hope like hell you get away with it.” And Karl Marx said, “All property is theft.” I think they’d both be proud of me.

The film begins with his arrest. And then in the interrogation room he “takes us back to the beginning”: to the end of apartheid in South Africa. Back to a time he once had a dream…

Good luck trying to make up your mind about him. About what he does. About those trying to stop him. It all gets entangled up in black and white, in rich and poor. In before and after.

And then the simply surreal relationship with Leah. Her parents are rich white Jews and she knows nothing about what Lucky really does for a living.

A mixture of languages can be heard throughout the movie. Much of what the main characters speak to each other is township slang known as Tsotsitaal (literally ‘gangster language’) which is composed of vocabulary from Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, English, other African languages and invented slang. It is generally associated with young township-dwelling men, though some terms have entered mainstream South African parlance.

Writer-director Ralph Ziman learned how a gang had stolen a whole building in Hillbrow in Johannesburg through coercion. He began researching the phenomenon by interviewing reporters, police officers, social workers and lawyers, only to discover that the practice is highly commonplace in South Africa.

The title comes from the idea that when you look at the district of Hillbrow from a distance, it stands proudly on a hill, like a New Jerusalem.

The budget was so low on the film that old cameras were used as were skateboards in place of dollies. The budget was considerably less than many of the music videos that Ralph Ziman had directed. Interview with the writer/director:  https://scriptmag.com/features/gangster ... alph-ziman [/b]


Gangster's Paradise [Jerusalema] 

[Lucky is interviewed about his life]Interviewer [in interrogation room]: I want the real story this time. Take me back to the beginning.
Lucky: The beginning. Soweto. 1994. Freedom. The new South Africa. A new dawn. A new day. A fresh start. A clean page. A new beginning…

On the other hand, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Nazareth: We’re in the procurement industry.
Zakes: He is a carjacker.
Nazareth: Hijack is a dirty word. It’s called “affirmative repossession”.
Lucky: Aw, come on man, we didn’t fight the struggle so that we could become criminals.
Nazareth: And I didn’t fight apartheid to be poor either. I may be a Communist, but I believe that God helps those who help themselves.

See how rationalization works?

Lucky [voiceover]: When financial aid for the university proved problematic, Nazareth organized us an “apprenticeship” He also put us in touch with a business associate…
[cut to a shot of dozens of guns and rifles]
Lucky: …to procure the necessary supplies.

He tried to go to college first. The university accepted his application. But his family could not afford to send him.

Lucky [voiceover]: If Hollywood movies could teach you how to knock over amorored cars, bank robberies were a walk in the park.

But then…

Lucky [voiceover]: We were having too many close calls. Cops, frustrated by rising crime rates and a legal system that couldn’t keep those arrested behind bars, took the law into their own hands.

Of course, that can mean any number of things.

Nazareth: I hear you are reapplying to the university.
[Lucky nods]
Nazareth: What are you going to eat, books? You can’t quit from crime. Crime is the biggest growth industry in the country.
Lucky: Correction, Comrade Nazareth. Private security is. Last year it surpassed mining.

Anyone know what it is now?

Lucky [voiceover]: Nomsa had dropped out of Jo’burg Tech and followed me to Hillbrow to attend the university of life. She’d found work as a bank teller…and a way to make it pay. She learned what we all knew. If you want to get by, take a job where there is something to steal.

And her scam is a beaut. But it’s nothing compared to Lucky’s.

Lucky [voiceover]: Johannesburg. A city fathered by gold, mothered by money, then commandeered by white men with cruelty and greed. Al Capone said you can go a long way with a smile. But you can go much further still with a smile and a gun. But if I was going to graduate from this shithole to my beach house, it would take a gun in one hand, and a briefcase in the other. And my best shit-eating grin.

Welcome to the birthday of the Hillbrow People’s Housing Trust. With Lucky Kuene as Robin Hood.

Lucky: What if he goes to the police?
Lucas: This is purely a civil matter. There’s no such thing as theft of fixed assets. The police can’t do anything about it unless the owner gets a court order. And that will take him around a year or more.
Lucky: And all the time we are collecting rent…

Any civil matters here?

Santos Roibiero [the rich white slumlord that Lucky is shafting]: This is the only country in the world where you have to take shit in 11 official languages.

No shit?

Lucky [voiceover]: We were taking back the streets one building after another after another. I looked around and what I saw was an empire waiting to happen.

As always though: ours or theirs?

Lucky: What’s with you white people? You have nice houses, smart cars, fancy clothes and you still come here. Why?
Leah: I guess when you’re rich, poverty seems glamorous. It’s got a certain charm.

So they say.

Lucky: Look at them coming and going from church. Hillbrow is like the new Jerulsalem.
Leah: It’s more like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lucky: How can you say that?
Leah: Hillbrow is the crime capital of the world.
Lucky: It’s just a place where poor black people come to make a living.
Leah: Don’t play the race card with me.
Lucky [laughing]: Old habits die hard. You’d be surprised how effective it can be.

Hell, some use it all the time here.

Swart [a white cop who is out to bring Lucky down]: You know what the problem with South Africa is? The bad guys go free and the good guys can’t touch them.
Reporter [who is black]: But how did it come to this?
Swart: Look who is running the country. These are the guys we arrested. We put them in jail. No wonder they think the criminals are the victims. It’s our fault.
Reporter: Who do you mean by “our” fault?
Swart: I mean us, the white cops…from before.
[pause]
Swart: Well…that’s a different story. I’ll tell you something about this fucker Kuene. I’m going to take him down.

For some it's the good news, for others the bad.

Lucky [voiceover]: They say behind every fortune is a crime. The greater the fortune, the greater the crime. But I don’t know about that. It seems the only people who say that probably never made one. What’s important in life is to set goals and go after them. Who knows, I might even talk Leah into moving along the coast. After I’ve moved into a building…or six. After every revolution comes a new order. But before that comes opportunity. After all, wasn’t it PW Botha who said, “Adapt or die”?

Well, him among others.

[iambiguous]

Absurdity

“Basically, control is just an illusion. Far too many factors contribute to everything that happens during a day, even during an hour, a week, a month, a year. And that's the end of the matter. You think you control something because you think you recognize a certain pattern, so you imagine that you’re always gonna achieve the same results with the same actions. Until something unexpected happens.” Lucian Vicovan

What don't we control here?

"...today is a good day for murder love hatred sex violence drugs revisionist attitudes anarchy of the sense letters and the like teatime exists in the Mind snarling underground day addiction” Scott C. Holstad

I knew it!

“I adore the absurd and the abnormal; therefore, that's what I write about. That's what I need to write about. The mainstream has never turned me on.” Gerri R. Gray

On the other hand, how absurd and how abnormal?

“I know what you’re thinking about,” said Tweedledum, “But it ain’t so, nohow.”
“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.” Lewis Carroll

Next up: Tweedledumber.

“Faith involves an acceptance of absurdity.” Zadie Smith

A ton of it these days.

We can then rightly presume that we live in a world which is guided by absurdity. The word ‘absurdity’ in this context contrasts with the term ‘reasoning.’ So we live in a world in which reasoning fails. It is a place where the causes do not always lead to the effect.” Nihar Satpathy

See, I told you.

[iambiguous]

What is the worst way to die? Well, far too many to count obviously but right up there at [or near] the top of many lists will be “eaten by a shark”.

Just think about it. Enough said?

Open water. As in water water everywhere. Literally for hundreds of miles. And there you are bobbing up and down in the middle of it. Alone. Nobody knows you are there. The folks in charge of the diving party don’t know how to count. Or was this really more about the guy who forgot his mask? Or the fact that you prefer to keep to yourself…apart from “the group”? Or just a series of misunderstandings whereby you became basically invisible to everyone else? No one seemed to remember you when it was time to go.

Fate perhaps? Or dumb fucking luck?

Anyway, you know it is only a matter of time before the sharks show up. And once that happens it is only a matter of time before things start to disintegrate between them. They are becoming terrified and that makes them angry for being in this terrifying situation and soon enough they need to vent that anger. And venting it on the shark isn’t an option.
Based on a true story. This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappear ... n_Lonergan

This film is inspired by a true story about an American couple, Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went with a scuba group (Outer Edge Dive Company) to an area off the coast of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. They were accidentally left behind due to a faulty head count taken by the dive boat crew. There were 26 other divers and 5 crew members who failed to notice that the couple was not on the boat. It was not until two days later on January 27, 1998, that the pair was found to be missing after a bag containing their passports and belongings was found in the dive boat. A massive air and sea search took place over the following three days, but failed to find them. The couple was never found.

Blanchard Ryan is in fact deeply afraid of sharks and as a result Daniel Travis had to enter the shark infested waters first each day to assure her they were not in danger.

The entire movie cost less than half of the cost of a typical Hollywood movie’s sound effects budget.

According to an interview with Blanchard Ryan, producers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau spent nearly half of the budget to get Stuart Cove and his shark wranglers for two days, and to make sure the two actors would be completely safe around the sharks.

No CGI was used in this movie. Director Chris Kentis fed the sharks tuna to get a real feeling of the main characters being in the ocean together with the sharks. As long as they were eating the tuna they didn’t harm Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis. IMDb


Open Water

Passenger: Are there any big fish like sharks?
Davis: Yeah. We’re going out to the open ocean, so chances are you probably might see a shark or three. But, you know, like I tell everybody who sees a shark, if you don’t want to see it, close your eyes. No problem. Sharks over here are not very aggressive towards human beings, so therefore you don’t really have to worry about sharks.

Next up: worrying about sharks here.

Davis: Linda is on surface support, so if you surface in a distance away from the boat, you want to let her know that you are OK. You start to let her know you are OK by giving her a big “O” over your head. If you are not Ok, you do the international distress signal. The international distress signal is simple, very easy to do. It’s like this:
[he jumps up and down and starts screaming]
Davis: “Help! Help!”

They all laugh. This time.

Susan: Where’s the boat? Daniel. Where’s the boat?Daniel: That’s a good question.
[he spots boats at a distance]
Daniel: I guess it’s one of those.
Susan: You gotta be kidding me.
Daniel: It better be one of those.

God knows?

Susan: You think it’s time to swim?
Daniel: Swim where?
Susan: I don’t know. I think…That one is the closest.
Daniel: Honey, it’s a bad idea. We are not sure that’s our boat. And if it’s not our boat, that means we could swim farther from our boat.

Tell that to the sharks.

Susan: I hate to tell you this but I didn’t see anything that looks like any kind of coral formation. Could you just show me? I’d just feel better. Cause I don’t see anything.
Daniel: Shit!
Susan: What?
Daniel: You don’t see it, because it’s not there.
Susan: So does that mean…
Daniel: …that since we’ve surfaced, we’re drifting. Oh, shit.
Susan: But what does that mean? Should we swim? Goddammit. We wasted all this time.
Daniel: Honey, I hate to tell you this, but swim or not, we’re going where this current decides.

Thank God?

Susan: Oh, Jesus Christ! I thought he said the sharks never come that close.
Daniel: He also said the boat would be here.

And let's not forget what he said here.

Susan: But what do we do if it comes back?
Daniel: I don’t know.
Susan: Do we splash? Do we stay still? You are the one who watches “Shark Week”.
Daniel: First of all, we should be in a cage.

That's true.

Susan: I’ve just never heard of anything so fucked up in my entire life. Who’s ever heard of two people getting left in the middle of the ocean before?
Daniel: I have actually.
Susan: Where?
Daniel: Dive magazines. It’s a lot more common than you think.

So, that ever happen to anyone here?


Susan [seeing a shark swimming right in front of them]: What kind of sharks are those?
Daniel: Big ones.

Whale sharks?

Susan: I don’t know what is worse, seeing them or not seeing them.
Daniel: Seeing them.

New thread?

Daniel [screaming in outrage]: Unbelievable!! This is truly un-fucking believable. The best part is that we paid to do this. We paid to be out here! We paid those incompetent fuckers to drop us out in the middle of the fucking ocean! We wanted an ocean view. Boy, did we get it?!!

Hell, I'd probably be pissed off too.

Daniel: Could you maybe answer one last question? Has this somehow over the hours become my fault?

Cue the Benjamin Button Syndrome for starters.

Daniel: You believe what you want to believe. But I know for certain that we were in the right spot.
Susan: It’s not just a matter of being in the right spot. It’s being there on time.
Daniel: We were on time. We were early. He said 10:30.
Susan: Do we always have to get it so close? For God’s sake, Why don’t we stay with the group? We always have to do things different than everybody else?!

What, the collectivists?

Daniel: The only reason we are out here in the first place is because of your fucking job!
Susan: What?
Daniel: If it were not for your job, we would not have thrown our plans out the window, rushed around at the last minute and settled on this fucking trip! We would be at home, in the middle of our hectic lives, which right now sounds like heaven to me. And in a month’s time, as we planned, seven months ago, we would be where we were supposed to be in the first place, and paying less than we are now to be shark bait!

What!

Susan: I can’t even believe you’d bring that up right now. You were the one who picked the dates.
Daniel: Oh yeah, of my whopping two choices - this was the better date.
Susan: I wanted to go skiing!

Yeah, what about that, Dan?

Susan: You are all right?
Daniel: Oh, my God. I don’t see it.
Susan: Are you ok?
Daniel: I don’t know. I’m bit. Oh, my God, honey. I’m bit. The fucker bit me!

That can't be good. Not even close.

Daniel: This can’t be happening! How could this be happening?! I got bitten by a shark. We could actually be eaten alive by a shark out here. We don’t know anybody who’s ever been bitten by a shark. There are always three or four guys there on the shark show. They’re always surfers!

Didn't he see Jaws?

[a camera has been found in a shark’s stomach]
Man: Check it out.
[laughs]
Child: What’s the yellow thing?
Man: Man, they really do eat anything. I wonder if it works.

I guess we'll never know.

[iambiguous]

Stupidity

“Hundreds of wise men cannot make the world a heaven, but one idiot is enough to turn it into a hell.” Raheel Farooq

Let's Trump this.

“Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.” Hyman G. Rickover

Define nearly?

“People do not read stupidities with impunity.” Victor Hugo

Not counting their own, of course.

“Francesca: You really are a few biscuits short of breakfast.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
'You're a few colors shy of a rainbow?' she offered. 'Not pulling a full wagon? Knitting with only one needle? All foam and no beer? Your cheese slid off the cracker? You couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel?'
Nicodemus: 'All right. I get it.” Blake Charlton

More to the point, however, do you?

“There are only 2 paths to happiness in life. Utter Stupidity or Exceptional Wealth.” Ziad K. Abdelnour

Next up: exceptional stupidity?

“All the inane, meaningless noises people make that pass for intelligent conversation. They might as well be pigs grunting in the pen." Norma Fox Mazer

Let's make sure that never happens here!

[iambiguous]

The comparison is made. The verdict is resounding: This is no Open Water!

Not even close many insist. The first film generated a 74% fresh rating at RT. The second one only a 40% fresh. And, perhaps, more to the point, the first rating was based on 191 reviews. The second? 10. Count 'em: ten.

And no sharks.

Instead, this one revolves more around sheer human stupidity. And yuppie stupidity at that. Some might even call them “Yuppie scum”. The men call each other “Dude”. They reek of American Youth. They’re Kids basically. And [of course] at one with the Beautiful People.

But I liked it. Occasionally. And it is also said to be “based on a true story”. At least that is noted on the DVD copy that I own. But I could not find any actual references to that at wiki.

Here the drama swirls largely around the fact that all of the adults are out in the ocean unable to get back on board the boat. Or, rather, the yacht. But: there is also an unattended baby still on board. Again, because of the sheer stupidity that one of these meatheads visits upon all of the others.

And here the irony abounds. In the first film, they come to the surface and the boat is gone. Here the boat is always there. But they have no way to get back on board it. It’s sort of like the myth of Tantalus. Or imagine being chained to a chair starving with a table filled with food that is just beyond your reach. It’s only a matter of time then, as the situation becomes more dire, that they start to turn on each other. On Dan in particular.

Name of the boat? “Godspeed”.


Open Water 2: Adrift

Amy [who is aquaphobic]: Most people are afraid of spiders or afraid to fly or scared of…
Dan: …scared of clowns?
Amy: Um, it’s gotten worse since I had Sarah. I don’t want her to end up worrying about stuff like that because of my paranoia.
Dan: You know, my buddy Brad, he was afraid of circus clowns.
Amy: Was? What’d he do?
Dan: Well, we…we took him to the circus.
[he picks Amy up]
Amy [terrified]: No! You let me down, Dan!
Dan: The water looks great.
Amy: Let me down! Let me down… No! No, no, no!
Dan [jumping overboard while holding Amy]: Amy, trust me.

A particularly big mistake, for sure.

Lauren: Where’s the ladder? Where’s the ladder?
Dan: The ladder? Should be…
Lauren: Where’s the fucking ladder, Dan?!
Dan: I think it’s on the other side.
Zach: It’s not on the other side. Or the back.
James: There’s no fucking ladder!

And that's before the baby starts to cry.

Michelle: I want to get out now, Dan! I’m getting cold. Dan, help me! Don’t leave me alone. I’m tired and I’m cold and I don’t want to drown!!

Of course, that's beside the point. Whatever that actually is.

Dan: All right, nobody’s bleeding. It ain’t a shark.
Lauren: How do you know?
Dan: We’re still here, aren’t we?
Zach: Yeah, that’s the problem, Dan.
Dan: I didn’t plan for this.
Zach: No shit.
James: Don’t you do some sort of pre-flight check, like a pilot…have some sort of emergency backup plans? Isn’t that standard? No, obviously not.
Dan: Hey…Who died and made you captain fucking Nemo? You didn’t notice either. None of you did.
James: It’s your boat!

Does that count?

Lauren: If it weren’t for you, Dan, Amy would be up there, and we wouldn’t be here right now.
Dan: Look…I said I was sorry, okay? I should have checked. I should have checked. I should have checked! What do you want me to say? I didn’t think. I made a mistake!
Lauren: You spend millions on a boat, but you don’t think?

Turns out it is not even his boat!

Dan: You’re the MacGyver. Why don’t you build something?
Zach: Yeah. Why not pull a 747 out of your ass and fly us all out of here?

Nope, even that didn't work.

Michelle [trying to take Amy’s life preserver]: What is this? Best friends stick together forever? I’m a person, too. I just don’t want to die out here! I don’t…I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!!!

Yeah, we get that.

[Michelle recites the Lord’s Prayer]
Lauren: Save your breath, Michelle.
Michelle: It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Lauren: Yeah. Blessed are those who ask for nothing…for they shall never be disappointed.
[everyone stares at her]
Lauren: What? He lets millions of people die every day. Children die. What makes you think he’s gonna save us?
Zach: Well, I ain’t no saint but I’d like to think that there’s something…something bigger out there…I don’t know. Because if there isn’t we’re all fucked.

Not to mention all of us...eventually.

James [after punching Dan]: He’s dead! Zach’s dead! Michelle’s dead! But you still got your boat, right? Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. It’s a yacht! It’s a fucking yacht, isn’t it? It’s a fucking yacht! It’s a fucking yacht! Fucking yacht!

Then Dan confesses: He’s a fraud. He is not even a yuppie scumbag.

Lauren: I think I’m gonna…I’m gonna go for a little swim. To see if I can make it back to shore.
Amy: It’s too far.
Lauren: Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’m not gonna die treading water, man. That’s just not me.

Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't.

Amy [listening to her baby crying up on the boat]: Dan? I can’t move my legs anymore.

Sarah survives.

[iambiguous]

Just look at it!!

From the director of Vital above. But Tetsuo is to Vital what Eraserhead is to Wild At Heart or Blue Velvet

A movie that is smack dab in the middle of what is called the “Japanese Cyperpunk” genre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cyberpunk

Think Lynch’s Eraserhead. Or Aronofsky’s Pi. Or Tarkovsky’s Stalker. Or John Simpson’s Freeze Frame. A grim, pervasive “industrial” ambience suffuses the film frame by frame by frame.

It is barely an hour long and explores [among other things] the world from the perspective of someone consumed by or obsessed with a…fetish? In fact there is a program on one of the cable channels that airs “documentaries” of folks who have extremely bizarre fetishes all their own: https://go.tlc.com/show/my-strange-addi ... lc-atve-us

This one is just more, well, cinematically surreal. And extreme. And the Iron Man never actually pursues it, shall we say, autonomously? Not at first.

Why do people do such aberrant things? Well, for some, that might be on par with asking “why does anyone do anything at all?” They have their reasons. Then you are left to ponder the extent to which the reasons might be more or less understandable. Or sane? I mean, we have to draw the line here somewhere.

But that often becomes murky because we don’t really know for certain how all of the parts – mental, emotional, psychological – fit together. And in minds ever immersed in subconscious and unconscious states somehow hooked [deeper still] into instinctive drives that go all the way back to the evolution of life itself. Maybe even back to the beginning of time itself. Back to God?

Or is it all more about “man as machine” increasingly submerged in a “culture of technology” – one that dehumanizes him to the point that he becomes a reflection more of the technology itself: its slave rather than its master.

Think: https://youtu.be/iwslFo3ZjTo?si=AM2GT7uQJtA-fxae

Or think whatever the fuck you want. After all, it’s not like there is only one right way.

Anyway, be careful who you hit with your car. From the soundtrack:
https://youtu.be/4z10AlFDQfY?si=bpJJ0ESwHYBSpax4
https://youtu.be/JKeDb_jfPTE?si=kRr3zlFNIUEmxtPb


Tetsuo: The Iron Man is one of those extreme movies that people either love or hate. Director Shinya Tsukamoto - who almost single-handedly created this movie - confronts the audience with his very own visual and sensual universe which is unique in terms of coherence and uncompromisingness. The hysterical mixture of violence, sex, metal and love - filmed in a comic-like and weird quick motion style - is the ultimate cyberpunk movie. If you like experimental movies and are not too squeamish, this is a movie well worth checking out.  IMDb


Tetsuo the Iron Man

Iron Man [on phone]: Hello?
Voice: Are you alone?
Iron Man: Yes.
Voice: You know, ever since…I’ve felt very strange. Since the hit-and-run accident.

Surreal, let's call it.

Woman: Let me in. I can take it.
Iron Man: Stay away!
Woman [angusihing]: What is going on here?
Iron Man: How the hell did this happen to me?
Woman: Come, on. Open up.
Iron Man: No. You’ll hate me!
Woman: I told you…I don’t scare easily.
[she forces open the door…out comes a mechanical hand]
Iron Man: Do you like what you see? I can’t show you anymore. I’m being punished. That must be it.
Woman [inside the room]: I told you I could take it.
[she takes the cover off his head]
Woman: I’m not afraid.

She sees his face: She’s afraid. And of his huge mechanical penis [qua drill] too.

Iron Man: You can take it, huh? You want a taste of my sewage pipe?!

Don't ask.

Voice on phone: Don’t bother to hang up. I know all about you. You can’t escape me. DIE YOU METAL FREAK! DIE!!

Go ahead and ask. But a lot of good that will do you.

Man: What the fuck is this? This is unbelievable! How did you make it here? There’s a piece of metal stuck in your brain. I can’t believe you are still alive! What kind of mad genius inserted it? You’ll die if it’s removed…

Think of it as jewelry.

Iron Man [to Metals Fetishist]: You didn’t die!

So it seems.

Metals Fetishist [to Iron Man]: Soon even your brain will turn into metal. Let me show you something wonderful. A new world!

Uh, click?

Metals Fetishist [to Iron Man]: You see all this rust on my body? My first metal implant was already rusty…before my cells began to assimilate it. But your razor was stainless steel! I’ll finish you!

Next up: the rust here.

Metals Fetishist [to Iron Man]: Stop resisting!..Together, we can turn this fucking world to rust! Until it crumbles into the cosmos!

Sign me up!

Metals Fetishist: Get them!!

We're safe here. Well, virtually, anyway.

[iambiguous]

Dentists. What is it about them that makes them so entertaining? Well, apparently, one thing and one thing only: their infinite capacity for dullness.

Doesn’t it seem that way? Here they are professionals, doctors…earning the big bucks. Well, most of them.

Yet if you are going to have characters that one can truly imagine having [wanting! needing!] a secret life you make them dentists.

Remember Dr. Oseransky from The Whole Nine Yards? Only here we have two of them. Married to each other.

And here in turn we have your run of the mill “suburbia”…and a marriage that is teetering. Only this one was meant to be taken more seriously. Or it is to the extent that we can figure out what is really going on here…and what is only going on in David’s head.

That’s how it works. We think our relationship with someone is one thing…and then we begin to wonder if it is something else instead. Then we start in on looking for clues – signs – that will tell us what is really going on. Which, in and of itself, can change things between us. Especially when what we imagine might be going on takes over. Is she or is she not fucking somebody else. Though [of course] it is usually the other way around.

And then there are marriages with children. If you have never been there yourself don’t think you can possibly understand how this will complicate things. And this one has three of them. When it reaches the point you take out your “adult” problems on them, well, that can be particularly excruciating.

This movie has been done a thousand times. But since each marriage is always unique in it’s own way, it has barely scratched the surface in exploring them. Let alone “understanding” them.

Or maybe it’s just that going to the dentist is the last fucking thing on earth that most of us want to do. The whole experience is nothing short of ghastly. So we we make them pay for that instead.


The Secret Life of Dentists

David [voiceover]: Teeth outlast everything. Death is nothing to a tooth. Hundreds of years in acidic soil just keep teeth clean. A fire that burns away everything else, hair and skin…even bones, leaves your teeth dazzling. Life is what destroys teeth. Undiluted apple juice in baby bottles, sour balls. The pH balance of drinking water, tetracycline, sand in your bread…if you were in the Roman army. Teeth are important. Eskimo cultures abandoned their old folks in the snow when their teeth went, no matter how good their health was otherwise…

Common sense. let's call it. At least until we know for sure.

David [voiceover]: In my experience dentists are convinced patients can’t be trusted with their teeth. You can’t grieve for every tooth, though…every mouth. You can’t even grieve for the worst of them. You can only send the patient home with as many teeth as possible.

He thought, three root canals later.

Slater: You know, no dentist I have ever known has ever had anything good to say about another dentist’s work. You notice that?
David: Well, I’m married to one and we’re big admirers of each other.
Slater: Well, you better be cheap.
David: Why is that?
Slater: Because five years from now some other guy’s gonna tell me he’s got to redo all of your work.

Next up: redoing all our posts here.

Dana: You know, you scare me a little.David: What?
Dana: You do, you always have. Isn’t that funny? You don’t smile much. Not like most people do, anyway.

I guess she shouldn't have married him then.

Dana: Do you like me?
David: I love you.
Dana: I mean, if you weren’t sleeping with me. Would you want to talk to me and have lunch with me, and…
David: Yes, I would.
Dana: Do you think that we’re friends?

With benefits. On the other hand...

Dana: I thought it would be different, you know, our marriage. I thought it would be like the Cinerama…and it would just get wider and wider and it doesn’t. It just gets smaller and smaller.

Uh oh. The age old question if you have been married long enough. But better one or the other rather than neither one. Or, rather, you would think so, right?

David [voiceover]: The social nature of the dental situation is the hardest thing for me. There’s a certain pleasure for a meditative person like myself in laying down one thread and picking up another as if everything isn’t happening at once. I am 38 years old, and it seems to me that I’ve arrived at the age of grief. My wife is seeing another man and I don’t kick her out of the house. And she doesn’t kick me out.

Like the Roses?

Slater: Dave, let me explain something to you, okay? People hate you, you’re a dentist. They can’t wait to get out of your office, okay? They think about you, they think “pain.” They would like nothing more than to never have to see you again. And your best work never even sees the light of day.

And that's before the fucking bill.

David: Well, you’re going to lose every tooth in your mouth, my friend. You’ve got one of the worst cases of gum disease I’ve ever seen. So you can forget about your lousy, little “embouchure”.

This unfolds as an imagined encounter – in David’s head? Slater then follows David around throughout the film. Sort of commentating on his life. Or being his sounding board.

David: Everything’s more fucked up every day.
Dana: You’ve always said that, and I hate it.
David: I have not always said it, I just thought of it.
Dana: Girls, you’re excused.
David [to the girls]: Stay.
[David turns to Dana]
David: Admit that every day is worse.
Dana: No!
David: It is.
Dana: I don’t believe that.
David: Admit it!

Let's admit it for her.

David [softly as though to himself]: I could kill you.
Dana: What did you just say to me?
David: What? I didn’t say anything.
Dana: You said you could kill me?
David: I didn’t mean to say that.
Dana: But you thought it, you thought you could kill me?

This is how he explains it to the girls:

David: You can’t control your thoughts. A person can think anything they want. But you mustn’t act on every thought that you have. Right?

How reassuring that must be after hearing your dad say that he could kill your mom.

Slater [in an imagined conversation]: Why don’t you just come right out and ask her?
David: Because…Because, if she tells me she loves him, we have to do something about it.
Slater; Yeah, that’s right.
David: But if I let her go through it and work out whatever it is she needs to do…maybe…maybe I can save my marriage.

Define maybe?

Slater [to Dave in imagined encounter]: Hey, why don’t you come on tour with us, man? Why do you wanna fight for this shit? Come on, dump the evil bitch. Put the kids up for adoption. Come tour with us. You know you want to.

Of course, we all want to.

David [to Dana]: I don’t want to know who it is. I don’t want to know what you did.

Just for the record.

David: Teeth. Two little rows of stones in the flesh…but as sensitive in their own way as fingertips. Or lips. Impossible. Like marriage. But there they are.

Or, like so many marriages, what's left of them.

[iambiguous]

Sex

“Sexually progressive cultures gave us literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust.” Alan Moore

Of course: https://www.amazon.com/Irrational-Polit ... 0961328967

“The behavior of a human being in sexual matters is often a prototype for the whole of his other modes of reaction in life.” Sigmund Freud

You first.

“I had a feeling that Pandora's box contained the mysteries of woman's sensuality, so different from a man's and for which man's language was so inadequate. The language of sex had yet to be invented. The language of the senses was yet to be explored.” Anaïs Nin

Pick one [and only one]:
1] venus
2] mars
3] the asteroid belt

“A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquantaince, next a mistress, and only then a friend.” Anton Chekhov

Let's run this by....you know.

"Sex pretty much cures everything.” Chuck Palahniuk

For example, in la la land.

“I make love with a focus and intensity that most people reserve for sleep.” Dark Jar Tin Zoo

Yawn.

[iambiguous]

They tell us that modern communication technology begets alienation – estrangement – and that eventually it will end up tearing us apart.

Aside from the computer and the internet, I don’t avail myself of these new technological marvels. No smart phone, no ipad, no texting, no skype, no multi-tasking from one or another wireless device in one or another Starbucks. I don’t have a job that is now basically anchored to these “things”. I don’t have a family to avoid by using them. I don’t “stream” my news and entertainment. I don’t participate in any “social media” interactions.

But that’s just me. Clearly the exception.

Basically, regarding the stuff that we do use to communicate, it all goes back to paraphrasing Shane’s reaction to the folks who communicate with a gun: It’s as good or as bad as the person using it.

Likewise, the person using it either has intellectual and emotional depth or he or she doesn’t. The technology itself isn’t necessarily prone to produce either one of them.

In America, many of the grim morons [and some are true scumbags] portrayed here are mass produced by the culture itself. The technology is just along for the ride. Here we are inundated by American Youth. Of a certain demographic. And the culture of crime. And some of the stuff they do with this technology is just brutal. It’s amazing there aren’t more kids [more adults] hanging themselves.

I’d weep for the future but fortunately [for me] I’m running out of it.

One thing though seems crystal clear: eyeball to eyeball you see who you are communicating with. Online you [and others] can be anyone [and anything] you want. Not only that but someone can steal your identity and become “you” – you with, say, your credit card. They can wreck your life piece by piece by piece. 

And that’s before we get to the part about the government and Big Brother. Another movie.


Disconnect

[going “private”]
Boitoi [Kyle online]: Did you see my wish list? That’s how you can reward me.
Sassy [Nina texting]: Very clever.
Boitoi: You ask a lot of questions, girl. Come on, baby, what do you want? What do you want me to do, huh? Do you want me to jack off for you? ls that it?
Sassy: Oh, my God. Please no. Let’s just talk. I’m paying after all.
Boitoi: You want me to touch myself? What are you in the mood for? So you don’t…you don’t wanna see me jack off or play with these toys or anything? You really just wanna… You just wanna chat?

Let's just say she has ulterior motives.

Boitoi [online]: Let’s play a game. For a million dollars, would you fuck a dirty, smelly, hairy homeless guy?
Sassy: Oh, my God, no.
Boitoi: No? Not for a million dollars?
Sassy: No!
Boitoi: Okay, two million.
Sassy: No.
Boitoi: Bullshit. Come on. Five million. Five million.
Sassy: Five million? Okay.
Boitoi: You see, everybody has their price.

What's yours?

Mike: Well, here’s the thing, someone out there has all your information.
[cut to Derek’s and Cindy’s grim reaction]
Mike: And here’s what’s gonna happen. I am gonna clone your hard drives, and I’m gonna go through all the information and the activity and see if I can figure out how and when this happened.
Derek: ls this really necessary? Can’t you just take the credit card numbers and run that somehow?
Mike: No. This is very necessary. Because right now they could have credit cards in your name, take loans out. They could have your social security number. They could commit crimes in your name. Do you understand? They can sell this information to 20 more people. This, this could just be the beginning.

Oh, yeah.

Mike: It’s amazing how clueless people are. It’s like picking your nose in the car and you think nobody’s watching you. And then they wonder how in the world someone got their social security number.

Next up: picking your nose here. And then posting it.

Harvey: You know what we do here, Shane? How old are you?
Shane: 15.
Harvey: Let me ask you a question. Do you jerk off?
[Shane nods]
Harvery: Yeah? You wanna get paid for it?
Shane: That would be fucking awesome!

Well, it starts out that way.

Mike: Now, I think some of your personal information may have been retrieved with your communications with “fear&loathing”.
Derek: What? Who’s fear&loathing?
Cindy: It’s just some guy. He’s in the chat room I go to.
Mike: All you would have had to do was click on a link or open an attachment from him, and then he would’ve…He would’ve installed a Trojan virus onto your system. Now, once he does this, he can do anything he wants with your computer. You log on, you punch in your passwords, it comes up on his screen. Everything you do, he can see. He can turn on your camera. He can watch you.

He's watching us now.

Derek: But who is fear&loathing? Who is he?
Cindy: How does he have my password?
Mike: Your password is your birthday. And, Derek, gambling websites are hacked all the time. And you’re also corresponding with the bank regarding your second mortgage.
Cindy: Wait, we don’t have a second mortgage.
Mike: Yeah. And you received an e-mail requesting additional information. Now, banks would never ask for sensitive information like that via email. So, I think that’s how he possibly got your personal account numbers, your social security number, your mother’s maiden name and all that other stuff.

What stuff did they get from you?

Derek: So, when do you think the cops are gonna question this guy?
Mike: It’s like I said, these cops, they’re swamped. They don’t have the resources. It’s like, 25,000 people a day get their identity stolen, so…take a ticket.

Go ahead -- click --  steal mine.

Derek: And what about you?
Mike: We got his name, we got his address.
Derek: Can you go take care of this son of a bitch?
Mike: Derek, I’m a detective, not a hitman.

Let's explain the difference,

Derek: Cin, no one’s helping us. No one’s ever gonna help us. I’m gonna find that guy myself. I’ll fix this.
Cindy: I wanna come.

Me too.

[their son just tried to hang himself]
Wife: What are you doing?
Rich [on his son’s computer]: I’m just trying to figure out what he could have been thinking.

We know, of course.

Mike: This is bad. You are in big trouble.
Jason: I’m sorry.
Mike: You’re sorry? You’re sorry?! What are you sorry for? 'Cause I caught you? Or are you sorry 'cause there’s a father wondering if his son is gonna wake up?!

We know, of course.

Rich: Your son is fucking sadistic and he needs help.
Mike: My son needs help? At least my son didn’t try to hang himself.

What a fucking asshole, let's say.

Derek: Mike, how are you?
Mike: Hey, Derek. Look, it’s not him. It’s not him. My guy, Lantos, got Schumacher’s IP address and turns out that he is a victim, too.
Derek: What do you mean?
Mike: Someone was using his computer as a proxy, all right? I don’t know who, we’re tracing it from Texas. Anyway, the bottom line is, Schumacher is not your guy.

Oh...

Kyle [to Nina]: You think Harvey exploits me? I like what I do! Do you get that? I don’t wanna be saved from this! I turn people on, so what? You couldn’t turn a fucking light on, you know that?!

The more things change...