A painting of me
  • James Deen: Cookie Monster. 

    The press made him famous for not fitting a stereotype they’d created — he then used that fame to get away with being a sociopath.

    My internet friend—and sometimes pornstar—Zak Smith writes about James Deen, lazy journalism, rape, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

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  • Stop the indefinite detention of migrants in Canada. 

    Another migrant has died in the custody of the Canadian Border Services Agency. I would tell you his name, his age, his country of origin, and the circumstances of his death, but CBSA refuses to share any of this information. Apparently, the power to detain migrants indefinitely, often in maximum security jails, is not enough for our border officials. They insist on erasing the humanity of the migrants they detain, even in death.

    This is the sort of inhumane stupidness I expect from Australia or the US, not from Canada.

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The Witch

   7 March 2016, evening time

The Witch is a slow atmospheric film. The costuming and dialogue transport you back to 1600s crapsack New England. The movie begins with a family of puritans leaving the plantation they live on to move out into the wilderness: the father has some undisclosed dispute with the people of the town and their leadership. He builds a house and small farm out in the middle of nowhere: it’s all downhill from there. The movie is creepy rather than scary. There is a sense of dread that permeates the whole film. All of the actors in the film do a great job, even the little children! This was a solid piece of film making. It’s so thoroughly immersive.

The official The Witch website.

Comment  

Meet the Patels

   5 March 2016, evening time

As a brown person whose family talks about marriage and arranged marriages all the time, Meet the Patels was god damn amazing. Ravi Patel is a comedian and an actor. (I saw him most recently in Master of None.) The film is shot by his sister, who he mocks for her terrible cinematography, and features his family heavily. The film opens with Ravi letting you know that he has just ended his relationship with his girlfriend of two years, prior to travelling with his family on a vacation to India. While in India he (eventually) agrees to let them set him up for an arranged marriage. The film then proceeds to walk the audience through all the logistics of getting an arranged marriage in 2015. The film is funny and at times very sweet. It’s refreshing to see arranged marriages presented in a very human way. His parents relationship is probably one of the most positive depictions of an arranged marriage i’ve seen in cinema. (They are also hilarious.) I don’t want to spoil the movie for you, but the film is probably as much about arranged marriages as it is about telling your Brown parents about your secret girlfriend. I found so much of the movie so thoroughly relatable, which might be why I enjoyed it so much. My unmarried cousins will screen calls from relatives or put off going back to Scarborough to avoid talking about why they aren’t married. It’s hilarious to know that from the top of India, in Gujarat, all the way down to Sri Lanka, the conversations and the attitudes around marriage are so similar. I wonder if they’ll do a follow up movie.

The official Meet the Patels website

Comment  

Her

   5 March 2016, evening time

Her was quiet lovely. A subtle science fiction film set in the near future. All the gadgets and gizmos presented are things available today tweaked ever so slightly. Joaquin Phoenix’s character, a lonely man dealing with the aftermath of a separation and divorce slowly falls in love with the operating system that powers his digital devices. This is the only piece of science fiction that feels very fictional. The AI is voiced by (the turbo-fox) Scarlett Johansson. (The other leads in the film are Amy Adams—who is always great—and Rooney Mara. That’s some solid casting.) Spike Jonez has made a really interesting film about intimacy and trust and love. It’s shot beautifully, as well. This film is definitely worth watching.

The official Her website.

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World War Z

   5 March 2016, evening time

I watched World War Z over three sittings on Netflix, usually in the middle of the night while snacking on something. This is probably not the best way to watch a film, but it likely reflects on how compelling I found the film. The movie stars Brad Pitt as a dude trying to figure out what the deal is with all these zombies that are talking over the world like a plague. The film is more or less a series of interest action sequences. I’d say they are all well done. People are dying all over the place, because of all the zombies. I wouldn’t rush out to watch this film, but if it’s playing on a flight you’re on you should watch it.

I’ve heard the book is great, though.

Comment [1]  

  • Donald Trump and the Ku Klux Klan. 

    I had underestimated how far you could get as a presidential candidate by being a full on white supremacist in the US. (Which was stupid on my part, of course.)

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