Somebody donated to the thrift store a postage stamp collection from a 1980s childhood, with envelopes labeled by country---
and Different kinds of unnowen [unknown]:
I priced the box $28, and as I was carrying it to the display case, someone bought it right out of my hands.
_________________
Perfect Dog Days
I went to see the new Superman with L & M last night.
I'm generally tired of superhero movies and haven't seen one in years, but I'd heard good things about this one.
And I loved it!
Superman: Triumph of the Dork.
Favorite movie moment: Lex Luthor's tennis-ball sized dronebots are defeating Superman... until he says to the flying Superdog,
"Krypto! Get the toy!"...in exactly the up tone of voice you do say such a thing to a dog.
It's like the scene in Up when fierce Rottweillers are menacing the heroes, and one calls out to the dogs, "Squirrel!"
All the dogs become dopey doodles, looking for the squirrel.
Also, as a pet-sitter, I related to how Superman feels the weight of responsibility of caring for someone else's pet. (Krypto is his cousin's.)
Superman (David Corenswet) and Krypto were charming, but my favorite character was, above left, the supersmart Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi). Sort of a snarky Mr. Spock.
To Lois Lane, he says,
"I'm not interested in your human emotions".
And Nicholas Hoult, right, as Luthor was terrific. Elon Musk & Trump rolled into one (with a touch of Epstein?).
He admits he hates Superman because he's envious. But, nice touch, he's also kind of in love with him.
"Tall, dark and Martian is not my type," he sneers, leading you to suspect it is exactly his type.
It's easy for we who are alive now to line up the events of Superman with current affairs–– because we're in the middle of them.
It'll stand alone in the future too—it reminds me of reading The Master & Margarita and knowing that I was missing so many codes that would have been perfectly clear to the readers of the time.
The whole movie could be studied in fifty years as a coded commentary on our political landscape.
Russia & Ukraine; Gitmo and other offshore prisons;
climate disaster (in the movie, Luthor's meddling with the environment means creating a cosmic rip)––
and our own piddling inaction.
While his cohorts bicker about the name of their group, the Justice Gang?, Mister Terrific says,
"We’re here to stop dimensional collapse.
But sure, let’s workshop the logo.”
Reminds me of comic Marc Maron on our self-satisfaction as the climate collapses:
"We did everything we could.______________
We....we brought our own bags to the supermarket. And the drinking straws thing."
Krypto was CGI-genertated (a real dog named Jolene stood in on set), but after the movie, bink & Maura and I were exclaiming how realistic the relationship between man and dog was.
Whoever crafted that knows how it goes.
This morning I looked it up, and director James Gunn said that...
"Krypto was influenced by his adopted dog Ozu, who was abandoned in a backyard and had no human contact.
Ozu destroyed Gunn’s home, his shoes, furniture, and laptop.
When he was writing Superman, he contemplated what if Ozu had superpowers, and that shaped his characterization of Krypto. Who wouldn’t laugh at a dog with superpowers chewing up the Fortress of Solitude?"
[via]
His dog is named Ozu!
Surely after Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, right?
That reminds me, I recently watched the DVD of Perfect Days (2023) about a Japanese man who cleans Tokyo Toilets (17 artist/architect designed public toilets).
Director Wim Wenders said he was most inspired as a young movie maker by Ozu.
{––Via Criterion}
After work, Hirayama, single man, reads in bed in his little apartment until he falls asleep. His bed is on the floor, of course.
Just like me!
I can't think of another such scene from my life in a movie.
The character's room--mostly plants and books–inspired me to declutter my place a little.
I want some tatami floor mats too, but they're a couple hundred dollars. I hadn't realized they are not hard, flat rush mats--they're slightly cushioned (with rice straw, traditionally).
Even better.
I liked Perfect Days, especially the first half when nothing happens. We just follow Hirayami on his daily rounds.
But the second half becomes too obvious, "as told to the children".
I felt the director did not have the courage of his conviction, and had to make sure we knew what he was getting at.
And the music score is way too narrative.
So I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't say I totally loved it.
Three out of four stars.
I give Superman 4/4 stars for its genre. It has no pretense to be anything but an entertainment, and yet it's more.
Of course Superman also preaches the sweetness of being good-natured (with good glutes!), but we are the choir who has heard it all before.
Even its music is a touch unexpected:
"Punkrocker," by the Teddybears with Iggy Pop.
As for the dog days of summer...
We haven't had it too bad this year so far. Lots of rain, so everything is plushy green, and daytime temps haven't risen above 90º F (32ºC) very often.
Unfortunately every time it cools off, that sucks in Canadian air, which means smoke from wildfires. Today it's a pleasant 78, but the air quality is a high 120: "unhealthy for sensitive groups".
That is, people with lungs.
________________________
I'm blogging this morning on my laptop at the café in the atrium of a fancy hotel downtown.
As always, I marvel at how well– dressed and coiffed everyone is here. It's a treat to see that the kombucha and bobba tea (paper straws! compostable cups!) crowd is flourishing.
Honestly, I find this a comforting illusion to be around once in a while, even as I judge it as entirely artificial and morally indefensible.
LOL. It's the world we live in.
Look, circled in red--the hotel shares its high-tech building with a Wealth Management firm.
But it's just such a nice respite, I wish it were sustainable and fair.
My workplace is so dirty, we all wear pretty grungy clothes, and often the customers do too. Sometimes a customer's body odor will almost gag me.
(Mostly though, they come trailing clouds of weed.)
I can guarantee that NO ONE here in the café has any body odor. Well, maybe they smell of expensive "hair product".
Whatcha gonna do?
I am enjoying a break from grunge and my own illusion of moral superiority with oat milk latte in a ceramic mug.
A moral corrective!
I don't really think I'm morally superior---
except, of course, don't we all, secretly?
It's such a boring state of mind.
One of those bread crumbs sticking to the wooly sweater of my self that I'd love to brush off.
_______________
Some of my work yesterday.
Sometimes I love my job so, so much.
Often in fact.
Very happy making: I put electrical tape on this statue and a warning sign, "Peek at Your Own Risk!"
The upside down wrestler’s hand is grasping the other guy's penis. Priced to move at $4.99, it sold right away. I wish I'd seen who bought it.
(I didn't want Big Boss to see it because he might say I had to remove it so nobody gives us a bad google review. Really!
Big Boss is the fly in my love ointment,
the karmic pebble in my shoe.
Probably the Divine Mother sent him for my own good.
UGH!)
Remember TANG? A customer said it was "scientific Kool-Aid".
I put the Tang pitcher with a map of Space Travel from 1966.
I almost bought these cuties, but honestly, I have more than enough toys.
Okay, that's it for today.
I am liking blogging again, after detoxing from my own reactions to the blogosphere. A couple folkx have emailed that they are liking it too--thanks for saying!
To come: Doll Camp Report.
This afternoon the Girlettes and I are going to MT's place to make yarn gods eyes.
