I watched Richard Herring's Self-Playing Snooker Semifinals yesterday, and Female Me lost. The Finals are going to be Viking Me vs Serious Me. It was fun to watch but now that all the characters I root for are out, I'm not sure I care who wins it all. Maybe Viking Me? He's the only one with an accent. I tweeted about my post-game heartbreak and Richard replied.
Sorry Amy. I wish I had some control over it.
— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) May 17, 2021
He even used my name! An extremely personalized response, don't you think?
What else? Still in Seattle. My friend and I talked a lot. Another friend came over and we thought about coming up with a winery whose wines are always out of stock but who do sell t-shirts. Here were a couple of the ideas:
Alright, Mlog time!
**SPOILERS**
ANOTHER ROUND
2020
Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Written by: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm
Watched: 5/17/21
Four middle-aged male teachers decide to try an experiment where they’re drunk all the time. Well, not drunk necessarily. The psych teacher has read about this Norwegian philosopher who maintains that humans are born with 0.05% too little blood alcohol. The main character, Martin has been a shell of his former self for years. No self confidence, no joy. As the teachers go they escalate, and one night they try to get to “ignition” phase – where you either stop drinking and go home or get itchy mouth and want more and more – and beyond. The men stop the experiment due to “extremely negative social consequences,” Martin’s wife leaves him. Another of the men has his wife walk out. People are starting to figure it out at school. One of the four men can’t stop and ends up drinking himself to his death (out one day on his boat). The others mourn but also celebrate with their graduating class of students, who they’ve done much better with this year. Thanks to the drink.
Mads Mikkelsen is in this and he is great. It makes me want to rewatch MEN AND CHICKENS. Reading subtitles can be a slight pain, but overall watching foreign films is getting the best things you’ve never heard of. Distinct locations and wardrobe and faces and ideas about movies. This movie stays pretty lighthearted in spite of the potentially very dark subject matter. I don’t think an American movie with this premise would end that way or hit so many happy notes along the way. We’re way too baked in Puritanism for that. I liked how the four men (in their 40s-50s) are friends, how they’re trying to better their lives even though it’s through unconventional means, how they want more inhibition and joy. It seems like the process of becoming an adult man could take the whole life out of you. The work, the aging, the pressures of masculinity, and the absence of any emphasis on connecting with others. Maybe being a bit drunk all the time isn’t such a bad idea. Or maybe, as the movie kind of seems to suggest, it’s only a bad idea for one in four.
Rating: ★★★1/2
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