March 15, 2022

Probably as a way of procrastinating getting to my list of tasks -- make grocery list, fill out March Madness bracket, read Baby Teeth, do Rabbit Hole character analysis -- but I pulled up a research publication on social media use and mental wellbeing. I'm in the weeds a bit on my use of Instagram. I'm constantly checking it, and I've been posting a lot. I'm worried I'm depressed. (I wonder if that's a mental health condition in itself, not being depressed but being so worried about depression that you're basically depressed.) Anyway, the article is refreshing in that it's findings are basically It depends. Social media can augment in-person relationships, promote feelings of connection and support, allow people to express their identity -- I'll add creativity. Social media can also exacerbate maladaptive tendencies (I just learned that term) and work against mental wellbeing based on emotional contagion -- wow -- and social comparison. It can accentuate the differences between people who are doing well and those who aren't. Impacting self esteem probably. Anyhow, the article seems even-handed and a bit obvious, but in a good way. In a Oh, of course that's how it is way. It seems helpful to keep this in mind when I approach Instagram. Am I posting something that will benefit my audience -- I guess you could call them "friends" lol --? Will it spark conversation? Will it express my identity in a way that will help others know and connect to me? Or am I posting out of a sense of comparison. Look how good I am. Look how many friends I have. Look at how interesting and successful things over here are. Oof, the distinction isn't that easy to make now that I think of it. Put more generally, am I contributing to a nice social media environment? Can I make a habit of thinking in those terms instead of just focusing on how others might see me? It's an environment just like the physical environment. Am I fouling it up or not? 

MLog Time

**SPOILERS**

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

1986

Directed by: John Carpenter

Written by: Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein

Adapted by: W.D. Richter

Watched: 3/11/2022

I like this description on Wikipedia: Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, a cocky, wise-cracking truck driver who gets involved in an ancient battle between Good and Evil when he makes a delivery to Chinatown, San Francisco. That’s pretty much the plot. Jack goes to Chinatown and gets embroiled in a street gang war. His friend Wang’s fiancé is stolen because she has green eyes. A white lady is involved in the scene, Gracie Law (a young Kim Cattrall!). She’s rescuing women from this gang, but she also has green eyes. The big bad is an ancient man with no skin who’s alive but doesn’t have physical form. He needs to marry and sacrifice a woman with green eyes in order to regain his body. He decides to marry both Gracie and Miao Yin (Wang’s fiancé), kill one and keep the other as his wife. Jack, Wang, a sorcerer who drives a tour bus, and the good street gang guys storm the bad guy’s fortress and end up being able to save everybody. In the end, Jack gets his truck back and drives away – not even kissing Gracie goodbye! 

This movie is pretty silly. Kurt Russell is great as always. Kim Cattrall is a stunner. The set design is awesome. There’s fun fighting all over the place. Goofy stunts galore. The music was good too. Something that biases me against this movie a little bit is how much I liked The Thing. I like comedy in movies, don’t get me wrong, but it felt like the comedy was too much. I know Carpenter can deliver something as riveting as The Thing, and this felt like a cop out in comparison. Like he was letting it slide. The tension wasn’t ratcheted up enough to earn the comedic moments for me. Still a good time, though. Worth the watch. 

Rating: ★★★