Month: August 2020

Project Power Has Dominque Fishback

Picture of Jamie Foxx and Dominique Fishback in the film Project Power

Project Power

Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Written by Mattson Tomlin

The review:

Project Power is an entry into the powers-not-heros genre of films* and includes an interesting premise, and a more interesting performance by Dominique Fishback.** This plays out as a perfectly serviceable action/sci-fi flick with some amusing parts,*** some fine fight scenes, and movie logic that doesn’t quite come together. Aside from Fishback**** it was nice to have have Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an undercover cop, and Jamie Foxx did his can-do Jamie Fox thing.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched:

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Also recently watched in that subgenre: Fast Color
**”Who is that actress?” I wondered as her scenes piled up. It turns out she played Amandla Stenberg’s half sister in The Hate U Give and has done mostly television work. But she’s one to watch.
***The muddled storming of the container ship was fun.
****Really, the reason to watch this film

Questions:

  • What was your favorite power in Project Power?
  • Would you take the pill?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Not related to the Marvel Comics series Powers, though it has a slightly similar plot: Combining the genres of superhero fiction, crime noir and the police procedural, the series follows the lives of two homicide detectives assigned to investigate cases involving people with superhuman abilities, who are referred to colloquially as “powers”.

Other reviews of Project Power:

Orange background with text: There are no laws on this drug. They don't exist officially. 'Cause every time we try to deal with it, some guys in suits show up to tell us to stop. —Project Power. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

The Washer and Dryer are in Their Places

The repair man has returned and this time he brought along a lifting companion. I loved our repair man. I explained the deal, and he, looking amused, said, “I think this is going to work.” And it did.

We still need to put the vent part of the door back. I took it out when that area became the cat litter box area, but I saved it and I just need to screw it back into place. I also need to find some sort of curtain. Laundry tends to fall from the dryer right into the litter box area.

I also want to put a few shelves above the washer.

But it’s nice to have a fully working washer again. And I quite like how this has all turned out.

All Movies Watched on Kanopy February–Present

Kanopy. Quality films for free.

Recommended

  • I Am Not Your Negro
  • Memento

Good

  • Heartburn
  • Girlhood
  • The Watermelon Woman
  • Picture of Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Rennie, and Ellen Page in the film Into the Forest

Skip

  • The Lobster
  • Lady Macbeth
  • The Beat Beneath My Feet
  • A picture of Francisco Solorzano and Patrizia Hernandez with a sketch of NYC brownstones behind them

ANTS! In My Christmas Decorations!

I opened our back shed to grab something and found this situation.

Ants had decided our shed would make a very nice anthill and they had been busy making my Christmas ornaments into their main egg storage area. Aside from eggs (apparently they are actually the pupal stage of complete metamorphosis) they had stuffed the box full of fluffy filler material (you can see some against the Cheerios box). Ants don’t normally give me the creepy crawlies, but in this quantity they sure did.

I ended up getting our trash grabber out of the other (ant-free) shed and using that to pick items up and fling them into the yard. They were in nearly every Christmas item: the ornaments, the advent calendar box had a big stack of eggs on top, the garland was full of the fluffy stuff.

Matt finished up a session with a client and helped me fling things.

I also learned that ants bite (or do something that caused me to repeatedly slap my feet while I was moving things to the back yard.)

Further learning occurred when later that night, both of the cats were very interested in my feet and the socks Matt had been wearing while he hauled things. There must have been a pheromone.

Another fun thing? I discovered some of our emergency food had been expired for three years.

So this week we’ve built a platform for the dryer, battled ants, and had to make a new plan for emergency food. It’s been a little taxing on the adrenals.

Viral is More Interesting Now

Travis Tope and Sofia Black-D'Elia embrace in a school hallway while wearing masks in the film Viral

Viral

Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Shulman
Written by Barbara Marshall & Christopher Landon

The review:

2020 is the year to watch Viral, if only for current events comparison purposes.* This seems a fairly standard-issue horror film** but centered on a sister relationship*** and with the girls making a lot of the choices.**** It’s a creepy crawly film, but not gory, which made it a fun watch for a hot August night.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via Tubi (with ads)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*At one point my reaction was: “Hey! We didn’t get survival kits delivered to our doors!”
**Horror is not my genre, so I can’t say for sure.
***In choosing between this film and Nerve (both directed by Joost/Schulman) I went with this one because it stars Analeigh Tipton, (Crazy, Stupid, Love and Two Night Stand) whom I love.
****Barbara Marshall, one of the writers seems to have written several movies that travel along these lines. That’s a fun treat!

Questions:

  • Analeigh Tipton as a bad girl. Did it work for you?
  • What part of this film felt very familiar?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The brief picture of the virus as seen on one of the newscasts is the same graphic used in the movie Outbreak (1995) to represent the Motaba Virus, using a red color tint rather than blue. However, the fictional Motaba Virus looks very similar to the Ebola Virus.

Other reviews of Viral:

Made A Lot of Dust

After the excitement of building the platform, there was still work to do. I applied primer and then sanded the wood which was going to make a bunch of dust, so I decided to clean off the shelves while I was at it.

Here’s where everything hung out while I worked. When everything has its place and then has to be relocated I get really bunchy.

And yet more things out of place.

But look how nice everything looks! And I painted the platform, too.

Projects just keep keepin on.

Prepping for the Cats

Sentinel checks out the new pedestal. As supervising cat, he must approve all additions to the household.

After inspecting the cutout for the electrical outlet, he approves.

I find it interesting that the color captured in this photo is green. I think the matte white of the primer reflected the green wall behind it.

I made new tarp liners for the litter box area. Sentinel approved of my process.

One set of my plans, figuring how many sheets of plywood would be needed and how many boards.

My instructions for assembly.

Building the Dryer Platform

I’m not gonna lie. It was a long six hours. Like any good project, we had to take a break and buy more supplies (our liquid nails had become solid.) But we did it!

My Ikea-planning helped. It was a matter of cutting along lines and matching labeled parts to other parts before we glued and screwed everything into place. At the time of this picture, I still needed to cut the hole out for the electrical outlet, but this is where we stopped to celebrate our win.

And here we are celebrating! We built a very strong platform. I feel as though I could tap dance on top if it with no trouble.

Also, notice how it’s a bit higher than the dryer is currently sitting. That’s fine and gives me a few more inches of maneuverability for litter box cleaning.

The Burning of Downtown Kenton

Some of the protesters at the Police Union building took a turn down Denver and did some burning and property destruction in the Kenton Downtown area. I went for a walk the next morning to take in the destruction.

I support protestors call for racial justice. I’m not a fan of property destruction. I think the anarchists are doing a great job painting all protestors as destructive which isn’t the case. But being anarchists, they are quite happy to destroy a movement for their own pleasure.

I was out in the seven o’clock hour and things had already been tidied.

This part of Denver Ave. has been cut off from car traffic so the businesses (many of which are restaurants) can have more room to sell things. This is a program that has been happening in commercial areas around Portland this summer. You can see how they make the stencils for the sidewalk chalk shapes that indicate walkways and then use the stencils to partition areas into rooms. I find this to be a very clever use of materials.

I think this might have been the part of town where the dumpster was set on fire. You can see some charred wood.

Here is a bit of stencil that wasn’t wholly consumed by flame.

This is another one was burned a little. You can see it in the lower-left corner.

Here’s a bit more melting.

I think Bart’s Barber Shop had already had their window smashed in. It wouldn’t have been boarded up so quickly. I think the graffiti is new. You can also see some other graffiti on the window over the logo and some old graffiti on the Kenton Lodge cornerstone.

I wanted to take these pictures because when people hear “riot” and “fire” and “property destruction” I think a lot of them picture rubble and complete decimation. As you can see here, there is property damage that will cost money and that sucks. But it’s not complete destruction that businesses need to rise, Phoenix-like out of the ashes.

Peaceful racial justice protestors deserve our support.