Raw (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Raw (2017): French. Vegetarian gets a taste for meat in first year in vet school. Bloody. Violent. Lurid. But yet...you feel for our girl. It's not her fault. Worst. School. Ever. B-

Downsizing (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Downsizing (2017): Interesting concept bogged down by not-so-interesting treatment of global inequality, climate change, and threat of human extinction. Cut Matt Damon. Cut subplot with Christoph Waltz. Give Waltz the lead. Or Hong Chau, who steals the movie. C+

Idle Thoughts: Cognitive Dissonance

Idle thoughts from December, 2017:

• Dec 2 2017: Cognitive dissonance is being at Dickens on the Strand listening to youth band with 15 bagpipes playing Camptown Races.
• Dec 2 2017: Pete Sessions is pleased with a massive tax hike on the middle class to pay for a massive tax cut for the 1%. I look forward to voting him out in 2018.
• Dec 2 2017: RT @NumbersMuncher: "From a year ago, but point remains: Ted Cruz propped up Trump during the primaries because he desperately wanted Trump's supporters. Ted Cruz is the worst."
  Ted Cruz is the worst...and not just for his cynical support for Trump in the early 2016 primaries.
• Dec 2 2017: RT @TASBGR: "Behind Oklahoma, Texas Has Made Deepest Cuts To State Education Funding In Past Decade."
  Don't let Villalba or Button or even Koop claim to support education without complaining about this to high heaven.

After the jump, more idle thoughts.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017): "If they blow you up one day, you'll blow them up the next. It's just business." The gist of any Star Wars movie, including this one. With jokes, the gap between Star Wars and Spaceballs lessens with each movie. C-

POTD: Street Musicians in Galveston

From 2017 12 01 Galveston

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Strand in Galveston, Texas, site of the annual Dickens on the Strand festival. Child labor laws may have been non-existent in Dickens's day, but even in our own day, after listening to these street urchins perform for tips, all I can say is, "Please, sir, I want some more."

The Sense of An Ending (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Sense of An Ending (2017): Discovery of old diary forces man to investigate and confront his repressed memories. Wrongs were done, but just what were they? A touch of mystery to this watchable quiet character study. B-

Compare with the book, reviewed here in 2012.

POTD: Santa Rests

From 2017 12 01 Galveston

God Rest You Merry, Santa Claus. Today's photo-of-the-day is from a curb along the Strand in Galveston, Texas. Although this photo was taken in early December, it seems appropriate for the day after Christmas. After a busy day delivering presents, Santa deserves a vacation somewhere it's warm, right? Maybe even give him a beer.

POTD: Merry Christmas from the Strand

From 2017 12 01 Galveston

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Saengerfest Park on the Strand in Galveston. Good health is the best Christmas present of all.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Merry Christmas from Galveston Beach

From 2017 12 01 Galveston

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the beach in Galveston, Texas. I picked up a small seashell for "L" to add to the souvenirs she keeps in her jacket pocket. It joins another tiny shell from Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles and a bead that "L" was given in Mumbai along the jetty by the Gateway of India. An old man approached "L" and held out his hand offering something. She naturally opened her own hand to receive what he offered after which he motioned for a donation. For a few rupees, "L" ended up with a souvenir tucked away forever in the pocket of her jacket. Her jacket spends most of the year put away in her closet at home, but when the weather turns cold and she puts it on, the forgotten surprises she finds in the pockets are pleasant memories of places worlds away.

Another photo after the jump.

Review: How the Mind Works

Amazon

From How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker:

The complex structure of the mind is the subject of this book. Its key idea can be captured in a sentence: The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmaneuvering objects, animals, plants, and other people."

That's the gist of this 20-year-old best-selling work of popular science. It's what attracted me. After the jump, whether it succeeded.