The Union (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Union (2024): A regular Joe construction worker is recruited by an old girlfriend into a high-stakes espionage mission. An action/thriller/comedy that doesn't succeed in any of those genres. A talented cast, mostly wasted. C+

Netflix

Freud's Last Session (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Freud's Last Session (2024): Soon before his death, Freud has a fictitious meeting with C.S. Lewis. Naturally, they debate the existence of God. The arguments are simplistic and unconvincing, which they would have known. Freud's daughter is the most interesting character but is undeveloped. C+

Netflix

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024): In a future desert wasteland, people fight for essentials: food, bullets and guzzolene. The action consists of highway battles on Rube Goldberg war rigs. Only good thing in the movie is Anya Taylor-Joy's eyes, but she's given no dialog. D+

Max

Random Thoughts: Westerners Who Set Foot in Russia

2024-08-01: "Any Westerners who set foot in Russia should always understand that they could be the next bargaining chips for some future deal." - The Atlantic
Why we won't be booking any tour of Russia any time soon.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/...

2024-08-02: On even days, Trumpers are scaring up votes by warning, "She's BLACK!!!" On odd days, they claim, "She's really not Black at all." I remember when campaigns would strive for consisent messaging.

2024-08-02: Headline: "Kamala Harris ‘honored’ after earning enough votes to become Democratic nominee."
Kudos to her...for saying 'honored' instead of 'humbled.'

POTD: Hector Pieterson

"Sister’s tear-streaked face,
Brother carried through the smoke,
Youth's voice silenced here."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 10 23 South Africa - Part 2

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Soweto, a township of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. Soweto "experienced civil unrest during the Apartheid regime. There were serious riots in 1976, sparked by a ruling that Afrikaans be used in African schools there; the riots were violently suppressed, with 176 striking students killed and more than 1,000 injured."

When we toured the Apartheid Museum in Soweto, we met Antoinette Peterson, a guide working at the museum. Her story is after the jump.