Do You Want Fries with that Shake ?

Other than school, which isn't exciting to write about, I've just been watching a lot of TV/movies. I made a list of all the movies I should watch, so my interest has been renewed. I'll tell you a bit about the stuff I've seen recently. But fIRST, I recount this earthquake story. Spoiler, it isn't that interesting....

Last evening, I was just lying (lying or laying ?!) down as per usual. All of a sudden, I felt the bed shaking and was confused. An exorcist moment perhaps?? Then the door also started rattling and I realized what was going on. I went out in the hallway and yelled to my parents to ask what I should do. They gave me no answer or help.... My older sister was in the bathroom so I tried to ask if she was ok, but she wasn't being responsive either -_-. In the end, it was over in probably 1 or 2 minutes and nothing broke. It was a mild shaking I think and only my mirror fell over (but didn't break!).

On the news though, they said this was the first time an earthquake like this has happened since 1983 and they come around every 30-40 years. So of course 2020 would be when it arrived. But thankfully I think there wasn't much overall damage around the area and no deaths/injuries that I've heard about. On the tv, people could text in their reactions I guess and one I thought was particularly humorous said "do you want fries with that shake". Funny stuff, man.

Ok, now onto some comments and recommendations (or non-recommendations)

- Forever Chinatown (Kanopy) : This is a short documentary (30 min!) of a man who preserves his memories of San Francisco's Chinatown as from his childhood through building tiny models. I love any sort of miniature construction (Hereditary, anyone??), which relates to my love of stop motion animation. So artistically, his work amazes me! They also touched on his role in the Asian American community which was cool.

- American Honey (Kanopy) : On the flip side, this movie was super long. Almost (if not) 3 hours! Despite this, I felt pretty interested throughout. The story is about this teenager who leaves her bad home situation to sell magazines in the midwest with a bunch of other people who probably left for similar reasons. She also goes because this guy convinces her. This movie gave me a weird feeling. Like I think it's because I really didn't like how characters acted because it reminded me too much of home (ie Texas). But also I finished it so there was something good about it...

- The Love Witch (Kanopy) : Top marks here for aesthetics. Très witchy. The story is weird to say the least, but it's like a tribute to 60s horror (made pretty recently though). The production in this sense was spot on. The plot has feminist themes but somewhat disguised. Some of them don't become super clear until the end.

- Palo Alto (Kanopy) : I've been meaning to watch this for such a long time! Cinematographically it wasn't bad. It was actually quite good. If you've ever seen The Virgin Suicides (which I liked), the feeling encapsulated is very similar. It's like dreamy suburban ennui (that sounds pretentious but that's the best I could come up with to describe!). I think it would count as suburban gothic (like American Beauty!). This was a movie that hit close to home I think. Like not in that any of the characters related to me. But it gave me the discomfort of being in high school, like I KNOW these characters and I hated them. The casual racism, the blatant misogyny, we love to see it, don't we?

It's Nancy!! (if you get that then you're a cool kid)

- 120 BPM (Hulu) : This is a movie about ACT UP Paris in the 90s, and I thought it was really well done. Also longer, but it made me consider aspects of the AIDS movement that I hadn't before. The urgency of everything, the questions of how radical should to be, how to preserve values. It's in French so good for any one out there learning :-) and it has that actress from Portrait d'une jeune fille. In a lot of these types of french movies I've noticed this certain style of filming like in classrooms especially. It feels kind of harsh and almost like a documentary?

- Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix) : A good intro to the disability rights movement I think. I want to learn more about the topic! There was one part that was really disturbing about the need to deinstitutionalize the treatment of disabled people and it was horrifying how they would treat kids in these places, not because caretakers were necessarily mean but because there was a terrible shortage of help. That was only a short bit though and overall the documentary is v inspiring.

- Tiger King (Netflix) : By recommendation by Naoni and Aboni, I watched this. Absolutely wild stuff. It reminded me of Blackfish in the exposure of an animal industry in the US, but this was crazier because the players behind everything were such characters. I don't think any of them have clean hands or deserve to take care of big cats. But idk, if I had to choose, I think Carol can take care of them.... I don't think she's innocent though.

OK that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed that, my friends. I'm really sorry about the Japan program news!

from friday when my family played settlers of catan (my first time). Simon and Mary aren't here but we forced them to contribute