COVID-19 Precautions

It is time to really pay attention to preventing the spread of illness within the United States, and after a lengthy discussion of the possible ways to do that within my health care system, I hope that we can manage this.  The longer we delay the epidemic, the lower the peak numbers will be, and the less people who will die.  Wash your hands as if your life and the lives of others depends on it.

That said, governments will not be able to limit both deaths from COVID-19 and the economic impact of viral spread. Keeping mortality as low as possible will be the highest priority for individuals; hence governments must put in place measures to ameliorate the inevitable economic downturn.  COVID-19 has developed into a pandemic, with small chains of transmission in many countries and large chains resulting in extensive spread in a few countries, such as Italy, Iran, South Korea, and Japan.   Most countries are likely to have spread of COVID-19, at least in the early stages, before any mitigation measures have an impact.  What has happened in China shows that quarantine, social distancing, and isolation of infected populations can contain the epidemic. The impact of the COVID-19 response in China is encouraging but it is unclear whether other countries can implement the stringent measures China eventually adopted.

Truly Devious Series by Maureen Johnson

I have read Young Adult fiction since I no longer have a child who would be considered in the target demographic, which all in all is a shame, because I really like this genre.  My SIL, who shares that love, recommended this trilogy to me, and I very much enjoyed it.  My one recommendation is to get them all before reading the first.  The reason is that the first book especially just ends, which is annoying.  There is no attempt to wrap up a bit of the story, and move forward.  It is a straight ahead "To Be Continued" ending.  They are quick reads, so a 2-3 week period of library loan is good enough. 
The story itself takes place at a fictional high school for exceptional kids on a remote Vermont mountain top.  It flips pretty regularly between the 1930's and the present.  The past events revolve around when the founder of the school is devastated after  his wife and daughter are kidnapped.  He pays the ransom but his loved ones are not returned to him.  In the present, the school accepts a student who is obsessed with the original crime. She gets her dorm to be interested as well, and they start to investigate.  That is when the past crime engenders a current one, and the solving of the two are both linked and the heart of the story that runs between all three books.  I enjoyed this very much.

Aquarela (2019)

This is a movie about the power of water.  There is only music but it is visually splendid all on its own.
The documentary begins with a car zipping straight across Siberia’s Lake Baikal, which usually remains frozen January through May. And then the car disappears, plunging through the thin ice. Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captures the moment at the world’s oldest, largest, and deepest freshwater lake in an astonishing feat of fast-frame-rate cinema that showcases the power of water all over the globe. It also placed its director and crew into terrible danger.
Which becomes a theme that continues when they get to Greenland just in time to experience large pieces of glaciers to calf off into the water.  Kossakovsky chased stunning images of water around the globe. The movie has no narration to explain where you are, or what’s going on. Kossakovsky improvised locations and shot without a script, trying to show the water’s point of view. The effect is hypnotic, haunting, and terrifying.

Gemini Man (2019)

I watched this movie because it was on a short list for Oscar nomination, so when there were not that many movies available either streaming or in theaters, but we quite a few names that were possibles, I got down to work at seeing those I could.  Not necessarily my most successful effort.
Here is the thing.  At core, this movie is a bad story that makes no sense and fails in so many ways. It’s inconsistent, it doesn’t earn its emotional bursts, it presents a shallow examination of its themes (which are serious and worthy of consideration), and it feels like a movie made from a synopsis of an idea rather than a fully formed story with a beginning, middle and end.
On the upside, the cast has terrific chemistry together and are likable.  There are some top-notch action sequences pushing the envelop with new technologies that I don't totally get, but I hear are noteworthy.  All the movie needed was a good story to hold it all together and turn it into a win... which is the crucial ingredient the film lacks.  Good airplane movie.

Ugly Dolls (2019)

Here is the deal.  I spent the entire months of December and January, into February watching movies that were nominated for an Academy Award, and the aftermath is bound to leave one feeling like other things are a bit of a let down.  This movie, a submission for the Best Animated Feature film category, was much funner to watch than it might first appear.  Unfortunately, it appears to have been made hand in hand with a line of merchandise, which serves only to diminish it.
The story is a very straightforward one.  You do not have to dig deep to catch its drift.  The ugly dolls are rejected, both by their fellow dolls and ultimately by children as well.  They are sequestered in a town all their own, but some of them feel like there must be more.  They make their way to the land of perfect toys, and lo and behold, they find themselves being the brunt of jokes, but also finding more than they bargained for.  A good kid movie.

Persuasion (2007)

This BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's lesser known novel of the same name is wonderfully done, in large part because Sally Hawkins is cast in the lead role of Anne Elliot.  She is one of three sisters who come from a characteristically marginally well off family that has an estate, but no male heirs, and therefore the property and title are destined to go to a cousin upon the death of the girls father.
The family is completely obsessed with this and consider nothing else of import.  They are shallow in their estimations of the worth of others, basing their judgement solely on one's wealth and status.  Anne fell deeply in love with a young captain on his way to war, and her family dissuaded her from making such a match.  Now, years later, the handsome and now quite wealthy captain has returned.  Anne is convinced that what she did to him was unforgivable, but was it?  There is no plain speaking in an Austen story, so it takes three times as long for things to be sorted out, but it is time enjoyably spent in this case.

Under Silver Lake (2019)

This is just weird enough to develop a cult following.
Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a bit of a slacker.  He can't pay his rent, he doesn't have a job, and he doesn't seem terrible upset about his lack of prospects.  His world is turned upside down when he meets the gorgeous Sarah, a new neighbor in his L.A. apartment complex. They flirt, chat, and wonder about the latest headline-grabbing story of a dog serial killer—someone who’s killing local pets.  Then Sarah literally disappears. Sam goes down to find her one day and everything in her apartment is gone. His investigation into what happened to her, fueled by a zine he’s found about the underbelly of Hollywood, is the driving force of the movie.  The movie has neo-noir elements, but it’s not exactly a thriller. Its darker qualities come with a heavy dose of slacker comedic sensibility—it’s the only movie I saw this year in which someone suspicious is trailed via paddle boat. So there is a comedic quality as well.  I didn't love it and I didn't hate it.

Golden Exits (2017)

This is a movie about uncomfortable people in uncomfortable situations.  It is set in a small area of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and we almost never leave the block. Within a few minutes, the movie has given viewers a frame to put around it: twenty-five year old Australian Naomi takes a job assisting a fortysomething archivist named Nick and reawakening the mistrust of his wife Alyssa, a psychologist, who's still stung by Nick's previous infidelity with younger women.  Naomi is a bit of a self conscious siren who has everyone buzzing around her.  In addition to Nick and Alyssa, she gets an earful from Alyssa's sister, who sees them in an unflattering light, and is altogether too wrapped up in her father's legacy that she doesn't have the time or energy to develop herself.  Naomi looks up a friend of her mother's son, who also falls into her orbit even though he is also married.  It all starts to spin off it's access while we look intently into the lives of ordinary people.

Chicken with Dijon and Vermouth

We made chicken as the main dish for the non-vegetarians amongst our guests for a groom's dinner that we hosted at our house, and it was delicious.  This variation of a classic French dish comes more or less from Diana Henry's From the Oven to the Table.

• 8 Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
• 4 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 3 Garlic Clove, finely grated
• 150 ml Dry White Vermouth 
• 1/3 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
• 2 tablespoon Finely Chopped Parsley
• Squeeze of Lemon Juice
• 10 g Unsalted Butter 

one. Preheat the oven to 190ºc.
two. Put the chicken thighs into a heavy roasting tin in which they can lie in a single layer, sitting snugly together with not much room around them, or into a 30cm shallow casserole.
three. In a small bowl, mix the mustard with the olive oil and spread this all over the skin of the chicken. Season with pepper (there's a lot of salt in the mustard). Mix the garlic with the creme fraiche and dollop it on top if the chicken (it doesn't have to be neat, as it will melt and run off the chicken once it goes into the oven). Pour in about 100ml of the vermouth, at the sides, so it runs underneath the chicken.
four. Cook for 40 minutes, adding the rest of the vermouth halfway through.
five. Put the chicken on a warmed plate and cover it with foil to keep warm.
six. Quickly bring the juices in the tin or casserole to boil and then reduce them a little so that they thicken. Add the parsley and lemon juice and whisk in the butter, bit by bit. Return the chicken to the sauce, then serve.

Free Angela and Other Political Prisoners (2012)

I haven't thought about Angela Davis in a very long time.
This documentary covers the time in which she was a controversial figure, and given what we now know about the police, it rings true.
She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and educated at the Frankfurt School, Angela Davis was uniquely positioned at the heady 1960s crossroads of political activism and academic theory.  The movie begins at the flash point, with Davis’ arrest in August of 1970 in connection with a courtroom hostage takeover that left six people dead and had Richard Nixon denouncing her as a “dangerous terrorist.”  Again, knowing what we know about Nixon perverting justice, makes this sketchy at best.  She was a member of the Communist Party who allied herself with the Black Panthers, Davis was also a fiercely articulate intellectual specializing in German philosophy—in other words, very powerful. So when it turned out that the guns used in a courtroom standoff belonged to her, the FBI seized the opportunity to bring her in. First, however, she went underground, which turned her from a figure of controversy into a nascent legend. John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote a song about her, as did the Rolling Stones; her Afro-ed silhouette became as iconic as Che’s beret.  The ultimate clearing of her name is a perfect bookend to the movie, and it was very enjoyable.