Eileen’s train was late last night. She kept texting me from the train. Finally around midnight her train rolled into Holland. She seemed exhausted but happy to be home. I usually am in bed near 7 PM. But I didn’t get sleepy until 10 PM or so. I watched Raol Peck’s 2016 movie, “I Am Not Your Negro,” to stay awake. And awake I did certainly stay.
I was vaguely aware this movie was out there. I love Baldwin. I recently looked for all my copies of books he has written. I think this was why. The movie basically reviews a book Baldwin did not finish. It was to be his personal reminiscence of Medgar Evers,
Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Most of the time the voices you hear are either Baldwin himself or the actor Samuel L. Jackson.
But this bare description does not convey the genius of the movie.
First of all, the visual aspect of the movie moves into the present even as it is using Baldwin’s prophetic words of the past. The editing, the use of clips from Baldwin’s Cambridge debate with Buckley (no sign of him however),
Baldwin’s eloquent appearance on Dick Cavett.
It’s hard to believe that people (Baldwin) spoke so intelligently in public at one time. This movie takes a dead center aim at American in this moment and gets it brutally right.
You can watch it free online here.
I find myself dissuaded from watching movies. I don’t have the acumen to find the rare ones that would attract me. But I’m glad I watched this. Eileen and I are planning to watch it together soon.
I have never heard of SolarMovie the site where this movie is found. But Eileen mentioned two more movies that she thought I might like. Moonlight.
and Fences.
Cool. Some movies to watch.
Eileen and Elizabeth picked out some “funny Chinese Dried Goods” for me. Above are
百合 Bai He – Elizabeth: “This just means “lily” but what you have is the lily bulbs. It looks a bit like garlic cloves but they are dried. Once cooked they are very mild — a little nutty flavor. Texture will be crunchy.”
“Another ingredient we found is 黄花菜 Huang Hua Cai which literally is “yellow flower vegetable” and are dried day lily flowers. These are also very mild in taste and can be added to a stir fry.”
“Sichuan Pepper Salt is some spicy crazy stuff. ”
There was also a packed marked “curry.” It will be fun to check this stuff out. My weight is slowly dropping and blood pressure is down. These don’t look like fattening things to me.
Coincidentally, I found some funny low fat food at Meijer yesterday. Shirataki fettuccine is apparently made from the root of the konjac plant.
I had some yesterday with some commercial pesto sauce. It wasn’t bad. I think it’s important to have a tasty sauce since the “pasta” has little taste.
Here’s the nutrition run down.
Trump will likely win reelection in 2020
Some discouraging dispassionate writing. I like what Jason Fisher, a commenter says: “kind of thinking this article is bait for an anthropology experiment related to the comment section :)”
David McCullough on Reading History as Resistance
This sort of balances the stats in the first link with some sanity.