Borgli’s new movie, “Dream Scenario,” is about a beta male professor played by Nicolas Cage accused by a colleague of “searching for the insult.” In an outlandish twist, he starts showing up in people’s dreams doing violent things, and fragile students freak out in a parody of delicate sensitivities. The professor sees himself as the real victim and is then tempted by the embrace of Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson and, of course, the French. In other words, this movie is riffing on the most popular victim narrative of our moment: Cancel culture.
I almost never watch a new movie, but sometimes things come onto one of my streaming services and I give them a chance. I see "Dream Scenario" will be available to stream in a few days.
Last night, we actually watched "Barbie," which just started streaming on Max. "Barbie" is one of those movies where I had one favorite line (and one favorite character)....
Ryan Thomas Gosling... and his family were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Gosling has said that the religion influenced every aspect of their lives…. He "hated" being a child, was bullied in elementary school and had no friends until he was "14 or 15." In grade one, having been heavily influenced by the action film 'First Blood,' he took steak knives to school and threw them at other children during recess…. He was unable to read… He and his sister sang together at weddings; he performed with Elvis Perry, his uncle's Elvis Presley tribute act...."
AND: I'm surprised to see that I'd blogged about Ryan Gosling 5 times before today. I had never noticed I had any interest in him and had never seen any of his movies. He'd just shown up randomly:
1. "Why did the feminist cross the road?" (2012)
2. "Years ago, it used to seem necessary to take in these Danish movies" (2013)
3. "Here's the original 'Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal'... and here's the tribute" (2015)
4. "Sunstein likes... Ryan Gosling because of 'norm theory'" (2016)
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I can get on aboard with the insane/insufferable divide, but he's got the who's who backwards. He is right, though, that the right is more fun. Or, at least, those who are more fun are on the right.
Nope. The real divide in this country is between those that don't see a problem with filming gay sex in the Senate hearing chamber and those that do.
If you think really hard about it, you'll quickly realize "the insane" and "the insufferable" are actually the same people....and boy oh boy do they love playing the victim.
I just watched Barbie this weekend too. It's not a movie I'd want to see twice, but it had its moments.
Now I get the whole "Chad" thing. Societal happiness was higher in the patriarcal Ken World than it was in the matriarcal Barbie world. In Barbie world, the Barbies didn't care at all that the Kens were unhappy and unfulfilled most of the time. The Barbies only cared that the Barbies were happy.
Meanwhile, in Ken World, everybody was happy...until Margot Robbie came along and told the perfectly happy Barbies they were oppressed and unhappy. She was willing to ruin everybody's happiness to get her old world back.
I gotta watch this Barbie movie, I think the morons on the Right totally misread it, as usual.
That "Why did the feminist cross the road" post is a classic.
the barbie movie looks painful.
Not watching. ever.
"Cisco immediately followed his first missive with a text on one of the women [jury candidates]. '68 should be 86ed. Trump 2020 bumper sticker.' This was good intel. Politics were a good window into a person's soul. If 68 was a supporter of the President, it was likely she was a law and order hard-liner. Not good for a guy accused of murder. That this person would continue to support the President after the media had documented his many, many untruths, was a factor as well. It was blind loyalty to a cause and an indicator that truthfulness was not an important part of her framework. I agreed with Cisco: she had to go."
Michael Connelly, Lincoln Lawyer book #6
just went by on the youtube audiobook.
We watched Barbie not too long ago. I think the critics of it did misunderstand it. Oh, there was definitely political messages in it that were clear (such as a short court room scene with this statement: “money is not speech and corporations have no free speech rights,” which is funny coming from a movie representing both a movie studio and toy company) but ultimately minor. Most of the movie seemed like what I would expect a young girl then woman (spoiler there that I’ll avoid) would imagine the world of Barbie. It is her imaginary world, and so yeah, it is feminine and particularly feminist from her viewpoint. The only absurd part was the “Mattel Board” but that just seemed to be a bit of comedic fun while also making a point about its “diversity”.
I'd forgotten "Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal" and Gosling's sweet hilarious tribute to its creator, Ryan McHenry, when McHenry died of bone cancer. What a wonderful Internet this was, for a while.
He's obsessed with gay sex tapes... Now we know what "Ride Space Mountain" really means: offering himself up an an E-Ticket ride. You go girl!! NTTAWWT.
Ryan Gosling and a buddy of his (Zach Shields) once made an amazing record as a band called "Dead Man's Bones". It's the best Halloween record ever made...but that under sells it, since, how many good Halloween records are there anyway? Definitely worth hunting up on Spotify (or wherever you stream music).
I'd barely heard of this guy, so following the Times article I headed over to YouTube and in seconds found 11:00 of "the Best of Hasan Minhaj" ... a Minhaj montage, if you will. I could not hang with all 11 minutes, but during the 3-4 minutes I bounced around the clip, I did not hear him say one single thing that I thought was funny. Guess I'm just missing the hilarity, somehow.
The people who advocate for the destruction of Israel are just so *insufferable*, amirite?
A deeply stupid audience close quotes
He may be right, we may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.
The insufferable aim to rule us, and in fact do. The insane occasionally try to stop them, insanely.
Naw if they had backed oppenheimer which is a more substantial project maybe
I gotta watch this Barbie movie, I think the morons on the Right totally misread it, as usual.
No. It really is as vapid as it sounds. SPOILERS. Ken and Barbie live in a fictional universe where men (Kens) are second class citizens unable to hold any official positions of power. Ken and Barbie go to the real world and Ken learns about the "patriarchy." Ken goes back to the land of Barbie and all of the Barbie are drawn to Ken's new vision. Ken does not use any threats or manipulation at all. The Barbies just fall in line. But, then they find out they are the victims because The Patriarchy is so new to them and how could we expect adult women to be able to use their own intellects to reject bad ideas?! It can't be done! These poor vulnerable women with no brains or agency!
And, what does Ken do with his new found power? Just drink beer and sing silly songs. The HORROR! This must be stopped.
So the Barbie gather to manipulate and gaslight the Kens into *fighting a war*. Why? Because unlike Barbies, Kens are treated like adults that must be accountable for their own emotions. Gaslighting them and manipulating them is a heroic act that we are supposed to cheer. They are getting their comeuppance for singing Matchbox 20 songs.
The Barbies prevail but as a concession allow Kens to serve in lower positions of authority. Not the Supreme Court until our own reality is more equal even though in our "real reality," four out of nine Justices are women (including, a working mom, a Jewish woman, and two women of color). The Barbie movie was entertaining but it treats women like they are children. I like the songs though. They are fun.
A. It's too funny to read that first post you made on Gosling in 2012 -- it's a tale of the perfect Ken doll action!!
B. too bad you didn't see Barbie on the big screen! it was such a riff all the way through. I saw it twice as it turned out, once because my friend who had recently lost her husband wanted to see it, and then again when my daughter flew in the next week. And it held up all the way through.
Never knew or paid any attention to gosling until then.
hurray, america
The distinction between 'the insane' and 'the insufferable' is between the different groups on the left.
The distinction on the right is between the LLR nebbishes and everybody else.
“I gotta watch this Barbie movie, I think the morons on the Right totally misread it, as usual.”
Perhaps, if you correctly intend the phrase “morons on the Right [sic]” to mean that very small slice of the right that are morons.
I watched it two nights ago. I appreciate this compilation of clips because it includes every clip I wanted to show someone.
Gosling is in an entertaining but not great movie with Russell Crowe called 'The Nice Guys.'
I've never paid much attention to him, but his comic timing is terrific.
He plays a very charming loser.
Not at the top of your list, but maybe for a rainy day...
Gosling played a playboy empty-minded pickkup artist just fine. He did well as a somewhat sociopathic bank robber. He did very well as a replicant. He was just wonderful as a plastic sidekick doll brought to life on screen. I'm seeing a pattern here. Perhaps a Best Actor Oscar is coming his way for a future role as a handsome marble statue that doesn't say anything or move for two hours onscreen.
Btw, his eyes are slightly too close together, and Margot Robbie is ridiculously good-looking...
Between the elite and deplorables, the taxable and "burdens", etc.
Didn't the Simpsons already do this with Malibu Stacey?
Remember girls, "Too much thinking gives you wrinkles."
Gosling was fantastic playing Neil Armstrong in First Man.
Saw the movie just after it came out, in a local theater. Yeah, the 'woke' script was mostly insufferable, but as some have pointed out, the message was sort of mixed. I was pleasantly surprised to see Ken (Ryan Gosling) singing and actually playing real chords in the beach scene. Wasn't sure what to make of the last scene where Barbie went to a gynecologist....
"I was pleasantly surprised to see Ken (Ryan Gosling) singing and actually playing real chords in the beach scene."
See above. :-) "Dead Man's Bones" is really really good.
Democratic dementia and Republican rancor, right? Or is it left that's central to the divide?
Is there any guy in Hollywood more self-satirizingly brilliant at dry, on-the-spot humor as Ryan Gosling?
Triple D wrote: ‘It really is as vapid as it sounds. SPOILERS. Ken and Barbie live in a fictional universe where men (Kens) are second class citizens unable to hold any official positions of power.’
The conversation has kept evolving. I think ultimately it is a conversation we’re having about ourselves, but it’s easy to put it on Barbie.
Sane or insane? I guess that is the question. I put the insane on the side that says men can change their gender and be a woman and vice versa all with a few drugs and snips here and there. If you believe that is possible, I doubt I'm going to believe in your sanity.
BTW, Brandon Straka of the "Just Walk Away' movement won the lawsuit that several Capitol police brought against him in which they alleged he caused them harm by being at the Capitol on January 6th. One of the officers was not even at the Capitol that day.
From Brandon's "X" comment:
"The case entered discovery, where we gathered evidence that conclusively showed that none of these officers were even on the side of the building I was on during my brief time on Capitol grounds. One of the plaintiffs was in Maryland at the time I was there. "
https://twitter.com/BrandonStraka/status/1736823382232948946
Now I would contend that the attorney who took this case without assuring himself that all his clients were actually present at the Capitol on January 6th could be considered insane. But, it is D.C. where the judges and most who would be on a jury believe that any conservative is insane and deserve to be punished on that alone. It's all in your perspective I guess.
Teresa and I finally saw "Barbie" on DVD, and we've been talking about it since.
Generally, our conclusions are similar to what we've seen from YT commenters like Nerdrotic and Critical Drinker.
One key element everyone misses is that the liberated Barbies talking their "brainwashed" sisters back into the fold is a part of first-wave feminism borrowed from Marxism called false consciousness. That is, the Barbies were happy with the Kens on top because they didn't know any better.
Which is utter nonsense and denies women any agency. But it's great to shame women into not being mothers and having children because they want to.
And Gershon really kills the propaganda value of the movie by having the "real" woman launch into her long tirade about how Hard It Is Being A Woman.
Having the insufferable daughter spout feminist dogma is more honest than Gershon probably would admit. She's the "useful tool" that be making videos at 38 lamenting her lost opportunity to have a home and family and is now looking for a guy dumb enough to pay her bills (which surfaced recently on YT).
It very clear that feminism, which sought equality, has been hijacked by leftists who seek power through "equity" and will destroy bonds formed by family and community to rule over us. Much like the business owners who pursue the same goal to keep workers from forming unions.
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Watching Minaj's video where he responds to the New Yorker is really interesting.
I loathe the MSM, and I also loathe people who make false claims of racism. So when the MSM takes a shot at a stand-up comic and treats him like Jussie Smollett, I don't know which side to take. It's a blue on blue throwdown!
Anyway, Minaj's video made me laugh, because the poor man really goes into the weeds about what happened on prom night. Anyway, after a few minutes of watching that video, I concluded that the only scandal here is the New Yorker's atrocious reporting.
"Does it matter much that it never happened to him?"
Who came up with that sentence?
Unlike most people who get slimed by the MSM, Minaj has a big platform. His video has 1.9 million views. That's a wider circulation that the New Yorker gets. All of his viewers are probably thinking, "why the fuck would I pay money to the New Yorker?"
For starters, it's a really weird article idea, to "fact check" a stand-up comic. It's not exactly newsworthy when a stand-up comic makes up things or exaggerates things for comic effect. Their job description is "make people laugh" not "didactic historian."
Hollywood is constantly making movies where they say at the beginning, "This is a true story." To me a fact-check of J.F.K., for instance, is very interesting and valuable. But it's super-weird for a reporter to conclude, "none of it happened." Instead of fact-checking stand-up comics, maybe the New Yorker ought to fact check it's own articles.
"The insane include the people who stormed the capitol."
One of the most passive stormings in history.
Jason Zinoman has done more for domestic eyeroll production than any other NYT writer.
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