Happy Oscar Nomination Day!

January 23, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the Parti Poodle once again. My novelist is better recovered from her RSV this week and continues to steadily work on her novel. We of course took some time this morning to watch the Oscar nominations. We were heartbroken not to see Pamela Anderson receive a nomination for her work in The Last Showgirl. We are, however, intrigued by some of the other nominations for the films we have had a chance to see and others we have not. Amongst the most fascinating films we have not seen are The Substance, Anora, Conclave, I’m Still Here, The Brutalist and Flow. Amongst our favorite movies to get nominations we have seen are The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and A Complete Unknown. This, of course, gives us an excuse to attend some more films. I relish this as I am a popcorn fanatic. That is the best part of going to the theatre. I love to sit in the dark and partake of the crunchy snack. I adore sitting in the plush seat with the extendable footrest where I lie down on my blanket next to my novelist and lean over and eat popcorn out of the bag as the movie runs. Ah, the life of a parti poodle. And with that, here is my novelist’s stream of the week.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE ILLUSIONIST (2006)-AMAZON PRIME**

To celebrate Edward Norton’s well-deserved Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for A Complete Unknown, here’s a smart fun stylish film of his from 2006 directed by Neil Burger and written by Neil Burger and Steven Millhauser who penned the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” the movie is based on. Gigi and I happened to rewatch this gem last week and are delighted to have a chance to feature it as our Stream of the Week.

In 1900’s Vienna, a young illusionist named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) astounds audiences wherever he goes with his wildly popular, fantastic and complicated illusion shows. One night he asks for a volunteer from the audience and a beautiful young aristocratic woman named Sophie (Jessica Biel) steps up on stage. Eisenheim recognizes her immediately as his childhood sweetheart, but he keeps their secret and brilliantly performs his trick. Unfortunately, Sophie is engaged to Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Leopold is a ruthless man with a reputation of killing women at his whim. He is a frighteningly powerful and possessive man and has his employed Inspector Uhl (the fantastic Paul Giamatti) and his policemen follow her around for her “protection” and of course to spy on her.

Inspector Uhl soon finds himself not only following Sophie but also investigating Eisenheim which ends up getting him pulled in deeper and deeper to the intrigue surrounding these three people until he finds himself on a collision course with his own conscience and an unexpected crime.

A fun fact about the film is instead of using CGI to create the illusions in the film Edward Norton trained under British Magician James Freedman and American Magician Ricky Jay. You can see one of the interviews about it here.

RSV

January 16, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you this has been a most distressing week. My beloved novelist has fallen gravely ill. She has what I am told is an RSV or respiratory virus. I have been awoken in the early hours of the morning with her horrifying coughing. It started last Friday and has been haunting our happy home ever since. Luckily, I remained immune and can care for her hand and foot. I bring her my love and my toys and my companionship. What more could she need? But I am worried. Most of these illnesses seem to have a trajectory where the human starts with some symptom which turns to something else which turns to something else and then the human gets better.

But it doesn’t seem to be the situation here. She just keeps experiencing times when the coughs get worse, or the coughs get better. But nothing seems to have changed. Nothing appears to let up. It is dreadful to watch, and I have gone off on my own when the distress has completely undone me and sob. I am a terrible wreck. In the afternoons she watches television. Not something she often does. So, I have been going outside and chatting with Bernard. He says keep the faith. My novelist will pull through this. But she has asthma, I wail. Bernard tells me to make sure she doesn’t get a fever, especially a high grade one, and she should be okay. Make sure she drinks lots of fluids, he says. Make sure she gets plenty of rest. Still, I worry. I do not know how long this dreadful nastiness will last but I will be a better poodle when it is over.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: JUROR #2 (2024) HBO MAX**

Clint Eastwood returns to the director’s chair for this taunt, intriguing take on the classic courtroom drama.

Recovering alcoholic journalist Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is soon to be a parent for the first time with his wife, schoolteacher Ally Crewson (Zoey Deutch). They have struggled to carry a pregnancy full term. About a year ago when they lost a baby, Justin left during the night and headed into a bar. He purchased a shot, didn’t drink it and headed home.

A short while before Ally is due to give birth, Justin is called for jury duty. He finds out it is a high-profile murder case. Assistant District Attorney Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette) and Public Defender Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) pick their jury and despite Justin’s argument that he’s about to become a father he is chosen to be one of the twelve. Faith wants this case to go well because she is running for District Attorney, and the future of her career is at stake.

Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood) and her boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso) had a reputation for fighting with each other in public. On the night of Kendall’s death, the fight started in a bar and ended with Kendall storming outside and walking home and James following her with his truck. The next day Kendall was found dead under a bridge she was crossing. Witnesses at the bar saw James and Kendall fighting, and confirmed James had been drunk and disorderly before following her with his truck. The coroner confirms that Kendall had injuries that would be consistent with being struck by a blunt object that would have occurred before she fell over the bridge. And an eyewitness claims to have seen Sythe at the location where Kendall’s body was found.

As the trial starts, Justin begins to realize the bar he went to when he and his wife lost the baby was the same bar Kendall and James were at that fateful night, and he realizes he is not only a witness to their fight but that he may have important information that could seriously affect the case. However, his AA Sponsor Lawyer Larry Lasker (Kiefer Sutherland) warns of the dangers bringing forth such information could cause.

Rounding out the cast are J.K. Simmons as Justin’s fellow juror Harold Chicowski, a former homicide detective who questions James’s guilt.

Animation Rules Supreme

January 9, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you it is official. I have a grooming appointment tomorrow morning at nine. As much as I dread going in, I do look forward to getting this infernal hair out of my eyes. Not to mention my overtly long nails. My novelist purchased an electric nail sander for me some time back, but I hated it when she used it. I will only allow a professional groomer to file my gorgeous claws. Around the same time my novelist also purchased an electric grooming set. Her attempts to shave me were horrifying, and I put a quick stop to that wicked habit. However, my insistence on having these things done by a competent professional has made it difficult for me to go up and down stairs as my nails are a bit long and I am having difficulty seeing through my flowing curls. A bit of a conundrum you see as my groomer was on vacation during the holiday season. Therefore, much to my sorrow, I will go tomorrow morning to be clipped and shaved and washed and filed. Such is the life of a poodle.

Bernard finds the whole grooming affair amusing. I must say though, it is easy to laugh when one is wild, has perfectly beautiful fur all the time, and does not require grooming. However, I do like the comfort of living in a temperature-controlled house, having my meals at times that I designate, and sleeping in an actual bed. Bernard is just jealous. But then who wouldn’t be jealous of such an astonishingly perfect example of Canis lupus familiaris. And with that, here is my novelist.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: WALLACE AND GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL (2024)-Netflix**

The strongest movie category this year is animation. After suffering through some dull if not lousy storylines for the past few years, (except the shorts, and Ghibli Studios) 2024 animation is the shining star burning brighter than all the rest of the film categories. And that includes the ones that aren’t eligible for nomination for an Oscar because of archaic backwards thinking in Hollywood. And when more of these darlings are available on streaming, I will make it a point to feature them as my Stream of the Week.

Starting the list is this film from one of my favorite animation studios, Aardman. This is the second delightful and charming stop motion animation movie Nick Park has released in the past two years. Last year he gave us Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget that was unfairly snubbed by the Oscars. This year he has put together another whimsical delight for the senses aimed at kids aged one to one hundred. The film does an excellent job of being both visually stunning and entertaining while presenting a looming concern about the onset of AI and the sinister dangers it can cause when left in the hands of pure evil.

Park has dusted off a couple of his most famous characters, Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead) and Wallace’s best friend, Gromit. If you are not familiar with these two charming personalities, Gromit is Wallace’s wise non-talking dog and Wallace is an eccentric inventor who this time has come up with a “smart gnome” named Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith). Wallace’s intent on creating the strange little creature was as a gift to Gromit to help with the dog’s chores. Gromit is skeptical of the invasive creature and is torn between making Wallace happy and disposing of this annoying little clay menace.

Meanwhile, over at the public zoo looms a captive by the name of Feathers McGraw, a psychopathic penguin who was once thwarted by Wallace and Gromit after trying to steal a large blue diamond. Being an evil mastermind as well as a tech savvy hacker, Feathers devises a plot not only to reprogram Norbot, but also to multiply the smart gnomes to carry out his vengeance most fowl.

Rounding out the cast are Lauren Patel who voices police officer PC Mukherjee and Peter Kay who voices Chief Inspector Mackintosh who together attempt to crack the case of the criminal smart gnomes.

Happy New Year 2025!

January 3, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here hoping you are having a Happy New Year. Right after Christmas my novelist called the groomers, and found they are on holiday until the beginning of the year…which is now. Dear me. That means she will be contacting them soon. Seemingly, my holiday is quickly coming to an end. I know I will feel better after the whole grooming ordeal, but it is after all a whole grooming ordeal.

I suppose I should be coming up with a New Year’s resolution, but all I can think about is to aspire to be even more fantastic than I already am and that is a tall order. However, after having tea with Bernard D. Bunny and his little sister Belle yesterday, they beg to differ. They believe I need to be less arrogant. Less arrogant indeed. I asked them what their New Year’s resolutions were. They said to build a better home in the woods. And they call me arrogant. See if I bring Harney’s raspberry tea for them again. And with that thought, here is my novelist.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING SEASON FOUR (2024)- HULU**

For one more holiday season binge-watching selection we are suggesting the fourth season of this fun and witty show. We have had Only Murders in the Building as our Stream of the Week before, but Gigi and I were so impressed with their fourth season we thought we would suggest it again, especially since the Golden Globes are coming up and we think it is almost as good as the first season. This time the murder is personal, and the cast is a little tighter which we think worked well. We do miss Theo Dimas, the deaf tenant, who is played by James Caverly this season as we think he is one of the most intriguing and complex characters on the show. But that said the question of who killed Charles-Haden Savage’s stunt double Sazz Pataki, makes for a thrilling and whimsical storyline. We do recommend you view the other three seasons first if you have never seen the show. But if you finished the third season, we strongly recommend watching the fourth.

The series takes place in an opulent apartment building in New York City called The Arconia which is a real Italian Renaissance building in New York City called The Belnord. Three of the residents of the building are former crime and action television star Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), his buddy Broadway play director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and millennial Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) who temporarily acquired her residence there by remodeling her aunt’s apartment. Unfortunately, after she finished remodeling it, she had to move out and is presently squatting in apartment 12E in The Arconia. The three of them do a podcast based on crimes, usually murders, that occur inside the building.

The fourth season starts where season three left off with Charle’s beloved stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) who worked with him on his show Brazzos, getting shot with a sniper rifle through Charle’s apartment window when she goes to retrieve wine for the cast party for Oliver’s play Death Rattle. At first Charles, Oliver and Mabel think she is just missing as the crime scene is cleaned up after they return to Charles’s apartment. But when Oliver gets a call from Hollywood producer Bev Melon (Molly Shannon) that she wants to make a movie of their podcast, the plucky trio heads to California to find out about the film and begin their search for the missing Sazz. Look for a number of famous guest stars who come in on various episodes to help move the plot along.

Happy Boxing Day

December 27, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to wish you a joyful Boxing Day. The day after Christmas is always a challenging one. It is the day one wakes up and realizes Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is over. What lies ahead is New Years, Valentine’s Day and Easter. But the magic of the holiday season is quickly ending and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Not to mention I received a fluffy chewing toy but not a diamond studded collar as requested. There must be a way to get Santa to put one on his sleigh next year.

Today is also the day my novelist purchases Christmas wrapping paper for next year. She detests purchasing anything at full price. As she says, everything is prettier when it’s on sale. And so, she takes her annual voyage to The Container Store and procures paper there and goes online and procures other holiday wrapping items from Hallmark as well. Then she goes about putting them all away until next year.

I have become a bit shaggy and will need a trim soon. This, of course, is most distressing. My novelist will probably call tomorrow to get me an appointment. Dreadful. And with that thought here is my novelist’s stream of the week. Bonne fête d’Après-Noël!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: JUST FRIENDS (2005)-HULU**

This week’s movie is not a deep and profound story. It will not change your life or make you into the person you’ve always wanted to be. But it is a holiday movie that’s a lot of fun and the story strangely holds up over time, especially having been made nineteen years ago. And since you are probably drained out and exhausted after the Christmas rush, it’s something to kick back and enjoy. The only characters in the film I don’t understand are the lead character’s two best friends. I believe you could tell the story without them. But that said there are plenty of characters to love. And unlike most romantic comedies the lead is a male instead of a female (like in The Forty-Year-Old Virgin)which gives it a fun twist

The story is simple. A tenderhearted and likeable overweight teen named Chris Brander (gleefully played by Ryan Reynolds) wants to be more than friends with his best friend the lovely Jamie Palomino (Amy Smart). One night at a party during their Senior year of high school Chris sets out to do just that and writes a well-penned letter expressing his feelings. Said letter, however, falls into the hands of the high school bully, Tim (Ty Olsson) who reads it to the party goers. Utterly embarrassed, Chris vows to make a name for himself and leave this town of losers behind.

Chris makes good on his promise and becomes a successful music producer as well as a ladies’ man. When his boss KC (Stephen Root) tells him he needs to babysit his pop music sensation the mentally unstable Samantha James (Anna Faris) who happens to be one of Chris’s ex-girlfriends and fly with her to Paris, Chris reluctantly agrees. But when their plane ends up in New Jersey near his hometown, Chris takes a chance at finally trying to ask Jamie out on a date while asking his younger brother Mike (Christopher Rodriguez Marquette) to babysit Samantha whom Mike has an obsessive crush on. But Chris finds his plan is not as easy as he realized when he realizes he has a rival in his fellow ex-nerd classmate sensitive guitar playing EMT Dusty Dinkleman (Chris Klein). Julie Haggarty rounds out the cast as Chris and Mike’s mother.

Selling a House is Difficult Indeed

December 19, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here hoping you are having a wonderful holiday season. This week we finally got our tree up thanks to…Him. It has lights but no decorations yet. My novelist has been helping one of her relatives sell their house as well as starting work on her new novel. It has been utter madness. We’ve hardly had time to breathe. None of our gifts are wrapped. And our home is discombobulated. We have come to learn, as some of you may know, the biggest challenge to selling a house is emptying it. Absolute pandemonium. We have also learned that one of the worst things to sift through in a house is not accessories or books or clothing or dishes or tools. It’s papers. Papers are the worst. You must go through every document to figure out what is important and what is trash. An absolute nightmare. Things can be kept, sold, gifted and/or donated. But not paperwork. I wake up at night after dreaming about the sound of shredders. I now know what it is like to work for UPS. I have nothing but respect for those astute individuals. One would not think a writer would come to despise paper. However, a good writer often writes on their computer, uploading their work to the cloud and keeps notebooks of their writings usually in an orderly or somewhat orderly fashion. But paperwork, well now, that’s a whole different story.

That said, I am keeping a stiff upper lip and keeping my novelist well managed by telling her which pile to put which documents in. She has been remarkably accepting of my suggestions. The sale of the property should be completed this week and then we can settle back into our usual routine and move forward with the holiday season. I for one am still itching for my diamond studded collar to be placed under our tree by Santa or my novelist. Either is satisfactory. And now, here is my novelist’s Stream of the Week. Joyeuses Fêtes!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: DERRY GIRLS (2018)-NETFLIX**

One of Netflix very best comedies is this absolute gem by Lisa McGee. If you have never seen it, you really, really should. It catches your attention right off the bat and you won’t be able to wait for the next episode. If you are looking for something to binge-watch this holiday season you will find it difficult to choose a better dark comedy than this one about five friends who find themselves in all sorts of wacky teenage situations which come off as utterly entertaining and smartly told. In my opinion, this might be one of the best if not the best teenage ensembles I’ve ever seen put together on a television show. McGee based the show on her teenage years when she attended Thornhill College in Northern Ireland in the early 1990’s. The show won a well-deserved Internation Emmy for its third and final season. At least the Emmys got something right.

Set in the early 1990’s in Northern Ireland in the little town of Derry, lives a group of catholic girls who just want to be teenagers and not bothered with the war, often referred to as The Troubles. Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) is a sixteen-year-old catholic schoolgirl who keeps a diary and dreams of one day becoming a writer. She lives with her mother Mary Quinn (Tara Lynne O’Neill), her father Gerry Quinn (Tommy Tiernan), her maternal grandfather Joe McCool (Ian McElhinney), her sixteen-year-old cousin Orla McCool (Louisa Harland) and Orla’s mother Erin’s aunt Sarah McCool (Kathy Kiera Clarke).

Erin and Orla attend Our Lady Immaculate College with their friends the neurotic Clair Devlin (Nicola Coughlan) and cock-sure Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell). As the show opens on the first day of a new school year, Michelle is accompanied by her cousin James Maguire (Dylan Llewellyn) who has recently moved in with the Mallon’s. He is from England, which all the girls give him a hard time about and is the only male student attending the all-girls school. Our Lady Immaculate College is run by world weary nun Sister Michael (Siobhán McSweeney) who has seen it all and sees through just about everything.

What do you buy a Bunny for Christmas?

December 12, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here once again wishing you a happy holiday season. This week we have gotten a lot of rain although my novelist and I have managed to go for a walk here and there during the breaks. I often find myself sitting by the window in my novelist’s office curled up and cozy on my pillow watching the raindrops spatter on the window as my novelist works on her new book.

We still have not put up and trimmed our Christmas tree and the clock is ticking. I adore Christmas trees. They often have gifts under them addressed to me. I also have my own stocking. It is green and red and knit out of yarn and says Dogs Like Presents Too. Well, of course we do. I am still holding out for a diamond studded collar this year. I will probably get a lovely chew toy, but that does not stop me from dropping hints here and there. Like my paw print doodles that happen to look like diamonds. Or whining when a jewelry ad happens to pop up on the computer screen. Or opening my novelist’s jewelry box and bringing her one of her pieces. I am a master of subtle persuasion. Although I do face a serious reprimand for opening her jewelry box and bringing her one of her pieces. Diamonds are a poodle’s best friend after all.

I am also busy trying to pick out the perfect gifts for Bernard D. Bunny and his little sister Belle. What should one give a rabbit for Christmas? I was considering a gift card from the pet store. But I would have to lend Bernard my computer to put in an order online because although it is a marvelous store the bus ride would be tricky for him to take, and the checkout counter is rather tall. He can jump quite high but not that high. I may be able to hop up and down, catch air, and throw the card at the counter but then again, I would have to take the bus over there and that is a monumental feat. Oh, I suppose I could let the rabbit use my computer. But it is my computer after all. I guess if I didn’t leave him unsupervised it could work. I will order a stuffed bunny, make it two stuffed bunnies, and get the gift cards and put them in the bunnies’s paws. Mission accomplished. And with that, here is my novelist’s Stream of the Week. Joyeux Noël!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: VICE PRINCIPALS (2016)-HBO**

As we move closer to Christmas, I thought I would list some great binging opportunities starting with this one. Danny McBride is television gold. His shows are edgy, funny and downright fantastic. And if you’ve never seen this one, you really should. It’s a real headscratcher for me why comedies like this don’t get nominated for Emmys. Apparently, you can’t be funny if you want to get nominated. And no, I’m not talking about The Bear. That show is good.

Many times, I’ll sit down to watch a comedy show that gets a lot of accolades and find it’s not even remotely humorous. These lukewarm bore fests either steal their format from a show that’s ten times better and come off as amateurs or they’re downright dull. But if it really makes you laugh like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or The Righteous Gemstones it gets completely ignored. The television industry needs to rethink this problem.

One important thing this show did right was it was completely written, every episode that is, before it was ever cast or shot. And that makes all the difference in the world. A show should always know how it’s going to end. And if it doesn’t, the writers are sloppy. This should be required before a show is ever given the green light. A TV bible is great and all but if you do not know how the entire story ends, that show should never get made. Ever. Even if you can’t have the entire show completely written, know how it ends. Then and only then do you know where it’s going. J.J. Abrams, as an example, never ends any of his projects well. He starts out his stories strongly, but he can’t stick the landing to save his life whether it be Lost or Star Wars.

But Danny McBride deserves a score of ten and the gold medal. He co-created Vice Principals with Jody Hill, and the plot of this dark comedy works like this: Principal Welles (Bill Murray) of North Jackson High School is retiring to take care of his wife. Under Principal Welles are two vice principals: Neil Gamby (Danny McBride) the school’s authoritarian vice principal and Lee Russell (Walton Goggins) the vice principal of curriculum. Both despise each other and are cocksure one of them will take Principal Welles’s place. That is until they find out the school district has hired Dr. Belinda Brown (Kimberly Hébert Gregory) to fill the vacancy instead. After preparing to backstab each other to get the job, Russell invites Gamby to the woods near the school to call a truce and form a pact to oust Brown from her job so one of them can get the title instead.

Both Gamby and Russell have complicated personal lives which intervene with their plan. Gamby is recently divorced from his wife Gale (Busy Philips) and is trying to stay involved in the life of his daughter Janelle (Maya G. Love). Neil struggles to come to terms with Gale’s likable new husband Ray (Shea Whigham) and Ray’s passion for motorcycles instead of horses. He also finds himself falling for English teacher Amanda Snodgrass (Georgia King). Russell, meanwhile, is married to Christine (Susan Park) but struggles with his mother in-law Mi-Cha (June Kyoto Lu) who gives him no end of aggravation. Rounding out the cast are Edi Patterson as Ms. Abbott and Sheaun McKinney as Dayshawn.

Gigi’s Holiday Shopping

December 6, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good evening. Gigi the parti poodle here to wish you Happy Holidays and discuss the Christmas shopping season. I have wanted to address my adoring fans by taking a trip to the mall and allowing them to fawn over my beauty and occasionally even shake paws with them. But my dreams have been dashed as…Him does not like malls. I do not understand why…Him prefers shopping online when there are fans out there for me to meet and greet. My novelist falls somewhere in between. She likes to do some holiday shopping online and some out at the stores which she did this season. So, I was briefly adored by fans who were constantly asking me for my pawprint for which I gladly took out my portable ink pad and provided them with.

But alas, my moments of adoration were brief and I long to bask in the spotlight. Not to mention how much I love being out and about. I relish looking at the decorations and the store windows and gazing at my spectacular reflection. I love hopping up in Santa’s lap and providing him with a more efficient way to deliver presents as an elf takes our photo for posterity. I love getting free treats at the boutique pet store and being told how adorable I am because I am adorable. Hopefully I will be able to get out more and receive the admiration I so vehemetly deserve this time of year. Until next week I hope you enjoy this most magical season.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: WOMAN OF THE HOUR (2024)-NETFLIX**

One of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far is this film directed by Anna Kendrick who also stars in the lead role. And she does a terrific job in both. When I prepared to write one of my novels which I have finished but not yet published, I had to do research on psychopaths. I read several books, watched a lot of documentaries, and studied many research papers. Some of the books were difficult to get my hands on at the time as they were out of print or hard to find. One of the more obscure ones was The Rapist File: Interviews with Convicted Rapists by Les Sussman, Sally Bordwell and Ellen Frankfort. It is an interesting collection of interviews done by Sussman and Bordwell who spoke with a variety of incarcerated rapists. They went into prisons and talked to these criminals, recorded the conversations and printed what they said. And what most of these men loved to do was plan their hunt, stalk their game, bag their kill, and perfect their skills.

I remember being at one of the zoos here in the Pacific Northwest and watching this leopard pace back and forth in its cage, its eyes never leaving the children standing outside. Open that cage and see what happens. The leopard’s not so alluring anymore, is it? When interviewers ask actors how they find humanity in a character like Rodney, I roll my eyes. The answer is simple: they are playing a predatory animal. A predatory animal has no humanity.

Half of repeat or recidivist rapists are psychopaths. 20-25% of prisoners are psychopaths. And approximately 15-25% of serial killers are psychopaths. They may look like a person, talk like a person, and appear to act like a person. But are they human? Do they even have emotions past anger and irritation?

The word “psychopath” essentially means “suffering soul”. Psychopaths are missing 21% grey matter in their prefrontal lobe and 5-10% grey matter in their paralimbic system. And psychopathy is genetic. In fact, a psychopath has a 50/50 chance of siring or giving birth to another psychopath. A psychopath has four to six of the following genetic alleles:

AKK1

DRD2

DRD4

MAOA

COMT

5-HTTLPR

These alleles cause them to have the following traits:

Heavy and/or pronounced Eyebrows

Heightened reactivity involving the forehead and eye socket muscles when criticized (an angry stare)

Wide faces

Disfluencies in speech (um, uh, etc.)

Doubled words in speech (the-the, he-he, she-she, etc.)

Abnormal White Matter Integrity

Use an excessive of subordinate conjunctions (because, so that, therefore, etc.)

Tend to whistle or make repetitive noise

Talk incessantly about sex, money and/or food

Dislike pets and may have killed one or more

Drink black coffee

Drink gin and tonics

Likes to eat bitter foods like radishes

Are nomadic

Enjoy listening to rap music such as “Lose Yourself”

Do not like music with changes in tempo like “My Sharona” and “Titanium”

Were a chronic bed wetter late into youth

Has Grandiose/Extreme Narcissism

May have been misdiagnosed with ADD

Have physical ticks

Appear charming

Quick to anger and irritation

Are a pathological liar

Are always an extroverted personality type and often test as an ENTP (mad scientist), ESTP (con artist) or ENTJ (evil overlord)

Sport a quasi-smile

Are highly manipulative

Will copy body language during conversation

They gravitate towards occupations like CEO, Lawyer, Media, Sales, Surgeon, Journalist, Police Officer, Clergy, Chef, Public Servant (usually involving government positions like politicians). One might note all ten of these occupations often require working strange hours.

Dr. Robert Hare created the Psychopathy checklist (PCL-R) which is considered the gold standard. He created a list of twenty items which can only be administered by a professional. Each question is worth either 0, 1 or 2 points which simply translates to does not apply, partial match or mixed information, or a reasonably good match to the offender. In America, if you score a 30 or higher on this checklist, you are a psychopath. In the United Kingdom 25 or higher indicates a psychopath. If you score above 34…well, then you’re Rodney Alcala. Or Jeffrey Dahmer. Or Ted Bundy. Essentially what is known as a Super Psychopath.

It is important to note most psychopaths are male. In fact, a man is ten times more likely to be psychopath than a woman. 1 in 150 men is a psychopath. 1 in 1050 women is a psychopath meaning that testosterone plays a large part in psychopathy. And so those books like Gone, Girl, are a little misleading. Female psychopaths exist, of course. They’re just rare. Presently, FMRI tests (MRI tests done with FMRI software which allow the doctors to see movement in the brain when introduced to stimuli) can determine a psychopath. Eventually, as science advances, I imagine this will be done with a blood test due to the genetic nature of the condition. Which leads us to this week’s film:

Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) uses an unusual weapon: a camera. He wields it to manipulate the vanity of his prey. And it works. He finds people, often young women, who interest him and tells them he is an award-winning photographer, drives them off into an isolated area, takes their pictures, strangles them, revives them, rapes them, and kills them. And he does it a lot.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick), a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts has moved out to Hollywood and is scrambling to get jobs. She has a would-be friend and fellow neighbor in her apartment building named Terry (Pete Holms), who makes the appearance of wanting to help her but ultimately is somewhat parasitic and is not above using vague psychological warfare to try and win her affections. Cheryl gets a call from her agent one day who tells her she has booked her on The Dating Game. Cheryl realizes it’s just a one-day gig and she really isn’t all that interested, but she agrees anyway and goes on the show where she encounters subtle hints of sexism which make her uncomfortable. But nothing makes her more uncomfortable than meeting Bachelor Number Three who turns out to be Rodney Alcala.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28, 2024November 28, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving! It is I Gigi the parti poodle wishing you the most bountiful feast of this glorious holiday. I plan to spend today enjoying all the wonderful treats the holiday brings. Especially the pie. I adore pie. With whipped cream. I am presently lounging on my lovely couch watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Someday there will be a giant life size balloon of my likeness floating high above the New York City crowd. I plan to have a beautiful sparkling collar made of—

Not before I get mine.

Bernard D. Bunny. How marvelous of you to join us on this most auspicious occasion.

They are already designing a balloon for me.

No, they most certainly are not. You are a side character.

I am cuter than you.

I beg to differ, Bernard. It is my likeness that graces the web page of this blog.

I am going to get a giant balloon of my likeness in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade before you.

Not a chance, rabbit. But why are we fighting. Today is a day of gratefulness and peace. We should be peaceful to one another.

I’m telling you, poodle. My balloon is going to be flying sky-high next Thanksgiving. In fact, it will be the featured balloon everyone has been waiting for.

Don’t be absurd. People love dogs more than rabbits.

In your dreams. Bunnies are the cutest animals alive.

You are insufferable! How did you even get into the house anyway?

Your novelist left the door open.

Well, get out! Go eat grass or whatever horrific food you Oryctolagus cuniculus nosh.

Maybe I wouldn’t be so snippy with you if you had invited me to Thanksgiving dinner.

I mean the nerve…is that what this is all about, I failed to extend an invitation to dinner to you?

Quite frankly, yes.

Fine. Well then…I will. I will extend an invitation to dinner to you. Do you wish to join my novelist and I for Thanksgiving?

I need to bring my sister Bella.

Fine. Would you and Bella like to join my novelist and I for Thanksgiving?

MY BOOKS

STREAM OF THE WEEK: BUY NOW! THE SHOPPING CONSPIRACY (2024)- NETFLIX and MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES (2006)-AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Here’s a couple movies to get you ready for the holiday season. If you thought consumerism was bad when A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on December 9, 1965, you ought to see it now. If there is one thing I detest about fashion, it’s fast fashion. And Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy does a solid job of showing how insatiable our unquenchable need for stuff is and why we keep buying it.

The documentary features several different talking heads of professionals who had high positions in companies such as Addidas and Amazon. It then takes the viewer on a journey of how they got to a point where their conscience started to catch up with them. Mostly concerning how much waste their company put into the environment and the manipulative ways the company convinced consumers to put it there. They discuss bits and pieces of the “science” that goes into drawing you in and enticing you to become enamored of a product online and getting you to buy it. Things like urgency, insecurity, manipulation of information, and lies. The computer graphics are quite haunting and depict the grotesqueness of excess we have come to accept as an everyday way of life.

The film is broken into five sections which show the viewer, tongue in cheek, how to become successful in the retail business. One of the most frustrating parts of the movie dates to the early twentieth century where a group of businessmen got in a room and discussed the light bulb. They talked about how one could be made that lasted a very long time, but how it was better to build one with a planned obsolescence so the customer would have to purchase a new light bulb repeatedly. This is why products wear out. Not because they naturally must wear out but because they are built to wear out. How convenient. This applies to just about any object you can imagine which is why there is now fast fashion and not clothes which follow the natural model of seasons anymore. And it plays a large part in why there is so much waste lying around the planet. It’s why you keep having to buy new tires for your car every so often. It is possible to make a tire for a car which would last the automobile’s lifetime. But industrial greed keeps you buying new ones.

Manufactured Landscapes is a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking by Canadian director Jennifer Baichwal about photographer Edward Burtynsky. It is unrated and I encourage everyone to watch it at least once.The first eight minutes simply take you down the rows of a factory in China. The place is neat and clean, highly organized, filled with competent productive workers…and is gigantic. The sight alone is shocking. One of the best openings to a documentary I’ve ever seen. And then as the film progresses, we get to see the landscapes filled with waste in some of the countries around the world. The film focuses on clotheslines of sorts in factories with hundreds upon thousands of irons. And then the camera focuses on the metal bottom of an iron discarded in a gigantic garbage dump filled with metal waste. It also shows the massive amounts of cargo containers on ships and the yards where the ships themselves are built in contrast to the oil waste and the young people between 18-30 or younger that are employed to clean it up. Half of the movie or so has no dialogue. It tells its story through the camera lens and Burtynsky’s photographs. It is astonishing what we human beings have done to our world. As Burtynsky points out “We are changing this planet. We are changing the nature of this planet. We are changing the air, we are changing the water, we are changing the land. And that’s not just China, that’s the world at large.”

What’s fantastic about this movie is it doesn’t beat you over the head with a message. It simply shows you what the camera sees and lets you judge and consider what you are seeing. Manufactured Landscapes should be required viewing in schools. In my humble opinion there are at least two skills we skip over teaching kids. One is a thorough and well-rounded self-defense class which includes not only how to defend yourself physically but psychologically as well. The second is basic finance so you know how to set up a budget, invest intelligently, save money, and be frugal and neither cheap nor wasteful. This film would be a great tool in teaching the latter skill. An absolute must see.

Trapped in the Dark

November 22, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle. We have been in a blackout since ten o’clock PM on Tuesday November 20^th. My novelist and I have hot water as that runs on natural gas. This means my novelist can bathe in the luxury of warm water (not necessarily an activity I am keen on partaking of). But other than that, we’ve been sent directly into the 19^th century. My novelist made Starbuck’s instant coffee with running water as hot as she could get from the tap which was rather subpar from what I understand. I am more of a tea drinker, however, and chose to drink water. But we are literally running on daylight. And it is rather chilly. I was made to wear an argyle sweater. Don’t get me wrong, I adore argyle on walks. But I much prefer prancing about my home au naturel. We had to charge her phone with the TOPDON car charger to keep it alive. And if you have any kind of automobile and you do not have one of these, you must ask Santa Claus for one immediately. We did indeed take a couple of strolls outside and last night she read most of a Sherlock Holmes story to me on her Kindle which luckily still had quite a bit of charge on it as I curled up in a fluffy blanket and lay on her lap.

It is amazing how here in the Pacific Northwest they have not figured out to cut trees away from the powerlines. They are literally intermingled. This isn’t to say this is the only way to cause a power outage, but it is certainly a way. I appreciate how much Pacific Northwesterners adore their trees, but honestly, there should be some logic, I dare say common sense when dealing with these overgrown plants. Trees are lovely things until they turn on you. As an example, we had one fall on our car once. It completely totaled it. Imagine if someone had been in it. Took out the windshield completely. Rammed itself into the passenger’s seat. I am not exaggerating here. And we are not the only ones who fell prey to these vigilante acts. These tall Pinus and Genus Abies get testy sometimes and stage coups. It is terrifying.

That said, our power came back at ten forty this morning. My novelist and I will return next Thursday with a Stream of the Week. As I mentioned , I am taking a sabbatical from writing stories for the blog until Summer 2025 to assist my novelist in penning a novel. Until then, stay warm and make sure you have plenty of battery run lights. I bid you adieu.