Movies Watched -- Wild Tales

In Spanish. 122 minutes long so at least 20 minutes too long, but I have a solution for that ... the movie is a collection of six separate tales, the second of which is the weakest (about a waitress) ... that one runs about 13 minutes so if you cut that out, the running time would come closer to the sacred 100 minute mark.

The tales are funny and zany, I liked them. I *was* watching at 2x ffwd and Spanish is even more amusing sped up, but this was truly an entertaining movie. Tales of revenge from Argentina. The last story, a wedding story, is a full 30 minutes, and it's the most over-the-top crazy fun one of the bunch. This gets a coveted green go, recommended. 

This is only the eighth movie from 2015 that I loved and can recommend (the first seven are: 45 Years; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Revenant; Shaun the Sheep; Son of Saul; Tangerine; and The Diary of a Teenage Girl)

Road Rage

Movies Watched -- The Martian

164 minutes so at least an hour too long. I fast forwarded from 20 minutes in at 2x (retain audio). This is one of those movies made by Hollywood committee. The commander is a woman, the crew has a smartass Latino on it, the scientists are black, including a disheveled genius black kid who slurps coffee and has to plug his laptop into a mainframe to do the really big equations. I hate all that. But you know what I hate more? Pandering to the Chinese Communists to get selected as one of the 34 movies they'll let into their market every year. (Thrilled to see Colbert did a whole segment on this.) It was disgusting.

The story itself is kind of interesting, kid trapped on Mars has to survive for four years by "sciencing the shit" out of things. Space nerds probably loved it. I wasn't thrilled, even at 2x fast forward. Deserves a red rating for that Chinese kowtow, but will give it a yellow rating for science nerds, and idiots who like big budget, by-committee Hollywood productions ($100 million in opening weekend). 

Beefcake stapling self

Movies Watched -- The End of the Tour

105 minutes. I made it 20 minutes in before quitting, didn't even bother to fast forward. About the author Dave Wallace whom, I'm told by reliable people who read books, is a *terrible* writer, and his supposed masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is *crap* ... so this is more myth-making. Jesse Eisenberg has a lock on young Jewish guy roles, this time playing  David Lipsky (earlier, Zuckerberg). Red rating, avoid.

I'm terrified that you don't like me, man!

Tweets for October 31, 2016

Bit cheesy in The Fall S03 to give Nurse Sheridan exactly the type of look that Spector favored in his victims. #tv pic.twitter.com/9NcqtHdTFK

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) November 1, 2016

Valeant $VRX finally breaks below last June's low: pic.twitter.com/sILlPQaH0D

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) November 1, 2016

"For 100 yuan each, Liu bought 100 shares ... Within two years, each share was worth ten thousand yuan" https://t.co/J4O2GmHyzW| Liu Yiqian

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 31, 2016

MT @PlanMaestro American Middle Class … American dreams pic.twitter.com/eqZAFTnKlL | Bifurcation is real.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 31, 2016

RT @meghara Friendly reminder that China is really enjoying our election pic.twitter.com/PfI8W0sTil

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 31, 2016

Tweets for October 30, 2016

Season three of The Fall has been released on Netflix ... love Scully with her hoity-toity British accent #tv pic.twitter.com/SQwVGx5m9x

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 31, 2016

RT @om Pornhub offers to buy Vine: ‘Six seconds is more than enough’ - CNET https://t.co/AUrnk59P44 | Also true for cage fight highlights.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 30, 2016

Juan dropped my iPhone in the mop bucket the other day, but quickly recovered. No apparent damage, headphones always on but prob went away.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 30, 2016

Tweets for October 29, 2016

Reversing both my S&P 500 and Small Cap longs entered last February: https://t.co/NxPY3JzXU4 | $SDS $TZA

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 30, 2016

Tweets for October 28, 2016

MT @zerobeta If Hillary had just used Slack, the FBI would have given up trying to search for something after about 15 minutes.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 28, 2016

"This is a receipt for your Feedbin account. Please reply to this email if you have any questions" | I haven't looked at RSS for many months

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 28, 2016

"employees sneaked into the station and stuffed cotton into the [air pollution monitoring] sensors" https://t.co/ouCjj7Hvb6 | More ingenuity

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 28, 2016

Tweets for October 27, 2016

Higgins sold the estate last summer … Magnum and the Lads are out on their asses:https://t.co/ZI7vNm03cp

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

Waxing services: Lip $25, Brow $35, Underarm $45, Half leg $60, Bikini $90, Full leg $115 ... based on surface area

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

There's a six-seater flying from Kahalui if you're staying at the Hotel Hana (now called something else).

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

Gannett $GCI plunges to new all-time low: https://t.co/VM8SMCMXlO | This despite the $20 a month I pay for the daily Jumble.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

MT @ChinaDailyUSA Chinese baozi shop gains popularity in Harvard Square https://t.co/nrlHMh1TvN | Could open branch at Cornell.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

The water company called to say that we'd used 186,000 gallons in the last three months. The woman asked, "do you have a leaky toilet?"

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

"Ethically and organically handmade in India (for next to nothing)."

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

MT @shanghaiist City Weekend Beijing shut down 'with great optimism' after 19 years https://t.co/MLCWOn2csy | Read faithfully for a decade.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

"witnessed an agitated man in his 70s wagging his finger and lecturing an even-keeled but steely woman in her 40s." https://t.co/U2jZvmxXSq

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

"as China's economy develops, its citizens have new grievances that [should] lead to organized political activity" https://t.co/kVqTeKXknL

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 27, 2016

Tweets for October 26, 2016

I like The Daily Shot email newsletter, but not enough to subscribe to the WSJ to continue getting it. Wonder what conversion rate will be?

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 26, 2016

"Users that download Uber from app stores based outside of China will not B able 2 use it from w/in China" https://t.co/0PKWMs0X4E | Love it

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 26, 2016

"Rurik Jutting filmed himself torturing and killing one of his victims" https://t.co/MUsl2wYGkK | Mobile phone footage in evidence.

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 26, 2016

Mrs. Meyer’s seasonal scent “Iowa Pine” smells exactly like the stuff I used to clean urinals when working in state park one summer as a lad

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 26, 2016

Tweets for October 25, 2016

I didn't hate the movie, 'James White' https://t.co/xsOfnPb64x

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 25, 2016

"On some nights, the wait for a table at the Costa Mesa location of Din Tai Fung runs three and a half hours." https://t.co/COabE5Ccbq

— C. Maoxian (@maoxian) October 25, 2016