{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2023-01-01T14:51:32-08:00",
"url": "https://nadreck.me/2023/01/2023/",
"category": [
"life"
],
"name": "2023",
"content": {
"text": "Happy New Year and all that. It\u2019s now 2023, arguably an auspicious year in Discordianism, and hopefully a good year for the rest of us as well. I\u2019m currently in Palm Springs with Simone, having spent the past few days wandering around and enjoying the desert while it\u2019s not quite so murderously hot. (It\u2019s even raining! How novel!) We had a nice wander through Joshua Tree National Park yesterday, and are having a nice relaxing New Year\u2019s Day.\n\n\n\n\nJoshua Tree National ParkContinue reading \u201c2023\u201d",
"html": "<p>Happy New Year and all that. It\u2019s now 2023, arguably <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_enigma\">an auspicious year</a> in Discordianism, and hopefully a good year for the rest of us as well. I\u2019m currently in Palm Springs with Simone, having spent the past few days wandering around and enjoying the desert while it\u2019s not <em>quite</em> so murderously hot. (It\u2019s even raining! How novel!) We had a nice wander through Joshua Tree National Park yesterday, and are having a nice relaxing New Year\u2019s Day.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://nadreck.me/backend/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-12-31-13.49.39-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"On Park Boulevard in Joshua Tree National Park, looking out at Turkey Flats and Pinto Mountain in the distance.\" /><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://nadreck.me/backend/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-12-31-13.49.39-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"On Park Boulevard in Joshua Tree National Park, looking out at Turkey Flats and Pinto Mountain in the distance.\" />\nJoshua Tree National Park<a href=\"https://nadreck.me/2023/01/2023/#more-11386\">Continue reading<span> \u201c2023\u201d</span></a>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Nadreck",
"url": "http://nadreck.me",
"photo": null
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34115981",
"_source": "2935"
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{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2023-01-01T19:26:53+00:00",
"url": "https://twitter.com/anomalily/status/1609632268875862018",
"content": {
"text": "Live now over on youtube to do a plan with me with a brand new overhead camera and planner! youtube.com/watch?v=aARear\u2026",
"html": "Live now over on youtube to do a plan with me with a brand new overhead camera and planner! <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aARear8RQAE\">youtube.com/watch?v=aARear\u2026</a>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Lillian Karabaic",
"url": "https://twitter.com/anomalily",
"photo": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1455236306162761732/jPv9ROKG.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34112283",
"_source": "2773"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2022-12-31T22:32:00-08:00",
"url": "https://boffosocko.com/2022/12/31/55813305/",
"category": [
"indieweb",
"photo",
"social-stream",
"happynewwwyear"
],
"content": {
"text": "Happy Newww Year",
"html": "<span> </span> <span class=\"p-name\">Happy Newww Year</span>\n<img class=\"u-photo\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Happy-Newww-Year-indieweb.jpg?resize=660%2C516&ssl=1\" alt=\"A young boy in silhouette launching a paper lantern with a flame lit inside it into a darkening sky with birds in the distance. Overlain on the image is the message: Happy Newww Year! What will you launch on your own website this year?\" width=\"660\" height=\"516\" /><img class=\"u-photo\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Happy-Newww-Year-indieweb.jpg?resize=660%2C516&ssl=1\" alt=\"A young boy in silhouette launching a paper lantern with a flame lit inside it into a darkening sky with birds in the distance. Overlain on the image is the message: Happy Newww Year! What will you launch on your own website this year?\" width=\"660\" height=\"516\" />"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Chris Aldrich",
"url": "https://boffosocko.com/author/chrisaldrich/",
"photo": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d5fb4e498fe609cc29b04e5b7ad688c4?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34103059",
"_source": "2785"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2022-12-31T13:57:14-0500",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2022/12/31/135714/",
"syndication": [
"https://fed.brid.gy/"
],
"content": {
"text": "Now is a great time to reflect on all the IndieWeb gifts shared in 2022! It\u2019s your < 10min update on the #IndieWeb community!\nThis Week in the IndieWeb audio edition for December 24th - 30th, 2022.\nhttps://martymcgui.re/2022/12/31/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--december-24th---30th-2022/",
"html": "<p>Now is a great time to reflect on all the IndieWeb gifts shared in 2022! It\u2019s your < 10min update on the #IndieWeb community!</p>\n<p>This Week in the IndieWeb audio edition for December 24th - 30th, 2022.\n<a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2022/12/31/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--december-24th---30th-2022/\">https://martymcgui.re/2022/12/31/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--december-24th---30th-2022/</a></p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34095724",
"_source": "175"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2022-12-31T13:51:18-0500",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2022/12/31/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--december-24th---30th-2022/",
"category": [
"podcast",
"IndieWeb",
"this-week-indieweb-podcast"
],
"audio": [
"https://media.martymcgui.re/95/55/a4/02/cb3fa7daa69b99c92a27e935679057e4fc954341e8363d55b1ebc1eb.mp3"
],
"name": "This Week in the IndieWeb Audio Edition \u2022 December 24th - 30th, 2022",
"content": {
"text": "Show/Hide Transcript\n \n Now is a great time to reflect on all the IndieWeb gifts shared in 2022! It\u2019s the audio edition for This Week in the IndieWeb for December 24th - 30th, 2022.\nYou can find all of my audio editions and subscribe with your favorite podcast app here: martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/.\nMusic from Aaron Parecki\u2019s 100DaysOfMusic project: Day 85 - Suit, Day 48 - Glitch, Day 49 - Floating, Day 9, and Day 11\nThanks to everyone in the IndieWeb chat for their feedback and suggestions. Please drop me a note if there are any changes you\u2019d like to see for this audio edition!",
"html": "Show/Hide Transcript\n \n <p>Now is a great time to reflect on all the IndieWeb gifts shared in 2022! It\u2019s the audio edition for <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/this-week/2022-12-30.html\">This Week in the IndieWeb for December 24th - 30th, 2022</a>.</p>\n<p>You can find all of my audio editions and subscribe with your favorite podcast app here: <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/\">martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/</a>.</p>\n<p>Music from <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/\">Aaron Parecki</a>\u2019s <a href=\"https://100.aaronparecki.com/\">100DaysOfMusic project</a>: <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/03/15/14/day85\">Day 85 - Suit</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/02/06/7/day48\">Day 48 - Glitch</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/02/07/4/day49\">Day 49 - Floating</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2016/12/29/21/day-9\">Day 9</a>, and <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2016/12/31/15/\">Day 11</a></p>\n<p>Thanks to everyone in the <a href=\"https://chat.indieweb.org/\">IndieWeb chat</a> for their feedback and suggestions. Please drop me a note if there are any changes you\u2019d like to see for this audio edition!</p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "audio",
"_id": "34095725",
"_source": "175"
}
Can someone explain why the 14-day supply of my generic medication* had a $38 copay, but the 90-day supply had a $30 copay?
*btw insurance required me to get a 14 day supply
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2022-12-31T00:05:54+00:00",
"url": "https://twitter.com/anomalily/status/1608977712458399745",
"content": {
"text": "Can someone explain why the 14-day supply of my generic medication* had a $38 copay, but the 90-day supply had a $30 copay? \n\n*btw insurance required me to get a 14 day supply"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Lillian Karabaic",
"url": "https://twitter.com/anomalily",
"photo": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1455236306162761732/jPv9ROKG.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34078826",
"_source": "2773"
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{
"type": "entry",
"author": {
"name": "Jared White",
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/",
"photo": null
},
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/articles/my-top-5-non-scifi-films-of-2022",
"published": "2022-12-30T10:16:27-08:00",
"content": {
"html": "<img alt=\"\" src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/mariposta/image/upload/w_1200,c_limit,q_65/awesome_movie_nokl5q.jpg\" /><h2>Once again, it's never been a better time to be a geek and a film buff. But I'm ready for a change. So here are my end-of-year top picks outside of Sci-Fi\u2026and the results may surprise you!</h2>\n\n<p>In 2016 I wrote up a list of <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/articles/my-top-5-scifi-films-of-2016\">my favorite Sci-Fi films of 2016</a>. And then <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/articles/my-top-5-scifi-films-of-2021\">again in 2021</a>. But this year, I thought I\u2019d mix things up a bit. After a string of disappointments earlier in the year as a Sci-Fi & Comic Book movie fan, I was feeling rather burnt out. And I\u2019d soured on Disney+ shows as well and didn\u2019t even bother with <em>Star Wars: Andor</em> when it first came out. (Thankfully that proved to be a <strong>major turnaround</strong> and breath of fresh air for the franchise!)</p>\n\n<p>While I\u2019m glad things did seem to pick up later in the year (and I plan to record a podcast soon with some of my top picks in genre film and television)\u2014for now and with no further ado, let\u2019s roll with my five favorite <em>non</em>-Sci-Fi films of 2022!</p>\n\n<h3>5: Where the Crawdads Sing</h3>\n\n<p>I wanted to see this movie the moment I first heard of it as I\u2019m a massive fan of Daisy Edgar-Jones. Her role in Hulu\u2019s <em>Normal People</em> was electrifying. However, this movie proved oddly controversial upon its release, and thus due to some of the negative buzz I didn\u2019t bother seeing it at the time.</p>\n\n<p>I regret listening to the naysayers! I love this film. (<a href=\"https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/where_the_crawdads_sing\">And so do the audiences apparently</a>, critics be damned.) Once again her performance is stellar as the \u201cmarsh girl\u201d recluse Kya, but she\u2019s joined by an equally compelling younger counterpart in the form of past Kya, played by Jojo Regina. I\u2019ve become a huge fan of \u201cenvironmental\u201d movies (aka movies where the outdoor environment is as key to the storytelling as the human characters themselves), and <em>Where the Crawdads Sing</em> really delivers on this front. It\u2019s a part of the world I don\u2019t normally have much interest in personally\u2014but after watching this film, I too want to live in a cabin in the depths of the marsh!</p>\n\n<p>This is a sad story in many ways, yet even with some of the sordid twists and turns it takes, I overall found it to be deeply hopeful and thought-provoking. It meant a lot to me well after I\u2019d seen it, which is why it enters my list at number 5.</p>\n\n<h3>4: She Said</h3>\n\n<p>I\u2019m a sucker for a good story about the journalistic takedown of the corrupt powers that be. <strong>Inject this directly into my veins!</strong> Movies like <em>Spotlight</em> and <em>Bombshell</em>, <em>The Big Short</em>, and others all about the efforts of insiders to expose the rot at the top\u2026I\u2019m here for all of it.</p>\n\n<p><em>She Said</em> is an excellent newcomer to the genre, all about the explosive New York Times reporting on chronic sexual harassment and subsequent coverups at the hands of notorious Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. I honestly don\u2019t get why this film didn\u2019t receive a lot more buzz than it did, because these events played a major role in the #MeToo movement and proved a moment of reckoning for Hollywood\u2019s good-ol-boys club.</p>\n\n<p>Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor were fantastic in their roles, and it was a real delight to see Samantha Morton appear as one of the principal whistleblowers in the story. I thought the directing and editing was very well done (and I genuinely disagree with comments that the movie was slow or bland or not \u201cexciting\u201d enough), and the score by Nicholas Britell was frankly <strong>too</strong> good. (He\u2019s also the mastermind behind the equally outstanding music of <em>Star Wars: Andor</em>.) For fans of social justice in all its myriad forms, this is a movie not to be missed!</p>\n\n<h3>3: Elvis</h3>\n\n<p>Much like what I said about the landscapes in <em>Where the Crawdads Sing</em>, I know a movie is really something when it makes me <strong>care</strong> about subject matter which heretofore I wouldn\u2019t have given the time of day.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I don\u2019t like Elvis\u2019 music, he\u2019s not my King, and honestly nothing about \u201cElvis!\u201d fandom appeals to me in the slightest.</p>\n\n<p>But by the end of <em>Elvis</em>, not only did I want to learn more about the life of Elvis Presley and listen to more of his music, I wanted to travel to Las Vegas and see a really good Elvis impersonator perform and imagine he was indeed the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll in 1970.</p>\n\n<p>Austin Butler is <strong>insane</strong> as Elvis Presley in this movie. He might even be a better Elvis than Elvis. This is Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison territory, and perhaps tops even Rami Malek\u2019s quite excellent stint as Freddie Mercury. I love every minute of this frenetic and action-packed movie, and even the weird role screen icon Tom Hanks plays in the film grew on me considerably by the end. <em>Elvis</em> comes in at a solid #3 on this list, highly recommend.</p>\n\n<h3>2: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery</h3>\n\n<p>I freaking <strong>love</strong> <em>Knives Out</em>. It\u2019s one of my favorite murder mystery movies of all time. Rian Johnson hit it out of the park, and solidified himself as a consummate writer/director at a time when his \u201cstreet cred\u201d wasn\u2019t all that high after the contentious events of <em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</em>.</p>\n\n<p>When I first heard that Netflix had backed a truck up to Rian\u2019s door and unloaded a nosebleed amount of money to get him to build them a \u201cKnives Out franchise\u201d, I was hesitant. <em>Knives Out</em> was simply great, all on its own. Why sully its top-drawer reputation with a questionable string of made-for-streaming sequels?</p>\n\n<p>I couldn\u2019t be more wrong. <em>Glass Onion</em> is a revelation. I had attempted to see it in the theater during the short release window Netflix provided, but it didn\u2019t work out. I wish it had, because I am over the moon with how good this movie is. Every frame, every comical drawl by Benoit Blanc, every reveal, every exchange between the memorable characters in this perfect ensemble cast, every sweeping drone shot of the Grecian islands\u2026Chef\u2019s. Kiss.</p>\n\n<p>But even more incredibly, how could Rian Johnson have known back in 2020 when he wrote the script to <em>Glass Onion</em> that <strong>the top story in bussiness & tech in 2022</strong> would literally be the absurd antics of an insanely rich tech mogul whom everyone used to think was a stable genius but now in fact turns out to be just another fucking right-wing idiot?</p>\n\n<p>The perfect movie at the present moment. <em>Glass Onion</em>. Go see it on Netflix.</p>\n\n<h3>1: The Banshees of Inisherin</h3>\n\n<p>I\u2019m so glad I got to see this movie in a movie theater. It wasn\u2019t a large audience, but the people who were there were <em>vocal</em>. We laughed\u2026a lot. We cried. We gasped. It was a <strong>ride</strong>, one I remember vividly. I even remember the nighttime walk back from the theater to my home, thinking intensely about the movie I\u2019d just seen.</p>\n\n<p><em>The Banshees of Inisherin</em>. Is it a metaphor for the horrors of civil war and how it drives men apart and pits neighbor against neighbor? Is it a metaphor for old age and the desire for your life to have \u201cmeant\u201d something through the longevity of recorded creative expression? Is it a metaphor for the growing banalities at the heart of traditional island life when the modern world beckons just over the water? Is it simply a bonkers tall tale about some colorful characters on a remote island off the coast of Ireland a century ago which takes all of the tropes of stories about \u201cIrish country folk\u201d (getting drunk at the pub, dangling legs over dramatic seaside cliffs, milking the goats, the long-suffering colleen who rejects all the village lads to their utter chagrin, the violent cop, the trad music jam band, witty philosophical banter about the most trivial of pursuits, comical side-characters not quite right in the head, breathtaking vistas of the moody landscapes of the Irish west, mystical old hags with creepy laughs) and turns them on their ear?</p>\n\n<p><strong>Yes.</strong></p>\n\n<p>This smart, subversive, freakishly-well-acted film elevates the genre, and I\u2019m still not even quite sure what genre it\u2019s in. In that sense, it\u2019s thoroughly modern. It winks at the audience constantly, because it knows we know the story is absurd, and we know that it knows that we know it\u2019s absurd, and it knows that we know that it knows that\u2026well, you get the picture.</p>\n\n<p>And if you haven\u2019t yet gotten the picture, go watch <em>The Banshees of Inisherin</em>\u2014in theaters if you can, or streaming on HBO Max.</p>\n\n<h3>Honorable Mentions</h3>\n\n<p>There were a few films I initially hoped would make the cut, but ultimately didn\u2019t. Nevertheless they\u2019re excellent movies to watch.</p>\n\n<p><em>Enola Holmes 2</em> was a big hit during family night and my kids\u2019 top pick for 2022. I think I liked it even better than the first one.</p>\n\n<p><em>Causeway</em> on Apple TV+ was very well done, and a welcome comeback for Jennifer Lawrence. I hope in this new era of her career she stays away from the glitzy or shock-and-awe roles she became known for and plays some \u201csmaller\u201d roles like this one. It suits her (and I mean that in the most positive way possible).</p>\n\n<p><em>The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent</em>\u2026I had <strong>such high hopes</strong> going into this movie. While I\u2019m not per se a massive fan of Cage or his \u201cnouveau shamanism,\u201d I nevertheless thought this movie would be a trip. And it was? Kinda? Sorta? Maybe? I don\u2019t know. Not all of the jokes landed, the direction was a bit too pedestrian, and the plot was just a tad <strong>too</strong> convenient. But the onscreen bromance between \u201cNick Cage\u201d and Javi (played by Pedro Pascal) was real. And I loved that. So I\u2019m definitely glad I saw the film, but a bit saddened it didn\u2019t make it\u2019s way to my top 5.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there you have it folks: <strong>My Top 5 Non-Sci-Fi Films of 2022</strong>. What are yours? <a href=\"https://indieweb.social/@jaredwhite\">Let me know on Mastodon what you thought!</a></p>\n\n<p>P. S. What was my favorite movie of the year overall in any genre, you may ask? <strong>Stay tuned!</strong> \ud83d\ude0e</p>\n\n\n\n <br /><p>\n \n <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/movies\">#movies</a>\n \n </p>",
"text": "Once again, it's never been a better time to be a geek and a film buff. But I'm ready for a change. So here are my end-of-year top picks outside of Sci-Fi\u2026and the results may surprise you!\n\nIn 2016 I wrote up a list of my favorite Sci-Fi films of 2016. And then again in 2021. But this year, I thought I\u2019d mix things up a bit. After a string of disappointments earlier in the year as a Sci-Fi & Comic Book movie fan, I was feeling rather burnt out. And I\u2019d soured on Disney+ shows as well and didn\u2019t even bother with Star Wars: Andor when it first came out. (Thankfully that proved to be a major turnaround and breath of fresh air for the franchise!)\n\nWhile I\u2019m glad things did seem to pick up later in the year (and I plan to record a podcast soon with some of my top picks in genre film and television)\u2014for now and with no further ado, let\u2019s roll with my five favorite non-Sci-Fi films of 2022!\n\n5: Where the Crawdads Sing\n\nI wanted to see this movie the moment I first heard of it as I\u2019m a massive fan of Daisy Edgar-Jones. Her role in Hulu\u2019s Normal People was electrifying. However, this movie proved oddly controversial upon its release, and thus due to some of the negative buzz I didn\u2019t bother seeing it at the time.\n\nI regret listening to the naysayers! I love this film. (And so do the audiences apparently, critics be damned.) Once again her performance is stellar as the \u201cmarsh girl\u201d recluse Kya, but she\u2019s joined by an equally compelling younger counterpart in the form of past Kya, played by Jojo Regina. I\u2019ve become a huge fan of \u201cenvironmental\u201d movies (aka movies where the outdoor environment is as key to the storytelling as the human characters themselves), and Where the Crawdads Sing really delivers on this front. It\u2019s a part of the world I don\u2019t normally have much interest in personally\u2014but after watching this film, I too want to live in a cabin in the depths of the marsh!\n\nThis is a sad story in many ways, yet even with some of the sordid twists and turns it takes, I overall found it to be deeply hopeful and thought-provoking. It meant a lot to me well after I\u2019d seen it, which is why it enters my list at number 5.\n\n4: She Said\n\nI\u2019m a sucker for a good story about the journalistic takedown of the corrupt powers that be. Inject this directly into my veins! Movies like Spotlight and Bombshell, The Big Short, and others all about the efforts of insiders to expose the rot at the top\u2026I\u2019m here for all of it.\n\nShe Said is an excellent newcomer to the genre, all about the explosive New York Times reporting on chronic sexual harassment and subsequent coverups at the hands of notorious Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. I honestly don\u2019t get why this film didn\u2019t receive a lot more buzz than it did, because these events played a major role in the #MeToo movement and proved a moment of reckoning for Hollywood\u2019s good-ol-boys club.\n\nCarey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor were fantastic in their roles, and it was a real delight to see Samantha Morton appear as one of the principal whistleblowers in the story. I thought the directing and editing was very well done (and I genuinely disagree with comments that the movie was slow or bland or not \u201cexciting\u201d enough), and the score by Nicholas Britell was frankly too good. (He\u2019s also the mastermind behind the equally outstanding music of Star Wars: Andor.) For fans of social justice in all its myriad forms, this is a movie not to be missed!\n\n3: Elvis\n\nMuch like what I said about the landscapes in Where the Crawdads Sing, I know a movie is really something when it makes me care about subject matter which heretofore I wouldn\u2019t have given the time of day.\n\nDisclaimer: I don\u2019t like Elvis\u2019 music, he\u2019s not my King, and honestly nothing about \u201cElvis!\u201d fandom appeals to me in the slightest.\n\nBut by the end of Elvis, not only did I want to learn more about the life of Elvis Presley and listen to more of his music, I wanted to travel to Las Vegas and see a really good Elvis impersonator perform and imagine he was indeed the King of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll in 1970.\n\nAustin Butler is insane as Elvis Presley in this movie. He might even be a better Elvis than Elvis. This is Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison territory, and perhaps tops even Rami Malek\u2019s quite excellent stint as Freddie Mercury. I love every minute of this frenetic and action-packed movie, and even the weird role screen icon Tom Hanks plays in the film grew on me considerably by the end. Elvis comes in at a solid #3 on this list, highly recommend.\n\n2: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery\n\nI freaking love Knives Out. It\u2019s one of my favorite murder mystery movies of all time. Rian Johnson hit it out of the park, and solidified himself as a consummate writer/director at a time when his \u201cstreet cred\u201d wasn\u2019t all that high after the contentious events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.\n\nWhen I first heard that Netflix had backed a truck up to Rian\u2019s door and unloaded a nosebleed amount of money to get him to build them a \u201cKnives Out franchise\u201d, I was hesitant. Knives Out was simply great, all on its own. Why sully its top-drawer reputation with a questionable string of made-for-streaming sequels?\n\nI couldn\u2019t be more wrong. Glass Onion is a revelation. I had attempted to see it in the theater during the short release window Netflix provided, but it didn\u2019t work out. I wish it had, because I am over the moon with how good this movie is. Every frame, every comical drawl by Benoit Blanc, every reveal, every exchange between the memorable characters in this perfect ensemble cast, every sweeping drone shot of the Grecian islands\u2026Chef\u2019s. Kiss.\n\nBut even more incredibly, how could Rian Johnson have known back in 2020 when he wrote the script to Glass Onion that the top story in bussiness & tech in 2022 would literally be the absurd antics of an insanely rich tech mogul whom everyone used to think was a stable genius but now in fact turns out to be just another fucking right-wing idiot?\n\nThe perfect movie at the present moment. Glass Onion. Go see it on Netflix.\n\n1: The Banshees of Inisherin\n\nI\u2019m so glad I got to see this movie in a movie theater. It wasn\u2019t a large audience, but the people who were there were vocal. We laughed\u2026a lot. We cried. We gasped. It was a ride, one I remember vividly. I even remember the nighttime walk back from the theater to my home, thinking intensely about the movie I\u2019d just seen.\n\nThe Banshees of Inisherin. Is it a metaphor for the horrors of civil war and how it drives men apart and pits neighbor against neighbor? Is it a metaphor for old age and the desire for your life to have \u201cmeant\u201d something through the longevity of recorded creative expression? Is it a metaphor for the growing banalities at the heart of traditional island life when the modern world beckons just over the water? Is it simply a bonkers tall tale about some colorful characters on a remote island off the coast of Ireland a century ago which takes all of the tropes of stories about \u201cIrish country folk\u201d (getting drunk at the pub, dangling legs over dramatic seaside cliffs, milking the goats, the long-suffering colleen who rejects all the village lads to their utter chagrin, the violent cop, the trad music jam band, witty philosophical banter about the most trivial of pursuits, comical side-characters not quite right in the head, breathtaking vistas of the moody landscapes of the Irish west, mystical old hags with creepy laughs) and turns them on their ear?\n\nYes.\n\nThis smart, subversive, freakishly-well-acted film elevates the genre, and I\u2019m still not even quite sure what genre it\u2019s in. In that sense, it\u2019s thoroughly modern. It winks at the audience constantly, because it knows we know the story is absurd, and we know that it knows that we know it\u2019s absurd, and it knows that we know that it knows that\u2026well, you get the picture.\n\nAnd if you haven\u2019t yet gotten the picture, go watch The Banshees of Inisherin\u2014in theaters if you can, or streaming on HBO Max.\n\nHonorable Mentions\n\nThere were a few films I initially hoped would make the cut, but ultimately didn\u2019t. Nevertheless they\u2019re excellent movies to watch.\n\nEnola Holmes 2 was a big hit during family night and my kids\u2019 top pick for 2022. I think I liked it even better than the first one.\n\nCauseway on Apple TV+ was very well done, and a welcome comeback for Jennifer Lawrence. I hope in this new era of her career she stays away from the glitzy or shock-and-awe roles she became known for and plays some \u201csmaller\u201d roles like this one. It suits her (and I mean that in the most positive way possible).\n\nThe Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent\u2026I had such high hopes going into this movie. While I\u2019m not per se a massive fan of Cage or his \u201cnouveau shamanism,\u201d I nevertheless thought this movie would be a trip. And it was? Kinda? Sorta? Maybe? I don\u2019t know. Not all of the jokes landed, the direction was a bit too pedestrian, and the plot was just a tad too convenient. But the onscreen bromance between \u201cNick Cage\u201d and Javi (played by Pedro Pascal) was real. And I loved that. So I\u2019m definitely glad I saw the film, but a bit saddened it didn\u2019t make it\u2019s way to my top 5.\n\n\n\nSo there you have it folks: My Top 5 Non-Sci-Fi Films of 2022. What are yours? Let me know on Mastodon what you thought!\n\nP. S. What was my favorite movie of the year overall in any genre, you may ask? Stay tuned! \ud83d\ude0e\n\n\n\n \n\n \n #movies"
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"name": "My Top 5 Non-Sci-Fi Films of 2022",
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "34072760",
"_source": "2783"
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