Busy, letters, and culture talk
Things are pretty busy here for the next couple of weeks. I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’m going to have time to protest. We’ll see. Either way, I’m going to send out a letter to newspapers making the Christian, animal-welfare case for increased funding for cultivated-meat research. If you’d like to send your own, give this a read: https://slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com/p/how-to-write-letters-to-newspapers?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web
It’s time for (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s what I’ve been watching and listening to lately.
Movie — 65. Basically, Adam Driver is an alien who gets stranded on Earth 65 million years ago and has to fend off dinosaurs. Since Driver’s character is in indistinguishable from a human, I’m not sure what that’s supposed to suggest about the history of evolution on this planet, but the film is pretty fun.
Movie — She Said. Starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, this is a dramatization of the reporting process that went into the New York Times’ exposé of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse, which helped spark the #MeToo movement. It has to be one of the best modern journalism films.
Movie — They Cloned Tyrone. Juel Taylor’s directorial debut is one of my favorite films I’ve seen in a while. John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris play a drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute who discover invisible means of social control in their neighborhood. It’s a surreal, politicized comedy reminiscent of Sorry to Bother You.
TV — One Tree Hill. When it comes to picking family-friendly shows, my wife and I seem to gravitate toward turn-of-the-century high-school dramas. This one is OK. So far, it’s no Friday Night Lights, but, then again, what is?
Music — You Are Not Alone by Mavis Staples. Matthew Sitman of the Know Your Enemy podcast recommended the religious album on social media, so I decided to give it a shot. I think a lot of the Biblical allusions were over my head, but I enjoyed the record.