Email addresses, Rebel Ridge and AI
It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to protest this week and most of my email addresses are down. I’m not exactly sure what to do, since Gmail and Yahoo won’t let me make fresh accounts without additional phone numbers.
Those are the two email providers I’ve found that will let you send messages in bulk. But I guess I’ll try to make new accounts somewhere. If you would like to send out your own letters, check this out: https://slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com/p/how-to-write-letters-to-newspapers-6eb
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s what I’ve been watching, listening to and reading.
Movie — Rebel Ridge. Aaron Pierre stars in a really good action film with a political edge. It’s about racism, police corruption and civil asset forfeiture. I recall liking two of director Jeremy Saulnier’s previous works, Blue Ruin and Green Room.
Movie — Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer. I didn’t have much pre-existing knowledge of the subject. I found the documentary to be well-made and largely sympathetic. It covers the famed goalie’s struggles with her family, team and federation.
Movie — Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter. The ethics of the true-crime genre always feel a bit murky. This entry struck me as particularly absorbing. A former teenage mother tries to locate the child she gave up for adoption.
Music — Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The music video for Scar Tissue is burned into my brain, so that’s probably my favorite song here. Otherside and the title track are excellent as well. Overall, it’s a great album.
Website — Deep.ai. I’ve enjoyed getting the AI chat bot to outline various novel ideas for me. I kind of want to write some of them out. On the other hand, it’s a little discouraging, because the computer can write them better than I could.
Meditation passage — The Beatitudes from The Gospel of Matthew. I’ve been meaning to add to add this for a while. Eknath Easwaran includes it in a longer selection, which was intimidating to me. So I finally decided to whittle it down.