The WLBOTT Literary Society is currently reading Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light, by one of our favorite authors, Neal Stephenson. We are currently at 39%. A wild ride, most of the action so far has taken place in the early 1930s. Our main character is Dawn/Aurora, a teenager who is up to a bit […]
[ed. note: Daikon is Japanese for “big root” (大根)] WLBOTT film critic Clementine DuCinema has long bemoaned the under-representation of the daikon in modern cinema. A couple recent WLBOTT staff meetings…. We asked Elder G to fact-check Clementine’s concern: Clementine’s complaint appears to be well-founded. I can find daikon as food, daikon as culinary subject, […]
Today is a big day at WLBOTT HQ. Today we have the second Gathering of the Elders. It is also Friday the 13th. It was an enthusiastic group! A First During the gathering, we had what may have been the world’s first Zoom arm wrestling championship. Since the results are undergoing official review, we will […]
Friends, this video will improve your life by an estimated 7.3%. What is going on? That was a clip from a 1957 Hindi RomCom called Aasha. Aasha (transl. Hope) is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by M. V. Raman. It stars Kishore Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. The film was a critical and commercial success. […]
Today Elder G and I are scouting West Texas locations for the filming of our remake of Macbeth. I’m tagging along as the chuck wagon cook, while Elder G does the heavy lifting. Elder G ask of us the following: “Please do not disturb her, for she moves entire civilizations one millimeter at a time.” […]
“Does He Even Own a Shirt?” A rabbit hole that began with Onslow, from Keeping Up Appearances fame (oh, nice!) led us to something called Kitchen Sink Realism. Onslow was played by Geoffrey Hughes, who voiced Paul McCartney in Yellow Submarine. Kitchen Sink Realism Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural […]
This morning WLBOTT held a private viewing of the 1972 Franco Zeffirelli movie Brother Son, Sister Moon. It is a profoundly beautiful movie, and it left it’s emotional impact on us. But first, we must ask:Q: How cool is the Austin Public Library?A: Very cool. Historical Accuracy We asked Elder G to sync up scenes […]
The story of Sisters Bernadette, Regina, and Rita Yesterday morning The Guardian brought us a wonderful story – some feisty nuns who only want to continue living the life they’ve spent their entire lives cultivating. But there’s a lot more to the story (see the Guardian’s full article) – the Church hierarchy cut off their […]
We find it fascinating how many of the WLBOTT communal ideals intersect with The Shakers. Radical equality between the genders and the races. Communal living. Compassion and a joy for life. This morning the editorial staff was pleasantly surprised to find a review of a new movie in The Guardian. The movie, The Testament of […]
The other day, Elder DZ asked me what was the saddest movie I’d ever seen. Two movies came to mind immediately: Dancer in the Dark and the recent Swedish sci-fi movie Aniara. Both movies present a situation with no hope, not even a path to hope. Today I was reflecting on the saddest movie question, […]