The news is this (Assange vs. Snowden cagefight, plus Michael Scott).
Traitor?
Julian Assange is being charged with espionage. To him I would say,
You, sir, are no Edward Snowden.
I watched the 2013 pre-Trump film about Assange that starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Brühl. Six years later two things stand out:
ONE.
Director Bill Condon, even before the events of 2016 Russian election interference, managed to capture the dark side of Assange; painting him neither as hero nor villain but pushing viewers to question the nature of journalism and what free speech, privacy, and the ethical role of a “good citizen” in today’s conglomerate-controlled, free-speech stifling political oligarchies.
TWO.
Daniel Brühl is one of those inexplicably charismatic actors - like a German Jeremy Renner - whose success on the screen is still strange yet believable. To be someone who can believably portray characters on either side of the moral fence without dipping too deeply into caricature and archetype…that is a trick few of his generation have pulled off this side of Matt Damon. But he might be en route to doing so.
WHY…
…am I listening to Nick Drake today?
Nothing against him, but I’ve had a dreadfully great amount of items to accomplish, and he is not exactly go-getter music.
I don’t know.
MICHAEL AND HOLLY.
My wife’s cousin Viktoria recommended a film several weeks ago. She did not just recommend: she recommended with giddiness.
That is my favourite kind of recommendation. The kind where someone is so excited to share something that has brought them joy that they don’t bother trying to hide the giddiness and glee. And why should they?
I added it to our Prime watchlist. But we have not yet watched it. I am excited to, but her recommendation was so exuberant that I decided what we would not do is watch it half heartedly. Or at half attention. Or on a night where one of us might end up having to glue their tired pregnant eyelids open to get through it. Those are most nights.
So we are going to watch I Am Dragon. I am excited. And it may be another month or two. But we will give it the attention it deserves. I’ve got a good feeling.
In the meantime, what we do watch are things that are digestible in little snippets. Such as The Office, American version, season 7. A wonderful and hilarious show that has held up well and whose first several seasons contain enough sexual tension and romantic banter to make to make Jane Austen’s heart glow. It’s all about the relationship, of various types, between Jim and Pam. Paper salesman and office receptionist. Beautiful.
But later seasons also have a lovely magic between loveable-ish buffoon Regional Manager Michael Scott and HR Rep Holly, the one who got away…
The way they eat up their scenes together, two 40-ish adults acting like early childhood buddies doing nothing but being dumb together in the best possible, all fake accents and references no one else seems to get and tuning out the rest of the world…
…it’s beautiful. It’s like these two often-underappreciated and bizarre-personalitied people have found this connection that is ridiculous, hilarious, meaningful, and beautiful.
I love it.