Pastor Matthew

Superman review: 9/10! An incredible theatrical experience; go to IMAX if possible. Corenswet is the best Supes since Christopher Reeve. Humor, heart, and comic book gonzo action throughout. The sleeper hit here is Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific. He’s a great character who should get his own film.

Jurassic World: Rebirth 7/7.
Overall, the movie’s a 6/10 for me. Individual scenes were lovely, but let down by flat characters and a tenuous plot. Also, Jurassic movies were supposed to be about believable dinosaurs, but these are more mutant monsters than real dinos. Could be much better easily.

Jurassic World: Rebirth 6/🧵
Dislike #3: Bad science. Inaccuracies abound throughout. They even use a “fossil” Quetzalcoatlus that looks like their weird movie version. The medical-research plot felt sloppy. Dinosaurs, with the exception of that excellent Rex, were goofy looking. Mutants looked fake.

Jurassic World : Rebirth 5/🧵
Like #3: Locations. This movie was shot in the real world, not on a Volume or green screen, and it shows. Gorgeous, real life landscapes in the second act, interrupted only occasionally by a weird CGI rock or tree. Well shot. A few moments worthy of Prehistoric Planet!

Jurassic World: Rebirth 4/🧵
Dislike #2: Mutadons. It’s like they heard fans asking for raptors with feathers and went, “Oh, you want WINGS? We got RAPTORS WITH DRAGON WINGS!!!” Yeah, no. Also, they are nothing but scary sci-fi monsters. No motivation, no animal qualities, just mouths, claws, wings.

Jurassic World: Rebirth 3/🧵
Like #2: The titanosaur scene. It has been a long time since the Jurassic movies have slowed down to let us see something truly beautiful. This movie does. When John Williams’ theme hit as the sauropods caressed one another and the paleo nerd touched one, I got verklempt

Jurassic World: Rebirth 2/🧵
Dislike #1: Characters. No one really has an arc (except Xavier), most characters are a single trait. Really common in modern action films, but v. noticeable here. Mahershala Ali gives his damnedest to make his character work, but it’s still not great. Wasted potential.

Jurassic World: Rebirth review: 3 things I liked, 3 I didn’t.🧵
Like #1: The raft scene. Very close to a scene in the original book. Lots of tension, an agile and (fairly) realistic new T-Rex, and a brilliant “it was there a second ago!” moment. Felt like a scene from JP1 with solid setups & payoffs.

Another grift. Wonder what the monthly fee will be to be a registered voter in Team America: Stupid Edition.

Useful to assert that it is “strategic,” without revealing the strategy to anyone. Custer thought he was being real “strategic” at Greasy Grass, too. Bessent’s just covering for the fact that even HE doesn’t know what Trump is doing or how to stop him.

“Hey Elon, why do you hate federal employees so much?”
“They’re not making me, personally, any money. They should be mining rare earth minerals to feed the Tesla/SpaceX money printer.”

Oat milkers, clearly. Like nerf herders.

So I have not really enjoyed most of the Disney “live action” (read: Uncanny Valley CGI) remakes. But I saw the new trailer for Lilo and Stitch today… and that little girl is ADORABLE in ways that I had not expected. I think we might have found the first good one!

If you liked this post, keep reading. Respecthaver lives up to their name. More in common than what divides us. “Unite them, Dalinar…”

To be clear: by “favor” I mean “accept/tolerate” — realpolitik. Other options aren’t viable. But yes, always moving toward justice and relying on leftists. Make allies, too — with compassion and grace. So many in the US want to do the right thing but no longer sure how. More of them than MAGA

☑️ high priority in the wobbly, massive TBR pile. I’m slated to die before I finish it all: 40-50ish more years won’t cut it. Thanks for the rec. Listening to a speaker tomorrow who has experience with immigration ministry, too. She’s a great advocate in my synod, and a super lovely person.

I favor Dems b/c most of them TRY to listen, even if they fuck it up. The US is a horribly imperfect experiment with some excellent founding ideals. We should always hope that the spirit of those ideals stays intact - they can be liberating. But MLK Jr. also reminds us: no compromise with evil.

You’re not wrong, but this is a much better way to explain it to people. Older, lifelong Dems are appalled at all that is happening but feel powerless now. Showing the way works better than going on the attack. I grok the system; still voted Harris b/c Trump is a ghoul. We agree on 90% of your point

But whacking away at people who are already scared by telling them they couldn’t make a correct decision doesn’t help. I’m experienced at dialogue, and already leftist/ancom. I will stick with you until we find common ground. Others will just get more anxious, hurt, panicky. Better teach, not scold

As to preempting, we are working with other churches and legal aid to figure that bit out. My particular crew maybe a little past physical confrontation age-wise. As to accountability: comes in all forms. Faith is old-fashioned, yet I persist in having it. Trump still dangerous beyond belief. WWII-2

No, the solution is mutual aid, deliberate action, and advocacy. But voting is still one piece of the puzzle. Trump is the Joker - wants to watch the world burn. I’m trying to heal divides and unite people in my little corner of the world. And care for my little flock of elders - who also need love

The work I am doing is local and deliberate, but still work. Our church is trying to figure out what to do if ICE comes to our town and deports parents away from their kids. We also support the broader work of the ELCA - including accountability for Netanyahu and end to genocide. You don’t care tho

I’m saying that if Trump gets his way, there’s no version of the US that can become what you want it to be. Harris was business as usual - and perhaps you’re correct it would have been bad. But the current situation is catastrophic at home and abroad for the US. Open fascism is absolutely worse.

Well okay then. I’ve read enough history to seriously debate you on that point, but go off. As one of the idiots who happens to live in the US, I can say with certainty that all electing Trump did was accelerate collapse. But you seem happy about that. Too bad for the rest of us.

Oh, and quick question: of the two major party candidates in the last election, which one used “Palestinian” as an insult? And, of the two, which one had previously imposed a travel ban on majority-Muslim countries so that no one could come to the US? I’ll wait.

No, we’ve been in a downward spiral for a long time in the US. But it’s deliberately misconstruing reality to suggest that supporting Harris was somehow tacit support of genocide vs. what we got. Harris stood up for democracy re: not sabotaging it for her own gain. Trump will ruin it, and Gaza.

Let’s see how well this meme ages after Trump lets Netanyahu turn Gaza into a crater and deport all the Gazans to El Salvador.

Giving a tyrannical fascist power is not “resisting oppression.” You know what Harris did? Stand up for democracy.

My going theory is that regardless of whether or not they know they fucked this up, they won’t change anything because these are the numbers Trump has wanted from the beginning. Math errors be damned, we’re going to Make America Great (Depression) Again!

Trump tariffs based on massive error, conservative think tank says — Axios The formula used by the Trump administration to levy reciprocal tariffs contains a serious math error that over-inflates the impact by about a factor of four, economists at the American Enterprise Ins...

Well, turns out the Trump administration has grossly miscalculated the tariffs based on a fundamental math error in the formula they used, proving that no recession is serious enough for these idiots to learn how to multiply.

Source: apple.news/ASvx4ZeKxQL-...

There is little as satisfying to me in the events of the Current Administration (tm) as watching Melon Husk light $20 million on fire to lose a WI Supreme Court race. Just a reminder: he isn’t a crazy super genius with limitless power and control. He’s a dumb apartheid fail son with daddy’s money.