19 Feb 2021> Saw Alex Wheatle, the 4th in Steve McQueen's Small Axe "series" (we put it in quotes cuz these are all reely feature-length films in their one rite), about the writer Alex Wheatle round the time of the Brixton uprising in 1981. Also saw Aint Them Bodies Saints... realized 10 minutes in we started to watch it once + stopped after 5-10 minutes, but for sum reason we figured we'd give it a 2nd chance... shd of trusted our initial instinct cuz it was pretty bad. Also started to watch My Best Fiend about Herzog's twisted love/hate relationship w/ Klaus Klinski. It was in German + our eyes were tired of reading subtitles + we're just a bit tired of Herzog going on about his his weird man-crush on Klinski who seems like a brasshole (bra + asshole), baysickly what Herzog's book Conquest of the Useless was about.

20 Feb> Another dubble-feetsure (Saturday night), tho we din't have popcorn like night before, just a boddle of cava. Watched John Ford'sThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which was intresting for a John Wayne western cuz it's anti-gun, the hero being the Washington-bound lawyer Jimmy Stewart. Then we watched the 5th + final "episode" of Small Axe, which presumably is an autobiographical account of McQueen's upbringing (all 5 were supposedly based on true stories in the West Indies community of London in the 70s-80s). Question is, are any of these eligible for Oscar contention, cuz 1 or 2 of them are worthy. Seems they need to update this distinction between Oscars + Emmys (better yet, get rid of awards altogether) as who makes "films" specifically for the screen anymore? Especially post-covid.

21 Feb> Watched the 1st part of Adam Curtis's new documentary Can't Get You Out of My Head which so far is mind-blowing as usual. Also watched Putney Snope, a an outrageously absurd comedy by Robert Downey Sr. back when it was okay to be ridiculously politically incorrect.

22 Feb> Guess we're on a bit of a Black History Month roll here, as the 2nd epsiode of Can't Get You Out of my Head focuses largely on Michael X (Abdul Malik) + Afeni Shakur. We're only 2 episodes in but reconfirms our thinking that u can learn more about humanity (post WWII) watching Adam Curtis then watching/reading anything else.

23 Feb> In our continued efforts to clear our to-read queue to a non-overwhelming state, here's our monthly book round-up, books that are perhaps worthy, there's just not time enough in the world to read them so we're putting them out in our liebury boox for sum 1 else (or we can send to u if u don't live in DC):

• A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace—started to read this but just seems like stuff reprinted from The New Yorker, Harper's, etc. sum of which we already red
• Strange as this Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake—we got about 50 pages or so into this + it's a well-written, intresting view into rural Appalachia, just not sure we're that committed to 350+ pgs. It also reminded us that the West Virginian Pancake we've really been meaning to read is Breece D'J Pancake (a distance relative of Ann).
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin—again, we got about 50 pages in + just didn't suck us in enough to committ to 350+ pgs.
• Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman—realistically we ain't gonna read this (or re-read, we read it in college), but maybe this is a good 1 to keep in our personal liebury
• Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins—we love Dawkins + devoured his early books when they came out, but lately he seems to have become the soured spokesman for atheists + while we admire his cause, what's the point of arguing w/ religious idiots? And the premise of this just seems vague.
• Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook by Charles Bukowski—we dug Bukowski in college but not sure how he holds up now, his brasshole shtick is old.
• The Old Lady Who Ate People: Legends and Folk Tales from Old Mexico by Leonel Maciel—we normally don't like children's books in our liebuery boox but this one's worthy on the title alone + it's illustrated by Leonel Maciel: