I like Dargis! But did she not admire Zone of Interest??

That does not speak well of our ability to resist their assault on us. "I'd rather not think about it" won't get us far; Nor will "I already know everything I need to know."

I thought the trailer was pretty funny, but all I can say without giving away a much more complicated movie is that those the most deliberately misleading trailers I've ever seen.

Very different movies. Don't Look Up, like Strangelove, is direct. Digger, like Brazil, is... not. It's not an "easy" movie. I laughed a lot but it's no giggle. It gives you no characters to invest in emotionally--on purpose. It's devastating.

If you're looking for escapist fare, Digger isn't for you. If you want your movie characters to be virtuous, skip it. If you're worried about billionaires, it's not clear that there are any in the movie, but I can't say more without giving it away.

Friends. I, too wrote off Digger trailers as a pretentious ham-fisted satire about climate change & oligarchy starring actors unaffected by the troubles of the industry. Turns out it might be one of the smartest, funniest, most tragic films about storytelling and I was just being a judgmental bitch.

Pretty brilliant. I need to see it again. And yet bits and pieces of it linger in mind like a dream after drinking too much.

Also, Jesse Plemons, in Digger, Bugonia, and Civil War has completed a trio of roles that together speak to the weird, mutating shape of 21st century fascism better than those of any other performer I know.

Now having seen Digger I find the bad and ambivalent reviews utterly depressing. It's so good it's like a 2025 movie, a year of great, weird films. I wonder if the response is like that to Don't Look Up--which was funny and smart and very good. Digger is Brazil to Don't Look Up's Dr Strangelove.

I don't doubt it. If you follow through the thread, the mini-essay isn't really about JWs. It's just about people you meet in the street, and at that level I'd rank with the worst of the JWs if I walked down a block pointing at every other soul saying "you! and you!" and damning them.

I agree with almost nothing of their theology, but that's true of so many people. I don't dispute your moral judgment--each makes their own--and agree excommunication should be a sin, and homophobia, worse, but if I declared all who hold ugly views damned I'd be sending 3/4 of the world to hell.

Imagine what it would feel like to be Prince, knocking on somebody’s door, a stack of pamphlets in hand. I think he was paranoid, too, and how could he not have been. It is indeed a big ask. “Say a little prayer with me.” I know that’s not what JWs say nor was it Prince but it could have been...

I’ve heard that the artist formerly known as Prince was a JW, even knocked on doors, even after he became Prince, even after “formerly.” Big if true, but it tracks. “Party Like It’s 1999.” “Purple Rain.” There was a man with a feeling for the cosmic absurd.

Generally JWs have a much better sense of humor than they’re given credit for. They know they’re making a big ask. They know that the answer they’re looking for, praying for, were you to give it to them, on a street corner or your front porch, would be cosmically absurd.

And I'm grateful for this beautiful, painful, necessary book, which I think I may have the honor of being the first teacher to assign. Local VT/NH pals, mark your calendars--Janet will be speaking at Dartmouth Jan 21.

Students made their first minicomics in my intro making course - mostly standard format but this student, a first time maker(!), did something so off the charts I’m still reeling from it! & he made like 12 of them for his classmates! A paper engineering feat of flipbookery as well as killer drawing!

Me? No. They're in Glover, VT

Found a Joan of Arc Bread & Puppet pamphlet I don't remember acquiring