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Summer Movie Review: House of Gucci
SPOILER ALERT!
“House of Gucci” is about the family behind the famous, high end fashion brand. It was released in November of 2021. It’s long and a bit slow in parts but overall I enjoyed it. The story spans the 70s to 90s. I enjoyed the wardrobe and soundtrack. I thought it was a story about fashion but it’s mostly a story about a tumultuous marriage and family dynamics.
The film features pop singer Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci. Patrizia met Maurizio at a party in the 70s and she took a liking to him. They must have lived in a small town because she was able to find him after the party and create a meeting that seemed to Maurizio to be by chance.
The two began a relationship and Maurizio fell in love with Patrizia. The two married despite Maurizio’s disapproval. Maurizio’s family had a clothing business. They were successful despite not having the best business instincts. Patrizia came from a more modest background and had very good business instincts.
Patrizia’s instincts and under handed dealings made Gucci a very successful company. She also created tension among the Gucci family. Once Gucci became a top fashion brand Maurizio fell out of love with Patrizia and began an affair with an old flame.
Maurizio divorced Patrizia. He was very matter of fact and cold towards her but it was hard to feel sorry for her because of the way she treated Maurizio’s relatives and business partners. Patrizia thought she would be able to woo Maurizio back but she couldn’t. She became bitter and vengeful. Patrizia put a hit out on her husband with the help of her psychic advisor and friend played by Selma Hayek and had him killed.
I didn’t expect all of that from that story. I would recommend it especially if you enjoy 70s and 80s fashion and music. You’ll also learn a bit about fashion history.
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Summer Movie Review: The Batman
I recently watched “The Batman”. It’s the newest installment from the Batman movie series that was released earlier this year. I’ve seen all of the Batman movies including “The Joker”. I wanted to like the movie but I didn’t.
The movie is very long and had about four or five different undeveloped plots and an undeveloped. The director was indulgent and threw in action sequences that are unnecessary and and others that are unrealistic. I understand that it’s a super hero movie but within suspended reality things need to make sense. There were gun fights in pitch darkness and an entire police precinct shooting upward on a flight of steps at Batman but no officers got shot. The writers and director probably just thought it was cool so they just threw it in.
This film had about four different underdeveloped plots. The movie just kind of meandered along. There was a kidnapping and a hostage taken, there were shootings, there were explosions and at the end there was a flood. It didn’t tie together very well.
Zoe Kravitz played Catwoman. I’m not sure she was even referred to as Catwoman in “The Batman”. I think she went by Selina Kyle throughout the story. She wasn’t very cat like and her depiction of the character was kind of flat in comparison to other actresses who played that role. Catwoman is usually over the top.
There was also an underdeveloped love story between Batman and Selina. There was a point where she kissed him and it seemed to come out of the blue. Zoe Kravitz and Robert Pattinson didn’t have a lot of chemistry as a couple.
Paul Dano is a great actor but his talents went to waste in “The Batman”. That’s the most I can say about that. Paul played The Riddler but there really isn’t much to say about that role or Paul’s performance. His face was covered during a lot of his screen time and it was hard to understand what he was even saying.
I kind of liked Robert Pattinson as Batman. The best way to describe his performance is Emo and it works out of the bat costume. However, his vehicles and tools weren’t as cool in this movie and this version of Batman isn’t as macho as others. I think he needed more machismo in the Batman outfit. But then again I’m old and kids are different these days.
If you’re a fan of the movies or comics it may be worth it for you to watch “The Batman” but it’s not a very good movie.
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Watch “Wisdom and Discretion Proverbs 11 22” on YouTube
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Christian Contemporary and Gospel Hits of the Early 2000s
A lot of great Christian Contemporary and Gospel music was created and enjoyed in the early to mid 2000s. Here are a few of my favorite songs of that genre and era. I don’t keep up with Gospel and Contemporary Christian as much as I use to.
I miss CDs and CD players in cars. I use to purchase CDs from the WOW! series every year. That and going to church kept me up with all the Christian music. I want to acknowledge that some of these artists have been involved in scandals or questionable behavior.
Here’s my walk down memory lane. This list is not exhaustive but I didn’t want to keep you all day. Enjoy the music.
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Product Review: Cristalbox Keratin Hair Mask
I’ve been watching videos of women with Keratin treatments on social media for years. They are fascinating. The hair looks fake and like it’s made of plastic but the hair has a liquid quality to it. It looks beautiful.
The models in these videos usually have naturally straight and long hair. I don’t have naturally straight or long hair but I decided to try a keratin treatment to see what affect it would have on my hair. My hair is naturally kinky and chemically straightened. I describe it as spongy.
The keratin mask is easy to use and not time consuming. The mask left my hair very soft and bouncy and it smells nice. I’m glad I decided to try the product. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I didn’t want to invest a great deal. I ordered a Keratin Hair Mask by Cristalbox for $11.99. I was pleased with the product and recommend it for anyone.
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Product Review: Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew decided to make a flavor based on regular Mountain Dew and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. I saw it at the gas station yesterday and decided to give it a try. Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew tastes similar to Tahitian Treat but it’s carbonated. No offense to Tahitian Treat. I like that drink but I think it’s the best reference.
Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew is not hot or spicy. It has a peppery after taste that is a bit sickening. I would skip this product. There’s nothing remarkable about it and the lingering taste is a little gross.
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Product Review: Pro Dip Super Nail
I tried the Pro Dip Super Nail kit last night. I bought it from Sally Beauty Supply from $34.49. Overall I don’t care for this product. Pro Dip Super Nail is an at home nail dip kit that doesn’t require a UV light.
The kit comes with pink nail dip, activator/base coat, brush cleaner, a file, orange sticks and dip remover pads. The activator is super glue. You polish your nails with super glue and then dip them in the powder dip. Then you polish over them again with the activator. It’s that simple.
I was disappointed in this product because I didn’t realize I was using super glue until I recognized the smell as I was applying it. I wanted trying to give myself an ombre manicure. I wasn’t successful but that’s not really the kit’s fault. The white dip that I bought separately turned out to be clear. It actually said clear but it looked white in the container. When I polished over the dip became invisible. This failure was my fault.
The kit is messy and it’s difficult to fix the mistake. The powder dip has to be soaked off like a salon dip manicure. Since the base is super glue you need to be very careful when painting your nails with it. If your base coat/super glue gets on your cuticles and beyond the dip will stick to it.
This kit could be useful if you are very careful. The color will stay in place and not chip. It can be great for ladies who work with their hands but want their nails to look nice. Or if you’re traveling and want manicured nails but don’t want to concern with upkeep the kit can be handy. I’ll use kit again until I run out of it’s materials but I wouldn’t buy it again. I have some practice now and I know the limitations of my supplies so I can produce a better manicure next time.
Overall, I would recommend skipping this product. You are better off with a bottle of nail polish.
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Untitled
Payton Gendron is an eighteen year old man from upstate New York who killed ten people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York on Saturday. He shot three others who survived their injuries. Payton drove for three hours to attack Tops Grocery Store. It was a target because it was in a Black neighborhood. The zip code of the super market has a high percentage of Black residents.
Payton Gendron wrote a manifesto in which he described his White supremacist ideas and plans for the ambush of the supermarket. Payton visited the supermarket before the attack to get familiar with it. I’m sure he studied the layout, security, staff and patrons.
Most of the victims of the supermarket attack were senior citizens. Seven of the ten that died are over sixty years old. Only two of the victims including survivors are less than forty. Payton Gendron is a coward who attacked a soft target and a vulnerable population.
He could have just as easily chosen to attack a bar, night club or concert that would interest young people. But instead he chose to wage war on the elderly just as Dylan Roof did when he attacked a Bible study in a church in 2015. The Bible study was a meeting of mostly middle aged women. These men are cowards.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/church-shooting-victims/
Payton is also a coward with no logic. News reports state that Payton’s manifesto expressed concerns over White birth rates. Black people don’t have anything to do with that. White birth rates are an in house matter. Black people don’t have anything to do with whether White people are born or not. If an eighteen year old White man is concerned about White babies being born he’s certainly in a position to do something about that. Leave old Black people out of it.
Payton had to drive a long way to find enough Black people to execute. That tells me that he has no contact with Black people in his town. No one is bothering him. He’s obsessed with people that he has never even met. Payton has a deranged fixation on Black people.
I’ve noticed on social media that a lot of racists live in parts of the US or even the world that are exclusively White. Yet they are focused on Black people from places like upstate New York, Idaho and Poland. The preoccupation doesn’t make any sense.
There aren’t that many Black people in the US. Black people are mostly segregated. If someone doesn’t like Black people it shouldn’t be much of a problem. Any interactions someone like Payton would have with one would be minimal.
I’ve worked in several public facing, customer service positions. I’ve picked up on racist attitudes from customers while performing job duties. It’s interesting to me how they like to let you know where they are coming from without directly saying it.
Meanwhile, I’m just trying to get through a work day. A customer is just work to me. Some of them like to create unnecessary interactions. It’s almost like they want to test you and study you in some way. The behavior is bizarre.
Handle whatever business you need to handle and leave it at that. I’ve experienced this outside of workplace situations too. I’m friendly by nature but I’ve learned to keep people at a distance and keep things short and to the point until I understand a peron’s intent.
There is a lot of chatter about what is to blame for the Tops Supermarket Massacre. I blame Peyton Gendron and his accomplices who supplied him with armor. But I question his parents. Peyton is eighteen. He has displayed problematic behavior at school. I doubt they are surprised by his ideology. Where did he keep his weapons? Was the body armor kept at his parents house?
Kyle Rittenhouse was driven across state line to a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin by his mother. Kyle received a great deal of support for killing two people after claiming self defense for being in a situation he had no business in and having a weapon he shouldn’t have had.
He had the support of his mother, the general public and the judge presiding over the trial and ultimately a jury. I wonder if Payton’s parents are White supremacist stage parents that urged their son to kill old ladies at the supermarket on a Saturday afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised. How does someone who shares a roof with you pull off something like this and you have no idea of their plans?
https://nypost.com/2022/05/15/fbi-interviews-parents-of-alleged-buffalo-shooter-payton-gendron/
Don’t over complicate this. The problem is Payton Gendron. He published his manifesto on line. He made the decision to drive for hours to a Black neighborhood and carry out a diabolical plan. He made the decision to kill old people in a supermarket.
Blaming big tech, TV personalities, social media, politics, the history and culture of the US, the Second Amendment (even though I favor gun control) or mental health problems make excuses for the man who was so consumed with illogical hatred and paranoia that he murdered ten in cold blood and injured three more. A lot of politicians, media personalities and organized racist units have their own crosses to bear but Payton Gendron is squarely responsible for the massacre at Tops Grocery Store. No excuses.
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Film Review: White Hot, the Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch
White Hot, the Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch is a documentary running on Netflix that tells the story about the retailer whose popularity peaked in the early 2000s. I would recommend this film if you are interested in fashion, marketing, pop culture, labor and civil rights or late nineties and early 2000s nostalgia. It covers all of that. It’s fairly short and I thought it was an interesting movie.
A & F was a very successful retailer that was a staple in every American shopping mall in the 2000s. I was aware of A & F but I was never impressed by their style. If my memory serves correctly they sold jeans, tees and button downs. Nothing special. I also recall that they were known for the clothes running very small. A & F didn’t really pull my trigger.
The company was notorious for being racist so there was no love loss between me and Abercrombie and Fitch. I’ve been in an A & F store one time. I browsed around one of their stores in the Kansas City area that has closed. I bought a pair of skinny jeans on clearance for about $10. There was nothing noteworthy or memorable about the experience.
White Hot discusses the marketing strategy of the company that made them very successful. The ads featured young, White, fit, natural looking men and women. Youth culture of today criticize A & F for promoting a specific beauty standard.
A & F was sued by some of their former store employees and some of them were interviewed for the documentary. I have worked several retail jobs. The practices described in the documentary are typical of retail companies. Retail is a very racist industry. The discrimination is evident if you’re familiar with the retail industry.
The difference between Abercrombie and other retailers is that they were very direct and brazen about their practices. A & F had manuals about who they saw fit to hire. They didn’t hire and recruit based on experience. They based on looks and were not customer service oriented at all.
They didn’t say they only wanted to hire White people but they discriminated against employees that didn’t fit their standard of attractiveness which is clearly White. Non White employees were written off the schedule or only allowed to work in the stock room if they were hired at all. Abercrombie and Fitch settled with former employees that sued them but the company never admitted wrong doing.
White Hot, the Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch is OK. You might enjoy it if you’re interested in the subject matter it covered. The film follows in the Netflix tradition of making documentaries of pop culture trends of the early 2000s. They have the benefit of hindsight and people who were directly involved have the opportunity to tell their story. I think they’re pretty fun but it’s not ground breaking film making.
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Thoughts, Observations, Impressions
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Shannon's Life in the Midwest 