Friday, July 21: Off the Toppenheimer
Wherein we learn of Chris Nolan's mysterious older brother
This weekend, two films are competing in theaters for our attention and more importantly, our money. As Hollywood is in the midst of a massive strike action, moviegoers are torn between the pastel pink of Barbie and the dark destructive energy of Oppenheimer.
Some prefer one over the other, some say they’ll be watching both features this weekend, potentially back to back. Personally I couldn’t be bothered by which film a person might prefer, it’s more money in the pockets of the worst people either way. But in the midst of all this capitalism, there’s a story so incredible it strains the imagination.
The director of Oppenheimer, the famed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, has been in the spotlight in Hollywood for well over 15 years. Yet in that time, very little has been revealed about his older brother Matthew. The winding and surprising story of a famous Hollywood director’s brother involves murder, mystery and endless intrigue. Strap in for this one folks.
Side Items
Island Prison: Honduras is making plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most-feared gangsters there. No, this isn’t the plot of a new film directed by Michael Bay, the Hondurans are tearing a page from their El Salvadoran neighbors with an incredibly unforgiving approach to those convicted of murder, robbery, rape and extortion. Let’s not forget the last time convicts were shipped off to an island to be punished, thus forming the modern chaotic nation of Australia
Floods in the Northeast: Farmers in several northeastern states are in a state of crisis after floods destroyed their crops at the worst possible time, when it was too early to harvest crops and too late to replant in the shortened growing season. Storms dumped about two months’ worth of rain in just a couple of days in parts of the region. Officials have called last week’s flooding Vermont’s worst natural disaster since floods in 1927. All those delicious strawberries and watermelons, now ruined by the storms that are strengthened by our addiction to fossil fuels
Obama’s Contribution: As the world burns around us, the war criminal who won our hearts back in 2008 has decided nows the time to drop his annual stinker of a summer playlist. You’d think a former leader of the free world would have something more impactful to do with his time, and you’d be mistaken