My review of #TheCircle

[VIDEO] Lately when I go to the movies most of them are just forgettable entertainment. You go in and be entertained, however, later you simply forget about it. There's nothing really groundbreaking about the movie itself or laugh, feel the adrenaline, etc. and then you leave.

That wasn't the case with The Circle. Now with that said I've seen the reception on its Wiki page and saw that so far there aren't many that like the movie so far. I never pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes and see that this film isn't rated highly.

Why does The Circle touch a nerve with me? It shows the scary effects of social media. Our hero Mae starts to work at this tech company which appears to be a cross between Apple and fb. It offers these small cameras that can be placed anywhere and unseen to the eye. And then there appears to be a social network attached to it.

Mae herself becomes a major show on this social network and likely billions log on to see how she's doing. Unfortunately some sad consequences come of it. Her friend Mercer comes to an unfortunate end as the latest online sensation. It seems the friend - Annie -who brought her to that company doesn't want anything to do with her although they seem to have an uneasy relationship as Mae's star begins to rise.

Mercer's strikes an unfortunate nerve. As Mae begins broadcast her life for her company her fans find out about Mercer's past and refer to him as a deer killer although he defends himself by saying he doesn't kill deer. It becomes a point where he as Mae's friend had to cut ties with her because of her new celebrity.

Unfortunately, later the crowd clamors for Mae to find Mercer - after she herself used the Circle to find a wanted fugitive. They do so and of course a comment about him being a deer killer. After keeping a low-profile and he flees. Without giving away much this is the point in the movie where I take off my ballcap. I was truly disgusted with the movie at that point.

To start we see a form of online shaming in this film. Let's say you find one piece of information about someone - whether that person posted themselves or not - and then it goes viral. Then it literally becomes a form of bullying and outright nastiness. Perhaps it's truthful or perhaps not, however, either way someone believes it and spreads it and for a moment it's like wildflower. Scary thing is, it might be a while before you find out about it.

I like how Mae turned the tables on her bosses at the Circle - Eamon & Tom - who egged on the many activities that led to what happened with Mercer. She got connected with one of the founders of the circle - he has a low profile because we doesn't like what's going on at this company - who helped her turn the tables. And we go back to one thing that they never wanted to give up for themselves - privacy.

They didn't truly want to be transparent, but everyone else should be. Mae's life was saved because she took a kayak got thrown about in high waves and almost drowned. Perhaps there is no right to privacy in a public place but how transparent does one need to be in the world. Beside we all should be embarrassed by something.

It lets me know, now that we live in a world with cell phone video cameras and we can broadcast those images live on Periscope, fb, ig, etc. we have to be more careful. Perhaps we might behave better if we're being watched - and yes that's not always true. At the same time at what point have we gone too far with this activity?

BTW, I never realized that this film was based on a book and see a vastly different story here. I got to find that book now and give it a read. Perhaps it'll tell me more about the story and the issues in real life that are shown.

How much money have you saved?

Posted this earlier today and shared the wrong ig post from CNBC. My apologies, didn't catch onto this sooner.

I've been doing much better saving money over the last four years and hopefully I'll look much better over the next four years. At least you couldn't coun't me in the 35% with less than $1k in savings or the 34% who has ZERO.

It takes some discipline to put some money away at least every pay period. Then scrimp and scrape as you spend money. Though as far as spending I'm still learning. A never ending process.

Funny thing, I used to complain about how my mother didn't want to spend money on things. Now I've acquired some of those habits.

69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. What's more, 34% have no savings at all. If your bank account balance is looking sad, you're not alone.

A post shared by CNBC (@cnbc) on Apr 11, 2017 at 6:18pm PDT

#IAmNotYourNegro - A review

[VIDEO] It seems often when I go to the movies the thing to see are some low-brow comedies such as the often maligned Bad Santa 2, Office Christmas Party or more recently Fist Fight. Those movies would give a great tickle but these aren't films that would place in the Oscars. Nor do they have to they're just entertainment that could be forgotten about later.

Before viewing Fist Fight on Saturday, I also viewed I Am Not Your Negro. It's a documentary based on an unpublished manuscript by the late author James Baldwin. It offers his thoughts on American culture, race relations, and the civil rights movement. It's pretty powerful and Baldwin's voice is provided by one Samuel L. Jackson and you couldn't recognize him if you tried. Jackson's voice was so unusually subdued.

We see this film has not only scenes shot in the present day at various locales such as New York or taking an interstate going somewhere. We also see a lot of archival news footage some of which I suspect was colorized for the film. Also we see this interspersed with footage from past films which were shown during Baldwin's lifetime.

Films are apart of American culture and Baldwin attacks it. For example using John Wayne who we know generally is a star of the Western genre. So the attack on America's culture begins with the idea of cowboys fighting Indians with the cowboys always the good guys. And then the portrayal of the weak Black man and a very unsexualized Black man - feel some would disagree with that characterization.

It seems Baldwin had been a figure in the civil rights movement. We see footage of him giving lectures or indeed him on a TV program addressing people who may not clearly see the racial angle to American issues of his day. Baldwin as an author who just so happens to be Black is quite eloquent and I understood his points even if my views on race doesn't share the same passion or experience his does.

I have to say, the only time I knew Baldwin existed was his brief appearance as a vampire during Arsenio Hall's tenure on FOX's The Late Show. Also I'm sure there was a biography I found of him long before the creation of Wikipedia or perhaps a quick introduction to him in a textbook on African-American literature. Regardless this gave me a greater appreciation for him as an author.

Perhaps someone will be seen as the voice of this generation with some of the troubles Black-America is facing. Baldwin's generation faced outright racism which was at best legal or at worst outright homicidal. By legal I mean to say to legally treat Blacks differently than the more favored portion of the population. Blacks having to ride the back of the bus or Blacks having to enter a business through a separate entrance. For a period of time in this country something such as that was legal.

Today's generation faces different obstacles of which racism could be one, but I may state that it's not as big as others. It's not as obvious as it once was. One could argue if it's an issue it's an issue in the criminal justice system. Perhaps even though we no longer have "separate but equal" it still might be an issue in public education.

When I saw the movie on Saturday, it's message resonated and the patrons in the auditorium gave the film a round of applause when it was over. Great film and if you see it, hopefully it will resonate with you as well.

Old TV against stereotypes

[VIDEO] Wednesday I was watching the classic western programs you would find on Me-TV. Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Rifleman. On this particular afternoon an episode of The Rifleman caught my eye.

The episode is question is entitled "The Indian" and features Michael Ansara - who played a Klingon in Star Trek -  as an Apache US Marshal who as the story progresses arouses the suspicion of the people in North Folk. Ansara's character Sam Buckhart was about to be the subject of a lynch mob if it wasn't for the quick action of the title character Chuck Connors' Lucas McCain.

We see the issue of racism or prejudice as shared in the context of a western show. Westerns weren't always about the cavalry chasing the Indians or cowboys/ranchers fighting the Indians. In that 1959 episode of The Rifleman a minority in the fictional town of North Folk was able to convince most of this lynch mob that it wasn't worth it to go up against some of their own people and an Apache US Marshal.

It lead me to a conclusion about so-called Hollywood activism. It seemed at one point the liberals of the 1950s and 1960s were on the right side of history. For example even though I may know Charlton Heston as a leader of the National Rifle Association - and may well consider him a right-winger - he was at the March on Washington.

The Civil Rights movement, was truly a necessary movement in the history of a country. Unless you accepted some of the injustices that lead to the boycotts and the marching how could anyone be opposed to any American seeking equal rights or even equal opportunity?

How can anyone be opposed to insuring that everyone has equal opportunity to a good education in a public or private school? How can anyone accept that a certain segment of the population had to be subjugated to a more favored segment of the population? If all men - well all people - are created equal how can we accept this?

Perhaps now the issues aren't much different. The issue may be less race/ethnicity than perhaps income. I hope I can be a rich man one day, but at this point that ship seems to have sailed. I'd be more than satisfied to at least eke out a middle-class lifestyle and I believe that should be relatively easy to attain.

Either way I can't say how this episode was received in the late 1950s other than perhaps most TV viewers of that time saw it as just another western TV episode. Westerns often did involve interactions between for example American Indians - or if you prefer Native Americans - and their interactions with European Americans. So who knows if episodes such as this made an impacts on their audiences.

Unfortunately the pendulum has swung directly in the opposite direction. My only concept of 21st Century Hollywood liberal activism is seen on FOX News. Perhaps today it's hard to do an episode about being fair to a person of a different ethnicity to whoever is the prevailing majority. Just as easily as we want to talk about fair play perhaps today's Hollywood activists are shoving their own agenda down the throats of the public.

I could ask if middle America thinks that Hollywood is out of touch with regular everyday Americans? As a person far removed from Hollywood and maybe even middle America I'm a long way from answering this question.

It just recently occurred to me that Hollywood has always had activists in some form whether they're the actors, directors, producers, or even writers. They created works of art perhaps showing how we can be fair to be people of different ethnicities. How it's certainly wrong to treat different people with outright scorn and disrespect.

Perhaps one day Hollywood will be on the same side of the issue of the day with most Americans. Perhaps one day taking a stand will not be equated with badmouthing other Americans - especially the ones that patronize your products.

Because of the McMansion Hell blog...

8459 South Michigan - Eric Allix Rogers

I've grown to appreciate mid-century modern architecture. There are plenty examples of these buildings on the south side. Not just Hyde Park/Kenwood, but further south. Perhaps here I will share my own observations with you.

Meanwhile you should read McMansion Hell to see what they have against these McMansions. We've seen them out there around the country. Surely you've seen them in the Chicago area and I know I've seen them in the suburbs of ATL.

BTW, if you've got the cash there is a mid-century modern revival. If you already own such a home this is what you can do to keep it maintained.

FTR, I'm posting this to lighten the mood just change subjects for a bit from the new administration in Washington. Perhaps the good times will roll again we shall see.

Kurt Angle is in the WWE Hall of Fame

[VIDEO] This is a clear sign Kurt Angle is returning to the WWE universe where he belongs since about 2006 he had been with the competing Total Nonstop Action Wrestling until his contract was up with them sometime in 2016.

What distiguishes Angle is that he is an Olympic gold medalist which is something he certainly played up during his time in WWE. In another era he'd have been the perfect baby face. But somehow they turned some of his baby face attributed into a very heel persona. As an Olympic hero/gold medalist he was not liked by the WWE universe however he still was able to put on a good match and had a legit amateur wrestling background as he was an Olympic wrestler and that was what he got in gold medal in.

I look forward to his eventual return even if he doesn't wrestle full-time again. He deserves one more run in WWE.

The man in the arena

This should be my charge going forward seen and heard in a number of places. This was a quote used when Extreme Championship Wrestling went bankrupt in 2001. Posted to the ECW website by owner Paul Heyman.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.  

What will be your charge in 2017?

This is a quote from a speech made in 1910 by former President Theodore Roosevelt considered one of our greatest presidents.