Simulacra and Simulation

Hey guys,

Some new things:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once. From Daniels, who also did Swiss Army Man, and the Turn Down for What video. Very much in line with their over-the-top wackiness. Which means maybe it'll be a touch too in-your-face for my tastes... something like Daniel Scheinert's previous film. But at least it seems to be an American movie that finally puts an older Michelle Yeoh to unique use, better than Shang-Chi and Crazy Rich Asians and The Witcher: Blood Origin.
   

2. Looking back in time with the James Webb space telescope.
   

3. As part of the pitch for a stylistically unique film I'm planning, 2 demos:
   1. a scene + track we produced to show one way we'll tie audio and visual
   2. another track we produced to show a different music style
   

4. In high school, I constantly referenced The Matrix with my friends. I homaged it in my Spanish class video projects, recreating slow-mo bullet-time parodies with a makeshift greenscreen.
   
   I remember when Inception came out and being annoyed that some thought it's the next generation's Matrix -- high concept, mind-boggling action flick. There's no comparison. The Matrix always had greater depths of myth, religion, and philosophy and was visualized with such finesse and shape. There's a reason it took home the Best Editing Oscar, back when the Oscars meant something.
   
   By the way, Keanu Reeves knows the secrets of the universe
   
   Too bad The Matrix Resurrections is missing some of the great action and spectacle that was present in the original, and even the first two sequels. To be fair, it does have good reason for toning it down... commenting on and distinguishing itself from the world that came before. And it stays intelligent, it serves as a good companion to the series, it's got a pretty awesome meta first act, and in spurts, it offers some new questions and messages...
   
   As one character says, our stories are always on loop... Somehow, this time around it may actually be even more necessary than it was from 1999-2003.
   
   Joshua Rivera has some insightful things to say:
   If the old Matrix films are about lies we are told, the new Matrix is about lies we choose.
   
   The first one came 20 years ago to wake us up... yet we're still stuck in the cycle... Resurrections shows that machines and humans have found a way to co-exist (modern day tech metaphor), and now the machines are kinda not even the root enemy; they're simply flipping the switch for us to eat our own tails. Humans themselves are doing the oppressing, both to themselves and others, in the Real World, and in the Matrix. It's easy to listen to what we're told and believe what we're shown. Especially when it's all rendered so candy-like, like the San Francisco presented on screen. This is the modern-day social media Silicon Valley threat. It's no coincidence that the new Smith and Analyst characters are exactly that type.
   

5. Proving we've chosen the simulation? Botox's evolved position in the world.
   
   Here's one of the Errol-Morris-directed ads mentioned.
   

6. It's a little shocking -- but not entirely -- that the West Side Story resurrection has more spectacle than the Matrix one. The publications keep talking about the low box office so far. It's too bad, because it really is a marvel of movement that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen. I'm not necessarily a fan of musicals, but West Side Story was always one I came back to. This one's not just a great way to revisit Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins... It's another Spielberg achievement.
   

7. I like pieces of work that criticize something, while also consciously emulating that thing. Resurrections doesn't do it as deftly as something like Adaptation, in which Charlie Kaufman says he doesn't want to ruin a story by cramming in "sex or guns or car chases or characters overcoming obstacles to succeed in the end," and then proceeds to do all of that... Or in another way, The Wolf of Wall Street, which ridicules appalling excess, while also letting the main character seduce you into it.
   
   Still, kudos to Resurrections for criticizing and emulating, while also trying something new. Richard Newby gives a good rundown: 
   All these years later, some viewers are still trying to bend the spoon, instead of accepting that there is no spoon.
   

8. A scatterbrained and overreactive society:
   Peloton must come out with an ad to defend its image after the season premiere of And Just Like That..., despite the second episode making clear that Peloton shouldn't be faulted for the character's death.
   
   But every brand, every company, every individual is obligated to over-shoot its responses, retorts, and reframings, to "engage." Everything must be turned into promotion.
   
   So they get Ryan Reynolds (who loves "acknowledging and playing with the cultural landscape") and his agency Maximum Effort to turn around an ad in 48 hours, showing that Chris Noth is alive and well. Because of Peloton! Suddenly the creatives are all over the news being celebrated for the genius and uncanny turnaround time.
   
   Within a few days, Chris Noth allegations come up, and the ad is abruptly gone. Maybe the brand is being extra careful after their "tone-deaf" ad 2 years ago, which was also overreacted to. Every overreaction will be met with an opposite and equal overreaction.
   

9. About How To with John Wilson
   

10. Happy Holidays!

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Chris