It had been raining all day in Stowe. I decided to stay at the motel to recuperate. I read and listened to music then watched Louis Malle’s Damage on DVD. It had a destructive story that involved family and sex. I enjoy this type of dark, twisted film.

After I went out to a Thai restaurant for dinner last night, I went back to the motel room to watch Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. It’s a violent film through the len of a sniper. I don’t hate it or love it. I fell asleep a little because I was tired.

As I was stepping out to get dinner, I saw the snow falling fast. I went right back to my room for more instant noodle, smoked salmon, and preserved duck eggs. Fortunately two hours before, I stopped by the motel office to pick out some DVDs. I had been wanted to watch 12 Years a Slave over a decade ago, but hadn’t had a chance until tonight. It is so heartbreaking and heavy. It was eye opening though. American has an ugly history. It has come a long way, but not quite there yet.

After a long day of skiing, I wanted to watch a movie to relax. I have a choice between Wicked and Gladiator 2. Truth be told, I had never watched Wicked in Broadway. I didn’t know anything about The Wizard of Oz. I am glad that I went with Wicked. It is a spectacular musical movie directed by Jon M. Chu. Both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were outstanding. Michelle Yeoh added another role to her expanding repertoire. Wicked clocks in 2 hours and 40 minutes and it is only the first part. I guess I’ll have to wait for part 2.

My third and youngest son had been asking me to take them to see Deadpool & Wolverine. I finally took them today. I thought it was just a comic film, but I was deadline. It was excessively violent and filled with profanity. The F-bomb was dropped in almost all of the dialogues. It was definitely a mistake for me to take them, and yet they enjoyed it. They even knew the characters. I knew Wolverine, but I had no clue the rest of the gang. I also fell asleep in parts of the movie. This is not my cup of tea.

I took all four boys to thee theater to watch Inside Out 2. I loved the first film, which released 9 years ago, and I was hoping that the sequel would be as good or better. I was not let down.

In the first film, Riley, the main character, had Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. As she hit puberty in the second, more characters showed up such as Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui (Boredom). Nostalgia showed up too, but they shooed her away.

I loved the ice hockey actions. The animations were well done. The story was also well-executed. The line that almost brought tears to my eyes when Joy said, “May Anxiety is right. As we get older, we feel less joy.”

It’s Monday night in Stowe and I needed to do something after skiing and snowboarding. I haven’t been to a theater in a while so I might as well go see a movie. Alex Garland’s Civil War is an intense, disturbing, and pretty fucked up fictionalized version of America. It’s a lot of shooting and not a whole lot of plot. Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson did their part. Let’s hope the real America won’t get to this point of no return.

I have listened to Nas’s Illmatic many times, but never with a National Symphony Orchestra backing him up until a few days ago. I came across the video on Amazon Prime and dropped everything to watch it. The marriage between hip-hop and classical is quite intriguing, especially with the hook like, “Life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high / ’Cause you never know when you’re gonna go.” The recording released in February 2018 and I only discovered it recently.

I finally had a chance to watch this weird-ass film. The plot is both confusing and captivativing. The cast is just incredible. They definitely deserved the recognition. I’ll watch this one again in the near future.

I just wanted to watch some Chinese martial arts on Netflix; therefore, I chose this one. Sword of Destiny lacks the depth of Ang Lee’s masterpiece. The English dialogue turned me off. The only reason I tuned in is to see Ngô Thanh Vân.