“Less than a week into the war, it seems increasingly likely that Vladimir Putin is heading towards a historic defeat. He may win all the battles but still lose the war.”
I hope he’s right.
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Yuval Noah Harari wrote two of the best books I’ve read in the last ten years: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and: Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
If you follow my writings and have read my movie reviews over the years, more than likely you’ve also seen my annual tribute to the Oscar-nominated short films.
Oscar-nominated short films — uh, what?
These are the categories supposedly that “nobody cares about,” as I’ve heard one cynic succinctly put it. “No one ever sees any of these movies, so why bother with them?”
Let me address that ignorance and correct this common misperception in this article.
I’ve expressed my passion for short films because they are often so moving and impactful. I make an effort to see every nominated film, each year. These films can sure pack a punch, sometimes within only a few minutes. If you don’t think it’s possible to become emersed in a story and tear up in less than four minutes, then I challenge you to try the following experiment.
Fair Warning: Get a box of tissues ready.
Consider this recent Oscar winner, titled Sorry. It was filmed in Albania in 2020. It’s about a boy who is late each day for school and gets punished. Words aren’t necessary. Understanding and forgiveness are universal. Human kindness is an international language.
We can all learn a little something from this whether we are parents or children. Please take 3 minutes and 54 seconds and watch this short film that should leave you with something special.
We can all use a lesson and a reminder of goodness and decency and here it is:
Correction: This film did not win the Oscar. It was mislabeled as such in the video. I regret the error. However, the short film is still very much worth watching.
Were clips of FOX clown-gofer Tucker Carlson really being aired on Russian state-controlled television to aid and assist Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine?
We’re less than 24-hours into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and already the level of mass ignorance on this subject has reached epidemic proportions.
So typical, especially of many Americans who apparently have never cracked open a history book, or come within thousands of miles of Eastern Europe, or ever heard of the longstanding acrimony between these two nations/peoples, or ever talked to a real Russian or a Ukrainian, here’s an important lesson:
*Getting your talking points from Facebook memes and useful idiot commentators on FOX amounts to a willful disregard of facts.*
I find it very puzzling that so much of the world is holding its collective breath right now, but there’s been relatively little discussion about the (imminent) Russian invasion of Ukraine and/or Ukrainian territories.
Does anyone care? Is the public so fatigued by foreign conflicts that we don’t recognize a major transgression? Do we ignore global events until they reach our doorstep? I’ll be kind and ascribe widespread American apathy to this conflict being complicated. I also presume we might agree that other nations (including the U.S.) can do little to stop the incursion. Nonetheless, it’s important to try and understand things.
