tinseltine

I went to a lecture at the Free Library of Philadelphia back in 2002 on Crop Circles. At that time, I may have heard something about them in the past, but nothing that stuck, but for some reason, I was drawn to this lecture featuring one of the top researchers on the subject Linda Moulton Howe. She had recently published a book called "Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles". After the lecture, I immediately purchased her book which she signed. I got home and proceeded to read it cover to cover.

I told myself I was going to go to the English countryside of Wiltshire where so many of the formations are found each summer. That I was going to camp out in hopes of witnessing the phenomenon with my own two eyes. But of course I never did that. I don't camp. And I don't do adventuress things. Although, I did get to go to Stonehenge summer of 2018 at the crack of dawn on the Summer Solstice. The only time visitors are allowed to actually touch the stones and be inside the formation. I did this because I'm interested in most things mystical in nature, but particularly whenever the words Crop Circles comes up, my radar is activated; so when I got the October Coast Newsletter of upcoming films, I immediately requested a screener for the documentary "Crop Circle Realities" by Writer/Director: Darcy Weir and Writer/Narrator: Geoffrey D. Calhoun.

I always find it strange that the Global "We" don't talk more about Crop Circles in general. I remember that same year (2002) M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" came out and I thought it would be an intriguing, spiritual look at the mystery, but it barely touches on Crop Circles. There's always talk of the Grey type aliens and alien abductions, Roswell, but here's real evidence that life from elsewhere is trying to communicate with us through mathematics, art and food and yet most dismiss it as a hoax and a lot of people know nothing about it.

How can some people believe that humans go out in the middle of the night, where there's no streetlight around and no way to bring that much electricity without someone seeing it, yet managed to create a perfect big complex crop-circle within the hours of darkness... How on earth do they manage and not even a dog awakens to bark? And until this day no one has been caught in the act. Are they so clever to be nearly invisible? What great tools allow them to work so swiftly? And what's the benefit? For that much work would typically be at the interest to make money or hubris to show your art. So no fame, no glory. Just entering pitch dark fields for fun, year after year...

This documentary by Occult Journeys Productions shows us image upon incredible image of the circles over the last two decades or more. We hear stories from individuals who have witnessed a field go from normal to Crop Circled in less then a night. We hear the opinions of experts like Stephen Bassett the executive director of Paradigm Research Group (PRG) founded in 1996 to end a government imposed embargo on the truth behind extraterrestrial related phenomena. Historian Gary King takes us inside the center of the circles describing the molecular structure changes in the crops. Also clips of Journalist Jaime Maussan, who frequently reports on this unexplained phenomenon. The film covers both sides of the argument, but like me, clearly feels strongly these messages are of great importance, indicating a warning to all mankind on Earth. Let's just hope we one day stop questioning and start listening.

I got a chance to screen Jessica Watkins' comedic/reflective feature length documentary 'SPECIALish' which logs her walk across the United States over the course of 8 months. Punctuated by her standup comedy about her experience, at stops in clubs along her way. The film is self-produced by Watkins and released by Random Media.

First off, I admire Jessica for all the walking and camping she did do. Because I know for me, I'd be lucky to walk 4 hours, then I'd have to set up my tent and take a nap. By the time I awoke, it would be dark and I'd start to freak out being afraid of possible encounters of all kind: human, animal, cryptid or alien. So then I'd pack it up, call an Uber and head for the closest nice hotel. So I give big kudos to her for sticking it out as much as she did. That being said, this isn't as hardcore as Reece Witherspoon in WILD. Jessica Watkins did not walk across the entire country in 8 months. She winds up taking many breaks and detours, mainly due to family matters, but never picking up where she left off.

I'm also impressed with her self camera work. You'd swear she had a camera guy with her for much of it. She's good at being candid and revealing everything she feels along this trek, but it's never whiny or blathering. Part of what she reveals is being raped at 15 years of age. She never comes right out and says so, but part of this decision to walk by herself through often lonely terrain is to challenge the Universe to protect her this time and allow her to trust in being safe. She does begin to really loosen up part way through, meeting strangers and doing daring new things. Or perhaps secretly she wanted to put herself in jeopardy of being raped again, but being older and wiser wanted to prove to herself she'd be able to better control the outcome. Or maybe she felt it was the final step in putting that fear and rage behind her. It's hard to say, but again, I admire her bravery.

Before setting out she seems to have had time to book gigs for stops along the way, but little else was planned out. She'd done 0 training, which results in a knee injury early on. Thankfully, she turns to acupuncture. God love the healing art of acupuncture! I believe in its effectiveness 110%. In fact, I plan to go after getting fully vaccinated in order to assure my body assimilates to whatever it is that most of us are putting into our systems. But I digress... So in terms of the comedy, well... she has a Jewish sort of delivery, which is strange considering she's from Tennessee. Guess living in New York for so long, she kinda adopted the culture? She's more of a talker, than a joke teller, in the vein of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" only not quite as sharp and crackling. I did really like one joke she told about most Pro-lifers also being pro-deportation - she says we should just change the name from abortion to deportion. Women then could say this baby is inside me illegally, I need to deport it from my body.

Steven Soderbergh is an impressive director - Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven Trilogy, Contagion and many more, but his last movie Haywire didn't seem to be up to his usual standard. Now, he's redeemed himself for me with Magic Mike.

Based on the real-life pre-acting career of star Channing Tatum, this behind the scenes look at male stripping is not only entertaining, sexy and fun; it's got more quality and a hipper flavor than the trailer would have you believe.   Tatum's character Mike is ambitious in that cocksure way some young guys have of running a lot of hustles, determined to get somewhere, able to party hard and still keep an eye on the ball, all the while, underneath, actually feeling lost.

British newcomer with a flawless American accent, Alex Pettyfer, plays Adam, who has "rules" and keeping to these rules have landed him broke and on his sister's couch. He and female newcomer, Cody Horn, have a good, believable chemistry as brother and sisters.  You definitely get the impression they've been on their own for sometime and she's used to playing big sister, even though they're close in age.   One of Mike's daytime gigs is construction, where he meets Adam and takes "The Kid" under his wing, getting him a job at Xquisite, a male revue night club, as a props guy. Adam's introduction to the other male dancers and their world of thongs, spray tans and male enhancement paraphernalia is hilarious!

This is where the focus of the film is kept and rightly so; not only is Tatum an unbelievably genius hip hop stripper, but all the stage scenes and stripper/customer interactions are good, funny and hot!

And then there's McConaughey, I believe Matthew McConaughey would have done this role without getting paid.

Magic Mike sets a tone which is able to successfully blend song, dance romance and plot without being the least bit corny. It's exactly what I believe the movies Burlesque and Rock of Ages were aiming to do, but failed miserably. I'm looking forward to checking out Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect to see how they handle this mix of elements.