Avatar 2 Has to Make $2B to Break Even, No COVID Vaccine=Car Accident?!, Political Left Now Persecuting Lesbians? Tjhe Barbie Movie is...Cool? (The Five for 12/16/22)
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It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
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[one]
It looks like Avatar: The Way of Water is going to be a massive hit at the box office, as even critics who hated the first film are declaring this is an absolute must-watch at the theater.
But…it might not be enough. According to Variety, director James Cameron (Terminator: Judgement Day, Titanic) says that if his latest movie isn’t at least the 5th highest grossing film of all time, it will lose money.
On the current chart of highest-grossing movies worldwide (unadjusted for inflation), Cameron’s original 2009 “Avatar” ranks at the top with $2.9 billion. Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” is in second position with $2.7 million, while Cameron’s “Titanic” remains in the third slot with $2.1 billion. That means, according to Cameron, that if “Avatar: The Way of Water” wants to break even, it’ll need to overtake either “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($2.07 billion) or “Avengers: Infinity War” ($2.05 billion) in the fourth or fifth slots, respectively.
Only five movies have ever crossed the $2 billion mark worldwide, unadjusted for inflation. While the pandemic has affected moviegoing, films like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.9 billion) and “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.4 billion) have managed to turn huge profits, so there’s hope for “The Way of Water.”
Uhh…that’s a LOT of money just to avoid losing money.
[two]
A Lesbian artist in Norway is facing jail time for a statement on Facebook.
A woman in Norway is facing criminal charges and a possible prison sentence of up to three years for stating that men can not be lesbians. Tonje Gjevjon, a lesbian artist, was notified on November 17 that she was under police investigation for hate speech over a statement she posted to Facebook.
In her post, Gjevjon railed against trans-identified males who call themselves “lesbians,” and condemned trans activists who seek to criminalize women who oppose gender ideology.
“It’s just as impossible for men to become lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant,” Gjevjon wrote, “Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes.”
There’s certainly a history of the political right (around the world) engaging in outright bigotry and discrimination against lesbians, gays and bisexuals, but since the rise of transgender issues…the fastest growing source of discrimination against the LGB community appears to be…the Authoritarian Left.
To understand this, it’s worth a quick glance at the Political Compass Test, pinpoints a person’s politics. Jailing a Lesbian for a Facebook post is in the red quadrant of the compass.
For comparison, I listened to San Francisco Congressman Ro Kanna on the Honestly Podcast with Bari Weiss, and he talked about:
American manufacturing
Bringing jobs to Appalachia
Moving more microchip production to the U.S., and stopping buying military supplies from China.
There are many social issues in which Ro Kanna and I might disagree about, but we have a lot of overlap, even though he’s viewed as a “far left” Democrat and I’m more conservative/centrist…because I exist in the purple part of the compass, and he’s in the green part.
The test is fantastic (and free) and well worth your time. It also combats against blind partisanship and brings issues to the forefront.
[three]
I thought this was parody…nope.
If you passed on getting the COVID vaccine, you might be a lot more likely to get into a car crash.
Or at least those are the findings of a new study published this month in The American Journal of Medicine. During the summer of 2021, Canadian researchers examined the encrypted government-held records of more than 11 million adults, 16% of whom hadn’t received the COVID vaccine.
They found that the unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash—in which at least one person was transported to the hospital—than those who were vaccinated. That’s similar to the increased risk of car crashes for people with sleep apnea, though only about half that of people who abuse alcohol, researchers found.
The excess risk of car crash posed by unvaccinated drivers “exceeds the safety gains from modern automobile engineering advances and also imposes risks on other road users,” the authors wrote.
Of course, skipping a COVID vaccine does not mean that someone will get into a car crash. Instead, the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.”
First of all, this is a Canadian study, not an American one…and Canada has a LOT less traffic overall, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
Secondly, is there any reputable member of the scientific community who would stand on a stage and debate for the idea that unvaccinated individuals are MASSIVELY more aggressive on the road than their vaccinated counterparts.
This…isn’t news. It’s also a blatant misdirection.
And it’s the only kind of coverage that can sustain a business, apparently, in the modern era.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post, a publication with which I frequently disagree and question, announced a huge round of layoffs.
In my opinion, the Post has gone from the finest paper in America to something no longer worth the subscription (I stopped around 2013). But the publication at least has on-the-ground reporters to investigate what’s happening in the world and ask relevant questions…rather than just re-printing a Canadian press release and calling it “news.”
[four]
The latest “controversy” around a Netflix show…is really dumb.
If you haven’t seen Ancient Apocalypse yet, the docuseries explores the possibility of advanced ancient civilizations by looking at credible evidence around the globe.
From The Federalist:
Accusations that Hancock’s theory is an affront to archaeology or that it’s somehow “racist” and “white supremacist” are poor excuses for the real reason people in the corporate media hate “Ancient Apocalypse”: its active defiance of the establishment narrative in archeology. The media fear the show threatens to prompt viewers to begin questioning the authority in other realms, as well. “[W]here does it end? Believing that election fraud is real? Believing 9/11 was an inside job?” The Guardian frets.
The new docuseries rejects establishment archeology’s belief that human civilization was not advanced prior to about 4,000 B.C. Hancock travels to various ancient structures across the globe, pointing out that many of them happen to be architecturally alike — something modern archaeologists have been unable to explain. He also points to many ancient civilizations sharing similar stories of an ancient being or beings teaching them about architecture, agriculture, astronomy, arts, and mathematics.
To be clear, the first three episodes of Ancient Apocolypse focus on Egypt, Mexico and Malaysia.
So…the word “white supremacist” now means…exploring evidence that Africans, Native South Americans and Asians were more technologically advanced than we previously believed?
Handcock’s true sin here is daring to question the elitist world of Academia, which the corporate press protects to the point of absurdity.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup:
Adam Driver (Star Wars XII-IX) and dinosaurs! OK. I’m in.
Huh. Director Greta Gerwig (Ladybird, Little Women) does it again. Against all odds, a movie about a children’s toy looks…pretty dang smart. Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Suicide Squad) and Ryan Gosling (The Notebook, Drive) star in this one.
The first trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer just dropped. I’m not much for animation as an adult, but apparently the first film was not only stunning as a visual art piece (with breathtaking animation), but also featured a story with a surprising amount of depth.
Count me as interested.
If you’re looking for some lazy Year’s Day viewing, Netflix’s Kaleidoscope looks like a heck of a heist series, starring Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Usual Suspects). Streaming 01/01.
NEW MUSIC
Apple Music | YouTube Music
Singer/songwriter Noah Kahan straddles the line between folk, country and pop, and is already a known-ish artist (depending on which playlists you follow).
But if you haven’t heard his breakout single “Stick Season” yet, it’s a perfect track to throw on as the weather turns frigid and much of the Midwest braces for a major snowstorm next week.
Lyrically, Kagan dives into the struggle of a recent breakup amidst a bleak Vermont winter…it’s the best cold weather breakup song I’ve heard since Bon Iver’s stunning debut.
And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and I
Saw your mom she forgot that I existed and
It's half my fault, but I just like to play the victim
I'll drink alcohol 'til my friends come home for Christmas
And I'll dream each night of some version of you
Until the next one,
-sth