I've been writing this blog since 2005. I have had a number of content specific blogs in the past, but decided in 2013 to consolidate them all back into PJMixer. You'll find photo projects, movie reviews, new music and general thoughts about my life. [My photographs on this web site are protected by Creative Common licensing and cannot be used for commercial purposes without permission].
Three examples of polling figures that at first glance could be surprising: From Today's USA Today:
Which seems to conflict with one from a YouTube video I saw recently from one of my new favourite YouTubers: Johnny Harris on his latest vlog called Why People Think the World is Flat, Johnny shows a poll from Yougov...
Wow. And finally, I found this while searching for Sanders (funny many links to belt sanders were mixed with the politician) on DuckDuckGo this morning.
I'm sure behind each of these are other stories of question bias, statistics and assumptions. For example, I quickly found an article explaining the extraordinary flat earther numbers - "No, One-Third of Millennials Don't Actually Think Earth Is Flat. These are all contributing artifacts to what I've been paying attention lately - we live in highly complex time and place and very few people truly understand the things they see in the news, see on their favourite YouTube channels, or skim books about economics or the reasons why they have such strong opinions about science, religion, politics or Lizzo. Who do you trust to explain what is important to you?
Playing Joker was a masterful job my Phoenix. A gutsy project for all involved. Although the complexity of character was the main draw, I loved the sets, cinematography and even the soundtrack. The tension was cut with a naughty, playful mix of a madman’s smile and style. Phoenix disappeared into his character as he has done in so many excellent past performances. It fits well with the Batman story, it’s a strong scary companion of the Dark Knight and has a lot of uncomfortable reality. Long sentence ramble warning: The mix of DC comic fantasy storytelling and setting with serious modern day concerns about mental health and accessibility of guns could have tipped a viewer to safer ground, but there was a level of believability of Joker’s world that left no doubt we were beyond comic book fantasy and forced to face the real dangers of today’s unfair and uncaring world.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (Amazon) is good enough to deserve it's own post. A simple story with some clever sub plots and colourful characters, but what made it a very entertaining and worthy of some award nominations was Jillian Bell's solid hold of her role that made Brittany someone to care about. I feel there's a place for movies that can provide genuine inspiration for people that need little lift, a friendly reminder something better is possible and to enjoy the good things in life. 7/10
