One cowgirl's dog & pony show rides off the grid … into the sunset where truth actually means deductive reasoning from a good set of facts.
They'd rather give you a song
Than diamonds or gold
Lonestar belt buckles and old faded Levis, And each night begins a new day
If you don't understand him and he don't die young
He'll probably just ride away."*
Effective Jan. 3, 2022 Seven Days In Carrington, my Cinderella of Social Media turns back into a pumpkin of utter garden variety and personal privacy delight. It's a rhetorical question to inquire what actually provoked the reversal. Anne Carter Thomas and her painted bronc have been a contender since the get-go. Despite her doubts, suspicious of facial recognition features, and leery of who examines her "likes and dislikes," the friends said there was nothing to worry about. What's your beef?
A great escape from truth was the intrusion of 2015 when Donald Trump paraded raw grit inside Trump Tower. His gall was manifested from an escalator for the entire world to sneer or cheer: the folks are still evenly divided. Daring to run against --and if necessary, away from the establishment RINO elites -- the Orange One spurred the social media giants into action. They understood the urgency of bucking The Donald Problem. Against the odds, mucking instead for the brawl, a new brand of mudslinging messed with social media communication and it reached a bitter end. What was once called feedback is now a higher level of data manipulation implemented to dupe user profiles. Facebook et al blindfolded the truth by denying us access to unfiltered information. In a word, my gripe is righteous indignation. Fakebook is censorship plain and simple, but we were too busy click baiting to understand the gravity of the trespass.
In the slow and painful demise of free and fair general elections, to quote the great Merle Haggard, thus there began a snowball headed for hell. The avalanche in Silicon Valley set-out to bury the virtue of free discourse in the fair marketplace of ideas. To the victor belongs the spoils, and in the shootout, for the con changed social media into a Socialist Gymkhana that stinks of unraked horseshit.
By the time Congress discovered the needle in the haystack, (Whistleblower of '21) old school America took the brunt of an infuriated Big Tech. We are called out for daring to criticize the fouls. Our views were cancelled by Woke's misguided definitions of virtue, fairness, justice, and integrity. And my free speech rights were trampled in the stampede.
Metadata does not lie, or so we are told. Neither does an old cowgirl still looking for :08. Yet wisdom tells another tale when we get sent home packing by the New Rodeo. It's been a rough ride, and a real one -- if you believe in the illegitimacy of artificial intelligence.
Taking a parting shot, I enclose this token consolation trophy to all of my 'Facebook Friends.' Hmmm, that such an improper noun so callously used signals the clock running out on the authenticity of human relationships. But keep scrolling down to my movie log. You can tune out CNN (Corrupt News Network) and like Cinderella, arrive at Hollywood's glamorous sets and compelling dialogue. Watch a good movie tonight, instead of the hollow sound of muted thumbs-up passively passing as conversation. The kicker was my surprise that the majority of the films listed herein have a Christian worldview, or a storyline that is searching for one.
My List was captured during a dark day in U.S. history. Lordy, talk about illegitimate! That we should never endure such a State-Takeover in our lifetimes is this cowgirl's prayer for '22. Peace, shelter, health, and safety are found only at the altar of our risen Lord and Savior. Keep Christ in Christmas, partner! Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And each night begins a new day. Enjoy the show!
*Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys. Written by Ed and Patsy Bruce in 1975, recorded by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson Waylon & Willie (1978).
BECKY GOES TO THE MOVIES
And Other Enjoyable Titles per se
(March 2020 – December 2021)
Disclaimer: This collection of ‘reviews’ dates to March 2020, and the horrid Global Pandemic which forced most Americans into a governmentally-mandated state of personal lockdown. Resigned to obey, feeling isolated, cowering to Dr. Fauci, and fearful to know the truth of the Other Scientists In The Room, I resorted to TV options besides those programs parroting the state media's talking points. Returning to TV at-large required a compromise with my spouse, who did not subscribe to staying-up late to indulge in my Movie(s) of the Day. (During the quarantine, he was deemed 'essential,' and choosing to still work, he needed that sleep before midnight while it seemed our world was slipping away.
Suffice to say – I was delightfully surprised by my experience (and 65% probable that Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a handful of other ‘pay-for’ movie channels filled the bill for new addicts like me). I say, keep going, and just click-on past those biased podcasts whose primary advertisers are...you guessed it, Big Pharma!
I am enthusiastic, newly-taught about what makes a great movie. We must stay relevant in the cultural divide: especially because a free people should never endure another takeover of our rights without the gumption my Big Screen characters display. Despite our human frailties, we were uniquely created to inspire, just like these fictional creatures. Be one in 2022.
THE LIST
18 Presents (Italian subtitles)
24 Hours To Live
A Hologram for a King
Adaptation
Adrift
All Together Now (Carol Burnett)
Always Be My Maybe
American Gangster (Denzel Washington and Russell Crow defy BLM narrative)
Angel of Auschwitz
Anne with an E (series re: Anne of Green Gables)
At Eternity’s Gate (life of VanGogh)
At Middleton
Atonement
Ava (stars Jessica Chastain/Miss Sloan)
Because I said So
Better Call Saul
Black or White
Blue Jasmine
Bodyguard (series)
Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Breaking Bad (a ‘10’)
Breathe
Burn After Reading (spoof)
Chasing Happiness (life of Jonas Brothers)
Click Bait (C+ series)
Cold War (all in subtitles)
Designated Survivor (series)
Diana – In Her Own Words
Dirty John (series Betty Broderick story)
Dr. Foster (series in England/gullible protagonist)
Dylan
End of the Affair
Everybody’s Fine (DeNiro is superb)
Fear and Desire
Fisherman’s Friends
Flight (Denzel Washington)
Flightplan
Florence Foster Jenkins
Forever
Frances (Frances Farmer)
From the Vine
Full Count (a Christian triumph film)
Genius (fantastic!)
Get Low
Girl With the Pearl Earring
Goldfinch
Goliath (series Billy Bob Thornton is a delight)
Grey’s Anatomy (series – latter seasons 18 & 19 full blown woke)
Hachi – A Dog’s Tale (A+ with tears)
Heartburn
Heartland (Canadian series 18 seasons)
Heartstrings
Hello My Name Is Doris (Sally Field)
Hello, My Name Is Doris
Herself/Iliza Schlisinger)
Home Fires (series)
Hope Gap
House (medical series set-in Princeton)
House of Cards (series)
Hyde Park on Hudson
I Am Sam (incredible storyline)
I Care A Lot
I Claim the Castle
I Don’t Feel At Home In this World...
I’m Your Woman (mob/1970s)
Iliza Schlesinger (standup comedian)
In Her Shoes
Indian Summers (Masterpiece/BBC)
Into the Wild
Invisible Life (?)
Island At War (series)
Jane Austen Book Club
John Mulaney (standup comedian/former Obamaite)
Kill the Messenger
LaLa Land (overrated)
Larry Crowne
Late Night
Left Behind (Christian/biblical rapture)
Life of Crime
Lincoln Lawyer (Matthew McConoughy)
Lions for Lambs
Longmire (series – couldn't get into it)
Losing Bobby Fisher
Love and Mercy (Beach Boys’ story)
Mad Money
Madame Curie
Maid (series about domestic violence)
Manchester By the Sea
Manchurian Candidate
Manifest (series gets absurd)
Marriage Story (predictable)
Memoirs of a Geisha
Miss Americana (Taylor Swift's sad story)
Miss Sloane (series)
Mission of Honor
Modern Love
Mothers & Daughters
Mud
Mudbound
My Mother & Other Strangers (series)
Of Mice & Men (remake)
One Night In Miami (BLM)
Ophelia
Ordinary People
Osage County
Out of Africa
Ozarks (series continues in ‘22)
Pearl Harbor (expanded footage)
Penguin Bloom
Philomena
Pieces of A Woman
Pine Gap (series borderline trite)
Private Life
Queen’s Gambit (series)
Rebecca
Rectify (series, S1)
Red Joan ’The Life of David Gale'
Red Notice (didn’t get it)
Remembrance
Reprisal
Riding in Cars With Boys (Drew Barrymore)
Rumor Has it
Run Boy, Run
Rush! (Ron Howard directs)
Sarah’s Key (‘42 Parisian Jewish ghetto)
Saving Private Ryan
Serenity (evil)
Serious Moonlight
SEVEN DAYS IN CARRINGTON (Coming Soon? We dream on, having written the treatment for film in Fall of '21. And now, we wait. THE FINAL VERSE, S7 is slowly coming of age.)
Seven Days in Utopia (charmingly real)
Shutter Island
Sneaky Pete ( Margo Martingale was also in THE AMERICANS)
Soldier Spy
Sons of Katie Elder (John Wayne)
Sophie’s Choice (1982 with up & coming Meryl Streep)
Souls at Night
Spinning Out (juvie series ice skaters)
Starfish (state of socialized medicine in UK)
State of Play (series)
Steve Martin & Martin Short (Two funny liberals indulging themselves w/outrageous costumes, a great band & one fine banjo player)
Testament of Youth (WWI)
The Beginning of Everything (Steven Hawking's reckoning with creation.)
The Big Sick (slow start/bi-racial)
The Big Wedding (DeNiro/Keaton/Sarandon.)
The Book of Henry
The Bookshop
The Crown (series continues in ’22)
The Danish Girl
The Dig
The Eichman Show
The Fall (series)
The Father Who Moved Mountains (C- but Carpathian mountain village is authentic)
The Forgotten Battle (WWII Netherlands)
The Girl From Oslo (series/Isis vs. Israel)
The Girl in the Book
The Hero
The Highway Men
The Impossible
The Imposters (farcical series ‘B’)
The Insider (Pacino takes on Big Tobacco)
The Interpreter
The Lady In the Van (Maggie Smith)
The Lakehouse
The Liberator (series c. 1943)
The Master
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Mercy
The Meyerowitz Stories (still not a huge Sandler fan)
The Old Man & the Sea (Anthony Quinn)
The Operative
The Paradise (series)
The Patriot (series – excellent)
The Promise
The Queen
The Railway Man (post WWII)
The Shack (Christian, relationship w/Jesus)
The Terminal
The Theory of Everything
The Trail of Axis Sally/American Traitor
The Whole Truth
The Words
The Zookeeper’s Wife (excellent)
There Will Be Blood
This Beautiful Fantastic
Three Last Days
Tick, Tick, Boom
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Two Hearts
Unbelievable (plausible series)
Uncut Gems (F bombs deluxe!)
Under the Eiffel Tower (traveloguesque)
Unhinged (excessive violence)
Virgin River (series)
Waiting For Anya
Wanted (Australian series)
Water for Elephants (so-so)
Whistleblower
Wild Oats
Without Remorse
Woman In the Window (gruesome)
Yellowstone (great scenery/too soapy)
You (series – (narcissistically driven and also highly addictive)
Your Honor (series) Brian Cranston
Copyright 2021 Rebecca Templeman. Lyrics cited with original creative authorship and quoted/noted appropriately above.