And now for some seriousness

1) This documentary about rape in the military

I watched this on my plane ride back from Nevis and experienced "altitude tears," a term I coined a while back to explain my incessant crying during films I watch on planes. It's about the exorbitant number of sexual assault and rape that occurs in the military. Obviously this affects mostly women, but it does actually occur with men as well. In fact, it's a little like prison in that way. The military is a parallel universe where civilian laws do not apply to the individuals serving. But this documentary also makes it out to be an upside down universe, where sexual predators are rewarded and their victims punished. The film explains that the military attracts men who are pre-disposed to being rapists because they know that their actions will go largely unnoticed, under-reported, unpunished. That reminds me of another parallel universe that serves the needs of sexual predators in a very similar way: the Catholic church. Yes, the military is to rapists of women and men what the clergy is to pedophiles, a place to hide and do harm. This is not to denigrate the thousands of men who serve honorably or the priests who do good work, but unfortunately, the fact that these professions attract bad people casts a very dark shadow on what should be two of the more honorable professions we have in the world. 

See the movie and after you do so, visit this website.

2) This movie about a public school substitute teacher

This movie centers around a substitute teacher (Adrian Brody) who is hired for a month long assignment at a Public School somewhere in America-- looks like the Bronx. Since it was directed by Tony Kaye, who is most famous for directing the amazing American History X, it is really quite depressing. So much so that I experienced altitude tears during this film as well. But it's also really good. Even though it seems to borrow a bit from Half Nelson (the Ryan Gossling teacher movie), it's definitely different. Or at least, it's been a while since I've seen Half Nelson and I really liked that movie so it makes sense that I would like this one. And it's depressing because it focuses on teachers who are losing it because the kids they teach are teens who are angry and neglected and/or emotionally abused by their parents and then take it out on their teachers and themselves. Sometimes I wonder why the disaffected have children. What's the point? It's like they want other people to suffer as much as they do so they procreate. Or something. 

3) A throwback to the olden days: Temple of the Dog

I never tire of the album Temple of the Dog ever since it came out in the early 90s. Nowadays, it just feels like an old friend that I listen to every now and then, but back in the grunge era, it was one of the MOST IMPORTANT ALBUMS OF MY LIFE. It was a combo Soundgarden-Pearl Jam project that was produced as a tribute to the late Andy Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone who died of a heroine overdose. His band became Pearl Jam when Eddie Vedder joined, and the rest is history. Chris Cornell was Andy Wood's roommate in Seattle. See how I know this stuff like I just read it yesterday? That knowledge has been in my brain since 1992.