Welcome back to a new week and greetings to our new subscribers!
The response to Highly Transmissible has been fantastic, and I really appreciate your feedback. Please share this newsletter far and wide. If we have to spend our time indoors, we may as well watch something good while we’re at it.
What is happening right now?
We went to the Red Hook Fairway grocery store yesterday, and there had been a run on Le Croix and Boar’s Head smoked gouda. I don’t have to tell you that for the average Brooklynite, smoked cheese and seltzer are staples, right up there with beans, wheat and milk. And toilet paper was limited to one roll per family! So forget about brand-name bubbles with your dinner, and start rationing your poops.
The world must be ending.
I’m being facetious of course. The world is not ending. That said, I am somewhat surprised there haven’t been any newly vocal doomsday cults crop up since this whole coronavirus thing started up. Maybe the social distancing is cramping their style. Or maybe it’s just lost its luster?
If there’s one group that’s loving this, though, it’s the doomsday preppers. They’ve been hoarding protein supplements and commemorative gold coins ever since Y2K, and now they finally get to show off. Coronavirus is like a trip to Disney World for the underground bunker set. Gun sales have surged—because of course they have, this is still America after all—but I keep wondering about the plan for when the bullets run out. I guess we could always follow Lynx Vilden’s advice, really commit to the stone age lifestyle, and start learning how to tan hides. I kid. If it’s a choice between swapping out TP for moss or toughing it out sin gouda in my apartment, I’ll take the cheese-less existence any day.
And anyway, who said the end times can’t be fun? Here are some games to keep you busy:
Organize your books in the order in which you would use them as toilet paper.
Give yourself a cool post-apocalyptic nickname like “Cobra” or “Bonesaw.”
Design a Do-It-Yourself face tat to look fearsome and help maintain social distance from your neighbors.
I hope to god none of you need the obvious disclaimer that you definitely shouldn’t do that last one unless you’re really sure about it.
TODAY’S RECOMMENDATION: “THOR: RAGNAROK” (2017)
“My name is Grandmaster, and I preside over a little harlequinade called the Contest of Champions. People come from far and wide to unwillingly participate in it.”
It’s no surprise that “Thor: Ragnarok” is about the end of the world. Ragnarok is the apocalypse in Norse mythology, after all. What is surprising, though, is just how freakin’ good this movie is. It’s not your typical Marvel flick in that instead of being larded with hours of exposition, too many characters, and a requirement that you watch 10 other movies first, it hangs together as a fun, self-contained narrative. And I say that as someone who actually enjoys a lot of the Marvel movies.
Put differently, “Thor: Ragnarok” actually understands its origins as a comic book. Director Taika Waititi, who cut his teeth on “Flight of the Concords” and recently received a stack of Oscar noms for the World War II Hitler Youth comedy “Jojo Rabbit” (yes, you read that right) found the fun of Thor in this movie. The cast hams it up, with Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster standing out in particular. Tessa Thompson, perhaps best known for her turn as an evil corporate operative on “West World,” likewise shines as a hardcore ex-Valkyrie with a spaceship. And Stan Lee steals the show when cuts Thor’s hair with a multi-taloned hair trimmer. (We’re all going to need one of those for home use if this quarantine goes on much longer.)
The movie also looks good, something that is not always the case with Marvel films which are primarily shot on sound stages in Atlanta with the backgrounds filled in using computers. Rather than being too polished or shiny, “Thor: Ragnarok” has a pulpy, colorful, scrappy aesthetic that recalls the primary colors and bold-faced look of comic books from the 1970s and 80s. The soundtrack is delightfully wacky and largely eschews the blaring brass and timpani typical of super hero films.
Most importantly, Waititi, the writers and the cast actually understood that Thor should be equal parts stupid, cheesy and a badass. Even the big set-pieces, including a battle on the Grandmaster’s planet and a final showdown where Thor and friends must save the planet Asgard from a vengeful queen, are suffused with humor and succeed in advancing the story. The film is funny and rips along from the very first frame to the last. The end of the world has never been so much fun.
“Thor: Ragnarok” is streaming on Disney+.
READING LIST
Eli Miller was one of the last of New York’s “seltzer men” who used to deliver bubbly water all over the city. He worked until 2017 and passed away March 12. The New York Times has a great obituary on Miller. The off-brand seltzer I bought yesterday would definitely count as “dreck” in Miller’s book.
I mentioned Lynx Vilden in the preamble to today’s newsletter. If you missed this story about “rewilding” a few weeks ago, now’s the perfect time to read it. Her philosophy and lifestyle is wacky as hell and mildly thought-provoking.