Ghostly tale portrays haunting as a sad and dreary business

Person in a white sheet with two eye holes against an eerie gray background

I wasn’t bowled over by last year’s Ghostbusters remake, which seemed like a waste of a good cast. Even some of its fans seemed to like it mainly because it broke new cinematic ground by portraying women as competent professionals rather than man-obsessed flakes. This helped to make up for the fact that it wasn’t a great comedy.

That said, I wouldn’t have minded seeing the Ghostbusters team regroup long enough to interrupt the chief spirit’s reign of terror in A Ghost Story. Frankly, I don’t think the spirit himself would have minded, as he leads a pretty dreary existence. In fact, “reign of terror” is a misnomer—it’s more like a reign of tedium.

In the version of the spectral world created by writer/director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon), ghosts have the ability to travel backward or forward through time, but they’re confined to one geographical location. Thus, the unnamed spirit in question (Casey Affleck) spends his days hanging around the ranch-style home he inhabited with his equally unnamed partner (Rooney Mara) before being killed in a traffic accident.

Spider-Man comes home to the MCU

Spiderman laying on his back

No longer will we have to explain to our less superhero-obsessed friends why Spider-Man doesn’t do things with the Avengers in the movies even though he’s a Marvel character. After his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, we finally have the first collaboration between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios in an attempt to help Sony make a Spider-Man movie that’s not awful. And – surprise surprise! – Spider-Man: Homecoming is actually pretty good.

Homecoming benefits quite a lot from being part of the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man works best in a setting filled with other superheroes. There have been entire comic series based on him teaming up with other characters because friendly, chatty Peter Parker plays off them so well. So while Iron Man stops short of stealing the show, his constant involvement in the background gives everything else a context that the previous Spider-Man movies have lacked.

Jonathan Coulton’s Solid State

Yellow triangle with security camera with an eye on the screen above black words on yellow saying Jonathan Coulton Solid State excalamation point

I have been a Jonathan Coulton fan for a few years. I can’t even remember where I heard of him first – his body of work entertains songs about science to pure satire of anything ranging from pop culture to politics.  One thing is for certain, I’m sure that I found him on the internet. Jonathan Coulton began his career by building a fanbase primarily on the internet. A place where once society believed would be a water hole for us to gather and exchange ideas, to be connecting and finally united. Our current political state has proven how difficult that dream has been to accomplish, now more than it has ever been. The main underlying theme for Solid State, Jonathan Coulton’s ninth studio album, is that of coping in a dystopian but rather in the present future. Many of the songs sound as though they would be a setting in a distant world of a Post-Modernist’s nightmare, but hits very close to home with how things actually are. In interviews, Jonathan expresses how this is the idea behind his concept album, but doesn’t really delve into the political aspect of it.

Seasteading and other efforts to break away from failed societies

Collage by Trane DePriest

 You may already be thinking “there has to be a better way for us all to live together.” You may even have your own motivations for getting out of here and starting all over. Expatriates flee the U.S. for more welcoming shores every year (this year's total of 5,411 individuals is 26 percent more than last year's 4,279). And a recent global poll revealed that 700 million people wish they could live in a different country.

 Currently, there are 195 models of governance in practice, and they’re mostly versions of the resulting societal configurations created from the ménage à trois of Labor, Capital and Culture. Theocracies/Monarchies, Dictatorships, Communists, Democratic Socialists and Democratic Republics/Parliaments are currently the five dominant methods of managing people, property and peace. And no one has tried anything new in a long time.

The Mask Is Off: Trump Is Seeking War with Iran

Something extraordinary has happened in Washington. President Donald Trump has made it clear, in no uncertain terms and with no effort to disguise his duplicity, that he will claim that Tehran is cheating on the nuclear deal by October—the facts be damned. In short, the fix is in. Trump will refuse to accept that Iran is in compliance and thereby set the stage for a military confrontation. His advisors have even been kind enough to explain how they will go about this. Rarely has a sinister plan to destroy an arms control agreement and pave the way for war been so openly telegraphed.

Existence is Resistance

Existence is Resistance: The Palestine Museum of Natural History with Dr.
Mazin Qumsiyeh  https://youtu.be/IZFSTAZ4_jw

Palestinian Ecoactivism with Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh https://youtu.be/PHRFPbyiioE

THREE ACTIONS

Jewish voice for peace ACTION: Five nonviolent activists were forbidden
from boarding a plane from Washington to Israel - and neither the airline
(Lufthansa) or the Israeli government will explain why or show us
documentation. We are activists for equality, justice, and dignity for all
people of Israel/Palestine. Join us in asking Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer

Why and How to Bring Environmental and Peace Movements Together

If war were moral, legal, defensive, beneficial to the spread of freedom, and inexpensive, we would be obliged to make abolishing it our top priority solely because of the destruction that war and preparations for war do as the leading polluters of our natural environment.

Columbus turns out to support people of Gaza

Man speaking into bullhorn and crowd with Jewish Voices for Peace sign

Eighty peope from Columbus and all over Ohio came together Saturday, July 29 at noon to protest the Congressional vote to send $705 million of taxpayer dollars for the US-Israel Missile Defense Partnership.

There is also an active international group advocating a BDS movement - boycott, divest and sanction -- against Israel for their treatment of people in Gaza and the West Bank. Ohio Senator Rob Portman is sponsoring a bill that would CRIMINALIZE the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement in the US.

For the past decade, Israel has enforced a military blockade on over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and now they only have 3 hours of electricity per day.

Mainstream media isn't covering these atrocities, so several local groups got together to speak out at the Statehouse last Saturday and demand an end to the brutal blockade.  

Healthcare Celebration & Postcard Party

Tuesday, August 1, 7pm
Dempsey's 346 S High St, Columbus, OH 43215
The healthcare bill is dead and it's time to celebrate! Join us at Dempsy's for fun and food. We can celebrate while writing thank you cards to send to the senators that deserve them the most!
There will be cards so you can send a picture along with your thanks. The senators would love to see the faces of those they saved, especially those who risked so much voting against their party. There will also be thank you postcards for a quick note and blank postcards to design your own. 
Stamps, cards, and writing supplies will be provided. We will also have a list of the senator's addresses for your convenience. 
I look forward to seeing you all there!

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