Time Traveling Through Screens and Stories

For this blog post, I thought I would just write about what is currently holding my interests in terms of movies and TV shows.

First, I decided to stream the movie Oppenheimer on Peacock. I have about half an hour left as it is going to take me three days to get through all of it. I can't sit and watch a three hour movie anymore all at once or without having to stop and research on my phone about what is true or not, looking up what happened to Oppenheimer's wife, etc. I have to say that I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but I have to say I think Cillian Murphy was excellent at portraying Robert Oppenheimer and deserved the Oscar. I did not come into this movie expecting Oppenheimer to be such a complex character or human being.

Like I said, I only have half an hour left , but I did not expect to be so emotionally moved by it in the sense that it has left me feeling numb, but in the sense of feeling a bit scared and horrified at what was created when the atomic bomb was created and sadness for the mass number of people that died because of it and still could at any moment as long as we have nuclear weapons in this world.

This brings me to a bit of my own personal connections to this. I had a great aunt, (well she was a half-great aunt that my grandma and her other sister didn't find out about until after they were adults from their mother) that apparently worked for the company that did uranium processing work in St. Louis. I just remember hearing about it because my grandmother mentioned how later she was part of a lawsuit because a bunch of the workers got cancer and other health issues and they got a lot of money out of it.

My second connection is that when I was living and working in South Korea from 2006-2008, I took a trip to Japan in 2007. I remember the sentiment or words being expressed to me that they were the victims in WWII because the US dropped the atomic bombs on their country. I remember having a bit of an inner-conflict of feelings with that because you know, Japan was considered the bad guy and my grandfather served in the Coast Guard in the Pacific during the war. Then to be in Japan over sixty years later and they were expressing how they were the victims?! I am not going to get into all of the history and the many bad things and atrocities that imperial Japan committed for many years, but after watching Oppenheimer it makes one realize that history is not all black and white and when it comes to dropping atomic bombs on a country and the result was more than 200,000 people died; how can we truly celebrate that fact even though it left Japan on its knees and the war ended? I'm not sure, but I think as time goes on, it allows us to look back on such events in a more critical way instead of just as things that caused jubilant celebrations or some of the darkest and most depressing times for a group of people or country.

Switching gears, but connected to history is the TV show The Gilded Age that I am currently watching season 3 as the weekly episodes come out. I believe though we already are about 70% through the season. If you do not know about this show or The Gilded Age time period (the late 19th century in the US), it is on HBO Max. I am always blown away and fascinated by no matter at what point in history, we as people living now always look back at people in history as almost primitive creatures because they didn't have the technology or did not have as much information about the world as we do now. This is certainly true, but to judge people based on the lens from where we are now is not fair. In a hundred years, how will people view us living in the year 2025? Anyway, I think The Gilded Age shows a lot of the same things that we are dealing with in today's society, which to name a few: such as the stark divisions between the haves and the have nots, social class inequalities, and people being obsessed with their self-image and reputation. I do not have time to go into all of the characters or the storyline, but I think Carrie Coon is fantastic as Bertha Russell. She does such a good job in fact that my feelings are constantly changing about her as should I admire or disdain her, should I feel compassion or loathe her, which goes to show how complex this woman is!

I am still reading the book Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman and have even written down some of the recipes in my notebook from the book. I have gotten through five of the eight flavors so far: black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, and soy sauce. I have three to go: garlic, MSG, and sriracha. I have to say that I found chili powder to be one of the most interesting and reading about the Chili Queens in San Antonio that were around from the late nineteenth century to almost the middle of the twentieth century. It is a fascinating read!

I am not sure if I have said anything on this blog before, but history is something that has always interested and intrigued me. (My brother is a high-school history teacher in Florida.) Anyway, I have always been interested in knowing my family's geneology and knowing our stories, how the previous generations lived, where they lived, and even their secrets or dark things that we don't know from their lives. I have done some research and have found some information, but besides just facts like names, dates, and places, I don't know a lot about how my family became who they were like in how they shaped my grandparents, my parents, and even myself.

History is so important! In my opinion, the United States (in particular those in power and the republican party) needs to take a long look at themselves in the mirror and look at what history is saying about the direction we are going down. Lord Have Mercy!

Finally thinking about the future brings me back to my own writing, I am not sure if and when I will ever publish my third novel. It is a continuation of sorts from Betty and Clark that takes place in the future (late 2030s-early 2040s), but at the same time doesn't feel futuristic or sci-fi in my mind, but more like a historical novel in some ways. I know that doesn't make sense, but maybe some day I will have the chance to publish it, and it can spark some discussion.