“You Can See Everything”: Holmes & Watcher

glassy-eyed Elizabeth Holmes inside a body scanning device

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the erstwhile Theranos, which is a portmanteau of “ER” and “Thanos”.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Once in a blue moon I’ll see a documentary in theaters! Usually those blue moons wax during Oscars season, then wane for the other forty-odd weeks of the year. Last month I already met my non-Oscars documentary quota for the decade with Linkin Park’s half-doc/half-concert film, but that one was a special occasion for music fandom. Here we are again with another brand new doc, and for one of the oldest moviegoing reasons of all: it’s The New Movie No One Online Will Shut Up About — not critics, not entertainment sites, not even my local comic shop, which doesn’t sell movies and stands to gain nothing from bringing it up.

Last weekend You Can See Everything was the #2 film at the American box office, right behind the big video-game flick and well ahead of the entire Halloween-season horror parade. It mesmerized critics when it premiered last month at Telluride Film Festival, who were converted into its front-line proselytizers and have now preempted all other programming and trains of thought just so they can keep extolling its surreal nesting-doll structure of eye-popping twists within twists with as few spoilers as possible. I’ll try doing the same here, because it is worth walking into unwittingly, but there is just so much to it.

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Comics Better Not Get Me Fired. (Maybe NSFW.)

I thought I was getting funnier looks than usual today when I returned to work from my routine Wednesday lunchtime walk. It took me a few minutes to figure out why.

I have a special pattern on Wednesdays. I arrive earlier at work than usual; I spend my lunch break walking to my local comic shop to pick up the week’s new releases; I hurry back to my desk so I can finish out my early day and enjoy an extended evening. Pretty much like clockwork. My coworkers know me just enough to think nothing of it.

I paid for my hobby fix and got lost in thought while the clerk placed them inside the usual translucent bag. I remained pretty much on autopilot during the brisk walk back, through the heart of downtown, into the lobby, and up the elevator, passing a few distractingly odd expressions along the way.

When I sat down at my desk and began shuffling things around, that’s when I focused and really looked at what I’d been carrying.

Continue here for pics I normally wouldn’t post here, probably NSFW by some employers’ standards…

A Deceptively Pedestrian Holiday Party Still-Life Parable

holiday party centerpiece
Pictured above: the centerpiece from our table at my employer’s 2013 holiday party. This year’s shindig was held at a different venue than last year’s and consequently had different decor. Longtime MCC readers may recall last year my wife and I passed the time while waiting for door prize drawings by taking still life photos using any and all objects within reach.

I spent a lot of time this year staring into that centerpiece while life and partying went on around me.

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