On the lighter side-Movies-Black Christmas (2019)-Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon

A group of girls are stalked by a killer in this remake of an old Canadian movie. Recommended with caution.

On the lighter side-Movies-Ford V. Ferrari (2019)-Matt Damon, Christian Bale

A car designer and a race car driver battle against odds to build a car to win the 1966 Le Mans race. Exciting car racing sequences. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies- The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939 B&W)

The detective Mr. Wong investigates the murder of an antique Collector. Good little mystery. Recommended 

On the lighter side-Movies-Mr.Wong in Chinatown (1939-B&W) - Boris Karloff

Mr. Wong investigates the murder of a mysterious Chinese woman. Good movie Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Mr. Wong, Detective (1938 B&W) - Boris Karloff

A chemical manufacturer murder is investigated by Mr. Wong. Nice little movie. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Doomed to die (1940 B&W) - Boris Karloff

Mr. Wong and a reporter investigate the murder of a Shipping company owner. Good Whodunit. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-The Fatal Hour (1940- B&W)- Boris Karloff

When the Police Captain best friend is murdered, he enlists the help of Mr. Wong to uncover the Killer. Good, Short and sweet. Recommended

To open or not to open during the pandemic

That is the question that is being asked by the governments local as well as the national as to how to deal with this situation since the virus is still being spread with no sight of vaccine coming anytime soon with the need to alleviate the suffering of the people who are cooped up in their houses and also for the poor and middle class who don’t have the luxury to work from home and their services are essential to put food on the table and pay their bills. The people who are stuck at home have started to get restless as the weather becomes warmer and most of the people want to come to the beach and do activities with their kids so they have started to protest all across the United States to lift the lockdown and get on with their lives. I can understand that part as I have been working for the last eight weeks from home and don’t go outside for at least 4 days of the week.

The case of opening is also valid in the sense that people and the economy of all states are hurting under the strain of low tax collection and more unemployment benefits being shelled out. Although the Federal government has stepped in to help but it is not enough since not all categories of jobs can be saved unless the economy opens up. And even if the economy opens, the fear of contacting the virus is so huge that it is unlikely there will be demand for businesses to stay afloat amid very high unemployment numbers. It is a catch-22 situation, and personally with so much financial pain being afflicted on the American public who are mostly living paycheck to paycheck even with high earners and working remotely, It is about time to open the economy with strict social distancing and protective measures and start resuming our new normal life whatever that means.

The ban on assault weapons in New Zealand and Canada

After the bigggest masssacre of people in New Zealand history, New Zealand clamp down ban on assault weapons and the same thing has now happened in Canada after a man killed more than 20 people in one of the worst mass shooting Canada has witnessed. The Prime Minister of Canada visibly shaken by the massacre decided to ban all types of Military style assault weapons saying that they have no place in a civilian society and their only purpose is to kill as many people in the shortest amount of time. One of my Canadian friend told me that his country has done it so why can’t the United States do it and I told him that the U.S. is a different society and it is enshrined in the Constitution that it is ther right of the people to keep and bear arms.

Although personally I am against any sort of restrictions of possession of firearms by the general public but there should be some sort of regulation and not everybody can own firearms (which would exclude people with mental health and convicts and minors). I will discusss this matter in more detail in my other post, but although the type of assault weapons used are ususally for military purposes there is be some sort of reason to keep these weapons at home. As I am in the United States, I am conflicted about the need to keep fire arms and need to make sure it is kept out of the hands of the criminals and minors and mentally disturbed people but how do we know that if you are selling a firearm to a completely law abiding citizen, that citizen may not snap in the future and use that to kill his neighbor or random strangers. That is the dilemma that has to be faced by all the authorized concerned.

Clamoring for Relief

As Covid-19 ravages the world economy, every body from small business to big companies and individuals are clamoring for some relief from their governments. And governments are obliging in ways never seen before throwing in trillions of dollars haphazardly without any oversight which has resulted in some under serving business getting billions in loans and aid while leaving out small business who really need them to get thru this Virus induced recession (or call it depression). The unemployment rate in the United States alone has surpassed 30 million with more than 12 million still unable to log into their states’s unemployment websites to register according to some reports. Some well known big business and retail giants may not come out of this situation in one piece and maybe become much smaller in order to survive, which in essence means that more people will be unemployed long term. I have been reading articles about the impact of this virus on people of all walks of life and it is frightening how ill prepared and financially stressed out people are in the United States at least where I live.

With demand completely zapped out and people under strict lockdown and non essential business all but shut down, people who were already living paycheck to paycheck are now in a survival mode and that includes all kinds of businesses. Hairdressers and salon the most close contact people are completely shut down and down know how they will be able to open up. Travel industry is completely shut with airlines, hotels and theme parks closed since they are also the places where large and close contact congregations can breed the virus. Sports arenas and restaurants are done with as they are also in the customer service business and nobody is going to them anymore. Besides with 30 million and counting people

Out of jobs, people are more worried about have a roof on their heads and food on the table, nobody is not in the mood or have the financial capacity and being afraid of catching the virus, all the discretionary spending is at a standstill. All people are suffering now and even if the supply is there, people are afraid to spend since many people have lost their jobs or are afraid to lose their jobs and are not spending. Despite the U.S. government spending trillions of dollars to shore up the economy and help common folks navigate thru this terrible disease, still unless the economy opens up soon, all these efforts will not help revive peoples’ fortune. For this to happen, it will be better despite the spread of virus, to open up the economy slowly since nobody knows how long the vaccine going to take for this virus.  Right now all categories of people and businesses are clamoring for some kind of relief like in rent and mortgage and car payments but how long will the relief be given is a question nobody knows since the jobs are not there anymore and people need jobs to pay their bills. Hopefully the next few weeks, we will see a clearer picture of how the economy is doing and if we the people will be able to overcome the fear of catching this virus and start to accept it as a new normal.

European Union reponse to COVID-19

Only one word says it all. Pathetic. As you have been reading, European Union (EU) response to COVID19 has been nothing short of being on the criminal side. When Italy was asking for medical supplies, some of the nations banned the export of it and also closed their borders. Same thing happened with Spain too. Now the Virus shutting down hard hit Italy and Spain and they want to have more aid to support their economies, the richer countries, particularly Germany and Netherlands are opposing it. Particularly the issue of Eurobond has been very contentious as the bond will be collective liability of all nations involved and so the wealthier and more frugal north is a big NO to it. Although EU has already apologized to Italy and Spain for the botched response to come to Italy’s aid but memories will linger on and there is a now a doubt that after all this over Italian may start to rethink their relation with this mess of a Union which is when it comes to crisis is nothing short of a disunion with every country fending of itself, closing off their borders and restricting the supply of essential medical equipment.

The problem from the start was that Europe, despite sharing common religion (Christianity) and almost shared culture still acts like they are separate countries when it comes time to act for a common cause like defense and now the Virus, which has exposed how disunited and disjointed the alliance has become.The virus has also exposed how the supposedly united borders are now shut for anybody not of that particular countries. Every country in the European Union is now acting like an independent country as they shut borders and isolate them from other countries in the Union. They may still call themselves European but in truth they are independent countries with independent Presidents and budgets and when it comes to finances, Germany and the rich north does not want to underwrite the supposedly financially irresponsible south like Italy, Spain and other countries. It does make sense that the rich north should be more assertive in how their money is going to be used but it defeats the purpose of being a single United States of Europe. People do act like they are not part of a Union but still belong to their individual countries and speak their own language. This Virus has exposed the lies that underlie the whole fake notion of belonging to one country and it people in Italy and other poorer south have started to doubt about this whole European Union experiment.

On the lighter side-Movies-Blood Quantum (2020) – Michael Greyeyes

While the world is overrun with Zombies, a group of Native Indians seems to be strangely immune to the virus and must fight their way to safety. Graphic with gallons of blood flowing all over the place. Recommended with caution

On the lighter side-Movies-Detective Chinatown 2 (2018)-Wang Baoqiang, Liu Haoran

The sequel to the first movie, now both the Uncle and nephew team up again to solve a murder in New York’s Chinatown. Fun movie. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Detective Chinatown (2015-China)-Wang Baoqiang, Liu Haoran

A rejected Police recruit travels to Thailand where he grudgingly teams up with this Uncle to solve a murder mystery. Fast and lots of fun. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-The Plagues of Breslau (2018- Polish)-Malgorzata Kozuchowska, Darla Wildawska

A serial killer is killing one person at 6.00 P.M each day as Polish cops race against time to catch the killer. Gory and bloody but for curiosity purposes a one time watch. Recommended with caution. Available on Netflix®.com

On the lighter side-Movies-Sea Fever (2019-Ireland) –Connie Nielsen

A Marine Biologist stuck on a fishing trawler in the middle of an ocean has to deal with distrusted crew members and deadly life form killing off them. Not horror but more like a thriller. You can watch much better time killer than this. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-The Platform (2019-Spain) – Ivan Massague, Zorion Eguileor

In the future, prisoners are housed in vertical cells and the higher cells prisoners eat well while the lower ones fight off for the rest of the foods.  Intriguing movie with gory and bloody special effects. Available on Netflix®.com 

On the lighter side-Movies-Vixen (2018-China)-Lie-ri Chen

When an international security meeting being held in China is taken over by terrorists, one lone Chinese security person fights to liberate and come out alive with all the participants. Not happy with the movie as the action was sub par along with acting. Felt like more of a TV movie. Available on Amazon.com. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Earth and Blood (2020-French-Belgian) – Sami Bouajila, Eriq Ebouaney

A cash strapped owner gets into trouble with drug dealers when one of his employee stash drugs on his business. Okay action movie. Available on Netflix®.com. Recommended with caution