I guess having an introduction would be good?

I am very intrigued by this paragraph from the Missouri department of conservation website that seems to suggest people try hand-feeding injured flies to sand wasps

I and all my friends used to catch these by hand as young children, though we called them sand bees. Never got bit or stung. They are really wonderful and beautiful creatures.

If I had known they ate flies as a kid, I would absolutely have hand-fed them.

ALT

ALT

moonrise (2015) by phyllis shafer vs. landscape from saint-rémy (1889) by vincent van gogh . kind of obsessed how they bleed into each other side by side

I saw a review of Nope (2022) that compared it to Jaws in its basic structure (high tension thriller where the main characters stalked by a dangerous animal that is difficult to see coming). I can kind of see that, but I think something more interesting about the film is how much it is the opposite of Jaws.

Jaws is a film about a wild animal that is portrayed as a vicious killing machine with implied malice. It turns what is a real life animal into something that is not human or animal, just a scary monster with little acknowledgement that it is a living thing. The framing of the shark attacks is of a shark invading waters that should be safe for humans to use for leisure, rather than as people suffering the consequences of intruding into the shark's natural habitat. The idea of closing the beach isn't about respecting the boundaries of a wild animal, but about keeping people safe from a vicious killer.

Nope (and this is where I start getting into some spoilers) is about a creature that is assumed to be something artificial by the main characters. Because of its resemblance to a classic flying saucer, Jean Jacket is assumed to be a vessel for intelligent and possibly malicious aliens. A classic movie monster. However, we discover part way through the film that Jean Jacket is actually a living thing, a predatory organism, and is framed as such. Jean Jacket isn't killing because it's evil; it's killing because it's hungry and territorial. Only by acknowledging that Jean Jacket is essentially a wild animal, with rules and boundaries, are the main characters able to survive it. Meanwhile, characters that assume that Jean Jacket isn't alive or seek to control or exploit it are put in harms way by their own actions. It's also implied that this is not actually Jean Jacket's native habitat, it is an outside force that has intruded on the Haywood ranch and it becomes a matter of people defending themselves against an invasive species.

I think all of the ways in which Nope contrasts Jaws makes it a stronger film with more nuanced messaging. Jaws may be good at creating tension and suspense, but it also doesn't care to think about its monster as a living thing (which is especially problematic since great white sharks are real and endangered animals that are not even known for attacking humans). By taking the time to show that Jean Jacket is a living thing with needs and boundaries, (even though it's a very fictional creature) Nope creates some very interesting conflict that feels more grounded despite the premise being so outlandish.

Anyway, thank you for reading and go watch Nope if you haven't already. There's a lot more that's great about it that I didn’t fit into this analysis.

"[Aeneas] tells Achates to fetch some gifts as well,
plucked from the ruins of Troy: a gown stiff
with figures stitched in gold, and a woven veil
with yellow sprays of acanthus round the border.
Helen’s glory, gifts she carried out of Mycenae,
fleeing Argos for Troy to seal her wicked marriage—
the marvelous handiwork of Helen’s mother, Leda."

-- Aeneid 1.647-52, trans. Fagles

"Acanthus often has a special binary significance, serving to mediate between life and death, and most likely contributed to the plant's popularity in funerary contexts ... Perhaps the most important animal motif on the Ara Pacis is the snake that is about to consume fledglings huddled together in a nest directly below the great acanthus calyx. Symbolically, the snake and the nestlings recall the omen prefiguring the fall of Troy, out of whose ashes arose Rome."

-- From Republic to Empire: Rhetoric, Religion, and Power in the Visual Culture of Ancient Rome, John Pollini

Dido ... clambers in frenzy
up the soaring pyre and unsheathes a sword, a Trojan sword
she once sought as a gift, but not for such an end.
...

her women see her doubled over the sword, the blood
foaming over the blade, her hands splattered red.

...

sobs, and grief, and the wails of women ringing out
through homes, and the heavens echo back the keening din—
for all the world as if enemies stormed the walls
and all of Carthage or old Tyre were toppling down
and flames in their fury, wave on mounting wave
were billowing over the roofs of men and gods.

-- Aeneid 4.646-7, 63-4, 67-71; trans. Fagles

Maids, cleaners, janitors, and sanitation workers are all the most important people of civilization by far. Even 12 hours without them is VERY noticable and they simply need to be highly compensated for it

'Six AM', 1930 - William Wolfson

Everybody says "you don't want to grow up to be a janitor" until the janitors go on strike and suddenly the building becomes a disaster area because nobody is used to picking up after themselves.

They say "you don't want to grow up to be a garbage man" until the sanitarion workers go on strike and the trash starts piling up on street corners.

People pretend that these jobs are unimportant so they can pay them shit, but they are absolutely vital to the socities we have built.

if you are like me and hate squishy grapes you can put them in the freezer if you enjoy frozen fruit. it makes them not squishy grapes texture anymore and the grape sugars freeze really nicely. plus they will last a long time in the freezer without going bad

Penrose tiles are so cool. its an aperiodic pattern that does not repeat itself at all ever.

LOOK AT IT

pro tip: Turnus of the Rutuli can kill Pallas and wear his belt

but watch out