Month: August 2024

more movies, more lowercase letters

escapatoria

Heard you needed new opinions about stuff that doesn’t matter. Got you covered, fam.

i used to be funny
drama about a comedian dealing with trauma in the realm of trigger warnings. watchable but not the “funnest” content.

new life
it was wild to not have driven past it in over 20 years but recognize the highway store in this movie. i wonder if one of my google maps adventures took me there recently. anyway, mild sci fi vibes due to the content but imdb says it’s a horror-thriller. perhaps. plot: lady is on the run, being chased to prevent the spread of a disease. it was okay.

the boy and the heron
i was expecting some movie on level with cursive poetry but i got viva la chaos. it’s been long enough now that details are lacking but it was a decent movie, just full of weird. the metaphors with fascism stood out. loved the parakeet scene where kid gets invited to dinner.

the watchers
the advertising was more interesting than the movie. not sure why this didn’t work for me because it had elements that should have been interesting, but i guess i didn’t give a shit what happened. plot: people trapped in vortex stuck in a illogical box every night try to get out.

where the crawdads sing
here comes a string of movies i’ve finally seen after too long. i hated all of the men in this movie and it contributed negatively to my ongoing sad.

kikis delivery service
~style~. wish i’d seen this when i was a teenager. the broom jokes would have been immense.

rockos modern life static cling
the guy basically tells us that he no wanna and this project was all for the $$$, which is exactly what i’d expect from the tone of the 90s show. fairly short, enjoyable and silly, and didn’t feel like an assault of the so-called franchise.

the listeners
documentary about a suicide hotline. as you can expect, it has some heavy content.

when a stranger calls 1979
seems bizarre to me that a babysitter would spend presumably hours without checking on the children. perhaps she got what she deserved. i actually found her overall character otherwise one of the smartest i’ve seen in a horror movie. the tonal shift in the movie to focus on the killer and another lady entirely was interesting. i also appreciated finding scream references here.

maxxxine
if i’d never seen the other two movies, i don’t think i would have cared that much for this. as-is, parts felt awkward and the general ending fell flat. it answered questions but i don’t think it really delivered the best. supposedly the franchise ends here, so that’s fine. the most interesting character – the video store clerk – needed more time.

my own private idaho
weird movie that took me to the dark place about halfway in when the main guy tried to tell his asshole friend he loved him. from there on i hated asshole friend and it just kept coming. no wonder reeves played the devil’s advocate after this. really fun to see downtown portland circa 1990 in so many of these shots, and one of the scenes takes place in a building that looks like a mirror image of a venue that’s now been closed, so that was extra fun/sad. also loved the chair that gets tossed in the air in the graveyard. i, too, celebrate by tossing lawn chairs.

daddio
single-setting movie about a lady taking a cab ride home and having a long conversation with the driver about life and love. it’s a bummer movie if you’re dealing with heartbreak or have cheating in your history, but a younger version of myself would’ve set the plot aside and paid more attention to the full conversation.

challengers
livin’ the dream, that zendaya. if you don’t like gay/bi subtext in your movies, probably don’t watch this. i started noticing the soundtrack and how it was being used and briefly thought “this reminds me of NIN.” sure enough. fucking weird to see this the same day NIN announced another movie collab.

it ends with us
i just read the book. a few things were missing that didn’t really matter to the movie, but some of the depth of character was also flattened. i think on the whole it presented better and less frustrating as a movie than it did in book form, though. still, the major non-smut issues i had with the book are still in the movie, including begging for sex, toxic masculinity, and the daydream believer ending. restraining order, lily. that dude is not your dad.

Having a look at another famous person’s chart.

escapatoria

Skimming charts on AstroDataBank, I came across Will Smith. Curious, I clicked.

Gemini Ascendant, no planets in the 1st, Mercury in Libra in the 6th conjunct Venus.
Sun in Libra conjunct Uranus in the 5th.
Moon conjunct Neptune in Scorpio in the 6th.
Aquarius Midheaven, Saturn (barely!) in 12th in Aries.

Spontaneously creative person with a deep well of FeelingTM, associates well with others in an employment space and is charming, but the general public sees him a bit differently. As a nebulous (12th) fixture (Saturn)?

The data looks good, but a minute difference might change that Saturn situation, which is concerning when there isn’t a hard source like a birth certificate. It looks like there’s some possibility that his chart could be wrong, assuming the recent “source” is not just a misinterpretation, but we’re rolling with what we have here.

I’m going to look at other things by transit, but since it’s going to come up, his 7th house is ruled by Jupiter which is conjunct Pluto… Jada has Sun and Venus conjunct Pluto, because of course she does.

First duo album:

Wiki says his first album came out 1987 April 7. The duo continued through to about 1994.

Saturn was in his 7th house square his 7th house ruler (Jupiter in 5th).

TV show:

Fresh Prince debuted 1990 September 10th.

Pluto was coming up close to conjunct his Moon and Neptune but the first actual Pluto conjunction to his Moon was in December 1991. He has Moon in Scorpio in 6th: work hard or suffer. It’s interesting that it was a family-centric show and the episode where he cries about his TV dad is famous. Oops did we just debunk Moon as always representing one’s mom?

The dad episode aired May 9, 1994. Pluto conjunct his Neptune. Uranus square Mercury. Nothing about this screams relevance to the topic, but episodes don’t happen in a vacuum and he’d had Pluto conjunct his Moon in the previous years, and earlier rerun times have Jupiter in Scorpio conjunct his Moon/Neptune. What does feel relevant is his Ascendant ruler (Mercury) being squared by Uranus, so swift or surprise changes in how one is perceived on the surface. He was treated more like a serious actor after that year.

Solo music:

His first solo album was released 1997 November 25.

Pluto conjunct his Descendant, due to enter his 7th house shortly (transformation in regards to relationships). Neptune square his Mercury. Uranus had been trine his Sun and Ascendant and would be conjunct his Midheaven in 1999. He’s not too far from his Saturn return. Jupiter conjunct his Midheaven all that year.

Film:

He was in film by then but the first big movie was Bad Boys, 1995 April 7. It had a lot of hype attached because he’d become huge in the previous years due the TV show.

Bad Boys: Jupiter had been conjunct his Descendant earlier that year and was now firmly in his 7th. It’s a duo movie. Interesting. On the exact date of release Mars was conjunct his IC/MC axis. And it’s an action movie.

Independence Day: 1996 July 3. It looks like it had a week of limited premiere before that. Neptune square his Mercury – it was closer the following year. Uranus trine Sun and in orb of trine his Ascendant. Mars conjunct his Ascendant the week beforehand (during the early premiere). Love the title with those Uranus transits. His movie career took the fuck off right about this time, so that Neptune square Mercury (his Ascendant ruler) tracks.

Men in Black: 1997 June 25. Still fighting aliens. Mars conjunct Sun multiple times that year due to its retrograde and conjunct Sun for the last time on movie release day. Saturn is approaching orb of his Saturn return (total aside, but 13-14 year old me thought he was old in those movies… 42 year old me is like, the fuck, how was he so young?!). Jupiter had just gone retrograde, hovering over his Midheaven, and was square his Moon. Neptune still square Mercury.

Quick look at other movies. Wild Wild West, which has terrible reviews in case you haven’t seen it before, has Saturn square his Midheaven. Neptune slowly approached trine his Ascendant near the release of Ali at the end of 2001, and at the same general time Saturn was conjunct his Ascendant. Skipping through, I Am Legend came out when Saturn was square his Ascendant from his 4th house. It’s a movie about being alone in a post-apocalypse world. If that isn’t Saturn in 4th to a T.

The Oscars:

We must know, huh. 2022 March 27 was the Oscars.

Pluto in 9th square his Mercury. The result was folks losing faith in him, so the 9th house element is interesting there. Uranus is in his 12th square his Midheaven. Sudden/surprise event that effects career, potentially in a negative or subversive way (because 12th house). Saturn is in his 10th house and recently was conjunct his Midheaven. Ironically he’s being given praise and shown career stability at this time, as is evident since he won one of the biggest visibility prizes in his career field that day. Jupiter opposite Jupiter, more confirmation that it’s praise for creative endeavor (natal Jupiter in 5th) by one’s crowd (transiting Jupiter in 11th). And we have our winner: Mars conjunct his Midheaven. People see (in this case) sudden violence. Venus is also near his Midheaven in his 10th house… And, Sun opposite Sun that week.

Jupiter ruling his 7th house becomes pretty interesting with that Jupiter opposition. The crowd (transiting Jupiter in 11th) sees his relationship and says “WTF?” and recognizes it both as a reflection of his and her egos.

The future?

I’m curious to know if I could project ahead and find out if there’s going to be a point where he’s welcomed back into these spaces without it going back to Oscars thing.

Pluto will eventually conjunct his Midheaven. Somewhere around 2032? Uranus will conjunct his Ascendant in around 2027. That could actually be a career change altogether, since he has Mercury (Asc ruler) in 6th. Could also be a divorce of some kind as a need for change/freedom. Retirement? Venus rules his 6th, too. Saturn will be conjunct his Ascendant in 2030ish, so another indication of divorce or retirement, but I’d say not career change unless we’re talking paring down. Alternatively, if he stays in movies, that could be something like he plays a grandpa role, a teacher, or something very broken-seeming. … The movie Ali came out with Saturn conjunct his Ascendant, so there’s a clue.

Anyway, I did the thing and tempered my curiosity.

Astro Analysis of George Carlin

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The quick look at Wes Craven had me thinking about other potential charts I could find to do similar. So, here’s George Carlin. His data may be rounded but it’s supposedly reliable.

He’s a Taurus Sun (10th), Gemini Moon (11th), Leo Ascendant. Sun conjunct Mercury in 10th. Uranus is also in the 10th about 6 degrees from conjunct his Midheaven. Midheaven is Taurus, Venus is in 9th in Aries.

The Midheaven ruler being in the 9th house suggests someone known for being a philosopher, teacher, priest, publisher or something along the line of presenting ideas on people from a place of knowing. Taurus being involved tones that towards the tactile, Venus being involved suggests art and people. If I didn’t know better, at a glance, I’d think he was an art teacher. Venus doesn’t like Aries all that much, so maybe some awkwardness or over-forwardness going about that. (Seven dirty words, huh?)

Uranus in 10th, being known for being weird or rebellious. Sun/Mercury in 10th and ruling the Ascendant, being purely oneself and communicating authentically to one’s ego.

Moon in 11th in Gemini. This is someone who needs to talk and needs group social experiences. Guessing as a kid “go hang out with your friends” was an easy sell.

I see a T-square in the chart but it’s not super close. In any case, Venus is at the point of the T-square, with Jupiter and Pluto opposite. Venus+Jupiter at tension is being excessive or socially awkward/rude. Venus+Pluto at tension is issues with control and women.

I also see a grand trine. Mars, Saturn, Pluto. Mars in 4th, Saturn in 8th, Pluto in 12th… Most people are not likely to see this person at their ease. Even with the trine giving a place of outlet, home life probably felt tense, argumentative, irritating, active.

Let’s do the first episode of SNL. October 11, 1975. He had a career by then so it’s not the best place to start but whatever, it’s what I thought first. Doing the whole lot so I can get referential material.

Pluto was in Libra at the time in his 3rd house. In the upcoming years it’s due to oppose his natal Venus. What happened about 5ish years later (1979-1980 especially)? It’s something to do with speaking in a career context, but of course it is. It’s not evident from a bio skim. Did he teach something…? Tour overseas? Maybe it’s negative advertising. Law?

Neptune was in Sagittarius on the cusp of his 4th/5th houses. Sometime in the upcoming years it conjuncts his Node.

Uranus in early Scorpio. It’s in his 3rd at the show date but it’s a couple of months from conjunct his IC/opposite his MC exact. The birth time might be rounded off so it’s altogether possible that Uranus was closer to his IC/MC axis.

Saturn was in early Leo in his 12th. Over the next couple of years he has Saturn square his Midheaven, square his 10th house planets, and entering his 1st house. Career direction shifts towards working harder and being seen as… sarcastic, I’d say, given what I know of this person.

Jupiter in Aries, retrograde, conjunct his Venus. There it is! We found it guys. We can pack up and go home. Jupiter conjunct ruler of his 10th house = increase in popularity (or visibility, since Jupiter can also be a fucking asshole and bring you haters) in career context. I would like to know how Jupiter’s conjunction with his Venus held up in, what, 1963ish, 1998ish, 2010ish…

That specific day, Venus was trine his Midheaven.

SNL is not his own thing, so it’s fair to assume this might not show up super obviously in a single person’s chart, but he hosted first, and we can see that with Jupiter conjunct his Venus, and it’s harbinger of doom times (more like surprises times, but yep) with Uranus about to cross his IC/MC axis.

First published album: 1963. I don’t see more specific info. I do see Jupiter was in Aries that year, as assumed above. Was it released in the summer?

First solo album: recorded November 25-27, 1966, and released in 1967. No further data. Jupiter was square his MC on recording. Neptune was opposite his Sun/Mercury all near then (dissolution of ego, incorrect or nebulous interpretations of self). Uranus was trine his Sun/Mercury both years. 1967 he has his first Saturn return, exact in March 1967. What happened at his second Saturn return? (We’ll get there in a sec.)

Data!!! Third album, dude has changed his image now. January 27, 1972 release, recorded the previous June. Pluto is opposite his Saturn, and Saturn rules his 6th house, so evidence of relevance to work though not necessarily image/career. Neptune has recently been conjunct his Mars and was conjunct his Mars during recording. Starting around 1970, Saturn had entered his 10th house and proceeded to conjunct his Uranus, Mercury, and Sun. This would be the image change in a career context due to critical self-analyzation. Saturn was still in his 10th but had just entered Gemini at recording, and it retrograded and had just turned back into Taurus at release. The release day appears to be within days of its station-direct. 0 Gemini is sextile his natal Saturn, so it’s the first step of progress from whatever he learned at his Saturn return. And, also, Mars was conjunct his Venus the day of release.

Fourth album and the appearance of 7 Words: recorded May 27, 1972, and released September 29, 1972. A lot of the above is still affecting this. Pluto is still opposite his Saturn. Neptune is still conjunct his Mars, though it’s leaving. Saturn has moved on to his 11th house and is conjunct his Moon at release date – hey, you wanna go tell a crowd about that thing you thought that one time? I’m sure with Moon ruling your 12th and that Saturn conjunction it won’t lead to an arrest at all whatsoever, no sir. On release date Jupiter was square his Saturn and nearing trine with his Midheaven.

I’m skipping a lot here, but I need to see his second Saturn return.

Back in Town was recorded March 29-30 in 1996, and released as a recorded album in September 17th 1996. IMDB says Back in Town came out March 30th, which doesn’t follow since comedy specials are pre-taped. Whatever, I said what I said, and 1996 has his second Saturn return. It’s a triple hitter transit so it was going on all year. Looking at March 30th: Pluto conjunct his 4th house Mars. Angry grandpa vibes. Neptune conjunct his Jupiter (in 6th). Uranus is in his 6th house square his Midheaven. Saturn return hit #1 is oncoming in mere days. Mars conjunct his Saturn a few days earlier, tripling down on the angry grandpa vibes. I think we’re missing some context here, which stands to reason since I just skipped 20+ years of career, but I’m not sure what about this screams “abortion”. What I see is general criticism of family environment because Pluto conjunct Mars. I like the title “Free-Floating Hostility” in relation to that, too.

Complaints & Grievances was recorded and taped November 17, 2001 and came out a month later. Neptune square his MC. Saturn was not quite conjunct his Moon yet, so I just debunked a theory I had up there somewhere.

This feels incomplete, but I’m burning out. I may return to look at other releases/specials later. Long story short, he leaned into the speedy aggressiveness of his Venus-in-Aries for his career trajectory, it’s quite obvious to me that he’s a Gemini Moon in hindsight given that situation’s love of words, and I need to pay more attention to Jupiter conjunctions to the ruler of the Midheaven in the future.

Basic Analysis of Wes Craven

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I got curious because of someone mentioning Wes Craven‘s birthday and looked at his chart. This is pretty basic, sometimes oversimplified astrology and I’m not going to deep dive anything here.

The Basics:

Sagittarius Ascendant, Jupiter in 3rd. Communicator, especially in a big way.

Leo Sun in 8th house. Bit of a hidden personality/enigma at times despite seeking praise. Interest in dark/uncomfortable topics.

Pisces Moon in 2nd. Needs financial stability to feel safe but the resources ebb & flow.

Mars in 1st house: “say hello to my little friend!”.

Libra Midheaven, Venus in 7th. Known through supportive connections with others and associative one-to-one relationships, especially on topics of art, beauty, women.

Ruh-oh! Venus is conjunct Pluto. Make that socially upsetting art, cruel beauty, fetishism, control dynamics, and victims and/or powerful women. Venus also rules the 5th so make sexuality involved, too. Venus is in Leo so said venus-ing needs to be fucking seen.

T-square between Mars, Saturn (in 4th), and Venus/Pluto… Trouble at home. Something about a violent divorce? Restrictive environment at home.

Grand trine between Mars, Uranus, and Neptune. The ease and outlet of his life becomes self-action (Mars in 1st) on level of expressing weird creative ideas (Uranus in 5th) in far-off, nebulous places (Neptune in 9th).

North node in Scorpio in 10th. Further evidence this person is known for fucked up shit.

Looking at movie releases:

The Last House on the Left is a brutal rape movie released 8/30/72. I don’t think I need to explain his chart as a reflection of the movie. Near that date Uranus was conjunct his Midheaven (sudden/surprise career change), Saturn was in Gemini approaching conjunction with his Descendant about to enter his 7th house but still firmly in his 6th (past year = focus on work, specifically writing and minutia), and Jupiter was conjunct his Ascendant and was due to spend the next bit in his 1st house (I HAVE ARRIVED!).

A Nightmare on Elm Street is about a dream stalker where the bouncy ball takes us to girl temporarily winning victory over spooky perverted fingers man, released 11/16/84. At this time Pluto was conjunct his Node (social atmosphere supports weirdo), Neptune had entered his 1st house and was recently conjunct his Ascendant for a while (whooo arrre yooou? [puff of smoke] and literally being seen through the lens of dreaming), Jupiter had traversed the zodiac and made it back to his 1st house again (IT’S ME AGAIN!!), and a few days before release date he’d had his Mars return.

Scream released December 18-20, 1996. I don’t even need to look to know Jupiter was in his 1st house again. Yep! Not as close to his Ascendant this time, but his career was set in stone by then and some of the advertising sold itself just because his name was attached. Jupiter was conjunct his Mars in the following weeks, in any case, amplifying movement and self-action, as one does to sell a movie. Neptune was conjunct his Mars approaching opposition with his Venus/Pluto, and in recent history Uranus had also been conjunct his Mars but was right then opposite his Venus/Pluto, so one would assume changes in his career direction and its specific topics leading up to this time followed by a perhaps otherworldly dissolution (interesting that the Scream movies are movies about movies and have a self-own tone). The intro to Scream feels on brand since it was such a surprise (Uranus) to kill a well-known actress (Venus in Leo) in the first minutes of a movie. He also had Mars conjunct Neptune the week before.

Wiki is focusing less on his victim-meets-revenge theme and more on dysfunctional family relationships, so it’s interesting that Mars rules his 4th and the T-square points at his 4th house Saturn in this case.

I could go deeper (I’ve ignored both movies and aspects) but my fingers hurt from typing and that’s enough random astro exploration for one day.

On a wholly personal level, his Saturn is conjunct my Venus-in-8th, so it’s interesting that kid me was very compelled by the Nightmare movies and People Under The Stairs, teenage me thought Scream was the bee’s knees, and barely adult me thought Last House was fucking horrific and taught me I can’t watch movies with graphic rape in them no matter how much my Venus in 8th wants to go the dark distance on the art thing. If indirectly, he became a Saturn-level teacher of Venus for me.

I read more and listened to an interview about him, so it’s funny that I doubt I knew any of these things apart from the movies beforehand and still nailed it. College teacher (Jupiter in 3rd, Mercury rules 6th), huh? Restrictive parents, huh (Saturn in 4th at point of a T-square)? Kind of missed the Pisces Moon effect on his mention of dreams and imagination, but I generally ignored his Moon anyway.

I can buy myself flowers.

escapatoria

I read another book outside of my wheelhouse. On theme with the previous attempt, this time I read It Ends With Us.

Once again, the writing was simple and easy. I didn’t read this one in two days but I read it fairly quickly. Like the former, the Lifetime/Hallmark movie cliches were immense, and there was a lot of tell-don’t-show going on. That makes for a snappy read, but also makes for a poorly believable, hollow story.

The plot centered on a lady who comes from a domestic violence household who swears she’ll Never when she grows up but, of course, runs head-first right into it. That brings her to Mr. Toxic Masculinity, a guy who has no impulse control because he has a mopey dark past and boohoo him. Right out of the gate he tries to coerce her into sex. Proceed nonsense. We end up on a journey while main character decides how she feels about walking red flags.

I was still pretty skeptical of romance as a genre when I was young, but if I had been much younger than I am now, I might not have noticed the overall tone of what this book put out. At this point in my life I saw through the character(s) and saw the author’s psyche showing, as well as took note of the popularity of this book as a general reflection of society being stupid. I am yucking your yum, kids. Or not-kids, even. Because the author was around 36 when she puts these words out into the world and, as much as she was trying to go for empathy towards her IRL parents, she put out a message I don’t feel best represents those who’ve been abused or grew up in an abusive environment (or might potentially be facing those things). In the fantasy “spicy” realm of the book, it’s a bad representation of female sexuality, whether we’re talking the teenager or the adult. While there are folks who are (for example) demisexual, or prefer to be pursued, or only find enjoyment in superficial and physical attraction, or are into victim-savior ideas, the book insinuates the character has a strong attraction to a man but the actual “show” (not telling) element is not apparent and it comes across like cardboard. In reflection, it seemed like more evidence of purity culture leaking into the minds of folks who don’t participate. While that might be a result of tempering for one’s audience, ennnnh. No. We can do better.

Of course, the sex-is-scary crowd has things to say about “spicy” content in the sense of “oh no! not the children! my begonias!”, even if it’s limp noodle city to anyone who’s ever read, written, watched, or imagined women doing their own thing outside of the context of being seen as a prized series of holes by some random asshole begging on the floor that he just needs one fuck.

I wrote a billion more words about this and wrote about how irritating society was about apparent sexuality when I was a teenager (things haven’t changed much), but that sums it up. The book wasn’t a terrible read as far as the literal reading experience, but the content needed assistance. I hope the young people who pick this book up because it’s popular know better, but based on the 4-5 star reviews I keep seeing, ennnnnh.

No idea what I’m reading next.