Apple Store takes center stage in this hostage drama.
I’m guessing iHostage is a flick you’ll never see on Apple TV+ even though it features the Amsterdam Apple Store as a prominent character in the story. iHostage, directed by Bobby Boerman is currently streaming on Netflix and is based on an actual hostage situation that took place at the Apple Store in Leidseplein in 2022.
As far as hostage films go it isn’t bad nor is it great. These things typically only end one way, and of course if you have any familiarity (I did not) with the actual events you already know how things turn out in this case. But as to the entertainment value there’s good fun to be had as the director and his cameras look for every conceivable angle to shoot within and without the Apple Store. AirPods play an important role early on. Also interesting is watching some of the hostages use an Apple Watch to check whether or not another was having a heart attack. (For the record, an Apple Watch can’t detect underlying causes of a heart attack, but it can detect irregular rhythms.)
The acting, visuals, and direction are generally good, keeping the tension going as we cut back and forth between the hostage taker and his primary hostage, and those on the police side trying to bring about an end to the event. But again, these stories have a formula about them that to some extent just requires a plug-and-play approach with all the necessary elements of filmmaking. I’d say everyone pulls their job off well with the sort of cleanliness you’d expect in an Apple Store. In the end it’s all a bit too clean.
You can read about the true story behind the movie here and watch the trailer below. I’d say it’s a fun watch if this kind of story is your kind of thing, or you just want to tour an Apple Store in Amsterdam.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
It’s often a risky thing to be candid. Even more so about your fears. I get that. Been there myself in some moments that I felt the stakes were high. Thankfully those stakes didn’t involve the fate of the United States and perhaps the free world.
Senator Lisa Murkowski’s statement as quoted in the screenshot above is indeed admirable for its candor. Yet I would call it cowardly, given her office. If you’re one of 100 people elected to the senate of the United States, you’re chosen to overcome your fears in the face of danger.
I don’t doubt that there are threats of retaliation. Yes, that’s scary and as she says “that’s not right.” But admitting you are susceptible to succumbing to fear only feeds the fever that breeds more of what you fear. And we’re already tossing too much chum into these turbulent waters.
I’m reasonably sure when the signatories of the Declaration of Independence put their names to that document there was fear in their minds and hearts. History is replete with leaders who have taken courageous stands and I’m also reasonably sure most did so while facing fears. We need to see and hear more that. Strongly worded letters and sound bites just aren’t strong enough this time around the history cycle.
I’ll give the Senator credit for saying she’s going to continue to use her voice which she says might appear confrontational at times. She used it well in an early decision point in this administration by voting against the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Others weren’t so brave. My issue with her candid language here is once you admit you’re on the defensive, the other side knows it has the advantage and feels free to press harder. The only thing that’s going to turn the tide and pop the buffoon’s balloon are those who don’t cower and candidly concede he’s made you afraid, no matter how fearful you are.
You can watch more of the Senator’s remarks in the video below for a fuller context.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
The headline of this post came to me first. Sometimes that happens. Then I had a memory flashback suggesting that I had used that headline before. I have. That was in early August of 2023. That’s why I added the “Again.”
The first time was right after the orange menace was indicted for the third time. As excited as some were for the legal victory in that moment, I felt then that we were still in great peril. That feeling proved accurate. It chills me to read what I wrote then:
There’s no back to find our way to, regardless of the legal outcomes. Frankly there’s no back to find our way to even if somehow this monster suddenly disappeared from the planet. The damage has been done. And I don’t think we collectively have what it takes to bridge the gaping wounds, much less comprehend them. Our political systems are incapable of stopping the slaughter of children with guns. Our spiritual institutions keep remaking foundational tenets into something unreconcilable with their founding. And we’re going to fix this?
The wounds are fresh. The pain is real. There’s a monster in our midst and it’s going to take extraordinary measures to defeat it. Nothing will be the same if we do. Nothing should be the same as we try. And if there’s any healing to come it’s not going to happen without amputations that alter the way we navigate the world.
We keep repeating this cycle. We’re still in that same corner as we sit watching, hoping, perhaps praying for some legal or moral victory to change any of the actions the Trump administration is tossing about. I know there are many, like me in that previous post, who wish he would somehow disappear from the planet. But neither legal victories nor acts of God are going to change the course of destruction we’re on and have been. The damage has been done and more keeps happening daily. Some bizarre force is keeping us in trapped in a corner. It’s also keeping Trump there too. He seems to enjoy it. Most, not all, of the rest of us do not.
Let’s take this Abrego Garcia deportation case. The Trumpsters have already tossed aside (for the moment) a Supreme Court ruling against them, redefining it as one in their favor, turning no into yes, day into night, and reality into fantasy. By doing so these fluffed up maniacs have dug a hole so deep that they can’t climb out without damaging their own machismo, dragging all of us deep into it as well.
It’s a serious moment that requires serious people to actually act seriously. A rare combination that’s tough to find these days. Whether it’s this issue, an unexplainable tariff/trade war, threatening law firms and universities, or whatever this administration is tossing into the bottomless blender of bluster, behind the scenes they are still ardently working towards success in an issue that might just render moot all of the moments of new horrors they unveil daily.
The subtext beneath all of this is a plot line that threatens to make any and all of these horrid actions seem like distractions. I’ve said all along that this administration is acting as if they don’t care about the outcome of future elections. They would not be acting this way if they were. Yet that’s the frame we seem incapable of breaking when discussing each of new eruption.
If we’ve learned anything (there’s no proof we have) it is that this dictator and his henchmen mean what they say and it’s no mistake that they keep hinting of a third term, or president for life scenario. Yes, there will most likely be elections. There are elections in Russia, Hungary, and pick your favorite autocracy. This will be the battle that decides all, and we need to face each new challenge within that context.
There’s a straight line that can be drawn between the moment this Abrego Garcia case finally winds its way back to the Supreme Court for a decision and the fate of future elections. The chess moves are simple to see.
If the Supreme Court defers in any way that subjugates the due process clause of the 5th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, then all bets are off. Game over. If the Supreme Court, or rather the conservative members of that court, put the administration in check by ruling against it, the next move is either surrender or tossing the pieces from the board, scrambling it all and declaring the game invalid.
I’m frankly not sure which outcome is worse. The Supreme Court abdicating ends all but the waiting game for the next shoe to drop, continuing the charade of hoping for some moment of truth that will set us all free. Upsetting the game board acknowledges where we actually are, but are afraid to admit. Both sides are cowering in that corner, afraid to face that moment of truth.
Dark times.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
You can fool some of the people all of the time…or maybe not.
It might be easier to resurrect the dead than it is to restore trust. One way or the other, we move on from death, but moving on from any relationship once trust is busted is a tough slog for those still among the living. I’m not just talking about politics. I’m referring to the relationships we have in most of the spheres of life we interact with each and every day.
Certainly that’s true in politics and governing. Those currently in charge of sinking the ship of state want you to think the water inching over your shoe tops isn’t a problem. And if we go under, well that’s the last guy’s fault. So is the fact that we don’t have enough lifeboats. Sorry. Hope you can swim.
The same is true in technology, entertainment, business, religion, and the list goes on and on. Superhero comic book creators would call this world of competing realities a multi-verse, but even that concept doesn’t really hold enough water to drink, fantasy that it may be.
If you feel like you’re wading through swamps of bullshit trying to find morsels of truth it is because you are. The powers that be have realized (again) they can get away with calling day night if they say it often and loud enough with enough assists from a cowering media that loves its microphones more than its freedom to exist. And when some bit of truth pokes its head above the surface it’s quickly washed over and submerged by another pounding wave of new stories or new product updates. Think waterboarding with quicksand.
This distortion swamp is full of mirages reflected back into our eyeballs like a thousand suns reflecting off an endless body of water. There’s nothing to anchor to.
Set the politics aside and focus for the moment on the ongoing saga about Apple’s delaying of Apple Intelligence features it unveiled almost a year ago at WWDC. A recent NY Times column by Tripp Mickle dropped two new grains of salt into the still open wounds of that debate. First up, Mickle seems to want to lay the blame on former Apple CFO Luca Maestri for changing up a plan to increase Apple’s budget for purchasing the chips apparently needed to ramp up for the Apple Intelligence push.
Here’s the quote:
Mr. Cook approved a plan to double the team’s chip budget, but Apple’s finance chief, Luca Maestri, reduced the increase to less than half that, the people said. Mr. Maestri encouraged the team to make the chips they had more efficient.
The lack of GPUs meant the team developing A.I. systems had to negotiate for data center computing power from its providers like Google and Amazon, two of the people said. The leading chips made by Nvidia were in such demand that Apple used alternative chips made by Google for some of its A.I. development.
The next grain of sand has launched a thousand blog posts (including this one) by saying that the previously delayed Apple Intelligence features will now launch this fall. Mickel says that’s according to three sources. Regardless of the quantity of sources, that report has generated more use of the words “may” and “possibly” in following headlines than I’ve seen in some time.
The tech press has either caught on and is choosing to not grant Apple the usual slack after feeling more than a bit betrayed. Or it’s pretending to hide beyond an endless streak of optimism. Either way Apple is currently mired in a trust swamp of its own making. Tangentially, and for what’s it’s worth, the same could be said of The NY Times.
My point here, isn’t to debate the sourcing, the reporting, or even the timing of when Apple may or may not launch new features. The long preamble to get to this Apple “news” should have been your first clue to that. My point is that once any authority fractures trust whether it be a company, a government, an official, a teacher, a parent, or a news organization, all sides lose. You can work to regain trust over time, but the stain will always remain and there’s very little anyone can do to remove it. You can learn to live with it, but you can’t erase it.
Or as Lady Gaga says, “Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it’s broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker’s reflection.”
There’s an entire industry full of PR professionals and crisis managers lurking, just waiting to make bank on these kind of mistakes, anxious to be called in to try and resurrect a brand or a reputation. But they are really just good makeup artists capable of masking scars. If the art of “spin” was ever a currency, it is has more than lost any value it may have once had.
In an attempt to steer this full circle, if there’s a silver lining in all of this, the raging egos we’ve put in charge of things bigger than consumer electronics can’t keep their mouths shut to their own detriment and perhaps the benefit of those of us on the ground. Their continual yapping and yipping is exposing not just their own ineptitude in governing, but the entire rigged game that everyone in these industries of make believe rely on, whether it be politics, iPhones or punditry.
I’m beginning to hope the immediate damage from these flapping maws will have more impact than any tariff upheaval, leading us all to a healthier and more skeptical view of the world we live in. The world they are tearing to shreds is beginning to feel like one that might not deserve to be saved any longer.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
It’s another Sunday. At a bare minimum it’s time for a little Sunday Morning Reading. There’s more politics than I’d like to shake any sticks at dominating my reading these days, so apologies if that turns you off. I just don’t think we can turn off or tune out to what’s happening. Like it or not (I don’t) we’re living through an epochal moment in world history demonstrating how little we regard human history. I emphasize “living through” because while we’re bearing witness, it is happening to us and whatever it evolves or devolves into will affect all who come after.
I happen to be one who believes that Trump is the ugly face of the chaos descending around us, propped up by bigger, deeper and darker forces using him as the fool too many fools easily fall for. Jonathan Mahler has an excellent piece that delves a bit into this called How The G.O.P. Fell In Love With Putin’s Russia. Excellent context that should not be ignored.
Speaking of formalist delusions, who knew some tech bros could declare you dead and wipe you off the books, or at least the books that matter when it comes to navigating life in today’s world. Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein, and Meryl Kornfield take a look at how the Trump Administration Overrode Social Security Staff To List Immigrants As Dead.
Joan Westenberg calls us America, The Isolated. I can’t argue with her points. Though I will refer you back to Jonathan Mahler’s piece above for wider aperture. The deeper context is that the lens we’ve viewed the world, contained and restrained by borders, has never been the view for the forces now moving so rapidly.
Mathew Ingram has penned two terrific posts that address what will certainly become a part of our digital lives as we move forward. Be Careful What You Post On Social Media. They Are Listening is the first post. He’s expanded that with Part 2 as the pace of social media monitoring is sure to be picking up.
Perhaps all of this feels too big or too overwhelming to contemplate in the helter-skelter of our daily lives. But it is beginning to have impacts, big and small. Take a look at Scott McNulty’s very funny run-in with a construction worker at his CVS. While CVS – Construction Versus Scott is about his adventures at his local pharmacy under renovation, there’s a comedy nugget in there that demonstrates how those paying attention are actually paying attention.
My initial reaction to any illness in our children is immediate quarantine and a call to the WHO (I deleted the CDC’s number from my address book because suddenly they just kept telling me to get more vitamin A).
To close out this week, take a look at My Open Letter to Gen Z from NatashaMH. At “a bare minimum,” it’s worth a read to remind us that what we remember and hang on to from “back in the day” is now in a daily collision with what comes tomorrow. Easier to avoid the damage from those collisions perhaps if you acknowledge the maps are constantly changing.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
The subhead above says you need to watch this. I’m repeating that here. You do.
Carole Cadwalladr tells it like she sees it. More importantly how many of us see it. But she is brave enough to speak it.
In her post announcing the release of this video of her TED Talk this year, she recounts how she knocked the Silicon Valley World off its axis with her 2019 TED Talk implicating Facebook, and Silicon Valley as a whole, for their role in Brexit. She’s back and talking about the ever increasing dangerous threats we’re facing today given how much we’ve already surrendered and those in control of our digital lives have capitulated to those in control of our politics. Or is it the other way around? As she puts it “a digital coup.”
Of course, I think she’s spot on.
I could go on and on, with words describing her thoughts, but your time would be better spent watching and listening.
A big hat tip to Ian Robinson for sharing these links on Mastodon.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Two of Donald Trump’s minions, Elon Musk and Peter Navarro, are feuding with each other over tariffs and trade wars, taking the high road by tossing insults at each other like “moron.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a press query about the feud by saying, “Boys will be boys, and we’ll let their public sparring continue.”
Nice.
I remember growing up in the hills of Virginia in an age when moonshine and dangerous racing up and down and around curvy mountain roads was quite a potent entertainment mix. On more than one occasion someone would crash and end up dead, wrapped around a tree.
I also remember quite a few of my elders commenting in the aftermath that “boys will be boys.”
I don’t seem to recall anyone saying that at the funerals though.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
We separated ourselves from our screens this past weekend and did a little antique shop browsing. The thing is we stumbled into a number of vintage screens that would qualify as sci-fi nostalgia these days.
These early televisions are from the companies including Motorola, Admiral, and Philco.
Fun times.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
A bit of politics, a bit of tech, and a bit of hope and coping. All tariff free.
This week’s Sunday Morning Reading is tariff free. As usual, even in unusual times there’s some politics, some tech, and things pulled from the cultural file. Enjoy.
For some good context that gets lost in all of what’s washing over us, Jill Lapore takes a look at The Failed Ideas That Drive Elon Musk. Everything old is new again is the saying, even bad things.
Trying to pin down any real coherent details or point of view about what’s happening in the economy is a fool’s game played by the foolish at this point. But context does help. Hamilton Nolan thinks the recent foolish moves will eventually make the rich poorer. I agree. Take a look at what he calls “a deep, dark ocean of harm” in Divergence From The Interests of Capital.
Like the political world, the tech world is seeing its myths and myth makers exposed for the frauds they often are with new layers of the onion peeled back daily. Joanna Stern in the Wall Street Journal takes a look the erosion of trust in her piece, Apple and Amazon Promised Us Revolutionary AI. We’re Still Waiting. It’s a soft headline. Here closing line hits harder, “Where’s the trust?”
Lest we forget that our culture and society is one weird, yet overly predictable wrestling match over how to, or not to control our animal impulses, comes word that Hooters is filing for bankruptcy. Annie Joy Williams takes a look at The End of Hooters.
We’re all staring at everything we’re facing hoping, perhaps against hope, that none of it will lead to any permanent damage, yet teetering on the verge of grief because we recognize our personal impermanence means it might be permanent enough in our short respective lifetimes. That strikes home when someone brave talks about a moment of personal grief. Check out Death Comes Gently Into The Night by NatashaMH.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
So much of what we’re living through in this age of destruction in America was unavoidable before it started, but and yet we avoided doing what was necessary. Damage is happening and will continue. The children’s rhyme of Humpty Dumpty comes to mind and that doesn’t have a pleasant ending.
Even if you can’t put all of the pieces back together in the same way they were before, the attempt is worth it. It’s not easy and it’s not without risk. The question of the moment is all about how American businesses will respond to the Trump tariffs. The general consensus is those costs will be passed along to consumers, in effect creating a tax.
I happen to agree with that consensus. Our problem is that too many American businesses are afraid to confront the bully, and also afraid to cut into their profit margins. The only way to conquer that last fear is to confront the first one.
While not the same by any stretch of the imagination, here’s a story from my past that’s somewhat analogous, at least on the bully fighting part.
I used to run the Wayside Theatre in Middletown, Virginia. At the time it was indeed a one stoplight town. The theatre served the local surrounding counties (it sat geographically at the intersection of three counties) and parts of two adjoining states (West Virginia and Maryland). It also served the Washington DC suburbs with easy access down Interstate 66. In the immediate town the theatre helped bring customers to several restaurants and antique stores along its one Main Street. Saturday and Sunday matinees were always a delight to see folks strolling down the sidewalks between the various businesses before and after a show.
After years of the same very local political leadership, a newcomer to the town succeeded in ousting the mayor. One of his first initiatives was to approach me and say that he was going to enact a $1.00 per ticket surcharge on the theatre to increase the town’s revenue.
We argued back and forth about this for few months because obviously I didn’t want to see this happen. When I suggested to him that we’d print out each ticket with his name on it saying “This $1.00 Surcharge Brought To You By Mayor Brown,” he didn’t take me seriously at first, but when I showed him a mock-up of the ticket, he saw the light.
He and I had several other contretemps over the years but ended up being friends in the end, primarily, I believe, because I did stand up to him in that first instance. I’ve won and lost battles to bullies in a similar fashion throughout my life and career.
Again, it’s not a perfect analogy of what we’re facing as a country, as a society, and as a planet. Even so, to my way of thinking, when you’re confronted with a challenge from someone who wants to toss around their power — real or make believe — you need to stand and deliver or sit down and shut up, taking what you deserve. You might indeed lose, but otherwise you’re just a coward for not trying.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 