"It's horrific and beautiful at the same time."

If there was a movie from the movie Gods that was tailor made to make me happy, Don't Look Up is that movie.

I watched it three times the weekend it came out, and I'm watching it again right now.

I love news, pop culture, politics, books, space and a lot of other things in life. Don't Look Up is a perfect mix of all of those things.

For the two people in the world who haven't seen it, here's a tl;dr: A comet is heading towards Earth, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play scientists who try to warn the president. Instead of actually giving a shit, Jonah Hill, the Chief of Staff at the White House, criticizes Jennifer Lawrence for what she's wearing.

People deny the comet's existence. The president sends a nude photo to someone and gets caught. There's an Ariana Grande concert in there. There are more politicians being morons.

Basically, if we rely on politicians to save the world, we're all totally screwed. Earth is totally screwed.

And, there's a George Strait song playing when people finally see the comet in the sky, which is pretty cool in my book.

My favorite parts:

"Easy there, boy with the dragon tattoo."

"He bought a Gutenburg Bible and then lost it."

"May Jesus Christ bless each and every single one of you, especially young members of my own party."

"He's from a different generation."

"We really did have it all, didn't we?"

But my most favorite quote of all: "Thanks for dressing up."

This movie nailed it so hard, it could not nail it more. Because I've lost count of the number of times (in a former job) that I was in a meeting with a powerful man who only commented on my appearance and what I was wearing instead of the thing I was actually talking about.

That is spot on how women are treated in the world.

Thank you, movie Gods, for giving me Don't Look Up.

That's my brand of humor and I love it.

Caveat: I heard Neil deGrasse Tyson speak at SXSW back in the day. I even blogged about it!

My favorite thing he said ever: "I wonder if we're smart enough to figure the universe out. We define ourselves as intelligent. But we're the ones who came up with the test."

Hint: We are not smart enough to figure the universe out. We're pretty stupid.

Space and stuff.

Confession time: I have a huge girl crush on all things NASA, space, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

I was pretty excited to have this conversation…until it actually happened. 🤷‍♀️

My Dad: Are you excited for the James Webb Space Telescope?

Me: Yes. But we won’t get any images for six months, so don’t get too excited.

(Crickets.)

My Dad: Hey Dad, are you excited for the James Webb Space Telescope?

Me: Hey Dad, are you excited for the James Webb Space Telescope?

Dad: Yes! We need a little closer look at Uranus.

(NOT. MY. JOKE.)

🤣

But we came up with the test.

Space, the universe, stars, and the Christmas Star have all been topics of conversation amongst my family this week.

It all eventually boils down to a saying that my Dad and I say to each other often.

"You think there's intelligent life out there?" he asks me.

I reply with a quote from Contact: "It'd be an awful waste of space if there's not."

And then we start talking about this blog post, where I quote Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson: "I wonder if we're smart enough to figure out the universe. We define ourselves as intelligent. But we came up with that test."

I'm glad that I created a blog and captured that instant.

https://kansasmusings.blogspot.com/2014/03/geek-central.html