Early Voting, Vehicles and Schedules, and a Wild Robot

[davetheanalyzer]

My family decided to vote early last Wednesday. Early voting was conducted at the town hall, in the theater room where my mom apparently did a few plays. It was a long and confusing process, with a line for first confirming who we are and handing us the ballot before going to a line on the other side of the theater where they confirmed our identities again and gave us envelopes. I got the sense more people were coming at the same time as us and the election workers were a bit understaffed. Filling out the ballot took longer than I expected, since the pens didn’t have enough ink to fill the bubbles. My younger brother had to remain behind for a few minutes due to a similar issue. We also had to go somewhere else in the building because we’re getting rid of a car and she wanted to double-check a few details. To my relief, it didn’t take long in the slightest. Apparently, early voting in our town’s a more recent option and when we stopped by to deliver car disposal paperwork later that week, the parking lot was still packed with early voters. I hope early voting and mail-in ballots become the norm in our state, it would make voting easier for everyone. At any rate, we voted for the Democrats. I did it to stop Trump but I’m still unhappy especially about their foreign policy conduct and will definitely still call my representatives every weekday to push them to stop supporting Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. 

We’ll have to deal with having only 1 car at the moment. The other was rarely used and it became too much of a time and cost sink with it repeatedly breaking down. I hope we’ll be able to manage since my younger brother, who can drive, has a weekend job he’ll now need to be dropped off at, and my older brother and I are still looking for jobs and have other appointments that might intersect with events where the car might be used. I guess that means we’ll have to be more diligent in putting our appointments and events on the calendar. I’m glad I decided to get a card for my next lung doctor appointment because when I had mine last week, I only knew I had 1 because I got a 24 hour reminder call. I don’t know if I never got a card or if it got lost but maybe I should write down those dates personally so I can be sure they’ll be there. I hope my insurance won’t force me to go too out of the way to get the care I need, since they’re changing how much they’ll cover and apparently a few providers I go to are going to stop accepting my insurance. Dang it, we need socialized healthcare in this country already!

I saw The Wild Robot. It was getting good reviews and it was my first time actually going to the movie theaters in a bit. I was mixed watching it but I did find I warmed to it by the end. The story’s about a robot shipwrecked on a untouched island named Roz and her attempting to follow some sort of purpose in a place with no humans. There’s a lot of humorous moments with Roz attempting to talk with and help animals, who run terrified or stare baffled. She finds her purpose when she raises a baby chick from a nest whose mother she accidentally killed. Fink the fox tries to take the egg but when that isn’t possible and sees she could get him food elsewhere, he cynically decides to help in raising Brightbill. The film deals a lot with finding purpose and how the various animals get along with each other. With predators and prey, it’s inevitable there’s conflict and there’s grim humor mined for it, with prey animals getting eaten or attacked. I thought a child of Pinktail the Opossum was eaten, only to learn later reading online that wasn’t the cause. Brightbill does seem happy but struggles with being accepted in his flock, with being a runt and his very atypical guardians.

Roz still struggles with emotions, so Brightbill gets understandably angry when he learns she killed his birth family and her seeming lack of emotions. But she does have feelings and after struggling with her purpose, recruits a hawk named Thunderbolt to teach Brightbill how to fly in his own way. I did like Longneck the goose flock leader for also being 1 of the few supporters of Brightbill and pointing out if not for Roz, his birth family would have let him die for being a runt. Roz seems to become sad with Brightbill gone but finds a new purpose when she wakes to an extreme winter that’s threatening everyone on the island. I did like the implied moment where she and Fink find someone who was already dead. Her and Fink fighting for the truce in their shelter until winter’s over was good. In order for them to survive, the animals have to put aside their differences and accept trying something new and strange.

Rozz has also been rewriting her programming to adapt to her new surroundings. Brightbill’s unique skillset turns out to be valuable for the flock when they get attacked seeking shelter in a human habitation and he can calmly lead the flock to safety, with Longneck shielding him from a blast. Fink learns to be compassionate to Brightbill and Roz in spite of himself, which helps his safety but makes him fulfilled. So when Vontra comes after Rozz’s brief distress signal and tries to put her back in her box, the animals of the forest work together and fight to free her. Only when Brightbill confesses his love for her as a mother does she break free and they put out the fire on the island. Accepting change and adapting allowed them to survive and fight back. Roz does go back to humanity prevent more trouble for the island but keeps her sentience a secret. I heard there might be a sequel, which would be interesting, with the implications of humans and their place in this climate-changed world. The film has death played for comedy a few times and Dreamworks has shut down their local animation team after finishing this film to pursue cheaper international options, which’s a corporate dick move. With that in mind, if this film sounds interesting to you, feel free to see it.

That’s all for now. Free Palestine. May Trump and his ilk be utter losers in this election and their political clique collapse out of relevancy. Until the end of November, see you!