Searching

Plot: 16 year old Margot (Michelle La) disappears on the way on a Thursday night after studying with kids from school. Her Dad David (John Cho) isn't too worried at first, but no one can find her. He calls the police and Detective Vick (Debra Messing) volunteers to work on the case.David pokes around her computer looking a Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and a YouTube knockoff. It looks like a murder by a vagrant, but just as they are putting all behind them, one of the YouTube friend's turns out to have a fake photo, and the movie goes down a rabbit hole that leads to a roller coaster ending. Didn't see that coming. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This film is emotional and gripping even though it is primarily told in video chats, text messages, and cutting & pasting text. The technique is refreshingly different, but it worked great her.

Like a good mystery, you learn more and more, and then everything you thought you knew gets turned upside down. And it has an emotional roller-coaster as well. I really like how I gradually was aware that something was wrong.

The writing and directing is the real star of the movie. That is what makes it different and suspenseful. Director Chaganty says the editing was also critical, the way the test appears and the timing were critical.

Cast: John Cho, Michelle La, Debra Messing

Written and directed by: Aneesh Chaganty, this is his first movie.

Editted by: Nick Johnson, Will Merrick

The Music: A pretty piano heavy soundtrack by Torin Borrowdale

The Visuals: It is mostly computer screens, but there is some interest stuff, for example the screen gets pixelly when they want you to realize you are looking at a computer.  

Rating: 4.0 stars: .

More: There have been computer-only movies before such as the horror movie Unfriended.

Big time spoilers: When it comes down to it, this is a worst-case cyber-bullying story, where a quiet pretty girl is stalked by a nerdy, quiet boy, but when they meet IRL everything goes wrong and there is a fatal accident. Like idiots they cover up the accident, and draw in an ex-con to confess, but he might talk, so now it's a murder.

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This is the official poster with all the floating windows.
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Brooks Levitate 2

My original pair of Brooks Levitate shoes was getting old and too soft in the forefoot. I was happy with them, so I bought a second pair and this one is the third. There are approximately 650 miles on my old shoes. The new model is out: the Levitate 2.

Brooks promotes Levitates as having high energy return, and Popular Science did a nice review of shoe resilience and how much energy return can help a running. I know when I got my first pair of (high energy return) Adidas Boost, I thought it helped my running by 10-15 seconds a mile. PopSci also talks about the polyurethane foam midsole which is covered with shiny metallic paint.

The Levitate is stiffer than the Adidas Boost shoes that my local Dick's Sporting Good's carries. For my aging feet, the stiffer shoe provides support in the forefoot, and that helps to avoid discomfort in my big toe. I suspect that higher end Adidas shoes have more support, but I haven't have not had a chance to try them out.

Brooks has re-done the upper: all knitted fabric with a knitted cuff around the ankle. I like the cuff because it is comfortable. I got this blue/red/black design that my wife liked. I can't get over the unusual color pallet, maybe it is edgy, but I think it misses the mark. I may put black laces on it.

My Levitate 2's in size 11 weighs 363 grams, which is 5 grams lighter than my Levitate 1 shoe in the same size, that is one percent lighter. This is about 24 g  heavier than my other running Brooks shoes.

Although Levitate is promoted for energy return, I wear them because they make my feet feel better.

Wine Photos with a Twist Filter

Brook Levitate

   

It has been a while since I bought two pairs of the same kind of shoe in a row, as I have now the Brooks Levitate.  I bought my last pair in October, and this is what I wrote then. Those shoes have been good training shoes. I have alternated them with other kinds of shoes, and they don't seem worn out yet.

Anyway, my feet have been sore, and my old Brooks Levitates were the only ones that my feet liked. I bought another pair. Same model, but they are 4 grams lighter at 364 g each shoe.

The red stripe design is pretty flashy. No changes to the shoe otherwise.

The knit upper looks so much like a sock in the black color.!

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Sweat and Sports Drinks

Electrolytes are important to feeling well and to keeping a regular heart rate.  

The advertising says the sports drinks replace the electrolytes in sweat, so I looked that up. The concentration of Powerade and Gatorade seem to be about half that of sweat. That is not a problem for me since I believe people need to replace their water at a faster rate than they sweat it out. Meaning that water also leaves by respiration and by urination.

Composition of Sweat

Na       0.9g/L
K         0.2 g/L
Ca       0.15 g/L
Mg      0.0013 g/L

Powerade zero has

Na    0.41g/L
K      0.0907 g/L

The chart at right gives numbers from First Endurance, who makes a sports drink give similar numbers for sweat, and argues for a salt heavy beverage.




Sweat has many other ingredients like ascorbic acid (vitamin C, chloride ion, lactate, urea, creatine and uric acid). Link

Lactate was

Good Articles from GMO on investing

I came across this news letter. It has two interesting articles on why stock prices are so high, and when they will go down. The two articles are "Why are stock prices so high?" by Jeremy Grantham, and The S&P 500 Just Say No by Kadnar and Monteir

https://www.gmo.com/docs/default-source/public-commentary/gmo-quarterly-letter.pdf?sfvrsn=46

GMO is an investment company with $10 million minimums. [Although I see there is one GMO mutual fund listed on Schwab.com.]

Brooks Levitate

I had been waiting for the Brooks Levitate to come out because they have content from co-workers at BASF.  More on shoe design here and here.

I was happy to see that Brooks stepped up the styling for Levitate especially in the Black and Gray color.  I was surprised to see a metallic coating over the midsole. The metallic looks good and shows of the angles of the midsole, like it does on an automobile.

I don't buy running shoes for looks, but after they wear out as running shoes, I will wear them as casual shoes, and the appearance is more important then.

Levitate has a showy metallic coating on the midsole. 

You can see it has knit upper, and the darker part has a coating to stiffen it. The knit upper is soft and comfortable. I had no issue with it binding too tight on my bunion. 

The outsole has this chevron pattern, and I imagine it is for rain and trial running. Often Brook's shoes have a horseshoe pattern, as in the Launch. The horseshoe pattern is supposed to help with heel spurs. Happily I don't have any heel spurs. 🤞

I got a size eleven which had a large toe box, and plenty of room. Maybe a 10.5 would have worked. I wear an eleven in my Brooks Glycerin and a 10.5 in the Launch.  

A size eleven shoe weighed 368 grams. This is heavier than the Brooks Glycerin 15's at 338, the Ghost 9's at 335 and the Launch at 292g. My Adidas Pure Boost is 331, and the Nike Pegasus is 311g. I think these shoes are heavier because they will last longer. 

I took these out for a ten mile run this morning. They were comfortable for the whole run even through the shoes were new. The sole was firm and seemed to grip the road well. I was trying to gauge the energy return, and I can say they are a bit stiff but still comfortable. 

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Brooks Glycerin 15 and Adidas Pure Boost

I never bought a pair of Brook's Glycerins because they were so heavy. I would try them on, and it was just too much foam under my feet. These Glycerin 15's weigh 338 g, which is a tiny bit heavier than my Ghost 9's at 335g, and noticeably heavier than the Brook's Launch at 292 g. (These are in size 11. The size 10.5 were 333 g; that was too small and I took them back.)

I wonder if the new Glycerin 15 is going to be as protective because there only 3 grams heavier. Maybe I should have tried on those Ghosts again. 

The last shoes I bought were the lighter weight Brook's Launch, which I haven't worn too much because my feet have hurt. I am not blaming the Launch, because I haven't worn them much, however, I would have worn them more if my feet felt better.

One of my problems is walking around barefoot too much in the summer. I keep trying to make myself wear sandals, and that is helping slowly.

Do you like the style? The black looks better than the other colors, but Brook's shoes just look like running shoes, while many Nike running shoes have more design. (Of course, I didn't like those as well on my feet.) These Brook's beat the hell out of the Adidas Pure Boost below for style. See below.

Prior to the Glycerin 15's I had purchased these Adidas Pure Boost, which have a big chuck of springy foam on a simple upper and outsole. They feel great to walk around in, but can simply be too soft in the forefoot. They were the only Boost Shoe that was in stock at my local Dick's Sporting Goods. I wanted to try these on, because I have had trouble buying Adidas shoes via the internet because the fit wasn't right. I did not want another shoe that was too small. 

These shoes are 331 grams, just 2 grams less than the Glycerin's that I think are so heavy. 

My other Boost shoes have lasted a long time. Two pairs were retired because of the upper rather than wear on the sole. 

These are about the plainest shoes in the store. They make the Brook's look fashionable. They were only $79.99 which is much less than the $150 that I paid for Boost shoes when they were new. Presumably the upscale ones look better, but my local Dick's didn't have them.  I am guessing Adidas put these low-end shoes out for back-to-school sales. 

I am not so happy buying so many shoes so fast. I hope to rotate these shoes and not buy more for a while.
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Brooks Launch

I got these Brooks' Launch 4 shoes on April 1, 2017. Not sure why I got them, I had just done a race, and I thought my old shoes were a little to heavy for racing in. Also my feet were not sore, so I thought I lighter shoe would be more fun to run in. 

This Brooks shoe is better looking all the other Brooks that I have had. 

I am pretty happy with these. I haven't had sore feet after wearing them despite the relatively thinner sole. 

One shoe weighs 292 grams. My Brooks Ghost 9's weighed 335 g and the my Brook's Ghost 8's weighed 345g.  

I love this image. The color is so bright, and I like how the texture of the sole is visible with the laces fuzzed out. 

For once I took photos before wearing the shoes, and they are clean for a change. 

19 Intrinsic Crimes -- Two Favorite Wine Labels

I was at the wine store. And depraved person the that I am, I bought two bottles because I like the graphic design on the label. The Intrinsic, which is a Cab from Washington State, had a wrap around label, so I took a picture with the panoramic function on my phone -- worked great.

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