90-Second Movie Review: Eden Showcases Sydney Sweeney's Acting Talent (She's Got More Going for Her Than Great Jeans)

 Eden, a 2024 movie directed by Ron Howard, is a tale about a small group of people who settle on Floreana Island, an uninhabited and almost waterless isle in the Galapagos, shortly after the end of the First World War. Based on actual events, Eden is a survivalist story, reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, The Mosquito Coast, and Into the Wild.

Jude Law plays Friedrich Ritter, a German philosopher who settles on Floreana to write a philosophical treatise that will save mankind from itself. Day after day, he types away on his portable typewriter, spouting a mishmash of philosophy that seems to be drawn from Nietche, Marx, Freud, and--who knows--Joseph Conrad. Dore Strauch, played brilliantly by Vanessa Kirby,  lives with him on the island as his paramour and muse, hoping to recover from multiple sclerosis.

Baroness Eloise, a beautiful sociopath played by Ana de Armas, arrives on Floreana accompanied by a two-man fan club and announces plans to construct a luxury hotel. She is bad news for everybody.

A married German couple also settles on Floreana. Heinrich Wittmer, a veteran of the First World War, and Margaret, his young wife, hope to build a home and lead an idyllic life far from the corruption and decay of post-war Germany.

Almost all the characters behave badly except Margaret, played against type by Sydney Sweeney. She becomes the movie's sole hero. In Eden's most dramatic scene, Margaret gives birth alone while fighting off feral dogs. Her husband and stepson are away hunting when she goes into labor, and she is too distracted by childbirth and wild canines to discover that the Baroness's two young lackeys are stealing her family's food.

All the actors gave outstanding performances, but I want to focus on Sydney Sweeney, who was recently vilified for appearing in a sexy ad for American Eagle jeans. Sweeney was criticized on several fronts, including the claim that her ad sexualizes women and promotes eugenics.   

Suppose you were swept into that silly American Eagle controversy and came away with a negative opinion of Sydney Sweeney. In that case, you should watch Eden, where Sweeney plays a courageous and somewhat plain young mother who stands by her principles in a stressful and hostile environment. 

Sweeney has a lot more going for her than great jeans.

Sydney Sweeney as Margaret Wittmer in Eden.

Trump sells Pelosi Federal Building to hamburger chain and renames Alcatraz prison in honor of Eric Swalwell

 President Trump's ongoing project to construct a ballroom at the White House ignited a firestorm of criticism from Democratic politicians. California Congressman Eric Swalwell demanded that all 2028 Democratic presidential candidates promise to demolish the luxurious dance venue if elected.

"Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE," Swalwell warned in an X post.

Stung by this criticism and seeking to assuage Democrats' outrage, Trump offered Swalwell an olive branch. "Effectively immediately," Trump announced, "I'm renaming the federal prison at Alcatraz the 'Eric Swalwell Federal Correctional Facility."

"I think Eric's gonna love it," Trump told reporters as he was boarding Air Force One. "He's gonna love the new tiled gang showers. They're HUGE!"

Later that day, Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, announced that the federal government is selling the Pelosi Federal Building to the In-and-Out Hamburger chain. In-And-Out is introducing a five-patty hamburger called the Pritzker Burger to celebrate the transfer.

Did someone say In-N-Out?

Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor Again? No, Worse. LSU FIRED Coach Brian Kelly!

Supported by my trusty walking cane, I hobbled out on the front lawn this morning to retrieve my local newspaper.  I immediately saw a giant headline--the huge fonts reserved for reporting on major catastrophes.

I wasn't wearing my eyeglasses, so I couldn't read the momentous news. What happened? 

Did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor again? Did Trump tear down the Washington Monument to make room for a new hotel?  Did Ireland reject Rachel Maddow's request for political asylum?

I stumbled back into my house, trembling with deep forboding, and retrieved my peepers. My god! The news was terrible--worse than a new world war. LSU fired Coach Brian Kelly less than 24 hours after the Texas Aggies whupped the Tigers 49 to 25.

Coach Kelly had promised LSU football fans too much--a run at the National Championship during the 2025 gridiron season. Kelly bragged that LSU had spent $18 million to assemble a fearsome roster of talented players, and a shot at the national title was in the bag.

More than that, LSU had landed the nation's most promising quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier. LSU reportedly paid Nussmeier $4 million in NIL compensation, a hell of a lot of money to give a college kid. However, LSU's athletic boosters must have thought the investment was worth it for an athlete who might win the Heisman trophy and be the next Joe Burrow.

Alas, as poet Robert Burns might have phrased it, the best laid plans of Yankee football coaches often go astray. The Tigers looked less than stellar throughout the 2025 football season. The humiliating loss to Texas A & M in LSU's own friggin' stadium was the final straw. Coach Kelly had to go.

Unfortunately for LSU, Coach Kelly's weekend firing is just the first chapter in a melodrama likely to last for months. The university will have to buy out Kelly's contract, which will cost over $50 million. Where will that money come from? 

The public will demand an accounting of the NIL money paid to LSU athletes. How much did each player get, and where did that money come from?

And LSU fans will be scrutinizing Scott Woodward, LSU's athletic director. Woodward is the guy who signed off on Coach Kelly's $100 million contract in 2021 and then fired Kelly yesterday evening. 

This is de ja vu all over again. Woodward was the athletic director at Texas A & M when that university bought out Coach Jumbo Fisher after a disappointing football season. That cost the Aggies $75 million!

With that track record, should Woodward be put in charge of hiring LSU's next football coach? And what will it cost LSU to entice a new coach into the viper's nest of LSU athletics? Kelly's contract promised him $10 million a year for ten years. The next coach may demand $15 million. 

The LSU-Coach Kelly fiasco will reverberate throughout the world of higher education. The cost of a college degree has reached an obscene level--even at public universities like LSU. 

Should colleges spend millions of dollars a year entertaining football fans on a dozen Saturdays every autumn while asking parents to take out college loans so their child can get a worthless degree in sociology? What the hell are we doing?

Texas Aggies annihilate LSU in Tiger Stadium, and Coach Brian Kelly Becomes the Naked Prey

In a Death Valley spectacle, Texas A & M annihilated LSU's beleaguered football team last night by scoring 49 to 25 in Tiger Stadium. The Tigers led the Aggies at halftime, a minor miracle, but early in the third quarter, LSU's team folded like a cheap suit.

LSU fans turned on Coach Brian Kelly as their team collapsed before the Aggies' relentless, almost robotic onslaught. Thousands joined a chant to fire Kelly, and disgusted LSU students streamed out of the stadium by the thousands early in the fourth quarter. 

What a debacle! Even the supposedly objective television commentators began speculating about Coach Kelly being cashiered in mid-season.  

 Watching the tragic drama on television from my home in southern Mississippi, I was reminded of the movie Naked Prey, in which an African explorer played by Cornel Wilde is doggedly pursued through the jungle by spear-chucking native tribesmen. No mercy!

Coach Kelly displayed remarkable composure during the post-game press conference, humbly taking full responsibility for his team's humiliating loss. He knows he will be fired.

Here's the problem. Coach Kelly makes $10 million a year as LSU's football coach, and the LSU Athletic Department will have to pay him more than $50 million to buy him out! 

And that's not all. Some of Kelly's coaching staff may also be let go, requiring more buyouts. 

And LSU will need to hire Kelly's replacement. What will that cost? Conceivably, the university will need to match Kelly's $10 million salary to entice a new coach to move to Baton Rouge.

My sympathies are entirely with Coach Kelly. What was LSU athletic director Scott Woodward thinking when he agreed to pay Kelly $100 million to coach the Tigers for ten years? Based on past experiences (coaches Les Miles, Ed Orgeron, Coach Gerry DiNardo, etc), he surely knew the day would come when LSU's fans and donors would turn on Kelly like howling spectators in the ancient Roman coliseum, and LSU would be forced to buy out his contract. 

Now you know why a beer costs almost a tenner at LSU home games and tickets sell for over a hundred bucks. 

But you can watch future LSU games with me at my home on Lake Mary Road, where the popcorn is free and there are three La-Z-Boy recliners. Just bring along your favorite beer and a six-pack of Shiner for me.

Go Tigers!

LSU fans have turned on Coach Kelly.

This Old Airport's Got Me Down: The End of Gracious Air Travel

This old airport's got me down,

It's no earthly use to me.

Gordon Lightfoot

As a young Alaska lawyer, I traveled almost a million miles in airplanes. I flew over three-quarters of a million miles in airline jets, mostly Delta, Alaska Airlines, and Markair. I flew another quarter of a million miles over bush Alaska in various small planes: Lockheed Electras, DeHavilland Beavers, and Cessna 185 Skywagons--the pickup trucks of the sky.

There was nothing glamorous about flying in small airplanes over the Alaska bush. I threw up once flying over Chickaloon Pass in a Cessna 152. 

And a young pilot scared me out of my wits flying out of Ketchikan in a DeHavilland Otter on a foggy afternoon--the plane loaded with ice cream and chainsaws for a logging camp. He had forgotten to secure a cargo door as we lifted off, which swung open and banged against the fuselage. Unperturbed, he landed in the water and walked out on a float to give the door a good slam.

In those days, flying commercial was altogether different from flying in the bush. The airlines served hot meals on some flights, and most passengers were fully clothed. I always wore a coat and tie when I flew. And there was a graciousness about commercial air travel then that's missing now.

I recall flying down the Yukon Valley in a chartered DeHavilland Beaver on a snowy winter night, hoping to catch a commercial flight from the Inuit village of Bethel into Anchorage. I was wearing a grey pinstriped suit and tie under a cashmere overcoat. The pilot was bundled up in a khaki-covered Carhartt survival suit and wearing a holstered Ruger .44 magnum revolver.

My pilot looked me over before boarding and laughed out loud at my attire, "One of us isn't dressed appropriately," he joked.

For some reason not explained, we took off late from the Yupik village of St. Mary, where I had attended a school board meeting.

 

Clearly, I wouldn't arrive in Bethel in time to board my commercial flight home to Anchorage. This was a serious problem for me because there were no overnight accommodations for Koss'aq  (white) travelers. 

About 50 miles out from the Bethel airport, my pistol-toting pilot radioed the control tower and asked for the Alaska Airlines jet, a Boeing 737, to wait for me. I  recall a radio response, but it wasn't clear to me whether my pilot's request was granted.

We landed in a snow flurry, and two Anchorage Airlines employees sprinted out of the terminal building to grab my luggage and hurry me through the metal detector. Both young women--one Yupik and one white--were coatless on this frigid Alaska night.

I looked down the runway and saw an Alaska Airlines jet parked on the tarmac, the tail painted with the iconic image of an Eskimo. The rear passenger door was open. They waited for me!

As I scrambled up the steps, I saw a young flight attendant standing in the doorway, her profile backlit by the interior lights, reminding me of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She was hugging herself against the cold.

I will be forever grateful to the Bethel Airport aircraft controller and the Alaska Airlines pilot who delayed a scheduled flight for me on that long-ago winter night. I often think of that night when I fly commercial these days, squeezed into an economy seat, issued a bag of peanuts, and placed next to an obese fellow traveler wearing pajamas and eating a carry-on pizza.

A memory of gracious air travel

 

Last Weekend's No Kings Rally: A Flyover Country Perspective

 No Kings rallies were staged nationwide last weekend, drawing several million protesters. Anti-Trump protesters said the exercise was a huge success, setting the stage for political action that would topple Donald Trump and his administration.

Trump supporters dismissed the No Kings protests as a political nothing burger attended mainly by white retirees who should have spent the weekend with their grandchildren.

Here's my take on the No Kings assemblies: 

First, "No Kings" is a poor slogan for a call to arms against the Trump administration. As several critics have noted, Donald Trump won the presidential election with 77 million votes and a solid majority of electoral votes. How can those election results be squared with the charge that Trump has undermined democracy?

Trump's critics charge him with acting regally and unconstitutionally--particularly concerning his efforts to deport illegal aliens. Yet virtually every one of Trump's policy actions has been challenged in the courts.

Trump has won some court battles and lost others, but the fact that our system of government permits judges to annul Trump's executive actions belies the charge that he is behaving like a monarch.  To my knowledge, his administration has defied a court order.

Second, the leftist media has framed the No Kings rallies as grassroots protests with broad support across all racial and economic sectors. However, photographs of protesters show them to be mostly retirement-age white people. And these events were funded by foundations and organizations linked to left-leaning billionaires. The Durden Dispatch reported that ultrawealthy benefactors donated almost a third of a billion dollars to help underwrite the No Kings events and that George Soros's ancient fingerprints were all over the project.

Finally, the protesters' utter lack of seriousness undermines any argument that a cross-cultural rebellion is brewing against President Trump. Videos of protests in cities across the United States showed attendees dressed in inflatable costumes. Indeed, people who identified with the "furry" movement showed up at No Kings events dressed like animals.

I happen to be reading the first volume of Rick Atkinson's masterful history of the Revolutionary War, and I am struck by the contrast between the no-king Americans of 1776 and last week's decidedly unserious protesters. The Americans who fought King George's armies risked being blown to pieces by British muskets and artillery or freezing to death crossing the Delaware River in December. 

I don't think the people who wore chipmunk costumes to last week's "No Kings" rallies have the moxie to do anything courageous to oppose the Trump administration--other than perhaps sending a small, tax-deductible donation to National Public Radio.