Month: March 2025

“A Complete Unknown” the Second Time

Poster photo comes under Fair Use

‘A Complete Unknown’ the Movie

I went to see A Complete Unknown when it was first released early in 2025. Although I enjoyed seeing the movie, it made me realize how little I actually knew about Bob Dylan and his illustrious career. As a result, I did not feel that I got the most out of seeing it as I could have.

Music was great. Acting by Timothée Chalamet was superb and I think he is better looking than Dylan. I have a feeling he is going to be someone who will be doing more great film work in the future.

The acting throughout the entire movie is very good led by Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning as Sylvia Russo. Barbaro and Russo bring their associations with Chalamet’s Dylan to a level where the romance is well displayed. Especially impressive is one scene at the Newport Folk Festival where Baez and Dylan sing a duet of “It Ain’t Me Babe.” You can just feel the chemistry between them boiling over.This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

Beautiful cinematography also makes this a good movie to see.

Some Research Helped

As mentioned in the start of this writing, I realized how little I knew about Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and folk music of that time. I wanted to see it again. But before I did that, I decided to do a little research. The research helped me gain a better understanding of many of the components of the movie.

So, his past Friday, I found A Complete Unknown on Hulu. I took the evening to watch it for my second time. And I am happy to report, I enjoyed it even more the second time I saw it. Pieces of Dylan’s work and life were more understandable.

Dylan Goes Electric

I do remember when Dylan went electric and how it upset many people. I wasn’t enough of a follower of his or folk music to be that concerned when it happened. I just kind of thought “oh ok, what was the big fuss?” But it is through this movie that the whole situation gets explained and now I understand why that happened.

March 28, 2025

Sumi and Sada Tamura under the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C. – March 28, 1925
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On March 28, 2025, there were a lot of national and international issues that affected today. Here are the three which were of most interest to me.

March 28, 2025 Stock Market Take a Hit

Dow Jones closed down 715.80 points or 1.69% to 41,583.90.

S&P 500 down 1.9% to 5,580.94. This marks the fifth time in the last six weeks.

Nasdaq Composite down 2.7% to 17,322.99.

Canada Feels the Relationship with the United States Has Changed

President Trump reported on a phone call with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, this being their first call. Trump said the call was “extremely productive.”

Carney said “Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty both in private and public, but added the relationship has changed.”

“It is clear that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. It is probable now that by negotiating we will able to restore an element of trust but we cannot go back,” Carney said.

More in this article:

https://apnews.com/article/canadian-prime-minister-mark-carney-trump-3dce332dc2c4b1cb9d034f70ef2920ff?fbclid=IwY2xjawJWMMBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfnlJfUl67NBjsxsfCx9mVsa9UErmz2ipnuDNv1tNL7qF0EPhulMDb_4Nw_aem_U2WMfFpfsb5HL2MWHocEdg

Finally on March 28, 2025:

Vance Changes Greenland Plans

Things did not go well for Mrs. Vance and the Vice-President in their Greenland visit.

Headline for this article: U.S. officials went door-to-door in Greenland to find anyone who wanted to be visited by the Vances. They found no one.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-officials-went-door-door-180606208.html

Greenland itself is rich with rare earth minerals, which are essential components in the production of cellphones, batteries, and other consumer technologies. – from the above mentioned article.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Trump’s and Vance’s sudden interest in Greenland?

March 28, 2025 Summary

All in all, this was a very active day for news. Watching these items were all related to the economy of which I have a special interest. But there was also more fall out from the Signal incident where Atlantic magazine Editor Jeffrey Goldberg was added onto what should have been a closed and private chat. I doubt we have heard the end of that one.