Cure or Quintain?

Staycation almost over, wondering when journeys begin and services reopen. Temperatures soaring, already down to single ply cycling apparel. Repeatedly downplayed by current US administration, COVID-19 has claimed one third of global total in a country with only 5% of its population. Virologists predict American fatalities to double or triple by August, since warmer weather seems no deterrent. Freak out has barely begun. Every step is fraught with uncertainty, and grows increasingly dangerous. Death on the doorstep, you want to record history precisely yet take in everything simultaneously so as to miss nothing. From movies and videos you can absorb entire stories in short order, faster than reading. Speed seems elementary to deductive success. However, hurry results in errata, but histories will be revised anyway to suit some big shot’s agenda.

“Do you mind not being a Motaur? For those born to ride...” shouldn’t that be Bicitaur? In ancient jousting, quintain was a swiveling tee with a flat target and heavy weight on either end; should you strike target riding too slowly, weight would swing around to knock you off your steed. It’s like a medicine that initially soothes only to rebound with worse maladies, or rushing to reopen that costs many times more deaths than waiting would. Then again, pharmaceutical companies would be content to invent diseases that only they can prevent, thereby charge ridiculous prices everyone would begrudgingly pay to avoid lament and mortality. For decades they’ve eyed mutating influenza as an angle to produce vaccines for lucrative profits streams, but weighed downsides of heinous fatality, herd immunity, and hurtful verdicts. Lust for profits despite collateral damage of the unsuspecting may be the ultimate horror.

Over his short life of short story writing, penurious Howard Phillips Lovecraft was known to ply Providence streets by bike. Excerpt from The Picture in the House, 1920: “I had been travelling for some time amongst the people of the Miskatonic Valley in quest of certain genealogical data; and from the remote, devious, and problematical nature of my course, had deemed it convenient to employ a bicycle despite the lateness of the season... Now I found myself upon an apparently abandoned road which I had chosen as the shortest cut to Arkham; overtaken by the storm at a point far from any town... I did not hesitate to wheel my machine up the weedy rise to the closed door which seemed at once so suggestive and secretive. I entered, carrying my bicycle, and closed the door behind me.” Lucky for curious cyclist, a violent thunderstorm suddenly destroys cannibal host in decrepit house, and spares him.

Of the many writers who died believing they made no impression or were abject failures, none found more posthumous fame than Lovecraft: Penniless genius, possibly racist, rather resentful of folks who never missed a meal, and seriously possessed. Once considered a pulp hack, a century later Lovecraft has been called a major American author, compared equal to Edgar Allen Poe, and considered a huge influence on all genres of novels. Having survived the Spanish Flu pandemic, which undoubtedly distorted his notion of the unknown into dread, he nevertheless died young of intestinal cancer. Fans of Batman will know Arkham Asylum for Criminally Insane, which was loosely based upon Danvers State Hospital in northeast Massachusetts.

Tales That Witness Madness (Freddie Francis, dir., 1973) has two doctors discussing four cases. In one, Timothy (Peter McEnery), an antiques dealer, inherits a penny-farthing bicycle from his aunt, which seems to have time travel capabilities overseen by the haunted portrait of dead Uncle Albert. Albert gets him to sit on bike, whereby he’s conveyed to a simpler time and falls for a dopplegänger of his current fiance (both played by Suzy Kendall). Not the first or last time filmic bicycles permitted time travel says IMDB.com. In fantasy short Wreck Less Abandon (Baily Rose, dir., 2011) a female gang uses bikes and fashions to search for their missing lovers, who were captured by X-rays.

Beleaguered 1950’s mom of nine kids Julianne Moore, wife of ne’er-do-well Woody Harrelson, enters contests and emerges as The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (Jane Anderson, dir., 2005). Her first prizes consist of $5,000, which becomes a down payment on a home mortgage, and a Western Flyer bike, which replaces junk her kids are trying to fix. Knack and luck with jingles, mom’s happy outlook while facing hardship makes for a heartwarming story based on fact. Now, you may remember punk band Defiance, Ohio, whose song Bikes and Bridges (2008) seems to reflect this family’s desperate dysfunction. “...on the back seat of a bike and all my fears get washed away... It's been such a hard season, and the bridges we burned might be all we had to keep us from drowning. But at least we had this time; and I'd like to think we're better off for it... Hearts aren't made of glass, they're made of muscle and blood and something else, and they don't so much as break as bend and tear. We have what it takes to keep it together; and move on.”

Several scenes in We Are Legion: Story of Hacktivists (Brian Knappenberger, dir., 2012) show freedom fighters on bicycles. None was so gratifying as when Anonymous Chanologists targeted Neo-Nazi talk show host Nat Turner [shown], a plump chump shilling for wealthy oligarchs and white supremacists such as Trump. Beware that religious cults and repugnant fascism continue uncensored, whereas revolutionaries for democratic rights and free speech, who mount counterattacks through legal civil disobedience, will be beaten, censored, and prosecuted to the full extent of law. You can buy a mask or mug with a swastika, but you’re not entitled to expose crimes or learn where your tax tithing really goes. While convening on streets to protest may not be practical now, internet tactics are possible if questionably ethical. Just who your heroes are becomes debatable: Mean geeks, nameless freaks, paid agitators, or putative leaders?

How about international law enforcers and social welfare activists who fight the fastest growing criminal enterprise: Child sex trafficking? In these heroic roles portrayed in Trade of Innocents (Christopher Bessette, dir., 2012), Dermot Mulroney and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino play Alex and Claire Becker, who for Cambodian government are trying to rescue several of 1.2 million children who are trafficked each year according to UNICEF estimates. Claire, who commutes to a shelter by bicycle, befriends local bike shop owner, whose granddaughter has been targeted by a vicious pimp after he murders her older sister. Poverty forces some families to sell girls as young as 5 to brothels, while billionaires and millionaires make themselves comfortable ignoring such gut-wrenching outrages. Doesn’t silence invite violence? People who don’t do everything possible to prevent crime are equally culpable.

Low budget Christian thriller Seven Deadly Words (Eric Benson, dir., 2013) has bicycling pastor Roy Lynam fighting to revitalize a failing church against a privileged family intent on dominating decisions and funneling donations into pet projects. To trick playground hooligans into attending services, he bets them his flash bike he can shoot a basketball from downtown; when it doesn’t swish, he explains, “I said shoot, not make the shot.” There are a lot of empty promises throughout, but what did you expect?

Not quite done, 71 year old Harry Dunn (Steven Durgarn), with the help of his granddaughters, learns to ride a bike to attempt a ride across the country with his reluctant son (Mark Nash) in Old Dogs Never Die (Jim Dougherty, dir., 2016). Yup, people of means with good intentions used to embark on bionic adventures. Lately, cities have nightly curfews, so this would never work.

After putting down his infected father, James Boland continues baking and delivering Zombie Pizza (Mike Dudko, dir., 2017) by bike despite viral apocalypse. Reputedly, it’s the first feature film to be shot entirely without a camera, only GoPro digital action recorder used by BMX-ers and other sportifs. “Who in hell wants pizza now?” “Everyone.” Someone must shoulder production tasks; seems in these days of misplaced priorities majority expects to survive on diminishing handouts.

“Excessive wealth in the hands of the few means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot of the many... Fully to know the evil is the first step towards reaching its eradication.” Rutherford B. Hayes, antebellum president, called “Rutherfraud” for winning election on smallest of margins, most liberal Republican in nation’s history known for personal integrity, who vetoed Democratic bills that supported Ku Klux Klan and suppressed black voting rights. Never what parties say, it’s what individuals do that matters.

Fin du Mondaine

Pandemic woke up an old boomer, who finds satisfaction in each obscure yet informative explanation and obtuse political pontification. Points made, promptly nods off again. Nobody listens. Had Woodstock Nation not totally tuned out against fascist exclusivity and relentless thievery, world might be a better place with fewer deaths and less disgrace. Alas, efforts that go into resistance strengthen malfeasance in almost every case. Demonstrations have lost clout no doubt due to interpersonal distance; knocks against press, lack of substance, and mistrust on all sides combine to give con men credence and leaders license. Health paranoia has also incited history’s fifth (or sixth depending upon who’s counting) bike boom, as urban commuters avoid busses, subways, and trains for a safer option.

Insufferable trolls, measurable insanity, and mob mentality are why consensus fails and democracy derails. But that’s the point, no? Baiting through namecalling, claims of best yet and boundless confidence, continually shifting positions, doxing on scant evidence, and insincere appeals to explain and prove are what insiders intentionally do, so confusion can raise fears and power can be consolidated. Provocateurs act as if Academy Award, medical license, Nobel or Pulitzer Prize, PhD, and stellar resume are no more remarkable than common sense, and everyone is intellectually equal. Nonsense. But when experts offer advice and you refuse based on hunches, pray only you die or suffer, not infect anyone else or unnecessarily run up costs to society. Such are the bugs mankind primarily needs to avoid. It’s not what you say but what you do that matters; one does say “indeed” to affirm a fact.

Interpreting motives behind online chatter isn’t as difficult as convincing partisans they are being brainwashed, duped and manipulated. It’s not just campaign rhetoric but covert coercion. Stories of fabulous lives in spotlights often disguise persuasion to waste your life desperately chasing impossible dreams so agents and producers can select among most talented and profit enormously from their unpaid sacrifices. In addition to 32 bit data encryption flying over wavelengths and wifi, secrets hide in plain sight through, among other things: bitcoin transactions, backmasking tracks in songs, crossword puzzles, cryptocurrency, cryptography, foreign translations, idioms, image metadata, location tracking, malware, metaphors, passwords, patterns of behavior, selection bias, semiotics, smartphone GPS pings, steganography of data within data, subliminal suggestion, supposedly private forms, sudokus, survey responses, symbology, television programming, textual anagrams, trojans, unforeseen consequences, violence desensitization, viruses, and zebra codes.

Ancient humans after millennia began to appreciate and exploit season cycles and signs in nature. These days facial recognition and profiler software promise to anticipate what you’ll buy or do and discriminate meanings from apophenic readings, fanciful imaginings, and schizophrenic leanings. Statistics don’t directly reveal causality. More things happen wherever people spend most of their time. Few things occur in deserted deserts, lots in densely packed cities. But neither will you remain disease free by ignoring factuality. As in all things, balance is key. You may conduct internal investigations without becoming dysfunctional or being certified crazy.

Conspiracy theorists speculate that COVID-19 was a weapon to weed out undesirables; it targets homeless, old, stupid, vulnerable and weak who are dole recipients and non-producers. It also cowers survivors. ”Important in managing a herd is to destroy all forms of critical thinking, in particular anything that challenges the supremacy of private property.” Eli Zaretsky, Culling the Herd, May, 2020. However, it may not be a “a grand conspiracy among sentient capitalist overlords - lately the much-maligned 1%. Rather... the result of a discursive system of actors/agents from all socioeconomic strata making (false) choices based on a shared body of internalized messaging that ultimately and accidentally result in The Way Things Are... Monocled robber barons are simply the ones best positioned to capitalize on the fallout,” as Robert Ware commented. Debacle of budget cuts and priorities, “Tells you something about the nature of the sociopathic buffoons who are running the government, and the country’s suffering from it,” opined Noam Chomsky concerning America being contagion’s epicenter.

All you have to do is be attentive, react sensibly, and think things through, what most people prefer to avoid. Bicycling in latest advertising still flags salubrious and smart; be assured next pharma ad will show them, no matter how ludicrous their storyline. When a vehicle was being driven badly, took notice though suddenly nauseated: Black Chevy pickup with a MAGA plate. Must accumulate ghastly amounts at any cost signifies crass greed, self interest, sheer stupidity, and wanton prejudice, what any law abiding American would never condone.

Disgusting how far America has slipped from decency, leadership, morality and statesmanship, but such betrayals aren’t new. Nixon promoted bumper sticker patriotism with Love it or Leave It platitudes. Inadvertently, improvement can be a double-edged sword; a better nation makes you a target for invasion. Advancements only the rich can afford create widespread resentment. Helping entire world to grow at same rate is one solution, though dictators and theocrats disagree, since it undermines their oppression and powerlust. Corruption and greed hurt everyone, including self. Such a paragraph probably sounds insufferably righteous, but consider conditions that motivated writing it.

Reached the rock bottom of boob tube addiction by watching daytime broadcasts. Left a dirty feeling, as if sifting through ash trays for roaches to roll one more spliff. Saw rerun of season 4, episode 54, bike lane blockage (February, 2019) where Mablean not-a-judge-just-play-one-on-TV Ephriam handed down a decision that was a blatant miscarriage of justice based on federal and state laws she’s supposed to uphold. Perhaps plaintiff didn’t prepare his case well, but any vehicle operator who injures a bicyclist or pedestrian is always 100% at fault. The presence of bike lanes doesn’t confine bicyclists to them, especially when an armored vehicle parks in one; they can still use all of street, for example, shifting into passing lane for a left turn. Motorists have to anticipate swerving, let bicyclists be, pass with a wide margin, or slow until they can. Mablean punted decision to city, who can never be approached or sued, thus provided victory for her preferred defendant. Pilate likewise washed his hands to do what was politically correct with no forethought of a future full of warfare justified by phony spiritual fervor. If not gospel, something else would have

to suffice, such as race, since ambitious asshats full of avarice just aren’t nice.

Practically as bad, Adult Swim collects drug addled anarchy posing as puerile, possibly psychotic anime. Spaceman (Dan Britt, producer, 2018) says, “If you play like a child, you will never grow old.” Earthman figures, “There are two possible interpretations to this, but I think what he meant was if I taught him to do a wheelie, I would live forever.” Earthman did choose correctly, but eternal life doesn’t turn out to be the boon he expected.

Supposedly went from ridiculous to sublime by viewing documentary Secrets of the Universe (Stephen Low, dir., 2019), really brief biographies of 20th Century physicists from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking. Cambridge University in 1970’s England reeked of cycling reminders for a quadriplegic to ponder when he wasn’t exploring space-time with his unfettered mind.

Is entire world coming to an end, or only society’s mundane smugness that everything will turn out fine as long as you’re fit and rich, no matter how many meanwhile perish? Six-part television miniseries Good Omens (Douglas Mackinnon, 2019) pitted evil against good in a merry manner based on novel of same name by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett. When Anathema Device (Adria Arjona) moves from beachside Malibu to a small village in Oxfordshire, England, she arrives by bicycle, then begins pedaling countryside searching for young Adam, The Antichrist (Sam Taylor Buck), who she wants to kill to save world from Armageddon. Corrupt nuns, crucifixion disrespect, cyclist heroine, feminist savior, fey angel (Michael Sheen), God as a woman (Frances McDormand), hipster demon (David Tennant, aka Doctor Who), widespread satanism, and witchcraft normalcy: Little wonder humorless Christian patriarchs hated it and lobbied hard to get it cancelled. Adam and his foursome ride their bikes to encounter apocalypse after Anathema nearly gets pulled up into a tornado, as if another wicked witch. Demon Crowley’s classic Bentley has a cassette player, but all recordings quickly revert to Queen’s Greatest Hits, heard repeatedly throughout, reminiscent of Freddie Mercury’s bare ass fat bottomed Bicycle Race in Wembley Stadium. Celt’s Boudica and Lady Godiva figuratively rock on in something finally worth watching. Alpha Aquarians will inherit everything, maybe accomplish millennials’ aqua aura policies of peace, because ancient farts from previous century just couldn’t see past greed to leave a worthwhile legacy.

Adam Raised Cain

Worst Bike Month Ever: Established by League of American Bicyclists 64 years ago, you'd think they'd promote this cycling tribute all the more given it's a chance for individuals to get crucial exercise and fresh air without risking gym visits during an epidemic. Instead they've postponed until September. Can't even offer to lead group rides because of liabilities of infecting people, though health policy surgeon Marty Makary explains that more people contract diseases indoors than outdoors, and urges fitness activities alfresco as long as you maintain distanced by 6 feet and remain masked on every street. Can't blame Labann, since recommend nothing; participation is your own choice.

Today would have been Bike-to-Work Day. Instead, dodged coronavirus, drove to market, swabbed all groceries, washed everything twice including self, then watched films, a full time occupation without gainful employment. Most fit general categories: Action/adventure sagas, biography/history pics, chick/date flicks, crime/detective dramas, horror/slasher films, romance/tearjerker melodramas, science fiction speculations, war/western nostalgia, and whatnot not so easily pigeonholed. For decades SyFy prepared viewers for viral contagion and zombie apocalypse as vicarious thrills. Not so amusing when life actually resembles worst of these nightmares. And what will new normal be after this huge time out? Businesses won’t recover? Desperate bash and grab begins? Entitlements and investments get eliminated? Reactions, sanctions, warfare?

Scanned through scores of Lifetime made-for-television movies. In their dumbed down world of petty jealousies and teen cruelties, characters barely ever go outdoors, bumble behind the fourth wall and within some privileged hall, so none displays bicycling culture at all, rather multiple ways to misbehave and mock moral protocol. Now understand how the unenlightened don’t pedal integral to living, though those portrayed seem more miserable than bicyclists in general, gladiators in a draconian arena. All films can't be equal or great, but low budgets don't necessarily mean bad acting or uninteresting ideas. In fact, you find more fascination, inspiration, plot twists, reality, and warmth while conversing with nobodies than in grandiose tales of make believe ideals. Fiction stinks of idioms, metaphors, morality, what could be, if only... Truth reveals itself in what people actually do, not what they say. Science collects such instances and creates strategies for sailing through inconsistencies, such as quarantining most vulnerable by numbers of infected among age, gender, and race, or whether inoculated with common influenza, then tracing disease back to ground zero to find cures, though advancements take lifetimes. Mankind merely exists within nature and will never dominate it no matter what Bible preaches or pundits espouse.

There’s no honor among thieves on Perfect Friday (Peter Hall, dir., 1970), when stuffy manager Stanley Baker plots to rob own bank along with a Lady (Ursula Andress) and Lord (David Warner). He sits apathetically as another London taxi forces a bicyclist into curb onto butt, and through an argument in which driver ridicules innocent victim as a “bleeder”. Can't trust bankers, but government relief will nevertheless wind up in their hands.

Black high school basketball star Rob Brown, after Finding Forester (Gus van Sant, dir., 2000), befriends and gets mentored by aging, agoraphobic, Pulitzer Prize writer William Forester (Sean Connery). Famous but reclusive, when establishment makes accusations of plagiarism, Forester goes to bat for Brown. In something of a reversal, not kid but O.G. is the bicyclist, as was Connery’s character James Bond back in the ’60’s, perhaps on same bike.

In remake of Carpenter’s The Fog (Rupert Wainwright, dir., 2005), Maggie Grace breezes back onto Antonio Island off Oregon’s coast, but soon becomes bogged down in a supernatural threat. She finds a journal that explains why townsfolk are being murdered, which leads back to crimes committed by founding fathers, whose likenesses were cast in bronze a century later, as shown. Turns out she herself belongs among these spirits as the reincarnated wife of vengeful sea captain, whose crew contracted leprosy and spread through entire colony while trading with China. Crimes of ancestors can haunt the living, though you can’t legitimately share glory or shame of those with same name.

Nobody paid much attention when Carriers (Alex & David Pastor, dirs., 2009) debuted. Brothers (Chris Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci) cross desert Southwest with girlfriends (Emily VanCamp and Piper Perabo) doing whatever they must to avoid inhaling virulent contagion. Delineates a crass descent to depths of indifference for anyone else, and Darwinian predation for dwindling resources in a dire struggle to survive. Could also restate Republican worldview, who'd have everyone injudiciously return to what they do to feed their greed and speed profits they need to retain power while minions bleed and cower. Kept latest email from Trump, who pathetically attempted to shame donors into coughing up $37 minimum for his reelection presumption. Deserted destination at least has a bicycle, something useful with fuel scarcity.

Charles Fihiol, a schizophrenic from rural Louisiana, considers Joan D’Arc, depicted in a New Orleans monument, as his Invisible Girlfriend (Ashley Sabin & David Redmon, documentarians, 2009). She has no complexion in the darkness of his mind. One winter he bikes 500 miles just to see her and a sexy barmaid named DeeDee he once knew and liked. As did Dorothy in OZ, he encounters a straw man, strong winds, tin man with a crutch, wizard, and witch.

Mona (Bailee Madison) questions her former math teacher, next door neighbor J. K. Simmons (narrator, Netflix’s documentary Coronavirus Explained), why he wears wax numerals as neck pendants, though she knows they represent his varying mood levels as An Invisible Sign (Marilyn Agrelo, dir., 2010). Decades later, as a reluctant teacher herself, Mona (Jessica Alba) learns to accept responsibility and be an adult who helps children with similar issues. Nether life or love is an equation; both defy qualification and quantification. Windows with teddy bears notwithstanding, what traumas will coronavirus pandemic visit on child psyches?

A family takes their 1929 summer vacation in UK’s Lake District, where mailmen still deliver telegrams by bicycle to Swallows & Amazons (Philippa Lowthorpe, dir., 2016), what children call themselves as rival crews of thus named sailboats. Skullduggery is afoot, and they bravely save the day among irresponsible adults who seem unaware of personal protective gear, such as life preservers for children camping and sailing unsupervised on one of England’s deepest lakes.

With global doom assured before dawn, artists Shanyn Leigh and Willem DeFoe do what they always did: Make love and more art, meditate, order Chinese takeout, and watch as events unfold in 4:44: Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, dir., 2012). What else can you do? A bicycle sits idle as they perch in their loft overlooking New York City while humanity fritters away remaining hours. How did we arrive at this inexorable conclusion?

Horizontal mambo gets stale for urban couple Sylvia and Mark (America Ferrera and Ryan Willams) in X/Y (Ryan Piers Williams, dir., 2014). They seek advice and solace from friends, including bisexual bicyclist, expressionist artist, fashion model, and serious surfer Jake (Jon Paul Philips, shown), who gives Mark more than he expected.

Viveik Kalra plays a Pakistani youth who was Blinded by the Light (Guinder Chadha, dir., 2019) in late 1980’s small town England, who burns for a better life without fear of fascists and father, so finds magic in The Boss’s gift for lyric among songs that speak to him of victories less pyrrhic. As a consequence, he loses his shell, makes a friend (Aaron Phagura), and meets a love interest (Nell Williams), who break out together, dance through town, and ride their bikes to Springsteen cadences.

“You know it's never over, it's relentless as the rain. Adam Raised a Cain. You're born into this life paying for the sins of somebody else's past... Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain. Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame.” Bruce Springsteen from Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978

Le Pétomane

Went forth early on roads presumed empty and safe, but found several crowded and dicey, full of pedestrians convening without masks, now required by law locally. So, later looked for bits of bicycling culture never before noticed, and found plenty with little difficulty, stuff to occupy mind and time instead of rumors of contagion casualties surpassing those of Viet Nam War. No point crying crocodile tears over decline of journalism, which you killed by enabling conservatives, Nixon, Reagan, The Bushes, and Trump, who did everything possible to destroy and discredit labor unions and the press, sole opposition to their power mad constituency: religious establishment and rich oligarchs. Fake news or fascist resurgence? Do you get to pick? They only succeeded in exiling journalists to blogs, dark web, social media. Doesn't matter how much dirt you bury truth under, it sprouts. But you'll never get back $50 trillion they stole from US treasury, or witness speedy recovery from latest pandemic's enormous hit on economy.

Since contagion is aided by air pollution. Brussels, London and Paris now encourage cycling as a way to fight COVID-19, while Italy and Spain still prohibit outdoor activities. French esteem liberated individuals, from peloton champions to previous century fartomaniacs who put tush upon a bike saddle to push into town and perform. And you thought no more rhymes with Bike&Chain were possible as titles. Might as well read and ride virtually, though in a mad rush to be marketable or topical many writers will betray truth and say anything that comes to mind, however unremarkable, when one should be rethinking what bad leadership did to land you in this pickle, such as cut funding to disease watchdogs. Their zero sum game nears its conclusion. Among amusements, visceral and vulgar repeatedly beat virtuous and zealous. Time to clear the air of poisons. Can’t confine bodies to armchairs and indoors forever, since they break bonds and bust out of prisons.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (Glen Ficarra & John Requa, dirs., 2011) stars Steve Carell (bicycling nerd in The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Julianne Moore as his soon to be ex-wife. Despite differences in ages, babysitter Analeigh Tipton badly wants him, while son Jonah Bobo wants and woos her with flowers he delivers by bike. Carell’s coach for dating scene reentry Ryan Gosling falls for Emma Stone, later revealed as Carell’s adult daughter. Complicated intertwined plot lines didn’t interfere with award nominations/wins and box office success.

In northern Serbia, young adult pharmacy intern Hana Selimović catches up with childhood boyfriend and deadbeat globetrotter Mladen Sovilj in Neposlušni (The Disobedient, Mina Djukic, dir., 2014). Sparks fly amidst contagion that has people fleeing village and wearing masks. Despite risks, couple embark spontaneously on a bicycling trek across sun baked countryside, she draws a bucolic scene including a bike on his bare back, then they return to crash a wedding. She wonders if they can build a life together given their shared disrespect for authority and convention.

Communist statesman and Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda wrote a famous poem about bicycles, as already noted in appendix to B&C. So, flashes of them naturally belong in post-WWII Chile in biopic Neruda (Pablo Larrain, dir., 2016). So many people today pit conservatives against liberals you wonder what thorough brainwashing took place that lies could ever displace what history does already trace. Deprived of civil freedoms, communists on several fronts overthrew fascists, who forever mistreat and oppress in favor of ruthless totalitarianism and tightfisted domination, whatever dictators call their regimes. Must extol poets past and present who fearlessly face persecution to serve mankind and strengthen civilization.

Rose Clear/McNulty (Rooney Mara - young, Vanessa Redgrave - elderly) is much too attractive for 1940’s small minded Irish townsfolk of Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan, dir., 2017), who conspire to commit her to a mental institution for life and deprive her of her newborn boy. Rose hides her diary in margins of a bible, but says, “There’s a sickness in people that stops them seeing the truth. Anything you see with love is the truth. The rest is smog.” While hamlets traversed by bicycles had little atmospheric disturbance, villagers dearly needed to be seeded with christian tolerance and logical sense.

Feel honored to point out this extensive list of Hindi and Tamil bicycling songs. Shows how different cultures can be. For a Malayalam film, Nonsense (M.C. Jithin, dir., 2018) has BMX obsessed Rinosh George aiming for bike stunt stardom, while those around him dismiss his dream as what title says. This thriller breaks ground as India’s first film about BMX sports.

Isn’t It Romantic (Todd Strauss-Schulson, dir., 2019) stars audacious Aussie actress Rebel Wilson as a no nonsense assistant architect who dismisses love depicted in chick flicks. When a subway mugger tries to snatch her handbag, she fights him off only to knock herself out by running into a post. When she wakes up in a hospital, suddenly everything resembles those romantic comedies she so despised, replete with girlie loaner bikes with baskets conveniently stationed around New York City, a place suddenly astir with savvy cyclists.

Youtube members post indices of bicycling songs, some of which are only related by the fact they show artists riding their bikes, though all such lists only ever just scratch the surface of the 3,000 that exist out there, nearly 2,000 listed here.

Robin Thicke, When I Get You Alone, A Beautiful World, Interscope Records, 2002 - has recording artist posing as a New York City bicycle messenger dodging traffic with impressive moves.

Anna Ternheim, To Be Gone (Swedish in English), single, self, 2004 - "Let me leave the body, leave the mind, every promise, every place behind. I just happen to feel so alone, for today for all days to come. I just wanna be wanna be gone, leave the city, leave the cold. Young people far too old. Let me cross a very fine line for today, for a lifetime." Epidemics breed despair, but why not liven days you're given, not moan over betrayals?

Nada Surf, Whose Authority, Lucky, Barsuk, 2008 - “The picture is gone. Put a contract out on things that go on and on. How do you stay where you most want to be? Where'd you get the patience? Did it come easily? On whose authority? I have none over me.”

One of The Bazillions, Super Sonic Rocket Bike, single, self, 2010 - “Countdown from 10 to 1, as we blast off towards the sun, we’ll be having some fun on my super sonic rocket bike. You won't believe how far we'll go on a super sonic rocket bike, all the planets we will know.”

Puding Pani Elvisovej - Ďobkanie (Slovak techno), π (album), self (PPE), 2010... group parks motor vehicles, rents bikes, and spins out to serene countryside, but shown in reverse, so what are they trying to say?

Alec Benjamin, My old Bicycle, single, self, 2016 - “My old bicycle was a Ferrari. It rusted in the yard and now I’m sorry. I crashed my car, so when I pull up to parties I tell the girls my bike is a Ferrari. And are you grown up enough to outgrow the things you love and leave an old friend in the dust? Yeah, I remember this one time when I picked up the phone line and I heard you on the other side, and you said, 'Come on, let’s ride.'”

Budapestain

Further pursuing obscure film viewing amidst this despotic and horrific pandemic, can’t help but notice how truth takes a beating. Literary and litter seem to have same root, bits or memes strewn carelessly, stuff to which you can never lend your faith. Photographs were admissible in court until Photoshop began to falsify. Film or video evidence was beyond doubt until viewers learned about special effects. Few things are as completely genuine as a kiss on your lips or slap across your ass. Spinning along on a steed of steel will always be credibly real. Meaningful, small, unexpected references give 21st Century cinema inspirational appeal.

Beginning with The Year of The Bike, 2009, and proceeding by date of release, in television program Law & Order Criminal Intent, “Legion”, Season 2, Episode 18, major case detectives Eames & Goren (Kathryn Erbe & Vincent D’Onofrio) expose a cult where adolescents must steal bicycles or wind up dead under an authoritarian ring leader.

Documentary called A Murder of Couriers (Neil Brill, Tom MacLeod, dirs., 2012) chronicles culture and lives of Vancouver bicycle messengers. Not to be confused with 1998 crime thriller called A Murder of Crows, title comes from a 15th Century term of venery, developed by witty hunters, to which ornithologists object, who call any group of birds a “flock”. Deadsoul Tribe’s like named album coincidently features a track, The Messenger. Coincidence echoes pestilence while surrounded by sickness born from premeditated malice and sociopathic avarice.

White God (Kornél Mondruczó, dir., 2014) has preteen protagonist Zsófia Psotta discovering how music soothes the savage beast. When her mongrel pet is tossed aside because of an excessive tax on dogs that aren’t pure breeds, she defies family and looks relentlessly for her beloved Hagen, during which her own bicycle is stolen. Meanwhile, Hagen leads a canine revolt against blood sport organizers and petty animal controllers who’ve mistreated him. A hundred dogs escape pound and race through streets of Budapest terrorizing residents.

Zsófia borrows a bike to outrun them so she can go home, but gets knocked down, then plays Liszt on her trumpet to quell their wilding. This allegory about Nazi and Soviet occupation of Hungary won an award.

While We’re Young (Noah Baumbach, dir., 2015) explains why middle aged hipsters Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts befriend bicycling twentysomethings Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried on their quest for authentic lifestyles. “Ride on the street, man!” screams Driver.

Stiller’s stride into cool cyclist gets tripped up when his bike less its front wheel is stolen. Driver disappoints cyclist Stiller, naturally, in a vignette of how privileged millennials mash up culture instead of invent their own. A generation ago horizons were devoid of textural complexity offered over today’s internet, much of it as phony as Wikipedia entries spawned by propagandists and publicists that researchers and xennials take as gospel. Nonfiction is now in question, truth on trial, for every documentarian. Intimacy and spontaneity can only survive when you feel alive.

The Sweet Life (Rob Spera, dir., 2016) tells how bicycling ice cream vendor Chris Messina meets likewise despondent Abigail Spencer. They make a suicide pact to cross America and throw themselves off the Golden Gate Bridge. After several awkward adventures including boosting cars and robbing convenience stores, he steals a bike to rush and save her.

Life can be sweet if you have someone with whom to share your journey.

Last time guardian Alison (Dianna Agron) sees her teenage brother Darryl (Shawn Ashmore), he’s taking off with his BMX bike and friends to hang and party. She spends rest of Hollow in the Land (Scooter Corkle, dir., 2017) looking for him, as does town’s vindictive police chief (Michael Rogers) who holds them both responsible for their dad’s traffic accident, which killed his son who was riding on a bicycle.

Brazilian drama Arábia (João Dumans, dir., 2017) opens with teen protagonist riding his bicycle alongside a valley vista, only to discover diary of an itinerant worker whose life was even harder than his.

Mail Order Monster (Paulina Lagudi Ulrich dir., 2018) spins an awkward yarn of a gifted and resourceful teen (Madison Horcher) with family and friend issues, shown bicycling away from high school bullies and intended harm. She orders an overprotective robot from a comic book ad. Mayhem ensues, but scenario ends well for Sam and her stepmom.

Amidst factory lofts Evalena Marie awaits entry into the secluded world of pharmacologist Joey Klein in Painless (Jordan Horowitz, dir., 2018). Klein portrays a person with rare congenital disorder CIP, insensitive to pain, thus often repeatedly suffers inadvertent injuries. When you are unlike others, you choose between letting your desire to conform destroy you, or maximizing whatever skills you have to play hand you’re dealt. Other directions sit on your doorstep, if you make a choice and take a chance.

Hope may not be rational, but not one life is futile. For the first time in its 50 year history Earth Day 2020 sees planet recovering from mankind’s influence. Woodstock Nation, who instigated this annual commemoration, responded to threats of pollution and waste, none of which have been abated to date or addressed in haste. Reports from everywhere describe a resurgence in bicycling as a way to be green, maintain personal distance, move about cleanly and effectively, and stay healthy. Who knew?