"Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife"

Fall slammed into Chicago like a freight train on Monday, when the weather went from late-summer sunny and 30°C to the current cloudy, rainy, and 20°C with 16°C nights. It's just a brief bit of cold weather, though--real fall begins next week, when the weather will be 15°C nights and 27°C days. Fall in Chicago is basically summer during the day and winter at night, through the end of September and sometimes even October. But I just ordered a bunch of autumn-themed tea and I'll take advantage of the chill while I can.

The movie trailer for Dune came out! I've already watched it multiple times, and while the first time I was a bit unsure, seeing Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides ratcheted up my excitement, and everything after Paul said "Fear is the mind-killer" was fantastic. By the end, I was internally chanting, "Show us the Worm, show us the Worm, show us the Worm!" and they did not disappoint.

I'm also glad they seem to be focusing on the philosophical end, with much of the early part of the trailer being the gom jabbar and the meaning of humanity. I've already seen some people online questioning whether Dune is another white savior narrative and I really hope that the movie goes is true to the book's message that basically all saviors are bad. Paul doesn't save anything--he destroys galatic government, he destroys the Fremen culture, his children destroy the ecosystem of Arrakis, there's basically nothing but bad results from his Jihad. If the movie casts Paul as a glorious hero instead of a tragic figure trying desperately to avoid his destiny, it'll have failed even if it looks amazing. Dune is one of my favorite books of all time, so I really hope that this movie gets it right. It goes both ways, though. I've similarly seen people who clearly don't understand the book say they hope the movie isn't full of "SJW bullshit."

The casting is great, though. Oscar Isaac, yes, but Zendaya looks fantastic as Chani, and Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho (the true protagonist of the Dune series!) works far better than I thought it would.

The trailer does feature the extremely-cliché "slowed-down epic version of pop song" soundtrack over it, in this case Eclipse by Pink Floyd, but I can forgive it because Jodorowsky wanted Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack for his version of Dune.

( Farmer's Market dinner )

I just got back from lisekatevans’s balcony, where she invited me for drinks. The original plan was to sit out on a pedestrianized section of the street she lives on, but it's too cold and rainy for that. She made me a gin cocktail, we talked, and I took the train home becuase my leg is bothering me a bit. Now I'm waiting for sashagee to get off work.