Hello, everyone. Apologies for the delay in getting this newsletter out. My keyboard died and once I got a new keyboard I'd found that the Internet ate the essay I wrote for this week. But there's good news. I just signed a contract with Blue Cactus Press to help me with the final edit of my novel, A Better Lie. I still intend to have the first copies out by the New Year. Thanks again to those who pre-ordered the novel, it's helping me pay for the costs of doing this. By the way, if you didn't get a chance to pre-order the novel and would like to, let me know.
Okay, let's get on with this.
What I'm Watching
I saw the new Halloween movie. I'm not really a horror movie guy. I'm fairly certain that this is either the first or second Halloween movie I've ever seen. (If I saw the first one it was long ago enough that I don't remember it.) Still, for two thirds of the movie I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It played with a lot of common horror movie tropes (many of them callbacks to the original), but managed to keep things interesting. I like the idea of Jamie Lee Curtis going all Sarah Conner about the man who tried to kill her 40 years ago. I like that she's off and not okay. I like that her family largely thinks she's crazy.
But two thirds (or possibly 3/4ths) into the movie there's a deeply unnecessary plot twist that just annoyed me. (Like if that's the case, why did it take 40 years for that to happen?) This was followed by the infamous Michael Meyers entering a kill house created specifically to kill Michael Meyers. This is a place decades in the making. And yet, during the movie's 106 minute run time, I was able to come up with a better way to use that house to kill him than Jamie Lee Curtis's character did in four decades.
Like far too many horror movies, it relies on a certain amount of victim dumbness that causes me to care less and less about the potential victims. I'm sure that's great for those who don't mind such things, but for me it just takes me out of the movie. There's also ill-timed humor throughout that relieves tension when the plot calls for the tension to remain.
For my money, my favorite horror movie is still Cabin In The Woods. At least it explains the stupidity of its victims.
What I'm Playing
This was my view last night at the GameStop on Pearl Street in Tacoma at around 8:45pm.

This was the line for Red Dead Redemption 2, a game we Rockstar Games fans have been waiting to play for eight years. I'm not a huge gamer, but when it comes to Rockstar, they tend to create my favorite games. The first Red Dead Redemption had one of the best video game story lines I've ever experienced. So it goes without saying that I was excited about this game. I pre-ordered it over a year ago.
(Spoilers for the first game) Red Dead Redemption followed the exploits of John Marston, a former old west gang member forced by the government to hunt down the remaining members of his old gang. The game doesn't end when Marston kills the last of his old gang. After that Marston goes back to his family's farm. He works the farm and takes his kid out hunting. Then one day the government comes with a posse and kills him. Years later his son tracks down the government agent responsible and has the opportunity to avenge his father's death.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel taking place ten years earlier. You're no longer playing John Marston. Now you're Arthur Morgan, a fellow member of the gang. This is the story of the gang Marston eventually hunts down and how they fell apart.
I had not quite finished replaying the first game when it came time to stand in that line. The last mission I played from the original game was John Marston down in Mexico successfully hunting down Javier Esquella. Javier begs for his life. He says how he and Marston used to be like brothers and how he once saved Marston's life. I'd been playing the character fairly mercilessly so I had Marston kill him.
The new game took over an hour to install, then another half hour or so for the Day One update. Almost 100 gigs of game. It's beautiful. One just glancing at the screen might end up thinking it's live action. And one of the first missions is Arthur and Javier looking for John Marston in the mountains. Playing this mission was strangely poignant having killed Javier just hours earlier and now helping Javier save his eventual killers life.
I've only played the game for a few hours. I'm sure I'll have much more to say about it in coming weeks, but if you're any sort of video game player, you owe it to yourself to get this. It's like Westworld the video game.
One Last Thing
Last week I had the privilege of checking out the Amazon Spheres and the Amazon Go store in Seattle.
And I feel like talking about both the good and the bad about it. First, the good because there's a lot of it.
Both the Spheres and the Go Store are future-thinking places full of interesting ideas. The Spheres are these globe-shaped structures in which Jeff Bezos has essentially built a private park in the middle of the city inside an interestingly shaped building. It's very beautiful. There are over 4,000 kinds of plants there. They have a four-story wall of plants. There's a walkway that leads to a tree-house like place you* can sit and relax. They sell donuts and coffee there. There is water everywhere, trickling through man-made creeks, misting through the air, and dribbling over rocks. It's probably the most peaceful and relaxing place I've ever been in Seattle.
The Amazon Go store is similarly astonishing to me. This is how it works. Before you walk into the store, there is a checkpoint where you use your phone to log into your Amazon account and let them know how many people are with you. Then it lets you in. At this point you are free to pick up prepackaged sandwiches, small meals, beverages, and some basic essentials found in most grocery stores. Pick up what you want, put back what you don't want, put it in a bag you brought with you or grab a bag. When you are done, go ahead and just walk out. There is no cashier. There is no checking out of your items. There is no scanning and no chips you need to remove from the items. You simply walk out with your groceries and a few minutes later you'll get a message on your phone with the receipt of what you grabbed.
Amazon does this using an array of surveillance devices that digitally recreate everything that happens in the store. Amazon originally tested this program with Amazon employees, but having successfully worked out any kinks in the system, it is now open to the public. There are plans to open over 3,000 of these stores throughout the country.
 
I'm a person who loves technology and isn't all that uncomfortable about the concept of privacy largely eroding. So in both cases, I can say that I absolutely loved the Spheres and the Go store. The technology used for these things is impressive. And I can see a lot of potential.
The thing of it is though, I've got an Associate's Degree in Human Services. I'm a few months away from my Bachelor's Degree from Evergreen Tacoma. I'm applying to a program to get a Master's in Public Administration. I'm predisposed to look at any given situation and policy and ask how it benefits or harms those with the least.
A few weeks ago I gave a homeless man a $10 bill. He told me he had just been released from the Pierce County Jail. They had taken the money he had on him and given him a check. (When you're arrested they take the cash you have on you. When you get out they give you a check that says "JAIL INMATES ACCOUNT" on it.) He had no ID to cash the check. There is literally nothing you can do with a $10 bill at the Amazon Go store. You have to have a smartphone. You have to have an Amazon account. Amazon accounts want you to have some sort of credit or debit card. If you do not work for Amazon or do not know someone who does, you won't be able to access the Spheres except for two days a month and then only if you have photo identification.
What Jeff Bezos has done is create seriously innovative and futuristic places where the haves will not be bothered by the have-nots. This may not seem like a big deal initially. I mean the Spheres were specifically created as place for Amazon's employees to take in nature and relax in the middle of the city. And so what if some grocery stores aren't accessible to people without much money? It's not like they were going to buy anything anyway, right?
And there are good sides to this. This article rightly points out that a lack of clerks working at the store results in a lack of racists bothering her because of the color of her skin. The lack of humans means a lack of human bigotry. But the lack of humans also means a lack of human jobs.
I live within walking distance of Stadium Thriftway. I have for most of my adult life. There are clerks that have been working there for over twenty years making good money. They've literally watched my children grow up. Many know me by name. Recently their business exploded thanks to new condo buildings going up including one across the street. But what happens if an Amazon Go store opens up in one of the shop spaces on that condo's first floor? What happens when the neighborhood store has to shut down due to competition that doesn't even have to pay for clerks and belongs to a company that makes two billion dollars every three months? And what happens to the people who can't walk in the door to the Amazon Go store?
It's easy to get caught up in the amazing technology of Amazon Go and the luscious beauty of the Spheres. Both are undeniable. But eventually I end up asking how comfortable I should be with one of the world’s first trillionaires requiring a cell phone, credit card, and photo ID in order to do something as simple walk in a park or buy food.
Of course there are solutions for this. A multi-billion dollar company is in a unique position to redistribute wealth if they wanted to. It would be fairly easy to allow anyone with an EBT (food stamp) card to just pick up whatever food they want for free. Similarly, allowing more access to the Spheres would be easy as well. The general public is already allowed to the ‘Understory’ area of the Spheres without reservation or identification. This area is basically a museum about the construction and design of the Spheres. The solutions are there. But they would require one of the richest men in the history of humanity to care a bit more about the poorest people. And we’ve yet to invent the technology that does that.
*When I say 'you' I mean if you are an Amazon employee, know an Amazon employee, or show up at the right day and time in which common folk are allowed to enter.
 

• Jack Cameron