1. While Christy went through her Wednesday physical therapy session, I ducked into the gym and got in a solid forty-five minute workout powered by Deep Purple's Machine Head. I didn't burn quite as many calories as I'd hoped, but I probably set my goal for this session a little high given my time frame.
2. I had fun late this afternoon making a Ground Turkey Ragu and Spaghetti with Zucchini and Parmesan out of a HelloFresh bag. Once I browned the ground turkey, I add grated zucchini and a packet of Tuscan Spice Blend followed by tomato paste and marinara sauce and chicken stock. Later I enhanced the sauce with sour cream, cream cheese, and butter.
It worked.
3. This evening I took a break from James Gray's movies, a break from corruption, violence, and family conflict in dark neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn and, instead, furthered my recent interest in animals that are prolific reproducers. Not long ago, I read an article about feral cats. Tonight, I turned my attention to the amphibian world and watched Mark Lewis's documentary, Cane Toads: The Conquest. It's the 2010 sequel to his 1988 short documentary, Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.
It all takes place in Australia, beginning in Queensland. Humans committed a major ecological blunder in 1935. Cane farmers were suffering terrible losses because beetles were destroying their crops. Thinking these toads would eat the beetles and save their crops, the farmers had the toads imported from Hawaii. One problem became two. The cane toads showed no interest in eating the beetles. Instead, the cane toads proliferated. And proliferated. And proliferated some more with stunning speed and efficiency. Moreover, being a non-native species, the cane toad had no enemies (except human beings). They were not the prey of any other animals.
Nothing got it the way of their voracious ability to reproduce.
These two movies tell the story of the proliferation of the toad frog and their westward movement across the northern regions of Australia. We learn of one failed human effort after another to stem the tide of the indomitable cane toad's proliferation and rapid movement as they invade more and more areas.
Cane Toads: The Conquest is at times whimsical, at times scientific and informative, always fascinating. Mark Lewis interviews people who hate the toad frogs, others who love them, still others who try to capitalize on them, and others who see the folly of human beings trying to control or manage the natural world.
I see Mark Lewis also has made a documentary on rats! It's also available on the Criterion Channel. Before I return to watching dark movies of corruption and crime set in New York City, I think I'll watch this rat documentary. It also involves New York City.
By the way, recently I read a 1944 New Yorker article written by the inestimable Joseph Mitchell on rats in Manhattan entitled, "Thirty-Two Rats from Casablanca". That article, as it turns out, set my efforts in motion to read about feral cats and watch this latest movie about cane toads.
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