They Insisted On Showing Their Gratitude
It’s time, I fear, to remind patrons that this rickety barge, on whose seating your arses rest, is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there are buttons in the sidebar with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. And if one-click haste is called for, my PayPal.Me page can be found here. Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade and a half, in over 3,000 posts and 130,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.
Oh, and for those that don’t know, I now have a Gettr account.
As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. Now share ye links and bicker.
So yeah, you white guys better shape up, fast.
Funny how the “activists” never march through Da Hood demanding an end to crime By Any Means Necessary.
Areas with lots of natives also tend to have a lot of crime against women generally, apparently.
A lot of all sorts of crime, as I recall.
Not a headline you’ll see everyday, Take 2.
Not even I am crass enough to make the obvious joke, but I am thinking this guy doesn’t have clue one about real women.
Not even I am crass enough to make the obvious joke, but I am thinking this guy doesn’t have clue one about real women.
Perhaps before they trans, they need to make these guys work in a sandwich shop for a year?
“elephant in pyjamas”=Groucho Marx.
Monarch butterfly: as with many insects, it has wild population swings that no one can predict or even explain. The california population has not been in sync with the rest of the US pop.
Rhubarb: to me it is very bitter. Some people like bitter tastes. It seems covid is worse in people who like bitter tastes for some reason. How is that for linking disparate domains?
By the way, and should any of you care, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is visually inventive and emotionally flat. It’s often pretty to look at, but not at all emotionally engaging. It’s quite hard to care about what happens, to pretty much anyone. Though I did enjoy the opening battle with Gargantos – basically, an enormous eye with tentacles. That was funny.
“…as an oppressed minority…” this guy has thoughts.
“Trans … 35”
Hmm. He had his chop done in 1999, he’s now 35, so he was how old???
Yeah. This tale stinks. In several ways…
Gargantos – basically, an enormous eye with tentacles…
Hollywood has no new ideas.
The california population has not been in sync with the rest of the US pop.
We’re still talking about butterflies?
So yeah, you white guys better shape up, fast
Or else none of you get to be the new Doctor Who.
OK, over here we have more than our basic load of buffoons, grifters, and loonies, but what is going on over there? First the Scotsman confused about the difference between a kilt and a skirt, and now this gal confused about the meaning of “normal people”.
normal people
Not so long ago Labour was the party of the British working classes (although the old joke about pinning a red rosette on a donkey probably needs updating).
Mind you the stunning and brave MP who’s thinking about coming out as trans to the widespread acclaim of his peers in politics and the media, if not the poor schlubs who actually elected him, is a conservative.
It is called a kilt and not a skirt because if you call it a skirt you will get kilt.
Some of the old-time fashions were the result of the limitations of clothes making. Looms could make continuous pieces of cloth (though it took a lot of labor). Without scissors and with sewing pieces being difficult, the easiest thing was to make a toga (as in ancient Rome/Greece). A skirt/kilt is likewise a single piece of cloth.
“Trans … 35”
Hmm. He had his chop done in 1999, he’s now 35, so he was how old???
Maybe he IDENTIFIES as 35 years old…
Stop oppressing him!
It’s a skirt. Or tablecloth. Made of wool, so…no.
Of course, it’s 90+ outside today…
It involves a rubber glove.
Honk!
Experts say women and people of color could suffer the most.
Don’t they always?
WaPo, “Democracy Dies in Dumbness”
Ping!
Ping!
Bless you, sir. May the delivery drivers employed by local restaurants always know your address, and not take your dinner to some puzzled old dear across the road.
You’re very welcome.
Also, something to go behind the bar.
It’s quite something to behold.
Puzzled and honest, I should add.
Again, thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links, including all those much too shy to say hello. It’s much appreciated and is what keeps this place here.
Hollywood has no new ideas.
No, it’s worse than that. There seems to be some conflation of Gargantos with Shuma-Gorath, a Dr. Strange adversary that dates back to 1973 – but Shuma-Gorath is just an outright Lovecraft swipe.
While it’s true Hollywood has no new ideas, it is also true that Marvel comics have shamelessly ripped off anything that wasn’t nailed down. Or couldn’t be ripped up with a crowbar (see the X-Men story “War Stars” and Uncanny X-Men #98).
So the point at which Hollywood failed to have any new ideas was when it bought a bunch of comic book companies and began farting out SFX-fests with superficial plots.
Honestly, though, the claim that Hollywood has no new ideas never made much sense to me. Hollywood’s output has always been largely adaptations of novels, history or inspired-by-a-true-story. There were never very many truly original screenplays.
There seems to be some conflation of Gargantos with Shuma-Gorath, a Dr. Strange adversary that dates back to 1973 – but Shuma-Gorath is just an outright Lovecraft swipe.
Yes. Maybe it was a rights issue? Either way, I’d say the Gargantos / Shuma-Gorath scene is the most entertaining part of the film. The CGI rendering has an odd, almost painted quality, especially the enormous eye, which adds to the comical surrealism of it. On a very big screen, it’s very pretty, and quite funny. But nothing after that held my attention quite as much. There are some amusing scenes, and some clever shots, but it’s not a film I’d rush to watch again as a film.
[ Added: ]
It’s a film from which sequences and scenes will look fine in isolation several months from now, seen on YouTube or whatever – several will look excellent – but taken as a whole, as a story, the film doesn’t really engage. It’s sort-of summed up by the cameos, in which famous characters appear, but almost nothing is made of them. One cameo in particular could have been made special, a real crowd pleaser, but instead it feels throwaway, even perverse, a wasted opportunity.
Hollywood’s output has always been largely adaptations of novels, history or inspired-by-a-true-story. There were never very many truly original screenplays.
There are vast numbers of fine short stories and novels that have never been made into movies. Some reasonable fraction must be capable of translating to the screen.
…Shuma-Gorath, a Dr. Strange adversary that dates back to 1973…
Rick Griffin drew the Hendrix/Mayall/King Fillmore poster back in 1968, so the comic book guys swiped it from him. The question of whether Griffin was inspired by Lovecraft or having participated in Kesey’s Acid Tests is left to the student.
There are vast numbers of fine short stories…
Netflix could buy the “Best American Mystery Stories” series going back over 25 years (it went woke in 2021 and fired the founding editor and replaced him with some intersectionalist harpee who seems to be more directed by DIE than by good writing and interesting story telling) and run a 13 part series annually for the next 25 years.
So it’s not like they’re even good at being unoriginal.
…some intersectionalist harpee who seems to be more directed by DIE than by good writing and interesting story telling…
Speaking of which, Ace points us to this reviewer who has thoughts about some new idiotic woke Star Trek variant. (Language caution)
Speaking of which, Ace points us to this reviewer who has thoughts about some new idiotic woke Star Trek variant. (Language caution)
Almost the only thing in Hollywood that I would want to be saved from an asteroid strike would be the archives of old films and TV shows.
It’s often pretty to look at, but not at all emotionally engaging. It’s quite hard to care about what happens, to pretty much anyone.
Dude. I told you that there was some sort of homework that you were supposed to do beforehand. Some guy named Julio or something mentioned this in the three Dr S previews…or was it four?…that we sat through on our movie theater trip last week. Parallel universes. They explain everything. But you must study…study. It’s all your fault really. Now if someone would just explain such stuff to my wife….
so the comic book guys swiped it from him
No, really not. Shuma-Gorath is explicitly called one of the Great Old Ones in the comic. Shuma-Gorath wasn’t a swipe from the poster any more than the D&D Beholder is.
So it’s not like they’re even good at being unoriginal.
William Goldman has a fascinating essay in one of the editions of The Princess Bride that explains why it took 13 years for the movie to get made after being optioned. Studio politics, basically.
Almost the only thing in Hollywood that I would want to be saved from an asteroid strike would be the archives of old films and TV shows.
I’m currently watching The Loner, a Western starring Lloyd Bridges and written by Rod Serling. And boy, can you tell it was written by Rod Serling. It’s like cowboy noir. Recommended.
some amusing scenes, and some clever shots, but it’s not a film I’d rush to watch again as a film
I was toying with the idea of binging the MCU for something to do of an evening until the warm weather starts, and I found myself really at a loss to note even one MCU film I’d really like to see again.
I found myself really at a loss to note even one MCU film I’d really like to see again.
I was watching Infinity War again recently, unplanned, and enjoyed it. I sat through the whole thing. But it’s a much better film and the pacing is remarkably good, given all that’s crushed into it. As I think I said at the time, it has an unexpected economy. For such a big film, with so many characters and locations, it still somehow feels nimble. The Strange sequel moves along fairly briskly too, but it doesn’t have anything like the sense of momentum, of storylines converging and coming to a head. In comparison, it feels flat, messy and underwritten.
It’s also as much a Wanda film as a Strange one, at least, so there is, again, an air of bait-and-switch. Olsen’s performance is fine, but the writing is weak and not entirely coherent. To take an obvious example, one of many, Wanda craves her imaginary children, seen in WandaVision, such that she wants to abduct them from some parallel universe in which they actually exist. But the love of her life, the children’s supposed father, whose death left her distraught and unhinged, isn’t mentioned, or wanted.
So, Wanda will kill people, in large numbers, and risk destroying the world – destroying all worlds – to be a single mom.
Related meme:
Script writing is hard, it would seem.
“…as an oppressed minority…” this guy has thoughts.
Not asking for anything special. Just being able to get into a toilet. About which there’s no argument, so presumably the argument is whether he can get into a women’s toilet. But now that he’s a city councillor, the reaction when he walks into a women’s toilet will be: he’s a politician and therefore trustworthy in toilets; he’s that politician from the telly who dresses up as Mrs Marple in his capacity as a representative of our city, and therefore can be trusted in a changing room with my daughter; why are you so obsessed about a man in the women’s spa when there are so many pressing local issues to worry about, I mean look at the state of the roundabouts, not to mention the bicycle racks; get on the right side of history, your phobias must give way to normalization; yes, that nice old lady does look like Mrs Marple, I didn’t notice anything else unusual about her, did you, apart from a general aura of stunning and brave.
Speaking of parallel universes, I thought WWIII was supposed to start today? It is May 9? Or did I oversleep? Given all the hype I must say I do feel a tad disappointed. Gosh, I would hate to miss such a thing.
William Goldman has a fascinating essay in one of the editions of The Princess Bride that explains why it took 13 years for the movie to get made after being optioned. Studio politics, basically.
I should go back and re-read it.
Another writer said that Hollywood politics is so bad that producers will sabotage projects begun by predecessors so that they can point to the failures as proof that their predecessors were incompetent: Finished films get no advertising budget. Unfinished films get abandoned or get finished badly. Good screenplays are thrown away and new ones solicited, because anything the previous executives liked must be shown to be garbage.
Yeah, what a swell idea.
Well, I suppose it is for the landlord, who would rake in over 11K/month rent, but I’d bet money the bathrooms are an unholy mess after a week.
but I’d bet money the bathrooms are an unholy mess after a week.
Much less than a week.
Also: That kitchen seems inadequate for 14 people: They’re going to have to cook in shifts. The stove and dishwasher will be almost constantly in use–unless most of them rely on carryout and microwavable meals.
It’s much appreciated and is what keeps this place here.
Long may it stay. *ping*
Long may it stay.
Bless you, sir. May the films you look forward to seeing actually be good.
Bless you, sir. May the films you look forward to seeing actually be good.
I’m looking forward to a Bogart-Bacall film tonight.
David, was you ever bit by a dead bee?
So, Wanda will kill people, in large numbers, and risk destroying the world – destroying all worlds – to be a single mom.
That. The plot makes no sense.
The plot makes no sense.
It doesn’t bear much scrutiny, no. As a thing to build your entire film on, Wanda’s motivation is neither convincing nor compelling. It’s one of those films where you find yourself thinking, “Why didn’t this character do that other thing instead?” It seems to me that even if your film depicts a world of superheroes, sorcery, and parallel realities, then the in-universe logic, and the logic of the characters’ motivations, has to be quite clear and plausible. Given that the script is generally one of the less expensive components of a blockbuster film, you’d think that a little more time and care might be taken to get it right, or at least not so bad that it’s distracting and makes engagement rather difficult.
Again, there are some fun scenes and plenty of fun ideas, or potentially fun ideas; but the thing just doesn’t hold together well or work as a narrative. It didn’t make me care, or want to see it again.
The plot makes no sense.
It doesn’t bear much scrutiny, no. As a thing to build your entire film on, Wanda’s motivation is neither convincing nor compelling.
If you’ll allow me to speculate without having seen it, here’s a troubling thought: Maybe it makes sense to the screenwriter and director. We already know that the thinking processes of “woke” people are somewhat damaged, and some of them very damaged.
*presses orange button, tells wife it’s for pornography*
*presses orange button, tells wife it’s for pornography*
Heh. Bless you, sir. Should you be planning a post-lunch nap, may the tree surgeons that the neighbours have hired not choose that moment to fire up their chainsaws.
Oh, and please feel free to browse our ginormous bosoms.
Maybe it makes sense to the screenwriter and director. We already know that the thinking processes of “woke” people are somewhat damaged, and some of them very damaged.
Well, the film is morally incoherent and at times perverse. Which, for a film about heroes, is a little jarring. Obviously, there’s Wanda’s screw-the-father-abduct-some-kids story arc – though now she’s the villain of the piece. It just bears an uncanny resemblance to her behaviour in the TV series WandaVision, on which the film’s plot is very much dependent, and during which we were clearly expected to empathise with her fits of sociopathy, and in which she was praised by another supposed hero, as if she, Wanda, were somehow justified in taking hostage an entire town and torturing the inhabitants, including children, for weeks. Strange’s own arc, or arcs, are also confused, inconclusive, and contradictory.
Marvel’s latest batch of head writers – including Jac Schaeffer (Captain Marvel, WandaVision), Malcolm Spellman (Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) – are not only ungifted. They don’t even seem to understand that, in order to be satisfying, stories about superheroes generally require some kind of moral footing.
Well, the film is morally incoherent and at times perverse…
Which returns my to my thoughts about how “wokeness” attracts damaged people. Perhaps we will eventually see documentation showing that most of these writers and directors and producers are indeed psychopaths of one sort or another.
Which returns me to my thoughts about how “wokeness” attracts damaged people.
Well, it’s hard to tease apart mere incompetence – bad writing – from what is intended but perverse. For instance, did Ms Schaeffer simply not notice the grating moral dissonance of WandaVision’s finale, or did she think the lead character’s behaviour – basically, torturing random people, including children, for weeks – was actually sympathetic, something to be excused and free of legal consequences – provided a woman does it, that is – and even framed by other supposed heroes as something selfless: “They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them.” Did she not notice the unhappy flavour of it?
At the time, Ms Schaeffer said that we, the audience, were very much meant to sympathise with Wanda, who inflicts all this sadistic horror to satisfy her own fantasy and then just flies away afterwards. To focus on her own feelings.
[ Added: ]
Just spotted this, which is very much related.
I realise it’s easy to become po-faced and self-serious when bitching about superhero films and TV shows, or any kind of popular entertainment. But… these things do convey, intentionally or otherwise, something of the culture, of the values and assumptions in play, if only the values and assumptions of the people who wrote them.
Well, it’s hard to tease apart mere incompetence – bad writing – from what is intended but perverse…
True.
…For instance, did Ms Schaeffer simply not notice the grating moral dissonance of WandaVision’s finale, or did she think the lead character’s behaviour – basically, torturing random people, including children, for weeks – was actually sympathetic…
Your very example shouts to me that the Ms Schaeffer is indeed a psychopathic monster: How could she not notice what you point out here? On the other hand, I am relying entirely on your description, so perhaps I should allow for other possibilities.
But this discussion keeps bringing my thoughts back to the science fiction writers I encountered in my youth, and the red flags that I dismissed or failed to notice, only to learn later that they were indeed dangerously damaged people indeed.