Friday Ephemera (835)

Morning, all. 

Middle-of-the-night PING! to start your Friday off right…

Bless you, madam. May you always have fragrant anti-static tumble dryer sheets.

[ Slurps coffee. ]

Very well done!

It is. Especially the first half, the Macbeths rise to power. Denzel Washington is very watchable, and Frances McDormand and Kathryn Hunter are excellent. 

The “diverse” casting may be a little distracting, though. Denzel Washington’s performance is solid, to be clear, but the idea of eleventh century Scotland teeming – positively teeming – with people of African descent is a bit much.

“These posts are protected”

Ah, that’s a pity. Not easy to summarise what it was. It was a mad visual thing, a comical first-person point of view. Basically, a Portland lesbian bar, transgender Antifa, ludicrous scuffling and lots of people pepper-spraying each other.

I can’t find another copy of the same clip, which was a tad surreal, but the general mayhem can be viewed here.

Belated ker-ching!

Bless you, sir. May wasps never venture indoors.

One of the perfect pop songs of the past century continues to deliver.

That’s some basso profondo.

I wonder if she learned anything.

to give them a sense of what they’re dealing with, maybe break their momentum.

It reminded me of this.

In which the young ladies have some ‘girl power’ illusions shattered; one foolish girl gets an inkling of what it’s like to be hit by a bus; and the equally foolish boy is presumably left feeling pretty shit too.

For some reason it doesn’t jar like it does in nearly every other case. They have a sort of gravitas that counters it.

During the first half or so of the film, it isn’t an issue. Washington’s performance is central and strong and you don’t really register any racial incongruity. But I found it slightly distracting later on, when we spend more time with Macduff and his ill-fated family. At this point, about 30% of Scotland is black. And Corey Hawkins isn’t sufficiently compelling as Macduff to compensate.

As noted before, the problem, I think, is that the “diverse” casting is a reminder of modernity, of the multicultural now, which is at odds with the illusion, however fantastical, of eleventh century Scotland.

And contrary to rumour, it’s okay to notice this. 

[ Slides bag of random used screws to Dicentra. ]

Let them physically experience the strength differential so that they won’t be fooled by Summer Glau and Lucy Lawless kicking male anatomy with their flimsy limbs.

There was an incident in Rio de Janeiro some years ago, in which a mugger tried to rob a woman waiting for a cab, unaware that she was a mixed martial arts fighter of some repute. It did not go well for him.

Although the story – and the photo of the mugger looking, shall we say, worse for wear – was (a) funny, and (b) morally satisfying, the circumstances were quite unusual. And it was funny in large part because that doesn’t usually happen.

Unlikely.

No, she doesn’t strike me as the learning type.

I ought to get a badge or something. Achievement unlocked, as they say.