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I think that's just fanwank again, honestly. They've played things pretty straight so far, and only when people have started theorizing that it's deeper than shown have they gotten themselves into trouble.

And honestly, I don't know what it is about Sharon that causes such an uproar. She's never been the focus of the story, and I wouldn't consider her a star, but people talk about her being done wrong as if she was supposed to be. A bit in Winter Soldier, a bit in Civil War, and that's it before this. She's not the focus, but people, for some reason, expected her to be.

I just don't get it.

And if it is the real Sharon, I don't think they did her particularly dirty, other than the short shrift a lot of things got in this truncated series. She's always been sort of sketchy even in the comics, and her morality has always been a bit flexible. Why people expect her to be a paragon like Peggy was, I'll never get.
 
Internet wanks need to justify their existence by having something to say about everything. So Sharon blah blah blah. Whatever. It's a non-issue.
 
Just watched Mortal Kombat on HBO Max. While it was serviceable, I'm glad I didn't pay for it in the theaters.
 
Just watched Mortal Kombat on HBO Max. While it was serviceable, I'm glad I didn't pay for it in the theaters.
I didn't hear good things. I believe the phrase I remember from reviews is "a battle against boredom".
 
I didn't hear good things. I believe the phrase I remember from reviews is "a battle against boredom".
I was happy to have other things to do. When I go to the theater, I feel compelled to try to watch. I skipped parts of this in the kitchen cooking, and when I came back, didn't feel as if I'd missed anything. Which sucks because Lewis Tan and Mehcad Brooks deserve better vehicles. And they even had the samurai that harassed Tom Cruise (I forget his name) in Last Samurai playing Scorpion.
 
Watched Destroyer, directed by Karyn Kusama (of the excellent horror thriller The Invitation) starring Nicole Kidman and Sebastian Stan a.k.a. The Winter Solider, in a character study/crime thriller.

I'm a sucker for the genre and this is directed with enough sun-bleached California-noir style that I enjoyed it. Kidman's quality performance is unfortunately obscured by some OTT burned-out alcoholic make-up and I'm not sure the flashback structure or ending works but there's more than enough here for fans of the genre. P.S. Comments online that this film is 'slow' makes me despair for humanity.

 
I've been watching Season One of Buck Rogers and I have forgotten how many actresses’ appeared, Markie Post, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dorothy Stratten, and more. Plus the costumes! Yeah, it's cheesy and Twiki is eye-rolling annoying, but there are good stories to be found, the use of matte paintings, and plenty of late 70’s vibe.
 
My copy of Arrow’s Switchblade Sisters came in. Some Jack Hill goodness tonight.
 
I've been watching Season One of Buck Rogers and I have forgotten how many actresses’ appeared, Markie Post, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dorothy Stratten, and more. Plus the costumes! Yeah, it's cheesy and Twiki is eye-rolling annoying, but there are good stories to be found, the use of matte paintings, and plenty of late 70’s vibe.

A local broadcast channel shows Buck Rogers at 11:00 on Saturday nights, so I've seen a few episodes over the last year or so. I remember being surprised at the Jamie Lee Curtis guest appearance.

Because my wife is a big fan of Cary Grant, we watched The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) on Friday night. It's a late screwball comedy starring Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple, and written by Sidney Sheldon. I associate him with TV (e.g. I Dream of Jeannie) but he apparently wrote a lot of movies, too. It was actually a fun film, though not as good as Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, which also features Grant and Loy.
bachelor1.jpg
 
I've been watching Season One of Buck Rogers and I have forgotten how many actresses’ appeared, Markie Post, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dorothy Stratten, and more. Plus the costumes! Yeah, it's cheesy and Twiki is eye-rolling annoying, but there are good stories to be found, the use of matte paintings, and plenty of late 70’s vibe.
It's very disco. But it's also youth nostalgia so I'd probably still enjoy the shit out of it.
 
Over the weekend, I caught most of an episode of Mission Impossible on broadcast--a local channel was having a marathon of them. The episode was from the first season, with Steven Hill rather than Peter Graves as the leader of the force. The 'impossible mission' involved breaking a cardinal out of prison somewhere behind the Iron Curtain and the I.M.F. team posed as members of a circus to do so. A fairly good episode, with the tautness I remember from the series, although there was a staged fight between two team members, Barbara Bain and Mary Ann Mobley (a former Miss America) that went on for too long. Monte Markham had a small role as a guard.

Mission Impossible had one of the best themes in T.V. history, so it was fun to see the episode for that alone. It might be fun to work up an I.M.F. game someday; I'd suppose you could use just about any rules-set designed for modern spies to do so.
 
Over the weekend, I caught most of an episode of Mission Impossible on broadcast--a local channel was having a marathon of them. The episode was from the first season, with Steven Hill rather than Peter Graves as the leader of the force. The 'impossible mission' involved breaking a cardinal out of prison somewhere behind the Iron Curtain and the I.M.F. team posed as members of a circus to do so. A fairly good episode, with the tautness I remember from the series, although there was a staged fight between two team members, Barbara Bain and Mary Ann Mobley (a former Miss America) that went on for too long. Monte Markham had a small role as a guard.

Mission Impossible had one of the best themes in T.V. history, so it was fun to see the episode for that alone. It might be fun to work up an I.M.F. game someday; I'd suppose you could use just about any rules-set designed for modern spies to do so.
It was one of the all-time greats. I thought the Six Million Dollar Man also had a great title sequence.

 
I'd have enjoyed that more if I had not learned that Mick is leaving the show (and may not be in al the episodes this season). He's the secret glue that holds this show together for me. Once he's gone, Sara will be the only original crew member left.
 
I'd have enjoyed that more if I had not learned that Mick is leaving the show (and may not be in al the episodes this season). He's the secret glue that holds this show together for me. Once he's gone, Sara will be the only original crew member left.

I get the feeling it's reaching its end, in any case. I could be wrong, but they can't keep this up forever.
 
I get the feeling it's reaching its end, in any case. I could be wrong, but they can't keep this up forever.

If they didn't all believe the Multiverse was gone, they could have them travelling to alternate Earths and the like. They also really need to shake up the cast though. I'm not really as attached to at least half the crew at this point
 
Irene loves silly East Asian romantic comedies and genres, and I mostly like colorful and action-heavy fantasy fare... and we've compromised on The Untamed on Netflix. Pretty good stuff... pretty solid "yes, this is my Appendix N" vibe, where I didn't have a proper single work to identify it.
 
my wife and I don't agree on anything except Brit Crime and Scandi Crime. Other than that I'm on my own.
 
Watched the Tina Turner doc on HBO. It was quite good but oddly by focusing so much on how Ike's abuse was the focus of so much of the media it itself repeats the error of not acknowleding her genius as a soul, blues and RnB singer.



She is more than some daytime-soap inspiration story but one of our greatest singers. Unfortunately most of her greatest work was done with Ike and you don't get to hear or see a complete performance from that era. Worse, one of the biographers even slights the music she made with Ike as 'samey' which just shows his musical philistinism.



I am glad she had all those hits in the 80s and made a bundle of cash so she could retire (relatively) happy and rich to Europe (Private Dancer sold 20 million records! These days Beyonce's Lemonade sells 2.5 million...) but Tina's own comments in interviews on the difference between the blues and pop music tells you where her heart really is (e.g. she talks here about hating 'What's Love Got to Do with It?').

 
Its late and I'm high, but I'm going to watch The Father. Im a huge Hopkins fan and I don't care about the Oscars hoopla. Dementia scares the shit out of me though, so we'll see I guess.
 
If they didn't all believe the Multiverse was gone, they could have them travelling to alternate Earths and the like. They also really need to shake up the cast though. I'm not really as attached to at least half the crew at this point
They already did shake the cast up- which is the reason I'm not attached to half of the crew at this point. And really, I'm not invested in Avalance, and that's what they seem to be hanging things on. And while Matt Ryan is great, I'm not on that Constantine/Zari train, and too much Constantine is becoming too much.
 
Watched the Tina Turner doc on HBO. It was quite good but oddly by focusing so much on how Ike's abuse was the focus of so much of the media it itself repeats the error of not acknowleding her genius as a soul, blues and RnB singer.



She is more than some daytime-soap inspiration story but one of our greatest singers. Unfortunately most of her greatest work was done with Ike and you don't get to hear or see a complete performance from that era. Worse, one of the biographers even slights the music she made with Ike as 'samey' which just shows his musical philistinism.



I am glad she had all those hits in the 80s and made a bundle of cash so she could retire (relatively) happy and rich to Europe (Private Dancer sold 20 million records! These days Beyonce's Lemonade sells 2.5 million...) but Tina's own comments in interviews on the difference between the blues and pop music tells you where her heart really is (e.g. she talks here about hating 'What's Love Got to Do with It?').



Tina Turner has an amazing voice and presence. And probably the best thing about Mad Max III
 
Its late and I'm high, but I'm going to watch The Father. Im a huge Hopkins fan and I don't care about the Oscars hoopla. Dementia scares the shit out of me though, so we'll see I guess.

I am hoping to catch The Two Popes this week if I can find it on streaming
 
They already did shake the cast up- which is the reason I'm not attached to half of the crew at this point. And really, I'm not invested in Avalance, and that's what they seem to be hanging things on. And while Matt Ryan is great, I'm not on that Constantine/Zari train, and too much Constantine is becoming too much.

That's why they need to shake it up again, because their last shake up gave us characters people aren't getting into. Hell, I'd settle for Ragman over some of these people.
 
Last night I saw the third-season TNG episode "Tin Man," in which the Enterprise must race the Romulans to make first contact with a space-dwelling creature which turns out to be a living starship. It's one of those episodes which focuses mainly on the guest-character, in this case a Betazoid super-telepath named Tam Elbrun. Looking the episode up, it seems that it is based on short story and novel published some years previously, so I guess it makes sense that the Enterprise crew are somewhat peripheral to it.

It's a fairly good episode, but as my wife pointed out, it needed different casting. The uber-telepath is supposed to be somewhat unstable and mentally damaged, a result of growing up constantly bombarded by the thoughts and emotions of all around him. The guest-star, Harry Groener, doesn't really convey this all that much in his performance. I liked him as the mayor in Buffy, but someone else might have been a better choice here.
 
I watched Justice Society: WW2. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely a different take on the JSA. I also went back to the last season of Daredevil, and am making my way slowly through some older seasons of Agents of Shield and Gotham. I also started Blood of Zeus on Netflix, and Resident Alien on Peacock.
 
New Invincible tonight! My favourite night of the week!
 
New Invincible tonight! My favourite night of the week!
I was surprised it was available Thursday evening.

The good news is, Yesterday the show has been renewed for 2 more seasons--the bad news is this episode was the last for this Season, so you'll probably need to wait at least 6 months before we have more episodes.
 
I was surprised it was available Thursday evening.

The good news is, Yesterday the show has been renewed for 2 more seasons--the bad news is this episode was the last for this Season, so you'll probably need to wait at least 6 months before we have more episodes.

I wondered. It felt like a season finale, but I wasn't sure, since it's only episode 8. I thought there might be 10 or 12.
 
I finished Blood of Zeus. It was ok, but the final battle was pretty good. Not sure if a second season is coming or not. The way it ended, they could do one, or it could be a fitting ending for it. Started the new anime Yasuke. Being based on a real person, I was intrigued. What I got was great looking anime with a so-so story. Making it "alt-history" (an excuse to add in magic, mechs and robots, etc) just turns me off. It's nothing that hasn't been done before. I'd have been more into a real historical take on the character, as an African man becoming a Samurai is interesting all on its own. Oh well.

I also checked out Without Remorse, the movie based on Tom Clancy's work. It's not tied to the Jack Ryan tv series (Paramount made it, then sold it to Amazon because of the pandemic). Michael B Jordan is excellent, and the action scenes are well done. Again though, the story is kind of a retread. Supposedly this will lead into a Rainbow Six movie (as Jordan had signed on for two films), but who knows if that will happen.
 
Yesterday one of my favorite podcasts dropped its 90th anniversary episode - no, silly, not the anniversary of the podcast, but of its subject:



It's just too bad that the upcoming Patterson(TM) Shadow is sounding more and more like a complete trainwreck.
 
Just watched the new Sony animated flick Mitchells vs Machines with the family. Very funny and worth watching.
 
I'd have been more into a real historical take on the character, as an African man becoming a Samurai is interesting all on its own.
Haven't watched it yet, but that was my thought also. When I heard about, I thought it was historical. My enthusiasm died down when I found out it was anime.
 
Haven't watched it yet, but that was my thought also. When I heard about, I thought it was historical. My enthusiasm died down when I found out it was anime.
There have been historical based anime, without the need for fantastical elements. Peacemaker Kurogane was a pretty good one I saw. So it's not like it couldn't be done. From what I've read about the man, it seems like his real life would have been interesting enough for a series. It's too bad they went the route they did though.
 
Caught Burnt Orange Heresy, based on the classic Charles Willeford novel, and enjoyed it. A slow-burn neo-noir thriller based in the art world with Donald Sutherland playing a Marcel Duchamp-like recluse artist.



Debicki is excellent as always and Mick Jagger is surprisingly good as an uber-rich art collector.

Claes Bang's performance seems to have split some as unenergetic but I think he brings a lizard-like sociopathy to his character that works for the role.
 
There have been historical based anime, without the need for fantastical elements. Peacemaker Kurogane was a pretty good one I saw. So it's not like it couldn't be done. From what I've read about the man, it seems like his real life would have been interesting enough for a series. It's too bad they went the route they did though.
The Director, LeSean Thomas, explains why he made a deliberate choice to focus on these other areas, and I can't fault him for that.


As well as this good quote from Entertainment Weekly

"I didn't want to do what everyone else was going to do, which was most likely a hardcore biopic," he adds. (Before his death in August 2020, actor Chadwick Boseman was set to play Yasuke in a historical biopic.) "I didn't want to be trapped by the elements of history, so to speak, and I wanted to add a sense of fantasy, a sense of romanticism to it, much like the Japanese do with their historical figures."
Plus, in the first interview above, he states that there's really not a lot of knowledge about the actual historic figure available.
 
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