What I watched: Andor. It was interesting, mostly because it was the first Star Wars production that was dark. I mean, there was all kinds of shit in this one that you would never have seen any of the cast from the nine feature films do—OK, may be Mace Windu, but that’s it. I’m looking forward to a second fake season that is so far away I’ll have completely forgotten the first fake season.
What I read: The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven. This was the second book in the series. Several years, and at least a couple of collaborations with Jerry Pournelle had gone by before he’d written this book. So his story telling chops are better, but the hard sci fi can still get a little dizzy. That being said, the plot and pacing were good and it was much easier to follow than the first book.
What I listened to: Dirty Streets – White Horse
If you’re ever in Great Barrington, MA, be sure to go to Bizen Gourmet Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar. The food is—holy shit—incredible. But they also had fun with the menu names. One of the maki rolls we had was called the Yo-Yo-Ma-Ma. There’s also the Barock & Roll Obama Mama, Sushi in the Sky with Diamonds, and Maestro Nelson’s Symphony in Sashim-E Flat Major. The salad dressing was freshly made from plums, scallions and watercress. It was … mind blowing.
I’m sorry, what was I talking about?
I saw Deadpool and Wolverine and was underwhelmed. I thought the whole Marvel Metaverse and the time authority stuff was played out a while ago, and I’m not sure why they thought it needed bringing back.
I think it ended distracting from what should have been a pretty straightforward feuding buddy story like 48 Hours or Midnight Run.
…I can see how it could be what you’d (well, maybe not you but a bunch of british people) call “a marmite movie”
…not to say you’re saying you hated it but in rough & ready terms people who like marmite like it a lot & people who don’t, really don’t…but not because there’s some genetic thing like cilantro tasting like soap to some people?
…I’m clearly biased because I did enjoy it…but it was also a non-stop torrent of nods & winks & references & call backs & shout outs & fan service that extended as far as a sort of meta-redemption arc for the actors involved…to a point where even someone with my arguably excessive bona fides on the homework knew I wasn’t getting all of them…but I can see how depending on which strands of that did/didn’t register the pacing could seem to go from relentless to all over the shop in a self-indulgent stutter?
I think it’s fine to throw that stuff in along the way. There was a lot of inside baseball stuff and quips in the first two Deadpools, and while it flew over my head I thought the movies worked fine anyway.
But the time cop stuff needed to be left with Loki. For a single TV series that’s fine, but it’s just not compelling plotwise for an action movie. Use some kind of multiverse handwaving to kick it off and seed a bunch of old characters back into the mix, but there’s no point to having yet another sweaty middle manager mucking around in an office under flourescent lights watching lines squiggle on an old CRT.
…I could be wrong but I think they sort of over-corrected for having to re-write their way out the kang stuff…which they did with loki
…like there was probably a bit of kang stuff in the original script…& they can’t decide it could just be cut…it needs finding & replacing with that stuff?
…which isn’t to say they couldn’t have trimmed it but it’s sort of the connective tissue & without a cross-title bit of tie-in I don’t think even ryan reynolds could get the rest of it green lit?
I really enjoyed Deadpool and Wolverine, but I feel like you can’t step to far back and actually think about any of it. Like the entire premise makes no sense if Loki is sitting around in the World Tree keeping the sacred timeline intake.
I saw the finale of the Tragically Hip series. I was bummed out the entire way thru because of Gord Downie’s brain cancer and death.
If you want to understand Canada a little bit this is a series you want to see.
I count myself as fan of the band because of where and when they showed up.
What I read: People are just leaving their rifles in NYC subway stations. They are very courteously depositing them in trash barrels and not just throwing them on the tracks, where so much litter shows up. People are pigs, but not the rifle-havers, apparently.
https://www.aol.com/ar-15-style-rifle-found-153531340.html
New season of Ghosts is on CBS/Paramount. There’s a new ghost in the mix, and I’m starting to like her. “Patience.”
I keep forgetting about that show but when I catch it I’m struck by how funny it can be.
We watched the new season of The Tower on BritBox. Basic British police procedural. Not bad.
i watched the big 4
started off pretty good….and then got a bit odd
but its like…a foreign odd…something about how the story is told and the jokes and the acting..is just odd to me
but then..im pretty sure this was my first indonesian movie (incidentally…i learnt theres quite a lot of dutch in indonesian speak….which makes sense..but still surprised me)
it was also a bit bloodier than i expected..lol