Good Saturday morning Deadsplinterinos!
What I watched: “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and of course I mean the 1951 classic, not the completely awful remake starring Keanu Reeves as Gort the robot … I kid, he wasn’t actually playing the robot, he just is a robot.
If you’re wondering, this was for my podcast, which recently released our “Shawshank Redemption” episode (a great one, of course I recommend both episode and movie).
I’d seen this movie a long time ago and liked it then. I liked it even better this time around! There’s so much sci-fi DNA that comes from this movie, which could have very easily been a “Twilight Zone” or a “Star Trek” epsiode. And considering the Cold War/Red Scare time in which it came out, it’s pretty wild how openly pro-peace and anti-militarism it is.
Worth noting, as I did in the podcast, that actor playing the lead professor character in this movie almost lost the part because of the Red Scare (he was a liberal, and the son of Russian immigrants). They kept him in the movie, but despite being a regular working actor for over a decade before the film, he was blackballed afterwards, two extremely minor parts over the next 6 years in Hollywood. Then in the late 50s, he returned to regular work and was getting roles through the late ’70s. Moral panic, always great! Thankfully, we’ll never do that again here in America … hang on, I am being passed a note …
What I am about to watch: Shocking news to myself, I’m apparently going to see the Minecraft movie this weekend with my son. A lot of his classmates have been buzzing about it and he was curious. Movies are a lot for him but he’s shown interest so on we go! (I admit to knowing very little about it so I suppose I’ll see too!)
What I read: “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall And Future of Blizzard Entertainment” by Jason Schreier. I’m not a huge video game guy, but I know Schreier from Kotaku and Defector podcasts, and of course I played Warcraft back in the day. He’s a good writer and clearly knowledgable about the subject, even though you can probably guess at most of the topics covered: corporate idiocy, male-dominated gaming spaces, over-tolerance for talented assholes, the destruction of fun in the name of profit, etc.
What I’m listening to: Here’s one I bet you’ve never heard!
Not really a metal/near-metal guy so the metal-knowers in here can tell me for sure if this is passable, but this is actually my friend’s band! They’re pretty popular in Seattle and have been touring in broader regions the last couple of years. They played some festival dates last year with some way bigger bands (they’re opening for Seether later this year, which is pretty cool).
What else I’m listening to: “If Books Could Kill” which is an irregularly released podcast that I highly recommend! They cover usually bad self-help or airport books, and they just released an episode on “The Let Them Theory,” which I’d never heard of but clearly bad in the way all those books are.
So, Deadspliterites, what ya’ll got on your bookshelves, TVs and/or plates for this weekend?
I enjoyed the movie. Klaatu Barada Nikto.
The Jon Hammy and Whoah Neo Wick Bill Keeanu Reeves remake was shit.
Still plowing thru Careless People. Holy fuck are most FB execs and Zuck fucking clueless about the world.
…I might have forgotten something that deserved a mention but beyond more of various animated things I’d previously started the only one that springs to mind was called iHostage…it’s a sort of multiple viewpoint thing about a time someone did in fact take hostages at gunpoint in the apple store in amsterdam
…& I’d like to get to sinners at some point but it won’t be this weekend
…as for the reading…I haven’t yet but this was recommended to me by someone who knows me pretty well & I was suprised to find it has a youtube trailer despite being a book?
My hope is to see Sinners next weekend!
WATCHED
I really just need to get this out of the way. I tried watching Day of the Jackal (loved the book as a pre-teen). I stopped after E3. Just sooo much soap opera for me. The added tensions from principal characters’ personal lives are just filler to me and dull what should be a very energetic tale.
I’m currently watching Wolverhampton trying to put soon-to-be-relegated Leicester out of its misery.
LISTENED
Gary Numan’s Beserker has been remastered/reissued, and as much as I’ve enjoyed his 2000s output, I’ve not gone back to listen to previous decades. This was originally released in 1984, the first on Numan’s own label, Numa. So I’m playing that via YouTube this weekend.
…I saw the first few episodes in company & then haven’t been anywhere with the right combination of subscriptions so I can’t speak for the way it kept going but I was somewhat on the fence about the redmayne version…some of the time-shift seemed to work but it always seemed like part of what made the original stand out was you sort of knew how the actual events shook out so once you make the changes I’m not sure it really made sense to use the “jackal” thing…& that maybe I’d have been more up for it had it just said it was its own thing
…certainly some of the things the author said about it made it sound like he wasn’t going to stop anyone paying him a cut or a fee or whatever they gave him but couldn’t really see much of his thing in their thing?
The only thing I was excited to watch this week was sexy cruise ship completely unrealistic doctor stuff tv show (aka Doctor Odyssey) but the stupid NFL draft was on instead.
That show sounds incredibly stupid (complimentary). I would 100% watch it.
It’s a very entertaining fluff show, but also I quite enjoy it!
As always, many thanks for taking up the BrainDrain banner!!!
Today we’re assembling 2000 meal packs to distribute to community centers, senior homes, and missions in the area. It shouldn’t require much in the way of thinking, so I should need some brain draining when we get home. I don’t know what we’re gonna watch because we went through the German show Sleeping Dogs about a homeless cop a little faster than I thought we would.
A worthy cause to require some down time afterwards! Enjoy it!