tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24954991002794725202024-03-18T19:41:42.348-06:00Michael OffuttSpeculative Fiction AuthorMichael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.comBlogger1835125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-54968143616118351392024-03-18T00:03:00.000-06:002024-03-18T00:03:07.635-06:00Warner Brothers has plans for a Teen Titans movie<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EQxfSo68QSgTvxjAgwW3pc0sEnFqb6SrNHRF-cBTQFkJ-OXakHO7M1Xn2FBTNEakJEMalfAOEPH50EI0cpsBV_ukym1SRUml2uxgrEkzzJ8IjqIFNtgRYp9zrb8yhla6uRzNDOCMI1-LbruAPxR56yat9APVdUmpQP0jtyXJoNgWcGlzE63iKTDWsYA/s1440/teen-titans%20movie%20announced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EQxfSo68QSgTvxjAgwW3pc0sEnFqb6SrNHRF-cBTQFkJ-OXakHO7M1Xn2FBTNEakJEMalfAOEPH50EI0cpsBV_ukym1SRUml2uxgrEkzzJ8IjqIFNtgRYp9zrb8yhla6uRzNDOCMI1-LbruAPxR56yat9APVdUmpQP0jtyXJoNgWcGlzE63iKTDWsYA/w640-h360/teen-titans%20movie%20announced.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Okay. James Gunn has surprised me. I never thought there was going to be a <i>Teen Titans </i>movie, and then Warner Brothers (and James Gunn who is heading their DC Reboot) announced that they were going to film a <i>Teen Titans </i>movie. As a Gen X-er who was into comic books, this made me really happy. I grew up on the <i>Teen Titans, </i>and as Marvel's star appears to wane, I'm looking forward to the stories that can be told in the DC universe that haven't been done yet. We have an as yet "untapped" Darkseid, a Trigon the Terrible, and a Lobo just to name a few. Trigon himself could be a villain on the level of Thanos if done correctly, and a slow build up over several movies that culminate in a face-off against Trigon could be just the kind of thing that the doctor ordered.<p></p><p>The only thing I'm a little confused about is the order of how these things are supposed to arrive. For example, you need Batman before Robin/Nightwing and a new Batman always seems to be in the works. Is Robert Pattinson still Batman? I have no idea at this point. You need a Wonder Woman before Wonder Girl/Troia. They just got rid of Gal Gadot. You need Flash before you get Kid Flash. You need Green Arrow before you get Speedy. And last but not least, you don't really get Aqualad before Aquaman. And they just sunset Aquaman.</p><p>I have no idea how any of this is going to work. Maybe the plan is to start with the superheroes fully formed, so you don't need origin movies. I guess you could assume that everyone already knows who Wonder Woman is and probably Flash and then Green Arrow. So you wouldn't need to involve them beyond maybe some flashbacks and some exposition. However, it's going to take some clever play to get all of this done. You know...superhero movies must be a pain in the ass to keep on track year after year in a shared universe. And does everyone actually know that Dick Grayson became Nightwing as an adult? I remember finding that out in the eighties and being surprised by that. I think that most people still probably think of Dick Grayson as Robin. But maybe I'm wrong and they think Tim Drake is (or some other version). We'll just forget Jason Todd at the moment.</p><p>Also, we need a good Lex Luthor. We haven't had one in years. I think my favorite Lex of all time was Kevin Spacey, but he seems troubling to use as an actor at this point. I'd want someone to play Lex that has the gravitas that Kevin Spacey brought to the screen. Anyway, if you're a comic book nerd and reading my post, do you have any theories as to how they are going to launch a <i>Teen Titans</i> movie without doing any of the legacy superheroes first?</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-42725702531595173262024-03-13T07:22:00.000-06:002024-03-13T07:22:07.376-06:00No matter how hard I try I think I'm just not meant to get why the Last Airbender is so cool.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilR6GBVQa4BJzQJu9lsEeI_fXmizM7Do_D2BBokMGfa_gSojwl1vXLtIzxx9LTtf-M_GONORmvsXxuqqnmZWLLUs5tmJZYsmO5lmHTa4Ws1D07nZ2kv9nH78KX6Xf8Lm_mmPV1hPC1CeVTdovpIlquX_2Kcsy_VT-9hnBfnwl-PVYYJr6gKP1a55_6h1c/s1350/Avatar%20the%20Last%20Airbender%20on%20Netflix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilR6GBVQa4BJzQJu9lsEeI_fXmizM7Do_D2BBokMGfa_gSojwl1vXLtIzxx9LTtf-M_GONORmvsXxuqqnmZWLLUs5tmJZYsmO5lmHTa4Ws1D07nZ2kv9nH78KX6Xf8Lm_mmPV1hPC1CeVTdovpIlquX_2Kcsy_VT-9hnBfnwl-PVYYJr6gKP1a55_6h1c/w512-h640/Avatar%20the%20Last%20Airbender%20on%20Netflix.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>I've been kinda/sorta making my way through <i>Avatar: The Last Air Bender </i>on Netflix. This is one of those shows that I'm watching out of the corner of my eye while doing something else. However, I do like it. But it's also not really my cup of tea. None of that makes any sense (probably) if you stop and think about it. To try and clarify, I'm glad that it's getting the love that it deserves, and I'm glad that it has been renewed for more seasons at Netflix. I just don't ever think I will personally understand why anyone finds it to be good. Does that sound any better? Probably not.<p></p><p>I have a good friend that really loves the show, and she's an adult but quite a bit younger than me. When she talks about <i>Avatar, </i>her favorite series of all time,<i> </i>I just smile and nod and because I know the story, I'm able to kind of share in their love of it. And I can fake it quite a bit as in, "Wow! This show is so great. It's incredible what they've done." But I wish I knew why people loved this show so much. I think maybe I just was too old for it when it hit the screens for the first time so that I was forever unable to relate to it in a meaningful way. Or maybe it just really is not all that special and the people who are watching it have no life experience to compare it to anything that is actually good. Or maybe I'm the jaded one, and I just can't stand kid actors (the more likely culprit). I mean...I think that the element bending looks cheesy, the plot is meh, and I think that the acting is bad. But I'm only saying this, because my blog feels like a safe space to air these feelings.</p><p>If you don't know what this show is about, it has some really big themes built around a world that is not earth but "earth adjacent." People are separated into tribes for their prospective elements, and one of the tribes (the Fire nation) committed an act of genocide on the Air Nation so that they could remain the most powerful. Is this awful? Yes, yes, it is. Did I cry when the Air Nation died? Not really...none of those characters meant anything to me. The main character is a "chosen one" kid who must rise to the occasion and embrace all of his power to make right the various injustices that occur in the world in the absence of an "all powerful avatar" able to wield the four elements. And the rest of it just seems to be fascism gussied up with elemental magic and this chosen one character is the being who will be the anti-fascist and put everyone in their place again and stand up for the weak (which apparently everyone is except for the Fire Nation). It doesn't help much that the whole world of Avatar minus the Fire Nation seems to be a metaphor for the Democratic party in America (clearly not its intention). But if the shoe fits....</p><p>So that you are on the same page as me, here's how the <i>New York Times </i>described democrats from an article just this week:</p><p></p><blockquote>"Why are democrats so congenitally weak? Why did it take a group of former Republicans--the Lincoln Project--to create the nastiest, most effective anti-Trump ads in 2020? There are several reasons, which are impossible for Democrats to admit in public. The first is that they have a reputation as the favored party of the American Bar Association, they're rife with lawyers, they see poetry in a well-turned codicil. They are also the party of the so-called helping professions--teachers, social workers, speech therapists, home health aides, ivy-clotted academics. In general, these are not people comfortable throwing a fierce left hook. And they are the party of identity politics, always sensitive to insensitivity, often to a fault. They care a lot more about appearances, and propriety, than Republicans do."</blockquote><p>Only...here's the thing: I'm a Democrat, and I'm wondering why everyone who seems to vote like me is so weak. It's actually kind of frustrating. I know so many people who just basically let others run them over, and the only way they seem to be able to find any strength at all is in vast numbers. Standing up for yourself is difficult (I get it), but there seems to be a phenomenon now where everyone is just collectively depressed, anxious, and kind of paralyzed like a deer caught in some headlights. It's kinda like watching the Fire Nation run everyone over to be honest, and I don't like it at all (but it is what it is). And then to go from that reality to a show like <i>Avatar </i>that seems to celebrate this kind of weakness by literally showing that none of these people are ever going to be capable of standing up to the Fire Nation without a godlike being who has their back...well...it's a message that I don't enjoy a lot. And I wonder why some people do? Because in real life...there is no avatar coming to save anyone.</p><p>But maybe I'm just digging too deep on this kid's show. People probably just love it because it features different cultures working together, some good humor, and characters who grow over time. Kids also probably just love the magic...the bending of the elements...and the aesthetic of "that's cool." Wouldn't it be amazing if we could all just use magic to solve our problems? Yeah...maybe I'm just too old to appreciate a kid's show. But I can fake that I like it to fit in. That costs me nothing.<br /></p><p></p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-65597684788691872302024-03-11T07:32:00.000-06:002024-03-11T07:32:42.244-06:00Today I'm sorting out the things about the Walking Dead The Ones Who Live that I don't understand completely.<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1rluiBoTShZ1ERL8mm_6_iX4GL2s48HYlRDNRcfH8nWJh4XaQ7vmYRhpHTB_Pm3VQngKqJq8NWr342CMXxeNuHN3V7IRDhF56jGsDyA1dd5v8y2h6dChs6XWVuTFPfcU8A_Zw7j46zAdKx6pkFM5E8F2uTQ-7uWeMev1yKboL0konydSQyJlDPIEO-4/s1280/The%20Ones%20Who%20Live.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1rluiBoTShZ1ERL8mm_6_iX4GL2s48HYlRDNRcfH8nWJh4XaQ7vmYRhpHTB_Pm3VQngKqJq8NWr342CMXxeNuHN3V7IRDhF56jGsDyA1dd5v8y2h6dChs6XWVuTFPfcU8A_Zw7j46zAdKx6pkFM5E8F2uTQ-7uWeMev1yKboL0konydSQyJlDPIEO-4/w640-h360/The%20Ones%20Who%20Live.jpg" width="640" /></a></i></div><i><br />The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live </i>is a spinoff of the original <i>The Walking Dead, </i>which I stopped watching in season 9 when Rick left the show. This new iteration, the third of which I have watched following <i>Dead City </i>and <i>Daryl Dixon </i>feels a lot like <i>The Walking Dead </i>I remembered. But a lot of it doesn't make sense (probably) because maybe I missed something by skipping out on how <i>The Walking Dead </i>ended. However, everything I read about <i>The Ones Who Live </i>explicitly stated that the series would stand on its own, and that I wouldn't need to know anything from the prior series to understand the events in this series. But just so I can kind of see it all written down, I'm going to go through the things that I don't understand that are in this show as of just three episodes. This is your spoiler warning:<p></p><p>1) There are three cities I guess in the former United States that decided to draw boundaries and keep out the dead. They enacted a form of martial law, built barriers, educated their populace, and essentially became military states. And somehow, this allowed up to 200,000 individuals per metropolis to basically exist as if it was the times before the big event that made the zombie apocalypse. How is it that we are just now hearing of this? Especially when they have helicopters flying everywhere, munitions, and other things like electricity and water treatment and sewage treatment plants. One of the cities in like episode two finally collapsed. So this is like...ten years into the zombie apocalypse (still a hell of a record I think). We don't know all of the details, but it sounds like it just got overwhelmed by a dead army or something weird. I wonder if this has more to it...kinda like maybe they are exploring intelligent forms of undead and there was maybe a leader or something that whipped up all of the zombies. It's easily the most supernatural and interesting lead that this series has dropped, but there hasn't been any more exploration of the potential of that in the remaining episode I watched.</p><p>2) Rick cut off his own damn hand. This was...I dunno...unnecessary? Rick was on a tight leash to prevent his escape, and he was doing his job, which is to cull zombies. This particular branch of zombies was on fire for some reason--it wasn't explained. But in order for him to get off the leash, he needed to cut his hand off. It's a parallel to an event that happened in the <i>Daryl Dixon </i>show, because a tertiary character was handcuffed and in order to escape, needed to cut his hand off to get out of the bond. When Rick did it by choice, it just seemed so unnecessary. What was his plan exactly? To run into a forest of burning zombies with no food or water and in pain and dripping blood from a hastily done amputation? It was easily the dumbest thing I've seen, and I just can't imagine why Rick would do this as he's an intelligent character. But he did get a cool prosthetic out of it with a switchblade, and I suppose it also demonstrated how desperate he was to get away from the people in this "secret city." But in the end, this particular thing fell flat with me, and I have questions/don't understand why it happened.</p><p>3) There was a whole lot of exposition about the kinds of people they want in the city of 200,000 (referred to as CRM in the series). For one, I guess they don't want any "alphas." They don't want any leader types, and those kinds of people just end up dead. They just want "betas" or people who are relatively good at being sheep to follow whatever shepherds that they have running the government. This is really weird to me. Why is being a person who wants to be in charge a bad thing? People who are driven and don't need someone to take care of them are exactly the kinds of people I think you'd want in an apocalypse. Things are tough already, and these...let's call them "type A" personalities are the kinds of personalities that I think would end up being the most valuable in an apocalyptic scenario.</p><p>4) There's a character who is already dead in the show who was named "Okafor." His whole background, which seems kind of pointless at this time since he's dead, was that he was in the military, and that his own wife wanted him NOT to bomb Philadelphia. So, he killed her, but then he refused to bomb the city anyway? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe I missed an important detail somewhere? However, since the character has already kicked the bucket, I'm not sure I can justify a rewatch since it's apparent that none of it mattered anyway other than to say that there are people in the CRM who don't follow orders. And maybe that's the point. If there are people who are in leadership positions (like Okafor) who want to bring the whole government structure down, it sets the ground for some chaotic grasps at power for Rick and Michonne to make in the new world of the Walking Dead.</p><p>All that being said though...I'm still going to watch this thing. It's Rick and Michonne, and those two are characters I love and feel like I know after being with them for so long. I'm excited to see what unfolds and what those two decide to do in their post apocalyptic lives.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-50706868254338943162024-03-06T09:43:00.000-07:002024-03-06T09:43:50.561-07:00For the Insecure Writer's Support Group post I'm talking about a.i. and how I use it in my writing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm63amLiJy7h5-8Nf4qY3zPDd6DNJIILje_wCEHtkFjE8eoD6eiBnNS_pJ2N8w1BoW3vzH_O8YXfUiREhroLz4UwQ3mVFbBf6dSLedoAVrFb1DWvBrLr4-GIQ6zv3zu0lQ8XpuMQmHDsYEndIEyvPkMOOgIFJOjGkqFhqP0YLYm4zmxDyA4gFzNxtoxKY/s932/Insecure%20Writers%20Support%20Group%20Badge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="932" height="630" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm63amLiJy7h5-8Nf4qY3zPDd6DNJIILje_wCEHtkFjE8eoD6eiBnNS_pJ2N8w1BoW3vzH_O8YXfUiREhroLz4UwQ3mVFbBf6dSLedoAVrFb1DWvBrLr4-GIQ6zv3zu0lQ8XpuMQmHDsYEndIEyvPkMOOgIFJOjGkqFhqP0YLYm4zmxDyA4gFzNxtoxKY/w640-h630/Insecure%20Writers%20Support%20Group%20Badge.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Ides of March will soon be upon us! But, the Insecure Writer's Support Group is already here, whether or not the Ides of March will truly care. And if you don't know what the Ides of March are, maybe a more contemporary metaphor will due in its stead: "March Madness is upon us!" And with that song and dance out of the way, let's get to the real reason why you are here: my March 2024 Insecure Writer's Support Group post. But (before that), let's talk a little about this monthly blog celebration that was started by Alex Cavanaugh many moons ago. First things first, if you are interested in participating, you will want to click <b><a href="https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html" target="_blank">HERE and go and sign up</a></b>. I promise you that none of the writers who participate will bite you.<br /><br /><b>What is the purpose of the IWSG?:</b> It's to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.<br /><br /><b>When do y'all post?:</b> The IWSG blogs on the first Wednesday of every month. This was chosen by Alex way back when, and I'm not sure as to why that was the official day. Anyway, it is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day now.<div><br /></div><div><b>What do you post?: </b> Anything you want that has to do with writing. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting. Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog. Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back.<br /><br /><b>Do y'all have a motto?: </b>Yes. It's "Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!"<br /><br /><b>What about an X (Twitter) presence?: </b>Yes, the official "X" handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.<br /><br />The awesome co-hosts for the March 6th posting of the IWSG are <a href="http://kristinaseyes.com/">Kristina Kelly,</a> <a href="https://miffieseideman.com/">Miffie Seideman,</a> <a href="http://jeanddavis.blogspot.com/">Jean Davis,</a> and <a href="http://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/">Liza @ Middle Passages!</a><br /><br /><b>What if I don't have any ideas?: </b>Well, every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. But remember, the question is optional. Below is the March 6th question:<br /><blockquote><b>Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?</b></blockquote><p>The A.I. that I use the most is ChatGPT, and yes, I've been using it on just about everything. I run a Dungeons & Dragons game and I've had it generate dream sequences for characters and backstories for characters in seconds after I fed it a few prompts. When I read them out loud, my players at the table have no clue that I didn't write it, and they have been received very well. I've used ChatGPT to write boring passages that are fun to read but which I cringe to write. I've also used it to generate ideas for modules for my Dungeons & Dragons game, and the ideas that it comes up with are excellent. It kind of blows me away each and every time I use it. And yes, I've used it to spruce up my own writing a lot. I think that ChatGPT is incredible, and for the most part I believe that the business end of creative writing has been irrevocably damaged by it. But as supporters of the A.I. products that are out there have said, "You can always create your own art. No one is stopping you. It hasn't taken that away. It's just taken away any money you can make from it." And...that's true. It's also how I feel about it. Write away all you want. Just don't expect anyone to pay for it at all.</p><p>But let's clarify my comments a bit. What A.I. has done is just completely decimated what we call "the mid-list." So now, basically the only way I feel like a person could make money in the arts is by being a nepo baby, by being connected to a religious community that is cultish in the way it puts some on a pedestal, or by being a genius business influencer like a Kardashian or something similar. This is way different than it was even a few years ago. Everyone else will just make along the lines of what a monthly welfare check might pay or less, and you'll definitely need food stamps. A.I. has also decimated art. I honestly don't know how graphic artists can expect to even be paid in the future. A.I. art for concept art and editorial art is faster and better than what a human can do. People can get insulted by it all they want, but the volume in which it creates and the level of detail continuously blows my mind. I've had thousands of hours of art training, and I haven't done a single picture since I saw what Midjourney and Stable Diffusion could do in seconds now. My phone is literally brimming with a.i. pictures I've collected. They all look so real and so fantastic. I could never compete, and that's just self-awareness.</p><p>However, I have not (nor do I ever) plan on having a.i. write any of my blog posts. The stuff you read here is all me. You may ask me why? Well, the simple reason is that I like organizing my thoughts through writing. I can't do that if I have a.i. just generate my content. If I don't feel like writing, I won't post. But lately, I've had plenty of thoughts I've wanted to share, so I continue to post. Maybe someday that will change. But rather than feed any visitors some a.i. generated garbage, I just won't post. So, it's all me. This flies in the face of experts who have weighed in on <i>The New York Times </i>and on <i>NPR </i>who have both said that within 5 years, 90% of everything we read online will be a.i. based. If I'm still around in five years, I will be part of that 10% that isn't, and I'll probably find some excuse to rant on something at that point that is different than what I rant on these days.</p><p>And now for the final question: do I use a.i. to write a synopsis? I haven't yet. But if I need one, I probably would try. A.I. is a really impressive thing. If it's going to take all your money away and make all the hard but creative and rewarding work essentially worthless, you might as well use it to do some of the boring stuff, right? Who knows? You could land an agent and sell a book that maybe makes you $15,000 dollars for two years of work. Even though that won't even buy you a good used car, maybe it's enough to put down for some land-locked swamp land somewhere. If you want my advice on how to be a wealthy and famous writer, work on being a nepo baby or join a cult and market your book to its members. In the latter case, just make sure you exploit the cult for free labor in getting your books ready. And also, make sure you have a spouse that has a full-time 40-hour a week job. That way they can support you while you work really hard and make peanuts. But the reward isn't the money, is it? It's the fact that you get to exercise that creative muscle. Thanks for visiting :)</p></div>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-2255632730915575252024-03-01T09:12:00.000-07:002024-03-01T09:12:44.357-07:00Will a Neuromancer series be able to overcome the insurmountable challenge for books that are simultaneously super influential and super dated?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrw2ybaUAw0wvetUj99sMcOFrPeWOv5ZEgiplNoA48ZLv9Tots9c9MFYS-nX-4IL3a4ydMd5amDtr8ouP8O_nWDdc4Wj0rrYSzo6lOoc3kUV7uZnCQ8FlR3Edc8i3Ydg6OKgjn8F85ndnXGQEsCtQxVU_7PpHMDp_6bFQcn6iDU8Wa7tCm48w4IFj-sY/s1140/Neuromancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="1140" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrw2ybaUAw0wvetUj99sMcOFrPeWOv5ZEgiplNoA48ZLv9Tots9c9MFYS-nX-4IL3a4ydMd5amDtr8ouP8O_nWDdc4Wj0rrYSzo6lOoc3kUV7uZnCQ8FlR3Edc8i3Ydg6OKgjn8F85ndnXGQEsCtQxVU_7PpHMDp_6bFQcn6iDU8Wa7tCm48w4IFj-sY/w640-h328/Neuromancer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />We're in a weird place with television and movie adaptations. On the one hand, I love what is happening. For example, the first two premiere episodes of <i>Shogun</i> on FX were nothing short of spectacular. Their adaptation is so faithful to the book material, and it all just looks so good. On the other hand, decades of people desiring to either get a side gig, become rich, or become famous by telling stories has resulted in a flood of material that is so deep, that the original (that may have kicked it off decades ago) seems derivative. Like...you actually have to tell people that <i>Dune </i>and <i>Star Wars </i>got their ideas from Asimov's <i>Foundation. </i>If you don't, then anyone who looks maybe at Apple TV's version of <i>Foundation </i>will declare it as a "Star Wars knockoff done poorly." It's very rare when writers of new ideas and the media (that we consume) go hand-in-hand. This happened for Rowling with her story of a wizarding school. But if she'd been just a decade or more late...<i>The Magicians </i>by Lev Grossman might have told the first wizarding school story that hit it big and then people would have declared that Harry Potter was just an English knockoff, when it's clear that <i>The Magicians </i>is the actual knockoff.<p></p><p>Now, we are set to have another such phenomenon land. A favorite book of mine that won both the Hugo and the Nebula is set to be adapted on Apple TV plus. And it's about time. This book, called <i>Neuromancer </i>is the singular book that started a ton of ideas. <i>Neuromancer </i>gave us the terms we use today for things like "the Web" and "Internet." It was the thing that inspired movies like <i>The Matrix </i>which has an incredibly original world. <i>Neuromancer </i>invented cyberpunk. But for one reason or another, William Gibson's incredible novel has been stuck in development or non-development hell for decades. Meanwhile, all of these other projects got greenlit around it while <i>Neuromancer </i>just floundered despite its enormous fanbase<u> at the time</u>. And that's crucial to understand. It has been almost forty years since that book was published. Millennials and GenZ for the most part will have no idea what <i>Neuromancer </i>even is. We've had <i>Shadowrun </i>tabletop games come and go. We've had hundreds of cyberpunk video games. And now that <i>Neuromancer </i>is finally getting a ten episode season, it will be hard...almost impossible not to succumb to the "John Carter Effect." I define this as an intellectual property that will seem derivative despite being the originator of so many tropes of the genre. It's a case of too little too late, I've already seen all that. This is 100% the insurmountable challenge for books that are simultaneously super influential and super dated.</p><p>All that being said, I'm pretty excited for this. Apple tends to actually spend money on their shows, which certainly helps, too. And they don't seem to want to cancel shows, unlike Netflix which frequently chops off 80% of the shows that it green lights for a season one. TV is also (probably) a better format for <i>Neuromancer. </i>It will give the novel the time to highlight the slow burn qualities that are present within the work. Still, I wish there had been a movie in the timeline between 1986 to 1994 or so, before the novel's influence started to percolate into popular culture via games and other media. There's definitely a cinematic, vivid quality to Gibson's prose that, in the hands of a skilled director, could translate into a stunning thing to watch.</p><p>Anyway, those are my thoughts on <i>Neuromancer. </i>Next week, I'm only blogging on Wednesday for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post. I'll resume my normal blogging schedule on Monday, March 11th.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-2335584127457725562024-02-28T07:57:00.000-07:002024-02-28T07:57:26.833-07:00Let's talk about True Detective season four.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEYyqAK81V2ZZArLqeAOINRpQkDSmp1lfsgg_FlCuxhGrRxMrhElnIYL0TCnnKAHwp3JuUu6g3MAzDSD8PYLoP03nGihc15sPB-fbNHvlkvcDzJuB6NF9LH0J0IS1mnop2lA_vj6L7YPEUws_rxPqmWFijX4M2VTBF37G2R8jCyzZplEbh1i13ICs9h4/s1600/True%20Detective%20season%20four.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEYyqAK81V2ZZArLqeAOINRpQkDSmp1lfsgg_FlCuxhGrRxMrhElnIYL0TCnnKAHwp3JuUu6g3MAzDSD8PYLoP03nGihc15sPB-fbNHvlkvcDzJuB6NF9LH0J0IS1mnop2lA_vj6L7YPEUws_rxPqmWFijX4M2VTBF37G2R8jCyzZplEbh1i13ICs9h4/w640-h360/True%20Detective%20season%20four.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br />This weekend I finished up <i>True Detective: Night Country. </i>In this post, I'm going to talk about the five episode season, and in reviewing it, I don't think I can effectively avoid spoilers for it. So here's your spoiler warning.<p></p><p>If you haven't watched any <i>True Detective </i>yet, then the thing that you should know is that it is wildly inconsistent from season to season (season one was great and seasons two and three were terrible). Each season (also) is a tale unto itself with some very minor attempts to tie it all together with recurring imagery. But each season has new actors who don't know any of the other actors, and they are usually immersed into some kind of plot that seems supernatural at first, but that is ultimately explained by the end of the show. However, they take great leaps and bounds with suspension of disbelief.</p><p>For example, if there's a one in a million chance that something actually could happen, you get to see that 1 in a million thing in <i>True Detective. </i>And because it is so unbelievable...you kind of buy into the idea that something supernatural may be occurring. But by season's end, that balloon has been popped, and you are once again grounded in the reality of what actually happened. Anything supernatural gets explained away by schizo-affective disorder, pollutants that cause hallucinations, severe abuse that causes dementia-like imaginings and etc. And usually there is some utterly corrupt and terrible person(s) behind it all that get exposed for the terrible things that they have done and the manipulations they have initiated.</p><p>There is inevitably a character who is so wrapped up in their faith, that they speak of the unknown in terms of vengeful spirits rather than do the hard work to figure out what is happening. There are also plenty of unreliable narrators who are walking vessels of their trauma that they just can't let go. This too makes the deciphering of clues really hard, because they are dealing with their own shit which is probably being triggered by the crime being investigated in the show. Having people like this around the main detectives serves to muddy the waters and provide plenty of opportunities to just say, "ghosts did it" or something like that and call it a day. But the "True Detectives" of the show never fall for this, which is why the show exists. They persistently go after clues and the truth up to the point that it completely endangers their lives.</p><p>The "True Detectives" of season four, called "Night Country" stars Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers and Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro. The story is called "Night Country" because it takes place in a small town named Ennis that experiences more than a month of night every winter, and because the native Americans who live there refer to the ice caves under the permafrost as the "night country" and use these rocks with swirls on them to indicate where the ice is dangerous so that you don't go there and fall through. My favorite of the True Detectives was Jodie Foster's character, Liz Danvers. And this is simply because she was the more reliable narrator of the two.</p><p>The other one, Kali Reis (Evangeline Navarro), was a walking bag of trauma both from the unsolved murder of a native American girl (stabbed 37 times and having her tongue cut out) and from her deeply disturbed sister who commits suicide halfway through the show by walking into the freezing ocean (she had obvious schizo-affective disorder among other things). Additionally, Evangeline was unreliable because she was "deeply spiritual" and felt a "connection" to the land and the spirit guides and so on and so forth. Whatever. The point of all this was that she became deeply unreliable in the episodes because every time the story was told from her point of view, she saw things that simply couldn't be there or made no sense that they were there at all. Yet, as a viewer of the show, you have no choice but to buy into the "there's something supernatural going on here" narrative. Ultimately, she's a good person, but still it's aggravating to try and suss out all of these things on your own when so many things you are shown aren't real.</p><p>There are also clearly scripted plot points that stand out to me as a writer. They probably wouldn't be so obvious if I wasn't familiar with the fact that to tell a story, you need to kind of loop things back around again. One of these is that Danver's invites Prior (a character played by a Finn Bennett that I really liked) to stay over in her freezing shed purely so that he can be there for when his dad shoots his gun. It also makes me realize that his wife was there purely for plot point reasons. She needed to get upset at Prior to drive him out of the house so that he'd move in with his dad and find that to be toxic so that he would end up staying with Danvers. It seems really contrived, and I don't like when I can see behind the curtain so easily.</p><p>Anyway, that's my analysis of season 4 of <i>True Detective. </i>Overall, I did like it, but I don't think I'd rewatch it. Once is enough. So...maybe 3 stars out of 5. Thanks for visiting.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-81625067668002678842024-02-26T00:45:00.000-07:002024-02-26T00:45:42.809-07:00Foundation season two was really good.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaXW3J5YJe70wlqW1ev3cJeGKGcZHJ9fjEu2we6qPP_hd41ERMYbTFem1-v2G8z-nzeZUu2qO-VB6846JWviij47lQy4HQdHVuuK-rmhpsX8BVIut7Z6ZuUPQa09DafFIRcFTqaSiWhMdWciikyITkpIhEiGYLJivyhY6fLrdbDZW18bhfmc7GLuIemc/s1100/Foundation%20season%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="1100" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaXW3J5YJe70wlqW1ev3cJeGKGcZHJ9fjEu2we6qPP_hd41ERMYbTFem1-v2G8z-nzeZUu2qO-VB6846JWviij47lQy4HQdHVuuK-rmhpsX8BVIut7Z6ZuUPQa09DafFIRcFTqaSiWhMdWciikyITkpIhEiGYLJivyhY6fLrdbDZW18bhfmc7GLuIemc/w640-h360/Foundation%20season%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I'm not an abject fan of Asimov's <i>Foundation </i>trilogy, as it is rather dry and boring in ways that <i>The Silmarillion </i>by Tolkien is also dry and boring. It takes place over huge swaths of time. Characters rarely last more than three chapters. So you're switching out constantly with new characters who are following the decline of a galactic empire and trying to make sure that instead of 30,000 years of darkness and lack of knowledge, that it only lasts for 1,000 years. But one of the things that the Appl plus series did to correct this was to make concessions for the story that really rile up the "Die Hards" of Asimov's fanbase. I think these changes are a huge bonus to the story. But (I think) people will always be divided between what works in storytelling and what is sacred and should not be altered in any way. My thoughts on this are simple: sometimes big stories are two big for one mind. I think this is the case with <i>Game of Thrones, </i>which functions much better when there's a small village of people providing input than it does with one person's brain who tires and quickly reaches the limits of their imagination and falls short of filling in all the blanks. So what are these changes exactly? There are spoilers ahead in case you intend to watch <i>Foundation, </i>which I hope you do. It's an incredible science fiction series...maybe one of the best in modern times. Okay, now to answer that question.<p></p><p>The first of these is that Hari Seldon gets to die and yet through computer programs and cloning and what all else, he's a continuous character that not only gets to exist to establish the Foundation, but he continues onward as a primary protagonist throughout the narrative. He doesn't just "appear" in the vault as a pre-recorded message every fifty years or so like he seems to do in the book. </p><p>The second thing that Apple's staff of writers did was establish a genetic dynasty of emperors named "Cleon" that continues on and on and on, and is in fact one of the main reasons the whole thing is collapsing.</p><p>The third thing they did was bring in the character of Demerzel, who is the real power behind the throne...her story comes to full bloom in season two. Demerzel is the most fascinating character in the show, full stop. Demerzel is the last survivor of this event called "The Robot Wars," which occurred between man and machine thousands of years ago. And her story is extremely sad, having been sliced up and imprisoned for countless centuries within a room, fully conscious of who she was, and just having to stay there without company only to then be freed by a morally ambiguous Emperor who had romantic designs that had to do with her, would force her to love him through programming, and would force her to be a caretaker of his clones for even more centuries to come. How awful would that be?</p><p>And the fourth thing they did was invent Gaal Dornick, who is Hari's protege and who they've managed to figure out how to hurl through the centuries as a living person (they use hybernation pods for this to slow down metabolic processes). She's the tape measure by which Hari's plan can be measured. You see, Hari has got this timeline of events that need to be overcome due to what he's learned from his mathematically-based psycho-history. With Gaal Dornick, she's a living person, and thus she can have children. If (for example) a child dies outside of when it is supposed to (as predicted by psychic dreams and prophecies), it means that the future can be changed. I really liked Gaal's kid named Salvor, and I was sad when Salvor died at the end of season two. But this is exactly what shouldn't have happened but did, and because of that they know that the next big bad that they will face, called "The Mule" will be overcome because Salvor wasn't supposed to die when she did (if that makes any sense).</p><p>Anyway, I get why some of the "die hards" are upset at all of these changes. But they make for some really good storytelling if you can let go of a stoic adherence to Asimov's actual writing. We have gotten quite a few good things from the books. The Hober Mallow/High Cleric-Brother offshoot of the Foundation arc was fantastic. We also got the Riose-Mallow-Constant arc that was a genuinely interesting adaptation of the books. That arc emphasized the Foundation from Terminus using their soft power. Season 2 also gave us the necessary Second Foundation introduced into the story via the mentalics arc, and we now have Gaal becoming the single most important person in the universe because she has nigh on "magical" powers that are probably aimed at an upcoming boss fight with "The Mule." Even though the writers have had to do a lot of hand wavy, science magic to keep characters from aging out of the story, I think the sacrifice has paid off in spades. And the nothing but spectacular destruction of the planet of Terminus left me awe struck. The way the show has been doing the ships "faster than light" travel is to have each of them use a micro black hole that serves as the engine. Well, they crashed one of the big ones into the planet Terminus, and I never really put together that the singularity in those ships could in fact tear apart a planet, but it totally did. One of the best pieces of special effects I've seen in sci-fi shows.</p><p>Anyway, thanks for visiting. On Wednesday I plan to talk about HBO's fourth season of <i>True Detective </i>called <i>Night Country.</i></p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-63459084751188315492024-02-23T00:00:00.000-07:002024-02-23T00:00:39.076-07:00Invincible season 2 comes back in March and I have a few thoughts on the first half of the season.<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi07EYsukeQX9Qi2sIO7M3lIukBX9VB_Jeozk0lBm_E-uCNAT78ld-y8J8p5jWBHVYMAFZd8MZiAq53LygOwSh3tID3oAaj8vHz76vl0vINK3h_9dXQiG-1UvCyXgcnBUsHDb2sLZwObHu12sDVKpfEE2hmpyKD-tMfIj2MIrPf-HvtVgjeO0a_I118C90/s1080/Invincible%20Season%202.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi07EYsukeQX9Qi2sIO7M3lIukBX9VB_Jeozk0lBm_E-uCNAT78ld-y8J8p5jWBHVYMAFZd8MZiAq53LygOwSh3tID3oAaj8vHz76vl0vINK3h_9dXQiG-1UvCyXgcnBUsHDb2sLZwObHu12sDVKpfEE2hmpyKD-tMfIj2MIrPf-HvtVgjeO0a_I118C90/w640-h360/Invincible%20Season%202.png" width="640" /></a></i></div><i><br />Invincible </i>season 2 is coming back for its second half in March. I'm not sure why Amazon decided to split the season, but it is nice that there are more episodes that I haven't watched that I can look forward to viewing. It's a good series with a very strong comic-book vibe that live action usually misses (and which cartoons seem to miss as well). When I watch it, I feel like I'm reading a comic book, and that (I think) is the true magic of <i>Invincible. </i>I think that overall, the storyline does feel a bit weaker than it did in season one. Season 1 set up Omni Man as the ominous threat waiting to destroy the Earth. Each episode drove us a little bit closer to that final confrontation of him versus everything that Earth could throw at him with little chance of success. Season 2 on the other hand is a lot different.<p></p><p>We got introduced to Angstrom Levy who I thought was supposed to be this season's bad guy, but then we hardly see him and hardly understand how much of a threat he is supposed to be. And then in a move that surprised me, we got introduced back to Omni-man living in exile on another planet (and he's fathered a baby with an alien being) and he wants his Earthling son Mark to join him in a fight against the Viltrumites who have come to extinguish Omni-man and his progeny. This was a kind of crazy thing that I absolutely didn't see coming. </p><p>This also does seem to be the season where many of the characters are trying to figure out what their place is in the crazy world of superheroes. For example, Atom Eve has this tug of war where she doesn't want to be a superhero, but then she changes her mind and gets angsty. Omni-man too seems to be going through some soul-searching. In season 1 he practically demolished his own son. Now in season 2, his cruelty has been really toned down, and he somehow now has empathy for at least the bug people that he rules over. </p><p>Anyway, it's a lot to process. But here's my predictions of things that will need to be addressed when the show returns in March:</p><p>1) Will Mark return with Nolan's second son, forcing Debbie (his mother) to come to terms with how fast Nolan moved on from his previous life on Earth?</p><p>2) Will Angstrom Levy become more of a villain?</p><p>3) Will Mark and his girlfriend, Amber, break up? He kinda did just up and leave and go to another planet to fight alongside his dad.</p><p>If you have anything to add regarding <i>Invincible, </i>I look forward to reading your comments. </p><p>On Monday, I'm going to blog about the spectacular season 2 that <i>Foundation </i>put in on Apple Plus. I finished it up last night, and I've got oh so many thoughts regarding the events that played out. </p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-24363430188229324052024-02-21T08:37:00.000-07:002024-02-21T08:37:25.982-07:00My spoiler-filled review of He-Man Revolution on Netflix.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksaECAGQnR61PaOkejcYlEN8hbjarKxv6_q1eIiaz92JNj3ZeDHRuCdlNzVWdpOEOMJ8RFnCdqw9FcVvYz_tNZyDqZuXTor2bi9_1_gW1o_JypVkd0zREiwZ_j46pmcn9nYGl6JS1nYzeDb3ZAGOsdWtlPEKB37_PrFkHt85dYV9QI5qfhmLxMzuVwH4/s2222/Masters%20of%20the%20Universe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2222" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksaECAGQnR61PaOkejcYlEN8hbjarKxv6_q1eIiaz92JNj3ZeDHRuCdlNzVWdpOEOMJ8RFnCdqw9FcVvYz_tNZyDqZuXTor2bi9_1_gW1o_JypVkd0zREiwZ_j46pmcn9nYGl6JS1nYzeDb3ZAGOsdWtlPEKB37_PrFkHt85dYV9QI5qfhmLxMzuVwH4/w432-h640/Masters%20of%20the%20Universe.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><br />Kevin Smith's reboot of <i>Masters of the Universe </i>landed first with "Revelations," and it continued with "Revolution." It seems weird to market it that way, but "Revolution", which landed on January 25th, was basically just season 2 of the show. This "second" season is much shorter, being only five episodes long. But there is still some good lore nuggets that got dropped, and (with it) the "Prince Adam" character has finally become an adult with his father's death.<p></p><p>It's a strange thing to see cartoons evolve with real life events like the death of a parent or some other thing. In Adam's case, the entirety of the second season was mostly about the succession. When not fighting Motherboard and Skeletor (who was a cyborg masquerading as He-Man's friendly uncle) there was always this question of "who would be king?" should the need arise. At this point I'd like to note that I was pleasantly surprised to hear William Shatner's voice as the scheming "Keldor." And it turns out that (at least as Kevin Smith sees it), Eternia's ultimate fate is to become a democracy (maybe borrowing a page from the ending of <i>Game of Thrones?</i>). So, no more kings. Just a democracy with powerful magically enhanced protectors to ensure that the bad players of the universe don't meddle in what the people of Eternia actually want from their government. Maybe that's the only real way a democracy can survive the strong man personalities that are out there. It's too bad that Earth doesn't have a super moral, magically enhanced protector, looking out for democracy. We could really use one.</p><p>I do have my criticisms though. Again (just like in season one), He-Man is the most boring character. Hordak as the ultimate villain was great, and Mark Hamill as Skeletor is perfect casting. That character is so absurd that the campiness of his villainy is just entertaining to watch. The second season also could have used more episodes (8 might have been just right). There were multiple storylines that needed more development, and some missed opportunities to give the characters more depth. The new "man-at-arms" could have gotten a bit more screen time, and I think I could have used more time to get used to referring to the character of "Evil Lyn" as "Good Lyn." That transition though does feel earned, even if it doesn't immediately roll off the tongue.</p><p>The final epilogue scene also drops two reveals for the next season: Horde Prime is coming and has a masked female servant named Despera. I believe that in the original series, Adora went by that name while brainwashed by the Horde. These are also part of the She-Ra intellectual property license. So I think there's probably going to be a crossover soon, and that seems fresh and exciting. All in all, I like these new cartoons, and I recommend them for anyone who also shares a love for He-Man cartoons.</p><p>Thanks for visiting. On Friday, I think I want to talk a little bit about <i>Invincible </i>season 2, as the second half is returning in March on Amazon Prime. Until then, may you all "have the powa!"</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-82723638087193531382024-02-16T07:27:00.000-07:002024-02-16T07:27:05.581-07:00All the Light We Cannot See on Netflix was a poignant and moving drama that has made me want to read the book.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxlkdxQmV6hv59oBLWVVcYF1gc9ur6dc5MHi9Npg_my24BRULd2bA7mc4WClR_aVg6U4B1xt1Zsmx-EsesF_5Itv9HHHRufjISydBu_cIpWjukkT00GgF5yTnb2i6sONoGk1r_H6Z1Wrjm_w5HQsTjdYxJkgF8hQumAZd2PWILmagOJWKqEw4xyniGyw/s696/Werner%20Pfennig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="696" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxlkdxQmV6hv59oBLWVVcYF1gc9ur6dc5MHi9Npg_my24BRULd2bA7mc4WClR_aVg6U4B1xt1Zsmx-EsesF_5Itv9HHHRufjISydBu_cIpWjukkT00GgF5yTnb2i6sONoGk1r_H6Z1Wrjm_w5HQsTjdYxJkgF8hQumAZd2PWILmagOJWKqEw4xyniGyw/w640-h360/Werner%20Pfennig.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I watched <i>All the Light We Cannot See </i>on Netflix. This very moving four episode mini-series was a fictional account of several lives and how they all intersected during World War 2. The first character is Werner Pfennig, played to a tee by Louis Hofmann. This character is one I absolutely fell in love with. He's a real whiz at making and fixing and using radios, and the big hook for his character in the story is that (during the rise of Germany) he listened to illegal broadcasts from France. In particular, he learned a lot from a professor who spoke at length about science, and this professor made learning fun. The caveat then of all this learning is that Werner gets instilled with compassion and ends up with a lot of what we'd call modern liberal values at a time when everyone in his entire country is going far right, straight into fascism and brutality. There's a very uncomfortable scene in this show that is difficult to watch. It takes place in Berlin's most exclusive school of learning for radio construction. In this scene, Werner is forced to undergo a physical exam, and the racist instructor of the school (who is also clearly a pervert) is dead set on proving that Werner deserves to be there by virtue of his Aryan blood (and he's going to prove it by measuring every single thing on Werner's naked body). If he fails (of course) then Werner will just be killed. He does pass the test, but the scene feels extremely rapey, and I think its meant to be this way to illustrate how horrible these people actually were.<p></p><p>The second character that we end up spending a lot of time with is Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who is a blind girl that takes over broadcasts from within the French city of Saint-Malo. We see her (at first) broadcasting a reading of <i>Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea </i>over a radio (we later learn that it is the same radio that the "professor" used years earlier to broadcast his science program and where he garnered listeners like Werner Pfennig). Sometime later, we learn that the braille book she's reading from is being used as a kind of code to the allies who are listening in on the broadcast, and they are able to bomb areas of Saint-Malo (thanks to these readings) that are infested with German soldiers hiding out. Because it is a fictional story, most of us can overlook how contrived these events are that bring Werner together with Marie--he being someone whose very work is listening to the radio and she being someone who broadcasts over the radio but is at odds with the fascist German military to which Werner owes his allegiance. If you can manage to overlook this contrivance that fictional tales often need to do, then the whole thing kind of comes together in a gorgeous dance of these two beautiful souls who must endure the harsh reality of the world around them.</p><p>The last character that really plays a strong part in this show is played by Mark Ruffalo. He's basically the "dad of the year." That's what I labeled him, anyway. He's the dad of Marie-Laure, incredibly accomplished...he's entrusted with all the keys of the museum of natural history in Paris and is essentially an expert on everything. What he doesn't know is probably not worth knowing. Into this enormous walking bank of knowledge is poured a ton of empathy. He's super soft-spoken, loves his daughter immensely (and treasures her despite the blind disability that he may believe he could have caused), and will stop at nothing to be a good teacher to his daughter. When they were living in Paris, he constructed (in miniature) the section of town they were living in out of wood. This diorama was how he taught his blind daughter where they lived and how she could find her way around town. When they fled to Saint-Malo after the Nazi occupation, he built another one so that she could learn her way around this new town. Into this then is a McGuffin of sorts that is introduced into the storyline: a gigantic diamond known as the "Sea of Flames." I'm not sure what purpose the diamond serves other than to add a layer of superstition and magic to the story. Legends say that anyone who touches the "Sea of Flames" will be cured of all things and live a wonderful life. But their loved ones will be struck down by something horrible. This is the thing that Daniel LeBlanc struggles with as he wonders if he is responsible for his daughter's blindness. Thus, the phrase "all the light we cannot see" becomes a really strong metaphor for the goodness in the world that exists in places where they eyes cannot detect it, and how souls can shine even in the darkest of days.</p><p>All in all, I really enjoyed this mini-series. I wish it had been longer. Four episodes did not seem like enough. It's definitely got me invested in reading the book, which I discovered won a Pulitzer Prize in 2014. If there's anything to complain about, it's maybe that the Nazi characters did come across as a bit cartoonish. However, the banality of evil is one of the most terrifying aspects of Nazi Germany, and that may be difficult to show on screen when you are given only four episodes. In some ways...maybe...it could be a Hallmark film since it has a happy ending (does that sound bad?). I've been told that the ending isn't happy in the book, and since I'm going to be reading that after <i>Shogun, </i>I'll be able to see all the changes. In the end, I love Louis Hofmann who is the actor that brought me to this show and it was the first time for me to see him speaking in English (he's basically the Timothee Chalamet of Germany). If you have a few hours to kill, I highly recommend you give this one a watch.</p><p>I won't be blogging on Monday, as it is a holiday (President's Day). So I'll see you back next Wednesday. This brings me to the end of the backlog of things that I wanted to talk about that I watched over the holidays. So, now I'll have to work on new material.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-75480477167875035812024-02-14T09:01:00.000-07:002024-02-14T09:01:27.626-07:00Our Flag Means Death may be canceled but it's still a wonderful show about the potential of community love and queer life.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMPUiN5WBzZYtdFhx1fSchCpbwCF6yCwfTVS2fyWvSFT6noyyBcaWNU3FOqpqeCrYtu0U7SUUAWNmNGowXQKTr1ESfmiB0KIp_XKzgN4hPhhgbJSEyJuqAuxX-ccRhEmagDDwrzJ518RavJiafhLuCb1ySwV43D-SguH1oY6Lv2pqJVYlAMWV_nO6MAw/s1500/Our%20Flag%20Means%20Death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMPUiN5WBzZYtdFhx1fSchCpbwCF6yCwfTVS2fyWvSFT6noyyBcaWNU3FOqpqeCrYtu0U7SUUAWNmNGowXQKTr1ESfmiB0KIp_XKzgN4hPhhgbJSEyJuqAuxX-ccRhEmagDDwrzJ518RavJiafhLuCb1ySwV43D-SguH1oY6Lv2pqJVYlAMWV_nO6MAw/w640-h426/Our%20Flag%20Means%20Death.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />So, <i>Our Flag Means Death, </i>which is a show that I liked, got itself canceled on Max. However, it did have a rather good ending with Stede and Ed (Blackbeard) shacking up together in what I presume will be that Inn/hotel that they've been floating as an idea they would pursue in the entirety of the last two seasons. Rumor is that Waititi may be shopping the series around, and that it "may" get picked up. But, it also is just fine with the episode count that it has. <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>was always just super ridiculous, which is what made it fun, and I wondered how long the writers could keep the gags coming. However, they never dropped the ball and just when I thought something was played out, they found a way to continue playing it out some more.<p></p><p>If you happen to be queer, there's a lot to love in <i>Our Flag Means Death. </i>It's the show that tried to take bloodthirsty, murderous, and thieving pirates and then inject into them the modern liberal values of respect, gender equality, reasonableness, creating safe places to express emotions, and treating each other with dignity. It was that utter contrast that got me invested in it in the first place. It was full of comedians who are very good at comedic timing. You had Leslie Jones as a murderous polygmist who runs a bar and has over a dozen husbands. She literally has a jar of noses she cuts off men that displease her, and it sits on her bar. Yet, she had this fun soft side where she got to act like a girl and just be treated to massages by her husband of the night. </p><p>There was the actor who played Stede Bonnet, a rich aristocrat from England, who was bored with his life of silver spoons and who had a lovely wife, but what he really craved was a life at sea while getting shagged by a man. But you could never take the "aristocrat" out of Stede, so he hosted tea parties on his ship, which was meticulously clean, and was the captain of a pirate crew who were free to be who they really are with no judgment. So, you had gays loving on each other, baking cakes, and others crying out their traumas in emotional support groups on deck.</p><p>Most of these people were based on real-life folks who actually lived. And I was surprised to learn that there is evidence to suggest that Blackbeard and Stede actually did have a romance together. This is where life gets stranger than fiction. But for its lovely queer moments, <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>was also a freakshow of violence and death, albeit carried out in over-the-top performances that managed to stay charismatic to the very end. One such moment came when Izzy Hands died. This was a character I liked a lot that had a grotesque amputation earlier in season two (due to professing love for Blackbeard and Blackbeard being in a dark place due to breaking up with Stede). In the end, <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>was always a bittersweet show committed to portraying the full scope of queer life and identity. As a result, it attracted a fanbase that wasn't ashamed to let its freak flag fly. This show had an enormous amount of queer expression and characters of all stripes and flavors of queer. The fanbase which is mostly made of Gen Z peeps was not happy with Izzy's death due to many people identifying with that character really hard. </p><p>Some of the comments made online that attacked this fanbase circled around the idea that LitRPG and isekai are both effectively centered around reassuring readers/viewers that their inability to cope with reality isn't a failing. Rather, you're just meant to live in the world of your favorite video game where everything is numbers, and you can control everything with your elite skills. Like seriously...these are comments from haters of <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>lobbed at the "modern snowflakes." It's dismissive in the sense that there are other generations of people who watched the show (I'm a Gen Xer) got invested in the characters, and many of us aren't afraid of conflict. Rather, it's just nice that there's a show about processing grief and finding community, which is at the heart of what made <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>a special thing. However, the first few episodes of <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>did not telegraph this well. It started as a black comedy similar to how <i>The Orville </i>got its start. Early on, people got killed, they made jokes about doing horrible crimes, and the romance side didn't really start until the last couple of episodes of the first season.</p><p>In the end, I loved <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>and while my favorites have always been Ed (Blackbeard) and Stede and their romantic arc, I came to appreciate the strong underlying through-line of the power of community, especially queer community, to save lives and give hope. Ed and Stede were comic protagonists in the most archetypal sense. They were flawed people who are facing a flawed world, who nevertheless will (ultimately) be able to create something better through the power of their love, because love is transformative. But <i>Our Flag Means Death </i>showed us so much about the transformative potential of "community" love, which the crew embraced, but which Ed and Stede weren't quite ready for. The character of Izzy (who fully embraced that transformative community love) ends up being the one that suffers. I understand why the story played out as it did, but it would have been nice if they had found a way to reconcile those powerful themes a little better than just killing off Izzy's character.</p><p>On Friday, I plan to write about <i>All the Light We Cannot See. </i>Until then, godspeed. </p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-46577682999931640042024-02-12T00:07:00.000-07:002024-02-12T00:07:17.899-07:00James Clavell's Shōgun has been rebooted and it arrives on February 27th.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZhXyQtUszeVQyPsVRwjx6cp0giWP0jk7r9QqEuxo-Z-jlSrq3VG7G0DULwKVGNhtfGOGMyuEM6K7Ti5gzGa2do9HunwGLvnBu9sUzsqCSd-YHzO6OCu2msBvGQE5_E-5E2bLHC6f-u84aYdE7hIa57NwKJkL610XoHghEqaZnM8JkvH51AV-CNUFizE/s1500/Shogun.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZhXyQtUszeVQyPsVRwjx6cp0giWP0jk7r9QqEuxo-Z-jlSrq3VG7G0DULwKVGNhtfGOGMyuEM6K7Ti5gzGa2do9HunwGLvnBu9sUzsqCSd-YHzO6OCu2msBvGQE5_E-5E2bLHC6f-u84aYdE7hIa57NwKJkL610XoHghEqaZnM8JkvH51AV-CNUFizE/w512-h640/Shogun.webp" width="512" /></a></div><br />Happy after Super Bowl day. I hope your team won, and it left you fulfilled. In my town, a Komodo dragon at the Living Planet Aquarium picked San Francisco to be the winning team. My friend Jake responded to me (when I told him that): "I don't listen to what that lizard has to say." <p></p><p>Over the past week, I've been reading the book <i>Shōgun </i>by James Clavell. This is because I'm excited to watch the ten episode mini-series that will be airing on FX and Hulu starting February 27th, 2024. On that date we get two episodes (I think), although it may be just one for me since I'll start watching it on the FX cable channel. New episodes will drop at the rate of once a week.</p><p>I'm only 300 pages into this 1300 page novel. However, I do have some insights. The first was that the book is really taking a deep dive into the characters and who they are as people. I really appreciate this. Even though I'm decades removed from a watch of the original six-episode miniseries that aired on broadcast television starring Richard Chamberlain as Blackthorne, the English pilot of the ship named <i>The Erasmus, </i>there are certain things that were in that miniseries that burned into my memory. One of them was the first beheading. The scene takes place in the village of Anjiro, and Omi (a samurai) beheads one of the local peasants for not bowing/offering him the respect he deserves. That's a scene that doesn't get a lot of explanation in the show, and I don't think the show ever explains why that peasant would have done that knowing full well that it would cost him the life and possibly place hardship on his family.</p><p>The reason for the beheading is in the book. The samurai named Omi is very anti-Christian, and there's a Jesuit priest in the village that sometimes interprets (he's not very good) between those who speak Portuguese and those who speak Japanese. The samurai tolerates the Jesuit priest's presence but he insults him all of the time. The peasant was a Christian convert, and he was deeply troubled by Omi insulting a messenger of his god to the point that he couldn't tolerate it anymore. So, he decided that if Omi was going to be this way, then Omi deserved no respect either. And he knew what would likely happen to him (and it did). So yeah...he was willing to die for his faith.</p><p>Another thing that is explained in the book is why Japan (the tale of <i>Shōgun </i>takes place in 1600) allows Christians to convert people within its borders at all. This isn't connected well in that decades old miniseries. It turns out that Japan needs/desires Chinese silks a lot, but the country of China hates Japan for various reasons that go back thousands of years. Silk is so desired because of the hot oppressive summer heat, which makes wearing other kinds of fabrics basically intolerable. When the Portuguese showed up, they got permission from the Chinese to basically run their operations out of Macau. Well, the Portuguese showed up on Japan's shores loaded with these Chinese silks they greatly desired. Japan traded silver for them and a trade was established that could only exist through the Portuguese (again because the two nations hated each other). Japan even gave the port of Nagasaki to the Portuguese so that they would be able to import as much of the Chinese silks as they possibly could. The ship that brought these goods into Japan was known as "The Black Ship," and it was worth just an astronomical sum of money. Anyway, having this explained in the book (for me) was fantastic, because suddenly I had this framework for why Jesuits and Christians had wormed their way into the power structures of feudal Japan, and how they were basically given wide berths by the leadership of the country. It turns out, they needed them there.</p><p>I also got an explanation of why the "ronin" were such a problem in Japan. If you don't know, a ronin is essentially a "samurai" who no longer has a lord, usually because the lord was killed or died and had no heirs. The caste structure of medieval Japan was very strict. Samurai were not allowed to own any land. Instead, they received a fief that was a designated area over which they managed. They could live in a house on that land, and they were entitled to 100% of anything that was produced on that land. The peasants could own land in that fief, but all that they produced on it could be taken by the local samurai. A relationship often developed in which the samurai took a reasonable portion and left the peasant with the rest to feed his family and to continue to produce. It's kind of like how people shear sheep for their wool and then let the sheep go back to feeding in the pasture. So, when a samurai lost his lord and became ronin, they went from being able to live on the produce of this land they managed to absolutely nothing. They didn't even have a house, and because of their caste, they could not switch to something else like "become a peasant" or "become a fisherman." There also was no social safety net in Japan, so a ronin literally was a homeless bum overnight with nothing but his sword. Many of these people had no other choice to live but to become bandits and take what they needed from others by stealing. And this put them at odds with actual samurai who hunted them down to kill them like pests. For a peasant, it wasn't that bad. When the lord died, you still owned the land your house was on. Just who you paid taxes to and what samurai you gave produce to would at some point change. I found that to be a fascinating detail on why ronin were such a scourge in the countryside. Nothing I've ever read explained it quite like the book <i>Shōgun </i>does.</p><p>Lord Yabu is also explained in great detail in the book. In the old miniseries, he was a pretty bad guy who boiled one of Blackthorne's crew alive, treated them all pretty terribly, and eventually became a traitor to Lord Toranaga who is trying to become Shōgun of the entire country. But the book explains <i>what </i>he is: a sadist. It turns out that torturing people is how he essentially gets an erection (not kidding). Blackthorne and his crew have the misfortune of landing in this guy's village, and Lord Yabu is incredibly excited to get the opportunity to torture someone without consequences so that he can get the erection he's apparently been missing out on for quite some time. James Clavell uses some beautiful language to describe Lord Yabu when he eventually gets down to some business with a couple of whores from the village (one is a boy and another is a girl--the bisexuality also omitted form the miniseries). Clavell says that "Lord Yabu reached the clouds and the rain." I was like...oh...okay...that's good. I like that, and I'm stealing that. I wonder how much of this they are going to keep in this new miniseries, because I do think it is important to understand Yabu's motivations.</p><p>And then there's a moment in the book when Blackthorne reaches Osaka, because he's been summoned by Lord Toranaga, who is essentially one of five super daimyo's (lords) who wield true power in Japan. He has hundreds of thousands of soldiers at his disposal, and he's a political prisoner in Osaka castle which is controlled by Lord Ishido (his equal and opposite on the regent council). These five regents were appointed by a Taiko who died (Taiko being the title of a person of modest birth who rose to the power of a Shogun but could never hold the title of Shōgun because they were a peasant). Their sole responsibility is to safeguard the young boy who will grow up to be the new "Taiko." Until that day happens, they are "supposed" to confer among each other and make decisions regarding the rulership of Japan. But it's really a nest of vipers who all hate each other, and who plot to assassinate the young heir and then engage in a civil war until one of them comes out on top and can march on Kyoto (where the emperor lives) to demand the title of "Shōgun." It is unto this situation that Blackthorne arrives, and he describes Osaka as being a huge and beautiful city, twice the size of London at the time. I'm going to be looking forward to that (as it is completely missing from the old miniseries), but it is in the new one as it is clearly seen in one of the trailers for the new show. As soon as I watched the trailer I was like, "Oh, that's Osaka. It has to be."</p><p>Anyway, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll cut it off here. Below, I'm posting one of the trailers for the FX miniseries. I can't tell you how excited I am to begin watching this show. This Wednesday, I'm going to talk about <i>Our Flag Means Death, </i>season two, which I recently finished watching. And then on Friday, I'm going to talk about the miniseries <i>All the Light We Cannot See, </i>which is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name.</p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HIs9x49DK7I?si=r1wjb4SX6fVbdgGo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-1174814201663950532024-02-09T07:23:00.000-07:002024-02-09T07:23:23.172-07:00Percy Jackson and the Olympians was an all right show and the Greek gods feel like bad boomer parents.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSrBGQU5Swh5vxPI1HM3tMMCoA8478cayk6Wa2dQ-pzDfZ2WL4jQ3zPynir__HFn64D9IVi1AI3GAFoGhonR4LOsQVKnMiwjSEz2kHYybiw4VTMepmNly1JHnQxnIEpF80_D68h6TpqJo1BVWHWa6ljloTWh9Lt44qQQEf2qm8GtLasVYWdtHc3p7bfM/s1250/Percy%20Jackson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSrBGQU5Swh5vxPI1HM3tMMCoA8478cayk6Wa2dQ-pzDfZ2WL4jQ3zPynir__HFn64D9IVi1AI3GAFoGhonR4LOsQVKnMiwjSEz2kHYybiw4VTMepmNly1JHnQxnIEpF80_D68h6TpqJo1BVWHWa6ljloTWh9Lt44qQQEf2qm8GtLasVYWdtHc3p7bfM/w512-h640/Percy%20Jackson.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />Like many people across the world, I finished watching the Disney+ adaptation of <i>Percy Jackson </i>made from the Rick Riordan series that stars the hero. I've never read the books, but I did see the movies that came out starring Logan Lerman. They were "one watchers" for me back then. I feel pretty much about the same with regard to the series. To clarify, I'm not saying that it isn't entertaining and good. I'm just saying that maybe my tastes lean toward older fare starring older actors and more complicated human dramas. So, I've watched season one once, and I'm looking forward to season two...which I will watch once :).<p></p><p>One of the things that I find so fascinating about the <i>Percy Jackson </i>series is how many young people are just in love with what they are seeing. Their passion is real, and to me, it kinda just looks like the Greek gods were bad boomer parents who (for the most part) were self-obsessed and just left their kids to fend for themselves no matter what happened. So all of these demigods are kind of like latchkey kids of my generation. The only difference is that they are latchkey kids with amazing quests, and magical things that make them seem critical and important. Real latchkey kids had no importance in their parent's eyes and were for the most part, just a liability to building wealth that they could spend on themselves.</p><p>But to see young people expressing a desire to actually be a latchkey kid (okay, okay...they are really saying they want to be a demigod) has my head turning a bit. But you only arrive at "latchkey kid" if you take away the obvious wealth and magic of the narrative and drop in lots of "boring" and "chores" and things like that. No one is actually asking for that. But it is still fun to think that a demigod is at least 50% something that many people really lived through, and that in today's world, kids are really coddled as opposed to "you can fend for yourself, and I don't care what you do." There were literally entire days where my mom kicked me out of the house in the summer and told me not to come back until it was dark, and I just wandered everywhere around my small town (I was driving at the age of 13). I wonder sometimes why that isn't acceptable parenting anymore. And that being said, it's obvious that the "Greek Gods" of these shows are just terrible parents and are toxic, like many of the boomers are seen these days. Yet, because of that very trait, it's good for storytelling, and not so good if you have to live through it.</p><p>The young adult I'm watching the movies with, a young woman named Moira, has declared that the series is a faithful adaptation of the books. She wants me to read the books but honestly, I don't think I could bring myself to enjoy a book where Medusa sells statuary and makes sandwiches and where Ares rides around on a Harley Davidson. It all just seems too clever to me, which is usually the gut-reaction I get whenever I explore any urban fantasy these days. Someone taking a clever take on something we see everyday like (for example) a red mustang and then relating that to the car that the Incarnation of War drives around (the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse). I've seen so many of those "types of things" that I just can't anymore. But to fresh eyes, they probably seem really clever and smart. To jaded eyes like mine, they just look like cliches.</p><p>From a person who has never read the books, here are my observations. First, the casting seems really good. Second, I was surprised at how mundane some of the scenes were. For example, the chimera in the St. Louis arch just kinda was there, and then Percy fell into the water and that was it. We didn't see that creature again. The battle with Medusa was a blink and you'll miss it moment, unlike the big buildup in the movie, <i>The Clash of the Titans. </i>Third, there's more Bear McCreary music scoring. This guy has done the scoring for <i>Rings of Power, Outlander, Black Sails, Foundation, Davinci's Demons, </i>and now <i>Percy Jackson. </i>That's just off the top of my head. He's obviously the modern equivalent of John Williams and by the end of his composition career, he will be recognized as the greatest living composer.</p><p>In the final episode, you do get to see Mount Olympus, and I really enjoyed that because it looks gorgeous. Think of what the <i>Thor </i>movies did for Asgard and Disney basically did that for Olympus. </p><p>And that's basically my thoughts on this series. On Monday, I want to talk about <i>Shogun </i>by James Clavell. I'm reading the 1300 page best of a novel right now, and I have some thoughts that I want to express about it before the new miniseries lands at the end of February (it looks epic). </p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-45313349757414523012024-02-07T07:15:00.000-07:002024-02-07T07:15:09.424-07:00What do you like to see when you visit an author's website?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiifapEkiRS0qFzPUQw-_QUZ3xLzGyh6o9Vix5uKeDNWWy5l__QFvZ_O4QQC5KEhRZ6yK-F6CTs2XROvyf_5JDeS059xAmhXPn8Qzdi9znrvXXueOmjnTE3iCRcrw14ugDwomN5HaYL9NAsq36rDDcrekJLxv3Y00lei0kjGLffhiMr08UKTubbRDBXP-Y/s932/Insecure%20Writers%20Support%20Group%20Badge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="932" height="630" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiifapEkiRS0qFzPUQw-_QUZ3xLzGyh6o9Vix5uKeDNWWy5l__QFvZ_O4QQC5KEhRZ6yK-F6CTs2XROvyf_5JDeS059xAmhXPn8Qzdi9znrvXXueOmjnTE3iCRcrw14ugDwomN5HaYL9NAsq36rDDcrekJLxv3Y00lei0kjGLffhiMr08UKTubbRDBXP-Y/w640-h630/Insecure%20Writers%20Support%20Group%20Badge.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />It's Black History Month, and it's also time to take a look at the Insecure Writer's Support Group. This is a monthly blog fest that I participate in that was started over a decade ago by highly successful Alex J. Cavanaugh. You can sign-up for the blog fest if you follow this<a href="https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html" target="_blank"><b> link HERE</b></a>. With that out of the way, I shall now explain a little about what this blog fest is, so you can determine if you want to join (should you find your way to this blog via the internet). <br /><br /><b>What is the purpose of the IWSG?: </b>It is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.<br /><br /><b>When does everyone post?: </b>The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. This is when you can post your thoughts on your own blog. Or if you'd like you can talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. You could discuss your struggles and triumphs or offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling.<div><br /></div><div><b>How do you network with other writers?: </b>You visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog. Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back. Think of it as leaving breadcrumbs in a maze for others to follow.<br /><br /><b>Is there a motto?: </b>Yes! It is "Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!"<br /><br /><b>Is the IWSG on "X", the social media platform formerly known as Twitter?: </b>Yes! The X(Twitter) handle is @TheIWSG and the hashtag one is encouraged to use is #IWSG.</div><div><br />The awesome co-hosts for the February 7th posting of the IWSG are <a href="https://janetalcorn.com/">Janet Alcorn,</a> <a href="https://sewhitebooks.com/">SE White,</a> <a href="https://www.victoriamarielees.com/">Victoria Marie Lees,</a> and <a href="http://cathrinaconstantine.blogspot.com/">Cathrina Constantine!</a><br /><br />Every month, the IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt one to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. If you decide to answer, you should include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. <br /><br />But always remember, the question is optional.<br /><br /><b>February 7th question: What turns you off when visiting an author's website/blog? Lack of information? A drone of negativity? Little mention of author's books? Constant mention of books?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I think that the number one thing I like when I visit an author's website is content. So, if there's a blog, I'll read it. If there's art to look at, I'll click on those. If there's a recommended reading order for multiple books, I will definitely page through those and often bookmark them. Author websites have been places where I find all of the above. Additionally, it's a good place to go for Kickstarter information and for updates on Kickstarters that have been run in the past. I also like to check to see if authors are making an appearance near me, or if they have something going on in their lives that I feel like I want to know. I checked George R.R. Martin's blog recently and discovered on January 29th he was feeling really depressed about the current state of affairs in the United States and the world. That was worth reading, even if it was a huge debbie downer. You might ask, does anything turn you off? I think just lack of content. Some authors like to have super clean websites kinda like the Google search page. There are no links, there's no blog, there's no news, there's nothing but a list of books. I usually don't ever return to those pages. Why bother, I can find that on Amazon.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's about it. Thanks for visiting and participating in the Insecure Writer's Support Group, February 2024 edition. On Friday, I'll talk about <i>Percy Jackson </i>on Disney+ and examine how kids these days seem to want to be latchkey kids as long as all of that alone time is filled with exciting stuff to do. If only that was the reality of actually being a latchkey kid (I was one). </div>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-65546946865974659602024-02-05T01:16:00.000-07:002024-02-05T01:16:46.954-07:00The Daryl Dixon spinoff for the Walking Dead universe is actually pretty good.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpZNP13ze2pVUNlPjWWBIG6_YlTC6JNEvqFbjG137kTUNv4BzTTZTVj1qTVtqTP_pnDB47v70mPu6NgFiD0Hg0nPb6uWapZfMK58N17maLYaVYwcDhmSs3Cq1JzYc59dXnV7UyzUugL0Ep4CpsQiV8JtVazWintUlgO_h5ujpAm5RRQPVZI7PrwURgXs/s1280/Daryl%20Dixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpZNP13ze2pVUNlPjWWBIG6_YlTC6JNEvqFbjG137kTUNv4BzTTZTVj1qTVtqTP_pnDB47v70mPu6NgFiD0Hg0nPb6uWapZfMK58N17maLYaVYwcDhmSs3Cq1JzYc59dXnV7UyzUugL0Ep4CpsQiV8JtVazWintUlgO_h5ujpAm5RRQPVZI7PrwURgXs/w640-h360/Daryl%20Dixon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I'm not exactly sure why I keep coming back to the world of <i>The Walking Dead. </i>I left the original series in season nine when they got rid of Rick. Soon after that Michonne left the show. But they are going to be coming back, so I may end up watching the new Rick and Michonne show, which looks a lot like what <i>The Walking Dead </i>looked like. I keep thinking that either through attrition or a cure, there needs to be some hope of the zombie plague ending. But now, at the time of the <i>Daryl Dixon </i>spinoff, it feels a lot like maybe that's not what I want. Maybe it's just more time with these characters. Or maybe it was just to see other parts of the world that were impacted by the zombie plague. France seemed so different from the commercials. So yeah...I got sucked in yet again. But it wasn't a "I've got to watch this week's episode" kinda sucked in. Rather, it was one that I just recorded and eventually got around to watching several months after they aired. I also liked them enough to want to continue to season two, especially now that Carol (also from the original series) has found her way to France. Honestly, I never would have thought people could travel the world in the post-apocalypse but here we are.<p></p><p><i>Daryl Dixon </i>sees the title character (Daryl) end up in France having washed up on shore. That's pretty much the premise of this show. French people, lots of subtitles, nuns in old nunneries, castles with thick walls to keep out the undead, people using medieval weapons which have really come in handy in the zombie apocalypse, and a world where Europeans are experimenting on zombies. These experiments sometimes turn the zombies into other things like zombies with acidic blood! It's very "Auschwitz-esque" but a French version and not German (we've no idea at this time what horror show a post-apocalyptic Germany or for that matter, Russia, has managed to brew up. When <i>The Walking Dead </i>first started many, many years ago, one of the things that made the story so compelling was the group constantly scraping to survive. Now, most of these spinoffs (especially the <i>Dead City </i>spinoff that I also watched starring Maggie and Negan) have become good vs. evil on a zombie apocalypse backdrop. So kinda like Stephen King's <i>The Stand </i>but with zombies.</p><p>As far as the setting goes, it's extraordinarily pretty (I think they may be using different filters on their lenses whilst shooting the show). They've also introduced a character which does appear to bring up questions in me. I wonder if it's a red herring. But there's this boy named Laurent who was born from a mother that died and became a zombie and he was pulled out of the zombie. But Laurent is not a zombie, even though he was connected biologically to his zombie mother. I don't know what this means, or if it actually means anything. But he's special as far as anything in this world goes. A lot of the people in this world (in France) seem to be heaping a tons of hope on the shoulders of this kid because they need something to believe in. But does he actually have powers? Does his blood hold some kind of secret that might stop the zombie apocalypse? I have no idea. It is enough of a hook though that I'd kinda like to see where it is all going. I get the impression that the kid is invisible to walkers. There's a scene where he's on the Normandy Beach and walkers are all around him, and he doesn't appear concerned at all, even though he's standing on an elevated ruin of a bunker. Are the zombies just not able to reach him or is it something else?</p><p>Other questions I had by the time I reached the end of the first season of <i>Daryl Dixon </i>include: 1) Why are people mutating zombies? 2) Why did Quinn (a character in this season) act like he knew the outbreak was going to happen? 3) How did the boy Laurent get to the beach by himself unless he is in fact invisible to zombies? 4) How did Carol get to France? Hopefully the next season of <i>Daryl Dixon </i>will shed some light on these things. </p><p>On Wednesday, we'll do our Insecure Writer's Support Group post, and on Friday, I'll put up my analysis of <i>Percy Jackson </i>and how the Greek Gods in that show all seem to have embraced the baby boomer way of raising children. So yeah, the demigods are all "latchkey" kids, and it's just funny to me that this is largely what makes the series entertaining for modern kids to watch.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-73096397685410118022024-02-02T07:18:00.000-07:002024-02-02T07:18:43.625-07:00I think that Chernobyl was a real life tale of cosmic horror.<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iOLvNucHGgiQt6t4vUndZZXy75cSzVp60GuzrKIB2GywFjn-XVfqpKPcG7e7VQg7HMAdTlrXAUN3FZTFCDr6ayXnnjrCLlqDUzfRUGr_ak0brPfDg-bQm_fA32pPrHCdN2-LMkGMngFvb5TTjFfLi1fEt9dhLcxgkI7nRIqX8Qzkii6UK4UY6pFadg8/s2000/Reactor%204%20of%20Chernobyl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iOLvNucHGgiQt6t4vUndZZXy75cSzVp60GuzrKIB2GywFjn-XVfqpKPcG7e7VQg7HMAdTlrXAUN3FZTFCDr6ayXnnjrCLlqDUzfRUGr_ak0brPfDg-bQm_fA32pPrHCdN2-LMkGMngFvb5TTjFfLi1fEt9dhLcxgkI7nRIqX8Qzkii6UK4UY6pFadg8/w384-h640/Reactor%204%20of%20Chernobyl.jpg" width="384" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of the exposed core of Chernobyl reactor 4</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The miniseries <i>Chernobyl </i>came out five years ago in 2019 after the finale of <i>Game of Thrones. </i>I didn't watch it back then, but I always had it on my watch list similar to titles like <i>Succession </i>(which I may start this weekend) and <i>Squid Game. </i>There was just so much interesting stuff that came out (and is coming out) that I didn't have the time to consume even a small portion of it. As you can see from my posts for the majority of January, I've been busy consuming programs and shows while on my blog hiatus at the end of 2023. I'm still not done, wanting to weigh in on <i>Percy Jackson </i>and <i>All the Light We Cannot See </i>and <i>Foundation Season 2. </i>So yeah...you get the idea.</p><p>Anyway, what could I say that maybe might add a little to the discussion about the miniseries <i>Chernobyl </i>that maybe hasn't been said yet? I have no idea, but it's a really good representation of the events that occurred when I was in Junior High (it's called Middle School now). I remember my science teacher, Mr. Roberts, talking to us about radiation. He had a Giger counter, and he stuck it out the second story window and we could hear it ticking away. He thought maybe that there was a slight bump in what it normally reads, and to be "sensational" in his own way, he declared that this might be from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. "It can reach us even so far away," he said.</p><p>The idea of something invisible like that, and that is clearly a threat is not new. But the person (I think) who captured it best was H.P. Lovecraft. So, yes, in a way I kind of think that there was something akin to "cosmic horror" regarding Chernobyl. It was a thing that the best of us...<i>the best minds that walk among us</i>...had difficulty wrapping their minds around. One of the characters in the show, a chemist named Valery Legasov (played expertly by Jared Harris who also stars in <i>Foundation </i>as Harry Seldon) explained the monster perfectly when he said that an RBMK reactor is a simple thing: either power goes up or it goes down. Controlling that power is controlling the reaction of the Uranium 235. As the Uranium reacts you insert Boron rods to absorb the bullets. This then is one failsafe. Another is water which gets boiled away, converting to steam, which then turns a turbine and out comes electricity that powers cities. And it's all done without smoke and fire and other things. The big problem then comes in keeping that water flowing and there needs to be backups for the pumps if power goes out because it's important that the reaction take place where there's plenty of water to turn into steam. And that's it.</p><p>What happened at Chernobyl (oversimplified) is that they ran a test which bottomed out the power in the reactor too long. It created this gas called Xenon which is horrible for a fission reaction. To get the power up too quickly, they pulled all of the rods out, and then the Xenon got burned off suddenly, and a full blown uncontrolled chain reaction started (like in a fission nuclear bomb) and they tried to shut it down but it was too late. All of the water vaporized due to the extreme heat and a steam explosion blew the reactor wide open, creating the radiation monster. All of this happened due to grotesque mismanagement, a toxic workplace (to say the least) with bosses demeaning and bullying other people, and then all of that combined with cheapskate building materials. You couldn't have written a more horrifying story in fiction. The fact that it really happened is the stuff of nightmares and horror.</p><p>The miniseries <i>Chernobyl </i>had some incredible acting and some very disturbing scenes. The radiation that slew firefighters by the dozens took its time making them decompose while still alive. They didn't even have veins left that you could use to inject morphine. Yuck. It's definitely one of those things where people (and governments) need to be okay with just allowing people to end their lives. Allowing someone to go out in that way rather than choose to take a bullet is the cruelest thing I can imagine.</p><p>Just like anything that's complex like this, I was left with questions that I probably can't find answers to. One of them is the three hundred thousand liquidators called upon to clear the three roofs before they could erect the sarcophagus. One question I had was: couldn't they have rigged up some kind of hose and water cannon thing on a crane and aimed the water cannon at the roof and knocked those pieces over into the reactor? Those water cannons that I've seen have a lot of force to them. This is just my homeowner thinking because I've used a hose to wash debris off my driveway. At least the smaller ones could have been handled that way and then the larger pieces could have been done with the soldiers who were taxed to shovel for 90 seconds (longer than that and they would just die). As it was thousands of them died anyway. The miniseries drove this home by showing one particular worker that I labeled "the clumsiest man on earth" who stumbled everywhere he went and managed to rip a hole in his suit. It was left up to the audience but you can pretty much assume that this was a death sentence to the cosmic horror radiation monster.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtEU2x66IMnppTeF5EQk5JwkOsHG4W7m_ti7Cr2taaNDJEKflHGf13_u8UIJ0r6ffXzuqByfkNh606Y-KyLdAZnXpIigLbJT2Av5u1R1szw5SGz9AvmhEy9lP-f_WFZ0CqxAhRRtao_QbXW3ML0T_G-0zFRRWaeJgecJC81K-4BhSMUbrW_HCnivknFA/s314/Elephant's%20Foot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="314" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtEU2x66IMnppTeF5EQk5JwkOsHG4W7m_ti7Cr2taaNDJEKflHGf13_u8UIJ0r6ffXzuqByfkNh606Y-KyLdAZnXpIigLbJT2Av5u1R1szw5SGz9AvmhEy9lP-f_WFZ0CqxAhRRtao_QbXW3ML0T_G-0zFRRWaeJgecJC81K-4BhSMUbrW_HCnivknFA/w640-h361/Elephant's%20Foot.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the Elephant's Foot in the basement of Chernobyl. They actually broke a piece off it using<br />a rifle of some kind (I believe it was an AK-47). That all seems very Russian for some reason.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />After finishing <i>Chernobyl, </i>I thought about that situation for several hours. What a weird and otherworldly thing it ended up being, and its ruins afterwards (which have become a kind of tourist attraction) have some truly strange things in it as a result of the meltdown in reactor 4. One of the weirdest is this thing known as "The Elephant's Foot" which is made of a substance called "corium" that is a made up word (now a real word) used to describe the lava created by nuclear material when it is mixed with graphite, boron, and sand. This "Elephant's Foot" made its way into the basement of Reactor 4, melting its way down a set of pipes and through concrete. Apparently, its still melting through the concrete basement, but it hasn't moved in years. To stand near it is a death sentence as it is so radioactive that it will give you a lethal dose in mere seconds. And there's also still people who work at Chernobyl. It doesn't produce power anymore, but there will always be a need to have workers there because it needs to be watched for thousands of years. Recently they erected a new shiny steel sarcophagus over it (at least it looks like steel). It probably is made of all kinds of weird stuff to withstand radiation and earthquakes, etc. It's supposed to last a hundred years, and then it will need to be redone. It also cost $2 billion (which seems like a lot but isn't Mark Zuckerberg spending $1.7 billion on his Kuai bunker in Hawaii?). So maybe $2 billion is cheap these days. But what do I know?</p><p>Another question that pops into my head about these nuclear reactors that need to be watched is this: how exactly does this work in zombie apocalypse scenarios? For example, in <i>The Walking Dead </i>there is no one to watch after these nuclear reactors because a ton of people just died and became zombies. I kind of wonder if all of the nuclear reactors around the world got shut down safely before the zombie apocalypse hit. But maybe that's one of those questions that a person shouldn't ask when we are watching shows like <i>The Walking Dead. </i>Also, I validate you completely if you wonder why I would think of such a silly scenario. It's just how my brain works.</p><p>Have a good weekend, and on Monday I will be talking about a <i>Walking Dead </i>spinoff called <i>Daryl Dixon </i>where he ended up in France of all places. I enjoyed watching the first season...but it's really a strange twist on old characters.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-76896731313352857782024-01-31T07:20:00.000-07:002024-01-31T07:20:07.974-07:00Blue Eye Samurai is one of the best animes I've watched in ages.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XcuoBss7G74DNj4y8wsta3jZOAwmPhLuGN0G7Tekd25TAWCsoTw8Fg_7oBmCr06zCRR4r7xCIBJd8lXsaueWGfA6SRCIJdT20CFCYekyuRj6ICKNc1sGqpzlLB0XhEckhyRI_zjxnCtI7wgLMCuA3cF-aof6MwCPjhMeRnsPXlw6xU3wpeNZc7zvWNo/s1200/Blue%20Eye%20Samurai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="1200" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XcuoBss7G74DNj4y8wsta3jZOAwmPhLuGN0G7Tekd25TAWCsoTw8Fg_7oBmCr06zCRR4r7xCIBJd8lXsaueWGfA6SRCIJdT20CFCYekyuRj6ICKNc1sGqpzlLB0XhEckhyRI_zjxnCtI7wgLMCuA3cF-aof6MwCPjhMeRnsPXlw6xU3wpeNZc7zvWNo/w640-h338/Blue%20Eye%20Samurai.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />It feels weird that January (being a long month) makes it so that today is not Insecure Writer's Support Group Day. But putting it off another week just means I'll have more time to think about my February 2024 post. Being the last day in January, it's time to talk about <i>Netflix's Blue Eye Samurai. </i>There are spoilers ahead for this show, so if you want to watch it, you might want to avoid my review.<p></p><p>I practically binge-watched this animated show with my roommate over the holidays while it was cold outside. The story is pretty strongly feminist, following Mizu who is masquerading as a man in feudal Japan for various (and obvious) reasons. Mizu is a woman that is hell bent on revenge, justice, and in many ways acting heroically to save her nation against the awful white people who have come to conquer it via subterfuge, manipulation, and use of firearms. It's an adult feature dipping into animated gore, sex, and the various ways the different women who are central to the story seize power for their own in a world where they are supposed to be seen and not so much heard.</p><p><i>Blue Eye Samurai </i>was one of the best animes (manga is comic books) I've watched in ages. It's obviously inspired (in part) by Quentin Tarantino's <i>Kill Bill, </i>which in turn was inspired by anime (we're going full circle here)<i>. </i>There's even a section that features music that I only associate with <i>Kill Bill. </i>So, it's definitely a "which came first the chicken or the egg" thing when analyzing what inspired what. There was some clever tropes used as well. For example, Mizu has her weapon disassembled in parts around her ankles (and other body parts) and she can reassemble it by taking these things off (it surprised me that she had this huge, bladed spear the entire time). In the meantime, they serve to add weight to her body to kind of explain the character's strength (even though it obviously portrays Mizu as being able to survive superhero levels of damage). This kind of thing is to be expected in a story the likes of <i>Blue Eye Samurai </i>especially true because it is animated. When I saw it in the show, it was like watching a "power up" that you'd see in something like <i>Dragonball Z, </i>and it was exciting as a result of that.</p><p>At first, I kinda cringed at Mizu's edgy grimdark attitude. However, she committed to it and doubled down repeatedly, and it made me go, "Damn...that's cold..." at certain points, and the character does do some horrible things in her journey. I became convinced that her psyche had just been turned into this cold killing machine with only one goal, but then came the heel turn which was executed beautifully.</p><p><i>Blue Eye Samurai </i>was filled with remarkable scenes, and it is dripping with details in the animation itself to bring feudal-period Japan to life. The castles look real, as do the costumes, and the fight scenes. There's a scene where a strong woman who is practically a man's property slaps her violent husband (a son of the Shogun) on their first night only to seduce and absolutely control him moments later. Rarely do you ever get to see an anime with this level of complexity and intricate details in the plot and character development combined with great music and resemblance to history.</p><p>If there's one complaint that I have about the show, it's that the comic-book aspects of the character can be a bit disrupting. Mizu's ability and prowess seems to change according to what the writer's want. A cut to the abdomen takes her out a few days, but later she gets shanked and piled on by a horde, and she manages to take them all out. She makes it to the big boss in the end after beating many challenges while suffering many crippling injuries and then she gets smacked around. She gets shot, and yet can basically swim to safety towing another man. So, it leans heavily on the trope: "injuries only affect me when the story requires it" and "I can beat dozens of highly trained warriors easily, but as soon as I get to the main villain, suddenly I'm struggling and can barely do it."</p><p>And that's basically my review. Did anyone else watch it? If so, what did you think?</p><p>For Friday, I'm going to discuss the mini-series called <i>Chernobyl </i>which came out in 2019, and I finally got around to watching.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-8117470217218224792024-01-29T07:21:00.000-07:002024-01-29T07:21:00.353-07:00Even if it is puzzling why Echo was ever greenlit at least it gives us some insights into Daredevil Born Again.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vEpKhi19UO3SPZy5dEkTrkwB3x0rVUvrbC8bH1Y-I-DgYz6F_yUFDZliWOtsLExnGHCy7t9vctSy5qP82_BSEY0pbGHtFqFVCUGoZtAfiTWePOT_JVVcJr9DWm-SBtFivCNZCZZjzQP4TA32lXEh1Z6jfZE_O-Ib0vIcH5kvlELP3IkWLejvilxDXWo/s1861/Echo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1861" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vEpKhi19UO3SPZy5dEkTrkwB3x0rVUvrbC8bH1Y-I-DgYz6F_yUFDZliWOtsLExnGHCy7t9vctSy5qP82_BSEY0pbGHtFqFVCUGoZtAfiTWePOT_JVVcJr9DWm-SBtFivCNZCZZjzQP4TA32lXEh1Z6jfZE_O-Ib0vIcH5kvlELP3IkWLejvilxDXWo/w640-h362/Echo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>I watched <i>Echo </i>on Disney Plus. That being said, I think this "Echo Pitch Meeting" best describes kinda how I feel about this new character. But, even after you watch the "pitch meeting," I think I have a few thoughts that might be useful regarding this series.<p></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gHGl2zptke8?si=VszdqGzTX4ZEd6mX" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>I still kind of liked <i>Echo. </i>It wasn't as dark and gritty as <i>Daredevil, </i>but it clearly emulated the show as far as Kingpin's persona and the action scenes were concerned. It's not quite at <i>Daredevil </i>level with the fight scenes, but they were also fun to watch. The series easily could have been whittled down to a feature length film, but that might have thrown off the pacing. And the series didn't overstay its welcome. Regarding Maya's powers: they are weird in the way that Scarlett Witch's powers were weird, and I don't understand them. I also don't know why she couldn't just cure her own deafness with her own powers, but maybe they just need this character to be deaf for some reason. It's also an interesting thing to see Disney release the entire series in its completion all at once. I don't remember them doing that for any other series I've watched on Disney+. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Echo </i>is reportedly the first of a bunch of "Spotlight" shows that Disney is launching. In this context, "spotlight" means that these stories will be more grounded and character-driven tales made for the small screen. This also probably means they can save a bunch of money making these things while still retaining subscribers like me.</div><div><br /></div><div>The "end credits scene" from Echo seemed to be setting up an evil, unmerciful, and very angry Wilson Fisk running for mayor of New York City. This is probably going to be the setting of <i>Daredevil: Born Again </i>which is on the horizon, set in New York City, and has both Charlie Cox reprising his role as Daredevil and incent D'Onofio coming back as Kingpin. And let's face it...these two are fun to watch. I'm sure Kingpin as mayor will introduce all kinds of complications to superheroes who call New York City "home."</div><div><br /></div><div>This Wednesday, I plan to discuss the Netflix show <i>Blue Eye Samurai. </i>Until then, thanks for visiting.</div>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-88861495211187450242024-01-26T07:30:00.000-07:002024-01-26T07:30:10.526-07:00The Witcher season 3 is kind of a confusing mess but I still have thoughts I want to share<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifClHwh1olD8jWlDZqj-npuIkauvrwL5Y9HgBOu29kJZ2xE-CBurLiu1Vd7wWWkdCC2qwV9EvpfWUe9LsBAydZdGlinjgy35HGgDuyQ3Zp7ZxerVsz9mWnj0Qejs-NGN6z4NYTBl7aLtHcxKTevXvCm5l1MFc4ZGBaIEPKlKE0JH0SB_PZ27FjpfE3xBk/s1600/The%20Witcher%20season%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifClHwh1olD8jWlDZqj-npuIkauvrwL5Y9HgBOu29kJZ2xE-CBurLiu1Vd7wWWkdCC2qwV9EvpfWUe9LsBAydZdGlinjgy35HGgDuyQ3Zp7ZxerVsz9mWnj0Qejs-NGN6z4NYTBl7aLtHcxKTevXvCm5l1MFc4ZGBaIEPKlKE0JH0SB_PZ27FjpfE3xBk/w640-h360/The%20Witcher%20season%203.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />So, I finished watching <i>The Witcher </i>season 3 on Netflix. This season had a lot of content from the books (which I read). We got to see the formation of the Scoia'tael, guerrilla warriors allied with Nilfgaard, who were helping to hunt the Cintran princess named Ciri (who is the main protagonist in "the Witcher" books). Although the elves were present in other seasons, this is the first time I remember seeing them inserting themselves into the messy network of alliances and the realm of human politics. We also got to see Vilgefortz's betrayal and how powerful he actually was. I knew from the books that he was the big bad, but you never got that impression with him being in the background for the past two seasons. But he spanked Geralt like it wasn't any effort at all, and that payoff (to see that on screen) was a lot of fun.<p></p><p>We also got to bid farewell to Tissaia de Vries who was arguably the most powerful of the magic using women in Aretuza. She underestimated Vilgefortz and cast Alzur's Thunder, "a spell only of last resort" that ends up really not doing all that much. I think she killed herself over the guilt of trusting Vilgefortz and basically failing the girls that she was there to teach and nurture. This then opens the door for Yennefer to become headmistress of Aretuza. And I know from the books that Yennefer is a badass so this is a good "passing of the torch" even if it is done somewhat clumsily via a suicide and a letter of explanation, "I would love to see you through the next leg of your journey. I know you will do great things, my daughter, but I'm afraid I cannot." And so it goes.</p><p>This was also Henry Cavill's last outing as "Geralt." From what I understand, he left the role because he was going to be reprising his Superman role in the DC extended universe due to promises that Dwayne Johnson had made. But then <i>Black Adam </i>crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion (it was a box office bomb), and the whole DC Universe (which was on life-support anyway) just imploded and all of the actors got fired for a complete reboot. But Cavill had already quit his role as Geralt and there was no going back because Netflix had already hired Liam Hemsworth. But we shouldn't feel sorry for Henry Cavill because he's got a movie coming out called <i>Argyle </i>that looks fun and he's been put in charge of a <i>Warhammer 40K </i>production, which is his true love.</p><p>But his exit did seem a bit awkward in <i>The Witcher </i>season 3. After the Vilgefortz battle where Geralt was almost killed, he needed time to recover. This is where Netflix made a strange choice. In the books, he was in a thing called convalescence for like a year since he basically got every bone in his body broken. This would have been a great opportunity to justify why he looks and moves different going forward: the man was in bed for a year and needed facial reconstruction magic. But instead they just had him get better and recover, and this was a bad choice. My thoughts on this were that they wanted to give Cavill's Geralt an action/compassion sequence to go out on, to give him a send-off worthy of what he put into the character, and a good wrap of the character development up to that point in his last scene. Anyway, I think that's what happened.</p><p>One of the problems I have in watching <i>The Witcher </i>is that it is difficult to remember the weirdish names of people and places. There's also a lot of conspiracies going on. The conspiracy of the mages, the conspiracy of the kingdom with the spymaster, the Nilfgaard conspiracy, and the conspiracy with the elves. It's difficult to keep track of them all, and I think it's just the way in which it is filmed. I had absolutely no issue keeping track of the various factions in <i>Game of Thrones. </i>But Netflix's <i>The Witcher </i>has so many characters I frequently ask myself, "okay...who is this and why are they saying stuff?" The monster fighting that showed up was a little worse than back in season 1. How the season ends with Ciri is kind of frustrating. At least what leads to it. Yes, the world she lives in is a shitty place. Everybody wants her for her powers or wants to kill her because of it. She has a right to feel jaded and cynical of the world. And yet, Geralt and Yennefer are always there for her. It's fun to watch the three of them. So Netflix breaks from this and Ciri ends up in a desert area far away from the only people who are her support group (Geralt and Yennefer). This kinda/sorta happens in the books too, and I remember not liking that part of the books. Also, the show is called <i>The Witcher </i>and yet he really has many moments where he feels irrelevant to the show that bears his name.</p><p>I will continue to watch this show. After three seasons, I feel like I'm invested. But I do wish it was easier for me to follow (or that my brain grabbed onto things a lot better).</p><p>On Monday, I'll be writing about <i>Echo, </i>which is a new series on Disney+ that I just finished watching. And on Wednesday, I want to talk about <i>Percy Jackson </i>which is also on Disney+.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-85035925345562823232024-01-24T08:55:00.000-07:002024-01-24T08:55:14.457-07:00Lower Decks season four had a lot of fan service to earlier versions of Trek.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhex2bDc6gTU9QUwC4DwS_vUkkgNObGbytIQuAvlC5lPK-Q4UYW1OPRDVUfQkQxLrw8wozBt7659qbosNQyGQcms4gLGa-HphMXTsidmxERKTTSSDpAqV6070mLctv6DLGGxryk7rruP5C9CLt0miQz3OiAbhZZyZvuQXXS0wz_sFCmk_XXQCYs-AgtxIs/s1920/Lower%20Decks%20season%20four.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhex2bDc6gTU9QUwC4DwS_vUkkgNObGbytIQuAvlC5lPK-Q4UYW1OPRDVUfQkQxLrw8wozBt7659qbosNQyGQcms4gLGa-HphMXTsidmxERKTTSSDpAqV6070mLctv6DLGGxryk7rruP5C9CLt0miQz3OiAbhZZyZvuQXXS0wz_sFCmk_XXQCYs-AgtxIs/w640-h360/Lower%20Decks%20season%20four.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br />As with every episode of <i>Star Trek's Lower Decks, </i>season four had a lot of callbacks to a lot of previous material in the bigger Star Trek universe. By now, most people who watch and follow "Trek" know about the crossover episode in which Mariner and Boimler went to <i>Strange New Worlds </i>season 2 for some time-travel shenanigans and one of the best episodes to date of that series. So, I'm not really going to talk about that. Instead, we meet Nick Locarno who was scorned by Starfleet for not following their rules and getting a fellow student killed (I believe this was in a <i>Next Generation</i> episode with Wesley Crusher in it). At the time, Cadet Locarno convinced the surviving team members to provide false testimony, etc. and it was all kind of brought down by Picard.<p></p><p>Another thing that we got this season was a portable version of the Genesis device. It certainly had a comical introduction (as the series is comedic), but the Genesis device is (and always should be) serious business. Fans of the movies should remember that it created a planet at the end of <i>Wrath of Khan </i>(movie that came out in the 80's), and even at the young age in which I saw it, the Genesis device struck me as the most powerful weapon I'd seen in that universe (invention of Dr. Carol Marcus). I still think that today. I always wondered what would have happened if a Borg armada was targeted by the Genesis device (for example). But I don't think it was supposed to be viewed as a weapon, even though that's exactly what its potential is. Of course, it doesn't end well for Locarno who ends up dying as the Genesis device explodes on him (while trying to disarm it) which quickly forms a planet in the nebula his ship was floating in. This is also very similar to how <i>Wrath of Khan </i>ended.</p><p>There was also a lot of growth this season. Our scrappy ensigns are now Lieutenants Junior Grade, and they have new quarters. Tendi is going off on her own adventure via a bargain she made with her sister on Orion. And Mariner has learned a lot about the kind of person she wants to be. I hope that in the next season, Rutherford and Tendi get a bit more time, because they could use some development regarding their characters. but overall I'm pleased with how the show is going.</p><p>There are some great jokes made by the Lower Decks crew regarding Locarno. In the original live-action episode of Next Generation, I believe that Locarno was played by a very young Robert Duncan McNeil. Robert was later cast as Tom Paris in <i>Voyager. </i>So they make fun of this by saying how much Locarno looks like Tom Paris and even say "Their faces are exactly the same" in one scene. That made me laugh. </p><p>The animation this season was also really great. The team at Titmouse are doing great work with the digital rig animation techniques, and this show has some of Trek's best looking space battles. Additionally, the fight between Mariner and the Klingon looked awesome. In many ways, it felt like there was a blend of "real" graphics with traditional animation, and it kinda just felt like a Trek TV show or movie...not like an animated cartoon.</p><p>There's also good news already that <i>Lower Decks </i>and <i>Strange New Worlds </i>have both been renewed for an additional season. Anyone else love this season and notice things that maybe I didn't? Please share your comments below.</p><p>This Friday, I'll talk about <i>The Witcher </i>season 3.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-27436628272584769502024-01-22T00:04:00.000-07:002024-01-22T00:04:04.766-07:00Monarch Legacy of Monsters was kick ass. You should watch it.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhThzbal6k1UDOgbUicjU1upaDwtGyyN_LipIIftAzXsygeRaZ_Yo43Oi7v5QIfd184M5KPJAgkzY7gY9pDr0cVaFowDxT7zWHqQQItUlvSmmHgq0jipt6XCYMdKZPU5fGcOObsI0Sb6Q3S-NgNkpHVfykoZy74kVKGOtHAqNRjZ1ODnOXGjCqG_puOgKY/s1200/Monarch%20Legacy%20of%20Monsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhThzbal6k1UDOgbUicjU1upaDwtGyyN_LipIIftAzXsygeRaZ_Yo43Oi7v5QIfd184M5KPJAgkzY7gY9pDr0cVaFowDxT7zWHqQQItUlvSmmHgq0jipt6XCYMdKZPU5fGcOObsI0Sb6Q3S-NgNkpHVfykoZy74kVKGOtHAqNRjZ1ODnOXGjCqG_puOgKY/w640-h336/Monarch%20Legacy%20of%20Monsters.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Toho and Legendary Pictures Television division did a great job with <i>Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.</i> This first season on Apple+ was everything I expected and more. Sure, there are some who complained that "it needs more monsters." But I was satisfied with the count, which ended up being at least one if not two kaiju per episode. Each episode clocked in at about 45 minutes, and this meant that about ten minutes per episode had some huge creature in it, while the other 35 were used for character building, setting up the story, and continuous world-building. For those who may be fans of things like kaiju, and who haven't watched it yet (but intend to), here's your spoiler warning, because I may bring up things in the next few paragraphs that could possibly ruin the story for you.<p></p><p>We picked up in the monster-verse by first doing a bit of backtracking. The show bounces back and forth in time between a set of three major characters. For the most part, the "modern" part of the show takes place after G-Day (in 2014) but before the events of the next Godzilla movie. "G-Day" is the name given to the event that destroyed San Francisco in the movie that launched the Legendary-verse. The other part takes place back in time during the first nuclear tests done at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. This is where Americans conducting the experiment first see Godzilla (who is a bit smaller as he hasn't grown to full size). They think that they end up killing the "Titan" (this is the term the Legendary team uses for kaiju) when the bomb goes off. We know from the future timeline and movies in the "monster-verse" that this simply isn't true. Two of these main characters are scientists. The last one is a military guy named "Lee Shaw" and he's played in part by Kurt Russell (older edition) and Wyatt Russell (his son by Goldie Hawn) in the earlier edition. It actually works out really well, and I definitely need more Wyatt Russell in my life. These three people end up actually creating Monarch, which is the international secret agency that monitors and deals with Titan attacks when they come knocking in the modern world. But they aren't the only team in the game. There's another, called Apex Cybernetics, which we know creates the "mecha Godzilla" that we see in <i>Godzilla versus Kong</i>. Here's a quote from that movie by the character Walter Simmons:</p><p>"When we started Apex Cybernetics, we dreamt of new ways to push past the limits of human potential. Robotics, the human mind, artificial intelligence. Who knows what brave new future we will dream of next? I'm Walter Simmons. And it is my privilege to lead Apex into humanity's bold new era. We're not going anywhere, and neither are you."</p><p>The <i>Monarch: Legacy of Monsters </i>season one also introduces us to several new characters. One of them is Corah, who is a brilliant computer user who ends up working for Apex after hiding out in Tokyo ( she's there to try and avoid retribution from Apex) and the whole thing kinda flies apart on her. There is also Cate Randa and Kentaro Randa who are siblings, but not from the same mother. Their father, Hiroshi Randa, is a bigamist. He's also the son of Dr. Keiko Miura and Bill Randa (who were the two scientists who founded Monarch along with Lee Shaw which I talked about above). These new characters mostly serve as a vehicle to drive the modern plot. </p><p>The first thing they do once they discover that they are siblings on two sides of the world is to go and look for their father. When they find him, he's actually at work trying to call Godzilla using technology designed to provoke a Titan attack. All of this leads to Lee Shaw going on a crusade to close mysterious portals around the world which seem to open in the presence of Titans, and they end up in some dimension that isn't the Hollow World, and which is somehow tied to the Titans. Keiko named this dimension "Axis Mundi," and it has weird time-warping effects. Keiko got trapped there for 57 days, and it basically advanced her from the 1950's to 2019, but she never aged. The same thing is used to explain why Kurt Russell is ninety some odd years in the show but he has the vigor of someone twenty to thirty years younger. Yes, they do escape Axis Mundi by season end, but Lee Shaw gets killed during the escape (or trapped in Axis Mundi again). You don't actually see his body, and sometimes "death off-screen" just means that they could theoretically pop up again as a surprise.</p><p>And then the season ends with them being in a laboratory operated by Apex with a closing shot of King Kong coming for them at the end of the episode. This is included (probably) to show that Apex is now on Skull Island, and to show that this is before the events of Godzilla versus Kong (which shows Kong being removed from Skull Island for shenanigans elsewhere).</p><p>Look...this show was great, and I really enjoyed it. It's probably up there <i>with Reacher. </i>It's so different that it's hard to compare them, but there was no lacking in budget and the show added to the <i>monster-verse </i>in ways that were unexpected to me. I'm looking forward to the next season wholeheartedly. If you aren't a subscriber to Apple+, go to Best Buy's website and get the free three-month trial and put that into your shopping cart and checkout. Then log on and watch the show. It's worth it, and plus you could binge watch <i>Ted Lasso </i>and <i>Silo </i>and <i>Foundation. </i>Apple+ is actually a pretty good streaming service, given that they don't have near the content of some of the others out there.</p><p>On Wednesday, I'm gonna talk about <i>Lower Decks </i>season four, which is on Paramount Plus.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-53608342807573383432024-01-19T08:03:00.000-07:002024-01-19T08:03:27.377-07:00Both seasons of Reacher are available on Amazon Prime and its easily the best thing I've watched in six months.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7p-iY9ls-4pTWea003tcR9Na_gYm5RWrhtmRn_cQJP2Oi33cDjL8gh6QZCm063bTuFImV-iaZk1rpVSemI3wjMxuOY-KttfQXcEjotBDhHJ1ziq_t5_bLSaTImXxu5KYUzRTzbmN91QT3B0SVx17CQT-FoD1W2Vcemz2xu87lY26c1AR7FNqUd9ibBJI/s700/Reacher.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="700" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7p-iY9ls-4pTWea003tcR9Na_gYm5RWrhtmRn_cQJP2Oi33cDjL8gh6QZCm063bTuFImV-iaZk1rpVSemI3wjMxuOY-KttfQXcEjotBDhHJ1ziq_t5_bLSaTImXxu5KYUzRTzbmN91QT3B0SVx17CQT-FoD1W2Vcemz2xu87lY26c1AR7FNqUd9ibBJI/w640-h308/Reacher.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br />I didn't realize that I was watching a cultural dynamo when I started watching <i>Reacher </i>on Amazon. But that was before <i>The New York Times </i>declared in a critic's notebook piece, "Reacher: Women Want What He's Got, and Not Just the Beefcake." Okay then, how can I possibly add to the discussion that this article started? Well first off, I really enjoy it, and I'm not a woman. But I think I like it for the very same reasons as the article put forth in early February: a jacked-up beast of a guy wanders around solving terrible crimes, has an incredible moral compass, and the ability to just walk up to menacing strangers with confidence and reduce them to a quaking puddle of fear with just a stare. And then (added to this mix) is that he's a thoughtful and attentive lover, displaying vast emotional intelligence and he's smart to boot. It sounds kinda like he's a Mary Sue, and he more than fits the bill for that. But sometimes there's a lot of comfort in a Mary Sue character who can just do everything effortlessly. And there's a lot of fun to be had in just watching Reacher punch things that really deserve punching.<p></p><p>In my opinion, season one of the show definitely outshines season two. But that isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed season two. If I had to guess at the differences in stories between seasons one and two, it's that season 1 was very contained in a more central location in the U.S., and that allowed for telling a more cohesive story with a smaller spread of characters. The fight scenes were also just extremely good. In season two, we have a bigger story, more characters, and the bad guy seems to have a rolodex of available assassins for hire (which makes for some pretty good conflicts). I joked with some friends (who I watch it with) that the villain of season 2 must be a great guy at parties because if anyone needs a hired killer, he's got a couple on speed dial. And this kinda punctures my suspension of disbelief a little, because I just can't believe how many hired assassins and trained killers that Reacher mows through on his way to the final villain. It seems...unrealistic...at least outside of a John Wick movie.</p><p>For fans of the books, written by Lee Childs (?) I think, there's plenty to love I suppose. I had no idea that Tom Cruise was a big disappointment to fans of the books, but I guess his smallness never matched up to the physical description of Reacher (6'5" with subcutaneous fat equal to a Kleenex tissue). You also have to just roll with this character. Obviously, there's no way the kinds of abuse that Reacher puts up with would ever actually be possible for a human to withstand...even one of his build. But, he's such a huge physical specimen that you just keep piling on the barely plausible scenarios, and it makes sense to your head that this guy would just keep on fighting. Alan Ritchson (the star of the show) is perfectly cast, and it is refreshing to see a non-twink character take the spotlight for once in a movie. Lately, in the age of the twink, all we see are the Tom Holland/Timothée Chalamet, skinny white kids being the heroes (and that's obviously what a lot of people want). <i>Stranger Things </i>is packed with these as is practically every other show on television (especially true if you watch anything on the CW). </p><p>If I had to describe the flow of the show to someone who hasn't watched it, I'd say that it's like Sherlock Holmes and the Punisher (Marvel) fused together. The main character is bulletproof with plot armor, but it's fun and that counts for a lot in entertainment. I'd say it's probably my favorite series I've watched in the last six months, if that counts for anything. If you're looking for something to watch, I'd give <i>Reacher </i>a go if you have access to Amazon Prime's programming.</p><p>I hope to see y'all come back on Monday to hear what I have to say about <i>Monarch: Legacy of Monsters </i>on Apple plus. Have a good weekend.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-68754384520888165052024-01-17T14:48:00.000-07:002024-01-17T14:48:22.839-07:00Two season in and I still have no idea what Invasion on Apple TV+ is trying to be.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ-dbdbFzJ75TULWPeODs2mEvIMnUOoq4QG5nhfc8-9YWvLqXoF6hy6HirYf0ifrGNo5Xo_SZ8_uu3fCFi8NuZXrIHPwlhArgqj0WtseslwBf2P-mrPcoN6VVrSsKPcE_1n1pxC4S5OrFsxC8s-TfDdzuKCrOs0YpXVVjiTwFY0WsRKIUrDBEGjv4O0g/s1200/Invasion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ-dbdbFzJ75TULWPeODs2mEvIMnUOoq4QG5nhfc8-9YWvLqXoF6hy6HirYf0ifrGNo5Xo_SZ8_uu3fCFi8NuZXrIHPwlhArgqj0WtseslwBf2P-mrPcoN6VVrSsKPcE_1n1pxC4S5OrFsxC8s-TfDdzuKCrOs0YpXVVjiTwFY0WsRKIUrDBEGjv4O0g/w640-h336/Invasion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Apple TV+ has a show on it called <i>Invasion. </i>It has two seasons thus far, and it's about an alien invasion that occurs on Earth. The cast for the show plays their parts well, but they are all new faces. You've got a Japanese sound engineer pseudo scientist named Mitsuki who's girlfriend was a closeted Japanese astronaut that was killed by the aliens. There's also a medical doctor named Aneesha who has a chunk of some alien metal that instantly kills aliens she stabs with it. There's a white English twink named Caspar who seems to have a psychic connection to the aliens. A black girl who really likes the twink and goes by the name India (she reminds me a lot of the Zendaya/Tom Holland thing). There's Trevante, who's a military guy from Afghanistan that saw his whole troop get affected by the alien invasion. And then there's Monty played by actor Paddy Holland, who is the youngest (in real life) brother to Tom Holland. His whole purpose seems to be part of a weird pre-teen love triangle created by the black girl (India), the twink (Caspar), and Tom Holland's brother (Monty).<p></p><p>A lot has happened since the invasion started (it's basically lasted about four months thus far). And the humans have predictably had a difficult time dealing with the aliens and their technology. As far as the look of the aliens goes, I kinda think that they resemble Hefty trash bags with no trash in them (kind of black and plastic looking). They create pseudopods to walk which make them resemble a sea anemone. As far as the humans go, they are mostly stupid, but I at least appreciate that the aliens look really strange. At times, the show does seem to be drunk on itself almost like when you hear a band's song build and build to then...not ever rock out. As I watch, I see smatterings of <i>Arrival </i>in the sense that it is pretty much left up to the character of Mitsuki to learn to communicate with the aliens and to determine what it is that they want. The kids can kind of see into the mind of the aliens, but you never understand why this is. Other than...maybe...it's an attempt to make kids interesting by giving them powers.</p><p>The other character, Aneesha, is probably the most annoying character in the series. She isn't a person you can trust, and because of that, she isn't particularly likeable. Additionally, she's always losing her kids, if not the son...then the daughter. And the missing kid becomes the impetus for her entire storyline told in a backdrop of an alien invasion. I also don't understand why Aneesha is hiding the one really effective weapon against the invaders, trying to keep it away from the military who might, say...use it against the invaders?</p><p>I think my biggest gripe about Apple's <i>Invasion </i>at this point, is that it doesn't know what kind of show it wants to be. Because it is told through a "fog of war" lens, we only know as much about the aliens and what is happening as the characters who experience those things. We bounce around the world multiple times during an episode to check-in with Caspar, with Mitsuki, with Aneesha, with Trevante, and it goes round and round like that. Each time, we get a little more knowledge to fill in the blanks with, and there does seem to be some attempt to bring these characters together. But as for what kind of show it wants to be? Well, it could be anything based on these main characters. Is it a love story about two British kids? Is it a hero arc of a war-torn vet from Afghanistan? Is it "science wins the world" like Jeff Goldblum in <i>Independence Day. </i>Is it that somehow a family with a fragment of alien tech is going to save the world through a mother's love? To hell if I know what it is about at this point, and I'm two season in. However, at this point I'm going to keep watching no matter how many episodes come out. I feel like there's got to be some big payoff coming. But if you decide to follow me into this strange science fiction take on alien invasion, be warned that it can be a slow burn at times.</p><p>That's basically all I have to say about <i>Invasion </i>at this time. For Friday's post, I'm going to talk about Amazon's <i>Reacher </i>and how it's easily the best show I've watched in a long while. On Monday, I'll talk about <i>Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, </i>and its first season (I loved it). On Wednesday, I'll discuss <i>Lower Decks </i>season four, and on Friday of next week, we'll talk about <i>The Witcher </i>season 3.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-69455249097629363192024-01-15T00:28:00.000-07:002024-01-15T00:28:20.818-07:00Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is kind of an homage to Thor the Dark World but with bad acting.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7GLdZMpTiD24H4UoFS6TfDhATyokDUIYdjyxJjkrYo0sOC8_GkJXriNSNCThfI5fjFedxxHCr1Zcso8ctrp9Ffp-YTvmAOuIi7Xsdl18wjEfcm2lX4FVQUPndM5PSjJWySb3bFug3lVzhIjD5udLTrNJ0Df1HobBkIZuuDQuMz2hDoj9HCJVW07N0o0/s720/Aquaman%20and%20the%20Lost%20Kingdom.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="720" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA7GLdZMpTiD24H4UoFS6TfDhATyokDUIYdjyxJjkrYo0sOC8_GkJXriNSNCThfI5fjFedxxHCr1Zcso8ctrp9Ffp-YTvmAOuIi7Xsdl18wjEfcm2lX4FVQUPndM5PSjJWySb3bFug3lVzhIjD5udLTrNJ0Df1HobBkIZuuDQuMz2hDoj9HCJVW07N0o0/w640-h360/Aquaman%20and%20the%20Lost%20Kingdom.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br />Happy Civil Rights Day. I normally don't post on a Monday, but I've got a lot of backlog on the things I want to talk about as a result of taking November and December off. So, today I'm giving you my thoughts on <i>Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, </i>which I saw in theaters the week it was out. When I saw the first <i>Aquaman </i>movie I thought I'd been treated to a visual spectacle that I'd only seen twice before. The most recent one was the <i>Thor </i>movie...so this was basically <i>Thor </i>but underwater. And then the other movie that matched the <i>Aquaman </i>vibe was one called <i>Flash Gordon </i>which was a Dino De Laurentiis production (if I remember correctly) starring the late Max Von Sydow as Emperor Ming. I think that's the first time I was really enamored with an actor's voice. His only contemporary at the time was James Earl Jones, and luckily today with Jones being (for the most part) retired, the "great voice" is present in another actor named Benjamin Cumberbatch. I could listen to his voice all day long, and the voice acting he did as Smaug was the highlight of the entire trilogy of <i>Hobbit </i>movies.<p></p><p>So let's just get the "thumbs up" and the "thumbs down" critique out of the way: did I like the movie? Yes. But it's a bad movie. And I mean that in a particular way that some bad movies are really good. For example, <i>Big Trouble in Little China </i>is a bad movie. But it wholeheartedly embraces its "B" movie status and you just roll with it, and it ends up being a lot of fun. It also has tons of memorable quotes from both Kurt Russell and Victor Wong (the guy who plays Egg Shen). In <i>Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom </i>you've got characters being chased by huge roaches and avoiding human-eating plants, you've got lots of huge water shots, and a mythical "Lost Kingdom" of Atlantis that's about to melt out of the ice it was sealed in, bringing doom to everyone else.</p><p>Basically, what I'm saying is that if you don't expect this movie to be a masterpiece, you'll more than likely enjoy it. It's a straightforward and unpretentious action movie. Momoa, Amber Heard (yes, she's in it though they hid her in the trailers due to the Depp controversies), and Nicole Kidman all turn in bad acting performances. The part where Momoa's son gets kidnapped and all three of the above are screaming in emotional pain is completely over-the-top and painful to watch, and Kidman in particular is not helped by the fact that her face simply doesn't move anymore (she's had way too much plastic surgery and now kinda has this look to her that reminds me of the characters in <i>The Polar Express</i>). The plot could be accused of being a retread of <i>Thor: The Dark World. </i>But given that this is the last movie in the DCEU (and the sunset of Momoa as Aquaman) it seems like the screenwriters probably saved money by doing that. It's basically "heroic brother breaks evil brother from prison to fight an ancient evil trying to return." In one scene, Aquaman even points at his brother Orm and refers to him as "Loki." So, they know exactly what they're doing.</p><p>I'm not sure why the DCEU never caught on, but I have my theories. The first is maybe Zack Snyder. The way he makes movies doesn't really appeal to wide audiences in the same way as Marvel does, and <i>Man of Steel </i>honestly didn't feel like it was designed to kick off a DC movie universe. I actually didn't really like <i>Man of Steel </i>when I first saw it, because it was such a dark interpretation of <i>Superman. </i>But a lot of people actually did like it, and that's kind of the foundation upon which the DCEU was built. In the years since, <i>Man of Steel </i>has grown on me quite a bit, and I appreciate the action scenes between the terrifying invading Kryptonians who are legit scary (which is probably why I didn't like the movie: the villain was too frightening for me). In all likelihood, I bet <i>Man of Steel </i>was supposed to be a <i>Batman Begins </i>type reimagining that got shoehorned into a shared universe because <i>Avengers </i>earned a billion and a half dollars. And then there was a tragedy in Snyder's life, causing Warner to reach out to Joss Whedon, who filmed a remarkably different version of Justice League than the one Snyder wanted. Then the studio abandoned the shared universe model with loosely connected standalones with <i>Batman </i>and <i>Joker </i>movies that had nothing to do with the DCEU. And then the stuff with Ezra Miller happened in the news, and <i>The Flash </i>was made during all of that and none of it worked at all.</p><p>Some people suggest that there's superhero fatigue. I don't think that's what is happening to the box office. Rather, it's bad movie fatigue. Marvel is stuck trying to replicate lightning in a bottle with their <i>Avengers </i>movies. But the reason that kind of thing never works is because actors age, time goes on, and you pick and choose among the best plots that are commercially available and go with those. Like, Tom Holland is now (I think) way too old to be playing Spiderman. It's just a fact. The multiverse opens up tons of options to make smaller stories starring infinite versions of these characters, so the movie industry should just use this option when crafting stories. All that being said, James Gunn (who has been put in charge of the DC reboot) might be able to pull it off starting from scratch. I would like to get at least one good <i>Justice League </i>team up or two before its all over. Honestly, the thing that Marvel pulled off by giving us four <i>Avengers </i>movies was pretty darn incredible. It would be awesome if the DC characters could perform the same and give us a huge finish with four <i>Justice League</i> movies, defeating Darkseid in the last two. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.</p><p>On Wednesday, I'll be talking about the Apple+ series called <i>Invasion. </i>And on Friday, I want to talk about <i>Reacher, </i>which is the number one series on Amazon (it's super great). </p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495499100279472520.post-82891227743433372562024-01-12T06:05:00.000-07:002024-01-12T06:05:23.363-07:00My thoughts on Loki Season 2 and The Marvels<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7OYbbxhxI27yVbYTNwGUx2C1P6CP_CdSd_GP1HtDxdhRNxySjn02MD5gIzEvQ9e9Q1dBqfnk1TTmSTMcNLDAmcTc-bReTPmaSqfqfwK9K3yFuZ9Pi-_Jgl2n3YsHA8OlONN4cO-dpWLLgiD5yv50wBA_5Rbise3T1L822_zC2LW3sO5aFOL2DylgJbU/s810/Loki%20Season%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7OYbbxhxI27yVbYTNwGUx2C1P6CP_CdSd_GP1HtDxdhRNxySjn02MD5gIzEvQ9e9Q1dBqfnk1TTmSTMcNLDAmcTc-bReTPmaSqfqfwK9K3yFuZ9Pi-_Jgl2n3YsHA8OlONN4cO-dpWLLgiD5yv50wBA_5Rbise3T1L822_zC2LW3sO5aFOL2DylgJbU/w426-h640/Loki%20Season%202.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><br />I finished <i>Loki, season 2 </i>a few weeks ago. It appears that this is the end of that character. I can't really see Tom Hiddleston reprising Loki in any other way than in the way they sent him off at the end of this season (this version of Loki). Before I go into more detail, here is your obligatory "Spoiler Warning."<p></p><p>So, the finale was pretty good. If you managed to watch it, you know that Loki took his place kind of at the center of the new multiverse and that they made it look similar to Yggdrasil: the World Tree. Loki also repeats what he told Odin in the first <i>Thor </i>movie: "For you, for all of us." If we do get more Loki, it will be through the use of variants. One thought is that a version of kid Loki might show up and hang with the Young Avengers.</p><p>Hiddleston did mange to play his version of Loki gloriously well. I don't know who was a more important character at this point: Thor or his brother Loki. Both of them got large amounts of screen time, and Loki by and large due to the series exceeded the amount of time that Thor got in the MCU. So maybe Loki was the most important Asgardian? I wouldn't have said this at the end of the first <i>Thor </i>film, but the dynamic between those two characters is super important for the stories in these comic books movies.</p><p>As far as the show goes, I liked the great characters and acting. Owen Wilson once again confirmed that he's one of the most solid supporting actors out there (I don't really see him as a main actor kind of guy). In a supporting role, he really goes a long way to make the drama of anything he's in be that much better. I also liked the truly wonderful retro art direction and the design of Miss Minutes and the TVA and so on, but you can't keep a thing fresh and surprising forever. So, maybe it was a good time to just move on. Loki was probably too cosmic by the end of this series too that it would be difficult to have him interact with mortals. He's kind of on the level of those gods that are above the Celestials in the MCU hierarchy of powers.</p><p>I also didn't understand how Loki acquired his time powers or how the whole time-slipping thing happened in the first place. My theory is that He Who Remains held Loki frozen in time when Sylvie pushed him through the portal at the end of season one. We know he can freeze and control individuals. So, Loki got frozen in-between dimensions until Kang died, at which point he was unfrozen and dropped back into the TVA. But because he was not present when the loom went into failsafe mode, it doesn't know where to put him so it tries based on the user input. And that's what causes all of the time slipping. Eh...it's kind of a mess. But so is the entirety of phase five, which saw their biggest box office bomb in "The Marvels" and the dismissal of Jonathan Majors for being an abuser of women. It seems kinda rudderless at the moment.</p><p>All of this reminds me of a comment I received on this very blog years ago when I was wondering what could possibly follow-up<i> Avengers: End Game </i>and someone replied, "We're at peak Marvel. It will just be downhill from here." Ouch...years later, that dude was right.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUVW-7AmcTMU5bgdTzbtBa6_qvtOWXSBWt97Kfduq1eVH170gqKRqPuYgbX4irKQggTFgUqAXCkkQ6spQsqmN2OHkDIWkH7G0wk6pjXBj4Rgt25llfVUBvj_ddlJ0NW1S2JAXr4H40CMe6wOza5OsYQLdU1iJLyKfaAo15U29bX_YLcnfTe98y89lPIY/s810/The%20Marvels.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUVW-7AmcTMU5bgdTzbtBa6_qvtOWXSBWt97Kfduq1eVH170gqKRqPuYgbX4irKQggTFgUqAXCkkQ6spQsqmN2OHkDIWkH7G0wk6pjXBj4Rgt25llfVUBvj_ddlJ0NW1S2JAXr4H40CMe6wOza5OsYQLdU1iJLyKfaAo15U29bX_YLcnfTe98y89lPIY/w426-h640/The%20Marvels.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><p>So yeah...switching gears a bit...I did go and see <i>The Marvels </i>in theaters. I think I was just really underwhelmed by the villain. But then someone pointed out to me that I might be too harsh with my criticism, because it was still on the level of <i>Ant Man: Quantumania. </i>Once I started talking about that film, I realized that they were 100% correct. The <i>Quantumania </i>movie and <i>The Marvels </i>are not better than each other at all, yet <i>The Marvels </i>is the worst bomb. I wonder if a lot of that just has to do with Brie Larsen, who (for some reason) people love to hate. I predict that Captain Marvel will be recast soon just to get rid of that baggage and see if the online trolls can be somewhat appeased. Who knows what will happen though with any of that. I want to believe that Marvel movies can rekindle the magic of the Thanos cycle, but I keep getting disappointed.</p><p>As far as my feelings toward <i>The Marvels </i>goes...while I was watching it, I thought it was light, fast, and fun. The action flowed nicely and we got really cool dynamics between the three Marvels. I loved Monica confronting Carol about her abandonment, and it was refreshing that they didn't let their issues distract them from the fight. I liked how Monica was the responsible adult and became the voice of reason.</p><p>Things I didn't like were small. The villain (obviously) was weak sauce. She just wanted to restore her planet that was ecologically devastated due to a dying sun. However, the entire movie, Carol Danvers had the power to just recharge the sun and she does that at the end. Why didn't she just do it at the beginning? Because then we wouldn't have had a movie. Also, the Kamala Khan powers are neat but the way they look on screen really strike me as "video game" and always jerk me out of the moment for some reason. It's probably just me. Also, I kind of liked seeing Carol demonstrate that she had the power to affect a star, reinvigorating it with her light blasts. The reason? The Dark Phoenix saga in the comic books. I collected these back in the eighties, and one of the things that the Dark Phoenix does in those comic books is absorb entire suns to fuel her power. I was wondering how that was going to look, and now I have an idea of how it will look because of seeing Captain Marvel reinvigorating the alien sun. Honestly, I think that Dark Phoenix would make an incredible cosmic villain for an Avengers type team up, requiring everyone to fight her. That would be awesome, and I think it would be a lot more compelling than what I'm getting from watching them lurch toward <i>Avengers: The Kang Dynasty </i>that's supposed to happen in a few years.</p><p>On Monday, I'm going to talk about <i>Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. </i>On Wednesday, I'm going to talk about the Apple+ show <i>Invasion. </i>I recently finished season 1, and I have thoughts about it I want to share.</p>Michael Offutt, Phantom Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10557969104886174930noreply@blogger.com3