Movie trailers seen before “Quantumania”

Time for another review of movie adverts at the movies

So, what sorts of movies do Big Media think will attract possible customers who are there for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Here are the trailers we saw this evening:

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie — This just looks plain silly, but neatly crafted in its silliness. A moderate chance we’ll see it when it comes out (if my son has any say in the matter).
Air — (a) Who would have thought that the decision of a struggling Nike shoe company to back untried rookie Michael Jordan would lead to so much money being made? (b) Who wants to see a movie about it? (c) So, which is a bigger number, (a) or (b)? (d) Who cares?
John Wick 4 — I saw the first JW film and decided that, while it was fun, it was about all the John Wick I needed for a lifetime.
Flash — I’m more and more convinced that the only reasons this movie is finally being released are (1) it’s already complete and probably fully depreciated by WB, and (2) James Gunn is too much of a geek to miss the chance to provide a canonical excuse for the DCEU timeline being changed. I have no interest in seeing this in the theaters, but I might stream it some time.
Fast & Furious 10 — I’m sure the trailer will excite F&F enthusiasts. I just see a franchise that’s both winding down and is becoming its own self-referential parody.
Elemental — A new Disney/Pixar flick about a world just like ours, except everyone is made of earth, air, water, and fire. Amusing hi-jinx and a heart-warming forbidden love ensue. Um … for whatever reason this just didn’t do it for me.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 — This trailer has been out for a little bit, but it’s nice to see on the big screen. Another sub-franchise winding down to an exit (along with its writer-director), and I am very interested in how it turns out.

We also saw two different segments in the pre-show and an ad during the trailers tied into Creed 3, which I have utterly no interest in.

There was also some pre-show chatter for Shazam 2, which I would be a bit more interested in if they had actually pulled in some of ~~Capt. Marvel’s~~ Shazam’s classic villains for, rather than … “the Daughters of Atlas”? Which, even with Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren, doesn’t get me excited.

So, net-net, only one real win for me (GotG 3), though some mild interest in a couple of others.

Movie Review: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)

The final installment of the Ant-Man franchise is flawed but fun

An earlier version of this review appeared on Letterboxd.

A few spoilers, but nothing too serious.

+ ♥

Ant-Man and the Wasp - Quantumania poster — My favorite poster of the bunch

So here’s the bad news: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (AMWQ) is not one of the best Marvel movies of all time.

But, and unlike the early press and folk who are beginning to enjoy piling on Marvel, it is not one of the worse.

Instead, it falls pretty square in the middle: entertaining without influencing the genre; pretty but sometimes too in love with its own prettiness; some humor that works, some that doesn’t quite; too much of some things, too little of others; decent integration with the MCU; a great villain but too many faceless mooks getting killed; some nice personality moments but a rocky plot; etc.

If I had to compare it, I’d say Guardians of the Galaxy 2, or Shang-Chi, or maybe Captain Marvel. Good, not great. But not bad.

Plot

So take first a reminder that the Ant-Man franchise has always been — well, not lighter, but not pompous or overly serious. Drama occurs, but plenty of humorous moments, too. AMWQ doesn’t balance this quite as neatly as the earlier two installments, but it has its moments, and it helps explain why the aside vignettes during action scenes feel to me like they largely work here, where they would have to be a lot fewer and shorter in a more conventional MCU film.

There’s a lot going on in this film: The Lang/Pym extended family is five all by itself, and that doesn’t account for a ton of secondary players, a major villain with lots of backstory, a significant side villain, multiple rescue missions and guilt trips, a big battle, and a gorgeous world to explore.

There’s about 15% too much stuff here, which ends up somewhat short-changing some of the characters and some of the “family matters” arc that it starts out with. As it stands, there are some occurrences in the film that seem to reference stuff that isn’t there in the release any more. It makes matters a bit rocky in places when you try to catch a breath and consider what’s going on.

Further, from a suspension-of-disbelief stance, there are odd scaling issues. Kang has amassed a massive army, sure, but nothing he could actually conquer the universe with, given his opposition (and, well, the sheer size of the universe). Conversely, it does seem like he has an army in at least the hundreds of thousands, given the size of his fortress complex — and there’s no indication that the doughty refugee / rebel alliance has anywhere near the numbers to take that on, even with the assistance they receive. Kang’s forces are simultaneously too small and too large to be believable (ironic in a tale of super-heroes who shrink or grow huge).

In short, the plotline for AMWQ does not hold up under close scrutiny any more than the physics and biology do. Just go with the flow.

Acting

The main players all do a decent job amidst the flurry. Michael Douglas feels a bit more relaxed, having gotten all the shoutiness out of his system in the previous two films. Michelle Pfeiffer makes up for it by being positively grim and driven. Paul Rudd is his normal amiable self, still the grounded, sane guy amidst a bunch of zanies (though, sadly, we get no more of his San Francisco buddies). He’s become a bit more of a parent/worry-wart than before, but it feels in character.

Kathryn Newton, taking over as Scott’s daughter Cassie, fills the role well, and the movie provides support for what one hopes will be an eventual Young Avengers movie. Evangeline Lilly gets something of the short end of the stick here — she’s present, and she does stuff, but her character arc is pretty flat.

Everyone is express rave reviews for Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, and they are well-deserved. Majors plays the alternately world-weary, egomaniacal, manipulative, and frustrated-beyond-all-understanding super-villain in a way that makes him a top-tier MCU antagonist. He picks up and seamlessly expands on the multiversal metaplot of the MCU from his variant in the first season of “Loki” without dropping a beat. Majors makes us mostly hate, kind of fear, but also occasionally sympathize with Kang, no easy feat.

I applaud the job he’s done here. He’s a great catch for Marvel, and a great lynchpin for the whole “Kang Legacy” focus of the upcoming MCU phase(s).

Beyond all that, there are, as you may have heard, some unexpected cameos. They worked well, even the one I most worried about.

Production

AMWQ is visually stunning, and that’s almost a problem. The early time in the Quantum Realm harkened back strongly to Disney’s unjustly lambasted Strange World, only a lot more photo-realistic and, therefore, a lot more distracting. When everything looks amazing, nothing looks amazing, if you will.

But besides that, the imagination and execution of the alien wonders of the Quantum Realm (and a coherent look for the dark blot that is Kang’s presence) are impeccably done, as are the shrinking/growing being done by Team Lang/Pym.

A nit to pick: everyone who had one of those quick-deploy helmets (Scott, Hope, Cassie, Kang, and MODOK) spends way too much time with it off when it should just stay on (complete with zippy deployment / undeployment). Yes, I realize that’s a conscious decision to let the actors’ faces be visible to emote but the masks on to more easily stunt / CG the action, and perhaps it was even the right decision, but it also happened with such frequency as to create a distraction.

Comic Bookiness

Most of the focus here has to go on Kang, whose costuming and make-up are as exquisite as Jonathan Majors’ portrayal. The only thing missing are his gigantic inter-changeable super-future-guns.

Tip of the hat to the renditions of other Kang-related characters, recast into the framework of the MCU from their original form.

Another tip to the way the MCU has pulled in elements of Marvel’s Microverse to make its Quantum Realm, both conceptually and in the form of characters like Jantorra.

The MODOK character looked pretty cool, though almost entirely divorced, besides his final appearance, from the comic book version in identity and personality. Still, it was a better revision than, say, “Black Widow”‘s Taskmaster, and infinitely superior to choosing a near-nameless mook to be the obligatory lieutenant / hatchet man.

In Sum

I’ve no regrets springing for movie tickets. I’m not sure if it’s in 3-D anywhere; 2-D was just fine.

There are the standard mid-credits and post-credit scenes. They are worth staying for, just for their MCU tie-ins.

The headlines for early reviews of the movie have been brutal, but if you look at them carefully, they are largely coming from critics who think anything superheroic of coming from Disney/Marvel is commercial hackery from the get-go, and are therefore happy to point out every cinematic flaw in detail without going into the basic popcorn enjoyment of the thing.

For viewer ratings, we’re getting a grade of “B,” which isn’t a sign to me of “Marvel fatigue” or the demise of super-hero films, but of the end of the amazing 15-year cinematic honeymoon the public has had with the MCU. A “B” is an accurate, but quite respectable grade. That this is somehow a wildly embarrassing flop seems greatly exaggerated.

I enjoyed going to AMWQ. I expect I will this film again at home. ‘Nuff said.

Would you like to know more?

TIL: “Ant-Man” is in the middle of the word QuANTuMANia. Huh.

The Unbearable GOPness of Being Earl

Earl is the recipient of more GOP awards than you can imagine. Also, he’s a deadbeat.

Some time in the shadows of the past … the Republican Party decided I was Earl.

I am not, in fact, Earl. But, based on my mobile phone number, receiving texts, they think I am. Oddly enough, they also think I live in the ZIP code where I work.

After a week or two of getting 5-6 texts a day, I set the texting number to spam, so it didn’t show up in my notifications … but it continued to download, and when I upgraded my phone, the spam setting got lost, meaning I was subject to a flood of Earl texts.

Looking at them this time around, they’re actually kind of fascinating. Yes, I have gotten enough Democratic Party texts to realize that this is not just a GOP thang. But on reviewing them in bulk, a few fascinating trends still stand out:

MONEY. The important thing is getting money. Not swaying Earl to particular partisan positions, or rooting for (or against) particular people, but getting Earl to send the GOP … MONEY.
But, for the most part, that’s not done by appealing to Earl as a recruit in ideological beliefs. It’s done by making Earl part of the team … the few … the chosen … the elite.
There’s lots of urgency, though. Earl must donate right now or else he, and the country, but most importantly he, will lose something important.
There’s a fair amount of shaming that goes on. When Earl doesn’t answer the call, the disappointment, the sadness, the bewildered loss, is palpable.
On the other hand, there’s plenty of carrot to go with the shaming stick. No matter what Earl does (or, in this case, doesn’t) donate, the GOP is always willing to honor him for purported past glory and as someone really important to the cause.

In short, it’s a campaign very little about politics, and very much about tribes, and the shame of not supporting the tribe, or the righteous and acknowledged joy of doing so.

Bear in mind, Earl’s texts have been coming to my phone for months, 4-5 times a day. Unless he’s giving through other paths, he hasn’t been a Loyal, Stalwart Supporter from this firehose. But the algorithm throws out carrots and sticks regardless of what Earl does. Earl is just a cog in the Great Money Machine that is the Republican Base.

Here is the saga of Earl over the course of January, with links and other identifying markers (except the name!) scrubbed.

Ronna McDaniel: Happy New Year from everyone at the Republican National Committee!
May 2023 be a year filled with blessings & good fortune.

One of a passing few messages without a link to send money.

You’ve been given a 30 MINUTE EXTENSION to activate your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE! What are you waiting for?? CLAIM: (link)

Only 30 minutes more to give money? Noooooo!

Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

Wow! A Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase! I’ve always wanted to make an impact …

In recognition of all you’ve done for the GOP, please accept this GOP Golden Elephant! It even comes with a 300% IMPACT INCREASE: (link)

Oh, no! I lost my 5000% impact increase. Oh, wait, three hours later …

Your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE was just extended. Claim it NOW & help CRUSH our Extended End-of-Year Goal! Act NOW >> (link)
You’ve been granted access to our 2023 Platform Audit before almost ANY OTHER PATRIOT. Make your voice HEARD >> (link)

I guarantee that, after I audit the platform, the party will ask me for money.

Earl, YOU’VE BEEN UPGRADED! To confirm your Republican Diamond Club Status, press HERE >> (link)

Republican Diamond Status! Wow! I wonder what it takes to actually confirm that …?

Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

Again?

We CRUSHED our End-of-Year fundraising goal! To show our gratitude, we’ve EXTENDED your 5000% IMPACT until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. ACT: (link)

Hey, I’m back to 5000% Impact!

OFFER EXTENDED! There’s still time to claim your 5000% impact increase & help CRUSH our Extended End-of-Year Goal. Act: (link)
INFORMATION REQUESTED: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (ZIPcode) area! Answer: (link)

I find it interesting that the GOP thinks I (Earl) live in the ZIP code of where my office is. It is, indeed, a fairly high-income and likely Republican population. Which makes it a bit weird that I (Earl) will get to represent the entire ZIP code’s population in myh answers to the Republican Verification Caucus.

Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)

Only one hour! Eek!

You’ve been given a 30 MINUTE EXTENSION to activate your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE! What are you waiting for?? CLAIM: (link)

Wait, that’s a bigger impact, but a different time of increase, but it isn’t part of a Lifetime Achievement Award. I feel so confused!

DON’T MISS OUT! We need YOU to take the Presidential Preference Poll & help select our NEXT Republican Presidential nominee. ACT >> (link)

Are you suggesting that the national party actually selects the candidate, not the state primaries and caucuses? Weird!

EXTENDED OFFER: Claim 5000% IMPACT on ALL contributions to prepare the Republican Party for 2023! DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT >> (link)

My 5000% is back! But with a new, even closer deadline!

In recognition of all you’ve done for the GOP, please accept this GOP Golden Elephant! It even comes with a 300% IMPACT INCREASE: (link)

Another GOP Golden Elephant? Or is this the same one? Is it 300% of 5000%, or is this a different offer? It’s all coming too fast (or too slowly, every 3 hours or so).

Your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE was just extended. Claim it NOW & help CRUSH our Extended End-of-Year Goal! Act NOW >> (link)
FINAL REMINDER
Your Republican Advisory Board offer will be REVOKED unless you ACT >> (link)

Oh, no! I will be thrown out of the tribe!

You won! The GOP selected you to receive a 5000%-IMPACT extension! We only give out a few per month! Active for 30 MIN. CLAIM PRIZE: (link)

I feel very special. One of the very few to get that 5000% Impact Extension Prizes!

CHOSEN, Earl. The Republican Party chose you for a personal 5000%-IMPACT Extension. Are you going to claim it? Donate NOW: (link)

At last, an actual call to Donate.

We trust that YOUR opinions represent the ENTIRE (ZIP code) area! Take the 2023 Republican Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

I suspect MY opinions, in fact, do not.

ATTENTION CANDIDATE: Complete the GOP’s Official Survey to join the Republican Advisory Board. DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT TONIGHT >> (link)

The Republican Advisory Board? I will be able to advise Republicans if I just complete an Official Survey? Wow!

You’ve been given a 30 MINUTE EXTENSION to activate your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE! What are you waiting for??
CLAIM: (link)

What, in fact, am I waiting for?

You didn’t respond to our last text. We selected the BEST PATRIOTS for a 50X-IMPACT Extension. You’re the last 1 remaining! Donate: (link)

Oh my God! Of all the BEST PATRIOTS, I am (and I am sure I can believe this) the only one who didn’t respond to that 50X (or 5000%, whichever sound more impressive) impact extension. The shame of it!

Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

But even if I didn’t give any money from this number for many, many months, I get a Lifetime Achievement ( and all-important Impact Increase) … this feels like a mixed message.

Is this still Earl’s number? You STILL haven’t told us. Who do you want to see in the White House?
Respond HERE>> (link)

Oh, no! They’re onto me!

Membership Pending: Complete the GOP’s Official Survey & secure 1 of the last remaining spots on the Republican Advisory Board. >> (link)

But I’m still being offered one of the last remaining spots!

PLEASE CONFIRM
To accept your GOP Gold Club Membership, press HERE >> (link)
ABBOTT OR BIDEN: Who do YOU think is handling the border crisis better? Tell us HERE >> (link)

Ooooh. Tough call. I’m sure that Earl would be a much more impartial observer of this than me.

You’ve been given a 30 MINUTE EXTENSION to activate your 5000% IMPACT INCREASE! What are you waiting for?? CLAIM: (link)
Take the Congressional Agenda Survey & tell us what Republicans should focus on! 1 HR.
Act NOW >> (link)
You are officially invited to join the Republican Diamond Club. Claim your membership HERE >> (link)

My cup runneth over.

This is your opportunity to provide the GOP with critical insight into YOUR AREA! Complete the 2023 Platform Audit HERE: (link)
Better late than never! Welcome Biden to the border for the FIRST time by signing our Southern Border Postcard! Add your name NOW: (link)
INFORMATION REQUESTED: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (ZIP code) area! Answer NOW: (link)
As a respected conservative leader, we need to hear from YOU. Fill out your Republican Sample Ballot NOW: (link)
Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)
Looking to make a HUGE difference for the Republican Party? Join the GOP Gold Club before your invitation EXPIRES: (link)

Audits! Post cards! Sample ballots! Lifetime Achievement Awards! Gold Club invites! Who can possibly deserve all this attention?

Is it time to end Biden’s FAILED POLICIES & secure our southern border? 1 HR to respond. Take the poll NOW >> (link)

I suspect this may not be a broadly representative poll.

Border numbers are in, and the crisis is continuing to spiral out of control! Is it time to END THE BIDEN BORDER CRISIS? Vote NOW >> (link)

Gosh, if the crisis is continuing to spiral out of control … well, yeah, I guess it’s time to end the crisis.

Earl, it’s time to fill out your Republican Sample Ballot. You can do that HERE >> (link)
Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

I am, in fact, a winner! The GOP texts tell me so!

Are you awake, Earl? We chose YOU to join the Republican Advisory Board, but you FAILED to accept the spot! Hurry & claim: (link)

I feel so ashamed!

Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)

Wait, I’m down to only a 250% increase! Oh, no!

We are sending results from the Presidential Preference Poll to GOP leaders in 1 HR. Can I include your name, Earl?
Act: (link)

Wow … the GOP leaders will see my name? Wow!

This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

I feel so ashamed. The GOP doesn’t love me any more.

Earl, YOU’VE BEEN UPGRADED! To confirm your Republican Diamond Club Status, press HERE >> (link)

The GOP loves me again!

As a respected conservative leader, we need to hear from YOU. Fill out your Republican Sample Ballot NOW: (link)

That feels a bit blunt.

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in your area & never responded! Fill out your Republican sample Ballot: (link)

OMG, I was SELECTED but never responded! What madness seized me?

Your Congressional Agenda Survey is ENCLOSED. We need your response in 1 HR! Complete HERE: (link)
Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

They love me.

IS YOUR PHONE OFF? You were HAND-SELECTED to represent the (ZIP code) area & NEVER RESPONDED! Take the 2023 Platform Audit NOW: (link)

They love me not.

LEVEL UP!
You’ve reached ELITE company by qualifying for the Republican Diamond Club! Join NOW >> (link)

They love me.

We’re sending results from the Presidential Preference Poll to GOP leaders in 1 HR. Can I include your name, Earl?
Act: (link)

Again, my name!

This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

I am ashamed!

You satisfied all the criteria for an RNC MERIT BADGE! Accept your award, and 200% INCREASE, before it EXPIRES >> (link)
Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)
As a respected conservative leader, we need to hear from YOU.
Fill out your Republican Sample Ballot NOW: (link)
Earl, YOU’VE BEEN UPGRADED!
To confirm your Republican Diamond Club Status, Press HERE >> (link)
We chose YOU! As our BEST PATRIOT, we want you to represent your area & take the Congressional Agenda Survey. Take it NOW >> (link)

Ha! Even though I never responded to the 2023 Audit (SAD!), I got a merit badge, a Lifetime Achievement Award, a Sample Ballot, A Diamond Club Status, and was chosen as a BEST PATRIOT! So there, 2023 Audit!

MISSING INFORMATION: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (zip code) area! Complete NOW: (link)

This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

Wait, has the 2023 Audit seized control of GOP opinion of me?

Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

Nope! I won! HA!

Should gas stoves be BANNED!?! 1 HR to take the official GOP Poll.
Act NOW >> (link)

So is this policy decision to be based on … polls? Let’s take a survey on the speed limit, too!

But, credit where credit is due, this is an actual policy question. Wow!

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in your area & never responded! Fill out your Republican sample Ballot: (link)
Are you awake, Earl? We chose YOU to join the Republican Advisory Board, but you FAILED to accept the spot! Hurry & claim: (link)

They’re onto me!

Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)

I get an increase? Wow! Such a gift for my lifetime achievement!

We are sending results from the Presidential Preference Poll to GOP leaders in 1 HOUR. Can I include your name, Earl? Act: (link)
Did Biden LIE about the “misplaced” classified documents? Poll closes in 1 HR! Vote NOW >> (link)

I’m sure that poll will be considered very important.

And the award goes to … YOU, Earl! Accept your GOP Golden Elephant HERE >> (link)
This is the HIGHEST rank the Republican Party can bestow, Earl. Accept your RNC Merit Badge HERE >> (link)

The HIGHEST rank!

INFORMATION REQUESTED: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (zip code) area! Answer NOW: (link)

Wow!

This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

Oh, no!

Jim Jordan has announced plans to investigate Big Tech’s COLLUSION with the Biden Administration. Sign the petition NOW & SUPPORT >> (link)

I’m sure that Jim Jordan will base his strategy on what Earl has to say.

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in CO & never responded! Take the Republican Verification Canvass: (link)

Oh no!

You satisfied all the criteria for an RNC MERIT BADGE! Accept your award, and 200% INCREASE, before it EXPIRES >> (link)

Tell me more about those rigorous criteria!

The (ZIP code) area will be KEY to taking back the White House. Will you take the Presidential Preference Poll? 1 HR: (link)
Conservatives are working to EXPOSE the Radical Left & need your help. Sign up for the Republican Diamond Club before it’s too late! (link)
Are you awake, Earl??
We chose YOU to join the Republican Advisory Board, but you FAILED to accept your spot! CLAIM >> (link)
This is the HIGHEST rank the Republican Party can bestow, Earl. Accept your RNC Merit Badge HERE >> (link)
INFORMATION REQUESTED: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (zip code) area! Answer NOW: (link)
Earl, we’ve never done this for anyone. We reopened the Patriot Life Membership list for the next 20MIN. Claim your spot: (link)

“20MIN!”

The results you provide us will play an important role in our CO strategy. Help stop the Democrats’ agenda! >> (link)
We’ve texted you SO MANY TIMES! Please, Earl, we NEED your name on our Petition to FIGHT Big Tech COLLUSION!
Sign HERE: (link)
Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)

There are those mixed messages again.

Have a drink on us! Celebrate America & the GOP by showing off these elegant GOP Whiskey Glasses! There’s a limited supply, so ACT: (link)

There’s actually been a remarkable lack of swag solicitation until this text. Kind of weird that the GOP is pushing drinking as their gauge of elegance.

MISSING INFORMATION: Your response to the Republican Verification Canvass will represent the ENTIRE (ZIP code) area! Complete NOW: (link)

Wow. so not asking many people, I guess.

We’ve texted you SO MANY TIMES! Please, Earl, we NEED your name on our Petition to FIGHT Big Tech COLLUSION! Sign HERE: (link)
Should gas stoves be BANNED!?! 1 HR to take the official GOP Poll. Act NOW >> (link)
Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)
HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO ASK? Submit your Republican Sample Ballot! We’ve asked you SO MANY TIMES!
Act NOW >> (link)

But will you ever stop asking?

Do you want Pres. Trump to return to Facebook & Twitter? Vote NOW >> (link)

Wait, I get a vote on that? Has someone told Zuck and Elon?

To: Your GOP Nominee
From: Earl
Happy Valentine’s Day!
*Autograph your name HERE -> (link)

Wait … how do you know who my choice of nominee is?

Republican leaders have selected YOU for our Lifetime Achievement Award! Your award even comes with a 250% INCREASE! 1 HR to ACCEPT: (link)

Can I get a list of those leaders?

This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)
This is the HIGHEST rank the Republican Party can bestow, Earl. Accept your RNC Merit Badge HERE >> (link)

Mixed messages, Ronna.

Earl, we’ve never done this for anyone. We just reopened the Patriot Life Membership list for the next 20MIN. Claim: (link)

Never done it for anyone!

Guess what Earl?? YOU WON! Accept your Lifetime Achievement Award & Impact Increase NOW >> (link)

Understandable how I won such an award, since you also reopened the Patriot Life Membership list!

Republicans MUST achieve success in 2024! Support the BRAND-NEW Take Back the White House Fund! Donate NOW >> (link)

This message seems positively pedestrian.

We’ve texted you SO MANY TIMES! Please, Earl, we NEED your name on our Petition to FIGHT Big Tech COLLUSION! Sign HERE: (link)
Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in your area & never responded! Fill out your Republican sample Ballot: (link)

Oh, no!

This is the HIGHEST rank the Republican Party can bestow, Earl. Accept your RNC Merit Badge HERE >> (link)
This MUST be wrong, right? We have you marked as “Not Listed” for holding Big Tech ACCOUNTABLE. If this is wrong, fix it here: (link)
GOOD NEWS: A spot opened up & you’re officially invited to become a Patriot Life Member. Claim offer NOW >> (link)
Are you awake, Earl??
We chose YOU to join the Republican Advisory Board, but you FAILED to accept your spot! CLAIM: (link)

Getting whiplash here. Am I a disgusting, unawake (un-Woke?!) layabout, or am I a recipient of a Merit Badge, an invitation to be a Patriot Life Member (filling that rare open spot!), and an invitation to join the Republican Advisory Board?

FIRST Democrats wanted to BAN your gas-powered vehicles, NOW they want to BAN your gas stove.
Had enough? ACT: (link)

And those disgusting Democrats managed to do those things without actually doing them! The nerve!

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in CO & never responded! Take the Republican Verification Canvass: (link)
We’ve texted you SO MANY TIMES! Please, Earl, we NEED your name on our Petition to FIGHT Big Tech COLLUSION! Sign HERE: (link)
You were nominated over almost ANY OTHER PATRIOT in CO for the GOP Golden Elephant! Why haven’t you accepted? CLAIM >> (link)
This is SAD! We selected YOU to complete our 2023 Audit, but you NEVER RESPONDED. Take the Platform Audit NOW >> (link)

I feel so ashamed, because you wanted me so badly and I never called.

The RNC Award Committee selected YOU for our highly coveted GOP Golden Elephant! Claim your benefits HERE: (link)

All is forgiven!

Ronna McDaniel: I’m proud to share I was re-elected to run the RNC for another cycle! Will you help build momentum for 2024? ACT >> (link)

Why is it you’ve lost momentum, Ronna?

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in your area & never responded! Fill out your Republican sample Ballot: (link)
Earl! Where’s your response to the Presidential Preference Poll?? Complete HERE: (link)

Uh-oh!

You’ve been PRE-SELECTED! Claim your 600% INCREASE & help CRUSH our End-of-Month Goal! 1 HR >> (link)

Well, if you’re only going to offer a 600% Increase, rather than a 2000% Increase like earlier this month, why should I pay any attention to you?

You were nominated over almost ANY OTHER PATRIOT in CO for the GOP Golden Elephant! Why haven’t you accepted? CLAIM >> (link)
HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO ASK? Submit your Republican Sample Ballot! We’ve asked you SO MANY TIMES!
Act NOW >> (link)

I’m beginning to think you’re onto me!

We’ve RARELY do this, Earl. You’ve been CHOSEN to become 1 of the FIRST to receive the GOP’s 600% IMPACT Offer.
Claim: (link)

I’m not sure it’s all that rare, to be honest, looking at your history over the course of the month.

Are you awake, Earl? We chose YOU to join the Republican Advisory Board, but you FAILED to accept your spot! Claim NOW: (link)

Oh, no! Will they still have a quorum?

NOTICE: The GOP upped your impact to 650% for 1 HOUR. Don’t share. This special link is for you only, Earl. Donate: (link)

Oooh … I get my own, special, unique link, which is incremented one tick from the link on the previous text message.

Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in CO & never responded! Take the Republican Verification Canvass: (link)

How exactly would I have represented them?

For the FIRST TIME in 2023: We’re activating an End-of-Month IMPACT INCREASE!
Find out how much: (link)

Yes, it’s incredible how at the end of the first month in 2023, you are activating an end-of-month fundraising thing for the first time in 2023!

Earl, we never do this for anyone. We just reopened the Patriot Life Membership list for the next 20MIN. Claim your spot: (link)

“20MIN!”

We just released our FINAL LIST of Lifetime Achievement Award Nominees! See if you made the cut >> (link)

I’ll betcha I did, if I donate something.

You were nominated over almost ANY OTHER PATRIOT in CO for the GOP Golden Elephant! Why haven’t you accepted?
CLAIM >> (link)

Does it come with an actual elephant? Because that would be awesome.

Earl, Our End-of-Month goal is CRUCIAL to taking back the White House. EVERY CENT counts. Will you chip in? 700% Impact: (link)

That is a remarkably mundane fund-raising request.

HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO ASK? Submit your Republican Sample Ballot! We’ve asked you SO MANY TIMES! Act NOW >> (link)
You’re in the 95th percentile of ALL our supporters. Will you keep your TOP spot? Contribute ASAP for a 700% IMPACT! HURRY >> (link)

Oh, no! I might lose my top spot of contributors! Eeek!

Earl, we never do this for anyone. We just reopened the Patriot Life Membership list for the next 20MIN. Claim your spot: (link)

Didn’t you just do that a few days ago?

Make your FIRST EVER contribution of 2023 & help Republicans keep pace so we can CRUSH our fundraising goal. Act NOW >> (link)

So it’s good (for certain values of “good”) to know that the texts aren’t completely random, but that there’s some tracking of contributions going on.

We’ve authorized a 750% IMPACT for the NEXT HR to help CRUSH our End-of-Month goal! This offer is for YOU, Earl.
Claim: (link)

Where’s that 2000% one? I know you can do it, GOP!

Earl! Where is your response to the Presidential Preference Poll??
Complete HERE: (link)
This is the HIGHEST rank the Republican Party can bestow, Earl. Accept your RNC Merit Badge HERE >> (link)
Is something wrong? You were SELECTED to represent the GOP in your area & never responded! Fill out your Republican sample Ballot: (link)

And again with the mixed messages.

One final note. The link on each text was slightly different, incrementing alphabetically (/aca, /acb, /acc, /acd …). Thus, if Earl clicked on a given text, the GOP would know which one made him actually click.

I’m sure there’s nothing they’d do with that information.

At any rate, while I suppose I should feel faintly guilty for keeping Earl from his Very Important Texts and Opportunities to Accept Rewards and Respond to Surveys and Give Money … I can’t also help feeling that Earl might be a bit more relaxed without the GOP sending his text messages every 3-4 hours.

Until he sends them money and gives them his actual mobile number.

B5 Rewatch: 5×08 “Day of the Dead”

Neil Gaiman works some magic … as do Penn and Teller

There are two main threads. The A-plot has a dozen subplots to it, most of them delightful. The B-plot is more straightforward, and a bit more difficult to grok.

A-Plot

The Brakiri on B5 arrange to rent part of the station, in a such a way that it legally becomes “their territory” for one evening, sunset to sunrise. This isn’t just a diplomatic embassy kind of thing — weird magic stuff is going on for the “Day of the Dead,” which only happens every few centuries, son one of the Brakiri on the station want to miss out. As part of the process, that section of the station will be somehow metaphysically moved to Brakir, so that it partakes in the festival. As this includes some sleeping quarters sections (a weird thing to rent out around), some of the crew members learn a lot more about the Day of the Dead than they wanted, as they are visited by ghosts left behind during the show.

Lochley: Lochley is visited by a friend, Zoe, from when they were teenagers. Lochley apparently had quite the while JD life, living rough, involved in petty crime and drug use.

LOCHLEY: We were cold, sick, and we were hungry all the time. We did thing to survive I’ve done my best to forget. We lived in that burned-out hotel. I was scared all the time my father was going to find me. No, it was bad.
ZOE: Yeah, but … we still had fun.

It was only when she found Zoe dead of an OD (and covered in cockroaches) that she got “scared straight” — back to her overbearing Space Marine dad, back into school, and then into the military, and into the world’s most stiff-spined, upright life. It’s still a trauma that haunts her (we learn her sooper-sekrit passcode is “Zoe’s dead”). The visit ends up serving as a reconciliation between the two, and closure for Lochsley when she finally confirms that Zoe’s OD was suicide, not her being a good enough protector and friend.

ZOE: Lizzie, I do remember my death. I didn’t want to hurt you, but … yeah. I did do it on purpose. I just couldn’t go on. Don’t hate me, okay?
LOCHLEY: I could never hate you.

One added creepy note here is Zoe passing a message for Sheridan on from Kosh (!): “When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning.” It’s been so long since we got some of Kosh’s unintelligible warnings, I’d forgotten how much I both loved and hated it.

Garibaldi: Our erstwhile security chief is visited by Dodger, the Marine that he loved and lost in ep. 2×10, “GROPOS”. As then, she’s looking for a good time, he’s busy being paranoid about what’s going on. Eventually they both relax and spend time … demonstrating you can recite Emily Dickinson poems to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

Londo: Just as Garibaldi is visited by a former lover, Londo meets with Adira, the Centauri dancing girl he once, truly, loved (ep. 1×03 “Born to the Purple”) … before she was assassinated (ep. ep. 3×15, “Interludes and Examinations”). She was killed (by Refa, probably, possibly with Morden’s connivance) to snap him out of his personal funk and back into leading the Centauri to greatness.

It’s a tragic re-meeting, even as Londo takes it all much more at face value than any of the others. It gives us a final chance to see Londo before his trip back to the Centauri homeworld and throne change him forever — something he is very much aware of, and rues. Because the fact is, Londo could probably have been very happy being a minor, fringe noble at a thankless diplomatic posting, if he’d had Adira by his side.

ADIRA: Normality will return soon. And when this night is done … so am I. And you? You will go on to become Emperor Mollari.
LONDO: I don’t want to become emperor. I want to stay here with you.
ADIRA: Londo, I’m a dream. In the morning, I’ll be gone. And you will rule 40 billion Centauri. But not one of them will ever know you the way I know you.

Lennier: Lennier, taking a quick break from training to actually see the long-rumored Brakiri “Day of the Dead” (and, not-incidentally, wanting to visit Delenn), shows up on B5 … and is visited in the night by Mr. Morden (Ed Wasser with sharp but distressingly short hair). After learning he can’t punch the ghost out, Lennier is informed that he will end up betraying the Rangers and, by extension, Delenn, and likely die in the process. Lennier is either the smartest or dumbest person in the tale, because he chooses to ignore everything Morden has to say and sits down to meditate, leaving Morden to read the newspaper.

Interestingly enough, dead Morden actually gets an answer from Lennier that he was unable to get from Delenn, so long ago: What a Minbari wants.

LENNIER: Why did you come back here?
Mr. Morden
MORDEN: I’m dead. It’s my job. Why did you come back here?
LENNIER: I came for wisdom.
MORDEN: You don’t come to the dead for wisdom, Lennier. […] Wisdom. Let’s see … Delenn does not love you as you love her, and she never will.
LENNIER: I know that.
MORDEN: No, you don’t. Not in your heart. That’s the problem, you see? No one should ever want to talk to the dead.
LENNIER: Go away.
MORDEN: Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. You raised a ghost, now you have to listen to him.

Interestingly enough, most of the ghosts — Morden, Zoe, Dodger — deny they’re actually ghosts.

Sheridan shows up a bit in this story — interrupted from the B-Plot, he personally investigates the un-enterable Brakiri zone (since apparently Security is all asleep), and nearly gets beaned by a fire extinguisher he throws at the interface. Okay.

One of the weirder, less explicable parts of the plot here is G’Kar, who has some funny moments, but … well, he seems to know what’s going to happen, warning Lochsley not to “sell” the station to the Brakiri (even if it violates their religious rights), warning Garibaldi, and finally choosing to sleep in the bridge rather than his own quarters … but he gives no details, no actual reason to listen to him, just portents and alarums. To make matters worse, he later expresses regrets about having missed it all. It’s kind of sloppy writing for the character.

B-Plot

Babylon 5 5x08 Day of the Dead - Rebo and Zooty — Rebo and Zooty

The most famous entertainers in the galaxy, Rebo and Zooty, come to visit B5. They’re played by Penn and Teller, and knowing them from thirty years later, they haven’t changed much. The show does a nice job of modifying their schtick, slightly, for a different pair of stage magicians.

The pair charm everyone on the station, except for Capt. Lochley, who apparently doesn’t enjoy humor and silliness (there should be some time here to her A-Plot, but there really isn’t). Even the aliens all enjoy the stage-magical hijinx of the pair (in part because R&Z have widely studied alien humor); all you have to do is say “Zooty-Zoot-Zoot!” to anyone on B5 (except Lochsley), and they burst into the equivalent of laughter.

In reality, R&Z are here to talk with Sheridan and Delenn about … going into politics. Giving up being comedians and doing something “worthwhile”. It’s an interesting take, looking back over the decades, as we see folk like Jon Stewart becoming political forces, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy leveraging a career that has included comedy to become President of Ukraine — and holding it together under their darkest hour.

Ultimately, it’s the least effective part of the episode, as we get a little homily about how important humor is, both socially to hold people together during hard times, and politically, to speak truth to power (and to serve as a canary in the coal mine). Not bad lessons, and some of the personal interplay in the scenes works well, but in the end it’s all a little preachy.

Other Bits and Bobs

As a guest-written episode (and one that written early days in the season, before Joe had the full timeline charted), it wisely avoids tying too much to live troubles in the B5verse. The telepath problem, political stresses in the Alliance … all are put into a soft focus in the background, making this a somewhat standalone (if prophetic) tale.

Meanwhile …

If this seems very non-Joe Straczynski — being a guy who is okay with writing about telepaths and aliens who wield the power of gods and technomancers who create magical effects from technology and the like, but who would never write about straight-up magic — well, you’re right. This is the single episode in seasons 3-5 which wasn’t written by JMS. Instead, it was a long-term commitment fulfilled to have fabulist Neil Gaiman write it. And Neil Gaiman writes magic.

In the end, it’s not too glaring of a matter. Suspension of disbelief — hey, we all believe in destinies prophecies and Centauri seeing their death, after all — is already established. It does create a different tone for it all, but I was able to handwave the more overt use of “magic” for purposes of an episode.

Babylon 5 5x08 Day of the Dead - Zoe — Zoe

A bit of trivia: Gaiman has noted elsewhere that Lochsley and Zoe were also former lovers (perhaps another reason she ran away from home). There’s certainly that aspect to be read into their interplay, but anything overt, if it ever existed, was filed off by JMS on editing the story. If it were so, it would make Lennier the only one not visited by an ex-lover (likely because the only one he’s ever loved is still alive and otherwise involved … which then ties to Morden’s prophecy …)

There is some controversy as to where “Day of the Dead” should be placed. It was written early in the season, after only four scripts had been completed by JMS, and before all the detailed chronology was figured out; it was originally shot 11th, but shuffled to 8th during the original run because of conflicts with the NBA playoffs, and so as to let a more solid sequencing of episodes occur. This creates some minor continuity conflicts, and some oddness with G’kar and Londo being (still? again?) on B5, but other recommended options have their own inconsistencies as well. Since it’s all relatively trivial, I’m going with here, as in the original broadcast and on the recent HBO Max run.

Not only does this ep give us an opportunity for a long-promised Gaiman episode, but series consultant Harlan Ellison “shows up” as the electronic voice of Zooty (thus allowing Teller to remain mute).

Moments

Most Dramatic Moment:

Lochley — who is usually a staid rock — practically falling apart talking to Zoe about what their life together was like, how bad it was — and about finding her body.

Most Amusing Moment:

SHERIDAN: Okay, captain, let me get this straight. You sold Babylon 5 to an alien race for the nighT, who somehow transported a square mile of this station to their Homeworld, while apparently filling it with people temporarily returned from the dead?
“I thought it was a metaphor, sir.”
LOCHLEY: Yes, sir.
SHERIDAN: Well, do you have an explanation as to why you did this?
LOCHLEY: Yes, sir. I thought it was a metaphor, sir. I’ll try to be more literal-minded from now on, sir.

Most Arc-ish Moment:

Surely Morden chatting with Lennier.

LENNIER: I know what kind of a man you were.
Morden and Lennier
MORDEN: Give a dog a bad name and you can hang him with it. You shouldn’t listen to everything Sheridan tells you. I’m surprised he’s not here tonight, since he died at Z’Ha’Dum. […] So … do you like being a Ranger, Lennier? Would you like it any better if I were to tell you that you will betray the Anla’shok?
LENNIER: You are lying.
MORDEN: I wish I were. No?
LENNIER: Sheridan did not die at Z’Ha’Dum. If you do not know the present, how can you know the future?
MORDEN: I’m talking about the future. So what if I’m not up on recent history? I’m prophetic, not infallible.
LENNIER: I think you are neither. But at least you have shown me there is truly life beyond death.
MORDEN: Not necessarily, but you’ll find that out soon enough.
LENNIER: I am Anla’shok and shall remain so until I pass beyond. I could no more betray the Anla’shok than my fingers could betray my hand. Our talk is done.
MORDEN: Your loss.

The Bottom Line

Some great dialog, some dubious plotting, a welcome break from Byron and the Telepaths.

Overall Rating: 4.5 of 5.0 — Good-to-Great stuff in the A-Plot, Interesting but Mixed stuff int he B-Plot, great lines, but also a clear sense of filling in.

(Rating History)

Other Resources for this episode:

Lurker’s Guide
Babylon Project Wiki
IMDb
AV Club (covers eps 6-10 of the season)
Babylon Five S 05 E 08 Day Of The Dead / Recap – TV Tropes
MUSINGS OF A SCI-FI FANATIC: B5 S5 Ep8: Day Of The Dead

Previous episode: 5×07 “Secrets of the Soul”

Next episode: 5×09 “In the Kingdom of the Blind” — The Telepath Problem heats up, and Londo learns there’s something rotten in the heart of Centauri Prime.

Stage Review: “Theater of the Mind”

David Byrne’s interactive show about unreliable reality was fun

theater of the mind - david byrne birthday — David Byrne

My wife, being a fan of David Byrne of Talking Heads from way back, had her attention caught by an article and ads for his (and Mala Gaonkar’s) odd-looking show, Theater of the Mind (directed by Andrew Scoville). It had its world premiere in Denver last September and, we found, was carried over into this month before moving on to new locations.

Three things to know about the show:

While it’s a DCPA production, it’s not held downtown. Instead, it’s at the York Street Yards, a light industrial area off Steele, north of City Park.
That’s because this is an interactive show, with small groups of sixteen moving from room to room over 75 minutes, delving into the (light) story and (fun) perceptive experiments / neurological parlor tricks.
We’re glad we went.

theater of the mind - david byrne thesis statement — David Byrne and the thesis statement

Without going into spoilers, the show is about questions of identity, reality, and personality. That sounds very deep, and while there are deep questions raised, the audience is encouraged to do most of the raising themselves “over a coffee or a beer.” (The show provides a digital program after the fact, talking about the science involved.)

The experiments and demonstrations of how our perceptions, memory, and worldview are both unreliable and change over time are relatively simplistic, especially in the social media world of today. But in aggregate, and in context of the narrative (which seeks to engage the audience by giving them all new names and a bit of slowly developed backstory), it leaves a sense both of unease (who am I now, and how might that be different tomorrow?) and encouragement (we have at least some control, if only of acceptance, as to all of that).

theater of the mind - one of the davids — One of the “David”s in an early scene

Again, while the tone glides from breezy to absurd to briefly serious, it’s meant mostly to be thought-provoking, not gut-wrenching, and it succeeds in that. That’s helped by a large and (presumably equally competent) case, each playing the single role for a given group: a semi-autobiographical David Byrne (even if none of them, quite intentionally, look like him). Our “David” (Steph Holmbo, I believe) was quite good, and I expect all of them are.

An enjoyable show and experience, worth going to see.

Do you want to know more?

Giving (up) the Bird

A Farewell to Elons.

Like a lot of other folk (“all the cool kids are doing it!”), I’m suspending use of Twitter for the indefinite future. I’ve already been cutting back substantially the last month or so, but between the likelihood that the system is going to crash and burn technologically, if not socially, and that most of the key folk I followed on Twitter have departed — well, there are not much reason to be here, and many reasons not to be.

So my @Three_Star_Dave Twitter account, and the automatic quotation tweets to @WISTquotes will go silent unless things substantially change on Twitter. That’s unfortunate, because Twitter (while always having had problems) has been an amazing global resource, and an avenue to contact people in an remarkable array of walks of life. It’s been a precious news and communication channel in a way I think we haven’t realized. I’ve learned a ton there, and stayed in touch with a lot of people there. It wasn’t as satisfying as my previous social media community on Google+, but it had many great moments.

But the onset of Elon Musk — who I’m convinced got sucked into taking over Twitter in as inadvertent and self-inflicted a fashion as Donald Trump turned a publicity stunt into an unexpected term in the White House — has ruined the place for me. The growing, free-wheeling hatred and deplorable culture that Musk is so amused by (and that he is encouraging so as to drive up numbers and sell lots of advertising) is too reprehensible for me to support by even my small sliver of traffic.

A number of thoughtful people have suggested continuing to fight the good fight there. Don’t give up. Don’t let the bastards win. And there’s something to be said for that. But as a tactic it assumes that actually being there can make a difference, and that it isn’t actually hurting the cause by keeping up the numbers Elon keeps waving at advertisers to bring them back.

It’s still a legit tactic. But not one for me.

So … where to now?

My own blog here has lain relatively fallow for a while, except when I choose to make long-form writing stuff (usually reviews). I have utterly no desire (still) for Facebook — if Twitter is turning Chaotic Evil, FB has for a long time been the social media face of Lawful Evil (as a company).

Instead, for the last few weeks I’ve been using Mastodon. It’s a marginally clunkier version of Twitter, stylistically, but its diverse federated nature means it’s less vulnerable to take-overs like Elon’s, and elements of its design — most particularly, a lack of “algorithm” to drive the most infurating info directly into your face — make for an experience much more pleasant, and a culture that’s a heck of a lot more civil (in my experience) and less doomscrolling than Twitter has been for a long while.

It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s pretty decent. As a small pond, still, I’m getting a lot more engagement from others than I have on the birdsite. And a lot of the voices I was most interested in following on Twitter have shifted full- or part-time to Mastodon.

All the cool kids are doing it.

I’m not deleting my old Twitter accounts — at least not yet. I may still poke my head over to see what’s going on (or to steal some material). But going forward, my former Twitter @three_star_dave sort of content can be found at https://mstdn.social/@three_star_dave, and my WIST stuff is being rebroadcast to https://zirk.us/@WISTquotes. Running on different instances means I can keep both accounts open in my browser, which is handy.

And I’ve figured out a decent RSS feed of the Mastodon stuff in the right margin of my blog here, too. So … commitment!

Hope to see you there.

Movie Review: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022)

A movie that allayed fears and more than fulfilled expectations.

With the untimely death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020, MCU fans were unsure what would happen next. Would Boseman be replaced by another actor playing T’Challa? If not, would we just get some sort of mawkish memorial at the beginning — or, worse, mawkish, weepy memorials all the way through, “That’s what T’Challa would have wanted …” — or maybe, without Boseman, we’d get something that was just vapidly action-oriented without the depths he would have wanted.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is none of those things.

It is a movie suffused with grief, with people dealing with the untimely loss of a loved one, a leader, a geopolitical figure. A lot of that “dealing with” leads to errors in judgment that lead to further complications, but the dominoes that tumble by all of that that feel logical and realistic. As much as the viewer wants to yell at the people making bad decisions, much is because we understand where those people are coming from and sympathize, even as we want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them.

There are a ton of features to admire about the movie. Wakanda remains a remarkable society, with a complex polity and a realm as complex as their highly advanced technology, and the internal politics of Wakanda are themselves a significant factor in the action. But it’s brilliantly done that Wakanda is also a vulnerable society — not through simple brute force (as in “Avengers: Infinity War”) but through applied tactics against the strengths of the opponent (this is true both for the Atlanteans attacking Wakanda as well as Wakanda’s counter-attack).

Namor’s people and their profound grounding in Meso-American heritage is a delightful expansion of their pulp fantasy origins in the comics. While one can pick nits at their tech / lack of tech, they (and Namor) are delightfully rich.

(And I give a thousand points of credit for the film’s leaning into Namor’s ankle wings, calling them out explicitly and making them part of the plot. The most ridiculous thing about Namor’s character, and they went with it. Bravo.)

The movie actually makes sense (in terms of cascading bad judgments) in creating the conflict between Atlantis (okay, Talokan) and Wakanda, and uses the relative powers of both nations in imaginative and believable ways.

And there is a mid-movie cameo that was both unexpected and completely believable — and which drove forward Shuri’s evolution as a character.

The weakest parts of the movie relate to events outside of the Wakanda-Talokan conflict. The shenanigans related to Everett Ross and Val de Fontaine were all amusing, but felt like an add-on. And, sadly, Riri/Ironheart never quite fit into the emotional heart of the movie, despite being a significant part of the physical action. She’s a prop, more than a character here, and as a character she deserves much more.

But, again, that’s because this movie is really about grief, fear, dealing with T’Chala’s death — and the mistakes and misjudgments that stem from that. That grief is palpable, in both the drama and the meta (the Chadwick Boseman-focused Marvel intro sequence), and that is infused beautifully into the entire narrative, and into, ultimately, Shuri’s character arc.

This is a much more sophisticated tale than most MCU entries, because it is more about internal conflict than external, about finding one’s place in the world vs. blowing up the bad guys, and because so many characters are proceeding along parallel arcs that lead to conflict, and so many plausible ways that conflict can play out. And, at the end, we have no true resolutions, but anticipations, potentials, and possibilities.

Very much like real life. Which makes this a particular gem in the MCU.

ProTip: There is only one mid-credits scene. But it’s excellent. But when it’s done, you can head for the exit.

[This review was initially posted at Letterboxd]

The Early Post-Midterms View

Things actually went pretty well in Colorado, and a lot less dire than expected nationally.

So looking at Colorado’s races, I’m pretty happy. the Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and AG, all went pretty strongly blue.

On ballot measures … most of what I voted for (link and link) passed. Some important ones, like school meals funding were a pretty resounding success.

Of course, we also cut the income tax rate. 🙄

The three liquor bills look like they are going down to defeat, although 125 is still very close at this moment.

Dems won for the US Senate seat (soundly), and US House Districts 1, 2, 7, and my own 6 (go, Jason!). The usual gang of idiots took 4 and 5. The new district 8 looks like it might go blue, but it’s pretty tight.

Most importantly, from a state reputation basis, House District 3, a West Slope country-conservative area, just might be sending Boebert home, which would be a real relief no matter how the House overall goes. We’ll see.

On a national level, it’s still unclear how the House and Senate will end up — very tight in each chamber, which will hamper either side from extremes. Still, I’ll hate to see Jim Jordan and MTG doing their committee chair zaniness with even the barest sliver of a majority.

It’s clear, regardless, that the people who kept it from being the predicted “Red Tsunami” were, on the one hand, Donald Trump and his coterie of sycophants who not only endorsed some of the worst candidates out there, but forced all the others to bravely nod in support of his daftness. And, on the other hand, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, through their Dobbs ruling, mobilized a lot of turnout against GOP candidates who were, at best, trapped into being stridently anti-abortion (or who were).

Democracy, and our nation, are by no means out of the woods. But things are looking quite a bit less bleak than they were a day or two ago.

Another Look at Colorado Ballot Propositions 2022

As I sit down to vote, any changes of mind?

I pretty much stand by what I originally evaluated for my votes on ballot propositions this year. There are two that I was not sure about, though, and one other I wanted to reevaluate.

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances
YES

One proponent framed the question very well: is adult possession of magic mushrooms sufficiently dire enough to warrant destroying someone’s life through criminal prosecution? Hard to understand how.

On the other hand, the critiques of the proposition are inane. “It’s fentanyl all over again!” No, it’s not, in any way, shape, or form. “Ordinary people shouldn’t do these drugs because they won’t treat them as a spiritual sacrament!” Sorry, I eat bread and drink wine, too, outside of Mass. “It’s all a Big Pharma plot!” While not discounting Big Pharma’s ability to plot, this controlled access proposal seems a reasonable first step.

I’ll be voting Yes.

Some further reading:

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations
NO

Basically increases the number of liquor licenses which may be held by an individual or company. I wanted to give this one another look because there are some inequities in the current law that, in the coming several years, will disadvantage independent liquor stores.

Net-net, Prop 124 is a good thing if it helps local liquor stores expand and stay competitive with supermarkets, which will soon begin to get more licenses than they do. It’s a not so good thing if it helps big outside liquor companies (e.g., BevMo, or Total Wine) come into the state and supplant local liquor marts.

Give that the Trone brothers, who founded Total Wine, have each dropped almost a million dollars into this tells me that’s the intended direction.

I think there are better ways to help local liquor stores compete, so I’m going to vote No, but I strongly suspect that it will be voted in as a Yes.

Some further reading:

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine
NO

Should grocery stores be able to sell wine, too? (Also sake, mead, and hard cider, but wine is the biggie here.)

The issue being presented to consumers is, of course, convenience — though the donations from Albertsons Safeway, Kroger, and Target make it clear they see it as a big windfall for themselves.

The argument against is the impact on independently owned liquor stores. The best counter is that the same claim was made about grocery stores carrying beer, and today there are more independent liquor stores than there were when that proposition passed. I’m not convinced that actually applies, though, esp. given how independent stores have said their beer sales have dropped; kicking out the second of three legs from those stores (beer, wine, hard liquor) would have, I think, a more serious effect.

I will likely vote No, though I suspect it will pass.

Some further reading:

Oh, and that other stuff to vote for?

I’ll be voting a pretty straight Democratic ballot this year, as far as candidates go. While I’m not a rapturous fan of Polis or Bennet, for example (though I do like my US Rep, Jason Crow), their opponents are either lunatics or clearly disingenuous in their intentions — and my presumption in 2022, without strong proof otherwise (which would have kept them from getting on the GOP ballot in the first place) is that any Republican candidate is or will be a Trump supporter, happy to work alongside MTG and Jordan and Goetz and Cotton and Cruz, and enthusiastic to see civil rights protections rolled back, increased church-state entanglement, and democratic norms and governance broken down.

Vote!

And that’s a wrap for Season 1 of “Rings of Power”

A beautifully crafted, long, slow simmer of Tolkien’s Second Age.

Definite Spoilers for S.1 and the Season Finale

Rings of Power Season 1 is a wrap. Since my original review, two eps in, has my opinion changed?

It’s a show that has been simultaneously wonderful, intriguing, and maddening. Let’s break it down.

The Bad — Too Much Time On Their Hands

Rings of Power - Tree Blight — Viewers, unlike Elves, are not immortal.

By having a “guarantee” for five seasons, it felt like a certain sense of time pressure was lifted from the creators. That “we have to get pulses pounding so that they will renew us!” gave way to “We have all the time in the world, so let’s not be hasty!” The result? Tons of slo-mo, so many lingering looks, and …

… well, to paraphrase Emperor Joseph from Amadeus, “Too many notes.” Or, rather, too many stories, too many characters. Lindon, Eregion, Khazad-dûm, Numenor, the Southlands, the Greenwoods … the Elves, the Dwarves, the Humans of Numenor, the Humans of the Southlands, the Harfoots (and not to mention the Orcs) …

Rings of Power - Durin — Sorry to leave you hanging, guys.

Stories came and went, and the viewer never knew what they’d manage to wedge into a given episode. Remarkably enough, even the Big Season Finale just left some of them dangling in the dark, not even giving us a passing look to acknowledge them. The family conflict in Moria. The fate of Bronwyn and the Southlanders. Well, folks, we hope we remember you when we do a quick catch-up whenever Season 2 rolls around.

And I’ll add into the “Bad” the delay to S.2. Given that the first season (even with COVID) took 18 months to produce, and that they just started filing S.2 this month, I expect we won’t see anything more until early 2024. Which is … damn. Even the LotR movies kicked out reliably across three Christmas seasons.

The Good — Gorgeous and Occasionally Clever

Rings of Power - Stranger Things — Stranger Things

That said, the last handful of episodes really did start paying off all the long, loooong passages in the beginning, and the finale split story between the Stranger/Harfoots and Elves/Rings was awesome. (Yeah, the Numenorean bits were fine, too, but very much played third fiddle to the overall episode.)

Indeed, given how slowly things had been moving, I didn’t think we’d get to actual Ring Forging until next season. Instead, it fit in quite neatly here (even though, honestly, if Sauron hadn’t acted, he might have done away with the elves altogether, at least in this world’s setup).

Rings of Power - Numenor — I would watch this show just for the visuals.

Which, thinking of all that forging stuff, causes me to consider the elvish forging equipment, which makes me think of the visual worldbuilding here, and what even its biggest critics have had to admit: this show is drop-dead gorgeous. Numenor and the Numenoreans are design wonders, evocative of what the West (Gondor) eventually turns out to, but with rich overlays of ancient Middle Eastern tones and artistry. Exquisite.

There were also, by the end of the episodes, fine setups for S.2 — we are off to visit Rhun (which is a massive blank canvas, so the Middle-Earth pedants will lose some traction), and Numenorean politics is about to heat up, esp. with Miriel blinded (and so unable to use the Palantir up the attic), and the whole “Only old-fashioned race-traitors like the elves” sentiment simmering under the surface. Speaking of whom, not sure what the elves will be doing, aside from maybe arguing over who gets to wear the Three (Gil-Galad might have something to say about that, as he did in the original), and clearly there’s more to come about the internecine struggle amongst the dwarves, even if it wasn’t even acknowledged in the finale..

The Okay

This saga takes fairly significant liberties with the original material. Even if you acknowledge that they could only play with the Appendices of LotR, not the actual Silmarillion, we have tremendous time compressions and lumping together of storylines across the Second Age to show that the story itself is clearly being altered.

But to that extent (and to the end of having a single coherent show, not an anthology across those 3,400 years of Second Age), I think they did pretty well. Sure, they ended up with Galadriel basically walking, sailing, and galloping from one end of the western world to the other (I almost expected to see her riding a horse through a landscape, that would then open up after her passage to reveal our favorite Harfoots hidden from her eyes), but it all turned out … pretty okay.

Rings of Power - three rings — Three Rings. Why three? Now we know.

Did it all make sense? Sometimes. Usually. The finessing around Sauron’s reveal and the forging of the Three, for example, was very neatly done.

On the other hand, the idea that rerouting a big reservoir of water across twenty miles of earthen tunnels to pour into a volcano’s caldera to create a massive explosion and pyroclastic flow that destroys the landscape but doesn’t kill everyone nearby, so as to create a “nuclear winter” localized landscape and weather system, perfect for orcs … well, that’s just silly, but it’s beautifully set up and executed and it beats any story Tolkien gave us about the founding of Mordor, and it’s a goddamned story about elves and orcs, so I can live with it.

Rings of Power - Two Trees — I mean, WARS have been fought over trees in this mythos.

I’m slightly less sanguine about the plague on the Tree and the origin of mithril and all of that — except, again, it replaced centuries of kingdom-building and elvish (and dwarvish) politics. A big goofy, but within parameters (especially given how arboreal health seems elsewhere in canonical Tolkien to be so damned portentous).

So, yeah, the books talk about the Istari arriving by boat from the West, greeted by Cirdan (who gives his elven-ring to Gandalf), and all of that a thousand years into the Third Age, not falling from the sky thousands of years earlier. But … whatevs, it kept people guessing and doesn’t effectively change the dynamic. (And despite utter confidence that that’s Gandalf there in the burlap robe, for a variety of reasons, I’m holding out hope that it’s actually Saruman. Or maybe one of those Blue Wizards who actually traveled to the east …)

Rings of Power - Galadriel Warrior Princess — Canon or not, I enjoyed Galadriel, Warrior Princess

As to whether Galadriel was a warrior princess … again, it works here, even if it’s not quite what our known background info would suggest. Again, adaptation, and, let’s face it, with the pacing problems the show had, having a damask-robed slow-motion Galadriel looking somber the whole time as she walked from grove to grove would be … damned boring.

In Sum

Rings of Power - Harfoots — Safe travels and fair roads until we meet again.

Overall, it’s not quite as Peter Jackson-mesmerizing as I had hoped, and it suffered from too much material presented too slowly, but I would much rather have watched Rings of Power than to have never seen it. I hope, eventually, to enjoy at least another season of it.

So that’s a wrap on “She-Hulk” …

Some fine, fun, comic book action and self-mockery, but never really finding it’s spot.

Spoilers for She-Hulk ep. 9

Watched the S.1 finale for She-Hulk tonight. As mentioned before, at length, I love this character, and I really looked forward to an MCU comedy that capture that light-hearted, highly meta, but underlying dramatic creation I’ve come to love.

Ultimately, I got something that didn’t lean into its 4th Wall meta until the finale, then did so to excess, while at the same time trying to be a rom-com lawyer show, with a zany cast and so many situations to be comedic about.

And, fundamentally, I’m not a standard sitcom kind of guy. And this felt soooooo standard.

So, bottom line, I was disappointed by She-Hulk, but it was moderately entertaining, and I appreciated its willingness to drag in big and little MCU characters. There was humor I did like, but so much must popped rather than banged.

I’m reluctant to get too critical, because there’s been from pre-Episode 1, a contingent of “Ugh, strong woman bad, can’t we get more Punisher?” viewers out there. Many of whom then morphed into “How dare Matt Murdock smile, let alone sleep with a skank like Jen?” crew. And, I assume, those same folk were cheering for the Intelligentsia at the early climax of the show, and actively wishing that Zack Snyder were directing this.

And none of that has any resemblance to my reasons for being a skosh disappointed. Even though I don’t regret having spent any time watching the series.

I thought the rather heavy-handed “K.E.V.I.N.” sequence was … well, yeah, heavy-handed. It should have been funnier, and it wasn’t, and it was frustrating.

On the other hand, the opening titles, riffing off the classic Incredible Hulk TV show, was delightful. Bravo.

I’d love to see She-Hulk come back in the MCU. Despite the solo aspects, Jen can work in a straight drama, too. And I’d be happy to see an S.2 of She-Hulk, maybe with a different writing vision.

Jen Walters — and She-Hulk — are great characters. Here’s to more of them, better executed, in the MCU.

A First Look at Colorado Ballot Propositions 2022

Eleven proposals to change the lawbooks or the state constitution.

We’ve quite the crop of ballot proposals this year. I just received the family’s state ballot guide, which gave me a first thorough look at them. I’ll be interesting to see which are snoozers, which get a lot of ad spending, and how the voting on them will go.

One thing of note is that there aren’t any real Culture War issues on here. Not even any Personhood Laws (a rare treat). That’s kind of nice for a change.

Anyway, here’s my first pass, after reading the summaries, the pros/cons, etc. I’ll revisit this before the actual election, when various wiser heads have analyzed them more closely.

These three Constitutional Amendments, proposed by the Legislature, require a 55% supermajority to pass:

Amendment D – New 23rd Judicial District Judges
YES

So we have an new judicial district in the state, but the mechanism for putting judges on it seems a bit sketchy. This solve that by actually defining a clear process. The arguments against seem kind of vague.

Amendment E – Extend Homestead Exemption to Gold Star Spouses
YES

Currently, if you are over 65 and have been in your house for 10+ years or vets with a service-related total disability, you (or your surviving spouse) can claim a partial exemption on your property. This adds surviving spouses of service members killed in the line of duty or of vets whose death results from a service-related injury or disease.

While I think sometimes we go a bit nuts over supporting vets (“Wanna teach in school with no training? No problem!” as they say in Florida), this seems a reasonable thing to do.

The arguments against are basically that it doesn’t help everyone and it might help someone who doesn’t need it. Neither argument is convincing.

Amendment F – Changes to Charitable Gaming Operations
NO

Didn’t we just fend something like this off an election or two ago? This would basically drop the age of non-profits able to run bingo or raffles from five years to three years, and let them hire paid workers to run the games.

The basic result would be more profit-making operations in-state “helping” non-profits run these games. I don’t think we need that.

The following two statutory amendments were proposed by the Legislature and require a simple majority to pass:

Proposition FF – Healthy School Meals for All
YES

Rather than operating a bureaucracy of tracking which kids get free lunches and which don’t, and stigmatizing those who do as the poor kids, and letting families on the edge of eligibility rack up lunch costs … why not just make lunch available to everyone? Makes sense to me.

The arguments against are basically that families with income over $300K shouldn’t have to pay more taxes, especially for meals for freeloading middle-classers, and shouldn’t we just give more money to schools instead of doing this? (Worth noting the people making these arguments never argue in favor of more money to schools when those ballot propositions come up.) None of that sways me from the good this will do.

Proposition GG – Add Tax Info Table to Petitions and Ballots
NO

Every election, we get a nice thick booklet about all the ballot propositions that includes tables with tax impacts. This proposal would add those tables both to petitions (which might make sense) and the ballots. Ugh. We don’t need longer ballots, esp. since the goal here is to try to dissuade voters at the last second about all the scary taxes. Bah.

The following six statutory amendments were placed on the ballot by citizen petition and require a simple majority to pass:

Proposition 121 – State Income Tax Rate Reduction
NO

Brought to you by the usual gang of strangle-government-in-its-bed idiots.

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances
Yes?

This is one I’ll want to read up more about. While the arguments about Magic Mushroom Madness aren’t very convincing, neither are the arguments that, hey, it’s natural, therefore safe and groovy for psychiatric treatment.

Tending yes, but tentatively.

Proposition 123 – Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing Programs
YES

By and large, esp. with Colorado housing and rental prices climbing so high, I’m inclined to go with this specialty program. That the opposition argues that this will cut into TABOR refunds in the future is an even better argument for it.

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations
NO

The first of three ballots over Colorado’s commercial normalization over alcohol and transition away from the old Blue Laws. This one accelerates / expands the ability of retail liquor stores to own more locations, ostensibly in competition with supermarkets. That’s only likely to help bigger chains, though, and I tend to think the transition process that was established previously is just fine. (I could be argued around on this one, but that’s my first impression, at least.)

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine
No?

I’ve been going back and forth on this one, honestly. On the one hand, convenience! On the other hand, not sure I want more of my grocery store dedicated to wine space, and the impact on existing liquor stores, large and small, is concerning.

Leaning No, but may change my mind.

Proposition 126 – Third-Party Delivery of Alcoholic Beverages
YES

This does two things. First, it allows for third-party companies (e.g., DoorDash) to delivery alcohol alongside groceries and take-out food and everything else. Second, it permanently allows take-out and delivery of alcohol from bars and restaurants, which was first introduced in the early COVID days and is currently scheduled to end in 2025.

Both of those things seem like good conveniences to me, so I’m a solid Yes.

I have to confess, I’m not enjoying “She-Hulk” as much as I wanted to

And I definitely wanted to.

I wanted to enjoy the current She-Hulk series on Disney+ a lot, boiling down to two reasons:

Always fun.
I really like the character in the comics, esp. in incarnations where there’s humor involved (i.e., starting with John Byrne’s famous run). I wanted something that captured that fun.
There was a lot of early criticism of the show, far too much of which boiled down to “Powerful female character? Ugh! Gimme more Punisher!” The first episode’s monologue about the problems/risks that women professionals have — a sentiment that every woman professional I’ve talked with about it agreed with — were met with scorn and derision and disbelief from much the same criticizing audience. I wanted this show to be a real hit just to show those yahoos off.

Unfortunately, we’ve ended up with a show that is … okay. Not horrible. Not great. The humor, including the fourth wall bits, feels kind of awkward, with maybe one good laugh an episode. The action sequences are so-so. The CG feels definitely budget. The courtroom bits are mostly more mildly funny humor. The characters are walking bundles of tropes. The storylines are kind of silly and clunky.

As I said to my wife last week, if this were a non-super-hero show, or even a non-MCU show, I would probably have stopped watching by now.

I’m not sure where the problem is. The actors, including star Tatiana Maslany, seem like they should be good. Writing? Directly? Something is just not clicking, leaving me with an amusing, but not uproarious, interesting but not gripping, legal dramedy in spandex.

Worse, at a time when the MCU really needs to be stocking up its bag of heroes for the next Phase, the so-so nature of She-Hulk makes her being part of that action less and less likely.

Here’s hoping they pull something big out of the bag in the last 4 of 9 episodes. If not … well, I don’t regret the time I’ve spent watching it, but I don’t see myself watching it again.

TV Review: “The Rings of Power” (2022) (two episodes in)

It’s a show that wasn’t needed, but it’s a show I’m enjoying so far.

All right, here’s the Number One Question that is burning in the heart of every fanboi out there: Was this series absolutely necessary?

No. Of course not. No TV series is “absolutely necessary.” And, honestly having lived in Prof. Tolkien’s head for nearly half a century, I can say that I would have survived if we had never gotten a visual study of the Second Age (as adapted and time-compressed for television).

That said …

I’m enjoying it

I enjoyed the first two episodes of “The Rings of Power.” The adaptations for “Let’s put all the exciting stuff of the Second Age into a single cast of characters that isn’t all-elvish, kind of like Tolkien did for the Third Age” are, so far, fine. I like the characters introduced, both known and unknown. And the FX were quite suited for a billion dollar investment/adaptation.

I can easily be a pedantic purist. But I also tend to accept what is presented to me and evaluate it for what it is, not against some Platonic ideal of the True Tolkien Story. Given the number of renditions of the tales that Tolkien himself did, that seems like a wise starting place.

The status quo we begin with is fascinating, and highlights something that LotR fans usually forget: the Elves are just as culturally flawed and personally prone to error as any random Human, Dwarf, or Halfling. In LotR, we focus on the top-tier Elvish Elders (Elrond, Galadriel, and, yeah, ~~Mr. Galadriel~~ Celeborn), or on the Elvish Super-Hero, Legolas.

But the First (especially) and Second Ages are full of Elves making horrible, monstrous, myth-making and realm-dooming mistakes of vanity and hubris and obsession. RoP gives us those Elves (including, ironically, Elrond and Galadriel), driven by their passions, their griefs over the First Age conflicts, their prejudices, their obsessions, their flaws.

That some of them (Galadriel) are correct in their concerns is not important. That they are not all spouting off profundities and hand-washing, mournful platitudes is.

I am quite satisfied by what we have seen so far, even if we have literally burned through 25% of S.1’s episodes in still setting up the situation. The show has a five year plan (they know precisely what the final scene will be), though only two seasons have been purchased.

Threads

There are a lot of threads in the air. Here are a few:

Rings of Power Players — I’m not altogether certain, after two episodes, that we have actually met all these people.

Galadriel

Those who know their G-elf lore know that Galadriel was kind of a crazy rebel in the First Age and (OMG THE FIRST AGE IMAGES OMG) she is still now obsessive over the threat of Sauron. (And, yeah, she’s right, but is right in a wrong way.) Who has rescued her and boytoy Harbrand from the ocean (my bet is it’s Numenorean folk, kicking off that whole part of the storyline)? What will Gil-Galad’s reaction be when he discovers that Galadriel has given a hard pass on his “gift” of return to Valinor? How does she end up getting one of the Three Rings for Elven-Kings under the Sky?

Valinor

In the canonical Tolkien, the Elves rebelled in heading off to Middle-Earth from Valinor, in sort of a Garden of Eden sort of thing, in angry pursuit of Melkor/Morgoth and the Silmarils. And, as I recall, those Noldor Elves were originally banned from returning for their presumption of leaving it in the first place. I don’t know the specific moment that Elves were allowed to go back (let alone the non-Noldors), but having it show up here as a “gift” that the Elven High King can grant is … interesting.

Elrond

Elrond is part of one of the two cases that are mentioned elsewhere in Ep. 1 of Elf/Human — the son of Eärendil and Elwing. Born in the First Age alongside a twin brother Elros. At the end of the First Age, both brothers were given a choice as to what heritage they would become. Elros chose Human and was the first king of Numenor. Elrond chose Elf, and stuck around for a lot longer.

I almost thought they were going to refer to that early on when there was the “Yeah, you’re not an elf-lord” thing going on. I hope they eventually make it clearer, because it’s a key part of what makes Elrond who he is, and also really informs his attitude toward his daughter Arwen hooking up with the Human (and distant descendent through the lines of Numenor) Aragorn.

I don’t mind Elrond being an aspirational flunky for Gil-Galad, because he was. I don’t mind the difference between LotR Elrond and RoP Elrond because it’s three thousand years ago. Galadriel had mellowed. Elrond has gotten cranky. So be it.

Durin

I trust that, unlike in Pulp Fiction, we’ll see what’s in the box that Durin and his dad look into. My assumption is that it is some of the first mithril mined by the Dwarves, which will in turn prompt them to delve too deeply and unwisely. Will we see the unveiling of Durin’s Bane (the Balrog of Khazad-Dum) during the course of this series? I am absolutely certain we will.

I loved the “living” Khazad-Dum, by the bye.

Nori (and the Stranger)

So the Harfoots fit okay into the origins of Hobbits that Tolkien gave us, and their elusiveness reminds me of his discussion of how, in the Fourth Age (of Man) they gradually faded into the background, invisible from our sight. Nori as the rebel who wants to see the world amidst the village that wants to stay secret and safe is not a new trope, but it’s done well here, with her friend/foil Poppy giving us the conflict externally that a book might do internally.

Of course, the key with Nori is her finding and caring for the Stranger. Who is he?

Sauron (as a falling Lucifer from the skies, I guess) is an obvious and ironic guess — esp. after the whole firefly stunt and its aftermath — in which case, wanna bet that those constellations are visible in, say, Mordor?

But almost as likely is that we’re seeing one of the first Istari — the Wizards — sent down from the heavens. Yeah, the timing doesn’t fit with Tolkien’s canon, and the Istari showed up from Valinor at the Grey Havens, but we already know that dramatic license is being taken, so why not?

Of course, if it’s an Istar, then as the (presumed) first, it would be Saruman. And, as my son said, it would all be worth it in order to see Saruman eat a snail.

But if it were Gandalf, that would explain his fondness for Hobbits all these centuries later.

I am eager to learn (or to see how long they drag out the uncertainty).

Arondir and Bronwyn

So there are a lot of folk who see racism in some of Tolkien’s work. And, yeah, when he deals repeatedly with purity of white bloodlines, literally describes Orcs as a “Mongol race,” and has various Arabic and African humans ally themselves with the Super Bad Guy, that argument (about a Brit who was born and lived as a kid in South Africa) is not too difficult to make.

But Tolkien also talked about conflict between the different races/species in Middle-Earth. The most famous was the conflict between Elves and Dwarves, but the disdain of the Elves for Humans was also there: short-lived, vain mortals who were easily corruptible in exchange for promises of power.

It is absolutely believable that the Elves would maintain an active watch and suppression of Humans who had allied with Morgoth in the First Age. And absolutely believable that those Humans multiple generations on would resent that.

The delicate balancing act of racism in fantasy is that (a) it presupposes actual separate races/species in the fantasy world, which is a legit thought exercise but also mirrors historic racist tropes that different human “races” are similarly distinct — that Whites vs Blacks vs Yellows vs Reds are a real a thing as Humans vs Elves vs Dwarves vs Hobbits.

(The same thing comes up in science fiction, as multiple species interact.)

I don’t know that Arondir and Bronwyn’s relationship is believable, to the extent that we really haven’t seen much of what led to it or what it actually is in the present. But it’s a completely legit thing to play with in this world.

Oh, yeah, diversity

When nobody cares about the ethnic background of actors in an adaptation of a fantasy like this, that will be the proper time to say, “Oh, all Elves are white, and all Dwarves are white, and all important Humans are white, and probably all Halflings are white” and stage that as an experimental art film.

Until then, I really don’t care.

In sum …

I’m enjoying RoP, even as it sets up multiple storylines that have taken at least two (and likely even three) of eight episodes to start progressing. I am curious to see where they are going. They have not presented me with anything that I cannot deal with, and I really want to see what they do next.

Movie Trailers before “Thor: Love and Thunder”

Because trailers can be half the fun of movie-going.

Were there any movies advertised before Thor 4 that caught my eye? Hmmmm. (Links are to the appropriate IMDb entry.)

Nope – This Jordan Peele film has looked largely like a horror film in the TV spots I’ve seen, but in a longer trailer, some interesting, off-beat humor shows up. I don’t know if I’m going to see it in the theaters, but it looks … intriguing.

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. – As presented in the trailer, this looks like a “televangelist couple trying to recover from a scandal that decimated their congregation agree to have their efforts filmed, hilarity ensues” movie. Some amusing moments, but not nearly enough of them.

White Bird: A Wonder Story – Presented as a sequel, of sort, to the movie Wonder from a few years back. As given in the trailer, it looks like a movie grafted into a framing sequence to provide a dubious tie to the original (though both are from books by the same author), but, in any case, it, like its pseudo-predecessor, appears guaranteed to require a test for diabetes after you’re done viewing.

Beast – Just the terrifying movie the African Tourist Board does not want you to see, with a terrifying lion terrifying a family just visiting the the continent. The trailer is kind of a mess, though, mingling numerous CG jump-scares with random threatening plot elements, all of them out of sequence. Not on my list.

Black Adam – It’s not a comic book character I’ve been a heavy follower of, except to know that he’s been retconned any number of times recently, and this movie, too, seems to be part of that trend. I’m leery of DCEU flicks, and a lot of this is painted in that dark anti-hero tones that have been a reason for that, but there’s a bit of humor there, too, and Dwayne Johnson certainly looks the role. I may see what the buzz is when it releases, and plan on an out-of-theater viewing after its run.

Strange World – I had no idea this Disney film was coming out, and it looks — zany, sort of “Jurassic Park meets Dr. Seuss meets Lost in Space,” but, aside from remarkable visuals, I could glean almost zero about the characters or plot. Keeping an eye on this.

So, nothing advertised that I would classify as a must-see, and it was a very odd, mixed batch, for the movie the audience was there to see. But, then, it was a Tuesday evening, and that might affect the distribution.

One thing of note — a lot of African-American casts out there (Nope, Honk for Jesus, Beast), plus a film starring someone of Samoan descent (Black Adam). That’s kind of refreshing.

Movie Review: Thor: Blood & Thunder (2022)

Taika Waititi continues his droll, irreverent take on gods and super-heroes. Which is kind of a problem.

There’s much to enjoy in Taika Waititi’s new MCU movie, Thor: Blood & Thunder (a/k/a Thor 4). It’s visually brilliant, at the very least, and Waititi carries on with some success his droll fun-poking of the literary realm of gods and superheroes from the previous installment, Thor: Ragnarok (a/k/a Thor 3).

That is part of my problem with this film. While Waititi has mostly avoided the most common sin of sequels (taking what worked the first time and focusing solely on that, dialed up to 12), he isn’t completely immune to it. Thor 4 is too in love with its titular character being an unaware parody of a hero, bold and brash and unaware of any of the people around him or the consequences of his actions, juggling ex-girlfriends and ex-weapons with equal ineptness.

My wife — who was not enthused about going to “another Jane Foster movie” — pointed out something important afterward. Thor, as a character, is always about growth and maturity. In Thor 1, Thor learns to be worthy as a leader, not a selfish little boy. In Thor 2, he figures out how to be in a relationship. In Thor 3 (by Waititi!), he learns to be a king. In the Avengers films, he learns about teamwork and, ultimately, about accepting his own limitations.

The problem is that few of those lessons are allowed to take and carry on to the next film. The Thor of Thor 3 spends much of his time being a self-centered oaf, but the death of his father, and of his comrades, and the need to save the people of Asgard, drive him to new heights. Even the traumas of the Infinity War saga on the Avengers side of things, and the goofiness of his time with the Guardians, don’t explain the irresponsible dolt that he starts out as in Thor 4 and, for the most part, remains.

Thor 4 is centered on two sagas from the comics. The first — created by Jason Aaron and artist Esad Ribic — is the saga of Gorr, the God Butcher, a man who is let down by his people’s gods and who gets the power to punish them — and, as a new cause, all the layabout deities who take and take but never actually come through when asked for help in return. This is a remarkably dark saga in the comics, touching on personal relationships with the divine and theodicy, the profound question of why bad things happen to good people in a cosmos supposedly ruled by all-good, all-power divine power.

For the most part, though, Waititi plays it for wry laughs, and for what kind of cool special effects battles can be devised around Gorr’s use of the necrosword and shadows. Gorr ends up with sort of a Tim Burton style of scariness, a bogey-man rather than an existential terror, but the tragedy of his life, and of the actions he takes, and even of Thor facing the idea of times when he didn’t live up to the needs of his own followers — it’s all largely lost for the vast majority of the movie, book-ended by the introduction sequence and the sweet but too-late what-you-really-want message at the end.

The other original storyline here (also created by Jason Aaron) is the saga of Jane Foster as Thor–how she takes up that mantle, and what it means to be splitting her life between uber-powerful god-hero and chemo-weakened mortal cancer patient — especially when it becomes clear that all the Asgardian hi-jinx are neutralizing the chemo (but not the cancer), meaning that, at length, Jane Foster the human will be no more, leaving only Jane Foster the Thor — and what does that actually mean for her?

Jane’s story gets a bit more play here than Gorr’s — modified for the much different situation in the MCU — but it’s again blunted by the need to keep everything quirky and amusing, for Jane to be trying to figure out her catch phrase, for Jane to deal with her ex-boyfriend, the other Thor. The cancer, for most of the center of the movie, is merely a convenient way for her to be weakened at inopportune times. And Natalie Portman’s make-up never makes her look more than a little bit ill.

We end up spending far too much time in this film in humorous set pieces, all of them fun, but all of them consuming ruinous amounts of run time. The stage players of New Asgard (now become a cruise line stop), giving us minutes of recap of just a portion of Thor 3. Endless exposition or commentary by Korg (voiced by Waititi). The Gorr-justifying insouciance of Omnipotence City. Thor doing something or another in an oafish, thoughtless, laughable fashion.

It’s almost all of it funny and played successfully for laughs, but in the end it feels more like a series of really successful SNL skits poking fun at Thor than at a movie actually about him (and Jane, and Valkyrie, and Korg, and a bunch of kids, and Gorr, too). The film spends too much time not taking its subject seriously, aside from those bookend scenes, and so it’s hard to take it seriously when it actually does try to engage our sympathies at the end, with Jane making decisions about her fate, and Gorr doing the same, and Thor learning what’s really important in life (until, one presumes, next movie, when he’ll quite possibly be back to being a goofball).

Thor 4 character posters — With goats, of course.

Chris Hemsworth plays Thor well as far as he’s given to do so. He has the heroic and the goofy down pat (and should, after nine film outings), and I just wish he got to do more of the dramatic moments we’ve seen him in from the beginning of the saga. Natalie Portman’s more a mixed bag. Her rom-com moments feel weird and awkward, but she makes a fine hero. Christian Bale’s Gorr does well with what he’s given, shining in both his initial and final scenes, but hampered too much in-between, relegated to a kinda-scary action villain living in the shadows.

To be fair, it’s not all — or even mostly — actually bad. The make-up is amazing. There are some stunning set pieces (Omnipotence City and the small moon they battle on stand out), visually rich and gorgeous, and (while we didn’t) possibly worth the cost of a 3D showing. And, honestly, the very ending of the film was one of the most satisfying MCU endings in quite a while. (The two mid/end credit scenes weren’t bad, either.) Beyond that, like I said, Waititi’s irreverent humor, and how it translates to the screen, aided by some decent acting talent, works on its own terms.

And, just to say it, we loved the goats.

And, net-net, I enjoyed Thor 4, especially scene by scene. It’s in its overall tone and structure that things didn’t quite gel for me. I will absolutely watch it again in the future, but for the moment I’m left feeling a bit unsatisfied, as if a promised banquet turned out to be all beautifully-baked sweets, and I had been hoping for some juicy steak.

The original version of this review was posted on Letterboxd.

I watched all the Obi-Wan Kenobi backstory so you don’t have to

By which I mean the “First Trilogy,” which remains a mostly awful thing.

I’m enjoying the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series on Disney+, so I thought (since I had some spare time) I’d watch the “First Trilogy” films, to get the background story that leads into this new story.

(And, yes, there’s a ton of stuff in “Clone Wars” that adds to all that, which I have also watched in the past, and heartily recommend, but did not rewatch the several seasons of which for this purpose. Sorry).

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

My current Review on Letterboxd – 3/5 stars

Obi-Wan notes: Ewan McGregor’s first turn as a Padawan learner under Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn. The relationship and banter between the two of them are a big part of the positives to this film. Obi-Wan is is young and brash and confident, but with some justification — he’s a fierce fighter (he does eventually defeat Darth Maul), a powerful assistant to Qui-Gon, and an insightful observer.

In the end, Obi-Wan is on his own — and has sworn to his dying master that he will take on Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice. It’s a role he has no training to take on, being barely promoted to full Jedi himself.

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

My current review on Letterboxd – 2/5 stars

Obi-Wan notes: It’s ten years later, and Anakin, ripped from his mother, has grown into a sulky teenager. Obi-Wan, sporting a sage beard, has grown into an old fuddy-duddy. The bubbly, defiant, independent Padawan under the rebellious master Qui-Gon is now conservative, chiding, fretful, and domineering teacher.

When on his own — investigating Kamino, fighting Jango, checking out Geonosis — he’s a strong character. Fighting with Anakin against Dooku, he’s heroic. But every time he interacts with Anakin, any attempts to the bantering camaraderie that he had with Qui-Gon is awkward and forced.

Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith

My current review on Letterboxd – 2.5 / 5 stars

Obi-Wan notes: Obi-Wan gets to watch it all fall apart — the Republic falling into tyranny, the Jedi Order is destroyed through its own arrogance, and his Padawan apprentice turns into the monster assassin of the Sith emperor.

And, in the end, he realizes his own failure — and that of the Jedi. He/they failed to see Palpatine’s plot, they failed to protect the Republic, they failed to protect the Younglings — and they failed to see how Anakin was falling from grace. It’s (rightfully) gut-wrenching for him, and the final battle he has with Anakin is no victory on his part, but a cap on the tragedy he’s overseen.

“You were my brother! I loved you!”

And that’s the final indictment, as he failed as both master and as brother, not fully embracing either role, because he got bulldozed into trying to be both when he was too young to figure it out.

And while he takes on a final assignment at the end of the film, watching over Luke, the OWK series shows he’s been more than a bit traumatized by the whole thing. Which adds an interesting twist to the series.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is arguably the most interesting and heroic character of the First Trilogy, and he was definitely my favorite character in The Clone Wars. I love that they’ve given him a dedicated series, and I am definitely eager to see what comes next.

Movie Review: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022)

A distinctively comic-booky film, in mostly good ways.

(No significant spoilers.)

When I got out of this movie, I tweeted, “This is the comic-bookiest movie I have ever seen. Both in (mostly) good and bad ways.” And, the next day, that’s still true.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a very (shall we say) strange movie. It is filled with arguably too many characters, but the important ones all get a fair amount of screen time and agency. It is filled with horror (none of it too horrific), and mind-altering multidimensional madness (which is all delightful), but remains at heart a super-hero film. It is filled with cameos and fan service, but those are present as lovely icing on a rich cake, less a distraction and more of the overall flavor.

Benedict Cumberbatch is back as Doctor Strange, who’s casually mastered magic enough since his 2016 movie to use it for casual costume changes, and to tie his tie. Cumberbatch actually gets to play multidimensional variants of himself — all very nicely done, and all leading to the character learning something about himself and having a nice, if not profound, character arc to go with it tale.

Elizabeth Olson is back as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (the actress pretty much flew from the set of “WandaVision” to begin shooting the movie). The character fits a bit awkwardly into role of super-villain, being driven by tragic circumstances, dreams of alternate universes where she actually has her kids, and, of course, temptations from the fell magic of the Darkhold. It’s kind of hard to feel sorry for her when she acts so violently and callously as time goes by. The final confrontation with her is fitting, but doesn’t quite make the whole thing work as a needed redemption arc.

So you could have had a fine film with just those two having at it, but there are three other major characters vying for useful screen time and making good use of it. Benedict Wong gets a solid work-out as Sorcerer Supreme Wong. He’s not the star of the movie (I would totally watch a Wong movie), but he gets a lot of screen time and great action sequences, and his banter is top notch. Rachel McAdams returns as Christine Palmer, a stronger far more successful second act for an MCU hero’s love interest than most others we’ve gotten.

And, of course, Xochitl Gomez plays neophyte power-house America Chavez, and deftly manages to dodge most of the snarky teen tropes, avoiding being too much of a damsel in distress, but also not instantly rising up as a super-hero. The movie is all around her, but not necessarily about her, and I want that latter movie as a follow-up. Nicely done, even if Saudi Arabia had the vapors over some very innocuous references to the comics canon background that she has two mothers (and wears an LGBTQ flag pin on her jacket).

And even after that we could point to significant appearances by folk like Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo (playing a Mordo in very different circumstances but very true to the character’s previous portrayal), and a host of cameos that will get any fanboi squeeing (my personal favorite being Rintrah, but that’s just me).

The plot is non-linear to the point of, well, madness, with the party being split (and the various splits given plenty of air time) multiple times. And while there are cast-of-zillions CG battles in places, a lot of that gets done in odd places in the movie, leaving the finale to be a much more nicely integrated combo of super-slugfest and very personal conflict.

The movie also wraps up on some very satisfying but unexpected notes. The Stephen-Christine thing is resolved, but not in an overly obvious way. The fate of America Chavez is left in a neat holding pattern for future MCU use. And, for that matter, so is Wanda’s fate; the multiverse being, of course, vast.

As well, we also tee up another (huzzah) DS movie, with some quick final-scene + mid-credits fun. (Yes, there are two credits shots, as usual for MCU movies. I’m not sure the final one is worth busting your bladder for, but if you can wait for it, it’s amusing, and quite appropriate for a Sam Raimi-directed effort.)

Danny Elfman’s music is fine, and perhaps even appropriate for such a tripped-out film. He does reference a few times (too few, for my taste) Michael Giacchino’s DS theme (I do love leitmotifs and musical continuity), but his original contributions fit the tone.

As to the overall film, written by Michael Waldron and directed by Sam Raimi … well, the “Multiverse of Madness” epithet is correct. Things get zany, and there are plenty of references back to old horror movie tropes to keep things tonally shaken up. There’s a real effort to keep the magic battle bits from too much like standard super-hero energy blast work. That includes one battle relatively late in the film that is delightful, different, and really very weird.

The end result is something phantasmagorical, as much mood piece as story, and that makes it both distinctive amongst its fellow super-hero films and, perhaps, a bit weaker. A movie like this could be approached with “What cool Doctor Strange story could we tell?” or with “How do we show off the multiverse?” The film tends to tip a bit toward the latter, though it does a decent job all-around, better than I might have expected.

Even though it was executed with technical excellence (as one expects from the MCU), it’s not just about that excellence. The difference in what it does, the seriousness with which it take its multiversal venues, and the quirky aspects of everything it gives us and how it directorially goes about it, will make it a much more memorable outing than some other technically excellent but more conventional super-flicks. I think it will end up a cult classic in the genre.

Because it is, in fact, the comic-bookiest film I’ve ever seen. It sacrifices some depth and story for visual and conceptual effects and craziness. But it does so in a way that stands out. Steve Ditko, who originated the visuals of Doctor Strange, would, I think, be very pleased. Overall, I like, and will absolutely be watching it again.

doctor strange 2 poster — Doctor Strange 2 poster

(Based on my Letterboxd review here.)

TV Review: “Loki” (2021)

On rewatch, I liked this 6-ep series even better than the first time around.

Perhaps because I could stop oohing and aahing at all the fun stuff and pay attention to the story.

Loki has always been one of the best villains in the MCU, precisely because he’s been one of the most approachable and relatable. Cynical and sly, but also desperate for approval. Vain, but fragile. Casual betrayer but also, in his eyes, always the betrayed. Apparently self-possessed and confident, but constantly failing through his own hubris — and, perhaps, his own desire to fail, knowing himself unworthy. Petty, cruel, but largely because only by being mean does he earn what he thinks is respect.

Over the course of his mainstream MCU career — Thor, Avengers, Thor 2 (where he was pretty much the only part worth watching), Thor 3, and a few brief moments of Infinity Wars, we saw him at his most maniacal, and also his most vulnerable. It wasn’t quite a redemption arc, but it came close.

Loki grief — Loki’s nearly the only thing in “Thor: The Dark World” worth watching.

All of which made him a perfect candidate for a new Disney+ limited series last year, especially putting him into a situation where his power was was restrained, the threat to his life was real, and his ego would be taking multiple shots (and temptations).

Even with an ending that gets a bit more complicated than it needed to be (but setting up one aspect of the Multiverse, not to mention next big baddy Kang), Loki is a lovely romp through muddied morality. Is Loki a hero or a villain? (Yes.) Is the Time Variance Authority a good thing or a bad thing? (Good. No, bad. No, good. Maybe bad?) Is Loki capable of growth and change, of even, perhaps, love? Or is he just looking out for Number One and engaging in multiversal narcissism? (Maybe, to all of the above.)

Loki and Sylvie — A lot of folk were very “Ew” over this. I loved their relationship because it was clearly never, ever going to work.

The production resisted until the final couple of episodes the temptation to set up too many Easter Egg hunts. As a result, the Loki series still had appeal for both the trivia nerds and the casual MCU viewer. I thought it did its job solidly on both counts, not to mention setting up an eventual second series. Pretty much all the actors hit their marks well, with Tom Hiddleston easily taking on being the star of the show. Plus the music was great, and the production design delightful.

Bravos all around. I look forward to the next season.

An earlier version originally published on Letterboxd.

Loki all character posters — All characters great and small

What $100 Million Ad Campaign Would Jesus Do?

An effort to attract back unchurched young adults has a good message, but the wrong target

A $100 million ad campaign is being launched to attract young adults back to Christianity.

This week, an alliance of Christian media ministries announced the launch of an extensive $100-million-dollar national ad campaign to share inspirational messages about Jesus Christ with “skeptics and seekers.”
The “He Gets Us” campaign features stark ads with messages such as “Jesus was homeless,” “Jesus suffered anxiety,” and “Jesus was in broken relationships.” They direct people to a website where they’re then connected to national ministries and local congregations.

As an example …

So let’s put to the side whether spending $100 million to actually help homeless people, anxious people, or people in broken relationships would be more in keeping with Jesus’ actual message.

The problem, I think, is that the target of the campaign is totally misaligned. The research that went into it actually makes the case.

Starting in April 2021, a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. adults answered an online survey designed by Haven, followed by additional quantitative polling and interview-style qualitative research. […]
Skeptics of Christianity represent one-fourth of the U.S. population, according to the research. Half of them, “especially those with children,” are open to learning about Jesus, if obstacles can be overcome, Haven states. The biggest obstacle: Jesus’ message has been distorted as “hate-filled.”
Based on these insights, Haven’s goals became to “communicate that Jesus is for everyone and is a worthy example to live by”—and that his teachings are “positive for society as a whole.”

I mean, that’s cool — but maybe a more productive goal would be figuring out how “Jesus’ message has been distorted as ‘hate-filled.'”

I suspect the problem for “young adults” is not with Jesus’ message or perceived relevancy. It’s that they see Jesus’ ostensible reps here on earth spending their money on jets (and ad campaigns) and preaching to mega-churches (and the press) about how those young adults’ gay friends are going to hell, and how wealthy companies should get tax breaks because capitalism is God’s way, and if you just donate enough money then God will reward you with a bunch of money, too. Oh, and that Jesus’s representatives should take over the country on behalf of all the white people.

One Nation Under God — This is the message the Religious Right sends about Jesus.

I believe the evangelical Religions Right — the brand of Christianity that has spent the last fifty years elbowing itself in front of the microphone as the One, True Representatives of Christianity in the US — has done more with its venality and cruelty to drive people away from Christianity in this nation than any “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.”

More impactfully, by the Religious Right locking themselves in with the Republican Party in the pursuit of the power to force their agenda on the rest of the nation, they have become associated inextricably with folk like Trump, Cruz, McConnell, DeSantis, Gaetz, MTG, Boebert, Hawley, etc.

Trump and Bible — This is the face of US Christianity to too many people.

These “young adults” now see those deplorables as the representatives of Christ (because they claim to be and/or there are plenty of religious types willing to assert they are), and it’s profoundly unappealing to them.

After all, who’s going to be believed as to what Jesus’ message is? A slick ad campaign, or the religiously-anointed political representatives of the church trying to kick people off welfare, force LGBTQ folk back into the closet, require rape victims to give birth, suppress the vote of people of color, lock down the borders to desperate refugees, kick homeless out of town, and legalize discrimination under the banner of “religious freedom” … all with the blessing of various groups and ministers saying that this is all being done in Jesus’ name.

There are a lot of Christians and churches that aren’t into all that, to be sure, that focus on charity and compassion and humility — but they’re not the ones parading around, wrapping themselves in flags and waving around crosses. They’re not the ones crowing about how Christianity is all about nationalism, capitalism, partisanship, guns, and power.

Trump being prayed over — This may garner some votes, but it probably doesn’t encourage “young adults” to go to church.

Maybe Jesus’ ad campaign shouldn’t be focused on trying to draw unchurched young adults to faith. Maybe it should be focused on changing the hearts of those who are driving those young adults away from Christianity. Because right now they’re drowning out Jesus’ words, whether or not He Gets Us.

Plot

Acting

Production

Comic Bookiness

In Sum

A-Plot

B-Plot

Other Bits and Bobs

Meanwhile …

Moments

The Bottom Line

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances YES

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations NO

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine NO

Oh, and that other stuff to vote for?

The Bad — Too Much Time On Their Hands

The Good — Gorgeous and Occasionally Clever

The Okay

In Sum

Amendment D – New 23rd Judicial District Judges YES

Amendment E – Extend Homestead Exemption to Gold Star Spouses YES

Amendment F – Changes to Charitable Gaming Operations NO

Proposition FF – Healthy School Meals for All YES

Proposition GG – Add Tax Info Table to Petitions and Ballots NO

Proposition 121 – State Income Tax Rate Reduction NO

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances Yes?

Proposition 123 – Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing Programs YES

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations NO

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine No?

Proposition 126 – Third-Party Delivery of Alcoholic Beverages YES

I’m enjoying it

Threads

Galadriel

Valinor

Elrond

Durin

Nori (and the Stranger)

Arondir and Bronwyn

Oh, yeah, diversity

In sum …

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances
YES

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations
NO

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine
NO

Amendment D – New 23rd Judicial District Judges
YES

Amendment E – Extend Homestead Exemption to Gold Star Spouses
YES

Amendment F – Changes to Charitable Gaming Operations
NO

Proposition FF – Healthy School Meals for All
YES

Proposition GG – Add Tax Info Table to Petitions and Ballots
NO

Proposition 121 – State Income Tax Rate Reduction
NO

Proposition 122 – Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances
Yes?

Proposition 123 – Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing Programs
YES

Proposition 124 – Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations
NO

Proposition 125 – Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine
No?

Proposition 126 – Third-Party Delivery of Alcoholic Beverages
YES