Pop culture stuff
Feb. 19th, 2021 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI'll do the daily update later, I think.
1. I read an interesting interview with Harry Lennix regarding Joss Whedon and Justice League the other day - that haunts me. I feel as if the universe is poking me again? So I'm going to poke you, because this reminded me of something - I can be a self-righteous idiot sometimes. Can't we all? I don't get much comfort from that.
Harry Lennix - you most likely know as Boyd from Dollhouse. He is a 6'4 tall black man from the South Side of Chicago, in his fifties. And played the Martian Manhunter in Justice League - most of his role was scrapped when Whedon took over.
I'm remembering tonight a line from the Buffy episode I Only Have Eyes For You - where Giles tells Buffy that we forgive not for others but for ourselves. But it's more than that I think - we have to forgive ourselves for getting hurt and not handling it better or differently. It took me a very long time to forgive myself and others for things that happened twenty years ago or even just ten years ago. I think people forgive in their own time.
Our society is built on a ...painful foundation of punishment and retribution, which I'm not certain is all that helpful and often runs counter to forgiveness - and promotes revenge (in the name of Justice). This eye for an eye mentality has almost destroyed us more than once.
Our society often doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the phrase..."turn the other cheek" or "heap kindness upon thy enemy's head". Yet, if we pay attention to the stories told in various mediums - the lessons are there. In the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, Buddhism, in the works of Shakespeare and Toni Morrison, Buffy, Angel, Star Wars, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, in Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Farscape, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Breaking Bad, Black Sails, Crime and Punishement, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Les Miserables, etc.
Every single one - teaches that compassion and mercy are more important and go further than vengeance. That love is better than hate or condemnation.
I was struck by Nick Brendan's statement - that there was cruelty and kindness, and he loved both CC and Whedon, the story isn't a kind one, and Whedon was cruel but also very kind, and he's not one to judge. And people can change. It haunts me too - this poor forty-nine year old man's statement from his hospital bed, while various folks are social media jeer at him from afar.
We are all more than one thing. I think. Humanity is. It is what makes us undeniably human the ability to be good and evil at the same time, and constantly have to choose between the two. And there's always more to every story. Something beneath the marketing spin. And there's alway another way of looking at it.
I can tell you stories about my time going in and out of Leavenworth Penitentiary. It was brief but very educational. Where I sat in a room, next to or across from a hit man, a felony-bank robber, drug dealers, and rapists. But at the end of the day? They were just people. My boss or advisor at the time used to tell us "There but for the Grace of God Go I" and I think that is very true. A different roll of the dice...
Every morning during the week, and often weekdays - I do a meditation entitled Loving Kindness, where I wish someone I care about, someone who is acquaintance, and someone I've difficulty with or dislike - loving kindness.
Doing it has made me less anxious, less irritable, less raging, and kinder.
The hardest part is the last one.
I am lucky.
And very grateful for a gift - in my life, I am constantly having my perspectives and assumptions questioned.
I remember discussing Justice League and the Snyder films with a woman a few years back. She'd invited me to see Black Panther. She's African-American, a Feminist, and very progressive, also sensitive. She prefers the DC films to the Marvel films, and loved the Snyder films, including Batman vs. Superman and even Justice League. I saw Man of Steel and Superman vs. Batman with another female friend, who is black by way of Brooklyn and the Caribbean. She's also liberal and progressive. She liked Man of Steel, but felt as I did that Batman vs. Superman was a tad too violent and slow. We had the same critique of Avengers Age of Ultron. My former college roommate who is an African-American woman in Boston - loves all of the MCU films, particularly adores Endgame.
Race and gender have nothing to do with how you perceive art as far as I can tell. Or much to do with politics. I know right-wing conservatives who adored Whedon's shows and Harry Potter. I know progressives who do.
And no one sees them the same way. My cubical mate who happens to Hispanic loved all the Superhero movies. He had issues with Last Jedi - because it was confusing and long. As I did.
I think sometimes its only academics and film critics who see anything more?
Most just see a fun movie that they escape into for a bit, then forget afterwards. They don't see movies to think, they see them to escape for a while.
I've learned over time not to care too much what others think. For it has more to do with them than me. And to try to see both sides of a person. This has helped me deal with more than one impossible work situation. All are on some level. No human is perfect.
To someone...we are most likely perceived as an asshole. And from their perspective? They are most likely right.
It reminds me of something else...that was stated in a commentary once - Seth Green and Whedon, Wild at Heart commentary - in it Whedon stated in response to Green's comment about how well Whedon handled villains. "Well," Whedon stated. "The villain never really sees themselves that way. In their eyes they are the hero, so I write them that way."
I wonder sometimes, if from a distance, are we percieved by others as the bad guy in the story or the good guy or neither?
2. I got annoyed - I realized that the four hour movie I was gearing myself up to watch and even looking forward to - isn't premiering until March 18. For some reason I kept reading 3/18/21 as 2/18/21.
3. Finished Illona Andrews self-published best-seller Blood Heir - a spin-off from her Kate Daniels verse. I read thirteen chapters of the draft version on her blog over the summer. I liked, in some respects, those chapters better. This feels paired down and exposition/back story heavy, also alot of action. I find action scenes kind of boring to read. They are like sex scenes - hard to right.
Also she gets preachy in the middle - feeling the need to have the lead preach about a new and better political system, which is based on a kind of magical/militaristic power dynamic. It's a problem that I have with Andrews novels - they each have a very strong power/militaristic base or thematic to them that I personally find off-putting, and have to constantly handwave to get to the bits I like.
It's a problem with the urban fantasy genre, to be honest. It has a heavy anti-hero/noir feel to it - and a kind of uneven power dynamic. Progressive this genre isn't. Yet, I love aspects of it - enough to hand wave the bits I don't. Also it helps me to understand the other mindset a little. Not that Andrews are conservative - they aren't. They were anti-Trump, and seemed fairly progressive actually. And unlike the Dresden Novels and others in the genre, they have bisexual, and homosexual characters in their books.
I can love things I am critical of. Also, I'm well aware that people are more than one thing. I went to law school in Kansas, with people who adored Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s. And I work with a woman, who is a colleague, and I've known for over 13 years, whose cousin works for Scean Hannity. My ability to ignore the politics has served me well.
4. Working my way through Promised Land by Barack Obama. It's very good. He's currently talking about Benghazi and what happened. It is a fascinating and insightful take on the politics of that region, and the conflicting and messy issues surrounding it. There are no good answers.
The problem with being in a leadership role - is often you have to make decisions that are unpopular to benefit the greater good. As Lando once state - you can't please everyone, someone is always going to despise you.
Obama kind of demonstrates that in his book, and show has complicated and dicey some of these decisions actually were.
It's informative and insightful reading and explains quite a bit of what happened, and how Trumpism came about. He seems to eerily foreshadow the rise of the authoritarian movements...while at the same time predicting their eventual demise.
5. WandaVision - haven't seen the latest episode but for the folks who are wondering if they have to see the MCU films to follow it? No, you really don't. In fact it might work better if you haven't - but hard to know.
If you feel an overwhelming urge to get back story?
*. Avengers: Age of Ultron - is the origin tale of The Vision and Wanda. The Vision is basically a combination of Tony Stark (Iron Man) Jarvis - and the Mind Stone. Tony Stark creates the Vision in that film to fight his other creation - Ultron. Wanda - is the reason that Stark creates Ultron - she provides him with a vision of the future that scares the shit out of him. Wanda is the villain in the story who becomes a good guy.
*. Captain America - Winter Solider (one of the best of the Marvel films but not really necessary to this story - in it we do see Vision and Wanda getting closer, and Vision is in charge of keeping her power in check. Tony has figured out that she's deadly and Vision is to keep it in check.
*. Captain America - Civil War - Wanda is being kept in check with Vision, they leave Stark Enterprises and join with Captain America. The superpower accords are brought up and passed by Stark - in part because of Wanda
*. Captain Marvel - provides the debute of Monica Rambeau (the pilot and co-star of WandaVision). Monica is the daughter of Captain Marvel's best friend and fellow pilot. We see her as a little girl in about three scenes that take place in the 1990s. (Captain Marvel is kind of Marvel's version of Wonder Woman 1984 - it is a MUCH better film that Wonder Woman 1984, btw.)
*. Infinity War - which is kind of hard to watch without seeing Endgame. Since it ends on a tragic note and Endgame is Chapter 2.
Infinity War is the death of Vision. Wanda kills him to try and save the world from Thanos, but it is futile, since Thanos can rewind time.
Endgame - the Vision is still dead. And we only see about five-ten minutes of Wanda displaying magic and grieving Vision
[Note - Infinity War and Engame are focused primarily on: Tony Stark, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. You don't get much more than cameos from the others. Although Thanos, his daughters, Star Lord, Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Ant-man, Wanda, and the Vision all get something to do. But the emphasis is on the others. If you don't like or care about Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, or Black Widow - I'd pass. If you hate Iron Man - really pass. I adore Iron Man - so adored the movies. I'd watch Downy Jr read the phone book.]
1. I read an interesting interview with Harry Lennix regarding Joss Whedon and Justice League the other day - that haunts me. I feel as if the universe is poking me again? So I'm going to poke you, because this reminded me of something - I can be a self-righteous idiot sometimes. Can't we all? I don't get much comfort from that.
Harry Lennix - you most likely know as Boyd from Dollhouse. He is a 6'4 tall black man from the South Side of Chicago, in his fifties. And played the Martian Manhunter in Justice League - most of his role was scrapped when Whedon took over.
The reason there’s a Snyder Cut is because Zack was replaced by Joss Whedon on the movie. As you know, Ray Fisher has alleged that Joss engaged in misconduct during the shoot. You worked with Joss on two seasons of “Dollhouse,” so I wanted to ask if you had any thoughts on the matter?
I wasn’t there during the time in question. I am sorry that anybody had to experience what it was that was described. Obviously, there’s one side of the story that we’ve heard. I don’t know that Joss has made any comments. As you point out, I worked with Joss fairly closely for a couple of years there. I didn’t see that behavior, and at the same time, as an actor, my heart goes out to anybody that had to endure that kind of treatment. We get treated as a second-class citizens frequently. But I did not see it, and I would be curious as to what [Joss’s] response to this has been.
I just hope everybody can move on with their lives, to be honest with you. As a former seminarian, and as somebody who has made mistakes, I’ve been on either side of that equation.
Directors sometimes are insensitive to the needs or the feelings of actors, and sometimes actors are needy, and sometimes they are oversensitive. I know I can be. So that said, I hope whatever it was that happened, that people could move on, and — outside of some unforgivable thing — that people can forgive, not just each other, but forgive themselves. To say, “Look, I may have made this mistake in the past, now I know better, and I’m going to do better.” This was a different time. What was tolerable, five years ago, a year ago, is no longer, and we have to adapt to that. I think there’s some of that going on, that this is generational in some way. I know that Ray has it in himself to be better because of this, to be stronger, to have survived it. And I also hope that Joss can, too, that he can survive it, be the writer and creator that that he is and we can all be better because of it.
You’re looking at this with more empathy than I would say many observers have in light of what Ray has alleged, and what actors on “Angel” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alleged about Joss on Wednesday. Were you experiences with Joss purely professional?
Yes. Utterly professional. I didn’t see any of that kind of behavior that I’m hearing about. But I’m in a different place. That kind of thing is not likely to happen to me, just cause I’m a big Black guy from the South Side of Chicago, that people are a little more circumspect in however they might think about treating me or talking to me. I think maybe we should give [Joss] another chance to respond, to see what his side of the story is. Not minimizing anybody’s story, not minimizing the experiences others had in any way. But I believe that we must learn to reconcile. And we must learn to move on.
We wouldn’t be able to take this into a court, per se, not really. What I’ve learned over the years is that two people could be telling the absolute truth from their point of view, and disagree on what those salient points are.
Whatever those salient points are, I think that everything that I have heard so far — and that’s not everything — is recoverable. And so to the extent that it’s recoverable, let’s recover from it and keep moving.Joss hasn’t commented, Ray hasn’t gone public with almost any details about what he says happened on “Justice League,” and WarnerMedia hasn’t revealed what the company learned in its investigation. So figuring out how to move forward is complicated in the absence of detail.
I agree, 100%. What I’ve been able to glean from the stories and the back and forth, such as it is — mostly the forth — is that nasty things were said, mean, insensitive things were said, that made certain people uncomfortable. That’s certainly something I’m familiar with actors having to endure. Indeed, that’s part of the process. People say “no” to us for any number of reasons, or tell us to lose weight or gain it or get taller or shorter or younger. That’s just the nature of the business — it’s a personal business. I am of the opinion that this is entirely fixable, and that really what needs to happen is a dialogue. I mean, the old standard in American jurisprudence is you have a right to face your accuser and to respond. I think that people have the right to present both sides of the case. In fact, it’s not just a right, I think it’s an obligation. I wonder what’s going to happen.
I'm remembering tonight a line from the Buffy episode I Only Have Eyes For You - where Giles tells Buffy that we forgive not for others but for ourselves. But it's more than that I think - we have to forgive ourselves for getting hurt and not handling it better or differently. It took me a very long time to forgive myself and others for things that happened twenty years ago or even just ten years ago. I think people forgive in their own time.
Our society is built on a ...painful foundation of punishment and retribution, which I'm not certain is all that helpful and often runs counter to forgiveness - and promotes revenge (in the name of Justice). This eye for an eye mentality has almost destroyed us more than once.
Our society often doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the phrase..."turn the other cheek" or "heap kindness upon thy enemy's head". Yet, if we pay attention to the stories told in various mediums - the lessons are there. In the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, Buddhism, in the works of Shakespeare and Toni Morrison, Buffy, Angel, Star Wars, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, in Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Farscape, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Breaking Bad, Black Sails, Crime and Punishement, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Les Miserables, etc.
Every single one - teaches that compassion and mercy are more important and go further than vengeance. That love is better than hate or condemnation.
I was struck by Nick Brendan's statement - that there was cruelty and kindness, and he loved both CC and Whedon, the story isn't a kind one, and Whedon was cruel but also very kind, and he's not one to judge. And people can change. It haunts me too - this poor forty-nine year old man's statement from his hospital bed, while various folks are social media jeer at him from afar.
We are all more than one thing. I think. Humanity is. It is what makes us undeniably human the ability to be good and evil at the same time, and constantly have to choose between the two. And there's always more to every story. Something beneath the marketing spin. And there's alway another way of looking at it.
I can tell you stories about my time going in and out of Leavenworth Penitentiary. It was brief but very educational. Where I sat in a room, next to or across from a hit man, a felony-bank robber, drug dealers, and rapists. But at the end of the day? They were just people. My boss or advisor at the time used to tell us "There but for the Grace of God Go I" and I think that is very true. A different roll of the dice...
Every morning during the week, and often weekdays - I do a meditation entitled Loving Kindness, where I wish someone I care about, someone who is acquaintance, and someone I've difficulty with or dislike - loving kindness.
Doing it has made me less anxious, less irritable, less raging, and kinder.
The hardest part is the last one.
I am lucky.
And very grateful for a gift - in my life, I am constantly having my perspectives and assumptions questioned.
I remember discussing Justice League and the Snyder films with a woman a few years back. She'd invited me to see Black Panther. She's African-American, a Feminist, and very progressive, also sensitive. She prefers the DC films to the Marvel films, and loved the Snyder films, including Batman vs. Superman and even Justice League. I saw Man of Steel and Superman vs. Batman with another female friend, who is black by way of Brooklyn and the Caribbean. She's also liberal and progressive. She liked Man of Steel, but felt as I did that Batman vs. Superman was a tad too violent and slow. We had the same critique of Avengers Age of Ultron. My former college roommate who is an African-American woman in Boston - loves all of the MCU films, particularly adores Endgame.
Race and gender have nothing to do with how you perceive art as far as I can tell. Or much to do with politics. I know right-wing conservatives who adored Whedon's shows and Harry Potter. I know progressives who do.
And no one sees them the same way. My cubical mate who happens to Hispanic loved all the Superhero movies. He had issues with Last Jedi - because it was confusing and long. As I did.
I think sometimes its only academics and film critics who see anything more?
Most just see a fun movie that they escape into for a bit, then forget afterwards. They don't see movies to think, they see them to escape for a while.
I've learned over time not to care too much what others think. For it has more to do with them than me. And to try to see both sides of a person. This has helped me deal with more than one impossible work situation. All are on some level. No human is perfect.
To someone...we are most likely perceived as an asshole. And from their perspective? They are most likely right.
It reminds me of something else...that was stated in a commentary once - Seth Green and Whedon, Wild at Heart commentary - in it Whedon stated in response to Green's comment about how well Whedon handled villains. "Well," Whedon stated. "The villain never really sees themselves that way. In their eyes they are the hero, so I write them that way."
I wonder sometimes, if from a distance, are we percieved by others as the bad guy in the story or the good guy or neither?
2. I got annoyed - I realized that the four hour movie I was gearing myself up to watch and even looking forward to - isn't premiering until March 18. For some reason I kept reading 3/18/21 as 2/18/21.
3. Finished Illona Andrews self-published best-seller Blood Heir - a spin-off from her Kate Daniels verse. I read thirteen chapters of the draft version on her blog over the summer. I liked, in some respects, those chapters better. This feels paired down and exposition/back story heavy, also alot of action. I find action scenes kind of boring to read. They are like sex scenes - hard to right.
Also she gets preachy in the middle - feeling the need to have the lead preach about a new and better political system, which is based on a kind of magical/militaristic power dynamic. It's a problem that I have with Andrews novels - they each have a very strong power/militaristic base or thematic to them that I personally find off-putting, and have to constantly handwave to get to the bits I like.
It's a problem with the urban fantasy genre, to be honest. It has a heavy anti-hero/noir feel to it - and a kind of uneven power dynamic. Progressive this genre isn't. Yet, I love aspects of it - enough to hand wave the bits I don't. Also it helps me to understand the other mindset a little. Not that Andrews are conservative - they aren't. They were anti-Trump, and seemed fairly progressive actually. And unlike the Dresden Novels and others in the genre, they have bisexual, and homosexual characters in their books.
I can love things I am critical of. Also, I'm well aware that people are more than one thing. I went to law school in Kansas, with people who adored Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s. And I work with a woman, who is a colleague, and I've known for over 13 years, whose cousin works for Scean Hannity. My ability to ignore the politics has served me well.
4. Working my way through Promised Land by Barack Obama. It's very good. He's currently talking about Benghazi and what happened. It is a fascinating and insightful take on the politics of that region, and the conflicting and messy issues surrounding it. There are no good answers.
The problem with being in a leadership role - is often you have to make decisions that are unpopular to benefit the greater good. As Lando once state - you can't please everyone, someone is always going to despise you.
Obama kind of demonstrates that in his book, and show has complicated and dicey some of these decisions actually were.
It's informative and insightful reading and explains quite a bit of what happened, and how Trumpism came about. He seems to eerily foreshadow the rise of the authoritarian movements...while at the same time predicting their eventual demise.
5. WandaVision - haven't seen the latest episode but for the folks who are wondering if they have to see the MCU films to follow it? No, you really don't. In fact it might work better if you haven't - but hard to know.
If you feel an overwhelming urge to get back story?
*. Avengers: Age of Ultron - is the origin tale of The Vision and Wanda.
*. Captain America - Winter Solider (one of the best of the Marvel films but not really necessary to this story - in it we do see Vision and Wanda getting closer, and Vision is in charge of keeping her power in check. Tony has figured out that she's deadly and Vision is to keep it in check.
*. Captain America - Civil War - Wanda is being kept in check with Vision, they leave Stark Enterprises and join with Captain America. The superpower accords are brought up and passed by Stark - in part because of Wanda
*. Captain Marvel - provides the debute of Monica Rambeau (the pilot and co-star of WandaVision). Monica is the daughter of Captain Marvel's best friend and fellow pilot. We see her as a little girl in about three scenes that take place in the 1990s. (Captain Marvel is kind of Marvel's version of Wonder Woman 1984 - it is a MUCH better film that Wonder Woman 1984, btw.)
*. Infinity War - which is kind of hard to watch without seeing Endgame. Since it ends on a tragic note and Endgame is Chapter 2.
Infinity War is the death of Vision. Wanda kills him to try and save the world from Thanos, but it is futile, since Thanos can rewind time.
Endgame - the Vision is still dead. And we only see about five-ten minutes of Wanda displaying magic and grieving Vision
[Note - Infinity War and Engame are focused primarily on: Tony Stark, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. You don't get much more than cameos from the others. Although Thanos, his daughters, Star Lord, Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Ant-man, Wanda, and the Vision all get something to do. But the emphasis is on the others. If you don't like or care about Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, or Black Widow - I'd pass. If you hate Iron Man - really pass. I adore Iron Man - so adored the movies. I'd watch Downy Jr read the phone book.]
no subject
Date: 2021-02-20 11:19 pm (UTC)I noticed this too.
I won't see any more Snyder films I suspect. Not only does he have the problem that kds notes, but I find him weak on plot and dialogue, needing action scenes and special effects to carry his movies.
As for Marvel, my impression is that Stan Lee had pretty left wing politics. That probably carried over into the ideas he brought to the stories. Weirdly, I preferred DC comics as a kid and it's only when I look back now that I see them as problematic. But I'm not sure that even a good movie like Captain America: Civil War really deals with the problem created by superheroes in a satisfying way.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-20 11:33 pm (UTC)I mean, everything is problematic in some respect. Harry Potter was. As was the Hunger Games. Shakespeare. Etc. And you can to some degree politicize most. It's not hard to do. I tend to like to not think too much when I watch or read some of it - and I don't think loving something for its entertainment value necessarily endorses whatever ideology or theme that it may or may not be pushing.
My mother loved the Fountainhead - but she's not a libertarian and doesn't share the politics at all. She just liked the characters and the romance at the center of it. And I loved the Narnia novels as a child, the religious stuff leaped over my head.
There's a tendency, I think - or so I've seen on the internet - to assume that a thematic is there or seen by everyone or even intended. We don't know. I mean, I doubt everyone saw what I did in Blood Heir.
Anyhow, in regards to Snyder? Yeah, I hear you. I'm on the fence myself. I like the visuals. And I admittedly liked aspects of Batman vs. Superman better than most. But I'm also a visual person - I tend to think in pictures, and appreciate a good visual style. Also I have a weakness for superhero flicks - I like the medium.
But, that said - Snyder's long drawn out violent action scenes tend to bore and irritate me in his films...so there's that. They remind me of watching a violent video game - and I'm not a fan of that medium at all.
You are correct about Stan Lee - he was progressive on a lot of things, and that carried over into his comics.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-20 11:50 pm (UTC)Agreed, though these days I find I'm really sensitive to political implications that I never would have noticed in, say, the 80s.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-21 01:12 am (UTC)Although I did get annoyed with a couple of folks declaring an animal rescue society was racist back in the summer of 2020, because they let people wear Trump hats and supporter buttons.
I mean...come one. I work with people who voted for and supported that thing - I'm smart enough to know that people are more than one thing. I was gaslit by a liberal, and given a job and helped by a Trump supporter/alt conservative who rescues animals in her spare time. There are no bad guys and good guys, just nutty people.