Pop culture stuff

I'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.

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.

( spontaneous musing on the above, thoughts only, subject to change at any time )

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 ( Read more... )

*. Captain America - Civil War -( Read more... )

*. Captain Marvel - provides the debute of Monica Rambeau (the pilot and co-star of WandaVision). ( Read more... )

*. Infinity War - which is kind of hard to watch without seeing Endgame. Since it ends on a tragic note and Endgame is Chapter 2.
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Endgame - ( Read more... )

[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.]

Day #337 ...TGIF...although the days blur

Snowstorm continued today with little to no accumulation but was rather pretty.

I'm tired, didn't sleep well last night and had heart burn today. Also a bit congested from allergies.

I miss the days in which I was just worried about allergies. Although I did read that strict measures to keep COVID at bay also managed to do away with the flu season.



Crazy Company and the COVID Vaccine.

So Crazy Company has been given doses of the vaccine to set up its own vaccine sites. (It also has its own medical staff assigned to it.) The President's office was tasked with scheduling appointments. I received emails from it and our Procurement Manager. I responded to both, and the President's office set me up with an appointment. Only one problem, they had conflicting addresses.
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Also, according to yet another email, this one from Gabe in response to Chidi's question yesterday...
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New York vs. the Corona Virus or rathe The Governor vs. the idiotic Reporters

Watched the Governor's live briefing today - where he and his staff address the nursing home debacle or the Reporters inability to understand the nursing home situation and so they turned it into a debacle. Sigh. ( Read more... )

The other problem is the supply of the vaccine.

Reporters: The Mayor thinks that the vaccine is being delayed by the State.
Governor: We're guessing the Mayor is probably confused. [Pause] No, that's most likely a fair and truthful assessment. The Mayor is definitely confused. The State doesn't provide the City with doses, the Federal Government does. And there's a delay at the moment due to the storm. But their supply comes from the Federal Government.

(It is admittedly confusing -I didn't realize that NYC is kind of its own entity until I worked for Crazy Company. It's funded separately, it has separate regs and rules, and procedures.There's the State Regs and Funding, The City Regs and Funding, and the Federal Government Regs and Funding. The City, for example, has to pay for the majority of its public transportation system, infrastructure and roads. The State will pay a portion, but the City has to pay the bulk.)
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The Governor keeps reminding everyone that this will not be our only pandemic. We did have SARS after all. (We've had more than one. Just nothing like this - but we also didn't have an incompetent Federal Government previously. So there's that.)


I've learned something this year. People don't listen or read carefully. I remember years ago, a friend of mine critiquing someone on a fanboard about not writing carefully - and I thought at the time, it's more than that. They aren't listening or reading carefully.

The Reporters aren't listening to the Governor. And it's partly the Governor's fault for getting defensive and ranting and yelling at them. They shut down and stop listening. I see that online as well.



The situation in Texas is dire. I posted the photo above because its the photo youngest Aunt liked on FB. She lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And is okay. They've had rolling power outages, but were able to stay warm and their pipes didn't break. Cousin P - did end up with frozen pipes, and a few kind neighbors helped him out - one helped him find a plumber and figure out how to fix the pipes, the other allowed him to siphon off water. Also cousins J and P didn't have any major issues except for the power outages.

But their infrastructure is collapsing, primarily because they relied too heavily on fossil fuels while other states pushed towards solar and wind. Also they didn't want to rely at all on the federal grid or feds, so set up their own utilities dirt cheap. Now it's failing on them.

Anyhow, hope you are warm and safe wherever you may be tonight.