Pop culture stuff...to stave off bordom..

1. Scans Daily Exchange..
( your guess is as good as mine.. )

My reaction to some of my exchanges with fandom on Twitter and Facebook...and DW regarding social justice issues.
( Read more... )

2. Superman and Lois

This was the most tightly written, well produced, and cast CW show that I've seen to date. Which is I guess is saying something. The pilot felt like watching a movie.

If it keeps it up - which is unlikely, I'll be hooked. CW is very good at pilots, but their shows kind of lose steam for me after about the second or third season. This happened with Riverdale, Supernatural, Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Smallville, Black Lightening, Walker, Nancy Drew....

Although, I will state that Superman & Lois has all of them beat with its pilot. Also, part of the other series problems is a lot of them seem to go on forever. They must be great sets to work on. I thought about catching up with Arrow or Riverdale or even the Flash and DC Legends of Tomorrow, but got kind of overwhelmed by the number of episodes. Plus they are all serialized so you can't just pop in there.

Anyhow, Superman & Lois surprised me by how good it was. Good special effects, good acting, the writing was on target, and it seemed to be lighter in content, less dark. This version of Superman is more similar to the earlier versions of the character. Also the actor looks a lot more like the iconic character.

3. Miss Scarlet & The Duke appears to have completed its season. Shame, I was just beginning to get into it. But the last three episodes were good, even if the banter between leads wearing. Also the mystery seemed to follow most television show mystery formulas - which is, the culprit is usually the first person you suspect. Then you get misdirected, only to realize yes, you were right to begin with. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

4. Nancy Drew - I enjoy these mysteries more - they've fully embraced the horror element now. And the mystery is usually about why a ghost or entity is haunting or coming after people. Which is more interesting and harder to figure out. Also, much like Supernatural before it - it references a lot of urban folk legends. It's kind of Nancy Drew meets Supernatural. With Supernatural being the Hardy Boys version.

Also, I like the diversity in the cast. Casts are more diverse in television shows than they were a scant ten years ago. It's a refreshing change.
[See another way to push for social justice, make it clear you want diverse stories for diverse casts in television shows.]

5. Entertainment Weekly had a long article on filming during the pandemic.
Lights! Camera! And Antibacterial Wipes! which I found online after I read it in Entertainment Weekly. Makes sharing easier.
Then again, maybe not - apparently you have to sign up for the service, so never mind.

So will try to summarize/paraphrase-
( filming television during COVID-19 Pandemic )

6. Premier Dates for Television series - in case you are interested?

* New Amsterdam - 3/2 - NBC. I guess I should watch the last three episodes of the previous season?

* The Falcon & The Winter Soldier - Disney + - 3/18 (It's just 6 episodes by the way. And not a series. I'm actually very happy about this. The shorter the series the better for my current attention span. I don't want to commit to anything at the moment.)

* Genius - Aretha - National Geographic - 3/21

* Godzilla vs. Kong - HBO Max - (EW:stream or see it in the theater, your call, they hate to pit things against each other. ) This sounds like a film that my best girl-buddy when I was about ten - would have adored. She adored monster movies - I didn't, she did. It caused some friction in our relationship.

Debbie: King Kong is a much better movie than Star Wars.
ME: Uh, how exactly?
Debbie: It at least had monsters and scary villains and a romance, there's nothing in Star Wars!
ME: I don't know we had a romance, Darth Vadar, and the snake monster in the sewage tank.
Debbie: They weren't scary! Let's go see Alien!
Me: Uh, sorry, I'm going have to pass on that. Already talked my father out of it. Beside it's R-rated and you got me into trouble seeing Fun With Dick & Jane.
Debbie: Chicken.
Me: Yep, completely. I wholeheartedly agree.

* Invinceable - on Amazon Prime - 3/26 - its Robert Kirman's animated coming of superhero drama - with JK Simmons, Steven Yeuni, Mahershala Alli, Lauren Cohen, Nicole Byeri, Jon Hamm, Mark Hamill, Zachery Quinto, Clancy Brown, Mae Whitman, Walton Goggins, Andrew Rannells, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Michael...(I have no idea, they left the last name off to make room for items that don't interest me like Alien Nation shows, and shows I've no interest in binging. Also, I'm guessing there's no premiers after the March 26?

Kirkman is the guy behind the comic series the Walking Dead, and television series. So it's guaranteed to be a violent and dark animated television series for adults with an insane voice cast. Hamill is probably the best voice actor on it - he's made a name for himself as a voice actor. It's hard to do voice acting. Not everyone does it well.

It also appears Kirkman cast half the people in the Walking Dead - or rather all of the cast members whose characters he killed off.

Day #346 - Raining

Mother: Why aren't you taking a walk?
Me: It's raining?
Mother: Oh, it's nice here.

Mother is still in the hospital. But with any luck will be released tomorrow.
( why she's still in the hospital - which is...well more amusing than grim. )

Later..
( Father and me trying to amuse mother with pop culture crap )

Having one's loved ones in the hospital miles away and not being able to do anything but talk to them on the phone is ...well...painful to say the least.

So, I'm kind of enjoying watching people fall on the spears of their hypocritical self-righteous stupidity. It's weirdly entertaining.

Other distractions? WandaVision is getting good - it gave us the full origin story of Wanda, Agatha Harkness, and revealed what Wanda had actually done. She hadn't taken the Vision out of headquarters as Hayward told Monica Rambeau (that was a lie), in actuality, she'd just recreated her own version of him, which is why he couldn't leave her bubble. He's no more real than her kids. And Agatha - who is a kind dark female version of Doctor Strange, manages to figure out through forced psychotherapy how Wanda did it and why. Wanda is the Scarlett Witch - her magic is chaos energy. So we also get the origin of her name - Scarlett Witch.

I'm thinking watching television is possibly more constructive and less guilt inducing. I really need to stop reading about the Whedon kerfuffle - I'm getting far too much wicked enjoyment out of it. I kind of feel guilty about it.

***

FB - Neighborhood Page: Hi all, I am not sure who set it up - I noticed a free community refrigerator (community fridge) popped up on ft hamilton parkway and east 2nd today, on the east 2nd st side of the laundromat. These are super in line with the group in encouraging people to take what they need and drop off what they can..

Poster: Someone set up a refrigerator on the Sidewalk?

Yes, I thought it was funny too. Funnier still - that didn't occur to me when I first read it - all I thought was cool - I can deliver food to it.

I've done a small survey of the folks who have gotten the vaccine. A scant few got side-effects. I'd say there was a pattern, but every time I try to come up with one - it's not there. Always an exception.

I honestly think it has a lot to do with how your personal immune system reacts to vaccines. And is kind of meaningless.