Spontaneous Musings

So got curious and finally decided to listen to Council of Geeks youtube video analysis of the Tortoise Media reporting on Gaiman allegations

This is a surprisingly decent dissemination and critique of an insanely sloppy journalistic presentation about a topic that deserved so much better. Surprisingly, because the commentator's youtube channel doesn't come across at first glance as remotely reliable. But, they are more reliable than the media outlet. Shame on you, Tortoise Media. If the women don't get justice - blame Tortoise Media, who had the story fall into their lap and handled it abysmally. [ Note: to date no real charges have been filed and it is not in the justice system or the courts, outside of the court of public opinion which doesn't quite count? Although it can disseminate an author's career.]
( sigh the gory details for the curious )

The commentator has a second podcast - Additional Allegations - this goes into detail on various bits left over from the last podcast. I stopped listening to it half-way through, it was giving me a headache.
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For those who are fans of certain works...here's the status according to our old buddy the internet (which isn't as reliable as I'd like but what can we do?):

Good Omens S3 in Jeopardy, etc

As of three days ago:
( Appears Gaiman offered to to step back from the production of Good Omens and is not attending Bezos top secret Campfire Literary Retreat this year )

And this article Sandman First Look etc.. states that while NETFLIX's Sandman S2 is moving apace for a 2025 release date, Gaiman is conspicuously absent from the marketing and production. (He was front and center previously). Meanwhile Good Omens S3 is put on indefinite pause. And the Graveyard Book has been suspended by Disney (it was a children's book adaptation so that is hardly surprising, also, Disney). Dead Boy Detectives was cancelled - which I honestly think had zip to do with Gaiman, but who knows really?

I'm ambivalent about all of them. I watched Sandman, Good Omens and Dead Boy, but I can't say I was in love with any of them. Or feel the need to rewatch - actually I won't re-watch. Dead Boy and Sandman had some disturbing visuals that I'd prefer not to see again.

[I disabled comments, because whenever I post on this topic, I get into fights with people. And no offense? But I'd rather not. I'm just reporting on what I saw on the internet. I honestly don't know what I feel about it.]

1. Husband Plants Thousands of Flowers for Blind Wife to Smell
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2. How Blade Runner's Behind the Scenes Issues Made it a Good Movie
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3. Amazon Agrees to Stop Making Stranger Things if Netflix Stops Good Omens due to Christian Protest
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4. Ask Polly - My Friendships Make ME Sad
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5. Today's Masculainity is Stifling
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6. How Your Looks Shape Your Personality

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7. It's humid and sultry here. And I'm somewhat tired and unmotivated. Did buy a swimsuit via Amazon -- it wasn't that expensive in comparison to other sites, and I'm only wearing the dange thing a couple of days. We'll see if it fits and works.
Or I'll have to send it back.
( personal )

1. Finished Good Omens -- which, well, everything with Crowley and Arizaphale is really good. (And I can't spell Arizaphale to save my life.) Everything with Adam, not bad and sort of touching really. Everything with Anathema...sigh. Gaiman, really? We didn't need your attempt at romance in the middle of this.

But I loved Tennant and Sheen's metaphysical discourse on the end of the world and the meaning of existence as Crowley and Aristaphale.

Best way to describe it? Waiting for Godot meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe by way of The Good Place with a Queen soundtrack. Also rather charming in spots, mainly because Gaiman and Prachett are rather charming.

Next up?

I don't know, I've a lot in my queue. The Americans, Victoria S3, New Amsterdam, Fleabag, Sabrina....

2. Reading Meme

What I Just Finished Reading

Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple -- worth it for the narrative structure. The satire is a tad disappointing and obvious. But the narrative structure is fascinating.

Lucifer Vol 1 - 2015-2017 -- art was good. Focused on Lucifer and Gabriel investigating the murder of God and attempted murder of Lucifer. Turns out it's not who we suspect.

What I'm Reading Now

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

It's about a Parsi female lawyer, Pareveen Mistry, in Bombay, India during the early 1920s. And SmartBitches stated that if anything it was an anti-romance, in that none of the romances go well in it. Very heavy on women's rights in India during this time period, and how the culture affected that.

The lead character or detective, is a contracts attorney, who tried to study law in Bombay, but got ridiculed. It goes into how her male counterparts were threatened by her attendance and bullied her -- forcing her out of the school. It also discusses how marriages are arranged and why in this culture.

The writer is Indian and clearly knows her subject matter. (I live in an area heavily populated by Bengali and Pakistani and Parsi, and so I hear these people speak on a daily basis on my commute to and from work. We just had Eid d'Fir yesterday -- NY Public Schools had the day off. So, I think she captures the voices well. And her style is distinctive. I've read American writers try to write about India in romance novels or British writers write about -- and the voice is very British or American, this feels different. And that's important to get inside another point of view and culture.)

Up next?

Same problem as television shows...too many books in my queue. Whatever strikes my mood at the moment. Just bought a horror novel by Paul Tremblay, entitled Disappearance at Devil's Rock which was on sale on Amazon for $1.99 - Kindle.

None of his other books are. Will see if I like it before trying another.

Also, flirting with a fantasy epic I bought, and Where Crawdads Sing.

Library Board Co-worker keeps trying to get me to just check these out via library loan...honestly I think novelists must love me. Librarians not so much. Although I do support libraries -- a lot of people need them.

In comics world -- Lucifer Vol 2 - Father Lucifer (2015-2017). I'll stop with that one, I think.

1. Saw the first episode of Good Omens -- which is adapted from Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachet's satiric farce of the same name. I was curious to see how someone would adapt it -- since the book has lots of footnotes, and is mainly two people, an angle and a demon, debating Judeo/Christian moral philosophy and the pros and cons of the apocalypse.

The television series is a lot like the books -- although better paced and a tad less hard to follow -- ie, the footnotes are voice overs, which work better. It reminds me a little of Legion in how it handles the footnotes.

Also, it is adapted by Neil Gaiman, he's writing the television series, and producing it. So we're not seeing someone else's interpretation of his work -- but his own. This doesn't happen that often with novel to screen adaptations. And it stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant, who are actors that tend to get cast for similar roles. Tennant plays the flamboyant Crowley, and Sheen the prissy Arizaphan.
Jon Hamm is stalwart Gabriel.

The soundtrack is...Queen.

Is it good? Eh, depends on what you like. ( no spoilers just long )

2. Isn't it Romantic?

Eh. This was bad. The critic gave it two stars. I gave it one. Were romantic comedies always this bad? Although technically it's not a romantic comedy, but a meta-narrative on a romantic comedy -- or a parody of a metanarrative on a romantic comedy -- which may be the problem? That's really hard to pull off well. Four Weddings and a Funeral did pull it off, but it's British and subtle. The Brits are better at this sort of thing, apparently, see Good Omens and well, Monty Python.
As did My Best Friend's Wedding -- which was also a satiric take on the romantic comedy. And There's Something About Mary. Also Amy Schumer's Trainwreck did a decent job.
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3. Blood and Treasure -- this is on CBS. And it's not bad. It's actually a whole lot better than Whiskey Cavalier and The Catch. I liked The Catch -- but it was horribly miscast. You know there's a problem when the sexiest characters are John Sims and Sonya Walger, who played the bad guys. Peter Krause is a lot of things, but sexy and edgy aren't among them.

Blood and Treasure is a lot better, in part because it's cast largely with unknowns. And it has far more diversified casting than Whiskey did. Not to mention stronger female characters, without falling into gender role cliches on either end of the spectrum.

It also has a definite feeling of Indiana Jones, and is a serialized adventure drama. ( somewhat spoilery )

Some of the supporting actors I recognized from other things -- whoa there's Doctor Bashire from DS9. I love that actor. I have admittedly followed him around a bit. My two favorite characters and actors from DS9 were Bashire and Major Kira.

It's a bit too shiny in places, to be taken seriously, but overall enjoyable. Brainless summer fun.

4. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

I didn't love this as much as lot of people did. And I agree with this guy's Review of it on Good Reads.

Particularly:
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It's worth reading for the narrative style. But it falls apart in attempting to go for conventional story tropes. Also, while the satire of Seattle, Microsoft, and the elite is fun, it's also as the reviewer above points out, well-traveled stuff.

I liked Bernadette better than the reviewer did. ( Read more... )