With the release of WandaVision, we got to see a new genre mashup from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: superheros and sitcoms. Certainly this isn’t the first time there’s been a mashup of superheroes and outright silliness (The Tick is the one that pops in my mind most concretely as it has had several TV incarnations). And the sitcom backdrops in WandaVision actually lay a foundation for some distinct non-comic plotlines (that’s the limit to how…
I think L. Frank Baum (the source of the amended quotation above) would understand. Like books, songs, and many other an enjoyable thing: all things come to an end. Thanks to one of my siblings, I have a glorious poster of assorted iconic film endings hanging in my house. Who doesn’t love a really solid ending to a film? Whether it’s funny, poignant, thought-provoking, or applause-inducing, a satisfying ending is what so often makes a…
Denizens of the Washington metropolitan region share some experiences, like watching Hollywood films where they never get the geography right, there’s some problem on the Beltway, and also… Brood X. And yeah, based on the map above, we’re not alone in dealing with the sudden and noisy appearance of billions of formidably-sized bugs all ready to fly right into your face. Seriously, it’s clear from talking with many of my fellow Americans, they have not…
Star Trek has influenced a lot of scientists and futurists, but recently, NASA namechecked the veteran sci-fi franchise when they talked about the Artemis Accords, a series of principles that they hope all spacefaring nations agree to, as covered by Ryan Britt for Inverse. Good stuff. (By the way, I was rather gratified to know that I already had the tag ‘Space Law‘ and also that there’s a novel called Space Lawyer, which I shall…
What with my biennial Favorite Films sort, I have a soft spot for many an internet film list, especially when it’s clearly crafted with passion (as opposed to, say, the need to fill electronic print space on deadline). So I was totally down with this list from the gang over at The Ringer detailing the top 50 cult films of all time. Now, I would venture that the appear of cult films is often why…
I don’t want ye olde blog to go without updates for too long, but I also gotta take care of some other stuff offline. I confess some of the delay in getting to those offline things has been checking out the many fun articles about all sorts of odd inaugural trivia. Enjoy! (there will be a test Thursday). The Virginian-Pilot The Daily Record WTOP The Seattle Times Perennial favorite Mental Floss
As will surprise no one who’s read my exhaustive ranking of all the Star Trek series, I’ve been watching all the new stuff. And it’s not just because those are going into the sort soon enough. A lot of it has been darn enjoyable in a 4th season Enterprise kind of way. They’re making connections and widening the Star Trek universe into quite the multiverse. Ryan Britt over on SyFy Wire details some of the…
I’m working on some longer pieces on New Year’s and resolutions, but in the meantime, while “success” might be a long journey, this TED video about traits researchers have found in successful people is under four minutes. I mean, granted, that means there’s no time for nuance, but if you’re raring to jump into your New Year goal planning, this might help motivate you.
This video burst onto the Internet yesterday and is already over 5 million views. A lot of people have reacted in horror of the robot revolution they feel sure this heralds, but I’m thinking the more dancing, the less machinations.
It’s an even year, although the nicest thing you can say about 2020 is that it was odd. But, in any case, even years mean it’s time for my Favorite Films sort, something I have done offline for about 30 years and have done online for the past eight years. You can see my previous entries here (including how I do the sort by pairwise comparison). This year, the total of films sorted was a…