Various and Sundry Writing

WGA Has a Deal, SAG-AFTRA Working on One

Okay, I’ll be honest: I was putting off finishing this post in hopes that I could do one big post about the end of both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Although SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP are back at the negotiating table since last week, as of this writing, they haven’t made a deal. The WGA, however, has made a deal and, in a trend they established from the get-go, the WGA has provided a great summary…

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Various and Sundry

Let’s Talk About Dead Bodies!

I’m not gonna lie: I thought of the Monty Python skit when I saw this video as Victor Sweeney is everything you thought a mortician might be. This was apparently decently popular, so they brought him back for a part 2: And wouldn’t you know it? Mr. Sweeney has also done one of those experts-review-films videos and it’s very informative: Hope everyone’s spooky season is starting off right.

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Various and Sundry Writing

Banned Books Week 2023: Resources & Reports

Although I did make a post last week giving an excellent resource to all sorts of banned books to start reading for this week, aka Banned Books Week, I would be remiss if I didn’t make another post during the week itself. Last week’s post from Harper’s Bazaar drew from an exhaustive report done by PEN America, and you can learn all sorts of details about the who, what, why, and when of the various…

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Various and Sundry

Babylon 5: The Best Imperfect Space Opera?

The new Babylon 5 movie is out and, since it’s not readily on any of the streaming services I subscribe to, my thrift will delay me seeing it soon. At the same time, when I do see it, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it immensely. Right in time for its release, Tor.com has re-published a wonderfully truthful article by Jennifer Giesbrecht from 2019 that goes into how Babylon 5 is great even as it is not…

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Various and Sundry

Animation Break… with Pizza

Apart from contemplating whether to see any component of Barbenheimer in the theaters, I didn’t have anything I was planning to see until my kids announced they were unanimous in wanting to see the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film aka “Wait, there’s another TMNT movie?!?” This was a surprise because, to the best of my knowledge and theirs, they have not seen any previous TMNT movie. They also have not been around long enough…

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Various and Sundry

Swedes Take Distress Calls Seriously

I’ve been working on an update on the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, but I saw a meme of the photo above and felt we could all use some good news about humans helping humans. Basically, a small sailboat lost its rudder and called for distress. Naturally, the closest ship came to their aid. It just happened to be a 788-ton 1:1 replica of an 18th century sailing vessel: the Götheborg. Looking for more information than…

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Various and Sundry

Is a Pirate’s Life for You? Ask the Expert!

I’m going through my final round of Netflix DVDs and this weekend’s entry was the 2012 mini-series of Treasure Island with Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver. The short version? Izzard delivers a great Silver, but the mini-series takes some odd diversions from the source material that are far from satisfying. My wife actually suggested, knowing my penchant for ranking, that I rank all the different version of Treasure Island, which is very tempting –perhaps…

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Reviews Various and Sundry

One Last Ride into the Sunset: Red Envelope Reviews

Not quite three months ago, I, along with a couple million other people, got the sad news that Netflix was finally shuttering its films-by-mail service aka, the DVD rental business with “no late fees” that started it all. Now, there’s also over 200 million other Netflix subscribers who likely didn’t realize you could still get DVDs and Blu-Rays by mail. That doesn’t change the fact that this Postal method was and is a great way…

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Various and Sundry

Bond, Historical Bond (A Retrospective)

Having done villains last week, let’s take a look at heroes. Okay, James Bond is something of an anti-hero as established from the get-go in that “you’ve had your six” moment in Dr. No. But still, he is working for Queen and Country as well as saving the world (sometimes as a sad clown). This is a fun overview of how James Bond has changed with the times that Fandom released just before No Time…

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Rants Various and Sundry

The Promise of Star Trek: Prodigy Cut Short

I debated whether or not to mention what has been widely reported in both trade publications and fan sites, but so many visitors come to my blog for the Star Trek content. So here’s the deal: Star Trek: Prodigy has been removed from the Paramount+ less than a week since the decision was announced. Why, it’s almost like they forgot their declared goal of not quite a year ago: Sigh. Yeah, it won’t be the…

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