ThaOGDreamWeaver

Thoughts...

I think I may be from the previous generation, eh.

"Oh, yes. We’re the only ones who know how to make things work. You see, the only thing the good people are good at is overthrowing the bad people. And you’re good at that, I’ll grant you. But the trouble is that it’s the only thing you’re good at. One day it’s the ringing of the bells and the casting down of the evil tyrant, and the next it’s everyone sitting around complaining that ever since the tyrant was overthrown no one’s been taking out the trash. Because the bad people know how to plan. It’s part of the specification, you might say. Every evil tyrant has a plan to rule the world. Good people don’t seem to have the knack." --Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

Heh. Unfortunately it is true, to an extent: even Spielberg considered retiring after two box office duds in a row (West Side Story and The Fabelmans), because suddenly doors started closing to the Great Bearded One. There are notable exceptions. Producers still have faith that M. Night Shyalaman will, someday, make another great movie. (And, let's be fair, Knock At The Cabin had touches of greatness, particularly Big Dave, but just couldn't stick the landing.)

And we're back for Episode 2

So, the great day dawns. Grab your blue milk shake and Bantha Poddu Popcorn Bucket, and here we go with episode one...

In Whollyodd, you're only as good as your last movie, kid.

Mostly rumours at this point, but there is not a new BoBF on the production slate for 2023. Disney is moving $ away from new D+ content for a while as Bob Iger reconstructs the business - and rather than trying for a pure-volume, all-things-to-all fans play, shrink down the number of productions and shows on offer to a dedicated fanbase. That kind of approach hasn't hurt Paramount too badly. Kathleen announced three new proper movies at Celebration. Two I'm not sure about - one from oh-look-its-a-celebrated-indie-director-being-thrown-at-a-franchise Sharmeen Oba id-Chinoy that should close out Rey's story, Dial Of Destiny's James Mangold going back to the Old Republic - or possibly beyond, at the very dawn of the Jedi era... ...and the Dave Filoni movie, which should tie up all the threads and characters from his New Republic adventure - including Boba, Mando, possibly Ahsoka and the Rebels crew, and a few more. Side note: still gutted that Rogue Squadron isn't happening. Top Gun In Spaaaaace... c'mon, Bob, doesn't that sound like something you wanna make?

Purple Disco Machine - Bad Company

Birdy - Paradise Calling (...and this one deserves to be the sound of the rest of your summer...)

Billie Eilish - What Was I Made For? (Live @ Lollapalooza)

Slightly late to the party... I'm not sure if the Nissan Juke is as big in the USA as the UK as a model, but I like it, and so do the nieces and niecelets. https://www.edmunds.com/used-nissan-juke/ It's a quite dinky and discreet SUV/Crossover, at least by American standards. It's curvy not blocky, fairly economical (for an SUV), and a lot more responsive: handles slightly like a motorbike in the midranges (be a little careful if you're a leadfoot), and loves being thrown at corners. Unlike most SUVs... BTW, strongly recommend getting the upgrade to the Tekna - for satnav, rear view camera... and da gogo button. You can switch driving modes on it from Eco to Normal to Sport. And pushing Sport... ...kinda kicks the turbos up a tiny bit, gives the engine a little more juice, and makes the thing behave a little bit looser and growlier. Very good noise. And turns your entire dash panel Enterprise-Red-Alert-glowy. Because SPORTY AND RADICAL AND STUFF. It's not much of a Turbo-Crazy-Mode, if we're honest. But it's enough that the niecelet always wants to ride shotgun so she can push da gogo button. And I get to say "Punch it, Chewie". She has absolutely no idea what that means yet, and it makes her laugh every time. But it made the wheels worth every damn penny. PS: if your local second-hand dealer happens to have the NISMO version kicking around and it's at a reasonable price... get it.

Thoughts:

New Anakin-centric mini-trailer... Mini-trailer-mini-thoughts:

I still haven't seen the actual series, but if nothing else, it debuted... ...that laugh.

I was writing it in my head the other way round. Old Loki would not appreciate someone trying to outmaster him in terms of confusion and illusion, let alone a mortal. And our new, slightly-more-heroic Loki would not want anyone he needed or cared about getting stuck in there either. So a duel of the tricksters ensues... to the (grisly, and probably poetically just) death. On the What if bit:

Hmm... Loki vs the World's Fair Murder Castle would be one hell of a story beat, though quite how you'd run it I'm not sure... About What If: there's no recent updates on drop date. But given the changes, budget cuts and mass layoffs at Disney as Bob Iger tries to dig them out of a hole, it's not a surprise that it's been pushed back a bit. Might drop as a surprise package for Labour Day, Halloween or Christmas, but most likely early 2024 now. There are three episodes of the back nine that are known about, and one of which was played in full at SDCC 2022 - so don't go looking for badly-filmed spoilery stuff. Read this badly-written spoilery stuff instead:

Prepare for more temporal-buddy-cop shenanigans - and with both Quantumania and Secret Invasion having died the death, Marvel badly want to fix the timeline if the Secret Wars arc is going to survive. And if anyone should know how to handle parallel universes, slips and general timey-wimey-malarkey, it's Everything Everywhere's Ke Huy Quan.

Quick followup: finally got round to seeing Indy in a completely full theatre - not one spare seat, several weeks after release. Very solid entry in the series, way better than KoCS, and the twist ending was fun even if quite well-signalled as to what was going to happen - but why it happened was a great touch. Also loved the portrayal of 60s NYC, with Indy having had to trade down from Marshall Uni to Hunter Community College. (Though why appears to have cut: in press kits, there were references to Indy's objections to Nazis being allowed into the states for Paperclip, and his position was rapidly made untenable.) Mutt getting Poochie'd was handled very well and provided the core motivation for a large chunk of the story. Very impressed by the de-aging CGI in the flashback sequences - clearly they've been doing some serious work on that - and pretty decent action sequences. Gripes: Phoebe WB might been over-Mary Sue'd just a touch but still a very rounded and appealing character, and some of the sequences needed a little more editing. Other than that... we dig. And a decent way to hang up the hat.

Heh. I'm looking forward to that ep. But about the most CoH moment I've seen on telly is in Doctor Who Mysterio... ...and this bit 100% reminds me of the conversations in General Chat.

Nigel Stanford - Automatica 3

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Hanuman

New trailer up. First look at our antagonist and the reason for this mess: Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), Kree warrior and clearly hacked off with Carole for some as-yet-unknown reason. She has both an Accuser hammer (quite nasty) and the other half of Kamala's bracelet set - but whether or not screwing with their powers is part of the plan or not... ...oh, and more Goose. Obviously. 😻

And in today's WTAFery out of Whollyodd... I'd have assumed this would be animated in the style of the game but... ...thaaaat's gotta be Tiny Tina, right? And there are shots on IMDB of Cate (Lilith) and Ariana Greenblatt (Tina) in serious wirework harnesses. I know Cate's entered the "sod it, I'm gonna go be a stage dancer for Sparks" stage of her career, but they still must have one hell of a script to land her - and Jamie Lee Curtis (Dr. Tannis) - for something like this. And yes, slavering hordes, Moxxi is in it, played by everyone's favourite criminal plumber Gina Gershon. Much like the game, it ought to be tapdancing along the curve between insane genius and horrifically "wacky", but with this cast... I'm optimistic here.

1. Very. I'm not sure what he's up to these days, but my Bothan spies detect very little trace of his activity beyond some Insta posts. 2. Ming was indeed Ming's stunt double for The Cavalry, but a lot of it is still... er... Ming Prime. Between them they took home two of the big prizes at the Action Icon Awards - MQ as Stuntwoman of The Year (and that is a tough field in every sense of the word), and MNW Action Icon Of The Year. 3: ...and we walk once again into the Cave Of Spoilers...