ThaOGDreamWeaver

Godiego - Birth Of The Odyssey (aka Monkey Magic) (Side note: somewhere in my parents' house is an original BBC 45 single of this - for some obscure reason, the BBC bought it off NHK and showed it to happy kids and baffled parents as a Saturday teatime thing.)

Your Wiki-Fu is exceptional... ...but are you a match for mine? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longma - fabled winged horse and relative of the western stories of pegasi (...but with dragon scales, because who doesn't love dragons?) I guess J2TW doesn't allow them to fly, for the same reason Gandalf doesn't let Frodo hitch a ride with the Eagles and just drop the damn thing straight into Mount Doom. Never gonna get 3 books and a movie series out of that... Dharma - Waves (Also, if you happen to have a link to a vid by the Taiwanese Buddhist Metal band of the same name, do let me know)

Or even other abstract beings, for that matter. (Oh, and Kirby delivered this bit brilliantly 😁)

Nini - Long Ma 龍馬 ("Dragon Horse" / Pegasus)

Afterlife ft. Rachel Lloyd - Sunrise

She's not-too-subtly called out Ellis in interviews and EPKs. Mischievous bugger... then again, I suppose that's in character too? Fry is in this as well as Gilbert, aka Fiddler's Green. Haven't quite got to that bit yet...

...heh. So, while greedily anticipating the new clutch of children of the night this series will doubtless inspire, a quick note... Sweet Freya in Asgard, Neil's only gone and done it. Admittedly, he'd learned a lot from personally showrunning Good Omens, and working on American Gods and Anansi Boys. And pitched it with the highly experienced David Goyer to multiple networks and streamers, to the ones who were prepared to throw the most money and creative freedom at it. Netflix took a punt on it: it's now #1 in over 100 countries and getting serious critical reviews. It is, as they say, a thing. And the two best episodes... Some other notes: Brit comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry kill it (and each other) as Cain & Abel.. ..and you are not emotionally ready for Gregory. His two minutes of screentime will Pixar you into blubbering submission. There are few more reliable practitioners of Haughty British Evil than Charles Dance, and he naturally nails Burgess. Jenna Coleman turns up as a stylish, snappy and substantially cleaner genderflipped Constantine (due to WB internal rights issues rather than Neil's whims), but who is just of much as a shambles as a human being. And a surprise bonus of Patton Oswalt as Matthew, who serves not only as Dream's guide but our Everyraven asking pertinent questions (like "...why are we going to Hell again?") Still working my way through the final three eps - which are basically The Doll's House... ...and I'm presumably about to get destroyed by Martin Tenbones. Again.

Tests with an NY audience allegedly had mixed to poor reactions to pacing: cast scored good to average. CGI, final cut and post-prod wasn't done yet, so there were some holes. That said, my Bothan spies tell me the briefing about "testing poorly" and "quality issues" come from a very small coterie of executives.

As far as I can see with the Shazam flicks, they're building that into the storyline - as Billy grows, so do his needs, responsibilities, so on. It's 100% a kids' movie with a slightly weird premise: but ran with it and made it a very decent offering. Zach Levi also pulls off the supermanchild schtick with aplomb. Side note to the side note: my only gripe with the first Shazam was the same I had with most of Marvel - they had a villain problem. A good antagonist has to be challenging, not a duplicate of the protagonist, have a fleshed backstory of their own, and have a proper actor attached to it. They hit three out of four - even if Sivana had equal-ish powers, the catch was he knew what he was doing. Mark Strong is a reliable and dependable baddie, did good work with what he was given and given some pretty horrific/OTT sidekicks. But didn't feel a whole person like Keaton's Tooms, Molina's Doc Ock or Dafoe's Osborn. This time, they get to deal with Mirren and Liu. Good luck, kids. As far as the Amber Heard stuff goes - regardless of any toxic fandom or on-set issues: never heard of her before the first Aquaman, her Mera didn't really seem to build any chemistry with Momoa (or anybody, for that matter) and carried off neither warrior nor princess. Personally I'd kill off that fairly thin character in a messily final way rather than recast, and work up someone new. Clarke is interesting in that they've worked together before and can play to each others' strengths. But I was thinking more a Jane Foster type, maybe an aquatic archaeologist or marine biologist (Jenna Coleman, Mischa Barton, Steph Adams...?) to mirror his upbringing, give him an anchor back on land, and someone to share the same wonder he felt when he entered this world. And who equals his presence with her own, balancing his strength with smarts, which gives you new plot options. Big ol' rewrite/reshoot but it'd be worth it.... ...am I rambling? I'm rambling. Keaton - an actor's actor and not a man to suffer fools. He was apparently great to work with for Holland, understood the nerves and helped everybody out (despite relentless teasing and Bat-jokes). And that new kid works his ass off. Keaton's gonna respect that. Miller, on the other hand... was allegedly going through some things on-set, with diva meltdowns, performative mumbling/ranting/chanting etc when he didn't "get" the scene (ie: hadn't prepared), and at least one production-stop/crisis meeting. Ezra, doubt you're reading this, but y'aint Brando yet and you don't get to waste crew or performers' time. In short, I'd heard him described as "talent" rather than "actor" before (not a compliment). Now, he's gone through "difficult" (ouch) and out the other side to "problematic". That is not a word you come back from easily. Much as donning the cape again is fun, I'm not sure Keaton wants his name on this incarnation of the franchise or to work on chaotic sets again.

They touch the Harley Quinn series, we riot. Incidentally, WBD are also toying with release dates of new flicks. Shazam II drops six days to avoid Avatar II's debut weekend - fair enough in one sense, but cuts quite close to the Christmas season. Aquaman II is likely but not confirmed to get bounced again - from its current March 17 2023 date to further down the schedule. Confidence much?

System Of A Down - Sugar

Hanabie - We Love Sugar

I concur, though I feel it's off within the company as opposed to the flick. Movie financing is an arcane science (lookup the idea of "rolling breakeven" if you don't believe me - how to extract as much money as possible from a flick regardless of its success before it becomes taxably profitable.) But canning not one but two perfectly serviceable bits of filler content - total expenditure $130m - as a multiple factored debt writeoff before a merger completes... I'd need someone versed in the proper dark arts of accountomancy to explain it, but it feels real. Especially having gone through restructures where entire departments, profitable or not, got redlined to meet a specific target level of company size and opex. And yet... there must have been a dozen possible costly dev hell projects that could have got the boot. Why Batgirl? I mean, Flash had quite a lot of issues, but the CW's roster was also gutted to make way for... Gotham Knights? EDIT: also, you're correct: DC is now a sub-unit of Warner Brothers, which is in turn now a sub-unit of whatever the WB/Discovery merger turns out looking like. EDIT 2: hoo boy. It's definitely a company problem. Following the merger, WB/D are planning to gut HBO Max (the streaming platform, not the content arm... yet...) and transfer the content onto the Discovery+ platform. https://www.thewrap.com/hbo-max-layoffs-warner-bros-discovery-q2-earnings-preview/ That's kinda like kicking all your passengers off a luxury 777 and ramming them onto a MAC Hercules with one wing on fire because it'll still get them where they're going. Probably. Still, that means a whole load of good VoD and platform nerds going spare. Guess I'll be digging through another one of those spreadsheets. EDIT 3: per the NY Post: David Zaslav has form for this stuff, and this isn't the biggest cost-cutting swing he's taken this year. Back in April, he wiped the CNN+ platform in less than a month because it wasn't as instant a hit as predicted. That's $300m of investment, staff training and development gone.

BEWARE: UNUSUALLY WILD BAT-SPECULATION AHOY! So, for those of you who are not Very Online, there's been a Batgirl flick in (rather quiet) production for some time. It starred relative newcomer Leslie Grace (In The Heights), backed up by JK Simmons, Brendan Fraser, and the OG Bat himself Michael Keaton. The premise is certainly interesting: there's not a big bad, there's a medium bad - and a sympathetic one at that. Fraser plays Ted Carson, aka Firefly - a mid-level specialty goon working for Tony Brassi, who tries to go straight to take care of his kids, but gets drawn back into the life and inevitable Bat-confrontations. If it had been done well, it could have rolled with the same kind of dynamic Keaton had in Homecoming. Also more emphasis on the Gordons' domestic life too. If there's a puzzling thing of what I've read up on so far, Keaton may have be a multiverse-hopping version per the (maybe) upcoming The Flash. But generally, this sounds rather better than, say, Catwoman. The flick will now not be released. Anywhere. Any platform. Not even TV syndication or free to YouTube. No attempt at distro deals. Having tangled briefly with the distro end of Whollyodd, that is an near-unheard-of level of s***canning for ANY movie: the mad bunch I was working for were looking for deals for Dark Tide, High School, and a bunch of other mostly-unwatchable flicks. Many of which had the unfortunate Adrien Brody in. Hell, Uwe Boll movies end up somewhere. But $90m worth of primo franchise-baiting Bat-content - with just a couple of weeks of post-prod polish remaining? While some rumour-mongers/trolls called the film "irredeemable", both the major trade rags Variety and Deadline say it wasn't a quality issue, but rather a "strategy" one - it was "too small" a film to fit their new strategy. Not sure I buy this. The Guardian and Wikipedia say it's specifically to take advantage of a tax break during the WB/Discovery merger allowing them to write off irredeemable debts. In this case, $90m of what could have been quite decent movie. This is the version I tend to believe. The same thing happened to the Scoob! sequel Holiday Haunt - another $40m. Admittedly the first of those flicks was not great, but its release hit during the first wave pandemic and would have been a decent enough kiddie-pleaser. (And had Jason Isaacs in it as Dick Dastardly, which is typecasting but fantastic typecasting.) I have... questions. Really irredeemable? Compared to some of the other WB output lately? C'mooooon... Why pick on this movie instead of the rather more troubled Flash, which will be the first press junket monitored by the FBI for clues to its star's location? What happens to any deals its stars might have signed for their pay-for-play points? Is there a cue to sue (similar to Scarlett's guaranteed-distro case?) At this point, should/can DC pull the plug on its partnership with Warner Bros - which seems to have made a number of disastrous choices with the franchise over recent years - and find a new home, or go solo as Marvel did? Methinks something stinks. And it doesn't smell of turkey. What say we all?

Lullaby Dreamers - Avengers Theme

The Boys did the Herogasm episode. They... did that. Yeah. Hmm. And still got renewed for S4. And I, for one, am never eating calamari again.

Holy Bat-Towing-Service! Also, I just shut the video off laughing when I got to the bit about the sheriff's mate... well, gonna have to spoiler this...

Without getting into direct historical comparisons - local battalions or puppet regime - either of us might both be right depending on which way they go with the story. All second-guessing based on costume choices at this point, though I agree the blue-and-orange guys don't look like mainline Imperials. Both kinda fulfill the same story function: for all its might, the Empire can't hold down every little system's uprisings and rebellions, and the illusory freedom of the Imperial Senate didn't last long. (Tarkin implies it's a pain in the backside in New Hope - "Fear will keep the local systems in line...") Plus, someone's gotta keep the starliners running on time, and provide grist to the war machine. So any mighty Empire needs jackboots on the ground - local boots who know the terrain and either happily obey or don't question it. Which gives rise to a lot of different character possibilities. There are the people who just kept working when the other lot took over, and "don't want trouble". There are the opportunists. There are those want to stop the worst excesses from the inside, be the "adults in the room". (Spoiler alert: ain't gonna happen.) There are those who maintain order out of fear of reprisals. The military cosplayers. And those who just like that taste of power over others just a touch too much. And then... then there are the believers. Such locals engaged in plenty of acts of performative cruelty, but also (with a few exceptions such as 1st Italian) weren't as disciplined, motivated or effective as the real deal. This is why young Andor might find it easy to get away with things at first - training against Imperial Skuls, if you will. These units also provided pathways into the main organisation - which could prove useful. PS: btw, just realised how I've been looking at this. They've taken the proper-war-movie-but-in-space vibe of Rogue One and doubled down on it. Vader was used sparingly but effectively: the core of the fighting was all very human and ground level. K2SO would be fun to see back - Alan isn't yet listed on IMDB, but most of the listed cast are only confirmed for one episode. Seeing a galactic war on a human level... is a new thing.

Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sam Slater - Battlefield 2042 Main Theme BTW: if you're a fan of gaming music and can get access to the BBC Sounds site or app - which is available outside the UK for some shows - they're doing the first ever Gaming Prom tonight. Info here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5j1hybqNvXh8QRmV5RYwY33/four-pioneering-game-scores-you-need-to-know Proms: series of BBC-recorded classical, pop-classical and crossover gigs at the Royal Albert Hall, usually with the BBC or Royal Philharmonic Orchestras in tow. Used to be pretty stuffy, but now have a lot more fun with things including Sci-Fi, kids', cinema soundtracks, and guest appearances. Winds up at the very much party Last Night Of The Proms.)

THE KING HAS RETURNED. LET JOY BE UNCONFINED! And I am very glad you have new smol fren in Violette. It's lovely having a tiny purr monster around the place. About Bunny: I'm laughing, but because I dig it. Molly produces the kind of godsforsaken smells at all hours putrid enough to wake the dead, or even me. I'm now armed with an air freshener by the bedside. And they definitely do odd stuff when they're happy. Thing I've not had with a cat before is one that starts drooling wildly - like, Beagle-level rivers of saliva - when they're happy. Surprising the first time, but when petting Sparks I'm now more used to a hand coming back slimed like it's had a guest shot on Nickelodeon. Molly is still... odd. She's been here almost a year, and will snuggle up on the sofa in bed - around legs/feet, but out of hand range - and will tolerate/enjoy a very small amount of petting before warning either of us off with highly dramatic growls. She LOVES and demands pets when I'm sitting on the loo or working, though, and will attack my feet until she gets them (or gets told off, as if she doesn't get pets on the first leg pat she takes the claws out to get my attention.)

Diffusion feat. Doug Wood Band & Public Enemy - Drag Racer (147 E.F.F.E.C.T. Mix)

All the TNG, Disco, SNW and Lower Decks crew have been reporting in with tributes. I really like this one (from one of the LD key character artists.)

Trailer 2 dropped today: Looks good. Looks very good. Very polished. 3-ep drop - I guess there's a lot to take in in terms of worldbuilding for this one, so makes sense... Saw Guerrera (de-aged Forest Whittaker) is back. Wonder if anyone else is showing up? Denise Gough's as-yet-unnamed white-suited Imperial taking lead menacing duties. Stellan Skarsgård looking brooding as usual and appears to Have A Past. Ooh, sneaky concealed laser cannons. Keen. Mon Mothma's high-end life contrasting with Andor's near-Pythonesque levels of grime jars a little... but is possibly supposed to. Still no info on who the local Waffen-Imperial types are.

Oscillian - Ulysses 31

Steve Barton - APEX Legends (Main Theme)