The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

I have a few thoughts I need to puke out before I can let this political season go. This post will not simply blast Trump. There very well may be things that'll piss everyone off. The running theme may just be I'm tired of all the whining.... 1. A Country Divided- Do I think the country can really be healed in 4 years? No. I do though believe Joe Biden will actually try. Trump is the most narcissistic president in my lifetime. I can count on one hand (and that's a generous statement) the number of press conferences he didn't make some statement befitting a toddler. Yes, it's not unheard of for a politician to place blame on someone else, especially nowadays, but there is a difference between pointing out the opposing party is being obstructionist claiming people are being "unfair" to him. Life isn't fair. Get over it.  He was given many opportunities to meaningfully tell white supremist groups and conspiracy theorists to fuck themselves and refused to ...

While trying to find out which tracks Fiona Apple was playing on Rough and Rowdy Ways , I came across a review that basically stated this was the best album since Love and Theft . My gut reaction to that was "No. Certainly Modern Times and Together Through Life are just as good if not Tempest ." I'm re-listening to Tempest as I type this , his last studio album, and that too is catchier musically. Then, in the bath this morning, after a second listen to Rough And Rowdy Ways , it occurred to me that lyrically,  Rough And Rowdy Ways has the introspective lyrics, some about facing his own mortality" reminiscent of the Grammy-winning  Time Out of Mind. That is definitely not to say the lyrics on those three albums aren't catchy or even poignant but you have to feel they're impersonal. Musically, the album seems to feature the mostly mellow music of his last 4 albums with periodic grooves reminiscent of his early to mid '60s albums. Oh, while I'...

For the second blog (movie) review in a row, here I will be sharing my thoughts on a movie I didn't see in the theater. Is that important? No... The 2016 film  Legend of Tarzan didn't play at my local theater and VOD options seemed limited until I found it On Demand via my cable company recently. Well worth the wait... and limited commercial interruptions. This version of "The Legend" combines elements of Greystoke and   the Disney animated version and blends in the feel of  Mask of Zorro  for good measure. Reading trivia about this movie, Edgar Rice Burroughs didn't call the apes in his novel "gorillas" but made up a new aggressive species called mangani and this is the only production to note that difference. The plot has the Belgian government inviting him to the Congo but it's a trap. Samuel L. Jackson plays a US envoy who wants him to accept the invite to give him a reason to investigate rumors the Belgians are using slaves to build thei...

Finished the first season of   Star Trek: Picard . Loved it! Is it a rehash of   The Next Generation? No and I don't blame Patrick Stewart for not wanting to do that. He compared this project to his involvement in the movie Logan and wanting to give Picard the send off the the movie afforded his other character of Charles Xavier. So far it's held up. Even if the show hadn't been renewed for a second season. The premise of the Romulans trying to eliminate all synthetic life, and infiltrating Starfleet to do it, is a mixed bag for me. I have no problem believing they would go to any length to accomplish their goal. Not their first time infiltrating Starfleet. (See "Data's Day" which does reference Bruce Maddox co-creator of what I'm calling "Soong Type 2" androids.)  The passing explanation of why the Romulans distrust synthetic life sort of makes sense but it doesn't really explain why, say, the Vulcans don't share this fear given the...

Watched Elizabeth Banks'   Charlie's Angels   last night and, while not the  Skyfall of the franchise I was hoping for, there was good mix of action, seriousness and humor. The action sequences were on par with the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises.  (Like Tom Cruise, newcomer Ella Balinska did her own stunts...). I read that Drew Barrymore didn't want her Angels having guns despite the originals carrying them as former cops. (Hell, Julie the Model carried one even before she became a licensed PI...) What I didn't expect was Kristen Stewart would fill more of a comic relief role. Instead of the dark and broody persona I've come to expect from watching her as Joan Jett in  The Runaways and in movies such as Camp X-Ray, was replaced by an Ellen DeGeneres impression that gives Kate McKinnon a run for her money. (Whether it was intentional or not, I'm not kidding...) I realized this was done because Balinska's performance was seemingly inspired...

Saw   Birds of Prey... or I guess it's   Harley Quinn   now... As it should've been in the first place after watching it. (Unless we're using the episodes of   Murder She Wrote   that Angela Lansbury wasn't actually in as a base reference...) Margot Robbie once again shined as the character straight from her creation in  Batman: The Animated Series. I loved the interpretations of Rene Montoya, Huntress and Black Canary and hope this leads to a proper Birds film. Making Batgirl No. 2 Cassandra Cain a pickpocket makes sense (It was interesting having Victor Zsasz featured in the movie when Cassandra's father, David, is the other big assassin in "Bat-verse.") but did she have remind me so much of Short Round from the  Indiana Jones  films? Under Harley's guidance, she changes her look to Jubilee from the  X-Men  movies by the end of the film... Ewan MacGregor played Roman Sionis, also known as Black Mask as you'd expect a mobster...

Before I review a new movie in a series, I see if I reviewed the last movie. Reading my review of previous   Star Wars (Skywalker Saga) film, The Last Jedi,   my thoughts on Episode 9, don't really have new focus but have added anther layer of thought. In that review, I say it's the most original Skywalker Saga movie to date and that's still true but, as a life long Star Wars fan (I went to the very first movie in the womb), is that what I want to wrap this all up? Ideally, I want it both ways but that can't happen. Rise of Skywalker  tried really hard though.  People criticize  Return of The Jedi  because they blow up another Death Star like that overshadows the awesomeness that is Anakin Skywalker's redemption story or Luke and Leia finding family and perhaps themselves. It doesn't. In  Rise,  no planet-killing starbase is destroyed. In the previous review, I mention the new trio of Rey, Finn and Poe are not straight up copies of Luke, ...

I haven't reviewed a CD for this blog since July of 2014. (For the record, it was Sarah McLachlan's Shine On ...) I guess Sheryl Crow was right:   Threads   is a great place to stop producing full albums if this is worth blogging about... Back before I had blog, Crow had a TV special to promote The Globe Sessions album called Sheryl Crow and Friends Live From Central Park. Threads also features Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Stevie Nicks as well but also TWENTY OTHER ARTISTS! This includes 3 Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, posthumously; Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson) and 2 Highwomen (Maren Morris and Brandi Carlyle.) I'll just throw this out there: A female version of Traveling Wilburys probably would include Stevie Nicks and Bonnie Raitt... I think it may be worth noting Emmylou Harris, who was the only performer at both Joan Baez's 75 AND Joni Mitchell's, appears on this album as well... She covers songs from two Traveling Wilburys: Bob Dylan's ...

For years, people wondered if Mysterio could be done on screen.   Spider-Man: Far From Home   clearly pulled it off as Stark's holo-tech is a perfect work around. Hell, somehow Mysterio's fishbowl helmet did not look stupid at all. Giving him a production crew and his whole fake backstory was straight out of the comics. I did see one complaint that this was the second villain with ties to Tony Stark. To be fair, Vulture (and the Shockers) and Mysterio use tech. Even if they got the tech from Justin Hammer, is that really all that different? Besides this movie was a tribute to Tony. (AC/DC included. "I love Led Zeppelin!") If Kraven is indeed the villain in the third film, they could, and probably should, connect him to Black Widow or HYDRA which therefore references Captain America. The former is also deceased and this movie, not surprisingly, suggests the latter is believed to be too.  Let the tributes continue! Oh, in case you wondered, I don't believe the ...

The last X-Men movie before Marvel has  greater control over the franchise, Dark Phoenix   was probably the best one could hope for. The biggest problems were the franchise's continued resistance to keeping track of their own continuity (Mystique is alive in "the near future" of the very first movie but dies here in 1992?) and the seemingly random and definitely obscure choice of using the D'Bari as the villains. Apparently, the D'Bari homeworld WAS destroyed by the Phoenix Force in the comics but after Jean Grey purged herself of the power, not before... My first thought when seeing the shape-shifters was "If you didn't want to copy Captain Marvel , why use the Skrull?" Though I can't think of any other examples, making an Easter egg a major plotline leaves me unsettled... Speaking of   Captain Marvel , apparently, the climax of this film setting was changed from space to a military train to avoid comparison. The best part of the film was ...

It's been a turtle's age since I last blogged so I have a few things to catch up on... 1.   Captain Marvel- Great first female-centric film from Marvel. Is it better than Wonder Woman? No. But we can't all be first, can we? What this film does have is a mostly female '90's soundtrack that is suspiciously like my Pandora mix and that is second only to the soundtrack from  the classic film   Boys On The Side.   I am disappointed they didn't go whole hog and stuck in Nirvana and REM. I realize Warner Brothers owns the good stuff ( Birds of Prey could potentially rock...) but all you needed was 2 more women! GOOSE! The cat who's really a Flerken stole the show. The barer of the Captain Marvel title when I was growing up Monica Rambeau appears as a pre-teen and the original was gender bent and played by Annette Benning. (It's funny that the two female Avenger leaders I remember from my childhood were aged down like Monica or aged up like Janet Van ...

I'll discuss   Ant-Man and the Wasp   in a minute but there's still a handful of thoughts about my viewing of   Ocean's Eight I want to relay first...  When the all-female Ghostbusters  came out, there was the usual "raping of childhood" complaints.   Ocean's Eight sidestepped many of these issues by being a spin-off of a remake that was already done. Sandra Bullock played the sister of George Clooney's Danny Ocean. (There was mention their father was als in the business. A reference to Frank Sinatra?)  Also, if you want to do a all-female action and/or comedy movie, the heist genre isn't a bad way to go. Soundtracks are usually "just there" for me. They seem to be usually selected for their beat and tempo and not their lyrics. Lindsay Lohan's Herbie: Fully Loaded  was particularly noticeable in this regard for me  but I was admittedly in a bad mood that night since I had rather watched   The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe   ...

This post will focus only on   Solo: A Star Wars Story. Star Wars   has always had controversy going back to the old, old Star Wars vs. Star Trek  debate.  It's funny that   Solo   was directed by Ron Howard as franchise creator George Lucas once recognized Ron's brother Clint during a casting session as Balok of the First Federation in the early Star Trek  episode "The Corbomite Maneuver." I bring up this old argument only to point out when comparing the two as I've felt  Star Trek  (at least on TV. Harve Bennett dumbed down the franchise for the movies long before   Star Wars fan JJ Abrams did...)   that Trek was more intellectually stimulating while Wars was pure Good vs. Evil fun.  Solo  is a shining example of this and sunlight-deprived  nerds are up in arms. A friend pointed out to me the movie explained too many mysteries.  According to the internet, the biggest, most controversial, reveal was wh...

For many reasons, including no time or ambition to do so on my part, I have not posted in awhile but I was told recently that people actually enjoy reading this so I have returned and have a few things I want to discuss. 1. The first season of  Black Lightning  ended awhile ago but was quite enjoyable. Time will tell but at least for now, the writers have found a formula unlike other superhero series from Smallville  to the present shows on The CW and Netflix. One way to look at it is they haven't finished the setup. Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning may have one daughter Anissa who has joined his fight as Thunder but Jennifer still technically isn't Lightning yet.  (Yeah, Black Lightning AND Lightning? But given her electricity-generating power, what else would you call her? Generator Y?) And the big bad Tobias Whale doesn't seem to be finished yet. Hopefully, he won't become another Lex Luthor but, in some ways, he already is... With viewers now seeing the in...

Black Panther was great. Just as   Wonder Woman   gave little girls a superhero to "look up to," little African boys (Yes, not just African American   boys) have their own hero. But what was even better about this movie is that it was so much more. It wasn't a stereotypical Eddie Murphy or Whitney Houston movie.  Even 5, 8 years ago, we wanted this to happen but this might have been just the right time. T'Challa is king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda that millennia ago became rich in a fictional mineral called vibranium that allowed them to  become the most technologically advanced country on Earth. They decided to keep this secret, however, and disguised themselves with a cloaking shield and the guise of a "shithole country." (See? Relevance!) Wakanda has reached a crossroads. Xenophobia is really no longer working. The villain of the movie, Wakandan by blood but certainly not upbringing, Killmonger, takes the throne in an effort to take the...

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi  is definitely in the running for best Star Wars movie. While  Rogue One may, arguably, be the most original movie yet, this was the most original of the so-called "Skywalker Saga" to date and truly believe that's what really matters to general audiences. (I did not hear the line "I have a bad feeling about this." the entire movie. I wonder if that elicited nerd rage?)  I loved how Rian Johnson combined elements of  Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, the prequel trilogy (Luke actually referred to Palpatine as Darth Siddious! Suck it nerds!) I love how the new Big Three of Rey, Poe and Finn aren't straight adaptations of Luke, Leia and Han. Hell, all three remind me in some ways of Han. Was he the most relatable original character? I already noticed this about Rey in  The Force Awakens  but this movie definitely added at least some more depth to Poe and Finn. After The Force Awakens , two big questions tha...

Checking my Facebook Memories this morning, it is apparently the anniversary of my review of Jessica Jones .  In many reviews of  The Punisher ,  Jessica Jones  is the pinnacle all other Marvel Netflix (or in some cases, Marvel shows on any network but that's a post for another time...) must be held to. I'll tell you straight out, I personally enjoyed both seasons of  Daredevil  more so... (Hell,   The Punisher   had a less annoying support cast...) For reasons I didn't consider back then and don't care about now, comic books in the '90's saw the creation of more violent  characters to presumably dispel the notion comics weren't just for kids. Ironman, Thor, Captain America and, perhaps ironically, Batman got more gritty counterparts and the Punisher (and Deadpool) was created. Like most superheroes, Frank Castle's origins begin with the death of a family member; in his case, ALL OF THEM. In comics, it was due to be caught in the cross...

Wonder Woman   filled me with new optimism that DC might have finally figured out what they were doing. Justice League doesn't reach that level of goodness but, for me, wasn't a huge letdown either. Combining different heroes into a team in live action was done with The Avengers so this movie had the opportunity to fix the flaws. Some they did, some they didn't. One of the things I got tired of in Avengers  was the constant fighting amongst the team. "Hey! I see super-powered person! Let's fight!" Zack Snyder, or someone, realized he'd better get that out of the way and made  Batman v. Superman  first which is certainly one way to go.  In   Justice League itself, most infighting started because Aquaman is an ass. (Having Alan Ritchman play the character on  Smallville  then voice Raphael and now be cast as Hawk on  Titans  tells at least me something.) Now that I think about it, the team was comprised of "Daddy," "Mommy" and ...

Marvel screwed the pooch with the Thor   franchise from the beginning. They took the more modern notion that the Asgardians are aliens not gods. In itself, that's fine but I can't help but think that just made it more complicated not less. ( Wonder Woman   just killed them off which is better but that's still a big nitpick from me about THAT movie...) I stopped regularly reading comics  after I graduated college in the early part of the century so I don't know when secret identities became passé but I think this also hurt the franchise. Originally, instead of dropping Thor on his head and giving him amnesia, Odin put him the mortal body of Donald Blake and then Eric Masterson. (Was that a complaint about Ghost Rider ? Same concept really...) In Thor: Ragnarok, to me, this '90's era of the comic where Eric Masterson WAS Thor was the best run of the comic and there were many Easter eggs from that period from Thor's Earth garb (with Mjolnir disguised as an ...

It's all come down to this. The Defenders event series did what they purported to do. Introduced 4 separate characters and successfully combined them into fight a bigger evil. Or did they? The Hand was an obvious choice of a villain given their history spans time and their reach spans the globe. One thing I had trouble with at first was The Five Fingers of The Hand was comprised of a North American, South American, African and two Asians. Why no Europeans? It seriously did not occur to me the two "Americans" probably left K'un L'un prior to the discovery of the New World until later. I'm disappointed in myself... (Incidentally, these original creations are the closest Marvel equivalent to DC's Ra's Al-Ghul or Vandal Savage I can think of which I find a bit mind twisting...) There's a debate going on just how much of the previous series you actually need to see to understand what's going on. Just  Daredevil  season 2? Both seasons? Both season...