Trailer of the Week: The Animated Adventures of Buffy

Yes, I am a Buffy addict and it's no surprise that much of the fanfic I've been writing lately inevitably involves either characters of the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer or else characters of its spin-off, Angel.

As a result, part of me feels churlish saying anything mean about this trailer even though it's quite likely that I would have hated this idea had I first seen it ten years ago.

Then again we are talking about a trailer for a TV show which -- as much as I hate to admit it -- will never really exist. It would be nice to think that I'm wrong but this trailer was first uploaded in 2014. The fact that there's not yet a TV series like this doesn't seem very promising.

On the plus side, it's hard for me to really hate anyone who can find genuine humor in the likes of Dark Willow and Ghost Tara. (Not to mention Ghost Anya.) And of course, the Buffy theme is always hard to resist.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Neighborhood: "Welcome to Thanksgiving"

In this episode, actress Marilu Henner of Taxi fame plays a racist grandmother who hails from the state of Michigan.

For what it's worth, I, Tonio Kruger, also had a racist grandmother who hailed from the state of Michigan -- and Marilu Henner's character is so mild compared to her that I can't help but wonder how many real-life racists the producers of this episode ever actually met.

I realize that there's not much room for intellectual discussion in a thirty-minute TV show but I can't help thinking about the many Norman Lear sitcoms I saw growing up that were far more edgy than this. Whatever happened to them?

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Neighborhood: "Pilot"

There is undoubtedly a great TV comedy to be made about modern-day race relations in the U.S. -- but this isn't it.

However, the scene in which one of the white guy's neighbors tries to explain why a black man can't possibly be racist seems quite funny in the light of recent events -- but not in the way that the screenwriter intended.

TV Song of the Week: "I'm the Villain in My Own Story"

Well, if nothing else, you have to give Rachel Bloom's character credit for being so self-aware. Though it is tempting to wonder if the ideal response to this song isn't "Isn't everybody?"

Quote of the Week

To use #AOC is helpful in places like twitter with a word limit, but monolingual English speaking newscasters in the United States will say “AOC” because it is easier than stumbling over any part of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, they are [ sic ] seem able to easily say “Schwarzenegger”.
-- Elenamary,"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez not AOC", elenamary.com, March 20, 2019

¡Feliz Pascua de Resurrección!

Pat Hall and I would like to wish all my readers a happy Easter holiday. I hope you all have a good one.

Pop Song of the Week: "Clint Eastwood"

One would think that this song would not be so memorable without the zombie apes, but then one would be wrong, wouldn't one?

Movie Song of the Week: "King Herod's Song"

Wait! King Herod had a song?

Trailer of the Week: Night of the Lepus

Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies!

And Now My Right Wrist Hurts

My right wrist started hurting so bad the day before yesterday that yesterday it took me about ten to fifteen minutes to figure out how to start my car -- and even then I had to use my left hand to do so.

Needless to say, I'm having to take off work at a time when I really don't want to. What else I may have to give up in the future, I don't even want to think about.

Ironically, my left wrist works just fine -- though I still have fears about overusing it.

Writing Fanfic

For some odd reason, I have been writing a lot of fanfic lately and not the reality kind either. Though it may be argued that fanfic is not a recent thing for me -- after all, this story certainly qualifies as fanfic and so does this one -- I do seem to be writing more fanfic nowadays than I ever imagined I would be. In fact, I've written so much fanfic that it seems harder and harder for me to make it through the day without writing at least one chapter of a fanfic story.

If nothing else, such experiences have made me understand why so many people find writing fanfic to be so addictive. Granted, I can readily understand why most people don't consider it all that respectable to "create" new stories using another person's characters. And my main intention in writing these stories is not to rob another writer of his or her just desserts. And yet writing such stories have taught me more about the craft of storytelling than I ever learned from more respectable sources.

Besides, I do not intend to keep writing fanfic all my life. But as long as I receive "likes" on the site where I post my stories, I'm not likely to stop any time soon.

Pop Song of the Week: "Down by the Water"

PJ Harvey manages to combine creepiness and sexiness in a music video that should be about mermaids but isn't.

Movie Song of the Week: "Cell Block Tango"

The six merry murderesses of the Cook County jail present a musical tribute to Patricia Pearson's book When She Was Bad -- not to confused, of course, with the Death Row Mambo.

A Spoiler-Free Review of A Simple Favor

It's tempting to call the 2018 movie A Simple Favor a Hallmark Mystery Movie for people who don't like Hallmark Mystery Movies, but that would imply that there's something wrong with Hallmark Mystery Movies and since my mother is a big fan of such movies, I'm obviously not inclined to agree with that type of implication.

That said, half the fun of watching A Simple Favor lies in trying to anticipate the plot so perhaps the best thing for me to say is that if you like mysteries and Anna Kendrick, you should go see it. It is already one of my favorite movies of last year and I can readily understand why the DVD copies of the movie that are located at my local library are always on a hold list. I hope you all get a chance to catch up with it if you haven't already seen it.

Trailer of the Week: Yesterday

Heh. I got burnt out on Beatles music a long time ago yet I still found the idea for this movie to be intriguing. And that's before I found out that it was directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis. If nothing else, it certainly gives an interesting perspective to the ongoing controversy over cultural appropriation.

Quote of the Week

The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.
--Ernest Hemingway

I Wear My Wrist Brace Like a Badge of Honor

Okay, not really but I don't see myself taking it off any time soon. And I can't noticing that at least two of my co-workers wear wrist braces as well.

On the plus side, my wrist no longer aches like it used to. Plus I'm able to work again. So there's that.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.