A place for things and stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ3s178GW0Q
I know this Jessica Jones teaser was posted last Saturday by Netflix, but this trailer is how I feel this morning. Lil’ Shmee has not been sleeping well which means the Elder Shmees are also not sleeping well. Hey at least it looks like they got the tone of the show right! Oh man that enthusiasm was hard… Anyway I am going to go drink a gallon (or two) of coffee.
I recently finished Ernest Cline’s geeky pop culture video game novel Ready Player One, and now I am not so sure that I want Steven Spielberg to attempt to make it in to a movie. I mean there is so much going on, and just about every major geek property is included in this book from Star Wars to Marvel to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Maybe if the Disney was doing this movie and not Warner Brothers they could figure out a way to make most of the licensing work, but even if they get all the licensing (or enough of it anyway), they will still have to make it in to a movie that non-geeks are going to want to watch. Spielberg’s name will help bring in audiences, but even for the father of the modern blockbuster hits are not guaranteed.
The problem is people escaping real life and living in a video game might be to high concept for audiences to wrap their minds around, and even if they do, will they be able to keep up with the non-stop 80’s video game, TV, and movie references? Some of them were even lost on me as I read the book. This is going to be a hard movie to get right, and if it goes wrong it will go really wrong. I guess I am just worried that a very fun book will turn in to middling movie that no one will watch. We will find out in a little over two years how Mr. Spielberg captures the adventures of Parzival and his 80’s loving virtual pals. I just wish I felt better about it all. If nothing else the book is still great, and you should add to your reading list if you haven’t read it already.
I went in to The Muppets with low expectations. While the previous two movies were good and fine respectively, the new TV show’s adds looked a bit off. Like they were trying to conform the Muppets to sitcom norms of today, and sadly that is what it appears they have done. Now I should say right of the bat that The Muppets is actually funny, the problem is that the Muppets are now something they have never been before, mean.
The Muppet gang is now hosting a new show “Up Late with Miss Piggy”. The wide range of felt cast members are now stage hands, writers, or bit performers. Kermit is of course the executive producer trying to keep the show running with his rag-tag crew and demanding star.
I have no problems with the setup. The vaudevillian verity shows of yesteryear have all given way to late shows, so it would make sense that the Muppets would follow suit. I am also okay with the slightly edgier jokes. If you have fond memories of The Muppets being a harmless kids show you should re-watch the older series. My problem, as the title to this post would indicated, the Muppets have lost their love for one another.
The obvious place to start with this lack of love is the breaking-up of Piggy and Kermit. Kermit is our lens for the show, so if he can no longer handle Piggy’s antics it makes her come off as meaner and crazier, and not just a demanding free spirt, or a lovable diva. Also the jokes Kermit takes at people’s expense no longer feel like gentle ribbing, but more like he is slinging daggers. The rest of the cast similarly take mean jabs at one another. Another problem, though not as big, is that The Muppets really wants to show us the mundane lives of these puppets, and while Muppet media has always been connected to reality, their zany antics usually popped more because of that juxtaposition. Now that the Muppets are taking part in the everyday they feel a little dull.
Like I said before The Muppets is actually funny, so the writers deserve some kudos for that. The problem is that these Muppets seem sad and mean, and not the freewheeling crazy gang we have all come to know and love. Now I have said it before on this blog, and I am sure I will say it again: Pilots are usually terrible, so I will give The Muppets a few more chances before I write it off, and who knows maybe the Muppets finding their kindness is what this season is all about. I hope so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQASIzTNHHw
I am still not sure how the Supergirl show is going work. I mean Superman exists, but we will not get to see him or call him Superman? They should have totally gone the Power Girl route. This setup is going to get kind of awkward. Though I will say that even though the special effects look like they could use a little work it is nice that they are not holding back on letting her use her powers. I am hoping for some campy fun this October! It will probably be the only show I watch on CBS!
It has been a long road, but I figured I would give my final thoughts on the The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt now that I finally completed it. It was pretty darn great! It drags a little bit in the end of the second act to the beginning of the third, but it is a wild ride to the finish. It really ties up all those loose story lines from not only this game but the second game as well. It doesn’t lean on the events of The Witcher 2 too much, but if you have played that game it is nice that this one at least makes all that effort pay off.
Story wise I am not sure where they will go with The Witcher 4. It seems like everything has been building to this game. I am sure they will think of something, but we can’t go back to Geralt having amnesia and starting all over again like in the first Witcher game. He also went toe to toe with the greatest mythical fighting force in the Witcher universe (it is in the title so it is not a spoiler) in the Witcher 3, so he can’t go back to being a weakling again. They have kind of wrote themselves in to a corner (it is a really nice corner!).
My hope is that they go full Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age with the Witcher 4, and have Geralt start training his replacement. That way you can be any type of witcher you want, and not be stuck being Rivia’s most famous monster hunter. To be fair Geralt is pretty awesome, but it would be fun to be someone else in this beautiful world that CD Projekt Red has created (for video games anyway). Whatever they do I am sure it will fun, and with all the enjoyment I got out of the Witcher 3, I will be there to put my money down.