If you encounter any discussion of Man Booker1 prize-winner Marlon James’s recent fantasy novel, you will hear two things: one, that it’s a sort of Game of Thrones set in Africa, and two, that the description doesn’t really do justice to it. In any case, the noteworthy novel represents the first part of The Dark Star Trilogy.
It’s a very dark start, with frequent graphic violence, sex, and sexual violence.
We reviewed the first two episodes of Stranger Things, Season Three, when they dropped July 4, and promised a revisiting a the entire show once everyone had the chance to see it. Alas, we’re a little late on delivery, as we’re now in the final weekend of July, but I suppose that means everyone has had a chance to watch.
It’s July of 1985, the Cold War continues, and dark things burble beneath Hawkins, Indiana.
Marvel made several announcements at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend regarding the next phase of things. Obviously, Spider-man will continue to swing around the MCU, but we’re also getting the Black Widow movie (May 1, 2020), an unidentified movie later in fall, The Eternals (November 2020) Shang-chi (Feb. 12, 2021), with the actual ringed Mandarin opposing Canadian actor Simu Liu as the Master of Kung-Fu (February 2021), the next Doctor Strange film (May 2021), a new Thor film (November 2021) that will reportedly feature Natalie Portman rejoining Chris Helmsworth to become the female Thor, and the previously announced Scarlet Witch/Vision, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Loki series all appearing in 2021.
They’ve also confirmed we’ll see a new Blade, sequels to Captain Marvel, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and an MCU Fantastic Four. They just don’t have dates yet for these blockbusters.
What do you want to see from the next phase?
CBS continues its rebroadcast of the original Moon Landing in real time:
Among several places you can re-view history.
I have a secret I must share.
I liked Cats. I had soundtracks (on cassette) of the original London and New York productions and went to see the original Toronto run. Someone bought me a Cats t-shirt and I wore it, unironically. I know, right? The Ramones, The Beatles, Mozart, and… Andrew Lloyd Webber. Even if it’s the Baron scoring T.S. Eliot’s whimsical book for the godchildren– a book referenced, mind you, in Logan’s Run— it remains a tad embarrassing.
So now there’s a movie, due out next Christmas. Leading actors, singers, and dancers have been CGI’d into Furry feline aliens.
And I’m not certain what to make of it:
Some viewers may think this is the cat’s meow. Others may find this quest into the Uncanny Valley haunts their memory for a long, long time.
CBS provides a live-time rebroadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing, beginning with today’s launch, fifty years later.
I’m old enough to remember. A good deal of promise remains to be fulfilled.
I’ll get around to completing Stranger Things, and I’m going to do a “remainder of the season” review for Handmaid’s Tale, which doesn’t get much attention here. Meanwhile, I recently attended and paneled at Ad Astra in Toronto. Naturally, I made a short video:
That last clip shows the moon and Jupiter. The sky was clear enough to see the four largest Jovian moons quite nicely with a telescope.
Stranger Things dropped its third season on the Fourth of July. We’ll review the first two episodes here, and return to discuss the entire show sometime next week, when you’ve all had a chance to watch.
It’s 1985, and the Cold War touches everything– even other dimensions.
After nearly seventy insane years, satiric Mad Magazine will cease publishing new material after August of this summer.
Issues of reprints will contain new cover art, and Mad may survive in some form.
I can’t say that I’ve paid much attention to it in decades, but I speak for many here when I say it played a huge part in my childhood.
But magazines have become difficult to maintain– and real life has grown nearly impossible to satirize!
UPDATE: Tom Richmond chronicles the fall of the House of Mad here.
One of the greatest graphic series of all time, Neil Gaiman’s game-changing Sandman, finally, reportedly will receive a live adaptation. It will appear, curiously, on Netflix, and not DC’s own streaming service, and they project it will be the most expensive show DC Entertainment has ever produced.
So will it finally happen? Will it work? And who would make your dream cast?