The IT spot: BEVVVVVV

We have our Bevvie! Sophia Lillis, another who I've never seen in anything, will be young Bev Marsh.

Bev is the only girl in the Loser's club, and has a...controversial part to play near the end that I assume will be left out. She's pretty great, glad she has a face.

Look, a pic of the whole loser's club:

Can't wait to see them mentally scarred for life by a supernatural clown monster! Guess which one of them kills themselves as an adult rather than face IT again?!!

Hm.

I may be a terrible person.

I have a bad fin

I saw Finding Dory last night. I also got the worst calf cramp ever, and my usual 'point my toes upward' thing didn't help. I accidentally woke hubby with my pain noises.

So today I'm walking with a limp.

Remember the little flappy motion Nemo does when he swims? That would be dignified next to my klumping gait. But it's a temporary thing. I'm hydrating, and later I'll try and massage the area. I'm just here to complain.

On a pleasanter topic, Finding Dory was a fun movie, and a great step up from the cry-fest that was The Good Dinosaur. I only cried a little!

Screw you, Arlo.

I also saw The Nice Guys, a sadly overlooked Shane Black romp. It's got sex, drugs, action, humor, bees, and Keith David. What more could you need?

Awww yeah.

Now, off to 8.5 hours of limping and yelling.

Beyond

As you've probably hear, Anton Yelchin, the new Chekov, died in a freak accident.

I'm a Star Trek fan, as you know. I liked Yelchin in the role. Beyond that, I don't know what to say. It's tragic that another person has joined the 27 club. This wasn't due to a fan going nuts or drugs or anything but stupid, freak luck.

What a terrible time for the family. I can't do anything but extend my condolences along with the rest of the internet.

I wanted to close this with a pithy quote, but nothing felt right. Another unsatisfying end.

Dead Bart, Simpsonwave, and the lost generation

I recently stumbled across something called Simpsonwave. It's a sub-genera of punk (apparently) where you distort old footage of The Simpsons and put wavy music over it.

See this for further explanation.

This reminds me of another video that distorts old Simpson's footage, but for another purpose. There is a type of internet horror media called 'Creepy Pasta' It's short horror, mostly written, often using pop culture as the base.The "Dead Bart" story is one of the most widely spread, inspiring a wealth of 'lost episode' stories.

If you don't have time to read it, Dead Bart is an episode description, of, well, Bart getting killed, and the surrealist aftermath. It includes creepy descriptions of the funeral, weird animation, pretty typical of this sort of story.

Someone went to the trouble of re-creating as much of the 'episode' as they could with existing footage, and the story's narration.

Simpsonwave and the Creepypasta have VHS distortion. It's an integral part of the 'authenticity'. For the few generations  that grew up when VHS tapes were plentiful, before DVDs came along, we all know what those wavy lines mean. Kids today don't even know what a VHS is from firsthand experience. They won't understand the intrigue of finding an unlabeled tape; is it a Disney movie? Your mom's soaps? Something...dirty?

Let's see Indy snatch a piles of these from a cave.

Maybe it's because VHS tapes aren't easy to transfer to the internet, and are thus harder to share worldwide. You have to have a VHS play, hook it up special to a computer, convert it, all that jazz. There's an air of mystery in the blank black plastic.

That's not to say Simpsonwave or Dead Bart are necessarily good. They're interesting, but I wouldn't choose to listen to Simpsonwave. There are better Creepypastas than Dead Bart. Why pick The Simpsons as the focal point?

Maybe like the VHS tape the old Simpson episodes have an air of mystery. They're weird looking, the voices are off, and they're generally not rerun before season 3. Perfect fodder for 'artists' and trend hangers-on alike.

I know what DVDs I'll be breaking out tonight.

An open letter to Peter Jackson

(Yes, I am also sending this to Mr. Jackson via snail mail, at the insistence of my husband. See the footnote for that address, if you want to send a letter too.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Dear Mr. Jackson,

      I could not be more excited that you own the movie rights for Temeraire. I loved your interpretation of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Frighteners is comic gold. Nothing would be better than seeing you put those skills to work for Temeraire. I'm waiting for the last book to arrive; I haven't been so excited and saddened for a story's conclusion since Harry Potter.

     I've read that you're reluctant to start on the film because you're worried the first movie would fail and you wouldn't get to make the other books into their own films. I could argue for your star power drawing in fans, or point out that multiple movie stories are becoming more normalized with franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and your own Hobbit. But I have another idea:

     Why not a mini-series?

     Game of Thrones has left a dragon-shaped hole in the public heart. What better way to fill it with an exciting epic of war, with talking dragons that are involved right from the start? I've every confidence that Weta could handle the Draconian effects needed to make this a reality. Please consider this. The fans are ready. The world is ready.

      I hope to see my favorite Celestial on the screen one day, large or small. It's all up to you, Mr. Jackson.

Best regards,
Shayna Shaw
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Jackson
Weta Digital Ltd.
P.O. Box 15208
9-11 Manuka Street
Miramar
Wellington 6022
New Zealand

Horray for minimal effort!

So, I saw Out of the Shadows last night.

But wait, there's more!

Let's get the good stuff out of the way, and yes, there will be spoilers. It was a significant improvement over the last movie. Bebop and Rocksteady were fun. Krang was fun. There was a lot less Megan O'Neil and a lot more Turtles. It was fun.

HOWEVER.

The plot was indescribably dumb. Once again, we have the turtles failing to mesh as a team. Haven't seen that before, except in every Turtle movie aside from #3. Not that there weren't other issues there. That is still the worst film.

While they fail to mesh, Shredder escapes jail (while being guarded by Casey Jones), only to meet Krang and agree to help the alien warlord take over earth, with almost no explanation or urging.

A return to classic dumb Shredder form.

After that, it's a misma of confusion and puns. Donatello's computer tells the turtles everything they'd ever need to know about Krang, Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, and everything else that comes their way. Never is there any questioning, or explanations. It's got plenty of fanservice, though, so original fans will get minimal enjoyment.

Quick sum up: Vern has taken credit for capturing Shredder in the last film, AKA bringing down a huge building in the middle of NYC. The turtles are mad that he's not sharing credit, even though Leo points out that he can't. April finds out uber-scientist Madea is working with Shredder. Shredder escapes from prison, meets Krang, immediately is like, 'yeah bruh, we'll take over the world, just help me destroy those blasted turtles.' Mikey wants to go outside, everyone else points out that they're basically monsters. Shredder turns Bebop and Rocksteady into mutants, and they're TOTALLY COOL with it. They LOVE it. Then it's a race across the globe to collect all the pieces of the yadda blah to bring the Technodrome here.

Yes, it's cool.

Shredder betrays Madea. April does nothing. Casey is there, does minimal sport-related stuff. Then Leo leans to use his brothers unique points of view, they save the world, and Krang betrays Shredder. The police give the turtles keys to the city in front of the Statue of liberty. Oh, and they all decide it's fine being turtles for no reason, after whining about it most of the film.

It's not good. But it's an improvement. At this rate we'll get a good turtles movie in 3 more films or so.

A week without internet. Sort of. Not really.

So, Bahamute and I got fiber optic internet installed last Saturday!

Except there's an outage and it won't actually work until this upcoming Saturday. But it's okay.

I have a small portable internet thing thanks to my cousins (message me if you're interested, it's a great deal), so we have limited access. Bahamute and I have caught up on some DVDs, and I've read  a lot more. Overall, a win.

We're going to see TMNT 2 tonight, and we've got plans with friends for the rest of the week. I can still blog at work. I even have some Rifftrax pre-downloaded on my Chromebooks. Life is good.

 Want to see Bones fight a giant rabbit?

I'll just have to work harder to get the blogs out every day. But I CAN DO IT!

Heartbeat

So, we've had a little more time to process the Pulse shooting. Not that any amount of processing is going to make this easier, better, or make any more sense.

"Everyone get out of pulse and keep running." That's what the club posted to it's Facebook page to help the patrons escape.  They may have saved lives. I use Facebook to crush candy.

33 of the 50 victims have been identified at the time I'm writing this.  Maybe more will be when it's actually posted. 'They' say the only sounds in the club are now the shuffling of the police and the phones of the dead. People trying to reach through a barrier no one may cross.

Thanks, Mr. Takei

There are plenty of reactions besides my stunned ramblings.  Trump wants to ban Muslim immigration, even though the shooter was born in America. Just in case this wasn't horrible enough. More are tweeting their congrats to death and murder. I'm not even shocked. Just sad.

Support happens, though. Go fund mes and blood donations.  If I can use a new take on an old phrase: We are here, Straight and Queer. There isn't any difference.

My best friend has summed things up better than I ever could:

"The first Pride was the Stonewall Riot. We remember a history of violence, conversion, rape, murder and the struggle to be seen simply a variation on a theme of love. A different way of walking through the world. 

We remember the kind of strength it takes to live authentically.

Be louder this Pride. Be bolder. Celebrate. Don't stay home.

As the lesbian feminists say "we are the daughters of the witches you failed to burn" "

One down, four to go

So, I've finished the first of my five books: Akira volume 2. And no, I haven't bought volume 3 yet. I have 4 more books to read before I get to do that. I'm still in the middle of The Fireman.

My issue now is I like to read something comic-y in the morning before work; something light and easy on the eyes. Maybe I'll finally re-read Sailor Moon. I own all of those, no need to worry about getting to my last book and having to buy more, like with Yu-Gi-Oh or Dragon Ball Z.

I'm also in the middle of Sailor Moon Crystal season 3. That won't get confusing!

It would be so easy to preorder Akira volume 3, have it ready for when I'm done with my five. But this isn't about easy.

Maybe it'll be nice to savor something for a bit. I get a lot of instant gratification these days. The pleasure of anticipation isn't uncommon, but it's not something I embrace. I wait years for movies or books when they're unpublished; waiting a few months for this won't be any different.

I don't want to start on Screwtape Letters until I'm done with The Fireman; I can do multiple novels at once, but it'll end up going slower overall. An old favorite like Sailor Moon or DBZ is my best bet.

Well, there's something to look forward to. More Sailor Moon!

Well, Sailor V, then Sailor Moon. I'm not an animal.

*Price is right loser music*

The Itch

I feel the itch. It’s creeping up my spine, down my arms, tingling along my fingers. It would be so easy to dial up Amazon, put in a pre-order for Akira volume 3: I’m almost done with the 2^nd volume. Just a few newspaper print pages stand between me and the end of every good story; a cardboard cover.

I made a promise. I’m being fiscally responsible. I’m still in the middle of 2 other books; one series of Midwestern ghost stories for my purse, one hefty apocalyptic Joe Hill novel for home. I have another manga on the way. Yu-Gi-Oh, my guilty pleasure. How do I explain that it’s more than stupid card games and censored sexuality?

The itch.

I’m not even done with Akira volume 2. We haven’t even seen Akira yet. Just the rebels and the military of post nuclear bomb (no not those two, another one) Neo-Toyko. But I have to know. The Movie won’t do. Will the movie cover the painful days Kaneda spent hidden with Kei, dodging cops and the military? The weeks Tetsuo spent in blinding pain building up a murderous gang, his induction into the facility, his numbering, his growing power and escape?

Probably. But not as slowly or delicately. Not with the black and white intensity on those tissue pages.

What about The Fireman? Harper and her burning dragonscale disease? The baby inside her, waiting to see if it can be born before its mother bursts into flames? The mysterious trick-or-treaters passing out hope and prenatal vitamins dressed as Tony the Tiger and Captain America? What about the rest of the world, charred and cindered? 

I don’t ache. I don’t burn. I itch. I dig into those pages, scratch the surface of another mind, balm myself in words. 

I’ll hold off. Maybe I can blaze through my Fireman, burn through two hells, and ride a dragon to fiery glory at the end. 

I will scratch that itch.