Tag Archives: Television

Addictive Behavior

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I had every intention of being very busy and productive over this past weekend. Some of what I planned on doing was being on here and getting more posts lined up. Clearly I failed at that. I was thinking about it and I genuinely believe it had everything to do with a level of addictive behavior from me.

I know there are folks out there that will think this is a pile of nonsense. I half agree honestly, but I want to put it out there because edging toward understanding is important.

I really think that I have addictive behavior and tendency when it comes to watching television. It’s a feeling I have. Don’t know how to explain it. I’m not generally an addictive personality but I AM a complete child of media. When you see those memes about GenX being that “lost” generation that were the first of the latch key kids? That’s me. Come home, let yourself in, lock the door and entertain yourself until we get home from work. It’s not good or bad – not trying to judge here, just giving context. It’s also when MTV started (among many other networks you may feel have “always” existed). I watched a lot of television, saw a lot of movies and this learned behavior has stuck with me ever since.

So what I’m saying is that, as stupid as it sounds, I really can’t break away from TV. I find myself floating back to it even when I *know* there’s not a damn thing worth watching. Then I get all depressed and disappointed when the stuff I watch is total shit. I know this probably sounds even sillier when you couple it with the facts that I was a Nielssen household member at one point AND I write a monthly piece for Watch The Skies called “You Should Be Watching” where I suggest fandom related content to go and check out.

This past weekend I estimate that I watched somewhere between 16 and 20 hours of TV. Maybe more. I lost track of all the stuff I streamed across YouTube. That’s way, way too much. I know this. I couldn’t help myself. I lost all productivity as I jumped from movies to football games to binge watching a cartoon series on Netflix (yes, both seasons of it). Football is really tough to sit through these days, but I did it. All four playoff games. Yes, some of it was likely to become history as very famous players end their careers, but it’s just a mess to watch. The ad time alone has stupid marketing stuff swirling in my head (OK – I’ll give the Tag Team ad props – it makes me laugh more than it should). I saw the new film “Outside the Wire” and it wasn’t bad… it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. I watched Bill and Ted Face the Music. I had really high hopes for it… and those really high hopes weren’t matched.

In the end I just came away sort of sad and numb with nothing to show for my time.

I am thankfully not addicted to other things in that way, but this is a small step toward understanding what folks struggling with addiction deal with. It’s not easy to deal with. It changes how I feel physically and emotionally. I’m going to work hard at shrugging this episode off and try to limit how much time I spend with the TV. Yes, I’m going to keep working the Should Be Watching stuff. No, I won’t take the TV out of the house (the only way I know to stop an addiction – take away the thing you’re addicted to and don’t have access). I am not the only person living here with a desire to be passively entertained from time to time… I just can’t let it be ALL the time. Thankfully this IS something that can be controlled.

IF you’re struggling with something, stick with the plan you have to be better. Keep working at staying away. There will be tough days, but don’t let those days beat you. Be strong.

You Should Be Watching

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This was previously published in Watch The Skies fanzine – November 2020

As we wrap up our final fanzine of 2020 I wanted to move away from some of the things I have been recommending lately that definitely skew younger and generally more positive. Saying you ‘should’ be watching this one will be considered a stretch by more than a few folks.

The Titan is a cerebral science fiction film that appeared under the radar back in 2018. Starring Sam Worthington, Taylor Schilling and Tom Wilkinson. The film, set in the relatively near future of 2048, is the story of scientific research to save the human race by expanding into space. Normally when you see this theme it involves either finding a Goldilocks planet (and getting there) or going to a distant planet and changing it to meet our physical needs. This film does neither of those things, but rather comes at the problem of adaptability by attempting to change the biological function of the people going to the planet.

The characters in the film are all forced to look at and deal with what physical adaptation means, how that effects many of the aspects of life and how to change their lives here before departing the planet. There are a number of times where one could draw comparisons to somebody like Frankenstein attempting to manipulate the core of what makes us live. There are also a number of questions about what actually makes us human. Do humans have to breath oxygen? Are you still human if you can’t speak? If you can’t see the way others do? If you can’t remember the people you love?

The movie is not action based. The characters are diverse. The special effects and body prosthetics toward the end of the film are very well done. Yes, there are a number of plot holes and unanswered questions when we get to the end of the film. I can’t say that this was one of the best films I’ve seen, but it certainly meets the criteria of giving a lot of things to talk about. If you have access to Netflix, you should be watching The Titan.

Careful Curation

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It’s been almost a decade since I moved off strictly paper and onto an e-reader platform. I’ve been writing about it for just as long – back when the Pretend Blog was a Live Journal page and not my own site (check it out if you’re into old news). I’ve long been considering what I want to have as part of a physical collection of things in my home and what I don’t have a desire to physically handle. There are some things that are inherently tactile, and those that are not. There are some that you’ll want to have a copy of, just to be sure you’ve always got access to that copy of it.

Books, and many other forms of entertainment media fall into this category. I’m going to tie books and movies and television together on this one as electronic media actually makes the same argument for a physical copy of something in each case. The most recent thing that has come up for debate is animation or films. Here in the digital age we (nominally) have access to all the media that has gone before. Remember a show from your childhood? Look it up and check it out. Want to watch an entire ‘season’ of a show without waiting? Binge it on Netflix. Have a tradition of watching something every year? Just flip on the TV and go! Right?

Well ~ that’s what’s gotten everyone’s attention right now. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will NOT be shown on network TV this year for the first time since 1966. That’s right – 54 years in a row and not this year. Television has been part of the American household for so many decades at this point that there are generations of people that have watched the same shows as part of their favorite holiday season. It is something they never miss.

They never miss until some massive corporation decides they want you to pay for it again and again rather than allowing the ‘payment’ to be in the form of watching advertising. Apple has decided they’re going to miss it this year. Sure, there’s some Byzantine way to give up some of your personal information and sign up for a “free” version of a service and watch the show on your computer – IF you can get the app to load right, if your internet is strong enough for streaming like that, if you have a device that allows more than one person at a time to watch comfortably, if you really feel like going through all that…

Not so much…

There’s this assumption that everyone is on board with paying for all these services and bending technology to their will in order to enjoy the chosen form of media. Then there’s the assumption that people will only want to see that when the company that has purchased the rights says it’s acceptable to see it. Then you will be able to see it, but only in the way or format that the company that purchased the rights deems acceptable. There are now content warnings in front of old movies. Smoking is listed under movie ratings now in case you don’t want your child to see that. They control and edit what version of the media you get to see.

It’s the way things are moving. I’m not entirely opposed to the way things are moving. I think there are a few things that border on the ludicrous, but the truly ridiculous generally resolves itself over time. What worries me is that people consider this loss of continuity in media to be the loss of their personal tradition. Wrapping up your tradition (happiness?) in something that belongs to others is dangerous.

It was Halloween season and we were down for good old scary movies. I wanted to show my daughter a great older movie the other day and was disappointed to discover that I didn’t actually own a copy. Fine, we’ll pull it up on a streaming service and watch it there. Only it’s now behind a pay wall. I can subscribe for an additional $5 per month OR I can buy a DVD copy off Amazon and have it shipped to me for about the same cost. There are times when owning a personal copy of something really matters. I don’t want to wait until some corporation decides it’s time to watch a movie. I want to allow our family traditions to grow and develop and continue without the influence of whatever is going on in the general media.

So I’ll be ordering a copy of ‘great pumpkin’ on DVD to be sure we can watch it when we want. I’ll get a copy of the movie that’s good enough to stick in my memory for 15+ years. I’ll be sure that when I want to watch something, read something, listen to something that I’ve got a copy here. Most of these things will still be digital, but they’ll be here when the time is right.

What’s the biggest gap in your collection?

You Should Be Watching

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This was previously published in Watch The Skies fanzine – October 2020

It’s October and ‘spooky’ season is here. This year is looking like it’s going to play out differently than years past. I suspect there will be a greater number of folks than normal staying in and looking for some entertainment that matches the spirit of the season.

I happily recommend the horror / comedy Vampires vs. the Bronx. This movie is the story of three friends living in a neighborhood that is rapidly changing. They’re faced with routine challenges of daily life combined with the encroachment of a corporation that is trying to buy out all the business and people they know. The heroes are attempting to save the local shop they’ve grown up in from being pushed out. While canvasing for an upcoming party they discover the truth – vampires are behind the big business and need to be stopped!

The story is a fun romp. The villains are clearly the villains, the hero is clearly the hero. The issues kids deal with are part of the story as well. It’s nice to see a horror story that doesn’t immediately discount the use of cell phones and their place in our current society. It is reminiscent of Stranger Things, but on a lighter, shorter story arc. There is danger not just from the vampires, but also from day to day life. If you’ve got a tween or an early teen this is definitely a film that should be checked out for the Halloween season.

You Should Be Watching

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This article was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – September 2020

I gave sincere consideration to putting the Netflix movie Project Power in here this month. It seemed like pandering to me. Diversity is extremely important. Representation in science fiction, fantasy and comic book based stories matters. Project Power is a great science fiction action movie – go watch it – but it’s not what I’m going to emphasize today. Today we talk about the Spanish movie Unknown Origins.

Unknown Origins is the story of a detective who must find a serial killer. The serial killer is recreating comic book origin stories as his murder scenes. The detective’s best hope in cracking the case comes from the nerdy comic book loving son of a fellow officer. It’s part buddy cop film and part love letter to comics and cosplay. As the story unfolds we get to dig deeper in to the lives and relationships that drive each of the people involved in this case while trying to solve the mystery.

This movie has a lot of very fun moments in it. I’m not going to give any specific examples as I don’t want to give any of the best lines away – and there are a couple of very good lines in there. It’s not a long movie, clocking in just around an hour and a half, but it packs a lot of stuff into a very short time. The creators have a few bits that land in the area of stereotype, but then they knock the edges off of them and give a few touching moments in the film. It definitely has a viewpoint that could be called ‘defensive’ as far as comics and cosplay goes.

The mystery itself is very, very well written. I thought I had it all figured out and was completely wrong. I had used some of the clues laid out in the movie, but I didn’t pick the right ones. I asked my wife to tell me her theory as soon as she thought she had it figured out. She used a different set of clues that were laid out in the background and came up with an incorrect answer as well. I have seen at least one other review out there that said they’d figured out the mystery right away, essentially as soon as they saw that one character. Perhaps I need to watch more mysteries, but to me it was refreshing to have a mystery that kept us guessing right up to the big reveal.

I recommend watching this movie in the original Spanish with subtitles. I watched the trailer with English dub and it just lost something in the translation. I also recommend hanging around until the very end. There’s a post credits scene, just as there is with any good comic book film!

You Should Be Watching

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This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – August 2020

Great artwork for the apocalypse!

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.


I will admit that hearing a statistics type description for this show might make it sound unappealing. It’s an animation with a Y-7 rating, meaning it’s generally aimed at an audience of ten year old kids. That does not tell the story at all.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a Dreamworks production that currently has two seasons on Netflix. It is the story of Kipo and her adventures in a post apocalyptic world. Humans do not dominate here as they did some two hundred years ago – they are now the bottom of the food chain and have moved into underground ‘burrows’ to survive. On the surface of the world mutations have created outlandishly over-sized plant life and many powerful ‘mute’ factions. If you want to survive in the world you’ve got to stay on your toes. You’ll need to deal with all manner of mutes roaming around and staking out territory. The world is a dangerous place for humans.

Kipo’s adventure begins when she finds herself suddenly outside of her burrow. She begins to wander the surface world and has to deal with a knowledge loving wolf pack, timber cats that love pancakes, giant two headed flamingos, mod frogs, scooter skunks, deathstalkers and of course a giant six armed monkey. That really just scratches the surface of the weird. Kipo is also musically inclined. There are a number of episodes that contain songs, musical inspirations for characters and (yes, sadly) even Karaoke. Eventually Kipo teams up with a number of other surface folks to help her along her journey as she attempts to find her way back home.

This show is light, fun and relentlessly positive. Each episode clocks in under a half an hour so it’s also a great show to squeeze in when you might not otherwise get to sit and watch something. It is genuinely the sort of show that feels like a perfect fit for the current times. Grab some popcorn and turn this show on when you want to smile!

You Should Be Watching

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This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – July 2020

Netflix has been dominating in the production and release of new works. It has recently released two comic adaptations, and I am going to recommend one of them. Warrior Nun was released at the beginning of July and it has committed the most egregious of transgressions. It just stops. You invest, you watch, you reach the 10th episode and it just stops. There is no ending and there is no part two. Netflix as a network churns shows at a massive rate and even reasonably successful shows never get more episodes made. I can’t in good conscience recommend Warrior Nun. Instead, I can and will say that you should invest two hours and watch the movie The Old Guard.

The movie tells part of the story of Andromache the Scythian (Andy), an immortal warrior and the other immortal warriors that make up her small team. These warriors join various battles across time working toward some unknown, unclear goal. They fight, sometimes they are killed and every time they survive to move on to another battle in another place at another time. There is no competition between them, there is a connection and a drive to find others. They may not understand the goal, but they do understand the battles. The film itself takes place in modern times. A new immortal warrior is found and the team sets out to fight a new, modern battle.

The movie is self contained. The story, the clips of history, character motivations and action all fit neatly into the allotted time. The acting, the action and the emotion is all extremely well done. The writer of the comic was also the writer that adapted the story for the screen. I believe that genuinely helped make this tight package successful. The actors were all fantastic. Fair warning for those that don’t like action / violence / fighting – there’s a lot of it in this movie. They are after all warriors. Fighting is what they do, and they are very good at it.

Another part of what makes this story work is that we buy in on what the characters are feeling. They are numb to the violence that surrounds them, but they’re all still searching. Living for hundreds and hundreds of years has not dulled the need for them to connect. They have each other, but connections to others slip away as people age and die while the warriors stay as they have always been. Pain and loss are constant companions. Searching for family and a place to fit with others gives this decidedly action flick enough depth to keep non-action fans on board.

The movie isn’t perfect, but it’s easily worth the time to watch it. Yes, there is a set up at the end for more but you can be satisfied with the ending as it stands. I hope the film is successful enough that they decide to produce more. I would love to see the old guard in action again. This is definitely a movie you should be watching.

Watch Party

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Do you actually put it in a bucket at your house?

The longer I go, the more I accept that I enjoy doing many things on my own. I am clearly headed directly to the land of curmudgeon ~ however there can be something said for a shared experience. Having the musical Hamilton released on a streaming service lately brought that into focus for me. During these trying days of “shelter in place” and “social distance” to avoid the plague those shared experiences can be difficult to find. To enable that, some people have turned to technology. What did we do for Hamilton? A Watch Party.

You can’t have your friends over to watch a movie any more. So? Jump on your streaming service of choice and have a watch party… except.

I like the concept of the watch party for certain circumstances. Those circumstances are remarkably similar to when I’d actually like to go and see a movie with somebody… that is to say not very often. A watch party exacerbates the one thing I really hate about watching a movie with others. You’re listening intently in the middle of a deep and moving scene and the person next you says, “Wait. I thought she didn’t like that guy…” or “I think I missed something. What’s he doing that for?”.

Rage.

Just watch the movie. Nobody knows because we haven’t seen it before. Shut up and pay attention. Stop distracting me from my experience. NO, I don’t want to chat about it now, I’ll wait until the end thank you.

Now – If I’ve seen the movie in question before and we’d like to all watch it together to talk about various parts of the film, that’s fine. If it’s a goofy comedy and you’re tipping a couple of adult beverages back on a Saturday night and you want to share that with some friends, excellent plan.

Technology then becomes the barrier.

Are you all on the same streaming service? Are you all in the same region? Yes – services like Netflix change what they have to offer by region. Are you in the same time zone? My daughter is communicating with some students in other countries and they’re off our time by 6 hours. When can we all actually do this? Schedules are still a real thing, even if you can’t go out to do certain activities anymore. Technology is the main barrier here. What platform will you use for watching? Are you all on Discord? Oh, wait, I thought we were doing this through the Chrome app… But what about Facebook? Wait – I run my streaming service through a Roku, how does that work? I don’t want to sit at my computer screen when I have a large TV in a room with a comfy recliner. There are lots of folks out there making this work, but it is very dependent on shared tech and preferred method of consuming media. I suspect this shared preference will not be something that happens to me much as we go forward.

I am not opposed to the concept of the watch party. I don’t suspect I’ll find myself participating in many. I like to view a film and talk about it later, perhaps watching it again for a more nuanced view. Enjoy the entertainment for what it is. Get drawn in by a good story. Go along for the ride… tweet about it when you’re done. Your phone won’t miss you and ‘yousuckland’… I mean twitter, will be there when you’ve got time.

In the end, you could also try reading a good book and joining a group to chat about that. Those don’t seem to have changed as much as the movie going society.

You Should Be Watching

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This post was originally published in Watch The Skies fanzine – June 2020

You Should Be Watching OR more precisely, you should watch again.

Netflix has recently made the Nickelodeon show Avatar – The Last Airbender available for viewing. Airbender is an animated series following the journey of Aang, the last of the air nomads as he travels a world where adepts have the ability to change the elements around them using a form of martial arts known as bending. Aang is the Avatar, a person who has the ability to blend all forms of bending (earth, water, air and fire) together. His quest? Save the world.

I originally watched the show with my daughter when it first aired back around 2008. As soon as the show became available we grabbed it up on DVD so we could revisit it when we wanted to. As happens with many discs, the show languished for us at the back of a dusty shelf. We did revisit an episode now and again, but less frequently than we might have. Since the show has popped up on Netflix we sat down and re-watched the entire series in order. It might be more than a decade old, but the show holds up.

This show is one of those rare animated series that combines so many parts that anyone in the family can enjoy it. The world building shows a fantasy world with a number of cultures. There are matters of daily life, holidays, politics and any other sort of thing you’d expect in a world. It’s a place that feels lived in. The characters are as varied as the cultures they visit. Diversity is on display without making a big deal about said diversity. Characters with physical differences and abilities were not treated as if they were somehow lacking, it was the spirit that mattered. As the heroes journeyed through three seasons of shows they dealt with corruption of those in power, sexism, love, loss vulnerability and the use of true power. Heroes can make mistakes. Villains can redeem themselves. Mistakes can be forgiven. I will even say that the ending was one of the most satisfying I’ve watched for any series.

If you’ve seen Avatar, it’s worth a re-watch. If you haven’t seen it you should seek it out.

“I’m not looking for anyone’s approval, I know who I am…” Toph Bei Fong (aka The Blind Bandit)

You Should Be Watching

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This article was previously published in Watch The Skies

There has been a lot of binge watching out there since folks have gone into isolation. The global pandemic has put a whole new focus on finding something to watch that doesn’t exacerbate the anxiety of the real world. A number of shows have leaped in popularity that might never have gotten the chance in the past simply for the lack of other entertainment. Many of those shows likely won’t last, but parts of them might endure. It’s difficult to predict. The same has always been the case with the big screen. Movies that “flop” in the theater become cult classics. Movies that people had modest hope for endure for generations. These movies can have an impact that lasts long after their run in the theater is done.

That lasting impact, in the form of physical objects, is the focus of the show Prop Culture now streaming on Disney+. The show hosted by Dan Lanigan digs into the physical props that remain from some Disney films that have had a significant impact on pop culture. The first season includes: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Mary Poppins, Tron, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Muppet Movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Chronicles of Narnia, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Dan digs in behind the scenes and hunts down various creators and actors to reconnect them with the objects that helped make these films great. Hats, swords, puppets, matte paintings and all manner of samples. Not all props are small either. Ten foot tall models, cars and tall ships are part of this as well. Seeing these real world things give both the creators and the viewer a very strong sense of nostalgia.

At a half hour in length these episodes are just the right length. They don’t drag and they don’t hold back for the sake of false anticipation. There are expected pieces along with little things that evoke strong emotions for all. Along with strong emotion there is a fun sense of humor. You get quotes like, “There’s a lot of bald yaks out there…” from a effects studio head. It hits all the right notes to help the viewer feel good after each episode.

If you have the opportunity and love to know more about the movies this show is definitely worth a look.