AMI - BLA

Is it just me or are they trying harder - and getting raunchier - with the new season of "Rick & Morty", now exclusively on HBO Max?

JC asked who I'm supporting in the World Cup. The Socceroos, of course. Japan and Croatia because I have Japanese and Croatian family. Denmark and South Korea 'cos those are the languages/cultures I primarily study...except the Danes didn't qualify! And Iraq since I want their fairytale under Aussie coach Graham Arnold to continue. C'mon, the Iraqeroos! If you think that list is too long, JC's was even longer :-)

First time I had read this Ami mag (ish #7). Well written and edited compared to other retro pubs. New info worth knowing - the interviews with the four ex-Graftgold staff were tops. Old subjects worth revisiting. Gave me an immediate feel for the "Amiga POV" team. Minimal dud humour. PG is gonna collect it, so I'll hopefully borrow each of his issues.  

Funnily enough, there are notable similarities with the previous flick I saw, "The 4:30 Movie" (e.g. learning to understand friends, the adventure of cinema, the film-making urge). Unlike Smith's picture, "Anaconda" largely succeeds in its aims. Sure, it's Hollywood predictable, but the gags/action sequences/emotional exchanges are properly set up - or earnt, as they say - and generally land. The celeb-guest turns are also waaay more effective. 6/10

This oversized omnibus from the dude behind "Tower Dungeon" reminded me of the work of French artists like Moebius and Druillet that astonished and puzzled young Addster in the late '80s. As with "T/D", "Blame" was initially all about the architecture - grand yet intricate, filled with eerie alien emptinesses... Until, that is, I slowly began to decipher what was going on in the wider tale from Kyrii's brief, significant encounters with other dwellers in the seemingly unending artificial landscape. AMAZING.

The 1h28m wasted?

Should I score this teen comedy 4.3/10? 3.4 would be closer to the truth. While the central romance is sweet, the lead actress has a million-dollar smile, Ken Jeong makes the most of a typical Ken Jeong role, and the cameos from KS alumni aren't unwelcome, the simple fact is it isn't funny. A sudden pro-wrestling move is perhaps the only genuinely amusing moment. I never bought the lead the actor. The situations mostly feel forced. Conversations lack that weirdly fascinating quality of Smith at his best. The fake cinema trailers and film-within-a-film are meh. The soundtrack is like the beginnings of a good soundtrack, but only the beginnings. Even the aforementioned cameos are kinda wasted. Basically, it needed a lot of rewriting and polishing. Don't listen to any John Hughes comparisons. "The 4.30 Movie" has none of the charm of a JH production, replacing it with crude humour I won't call "stoner humour" for fear of insulting stoners.

Disclaimer: It's currently averaging 6/10 on IMDb and 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, so clearly plenty of folks disagree with my assessment. If you're one of them, more power to ya. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man.

Heart Strings XIX

Nearing its milestone 20th edition!

1. Anne Aston on the cover of a "TV Times" magazine from 1967.

2-3. Cara Delevingne in the music video for "I Forgot" / "Out Of My Head".

4. Jessica Chastain as Merida from "Brave" for a Disney promotion. (She was also in Heart Strings II - a decade ago! - aiming an arrow in the fillum "Winter's War".)

5-6. Lara Croft statue available on Etsy.

7. Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in "The Rings Of Power".

8. Zendaya in an advert for Lancome.

Snake hips & venomous quips

I thought I'd used that title. The archive search function says otherwise. Perhaps I dreamt it.

--

Craving more bebopping cowboyness, I gave the 2021 live-action series another chance. After all, the biggest "C/B" fan I knew, RS2, had deemed it passable. I also recalled dear old Dad, who preferred fantasy to scifi, digging it enough to complete. It turned out the 10 episodes were fine for helping this escapist linger in that high-tech, low-life (to borrow a phrase) galaxy with a dysfunctional crew of struggling bounty hunters a little longer. 

The l-a series is essentially a greatest-hits package that makes a couple of key mistakes: connecting/explaining too much and concentrating more on the Syndicate plotline, which was always the least interesting. Can't fault the casting, however. I wasn't sure about Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine at first, but her charisma won me over. Did you know the show was filmed entirely in New Zealand? No, me neither, until I read it yesterday.

Tirade Federation

COMIC COVERS OF THE WEEK

It's all about rebellious chicks and symbolic skulls, apparently. "Black Cat" by J. Scott Campbell and "Skate Ali" by Jamie McKelvie.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"The Times" by Florrie (UK).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yBlNUaW7r4

Commended >>> "Cowgirl" by Shaboozey (US), "Rain Check" by Lawrence feat. Quinn XCII (US), "Skyjaborg" live session by Asgeir (Iceland), "Go" by Uranus feat. Tsetse (Mongolia).

Thinking of using one of my genie wishes to bring into existence a second sequel to "Romancing The Stone", with a theme song by Lawrence.

BIRTHDAY LEGO OF THE WEEK

A crank allows you to rotate the background carp so they jump over the arch. Legend says that a fish which can do so will be transformed into a dragon.

Resurrect your darlings

If the first box set was a romp, the second was a grind. Don't take that as an entirely negative appraisal. It was like...rightio, you've gotten to know the protagonists and antagonists, now the latter are going to put the former through hell, presumably so our heroes can save the day in the fourth box set (after additional science-fictional complications and suffering in the third). Thumbs up for Stewart, Osgood and Bambera. Thumbs down for the dull Dominators and crap Quarks.

Neanderthal master, human apprentice

VIEWING

Read King's novel a few times in my youth. I was happy with this adapto from last year. And by happy, I mean traumatised all over gain. Every death was painful. Come the end, my eyes were misty. You can thank the terrific casting and acting for that. OK, there were moments of overacting, but I found I could rationalise 'em away as atypical behaviour caused by the extreme circumstances of the story. The plot changes didn't worry me, and the depiction of a corrupted American heartland felt very real. Critics who wanted more explanation of the contest and its prize, Major and his soldiers etc. are idiots. "The Long Walk" is about resilience, mateship and free will, not technicalities. Closing ballad "Took A Walk" by Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr. was an enriching bonus.

UNBOXING

Cha Hae-In from "Solo Leveling" arrived this morning.

ADMIRING

Frieren as Vermeer's "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by Tsukasa Abe.

LEARNING

Duolingo has added Chess instruction. While I've known the basics since I was a small boy, I'd never been formally taught a scrap of strategy (only picked up the odd tip from observing others). It's fun!

What's one letter?

The new "Masters Of The Universe" flick opened in Aussie cinemas today. I've been a fan of the franchise from the beginning; it launched when I was 11. One of my spoilt childhood chums had *every* "M/O/T/U" toy. I didn't. My modest collection was limited to: a battle-scarred Ram Man another pal had made his parents replace, a Webstor I bought myself (his grappling hook and climbing backpack were the irresistible attraction), and a bootleg figure who was a purple lizard guy that I received from an aunt. 

"Master Of The Universe" by Hawkwind (1971)

I am the centre of this universe
The wind of time is blowing through me
And it's all moving relative to me
It's all a figment of my mind
In a world that I've designed
I'm charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad or is it me?

I am the creator of this universe
And all that it was meant to be
So that we might learn to see
This foolishness that lives in us
And stupidity that we must suss
How to banish from our minds
If you call this living I must be blind.

Wealth extraction

Finished my rewatch of "Cowboy Bebop". Released back in 1998-99 and still rules. When A.I. destroys the anime industry as we know it, we will lose the possibility of rogue masterpieces like this. The relentlessly stylish visuals, the jazz-pop soundtrack, the fantastic world building worn lightly, the diversity in the 26 eps, the unexpectedness of some scenes, the ambiguities and persisting mysteries...the absolute vibe of the thing.

Breems & vorns

Ummm, sooo, it appears I am now collecting all 151 Gen 1 Pokemon (any printing) in cardboard form to go into a nifty zip-up case, and zillions of others digitally in "Pokemon TCG Pocket" on my new iPad.

Addster's Top 5 Pokemon...at this early stage

1. Snorlax

2. Magikarp

3. Mr Mime

4. Gengar

5. Koqpunch

Matters arising

If you haven't seen this playful 2022 documentary about a Scottish case from the '90s involving a truly bizarre deception, don't Google, just view-gle!

Same, worse, better, same

Is the Japanese poster for "The Last Starfighter" superior to the US original? That's a matter of opinion. It's certainly excellent in its way; focusing more on the aliens and spaceships than the unlikely human hero. Is the working title of the fillum - "Centauri's Recruit" - vastly inferior? Objectively, yes.

RS1 and I managed to meet up for an unprecedented second day of card slinging. We held our own "Spider-Man" prerelease, then "TMNT" prerelease, then "Secrets Of Strixhaven" prerelease, then a final showdown utilising decks constructed from all of those card pools combined. We each won two best-of-three matches, which was the right result, IMO. What a shame it'll be 2027 before we get to play junk-fuelled, geek-talkin', high-stakes*, kitchen-table "MTG" again.

*Nah, not really.