Things to Entertain
Welcome to spring, friends. The little man has begun to roll, which is wonderful and exciting and a source of terror and dread. In part because now he is mobile, and in part because it opens the door for increased mobility and puts some real pressure on the us to finish baby-proofing the house. That said, it's cute and he gets so happy rolling about. It's great.
Spring racing season is upon us, and I have a fuller calendar than I'd anticipated. Sole of the City 10k right before my birthday (and Jeff will be running with me!), then off to Disney World for the Springtime Surprise challenge (5k, 10k, and 10-miler), and finally the Frederick Half Marathon Nut Job Challenge (5k, then half marathon). I'm excited for the Disney runs, mostly because it means a fun family trip--the first!--to Florida.
Speaking of Florida, Gouge Away have returned with their first full-length since Burnt Sugar in 2018, and it's killer. This band has had its hooks in me since , Dies dropped in 2016, and their progression has been wonderful to see. Deep Sage mixes hardcore with shoegaze and other quieter elements to really serve as an excellent backdrop for the range of emotions on display in the lyrics. One of my favorites so far this year, check it out.
Anyway, with that out of the way, I've found myself watching a lot more at least somewhat current media, which feels unusual.
Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender
Hoo boy. Look, I love the original Avatar animated series and its sequel series. I was cautiously optimistic about this live-action version: the casting was far better than the abysmal live-action film, the original creators were on-board. And then they dropped out. But hey, maybe it would still turn out ok! The trailers and teasers looked like they nailed the aesthetic, at least!
The 8 episode series that we ended up with felt like a checklist of moments without an understanding of what made those moments work, or resonate with fans. It may seem like a small example, but one of the final scenes we get has Katara make a joke about Sokka's insatiable hunger. Classic Sokka! Except this is the first time it's come up in the series.
A more egregious change, and one that I think highlights the inherent issues in this adaptation, is the entirety of Sokka's story in episode 2, where our heroes meet the Kyoshi warriors. In the original, Sokka is straight up a sexist, misogynistic jerk. This episode does a lot of work to help him grow and unlearn some of this, starting a process that leads to fundamental change for his character through the series. That is all but nonexistent in Netflix's version. Sokka's character is flattened to the point of being a Wikipedia summary of him. It's disappointing, and does not bode well for the 2 additional seasons Netflix greenlit.
RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop
RoboCop is one of my all-time favorite movies, if not my number one. I missed that this doc was turned into a series, so I'm a little late getting to it, but I'm glad it got stretched out into 4 hour-plus episodes. I'm not sure this is going to convert anyone who wasn't already into Paul Verhoeven's gloriously violent sci-fi satire into a fan, but for those who are already on board this is a really fun, entertaining, and interesting look into the creation of a truly terrific movie.
Mythic Quest
This had been on my radar for a little while, since Sam suggested it would be up my alley. He was right. Over-the-top workplace comedy with enough gaming-specific jokes to work for the nerds in the room (hi), while I think still being accessible for someone who doesn't care about the gaming industry and just wants to see Danny Pudi shine as a Machiavellian head of monetization.
Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you next time!