TV And Films

The shows and movies I like (or don’t).

Subtitle Stinginess

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Somewhat niche personal pet peeve: The little “special features may not be captioned/subtitled” on home media releases. Why do studios seem to operate under the assumption that only people with perfect hearing will be interested in the behind-the-scenes goodies (or that even people with perfect hearing will never be in a situation where they want to pop subtitles on for some reason)?

If I could make a comfortable living off of it (or if I was independently wealthy and could do what I want), I’d love to have a subtitling/captioning business making sure that all parts of a home media release, including all special features (featurettes, specials, trailers, commentaries…it’s particularly nice when commentary tracks are subtitled, so that it’s possible to watch a movie with the original audio but with the commentary subtitles, or vice versa) had subtitle/caption options.

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📚 18/2021: _Shadows on the Sun_ by Michael Jan Friedman ⭐️⭐️ #startrek 🖖

Didn’t really care for a McCoy still blindly obsessed over his ex after decades, or the markedly somber tone of the crew’s return to Earth following the events of STVI:TUC. Very much a downer of a story.

On Talented Hackery

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A few minor edits to this paragraph from John Scalzi’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League: Review and it very nicely sums up my attitude towards all of Zack Snyder’s films:

…that’s the real problem with [Zack Snyder’s] films. They look great [but] I find it hard to give a shit about any of them. I don’t hate them, but I don’t especially like them either…. They exist, and that’s about it. The problem with [Zack Snyder’s] films is not that they’re dour but that they’re empty. They’re not compellingly written, either in the larger plot sense or the smaller character sense, and when you’re done watching them, most of what you’re left with is a sense that you sure looked at something expensive.

I find Snyder to be a very talented hack. What he does, he does very well. Unfortunately, what he does holds very little appeal for me. And with his vision as the guiding force between most of the DC movie universe, it’s never been a particular surprise to me that I’ve not really enjoyed any of the ones I’ve seen, and haven’t been terribly motivated to watch those I’ve missed.

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📚 14/2021: The Folded World by Jeff Mariotte ⭐️⭐️ #startrek #tos

Mostly a trek through a haunted house, with weird vistas and spooky monsters or villains jumping out. Some odd characterizations that seemed a bit off. Not horrible, but not a standout, either.

Reading in Pandemicland

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A few weeks ago, I spoke to a student reporter from UW about Norwescon, reading habits, and how my own reading habits have changed as I aged and as the pandemic hit. While the conversation was a lot longer than the one quote that made it in, at least I wasn’t cut completely, and got a mention of Norwescon in front of UW students — so mission accomplished, I say!

Escaping through the pages:

Science fiction, dystopia’s similar but more optimistic counterpart, is also seeing an increase in popularity during the pandemic, much to the excitement of seasoned fans everywhere. 

Every year, Seattle hosts the Pacific Northwest’s regional science fiction and fantasy convention Norwescon. Michael Hanscom, longtime convention attendee, volunteer, and secretary of this year’s virtual event, has been turning to the familiar, curiosity-driven world of “Star Trek” since the beginning of quarantine in order to cope with reality.

“This is not always quality sci-fi; this is absolutely escapism,” Hanscom said, gesturing to his bookshelves filled with “Star Trek” paraphernalia during our Zoom interview. “I think 80% of my reading last year was ‘Star Trek’ novels because I couldn’t concentrate on anything more weighty than that. With everything going on and being locked down at home, I needed that escapism. I needed to get away.”

Once More With Feeling: Joss Whedon is a Jerk

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For no reason at all (ahem), some old links I had laying around…

From 2017: My new album…

My new album, Joss Whedon Kind Of Really Sucks and Even Though I Have and May Continue to Enjoy Some of His Shows or Aspects of His Shows That Doesn’t Mean That I Don’t Need To Recognize How They Have A Lot of Problematic Elements, is coming out next week!

From 2017: I’m looking at screenshots…

The problem is that at some point in his career, Joss became so intent on the masochistic fantasy of being hated by strong women for being a nerd that he spent a decade writing stories about violating those women to ensure they would hate him.

From 2009 (content warning for late 00’s-era Cracked.com over-the-top snark with lots of I’m-cool-because-I-swear profanity and problematic language): 5 Reasons It Sucks Being a Joss Whedon Fan

Yeah, Buffy kicked unholy ass, Zoe was Mal’s Terminatrix-like enforcer, Faith begat Echo and Echo is the baddest ass Kung Fu Whore TV has ever seen, and yet, aside from the fact these girls have done some push ups and punched masculinity in its shriveled balls time and again, the idea that Whedon is some sort of hyper-feminist stinks….

I’m not mocking or disparaging those who are just now learning just how problematic Joss Whedon is (though it’s presented in a different context, I always try to keep XKCD’s Ten Thousand comic in mind); nor do I look down on those who still find things in Whedon’s work that they enjoy (there’s still a lot of Buffy that I enjoy, from the original film through most of the show and Angel).

I’ve said before that I believe it’s entirely possible to enjoy problematic media and media created by problematic creators; you just have to be willing to recognize those areas where they fall down, rather than ignoring or glossing over them because of the parts you enjoy.

Much of Whedon’s work, particularly Buffy, was groundbreaking and formative for many people, and that can make it hard to recognize and confront the failings of both the media and the creator. (Most recently, Harry Potter fans sure know something about this situation.) So if these things are new to you and you’re struggling with how to process them, and how they may affect your enjoyment of the media you grew up with? You’re not alone.

Maybe you’ll keep these things as part of your life, maybe you’ll decide you’d rather move on to new things and leave these as part of your past. As long as you’re recognizing why and making these decisions for yourself, there’s no wrong answer (though some may try to convince you otherwise).

As I noted above, there’s a lot about Buffy that I still enjoy; similarly, there’s a lot about the Harry Potter universe that I still enjoy. For myself, I’m not going to wholeheartedly expunge either from my life. But neither will I shy away from recognizing where they don’t hold up to my current ideals and standards, and I will continue to minimize the financial support I give to their creators. What you decide, of course, is up to you.

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📚 2/2021: The Dark Veil by James Swallow ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #startrek

A year after the attack on Mars and Picard’s retirement, Riker and the Titan (including Troi and Thad, their first child) face off with Romulans while assisting a mysterious alien ship. More good backstory building.

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🖖 Discovery S03E12 and E13: Well, it ended well, at least for the last five minutes of wrap-up. And there were some good bits scattered through the rest of these final two episodes. But on the whole, this season started strong, lost its way midway, and kind of fizzled out.