TV And Films

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

Milkshake Duck Status and Rationales

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For my own purposes, a (not comprehensive) list of currently known milkshake ducks in my media libraries, how I’m treating their work in my own consumption habits, and any rationales or justifications for these decisions. You may not agree with any or all of this, and that’s fine. This is kind of an exercise to help me figure out why I’ve made the decisions I have, and perhaps, whether I should rethink or change those.

This is being actively updated as my mind processes, and likely will continue to be updated as I think and if (or, unfortunately, when) more people out themselves as belonging to this category.

  • Scott Adams: General right-wing buffoonery, including sexism, racism, anti-science views, etc.
    Haven’t really paid much attention to him in years anyway, thanks to his eye-roll inducing rants, but do have the very fancy oversized 10-year anniversary collected Dilbert, which was last taken off the shelf to see if it was the right size to prop up part of our couch (it wasn’t). Will probably offload it at some point.
  • Woody Allen: Sexual abuse
    Not watching any new work or supporting by buying old work. Keeping and will occasionally rewatch old favorite films already in the collection. While I certainly don’t wish death upon him, his eventual passing will mean that I’ll be more easily able to justify finding those of his films that I know I enjoy but won’t purchase now.
  • Piers Anthony: Sexism, misogyny, pedophilic themes
    Any of Anthony’s books I had in my collection got booted years ago, after I started re-reading the Xanth series, got through the first two while getting increasingly uncomfortable, and then doing a little research and discovering just how bad it got. I couldn’t imagine having those on my shelves if any of my niblings ever went looking for something to read.
  • Orson Scott Card: Homophobia
    Not buying any new stuff, though I did pick up used copies of the first few Ender’s Game/Speaker for the Dead sequels and read some of them after reading those two Hugo winners (I think I still have some to go). From what I’ve seen, OSC hasn’t been nearly as vocal or influential as he once was, the Ender’s Game books are too foundational to my early SF reading to write them off, and my re-read for my Hugo best novel reading project confirmed just how good they are — and, interestingly, how drastically their message of inclusion contrasts with OSC’s statements. Unlike Anthony, whose beliefs are very obvious in his work, OSC’s work actually doesn’t hint at his personal beliefs (and in many ways, actually seems to contradict them), so it’s much easier for me to justify keeping his books on my shelves.
  • Neil Gaiman: Sexual abuse
    Still adjusting to this one. Won’t be buying, reading, or watching any new projects. Keeping books and films already in the collection, but it’ll probably be a while before I feel like re-reading anything (and just decided to skip his two Hugo award winning novels in my Hugo reading project).
  • J.K. Rowling: Transphobia
    Not buying, reading, watching, or otherwise supporting any projects. Haven’t ditched the Potter books or films already in the collection, but not re-reading the books (and just decided to skip her one Hugo-award winning Potter book in my Hugo reading project) or re-watching the films. Stopped subscribing to HBO’s Max streaming service in part because of their decision to move forward with a new Harry Potter series.
  • Dan Simmons: Islamophobia
    The same basic bucket as OSC: Not reading anything that isn’t already in my collection, but the Hyperion cantos was too mind-blowing to entirely ditch.

Asylum by Una McCormack

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72/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As always, Trek is at its best when it’s looking at modern issues through an SF lens. On the surface, this is about Pike and Number One at Starfleet Academy, paired with a later mission that ties back to those experiences. But when dealing with minority ethnic groups reacting to years of oppression, there’s a lot more there as well. Plus, of course, some very entertaining ties to wider Trek lore.

Me holding Asylum.

Wolfs

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🎥: Wolfs (2024): ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A thoroughly entertaining blend of Heat and Adventures in Babysitting. Clooney and Pitt play really well off each other. A good choice when you’re in the mood for a low-key action comedy.

Living Memory by Christopher L. Bennett

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69/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A mysterious and dangerous astral phenomenon threatens the Earth, and Spock, Uhura, and Chekov must try to solve a mystery that ends up being tied to Uhura’s forgotten past. Meanwhile, Kirk, overseeing Starfleet Academy, has to deal with some problematic new cadets. The Kirk-centric B-blot is okay, mostly interesting for fleshing out more of Kirk’s time between the films. The primary plot is more interesting, especially as it picks up the thread of how Uhura was affected by her loss of memory during the Nomad incident, something never (or very rarely) explored. That part of the story I very much enjoyed.

Me holding Living Memory

Twisters

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🎥 Twisters (2024): ⭐️⭐️

Oh, this was just dumb. Not that I expected much of it, but I was hoping for more enjoyably dumb instead of just…meh. Not so bad as to be a single star, just enough amusing moments for two stars, but definitely not any more than that.

Mad Max 2

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🎥 Mad Max 2 (1981): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

While the first now feels like an unnecessary origin story, this is where you can really see the world of the modern Mad Max movies taking shape in Miller’s mind. The homoeroticism and queer coded villains are simultaneously hilarious and cringy, but wow, did this film ever solidify an aesthetic. The car chases and stunts, along with the customized vehicles, really set the stage for what will come along a few decades later. Once again, I have no idea when I last watched this, but I enjoyed watching this one again more than I did the first film.

Deadpool & Wolverine

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🎥 Deadpool & Wolverine (2024): ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is not a good film. It’s two hours of profanity, obscene violence, and ludicrous fan service, with barely enough plot underlying it to string the fight scenes together. Basically, it’s a Marvel Cinematic Universe porno. It’s also rather entertaining, which I feel like I should feel bad about. I’m not disappointed to have watched it, but it’s not one I’ll ever really need to watch again, either.

Mad Max

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🎥 Mad Max (1979): ⭐️⭐️

I don’t remember how long ago I last watched this, but it’s interesting watching this now, particularly with the more recent two (Fury Road and Furiosa) much more in my mind. Those are so woman-focused and nonstop, that going back to where it started, where very little happens for much of the film and women exist almost entirely as victims, is rather jarring. It’s most interesting to me as kind of a prologue to the rest of the Mad Max stories — in today’s franchises, it would be the origin story that no-one really asked for but the studio felt compelled to make, only in this case, it was actually the first one made. I can’t really say I like it, even, but I can see the impact it had and respect its place in kicking off a franchise that has just kept improving over time.

Internet Outage Movie Catchup

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We’ve had two internet outages in the past week, one for most of Tuesday, the second for 36 hours from 2 a.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday.

During the Tuesday outage, I realized (once again) that Plex, home media server software that allows you to stream media over your home network, doesn’t do that if there isn’t an active internet connection. Having home media server software that doesn’t work as a home media server in a situation where you’re quite likely to want to use it because you can’t stream from external sources is more than a little frustrating, and finally pushed me over the edge into looking into alternatives.

So, I started getting Jellyfin set up as my media server, and when the internet went out again, it quite happily and easily let us watch a couple movies over the weekend. I’m still figuring out some of the ins and outs (Jellyfin doesn’t have its own native macOS or tvOS app, and the Infuse app that I’m using isn’t showing movie special features, but I don’t yet know if that’s a limitation or user error), but it was easy to set up, read my existing media files as originally set up for Plex just fine, and is doing what I wanted it to, which Plex doesn’t seem to be prioritizing anymore as they pivot more towards building their own streaming service.

All that said: Even when Plex was being a snit, we still have a DVD player, so between that and getting Jellyfin set up, we did manage to get three spooky-season movies watched:

Sleepy Hollow (1999): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Tim Burton during his peak years still holds up. I’d forgotten just how strong the cast was in this one. Still a lot of fun.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This one doesn’t hold up so well. I still mostly enjoy it, but between the constantly varying stylization and Reeves’ and Ryder’s flatness, it drags on more than I remembered. Also, I’d totally forgotten just how horny this film is (not necessarily a bad thing, just didn’t remember that).

Young Frankenstein (1974): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Still and always a classic.