Widge

Infinity War & Seemingly Stupid Character Decisions, or “We’re All Going to Die But Are You Going to Eat That?”

3 months ago

Warning: This skews fairly serious towards the end and since I’m not Pixar, I’m going to actually tell you in advance so you don’t get blindsided. You’re welcome. Also, DO NOT READ THIS if you have not seen Infinity War.

So there’s something in Infinity War that’s been bothering me. Well, it was bothering me but now it interests me a great deal. I’m talking about certain decisions that the characters made. Specifically, bad decisions. And much has been made about some, not so much about others. Some examples:

When half of the life of the universe is in the balance:

Why would Star-Lord lose his shit and screw up The Entire Plan?
Why would Gamora give up the location of the Soul Stone to save Nebula?
For that matter, if Gamora knew something so valuable that Thanos finding out would mean Utter Doom, why didn’t Gamora just kill herself?
Why would Vision not get sacrificed from the get-go and the Mind Stone get destroyed to keep it from winding up in Thanos’ hands (well, on his hand, specifically)?

Granted, for this last one (and possibly for all of them), when a Time Stone is in play, a large number of bets are off. But I think you get the gist.

Music Whenever: Denys Baptiste, Kid Congo, Gal Costa & More…

3 months ago

Widge

Music Whenever

We start with a performance from UK saxophonist/composer Denys Baptiste: it’s “Dusk Dawn,” from last year’s album, The Last Trane. As you might expect from that album title, it’s based on the work of John Coltrane…this track is specifically from Coltrane’s 1965 album, Kulu Sé Mama. There’s really only one other thing to say about this: let it be your life goal to love something you do as much as the gentleman drumming in this video absolutely freaking loves playing the drums.

Wayhomer Review #186: Avengers: Infinity War

4 months ago

Widge

Reviews, Wayhomers

2 Comments

At last! That weirdo in the car is back! It’s Episode #186 for Avengers: Infinity War, in which our protagonist basically has a nervous breakdown while trying to figure out how to talk about this monster of a motion picture.
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Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: How to Destroy a Ryan Gosling

4 months ago

Widge

Mental Sorbet

Greg Davies‘ latest stand-up show, You Magnificent Beast, is now available on Netflix. So far, it has managed to break Doc, Cosette and myself. So we recommend it to you. Because he is a sick man, however, here is a vid from The Graham Norton Show in which Davies also breaks Ryan Gosling.

You might not want to watch this during lunch, especially if you’re enjoying a curry.

Your Weekend Justice #251: Don’t Tell Him About the Bongos

5 months ago

Widge

Podcasts, Weekend Justice

It’s Weekend Justice: the Internet’s #1 audio trainwreck…we dip into the archives, with this gem, recorded just after the invention of recording devices.

Agenda:

A list of things Tuffley has not watched
Batman v Superman is not a first week movie
Zack Snyder: E for Effort
Faint defense of Speed Racer
Multiversal excuses
DC Cinematic Universe, thinking too small
Ambush Bug, praised again
Legends of Tomorrow and a plea for batshittery
So who’s doing Micronauts again?
The More You Know Groove
Patty Jenkins’ filmography
Ben Affleck insertions
In defense of Man From UNCLE (always)
Richard Pryor too early
Superman Not Happening: An Industry
Agents of SHIELD
Fun with Inhumans
Fun with Fox and Marvel
The trouble with Civil War II
Requiem for a Dream: The Musical
Rumors of Hawkeye
Trying to predict Walking Dead atrocities
Taking a leak in a zombie apocalypse
Stan Lee is a multiverse
Designated Survivor?
Ghostbusters trailers
Kids, don’t try to drive your house at home
Harlan Ellison wrote this podcast, apparently
Humor–just add fatigue

Justice League and the Frustration of the Unearned Booyah

5 months ago

Widge

Stimuli

Before we begin, two things. First: yes, it did take me a very long time to buckle down and watch Justice League. It’s been very hard recently to watch things that don’t get me excited. For example, I have yet to block out the time necessary to consume enough whiskey to make it through The Dark Tower. Second: before anyone starts to make assumptions, I have nothing against the concept of a DC Cinematic Universe. I want a functioning DC Cinematic Universe right alongside the Marvel one that we have. In fact, I started my comic book obsession with DC—with JLA, in fact. So I do not write this from a position of “DC sucks and should be destroyed.” Do not misconstrue.

The much-talked-about problem with Warner Brothers and their DC appendage is that WB does not know what they have, nor do they know what to do with it. They, typical of Hollywood, take all the wrong things from all the right lessons. They make a parade out of flawed syllogisms. For example:

Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was dark
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was successful, both financially and critically
Therefore, to be financially and critically successful, a superhero franchise must be dark

Music Whenever: Solillaquists of Sound, Owiny Sigoma Band, Bottle Tree & More…

7 months ago

Widge

Music Whenever

In yet another example of songs that appear in my iTunes and I have no idea when or how they arrived (I think I acquire music during my “blackouts,” as my therapist calls them), I ran across Solillaquists of Sound. And my reaction is that I’m pissed it has taken me so long to discover these guys. I mean…this is from 2009. There’s just too much music, folks. Everyone just needs to take a break with the making music nonsense because I can’t catch up. Anyway, where was I–oh yes. The song kicks off with Swamburger, continues to kick off, then when Alexandrah fires up about 1:35 in…it’s kind of all over at that point. If you’re not on board at that point, then I don’t know what you want from life, people. The rest of the album, No More Heroes, is more of the same inspired madness. Having seen the music video for this, I’d just like to add that whatever coffee producer DiViNCi enjoys…I want some. Find their site here, their Facebook here, and all their music on their Bandcamp page.

Henry Rollins Slideshow: Smile, He’s Traveling

7 months ago

Widge

Reviews

Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, 7 January 2018

It’s a fire sale at a Books-a-Million that led me to Henry Rollins. I found an audiobook of Get in the Van, his stories from his time with Black Flag. It was on cassette, even. (Kids, ask your parents.) I discovered that Rollins had what would later be used to describe John Wick–“sheer fuckin’ will”–and I have admired that ever since. From there, it only made sense to see him live on stage with a microphone, talking instead of shouting.

If you have never seen Rollins give one of his spoken word shows, I advise you: I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s part storytelling, part stand up comedy, part travelogue and part “meeting down at the docks.” If you only knew Rollins from his time in Black Flag or Rollins Band, you might not ever know that the guy is funny as hell. Not to mention inquisitive, well-read and owner of a well-used passport.

Things I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You

7 months ago

Widge

Stimuli

1 Comment

There are many questions I have pondered during my sojourn. Some of them are new, such as “Why was there never a Scooby-Doo Movie where they teamed up with P-Funk?” Some of them are as old as time. Okay, maybe not that old. But this one dates back to the time of Heraclitus.

“When is a Twinkie not a Twinkie?”

32 Days of Halloween X, Day 33: Voodoo Man!

9 months ago

Widge

32 Days of Halloween

No, not a hallucination. Not an alternate reality. It’s the 33rd day of 32 Days of Halloween, because it’s Thanksgiving, which I celebrate as 2nd Halloween. Trust me, it’s therapeutic. For our opening salvo of goodness, we have an episode of the anthology series Telephone Time from 1958. It stars Boris Karloff and if Wikipedia is right (which it always is) then this was a back door pilot for the never-broadcast Karloff-hosted The Veil. This is “The Vestris.”

Author - Widge