Luckylyn

I am very intrigued by Daughters of Sparta. Thanks.

I have begun Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller which is a telling if The Iliad. It’s interesting so far but still I am getting impatient. A lot of time is spent built up the backstory/love story of Achilles and Patroclus which I enjoy, but I also kinda want to get on with it to the war. I have never read The Illad but have read the Odyssey a couple of times. I plan to read Circe by Madeline Miller eventually. I want to ask for a recommendation a good telling of the Trojan War from Helen’s perspective.

This movie was my first trip back to a theater since February 2020. I really enjoyed it. I like how characters have depth and it’s not just scares. I wouldn’t mind a third one with a time jump since the kids are obviously growing up.

John Krasinski Breaks Down the Opening Scene from A Quiet Place 2. I was amused at how insistent he was that he would not participate in a sequel but ended up getting sucked back in while working on an outline for the person who was supposed to take over as writer/director. I feel like the first film ended in a way that concluded things while leaving the door open to other possibilities and that the second film does that as well. I do think if there’s another one it should be helmed by Krasinski because he’s very focused on the character aspect and another director might get focused on the monster/scare factor. I love the sound editing for these films. I like that he crafted some scenes so the sound mimics what Millicent can or can not hear. I loved how proud he was of the camera getting broken causing a mistake that ending up being a perfect shot. I lot of directing is creatively responding to unexpected events on set. So good directors plan but can also cope with the unexpected. I like that he used the shot with the error because he worked better than the plan.

There’s a really great YouTube video about shipping. It’s long but she includes time stamps in her description so you can jump to the topics that interests you. It’s really comprehensive covering pro-shipping, anti-shipping, fans harassing each other, race, gender, sexuality, intersectionality, problematic ships, etc…. It’s a good starting point for conversation. She mostly discusses tv ships but also has a great section about Finn, Rylo, and Star Wars. Purity Culture & Fandom She brought up something interesting about performative activism and shipping where people will use support of a particular group to push their ship but don’t care about the issue in the real world. It’s about scoring points so your ship wins but not really about addressing the issue.

It’s called Folie a Deux I think when two people commit a crime together that they may not have committed individually.

I started How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole which is second in her Runaway Royals series. In this book the, investigator from the first book falls for a long lost Princess who doesn’t want to be royalty, but she’s determined to convince the reluctant Princess to claim her place. I like that Cole’s characters have depth and the way she includes humor in her romances.

Naomi Osaka fined $15,000 for Media Boycott I remember when watching sports like gymnastics and figure skating feeling uncomfortable with athlete’s being interviewed when the competition was still underway. I always thought it could mess with their heads before they get to the final. I don’t think an interview after the competition is over is necessarily bad but don’t like the press conference being mandated. Why not let an athlete make an independent choice about interacting with the press? This mostly bothers me with younger althetes.

So in my family we never ever finished a game of Monopoly. At some point an argument would happen between players leading us never to finish. This lead my mother to confiscate the game and she probably still has it hidden in some closet now years later. I have never played a game that lead to so much acrimony like Monopoly.

This book is the sixth in the series. It would probably be good to read what came before, but Briggs does describe things in a way that would help new comers to the series pick things up.

I have started Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs. Anna and Charles from the Alpha and Omega Series are investigating the disappearance of a town’s entire population. So far I am very intrigued by this modern Roanoke type mystery.

It’s sad so many actresses were fired for just for getting pregnant. There are creative ways to work around a pregnancy.

I remember hearing years ago that Mel Gibson tried to buy the rights to In Death and cast himself as Rourke. I am very happy that failed.

I will definitely be reading more Erik Larson nonfiction because In The Garden of Beasts was very engrossing. I feel like there are parallels to modern times in that people have become so casual about their bigotry. I am starting a romance called Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews. It’s a romance about a two men a pop star and pilot who end up stuck on an island after a plane crash. I am in the mood for that guaranteed happy ending that makes romance one of my favorite genres.

I could see Carrie becoming an influencer. Writing never seemed like a passion for her.

I have mentioned before the problematic issue of casting in Hollywood defaulting to white in situations where the character has not been described as a particular ethnicity. I just watched this video about how the default to white bias being such an issue that even in situations where the characters were described in a way that shows they were intended to be a person of color there are people who still default to white. She specifically focuses on the racist reaction to the casting for the character Rue in Hunger Games. I only saw the movies but my sister read the books was confused about why people were surprised Rue was black because she felt the book made it clear. Part of the problem is Hollywood’s horrible pattern of casting white actors in roles that were originally written to be a person of color. The Day Rue “Became” Black

Dear Evan Hansen

Crossroads 1986 2002

I remember Anne Rice aggressively being anti fan fiction to the point of her lawyers threatening to out people to their employers.

The Dad really was horrible. Having him be nice for two seconds towards the end didn’t make him being so hateful before forgivable at all.

I thought Sweet Carolina was okay. I hated the Dad and how she was treated badly because she lived in New York for her career. I hate that trope so much. Moving away from home doesn’t make someone a terrible person. I get family obligations so I am fine with her moving home to raise the kids. I like that it was not city awful/small town good but simply her wanting to take care of the kids. Also I think it’s totally unrealistic to make someone your kids guardian without discussing it with them first. Yet that trope shows up in movies all the time. I thought it was awful that her mother called her in the middle a work day to give her the bad news. When my Aunt died my mother didn’t inform me until I finished work that day because she knew I would be upset.

I love the coat porn for Queen Latifah on The Equalizer. Seriously her character seems to own a hundred coats, and I am okay with that, lol. I love her look in general. She looks comfortable but not frumpy. There’s a sliver evening dress she wore in an episode that I love but can’t find the picture.

This conversation makes me think of that horrible moment on the MTV movie awards where Chris Isaak kissed Cameron Diaz against her will. She’s clearly upset and he keeps invading her personal space.

I am starting In The Garden Of Beasts by Erik Larson about the rise of Hitler focusing on an American family living in Germany. I have always heard good things about Larson’s non fiction books.

I love the soundtrack for Grease 2 and I have a major soft spot for Caufield. Pfifer is wonderful. But overall I think it’s a bad movie. There are pieces that work but overall together it doesn’t quite work despite the potential the cast provided. You could tell the script was being rewritten as they go by stuff like Frenchy disappearing from the story with no explanation. I don’t like how the T-Birds were portrayed. There’s something particularly silly about them. They were comedic in the first film, but I found them more ridiculous in the second.