starri

Good casting. She's got a similar vibe to Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson, and she's a good actor.

Even the episode title is a deep pull. The creature was actually in the script of "A Private Little War" as a Gumato (and the stuntman in the suit is credited as such), but DeForest Kelley couldn't say it, so they changed it to Mugato for him. Except that he and Shatner kept saying it as "Mugatu" throughout the actual episode. I thought it was a great episode for T'Ana.

Very appropriate bombast, courtesy of Michal Giacchino, whose Kelvinverse scores I initially hated until I realized that I actually loved them.

In the same vein, this one from Superman: The Movie.

I’m glad Whoopi is acting more. I don’t blame her for sitting back and counting her money from The View, but revisiting any of her work from the 80s or early 90s, I’m reminded just how damned good she can be. I honestly cannot begin to picture Bette Midler in Sister Act because Whoopi just owned it.

And apparently Jon Kent will be as well? The original source for this is Ethan Van Sciver, who I'm not sure is the most reliable source, but as the story has ping-ponged around both queer and comics blogs, and it doesn't look like DC has denied it. Why not just have it be Connor and give the people what they want.

I'm prefacing this by acknowledging that I'm seeing this from the perspective of a white man and not an AAPI woman, but, acknowledging the huge problem that Hollywood has with AAPI actors, particularly women, I'm not sure Tia Carrere is the best example. She might not have been a huge star, but she's worked very consistently, even if it's not in high-profile stuff. That's more than most actors get. And TBH, I never really thought she was the best actor. She's also a contemporary of Tamlyn Tomita and Ming-Na, both of whom carved out decent careers. And Lucy Liu, a bit later. And Liu, I think, is a good example of someone who didn't fall into the stereotype, because thinking of everything I've seen her in, I don't remember any part that she played that specifically hinged on her being Asian. Even in Charlie's Angels where she ended up in a little stereotypical wire-fu, her character was offered to both Angelina Jolie and Jada Pinkett Smith, and Thandiwe Newton was actually cast, before needing to drop out. This is not to say that even if things have gotten a little better, we still don't have a long way to go. I'm just not sure that you can point to any one particular actor. It's more a gestalt of terrible.

I can get why they would lean into Agatha. Out of all the characters Marvel's introduced this year, between Katherine Hahn's performance and "Agatha All Along" being such a bop, she left the biggest footprint. And her look is definitely more villain-y than Wanda's.

If she was on DS9 with Worf, this is only about five years after "What You Leave Behind." If that was her first assignment, and she graduated the Academy at 22, she'd only be in her late 20s. Even if she was only there when he first got there, that would only make her about 31, tops.

Disneyland and Disney World always have Halloween events featuring their villains. They announced that Agatha Harkness will be featured in the Disneyland version this year. I find that utterly delightful for some reason.

There's a Native American/Latino Werewolf by Night, Jake Gomez.

I was a little disappointed that Tendi and Mariner went to Qualor II, because I was hoping it was going to be Stardust City. But it was nice to see that Amarie, the four-armed piano player from "Unification" was able to open her own place. Also, did we know Mariner is pansexual?

Shax telling Rutherford that he didn't need to feel guilty because protecting the latter was the former's job had more heft than I would have expected. As was his clear fondness for Rutherford, calling him "baby bear" again. Less surprising is that they're selling those plates.

Kwannon is back in her original body after Betsy was no longer using it. She’s also using the name Psylocke, as Betsy is now Captain Britain. I’m glad they finally did that. Not a reflection on Psylocke’s stories over the years, but having a white woman in a Japanese woman’s body was always a little dicey.

The one thing that bugs me a bit about his interactions—which I did and do think were cool—is that later on in the show’s run, he gets awfully defensive. I mean, I get being proud of what you accomplished(which he should be), but some of the responses get a bit…snippy.

I have to admit "One More Day" is not a story beat I thought they would go for. But I find myself surprisingly into the idea of Strange stepping into Tony's role in Peter's life.

Apparently the fifth movie, to be entitled simply Scream (which won't be confusing at all), was able to wrap production last year despite COVID. And it's due out in January. I don't know why I've been on such a kick lately. I've been on staycation this week, and burned through Scream: TOS and Scream 2. I'm debating if I want to wade into 3 or if I need to work myself up to it. It is a very rare movie that I've seen dozens of times that can keep me riveted to the screen, but those two are definitely among them. Considering all of issue surrounding 2's production, it has no right being as good as it is.

It's the "you'll thaw out" that's just a tiny fly in the ointment there. Not a deal breaker, but it does stick out. Tatum is a generally great character, there are just a few things that don't go over as well as they might. I do think you could make the argument that Sidney having sex actually makes her more powerful in the end. She makes what looks like a reasonable choice and trusts him, and then has her trust violated. She cowers a bit over the decision, but then gets wicked pissed and runs him through, first with an umbrella and then with her finger. The only thing that would have been better was that, in the final jump scare, she'd shot him in a different location than his head.

It also doesn't really have a lot of homoerotic readings either, which puts a lie to the people who claim that anyone who see those things in close male friendships is just that particular segment of the audience seeing what they want to see.

I don't know why I've been thinking about Scream so much recently, apart from it being one of my favorite movies (not horror, movies period). It's actually a movie that I think has aged incredibly well, with the glaring exception of the all-white cast--which was called out immediately in the actual text of Scream 2, so I can give it a pass. The gender issues are mostly good: all of the women, Casey and Tatum included, fight like hell. Gale, who is a character we should hate, we end up rooting for. But the big gender issue surrounds Sidney's virginity. Now, I do ultimately think she has agency over her sexuality, and the movie does squarely put its middle finger to morality tales of the early slashers. The problem that I have is how her ambivalence towards sex is treated. Billy comes over early in the movie, agrees to respect her boundaries, immediately violates said boundaries, and is rewarded anyway when she flashes him. And she's told multiple times that her not wanting to sleep with Billy is a problem. Coming from Billy, well, it's utterly gaslighting, which makes how Sidney processes it understandable, but she hears it from Tatum too. And her mom is constantly slut-shamed, also including by Tatum, although she at least does it gently. I think the movie ultimately says that there's nothing wrong with Sidney having sex, but the way it gets there bothers me, if only a little.

The scene is brilliant on its own, and then you have a character played by an actor named Jamie addressing a different character, using that actor's actual name, which is ALSO Jamie, describe the action HIS character needs to be performing. That goes through the fourth wall and back around. It's honestly one of the most clever movie scenes I've ever seen. Scream 2 also has a gem of a scene of Gale getting genuinely upset after the death of a fan-favorite character. Dewey calls it just her playing things up, and she just starts spitting fire. "There are no cameras here. I just want to find this fucker!" It's hard for me to believe that Courtney Cox had to beg to get cast in the first movie.

He's also racebent. Red is Irish in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. The movie just happened to cast the best possible actor for that role. I also think you could make a pretty convincing argument that Red is actually the main character of the movie. Yeah, part of his function in the story is to support Andy learning how to navigate the prison, but he also gets things from Andy. He grows a lot less cynical, even before he finds Andy's letter and heads to Mexico.

Among other things: the skeleton of Giant Spock from TAS "The Infinite Vulcan," the bust of Picard made for Captain Picard Day, the game from "The Game," a T'Kumbra Logicians cap, Dr Crusher's Sex Candle, Odo's bucket, Neelix's apron, Gorn and Mugato skeletons, and a Terran Empire flag. Riker also had a model of the Pegasus (and what I assume were jazz records on vinyl) in his ready room.