SeanC

From the Autumn Classic last weekend, Gilles & Poirier debuted their new programs (winning the dance event by a wide margin, as you'd assume). They brought back Govardo, the band that did the cover of "Vincent" they used three years ago, to do their new Beatles program. While they haven't said this is their last season explicitly, "The Long and Winding Road" certainly sets a tone. One or two of the lift elements I feel could use refining for maximum effect, but I like this as the blueprint for an Olympic program. Elsewhere, the women's event had what will be hard to top as my favourite outcome of the season, a gold medal for the unknown Cypriot skater Marilena Kitromilis, whose Shin Amano-approved jump rotations put her ahead of (among others) Young You, Karen Chen, and Starr Andrews.

Why does it feel like that? WandaVision ends with an explicit tease that we'll see more of the kids. In addition to what's noted above, Kang is appearing in Quantumania, and the only tie he really has to the Ant-Man mythos is his relationship with Cassie Lang, which was part of the Young Avengers origin. They have introduced, at this point, every member of the original lineup other than Hulkling (and the second Vision, but given the differences between the MCU and the comics I expect we aren't getting him). I'm sorry, but that's not coincidental, it just isn't.

This will also have Leonard Bernstein's music, most obviously, since they're both from the same source. West Side Story has been staged innumerable times. There's no reason that only one director should ever get a crack at making a film version of it, even if the first was a classic film (and especially in this case since there are obvious areas, like casting, where this one can make immediate improvements).

Should they have stopped adapting Pride and Prejudice after 1940?

They form their own team, they’re not something set up by others.

The MCU is fun superheroics, though, teen heroes are very much tonally appropriate (indeed, we've already got Spider-Man).

Basically every single Marvel project has an active Young Avengers tie-in at this point. I really see no basis at all to think that they aren't building up to that; it's every bit as apparent as the setup for some version of the Thunderbolts.

The MCU Avengers (and seemingly the Thunderbolts) were assembled piece-by-piece by a government operative. The Young Avengers aren't like that, there's nothing to show in post-credits scenes. If they're doing something akin to their origin arc (though without "Avengers Disassembled" that would have to be significantly different) then them being brought together is the story there.

Average movie ticket price in 1991 was $4.21 USD, which inflation-adjusted is $8.44 USD today. Average ticket price in 2021 is $9.16, so ticket price has risen very slightly ahead of the rate of inflation, but we're talking less than a dollar. Streaming services operate on a subscription model which makes mega-budget projects generally uneconomical, or affordable only in very small numbers, unless you're just blowing money on prestige (both Netflix and Apple, for instance, have given ludicrous sums of money to Martin Scorsese for recent films because they want to burnish their reputations/place in the cultural conversation). Warner Brothers' HBO Max strategy is basically using the films as loss-leaders for the streaming service in the midst of the pandemic, to (thus far) very mixed effect on subscribers.

That ticket price is what's necessary to finance movies made at this scale.

Nebelhorn is broadcast by the organizers online.

I doubt it has anything to do with that. VanCamp just had a baby; the most likely motivation is wanting time for that.

I hope they gradually move toward a more integrated model, similar to the last Commonwealth Games.

Kaiya is doing a split season. As one of the only two Canadian women with a consistent 3-3, she is absolutely in the running for the Olympic team, even if I would say Madeline is the favourite at the moment.

Lim & Quan have been cult favourites on the Canadian junior domestic scene the previous two seasons because of their quirky music choices, but they opted to represent Korea going forward to get out internationally, and went with the obvious RD choice to embrace their new federation: And Kaiya Ruiter unexpectedly wins Canada's first women's JGP medal in 8 years. This program was clearly selected with China on the brain (though China doesn't actually like the Disney version of Mulan).

Piper posted the annual teaser image for their free program. It's a long and winding road leading to a door, so one could say there's an obvious interpretation. Day 1 of the JGP is through, and the North American singles skaters kind of bowled over everybody else (though in the ladies that's just because one of the two Koreans imploded and the other had an imperfect skate).

JGP France I starts tomorrow, the first noteworthy international junior event in over a year.

Dealing with a leg issue.

Pretty easy self-defense case (particularly since he's a rich guy). That definitely is something that doesn't make much sense to me, at least if we're meant to think this was the end of it. Even if she didn't discuss anything on the phone with Kai about the robbery, she evidently did text with him; in the process of looking at his phone they'd presumably learn that he was in close contact with one of the guests of the place he robbed.

Kind of a impossible comparison. Black Panther was released in a normal theatrical environment. Right now there is no such thing, nor does it seem likely that there'll be anything like one for several months; Marvel Studios effectively waited a year before releasing Black Widow because Feige wants theatrical, but now they're moving ahead and every release is an experiment in one way or another.

Why was it "unneeded"? It's a film parody, it's one of the episode's more elaborate jokes.

Are we sure Phoebe's parents actually exist?

Uh-oh. If it's upheld, I feel bad for the Chinese team, who didn't get their moment on the podium.

Jennifer Abel announced her retirement (and engagement!). Four Olympics, two medals — shame her final event wasn’t her best, but overall a stellar career.

The 60s-ish psychedelic musical number while Veronica and the guys have a cheesily stylized brawl with the villains du jour = perfection.