Clint Eastwood binge

Clint Eastwood binge 

For some reason, I decided to watch a couple of Clint Eastwood’s western movies.  While I disagree with him politically, I find him to be a really good storyteller.   The two movies I watched are completely different tropes from the Western genre.  

High Plains Drifter:  I really dug this movie a great deal.  I do have a major problem with the rape scene.  The Stranger actually takes a woman and forces himself on her.  She first protests and then gets into it.  What were they thinking?  Anyway, the rest of the movie is extremely good.  It is the standard western story where a loner shows up and defends a town.  There is a twist in the fact that the townsfolk are pretty bad and have a hidden issue with the main bad guys.  I know there are theories into who the stranger is, but I like them all.  They all fit into the ending.  It is clear by the end of the movie that it is personal.  Is the Stranger a ghost or the brother of the dead Marshall?   

The Outlaw Josey Wales:  While I can’t cheer on the fact Wales’ character sides on the Confederate side of the Civil War, I like the story progression of him falling into a battle and getting caught up in a war he wasn’t interested in, but he lost his family in a raiding party by the Union.  The humor is actually well-written and directed.  Some of the best and funny moments are between Clint and Chief Dan George.  They make a good pair.  I also like the Native American woman that follows along with them.  For a conservative guy, Clint shows some progressive ideas in this movie toward the Native American tribes.  Many of his movies show a very progressive slant to them.  I really enjoyed Outlaw Josey Wales a lot.   

The Good Place

The Good Place

A news story about the thematic connections between the Russian Doll and The Good Place shows. The idea of the show caught my attention. So, I checked out the show's backlog on Netflix. The first two seasons are on that site. I've seen all of the first season of The Good Place and I am almost done with S2.

Michael Schur created the show. Schur worked on Black Mirror Brooklyn Nine-Nine Parks and Recreation and The Comeback. So, he knows his way around humor and dark issues. This show has a bit of a The Comeback vibe to it.

Given it is a “big four” network show, I already had a bias against it. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the first season. It has a quirky, yet cynical, charm to it. Plus, you can throw in a bit of raunchy-ness in there. The shows has a tone more akin to something that should be on Netflix if they added more cussing and nudity.

I enjoy how they convey the afterlife with as a 50s style suburban location and partly a parody of What Dreams May Come. It is almost too good to be true. Then, you have Kristen Bell's character realizing she doesn't belong in the Good Place. She should have gone to “The Bad Place” instead. So, the rest of the season is Bell trying to become a good person.

-Ted Danson is the straight-laced leader of the Good Place. He also built this branch of the Good Place. He seems to be on edge as things go wrong because of Bell's presence. He is great in the role.

-Jameela Jamil: She is tall and lovely. She plays a version of those Jenner family members but grown up. She wants to be known for being famous more than anything else.

-D'Arcy Carden : She plays the AI Janet. She reminds me of those Cideal AI programs from the Mass Effect series. I thought Carden was the woman from The Wonder Years, but she is a different person. She plays two different versions of Janet. Bad Janet and Good Janet.

There is a major twist at the end of the season that I actually laughed out loud with glee. It was a smart major turn of events for the series. I won't give it away for people that haven't watched it before. I am not sure how much of it holds up if I re-watch the first season again. (Shades of 24's first season). I have to give the show extra credit points for throwing this twist upon us late in the season. In turn, it changes the show completely that point on.

The show is both cynical and hopeful at the same time. It also has that 30 Rock sense of humor added to it with some really raunchy jokes (female masturbation) for a network show. Bell is charming as the anti-hero and quick with the jokes. I love that each season is a completely different take on the idea of the afterlife. To my surprise, Network TV can make a funny and entertaining show. Wow.

Grade: B

Two Magazines

Two Magazines 

For some strange reason, I received two magazines.  One of them is really thick and filled with stuff I am not interested. What vexes me is how and why are they here?  I never ordered these magazines.  I neither have an interest in them either.  Is someone trolling me?  Is the magazine company hoping I'd buy their subs?   

It just seems odd that there are two magazines sent to me. It makes no sense because I have zero interest in these magazines and their subjects.

The Bazaar magazine seems to be aimed at 20-30 year model types and makeup. This is not my demo. The Veranda is a magazine about chairs and couches...two things that I have zero interests in at all.

Do these seem like my stuff? 

DSP Tries It: place in foot

I didn't want to write about DSP so soon after the last post, but he has done something else stupid. He started calling the people at EA brainless idiots (redundant) and shitting on them before knowing the facts. It is under the content ID of Apex Legends. One of the composers sent DSP a smart little tweet back.

As much as I hate EA, this is clearly an automation issue. However, DSP doesn't want his money touch even though he does more begging than getting money from ads. And, DSP then proceeds to kiss the ass of the composer after his attack and blames it on YouTube instead! I love how the actual composer from the game puts DSP in his place.  

Chris Chan got a fish...Would you like to make a wish?

Chris Chan got a fish...Would you like to make a wish?

I’ve searched everywhere to find out if Chris Chan aped this song from an older song.  However, it appears to be a Chris Chan original.  I like old stupid and narrow-minded Chris instead of the dress-wearing fully lost his mind Chris of today.  Nu-Chris would never make a video like this one.   In the video above, he looks so young and happy.  I wonder what his younger self would say about him now.

Anyway, here is a delight remix.  

Wal-Mart and those famous car ads

Wal-Mart and those famous car ads 

These videos put a smile on my face.  These are iconic cars that have shown up in the Wal-Mart ads.   The new ads remind me of those Radio Shack ads that came out a few years ago with the ironic 80s characters.  I can see Batman using the Wal-Mart Pick-Up and using his Bat-credit card.  It seems to be the cars are a mixture of the various eras.  The Batmobile is the one from Batman v. Superman or a mixture with the Dark Knight movies’ version at least.  KITT has shown up on many things even that Herbie remake a few years ago.  Check out the playlist.   

Jussie Arrested

Jussie Arrested

Well, that happened rather quickly.  He turned himself in sometime yesterday.   

From New York Times, ((Jussie Smollett, upset by his salary and seeking publicity, staged a fake assault on himself a week after writing himself a threatening letter, the Chicago police said Thursday after the “Empire” actor surrendered to face a charge of filing a false police report.)) 

Jussie, you f’ed up and your ego didn’t let you see that this stupid idea would never work.  And, what he did hurts all people who were victims of true hate crimes.  When the narrative becomes more important than actual facts, we are all in trouble.   

Say Cheese...

DSP Tries it: Turning mic off

DSP Tries it: Turning mic off

Quilty content, right? Keep in mind that people pay this guy thousands of dollars a year. It amazes me that they bail these type of people out and they have little to no talent. Despite being shit, DSP is slightly better than the other two Lolcows. Chris Chan and Spoony still have people throwing money at them despite neither one of them bother to put out content. Spoony wants to spend time Tweeting about Trump and get paid for it than making some videos.  Chris Chan demands people pay him money so he can spend it on buying more toys.  

To be fair, the content is better when you don't hear the snorting and burping.  

Police attempt to catch the Flash I guess...

Police attempt to catch the Flash I guess... 

BTW, I like how the heavy-set woman goes tumbling to the floor.  I think the other officer tries to her.   Found this on Reddit and it has some history to it.   

They did finally catch him.   

So, what led to this Flash chase?  From news-gazette.com. ((Assistant State's Attorney Jilmala Rogers told Olmstead that on Wednesday, Mordi arrived late to a class then began making "belligerent" comments to the professor, suggesting that the professor needed to write a better textbook.)) 

He then decided to threaten another student in the class.  Does he know that college is supposed to be a place of learning and not a place to support your ego?  Young people today forget the point of college is to better yourself and not destroy your life before you get out of college.   

Reverse Flash received 7 days in jail and 30 months probation.   

Overland Generation: A Shoutout post.

I met this guy the other day and he pointed me to his YouTube channel.  I told him I’d give him a shoutout on my blog.  Since I know the guy, this is not a review, but an overview.  The concept of the channel is that he and his father go on trips to locations and film it.  I’ve been a content creator for a long time, so I like to help out in some way to help grow other creators.  So, head over to his YT channel and subscribe to it.  Give him support. 

Oh, no

I saw this picture on Kiwi Farms on the Quinton's Review board.  And, it bothered me.  Are people doing the soyboy selfie on purpose now?  Are they doing this to piss me off?  This is the new duckface.  Can we have a Change.org page stopping this? 

Wait for it...

Wait for it... 

Trash attacking trash.  Yeah, the girl in Batman shirt behaves in tough girl mode, but turns into a whimpering white-girl when the police show up and the mace.  I love that Batgirl’s friend really doesn’t help her.  She is probably thinking, “Glad it is not me.”  

Ellen Page: What happened 

I was looking back at the interview where she broke down on The Late Show.  In hindsight, it looks like she backed the wrong horse.  I wanted to talk about her appearance.  She is looking rather unwell.  She looks like the weight of the world has come crashing down on her.  She has clearly lost a great deal of weight.  What happened to her?   

Has activism really taken its toll on her?   

Actually, she is right about the environment on people attacking the gay community, but using recent Jussie Smollett story.  Fight for social rights, but don't let it ruin your life.