Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Guest Blogging at By Common Consent
A little while ago Steve Evans, one of the founding bloggers at By Common Consent asked if I could do some guests posts there. By Common Consent is one of the most trafficked LDS blogs that exist, right up there with Times and Seasons and Feminist Mormon Housewives, and I'm honored to have been asked to post there and at the Juvenile Instructor, two of the most academic-ish LDS blogs. (I know "academic-ish" isn't a word.)
Here's my first post at BCC, "Not Necessary for Our Salation," in which I castigate that phrase.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
This Is Why I'm an Organ Donor
What? It's not like I'm going to use the stuff when I'm gone.
Charity Sunshine Tilleman-Dick is awesome. That is all.
And here's her TED talk, after her first double lung transplant.
Charity Sunshine Tilleman-Dick is awesome. That is all.
And here's her TED talk, after her first double lung transplant.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
You Shut the Hell Up!
Joanna Brooks just tweeted that nobody wins the "Mommy Wars."
Well, you can sure loose them.
Hilary Rosen, when you said that Ann Romney hasn't worked a day in her life, because she was a stay-at-home mom, you are wrong. There's a more interesting point about how it's debatable that the Romneys understand what it's like to be working-class, but it got lost in your insult to every woman who decided that motherhood was enough of a priority that she should stay home instead of work.
Like my Mom.
And my mother-in-law.
And, God willing one day, my wife.
So sit down, you imbecile.
And shut the hell up!
Well, you can sure loose them.
Hilary Rosen, when you said that Ann Romney hasn't worked a day in her life, because she was a stay-at-home mom, you are wrong. There's a more interesting point about how it's debatable that the Romneys understand what it's like to be working-class, but it got lost in your insult to every woman who decided that motherhood was enough of a priority that she should stay home instead of work.
Like my Mom.
And my mother-in-law.
And, God willing one day, my wife.
So sit down, you imbecile.
And shut the hell up!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Why I Fear for the Future of Science Fiction and Fantasy On the Big (Or Little) Screen
I promise, this is the last time I’m going to post about John Carter.
It’s being called the “highest grossing flop of all time?” It’s set to make probably around $350 million worldwide. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Disney from declaring it dead in its second week, before it had even opened in a lot of major markets overseas. From their press release:
In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31. As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 and $120 million for the second quarter. As we look forward to the second half of the year, we are excited about the upcoming releases of The Avengers and Brave, which we believe have tremendous potential to drive value for the Studio and the rest of the company.
Let me rephrase that for you, you dolts. Yes, I understand that for your investors you need to talk about quarterly profits and expectations. But, still. Put the press release out in several weeks, AFTER it’s opened in Japan and China.
“We are understandably disappointed in the overall box office for John Carter, but we believe that Andrew Stanton and his associates have made a wonderful movie. Sometimes movies fail to connect with audiences, and despite positive feedback from movie-goers, that appears to be the case here. While it is on track to make $350 million at the worldwide box office, because of its budget, we expect an operating loss of approximately . . .” yada yada yada.
Taylor Kitsch, who played John Carter, has the right perspective when he says, “If I was homeless and someone told me I was going to be in a movie that made 300-plus million dollars, than I’d think that’s a pretty good thing.”
It’s also hit #1 on Amazon.com Blu-Ray and DVD pre-orders, clearly indicating that a lot of people enjoyed it and want it. To see such pre-order spikes usually is indicative of things like Star Wars and Twilight.
So really, the movie has done fine as far as making money. Maybe not as much as many would have hoped, but certainly not a “flop.” Most of the media stories I find through google news are finally waking up to the fact that it did okay. Disney’s announcement did not help them wake up to that fact. Morons.
All of this makes me fear for the future of Science Fiction and Fantasy on the screen. Why?
Well . . . there’s nothing going on right now.
Nothing.
I mean, SyFy (which I still pronounce "siffy") has begun cancelling its shows before they even air now.
In short, I cannot think of a single Science Fiction or Fantasy project that I’m even interested in now. Okay, that’s a bit of a lie. The fact that they’ve cast Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff and Sir Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham in the Ender’s Game movie has me way excited, but I still have my doubts for Ender’s Game being translatable to a movie format. And aside for that, there’s not really anything else going on. The Star Trek reboot, fun as it was, isn’t really standing up to my repeat viewings.
In fact, the "best" thing going on right now for Science Fiction and Fantasy on any kind of screen is Game of Thrones. And it’s disgusting. I gave up on it . . . again, this morning when I watched the premiere of season 2. There isn’t a single redeemable character left in it. They’re all a bunch of child-stabbing, tongue-cutting-out, prisoner raping, throat slashing, egocentric maniacs who are so focused on themselves that they can’t see anything except their mad grabs for power. The only reason to keep watching it is to see some of these idiots get their comeuppance, but since that comeuppance will come at that hands of other idiots, I’m not actually that interested in it.
I don't let ratings dictate what I watch, for obvious reasons.
However, Game of Thrones is just descending further and further into R-rated vileness, and I'm done with it.
So there you have it. The one good thing for Science Fiction and Fantasy. And by “good” I mean “making money.” Because apparently audiences will pay to see garbage like that. So the studio executives play it safe, and greenlight sequels to crap like Clash of the Titans. And apparently, they weren’t even trying in this new one, and I'm not the only one lamenting the fact that it's likely to do better than John Cater.
Or, as one reviewer put it, “Injustice incensed as there is another TRON to come, another TINTIN, another GREEN LANTERN, another TRANSFORMERS, another AVATAR, another STAR TREK, another FAST AND FURIOUS. We’ve had two GHOST RIDER films, an uncountable number of SCARY MOVIE type films, three or four UNDERWORLDs, eight HARRY POTTER films, and you know BATTLESHIP 2 is definitely going to be around in three years. On what planet do these films walk past unscathed and yet JOHN CARTER is mercilessly attacked by every critic?
I have a terrible pit in my stomach as I think I shall not set eyes again on Barsoom.”
Amen, brother. I have the same terrible put in my stomach. Because the good science fiction is always cancelled, or reamed (even when it does moderately well in the box-office). This year will mark the 10 year anniversary of Firefly being cancelled. Seems for us SciFi and Fantasy fans, we’ll be getting more of that cancellation treatment of good Science Fiction and more the greenlighting of flashy garbage that people will go see.
*Sigh* Somedays . . .
It’s being called the “highest grossing flop of all time?” It’s set to make probably around $350 million worldwide. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Disney from declaring it dead in its second week, before it had even opened in a lot of major markets overseas. From their press release:
In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31. As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 and $120 million for the second quarter. As we look forward to the second half of the year, we are excited about the upcoming releases of The Avengers and Brave, which we believe have tremendous potential to drive value for the Studio and the rest of the company.
Let me rephrase that for you, you dolts. Yes, I understand that for your investors you need to talk about quarterly profits and expectations. But, still. Put the press release out in several weeks, AFTER it’s opened in Japan and China.
“We are understandably disappointed in the overall box office for John Carter, but we believe that Andrew Stanton and his associates have made a wonderful movie. Sometimes movies fail to connect with audiences, and despite positive feedback from movie-goers, that appears to be the case here. While it is on track to make $350 million at the worldwide box office, because of its budget, we expect an operating loss of approximately . . .” yada yada yada.
Taylor Kitsch, who played John Carter, has the right perspective when he says, “If I was homeless and someone told me I was going to be in a movie that made 300-plus million dollars, than I’d think that’s a pretty good thing.”
It’s also hit #1 on Amazon.com Blu-Ray and DVD pre-orders, clearly indicating that a lot of people enjoyed it and want it. To see such pre-order spikes usually is indicative of things like Star Wars and Twilight.
So really, the movie has done fine as far as making money. Maybe not as much as many would have hoped, but certainly not a “flop.” Most of the media stories I find through google news are finally waking up to the fact that it did okay. Disney’s announcement did not help them wake up to that fact. Morons.
All of this makes me fear for the future of Science Fiction and Fantasy on the screen. Why?
Well . . . there’s nothing going on right now.
Nothing.
I mean, SyFy (which I still pronounce "siffy") has begun cancelling its shows before they even air now.
In short, I cannot think of a single Science Fiction or Fantasy project that I’m even interested in now. Okay, that’s a bit of a lie. The fact that they’ve cast Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff and Sir Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham in the Ender’s Game movie has me way excited, but I still have my doubts for Ender’s Game being translatable to a movie format. And aside for that, there’s not really anything else going on. The Star Trek reboot, fun as it was, isn’t really standing up to my repeat viewings.
In fact, the "best" thing going on right now for Science Fiction and Fantasy on any kind of screen is Game of Thrones. And it’s disgusting. I gave up on it . . . again, this morning when I watched the premiere of season 2. There isn’t a single redeemable character left in it. They’re all a bunch of child-stabbing, tongue-cutting-out, prisoner raping, throat slashing, egocentric maniacs who are so focused on themselves that they can’t see anything except their mad grabs for power. The only reason to keep watching it is to see some of these idiots get their comeuppance, but since that comeuppance will come at that hands of other idiots, I’m not actually that interested in it.
I don't let ratings dictate what I watch, for obvious reasons.
However, Game of Thrones is just descending further and further into R-rated vileness, and I'm done with it.
So there you have it. The one good thing for Science Fiction and Fantasy. And by “good” I mean “making money.” Because apparently audiences will pay to see garbage like that. So the studio executives play it safe, and greenlight sequels to crap like Clash of the Titans. And apparently, they weren’t even trying in this new one, and I'm not the only one lamenting the fact that it's likely to do better than John Cater.
Or, as one reviewer put it, “Injustice incensed as there is another TRON to come, another TINTIN, another GREEN LANTERN, another TRANSFORMERS, another AVATAR, another STAR TREK, another FAST AND FURIOUS. We’ve had two GHOST RIDER films, an uncountable number of SCARY MOVIE type films, three or four UNDERWORLDs, eight HARRY POTTER films, and you know BATTLESHIP 2 is definitely going to be around in three years. On what planet do these films walk past unscathed and yet JOHN CARTER is mercilessly attacked by every critic?
I have a terrible pit in my stomach as I think I shall not set eyes again on Barsoom.”
Amen, brother. I have the same terrible put in my stomach. Because the good science fiction is always cancelled, or reamed (even when it does moderately well in the box-office). This year will mark the 10 year anniversary of Firefly being cancelled. Seems for us SciFi and Fantasy fans, we’ll be getting more of that cancellation treatment of good Science Fiction and more the greenlighting of flashy garbage that people will go see.
*Sigh* Somedays . . .
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