From the Desk of…
Alright. If you haven’t heard, Columbus City Council has replaced Elizabeth Brown, vacating her seat to be the next president and CEO of YWCA Columbus, with [drumroll here] former City Council member Mitchell Brown, who retired like a year ago! Don’t take my word for it, if only because Scott Woods wrote a better piece about than I ever could. Like George used to say, it’s a big club, and you ain’t in it! Also, it turns out that Exxon was modeling what global climate change would look like as early as the ‘70s with shocking accuracy and instead chose to take the data-driven stance of “nuh-uh.” It’s funny to me, every week I learn what qualifies as “news” vs. “olds.” In actual news, Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom are one step closer to launching the campaign to legally enshrine the right to abortion in our state, planning to file the language for the constitutional amendment late next month. Will they beat back the theocratic hobgoblins currently skulking in the statehouse basement? Stay tuned...
The Brain Dump
hit a new personal best… 75mph on Summit 😎
i am going to steal the articles of confederation
scheduling emails for weird times so it doesn’t seem like I’m scheduling them
boba tea… boba fett… gotta be something here
might get all of garden for lunch
Slim pickings from the brain this week. Probably too busy playing those darn vidya games to catch the big fish. Oh, also Senator J.D. Vance spoke at the Columbus MLK Day Birthday Breakfast this year. Isn’t life funny?
At the Movies
I did it! I saw something new! Look at me, living my best life. Well, a life. Persevering through a life. Persevering at all. Continuing to exist.
Skinamarink (2022), dir. Kyle Edward Ball ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ❤️
Alright, I've seen it twice in theaters now. While the initial home viewing was good, the sound design really pops in a theater, and the sound design is a good bulk of the film. Further, the mind is better able to grasp the disparate pieces it can find and construct narrative, given how much of the action happens off-screen. It's a truly admirable debut, and not for everyone - I counted seven walk-outs across the two screenings.
If I were a producer at an indie studio, I would be contacting the director immediately.
M3GAN (2022), dir. Gerard Johnstone ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My name is Talky Tina, and you better be nice to me!
Hi, I'm Chucky! Wanna play?
Isn't it strange, to create something that hates you?
With all the childless couples yearning in vain for a license, our Mecha will not only open up a completely new market but will fill a great human need.
Yep, here's your problem. Someone set this thing to evil.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a kid in possession of a phone these days, must be on it. What this film boldly supposes is... what if the phone was a kid?
The killer doll has a long and storied place in the last 60-odd years of American storytelling. M3GAN manages to draw on a little of all of them - at times almost an Asimov- or Beaumont-based sci-fi film, at times a Gordon- or Mancini-directed goofy slasher - and Johnstone walks that line between earnestness and absurdity about as well as he does in Housebound. The film is well-constructed, and everything feels earned.
That said, it really felt to me that it was balanced too heavily towards the sincere for how ridiculous it knew its premise was, and it just didn't reach the heights that I wanted it to reach. I hope for an uncut and unrated release that could move me to a fifth star, but I'm not holding my breath. Admirable performances, some laughs, and no scares.
The frogurt is also cursed.
Titanic: The Legend Goes On… (2000), dir. Camillo Teti ⭐⭐
this looks like it was animated for Microsoft Encarta
this is like watching a collection of cutscenes for a point-and-click adventure but without any of the fun pixel-hunting gameplay, just scene after scene of off-model characters repeating the same gestures against a flat background
and a rapping dog
I know I already did Skinamarink in the inaugural issue. But, like I said, slim pickings, and also I want to gloat that people I recommended it to enjoyed it. It’s important to know your audience!
One Picture
Oh, so that’s where that punctuation disappeared to last week. Sneaky, sneaky, Instagram!
In closing,
Hey, at least it’s pretty warm this week. Relatively.