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I found the 2021 film Black Widow as a DVD at my local public library yesterday. Naturally I checked it out so I could watch and review it. I’ve heard various unflattering things about the movie, and I wanted to see for myself.
Oh, tons of spoilers follow, so if you haven’t seen the movie and want to, don’t read any further.
In no particular order:
Cover art for the book “End of Men”
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First of all, after writing The “End of Men” Challenge, I owe Suzanne Strobel an apology. I was expecting a very different book than the one she wrote (click HERE to find it on Amazon).
Part of what gave me that particular expectation was the blog post of hers describing her novel and, quite frankly, her fears of violent men. I can only believe that the book’s protagonist Charley Tennyson is her alter-ego, at least in terms of the depth of her anxiety over “mass shootings.”
However, Tennyson never gives in to the “anti-male” sentiment that many of the other characters embrace and even manages to find love with a man.
Oh, there were flaws to be sure. This is set in a dystopian near future, but the technology is all so perfect and for the most part free. Money is only mentioned once when discussing the activation fees for what is essentially a personal force bubble. Other than that, living in luxurious “havens,” riding around in iCars which carry over your personal settings from your home, and having wrist Surges (think a way amped up smartphone with holographic filming and projecting capacities), seem to be cost free.
© James Pyles
My 3 1/2 (closer to 4 actually) year old granddaughter loves books and she loves being read to. She knows her alphabet really well and can spell her first and last name. She’s a smart kid.
I love reading to her and my wife often takes our granddaughter to the local public library to check out books, lots and lots of books. The other day, I came home from work, and after my granddaughter woke up from her nap, she wanted me to read to her. Two of the library books she chose were Ladybug Girl and the Rescue Dogs by Jacky Davis and Red Riding Hood Superhero: A Graphic Novel by Otis Frampton.
Promotional poster for “The Lego Movie 2” (2019)
I guess it must be me, because while the general box office and critical reception of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) has been pretty much favorable, I didn’t like it. This in spite of a terrific cast starring with Chris Pratt who’s good in everything I’ve seen him in.
Yes, I know the movie is a parody on just about everything, and is meant to describe family relationships, particularly between older brother and younger sister, but I’m not sure the focus was there and it seemed jumbled, confusing, and sometimes insulting.
Since it’s still out in the theaters and you might not have seen it, I may end up dropping some spoilers you won’t appreciate, so you’ve been warned. I must also confess that although I have seen The Lego Batman Movie (2017) exactly once, I haven’t seen any other the other Lego films, so I don’t have any familiarity with the characters or the general universe.
Yesterday, my wife suggested that my two sons and I take my grandson (he just turned ten) to the movies. We had a choice of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the aforementioned Lego movie, and Alita: Battle Angel. My son (grandson’s Dad) felt Alita might be a bit too “mature” for my grandson, so that just left Spider-Man (which we’ve seen before but it’s terrific) and Lego. My grandson chose the Lego film because he hadn’t seen it yet. That’s how I ended up seeing it (which I normally wouldn’t).
Found at thecompanion.in – No image credit listed
Based on my blog post called More on Social Media and University Radio Show “Echo Chambers” and my conversation in the comments section of that post, I felt it necessary to write this one. Let me explain.
I had a twitter “conversation” with someone from the radio show Scene on Radio (possibly producer and co-host John Biewen, but since the twitter “handle” was @SceneOnRadio, it’s impossible to know for sure).
Marleen, one of the readers of this blog, wanted me to listen to Episode 53: Himpathy (MEN, Part 7), originally broadcast in October of this year, because in her words:
I’ve gone and listened to four episodes. I’d recommend the 53rd one. I would hope that if something like that happened to your granddaughter or daughter your response would be that it ma mattered rather than that the thing people should be doing is telling “good” stories (defined as not bothersome).
Since I’ve expressed somewhat of an oppositional viewpoint relative to how the show’s content is presented, and specifically their misuse of Biblical interpretation, Marleen suggested (at least as I understand it) that listening to this episode might help me realize that I don’t necessarily have to “lock horns” with the show or its co-hosts (the other co-host being Celeste Headlee).
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