TLM-2023 - May 26

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. I would rather talk to you about tigers or some similar creatures, but let us talk about the TLM-2023 movie remake instead.

Basically, it works. It is not the best movie of 2023, but it works. It is not the most remarkable or the most memorable, but neither is it the most horrid film of 2023. Anything else?

Ok, there is the species-changing operation of Scuttle – the bird changed from a male seagull into a female northern gannet. It is the same principle as changing Eric into Ariel or vice versa – these are two different seabird species and they are not really related to each other at all – you could just as easily replace humans with dogs, horses, or elephant in TLM-2023 – the basic principle would be the same.

With geography, it is the same mess as it is with biology – initially, Disney’s TLM franchise was based on Andersen’s fairy tale, which was set in the North Sea – but now Disney is proclaiming that their original TLM movie was set in the Mediterranean instead, and the remake is set either there or in the Caribbean. Yay.

Again, this mess is completely unnecessary, as is changing a bird’s species – does it really matter if Eric and Ariel live in northern Europe, in southern, or across the world in Central America? They are imaginary characters, for crying aloud! …But since the same question could be asked about the film itself – did the TLM really needed to be remade? It had spawned one or two movie sequels, as well as a TV cartoon spinoff already – but that Disney franchise became completely upended as well.

Getting back to characters… Disney did not really deliver anything good with them either. So, Ursula really is Ariel’s aunt – so, how did she end up with tentacles? Is she a mutant, or has the High Evolutionary, (the MCU version), had a hand in her transformation? Ariel was the one to end her rather than Eric? Great, more gender misbalance in Hollywood – Barbie and Ken are going to go down great!..

No, seriously, have you seen the trailer for the Barbie movie? It is all about girl power, about the titular doll character going into ‘the real world’ (such as it is in the film) and learning… something or other. This is an old trope, one of the first characters to do this sort of thing had been Buddha, the deity behind Buddhism, but Barbie is no deity, and whatever she is going to teach her audience will not be any new modern Buddhism. Rather, the cast and crew behind it are going for a new Pinocchio film, the wooden boy replaced by a plastic girl… and her sidekick, Ken, who – in the trailer at least – seems to be about as helpful and coherent as Ariel’s animal sidekicks are, (and that leaving behind the chemistry either between Diggs and Awkwafina, or between their characters), and can you imagine a modern film, where a male character goes on a true character development, and a female character is a comic relief? Well, I cannot, but we digress.

No, not really – these days the TLM remake is all about Ariel going out and about, learning who she is and embracing herself… just Disney’s Pinocchio remake had been. Del Toro’s take on the wooden puppet is something else entirely, so let us leave it off to the side for now, and we are left with what?

..Aside from a lame-ass excuse that Awkwafina’s character changed species to become a diving bird so that she would take to Ariel and friends underwater – seriously, it is a world with mermaids and who knows what else, why a seagull cannot dive here? – there is the odd reluctant of featuring Ms. J. Alexander, who played Vanessa, Ursula’s alter-ego. For a while I thought that Ms. McCarthy would just play Vanessa herself – Eric was in love with her only through a spell to begin with, who cares if ‘Vanessa’ looked like Ms. McCarthy without CGI and make-up – but no. This might have been too risky; plus Ms. McCarthy, (Ursula), and Ms. Bailey (Ariel) are too different from each other as people, so, again, we get Ms. Alexander as Vanessa and no particular reason as to why she did not appear in the trailers. What is left?

Nothing of any significance. The queen – Eric’s mother – is the same actress who played the grown-up Hermione Granger-Weasley in the original HPCC theater production. That… might’ve been one of the reasons as to why HPCC didn’t succeed – Ms. Dumezweni and her male counterpart, who’d played the adult Ron Weasley didn’t look anything like Hermione and Ron; they just as easily could’ve been a pair of OCs who got caught in the latest Potter and friends’ madness – but that story is over. The story of TLM-2023 also probably is – while it was received better than HPCC was, it is not by much. People may be invested, and investing, into the TLM franchise, moreso than they had into the DnD film – and hah, was not that painful – but not by much. We will just have to wait and see as to what will come out of this in the future, immediate and otherwise, instead.

This is it for now. See you all soon.

Moon Knight, 'Tomb' - April 20

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about MK instead.

Sadly, here is not too much to talk about either, except… for the Egyptian mythology: in this week’s MK episode – ‘Tomb’ – we get to meet Tawaret at the very end of the ep. So what?

‘The Kane Chronicles’ by Mr. Rick Riordan, that is still what’s up. In the second book of that trilogy, Carter and Sadie Kane – the titular characters – get to go to the Egyptian underworld, (because of Osiris, cough), where they meet Tawaret, aside from the other characters, (including the moon god, Khonshu). Here, in ‘Tomb’, Marc and Steven seem to be trapped in some sort of a limbo, depicted as a mental asylum, but that… is nothing new in the world of comics, DC’s Batman got trapped in this sort of thing quite regularly, for example, and they meet Tawaret.

To add injury to insult, Carter and Sadie encounter Tawaret who works in a retirement home for aged Egyptian gods, i.e. an alternate medical facility to the mental asylum that the Moon Knight, (Moon Knights?), has found himself/themselves in. I.e., Mr. Riordan associated Tawaret with a medical profession, and ‘Moon Knight’ seems to be running with it. Given how MK’s cast and crew reamed Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins in regards to their treatment of Egypt in WW84, this dependence on Mr. Riordan’s works seems strange, almost hypocritical. Anything else?

Aye, ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ movie. I have seen it, and found it to be disappointing. Why?

Let us start with ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. Unlike ‘The Mandalorian’ series, ‘Boba Fett’ was less of a success because whereas ‘The Mandalorian’ series moved the entire SW universe onwards, ‘Boba Fett’ did not. Well, technically, it did, as the SW universe has the entire linear time concept, but you have to admit that ‘The Mandalorian’ also developed and expanded the SW universe in content, whereas ‘Boba Fett’ did not.

But the same can be said about ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ – it didn’t really introduce anything new into the wizarding world; the story did move forwards at a livelier pace than the ‘Boba Fett’ series did, but whereas MK has Tawaret, ‘The Secrets’ had a qilin.

A qilin is a mythical Far Eastern animal that is supposed to appear before a birth or a death of a great sage or a ruler, but to the Western audience/readers, especially the baseline members, a qilin is a Far Eastern analogue of a unicorn instead. Consequently, the use/participation of the qilin in ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ and the election that was the climax of the movie, transformed the election from, well, an election, as conceived by the Western audience into something more among the lines of ‘and the hand of God chose the rightful king and cast the pretender into Gehenna’ – this sort of thing. Given how the elections are a big deal in RL – maybe even an even bigger deal given the RF’s assault on the Ukraine – the way that ‘The Secrets’ handled the elections’ concept is outright insulting!

In addition, since we are going back to real life, people have already talked about the nearly complete absence of Tina Goldstein’s character from the movie. The team behind ‘The Secrets’ did not even try to explain it – they could have made Tina pregnant, or ill, or something, but no – and therefore, people are believing that she’s avoiding J.-Ro because of the latter’s transphobic statements. Fair enough, though it is weird – J.-Ro had no problems with Dumbledore being gay so that she could court the sexual minorities for her novels, or Hermione being a person of color so that the real life people of color would like her works before, so why the abrupt change of tune? Ah well, it is her life, her choice, and nothing else. Is that it?

Yes, pretty much – MK continues to be largely divorced from the rest of MCU, the occasional nudge-nudge wink-wink Easter egg aside, the Donald seems to be preparing for the 2024 election after all, and if he does win it, then the rest of the West will stop looking at the U.S. as their spiritual leader for sure, and – that is it.

See you all soon!

Quarantine entry #49 - May 9

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, but sometimes you can get a handle on it all the same, especially if your family is a root of one your problems, I reckon. If it is not… just look at the Ahmed Arbery case – I tend to stay away from such discussions, but I have to admit that his life took the worst turn ever, and he died.

…I do not know if A.A. was as great, good, and everything that the mass media claims that he is, etc., etc. However, I have to admit that secondly, giving this case a racial angle is the last thing that the States need right now, what with the COVID-19 lockdown-charged atmosphere and all, (cough elections-2020 cough), and firstly? Not only A.A. probably didn’t deserve to die, but also the way that cops and the legal system have handled this case? It was bad and now it will get worse… and it will make the COVID-19 lockdown-charged atmosphere even worse. (Cough elections-2020 cough). Anything else?

Aside from the fact that I am beginning to have a strong dislike for Doug Ford, the premier of the province of Ontario for Canada-related reasons? I wanted to talk about the ibex today. Contrary to how its’ name sounds, this is no bird relative of the ibis that we’ve discussed last month, but rather a common name for several Old World mountain goats. Pause.

Now, in North America, the name mountain goat is reserved for the Rocky Mountain goat, aka Oreamnos americanus. This is a mammal with noticeably white fur, and sharp, but short and thin black horns. While it does belong in the general subfamily of the wild sheep and goats, it has its’ own genus and as such it stands apart from the rest of the Caprinae subfamily’s members. The ibexes look very different from it.

To wit: their fur is shorter, and it is usually isn’t white, because while the ibex species do live in the mountains, they are usually aren’t found as high as the Rocky Mountain goat dwells, not to mention that while some of those species are Eurasian, the others are found in North and East Africa instead – a continent not very much known for its’ snows, not even in winter. Yes, some African mountain ranges do have snow, but the ibexes actually usually are not found there – they like heat better than cold, it seems. The markhor of Asia is a cold-adapted mountain mammal, but it is one Eurasian mountain goat that is not usually called an ibex. Why? Possibly because of its’ horns – the markhor’s horns are shaped like corkscrews, (not unlike the horns of some of the antelope species, but the markhor is only distantly related to them), while the ibexes’ horns are recurved as the scimitar blades are, with transverse ridges at the front end. The wild goat proper – one of the ancestors of the domestic goat – usually is not called an ibex, even though it has the appropriate horns – but it has subspecies, which are called… the bezoar ibex and the Sindh ibex, and that is the reason why we need scientific names – to make sense of the non-scientific ones.

…Yes, the bezoar brings us to the first book and movie of the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise – in the very first ‘Harry meets Snape’ meeting, Snape asked Harry as to where he can find the bezoar and what it is. The bezoar is a magical (fictional) stone that is supposed to heal its owner from any snake’s venom, and the wild goat that is usually associated with it is the aforementioned markhor, which is supposed to be a designated snake-slayer and –eater, which is certainly a fairy tale hocus…which makes it an appropriate member of the HP-universe, I suppose. If we ever get another Harry Potter- okay, a Newt Scamander movie, maybe we’ll get to see a markhor there – it is certainly bizarre- and magical-looking with its’ horns. Anything else?

Just that the markhor may have been one of the ancestors of the domestic Angora goat, (which gives us as the mohair wool) on one hand, and on the other? People may have already seen the markhor – as the snow leopard hunted it on David Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth’ way back in the early 2000s – but we digress. A markhor is not an ibex, apparently, and that is that.

…Moreover, for now, this is it. See you all soon!

Rick Riordan and co. - Dec 12

Now what, you make ask, in regards to our last talk concerning Disney and TLK, about Rick Riordan? While his fellow R-author, J-Ro, is busy with her ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movies, what does he do?

Well, he has written an anthology set in the world of Magnus Chase, about the 9 worlds. And?

And, sadly, it is no cat’s meow, but rather a tangled bag. As I said, it is an anthology, and…

There is Odin’s story, as he tries to figure out what the Valkyries are up, and who is the leader that they need. It comes across as comic relief, with little content beyond humor. When Riordan does humor, it is good and light…but perhaps slightly too light.

Then there is the story of Samirah’s boyfriend/fiancé/etc., Amir. Sabirah and Alex have to rescue him from a necromancer and a pair of evil pants. (Seriously!) So?

Well, the problem is that when Riordan was designing his Magnus characters, he was trying to go for political acumen. In an excerpt from one of his proper Magnus novels, Sabirah flies from her meeting with Magnus as ‘a super Muslima’. Sigh. When Riordan was writing down those lines, he was probably thinking about this joke: ‘What do you call a Muslim woman who flies a plane? A pilot’. This sort of American/Canadian humor was supposed to ease interracial tensions in the North American communities. Here is a hint: it did not work. For as long as there is freedom of opinion, there will be North Americans who will not trust Muslims, and there will be Muslims who will reciprocate in kind, if not up the ante. The governments of Canada and USA as well as their Middle Eastern counterparts can, and should do their best to counter the rise of such negative feelings, but some groan- and cringe-worthy jokes should not be a part of the counter, for they are not helping anyone.

…As for Samirah and Alex’s stories, they are set in Jotunheim and Muspelheim; the latter gets an especially bad rep because apparently Riordan considers it to be sort of a Norse Hell, while Asgard’s Heaven. This not so, not exactly – when it came to life after death, the Norse had only two destinations: Asgard, and Hel. Asgard was the destination of all of those heroic warriors that fell in battle; Hel was where everyone else ended up at, regardless of their lifestyle during, well, their lifetime. Norse pagan values had nothing in common with Christian; the Norse were among the last of the Europeans to convert to Christianity, and Muspelheim was no Hell, but rather the embodiment of the destructive aspect of fire, period. The exact details are unknown, but as their myth of Ragnarok shows, the Norse believed that their world – actually, their entire universe – would be destroyed by fire and ice, but especially fire, as embodied by Muspelheim and its’ king, the first giant Surt or Surtur (Surtr). He would inspire Tolkien’s balrogs, which, in turn, would inspire Marvel’s version of Surtur, (as seen in the ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ movie) – but Muspelheim was no Hell.

In the ‘9 worlds’ anthology, Alex is the one who went down there, where he defeated and embarrassed Surtur, and-

And the thing is that Alex is the gender-fluid character of Riordan’s multiverse. That is very commendable, the problem is that gender-fluid people aren’t very overt and you don’t see them very often in real life, and if you do, you may not realize it, especially during a Canadian winter, when all people, regardless of their gender, tend to dress in thick and warm clothing, preferring practicality over gender-specific clothing. If they speak, it is another thing – to hear a man speak in a woman’s voice and vice versa can be startling and surprising, but again, these are not occurrences that happen very often in one’s life.

So, where does Alex fit into this?  In ‘9 worlds’ he is depicted as…a boy, with nothing specifically gender-fluid about him. In real life, this is not a problem – a person with sexually alternative lifestyle can look as regular or irregular as they want; in Riordan’s books, where Alex is a representative of sexual minorities this depiction feels like a letdown instead.

Speaking of sexual minorities, what is going on with Hearthstone and Blitzen? (Aside from the fact that Hearthstone got depicted as a variant Draco Malfoy for his part). Hearthstone in particular got to rescue Inga the Huldra (a Norse nature spirit, sort of intermediate between a rusalka and a troll) in a very old fashioned way in a very old fashioned story – the rescue of a damsel, (here from a troll, mostly). Couldn’t Riordan design a better adventure for the elf? Blitzen in particular got to rescue Thor from an evil (eviller?) dwarf named Andvari instead…

…Yes, in my opinion, those are the same symptoms that are developed further in Riordan’s Apollo series – either Riordan or Disney, (who is sponsoring Riordan or whatever) had had enough of political correctness, progress and etc., and are just trying to write regular YA novels without much sexual minorities, racial minorities and such similar political progressives. Samirah, (getting back to her), went to Jotunheim to check on an egg of a magical oversized chicken and had to outmaneuver a giant; to Helheim went TJ, who had to restrain Garm the Norse hell hound, and both of those adventures were ok, but kind of underwhelming, restricted. Riordan had some good ideas in ‘9 worlds’ the anthology, (the last ones are Halfborn in Vanaheim and Molly in Niflheim, built along similar lines as Samirah and TJ’s adventures), but due to the specifics of ‘9 worlds’ they never got fully developed, remaining more of a disappointment instead…

But then – on topic of Riordan – is Jennifer Cervantes’ ‘The Storm Runner’ novel. Just like Roshani Chokshi’s ‘Aru Shah and the End of Time’ novel, this is a novel that is associated with Mr. Riordan and his universe and is built on the same lines that his YA novels are built: a teen – or a preteen – discovers that one of their parents is a god and hijinks follow. The two novels are different – Chokshi’s ‘Aru Shah’ is very dialogue heavy and description heavy and while it has some references to Riordan, it has some Rowling references as well and comes across as somewhat silly. It is good for a laugh, but its’ humor is kind of immature, and in general Ms. Chokshi just tries to hard to shoehorn her YA novel as a teenage/pre-teenage girl read.

Ms. Cervantes and her novel are different; it is more mature, edgier, and it feels like two novels stitched into one – her own novel about acceptance, (here the differences are physical deficiencies rather than sexual or racial minorities), including Mesoamerican mythology, and a Riordan-imitation novel, also regarding Mesoamerican mythology. To compound matters further, she used Riordan’s ‘Lightning Thief’ novel for plot and plot points, with variations; i.e. it is not the hero’s mother who gets taken to the underworld, but his dog, (so the entire novel takes on a very weird tinge), Grover the satyr’s role is taken over by Zane’s – the titular character’s – wrestler-wannabe uncle, and the entire novel begins to feel like an imitation of the aforementioned ‘Lightning Thief’, with the injected story of team Zane confronting a pair of selfish twins, (Jordan and Bird). They are supposed to help Zane save the world from the god of death, Ah-Puch, (whose name serves as a recipient for some jokes that again come across as immature rather than funny), but just eat-up Zane’s time and pad-up Ms. Cervantes’ novel instead. While both novels promise sequels in spring and autumn of 2019, it is anyone’s guess as to whether this will happen.

And where’s Rick Riordan in all of this? He is the one writing the introductions to those novels. Why? Probably to show that both Ms. Chokshi and Ms. Cervantes have his stamp of approval and are a part of ‘his’ universe rather than independent works. Ms. Cervantes’ novel comes off as a professional imitation of ‘the Lightning Thief; it is professionally distorted – dog as opposed to mother, the issue of appearances, (good vs. ugly, inside vs. outside), but still, is it flattering? …And on the other hand, we have Ms. Chokshi’s ‘Aru Shah’, which succeeds – as an amateur – where Ms. Cervantes’ professionalism fails: ‘Aru Shah’ is a completely independent novel that has nothing to do with Mr. Riordan’s works as such Ms. Chokshi may have had to insert some concrete references to Mr. Riordan’s works, however oblique they were; as a consequence, they stick like sore thumbs in her novel.

Therefore, this is the current stage of Mr. Riordan’s input into the Western literature: the Apollo series, (that feels as if it is on hiatus while Mr. Riordan and co. hammer out the kinks), a couple of anthologies, (‘9 worlds’ and a ‘Kane Chronicles’ one that feels like a mix between an anthology and an activity book…with a throwaway to a semi-bisexual Setne, a villain – ouch!), and the above-mentioned novels of Ms. Chokshi, (an independent work, basically), and of Ms. Cervantes, (an on the nose imitation of ‘Lightning Thief’). Not something to be proud about, one suspects.

…And then there is J-Ro, who is not doing so hot either. Yes, by now she has three illustrated novels (re-editions, with Jim Kay), as opposed to Riordan’s only one, (Chad Rocco), but they all are selling the same way – badly. There is the release of the ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’ script released in a book form, but it is going the same way as ‘Cursed Child’ did – badly. Regardless of the movies’ success, and of the fact that ‘HPGF’ is being remade into a concert, the sun is setting upon J-Ro, as it does upon Rick Riordan.

…Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!

S.H.I.E.L.D., laws - Dec 6

Last night, AoS’ S4 mid-season finale was aired. And?

In some ways, it was different from S3 mid-season finale, for example. In ‘Maveth’, Coulson rescued Fitz from the alien planet in question, and there was this huge-scale explosion of a castle (belonging to Malick and Hydra?) and in general back then AoS tried to recreated the ‘Avengers’ atmosphere, both then, and at the end of S3 proper, when Hive was destroyed by a nuclear explosion in space. It did ignore the fact that a screen in a movie theatre was a different beast from the screens on a TV or a typical domestic computer/laptop, so the final result wasn’t quite ‘Avengers’-like; plus Luke Mitchell’s departure from the series caused more damage – and now?

The S4 mid-season finale, ‘Laws’, was much smaller in scale; in fact, in terms of special effects and all, it was more like ‘The Librarians’ S2 finale, with few special effects, (if any); but ‘The Librarians’ really aren’t into special effects, (though the first two episodes of their S3 were something different). AoS, on the other hand, was – after all, it is a part of MCU, so there!

However, as I may have written before, this time, with S4, AoS is possibly working on a tighter budget than it did in the first 3 seasons. In part it is because Elena ‘Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (NCB) is getting her own mini-series, (available on Dec 13, 2016), online – fair enough, but AoS/MCU already did something similar between S2 and S3, and it didn’t prevent S3 from trying to go epic, as it was already written.

On the other hand, the ratings of AoS S3 began to fall down very fast, and right now, they do not appear to be recovering, regardless of the presence of the Ghost Rider. The latter, of course, is his own kettle of fish; in S4, AoS tried to do what DC’s ‘LoT’ did with Jonah Hex – something of a special guest superhero on top of the regular team. It worked in ‘LoT’ because ‘LoT’ is a better (right now) TV series compared to AoS, plus-

In addition, ‘LoT’ is a part of the bigger DC’s ‘Arrowverse’ TV-verse, which also includes ‘Arrow’, ‘The Flash’ and nowadays – ‘Supergirl’ (2016 onwards). The four TV shows are not exactly a smoothly functioning machine, they have problems, but as the ‘Invasion’ of last week has shown, their casts and crews can work together without any problems, with each show having its unique identity in the greater DC ‘Arrowverse’ TV-verse.

On contrast, AoS’ cast and crew have constantly problems – with each other and with other people, I would guess. As promised, Skye/Daisy and the Ghost Rider/Robbie Reyes didn’t have any romance or any sort of a relationship between each other, which is one of the reasons why Robbie (and his uncle) just went off somewhere else in the third quarter of ‘Laws’ – so far there is no final and definite idea as to how to properly integrate Robbie into AoS and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Again, this is nothing new – throughout the series Skye/Daisy had a problem with having ‘an opposite number’ – Grant, Trip, Hunter, Lincoln – they all came and went for different reasons and in different ways, Robbie Reyes is just the latest, and while the writers may think that this helps Daisy’s character development, the audience may just feel irritated instead.

Now, the interactions between a show and fans is important, but it is also less straightforward than people may think. Take, for instance, ‘The Flash’, where people have been giving Iris flak. Now, it may be so because in this incarnation Iris is Afro-American, but in truth, she just is not very contributive to the show, not how Laurel is, or how Felicity is in ‘Arrow’. A crew of a show may have views about how a show is supposed to work, and fans also may have views about that same issue – different ones, so hello – conflict.

It is argued that not ALL the fans are offended when a character gets ‘racebent’ or changed in some other way, as Ms. Rowling tends to do with her characters (the original HP-verse, not the new ‘Fantastic Beasts’ expanded one), just the most vocal and obnoxious ones. Perhaps, but as AoS has shown, ignoring them is not so easy, either…

Well, no, not just AoS – the entire MCU. Hydra is supposed to be one of the bad people, yet there is a strong support for it online (at least). They may not be the biggest faction, but they are there, and they are well prepared to fight-off any opposition – and they have plenty of opposition, because pro-Hydra is pro-evil (sort of). Moreover, since the Internet is that sort of a marvelous invention, any arguments can very quickly either die-out or grow to great proportions.

Wait, isn’t this the sort of an argument that ‘socially-challenged’ nerds can only get involved in? Anyone sane will avoid this sort of a discussion by a mile? Yes, and they avoided the fandom by the same mile too, it seems, as AoS’ viewers’ ratings fell.

MCU instigated controversies – both unintentionally, as it was with Hydra in general and with Grant Ward and Kara Palamas in AoS specifically, and intentionally – Steve vs. Tony in the CA: CW film and Steve becoming Hydra in the Marvel comics. The most…intense part of MCU fandom reacted heterogeneously to these new developments, and sales fell. Viewers ratings’ (especially for AoS) – ditto.

In addition, it is always tricky to calculate a sale – there is no rule of thumb: people may buy-out a comic book issue/series of issues/etc. in one area and ignore the same piece in the other. Just look at ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ transcript book – it may not be a comic book, but the principle is still the same: in some Russian cities it was completely sold out, while here, in Toronto, Canada, I never saw people buying it, or any other books in Harry Potter series, including the latest edition of ‘The Chamber of Secrets’ with its magnificent new illustrations (by Jim Kay, I think). ‘Cursed Child’ was sold at a flat rate of 15 dollars – cheaper than a novel set in the Pathfinder™ game-verse, and people still weren’t flocking to it…unlike in Russia. Bet you this is not what Ms. Rowling expected when she had realized the transcript…

‘Cursed Child’ is relevant to the discussion about MCU, AoS, DCEU and etc., because it also tried to be culturally diverse, as ‘The Flash’ is, for example. In ‘The Flash’, Iris West is an Afro-American, and people are displeased by this; with ‘Cursed Child’ Hermione and her daughter, Rose, had the same issue. (They got over this by their acting skills, period). Ms. Rowling promptly called them racists and that was the end of that, as far as she was concerned. The same thing is happening in MCU, as Zendaya may be the new Mary Jane in the new ‘Spider-Man’ movie, and-? Racism?

Well, on some level – certainly yes. However, on another – no. It is somewhat ridiculous to treat characters from books, comics, TV series, movies as real-life people, but without this treatment these characters become, well, products that need to be sold and bought, period, and they are usually being sold to, and being bought by, a specific audience, which, in case of AoS (and the rest of MCU, maybe), isn’t really interested in this sort of thing, not entirely, not anymore.

There is also the option of putting a show onto Netflix, for a flat rate. But again, not everyone can afford it, and even among those who can afford it, there are those, who are still uninterested in watching it, and if there are enough of such people – the ratings plummet, and the show goes further downwards, now further depowered by the people who are somewhat interested in watching it, but cannot afford it – but AoS isn’t worried by them, because it is a free show that is steadily losing popularity for the reasons discussed above – it was too controversial for too long and now investors are losing interest in it or getting worried.

Shows hate controversy: when one of the ‘background ponies’ on MLP: FIM began to be controversial, it was showed into background as far as possible, and began to re-emerge only recently, now that the controversy is long gone. AoS did not do the same approach (pragmatic, if not sensible) to Grant and Kara Palamas, and paid the price.

Speaking of Kara… The S4 mid-season finale had Melinda May gotten replaced by a robot double – which was exactly what Hydra did via Kara back in S2. Back then, Coulson very quickly recognized the imposter due to intimate, personal details that Kara just could not know about May. Now… he is fooled, but that is not the point, the point is that AoS is back to recycling its’ ideas; S3 (especially post-‘Maveth’) had recycled many ideas from S2; S4 is not as bad, but it still shows, and that also diminishes its’ chances to be renewed (for S5 and beyond). ‘Agent Carter’ was cancelled after just two seasons, remember?

On the other hand, S4 shows a notable decrease in InHumans – right now they are mostly plot devices; there are Daisy and Yo-Yo and director Mace himself (clearly influenced by Steel from DC’s ‘LoT’), and that is it. Oh, and there is also the senator’s brother, but right now he is a no-show, so who knows? Instead, we are going to get the invasion of robot body snatchers, spearheaded by Aida and Dr. Radcliffe, (who immediately knew that there was something wrong with Darkhold, unlike May or even Fitz, for comparison). It is possible that AoS is downplaying the InHumans specifically, especially at least their own TV show airs (in the upcoming years), but with InHumans being largely a no-show, and Hydra gone (cough), AoS is lacking two of its major elements since the beginning of S3. Again – not good.

So, in conclusion of the rant: AoS’ S4 is still going strong, but not strong, as it was in the beginning. Will it be enough to rescue AoS for the future seasons? Who knows…?

'Harry Potter' and co. - Aug 5

Time went on. The OI-2016 is upon us – I just watched the opening, very dramatic and colorful. Watching it, one can forget that in reality, the Olympic Games are on the downswing – they are growing more dramatic and colorful, and less relevant for the rest of the world…in the positive meaning of the word ‘relevant’.

In the negative meaning… ever since the winter Olympics of the late 1990s, the Russians have been at odds with the Americans and Canadians, and that alone had almost ruined every Olympics ever since. It is a good thing that they did come to Rio in August 2016 – otherwise, the diplomatic damage between RF and ‘the West’ would have become even worse. As it is, just look/search online for former Olympic towns/stadiums/etc. It is not an optimistic picture.

(Mind you, what is currently going on in the U.S. politics in general is already bad enough, but I have no interest to discuss it. Period.)

In other news, the ‘Harry Potter’ play has come into the light. What can be said about it? It is a play, a theatrical performance, and it is its’ actors that give it meaning and life. So far, they are all preforming wonderfully, so ‘HPACC’ is a hit. Curiously, however, there is little discussion about it so far, especially among the fans – possibly, because they are pissed at Rowling and co. about their latest stance with Hermione?

No, it is not just about the racial matter – at least not how a member of a Trump rally would go at it. The catch is that Noma Dumezweni just does not look like a Hermione, no more than Paul Thornley looks like a Ron: if they’d been cast as some ‘apocryphal’ wizarding couple, who got caught in a Potter-Malfoy-Weasley-Granger mess, they would’ve accomplished that, no problem; as it was, the promotional photos had to explain that they were Ron and Hermy, and not someone else.

Moreover, as for the racial matters? Cherrelle Skeete was a much better Hermione than Noma, and I am not just talking about age, but about attitude and general Hermione-ss. If she had been playing Hermy in the movies instead of Emma Stone, (hypothetically), then the fans would not have had so many issues accepting Noma as Hermione and Cherrelle as Rose, for example.

Yes, the issue of political correctness was present there, back when Noma and Cherrelle were cast in the first place. Yes, J.R. showed that she was willing to screw her canon to get on top – there is a good reason why her Mary-Sue/self-insert is Rita Skeeter, one of the less pleasant characters of HP world. However, you know what? Rita is not in ‘HPACC’, so let us just move forth.

‘HPACC’ gives some closure to the Malfoys and the Golden Trio (Scorpius is a Malfoy, sophisticated and clever; Albus-Severus is a Potter, brave and straightforward; and Rose is both a Granger and a Weasley, she’s Hermione with Ron’s values), but again, they all are just characters; if the scriptwriters had wanted, they could’ve shipped Scorpius with Polly Chapman, for example, by the end of the play, and no one would’ve been the wiser – of course this is what fanfic is for, but for the moment ‘HPACC’ isn’t given any personal fanfics, not yet.

Finally, Delphi. Apparently, she is the daughter of You-Know-Who and Bellatrix. Can she be any more cliché? Fans were discussing the possibility of the abovementioned pair having a child (or several) for a while, and they had been shipping Bellatrix and Voldemort even longer. Delphi is the ‘easy’ way out, a fanservice for the HP fans, which was accepted, or rejected, depending on the fan.

And yes, Rowling’s heyday is past – at least until the first ‘Magical Beasts…’ film gets aired. Yes, because she alone did not write ‘HPACC’, it is a fan-fiction as much as anything, albeit officially sanctioned/allowed by Rowling herself. Yes, there is a fan-level closure for Scorpius and Rose, for Harry and his youngest son – so what? The reviews are good, the ratings are good and the HP fans are generally enjoying it – good for them. Of course, the fans are also enjoying DC’s ‘Suicide Squad’ – good for them! It is the first DC movie that is not ripping off the plot of a Marvel movie. Maybe there is hope for DC yet, though judging by the trailers of ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Justice League’, the bad guys might need to save the day more literally than anyone would intend them to do so.

(And yeah, apparently Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is fighting in WWI rather than in WWII, as Cap has done. Good for her!)

Moreover, speaking of Marvel, AoS (the show) got a new director: Coulson got demoted! Jason O’Mara will be playing the new director. Judging by his filmography, (and speaking of DC), the last few films were animated, straight-to-video films of Batman (Bruce Wayne) as he interacted with Damian (his son by Talia al-Ghul). For Jason to be playing live a new character just might be a big break for him, so let us wish him good luck!

In addition, as for the in-show dynamics between the characters? Judging by the first half of S3, (especially by the first episode of the season), Lincoln and Daisy were supposed to be made and to defeat their enemies (including Hive?) together. However, Luke (who played Lincoln on AoS) decided that he would rather work with the cast of ‘Blindspot’ so Lincoln got killed and Coulson (Clarke Gregg) had to be saved, because Joey, (well, the actor who plays him), just doesn’t have the same oomph.

I feel sorry for that actor. It is even more possible that it was his character (Joey) who was supposed to die and save the rest of the team, including Lincoln. However, because Luke left, saving Lincoln suddenly became unnecessary, so the scriptwriters tied up a loose end – and probably messed up S4 for the audiences, the cast, etc. S3 was a mess-up of S2, especially in the second part; there were some references to the greater MCU, that did nothing; and the opening episode just does not work with the rest of S3 anymore…

So. The ‘Harry Potter’ fandom is slowing down, but not very much; the DC movie fandom is coming together at last; and the general Marvel fandom is still dealing with the mess that is AoS. They should have kept ‘Agent Carter’ as their representative TV series instead.