If your adolescence was anything like mine, Saturdays were all about the orange couch. I'm talking SNICK - Nickelodeon's primetime line-up geared at then-preteens (now tweens) and teens. It opened with Clarissa Explains It All. She was funny and dressed in crazy outfits like Stacy and Claudia in The Babysitter's…
Last month, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl - as preordained by Soros, according to anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists anyway. And for all the complaints about excessive NFL coverage of Taylor Swift, her critics made sure she remained in headlines by accusing her of Satanism. What? You thought one…
This is another one of those ridiculous pop culture controversies (see last year's faux-outrage over Barbie) that I feel almost embarrassed to discuss, but choose to because it still fits into a larger narrative. If you somehow missed it, comedian Jo Koy was asked to host the Golden Globes on…
If you've seen my annual wrap ups before, you know I'm often playing catch up. Case in point, Nope (2022), Jordan Peele's brilliant homage to blockbuster creature features that holds up a mirror to society - it's no coincidence a character dubs aliens 'Viewers'. Nope has more in common with…
Bill Door made the mistake millions of people had tried before with small children in slightly similar circumstances. He resorted to reason. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett The biggest problem with kids these days is adults these days (and those days, and the days before that, and the days before…
When people aren't complaining about kids being 'groomed' by 'woke' teachers, they complain about 'woke' kids critiquing movies that glorified substance abuse and non consensual sex. I guess the latest definition of 'woke' means being less susceptible to actual grooming or rape. A lot of those movies bothered me back then, too, and people got mad despite their own criticisms of Hollywood. Maybe they make exceptions for their own failings. "Different times". Spare me. The pain and consequences are the same throughout history. When adults mock children for respecting boundaries and consent and demanding the same in return...well, it's once again clear the 'war on woke' has nothing to do with protecting children.
A son who enjoyed the movie raised his eyebrows and said "wut?" when I asked if it hurt his feelings. Amazingly the thirteen year old boy who loves rats, Fortnite, and the color pink did not identify with any of the characters, least of all the dolls, but understood the social commentary because he's confident and perceptive. Seems to me people feigning offense on behalf of men should give them more credit because the real offense is pretending this gentle hug of a movie attacks them. Kenough already.
Technology can be a useful tool to connect people. It can not be a substitute for connection.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodent is not one of those times. I don't think a film adaptation would ever fully do justice anything written by Terry Pratchett. So much of the pleasure readers take in his storytelling is found in the word play, allusions, pop culture references, historical…
All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die. Rutger Hauer as Batty in Bladerunner I'll be referencing Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick a lot, but I chose that quote from the film adaptation Bladerunner specifically because the monologue…