Been waiting a little over two weeks for the first physical print copy of my book, People, Peace and Power-ups, to arrive. Once I've done my proof-read and certified it free of printing errors, I will allow my publisher to finally push it out to the world.
This is the package that arrived on my doorstep that I'm eagerly unboxing...
And it's not my book. Someone on the shipping end must have mislabeled my package with this one, so that's going to be yet another delay of maybe another month or so. Something is telling me I'm keeping my day job for a little while longer.
Episode 2 begins with Trevor presumably returning from China, having survived the events at Ta Lo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The continuity is less important than its thematic parallel. The conflict in China arose out of Shang-Chi’s dad being deceived into thinking his wife was imprisoned by her own people, making him chase an empty final mission — a tragic end for someone reputed to be immortal, and otherwise always got his way. Anyway, we get where Trevor’s been as he is on a plane talking to a Chinese woman, recounting to her how his mom set him on his life’s mission to be a great actor someday.
Trevor’s mission is once again sidetracked when, at the airport, he is tackled to the floor by the DDC for being the terrorist he only thought he was playing. He takes a deal to play under the direction of DDC’s P. Cleary in the act of deceiving Simon into revealing evidence of superhero powers.
At this point, let’s take a detour to explore the DDC. Damage Control debuted as a comic book, but it set a much different tone and function from the DDC in the MCU. Comic book Damage Control was a pure comedy of non-powered office workers and engineers impossibly tasked with cleaning up and restoring the damage caused by superpowered activity — a common occurrence in New York 616. Essentially, Damage Control represented stagehands and set builders for the Marvel Comics “theatre,” resetting the stage for the next violent encounter, though less like conventional theatre and more like Toho Studios, famous for its weekly Godzilla rampages. This conceit explained why New York always looked pristine before it got wrecked again in another powered clash.
The MCU’s DDC is cast more like present-day real-world immigration control, dealing more with the superpowered beings themselves rather than the damage they cause (though we did see their engineering department in Spider-Man: Homecoming). Nothing funny about them — they seem like self-righteous, officious a**holes.
OK, back to the series.
Simon’s agent, Janelle Jackson (X. Mayo), diverts his attention from Wonder Man to make a self-video audition for another movie project, hinting that it might increase his chances of being cast in the role he really wants. Simon tries to make the video at home, but the stress of having his girlfriend walk out on him, combined with his inability to get into character, causes him to lash out with his powers (possibly telekinetic) and damage his apartment.
When Simon reaches out to Trevor for help, Cleary sees an opportunity for Trevor to get evidence from Simon’s apartment. Cleary gives Trevor a device that can clone Simon’s laptop. Trevor’s job looks easy-peasy to us — the evidence is all there to be collected.
But Cleary’s plans get derailed when Simon decides not to shoot in his own apartment and instead rents a private studio. Here, Marvel shows us another way Hollywood auditions talent. OK, nice. At the studio, the camera operator proves so inept at reading the audition script that they abandon the effort altogether. It’s a bit of poetic justice. What Simon did to wreck his shoot last episode parallels what happens to him in this one.
Trevor has the brainwave to shoot the audition video at his old co-star’s house. Joe Pantoliano plays himself, reality bleeding into the fictional world. Here, we’re treated to some social theatre where past hurts and old grudges are smoothed over with politeness and platitudes. Trevor has lived a long time with the idea that Joe had backstabbed him in their long-ended hit series South Shore Hospital, but that “scene” had played out very differently from Joe’s point of view. When Joe tries to explain, it only rankles Trevor further. He breaks from social politeness and storms off, while Simon takes his side, insults Joe, and leaves too — his audition tape still not made.
Simon finally decides to shoot at home after all. Now everyone’s back on track with the main side quest — the audition tape. Cleary gets whatever his device has cloned from Simon’s laptop, and Trevor accomplishes his mission. Trevor also uncovers actual superhero damage inside Simon’s apartment, but for now we don’t know what he will do with that information.
Simon gets his video shot, with Trevor reading the co-dialogue. The bond the two have developed through their misadventures shines through. Simon has found his motivation and his character’s frame of mind. More than that, the scripted dialogue sounds so intimate and sincere that it feels as though the real-life actors, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, are speaking to one another in genuine respect and appreciation for the working partnership they have in the real world.
The theme of betrayal rings strongly in this episode: Shang-Chi’s dad betrayed by the “mega soul-sucker” as optional backstory, Trevor betrayed by Joe, and Simon in danger of being betrayed by Trevor. The layers and concentric circles blending reality and fiction are palpable here — not just as text, but as lived experience. And this is only Episode 2.
Marvel has delivered another act of self-commentary in the new Wonder Man. It comes across as an understated Marvel superhero offering, but it is more about processes -- the overlap of a new hero's backstory and how a Marvel movie is made, where the behind-the scenes of movie production takes precedence over superhero shenanigans.
Let's see if I got this: we viewers are watching an actor (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) playing the main character, actor, Simon Williams, auditioning to play the main character of a remake of a movie "Wonder Man," a character with super powers -- but although Simon has powers, he pretends he doesn't, while auditioning to play a character whose identity is tied to the powers he openly wields. It is a washed-up actor looking to make a comeback, Trevor Slattery, played in real life by Ben Kingsley, who once thought he was acting as a terrorist, not knowing that actual acts of terror in the MCU were being carried out in the name of the Mandarin, the character he thought he was playing. Trevor has put Simon on this path to play Wonder Man, Simon's childhood hero, but the audition itself is a sham, an act Trevor is perpetrating on Simon on behalf of P Cleary (Arian Moayed), agent of the Department of Damage Control. It's Trevor's "Mandarin" role all over again -- smaller, scaled-down and this time fully complicit in the deception.
In summary, we have overlapping layers of actors playing characters thinking they are being themselves, but are really playing characters in someone else's theatre. That is some rabbit hole. The overarching premise, it seems to me so far, is that Marvel is lifting the curtain on the process of making a superhero movie in the real world, but depicting the process in a world inhabited by superheroes, where the actors -- for contractual reasons or because they are hunted by DDC -- have to pretend they don't have powers if they do.
What drives this opening episode is the first step in the actor's process of being cast, the audition. Simon is an actor who overthinks his roles, even when all he needs to do is say a line then lie dead in a moonbeam. Yes, Simon is at the time we are introduced, a Day Player. An extra. A "calafaire", however it's spelled in my region of the world. For Simon, there is no small role. His impulse is to take over his entire shot and build a reality around his character who merely exists as an afterthought for the rest of the crew. But in building his character's reality, he destroys the real reality of the shoot -- time, budget, goodwill and patience -- that his shoot gets cancelled and his reality as he envisions it never gets made.
Having been politely fired, Simon goes to a screening of "Midnight Cowboy" (a movie about a man pretending to be a cowboy, eventually finding meaning in human connection, not performance -- an ironic mirror to Simon's life) and enters Act 1 Scene 1 of Trevor's play which involves implanting in Simon the idea to audition for "Wonder Man". At this point, we get the inkling of a fake friendship that could possibly evolve into a very real one eventually. The situation here is seemingly foreshadowed in the audition script for "Wonder Man" that Simon is to read. It is the character of Wonder Man monologuing about refusing to abandon his friend, possibly mentor, while making a last stand against hostile aliens.
Episode 1 takes us through the audition process, from the interaction with Simon's long-suffering Agent, to Simon finagling an audition spot at the last minute, to the door where he signs in to receive his script (and declare that he does not have super powers), to the queue of hopeful auditionees. We get to observe Simon's nerves under pressure and his breakdown, but Trevor (Act 1 Scene 2) meets with him to steady his nerves and give him tips on how to audition successfully: "don't think, just do" which is the very opposite of Simon's method. And when Yahya Abdul Mateen II delivers that monologue at Simon's audition, this scripted speech lands as the most heartfelt and sincere lines spoken in this episode.
This is going to be a fun series, but I anticipate maybe not for the hardcore superhero fanboys. Is it a documentary? A mockumentary? A superhero schlockumentary? I don't know yet, but this series so far pings big on my metafiction radar.
Ma famille, rendered as cartoon caricatures and proudly displayed on my front door. They represent traditional Chinese couplets the wife decorates our entrance with annually, welcoming blessings into our home. Each panel bears the character "fu", meaning "fortune", and each family member wears a horse hat for the Horse Year ahead. CNY is still officially a few weeks ahead, but taobao has been expeditious with its deliveries so we're celebrating early.
*The title wordplays on "port", so literally, pardon my French. Credit: Google Translate.
In the swirl of events of yesterday, I did not recognise the significance of the above email. I thought there were still one or two more steps to go, but technically I can now claim the job title of Published Author!
Yes, my book is no longer merely conceptual -- it actually exists in the real world! It'll be a few more days before I can hold it in my hands via snail mail but it is done! The culmination of fragments of work spread over the last 5 or so years is a destination I did not anticipate when I started this personal project, yet here we are.
I still need to proof the first printed copy to ensure there are no mistakes in the printing process, and then I'll release it into the market when I'm satisfied it's all good. Hopefully, a few weeks from now. In the meantime, preview People, Peace and Power-ups on thegprebel.sg, where this whole idea started as just a thing to do on the side.
An unexpected treat showed up on YouTube! BABYMETAL dropped a remake of the iconic Headbanger MV. Headbanger features a young female protagonist celebrating her 15th birthday, so it makes sense that this remake is meant to celebrate BABYMETAL's 15th anniversary.
The location has been updated to a gaming arcade in which a crane game grabs a neckbrace to kick off the song. Out of a video game screen, the ancestral spirit, or Kami, makes his reappearance Sadako-like. SU sings lead and MOA provides the clean harmonies as always, but MOMO gets to go full ham on her backing growls, adding an even harder edge to this classic track.
The choreography is the same, but after 15 years of repetition, the movements are polished and energetic without being breathlessly frenetic. The Kami steals the show, though. He goes into a Kevin McCallister style frenzy, running around the arcade like nobody's looking (nobody is looking 'cos it's empty), but Japanese finesse still comes though as he politely gives silent thanks before tucking into his ramen. He also celebrates with a soda pop shower (you're still not allowed to celebrate with champaign at 15), but mops up his mess at the same ridiculous Red-bull fuelled pace immediately after. It's a cute comedic touch to the faux horror theme that is so BABYMETAL.
Happy 15th anniversary to BABYMETAL! I hope to continue supporting your work until you change your name to BIDDYMETAL 50+ years from now!
From my screwed up tastebuds a couple of days ago to this...
A tasteful Gen-z style wedding dinner at The Summerhouse. The programmme started with a rapid-fire ceremony by a JP, no exhortations needed, then straight up to dinner.
Some canapes while we wait for the official dinner programme to begin. Not sure, but the top I think was something mushroomy, the bottom was kinda' pumpkin-y, not just taste-wise but also by texture.
Appetizer was this pan-seared Hokkaido scallop. Very fresh, very bouncy texture... but my salt hyper-sensitivity is still there and it tasted like the whole ocean was in my mouth. The brown sauce is Japanese curry, the white is coconut cream. The sauce combo made me think more of Okinawa's tropical beaches than chilly Hokkaido.
Tangy, zesty tomato soup. I like the simplicity of flavour and the warm comfort I got from it. The cheese ravioli floating there provided some needed mouth-play and a surprise burst of salt (again).
The main course: I chose the salmon option over the duck. No regrets. This chunk of pink lay wantonly on a mattress of risotto. The salmon was a little more done than I like, but its flavours and oils were still intact, so no complaints.
And finally, the dessert. I'd initially misread the menu as Dark Chocolate Fondue, so I was imagining either a tiny individual chocolate fountain per person (ridiculous), or everyone sticks their skewers of fruit or candy items into the nearest fountain (like Kajang satay -- slightly gross). Turns out that it actually read 'fondant', which was this cute chocolate lava cake. That made more sense.
Overall, I liked the way this wedding programme went. It was paced well, it was light-hearted, the ambience was warm, there wasn't an overwhelm of guests, the music was quiet, subtle and really in the background. Mostly, I like the DIY feel to it.
I don't know the happy couple personally. I'm my wife's plus one here, but thanks for the invite! All the best on your journey together!
Been fighting the bug for weeks, holding it off as much as I could, but it's finally won. I have flu A.
I've heard how with COVID you lose your sense of taste, but with my experience of this flu strain, is it possible that food tastes worse?
I've had the most disgusting meals over the last two days -- on food I usually enjoy. The beef daily bowl from Stuff'd was an awful mess that I forced myself to choke down for the vitamins while the only taste sensation I was getting was the salt in the ground beef to which I've become super sensitive. Same with the fried bee hoon I got for breakfast. I get that when I need to carbo load for the day and it was equally horrid with nothing more than stewed cabbage topping -- all bland with sharp spikes of salt for variety.
Weird that the best tasting thing I've had so far was the McDonald's double fish fillet that tasted as advertised... or it could just be that my ability to taste is starting to normalize again. We'll find out tomorrow.
Returned exhausted from the Singapore GP F1 Night Circuit qualifying round. Not there for the cars, I was there for the music. Made the rookie mistake of paying for a grandstand seat when all I really needed was a walkabout pass which would allow me access to the food and concert areas but not a view of the track.
Made good on my seat watching all 12 laps of the Porsche Carrera Cup -- one of the warm up races before the evening's main event. Some guy called Pereira won. Congrats! Abandoned my seat after that to explore the grounds.
Arriving early was an advantage. Short queues for food and toilets. For dinner, I got a $25 hamburger sando from Arigato. Medium rare burger patty topped with a cheese slice between two thick slices of white bread. It was delicious and generally kept its integrity throughout even though I was eating standing up and holding it in one hand, while being distracted by the commentary on the Jumbotron.
Wandered over to the Downtown stage to wait for the performance I paid for. It's a smaller stage, an offshoot from the main Padang stage where the big acts were performing. More on that later. I arrived at the end of a set by The Lathums (pic above). Don't know who they are but their music I could groove to. DJ Questionmark from Taiwan took over for the next hour. I went for dinner at this time.
When I returned, the peanut gallery was full of American looking and sounding people excited to party with Tom Grennan, another act I'm not familiar with. Still, his basic rock vibe was cool and had me bopping the whole time.
Tom Grennan took most of the crowd with him. I immediately advanced to about just five rows back from the stage apron, determined to hold my ground for an hour until the final performance of the night commenced. Meanwhile, the grand Padang stage lit up and sent powerful beats right across to us who were at the old Esplanade. Someone thoughtfully put on the Jumbotron in front of us so we could watch DJ Alan Walker do his thing. Surprisingly, watching a DJ do his thing is as interesting as watching a conductor wave his baton at prerecorded classical music. No disrespect, but Mr Walker twiddled knobs and waved his free hand theatrically, and that's it. At least we had something to entertain us while we waited. No complaints.
And finally, the moment I and the One have all been waiting for: BABYMETAL! Making a stop in Singapore on their current world tour via the F1, performing on a small, intimate stage, and me even closer than when I was at Zepp KL three years ago! It was a short but intense session featuring their most fun, upbeat concert favourites that had us all jumping, chanting, and chorusing along (badly) the whole 50 minutes. Mandatory pix taken from between raised arms holding phones and serious-looking cameras follow:
Sorry I couldn't get a decent pix of SU. The corner where MOA and MOMO stood to engage the crowd was the least blocked.
I'm actually amazed that the pix came out this well. Must be the optical zoom and low-light AI magic of the Pixel 10.
And to make the post longer, the mandatory setlist follows:
BM Death
Pa Pa Ya
Metali
Ratatata
Gimme Chocolate
From Me To U
Karate
Road of Resistance to close out. How the crowd was able to actually make a decent circle pit on SU's command also amazes me.
When I drove past a new banner ad for Nosh claiming it served the best fish and chips, I had to put it to the test. The location is about 10 minutes' walk from my residence, so there's a major plus point already.
The restaurant is cosy, catering to a small number of diners, light piano jazz over the speakers for ambience. The service was friendly and responsive, upfront about payment options which was important because 'credit card' was not on the list.
I ordered the mushroom soup and sourdough appetizer which you can see as the empty bowl in the background. The soup's consistency was not as thick as most other places suggesting it's made on-site with fresh ingredients and it was served scaldingly hot. The sourdough was fragrant, soft with a satisfyingly crunchy crust. It seemed like a waste to dunk it in the soup so I enjoyed it between spoons, appreciating the texture and flavour even sans butter.
The fish and chips was, in fact, the best I've had in a long while. I chose the halibut over the dory because, what the heck, man? Of course halibut! It came coated in a lightly crisp batter, the way I like. The halibut tasted fresh and went down smoothly while the brittle crunch of the batter provided a nice contrast of things going on in the mouth. The salad was rocket and a couple of halved cherry tomatoes splashed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- standard fare, but still rounded out the dish well.
My one mistake was in over-using the tartar sauce provided. It made the meal feel heavier than I wanted. Next time I'll ask for a sprinkle of classic salt and white vinegar, nothing fancier.
Oh, the 'chips' turned out to be interesting slices of potato cut into loose, wide spirals which they call 'sidewinders'. Never seen anything like that before. The groove on each chip suggests a machine rather than a hand cut. I ate them without ketchup 'cos they didn't need any.
A meal of this quality isn't cheap. $41 and change. So using a portion of my CDC vouchers, I let the government pay for it. Yay! A new place to use them up before they expire.
I'm overwhelmed right now. BABYMETAL's latest album "Metal Forth" released today along with another official MV, "My Queen" ft Spiritbox.
There are still a number of new tracks on the album that haven't had an official MV yet, so rather than reviewing the audio versions, I'll review each one as they get released as videos.
I will say, though, that overall, I enjoyed "Metal Forth". The previously released video tracks are all bangers. They're loads of fun to headbang and jump to, as already reviewed below. Which leaves the new tracks being more artistic in the musical presentation. At least, that's my first impression. Not speaking the language, I need more visuals to infer context, and I don't have that right now.
And that brings me to "My Queen". I'm picking up a serious, not fun vibe from this one. For me, it's a contemplative song, more rhythmic than melodic. BABYMETAL face off against Courtney LaPlante, Spiritbox's vocalist, on a chessboard. BM is the black queen piece, LaPlante is the opposing white queen. There is also the presence of The Evil One, so named by the credits in the YouTube description.
Through the song, the queens posture and move against each other. SU, of course, gets most of the vocals. Not to be upstaged, LaPlante gets a substantial verse that lets her vocals shine. LaPlante alternates clean, almost spoken vocals with her screams, then crescendos over screamed lines. While the song doesn't really invite the audience to sing and move along, it's still very intense, heavy and maybe even... uneasy. That dark bassline undertone creates a sense of menace that pervades all around.
The visuals suggest that this could be an anti-war song. Combatants face each other on a battlefield, but who put them there? Who's really planning the engagement? In the end, the players (The Evil One) win or lose. They can always start a new game. But it's those who've got their boots on the ground who've paid the ultimate price.
On the battlefield, even the queen is just a pawn in the player's hands.
Disney-Marvel tends to focus on the family dynamic a lot. But it's only now that we finally get a long-awaited introduction to the Fantastic Four, and my favourite title growing up.
MCU's FF takes place in the 828 universe, so it's the first movie of the franchise to be set entirely outside 616. A different universe presents the opportunity to design the world differently from the usual realistic-familiar 'view outside your window'. On 828 Earth, supervillains abound, but all of them are kept in check by only one team of four superheroes. It's a world fully dependent on the four and is quite helpless without them. They, particularly Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby), are the world's most respected policymakers. If any alien species were to land and ask to be taken to the leader, the Four would be it.
No surprise, then, that the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) makes first contact with them, announcing the world-ending arrival of the Devourer, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), who thankfully makes an appearance as the imposing physical being he is supposed to be and not a disembodied cloud. Sue's brother, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), is depicted previously as a thrill-seeking pain-in-the-a**, but I'm glad that here he is able to play a key role in defeating Galactus -- using heart and brain over bravado and flame.
I love Ben Grimm's (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) character design, and I mean his physical appearance in which he appears stylishly clothed rather than just rockin' trunks the whole time, and also his personality who has come to terms with how he looks, so much so that it seems Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) is more broken up about it than Ben is. Ben's flirting with a grade school teacher in full view of her students suggests he's not too self-conscious of his exterior. Good for him!
When we first meet the Four, they are already an established world-protecting force. Their origin is re-told in a commemorative, almost worshipful, television documentary complete with mid-century soundtrack and editing style. The vibe is upbeat, orchestral with a bombastic swing and overall very optimistic. But the main point of the opening scene is to introduce Sue's pregnancy. She's carrying Franklin Richards, the most powerful being in the MCU, bar none. But for now, he's a baby whose parents hope to give the most normal of lives to. Sure, that's gonna happen.
The plot was quite a thrill -ride, as long as we don't ask too many awkward questions about the science of how some of the plot-devices could have worked -- like how would slingshotting around a neutron star using existing inertia accelerate a non-FTL spacecraft to near lightspeed? Also, the timeline plays fast and loose with how quickly the earthlings can coordinate globally to mount a defence response, and how long it takes for Galactus to arrive despite salivating over the possibility of satiating his eternal hunger once and for all. But once he puts boots on ground zero (it's always going to be Manhattan) Sue gets to show who's the most powerful among team Fantastic.
I quite enjoyed the movie. The setting was a weird blend of old-fashioned aesthetic meets super-futuristic vibes which applies to the people, their costumes, and their personalities as well. The theme of protecting family resonates consistently throughout. It's cheesy, and done so many times already, yet it still sucks us in because wanting to belong is so integral to our emotional make-up. Done this warmly, it's a great family film that makes a solid introduction to Marvel's First Family making its 'First Steps' as the next beloved superteam in the MCU (Go, Thunderbolts!).
BABYMETAL's 'Kon! Kon!' has dropped, adding one more official MV to the tracks included in the much anticipated release of the upcoming new album, 'Metal Forth'.
The video comprises 'live' performance footage, moving away from the story form MVs of the last few releases. I haven't yet read the translated lyrics, but the overall performance looks and sounds like there's less of a narrative, and more like it should be experienced in person being one with the rest of the ONE.
I've been juicing for my health lately, and this song similarly serves up a tasty blend of mixed flavours. Musically, there's classical Indian and straight-up Bhangra, supported by a foundation of driving metal. Linguistically, there's Japanese, English and Hindi, the latter two courtesy of Bloodywood's vocalists. The choreo is also inspired by classical dance blended with the high-stepping energy of Bhangra.
The words 'Kon! Kon!', I learned some time ago, is what Japanese folks think the fox says. Without knowing much more, I guess that the song title plays into the kitsune lore somehow.
Anyway, all the songs being released for BM's fifth album suggest a return to the super fun, super catchy kind of music that 'The Other One' was missing. Yes, 'The Other One' was beautiful and jaw-droppingly artistic -- a statement that the band has developed and matured from the kids people knew them to be. There's no doubt who they are today, so it's time to bring back the fun and the 'jumping up with the fox god'.
With every track released a banger so far, the new album can't drop soon enough.
Ironheart is a completely new MCU character for me. I know of her comic book existence, but her title came out years after I'd stopped my weekly subscription so I went into the TV series blind. True, we did get a glimpse of Riri in Wakanda Forever, but there wasn't enough world building for us to get to know her backstory.
What surprised me was that the tonality of series was nothing like I'd expected. With a name like "Ironheart" there was the potential for an overkill of goodness and sweetness and light, but thankfully there was none of that to be found in Riri or her story. Instead, the series is grimy and dark, the soundtrack is heavy with gangsta' rap, and any humour is kept way down to a minimum. This is neither a funny, nor even a fun show. Good for her.
Riri herself is nothing like the shiny hero the 'Ironheart' moniker suggests. Rather, her character is murky and morally ambiguous. Her 'Uncle Ben' moment results in the simultaneous loss of both her stepfather and half-sister or bestie (I'm not clear about the exact relationship), but instead of giving her moral clarity it puts her into survival mode. She will do anything to put a suit of armour around herself and her nearest and dearest. It's not altruism, it's selfishness born out of trauma
The name 'Ironheart' is never once mentioned in the series. Riri does not give herself a superhero name, only referring to the armour as a 'suit', so she sees herself and the suit as two separate entities -- no 'I am Iron Man' owning of the identity, so I suspect that the series only provides us a starting point of Riri's journey. The only name her alter ego gets is 'Ironhead', coined by her late stepfather, and this is the identity that sticks with her through the series.
Stubborn, unyielding, not in a good, heroic way, but a petulant, annoying way, at this point, Riri is far from being a hero. The morally questionable choices she makes throughout the series makes her quite unlikeable. She starts by being expelled from MIT, an by the time the series is over there is no redemption arc for her.
Is this a good narrative for the series to follow? Given the early review bombing of the series it doesn't seem like a crowd pleasing direction to have taken, but by giving a hero an absolutely rock-bottom starting point presents lots of potential for an epic redemption arc at some later date. Hopefully, that's the plan for her.
There is also a lot the audience has to do to suspend disbelief here. Tony's suit is powered by an arc reactor, Riri's suit makes use of solar and wind energy. While that admission makes her suit way inferior to Tony's, being able to generate that much power from the sun and wind requires a level of technology that should be putting the oil industry out of business for good. Eventually, Riri obtains an alternative source of power -- eldritch magic, which I suppose, is more believable (given how the MCU functions on anomalies) than maintaining the sun and wind angle. The criminal crew Riri joins is supremely effective in their combat skills, that is until they face the might of Riri's improv fighting style.
And Sacha Baron Cohen makes his long awaited MCU debut as Mephisto, the smooth-talking, contract obsessed demonic menace who by the end of the series may or may not have sealed a deal with Riri Williams. The question remains open-ended for now. Magic, especially of the Dr Strange style was not where I expected the story of another metal suit to take me, but here we are.
Overall, I did enjoy the series, though the main character did not endear herself to me. The tension, pacing and slow-burn revelations were intriguing enough to see where it all led to. I'd say it's a bold and interesting introduction to a fresh new face in the MCU.
Disney's 'live' Snow White is now streaming. It's been much maligned, panned, and shunned by the movie-going public, going by its poor box office performance. The lead, Rachel Zegler, has also received much online abuse and the roasting hasn't stopped even though she's moved on to other projects.
The question is, did the movie deserve the hate it got? First. it's a remake of a beloved original vintage Disney animation, so already the audience is communicating to the studio to please stop re-inventing the wheel and make us some new stuff instead.
That said, this 'live' production fills in a lot of detail missing in the original that present teachable opportunities for parents to discuss with their kids after. Primarily, the nature of 'beauty' which is central to the story. Zegler is no mega-babe compared to the statuesque Gal Gadot -- Wonder Woman herself -- who plays the Queen. But that is the point of this movie: that beauty is not in the outer appearance alone, but the totality of a person and how they behave towards others. The one who is beautiful adds to the lives of others, rather than takes away from them. The Queen's favourite magic trick demonstrating long-term impact by comparing the fragility of a flower to the hardness of diamond is eventually reversed by Snow White. It's an important distinction that the original animation glosses over, but the 'live' version gets a bit heavy handed with.
Other lessons include how an ideal society functions. In Snow White's version it's when people are kind and share their resources with each other from the goodness of their hearts rather than from a political mandate. The Queen's way is essentially survival of the fittest (or fairest) pitting winners who can acquire and protect resources from others, and losers who can't -- a philosophy that turns the literally once-harmonious kingdom into a gloomy scrabble for individual survival. It's a criticism of the current state of the USA even before 47 took over, but it's probably so on-the-nose that it rubs the domestic audience the wrong way. Under the spectre of potential new wars, mass deportation, the new anti-DEI pushback, it does seem far-fetched that people being kind to one another can make it all better.
Also re-examined is the concept of 'true love'. How would a passing stranger of a prince experience 'true love' encountering Snow White's lifeless body and be motivated to kiss her without the suspicion of necrophiliac tendencies? In the 'live' version, Jonathan is no prince, but a selfish rogue whom Snow White influences to change his ways through mutual cooperation and suffering before love materializes between them. This added storyline could be a criticism against how modern men and women expect true love to occur between strangers meeting on dating apps and getting disappointed because no one will ever be 'the one' this way.
As far as the 'live' is a musical, true, there are a lot of song and dance numbers to keep the narrative lively. But the music was not particularly memorable other than the callbacks to some of the original's. The lyrics were also more tell than show, so sure, fun but overall meh.
'Live' Snow White I have mixed feelings about. I might have appreciated it better if I had kids to bring and have something to chat about with them later, but the movie was clearly not pitched to my demographic. Perhaps that's the reason this movie wasn't as profitable as it could have been: having fewer and fewer kids means less and less reason to pay money to watch movies like this, while the jaded and childless are hate-watching the movie that is not meant for them. Also, perhaps the overall positivity of the narrative can be annoying as it runs so counter to their normal, everyday experience of life. And their biased reviews are turning audiences off unfairly -- even audiences whom the movie is meant for.
47 really wanted to show off US military might through his parade but was disappointed. It was intentionally more low key and themed itself more historically educational and friendly than he'd hoped. Not surprising that if he can't impress in theory, he'll take it on himself to demonstrate his military capabilities in practice.
Cue joining Israel in bombing nuclear sites in Iran, regardless of every piece of advice he'd been given to avoid a potentially large scale long term conflict against a foreign power. So here we are: the oldest ever toddler playing with the most dangerous toy ever, and who can't wait to see things go boom.
Iran, of course, could take the volatile route of vengeance, threatening the USA with violence both in the Middle Eastern region and at home -- which they have already done. But if they were instead to entertain a more chill approach, here's what I'd suggest.
47's actions are reminiscent of a simple gangster play: hit the enemy hard once and they'll beg for peace and mercy on his terms. However, this is not one mafia family beating up one loan defaulter. It's a mafia don almost unilaterally declaring war on an entire mafia rival family. It's not USA vs Iran, it's really just 47 vs Iran. 47 does not have the support of half the voters who voted in the 2024 election, and some of his more powerful supporters are starting to voice their disapproval over this apparently impulsive decision.
With this as the background, it would not make sense to unite the entire USA against a common enemy which would happen if Iran proceeded to attack US citizens and materials either in the region or at home. Rather, a less costly strategy would be to use the Palestinian playbook and launch a propaganda war showing the hardships, the destruction, and the humanitarian crisis that has resulted from this US action, while at the same time suggesting that Iran's nuclear capabilities are as yet unaffected. Setting these two opposing cognitive forces loose in the USA right now would be a sit down with popcorn moment as we watch the Great Satan tear itself apart from within.
Honestly, at this time, the nation closer to regime change is the USA. Iran literally has to do nothing but wait it out. Will they, though? WWIII hangs in the balance.
Why would there be a need to remake a beloved animated movie from 2002 into a 'live' action one in 2025? To be honest, this one is the first 'live' action Disney remake I've watched, but only because the original resonated so hard with me. Would the story impact a second time?
It's a narrative that plays well in animation. The premise of aliens on Earth makes for a silly, nonsensical plot, so the animated medium of the original blends the incongruous elements into a seamless, believable universe. 'Live' action, though, needs a more realistic and grounded treatment, backgrounded by the fantasy elements of life and technology beyond the stars.
The plot and characters are updated, and some of the original's plotholes which we allowed for creative license get more of a logical explanation in the 'live' version. And then there is the concept of what "ohana" entails that gets explored and enhanced as well.
Conceptually, the story is the same. Two tiny outcasts find kinship and bond with each other amidst a chaos that is often of their own making. Through their misadventures, they bring out the best of each other while the lives of everyone concerned with them steadily fall apart. Sometimes, destruction is required before something new can arise from the rubble.
Some things that get updated are that Lilo's (Maia Kealoha) penchant for photography is gone since today, taking pictures of random people without their consent is no longer socially acceptable. Lilo's outfit is less traditional and more current. Big sister, Nani (Sidney Agudong), has help from well-meaning neighbour, Tutu (Amy Hill), a completely new addition to the original cast.
The 'live' action has its share of controversy. The role of Cobra Bubbles, the social worker in the original is split between an actual social worker (Tia Carrere) and Agent Cobra Bubbles (Courtney B Vance) doing undercover work investigating the alien presence on Earth. This split role explains why an ex-CIA agent with alien contact experience is currently working as a social worker. We always wondered if it was something he did or said that got him such a demotion. Now we know better.
Spoiler Alert: making Jumba (Zack Galifianakis) the main antagonist in the 'live' version seems like a betrayal of the character from the original, but we have to remember that in the original there was no motivation for his change of heart. He was always about capturing Stitch, disassembling him, and remaking a better monster. In the original, after finally capturing Stitch, Stitch politely asks Jumba for help to which he makes an inexplicable turnaround claiming, "he's very persuasive". In the 'live' version, Jumba follows through with his original motivation and gets increasingly unhinged with every failure.
Even bigger spoiler alert: Many fans of the original are upset when at the conclusion, Nani relinquishes custody of Lilo. In the original, Nani and Lilo remain as a family under the auspices of alien providence. In reality, aliens have no jurisdiction to enforce such protection once they leave the planet. It makes sense for there to be a more enforceable solution in the 'live' action, and that is for Tutu, who has been portrayed as a surrogate mother figure to both Nani and Lilo to take custody of Lilo.
Meantime, Nani is allowed to pursue her dreams studying Marine Biology, which again to many fans looks like a betrayal of the wholesome original ending when then family gets to stay together. 'Live' action Nani is accused of 'girlbossing', which is not true at all. First, Nani has to be persuaded to go to university, having won a full scholarship, and has turned down the offer time and again. She finally goes when Lilo tells her to go because that's what their parents would have wanted for her.
So what does this mean for the 'ohana' concept that was so central to the original? While ohana means family, it isn't limited to the nuclear family. The concept of family includes found family (which was part of the concept in the original) and now includes Tutu who is also found family and has been part of the extended family this whole time. Ohana also includes family members who are deceased and whose wishes are still respected. When no one is "left behind or forgotten", that includes Nani too. Despite being Lilo's primary caregiver for most of this movie, Nani needs care from her ohana too, which Tutu provides. Girlbossing would actually be Nani taking care of Lilo all by herself, but ohana brings the village to raise the child.
And finally, in 'live' we get to see Lilo achieve personal growth and gain some maturity. Animated Lilo gets everything she wants at the end, but at no personal cost. In 'live', Lilo decides she cannot be a selfish brat any longer, agreeing to part with Nani for a time so that Nani can become who she needs to be. Lilo does say "I like you better as a sister than a mom", so she makes the sisterly decision to let Nani go. This way, Lilo proves that she is ohana to Nani as much as Nani has proven time and again that she is ohana to Lilo.
While I generally believe that it's time Disney starts making original content again, Lilo and Stitch 'live' gives us a little more insight to the animated original. But I draw the line at making yet another 'live' remake of its sequels. Once is enough.
Well, here's a melding of two worlds I did not expect. The original Karate Kid and its remake turn out to be parts of the same Karate universe. Legends brings them all together and shifts everybody west to the gritty streets of New York.
Having regained his confidence after Xiao Dre's (Jaden Smith) victory in Beijing, Mr Han (Jackie Chan) restarts his school of kung fu. His prize student, Li Fong (Ben Wang), is already skilled in martial arts, but lives under the shadow of his deceased older brother. His Mom (Ming-Na Wen) forbids Fong from any further fighting due to the circumstances of her older son's death, and moves them both to New York for a fresh start.
Of course, the Karate Kid formula gets Fong in trouble with his newfound girlfriend's (Mia, played by Sadie Stanley) ex, Conor Day (Aramis Knight). The game now is to win the 5 Boroughs Championship of which the Conor is 5-time reigning champion.
While Conor is intense and ruthless in training, he's not really played up as a bully. Fong already has his own inner demons to fight. It takes both Mr Han and Daniel la Russo (Ralph Macchio) to combine forces and get him in shape for the fight both physically and mentally.
Yes, in a flashback at the beginning of this movie, the legend of how Miyagi-Do Karate came from Han kung fu roots is told. It's satisfyingly respectful that the late Pat Morita's Mr Miyagi is remembered as the common link between Mr Han and Daniel-san. "Two branches, one tree".
It is important to set up how skilled a fighter Fong is right at the start. He impresses Mia's dad, Victor (Joshua Jackson), who becomes Fong's student in using kung fu to train for an upcoming prize fight. This way, we see our protagonist as a trainer rather than as a trainee, an interesting break from formula. This leaves Fong's training by Han and Daniel to be more comical as the two coaches discuss and demonstrate their strategies using Fong as a practice dummy.
What's not clear to me, though, is the need to bring in the discipline of Karate as the 5 Boroughs tournament doesn't seem to be specific to any single discipline. The portrayal of the tournament felt rushed. There was little build up in getting to know the opponents, their motivations and stakes. Conor and Fong looked evenly matched going in, so despite being down by a few points in the early game Fong didn't look like he was in trouble. Then again, perhaps that wasn't the point. Fong's demons have more to do with his response after the match to fulfil his redemption arc. Another nice variation of the formula.
Overall, Legends brings a fresh take to the Karate Kid franchise, thrilling to view as a first-timer, yet heavily nostalgic for those of us who have followed this narrative since the '80s.
Attended the Pre-U Sem 2025 closing ceremony as staff in charge of my institute's delegation. Arrived just in time to catch one of my kids making a presentation about her team's project. She performed well, all bright, animated, rehearsed and polished but not beholden to script. What I didn't realize until a few seconds later was to whom she was presenting. It was to the new boss himself. Here you see the back of his head. It's the closest in proximity I've ever been to my industry's top brass. Just an observation.
"Song 3", BABYMETAL's collab with Slaughter to Prevail has now an official music video. The song already featured in BM's latest European 'live' concerts, so I've heard it once before via fancam.
This track has the most consistent harsh vocals for BM, giving MOMO her time to shine. Coincidentally, it was released on the same day as Hanabie's "Spicy Queen", so we have two girl bands dropping heavy beats and harsh vocals almost simultaneously. What a treat!
Anyway... "Song 3" gives the attention to MOA and MOMO, being composed more like a cheerleader chant with repeated counts of "ichi, ni, san", or "one, two, three". SU still gets some melody time, but it's less prominent a feature here.
Between the collab with Poppy and this one, rage seems to be the common theme. With "From Me to U", it's about calming your inner rage, while embracing and acknowledging its legitimacy. But with "Song 3", it's more about confronting the things that enrage us, say like pressure, failure, and perhaps even literal bullying. The count of "ichi, ni, san" at first brings focus when we're feeling overwhelmed, then becomes a discipline for training to overcome, and finally it's a countout, having KO'ed the adversary. What's interesting is that winning doesn't involve actual violence, but rather speaking up and asserting oneself with confidence.
I don't know StP at all, but they're wearing Oni and fox masks, so perhaps masks is their thing? The lead singer shows his face, though. I'm assuming that he represents the bullied boy now grown up and finally can't take it no more. He enrolls in BM's school of Karate where BM plays multiple roles as cheerleaders, trainers, referees, and the award presenter. StP's music is both discordant and heavy, creating the tension and overall stressful atmosphere which the growls make even more oppressive. But BM's melodic lines and lighthearted delivery still cuts through the tension, bringing hope and determination to rise to the challenge.
BM have always been genre-bending queens, but this is the first time they've taken on their own metal space as a genre and given us something of a more expected metal sound throughout the song. Not dance, not pop, just straight up metal -- with a little lemon zest for flavour. Heck, yes!
