netflix – Further Annotations

GABBLER RECOMMENDS: Hannah Gadsby: Douglas

Posted on May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 by blablablaandgabbler

“In all, Douglas is sillier than its predecessor, and even in the moments that feel legitimately angry or smugly self-satisfied (the kicker joke about Louis C.K. is a real back-patter), the show’s comparative goofiness is a welcome direction for Gadsby.”

[Via]

We particularly liked the lecture bits. Putting that art degree to work!

BookTuber Tuesday – The Old Guard Official Trailer

Posted on May 26, 2020May 22, 2020 by blablablaandgabbler

“The film is based off of a comic book authored by Greg Rucka (published in 2017 — you can read the first issue online here) and is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights). It also stars Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling, and Veronica Ngo.” [Via]

Hmmm. Needs more Automata. At least these immortals don’t suck blood or something.

GABBLER RECOMMENDS: Haunted Metaphors – A Russian Doll Video Essay

Posted on November 23, 2019 by blablablaandgabbler

GABBLER RECOMMENDS: Netflix’s Altered Carbon

Posted on February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 by blablablaandgabbler

What people are saying:

Morgan traces the genesis of Altered Carbon to an argument he had with a Buddhist at a party. “We got talking about karma and the idea that if you’re suffering in this life it’s because in a previous life you did something shitty. I’ve got a lot of time for Buddhism. Among the predominant faiths, it’s the one that’s the least full of bullshit. But I pressed him: ‘So I’m suffering and I can’t remember what I did to earn this suffering? That’s not right, is it, because I’m not that person?’ And he said: ‘It’s the same soul.’ I said: ‘It doesn’t fucking matter. What matters is whether you, as an experiential being, remember it. Otherwise I’m being punished and I don’t know why. That’s the height of injustice.’”

The everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink approach also extends to the show’s dizzyingly convoluted mystery plot, though critic Beth Elderkin points out that the show is actually easier to follow than its source material, the novel Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. “If you can believe it, some character stories were combined into single characters,” she says. “So it’s even more convoluted when you’re reading it in the book.”

But the show certainly has its defenders. As a science fiction author himself, Daniel H. Wilson found the show’s excesses oddly encouraging.

“It gives me hope,” he says, “because all the science fiction I write has too much stuff going on, too much exposition. So I hope this does well, because it gives me hope that you can create a really complex world and tell a cool story and get away with it.”

As a bleak dystopia, “Altered Carbon” cops flak for being a lesser “Blade Runner”. But on the diversity front, Lachman thinks “Altered Carbon” is superior.

“In ‘Blade Runner’, there’s sanskrit and Japanese and Chinese writing on all the buttons and everything, and not one person who looked like they could read it.”