Posted at 4:00 PM by Gerald So
Putnam Books approved me to review a NetGalley of the next Jesse Stone sequel, due to be published February 4, 2025.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Getting the Picture
Posted 3:30 AM by Gerald So
Next to the number of photos taken since the advent of digital cameras and smartphones, I've taken few. I haven't needed a smartphone enough to buy one, nor do I have the money for a good standalone camera. Much the way people used to shoot roll after roll of film hoping not to catch themselves blinking, until last week I hoped for the best with a PlayStation Eye webcam and my 4th gen Kindle Fire HD7.
Last week I read up on the best times of day to take photos and went out with my Kindle. Instead of using its 640-by-480-pixel VGA selfie camera, I made short movies with its 2-megapixel main camera. It yielded 1920-by-1080-pixel, 300-pixel-per-inch imagery and I didn't have to snap the shutter at just the right instant. I uploaded the movies to my computer, took screenshots with MPV, and cropped the screenshots with GIMP.
See my Mastodon profile and book review blog for the results.
Next to the number of photos taken since the advent of digital cameras and smartphones, I've taken few. I haven't needed a smartphone enough to buy one, nor do I have the money for a good standalone camera. Much the way people used to shoot roll after roll of film hoping not to catch themselves blinking, until last week I hoped for the best with a PlayStation Eye webcam and my 4th gen Kindle Fire HD7.
Last week I read up on the best times of day to take photos and went out with my Kindle. Instead of using its 640-by-480-pixel VGA selfie camera, I made short movies with its 2-megapixel main camera. It yielded 1920-by-1080-pixel, 300-pixel-per-inch imagery and I didn't have to snap the shutter at just the right instant. I uploaded the movies to my computer, took screenshots with MPV, and cropped the screenshots with GIMP.
See my Mastodon profile and book review blog for the results.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
THE UNION
Posted 5:30 AM by Gerald So
After failing to retrieve a stolen cache of spy identities, Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry) recruits her high school flame Mike McKenna (Mark Wahlberg) to help her buy the cache at a black market auction.
I was considerably against watching THE UNION after Wahlberg's stinging 2020 Spenser reimagining. Then I read a positive review and thought why not? He'd be playing a character to whom I had no attachment, and I like Halle Berry. The movie also features J.K. Simmons, Mike Colter, Jackie Earle Haley, Dana Delany, and Lorraine Bracco as characters whose most distinctive qualities are the names playing them.
The movie feels action-heavy, character-light, yet long enough I wondered why time wasn't spent on character. If it had been, I might have cared more about the people possibly being villains, being doublecrossed and killed. On the other hand, if the movie had been twenty minutes shorter, I might've liked it as a breezy romp.
As it is, I think I happened upon the one positive review and it misled me. Despite Wahlberg I didn't hate THE UNION, but it doesn't stand out in the pack of PG-13 B-spy flicks or in Wahlberg's or Berry's bodies of work.
Embed from Getty Images
After failing to retrieve a stolen cache of spy identities, Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry) recruits her high school flame Mike McKenna (Mark Wahlberg) to help her buy the cache at a black market auction.
I was considerably against watching THE UNION after Wahlberg's stinging 2020 Spenser reimagining. Then I read a positive review and thought why not? He'd be playing a character to whom I had no attachment, and I like Halle Berry. The movie also features J.K. Simmons, Mike Colter, Jackie Earle Haley, Dana Delany, and Lorraine Bracco as characters whose most distinctive qualities are the names playing them.
The movie feels action-heavy, character-light, yet long enough I wondered why time wasn't spent on character. If it had been, I might have cared more about the people possibly being villains, being doublecrossed and killed. On the other hand, if the movie had been twenty minutes shorter, I might've liked it as a breezy romp.
As it is, I think I happened upon the one positive review and it misled me. Despite Wahlberg I didn't hate THE UNION, but it doesn't stand out in the pack of PG-13 B-spy flicks or in Wahlberg's or Berry's bodies of work.
Embed from Getty Images
Monday, August 12, 2024
Goodbye, CBS NewsRadio 880
Posted 4:00 PM by Gerald So
I grew up listening to WCBS 880 AM on my clock radio. I preferred it to 1010 WINS's typewriter background noise. Today, 880's parent company, Audacy, announced the station was changing format as of August 26, becoming the new home of ESPN New York. This leaves WINS, also owned by Audacy, as New York's only remaining all-news station.
I appreciate straight news all the more in this age of everyone's opinions posted to YouTube, but I have to admit all-news radio hasn't genuinely been around since 880 and 1010 began carrying sports broadcasts. And so it goes.
I grew up listening to WCBS 880 AM on my clock radio. I preferred it to 1010 WINS's typewriter background noise. Today, 880's parent company, Audacy, announced the station was changing format as of August 26, becoming the new home of ESPN New York. This leaves WINS, also owned by Audacy, as New York's only remaining all-news station.
I appreciate straight news all the more in this age of everyone's opinions posted to YouTube, but I have to admit all-news radio hasn't genuinely been around since 880 and 1010 began carrying sports broadcasts. And so it goes.
Tuesday, August 06, 2024
Harris-Walz 2024
Posted 2:00 PM by Gerald So
Kamala Harris has chosen progressive Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate. The Harris-Walz ticket strikes me as infinitely more sensible than Trump-Vance.
In my head, the Harris-Walz campaign message is "America has humored Donald Trump far too long. There's work to be done. We can do it. You've seen Trump has failed."
Embed from Getty Images
Kamala Harris has chosen progressive Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate. The Harris-Walz ticket strikes me as infinitely more sensible than Trump-Vance.
In my head, the Harris-Walz campaign message is "America has humored Donald Trump far too long. There's work to be done. We can do it. You've seen Trump has failed."
Embed from Getty Images
Gender, Genealogy, and Attitude Swaps in Film and TV
Posted 6:30 AM by Gerald So
I am open to creators changing characters' gender or genealogy to tell stories relatable to their changing audience. Some examples I think worked particularly well are Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) from the 2004 reimagining of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Sam and Lois Lane (Joel de la Fuente and Alice Lee) from 2023's MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN, and Oswalda Cobblepot (Minnie Driver) and James and Barbara Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart and Krystal Joy Brown) from BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER.
It's helpful and most fair to view any reimagining as if you haven't seen previous versions. If you didn't know Starbuck or The Penguin had been a male character, you wouldn't think, He's supposed to be male. You would judge the reimagining in its own right.
In my previous post about BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER, I mentioned some of its reimagining seemed shallow. I was mainly alluding to its depiction of Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Jamie Chung)'s Harley Quinn persona. As originated by Arleen Sorkin in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, her demeanor as psychiatrist Quinzel was staid and professional; as Joker's sidekick Quinn, bold and bubbly. CAPED CRUSADER, on the other hand, has a bubbly Quinzel amd a laconic Quinn, appearently not influenced by Joker.
What's the point of an impassive clown? What drove this Quinzel to become Harley Quinn? In BTAS, Joker manipulated his asylum therapy sessions with Quinzel, driving her crazy in love with him. CAPED CRUSADER's Quinn has no such plausible origin so far.
She is revealed in the episode "The Stress of Her Regard," whuch sees her capture and manipulate several patients in the campy fashion of the 1960s Adam West BATMAN. A few BCC episodes experiment with tone, like "Night Ride," showcasing Gentleman Ghost as a bona fide evil spirit, eventually trapped by voodoo priest Papa Midnite. However, only "The Stress of Her Regard" strays too far from BCC's overall noir tone.
Embed from Getty Images
I am open to creators changing characters' gender or genealogy to tell stories relatable to their changing audience. Some examples I think worked particularly well are Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) from the 2004 reimagining of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Sam and Lois Lane (Joel de la Fuente and Alice Lee) from 2023's MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN, and Oswalda Cobblepot (Minnie Driver) and James and Barbara Gordon (Eric Morgan Stuart and Krystal Joy Brown) from BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER.
It's helpful and most fair to view any reimagining as if you haven't seen previous versions. If you didn't know Starbuck or The Penguin had been a male character, you wouldn't think, He's supposed to be male. You would judge the reimagining in its own right.
In my previous post about BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER, I mentioned some of its reimagining seemed shallow. I was mainly alluding to its depiction of Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Jamie Chung)'s Harley Quinn persona. As originated by Arleen Sorkin in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, her demeanor as psychiatrist Quinzel was staid and professional; as Joker's sidekick Quinn, bold and bubbly. CAPED CRUSADER, on the other hand, has a bubbly Quinzel amd a laconic Quinn, appearently not influenced by Joker.
What's the point of an impassive clown? What drove this Quinzel to become Harley Quinn? In BTAS, Joker manipulated his asylum therapy sessions with Quinzel, driving her crazy in love with him. CAPED CRUSADER's Quinn has no such plausible origin so far.
She is revealed in the episode "The Stress of Her Regard," whuch sees her capture and manipulate several patients in the campy fashion of the 1960s Adam West BATMAN. A few BCC episodes experiment with tone, like "Night Ride," showcasing Gentleman Ghost as a bona fide evil spirit, eventually trapped by voodoo priest Papa Midnite. However, only "The Stress of Her Regard" strays too far from BCC's overall noir tone.
Embed from Getty Images
Thursday, August 01, 2024
BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER
Posted 9:30 AM by Gerald So
As a fan of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, I followed word of this new show from the beginning. Originally in development for HBO Max, it promised to be even grittier than its inspiration. At first I thought it would be new adventures of Batman as portrayed by Kevin Conroy. When Warner Bros. merged with Discovery and Conroy died from cancer, I wasn't sure the show would land elsewhere, but I'm glad it did.
With its more defined 1930s–40s period, BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER mirrors the film noir of the time. Almost every major character leads a double life. While the show isn't serialized and each episode showcases a different rogue, there is character development in the course of the season.
Some of the characters have been gender-, ethnicity-, or attitude-swapped from their original portrayals. Some of this plays to good effect; some of it seems shallow. The show may stand out most because characters die, I think to demonstrate they can die. In some cases I felt they should've had more time, but I was supposed to feel that.
Embed from Getty Images
As a fan of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, I followed word of this new show from the beginning. Originally in development for HBO Max, it promised to be even grittier than its inspiration. At first I thought it would be new adventures of Batman as portrayed by Kevin Conroy. When Warner Bros. merged with Discovery and Conroy died from cancer, I wasn't sure the show would land elsewhere, but I'm glad it did.
With its more defined 1930s–40s period, BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER mirrors the film noir of the time. Almost every major character leads a double life. While the show isn't serialized and each episode showcases a different rogue, there is character development in the course of the season.
Some of the characters have been gender-, ethnicity-, or attitude-swapped from their original portrayals. Some of this plays to good effect; some of it seems shallow. The show may stand out most because characters die, I think to demonstrate they can die. In some cases I felt they should've had more time, but I was supposed to feel that.
Embed from Getty Images
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