On 5/13/2022 5:38 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 2022-05-13 08:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:
>
>> What did you watch?
>
> Just:
>
> soaps: GH - After being caught by Michael and Willow, NuDrew manages to
> talk his and Carly's way out of being in their place. Drew also talks
> Michael down a little about Nina, which stupid bitch Carly doesn't
> appreciate. At the end, Carly asks Britt about DNA tests!... Meanwhile,
> Spencer visits Britt to find out what EVOL!!1! Esme's pills are, gets
> his answers, and then is a real shit to Britt in response - I wanted her
> to punch him in the face! EVOL!!1! Esme visits "daddy", EVOL!!1! Ryan
> Chamberlain in the funny farm, to report that Spencer is being "weird",
> and Ryan immediately figures out that Spencer and Cameron are on to her.
> They also seem to imply that Felicia is Esme's mother - WHAT?!!...
> Finally, the medium "channels" Franco (yeah, right!!), but Franco
> conveniently doesn't say that he's not the "dark spirit". Finn then
> busts in with Laura, and declares the whole medium thing to be hooey!!
>
>
> Recorded: Nothing - as The CW moved the final episodes of "Legacies"
> into June and then cancelled the show yesterday...  :/
>
>

Legacies seemed like the type of show I would have liked. I'm surprised
I never watched it. But I guess being a spin off of a spin off that I
didn't watch didn't help.

I watched:

Law & Order - "The Great Pretender" - I completely lost track of the
plot of this one. What started with a straight murder somehow got
twisted into prosecuting the drug company that sold the killer the legal
meds he was taking at the time of the murder. At least I think that's
what happened. The twists were so convoluted I couldn't keep track.

Law & Order: SVU - "Convess Your Sins..." - Team SVU go after a rapist
who is attacking Catholic women who confess to their priest adultery.

Firestarter (Theatrical) - New adaptation of the Stephen King novel
about a little girl who can start fires with her mind. I don't know
what to make of this! I guess it was OK. I recently watched the 1984
version and on the commentary the director said the producers originally
hired John Carpenter to direct the 1984 version, but the version he was
going to make was not at all like the book. I noticed John Carpenter's
name at the start of the new movie as doing the music. In the back of
my mind I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they used his original
script or at least chunks of it. The director on the 1984 version kept
pointing out how accurate his version was to the book. Well this
version is nothing like that movie. This new version tells a completely
different story using the same characters. So it seems plausible that
had Carpenter directed the 1984 version this (or something close to it)
is what we would have got instead back then.

Atlanta - "Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga" - Technically I watched this, this
morning, but best to discuss it now while it's still fresh in my mind.
There is a *lot* to unpack with this episode! This was another stand
alone episode with none of the series regulars. It was written and
directed by Donald Glover. The DVR description says, "Black and White
episode? yawn. Emmy Bait. Why do hey hate black women so much?"

Before I begin, I should add some context, to my at least understanding
of the episode's title. "The Story of O.J." is a 2017 Grammy nominated
song from Jay-Z. In the "clean" version of the song the repeated hook
is "Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga" the unedited version has a different lyric
that rhymes with "Wigga." There's a line in the song that goes, "I'm
not Black, I'm OJ." which is a quote attributed to OJ Simpson (Don't
know if he actually said or not). The point of the lyric is OJ Simpson
at a point of his life was so rich he didn't consider himself to be
Black anymore. At least that's my take on the song and the meaning of
this episodes title. Like I said, a *lot* to unpack in this one! And I
haven't even gotten to the episode yet...

SPOILERS!!!!!
P O
I L
E R

S
P A
C E

The episode is in black and white and opens with a young White teenager
named Aaron (Tyriq Withers from Legacies) playing online video games.
He makes some comments that are clearly racist towards Black people.
But then when he's being driven to school by his clearly Black
biological father, things got weird. I wasn't sure if he was supposed
to be a "Black" teenager who simply identified as "White" or at least
didn't see himself as "Black." Sort of like OJ. During the trip they
discuss his plans to go to college, but doesn't have the money to attend.

Aaron arrives at "Stonewall Jackson" high school and has a White
girlfriend and social circle. Next they call an assembly for the
graduating seniors. A wealthy Black man named Robert S. Lee (Kevin
Samuels, who I never heard of before, but apparently he was famous and
died recently) tells the seniors that thanks to his donations they are
changing the name of the high school from "Stonewall Jackson" to "Robert
S. Lee." He also says he will personally pay for the college tuition of
every graduating senior. At first Aaron is happy, then the rich guy
says, every graduating senior who is Black. At which point Aaron
doesn't look so happy anymore. And once again, I'm confused as to if
he's supposed to be Black or White. My sense of unease and not knowing
was part of the point of the episode. Anyway, Aaron goes to "audition"
for the scholarship. In a very humorous sequence they show that each
student has to prove they are Black to get the scholarship. The
dialogue when Aaron walks into the room does not make it at all clear if
he's supposed to be Black or White, or just light skinned, which is how
they specifically refer to him during the audition. The audition itself
has him answering a bunch of questions that are clear stereotypes about
Black people. In the end he is declared not Black and doesn't get the
scholarship.

Aaron heads home and googles how to make a flame thrower, he then
returns to school with the intent of burnin' that mutha down! But he
encounters another student with a flame thrower. This other student is
very dark skinned Black. And after some conversation Aaron learns he is
from Africa and also did not get the scholarship. Aaron is able to
clearly articulate that the kid from Africa isn't a "real" African
American and that's why he didn't get the scholarship. This upsets the
other student who has a much better flame thrower and they engage in a
flame thrower battle. Eventually the cops show up and shoot the African
student. Robert Lee also shows up and says getting shot by the cops is
the Blackest thing you can do, and pays for his hospital bill and gives
him the scholarship. Aaron on the other hand goes to jail. Cut to 1
year later and Aaron is out of jail and working at a big box store. His
hair is cut very short and with a slight twist in the Black and White
lighting, he now *looks* African American. Or at least like a Black man
who could pass as a White man. I was thinking that was a really neat
trick the way they made that White guy with blonde hair look like a
Black guy just by shaving his head and darkening the lights.

So after the episode I was thinking about Wentworth Miller who a lot of
people here probably recognize the name since he starred on The Flash
and Legends of Tomorrow but may not realize he's African American. He's
one of any number of Black actors in Hollywood who made a career passing
as White. The guy in this episode has a very similar look. And I was
going to compare the actor who played Aaron to that. But what I did not
know until I had already typed most of this up then decided to google
the name of the actor who played Aaron, is the role was played by the
aforementioned Tyriq Withers who is actually African American. I had
*no* idea! But I knew something was up when I saw his real name is Tyriq...

On 5/18/2022 9:19 AM, BTR1701 wrote:
> On May 13, 2022 at 10:41:59 AM PDT, "Arthur Lipscomb"
> <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>> Firestarter (Theatrical) - New adaptation of the Stephen King novel
>> about a little girl who can start fires with her mind. I don't know
>> what to make of this! I guess it was OK. I recently watched the 1984
>> version and on the commentary the director said the producers originally
>> hired John Carpenter to direct the 1984 version, but the version he was
>> going to make was not at all like the book. I noticed John Carpenter's
>> name at the start of the new movie as doing the music. In the back of
>> my mind I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they used his original
>> script or at least chunks of it. The director on the 1984 version kept
>> pointing out how accurate his version was to the book. Well this
>> version is nothing like that movie. This new version tells a completely
>> different story using the same characters. So it seems plausible that
>> had Carpenter directed the 1984 version this (or something close to it)
>> is what we would have got instead back then.
>
> I didn't like this version at all. I didn't like Charlie having not only her
> own pyrokinetic power, but her dad's push and her mom's telekinesis, too.

I agree. Although in the original movie she definitely had more than
just pyrokinetic powers, but they were overshadowed by the fireballs.

I
> didn't like John Rainbird also having powers. I didn't like him becoming her
> surrogate dad at the end.

I don't even want to think about that!

And neither versions of this story have done justice
> to just how powerful a firestarter Charlie was. She could melt stone--
> literally turn it to lava. But both movies just show her hurling a few
> fireballs and call it a day. I cut the Drew Barrymore version some slack
> because SFX technology back then was more primitive, but a 21st century remake
> should have given us a lot more bang for the buck.
>
>

I wonder if this was a made for Peacock TV streaming budget movie that
got a theatrical release. Checking...Wiki says the budget was $12
million. HBO probably spent more than that on catering for Game of thrones!