Enjoying art post scandal

Something I wanted to talk about today was the recent trend of allegations coming out about certain celebrities - more on the pop culture side of things - that have resulted in seemingly knee jerk reactions from creators/groups.

Most recently it's the "Leaving Neverland" documentary/allegation video against Michael Jackson, the whole #kickvic / #Istandwithvic scandal regarding voice actor Vic Mignola and perhaps not *so* recently but the Apu Nahasapeemapetilon racism/stereotype thing from The Simpsons.

First and foremost - I haven't seen 'Leaving Neverland' and I probably won't. I'm not against people coming out with their victim statements but considering the absolute drag Michael got from the public/media for things that were never really proven, I'm going to take allegations against a dead man who can't defend himself - suddenly coming out after several years asking for large sums of money - with a very large grain of salt.

I have a massive problem with radio stations suddenly taking Michael's songs out of their rotation and The Simpson's creators taking the "Stark Raving Dad" episode out as well. The problem being that this is art - and some people can't seem to separate or rather, differentiate between the artist and the art. A common comparison you see in many comments on Youtube would be to ask if we can no longer enjoy Space Jam because it contains an R. Kelly song, or Michaelangelo's David due to public nudity, or any Kevin Spacey films from his earlier career. All fair points. Especially when you consider how many works of art by female creators were destroyed because they weren't thought of as suitable for the public! 

Seoul Station / Seoulyeok

I heard (later than everyone else of course) that the Korean film 'Train to Busan' (2016) is the absolute bomb so when I found out there was an animated prequel of sorts, I thought I would watch that first.

Release Date: August 2016
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Production Company: Studio Dadashow
Distributors: Finecut and Next Entertainment World
Voice Actors: Ryu Seung-ryong, Shim Eun-kyung and Lee Joon
Running time: 92min


Now we say prequel in the same way the Fear the Walking Dead is a prequel to The Walking Dead.
They're getting more tied in together now of course but for the most part it's same universe, just earlier on. Also FTWD sucks and I hate all of the characters. ANYWAY. It's apparently set one day prior to the events of Train to Busan.

For the record - even though this is a horror movie and a lot of the tone is muted, damn if it doesn't have some beautiful setting shots.

So off the bat, this movie is set at the onset of the whole zombie outbreak so it's a little slow to start as you'd expect. That said, the focus on the homeless, sick and downtrodden makes it interesting and gives it an edge most zombie flicks don't have. Plus I'm into that sort of off beat thing.

Our protagonist Hye-Sun has had an especially rough time of it. She ran away from home, has finally gotten out of a brothel only to be pimped out by her boyfriend to pay the rent before they're kicked out of home and is left completely homeless again when she refuses.

Ki-Woong is said boyfriend - a deadbeat who prefers to advertise his girlfriend's services without her consent instead of getting a job. He likes to spend his time at computer kiosks which does nothing to help their money situation, leaving them constantly late with the rent and due to be kicked out on the street any day now. 

Suk-Gyu hears about Hye-Sun's probable whereabouts from someone who has seen a notice.

Through an online ad for services, Suk-Gyu approaches Ki-Woong and tells him to help him find his daughter or he would thrash him one.

The majority of the movie is these two characters trying to find Hye-Sun. Hye-Sun meanwhile has teamed up with a homeless man she met during her first encounter and escape from the zombies.

James Gunn and Bautista against Disney

Okay I always hear about these things way too late, but in my defence I don't really give a shit about the real life aspect as long as I enjoy the movies.
I like songs, but not often bands/singers enough to know their real names or life stories. It's the same here.

Now I was watching a 'Beyond the Trailer' video that mentioned this tweet from Dave Bautista - the actor who portrays Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Now, channel host Grace said that she realised that Dave did not value the Disney brand, explaining that it made sense for a family orientated company to not want to associate with what was going on.

I disagree. I don't think this has anything to do with Dave not "valuing" the Disney brand.. as it says RIGHT THERE in the tweet - he's ticked off about why it's come to this and how it's come about.

If you're not familiar with the story - basically the anti-Trump director posted some opinions about a conservative named Ben Shapiro in defence of a liberal actor named Mark Duplass who was trying to get his own fans to hear other, differing opinions. Then some right wingers like Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec went digging through Gunn's Twitter history to basically run a smear campaign against him instead of backing up their own argument with literally anything else.

THAT'S what Bautista is ticked off about. That these people have literally dug into the director's social media history from a decade ago to ruin his livelihood.

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom Theories and Thoughts

Alright, obviously if you haven't seen the movie then don't read this because there's probably spoilers and also you're more likely to be eaten by an enraged dinosaur than anyone else in the room.

"Hey... I heard you were looking for spoilers....."

Great, moving on!

My husband is an avid Jurassic Park fan and he would avoid watching the trailers leading up to the release of the movie - and I joined him in this. Therefore, we didn't know much about it apart from Claire inevitably asking Owen about the first time he ever saw a dinosaur.

That said, we loved the movie. But there were a few things I had thoughts about and wanted to discuss.

Digimon Tri - Part Two Ketsui/Determination Ep 3

 Welcome back to another recap of Digimon Tri!

If you thought you could roll around in pleasant nostalgia - you can think again!
The animators want you to re-live that kick in the stomach from last episode when you see that poor Joe is still depressed like 1930's America and still walking around in the gosh darned rain like he's in a music video! He's still crying and belittling himself too! I can't take it no more!

Augh! Right in the feels!!!

Meanwhile - Kari - who is totally dry and happy talks about now she gets how Tai understands Joe.

This would be a nice bonding moment.. Kari wants Tai to go talk to Joe but Tai reasonably shuts her down asking who would clean his soccer boots if he went over there?
Then she decides this exact fear is why Tai can't talk to Matt. Personally, I think Matt's pretty much a douche hipster but Tai's eyes tremble with emotion... or maybe it's cleaning agent fumes.
Not really clear on that.

Well I don't feel so bad for Joe now seeing as how his English handwriting is probably better than mine and I WAS BORN IN ENGLAND!

Joe reminisces about that one photo everyone's got but hasn't got the licence to show on TV. But you can look at Gabumon. It's the only time you can ogle Gabumon without him getting all shy, apparently.

Meanwhile, Gomamon and Joe share an emotionally salty Ramen inspired scene, before Gomamon just up and leaves Joe like a dirty one night stand, with only a text lingering behind.

Gomamon has gone to Tentomon's bangin' crib which apparently has a freaking buffet. Tentomon says that Gomamon might need to assist with snacks and tea but if he can whip up a five star buffet then he don't need no help, damnit!

Koushiro runs in panicking - I can't help but admire his Hawaiian goldfish shirt. You gotta love the classics. He's had some crazy cryptic email sent to him which is probably just a side note from the editors to remind us that there is more to life than sadness, rain, soccer boots and Hawaiian goldfish.


Himekawa is all like increase security around the Digi-destined! Especially in crowded areas! Nishijima is like ooopsy, it's the school festival! What could possibly go wrong?

I'll tell you what! Mei doing her overdone I'm such an embarrassed school girl in my PG 'racy' costume trope! It's tripe! It's a tripe made completely out of tripey tropes!

Ugh, someone stop her! She's dissolving into a sea of blushy false modesty and sappy praise for everyone else and awkward head shaking/arm waving!

"Your goal of making everyone happy would be possible in this outfit!"

Yeah but does that include literally everyone or just the horny artists/fan-service devotees?

Mimi gets her groove back and sticks it to the other classmates who hated her idea and her design but for some reason decided to keep the 'Daters' theming?

Wait, is this not the same episode?

All the companion Digimon are at Koushiro and Tentomon's awesome hang out, stuffing their faces with apparently the second buffet in one day?

Koushiro gets a text from Joe asking if Gomamon's there but Gomamon's like no way man, I spat in his Ramen, don't let him find me!

Meanwhile Palmon gets heaped with praise and Pocky's from the others for her hard work during the battle of yester-episode. 

Tentomon and Gomamon have a nice bro-vibe going on - buuuut back at the school festival Mei's regressed even further into her "oh no, I'm waaaayyy too embarrassed to do this" schtick. Then she gets soooo embarrassed that she 'cute-sneezes'. 

Look at these poor confused lil bastards.

Himekawa spots Ken looking dodgy as all hell on a random roof top but he vanishes just as fast. 

She and Nishijima end up going to Daters for lunch and are forced to watch Mei squeak and blush her way through everything. Mimi and Mei do a cheerleader style routine... or at least I think they do. 

They're animated when they pick up their pom poms but then it dissolves to a series of vaseline smeared stills with the 'camera' zooming in and out erratically in order to create the illusion of movement. It's weird, and made me feel kinda car sick. 

Is Mei being crucified up there or what?

This continues even with random people in the crowd and Sora sticking her head around the door frame. It is absolutely bizarre.

Then this happens..

Mimi immediately gets a text from Koushiro advising he'll be there immediately. I can only assume the text came with drops of blood from his inevitable anime male nose bleed.

Things get weirder....

The Digimon beg Leomon to take them to the school event and it turns out..

....Leo is a big softie for baby animal monsters?

He starts twitching and making choking noises, much like Vegeta whenever Kakarot is mentioned and just about creams his pants when Meicoomon calls him 'Senpai."

I feel like I'm watching an episode of Rugrats mixed in with every single anime high school trope ever invented. 

To exemplify this.. Koushiro arrives with his super serious no I don't have a boner stop looking at me like that face and he is rewarded with super close up shots of Mimi's bust and crotch. 

Mei gets even more awkward as more people she knows arrive and we even see female classmates develop simultaneous lady-boners for her because she's soooooo cute. Well enjoy your snot fantasies ladies because apart from a stutter that's all you're gonna get.

Leomon tries the old trench-coat and sick mask disguise.. but he's literally covered in Digimon and has a tail and his clawed feet sticking out.

He tries to maintain his charges with ruthless discipline.

It goes about as well as can be expected.

This episode can be summed up neatly by "hijinks ensues".
I can't even remember if people are supposed to be forgetting Digimon from when they appeared several years ago or forgetting them from when they appeared a matter of days ago and they were like, totally evil or like, something? There is no way that they could be getting away with these sorts of shenanigans for this long. I mean, damn, entering the 'creepy-cute' costume competition?

Does no-one question why someone who is supposed to be in an animal costume is so small? Or why the mouth isn't make-up or a mask of any kind?

Meanwhile Tai cottons on their shenanigans but he's got a game to play y'all so he sets Matt on their case. Matt's like sure, I'll put an immediate stop to this... but first lemme grill you about your emotions because I hate you yet I love you.

Did you, like me, think that last episode's goggle off was intense? You might want to look away now because good gravy it's a freakin' crotch off this time!

Matt's all serious about Tai's doubts, and puts out a ghastly pale hand to block his path and Tai's like you know what? Not even gonna answer you, I'm just going to shove you out the way with my powers of tan!

Tai runs off and Matt's left to look morosely down the empty corridor like great now *I* have to babysit.

VERDICT

So as you might have guessed... this episode seemed to be kind of like wish fulfillment for the creators. Kind of like when you read bad fan-fiction about aged up or shipped characters but this time it's more like "let's super sexualise Mimi and Mei and then have those kooky Digimon do something kooky and they can act like babies."

It doesn't seem to want to cater just to the now older audience who grew up with Digimon, nor the younger audience just learning about it, but it tries to do both and for me this has mixed results. I'd say this episode is sadly pretty forgettable with the only highlights being the Koushimi shipping.. (I know, full of cliches but it's kinda cute)

GALLERY

I like big... phone charms in your butt pocket and I cannot lie!

Oh look, Gabumon is in this episode. Neat. 

I feel like these two had eyelash extensions put in

I also feel like having to cat Digimon is a bit redundant. 

 His super serious no I don't have a boner stop looking at me like that face

So inconspicuous! Keep it up, guys!

Saw this in once of my nightmares once!

Did Matt get a height upgrade here or what?

Digimon Tri - Part Two Ketsui/Determination Ep 2

This time round, we're focusing on Mimi and Joe. 

Here's Mimi, the only volunteer in this classroom full of assholes for a school fete and everyone mumble-knocks or pooh-poohs her suggestion... but not directly to her. No one else offers a suggestion, no one offers to put it to a vote, they just go with it but are secretly angry at her. 

Mimi! How dare you be so pro-active that you help your school! 

Don't you know that this particular section of Japan depends on everyone being so meek and mild that it's a wonder anyone gets anything done??

Oh cool, a mini ninja and geisha? Must be a Tuesday!

 This is the best way to go incognito apparently.

Yeah, it's cute, but I mean, really?

Are Japanese people just too polite to question these things or what?

Ooh, fireworks! Oh wait, wait, no that's not right. 

Mimi arranged for these two guys to meet them at a cafe for chips. What, no take away or nearby monitor to emerge from? Ah well, it's just as well because there's another distortion and the group has to run to the scene.

What's with the Pauls?

Once upon a time there was a social platform called Vine where you could make short videos to share to your followers or the world at large. Key word - short. We're talking a couple of seconds here.




There are some EXCELLENT Viners - Thomas Sanders for example is just amazing and everyone should obsessively watch him at all times. Well, no, the dude deserves his time off let's not go nuts.
Point is - he was charming, funny, and obviously put a lot of effort into his short skits, even the ones that were obviously not very expensive to do.

This platform also gave rise to two brothers by the name of Paul. Again - usually quite funny and agreeable in small doses.

However - Vine somehow died in this world that seemingly favours short and brief interactions that can be used to glorify yourself and reach a wide audience such as what Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram can provide.

Thus, many Viners were left socially homeless and made the transition to other mediums like YouTube. Well, if you're lucky. Otherwise sometimes they somehow get a lot more attention than they deserve. 

Logan Paul and his brother Jake Paul are two examples of this. They are EVERYWHERE. They are on TV shows. They are making music videos (in the loosest sense possible), they are teaming up with other Viners or YouTubers that no one particularly cares about and they keep getting into the news either for their terrible behaviour, terrible music or the forced drama shoved down our throats with their ridiculous reaction/retort videos.

Sweet mercy, why is this? Who.. apart from the brothers themselves.. actually care about this?

Disney child stars have a way of being forced into our way of life - but in this technological day and age it's never been more infuriating. Now everything is documented.
Before it was Britney and Christina are in the Mickey Mouse club.