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Jaybird

Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com

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10 Responses

  1. Oscar Gordon says:

    Thor (specifically) works because of the Thor/Loki dynamic coupled to the fact that those two actors clearly enjoy playing off each other.

    Marvel movies work because almost all of the principle actors are obviously having fun playing superhero. Only Gal Gadot has managed to really convey how much fun she is having being Wonder Woman (although I haven’t seen JL yet, so it’s possible Ezra and Jason are also having fun, but Henry, Ben, and Ray all look like they are just going through the motions).Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

      Saw Thor & it confirmed my belief that every involved in the Marvel movies is just having a hella lot of fun making those movies, and when everyone involved in making a fun movie is obviously having fun doing it, that covers a multitude of shortcomings such movies often have.

      Honestly, this is why people like Dwayne Johnson are a draw, not because they are great actors, but because the have fun making fun movies and it shows and it’s just fun to watch them do it.

      Also, the Marvel movies assume the audience is smart and paying attention. Like in the big climax, when Thor tells Loki to go do something, there was no flashback, just a quick cut away to Loki doing the deed and the movie assumes the audience is smart enough to add things together.Report

  2. Fish says:

    Ragnarok was far and away the best of the three Thor movies. I still maintain that The Winter Soldier is the best of the bunch, though.

    I’m reading The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Struggle for Media Supremacy by Stephanie Gutmann. I bought this book shortly after it was published in 2005 and it sat unread on my bookshelf until now. It’s amazingly prescient in what it has to say about how media can shape a story, and while social media was a thing in 2005, it wasn’t quite the…er…Hulk…that it is now.

    I’m catching up on the current season of The Walking Dead. I haven’t kept pace this season because I’ve sort of gotten tired of the story, but I have to admit the episodes I’ve seen so far have been pretty good.Report

  3. North says:

    I agree Thor was a fine movie. There were some opportunities missed that might have made it a really good movie but it was excellent. The special effects were spectacular and I agree that the actors seemed to be having a blast.

    Hela was a very strong villain character and was the area where more could have been done. Had they clipped down the gladiator world elements by say, 10%, and added in some material with Thor wrestling with the revelations of his Father and Hela’s background and coming to the same basic realization that Asgaard/Asgaardians don’t need to be prisoners of their past I think that would have elevated the movie further.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to North says:

      Maybe in the directors cut or deleted scenesReport

      • North in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

        Yup. But over all I’m mightily pleased with Ragnarock. The flip with Sutr’s role from the beginning of the film to the end? I really enjoyed it. The visuals had me slack jawed with glee and the humor was fantastic though- I grant- that they may be going overboard with it.
        I’m really interested in how Black Panther is going to turn out. I am hoping it’s a bit more serious though.Report

  4. Maribou says:

    I’m watching a ridiculous Australian teen show called Dance Academy, which is exactly the sort of thing my brain needs right now.

    Been getting into the Great Courses stuff which is what my brain needs from a different angle. Watching a series called The Power of Mathematical Visualization, which was pitched at people who are visual thinkers and feel turned off by maths. As someone who thinks mathematically as an intuitive thing and has to work to think visually, I’m finding wrapping my head around things (from more or less backwards starting points) to be quite delightful. I can only imagine this will get even more so as he gets to more and more advanced mathematics.Report

  5. Murali says:

    Ragarok was the best of the thor movies, but still a notch below the avengers or iron man movies. One thing I liked is how Hela notes that Loki sounds more like Odin than Thor does. It shows that while Loki might have been adopted, Loki owes his personality (good and bad) to Odin more than to some half assed villain designation due to being a frost giant.Report

  6. Doctor Jay says:

    I think that film making is actually hard and “having fun” while doing it doesn’t guarantee success.

    Justice League was pretty much doomed by the circumstance of Snyder and his wife having to leave the production because of their family issues (and my thoughts and prayers really are with them on this one). I’m still a Joss Whedon lover, but that’s too much to overcome. I also think that the Iron Age of comics, as much as I loved it is over. My daughter the aspiring comics artist hates the Iron Age and wants to be done with it. But Snyder grew up with it and loves it and this gives his films a very serious tone to them. It’s a tone I like, but I think audiences want something different now. Also Steppenwolf is a terrible villain, a C-list villain. What makes him bad is that he’s so unrelatable. We don’t really get why he wants to destroy everything. In contrast, we understand all too well the feelings of Hela. Also, Cate Blanchett is awesome.

    I was very surprised by the jokey-fun tone of Thor, which is, after all, about the end of the world. But that’s what audiences seem to want now.Report