Moe Lane's Blog, page 813
December 28, 2020
The ‘Sometimes people should shut up about the stuff they like’ SHADOW IN THE CLOUD trailer.
I almost didn’t look SHADOW IN THE CLOUD, after seeing the review (favorable, but in a way almost designed to make me suspicious of it) – but when somebody sets a creature flick in a WW2 airplane, I generally feel at least mildly inclined to give it a chance on general principles. This looks… pretty damned gonzo, actually. Ridiculously gonzo, in the way that may not actually be bad. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for seeing a blond fire a .50 caliber machine gun. I’m not gonna apologize for that.
Rewrite, GHOST OF THE DEVIL-HORSE, 12/28/2020.
Better get to that horse soon!
Patreon!“So, tell me about the dig,” I said over the inevitable cups of coffee. Even if you don’t drink the stuff, you end up drinking the stuff. By now I even like it. “How many do we have on-site already?”
“With your group? About fifty. You’re the last ones in; the Imperium Orci University folks showed up last night. Hank’s having a meeting after supper, let us all know what’s what. Figure he’s got a surprise, Johnny. You know anything about it?”
“Not unless it’s me,” I said. “But I don’t think so. He’s really excited about the airport, so maybe it’s that.”
“That’s fair,” allowed Barbara. “There’s a lot of folklore about the place. Damned lurid stuff, too; dating back to the Old Americans, some of it. Secret cults and hidden passageways, all burrowing through the ground.” She barked (I’m sorry, but it’s how it sounded) laughter. “Surface folk always do get too excited about that sort of thing.”
“It’s what they’re used to,” I said as I poured another cup. “What about that encampment at the old Tower? They’re not with us, right?”
“Aye,” Barbara said. “Military research, Alliance-only. Oh, the folks there are nice about it, but what goes on there’s none of our business until somebody says otherwise. They’re probably just playing spy, though.” She sipped her coffee. “Better them than me.”
A faint hope offered for an ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL sequel.
A very faint hope. Essentially, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL director Robert Rodriguez is hoping that the Mouse might be more interested than Fox was in doing something with the IP. Disney owns it now, after all, and since (as GeekTyrant notes) Rodriquez is working on THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT he might have some juice there. I myself would not object to a miniseries – not that I have any say in the matter at all, mind you.
But still. ALITA was a lot of fun. I’d like to go back to that world, even if it was just on the small screen.
December 27, 2020
WONDER WOMAN 1984… did well this weekend. We think.
This is, like, terra incognita territory, all right? “Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an estimated $16.7 million over Christmas weekend, the best three-day debut at the distressed domestic box office since the novel coronavirus began, according to Warner Bros.” Which gives you an idea of just how messed up the movie industry is, these days. How much would it have made in a normal year? Damned if I know: aside from everything else, it should have been out months ago.
And then there’s the HBO Max stuff: “Nearly half of the platform’s retail subscribers viewed the film on the day of its arrival, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via cable, wireless, or other partner services (the streamer didn’t provide particulars in terms of the numbers). HBO Max also saw the total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month, the company said Sunday.” Whatever the actual numbers were, they were enough for the studio to greenlight a third Wonder Woman movie, which at least suggests that it wasn’t a flop.
I’ll just end this in passing that if there are people you trust who are telling you that WW84 isn’t any good… yeah, that’s happening a lot. A lot of people are saying it’s great, a lot are saying it’s awful, and somebody’s hitting every point in between. I have rarely seen a movie that got this range of reaction; I liked it, but it feels like everybody who streamed it got a subtly different version of the film. Put another way: when it comes to figuring out whether to try this movie out…
Rewrite, GHOST OF THE DEVIL-HORSE, 12/27/2020.
Moving along!
Patreon!I assume that whoever reads this will be doing so after the Dominion has been finally crushed, once and for all — which hopefully means that you’ll already be beginning to forget just how horrible it was to have that evil empire festering in the middle of the continent. I envy you future readers that, I really do. This past millennium has been dominated by one Dominion outrage and act of cruelty after another, and they’re taking a damned long time to choke on their own blood. The Dominion can’t die fast enough to suit the rest of us.
On the other hand: it’s never been a better time to be a salvage archaeologist. Entire regions are opening up for researchers now. Old Denver’s a case in point; it’s one of the romantic cities for modern archaeologists. The city changed hands a half-dozen times after the Discovery, had its own empire — and was left to fall into ruins when the Dominion conquered the place.
They never really did settle there; a garrison-Tower was erected, purely for the sake of the site’s strategic location. When the Alliance retook Denver, none of the fighting was in the ruins of the city. So there could be anything there, and now we can actually go look for it!
Patreon Microfiction: Daywalkers.
I don’t know what the ‘daywalkers’ need the stuff for, honestly. Probably a dietary aid. You don’t see very many fat vampires, right*?
Patreon!*The only one that I can think of off the top of my hat is that one dude from Blade. …And now I gotta watch the opening to that movie again.
December 26, 2020
Quick Update on Zee New Book.
Got half of the second set of edits back; have done 60% of them, and will do the other two tomorrow. Working on the story collection, generally trying to get stuff done over the holidays. And, of course, the TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION pre-order store is live. Feel free to pass that link around!
Also: happy holidays. Less than a week to go in this year.
Book of the Week: An Unexpected Cookbook.
An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery was one of the things I got for Christmas. It’s actually very informative! I hadn’t twigged to the fact that Tolkien avoided most New World foods when writing about the Shire*. So, no chocolate, vanilla, tomatoes: the writer worked with a lot of traditional British cooking, the kind JRR Tolkien would have grown up eating. The book also looks useful if you’re interested in working with leftovers. Definitely worth a look, I think.
Moe Lane
*Except for potatoes, because he couldn’t help himself. He also made exceptions for tobacco, and coffee (although obviously that last isn’t from the Americas originally).
Tweet of the Day, Best. Belated Christmas Present. EVER. edition.
It was a good day. It was a very good day. Here. Buy something to commemorate it.
29 years ago today, the U.S.S.R. officially dissolved. One of the five greatest days for humanity of the last 120 years, along with Armistice Day, V-E Day, V-J Day, and the fall of Berlin Wall.
— Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) December 26, 2020
