2018 Photo Highlights

Progressives pointing out how racist the president or some other GOP politician is to right-wingers is like vegans pointing out the cruelty of animal slaughter practices to the meat-loving populace. They know perfectly well, they just don't care.

"I want classic pop culture characters to be around forever" and "If you want diverse characters just make new ones and stop messing with the superficial details of existing ones" are not compatible statements...and I'm pretty sure the people making them together know this, at least on some level. There's a finite amount of headspace available for pop-culture stuff in (for this argument lets say American) society. Either be willing to let go of the old, which won't happen as long as companies are making money off of it and we keep accommodating those companies desires to indefinitely extend copyright privileges to characters they had no hand in creating (because all those people are long dead)... Or accept that as society matures the logical result is going to be that changes are made to be more inclusive of an evolving demographic. Personally I'm all for letting anything over 50 years old fall out of copyright. No exceptions. Sherlock Holmes is (for the most part) public domain, and he's doing just fine. If Micky Mouse loses popularity because Disney no longer has control over the character, the world will go on. But to the original point, no.. we can't have both. Many-decades-old Pop-fiction dominated by the demographic representations of those who created it...AND a reasonable/fair amount of representation of people other than Caucasian males. Of course, some strides have been made in the last few decades... what I'm referring to is the lamentations from certain crowds about the fact that it's happening and how they KNOW DAMN WELL the "just create new stuff" rational isn't realistic. They say it hoping we'll just ignore the obvious problems with it. Intellectual dishonesty, is what that's called.

Supreme Court Farce 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-senate-judiciary.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Even if they believed her it wouldn't matter, because they don't care. I don't know that there's a realistic way to explain to a pack of dogs why rape and even attempted rape is a matter to be taken seriously. I'd say it's just "that generation" but I'm in my 30's and I grew up with these same dogs. They're everywhere.

The right name

"If you don't call the things by the correct name you can't have an opinion on the things" is just another way of sidestepping and yet another excuse to avoid the issue. Another convenient and morally absolving way of dismissing opinions. Another way of squirming out of any responsibility for the carnage they cause. I don't care if we call them semi-autonomic, assault rifles, "military-style", Shooty-Bang-Sticks, or Ferdinand. There's some very basic facts about guns that the lay person understands perfectly well enough to have a valid opinion on if certain kinds (or any at all) aught to be widely available. Most people know very little about the inter-workings of, or the specific proper names for nuclear weapons... and yet, they know perfectly well enough what they're designed to do. Our lawmakers are not technocrats nor would it be possible for them to be on every subject matter they represent their constituents on.

Work then die.

I have an office job, and like many people with jobs in general, at the moment I find myself resenting it. Mind you, it's not for any specific reason, it's existence is entirely the only reason. I want to draw and make my comics. The fact that I'm just sitting behind a computer facilitating trivial horseshit for other people when I want to be doing other things is insanely frustrating. It doesn't seem "fair", whatever that means. It doesn't seem fair that I don't live in the utopia that I wish I did. The thing is, I'm the first one that'll tell you "not everyone can have their dream job, and sometimes you gotta suck it up so you can support yourself ( and your family, if you have one )". Adult responsibility is a thing. I don't think it's right or wrong, it's just a thing, a fact of life. Born in a different era "adult responsibility" might be something very different. In 2018 sometimes it means going to a job you don't believe in so you can put food on your table and a roof over your head. Years ago in a different place maybe that meant breaking your back on a farm or shoveling coal. I don't think I'm entitled to anything "better" than people who have had to live lives like that. However... some people don't. Some people DO do what they love for a living; it's a rare thing afforded to a lucky few, but it does happen. I've told myself thus far that I don't want cartooning to seem like a job that I HAVE to do. I don't want to end up resenting it. Is the alternative that I'm currently living any better? I need health insurance, so that's one big limiting factor. Some people think socialized healthcare and capitalism are mutually exclusive ideas. I disagree. When you've got people stifling their creativity because they feel trapped in a job because health care costs are a nightmare without it, you've hurt your capitalist society, you haven't helped it. People who feel free to create and innovate without that burden are going to contribute much more than they would otherwise.

A lot of this comes from feeling really exhausted the last few weeks. Maybe it's the change in my medication. Maybe it's work burnout, I dunno. As a result, however, I feel wholly unmotivated, crabby, and resentful at my job lately.

Money Grubbing Piles of Trash

Granted, most critics liked it, but to the ones that love to pop their heads up any time a comic book movie comes out complaining about the over the top special effects, or to declare that these movies are nothing more than over-expensive money grubbing piles of trash...First of all, something being commercial and also having artistic merit are not mutually exclusive. Second: I have not seen 1 fan reaction gushing about the special effects on Infinity War. Nobody is talking about being blown away by explosions or CGI alien creatures. EVERY positive reaction I've seen has been talking about the emotional impact it had. So while I do enjoy reading reviews to see different takes on movies, some of them seem to be paying a whole hell of a lot more attention to the SFX than the fans who are actually shelling out all the money.

I guess my point is about any individual movie. Someone claiming that they're tired of seeing these types of movies or something says nothing about the merit of one specific movie. I get it, maybe some people, like James Cameron, are sick of it. More to the point I've ready reviews specifically talking about Infinity War being an over-bloated mess of characters and CG with no substance. Ok, fine, that's their opinion. Can't please everyone. I just find it interesting that the fan reactions are all about how it * felt *, not how it looked. I'm not saying that critics are always wrong, or even mostly wrong... I'm saying that some that were writing reviews about this particular movie already had it in their head that they were sick of this sort of thing. But...again, even if it got mostly bad reviews I'm not going to go on some tirade about how reviewers are evil or are conspiring to take the wind from the sails of a certain franchinse, director, or type of movie (EG: DCEU).

Movies Seen For the First Time in 2017

Out of 4 stars.

1. Star Wars Rogue One (***½)
2. The Accountant (***)
3. The Girl on the Train (***)
4. Magnificent Seven 2016 (***)
5. Storks (***)
6. Finding Dory (***½)
7. Lego Batman (***)
8. Logan (****)
9. Shane (****)
10. Bells of San Fernando (**)
11. Whiplash (****)
12. High Noon (***)
13. Jungle Book 2016 (***)
14. To Catch a Thief (***)
15. Passengers (***)
16. Paterson (****)
17. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (****)
18. Split (****)
19. GOTG 2 (****)
20. Get Out (****)
21. Wonder Woman (****)
22. Lost City of Z (***½)
23. Only God Forgives (***)
24. Spider-man Homecoming (***)
25. Free Fire (***)
26. Atomic Blonde (***)
27. Philadelphia Story (****)
28. Wind River (****)
29. Astro Boy (***)
30. Good Time (***)
31. Singin’ in the Rain (***½)
32. Baby Driver (****)
33. Kong Skull Island (***)
34. Mother! (****)
35. War Wagon (***)
36. Bladerunner 2049 (****)
37. War for the Planet of the Apes (****)
38. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (**)
39. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (***)
40. 1 (Life on the Limit) (***1/2)
41. Thor Ragnarok (****)
42. Ladybird (****)
43. Justice League (**½)
44. Captain Underpants (***)
45. The Mechanic (***½)
46. The Last Jedi (****)
47. Dunkirk (***½)