If I pay extra can I see all the missing frames?
I thought they killed Flash.
Wishful thinking.
The ending of White Lotus is bad, and everybody involved should be ashamed.
Hard to believe but Band of Brothers is 20 years old.
Tom Hanks and others are doing a podcast series about it
The line ” I promise I’ll be happy “ was the drop for me me.
I loved White Lotus all the way through. Lots of hilarious characters and relationships and lots of moral complexity underneath it all… including the ending.
Highly recommended!
I guess these instagram links don’t work quite right but click through for Jennifer Coolidge’s amazing onion monologue. (And follow Amy Sedaris while you’re at it! Of all the people in the entire world, she’s the best at social media.)
I read some comments from creator Mike White about it, and they reinforced my read that this White Lotus is about a white author’s “my first wokeness” story.
The first 4 episodes were excellent, but they set up some ground work that the last 2 episodes just didn’t know how to land. I get the impression that White has encountered some of these topics but hasn’t really understood them. Fundamentally, he’s can’t divorce himself from his position of rich white colonizer exploiting the islands. He’s aware of the exploitation, but he doesn’t have any real thoughts on what it means, and doesn’t really have any interest in dismantling the systems of power and oppression. I thought he was setting his wealthy tourist characters up as fools, but instead, he was inhabiting them.
Jennifer Coolidge was a lot of fun, even moreso if you have any exposure to the Real Housewives franchise.
The “and they should feel bad” this I was referring to was the son’s entire arc and especially the ending, which was just eye-rolling enacting magical natives tropes while reveling in his privilege in an completely unexamined way.
One the other hand, the newlyweds ending was excellent, albeit the bleakest thing I’ve seen on television in years.
I don’t disagree with your observations, but I interpreted all of them as a strength of the storytelling. It reminded me a bit of The Wire where the ongoing broken system is the point rather than finding more traditional resolution in the plot.
Your only point that seems unfair to me is what you called “magical natives tropes.” I thought Quinn was swept away by the natural world around him and the newfound joy of physical exertion. I don’t think the characters who invited him into that world were meant to be the source of any magic.
Which is eye-rolling in it’s own “Ok, boomer” way: there’s nothing wrong with him that can’t be cured by putting his phone down and playing outside and drinking from a garden hose.
But moreso, regardless of their specific powers, or the “healing powers of the islands” or whatever, the native rowing team weren’t people. They were a tool for saving a white boy. They had no identity of their own. Of course they would accept him on their team with no training or experience whatsoever. It’s not like rowing a sea canoe is hard work that they’ve been training for for years. A scrawny teenager who has never done any physical activity in his life can probably do it just fine. Probably better, even, because he’s white. And It’s not like the reclamation of Hawaiian canoeing heritage is a deeply meaningful and spiritual practice or anything. Of course a white boy who knows literally nothing of Hawaii or Hawaiian culture is entitled to take part in it. Why wouldn’t he be?
I’m not targeting that snark at you, BTW. Just at the show in general.
I saw that Jean Smart won an Emmy for her performance in Hacks. Yay!
And Kate Winslet won for hers in Mare of Eastown. Yay! Both well deserved. And great shows if you haven’t watched them yet.
On a different topic, I’m not exactly sure if I got hacked or not. I saw that HBO Max had this deal for 6 months at half price, but I was already subscribed at full price. I tried logging in from a browser on my computer, but it wasn’t working. So I logged in on my phone which remembers the password, and I cancelled the subscription. And I changed my password through the app too. But when I tried logging in with that password on my computer at home, it still wouldn’t let me in. It was so weird. I did get a message saying I wasn’t subscribed. So maybe that’s why it wasn’t letting me in? So I went back on my phone and resumed my subscription, so I’ll be charged on October 16th at full price. Great. Maybe I can log in now?
But when I tried on my computer, it wouldn’t let me. So I reset the password, and it gave me a password reset email in spanish! Woah, that’s weird. I clicked it anyway, and it let me in. It said I was NOT subscribed, had no watchlist, and my name was Juan. What? I changed Juan back to my name, and when I tried to sign up for 6 months at half price, I got an error. When I tried resetting my password again, I got an email in spanish again.
Meanwhile, on my phone now it had forgotten me and I was the new profile that used to be Juan. But on my Apple TV it still said I was me, it had my watchlist and history and I was still set to be charged on October 16th full price. So bizarre. So right now, on any other device except Apple TV, I’m formerly Juan and have no history and no membership, but on Apple TV I’m still me and my watch history is intact and I have no way of cancelling my membership, it says to go to a website to do it. What the heck?
I did chose the option on the website to log me out of all devices. It says it can take multiple hours to work. But on Apple TV my subscription still works a day later without having to log back in with a password.
Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson also win for Mare! Good for both of them, but especially for the latter. Guess the Emmy voters figured Jean Smart was going to get hers for Hacks and shared the love.
I did get an offer this weekend to get a year of HBO Max for 26% off. Knowing what’s coming down the pipe next year and knowing I’ll probably be watching, I went ahead and bit the bullet and changed my subscription from monthly to yearly. (I also asked Siri to remind me to cancel my yearly subscription in early September next year).
HBO Max also just ended their relationship with Amazon Channels. That was the program where you could subscribe to Max through Amazon. HBO Max said they wanted to “own their customer relationship” as the reason for terminating the deal.
Ugh, and I just got an AMEX offer for a $25 credit on an HBO Max annual membership. I signed up on Friday.
Hopefully I still get the statement credit. But that wouldn’t be too bad. A full year of ad-free HBO Max for basically $80.
The only offer I’m seeing is half price for six months so that’s 750×6 is what 45 bucks. It is for the ad free version though, so that’s a plus.
I got the offer emailed to me because I was an existing subscriber.
We started watching The Other Two, and it’s a pretty novel concept with some compelling comedic characters and is often laugh-out-loud funny. Season 2 is airing now.
Briefly, it’s a sitcom-length comedy. There’s a 14 year old dude who becomes an overnight national pop sensation because of a YouTube video. The show isn’t about him. It’s about his older 30-ish brother and sister–the other two. Cary is a struggling gay actor and Brooke is a—something?–she’s always hustling. All of the characters are really great: their mom Pat (played by a sublime Molly Shannon), the agent Streeter, Brooke’s ex Lance. Guest appearances abound. Super fun show and the second season elevates the whole thing.
My wife binged this yesterday. It’s so frickin’ hilarious.
Thanks for reminding me about this. I heard good things about season one and then forgot to check it out.
Yeah, I’ll give it a shot. I ❤️ Molly.
Out of context post of the week.