#ik this is not a controversial take given the way the episode ends and the whole history of fandom after it aired

[favvn]

Okay, this 100% brainwormed madness because it is absolutely unnecessary. I am admitting it upfront, and I am saying it in earnest, not as a self-deprecating joke. But.

There's something about how Spock's pleading with T'Pau re-contextualizes their initial meeting. (Under a read more for images, long-winded typing, etc., I need to log off and read my silly 1000 page books and give my brain better enrichment sources.)

T'Pau looks like she initiates a mind meld on Spock or at least uses specific contact points to look into his mind to determine his current state in Pon Farr. She glances away from Spock to Kirk and McCoy after breaking contact and says, "Spock… are our ceremonies for outworlders?" Which, yeah. Kirk and McCoy are outsiders, no duh.

But later, when Spock--despite being deep in the blood fever and supposedly unable to talk much less care about anyone beyond the fever--tries to get T'Pau to reject Kirk as T'Pring's champion for the challenge, he says, "My friend… does not understand. He does not know. I will do what I must, T'Pau. But not with him. His blood does not burn. He is my friend." And like. I initially took it as "Kirk is an outsider, but he is dear to me. He is not a Vulcan. These customs mean nothing to him, nor does he know anything about them. The fever is not compelling him to do this, so don't allow him to go through with something that could kill him when it is unnecessary."

But pairing these two scenes side-by-side, knowing Theodore Sturgeon--master of subtext--wrote this episode (was he gay? Bi? I swear I read that somewhere, but Google is not yielding anything), knowing that this scene begins and ends with "my friend" (the repetition! bookend phrasing!) and that such a designation allows an outsider to be privy to Vulcan secrets….

My (brainwormed-fried) take is this: T'Pau sees the presence that Kirk takes in Spock's mind. Not only are they linked by their work but by a bond of what has repeatedly been termed friendship by Spock in the series ("When I feel friendship for you, I am ashamed"). This episode reveals what the term "friend" means for Vulcans, that it can supersede the boundaries separating Vulcans and non-Vulcans. T'Pau asking if their ceremonies are for outsiders can take a second meaning, namely, if it is Kirk who is to take part in the koon-ut-kal-if-fee, long before T'Pring initiates the challenge against Spock's betrothal/bond to her. (To say nothing of that phrasing! Consider an alternative: "Spock.... are our ceremonies to be seen by outworlders?" which, I assume, is the intent of the original phrasing, but taking it straight as the words are in the episode, however: "Spock.... are our ceremonies for outworlders?" What? Hello?? Ma'am???)

So, in this (brainwormed) context, Spock's pleading for Kirk takes on a new meaning--Spock doesn't want to undergo the ceremony or challenge with Kirk because he assumes Kirk doesn't feel the same way as he does about their relationship, having no blood fever to compel him and having a different human understanding for friendship. His pleading sounds like someone trying to keep an unrequited love secret.

Like. I'm saying those two got married in that fight, somehow performing the whole koon-ut-kal-if-fee in one go, and T'Pau agreed to it because she saw how over the damn moon Spock is for Kirk, but--due to some tradition, no doubt, to test the challenger's commitment--she gave Kirk multiple opportunities to leave and not take part. Kirk doesn't. He cares too much for Spock and. Well. Here we are.

[zackieboyo]

Eduardo's Skin Tone Post

so Eduardo has a weird history with his skin tone in Eddsworld and I decided it'd be a fun to make a post about it.

Before I start this, I just want to say because ik there will be people who think I'm trying something, I am NOT accusing anyone of anything. I thought this was INTERESTING, I do NOT think these people are racist, I do not think it's whitewashing(although I do believe that is a real thing), and I do not want anyone coming here thinking this is a callout post, because it's not. I'm not Mexican, I am not Spanish, I don't have the right to call this racism, I don't have the right to say it's bad or wrong. This is mostly just education(?) because of boredom, so take all this with a grain of salt and add your own two cents.

So the first thing I noticed is Eduardo, unlike the other characters who's skin tones stay relatively the same throughout animators, seems to have a different skin tone with each new lead animator.

Edd Gould's Eduardo(Hammer & Fail) has almost the same exact same skin tone as Edd:

There are slight differences, such as slightly more red and slightly less green, but nothing noticeable. This could be chalked up to him maybe being Spanish(white) and not Hispanic(Latino), but it becomes strange with Legacy considering he has Mexican ancestors, as shown by Eduardo in Saloonatics which I'll get back to. The music that plays when Edd goes "EDUARDOOO!" is definitely in the stereotypically Spanish style, not really Mexican, though people who don't know much about the two cultures often confuse their kinds of music so I wouldn't be surprised if that was it(though, I'll be honest, I've done only some research so I'm not necessarily completely in the loop either). I'd say it doesn't have much, if anything, to do with Edd Gould. There's a probability that he didn't think of Eduardo as Mexican considering he wasn't around for Legacy which is when Eduardo got animated more often with a darker skin tone. Edd could have even seen Eduardo as being Italian or Portuguese given that Eduardo can be a Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian name. No matter what Edd saw Eduardo's ethnicity as, he's certainly had a lot of skin tone changes over the years, and I'll be showing and breaking apart all of them, comparing them with Edd's skin tone in those episodes, and then showing them all together(w/ Edd's) at the end.

First off, PowerEdd.

According to the Eddsworld Fan Wiki, PowerEdd was animated by Anthony "TheKreid" Price. I don't know anything about this animator but they do a great job with the smooth animation that's in this action-packed episode. One thing to note about this one is Eduardo's change in voice actor. In Edd Gould's animations, Eduardo was voiced by Chris O'Neill. Chris is actually Irish, according to wiki, so his role as Eduardo still gives no hint to what ethnicity Edd intended the character to be. The same can be said about Brock Baker, Eduardo's second voice used throughout Legacy, who is a white American. I found nothing indicating he has any Mexican or Spanish ancestry so there really is nothing to go off here. It's not uncommon to cast POC roles to white actors, though a bit controversial, it's not something I can say much about considering I am not POC, so I'll move on. Anyway, Eduardo in PowerEdd has a noticeable difference in skin tone, both to Edd in this episode, and to himself in the previous Hammer & Fail.

comparing Eduardo and Edd in this episode yet again and we can see that it is definitely darker. Unlike with Hammer & Fail, PowerEdd shows Eduardo with a skin tone that brings in his Mexican heritage(although, again, I don't know if Edd Gould ever intended for Eduardo to be a POC, so this is not to insult him in any way). If you were wondering, Edd's skin tone is relatively the same, though there are very slight alterations, and the same can be said for all the rest of the characters, too(aside from Eduardo, of course).

comparing Eduardo's skin tone in Hammer & Fail to PowerEdd, there is an immediate recognition that the two are pretty different. Again, Eduardo(Hammer & Fail) and Edd have relatively the same skin tone, so it's basically just the same as comparing Edd's skin to Eduardo's, so I'll move on.

Next is Saloonatics. Saloonatics was actually animated by a small studio named Studio Cacti, instead of just one main animator, so it's hard to know who made the design for Eduardo and who decided on his skin tone. In Saloonatics, Eduardo is technically not the same character, he's just the ancestor of the Eduardo of the present, so there's not much merit to comparing skin tones with this one, but I'll still do it anyway because boredom.

as you can see, that is a MAJOR difference in skin tone. Not only is Eduardo darker, but Edd is actually much much lighter in this. Eduardo's skin tone is strange in this vers. because the skin isn't coloured how it would normally be on a real person. Both these guys have their skin between the orange and yellow(sort of a golden colour) on the colour wheel. This feels stylistic so I'm not gonna dig any deeper than just saying it.

there is a change in area on the colour wheel at this point, everything is different, this is nothing like Eduardo from Classic era, and there isn't much beyond that, honestly.

Next up, 'The End', animated by Paul ter Voorde.

Edd has a relatively similar skin tone. In fact, it's the same one Eduardo had in Hammer & Fail, which could have just been coincidence and nothing more. Eduardo has a darker skin tone than Edd yet again, but it's less noticeable than the other changes.

now this is the exact same thing as before since Edd 'The End' and Eduardo 'Hammer & Fail' have the same skin tone, but just for clarity sake, it's here.

Last, we have Beyond, animated by multiple people including Jon Lopez, David Kalev-Roy, Matt Hargreaves, FranPun, and many others. And it's certainly... interesting in its ways of changing Eduardo's skin.

This time, it's actually lighter than Edd's, like, noticeably lighter. It's strange that they'd do this considering Eduardo's history throughout Legacy being a POC, or at least having a darker skin tone than Edd. My guess is maybe to make him look like he hasn't been out in the sun because he has depression in this version(another topic, another day), but that would only make your skin less saturated(which might give it the effect of looking "lighter" even though it isn't) whereas here, his skin is actually lighter than Edd's when you look at then side by side.

and since Edd has a slightly different skin tone this time(seems they

might have just decided to eyeball his skin colour or something instead of colour-picking straight from Edd Gould's vers. of Edd), here is a comparison of Hammer & Fail and Beaster Bunny Eduardo's skin tones.

All together now:

as you can see, though Edd's skin tone(and most/all other's) have stayed mostly the same, Eduardo has a different skin tone every single time he gets a new animator/animation team, and it's actually rather fascinating imo. Other than being interesting, there's not much that can be said about this little fact, and I'm not even sure I'm the first one to say this, but I still thought it was fun to look through and find out about anyway. I might do more in depth analysis but probably not cuz this was tiring asf lmao.

[iluvtv]

Hail Canada Finale: Exceptional Lexicon...

Happy 2019! USA’s number 45 may (or may not) be taking full credit for the country suffering a “partial” shutdown but no worries, Hulu came through for the country this holiday season instead. It’s like Santa (or maybe Daddy Warbucks) works in entertainment! As of December 27th the streaming service proved my previous predictions piss poor and gifted America the full glut of Letterkenny backlog. God Bless America.

             Somebody of influence is clearly reading my blog.  

                                              What does this mean to you, Gentle Reader? Why should it matter that while I started drafting a wee work on just how superb this particular Canadian export really is I got entirely consumed with additional episodes? 

To put it simply, appreciation overload. I am now entirely overwhelmed with Letterkenny’s tasteless charm and thusly totally paralyzed. 

As I consider best communication tactics to portray just how crucial consumption of this rather unlikely Sylv Fan Fav, really is I’m worried I might actually need to “hoover” a huge line of the “devil’s dandruff” to make it through. But if the hicks of Letterkenny have ambiguously taught me anything about casual cocaine use it is that its never a good look to indulge while sober. A lesson taught over a discussion about how much they loath Dan’s six year old cousin (this rivalry circles back in later seasons during a debate over wether or not having a little sister will sort small Samual out, a concept Wayne compares to a celebrity getting a puppy to help them get back on track “Seems like a backwards plan to me,” he says, “the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life is that a baby is smart.”) but I digress... why, Gentle Reader, is this six year old so awful?  Well, the hicks “Saw him snort a line of fun dip the other day.” That, they explain is a “Fun dip Dry rip,” or, when you do a line of schneef before you’ve ingested any booze to alter your judgement. A Dry rip, they warn is a sure sign you have a shneef problem. All the while Dary and Dan concede they did indulge themselves (back in their glory days).

I, however, absolutely refuse to let this blog result in a full blown shneef problem. Instead I’ll do as they do in this fictional little town of Letterkenny from which the show hails its namesake:

and “pitter patter, let’s get at ‘er...”

One caveat: while, I do not want to be completely crippled by comedy, here it wouldn’t be fair to assume that I, a California City Chic who by rule trends away from overtly crass humor can justifiably convey the genius which is Letterkenny, but let’s just try .. 

Most episodes open with landscape views of a very chilly looking Letterkenny and the note that there are 5,000 people in said town (hicks, skids, hockey players, christians and natives) and their problems.

While I’ve casually seasoned a line or two of dialogue throughout this blog I can’t actually adequately quote this show because (and this is important) the creators Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney (and clearly the rest of the writing staff) are absolute MASTERS OF WORDPLAY and the actors’ timing is so pricelessly perfect that to even try to repeat most moments would be a gross injustice to the medium. 

This team of literary savants brilliantly twists puns (like when Wayne pours out the end of a warm beer Dan responds with “you have some kind of drinking problem? That theres alcohol abuse”), creates complex (and hilarious) characters with compelling, often sad (and hilarious) storylines, weaves interesting narratives, spews non-sequiturs, confronts factual yet controversial stereotypes, invokes compassion for both the absurd and the underdog, shamelessly polks fun at everything, including (but hardly limited to); politics, popular culture, sexual orientation, regions, races, origins, creeds other countries (like when Wayne explains the eating habits of our brethren “Malt vinegar is not a staple condiment on table tops in restaurants” Disgusted, the boys respond “Figure it out, somebody should really write a letter” but then concede, “They do have 6 kinds of Cap’n Crunch though”) and Ostrich Fuckers, all of this is done with sincere (and hilarious) honesty, a clever and often very nuanced style and all the while somehow managing to circle back to previous stories and quips sometimes so subtly that the untrained ear (or eye) might miss out. For example it is somehow terribly notable to me that we frequently find Dary eating small breakfasts’ with absurdly large spoons. 

Regardless of the approach, the through line remains constant: assorted misfit groups of friends flagrantly (and unapologetically) discuss every taboo thought that may (or may not) have ever crossed you or your pal’s mind (only you would have quickly squashed these ideas back down to the deep recesses of your Gentle Reader brain). They procure this unabashed and unapologetic honesty in a very, very fast Canadian dialect that is virtually incomprehensible at times (particularly in the earlier episodes as your ear adjusts to the style). And yet, as one American reviewer put it: I still get it, because I speak funny.

And this is why I genuinely believe no matter who you are or what your usual tastes may implicate if you too are fluent in the language of humor Letterkenny is just an absolute sure thing (given, of course a moment to adapt to the shows distinct language and stylings). 

At first it will probably seem just so stupid and gross but upon closer inspection it just might be the absolute most cleverly written show I’ve ever barely understood.

Kevin Tierney, another television journalist (and proud Poppa to one of the show’s writers and producers) put it best:

“...not to say the show is witless. On the contrary. It is an absolute festival of language, from the very, very local to the bizarrely idiosyncratic, especially when strung together by accents that are … well, different..”

He goes on to say this of the dialogue:

“...they might well change your whole sense of the scatological...”

And that really is the crux of it, isn’t it? So what, Gentle Reader, if it took me (a shamelessly proud California City Chic) until the third season to fully grasp the collective MO of each specific clique in this specific little town? Now I’ve gotten it and I did it with nary a fun dip dry rip in sight. What binds Letterkenny in their fast paced conversationally driven relationships with both their friends and foes was spelled out for all to understand when the dumb hockey players just out and said what I’d been attempting to put my finger on for months:

“Just pick a topic and beat the shit out of it.”

And this really can be any fucking topic from drug use to male models to working out one’s legs. With options just so limitless and with a well informed writing staff even the dumbest of topics are discussed with an odd sense of eloquence and, well... science.

Which is why even I don’t hate an entire episode entitled Fartbook in which the only subject explored for a full thirty minutes is the creation of a social network for your farts. And let’s face it, in the end is it really any worse than your face, Gentle Reader? Probably not.

To quote the farmers:

“No one cares about your cat’s farts.”

“Everyone who has a cat or a kid is going to think their farts are special and unique, they’re not.”

There are full minutes of dialogue spent categorizing snacks. Alphabetically. In verse. An important exercise executed in order to limit options (and thusly not overpack snacks for a fishing trip to Quebec) Dary and Dan have regaled themselves to foods only beginning with the letter C. When Katy questions the beer they quickly retort:

“Cold Beer.”

Obviously.

It is this ability to harp one subject until it is rendered all but useless and then find innovative ways to harp on it some more that defines the misfits of Letterkenny.

The town absolutely must create their very own euphemism dictionary. Or maybe they already have.

And while a fictional dictionary might be of some aid for us partially shutdown Northern Americans, subtitles won’t be. No matter! Consider this a genuine plea: please, please do not to give up before you’ve started! This show is a call for authenticity and friendship and it is looking like those are things all of our 2019s will need a lot of!

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/03/03/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-3317/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 3/3/17

Sometimes life gets in the way, and you just can’t get a post out on time. That’s what happened last week, but I’m here now, so let’s get on with the pop culture, shall we?

First, I guess we’ve gotta talk about the Oscars, huh? I didn’t watch them. I don’t really do awards shows anymore unless someone’s getting slimed, so this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. The big moment of the night, however, came at the end when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner for Best Picture when it actually lost to Moonlight. And social media went wild! It’s been a crazy few weeks, as the Best Picture predictions had come down to those two films, but neither of them really appealed to me. I’m probably more likely to see Moonlight than La La Land, as the latter just doesn’t sound interesting to me. But having seen neither of them at the time of the awards, I really didn’t have a dog in that fight. I figure they gave the award to Moonlight to shut us up for a few years about #OscarsSoWhite. I mean, racism’s over now, right? Does Hallmark sell cards for that? A “So Glad Your Racism Cleared Up” card?

Anyway, from one controversy to another. I’ve never understood people’s disdain for The Big Bang Theory. It’s not reinventing the wheel or anything, but I find it to be an enjoyable half hour every week. I think people got too comfortable with their single cam Arrested Development and Modern Family that they just couldn’t deal with a multicam, studio audience sitcom anymore. OK, cool. But as the mainstream response to Arrested Development showed us, not everyone wants their shit to be smart. Sad, but true. For all the people loudly calling The Big Bang Theory “blackface for nerds” (which is itself offensive, and clearly exhibits a lack of understanding of blackface), it’s still the number 1 show on television. So, just like Trump voters, your friends and neighbors are watching and enjoying it in secret. And with those ratings come big paydays. The 5 principal actors on the show currently make $1 million an episode, while Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch make $250,000 per episode. Considering their roles have expanded greatly since joining the show in season 3, it can be argued that they deserve pay more inline with their costars. Well, the 5 principals (Galecki, Parsons, Cuoco, Helberg, and Nayyar) have each offered to give up $100,000 per episode so that money will be freed up for their costars to get raises. I don’t care how you feel about the show, but that’s pretty cool move on their part. Sure, they’re making a fuckton of money, but this is something they didn’t have to do. They realized they’re stronger as a unit, and they’re making moves to preserve it. Not everyone in this situation would do this. While The Simpsons has had negotiation shakeups in recent years, the last time a cast really came together like this was when the Friends stars negotiated for season 10. If CBS and the studio don’t agree to these terms, however, they’ve got an ace up their sleeve.

What started as a mere rumor is now actually gearing up to film a pilot: a prequel of The Big Bang Theory, focusing on Dr. Sheldon Cooper as a child. It’s being reported that Iain Armitage of HBO’s Big Little Lies is being courted for the role of Sheldon. The most interesting casting, however, concerns Sheldon’s mother. You see, on The Big Bang Theory, his mother is played by Roseanne‘s Laurie Metcalf. Well, Metcalf’s real life daughter, Zoe Perry, seems to be the frontrunner for the role of young Sheldon’s mom. So, daughter will be playing mom’s younger self. My head hurts! Anyway, I kinda love when Hollywood does stunt casting shit like that. Now, CBS hasn’t placed a formal pilot order yet, and I feel like a decision is hinging on how these contract negotiations turn out. I mean, The Big Bang Theory is an aging sitcom in its 10th season, and a renewal would only be for 2 more years. CBS has got to start thinking about the future, but this is clearly a franchise they’d like to keep around in some capacity sheerly for the ratings it brings in. So, it looks like y’all might be hating The Big Bang Theory for many years to come! Or it could just fall apart like How I Met Your Dad did (which, oddly enough, is being revived by the This Is Us team at the moment). Only time will tell.

Just as I like something you hate, I also hate something you all seem to be excited about: ABC’s Marvel’s Inhumans. As the show that I’m almost sure will be the nail in the coffin for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I just don’t see how this is a good idea. Marvel keeps trying to “make ‘fetch’ happen” when it comes to the Inhumans because they want their own robust mutant franchise, but nobody gives a shit. At least, I didn’t think so. However, with each casting announcement, y’all seem to get more and more giddy. Last week, they announced that Iwan Rheon of Misfits/Game of Thrones fame had been cast as Maximus. Anton Mount, from Hell On Wheels, has been cast as the Inhuman king Black Bolt, while Graceland alum Serinda Swan has been cast as Queen Medusa. Finally, Lost/The Night Shift alum Ken Leung was announced yesterday as Karnak. That’s great. Actors are working. I still have no faith in the show, however.

It’s no secret that The Inhumans were Marvel CEO Ike Perlmetter’s pet project because he wanted a stable that Marvel could exploit where they still owned all the media rights. As far as he was concerned, the Inhumans should be the new X-Men. In the comics, they’ve received quite a push over recent years, but it feels more like Marvel is shoving them down our throats than actually giving the audience what it wants. That’s why, once Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige wrested control of the film division away from Marvel, the announced but delayed Inhumans film was demoted to a TV series. They’re really trying to make this a production, by releasing the first two episodes in theaters in IMAX, but it just feels desparate. Nobody cares, dude. The numbers on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now are terrible, and I’d be really surprised if it got renewed. Considering it’s the show that introduced the Inhumans to the MCU, and has had them as something of a plot device since that introduction, yet it’s done nothing for the ratings, I don’t think the Inhumans are ready to stand on their own just yet. The argument could be made that the audience didn’t like how AoS was handling the Inhumans, and that they actually wanted the Royal Family Inhumans, which this new series is giving us. OK, but I still don’t see how that’s gonna be cool on a weekly TV budget. Then again, I never found the Inhumans to be the least bit interesting, so this project just isn’t design to appeal to me at this point. I honestly don’t know what they could announce to get me excited about an Inhumans series.

In other Marvel TV news that I couldn’t give two shits about, there’s been a ton of casting news for Fox’x untitled mutant-centered pilot. Yeah, I’m being contrarian, but I just don’t see this being great. First, it’s on Fox. This is the kind of show they pick up solely to cancel. Second, it’s gonna be expensive, which is why Fox will not hesitate to cancel it. Third, I still remember the Generation X TV movie/pilot and Mutant X. Fourth, it’s gonna be directed by Bryan Singer – a man who, despite 16 years of familiarity with the X-Men franchise, really needs to go somewhere and take a seat. Anyway, Jamie Chung has been cast as Blink, which won’t cost too much as they really just have to come up with a cool-looking, yet affordable, portal effect. Yesterday, it was announced that True Blood‘s Stephen Moyer and Angel‘s Amy Acker had been cast as the leads. The show follows the Stewart family, who are forced to go on the run from the government when they discover their kids are mutants. They link up with an underground network of mutants, and ugh, I’m exhausted already. So, they’re basically on the run the whole time? And you’re gonna be holding out hope for some kind of mutant of the week cameo, who’ll be someone they’d never put in a movie. Or maybe it would be. It’s not like the X-Men franchise has ever given a fuck about continuity. Since this is still at the pilot stage, I’m not gonna let it get my blood pressure up until it’s officially ordered to series.

Across the aisle over at DC, they announced a Nightwing movie, to be directed by The LEGO Movie‘s Chris McKay. If you don’t know who Nightwing is, here’s a crash course: remember how Batman has a sidekick named Robin? Well, the very first Robin, Dick Grayson, grew up, got sick of Batman’s shit, and struck out on his own as the hero Nightwing. That pretty much catches you up. Right now, DC is that deadbeat dad who makes a bunch of promises that he can’t keep. “Sure, I’ll be at your dance recital!” and then he shows up when it’s over, and the janitor is collecting chairs. They need to stop being so future-focused, and deal with the now. Word on the street is that Wonder Woman has problems, The Batman seems to be falling apart, and they still have to promote Justice League. Worry about 2017, and stop making all these promises for tomorrow. Anyway, I’ve seen an online campaign about how they should keep Nightwing’s Romani origins (for the uninformed, they’re what we call “gypsies”, even though we’re, like, not really supposed to use that term anymore. Whatever) in the film. Apparently, this is important for Romani representation and whatnot, but it’s kinda tough to swallow since some of the same folks saying this also come from the camp that said Nightwing should show up in the DCEU and be cast with an Asian actor. I’d be fine with Asian Nightwing, as I honestly don’t see what his Romani origin brings to the table. Like, it’s nice trivia, but does it lend itself to his character? As long as he’s a former circus brat who flips off shit, he’s Nightwing. Maybe I’m being glib, but I just don’t really see the argument here.

I was kinda worried about the DuckTales reboot when we saw the character designs. I was also confused as to why they went for “names”for the voice cast, when there are perfectly capable voice actors working out there. Then they released the trailer for the show yesterday, and I am worried no more. While the animation style took me a few seconds to get used to, I really like what’s going on here. Apparently, Disney does too, as the show has already been renewed for season 2, before the show has even premiered.

We also got a new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 trailer. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t need to see single bit more of footage. I’m already a guaranteed ticket sale, so I really hope they don’t spoil us with drips and drabs for the next few months. I’m excited. My body is ready. Don’t overdo it.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

You’ll soon be able to get all your diarrhea in one place, as Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International (what a lame name!) is buying Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for a reported $1.8 billion.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicked off what may be its last storyline, “Agents of HYDRA”, just before going on hiatus for the month of March

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has signed on to direct and produce The Batman, presumably still starring Ben Affleck

I can’t stand the dude, but I know some of y’all like him: Chris Hardwick will be getting a new weekly talk show, Talking with Chris Hardwick, which will air on AMC as a year-round extension of his Talking Dead show.

The Nintendo Switch comes out today, so brace yourselves for socially awkward people playing it in public places.

Fox renewed freshman series The Mick (yay!) and Lethal Weapon for second seasons.

After nine seasons, SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan might be leaving the show, as he’s currently up for the lead in the CBS pilot Me, Myself & I.

Scientology traitor Leah Remini is set to star in NBC’s What About Barb? pilot, itself a gender swapped reboot of the Bill Murray/Richard Dreyfuss film What About Bob?

For its 9th season, RuPaul’s Drag Race will be moving from Logo TV to VH1. Considering this was Logo’s last bit of original programming, I wouldn’t be surprised if Viacom phased out the channel in its upcoming reprioritization.

Dr. Julian Bashir himself, Alexander Siddig (or Siddig El Fadil for you old heads), will be joining Gotham as R’as Al Ghul. Nope, still not gonna watch that show.

Soap opera Days of Our Lives was renewed for a record 52nd season, as cast member Arianne Zucker (who was at the heart of the Billy Bush/Donald Trump scandal) has announced she’s leaving the show.

So I saw Logan last night. It’s funny – I’ve been looking forward to the film since seeing the first trailer, but last night I had a sense of dread. I mean, the movie looked so…heavy. And was I ready to see Hugh Jackman give up a role he’s portrayed for the past 17 years? It all felt so final, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to say goodbye. Leaving the movie, my friend “Special Forces” said “That was damn near perfect”, and I have to agree with him.

Now, it’s easy to get caught up in the comic book movie hype. I mean, even I’ve come on here fawning over the latest Marvel film, only to see its flaws once the hype dies down. I can admit Age of Ultron was something of a chore to get through. And while The Winter Soldier was something of an MCU masterpiece, I’m afraid to revisit Civil War for fear of realizing it didn’t live up to its predecessor. The Fox X-Men films have established an even lower bar of quality, so you basically go into those now with lowered expectations. Logan, however, is a film that I don’t think I’ll have regrets about in the future.

First of all, it’s not a “comic book movie”. If anything, it’s an indie drama whose characters are taken from comic books. As much as folks wanted this to be the cinematic version of the now classic “Old Man Logan” storyline, this film has no real source material other than the characters. It doesn’t devolve into standard superhero hokeyness. It eschews every opportunity to turn into a “comic book movie”, as any opening for that is quickly supplanted with high intensity violence. There’s no Stan Lee cameo, there’s no post credits scene, and there are no costumes. Director James Mangold knew what he wanted to do, and he knew the tropes to avoid in order to be successful. The violence – my God, I lost track of how many times I gasped “Jesus Christ!” during the +2 hours. It earned its R rating and then some.

I won’t get into plot details, as I want you to see it for yourself. It truly is a beautiful movie, which isn’t something you’d typically say about a film with Marvel roots. Dafnee Keen as Laura is incredible, both in how she emotes, as well as her action scenes. It’s also a fitting coda to Jackman’s turn as Wolverine. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back. I mean, he says he’s done, but you can’t count anyone out in the world of comics. Then again, this ain’t a comic book movie. So, if this is it, he’s going out on a Hell of a note. He leaves behind one totally imbalanced trilogy, as the first film is maligned, the second film was serviceable, but this one is quite the mea culpa for all we’ve had to put up with over the past almost two decades. People are talking about award potential, and while it’s certainly good enough, I’m not holding my breath. It might win an Oscar for sound mixing or something, but I’m scared those folks won’t appreciate it for what it truly is. Logan is a moving experience, and it deserves all the praise the early reviews have been giving it. That’s why I have no hesitation in saying that Logan had the West Week Ever.