Wednesday, 22 June 2022

Top Gun: Contrived but fun

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Top Gun: Maverick is a template driven popcorn blockbuster, but it's a hoot nevertheless.  It starts with our eponymous hero, Maverick,...
Tuesday, 14 June 2022

The Way Back (2010)

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I had never heard about  The Way Back  until I saw it on Netflix. It’s Peter Weir’s last film, starring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris and Colin Fa...
Monday, 13 June 2022

Kenobi vs. The Boys

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Comparing two properties, even very different ones, as they unfold can be really instructive in terms of understanding what works and what d...
Sunday, 12 June 2022

Ten years of Cutting Edge Conformity

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It was a good run. Time to celebrate: I've had this blog for exactly ten years, as of today. My first post was a review of Prometheus . ...
Friday, 10 June 2022

The best villain on TV: Homelander

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Stand aside, Darth Vader.  Take a powder, Freddie.  Have a nap, Jason and Alien Queen and Mindflayer.  Homelander is the best, in the most a...
Monday, 30 May 2022

The Pajama Apocalypse lockdown watch list

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Over the last two years I've craved escapist entertainment. Go figure. I don't read as much since getting tinnitus, so during The Gr...
Saturday, 21 May 2022

A new book

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Could it be about a family of cats? This one has been a long time in the making.  I started it over 10 years ago, as a TV show pitch. At the...
Thursday, 19 May 2022

Office worker monster, with coffee

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I love the reflection tool in ProCreate far too much, as Monster Office Worker with Reports and Coffees demonstrates. It's so fun!  Make...
Friday, 29 April 2022

Russians foil terrorist plot to play The Sims 3

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Mediaite reports that Russian intelligence has foiled a 'terrorist plot', arresting 6 men and confiscating weapons, Nazi memorabili...
Sunday, 24 April 2022

The Great Delusion and Ukraine

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Mearsheimer 's The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities depicts the 2014 Ukraine conflict as an outgrowth of the ...
Saturday, 23 April 2022

Suicide prevention for Russian oligarchs?

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There's been a rash of murder/suicides recently by Russian oligarchs. Two died within a day of each other: Sergey Protosenya (hanged hi...
Tuesday, 19 April 2022

Head of the Fifth Service arrested in wake of Ukraine invasion

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Colonel-General Sergei Beseda, Russia's head of the Fifth Service of the FSB (which is responsible for intelligence operations in former...
Friday, 15 April 2022

A Very Special Military Operation

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There are interesting parallels (and differences) between Vietnam and Putin's ‘Very Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine.  In both cas...
Sunday, 10 April 2022

Delusions leading to disaster

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Delusion has played a large role in military misadventure, including Putin's invasion of Ukraine.  Which just makes me wonder: do leader...
Sunday, 6 March 2022

Boba vs. Peacemaker smackdown

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I recently watched both Disney's The Book of Boba Fett and HBO's Peacemaker. Both shows are escapist fantasy: one a Space Western, ...