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Raised by Wolves

SF, the war between believers and atheists destroys Earth. In the final hour, atheists send two androids, "mother" and "father", with several human embryos towards the inhabitable planet in the Kepler system. The androids mission is to keep the human race going and help create religion-free society. Years later, only one child has survived. And then the believers space ark lands on the planet.

Highly recommended, one of the better new SF plots I've seen in years.
 
I finally got to season 2 of RWBY. There's a slight improvement in the animation, the opening song is better(?) and the story's getting darker.
 
Watched the World According to Jeff Goldblum on DIsney+

The topics and how they were covered were actually pretty interesting add in Goldblum being a flat out lunatic, it makes for interesting and funny TV. Hope there is a season 2
 
Watched Challenger: The Final Flight. Interesting documentary. Having been a baby when it happened, I got the hand-me-down report like 20 years later. One of the O-rings failed due to the cold weather and it went boom. Therefore it was very informative to find out that the shuttle program was dangerous and a waste of money from the start. NASA envisioned it as what Elon Musk and Richard Branson are selling theirs today: Space travel will become safe and routine to the point the everyman can go. Never happened. Everyone, from the egineers, to the astronauts to the higher ups at NASA knew it was dangerious, knew they were flying ticking timebombs rather than the commercial flights they compared it to. A good watch.

Now I'm watching MARS, basically, the future is in SpaceX's hands.


Also watching Ratched, Ryan Murphy's prequel to One Flew over the Cucku's Nest. Murphy created American Horror Story and the failed American Crime Story. His style is very distinct. The GF and I have seen 4 episodes. I'm torn. It is visually stunning, the cinematography, editing, lighting... every technical aspect is flawless. The story.... it's very AHS, I feel a tad over dramatic and I'm confused as to the timeline. One Flew Over the Cucku's Nest is from the 70s, but can't remember it it takes place in the 50s or 60s. By the 70s those hospitals didn't exist anymore. Laura Paulson seems to be the same age as the Ratchet from the movie, not 20 or even 10 years younger, so it may be it's own story rather than like Bate's Motel, leading up to the events of the movie.

I'm also torn about the representation in the cast. We have a gay, black man who is a lawyer, married to a lesbian, white woman who is the right-hand assistant of the governor. So never mind they are a mixed marriage in the 50s.... they BOTH have priviledged jobs? The head of the hospital is a Philipino doctor.... really? How realisitic is this diversity? How much of it is forced due to the current social climate and Ryan Murphy himself? I don't mind it, actually like it, but the time period makes it look... awkward.
 
Some Cold War TV Shows

Deutschland 86 ... looking forward to 89 which premiers in the US in a few weeks
Line of Separation (aka Tannbach) watched the first episode last night, which is the final day of WWII and very early into the Allied occupation


and Space

First 2 Episodes of The Right Stuff (Disney Plus) ... so far nowhere near as good as From the Earth to the Moon or even really the movie The RIght Stuff, but I am a sucker for stuff around the Space Program and it is pretty decent
 
bearfan said:
First 2 Episodes of The Right Stuff (Disney Plus) ... so far nowhere near as good as From the Earth to the Moon or even really the movie The RIght Stuff, but I am a sucker for stuff around the Space Program and it is pretty decent
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I watched that too. I get the sense it's a little closer to the actual book, though I've not read it (should correct that). The problem narratively is that as we delve into the personal improprieties of men like Shepard and Cooper, it makes Glenn seem even more unrealistic than he did in the film. I'll keep watching it though.
 
LooseCannon said:
I watched that too. I get the sense it's a little closer to the actual book, though I've not read it (should correct that). The problem narratively is that as we delve into the personal improprieties of men like Shepard and Cooper, it makes Glenn seem even more unrealistic than he did in the film. I'll keep watching it though.
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I have not read the book either ... it is not a bad show, it just seems to not be overly "cohesive" (there is probably a better word for this) and a little more focused (at least so far) on their personal lives than the space program. Though that might change as it goes along.

In any case, I'll watch it to the end.
 
Haven't watched anything for several weeks, actually, but yesterday I got back to watching True Detective season 3 (we loved the first one and the skipped the second after several episodes, because that "L. A. Confidential, but modern and boring" approach didn't really work for us; also reminded me too much of a lower-quality Daredevil, dunno why)

I got back to The Walking Dead - last time around I dropped it at about 03x06 - I restarted only the third season, because there's no way in Hell I'm watching that second season farm slog for the third time.

Also started Deadwood. What? It's just "yee-haw Sopranos/Mad Men?" You say it like it's a bad thing.
 
So, I've got an honest question. And I realise that my assessment might be a bit tanted by the prism of my own philosophy, ethics etc., that's why I actually paused the episode and decided to ask the resident Walking Dead afficionados - @Brigantium ? @MrKnickerbocker ? @Night Prowler ? Do I remember that correctly?

Anyway, I've been in the episode 03x04 (when they've been settling up in the prison and Andrea is with the ooh so mysterious Governor...)

My point being - are we still supposed to cheer for Rick and his group? Because after completely putting Lori on the hate-pile (and I actually understood and accepted a lot of her BS before) I kinda can't help but feel he also has been mostly either downright manipulated ("You sure you want other people around? You sure you don't need to kill 'em? I'm just saying, do what you think is best") or blind-sided by the fact his Missus has a bunny in the oven. And the whole approach of the group, even against those miserable pathetic remains of the "prisoners" there and their possibility of joining the group ("no, no, no, we are the only right people around")... And it possibly goes to the previous subplots as well - "this group is going to be a democracy" at the end of the first season and then "this group is not going to be a democracy" at the end of the second one... including that distasteful discussion about killing that random guy in the second season where only the friggin' Dale was able to behave like a human being.

I don't know, I just feel as if they're just as self-serving and morally myopic as the others, but more drenched in a certain self-righteous odor, whereas their moral choices and ethics are not set accordingly.

I'm okay if they're supposed to be sort-of-villain protagonist, just slightly better than the rest (not genocidal or something, though that's a pretty low bar), but so far the series kinda rubbed me off the wrong way in that regard - that is, Rick is supposed to be "heroic", at least that's what I've been seemingly told.

It's just that I'm slowly starting to hate the group as a whole, not just Lori (again, I once actually liked her, but it seems as if her pregnancy kicked her manipulative and egoistic tendencies into overdrive).
 
JudasMyGuide said:
So, I've got an honest question. And I realise that my assessment might be a bit tanted by the prism of my own philosophy, ethics etc., that's why I actually paused the episode and decided to ask the resident Walking Dead afficionados - @Brigantium ? @MrKnickerbocker ? @Night Prowler ? Do I remember that correctly?

Anyway, I've been in the episode 03x04 (when they've been settling up in the prison and Andrea is with the ooh so mysterious Governor...)

My point being - are we still supposed to cheer for Rick and his group? Because after completely putting Lori on the hate-pile (and I actually understood and accepted a lot of her BS before) I kinda can't help but feel he also has been mostly either downright manipulated ("You sure you want other people around? You sure you don't need to kill 'em? I'm just saying, do what you think is best") or blind-sided by the fact his Missus has a bunny in the oven. And the whole approach of the group, even against those miserable pathetic remains of the "prisoners" there and their possibility of joining the group ("no, no, no, we are the only right people around")... And it possibly goes to the previous subplots as well - "this group is going to be a democracy" at the end of the first season and then "this group is not going to be a democracy" at the end of the second one... including that distasteful discussion about killing that random guy in the second season where only the friggin' Dale was able to behave like a human being.

I don't know, I just feel as if they're just as self-serving and morally myopic as the others, but more drenched in a certain self-righteous odor, whereas their moral choices and ethics are not set accordingly.

I'm okay if they're supposed to be sort-of-villain protagonist, just slightly better than the rest (not genocidal or something, though that's a pretty low bar), but so far the series kinda rubbed me off the wrong way in that regard - that is, Rick is supposed to be "heroic", at least that's what I've been seemingly told.

It's just that I'm slowly starting to hate the group as a whole, not just Lori (again, I once actually liked her, but it seems as if her pregnancy kicked her manipulative and egoistic tendencies into overdrive).
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I definitely gave up on the show for a lot of the reasons you mentioned, but I would say Rick and his group are meant to seem more "human" than the other people they run into. Obviously, they make a ton of morally questionable decisions, but they generally don't veer too far into breaking the laws of human decency the way that their opponents do. If I remember correctly, the group also starts to question themselves and their leadership frequently in the next few seasons.

I think the general moral of the show is that everyone is sort of a villain because the stakes are life or death. You either die and become the walking Dead or you live long enough to eschew your previous beliefs and morals to save your own skin and become the Walking "dead". Or you drag an interesting concept into the dirt through aimless storytelling, shock tactics, and too many seasons and become AMC's The Walking Dead.
 
In the early episodes/seasons, I do think there was a running theme about tempering humanity with a cold blooded and pragmatic approach to survival. The people who turn into weeping wrecks are too 'soft' for the postapocalyptic world*, the people who are total and utter bastards stew in their own juices. It's kind of about what makes a survivor a survivor, and I think the answer is meant to be "teamwork". The survivors are strongest when they pool their strengths and co-operate.

They're not meant to be goodies as such, it's a very cold and brutal world they find themselves in, and they have to adapt to that world.

*The TV version of Carol turns this around nicely in her character development. She certainly toughens up, but is by and large the most compassionate character of the lot.
 
So... I'm SUPER excited, because Netflix just uploaded ALL the Rocky movies. Yup all 8! From Rocky to Creed II!!! I LOVE this franchise and being able to watch them back to back is great as you get to see situations, characters, storylines, etc that carry over from movie to movie.

I think one of the reasons I love them so much these movies have heart, the fight in the ring is only an extension of the existential fight outside of the ring and not to mention they really understand build-up and payoff better than many movies today. Are they schlock? Not all of them. Are they masterpieces a la Godfather? God, no! But they are satisfying experiences. So happy.

As far as news stuff, Just got done viewing the mini-series, The Queen's Gambit, about a prodigy chess player. It was really good. Refreshing even. I'm too used to fucked up shows and I kept expecting graphic violence, sexual abuse, etc. Nope... none of it. Even the alcohol/drug use is potrayed very casually. It never gets "dark," and in most cases her fall into a downward spiral is humorous at best and only kinda sad at worst. Highly recommend it.
 
Except Rocky V, which has been kinda scrubbed from the canon by Rocky Balboa and the Creed films. Rocky V is bad.
 
LooseCannon said:
Except Rocky V, which has been kinda scrubbed from the canon by Rocky Balboa and the Creed films. Rocky V is bad.
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Definitely the low point in the series, but I still like it. It's sad that the boxer portraying Tommy Gunn had a very similar real life downfall.

I also see what Stallone was aiming at, back to roots, Rocky I poverty and overcoming his circumstances... Again. But not as well as the others.
 
Recently got through Death Note. This is an Anime that people often hype up whether they are die-hard Anime fans or just casuals, like myself. Originally released in 2006 I finally decided to give it a go aaaaaand.... it's average. I knew little of it going in, a young man finds a supernatural notebook in which if he writes someone's name... they die. After watching it I have no clue what the hype was about. Everything about it was average, the story, how it unfolds, the characters, etc. None jump out or steal scenes. If you haven't seen it you're not missing out on much. Good time killer, but far from the hyped up classic people have made it out to be.
 
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