June 2024 – PopCult Reviews

May/June 2024 Digest

Features
Patron Pick – Men in Black II [Bekah]
Patron Pick – Ernest Goes to Jail [Matt]
Patron Pick – Tell It To The Bees [Bekah]
Patron Pick – Hack Your Health [Matt]
Book Update – May/June

TV Review – Foundation Season Two

Foundation Season Two (2023)
Written by David S. Goyer, Jane Espenson, Leigh Dana Jackson, Joelle Garfinkel, Eric Carrasco, David Kob, Liz Phang, Addie Manis, and Bob Oltra
Directed by Alex Graves, David S. Goyer, Mark Tonderai, and Roxann Dawson

I was a big fan of the first season of Foundation, but I saw that several critics and viewers found its structure confusing. There are definitely some time jumps that allow many changes to happen. I started to see the show as a mix of serialized storytelling and anthology. Each season would have some cast that would carry over because of cryosleep or cloning. The rest of the cast would rotate out at the end of each season as we jumped centuries ahead to see the Empire’s decline and the Foundation’s rise. Apparently, people liked season two even more, so we’ll have a third coming in the next few years. This second season focused on showing how flawed systems are where one figurehead is expected to lead millions or billions, or in the case of one locale, a few dozen.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Mothership 1e Part Four

You can purchase the Mothership 1e Core Set here.
You can purchase Dead Planet here.
You can read the rules for solo and wardenless play in Mothership 1e here.

Read the previous chapter here

Scene 1 – Starting in the Engines – Chaos Factor: 8

Jerome makes the decision to run as the creature’s snapping mandibles float closer

(Speed check – 35 vs. 32 – Success)

Turning tail, Jerome runs back out to the decimated cryochamber. He has to grab the locked military case, get to the boarding skiff, and return to the patrol ship. Navarro has to answer their questions. She has to explain this…this insanity.

Book Update – May/June 2024

A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews

Without a doubt, this was the best thing I read over these last two months. I found a scanned PDF of the Salon.Com Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Authors online. That book played a pivotal role in shaping my reading as an undergrad. It was published in 2000 and has never been updated, providing a snapshot of what was seen as prominent contemporary lit circa the turn of the century. Crews has a write-up in that book where his work is compared with Kafkas and described as presenting a parade of social misfits against a Gothic Southern backdrop. That explains A Feast of Snakes perfectly.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Sundered Isles Part Five

You can purchase Sundered Isles here.
You can purchase Starforged here.
You can purchase Sea of Sands here.

Read Jadyn’s previous chapter here

Interlude – Six Months Ago

A ship from the House Linnaeus fleet emerges from folded space, but something is amiss. Large sections of the vessel have been replaced with jagged, black metal. The ship is in Audun’s orbit. Inside the command bridge, a startling sight awaits. The crew members have undergone a bizarre transformation, with metal patches now adorning their once-fleshly bodies. A spider-like construct skitters across the ground, climbing onto the shoulders of a man who stands out from the rest. His artificial nature is evident, his flawless skin a telltale sign.

Patron Pick – Hack Your Health

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut (2024)
Directed by Anjali Nayar

In an ongoing battle to make me watch the oddest things we have, Hack Your Health is a Netflix documentary about the digestive system and its connection to the body. The educational film is hosted by Dr. Giulia Enders, MD, a German scientist studying digestive health and working towards her doctorate in gastroenterology. Enders and other talking heads in fields like neuropsychology, epidemiology, neuroscience, and microbiology share their perspective on how our diets affect our digestion, which has a domino effect on the rest of our health. There are some wild takes here coming after a first half that feels like basic elementary school science.

Movie Review – Vampire’s Kiss

Vampire’s Kiss (1989)
Written by Joseph Minion
Directed by Robert Bierman

The trailer for Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu was released online a few days ago and it looks to be quite the descent into classic Gothic horror. Vampires have been a part of cinema for over a century and have appeared in all forms. The recent Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person purports to take a modern satirical look at the monster, while another recent release, Abigail, places the vampire in an action-comedy horror scenario. I don’t think any of these takes on the vampire could ever match the frenzy and unhinged energy Nicolas Cage brings to the monster in Vampire’s Kiss. I was shocked in a way no film has made me in a long time watching the actor’s choices.

Patron Pick – Tell It To The Bees

Tell It To The Bees (2018)
Written by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth
Directed by Annabel Jankel

If you are looking for a passionate love story about two women, might I recommend two other, better films – Desert Hearts and A Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The reason why I promote those films over this one is because they are just simply much better made. From the writing to the directing of the actors to the cinematography, those movies don’t just deliver a lesbian love story; they are masterfully executed films. In discussions about representation in the media, I hate that there’s this rallying cry that groups which have been marginalized should be present in the utter shit that the cis white straight people make. I don’t know why anyone would want to set the bar so low. I want queer people, Black people, Indigenous people, disabled people, et al., to not just be in movies but to be in the best movies.

Movie Review – Santa Sangre

Santa Sangre (1989)
Written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Roberto Leoni, and Claudio Argento
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky

The first (and only, until this film) Alejandro Jodorowsky film I ever watched was The Holy Mountain. That was fourteen years ago and took place on a very eventful night. I was staying at a friend’s place. The following day, Ariana would arrive from Puerto Rico. That night before consisted of eating a very poorly made but extremely potent homemade weed cookie my friend had at his place, eating Indian food for the first time while extremely high, and then watching There Will Be Blood high as balls. We returned to his place, still stoned, and he popped in The Holy Mountain. The film certainly left a mark on me based on those circumstances.

Movie Review – A City of Sadness

A City of Sadness (1989)
Written by Chu T’ien-wen and Wu Nien-jen
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

I have to admit I do not know as much about Chinese history as I would like to. I’m going to guess that most people reading this, if they live outside of China, probably fall into that category, too. The relationship between mainland China and the island of Chinese Taipei is complex and has not been made any easier due to Western interference. The political group that fled from the mainland to Chinese Taipei was the Kuomintang, a nationalist organization that pushed far right-wing ideology. Hence, they were driven out by the Communists after the still-dominant party attempted to work the Kuomintang. Modeled after many Western fascist parties, Kuomintang brought their particular twisted worldview to Chinese Taipei, which is what this film is about.