Seth Harris

Movie Review – El Norte

El Norte (1983)
Written by Gregory Nava & Anna Thomas
Directed by Gregory Nava

The United States will never seal up their southern border. They will never stop using it as a political football, either. The States rely heavily on cheap, undocumented labor as part of capitalism. Allowing these workers to enter the country (even through illegal means) helps the wealthy squeeze native-born workers out of fair wages in exchange for compromising for lower pay to “be competitive.” This is a problem created by America as they additionally spend taxpayer money through the defense budget to continuously keep Central & South American countries economically & politically destabilized. They get to extract valuable resources from these regions and pay almost nothing, which leads to refugees seeking work elsewhere. The cruelty of this system is not an accident; it’s the catalyst that keeps the engine of capitalism running. It cannot be reformed; it must be abolished. In El Norte, we follow one such pair of economic refugees desperate to find a new life north of their home.

Movie Review – The 4th Man

The 4th Man (1983)
Written by Gerard Soeteman
Directed by Paul Verhoeven

In 1981, the Dutch author Gerard Reve was asked to supply the free book given away during an annual promotion of literacy in The Netherlands. If you bought any Dutch-language book that week, you would get a copy of Reve’s for free. Reve wrote De Vierde Man, a noirish psychological thriller. As a gay man and a Catholic, those themes would often get brought up in his books, this one was a little different as the lead character was bisexual, and the book contained only a brief scene of gay sex. It was apparently too controversial, and the book was dropped in favor of something far more bland & boring. That book has been mostly forgotten, while De Vierde Man was adapted by Paul Verhoeven. The 4th Man would be that director’s final Dutch production until he returned in 2006; in the meantime, he made some of the most memorable 1980s action/farcical films.

PopCult Podcast – Cobweb/Talk To Me

It’s a horror double feature this week on the podcast. In one film, a little boy tries to figure out what secret hiding the walls has his parents acting so strangely. Then, it’s down to Australia where a group of teenagers play around with contacting the dead only to have something horrible find its way to the land of the living.

TV Review – The Venture Brothers Season Two

The Venture Brothers Season Two (Adult Swim)
Written by Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer with Bed Edlund
Directed by Jackson Publick

While the Venture Brothers was primarily focused on parodying children’s shows, from Johnny Quest to G.I. Joe, it could also be strangely poignant. Where season one was about the co-creators Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer finding their footing in this world, season two is about expanding that established universe and adding depth to its characters. The three characters I found to get the most development this season would be Brock Samson, The Monarch/Doctor Girlfriend, and Doctor Orpheus. The show also teases the lore behind Hank & Dean’s origins. Are they clones of Rusty and Brock? Do they have a real mother? Is Dr. Girlfriend their mother? (Of course not). It was all of this with continuous references to the absurdity of genre media & culture.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Fiasco + Mythic GM Emulator Part One

Fiasco 2nd Edition (Bully Pulpit Games)
Designed & Written by Jason Morningstar

Mythic GM Emulator 2nd Edition (Word Mill Games)
Designed & Written by Tana Pigeon

You can purchase Fiasco here
You can purchase Mythic GM Emulator here

As I’ve mentioned, my first foray into tabletop gaming didn’t happen until I was in my late 20s. Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition had just come out, and I was curious. I found pdf scans of the three core books online and tried DMing as my first outing. I never really liked how many rules there were, and I found they got in the way of trying to tell stories. I still wanted to roleplay, but it would have to be with a different game. This is around the time I stumbled across Fiasco on r/rpg. It seemed like the perfect fit, and I had a lot of fun in multiple sessions of this game. I was all-in when the Kickstarter came along in 2019 for a 2nd card-based edition. Due to COVID-19, I never played it with anyone until the previous weekend, from when I wrote this. I brought it over for dinner at a friend’s house in the Netherlands. Fun was had by all. But I was wondering if Fiasco could be done single-player. It would not be the same game, but it could be a robust storytelling tool.

Comic Book Review – Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part One (2008)
Reprints Justice Society of America #7-12
Written by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, and Alex Ross

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part Two (2008)
Reprints Justice Society of America #13-18, Annual #1
Written by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, and Jerry Ordway

Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Part Three (2009)
Reprints Justice Society of America #19-22, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom
Written by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, and Peter Tomasi
Art by Dale Eaglesham, Nathan Massengill, Jerry Ordway, Bob Wiacek, Alex Ross, Fernando Pasarin, and Mick Gray

Geoff Johns has always reached deep into continuity for his work at DC Comics. It’s why he was such an excellent fit for the JSA, able to draw on decades of stories & characters and build upon them. When the Justice Society had a revival post-Infinite Crisis, I was among many people hyped to see the writer continue with these characters. However, the longer this new book went on, the more it felt like Johns was stretching out a small number of storylines for two years. The most egregious example of this is Thy Kingdom Come. It’s one of a few sequels written to the prestige 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come.

Movie Review – Meantime

Meantime (1983)
Written & Directed by Mike Leigh

When I was younger and saw a Mike Leigh movie, I didn’t understand it. I was very much into certain kinds of art-house cinema that were more heightened in the stylistics, and the quirky working-class tone of Leigh’s work was confounding. Now, in my early 40s, I find Leigh to be brilliant. He understands the class divide and how ordinary people are pitted against each other better than almost any other director alive. Unsurprisingly, Leigh holds up Yasujirō Ozu’s slice-of-life domestic films as a chief inspiration. Leigh adds his British flair to the characters’ affectations, but the stories are very grounded, focused on the travails of working people attempting to make their way through an increasingly hostile world.

Solo Tabletop RPG – Mork Borg: Solitary Defilement Part Three

Mork Borg: Solitary Defilement (10d+5)
Written & Designed by…? (no specific names on the document)

Read Part One, where I explain the rules/tone of Mork Borg and this solo supplement.

You can get this set of solo rules here.
This playthrough also uses the Mork Borg Core Rules and the Feretory supplement.
Our next player character is Von the Fanged Deserter. Here is the description I was given when I generated them in Esoteric Hermit.

Your earliest memories are of following an arm in eastern Wästland.

You have thirty or so friends who never let you down: YOUR TEETH. Disloyal, deranged, or simply uncontrollable, any group that didn’t boot you out, you left anyway. But your parliament of teeth — enormous, protruding, thick, and sharp — have always been your allies.

Nihilistic and suspicious. Starved: gaunt and pale. Permanent phlegm deposit in throat. Continuous cough, snort, spit, and swallow. Banished and disowned for unspecified deeds. Can never go home.

Movie Review – Local Hero

Local Hero (1983)
Written & Illustrated by Bill Forsyth

I just couldn’t fall in love with this movie in the way I’d heard other people rave about it. There are a good number of people that love Local Hero. I can see why they would. It’s a slightly charming film, not overrun with nasty conflict, told almost like a fairy tale for grown-ups. On paper, these are things that appeal to me. I like films that go in unexpected directions. However, Local Hero never seemed to find its footing from my perspective. It plays around with ideas and characters but doesn’t really come to conclusions about them. Combined with acting that varies wildly in quality from performer to performer, I couldn’t quite latch onto the magic I’d heard about for all these years.

Movie Review – The Big Chill

The Big Chill (1983)
Written & Directed by Lawrence Kasdan

This may be one of the most misunderstood Hollywood films of the late 20th century. I’d never seen The Big Chill before I watched it for this review. However, I had heard about it from time to time. It was often framed as a shallow examination of the Baby Boomer generation. It’s a film concerned with that cohort of Americans, but I don’t think it’s superficial. The characters are certainly living their lives on the surface, but the film tells us many things about them, especially their flawed worldviews. The voice of reason in the film is the youngest character, who pretty much explains the picture’s theme when she says, “I don’t like talking about my past as much as you guys do.”