Seth Harris

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.”

TV Review – Beef

Beef (Netflix)
Written by Lee Sung Jin, Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper, Alex Russell, Marie Hanhnhon Nguyen & Niko Gutierrez-Kovner, Joanna Calo, Kevin Rosen, Jean Kyoung Frazier
Directed by Hikari, Jake Schreier, and Lee Sung Jin

Even though we’re attempting to make a permanent life in the Netherlands, I still keep tabs on what is happening back in the States. There are people I love back there, so it’s important to know if violence escalates, the food supply chain is deteriorating, etc. One thing I’ve noted in the last year is a rapid increase in random violent acts, especially on the roadways. Driving in America has always been a particularly hazardous venture, but it appears things have gotten worse? In states where open carry laws have been relaxed, you can’t go a day without hearing about multiple road rage incidents that end in gunfire. The series Beef presented itself in its trailers and marketing as a show about how one of these conflicts escalates wildly out of control, and that was a pretty intriguing premise.

PopCult Podcast – A Thousand and One/Return to Seoul

Two women adrift in the world try and make sense of what is happening around them. One is an ex-convict trying to bring order to her life, while the other finds she has a desire to foment chaos as she struggles to reconnect with her roots.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Fake Guru, Real Vice

Fake Guru, Real Vice (Sealed Library)
Written & Designed by Sealed Library

You can purchase this game here.

Based on Chris Bissette’s The Wretched, Fake Guru, Real Vice asks the player to imagine they are someone who has influenced the thoughts & behaviors of the masses. You may be a famous self-help figure, a tech billionaire turned motivational speaker, or an influential megachurch preacher in my game. You’ve accrued a lot of material wealth and skeletons in your closet. Those skeletons are about to break out, starting with a popular gossip magazine’s story exposing just some of them. Your PR team has assured you they are taking legal action and that nothing more will come out. However, when you are honest with yourself, you admit much more is about to explode.

Comic Book Review – Justice Society of America: The Next Age & The Lightning Saga

Justice Society of America: The Next Age (2007)
Reprints Justice Society of America #1-4
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Dale Eaglesham

Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga (2008)
Reprints Justice League of America #0, 8-12 and Justice Society of America #5-6
Written by Brad Meltzer & Geoff Johns
Art by Shane Davis, Ed Benes, Fernando Pasarin, and Dale Eaglesham

In 2007, Geoff Johns was pretty much the top dog among writers at DC Comics. He’d just finished up one of the Flash runs of all time, authored the company’s most recent crossover event Infinite Crisis, co-authored the follow-up weekly mini-series 52, was in the middle of a Green Lantern run that reinvented the character and was also writing Teen Titans, Booster Gold, and Action Comics. This was all prelude to him getting the job as Chief Creative Officer for DC’s film ventures in the 2010s. I argue that was the moment Johns began to decline. While this Justice Society of America run is good, it is not as strong as the previous JSA series.

Movie Review – The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff (1983)
Written & Directed by Phillip Kaufman

It’s pretty silly to say with a straight face that the United States “won the space race.” This win is predicated on a single event, landing a man on the moon. That’s an awe-inspiring feat, but I don’t understand why that was the thing that made America the winner. From a narrow-minded jingoistic sense, I understand why it was the only thing the United States focused the full force of mass media on. Thus, it was made the winning event through the propagandistic media. Let’s review the space-faring accomplishments made during this time.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Mork Borg: Solitary Defilement Part Two

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 play through also uses the Mork Borg Core Rules and the Feretory supplement.

Our next player character is Prügl the Occult Herbmaster. Here is the description I was given when I generated them in Esoteric Hermit.

From a little witches’ cottage in Galgenbeck.

Born of the mushroom, raised in the glade, watched by the eye of the moon in a silverblack pool.

Nihilistic and wasteful. Cataracts slowly but surely spreading in both eyes. Best friend is a skull. Carry it with you, tell it everything, you trust no one more.

Movie Review – A Nos Amours

A Nos Amours (1983)
Written & Directed by Maurice Pialat

People often seem to forget that a vast ocean of thought exists within each person’s mind. Society does its best to halt our exploration of these complex inner worlds, but they remain a part of who we are, always waiting to be uncovered and mapped. You likely have noticed the same disturbing trend I have among mostly white conservative men, an aggressive push against women’s agency over their lives and bodies. They want the population to see women as nothing about vessels for men’s pleasure and laborers to provide men with their every need. But this denies that inner world, the complicated web of desires, needs, emotions, beliefs, and more that exists in women just as much as they do in men. A Nos Amours is a brief peek into that world, a film that also shaped the life of its star.

Movie Review – Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment (1983)
Written & Directed by James L. Brooks

Television was where creator James L. Brooks started, and that influence can be seen in his second feature film, Terms of Endearment. The production looks like a movie, but the plot points and character types feel similar to characters that would populate one of his many sitcoms. The difference is that Brooks was able to touch on the subject matter no network censor would have allowed on the air. Terms of Endearment is pretty frank about female sexuality (heteronormative, of course), and we even have a central character die of cancer. It is rare to have a beloved character pass away on a sitcom, but in the world of movies, it is easier to get away with those things. In this way, Terms feels like Brooks is translating the story structures and character beats he knows into a new format.

PopCult Podcast – What We’ve Been Reading/Godland

So many books and so little time in life to read them, but today we have some you should add to your To Be Read list. Also, we take a journey into the harsh & surreal landscape of Iceland along with a Danish priest out to tame the people and the land.