Black Panther II - Wakanda Forever. Review and redraft

I thought the new (or interim) Black Panther was underwhelming. I did not get the impression of strength or agility or resilience from the new Black Panther. The new protector of Wakanda was more pussycat than panther. An angry or vengeful pussycat, but still a pussycat.

Namor was also underwhelming. Killmonger was more menacing, and had more swagger. Namor was calm, reasonable, and civilised. There was no sense of dread or menace from him. 

And the movie was too long.

Hot, Flat & Crowded - highlights

[This was written about 11 years ago in my Facebook "Notes". But Facebook no longer promotes "Notes", though old notes are kept and occasionally I run across them in the "Memories" feature. I'm moving my notes to my blogs so I can access them when I want.]


Hot, Flat & Crowded is a book by Thomas Friedman who, as a book reviewer notes, "is a journalist, and journalists needs editors, and this book needs serious editing. It's 400 pages of small type. There's a 220 page book in here somewhere, struggling to get out."

This is not that 220-page book, but the highlights of the book.

First some explanations of the title.

Mind Journeys via Netflix: Japan

Let me just say up front that I am not a critical reviewer. Though I can be critical. But I tend to think of myself as an average person with an opinion, and I try to breakdown my opinions and provide some analysis.

Which is not to say that my reviews or opinions are objectively correct. Or even objective.

I may have mentioned that the purpose of these "reviews" (such as they are) is to study good, and bad writing or story-telling. And perhaps influence my writing.

That said, I also watch these series for personal interests, and because, this was late 2020 and early 2021, when the world was in lockdown, and there was not much travel between countries. And we have been travelling to Australia and Japan for holidays every year. So 2020 was a "lost" year.

And the only way to visit Japan, was via these shows.

I did not set out to find Japanese shows to assuage my unfulfilled need to travel. It just happened. And then these shows reminded me of times we were in Japan, and how much I miss travelling in Japan now.

Opinion: Entertainment Recently

[First written in Jan 2020. Then left in draft. Then Covid19 (which has nothing to do with this, but let's blame everything bad on it). ]

Why Captain Marvel is bad. Why MIB International was sad. Why Charlie's Angels (2019) was pointless. Why the latest Dr Who (lady!) was a disappointment.

There are lots of opinions on YouTube for all the above.

2019 had some fantastic shows.

Avengers: Endgame was a huge hit, and wrapped up 22 movies very nicely, entertainingly, emotionally satisfyingly, and commercially successfully.

But while that was a big hit, there were also disappointingly bad films and TV shows.