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Weekly Roundup 4.19.24

weekly roundup, highlander, dune

I know. You don’t have to say anything. It’s been way more than a week since my last post here. I feel bad but I can’t really do much about it now except move forward.

Also, this will be the last time I apologize for not posting more. Yes, I should post more. I want to post more. But shit happens, right?

I am going to try harder, but I can’t promise anything. Because, you know, that whole “shit happens” thing? But I will try. Okay? Okay.

So, with that in mind, let’s get going . . . Here’s some of the things I’m watching, reading or, dare I say it, consuming these days.

Watching

Dune Part 2 – Heck yeah. What a great way to continue the story and wrap things up (almost). Loved it. I’ve already watched it several times and I expect I’ll watch it many more. Can’t wait to see what Denis Villeneuve does with Dune Messiah. That’s gonna be interesting, to say the least.

Shogun – I watched almost of of this but now I’m waiting for all the episodes to drop so I can watch them as one complete story. Yeah, I used to wait a week between episodes too. Maybe we should go back to that exclusively? Might help shows that come out all at once, people talk about them for a few minutes, then it’s done. Which brings me to . . .

3 Body Problem – I liked the book so I thought I’d give the show a try. For the most part, I enjoyed it . . . especially the Game of Thrones mini-reunion. But sadly, the show hasn’t really stuck with me now that it’s been a few weeks. Not sure why, exactly. It wasn’t all that memorable, I guess. It’s not bad. It’s good. It’s just not great. Alas.

Highlander – I know, I’m waiting for the Henry Cavill remake too. Until then, I decided to go back and watch the Christopher Lambert original. Still fun. Still so many great things about it. Sure, some of it is a bit dated at this point, but the movie still rocks and even though I’ve seen it many times, I’m never bored watching it again. Can’t say that about a lot of stuff these days.

Plus, terrific actors like Sean Connery and one of the nicest guys still working in the business, Clancy Brown. He’s one of the good ones and deserves all of his success. Remind me to tell you my Clancy Brown story sometime.

Reading

Dune Messiah – After watching Dune part 1 and 2, naturally I was curious about what comes next. I haven’t read the sequel to Dune since College so it seemed a good time to get back into it. So far, I’m really enjoying it. Frank Herbert really wants you to know Paul is not the good guy. Like really. He’s not. Still, great book.

Children of Dune – I’m basically almost done with the second book so it’s onto the the third. So far, so good. At least some other main characters that seemed kinda important have shown up after being absent from book 2, which is nice.

Listening To

Dune Messiah Audio Book – I get a lot out of reading but I also get a lot out of being read to. I also have a lot of Audible credits, so there’s that.

Lots of Radiohead – I never get tired of this band. One of my all-time favorites and I listen to their music frequently.

Scriptnotes Podcast – If you want to know anything about being a screenwriter in Hollywood, John August and Craig Mazin have you covered. Great podcast with two wonderfully informative hosts

The Recipe podcast with Kenji and Deb – I’ve been a big fan of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (aka Kenji) for a long time. Love his YouTube Channel and his books. Naturally, I really enjoy this podcast too. And Deb is great as well. They really seem to like each other and their styles complement.

Finally, just for fun, here’s the trailers for both Dune and Dune Part 2. Amazing stuff, especially for a sci-fi nerd like me from way back.

‘Blade Runner: 2049’ May Not Be Terrible

I was against the idea of a Blade Runner sequel when I first heard about it. It’s one of those movies that stands on its own and I never really felt like I needed more of the story. They didn’t know how long they had. But then again, who does?

For me, that ending worked. And that was it.

However, as I’ve heard more about the sequel and what elements are involved (writer, director, stars), I became more interested. And now with the first trailer released today, that interest has turned to actual desire to see the movie.

Yes, I’m as surprised as you are.

Here’s the trailer if you haven’t already watched it a bunch of times. Gotta say, it looks pretty darn good. And no, I don’t think it will be terrible now. In fact, I’m glad it doesn’t seem so. I don’t want things to fail. Really I don’t.

Enjoy.