On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

...has come 'round once more today. I understand The Bad Batch launched today in commemoration of the fact on Disney+...?

...so if you're enjoying Star Wars as a general part of your pop culture life, I hope that today's kind to you in such things!

Hallmark did it again.

This afternoon, on Ontario Today, that CBC Radio phone-in show was discussing the movies of last year, and which ones mattered to us most.

Okay, here's my list:

• Black Panther
• Molly's Game (Yes, it premiered the prior year, but since I rewatched it at a cinema...)
• The Death of Stalin
• The Post
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (I still say it should be The Wasp and the Ant-Man.)
• Shock and Awe
• Solo: a Star Wars Story
• First Man
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

A grand total of ten. I slipped a little this past year, and I blame both chores and finances.And I'm thinking that there's one I forgot to mention...

(Since revised to include The Death of Stalin. Which I should not have forgotten.)

I expect to watch that movie on this upcoming Saturday (IE: tomorrow) at some point. Not sure exactly when or where.

Just so we're clear.

Yes, I saw the new trailer. Looks good, and I suspect that it's misleading in some way.

More later.

It's done. I saw it tonight.

I'd been meaning to watch it for a while now, even before starting to hear of the dislike in certain white-supremacist/neo-Nazi quarters for the casting and plot of the film. Hearing of that dislike from such people made it a duty of sorts, if only a form of virtue-signalling.

And then there was the news today about Carrie Fisher's death.

That finally did it. I had to go.

It's strange: I was expecting to have my heart broken, probably several times over in the course of the movie. Those of you who've already seen it can probably guess which points in the story where it should have happened.

It didn't.

But what I got instead was satisfaction. I'm not sure if it's the grim kind, not yet. Given some of the things going on in the real worlds - and yes, I do still know the difference, having trained in some of the skills needed to blur that line for others at animation and marketing classes - one might expect that.

Not sure yet, though.

My ego would have me think it's put a certain amount of steel in my spine, so to speak. Maybe. My ego being what it is, that could make me prone to trouble I couldn't get myself or anyone else out of. So it's a bit much to ask of any movie.

That said, I thank everyone involved in the making of this. Whether you're still able to read this or not. Whether you ever find this posting or not. Thank you.

If you didn't earn from this work what you were led to expect by your employers, I apologize for that. I don't run any of the companies involved, yet I remember the green-square protests of recent years in support of VFX workers' rights to fair pay for the work they've done on movies and TV shows I've enjoyed, having kept an eye on several trade-related websites and other sources. You are artists, you make art for so many of us, and it has a positive value.

Again, my thanks. Take care.

Good night, and good luck.

There was a particular conversation involving new SHIELD Director Jeffrey Mace and newly-demoted-by-own-request-to-special field officer-in-charge Phil Coulson...and the metaphor they went with?

( Some thoughts about that particular scene... )

The books we read all use a calendar system that puts events in the timeline on either side of the Battle of Yavin from A New Hope. I am becoming increasing convinced that the characters themselves are not using any such calendar-dating convention within the events of their lives.

What are some workable alternatives?

I've heard it attributed to the martial arts: "When the student is ready, the master will appear."

Would the reverse also be true?