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Yes, the set design is really cool. Very West Side Story. Did it influence Wes Anderson as well? The storyboard effect of horizontal/vertical borders on screen? Dial M for Murder is a like watching a play - as it all happens in one room with people just going in and out. I enjoyed it. But Strangers on a Train is my favourite one so far. I have Rope in the current box set I am on. Lifeboat is on my personal list of his films which I want to watch. I am pretty sure that I have seen Secret Window. But I think it could be interesting to watch again. That is one of the things about watching all these Hitchcock films - seeing familiar looking shots because they have been used in other TV shows or films you've watched.

I see it as just a Hollywood norm. I watched Dial M for Murder last month and I think it seemed less notable in that film because i) they weren't on screen together that much and ii) they were more dynamic characters and iii) they actually seemed to like each other on screen. In Rear Window the protagonist is super grouchy and a little smug while he has this adorable angel waiting on him hand and foot.

Bran is magically healed and has lots of sex with the CotF. Sam spends most of the book trying to pay off his Citadel student loans. Arya becomes a ninja.

I don't know about you, but Morgoth and Sauron and Gríma are beings who are evil for the desire of domination or conquest or fame, and meet ends unambiguously suited to corrupted persons, according to their desserts. There is a moral clarity to what is good and evil in Tolkien, a clear indication (especially in LotR) of there being distinct good acts and evil acts and good motives and evil motives. George's view is that in his own work, he hews closer to what he sees as reality, not just that good motives can lead to evil ends, but are they really even good motives is something to question or at least give thought to. From Letters, he's pretty clear about Morgoth not having any "good" beginning at all, nothing he did was rooted in wanting to make things orderly or better. Sauron followed him, and while his bent was "order", it was order that he would impose with deceits and violence and would benefit no one but him. And so on. I don't know, I think George understands Tolkien just fine. Tolkien's works are rife with discussion of good and evil in a way that they are not with GRRM. Just in a facile way, I find over 100 references to "evil" in just Letters, and nearly 300 in LotR, compared to fewer than 75 across all of ASoIaF. Doesn't mean George doesn't write about all sorts of things going on that Tolkien would explicitly describe as "evil", but George's temperament and moral view, I think, leads him to shy away from the word as too powerful and clear, overwhelming the moral ambiguities. ETA: Just to press the point further, in the SSM, George practically never uses the word "evil", and when he does it's almost always as a discussion of the "good vs. evil" template that Tolkien's imitators focused on, and his point that very few people wake up and plan what evil they'll do today, or fail to see themselves as the heroes of their own stories, and the battle between good and evil is conducted in the human heart every single day. I mean, this is a nice, ASoIaF-focused reference: To put it another way, contra your view, I think in fact George understands the moral framework of Tolkien exceedingly well, because that's the only way someone can set out to write something different from it. I am sure GRRM is perfectly onboard with Tolkien's writing on the corruptive effects of loss of hope, of power, etc., and I am certain he understands the tragedies of characters like Boromir and Denethor. He loves LotR, after all. But the moral framework of LotR is a battle against clear-cut good and clear-cut evil, and that is manifestly not the story George wants to tell.

Thing is, Tolkien didn't write the clear-cut good and evil nature of things either. What he had was a spectrum, from Morgoth whose good nature got corrupted because of pride until he became a nihilist, to Sauron and Saruman who were very much "ends justify the means" leading to "road to hell is paved with good intentions", to Feanor who was a self-absorbed prideful ass but not evil per se, to Denethor who just got desperate, to Grima who "merely" wanted something he couldn't get through normal means. Martin's inability to understand Tolkien quite frankly makes me cynical as to his ability to write the Others as an actually engaging villain.

Hmm.

Apparently Gala are in the process of selling some 80 hectares of land that the club owns to property developers. The sale is expected to net them around €600m.

Comparing Six Feet Under to Prison Break is insulting to the former. I've recently rewatched the whole five seasons and it's still great, with still the greatest finale of all time.

Even if I did, the amount of time it took me to write would soon get me fired :')

Well that quick read sucked the joy out of things. Still can't believe how many kids Rodman's dad had with that many women. And his fucking name is literally Philander Rodman. Great comedians couldn't make that shit up.

I think this is but of a sideshow at this point, but the Epstein shit is wild.

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July despite Congress gifting us a big, fat, ugly turd the night before.

Just follow the stench.

He's got a tough row to hoe to beat out Calvin Murphy.

Did not know this. Yikes.

Cardio doesn't seem to be an issue. Look at all those babies he's making. Larry Johnson should be embarrassed by the Ant Man's work.

I get season five, but I’ve really grown to love season six. What’s not to like? No mustache Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen, Raylan and Boyd taking it to the limit, Garrett Dillahunt, Jeff Fahey, Mikey’s code, CHOO-CHOO?!?

Myself and my husband are interested in attending the dinner !

Well, without a map, how can I find you and fight you?

Just finished series five. The transition from Mark and Nish’s song in the finale to “Rosalind is a fucking nightmare” was amazing. Loved the entire cast in this one. All insane in different ways.

This kind of rumormongering around Xi has been ever present for many, many years and long before covid. It never amounts to anything. It would of course be very interesting if any of this bears out but a CMP article a few weeks back suggests it is most likely business as usual: Is Xi's Grip Holding? - China Media Project

Mare of Easttown was absolutely excellent! I think it's the best show I've seen in the last couple of years though my watched list is short these days. Kate Winslet knocked it out of the park in her role which was to be expected. The tone and twists made me think of this as a season of True Detective minus the existential philosophy and dialogue. In fact, I'm starting True Detective: Night Country next just to compare the two.

Main stream media has also talked about this…

To put this into contrast, the US just recently diverted 20,000 interceptors specially designed to shoot down shaheed drones from Ukraine to Israel. These had been allocated by the pentagon and funded by congress last year.

This popped up on my youtube feed and although I didn't initially give it much credibility I did watch enough that I started to find it quite convincing. I checked a few things that are publicly confirmed and found plenty of other rumors flying around also that give it some weight. What it is saying, amongst other things, is Zhang Youxia, who is the vice chairman of the military commission, has for the last couple of months been quietly removing Xi loyalists in the military and more or less removed Xi from power keeping him there as a figurehead for now. There is a new regulatory body formed above him that reduces his power although this has been sold publicly as him delegating more day to day activities. Xi has also missed the BRICS conference for the first time ever, instead China is represented by Li Qiang. I'm not completely convinced but Xi's political power has diminished greatly since the covid lockdowns and if there is any truth to this it is a major global event that will break in the next few months. I have no idea what Zhang Youxia has planned or what his political views are so if true this could be good or bad.