It’s time to settle in for a little light reading of Fairies and How to Avoid Them…
Terry Pratchett Book Club: A Hat Full of Sky, Part I
Emmet Asher-Perrin
Ahsoka’s Premiere Brings the Animated Side of Star Wars to Live-Action With Style
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
Ahsoka Tano nation, we’re up!
Terry Pratchett Book Club: Monstrous Regiment, Part IV
Did you think that kissing the Duchess meant nothing?
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
Terry Pratchett Book Club: Monstrous Regiment, Part III
Look, Otto tried to help, but there’s only so much you can do in the middle of the forest… unless Sam Vimes is helpfully spying on you.
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
Why the Confirmation of Crowley and Aziraphale Hits Different Than Other Romances
Image: Prime Video
Stories are transformed by their telling.
This is a fact that some people realize and others do not (or even actively resist), but it is fundamental to our appreciation of art. And while it seems a very simple thought, it happens to be infinitely complex in how this trick of consciousness acts upon what we create, what we believe, what we feel by absorbing the art all around us. We are told a story, and our unique experiences, our person-ness, translate that story according to our own implicit biases, thoughts, and desires into something entirely new.
And that is where I must begin before I can talk about the second season of Good Omens.
All the Easter Eggs I Found in Good Omens Season 2
Image: Prime Video
When “Easter eggs” are done right, they can be so much fun. There were quite a few in the latest season of Good Omens, so I thought I’d compile all the ones I noticed. Like a scavenger hunt for your brain!
Obviously it’s possible that not all of these were intentional, but that’s part of what makes the hunt fun—not all references are conscious, and sometimes they’re even incidental. Dig in, folks!
[Some spoilers for Good Omens 2]
Good Omens Season 2 Is the Comfort Food We Could All Use Right Now
David Tennant (Crowley), Michael Sheen (Aziraphale); Credit: Prime Video
When the first (and at the time, many of us presumed, the only) season of Good Omens arrived in 2019, I was shocked to find that the show was something altogether different than I had expected. When it was announced that the show would have another season, I was equally shocked: Not because I didn’t want it to receive one, but because I didn’t believe it was possible.
Here’s the thing—I’ve actually been waiting for a continuation of this story most of my life. Having it come to pass seemed unlikely at this point. But it’s been four years since season one, and here we are. And after watching the most recent six episodes, I’m beginning to worry that Amazon has read my diary? (That’s a lie, I don’t have a diary. Just the weird running dialogue in my head, which you are now privy to.)
Intense Horror Vibes Power The Dragon Prince’s Fifth Season
Screenshot: Netflix
After the expected pandemic-related slowdowns, The Dragon Prince has been back with a vengeance—no, sorry, a vengeance isn’t really the feeling, more like zeal, cleverness, and deep enthusiasm—getting seasons four and five to fans in quick succession. Part two of the “Mystery of Aaravos” arc, season five picks up with a ticking clock concerning the release of the eponymous Startouch elf in question, and continues apace at breakneck speed. But the notable shift of the fifth season has less to do with Aaravos himself than with a tonal push into the realm of horror.
Things are about to get creepy for our Xadian friends.
[Minor spoilers for The Dragon Prince.]
Barbie Is an Existential Delight
Screenshot: Warner Bros. Pictures
It seems that we’ve been waiting a proverbial age for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film, a movie that has intrigued the general populace for at least the last year with one driving question: What could this movie possibly be about?
Not in the sense of wanting for plot, of course, because Barbie has been a driver of story since her inception, as all dolls are—and as the film’s 2001-homaging opener attests. But what exactly is Barbie going to do in our real world… and what will that mean for all of us?
[Minor spoilers for Barbie.]
Terry Pratchett Book Club: Monstrous Regiment, Part II
To keep your chopped-off hair, or not to keep it? That is certainly… a question.
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
The Robin Hood You Know Is a Lie
Illustration by Louis Rhead (1912)
In the earliest tales, Robin Hood was many things—gambler, fighter, braggart, gentleman, con artist, master of disguise—but he was never a nobleman.
Despite scholarly fights and centuries of material to choose from, no one has ever agreed on why this change became so popular. It may have been a desire to link the legendary bandit with a real live person (such as Fulk fitz Warin or Robert Hod), or fear that the poor folks of the world might read stories of Robin’s origin and start a rebellion of their own, or simply the novelty of a man displaced and still carrying on despite it all. No matter the cause, the version of Robin that we come across most often is a figure of privilege. He’s an earl or a member of the landed gentry. He’s in the forest for now, while he waits for the rightful king and the restoration of his lands and position. With very few exceptions, modern Robin Hood stories are about a rich dude who is briefly less rich, and thankfully doesn’t hate poor people.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Ends Far Better Than it Begins
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
It is clear that the fifth (and final, if Harrison Ford and Lucasfilm are to be believed) Indiana Jones serial intends to be a “return to form” right from the opening credits—which pointedly use the exact same font as the opening credits of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. (The irony of trying this move when the very first sight in the film is Disney’s 100th anniversary logo cannot be overstated.) This would seem to be a bit of wishful thinking on the part of director/co-writer James Mangold, the man who Hollywood has decided should be the go-to for aging heroes and their final chapters, after his success with X-Men’s Logan.
Dial of Destiny is by no means a return to form. It’s only half of a good movie, in fact. But that half, funny enough, is still lingering in my mind.
[Some spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]
Terry Pratchett Book Club: Monstrous Regiment, Part I
Join me in a rousing chorus of “Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier,” if you like. Then we’ll jump right in.
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
Terry Pratchett Book Club: The Wee Free Men, Part II
You can dress however you like to do the job, but you really should have a good pair of trompy old boots.
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
Terry Pratchett Book Club: The Wee Free Men, Part I
“We willnae be fooled again!” —Roger Daltrey, probably.