Weekly Geekly Rundown for March 29th, 2024
WWII, D&D and Glam Rock, Much More
Michelin Stars and WWII
My family started watching Max Miller’s excellent Tasting History channel on YouTube during the 2020 pandemic. At the time, I believe he was based in Arizona and I believe he has relocated to Los Angeles since then. I could be wrong on both counts, but that’s how I remember it and I’m sticking to that story. Max has a delightful personality that incorporates cooking techniques and historical knowledge in a humble and engaging way. He’s a cook talking about potentially pretentious subjects, but without any sense of pretense.
Max is definitely on my list of people I’d love to have a dinner and chat with because I’m sure it would be one of the more memorable conversations I’ve had. One of the things our family likes most about Max is that he isn’t lecturing when he shares history, he’s bursting joy and his NEED to share the information with us.
There’s no better example of that than this recent video about the Origin of the Michelin Star. Any Gourmand knows the basic story, but Max shares a ton of trivia related to the origin of the award and cooks a meal from one of the early winners. The meal is of the Ratatouille variety. No, not because it’s French (though it is), but because it captures the simplicity of Remy’s meal at the end of Ratatouille. We live in a world where high falutin’ gourmands dine on “deconstructed mashed potatoes” where the plate might contain a raw potato, a blow torch, butter, and a mallet, all for your “dining pleasure.”
The funny thing is that as pretentious as our modern diners seem to be, our modern chefs (in both film and reality) are the exact opposite. Ask Gordon Ramsay to talk about his favorite moments as a chef and they include his love of In-n-Out, eating a corner shop Croque Monsieur for a few Francs while early in his training, and the time some of the late night staff made him a batch of home made Indian food at the end of a 21 hour shift when he was just starting out. Outside of an ironic internet “theory,” the only survivor of the recent film The Menu is the person who orders a “traditional” cheeseburger. Heck, any time I watch Epicurious on YouTube, the professional chefs are often less pretentious than the amateurs. Then of course, there is Ratatouille. One of the many messages of that film is that we love food that brings memories with it.
There’s a reason my daughters love it when I make Kartoffelpuffer or Knödel for them. Potato pancakes and dumplings taste like Christmas…and they are delicious.
One of the key pieces of trivia in this video is that both the Germans and Americans used Michelin Guides for their excellent maps during World War II. The Germans used them when invading and the Americans gave them to soldiers prior to D-Day, and there’s an Army reproduction of the 1939 guide.
That’s pretty cool.
Weekly Film Article Cavalcade
Looks like it’s all Godzilla x Kong all the time in this week’s review section.
The Lamentations of Luke Y. Thompson
We start of with Luke’s review of the film where he wonders why the “x” in Godzilla x Kong is silent, except in the abbreviation. To fans of Spy x Family and other “x” including anime, this isn’t a surprise but it is interesting to see the silent x trend extend to live action. In the case of Spy x Family, and by the sound of it Godzilla x Kong, the x works like the multiplier in an interaction term in regression analysis. The term implies something more than a family of spies, or Godzilla meeting Kong, but a kind of interaction between them.
Luke’s critical eye is harsher than his overall judgement of the film, but the fact that his critical eye is engaged speaks somewhat to how effective the film might be. Jon Boorstin, the producer of All the President’s Men, writes in his book Making Movies Work about how we view films with different “eyes” and that each of these eyes has a different level of suspension of disbelief. If a piece of escapism is firing on all cylinders, the critical eye should be silent without additional viewings. That Luke, who is very much a critic who likes escapist film, falls into a more critical mode does speak to a potential failure of the film to fully succeed at its goal.
Courtney Howard’s View from the Center Seat
That Courtney Howard finds the film less than satisfying suggests that this may be true. Given that she felt the full length of the film and found it to be a slog is clear evidence that she was never fully immersed in the world. Luke thinks the film is “for the kids” so some might fall back on that all too common response today of “It isn’t for you.” I find that to be a lazy response in general and would be inappropriately dismissive of Luke’s and Courtney’s opinions here. This kind of film, whether targeted at a younger audience or not, is made for everyone. If it isn’t, the financiers made a big mistake investing in it.
The fact is that most films aren’t made for a narrow audience. Most films are made for as broad an audience as possible. Sometimes the “possible” audience is small, John Waters films and Kevin Sorbo starring religious vehicles, but the intent of the film makers is to appeal to everyone. But, as my wife’s former boss frequently said, “entertaining the public is HARD.”
My thoughts on whether I’ll like a Godzilla x Kong movie for the kids? I’m the guy who likes Ewoks and loves Gadzooky. The film will have to work hard to activate my critical eye. Then again, it had to work hard to activate either Luke’s or Courtney’s.
Mendelson’s Melodic Meanderings
Scott Mendelson is the most positive in his review of the film, but his review includes a touch of information regarding a potential lack of satisfaction. In a world of Godzilla fans, where Godzilla finally wins an Oscar, a film that focuses too much on Kong might not scratch the right itch. Then again, transforming Cooper’s giant ape into a cuddly protector might not quite work either.
Glimpses from the Substackosphere and Bloggerverse
Matt Thompson has been reading my Newsletter for a while and his latest Critical Hit Parader reads like it was written solely for the purpose of inspiring a Weekly Geekly Rundown. It features an interview between Marc Bolan (T. Rex) and Stan Lee where Marc Bolan discusses what he thinks are the flaws in Robert E. Howard’s Conan character. I don’t think anything screams, “Christian! You’ve got to read this!” more than that combination.
I think Bolan is off the mark here when he says that Conan needs to be more like Elric. That kind of misses the point. Elric is an anti-Conan whose story, both in how it was written episodically and in the kinds of stories told, is a reflection of Howard’s creation. Interestingly, Elric isn’t a critique of Conan. Instead, it’s a version of Conan that explores the issues of Civilization vs. Savagery from an angle. Moorcock’s Elric stories are as critical of the corrupting nature of stagnant civilizations as Howard’s Conan stories. Elric’s homeland is corrupt to the core and wallows in aesthetics over morality of any kind. But Moorcock doesn’t advocate the primitive as much as Howard often does, though as I’ve mentioned before (here and here), Howard’s critique of civilization isn’t as strong as some proffer. In fact, Conan fights to preserve the arts. The Elric character, being highly cultured rather than a barbarian, allows Moorcock to make the same critiques Howard does without people misreading them. That’s a critique of Bolan though and not Matt, so go read his excellent post.
David Poland, over at The Hot Button, discusses the new Road House movie and the reason it wasn’t available as a cinematic experience for you and me. It was Joel Silver’s fault. While I thought Road House was far from a perfect film, as I mentioned in the last Rundown, I still thought it was fun and I would have loved to see the cinematography on a big screen. It really deserved it. David’s discussion of Joel Silver led to the choice of recommended film this week. A choice I wasn’t sure about, and still am not, but one that I’m sticking with because it seems to fit with David’s critique of Silver.
Man oh man did Stan! knock it out of the park with this week’s illustrated homage. He based this week’s illustration on an old D&D ad that ran in Marvel Comics back in the ‘80s. The early advertising for D&D is a wonder to see and Stan’s homage, and celebration of the oft overlooked Steven D. Sullivan, is a great read.
Role Playing Game Recommendation
This past week both the Founders & Legends and Gary Con conventions took place in Lake Geneva Wisconsin and at Gary Con gaming legend Mike Pondsmith was awarded the E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award. No one, and I mean no one, could be more deserving.
Mike Pondsmith is one of my top five all-time game designers. While most people know him as the creator of Cyberpunk, which thankfully finally brought him some financial success, I’m more of a fan of his other games. He was almost always a designer ahead of his time. Castle Falkenstein was published as the Steam Punk community was emerging. It has a great rules set, but never caught on as much as it could have because its audience hadn’t wandered into gaming yet. Dream Park, based on the excellent novels by Steven Barnes and Larry Niven, is an imaginative introductory multi-genre game that really captures the setting. The anime inspired Mekton, Teenagers from Outer Space, and the Dragonball Z role playing games all demonstrate how Mike knew where the gaming world would go.
But the Mike Pondsmith game that I love beyond all reason is Buck Rogers XXVc from TSR. It comes from the much maligned Lorraine Williams era, and as a Buck Rogers product is even more connected with Williams. It is also one of many examples (Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Birthright, Karameikos, Glantri, Black Box D&D, Alternity, and more) that represent the massive creative output from TSR during the Williams era. She may not have liked or understood gamers or the game industry, but her era at the company produced the best products TSR has ever published. It also bankrupted the company via mismanagement.
A part of that mismanagement was pushing a Buck Rogers role playing game instead of an update to Star Frontiers. Williams’ family owns the rights to Buck Rogers and some argue that Williams forced the company to publish Buck Rogers games in an effort at self-dealing. I don’t subscribe to that philosophy. The game came out during the a major licensed RPG boom, with games like Star Wars, Aliens, Tank Girl, Dracula, and many more being published. Licenses can be expensive and aren’t usually cost effective. Promoting a cheaper IP that you already own is a valid approach and one I am grateful was done.
Why? Because Mike Pondsmith’s world design combined Cyberpunk sensibilities with Rocket Serial style. It is wonderful and every time I watch an episode of The Expanse, I think to myself “This is just XXVc.” I know it’s not really, but if you restyled The Expanse to look like a Buster Crabbe show that’s what XXVc is. Add to that some proto-2nd edition D&D mechanics and it works.
Television Recommendation
If you’ve got Apple TV+, you should be watching Masters of the Air, the third installment of Spielberg and Hanks’ World War II historical examination. Each entry in the series offers a look at a different aspect of the War. Band of Brothers looked at D-Day and after from the perspective of Paratroopers. The Pacific examined that theatre of war from the perspective of the Marine. This latest series examines the lives of bomber pilots in the European Theater of Operations. As with the prior series, I was immediately taken in. One thing that was particularly striking was how much more fragile the the show made the lives of bomber crews look than the lives of Paratroopers. Infantry is a dangerous business, but there’s no medic for the tail-gunner. There are a number of characters I loved whose lives are quickly snuffed out in this show. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also inspiring.
Even more inspiring is reading about the lives of some of the pilots themselves, as this interview with Rosie Rosenthal shows.
One of the things I liked best about the show was that it began to touch more on the espionage aspects of the conflict. One of the characters enters into a romantic relationship with a spy and left me longing for another series that focused on the lives of the brave people who ventured into enemy territory and engaged in espionage.
Musical Recommendation
Okay, Matt’s mention of Marc Bolan got me in a T. Rex mood. As cool as their biggest hit is, I’ve selected three songs that have more of a gamer vibe to them and fit better with Matt’s earlier post on Bolan and Conan.
I’m particularly fond of Planet Queen which, like Queen’s Killer Queen, is a song that is always on my playlist.
Film Recommendation
Feel free to skip this week’s film recommendation if you want. It’s a controversial picture because it stars Kevin Spacey at the peak of his powers. Since playing the villainous boss in this film, Spacey has revealed himself to be one of the villains of the industry. Given the age, and accuracy, of the film though, I still chose to recommend it.
Swimming with the Sharks is one of the most accurate depictions of the life of a Hollywood assistant I’ve ever seen. Okay, the final ten minutes of the film enter into surreal land, but the vast majority of it rings true. So true that many believe that the lead villain is based on Joel Silver (that’s the connection from earlier).
I don’t know if that connection is accurate or not, but I do know that this depiction of a producer caring about the difference between “pink and blue” sweeteners is spot on. My wife and I have watched The Devil Wears Prada many times, and our sympathies always lie with the editor and not the assistant. Why? Because she’s a terrible assistant. Assistants are expected to have a tremendous eye for detail and this scene demonstrates the cruelty with which the best learn to focus on the smallest detail and develop skills to solve what might seem to be impossible to solve problems. Making films is a near impossible task. The number of tasks and people that must be managed and juggled for what are essentially short lived pop up businesses is mind boggling. Assistants, at every turn, are who make things get made. They are also, often, the targets of severe cruelty.
There are many great people in the industry, people who mentor and gave recognition. That’s more common than a film like Swimming with the Sharks might imply. But you should always keep in mind that there are also a lot of cruel individuals and you had better know the difference between Equal and Sweet-n-Low when you encounter them.
At some point it might be fun to do a newsletter that compares your anticipated opinion on the movies based on their reviews, and your actual reaction once you see them.
Thanks for referencing my Critical Hit Parader newsletter and providing your analysis on Marc Bolan's comments about Conan and Elric! When I first heard his quote, I wondered to what extent his exposure to Conan was through the original Robert E. Howard stories vs. the Marvel comics. And thanks for curating your choices for T. Rex songs that better reflect the gamer vibe!