A Post In the Machine.
Of course it's a riff on A Ghost In the Machine. What else would it be?
Everything We Know We Learned From Television:
There are a lot of blades/knives in Hulu’s “A Shop For Killers.” In fact, the title sequence has the sound of blade-on-blade ring out in that eerie piercing sound kind of way that to the non-plussed probably sounds like cutlery being sorted feverishly, but to the more active-minded among us sounds like, well, a thing you might hear before your ear lobe or nipple gets painfully sliced off.
Meaning, with that sound, your mileage may vary as a viewer.
It’s also present day South Korea in that series and there’s a massive amount of guns involved (which American audiences take for granted even though there’s exponentially less guns in most other countries but ours; when I’m watching any foreign show with a massive amounts of weaponry, I feel the American influence and a bit of dubiousness).
And, of course, there are lots of sharp implements of death in “Shōgun” as well.
Zing, clink, zing, head lopped off, guts out.
And in “Shōgun” there are also arrows — plus fire-tipped arrows — and it makes you wonder what’s the worst way to go?
(Speaking of “Shōgun,” what the hell was that crazy edit in Ep 3? Speak up on it if you remember. The show has had a few strange edits, but nothing like that.)
I don’t have much of a problem with knife-fight scenes — there’s a tense excitement to them. (The only time I’m pulled from my focus is when I think, “Well, you’ve got loads of guns and you’ve got knives and you’ve shot up the whole city, but now everyone is going to choose to fight with a blade? Really?).
Seems like a lot of shows and movies I’ve been watching lately have knives. This is a huge problem for my partner, who gets super freaked out about sharp skin-slicing implements. She just can’t. Part of it, she says, may stem from at least two movies with can’t-unsee-it scenes of knifings: “Ex Machina” and “Zodiac.” She can’t remember telling me — but I certainly recall the story — about another movie where a villain was running through a massage parlor and stabbing bodies like popping balloons on his way out.
Stab. Stab. Stabbedy-stab.
“We’re soft meat sacks — we’re so easily punctured, it’s disturbing,” she said. “It’s like our design flaw.” And yet she devoured “A Shop For Killers” where every 10 minutes someone’s getting the blade. Some things are unexplainable.
So, which is the worst say to go:
I watched the film “All Of Us Strangers” on Sunday night and loved the metaphysical twist on a traditional ghost/fugue-state story (adapted from the book “Strangers” by Taichi Yamada) and it reminded me again about the danger of the alluring film or television trailer.
Don’t do it; don’t watch, is always my advice. And yet I break that advice all too often. So I had seen the previews for “All Of Us Strangers.” You can argue that if a film or television series (but more likely a film, given the one-and-done nature of it) has a single premise, then that premise is not really a spoiler. It is, in fact, the whole point of the film. It’s not hidden. (I might argue that there’s a second twist in “All Of Us Strangers,” but not really — you can see it coming).
But part of my experience was completely different than someone coming in to the film knowing nothing (best possible situation); neither having read a review or seen a trailer. This someone was naturally my partner and in that first revelation — arguably the only real revelation — she got to discover something, a moving scene, as pure as it was intended. It enabled her to have that “wait, what’s going on here?” moment that I had lost ages ago when watching the trailer. Seeing it unfold in real time on her face made me convinced that, whenever possible, go in knowing nothing.
Beyond that my key takeaway was, “Holy shit, I love this soundtrack.”
Particularly:
“Johnny Come Home” by the Fine Young Cannibals.
And “Build” by the Housemartins:
Roland Gift and Paul Heaton. Oh, how I love both of those voices. (And yep, the whole soundtrack is excellent).
I was sad to hear about the passing of Janice Burgess, the Nickelodeon executive who not only helped nurture “Blue’s Clues” as an exec but then made her own series, “The Backyardigans.”
Both of those shows were big with my kids but my daughter in particular took to the joyful, multi-cultured bounce of “The Backyardigans.” It gave her great joy and I was into all kinds of kids programming and writing about it when they were growing up — precisely because I was getting them into different shows and they were discovering new ones and, well, why the hell else would you watch kids television?
(That said, I have maintained for years — and my good friend Jason Snell knows this is coming — that there’s a “visual Xanax” appeal to a show like “Maisy,” and my blood pressure and anxiety always went down watching “Little Bear.”
I would watch the hell out of them today, in fact.
Also, for reasons too varied to list, I absolutely loved “Thomas the Tank Engine” and can still be heard all these years later using my Sir Topham Hatt voice periodically around the house, particularly when I need to tell anyone that they’ve “caused confusion and delay.”
That clip is 34 seconds. There are some out there that are over four minutes. Watch at your own risk.
While “The Backyardigans” wasn’t my personal favorite kids show ever, it absolutely delighted my daughter and sometime there is no better thing in the world. So, rest in power, Janice Burgess.
Lastly, with the calendar flipping to March, I can tell you that the Great Three City Multiple Move is over, if not done (lots of unboxing to go). I haven’t yet worked on my new desk (in either Portland or the Mysterious Suburban Cul-de-Sac of Joy), but I’ll post some pictures of its awesomeness when I do.
I remain broken (and broke), from the moves, but I’m also low-key impressed that I spent February driving numerous cargo vans, renting Lugg trucks (and tipping well because of the insane amount of stairs I had in Oakland), putting out problematic fires, killing the logistics of it all, uprooting two lives, changing three (at least!) and generally stacking enough weight work and leg days together to start to revive my body, which you may recall was over-served in the Portland food and beverage scene all summer.
The point is, it’s over (mostly) and I hope to never move again (while living a long time). Not much stuff got damaged (despite long odds, a bad mover experience and relentlessly pouring rain putting my favorite couch ever in extreme peril).
I still don’t know where everything is. My workspace isn’t set up. I own way too many clothes (especially jackets), I have broken down and sliced up innumerable boxes (a box cutter is also very dangerous!); the Book Nook is only half-built, my partner and I now overlap on between five and eight streaming services, my dog Pepper is even more anxiety-riddled (thank you Trazadone — helps when your aging, mostly blind and in a new space) dog freaks out; and I AM SO FAR BEHIND ON SHOWS TO WATCH.
(At least that last part is on brand.)
But I’m happy. I know a few others who are happy (Pepper will get there) and I can finally start to focus on something other than pulling up roots and putting them down in new places.'
Already I’m thinking about more writing, and thinking more about writing.
Thanks to all the Bastard Machine subscribers for their patience in this situation and the constant Moving 2024-Palooza updates. You are all lovely saints.
I am so bad about commenting in a timely fashion. What happens is I read your posts as soon as I get the notification on my phone (I'm usually still in bed if it's at 8am) as I am always eager to read your latest musings. But because I've never mastered typing on my phone with my thumbs (it's hunt and peck with one finger for me) I don't comment right away even though I'm bursting with ideas. I have to wait until I'm on my (lame, old, slow) computer to write and sometimes it slips my mind or my computer makes it too frustrating. So here I am commenting long after the hot topic has cooled. Anyway, Just wanted to say "Johnny Come Home" has been playing in my brain for a while now, I don't think I had ever seen the video and a fine one it is. I forgot how much I liked The Fine Young Cannibals. The Backyardigans was a favorite of my granddaughters too and I have fond memories of watching that and some other lovely kids show with them when they would come to visit me at my ranch. Visual Xanax indeed! I'm glad the heavy lifting of your move(s) is over and hope you get and feel settled soon. Love to Pepper, I hope he feels at home again soon. Ok, now I'm off to find some other posts of yours that I need to comment on. LOL
What an original couch! And Pepper will definitely get there.
I saw that Shōgun is available on Disney+ here, but I don’t have it, but I will consider a few months in the future, to catch up on a few things.
I LOVED “All of us strangers”, such a heartwrenching film on solitude. I didn’t know anything about it, I was just expecting a love story of some kind. What a wonderful dreamlike experience.