As I’ve been “flying” and re-learning old skills in a new sim, I’ve also learned that aerial refueling is tougher than simpler sims make it out to be. Please enjoy a video I captured, that also happens to show off the Flying Pirate Ships skin I’ve been toying around with.
We’ve added a new title to our stories section.
In addition to being IT professionals, comic artists, and writers, we’re also gamers. (In addition to being those three types of nerds, we’re also a fourth kind of nerd.) In particular, we’ve been long time flight simulator pilots.
During the social distancing, I’ve rediscovered my love of this hobby with a new sim. In an effort to justify the deduction on our corporate taxes, I’ve started writing a new series of micro-stories, There I Was… Pretending to Be…, about some of my harrowing and some less-glamorous sim-adventures.
The news of the day aside, we were happy to see Tidewater Comicon feature us in their exhibitor highlight this week. While that show has been postponed for one year, rest assured that we intend to use our table when it returns in 2021.
The main purpose of this post is to let you know we are still alive and continuing to suck at social media.
For those fans who are readers, an eBook distributor we know is having a sale lasting through most of this month (that link will probably break on 21 April 2020).
If you were hoping for an inspiring of thought provoking essay on the subject, just pretend we said something profound here.
If you were looking for juvenile antics to distract you, please enjoy the comics and stories we have up.
Seemingly stuck in limited release, we’ve been trying to find this one in a moderately convenient theater. As it turns out, Jojo Rabbit was not quite the movie we expected, but it was worth the wait and worth seeing in the theater. The critic taglines about the film all remark on its humor and brilliance as a satire. It earns these accolades, but it also deals somewhat seriously with the darker subjects of Germany’s last days in the Second World War.
Jojo Rabbit is not a spoof or parody – it is a satire. The film is a look at the war in Germany through the eyes of a 10 year old boy, a wannabe fanatical member of the Hitlerjugen whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler (played by the director Taika Waititi).
The casting is excellent. Eleven-year-old Roman Griffin Davis as the titular character did a fantastic job in a brilliant script. Scarlett Johanson as his mother and Sam Rockwell as his disgraced “scout” leader are both strong and portray a hidden plot of anti-Nazi sentiment that is subtly implied yet critical to the story. Rebel Wilson is hilarious in her disturbing role as the girl “scouts” leader. Thomasin McKenzie rounds out the cast as the Jewish girl Jojo’s mother is hiding, and she delivers a believable – if comedy-leaned – performance.
The subject matter has raised some controversy. I had some history with this when I worked on the editorial staff of a book that received similar ire – for similar reasons. As usual the angriest are people who haven’t deigned to view the actual content. “How can you make fun of Hitler?” Jojo Rabbit answers: “How can you not?”
Locked into Jojo’s point of view, our understanding of the events expands as he gains a better understanding of the world – the real world – around him. Jojo’s fanaticism would be frightening in an adult, but Jojo is a child who just wants to be part of the club. Even his imaginary friend takes on proportions and mannerisms that are more like how a 10 year old would imagine his supreme leader rather than being historically accurate. Hitler was famously a religious, non-smoking, vegetarian teetotaler. Jojo’s friend routinely offers him cigarettes to calm down and holds personal banquets where he dines on Unicorn. (Jojo never partakes of the cigarettes. Eventually getting annoyed at the offering, he screams, “Stop offering me cigarettes. I’m ten!”)
The dialog is terrific; the film is packed with lines that had us chuckling later. The heavier moments, though, are delivered in near silence, letting the visuals do the talking, and it bears mentioning that the screen work is at the same level as the other aspects – excellent. Being PG-13 it has the traditional single F-Bomb, which it uses in probably the most appropriate way ever.
I cannot say enough about this masterful piece of cinema. At the same time I need only say that you should see it. Jojo Rabbit deserves to be enjoyed in the theater.
tschüß.
Jexi is a lonely guy expands his life romantic comedy. It’s not terribly groundbreaking in terms of story or devices, but what it lacks in innovation it makes up for in being genuinely funny. I found myself laughing from start to finish.
The titular character is an “intelligent assistant” software installed on some unnamed brand of smartphone. Voiced by Rose Byrne, she promises to make Phil’s (Adam Devine) life better. Brash and foul mouthed – Jexi is rated R for language – she berates him into asking out the girl from the bike shop (Alexandra Shipp). Things go awry because Jexi’s 200,000 software anomalies cause her to develop emotions for Phil.
It would be easy to discuss this film as a cautionary tale about over indulgence in social media, lack of privacy, and reliance on “smart” devices. While there is a sort of “look what can happen to you” implication, the film is really just having a good time with the material and striking chords at the heart of the human condition enmired by the Internet Of Things.
As a character, Phil is the essence of this condition. Despite having a degree in journalism, his job is to write lists for a click-bait encouraging news site. His boss (played by the ever brilliant Michael Pena) demands that one of their lists goes viral every day. Naturally, Phil is completely tethered to his phone. He can’t even navigate his way to his home or office without Google maps.
Adam Devine is an excellent brunt for the film’s jokes and pratfall-esque humor. Jexi’s absence of filter – and Phil’s acceptance of user agreement without reading it – gives her free reign to play havoc with Phil and consumer technology humor.
Jexi is a fun film that lives up to the trailer, which didn’t give away all the jokes.
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