A Fantastic Weekend and Other Monday Musings

Miles Teller as Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Kate Mara as Sue Storm(The Invisible Woman)(, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm (The Thing).

I wasn't supposed to like this movie.  Not according to the critics, or even audience scores.  Coverage in Entertainment Weekly and other media sources emphasized the strife between the director and the producers, conflicts with the actors, budget problems, etc.

My expectations were extremely low, but I was going to see it anyway.  I have read hundreds of Fantastic Four comic books, starting from 1963 on to a new issue just a few months ago.  Reviews be damned,  No one was going to stop me from seeing it.

Thank goodness for low expectations.

It made it very easy for the movie to exceed those expectations.  The movie was fairly good.  It was not in the same league as the Marvel/Disney movies, but it was still enjoyable.  I didn't mind the slow buildup, and I found it's reinterpretation plausible, and it fit the concept of the characters as I understood them.  It wasn't until the end of the movie that the character interactions were coming into full bloom, to be enjoyed more in a sequel that will now never come.

But do not despair.  The Fantastic Four will one day emerge again, with yet another retelling, when it is brought into the Marvel/Disney Movieverse.  Marvel/Disney has been playing hardball, ending the Fantastic Four comic book, and removing toy and merchandise tie-ins.  Sooner or later, they'll reacquire the rights (or share them, like they are now with Spider-Man, which is getting to reboot a third time).

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I did some  initial editing to Crowley Stories, and this week I hope to get two hard copies, for both myself and Alison's mom, Rose, to do some heavier editing.  This one may involve more than grammar.  I may have some plot restructuring to do, and some characters to eliminate and others to flesh out.

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The Diary of Anne Frank promises to be a great production.  The cast looks very strong to me, potentially the strongest cast I've been associated with.  I was reviewing the script this weekend, and even the act of highlighting my lines left me weeping by the end.  It's going to take every bit of acting ability I have to control my emotions, to go to that edge without going over it.

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You'll all be glad to know that I have re-introduced orange juice again to my diet.  Maybe that will help stabilize my mood and energy a little bit.  I will still be doing the DASH diet, but not at the extreme two week phase I was in.  I will continue to monitor my blood pressure in hopes that it will improve.  I am thinking about getting a second blood pressure machine to see if there is any difference between my blood pressure at home compared to at work.

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In politics, it is hard to see beyond the inexplicable rise of Donald Trump among the Republican primary electorate.  I see one person post that Trump must have something because all the mass media hate him.  HA!  They don't hate him, they love him!  They love him because he spikes their ratings.  It doesn't matter what they say about him.  What matters is that they won't stop talking about him.

I'm trying not to talk about him so much, but it's hard when you're so stunned at his impossible popularity and you stand in open mouthed awe at the gullibility and ignorance of so many people.  Is this really it?  Has money and fake celebrity really come to rule the United States?  Will our motto become - "a chicken in every pot, a Kardashian in every Cabinet?"

Until next time,

T. M. Strait