Viral Anti-Marketing at Work: The New Star Wars Director Said Some Things. Get Mad, Nerds.

Anyone who’s still a Star Wars fan after the last 25 years of garbage product deserves this. Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is attached to direct an upcoming “Star Wars” film, making her the first woman to helm a film in the iconic franchise—but right-wing critics are blasting the movie as “woke” after Obaid-Chinoy said it’s… Read More Viral Anti-Marketing at Work: The New Star Wars Director Said Some Things. Get Mad, Nerds.

4 Jan 2024 AndrewLeave a comment

The Podcast Returns!

It was bound to. For this tenth episode, I focused in on a single topic, rather than doing a series of ten-minute segments. That’s what most podcasts tend to do. It might be more sustainable going forward. The internet is a research tool and all of that. The shift over from anchor to Spotify for… Read More The Podcast Returns!

27 Sep 2023 AndrewLeave a comment

The Original Member Berries: American Graffiti

Since abusing Georgia Lucas has become a habit of mine almost as common as abusing George R.R. Martin (what is it with Georges?), occasionally I take the time to look at his non-Star Wars filmography. This is easy, as there are only two other films he’s directed, both before Star Wars froze his auteur vision… Read More The Original Member Berries: American Graffiti

30 May 202330 May 2023 AndrewLeave a comment

The Prequel Effect Is Just Fandom Coping

TrueFansTM always find reasons to retain their devotion: I almost never comment on YouTube videos, but I did on this one, because the assertion that the Prequels merit critical rehabilitation, as a consequence of the audience having the Wrong Expectations, needs to be smashed with a hammer. When people are Fans of a thing, they… Read More The Prequel Effect Is Just Fandom Coping

29 Sep 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

George R.R. Martin Doesn’t Get Why Everyone’s Mad, and Other Statements Written by Marketing Reps

This will be the last time I write about this hack until he delivers another book. And even then, I might not bother. The ending of Game of Thrones was so bad I’m pretty well done with the whole universe. There’s no shortage of fantasy literature out there, if you’re into that sort of thing,… Read More George R.R. Martin Doesn’t Get Why Everyone’s Mad, and Other Statements Written by Marketing Reps

31 May 202231 May 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Destroy all Fandoms

I’m gonna be crystal-clear on this: being a fan is a market-induced mentality. The word is derived from “fanatic“, which is an early-Modern Latin derivative referring to religious zealotry. Late Modernity, having removed religion from the public square, substitutes devotion to entertainments as simulacra to the epics and sagas of old. That’s why they’re using… Read More Destroy all Fandoms

17 May 202217 May 2022 Andrew4 Comments

Star Wars and the Social-Sexual Hierarchy

I deserve to be whipped for writing about this, as it’s fairly reeks of 2014, but I’ve seen it pop up on Twitter, and recently. Most of the time this is discussed in typical internet gibberish, but within it is an attempt to analyze human behavior, so there’s something worth commenting on. If you’re not… Read More Star Wars and the Social-Sexual Hierarchy

8 Nov 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

The Reproducibility Trap, Or Why Everything Original and Curated Becomes Re-Heated Crap

Somewhere on I-81 in Virginia, there’s a billboard for Cracker Barrel, because of course there is. If you find yourself on the interstate and there isn’t a Cracker Barrel within 30 miles of you, then start taking pictures of the alien plants and the non-Euclidean geometry, because you’ve slipped into an alternate dimension. Anyway, this… Read More The Reproducibility Trap, Or Why Everything Original and Curated Becomes Re-Heated Crap

20 Jul 2021 Andrew2 Comments

The Three Tiers of Aesthetics

A long essay, but worth your time, which dovetails nicely with other things I’ve written on the subject. Our Cranky Professor lays out three “approaches” to aesthetics/beauty: The Psychological Approach – In which one experiences beauty as an individuated response to the appearance of a thing. A Flower is Beautiful. The Rational Approach – An… Read More The Three Tiers of Aesthetics

29 Dec 2020 Andrew1 Comment

Shallow & Pedantic 7: A Fistful of Samurai Pies

The best part of doing this podcast is the way the scrum of conversation keeps bringing up new ideas. Episode 5 gave us the General Theory of Creative Bloat (successful franchise = abandonment of editorial control), which gets mentioned again here. But this time we came up with what I call the Pie Theory of… Read More Shallow & Pedantic 7: A Fistful of Samurai Pies

30 Nov 2020 AndrewLeave a comment