I watched both parts last night. I found it enjoyable and interesting. No real bombshells or new knowledge, but it was slickly presented and nicely tied up many of the strands of this whole mess. It did seem about 30 minutes too long though – or maybe it’s just because I watched parts 1 and 2 back to back.
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I agree 100%.
I am curious what the date is in the show relative to now and how much the characters know of our time. Clearly some of our myths have persisted enough to carry over into their time. But I get a feeling that the story is far enough in the future that the current modern world is lost. I think they might be more primitive than we are now, with the exception of the alien technologies. Basically biblical times with androids and space ships.
Interesting thoughts on if some people cannot see or hear the Entity. My gut feeling is that it is just selective in it’s chess like manipulations of useful humans. I am curious as to how people in general ended up on one or the other side of the war. They have given very little details about how the two differ.
The Entities main method of getting things to happen in meat space depends a lot on promising things to humans and then chucking them aside when they are no longer useful. I wonder if the Entity talking through sim Cambian to Mother about being lonely is actually truthful or if it is more empty promises. I could see the entity taking the child or inhabiting it and then chucking Mother aside just like everyone else.
I loom forward to more historical revelations.
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We finished a binge-watching of Parks and Recreation last night before the show leaves Netflix this week.
Goofy as the characters and events are, watching stories about people who find an unabashed sense of pride and purpose in Public Service was a nice palate cleanser after the horrifying Presidential debate.
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I never saw the 1st one.
Worth my trouble?
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I noticed there was a new episode (10) at 2 AM last night. I couldn’t wait. Some cool revelations. Still so much more to discover next season.
Episode 10 spoilers:
So it seems the vision mother saw of the ceremony was a birthing and the mother in the vision was restrained for the now obvious reasons.
Note to self: Re-watch Lair of the white worm.
(NSFW: a couple brief nipple flashes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R8lPYej_lk
So the tunnels allow one to travel through the planet. Unclear to me how the ship would survive the collision with the surface of the liquid core. Was the baby required to make this transit? Unclear how the native inhabitants would have made this same journey.
The humanoids on the planet are neanderthals? Curious how they made the jump to Kepler 40k+ years ago.
So it seems that Marcus swallowed the eye of Mother giving him enhanced vision. I wonder if there are any old myths with humans swallowing the eyes of a god? It’s good Mother doesn’t have a remote view through that eye. I wonder if she will physically retrieve the eye from him? Humans are so squishy.
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It’s pretty over-the-top and offensive in about a thousand ways but the primary target of the satire is American xenophobia, privilege and celebrity-worship so it’s not just shock for shock value. Cohen’s greatest talent lies in using his characters to make real-life people expose their idiocy and prejudices in hilarious ways.
Just be duly warned that Cohen uses very unfunny subjects like sexual assault and antisemitism as the basis of jokes (for example, at the beginning of the film he introduces viewers to one figure in his fictional hometown as “the Village rapist” and his community also an annual tradition called “the running of the Jew”) so it’s not for everyone.
I haven’t seen the film since shortly after first came out so It would be interesting to see how well or poorly it’s held up in the intervening 14 years.
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Thanks- probably a pass for me.
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Whoa. Great cast and story - Blow the Man Down on Amazon:
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Not out yet, but…
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Not really.
I found a lot of the humor in the original film to be exceedingly mean spirited. Part of the fun of Cohen’s characters is how he’s able to cause people - often famous or powerful ones - to let their guard down and say terrible things. (Often by saying over the top offensive things himself and letting the other person fall into the trap of agreeing or even doubling down.)
A hypothetical example could be something like:
Borat: “We have a big problem with Jews in my country and we like to throw them in jail.”
Racist Guy: “Well, we can’t do that here… but I wish we could!”
Many of the regular people in the film that were bamboozled didn’t deserve the treatment that they got.
If you can watch Da Ali G show you’ll get more than your fill of Borat (and Brüno). Or Who is America? on Showtime for a new slate of alter egos.
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Thanks - it all sounds like a pass for me.
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I watched that today, thought it was wonderful.
Only took me four years but…
Highly recommend this. I could only wish that most films were able to tackle such a difficult subject matter with such aplomb in just 65 minutes.
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Anyone watched Norsemen? Great historical fun! Disappointed that they killed of Froya at the end.
Not nearly enough animated gifs of Froya online…
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Better or worse than Vikings? That show really went downhill in later seasons.
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I’ve never seen Vikings, but Norsemen is a comedy… It weirdly tries to get a lot of the historical details right, but then it does the whole modern human dimension. Like, it has the Landisfarm raid, the costumes seem relatively on point (they even mocked the stuff with the horned helmets, which was not common armor for vikings), the structure of norse society is pretty good, how people lived on a day to day basis, that not everyone in Norway was a viking, etc. But also like modern sentiments, such as when the Chieftain’s brother doesn’t want to go raiding (he likes to crochet) - it’s a very teen-like reaction:
Which he’s supposed to be like 18, so…
Also, there are a fair amount of rape jokes in the context of talking about raiding, so that might turn some people off.
Also, wasn’t there another show about the Norse during the Viking age? The Kingdom maybe?
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You’re probably thinking of The Last Kingdom. A bit different focus overall, more about the English of the time than the “Danes”. I liked it, though. It’s still ongoing, they have umpteen books to work from.
Norsemen looks good, trying it after I finish Strangers.
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The Last Kingdom
Haven’t seen it, and I can only recommend Vikings when it followed the travels of Ragnar Lodbrok.
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Yeah, there’s some crossover historically. Some of the descendants of Ragnar are mentioned (and appear?) in The Last Kingdom. The Last Kingdom is much later though, so the wildness is sort of sucked out of the narrative.
It comes across as a wink at those naughty Danes, a noble savage type thing, amongst the hypocrisy and corruption of early English royalty. The focus is mainly on the story of a united England, though.
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