Meryl Streep Makes Impassioned Speech Calling for Empathy and Vigilance at Golden Globes Ceremony (VIDEO)

January 8, 2017 ~ Metacrone

Tonight (Sunday, 1/8/17), Meryl Streep was presented with the Cecille B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards Ceremony for her decades of achievements as an actress. She chose to use the time set aside for her thank you speech to speak as a citizen of the United States and the world, imploring the artists in the room and the people watching to use the arts to fight repression of free speech and the press, and the humiliation and oppression of all types of people targeted by the alt right. She specifically brought up the 2015 incident when Donald Trump mocked chronically ill, physically disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski. Streep asked that we support the Committee to Protect Journalists,” an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. Every year, hundreds of journalists are attacked, imprisoned, or killed. For more than 30 years, CPJ has been there to defend them and fight for press freedom.” With far right conservative governments being elected in countries around the world, the repression of free speech and the free press are going to get worse before they get better.

A partial transcript of Meryl’s speech under the cut.

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Most Popular Netflix Shows by State: What’s Your State’s Favorite?

January 8, 2017January 8, 2017 ~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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The map above shows the most popular Netflix show in each of the 50 United States, according to research done by HighSpeedInternet.com. They describe their methodology this way:

Our team took the top 75 TV shows on Netflix, cross referenced the shows with Google Trends data, and determined which series was most likely to be streamed on devices near you.

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Travelers Season 1 Episode 12: Grace Recap

January 7, 2017November 28, 2018 ~ Metacrone ~ 13 Comments

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Wow, these last couple of episodes have been an intense information dump, while still being filled with plot and character development. So much to sort through. Travelers is suddenly doing my job for me, with the characters throwing out every question and variation on the conspiracy they can think of. I’ll do some analysis here, but to keep it from getting too long, I’ll save the bulk of it for my Season 1 Analysis and Speculation post.

Ellis’ hack allows travel back to the future. That’s why it was so important to get him out and do it off the books. But Grace screwed it up with her reboot. She opened a two-way door between the future and the past, then left the director open to the rebel faction. If the rebels didn’t already have access to the traveler technology, they do now. Travelers will be able to jump back to the future now, and travelers and messages won’t necessarily be sent to further the director’s Grand Plan. This could potentially change the character of the show completely next season.

The episode opens a few minutes after Marcy ends, with David and Marcy having a cup of tea. David, as hung up on the mundane details of life as ever, is fussing about his broken teapot. Marcy dropped it when the forced personality reboot started. I suppose it’s symbolic of the warm, comforting Marcy he lost, though he doesn’t know it yet. Marcy doesn’t remember the tea. David hopes she’ll recover some of her memories. According to the mythology we’ve been given so far, she shouldn’t, but McLaren did still have a few of original McLaren’s memories, ones expressing strong love. Marcy is working with a damaged brain and an experimental procedure. Anything is possible. If McLaren’s example holds true, her love for David is what she’s most likely to remember.

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Watch Extended Trailer for Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (VIDEO) [UPDATED]

January 5, 2017January 6, 2017 ~ Metacrone

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HBO has released a new trailer for the Carrie Fisher/Debbie Reynolds documentary Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which the cable channel will premiere on Saturday, January 7th at 8:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM CT.

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HBO Will ReAir Carrie Fisher’s One-Woman Show Wishful Drinking on New Year’s Day

December 29, 2016December 30, 2016 ~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

HBO Will Also Show New Documentary “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” in the First Half of 2017 [Updated]

In the wake of the tragic loss of both Carrie Fisher on December 27, and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, just one day later on December 28, HBO is changing its schedule to honor the two women. Both women were multi-talented performers with decades long careers. Their accomplishments are too long to list here, so I’ll just link to their Wiki pages and try not to start crying again. I grew up watching Debbie in Singin’ in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, then enjoyed her later turn from spunky ingenue to crotchedy maternal type as she aged. I saw Star Wars: A New Hope as a teenager in theaters during its original run. Carrie was the same age as my sister. I cheered for her success as she broke out of her Princess Leia buns to avoid type-casting and become a bestselling author as well. In a culture where so many female artists are benched by the time they are 40, these two kept going long afterwards.

After the cut, trailers for both films, and a 2011 Oprah interview with Carrie and Debbie.

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Travelers: New Sci Fi Series from Netflix: Pilot Recap/Review

December 26, 2016January 11, 2018 ~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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Fair warning: Stargate SG-1 was a big deal in our house while my kids were growing up. We watched every single one of its 214 episodes, both made-for-TV movies, and the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. I am predisposed to like anything Brad Wright does. Travelers was created by Brad Wright.

And I really do like the pilot of Travelers, even without knowing Brad Wright was involved. Pilots are tricky things. They often feel forced, since they have to cram character introductions, world building, and a plot line that hooks viewers enough to make them want more, into their 42 minute time frame. Travelers manages to avoid making the viewer feel like piles of exposition are being thrown at us all at once. The action and the characters keep moving, and we find out enough about each character and their lives by being shown their environment and the people around them, not just told. I feel like I understand the basic premise of the story, but there’s still so much I don’t know, which is where you want to be after a pilot.

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The Man in the High Castle Season 2 Episode 8 Loose Lips: Recap

December 26, 2016December 27, 2019 ~ Metacrone

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There were indeed a lot of loose lips this episode, affecting every plot line the show has going. Most importantly, Joe’s father’s agenda was finally revealed, Hitler died, and the Reichsminister was named Acting Chancellor. I knew Sebastian Roché hadn’t given up his evil ways just because he was being nice to Joe.

Joe has finally decided to stay in Germany and work with his father. The Reichsminister was picked by Hitler to be Acting Fürher if Hitler became incapacitated, even though he is “just an engineer” (ha!), and, in a classic play, he now wants Joe to leave for his own safety. This, of course, makes Joe want to stay even more. He’ll be in place as our point of view character to see what happens in the government’s inner circles now that Hitler is dead, and to lead the fight against his father once he realizes how evil his father is.

Juliana continues to grow closer to Helen and Lucy. From them she learns that Dr Adler was cremated against his wife’s wishes (3 guesses which high-ranking Nazi probably made that secret call). Lucy tells her that Hitler is in serious condition, but Helen stops the gossiping immediately. Helen runs a tight ship. Thomas is packed and ready to go on his trip when Juliana arrives at the house, but Helen quickly shoos him upstairs. She doesn’t want Juliana having enough contact with Thomas for her to figure anything out. Later, Smith tells Helen that events are moving too quickly and the trip is in jeopardy.

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The Man in the High Castle Recap Season 2 Episodes 6 & 7: Land O’ Smiles and Kintsugi

December 24, 2016December 27, 2019 ~ Metacrone

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After the slow-building tension of the past two episodes, the pace starts to pick up again with episodes 6 and 7. The characters are starting to put their plans into motion.

Joe talks with his father’s housekeeper, Frau Silva, and discovers that his father had a wife and two sons that he lost in the war. She refuses to answer any further questions after that, but otherwise continues to be ridiculously worshipful and kind of a stalker. Joe escapes her the first chance he gets and goes with Nicole to a Lebensborn overnight drug orgy in the country. While he’s stoned, he sees himself dead, and says goodbye to Juliana and his old life. When he wakes up in the morning, he tells Nicole he’s ready to go back to his father. That seems to mean he’s also ready to embrace being a Nazi, since he puts on the suit Frau Silva had left out for him the morning before, complete with Swastika armband. The Lebensborn appear to have organized themselves into some kind of Aryan superbaby cult. All it took was an orgy and a few hallucinations to convert Joe. Seems like the guy who went through that whole season 1 cross country ordeal and stood up to the great Obergruppenführer Smith multiple times might be able to hold out longer than one debauched night, but I guess he discovered it’s good to be wanted.

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A Pentatonix A Capella Christmas 2016 (VIDEO)

December 23, 2016 ~ Metacrone

The a capella group Pentatonix had a Christmas special on NBC last week, but so far I haven’t been able to find the full show posted anywhere. They also released their third Christmas album this year, which they’ve been heavily promoting. So, there are a lot of videos of them making promotional appearances singing Christmas carols, along with the official music videos from the album. That all adds up to too many to post here, but, in lieu of the special, I’m posting some of my favorites. Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year, Happy Everything!