Month: July 2023

The Conflated, Convoluted Politics Of The Latest Mission:Impossible Movie

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m at a loss to describe the political goals of the “Entity” that is the bad guy in the latest Mission:Impossible movie. And I think that’s the point. The point is for the movie to be so convoluted and conflated in its political good and evil that both sides think the other side is the bad guy.

They talk about “patriots” in what is essentially the deep state of the government. So…are they talking about the Entity wanting to purge MAGA people from the government or are they talking about the Entity purging the “deep state” from the government?

It’s all very unclear.

It really could mean either one. Which, like I said, is the point.

They want everything to be so convoluted that neither side has any reason to hate the aims of the movie one way or another. It’s very noticable if you’ve paid any attention to politics in the last, I don’t know, decade.

Anyway. It’s a good movie.

Is Trump About To Be Charged Under the Insurrection Act or Nah?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, ding-dong “truthed” this today.

And, yet, a little while later, he deleted it and replaced it with a new version that mentioned the Espionage Act instead of the Insurrection Act. So, which is it? Is he admitting to something new or just ranting about the usual old shit?

It’s all very curious.

I will note that we’ve entered the period of the year where Big Things happen. Between now and Labor Day, HUGE EVENTS are probably going to happen because, lulz, all the Elites are on vacation.

Anyway. It’s all something of a mystery at the moment.

Another Person Was Interested In ROKon Magazine….

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

In real terms, ROKon Magazine is so obscure at this point that it’s very surreal that ANYONE would be interested in it AT ALL. It was never anything more than a club run like a cult that came out with a zine once a month for a few months. (At least my version.)

Are you talking about me again, Jennifer 8. Lee?

The issue is, of course, the story surrounding that particular situation is so fucking surreal and bonkers that I’m using it as some of the inspiration for a six novel mystery-thriller project that is meant to be an old brown shoe for people who liked the original Millennium series by Stieg Larsson.

Anyway, I noticed in my Webstats that someone searched for ROKon Magazine. Now, of course, it’s possible they were looking for the magazine for Rokon dirt bikes. And, if that’s the case, so be it.

But, just the idea that someone, anyone MIGHT be interested in ROKon Magazine after all these years is enough to both fill me with curiosity and to spook me a little bit.

The only thing I can think of is maybe there is a minor amount of chatter being generated by people who are reading the public beta of the novel? Maybe? I have no idea.

I May Have a Plot For The Second Novel In My Planned Six Novel Project

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Watching the latest Mission: Impossible movie really gave me a lot of ideas for the plot of the sequel to the current novel I’m working on. My age is really, really beginning to weigh on me and I know I have a limited amount of time to put up or shut up.

Anyway, the second novel is about an abducted baby. There are three different groups who want the baby and at the center of it all are two people who were once allies –I think. That might change.

There is A LOT I don’t know about the specifics of the novel’s plot, but I definitely have a much better hang on things than I did. But, I’m going to have to figure out a way to get a manuscript consultant to take me seriously enough on this matter that they will even let me pay them money to talk to them in the first place.

I’ve found that manuscript consultants, while very useful, can also be quite snooty — at least in regards to me. They look down at me, think I’m some sort of drunk crank not even worthy of their time…even if I pay them for it! It’s all very frustrating.

But, we’ll see. I haven’t finished the first novel yet. But I am looking forward to seeing if I can pull of the second novel sooner rather than later.

Scott Galloway Is Kind Of A Dick

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I “get” Scott Galloway’s shtick. He is the center-Left’s version of the center-Right’s Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. There is an audience for a guy like him who has the same earnest, intense masculinity of a Rogan or Peterson, but, who, unlikely them, plays by the rules of the “woke cancel culture mob.”

But, sometimes, especially in the context of the writers’ strike going on in Hollywood at the moment, he can come across as something of a dick. His argument is not only is AI coming for writers, but shut up and be grateful for what you have (or something along those lines.)

In the last podcast he had with Kara Swisher, he really went in for the kill when it came to Hollywood writers, going on a very lengthy rant about why they shouldn’t go on strike to protect, on an existential basis, the very nature of human involvement in recorded media.

But, in general, I will admit that Galloway is pretty good at predictions and he is tolerable to my center-Left sensibilities. Which, of course, is probably part of the point.

What is so amusing is he comes from Central Casting when it comes to “center-Left masculinity guru” — he totally fits the part. If you were to imagine what someone with his current “center-Left masculinity thought leader professional” would look like….it would be him.

He’s successful, wealthy, handsome (tall) and cracks dick jokes that make white liberal women titter. Anyway, what do I know. He’s a success and people like him and I can’t even get anyone to read the public beta of my novel all the way through.

Mulling Querying: The Curious Case of The ‘Comp’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing I’ve learned from Tik-Tok is I, personally, will never get published — that is, at least what the Tik-Tok people who talk about getting published tell me. I don’t know anything about how to actually go through the querying process and everyone in the publishing industry who has seems angry and bitter at the world.

But I still have hope and, since I don’t plan on self-publishing (at least the moment) I’m going to have to learn how to pull it off.

And one issue I’ve learned about when it comes to querying is rather a “duh” kind of situation — you need to know what to compare or “comp” your novel to when you write your query letter. There is a problem, of course, and that problem is I haven’t read the type of novel I’ve been working on in, oh, 15 years. So, I have to buckle down and find out what are some modern novels that are similar to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that I can “comp” my novel to them.

My novel is definitely not a direct 1-to-1 with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but that was, at least, the novel that inspired me to write a novel in the first place. (ACTUALLY, it was that novel’s sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire that is my “textbook,” but, lulz.)

Anyway, the point is — I have a lot of reading to do. I need to buckle down and go outside my comfort zone by reading other people’s writing instead of just re-reading my own stuff over and over and over again as I edit. I have begun to think that I probably have about a year left in the writing and post-production process before I begin to query seriously.

And, in a sense, it will be poetic if I start to query in the fall of 2024, just as the USA decides if it’s an autocracy or if it wants to blow itself up.

Of Olivia Munn & A Picture Not Being 1,000 Woke Words

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, here is a picture that has apparently “triggered” the more “woke” amongst us:

The reason is — there aren’t enough non-white people in the picture. And, yet, Olivia Munn is there, hamming things up in a very conspicuous manner and she ain’t white.

So, I suppose the issue is — either Olivia Munn isn’t close enough to the camera to suit the “woke” people who are complaining, or these “woke” people are upset there aren’t any black people in the picture and an Amerasian person doesn’t count towards the “white liberals have to have x number of non-white friends at their dinner party not to be hypocrites” metric?

To me, the issue is not the whole suck-your-own-cock woke nature of things, but how fucking wealthy everyone in this picture is! Everyone in the picture above has GOT to be at LEAST a multi-millionaire and they live in their bubble of liberal whiteness with pretty much total disregard for us Poors.

What’s more, this picture from Kristen Bell also gives us validation of our most basic assumptions about celebrity — they really do all know each other and that’s why nepobabies control everything.

While I general believe the whole idea of “woke” is everything and nothing relative to the need of an ambitious Republican lawmaker trying to scare up votes, it’s shit like people attacking the Bell picture that really does annoy me. Should they have strategically put Munn closer to the camera to put at least one non-white person closer to the frame?

I dunno. I guess I’m not woke enough.

The Online Political State of Play For the Hollywood Strikes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There seem to be three major lines of attack against the two Hollywood unions that are striking by Reply Guys on Twitter.

Your Stuff Sucks Anyway
This is the “anti-woke” argument against the strikes. In essence, the argument goes that Hollywood is a bunch of woke hacks who haven’t entertained MAGA audiences for years, anyway and fuck you, lib. In fact, I’ve seen at least one fucking cocksucker MAGA person say they look forward to the day that Trump can buy up all the bankrupt Hollywood studios.

You’re Overpaid
This argument is very corrosive because it pits the vast majority of actors and writers who aren’t making much money versus the high rollers. People who make this argument don’t understand that the unions set the MINIMUMS for the profession.

You Can’t Stop AI
The last argument is, lulz, AI is coming for Hollywood anyway, just give up. I don’t quite know what to say about this one because in a way it’s right and, yet, I do believe that the looming transformation of Hollywood by AI can be mitigated and / or managed in various ways if the unions know what to demand. But make no mistake — no matter what, Hollywood is about to be “Moneyballed” in a way that it hasn’t felt since the advent of the talkies.

Video: A Long Rant About The Absence Of Spicy Content In Hollywood Movies

Enjoy

The Latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movie Is Great — But Comically Sexless

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really enjoyed Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, but it was hilarious how sexless it was. There was just no sex — at all — in the movie. There were a few coy crotch shots of Hayley Atwell (fully clothed) as she struggled to get from one part of a train to another.

ALSO there was a point the movie where there SHOULD have been a sex scene….and…nothing. We went from canoodling to just a scene of people gyrating around at a party. It’s very strange. I mean, you have Rachel Ferguson who has a simmering sexuality that gives you the sense that she’s always down to fuck — in real life! — and….nothing.

I have to note how sexxy Ms. Ferguson is. The woman has no game face and she always seems just about to ask if you want to sleep with her. She’s gorgeous and deserves some sort of Body Heat-type erotic thriller to be in. But in this Mission: Impossible movie…nothing. Totally sexless. No T and no A in regards to Ms. Ferguson.

Ugh. What is wrong with us?

I suppose that it’s at least possible that once it becomes a lot more difficult to for young people to see porn online that maybe, just maybe we might see more sex in Hollywood movies. But, of course, there is a very narrow window of opportunity — AI generated movies will soon enough make the very notion of human-generated recorded media rather quaint and moot.

But I do like the latest Mission: Impossible movie. It’s really good, despite the lack of sex. The third act is very entertaining.