https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/peter-cullen-optimus-prime-transformers-eeyore-1236683075

For some reason, I had it in my head that he was sixty-something, and instead I discover that he was 85 at the time of his passing yesterday. Optimus Prime was my first crush, and the Earthling who voiced him was by all accounts a quiet, gracious man who accepted his unlikely fame with dignity. Prayers up.

The actors actually have (or are given) more insightful things to say than the director (“Austen understands power and gender dynamics”) and the producer (“our movie is best experienced in theaters”).

Random thoughts on the new bits revealed:

-Elinor and Edward at an art exhibit. In the book, she is the one who paints, so it makes sense that she would want to attend such an event. There are also passing references in the video to Marianne’s and Willoughby’s shared love of music.

-Mrs. Jennings has a pug. Well, apparently Fiona Shaw is not optimistic about her chances of getting a shot at playing Lady Bertram! (My space regency’s already complicated genealogy thanks you.)

-people are apparently only just waking up to the fact that the scene with Marianne and Brandon in the forest is probably their first meeting, and are annoyed about it. Look, it’s cinema, the woman meeting her future love interest pretty much has to be an inflection point, and this at least has the benefit of not being a retread from other versions, and of positioning them as having a shared love of nature.

Cedar and I have known each other for a few years on Discord, but I’ve been remiss in not linking to her Eat This video series. The August video is Sweet Knot Rolls to eat with Sam Robb’s A Sense of Murder. Previous videos included a Plum Cake to eat with my own Wolf’s Trail.

Some of the problems mentioned in this post have been dealt with.

This occasion seemed to call for a wider and more colorful range of videos than I usually manage to pull together for the Fourth, so here goes:

Continue reading “Happy 250th Birthday, America!” →

This teaser for Netflix’s Pride & Prejudice came out a few months ago while I was buried in other stuff, and although I watched it at that point, I didn’t get around to post my reactions.

Continue reading “Jane Austen Teasers and Trailers, 2026” →

I’m in the process of figuring out Flux Klein 2b or whatever it’s called, plus LTX 2.3 and Shotcut while dealing with some stressful real life stuff. (Basically, volunteer treasurer trying to deal with an organization’s insurance and financial issues when everyone else involved are retirees on fixed incomes. Prayers requested on behalf of all of us.)

On this day, 55 years ago, an Aero Commander 680 Super flying from Atlanta, Georgia to Martinsville, Virginia collided with the top of Brush Mountain (near Roanoke, Virginia) due to poor visibility. The pilot and five passengers were killed. One of them was Audie Murphy, war hero and former movie star.

I feel like Sabaton’s song about Audie is not their strongest work, but there’s a shortage of good clips of him on YouTube, so we’ll go with Sabaton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBz7MX2bLcM

Here’s a couple of trailers to movies of theirs that I am partial to.

Since we’re coming up on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the USA, I feel obliged to feature this old standard, “America: Why I Love Her” from John Wayne.

For Peter Cushing, I actually have more ‘Merica friendly options than you would think likely from possibly the most English actor ever, including his cameo as the Captain of the Serapis in John Paul Jones, and his government-defying smuggler chief in Night Creatures. But given the origins of my recent released novel, Pride & Planetoids, I also feel obliged to bring you an old standard, namely the Destruction of Alderaan.