Gaiman. Not sure if I should bring it up here.
My daughter was a huge fan. the past few months of the leaks about him have dented her youthful naivete. I was a fan, but I’m old and no longer have hope that anyone I like will turn out to be awesome. They almost never are.
Gaiman issued a "statement’ today. finally. It was pathetic and I spent part of my afternoon trying to reassure my daughter that not all of us are horrible.
Never meet your heroes. And never put a person on a pedestal. They’ll always universally let you down.
Hell I can’t even make myself proud, why should I put that on anyone else?
It’s actually made me some enemies, when I point out “good guys” like Tom Hanks and Keanu Reeves likely have some pretty horrible skeletons in their closet. You don’t get successful in Hollywood without at least looking the other way to some heinous stuff. You don’t win Oscars without being willing to partake.
Jimmy Carter has some fairly harsh criticism of his own behaviors. Fred Rogers had detractors (Though for him its more a case of “Know the measure of a man by the quality of his enemies” sort of detractors). Bob Ross managed to sign away his legacy in his own lifetime to the point his own family can’t use the Ross name in business ventures.
People suck. Companies suck. This whole blasted system we’ve built up sucks. Some bumpkin in ancient Mesopotamia wanted to brew some beer and now I have to have a credit score and watch the world quite literally burn so a make believe, imaginary line continues to go up and generate “value”.
But that bumpkin got his beer, and now I’m sitting on the Army Painter website looking at a preorder for a two part collection of paints of just slightly varying shades of what I already own and seriously considering preordering them simply because it has a legendary fantasy/sci-fi artist’s name attached to it.
A few weeks back, I heard NG had done something inappropriate. I actually read the story today. In graphic detail. His books went right in the trash. He can have a seat next to Whedon and Weinstein.
I also saw accusations that he stole material from Tanith Lee 
I hear they have separated him from Good Omens entirely.
Welp.
Rowling, Lovecraft and the rest of the ‘actually a horrendous amalgamation of 
and bad ideas’ authors and creators have got a new friend on the bench, it seems.
Hopefully it’ll end up just like Rowling and Lovecraft’s stuff and be co-opted by the fans and taken well away from from his grubby little mitts. I imagine, for a man with that kind of ego, being sidelined and pushed into the shadows will burn more than any lingering echoes of shame or conscience if all the claims about his assaults are proven true.
We are all innocent until proven guilty, but his replies are … they do not fill me with confidence on his innocence. The question is, is he playing coy on this because he doesn’t want to be caught, or is he dodging the Barbra Streisand effect and focusing us on this rather than whatever other skeletons are scratching at the closet doors?
Well, there goes another one. Liked his work, but I like Pratchett better. No one has ever come out with anything about Pratchett, right? Please, let me have at least one decent one.
I didn’t know about the Gaiman thing. That level of arrogance hits me rather close to home. I was “involved” with someone like that for awhile, back in the last century, and I paid a price for it, may he rot in one of the inner rings of hades for all eternity.
Anyway, I’m guessing the Gaiman would score pretty high on an “I’m a narcissist?” quiz. There’s a whole behavor set that goes with that, and often you might not know that’s what you are dealing with until you are in the midst of an awful/bad situation. Doesn’t make anyone less of a villian and certainly does not mitigate the damage they cause. Not being self aware is not a defense. Because, if you leave a trail of victims, at some point some dim light bulb goes on and you start to wonder “why is all this happening to me?” I think if you are famous, you might be able to lean into that with “oh, it’s not me - they just want their 15 minutes of fame and/or my money” and not demonstrate any level of self reflection.
I seem to vaguely recall some rumblings, but that was back when the man was on decline and he’s dead now so it doesn’t really matter. All I will say is without looking into it, Pratchett probably had his own issues as we all do. Don’t let it sully the enjoyment of the worlds he created any more than Gaiman’s behaviors sully those worlds.
If you’ve already spent money for the works, you can’t unspend that money and if you enjoy something then just enjoy it. The 21st Century is Dark and Full of Terrors. Find the comforts that you can where you can and when you can, because there is no light on the horizon for any of us. It will come, I’m certain of it, but as of this moment we are well and truly deep into the long night.
So enjoy what you will when you can without apologies.
This is how I try to live my life! Bon vivant!
So long as all parties are capable of consent and enjoyment without cocersion, shine on you crazy diamond.
I rarely have to break out the red flag anymore. Most them survy curs just know better when they see my sails on the horizon!
*Cutlass flourish! *
Due to unmentionable personal circumstances, not going to read the accusations or NG’s craptastic denial. This is also a reminder not to idealize famous people, authors of beloved works especially.
Anyway, had the most lovely Monday. Woke up unexpectedly at 2 AM and hugged a toilet for a good bit. The mild cold I was shrugging off for days decided to evolve into an ear infection and severe vertigo. All this was a wonderful reminder to actually take it easy when you’re sick because sometimes, powering through it makes it level up into something nastier.
Anyway, fell asleep Monday night and woke up this afternoon. I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle.
…I’m um… uncomfortable…
…that I am actually tempted to watch this.
Netflix Daredevil and Punisher seriess were beast.
That looks really interesting but I just can’t do any more Marvel stuff. On the off-chance this show does manage to reconcile the gritty thriller vibe with Marvel’s magic robot stuff, it’s just all part of the same slop machine.
Happy the Netflix era of Marvel is getting folded into the greater MCU, but really all it does is make it even more unwieldy to newcomers or even those of us who got off years ago.
Deadpool and Wolverine was a fun love letter to the FOX Marvel movies, but the greater plot involving the multiverse was just so much noise to me (who stopped following Marvel properties post-Endgame).
Oh man… like I try and say that I am done, but it’s not true. I will probably never be done. But I have become WAY WAAAY more selective in what media I consume. Movies, videogames, streaming. When back in the day I just threw money at Marvel and DC and Star Wars and Star Trek and LoTR… now it’s like… I see something that might look good but I have to wait and investigate… research… listen to reviews… and then decide if it’s really worth it. I am cautiously optimistic about the new Superman movie. I have zero hope for Captain Falcon and not much for Fantastic 4… It’s really exhausting being a current fan of the things I use to love dearly.
Jason David Frank, the best power ranger, is the celebrity I can say will never let me down. God bless his soul.
I’m the same haha. It was different I think back in the late 2000s and 2010s because this was all brand new. I’m not nearly as hyped for all Marvel projects as I used to be but I love-love the MCU.
Daredevil coming back is something I’m HYPED for. All the detractors who used to say the Netflix and Hulu shows were not canon- man I wish I could go back to those threads and just post this from the future. IN YO FACE SUCKAASSSSSS
If they are bringing back former Netflix series to modern MCU and doing them justice as it appears to be via that trailer (huge huuuuge grain of salt but maybe just maybe). I need a new season/continuation of Luke Cage. I absolutely loved that show, particularly season 2. I hated that it was canned with Luke essentially becoming a crime lord and no idea of where he went from there.
There are some movies/shows I’m excited about, and others I’m less so. But I try to watch all of them. I watched Madame Web the other day. And I’ve seen Morbius and The Acolyte. None of them were anything I was particularly eager for after hearing reviews. They were adequate.
I did end up liking Wicked a lot more than I expected. Same with Skeleton Crew. I really enjoyed Only Murders and Interior: Chinatown. Upcoming, I’m probably more excited by the last movie in The Conjuring series and the next Knives Out than I am for Avatar 3 or Jurassic World Rebirth.
I am really really sorry.
Hahahahaha I was really bored those nights.
TBH I liked some of the actors in The Acolyte. Just not the characters.
I feel strongly that you should all be watching more Ken Burns.