Only Rants

Instead of restarting this blog, which has long focused on finance related topics, I briefly considered starting a new blog and calling it "Only Rants". The title was catchy, though admittedly stolen from my nephew Rand, who at one time considered calling his college football blog "Only Rands". It also implied articles that were grouchy with a twinge of inappropriate, which *points to self* seemed to be on brand. But I finally decided against it for several reasons. Although I will no doubt include occasional spirited content, I want to focus on constructive analysis and ideas more than complaints. I  also worried about the side traffic and judgement that name might attract and I'm not dealing with that. 

However, it's Sunday afternoon and I can't resist a post of random rants. Serious, thoughtful, mind-stretching topics are for weekdays. 

Quick Hint Rants

So boring I'm waiting for your scenes to be over  

Typically this is a combination of the part or scene being badly written, the character under developed, and the actor not finding a way to overcome the deficits with more nuanced acting. 

• Zendaya in Dune Part II - The character isn't interesting, which is entirely the fault of the writers. Zendaya is not particularly convincing that she feels anything other than annoyance, and perhaps jealousy, towards Paul. The pouting and stomping off towards the end comes across as childish, which I hate, because if she's supposed to be strong and powerful, make her exit powerful and principled, not kind of pathetic. 

• Francesca in Bridgerton, Season 3 - I know the point of her love story is that it's not all fireworks and lust (at least not for her husband, haha), but the character and the actor are so flat that it's impossible to care what happens. So far these were the only scenes in three seasons that I fast forwarded through so I wouldn't have to watch her smile wanly. 

Badly miscast and it's still bugging me

• Peeta in Hunger Games and Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher - Just, no. In the books Peeta is big, strong and physically intimidating. Jack Reacher is a former military, Rambo type with the size and build of my ex-husband (6'6", long ape arms, makes anyone think twice about messing with him). As actors both of them are fine, but the characters size and physicality is an integral part of the stories. Josh Hutcherson is 5' 5" and looks like Jennifer Lawrence could beat him in a bar fight. I still enjoy the movies and he does a fine job, but it nags at me that I can't get past his description in the book, which is absolutely a limitation of mine. Tom Cruise casting himself as Jack Reacher was pure hubris and thank god they've redone the series with an actor who is actually believable in the part. 

• Dana Delaney in Tombstone - Tombstone is one of my favorite movies. It has the holy grail of male actors: Val Kilmer (he should have won the Oscar for this performance), Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton in the leads. Michael Biehn, who I worship from his turns as Reese in Terminator and Hicks in Aliens, also plays Johnny Ringo. I suspect some of Ringo's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, because despite a strong performance, the character doesn't feel as fully developed as some of the others. Wyatt's wife, Mattie, has a small, underwritten part (women in a western, duh) but Dana Wheeler still manages a scene stealing performance. I can't put my finger on what bothers me about Dana Delaney's portrayal, but she looks and feels out of sync with the rest of the cast. It's almost as if her performance is modern and everyone else is sticking to old west period acting. It doesn't ruin the movie by a long shot, but it's an out of tune note in an otherwise wonderfully harmonious ensemble. 

No one has a photographic memory

Good Will Hunting was total nonsense. So was Suits. All of the (invariably male) Hollywood written genius characters, astonishing people with near instant recall, reciting limitless passages verbatim because they "have a photographic memory" for ostensibly the library in their heads. It's bunk. 

Scientists have studied and tested this for decades. People who claim to have photographic memories are invariably incorrect or lying. Those closest to having photographic memories tend to recall events or visual information with exceptional detail accurately, not written information. 

Of course there are people with exceptional memories (of whom I am deeply jealous); and many more who build, flex and improve their storage and recall of information with practice. The sheer amount of information that you have to memorize and retain to make it through medical school convinced me I could never be a doctor. Well, that and I can't stand being around sick* people. "Be a pathologist!" *or dead people.