David Avallone

It's an aside, but... during the writer's strike I noticed that every single person online who said "HAHAHAHA AI is going to replace you all and you're going to die hungry"... had an avatar/profile pic of a character from IP. And there was zero self-awareness about that.

I propose to move immediately upon your works.

It’s… uncharitable… but whenever someone defends piracy and/or bemoans copyright all I think is “way to confess you’re very sure you’ll never have anything to offer the world.”

They were a messy pair.

TL:Dr. Hot wife who never wanted to sleep with him. Both of them were obsessed with… Oscar Wilde. (Who might be part of the inspiration for Dracula.) Bram mostly slept with prostitutes. Died of syphilis. Might have been in the closet.

Knowing all that adds some subtext to Dracula.

As an aside, this is why I have never liked a lot of vampire stories; that is the subtext of a LOT of them. “Chicks only dig the bad guys.” And researching Bram Stoker, seems like he may have struggled with that — among a lot of other things.

I must have missed that entirely, because I only know the one definition.

(Of course, it was a comic book not a movie…)

We actually kinda did a pastiche of her memoir, where Cassandra’s life is presented as though she’d been Elvira her whole life. It was a Kickstarter-only project called THE DEATH OF ELVIRA. You should be able to find a copy out there somewhere…

It was just so transparent and out of nowhere.

There are some workarounds, at least for Google.

I found a plugin for Chrome that kills AI results (I’m sorry I don’t remember where I got it but — ironically — you can probably google that.)

Then there’s the thing where you put “fuck” in your search and it turns off the AI results. No idea why.

Non-Sexual?

That’s not what my lizard brain is telling me.

bsky.app/profile/dava...

This is a great article and related not-too-tangentially to what I posted the other day about “your favorite writers are all struggling to get by.”

After you’re done reading, you could also consider taking a look at my Patreon…

Yesterday I saw someone on the losing side of an argument go right to “so we can only conclude that you beat your wife.” They were serious.

Many blocklists could be retitled “I Lost An Argument With This Person So Therefore They Are A Transphobe and Personally Responsible For Gaza Genocide.”

I know it’s a hard market out there for good critics and cultural reporters and it just makes me mad when something so badly written makes print.

The star of the movie can’t “steal scenes.” The scenes are ABOUT him. He is the subject of them. Little was a great and charming movie star.

It’s like saying Cary Grant is a scene stealer in BRINGING UP BABY.

Sometimes a little piece of terrible writing gets stuck in my mind.

Everyone was focused on how awful that “100 Greatest Comedies” list was. They were right. It was awful.

I’m stuck on the writer referring to Cleavon Little as a “scene stealer” in BLAZING SADDLES.

He’s the star of the movie.

The easiest thing I have ever done in my life is not use ChatGPT.

They also cancelled your favorite show and keep the Glorious Revolution™️ from happening.

Pretty sure they’re also responsible for your haircut.

A friend rescued Emma Peel and named her. But it’s a perfect name for her.

Tiger Tanaka, Kissy Suzuki and James Bond contemplate being in a medium shot in the largest set ever constructed for a movie til that time.

And then when Tiger passed, and a few years later we found a little affectionate tiger kitten in the street, I suggested we name her Kissy Suzuki, after Tiger Tanaka’s agent.

It also suits her, because she will come up and kiss you. She’s very sweet.

YouTube video by James Bond 007 BOND MEETS TIGER TANAKA

My first beloved cat I named Tiger Tanaka, largely because of this scene. (The code phrase that will identify Japanese secret service members to Bond is “I love you.”)

youtu.be/tZdHYZs6NDw?...

A tabby cat and a black cat on two levels of an empty bookshelf.

Sweet face!

I have no dogs. Only those goofballs. Kissy Suzuki and Emma Peel. They’re spies.

Cronenberg also does a thing that more people should try in science fictions: he makes movies about people whose inner psychology is not aligned with what we assume about contemporary humans. No one in OUR world would want what the protagonist of SHROUDS is selling. But it’s not about our world.

I turned onto a side street in south Florida once and saw this, but with some kind of very large lizard. It was amazing. I pulled over and hung out with them for a bit.

That gets me all 350 degrees for one hour.

Stop mocking Officer Totally A Real Guy But You Wouldn’t Know Him He Lives Two Towns Over.

No one being discussed here is notorious/horrible specifically for a view on Israel/Palestine. And it wasn’t part of the conversation, so I’m baffled as to why you’re centering it in your reply.

Then, heart sinking, I realize you only mentioned the 2 Jews, and I am less baffled, but depressed.

Israel/Palestine is not the only issue in the world, and it’s odd to define apathy as disinterest/silence on one issue. There are a hundred reasons why Dershowitz and Loesch don’t in any way represent a majority in this country. A corrupt defender of entrenched wealth and an NRA spokesperson.