[Videos] How NOT to Spot Fake News (Idea Channel)

Fake news is a thing - or at least the media likes to make it a thing. And many major political figures have started to hurl accusations of fake news to discredit criticism and other contrary views. To be fair, there are many cases of legitimately fakes news that aim to misinform and shift opinions in favor of a particular view.

So there's a lot of talk about it and I admit I was waiting for PBS Idea Channel to tackle the subject somehow. And of course they did not take the easy path of basic identification and instead put together a video to help one refine one's criteria for fake news. There's contrary views and there's fake news and it's a disservice to the truth to confuse the two. So yeah, this is a great video.


How NOT To Spot Fake News

[Movies] Justice League Dark (2016)

Our continued adventures in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies seems to be doing its best to celebrate the stories of the New 52 reboot. A good segment of said movies are dedicated to Batman-centric titles while others do spotlight other characters. But more often than not we see other characters and how they interact with Batman.

I had higher hopes for Justice League Dark as it was a story meant to explore the magical side of the DC Comics world, which is always a rather distinct and vibrant part of their line-up that feels rather distinct from how Marvel tackles magic.

And after the disappointment of Batman: The Killing Joke, I was really hoping that this would be a home run of sorts. And while we did get some good magic action with this latest direct-to-video animated feature, there were still some odd bits about it that kept me from loving it from start to finish.

But hey, some great voice acting choices though.

[TV] Santa Clarita Diet: Season 1

Drew Barrymore is a bit of a darling given her entertainment career. She has always been a bit of an oddball and yet always endearing as well, and that has certainly helped her over the years. I can't remember the last time I had seen her on screen or on TV and so it was a bit of a surprise to encounter her name attached to a Netflix show.

But Santa Clarita Diet turned out too be the sort of comedic effort that was just perfect for her. Sure the comedy feels a little black even for her but of course she made sure to fully own the role and made it feel tailor fit for her.

The show is certainly a quirkier sort of offering from Netflix, not that they've shined away from peculiar brands of comedy such as what we saw in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. But man this show has such an unusual premise that I didn't quite know how to approach things.

But a few episodes in, we were hooked and certainly all the better for it.

[TV] Robert Irwin on the Tonight Show

Steve Irwin, better known as The Crocodile Hunter, was a rather passionate animal expert who died tragically during a shoot back in 2006. At times he seemed a little too crazy to be real, but he was totally the real thing. His genuine passion for wildlife and his willingness to literally go to the ends of the earth to learn more about them and share that information with people around the world.

So I was a little surprised to see his son Robert Irwin pop up on TV recently, but in a very good way. I had no doubt that the Irwin family would carry on their father's legacy and so i was really nice to see precisely that happening on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Enjoy.


Robert Irwin and Jimmy Cuddle a Sloth

[TV] Suits: Season 5

The end of Suits' fourth season represented a significant shake-up in the power dynamic of things. While the prior season ended with playing with the relationship between Mike and Harvey, the fifth season decided to really strike us at the knees in order to create a new situation to explore.

But as is the nature of the show, more and more of the drama has shifted from the courtroom to the offices of Pearson-Specter-Litt instead. And I can't really complain since that is where most of the action is and the courtroom stuff is just good for accent or moving the story forward somewhat.

I am getting a little tired of internal threats within the firm being the big driver of conflict in the show, especially in this season. Sure, they're generally awesome and I guess it make sense that the only ones who could really stand up to their firm are members of their own team. But five seasons into the show it is starting to feel a little tiring.

[Videos] Webruary on NerdSync

In one of the most terrible (yet also not unexpected) puns ever, YouTube Channel NerdSync has declared the month of February to be Webruary, a month dedicated to various videos about Spider-Man. Silly puns aside, there are some major gems in the Webruary line-up thus far and any Spider-Man is sure to learn something new no matter how much of a diehard fan that you think you are.

The videos cover a lot of different things from big questions like What Happened to Spider-Man's Parents? to seemingly trivial questions like What is the Purpose of Spider-Man's Underarm Webbing? So you're going to get a pretty fun grab bag of Spider-Man facts that the NerdSync team clearly put a fair amount of researching into digging up and verifying. And you gotta respect that kind of love for geeky accuracy.

I'll leave you with one video that really stands out for me - and this is also because I'm an old school Spider-Man fan who will always believe in Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.


The Beautiful Origin of Mary Jane and Peter Parker's Relationship 💕 (Spider-Man) || NerdSync

[Theater] Agnes of God (Repertory Philippines)

As is our habit, Tobie and I have booked tickets for all 3 plays of the regular season of Repertory Philippines. The first show for the year, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike was quite the delightful comedy and not what I expected as a beginning for this season. But of course Repertory Philippines continues to explore many different concepts and themes and so not all of their plays are light as that one.

Their second play for the year, Agnes of God was a lot heavier in comparison. We kind of expected this given it was a play about a nun on trial but we had avoided doing any more in-depth research into the plot in order to avoid potential spoilers about the story.

So we came into the experience knowing  very little about the show and thus hopefully more open to where the story may bring us. And I think the end result was certainly a thoughtful one as this production had a lot of things that it wanted to say. And I think the cast managed to get the bulk of their message across.

[Movies] The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

As a big fan of the LEGO games by TT Games (former Traveller's Tales), it wasn't much of a leap for me to totally embrace the craziness of The LEGO Movie when it came out in 2014. But it really was a unique movie experience that wasn't even like the video games that had come before it - it was just something else. And when they confirmed that they were going to make a spinoff movie based on the LEGO Batman character, I was totally onboard.

Normally I'm quite skeptical of spin-off movies - just look at how terrible the Wolverine movies were versus the main X-Men movies. But given how the first movie had flowed, I was curious to see what they would do given a single character to focus on - especially one was famous as Batman.

But the end result was beyond my expectations and we have have one of the best Batman movies ever made. Sure we all respect the Nolan creations as they're a different sort of brilliant, but this one iteration of Batman is one that will surely live on in our memories as a crazy little character we can't help but love.

[Videos] Literal Music Videos

Some time back (like a few years ago), a series of "literal music videos" appeared online as a way to poke up at some of the quirkier music videos out there, particularly from the 1980's. I don't quite know how to explain it either lot of power ballads from the period ended up with these strange music videos promoting them that seemed like an effort to create visual poetry but often came across as sheer randomness.

It has been a long work week so here are some of the really fun ones to bring a smile to your face.


Take On Me: Literal Video Version


Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version


Rick Roll: The Literal Version


▶ You spin me round Literal Version

[TV] Suits: Season 4

As far as Suits goes, their fourth season was quite the doozy. The writers did a pretty good job of creating new situations for tension and drama for pretty much everyone And that's what makes for some really entertaining television. And I guess this is also a big part of why I continue to watch the show.

The show was already trying new things by shaking up the Harvey-Mike status quo at the end of the last season. This season tries to build on the new dynamic between the two and later on adds in other complications to continue to stir the pot.

There were still some changes that I didn't really care for - especially since it mean weakening some characters to some extent. I understand that not everyone can be perfect and awesome all the time, but I'm not sure if the extent of some of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities make sense.

But man, this season includes quite the significant turning point in the show.

[Videos] 107 Facts About LEGO Batman

So The LEGO Batman Movie is out in theaters and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. And since I can't post a review for the movie just yet, instead I'll just re-share this 107 facts video by the geeks over at ChannelFrederator because I love these things and I love LEGO Batman!

Really need to make sure we watch this week. Otherwise I'll go nuts.


107 LEGO Batman Movie Facts - LEGO Week! (Tooned Up #235) | ChannelFrederator

[TV] Person of Interest: Season 5

Person of Interest was always a weird show that struggled between it being sort of a police procedural / detective series but also a high concept science fiction piece tackling artificial intelligence. Over the course of the show they had a wide range of adventures including facing dirty cops and mobsters. But the've also had to face secret government organizations and of course a rival AI.

But all good things must come to an end and just as the show evolved into a compelling science fiction series with some pretty complex plots and ideas they announced that the fifth season of the show would be its last as well. And they really made the most of the fourth season as a way to setup the scenario for this last run.

And while I do feel bad that the show is gone, at least they were able to manage a decent enough ending that provides some degree of closure. We don't always get that from the better geeky shows.

[TV] Suits: Season 3

So I'm playing catch-up with reviews again and this time it's for the legal drama Suits. Looking back, I last reviewed Season 2 back in 2014 and since then the show has completed its fifth season and has a sixth on air at the time of this posting. So yeah it has been a while.

I never really expected to get into Suits since I don't proactively go out of my way to watch legal dramas for one reason or another. But this show did come with a rather interesting premise that sets it apart to some degree.

At the same time, a lot of shows focus on the weakness and inconsistency of characters. In this case the characters may have their flaws,but in the courtroom they're almost consistently kickass. It just goes to show that there will always be those scarily driven people who are capable of completely separating their personal lives from their professional ones to near lethal efficiency.

And that's probably why I keep up with this show. Plus Gina Torres. How can you not love her?

[Videos] More Steven Universe Facts

Tobie and I are big Steven Universe fans and we continue to follow the show faithfully despite its rather erratic airing schedule at times. It's quite the clever show that is very thoughtful yet still a heck of a lot of fun.

A lot of revelations were revealed in the recent Steven Bomb of five episodes starting with S02E11 "Steven's Dream" until S02E15 "That Will Be All" that have taught us a lot more about the Crystal Gems and more importantly the Homeworld Gems including Blue Diamond.

So I guess it comes as no surprise that ChannelFrederator has opted to document a lot of these new insights into another 107 facts video about the show. But don't worry, there's still more than just what was covered directly in the episodes:


107 Even MORE Steven Universe Facts - (Tooned Up #232) | ChannelFrederator
And in case you missed the first video, here's a link!


107 Steven Universe Facts YOU Should Know! - ToonedUp @CartoonHangover

[TV] Person of Interest: Season 4

The end of the third season of Person of Interest setup a rather grim new status quo - one in which the Machine is no longer the US government's AI of choice. Our core team has been forced into hiding and it seems things are going to be pretty dark for the world soon enough.

But our new big bad AI, Samaritan, isn't all that easy to distinguish from the original Machine right off the bat. The Machine and its assets have their missions while Samaritan and the related government assets also have their missions. So in the long run it shouldn't really matter, right?

But of course it's the human factor that ironically makes Samaritan more sinister and Samaritan's associates do make us rather mad at times. And that sort of defines the direction for this season - an even more complex degree of confusing plots and secret plans with the team needing to rely on the Machine more and more and more.

Fun times.

[Movies] Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Super Bowl Trailer

So we're still well into the teaser trailer period of the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. We're seeing a lot of interesting buts but it isn't fully clear what we're going to get in the final movie, and it's both a good and a bad thing I suppose.

The Super Bowl is always a prime period for releasing more exclusive content and the folks at Marvel made sure to ride the wave. I was a little surprised at what content they decided to release for this trailer, as it seems more focused on re-introducing everyone instead of pushing the new story.

Then again, was it probably more notable is the firm reminder that this new line-up of the Guardians includes folks who were antagonists in the first movie like Yondu and Nebula and confirming that Mantis is more than just a cameo in this movie. And all that makes me pretty excited indeed.


Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Extended Big Game Spot

[Theater] Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Repertory Philippines)

With the start of the new year comes Repertory Philippines' regular theater season of shows and with it our on-going tradition of sorts to see all three plays if we can manage it. And the first show they selected to kick off the year is quite the comedy,

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is quite a mouthful as a title and I could never remember it until after we had watched the play. But it does make sense for the show is really all about these four characters and thus nicely captures what it's all about as opposed to coming up with some alternative title or whatever.

As our first play for the year, it was a pretty great choice and we're all the better for it. It was funny and raunchy and quite a lot of fun. Repertory has had mixed results with comedies in the past but I think it's safe to say that this turned out well. And if this is an indicator of the rest of the season, then we're definitely in good hands.

[Movies] The 10 Year Plan (2014)

So I had rather enjoyed the movie Is It Just Me? back in the day and I was interested to see what would come next for the team behind it. There were some social media interactions here and there and in time but then life got busy and I lost track what else the folks had planned.

Fast-forward to today and I came across The 10 Year Plan, which I sort of remembered from social media posts here and there some time back. It had been added to the Netflix library somewhat recently and on a slow night I figured that I might as well check it out since I hadn't watched any distinctly LGBT movies as of late.

This one was a weird one and now that I look at online reviews after the fact, it's a bit of a wonder that the movie has such a wide distribution. It's definitely not the best example of what we would hope for from a gay comedy but it does hurt to consider that the movie wasn't better than it was.

[Books] Battletech: D.R.T.

So I know I didn't exactly love Main Event as far as Battletech novels go, but my commitment to finishing all of the Classic Battletech novels means that I still need to read D.R.T., James D. Long' follow-up novel to that first book about the Black Thorns mercenary company.

I read a digital copy of this book and was surprised by the actual cover used in this mass market release edition since it's actually a bit of a spoiler from the end of the book. It is literally one of the last big turning points in the book depicted right there on the cover. Who does that?

I guess that's what happens when the action in the story is rather lackluster or something. If your most exciting bit that is worth a book cover is only the ending, that says something about the book. And it's not something nice to say.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't a terrible book or anything. It's just very middle of the road to the point of being a little droll. And that's sad for a Battletech books.

[Videos] More Pixar Easter Eggs

Everyone knows that Pixar movies are littered with Easter Eggs, many of which are internal references to other Pixar projects past and present. It's a game that we've all learned to play with the Pixar team, in a way, like keeping an eye out for A113 references or trying to spot the Pizza Planet delivery truck in each new Disney-Pixar movie.

Now this Screen Rant offers 10 Easter Eggs that are supposedly a lot harder to spot than others. Some I'll agree are pretty interesting while others feel like a bit of a stretch but hey it still works out. These won't change how you feel about the movie as a whole, but they do make for fun bits of trivia for those of us who are keeping score in Pixar Easter Egg game.


10 Secrets About The Disney Pixar Universe That Will Blow Your Mind
What do you think? Do all 10 secrets stand up to your standards for appropriate geekery?

[TV] Person of Interest: Season 3

It took a while for Person of Interest to really grow on us. It's a show that leans heavily on the episodic structure for TV shows especially since it's core structure is a lot more like a police procedural sort of deal. And the show's writers seem determined to stick to this formula as much as possible and I feel this tends to hold the show back. Others may not agree, but given the advances the show has made with it's meta-plot surrounding the Machine, it always feels like a bit of a waste of time when they don't push that story forward.

And for a show in its third season, I was expecting a lot more Machine-driven stories apart from the numbers. This is particularly painful give how they ended the second season with a lot of Machine-focused episodes.

So given that you sort of expect the third season to follow on that, the reality of how this season started was a bit of a disappointment. I can only wonder if that contributed to the show's slow progress and relatively early end after only 5 seasons.