From: arthur@alum.calberkeley.org   
      
   On 1/5/2026 6:48 AM, The True Melissa wrote:   
   snip   
   >   
   >   
   >> What did you watch?   
   >   
   > I began watching The Neighborhood, a CBS show available on Paramount+.   
   > The premise is that a well-meaning but somewhat clueless white family   
   > moves into a black neighborhood, next to a man who's deeply suspicious   
   > of white people. The pilot mostly just set things up, but it was   
   > entertaining enough that I tried another.   
   >   
   > The second episode, "Welcome to the Repipe," was pretty good. Calvin   
   > (the black man with a grumpy attitude) agrees to help Dave with a   
   > plumbing problem, and Calvin brings his adult son. Meanwhile, Dave plays   
   > catch with his young son Grover, who stinks at catch. Calvin is not a   
   > supportive father -- he's the sort who constantly threatens his   
   > children's lives -- and Dave is the sort who tells Grover that   
   > everything Grover does is wonderful. The fathers end up switching   
   > places, and we watch as Calvin's son does better with some encouragement   
   > while Dave's son does better with more truthful feedback. It's not a   
   > complex lesson, but I don't expect great wisdom from comedies.   
   >   
      
   I think I might have watched one or two episodes but didn't stick with it.   
      
      
   > What did everyone else watch?   
   >   
      
      
   In the USA, I was up all night watching:   
      
   Hell Comes to Frog Town (blu-ray) 1988 post-apocalyptic movie starring   
   Roddy Piper as a fertile man who is coerced into rescuing a group of   
   women held captive by mutant frogs so he can impregnate them.  I watched   
   with a director and writer commentary track.  They didn't really discuss   
   what was happening on screen but talked a lot about the making of the   
   movie and the low budget movie industry in the 80s.  They had lots of   
   interesting stories about the making of the movie.  They said the   
   original idea was for the movie to be a franchise similar to what   
   happened with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  But early in the process   
   their lawyer told them to sign some papers to get the movie made, and   
   without knowing it, they signed away the rights of the movie to the   
   studio.  They said this sort of thing happened all the time to young   
   creatives who would sign away rights without realizing it, or it was the   
   only way to get the movie made.  Also, in order for the writer to get to   
   direct the movie, the writer had to share the directing job/credit with   
   one of the studio head's friends who wanted to get into directing.  They   
   originally wanted Tim Thomerson for the lead, but the studio forced   
   Roddy Piper on them.  They said Piper had a full-time acting coach on   
   set, so they never gave any direction, it was all the acting coach.   
   They also said they originally wanted Pam Grier for the female lead, but   
   the studio said no, because the studio didn't want an interracial   
   couple.  There were many great stories about battling the executives to   
   get the movie made, but probably the best was when execs forced them to   
   change the frog costume from 4 arms to 2 arms, then one exec asked   
   couldn't they make the movie without any frogs.   
      
      
   Tank Girl (blu-ray) 1995 post-apocalyptic movie starring Lori Petty as   
   Tank Girl.  Malcolm McDowell chews the scenery as the evil head of a   
   corporation that controls all water on Earth.  I think I saw this once   
   on TV when it first came out.  If so, then this is my first time   
   watching it in the proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  The proper aspect ratio   
   didn't help much.  But I gave it a second chance.  I also occasionally   
   sampled the commentary track with the director and Lori Petty but the   
   bits I sampled were boring.  There was one amusing bit on the commentary   
   that I sampled where they talked about Ice-T, who plays one of the leads   
   in the movie, refusing to say lines that he felt his character wouldn't   
   say.  In particular there was a clash with the director who tried to   
   explain to Ice-T she was making a feminist movie and wouldn't approve of   
   some of his alternative (definitely not feminist) lines he tried to say   
   instead.   
      
      
   Waterworld (4K disc) 1995 post-apocalyptic movie starring Kevin Costner   
   as a man with gills in a world that's covered in water.  I don't think   
   the people who wrote this movie understand how evolution actually works,   
   but whatever.  A baby isn't going to be born with working gills because   
   it's born on a boat!!!  Alright let me climb off my soap box.  Anyway,   
   Dennis Hopper chews the scenery as the villain who spends the movie   
   chasing after a young girl Costner is protecting because the girl has a   
   map to "dry land" drawn on her back.  I'm not sure but this is another   
   one I might not have watched since the 90s.  It was OK I guess, in a   
   turn your brain off and do other stuff while the movie plays in the   
   background sort of way.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)