Author Archives: 4511

As the launch of Disney+ approaches, many of us have been wondering about what that means for the Marvel universe on other platforms, such as Netflix, Hulu and even Youtube. The first thought I had when I heard about the streaming service was that I would have to subscribe in order to watch those films, since I imagined all of Disney’s context would be removed automatically. However, according to a Sciencefiction.com, Disney doesn’t plan on taking back any of their content, since they’ve agreed to lease the content to these other streaming services. And while for the moment this is incredible news, I’m assuming the agreement only stands until the contracted period ends, and in which case, who knows if we’ll see any more content from Disney on any streaming services outside of their Disney+ platform.

For this week I wanted to talk about “books” a bit differently from last week by mentioning the comics from which much of the Marvel cinematic universe has been based on. Although a lot of the cinematic universe is pieced together from what people liked in comics, leaving out parts of what people didn’t, making them into more of a conglomerate of popular sentiments, art and classic “hero” narratives, I do think they leave a lot to be elaborated upon in works beyond comic sequels. After seeing “Avengers: Endgame,” I’m thankful Marvel doesn’t seem to be limiting themselves in the single “Avengers” canon they created in the films, and seem to be interested in creating more series based upon other comics of theirs. According to the “Time” article I found, Marvel seems to plan, tentatively, on creating more anthologies, and expanding upon existing ones. I’m hoping they really do create a film version of “The New Mutants,” and “The Eternals.”

In light of “Avengers: Endgame,” everyone who’s seen the film or who’s been following the Marvel cinematic universe has been looking for new content from Marvel as a follow-up for their “phase 3,” or as a lead-in to “phase 4,” of the Marvel franchise. I was happy to see when I went looking around to see how true some of the rumors I had heard about the new streaming platform, Disney+, were, that Marvel is planning on doing live-action series featuring heroes from the Marvel cinematic universe, with the same actors reprising those roles. They also seem to be interested in doing one or several animated series, which is exciting since after “Into the Spiderverse” I’m sure everyone would love to see how Marvel would try to do an animated series.

Sunday 4/28: Schedule

Monday 4/29: Marvel on Disney+

Tuesday 4/30: Potential Spin-off Comic Films

Wednesday 5/1: TBA

Thursday 5/2: Timeline of Marvel Cinematic Universe

Friday 5/3: Upcoming Marvel Films

Saturday 5/4: Wakanda and Science

Sunday 5/5: Schedule

When looking around on Sciencenews.org, I found this really interesting article about how progress is being made toward translating brain activity into proper sentences. It sounds like something from an episode of “Black Mirror,” According to the article, scientists have found a way to basically link brain activity into sentences and thoughts using a neural implant. The thinking is that such technology could be used by those who have had their ability to speak in a traditional sense impaired in some way, such as in the example of ALS, vocal tract injuries, or brain stem strokes, which are things which can physically impair ones ability to speak and communicate, even though their brain is still functioning properly. It’s amazing that science is thinking of these things, and really creating an intersection between technology, math and English, since in this case, you can’t have one without the other.

This week wouldn’t be complete without discussing to some extent “Avengers: Endgame,” which premiered a day (or two) ago officially. Ever since the initial trailer came out, there’s been tons of speculations about how this film would turn out, and what the results, for the Marvel Cinematic universe would be like. As a long-standing fan of the “Avengers” film series, as well as all the surrounding films contributing in no small part to the narratives of the collaborative film’s characters, I don’t want to say too much about the film. However, I will say that if you are to go see any film this month, and if you have at least seen the most recent “Avengers” film, add this film to your “must-watch” list, since you’ll not be disappointed. It addressed everything that I have been wondering about since the latest installment last year, and set up the stage for many more additions to the Marvel Cinematic universe, even if they do continue on the platform of “Dinsey+,” I may even decide to expand my repertoire of streaming services if that’s the case.

As a series sort of hovering in the 2010’s zeitgeist, I couldn’t really mention all that’s happening with the upcoming season of “American Horror Story” without noting all the seasons to come before. I wanted to feature a compilation of the teaser trailers I found, since I think to experience the series is to experience the visuals of something that, while remotely innocuous, is still incredibly off-putting, and for no exact reason. As I mentioned before, the last couple seasons have been more or less disappointing, as they focus more on gross and body-horror than anything (two things I don’t necessarily look for in the horror genre), but previously, and up until “American Horror Story: Hotel,” I really enjoyed the aesthetics the series had, since it was interesting to see what sorts of characters the same recurring cast would transform into, and what sort of story-line the creator would come up with. I’m still hopeful some of that residual aesthetic will come through in the next installment of the series, but until then I think I’ll keep re-watching my favorites.

I hadn’t really heard much about the upcoming season of the anthology series, “American Horror Story,” until I found an article last week featuring the video the shows’ creator posted on Instagram as a sort of teaser trailer. It was posted earlier in April, but I wanted to feature it today since it’s still new to me, and it’s still fairly new in general, since beyond the trailer, and the title, we know very little about the premise of this season. I think it’s safe to assume it’ll revolve around some sort of slasher character, perhaps similarly to the slasher character featured in season 2, but beyond that, and beyond the very heavy influence of anthologies such as “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween” I’m not sure of much else, so I’m excited to see what other elements the series creator has planned.

When I initially heard about this book, I didn’t really care much for the premise, since while creepy, it sounded like something that had ought to have been placed in the “young adult” section of a bookstore. However, after hearing about Apple TV+’s adaptation of the novel, I think I may try to read the novel after all, at least to see what has caused so many people to gravitate to this title beyond the writing itself.

When I initially saw the trailer above on the commercials featured on the streaming site, Hulu, I thought it looked like kind of a cheap-knock-off of “American Horror Story.” In the past, I’ve partially lost faith in much of Hulu’s original content, as Netflix amps up its game, leaving Hulu seemingly behind to catch up. However, after running out of series to watch, I decided to give this series a try, and was pleasantly surprised to see how different this series was from my expectations. I thought it would be really cheesy and poorly done, since it seemed almost like something that would have been featured as like a “tv” special or something, but actually, it was riddled with genuinely scary concepts and imagery, and I ended up enjoying the first installment far better than I had the last two seasons of “American Horror Story,” which seems to be getting more and more abstract, and although interesting, hasn’t been quite as scary as in the previous seasons, since it seems to be focusing more on gross-out and body-horror than psychological horror, as this series does. Overall, I can’t wait to watch the rest.