Leila Hamm 11/16/24 Leila Hamm 11/16/24

Skaza Skazok ("The Tale of Tales")

I don't entirely know what to make of "Tale of Tales." I'm not sure if anyone knows what to make of it with any confidence.

Leila Hamm 11/13/24 Leila Hamm 11/13/24

The Two Great Fears of Odysseus ("Epic" analysis)

Just a man named nobody.

Leila Hamm 11/13/24 Leila Hamm 11/13/24

Epic: the Musical: the Curated Fanimatic Series (continued even more)

If there is anybody in this story besides Poseidon who merits boss music, it's Scylla. Especially the way Gigi portrays her. Holy fucking shit.

Leila Hamm 11/8/24 Leila Hamm 11/8/24

Epic: the Musical: the Curated Fanimatic Series (continued more)

Ghost Tiresias might have the single best singer in this whole damned project.

Leila Hamm 11/6/24 Leila Hamm 11/6/24

Epic: the Musical: the Curated Fanimatic Series (continued)

Poseidon is the ocean, the ocean is in the way of home, and the ocean hates Odysseus.

Leila Hamm 11/6/24 Leila Hamm 11/6/24

Haibane Renmei (E11-13)

Maybe they'll even see each other again. They probably won't recognize or remember each other, but somehow they're both optimistic.

Leila Hamm 11/4/24 Leila Hamm 11/4/24

Epic: the Musical: the Curated Fanimatic Series

I'm not going to declare that this whole album is reinterpreting the Odyssey as a metaphor for military PTSD until I've seen more of it, but the first two tracks definitely make it seem like that.

Leila Hamm 11/1/24 Leila Hamm 11/1/24

Haibane Renmei (E8-10)

The wings don't actually let them fly; they just hurt while growing in and inconvenience them from that point on. They have the romantic image, but it's just an image. Beyond the photo-op frozen in time, there's still life that needs to be lived. By someone, somewhere.

Leila Hamm 11/1/24 Leila Hamm 11/1/24

Chip'n Dale, Rescue Rangers ("The Case of Cola Cult" and "Risky Beesness")

"Rescue Rangers" does present an interesting picture of Disney's televised animation in a transitional state.

Leila Hamm 10/30/24 Leila Hamm 10/30/24

All Night Laundry (chapters 3-5)

It's an incredibly strong juxtaposition of power and powerlessness.

Leila Hamm 10/23/24 Leila Hamm 10/23/24

Bewitched S1E7: "The Witches are Out"

I'm not sure if this show ever realized what it was actually saying. Maybe it did. But I don't think so.

Leila Hamm 10/23/24 Leila Hamm 10/23/24

The Amazing Digital Circus E2: "Candy Carrier Chaos!"

A pathetic figure, broken and trying his best even though doing so just breaks himself even more. Isn't that the state of what passes for "AI" development these days?

Leila Hamm 10/20/24 Leila Hamm 10/20/24

City of Angles (chapter one: "Starting Out Sideways")

Or...okay, I've got it. Imagine if Douglas Adams wrote "Neverwhere." Yeah. I think that's more or less right.

Leila Hamm 10/20/24 Leila Hamm 10/20/24

The Dragon Masters (part three)

And then it...kind of just ends.

Leila Hamm 10/19/24 Leila Hamm 10/19/24

The Dragon Masters (part two)

The greph breeding a human lineage specifically to be ridden pretty much has to be pure sadism and megalomania.

Leila Hamm 10/18/24 Leila Hamm 10/18/24

The Dragon Masters (part one)

It was easier to be original back then, when there was less science fiction and fantasy already out there on the market, but reading "The Dragon Masters" makes me feel sure that there's fertile ground still waiting to be tilled by authors with sufficient imagination.