Archive for the ‘media’ Category

Review: Season 3 of Ragnarok on Netflix

Posted: September 3, 2023 by John Ruberry in culture, entertainment, media
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By John Ruberry

Moving to a new town, particularly after a tragedy–the death of your father–is a painful experience. Which is what high school student Magne Seier (David Stakston) and his younger brother, Laurits (Jonas Strand Gravli), confront when they move to the small Norwegian town of Edda in the Netflix series Ragnarok. 

And Edda isn’t just any town. The largest employer there is Jutul Industries where their kindly but weak-willed mother, Turid (Henriette Steenstrup), finds a job. More on Jutul in a bit.

How does Magne cope? By becoming a reincarnation of the Norse god Thor. And if “jutul” sounds familiar, they are the enemies of the Norse gods. 

Over the first two seasons, Magne, for the most part reluctantly, puts together a new gathering of the gods, including assisted care home resident Wotan Wagner (Bjørn Sundquist) as the new Odin, another high schooler, Iman Reza (Danu Sunth), as the new Freyja, and Harry (Benjamin Helstad), a mechanic and a boxer, as the new Týr. 

While Wotan/Odin wears an eye patch–the mythological Odin was one-eyed–he doesn’t ride a an eight-legged horse. The contemporary Odin travels around Edda in a motorized scooter. But he does look into the future with rune stones. There is also a tip of the hat to the importance of dwarfs in Norse mythology. A minor character, Halvor Lange (Espen Sigurdsen), a doctor at Wotan’s nursing home, is a dwarf.

Magne of course has Thor’s hammer.

Laurits is the reincarnation of the devious trickster god, Loki, and it’s difficult to ascertain whose side he is on. As it is with his “child,” his onetime tapeworm, the Midgard Serpent, who Laurits calls “Little O.”

In the third and final season of Ragnarok, the gods expand their crew, adding Kiwi (Ruben Rosbach), as Heimdall, and Laurits’ love interest, Jens (Vebjørn Enger), as Baldr.

Ragnarök, according to the Norse mythology, is the end time of the world, when the jutul or jötunn, often sloppily translated into English–as it is for this show–as giants, battle each other. In the first season, we are introduced to the Jutul family, led by Vidar (Gísli Örn Garðarsson), his wife Ran (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) ,and their high school age children, Fjor (Herman Tømmeraas), and Saxa (Theresa Frostad Eggesbø). Vidar is the CEO of Jutul Industries, which is poisoning the fjord off of Edda, and Ran is the principal of Edda High School. All of this is quite awkward, to say the least, for Magne.

The following paragraph contains Season Two spoilers.

A battle between Magne and Vidar at the end of the first season in inconclusive, which is not that case with their second confrontation; Magne kills Vidar with and ancient axe. That is one of the few ways gods and jutuls can be slain. That leads to a power struggle between Saxa and Fjor for control of Jutul Industries. Ran withdraws into depression, and Laurits, who we learn is Vidar’s son, plays both sides of the conflict. 

As Season Three begins, Turid is planning her wedding, inevitable conflict is coming, and oh yeah, final exams and graduation at Edda High School loom. As for that battle, the two sides line up, as in a western movie, or more accurately, as with the final showdown in Akiro Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.

While I enjoyed the first two seasons, I see Season Three as a big letdown. The performances are still compelling, the cinematography still great, and an enjoyable presence who was largely absent in Season Two, the radio announcer (Jeppe Beck Laursen), briefly returns. Ragnarok’s unseen announcer is reminiscent of the one in the M*A*S*H television series. 

And I have to say it, the Laurits and Jens romance is very in-your-face one–as if the writers are yelling out, “Look, they’re gay! Gay! Gay! Gay!” Much more is left to our imaginations with Magne and his female love interests. The creepy romantic encounter at a party with Ran and two male students from her high school in the first season is mostly off-screen. Are the writers and directors trying to compensate for the decades of absence of gay characters in movies and in television series? Oh, one more failing: the CG to create the Midgard Serpent, is unconvincing.

As a whole, Ragnarok is still worth your time, particularly if you enjoy coming-of-age dramas and ancient mythology, but don’t expect so much in this final season.

As of this writing, it is the seventh-most popular offering on Netflix.

Ragnarok is rated TV-MA for violence, sexual situations, marijuana use, and underage drinking. It is available in Norwegian with English subtitles as well as dubbed English. Besides Norwegian, there are smatterings of Old Norse and English throughout Ragnarok.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

…And if I’m DeSantis I’m Pushing this Video Far and Wide

Posted: August 31, 2023 by datechguy in election 2024, elections, media, politics
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Yesterday I mentioned that If I was a Trump supporter I’d be pushing the Tucker interview with Orban because of his (correct) statements about the Trump foreign policy which was great if you want peace, but not so great if you want graft for one’s friends.

Now in the aftermath of the hurricanes that hit Florida it’s DeSantis’ turn. He skipped campaign events to head back and take charge which is both the right and the smart thing to do and the wheels are in motion.

The first thing that jumps out at you is that the media seem to be determined to ignore the storm aftermath, this is likely due to the comparison to Biden after Maui to wit:

But the real kicker is this video:

You loot, we shoot. If governors of blue states took this attitude a few years ago US history would have been quite different.

If I’m the DeSantis campaign I distribute this far and wide and by the way, have you noticed how quickly the aftermath of the hurricane became a complete non-story.

Why? Because there is no way to spin it that makes DeSantis look anything but good so Hurricane idalia? That’s old news.

#unexpectedly of course

Five Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora: Disney’s different Goals, Media’s Different Standards, Tucker Pulls a Drudge, Serving Their Master and My Pay Cut and Yours

Posted: August 11, 2023 by datechguy in economy, entertainment, media, under the fedora
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Yesterday I endorsed Ron DeSantis for President of the United States, Today Don Surber endorsed him as President of Disney while asking this question

How do you not make money when you can offer just about anyone in the world access to the most storied collection of family-friendly fare in the world? The company has 80 years of high-quality material produced by Disney, plus the Muppets, plus Pixar, plus just about everyone else who wholesome entertainment for kids.

Easy, because the goal of Disney today is to avoid wholesome family fare.

At Instapundit today there is a bit of a quip on a post concerning Assisted suicide in Canada:

The Doctor Can’t See You Right Now, Would You Like to Kill Yourself Instead? “Stage Four lung cancer? MAID. Permanently disabled and unable to care for yourself? MAID. Chronic pain? MAID. Down in the dumps? MAID. Are you one of those icky poor people? MAID.”

All of this can be summed up with one simple sentence:

“Your like sucks so would you care to commit a mortal sin as the last act of your life before you meet your maker?”

That’s the truth in advertising for assisted suicide that nobody wants to say aloud.

Tucker Carlson had the former head of the capital police on his Twitter / X show yesterday redoing an interview that he had done at Fox but was never aired.

People seem shocked that it was never aired, I don’t see why, after all does anybody really think that the folks who gave the signal that the fix was in (the Arizona call) would not do all they can to preserve the narrative?

Oddly the first thought I had when hearing about this was it’s exactly the type of thing that got Drudge started, when the MSM passed on the Clinton Dress story. I guess that means in 2043 Tucker will sell out and go left.

The American Spectator has a piece going over all the lies of the left during this administration. Again I don’t understand the shock. When you’re stealing elections, imprisoning people for prayer and prosecuting your political enemies lying is pretty small potatoes.

What’s more I suspect a lot of folks who support them know that they are lying but consider power more important than truth, just like the left knew Barack Obama was lying about opposing Gay marriage but pretended otherwise for the sake of the narrative.

Finally very few people are talking about this canary in the coal mine:

US paper mills are scaling back production as big-box retailers buy less cardboard, signaling a slowdown in consumer spending.

This tells me the worst is yet to come, I’ve already seen part of the worst as this week my 40 hour week was only 30 hours, last week it was 36, the week before it was 32 and I suspect I won’t see a 40 hour week at my job any time this month and it would not surprise me if that’s true for next month too.

Oh well, it beat getting laid off and I suspect a lot of folks will be seeing that soon.

Shades of the Yanks & Red Barber in Baltimore and Kevin Brown

Posted: August 8, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, media, Uncategorized
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I first heard of the Kevin Brown business on the drive home last night hearing he was suspended for something he said on his broadcast.

Things being what they are these days I had presumed he had said something either affirming conservative values or noting liberal insanity, things which are VERBOTEN by those who run sports media these days.

Then however they played the clip of what he said and all of us in the car were confused. Barber noted that if the O’s won that night it would be their first series victory in Tampa bay since 2017. My thought was, hey this is a positive thing highlighting the difference between the bad old days and what they have now.

Apparently any mention of the bad old days was too much for the o’s and denials by Baltimore not withstanding. broadcasters from all kinds of teams are having fits over it and are shocked that a team would so such a thing.

Apparently none of them remember what happened to Red Barber.

His entry at the encyclopedia Britannia reads thus:

Known for his integrity, Barber left the Dodgers after he was urged to make his commentary more supportive of the team, and he was fired by the Yankees after he reported that the last-place team had attracted a mere 413 fans for a September game.

A little more detail on the story is here:

That September 22 [1966], the day Michael Burke became president, 413 specked 65,010-seat Yankee Stadium. On WPIX television, Barber thought it “the perfect place for Burke to start, nowhere to go but up.” Red asked director Don Carney to pan the stands. No shot. He asked again. Zip. Later he said, “I found out [Yanks radio/TV head] Perry Smith was in the control room. He told them not to show the seats

Well he may not have gotten the shot but Barber spoke up anyways:

Barber recalled from using 1930s radio teletype, leaning into his mic: “I don’t know what the paid attendance is, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game.” Red’s act defied. Next week, like Mel Allen in fall 1964, he misjudged. Asked to breakfast by Burke, Barber, like Allen then, anticipated a new pact—indeed, thought Burke was going to ask about player personnel! Instead, the new Yanks head said. “We have decided not to renew your contract.” Barber convened the press, said that “I have a record of thirty-seven years of fine work. I am not going to allow Mr. Burke, or anybody, to trifle with it,”

Now in fairness there is always the possibility that the O’s will be able to produce some other reason for this nonsense, but let’s not pretend that this is a shock, after all if the Yanks were willing to do this to a broadcast legend like Red Barber how less likely are the O’s going to feel guilty over doing something similar with Brown if the owner digs in his heels?

Actually now that I think about it I guess Brown was suspended for advancing a conservative value: The same conservative value that Barber was fired for, telling the truth.

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