mark_asphodel | Wreck-It Ralph / Good Grief (Reply)

All gamer geeks need to see Wreck-It Ralph. You'll get all the in-jokes and revel in the visuals, which is a plus 'cause the story ain't especially deep. Imagine a Smash Bros fanfic in which, say, Luigi falls into an awkward romance with Samus while Donkey Kong carries the emotional weight of the piece, except well-written and convincing. Or convincing enough for cartoons... and make no mistake-- this is a cartoon, not a "film" that just so happens to be animated.

It's a highly entertaining cartoon. It's oddly racy and vulgar in parts for a Disney movie... but Sarah Silverman is voicing the female protagonist so I guess we're lucky it's still G-rated. It's not in the league of Toy Story 2 or The Incredibles-- especially not the latter, a film that went places that were definitely not kiddie-flick froth. The best Pixar films contain an element of loss, a sense that choices have to be made and that no, the heroes can't have it all-- or, if they get "it all," something else is lost along the way. Ralph is a Disney flick and everything is tied up in a neat little bow.

It did have one scene that would've sent me from the theater screaming if I'd seen it as a kid, though, and it had nothing to do with the bugs.

-x-

This article horrified me. The idea that a man running for the highest office in the land based on his business experience and acumen, his executive leadership, his management skills, had himself and his staff encased in a bubble so thoroughly that not only did they not realize he would lose, they were not even prepared for the possibility...

What. The. Fuck.

This is not a scrappy low-budget underdog we are talking about here. This is not a man running as a quixotic idealist. This is a seven-figure campaign allegedly run by professionals, centered around a man who's been running for president for the last six goddamned years. And nobody had the sense to look at the state polling data and say "We at least oughta have a concession speech ready." I remember 1992. The in-house pollers for GHW Bush knew the data looked bad toward the end and sent up an alert that their man was in serious trouble. IIRC the news didn't go down too well but at least they were honest. At least they were doing what they were paid to do. Did nobody in Romneyworld have that sort of perception? Jesus, I thought their campaign spin the last few weeks was smoke'n'mirrors puffery, but it appears they actually believed their own spin.

Well. People who believe their own spin don't come out too well against reality. And they sure don't deserve to.