The Grouchy Editor

Is Obsession really a masterpiece? Well … we shall see.

I haven’t yet seen the movie, but here are three reasons why I hesitate to hop on the bandwagon:

Hereditary

It Follows

The Babadook

All of those movies were hailed as modern horror-movie classics. I watched all of them. What do I remember about them?

Hereditary: I recall a scene involving a child and a severed head (I think) caused by a car accident. I remember it had a surrealistic ending.

It Follows: I recall the lower-class, grungy Detroit setting, and I remember naked old people.

The Babadook: I recall family drama involving a mother and her child, and I remember ghostly shadows on a ceiling.

I admired all of those movies, but I didn’t love them and certainly didn’t think of them as modern horror-movie classics.

You have to understand that when I came of age, I went to the movies and saw The Exorcist, The Shining, Halloween and movies of that ilk. Now those were modern horror-movie classics.

Maybe I’m wrong about Obsession. Time will tell, but I’m not optimistic.

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I made the above post seven years ago. Despite the recent hoopla about UFOs and secret government files, I still feel like we haven’t been given anywhere near enough information.

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Whatever happened to this guy “LandumC”? I enjoyed his YouTube channel, but he seems to have vanished for the past nine months. Come back, LandumC.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Beef

When I watched the first season of Beef on Netflix, I was impressed. Creator Lee Sung Jin hit on a winning formula when he borrowed from The War of the Roses and escalated a feud between two strangers that began with a road-rage incident.  But season one had one fatal flaw, for me: I had an aversion to the lead character. She irritated me. Despite fine writing and production values, I simply could not cast aside my dislike of that character.

Fast forward to season two of Beef. Lee doubles the disaster by engaging not one, but two couples in a mushrooming, back-and-forth battle. By making one couple penniless Gen Z and the other relatively wealthy and middle-aged, Lee milks class- and generational-warfare to great comic effect. The only downside is the climax, which devolves into trailer-friendly, silly chase scenes.

Pictured above are Seoyeon Jang and Charles Melton. For more on Jang, see below.

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The reviews are (finally) coming in:

“Hard-core weird” — Booksprout

“Unapologetically dark” — Reedsy Discovery

“These stories deliver on exactly what is promised … by turns funny, a bit scary, definitely twisted” — BigAl’s Books & Pals

Here’s some unsolicited advice to fledgling authors who submit their work to book-review sites: Don’t make the mistake I did. I made Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) available to reviewers on a site composed largely of older women into gardening. My book is definitely not geared toward older women into gardening.

The response from the lady reviewers was, in retrospect, unsurprising: “Too disturbing,” “Not my cup of tea,” etc.

So writers, do yourself a favor and do a bit of research to find your target audience.

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Speaking of research, I did some on British-Korean actress Seoyeon Jang for the piece above on Beef. I found a clip from the show that I did not recall seeing when I first watched episode three. I was not likely to forget this scene because it features Jang’s shapely bare ass and …

What the hell? Friggin’ A.I.

Either this clip was left on the cutting-room floor in favor of something more modest, or it’s fake. 

Below, the scene as I first saw it on Netflix, followed by the suspicious clip circulating online.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

YouTubin’

Here are the podcasts I’ve been watching lately (in no particular order):

I still miss Craig Ferguson’s late-night show on CBS. Guess I’ll miss “Joy,” his periodic podcast, as well. He recently streamed his final episode — at least until he gets bored and comes back.

Two geezers dish their opinions on modern movies. Hosts Chris Gore and Alan Ng are the best bickerers since Siskel and Ebert — especially when Chris gets annoyed with Alan, Alan, Alan.

Zack Hoyt (Asmongold) owns the most fascinating eyebrows on YouTube. If you’ve ever watched the news and wanted to throw something at your television, you’ll relate to his everyman reactions to whatever happens to be the day’s outrage.

Kim offers calm, intelligent critiques of feminism-gone-wild in culture in general, and books in particular.

The opposite of Joomi Kim, standup comic Jonie does get emotional when she’s pissed — often at Indian immigrants.

A married couple from, I think, Eastern Europe reacts to mostly American movies. They bring zero snark and plenty of homespun charm.

Unless this girl’s an actress who has me fooled, she is the girl-next-door type who, although sometimes a bit slow on the uptake, rivals MJoy4Fun on the charm scale. Oh, yes: she reacts to movies and TV.

I sometimes send this (mostly horror) film reviewer critical comments. He sometimes replies with critical comments (and even memes) mocking me. Still, he’s very good at his job.

As far as I’m concerned, Pool is king of the political podcasters. His ego sometimes outshines his genius, and God forbid anyone attack capitalism on his watch, but he’s a relentless pitbull for conservatives.

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WTF of the week

Is this part of Kate’s official duties? Are her subjects required to undergo royal penis exams? She is married to a guy named Willie, so ….

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TMI?

Here’s an attractive girl named Leia Kai. For some godforsaken reason, she decided to make an emotional, lengthy public post about an unfortunate decision she made to have sex with another streamer. She let all of us know that she gave the dude a blowjob, then let him fuck her with no birth control. Now she regrets it.

But why on Earth is she telling everyone? Was this an attempt to preempt backlash in case she’s knocked up?

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

TV Tidbits

Creeping Woke

Hollywood is nothing if not sneaky. It’s taken a look at dismal box-office returns, and the (relative) unpopularity of recent Marvel movies, Disney shows, and anything deemed too woke.

But rather than dispense with woke altogether, Hollywood’s become sneaky about it. Case in point: Best Medicine on Fox. In early episodes of this new comedy-drama, gay bar-owners George and Greg (pictured above) are lovable supporting characters who were featured briefly in each episode. But the big event of the show’s season finale? A very public wedding for George and Greg, highlighted by a prolonged kiss between the two. 

Don’t get me wrong. Overall, I enjoy Best Medicine. I even enjoy George and Greg. But it’s obvious what Hollywood is up to: downplay the woke elements early in a season, wait until a decent-sized audience is hooked on your show … then go big on leftist issues.

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Something Very Bad Was Going to Happen

Now that I’ve seen the entirety of Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, I recommend it. It has elements I’m not fond of, such as murky lighting throughout and supernatural plot points. Normally, I am not a big fan of the supernatural; it makes it too easy for writers to cheat.

But Something Bad was never boring and it was unpredictable. That compensates for a lot, these days.

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Artemis II

OK, that was fun.

But I’m old enough to remember the 1969 moon landing (assuming it actually happened) and, sorry kids, but just flying around the moon ain’t quite the same thing.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Trump’s No-Good-Very-Bad Month:

• The Iran war — and rising gas prices
• Deportations — are they even happening?
• SAVE America Act — is Congress worthless?
• Birthright citizenship — is the Supreme Court worthless?

It does not seem like The Donald is having a good month. His campaign promises are either dead or on hiatus. His base is fracturing and is no longer “tired of winning.”

Is Trump playing some sort of 4D chess that we mere mortals don’t recognize? Or is the “art of the deal” defunct?

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I’ve been watching a Netflix series called Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (pictured above). It’s a horror miniseries and it’s paradoxically both compelling and off-putting.

Part of the problem — for me, anyway — is the show’s cinematography. It’s much too dark.

This trend of desaturated color, or mud-like lighting, is the subject of much Web debate. For some reason, Hollywood has decided we all want to watch things we cannot see.

It reminds me a bit of 25 years ago, when every horror movie featured a sort of blue-green filter. See below.

Gothika

The Ring

I suppose that if you’re making a horror movie or a thriller, it makes atmospheric sense to present it in moody darkness. The Ring wouldn’t be the same movie if it was filmed in glorious technicolor, or in Dorothy-opens-the-door-and-sees-Oz hues.

But this trend is getting ridiculous. When Harry Potter and pals first see Hogwarts (below), I want to see Hogwarts, dammit.

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Weekly WTF

If someone could explain to me just exactly WTF is happening in the two photos below, I would appreciate it. Is it some sort of Indian ceremony involving the public humiliation of elder males? Is it an instructional ceremony for young females? Is it an OnlyFans account? (Click photos, if you dare, for a bigger view.)

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

TV Tripe

I’m not sure what’s worse, Netflix’s latest price hike, or its ongoing practice of ruining once-great TV shows. When Breaking Bad concluded its original run, Netflix cranked out El Camino. It was underwhelming. Netflix then picked up the wildly original Black Mirror from the Brits, and now it’s an underwhelming series. Last week Netflix premiered a Peaky Blinders epilogue-movie (pictured above) that is — you guessed it — underwhelming.

It’s the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything Netflix puts its paws on turns to shit.

OK, that’s a bit hyperbolic. El Camino, new Black Mirror, and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man are not bad; they were all well-produced. But they lost the originals’ magic.

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Against my better judgment, I’ve been enjoying Fox’s comedy-drama Best Medicine. It’s a redo of the incomparable British series Doc Martin, but for a network show, it’s pretty good.

However … “woke” warning lights are flashing.

The most recent episode featured apparently innocuous elements that, taken as a whole, make me nervous. The episode had:

One quick kiss on the lips between gay bar-owners (pictured above).

One gratuitous shot of an interracial couple toasting each other in the same bar.

One scene in which a woman’s boyfriend pledges 100 percent support to his girlfriend’s career aspirations — even if it threatens to separate them.

One scene in which a gay man pledges 100 percent support to a woman who wants to have a baby — with or without a father’s involvement.

Several scenes in which mindless promiscuity is played for laughs.

Other than that, there was nothing woke about the episode.

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Unsolicited advice to parents that they will never heed: Stop calling your little girls “princess.”

Too many of them believe it and then grow up to be Toxic Feminists.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Girl Power?

So Amazon’s Fallout has gotten pretty good buzz, both from critics and viewers. So I thought I’d check out the first episode.

So I had to quit watching about midway through it.

That was about the time our heroine, a pretty young thing but not exactly physically intimidating, got into a fight with her new husband, who was built like Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein. She, of course, made mincemeat of him.

That was enough for me. How many shows have we been force-fed in which some slender or frail or otherwise non-threatening chick takes on a biker gang or a football team or whatever, and dispatches them with ease?

It’s too bad, because Fallout otherwise seemed like it might be decent. But I’ve had enough with wokeness in general and “you go girl” feminism in particular.

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I was thinking Toxic Femininity might be a product of the 2020s, but then I stumbled upon … something … on an obscure channel. The movie was apparently a German comedy from the ’70s or ’80s but with subtitles and (Russian?) narration. When I tuned in, a hapless basketball coach was for some reason assaulted by his team of teenage players. But why should I explain when you can watch?

To recap, from screen caps:

Hapless coach

High school girls about to get an unexpected treat

Do they know what’s coming? Was it preplanned?

I don’t know what’s worse, teen boys hoping to impress girls by conducting small-penis-humiliation on their coach, or the poor actor hired to play the coach.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)