inside of you surging for a second chance

Big, Black Lightning & the Unit
pop culture dailies 006

I watched a lot but this segment could not keep up if my post count does not increase from last week's effort ...

BIG [1988]

I've heard of this classic once in a while when I was browsing through the internet and the gist of the premise that I get is a child getting his wish granted to be an adult and its repercussions. Since the upcoming Shazam adaptation would be largely inspired by this particular film (with added bonus of superpowers instead of just being an adult with still a child's mind), I watched it right away when I came across it in my local DVR. The setting is novel to me since I rarely venture into that period of time but I was mostly intrigued with the main storyline of what a child would do with a developed body and how he would adapt to the adult life. Even though his struggle was surprisingly short, it's not the main focus as we see Tom Hanks shines in a role that's tailor-made to him, being childlike among the responsible adults and how he finds a perfect job for a toy company. That piano scene is fittingly the signature piece of the film as it evokes the child in the owner's weary self, highlighting the main theme the director is going for which is you are never too old to have some fun in your life. I believe it succeeded in doing so and I just hope the spiritual superhero followup would have even half of the original's charms. Shazam!

Black Lightning s01e01

DC television universe has been thriving for years now on the CW platform (and others respectively) spearheaded by Arrow and now being further extended with the first African American superhero series in the modern times. Suffice to say that a lot is riding on it to be a success if the buzz around Black Panther hasn't given you any clue yet but I can safely say that the pilot is a resounding success. It's not here for representation sake only but it wants to make an effective commentary of real life struggles of the black community in America while being seamlessly integrated into a superhero-laden universe. When compared to its predecessors, there is a stark difference in tone and vibe between them, with the Flash and Supergirl admittedly focus on the young adult demography with their romantic storyline and upbeat approach to storytelling whereby Black Lightning revert to a more realistic banter between family members and grounded down setting of a normal school in the suburbs with (un-)healthy doses of gangs, clubs and of course violence. A refreshing change of pace in the much older main lead that is now a charming and commanding principal that used to be moonlighting as a vigilante and since his efforts trying to do things the right away does not keep the crimes at bay, he's forced out of retirement to get back his daughters. It's a strong foundation for the series to keep moving forward and with how the first episode ended (no spoilers!), it's a dose of excitement that the genre certainly needs and would satiate our appetite, at least until that Marvel movie comes out next month!

the Unit s01e05

The music industry in South Korea has evolved into a magnificent and threatening beast of its own, churning out virtually endless stream of idol groups man and woman alike that cater to a plethora of genres and sub-genres and even to certain niche demographic in order to find that flavour of the month and maybe if lucky find that brilliant diamonds outshining others i.e. Girl's Generation and Super Junior. For better or for worse, there are a lot of wannabees that are stuck in mediocrity that just would not catch the wave and here's a program that would give them a viable platform to showcase their previously unseen or shunned talents and give them a second chance to stand out in the crowd. With Rain deservedly as the main mentor and his supporting cast are those who work successfully in the medium, they pinpoint each of their particular talents i.e. dance, sing or rap and put them in their appropriate place in an idol group. The cream rises to the top with some lucky few got to perform onstage with the aforementioned K-Pop icon while those who just fall short in the overall rankings had to be turned away since it's the nature of the competition. Who will be the final winner and become the Unit? Only time will tell!

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Well, that's all folks! Thank you for your time and please do come back for my future posts! :-)