Zack Handlen

@zhandlen.bsky.social

7309 Followers 572 Following

Writer, actor, autistic Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/zhandlen

A picture of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, over the title: ENTERTAINMENT: 10 Things We Noticed In Avengers: Doomsday's First..."
O'Brien and Bashir from Deep Space Nine, dressed as fighter pilots because they're that cool.
Charles Foster Kane walking past mirrors. He's not actually looking at himself, and Kane is, to an extent, sympathetic (one of the wilder things about the movie is that you don't really _know_ why Kane goes sour. like, is it just getting old? is it just having to face the despair that waits us all while we contemplate the future, only because he's so used to getting everything he wants, he can't handle it? is it all just that woman scene at a distant, a moment so beautiful you carry it with you forever even though it means nothing, says nothing? is there no moral to Kane, but simple "welp, hubris," in which case, Welles's outcast status becomes almost like a piece of the art in and of itself. anyway. i don't think Trump likes mirrors.
Screenshot from the Mitchell & Webb show reading REMAINE INDOORS (it's from a fun series of sketches, you should watch 'em)
AI knows me, and it's very creepy.
Patricia Richardson and Scott Bakula, having a time.
"I love stories. I mean, who doesn’t, but I have a particular obsession with them that makes me both suited for the reviewing job and worried that my fixations limit my usefulness as a critic. When a narrative is well-structured, when it’s built in an effective way, it makes me feel good; not just as an audience appreciating good art, but in this kind of fundamental “Oh, now the world feels a little saner to me” kind of way. That’s great, but unfortunately it works both ways. When a writer (or writers) miss a beat, when they try and force a twist without building to it, when a story doesn’t flow properly, it feels bad to me in a way that makes it impossible for me to appreciate everything else."
the poster for Takashi Miike's VISITOR Q
Martin, from George Romero's 1977 classic MARTIN
Mr. Beast, aka "Jimmy" Donaldson
The Burger King logo, with the words "The Rich" between the buns and the tagline "Dig in." Ain't i cute?
Photo of the cover of the novelization of Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Big Book of Boring Science Things by Rick Sanchez
A 4K Ultra HD edition of fucking MAC AND ME
As mentioned, Taylor Dearden in a tux. GodDAMN
The cover of the children’s book Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
An image from ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES
Text from Lord of the Flies that uses the name “Castle Rock”
Gonzo, living the dream.
An author’s photo of Stephen King from the book-jacket of the original edition of Night Shift
A photo of text from Wuthering Heights including the words “Chevy Chase”
Trump
Close-up of a very dangerous looking medical device.
The DNC saying we need “a massive grassroots response” to Trump, before asking for more money.
Ned Beatty in the only scene I like in Network, explaining how you don't fuck with the money.
Scene from Breaking Bad—Jesse thought he could use acid in the tub.
the Leo pointing meme from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
My goofy, goateed face
Colin Ferrell holding a stake knife to his eye.
A receipt of a Bookshop.org order supported a MN bookstore (I like the name Moon Palace): the books are I Who Have Never Known Men and The West Passage.
Ginny in repose
This, to me, is the essential difference between J.J. Abrams much-derided “mystery box” approach to plotting, and writers that use questions to pull viewers and readers in. I don’t hate “mystery box” stuff completely, but the more obvious it is, the more irritating it becomes, and it typically relies on events that are so outlandish and strange it’s impossible for the audience to put them together ahead of time. Which, then, almost inevitably leads to disappointment when the truth is revealed. It’s essentially trading in on audience trust before that trust has been established, buying on credit what it presumes it will earn in the future. Here, though, we get mysteries that we can almost grasp. Nothing that’s happened so far has the thrilling, utterly out-of-left-field vibe of, say, the Smoke Monster on Lost, but the way these almost answerable questions work to deepen our investment and build our faith in the story we’re being told is a far more sensible approach. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Straczynski knows what he’s doing when he seeds these moments in, and more importantly, I have complete trust that he knows what they all mean. I don’t need writers to plan everything out ahead of time, but if you’re going to try and get my attention with hints and questions marks, you better be damn confident you can make the resolution as interesting as the set-up.
A presumably AI image of Trump and Vance and Dilbert
An advertisement from Enterprise, a rental car company, using the film Avatar Fire and Ash to promote its product.
An ad for a "service" called PixelMaker that lets you "Upload anyone and generate a video of them doing anything you want <wink emoji>"
A photo of Whoopi Goldberg (who plays Mother Abigail) with the credit of "Nick Andros"
Tim Curry as Pennywise, aka IT. (I think Bill Skarsgard is fine, but I really think you need a middle-aged Pennywise for the character to work best. A grown-up has authority, and seeing that authority so utterly corrupted by evil--seeing an adult you're supposed to trust perverted into a monster that wants to exploit that trust in the worst possible way--is at the heart of the novel. And real life, apparently.)
a well that is aged.
Danny and the Dinosaur, by Syd Hoff
bunch of AI freaks sitting on a beam as though they did something.
JK Simmons in BURN AFTER READING. "And what did we learn after all of this? Damned if I know."
Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, from Deep Space Nine.
The summary of The Godfather on streaming.
Scientist father from Neon Genesis Evangelion, looking serious. This is, legit, the best joke I could think of. Can you even mock someone like Douthat? He even _looks_ like a punchline. I just hope he was wearing pants when he wrote this.
Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading, inquiring as to the security of "your shit." It's wild, I don't even like BAR that much--it's a funny movie, and it does explain a lot of the current political moment, but it's also soulless. I think I need movies to be better than the real world, not just echo it.
An image from a Mr. Show sketch--Bob Odenkirk looking sleezy and Jay Johnston is walking behind him with a sign reading "I'm With A Rapist." See, the joke I'm making here is that... I mean, it's that--ah whatever. I don't really know at this point. This is just what my brain does.
Garfield’s Guide to Digital Citizenship
Thomas Pynchon’s new novel Shadow Ticket, just released.
A book about Heathcliff the cartoon cat, intended as a humorous "misunderstanding" of the Heathcliff in the original post, a character in a novel who is, sadly, not a cat.
A photo of an enslaved man’s scars that BlueSky labeled “Self-Harm”
Scene from SPACEBALLS with Dark Helmet playing with dolls.
Jesse and Walt, two fictional characters who made meth and also were not this stupid.
Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove