Weekly Wrap-Up

I had a conversation with a co-worker earlier this week about Matt Damon's role in the upcoming film The Great Wall and all of the controversy that's on the interwebs about yet another white actor playing the hero to a group of minority folks (Asians this time). My feeling is that the overseas market (including Asia) seems to like having movies with white male saviors and white male superheroes, so why is Damon being singled out for criticism now? I've read one article after another about how the overseas (mainly Asian) markets can make or break big film and films that have minority actors in the lead don't sell well overseas. So I assume the folks who are backing The Great Wall are just giving the overseas audiences what they want. Don't hate the player, hate the game, folks. That's why, as I've said before, television is the place to get some real diversity on screen because those folks don't have to pander to audiences overseas. There's more freedom in casting on the small screen (not a lot, but more than what you see in films).

In other news, I'm glad to read that Simone Manuel won a gold medal at the Olympics for swimming. Take it from this black person who is making an effort to learn how to swim: black folks need to learn how to swim. Seriously. Maybe Simone will be an inspiration to others who are afraid to take the leap.

I'm still watching Mr. Robot but I wanted to mention how much I'm enjoying Martin Wallström's character Tyrell Wellick. So much crazy going on there. They certainly picked the right guy for this role. Fun fact: Martin and I share a birthday (not the same year, of course, because I wasn't born in 1983!).

And, finally, I'm loving my Big Boy bobble head. I picked it up at (where else?) Big Boy while I was in Michigan last weekend.