Shadow and Bone fell into the Netflix trap of not becoming a culture-dominating mega-hit to justify getting a third season where the various “pay me pls” clauses of everyone’s contract would come due and I’m still low-key mad about it. But that show was better than it needed to be and they were just on the cusp of main love interest Mal becoming the slightest bit interesting.

God, when was the last time I read a book that wasn’t to a child? Uh… I think Lies of Locke Lamora could be pretty fun to adapt, and might encourage the next book to get published in a more timely fashion. But let’s lean hard into anime specifically and spotlight the webnovel Sunspot. It’s already rolling around in magical girl (plus magical enby) territory, but the way the magic system is described as like a combination of knitting, weaving, lasers and integrated circuit design seems like it would translate into aniqmation to be really goddamn cool.

I feel like the film school set watches enough good movies. What’s a movie that’s terrible in an interesting way that could teach aspiring filmmakers something about the craft beyond just “don’t do that”? I’ve been thinking and can’t come up with one, so I’m just gonna say Plan 9 from Outer Space so all the aspiring film guys can have a little bit of fun.

And it’s not a movie, but if I can submit a TV show I’m really tickled by the idea of The Muppets Get Leverage. Same premise, team of crooks taking one back for the little guy by conning the 1%. But while all the targets and their associates are the actual people (rotating cast of guest stars?) the crew are all muppets. Kermit as the mastermind, Miss Piggy as the grifter, Animal as the hitter, Gonzo’s your hacker, and let’s bring in Abby Kadabby as the thief. Sam the Eagle has a recurring role as the insurance agent turned interpol officer trying to chase them down.