G. Owen Schaefer
@owenschaefer.bsky.social
Bioethicist and Philosopher at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore (views are my own, not NUS's). Film critic, in another life.
literally me rn
November 14, 2025 at 6:55 PM
literally me rn
Murakami, true visionary, presaging in 1979 countless failed Perception checks by generations of D&D players.
October 27, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Murakami, true visionary, presaging in 1979 countless failed Perception checks by generations of D&D players.
150 years on, Tolstoy vindicated!
October 11, 2025 at 12:43 AM
150 years on, Tolstoy vindicated!
I know it's wrong, but ngl I like the Connections Bot feature as it periodically lets me feel smug and superior amongst the clique of fellow puzzle nerds.
October 1, 2025 at 7:03 AM
I know it's wrong, but ngl I like the Connections Bot feature as it periodically lets me feel smug and superior amongst the clique of fellow puzzle nerds.
Not a hard call.
September 19, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Not a hard call.
'Great jeans" or "Great Genes"?
July 30, 2025 at 3:57 PM
'Great jeans" or "Great Genes"?
Lol, Sen Ernst literally did the meme. In a bad way! Don't be like Ernst/Philosophy Bro! Please save lives instead! www.huffpost.com/entry/medica...
May 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Lol, Sen Ernst literally did the meme. In a bad way! Don't be like Ernst/Philosophy Bro! Please save lives instead! www.huffpost.com/entry/medica...
Duolingo's great and all, but ngl I could do without the routine Michael Corleone-style threats. I like to do my Duo in the evenings! This is not cause for implications of bodily harm, even by a cutesy anthropomorphic owl!
May 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Duolingo's great and all, but ngl I could do without the routine Michael Corleone-style threats. I like to do my Duo in the evenings! This is not cause for implications of bodily harm, even by a cutesy anthropomorphic owl!
Time will tell if we get another Andor-equivalent SW product anytime soon. The current slate isn't too promising, mostly conservative retreats (Starfighter, Mando, Ahsoka). Disney, be bold! Take risks! You're not like Luthen, it's OK if some experiments fall flat, no one's going to die! (/end)
May 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Time will tell if we get another Andor-equivalent SW product anytime soon. The current slate isn't too promising, mostly conservative retreats (Starfighter, Mando, Ahsoka). Disney, be bold! Take risks! You're not like Luthen, it's OK if some experiments fall flat, no one's going to die! (/end)
There's a bevy of secondary original characters that could be further developed, and I'm sure they'll pop up in future shows. But I kinda wish they'd killed off more folks, the most daring decision of Rogue One, to prevent milking to death a good thing.
May 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
There's a bevy of secondary original characters that could be further developed, and I'm sure they'll pop up in future shows. But I kinda wish they'd killed off more folks, the most daring decision of Rogue One, to prevent milking to death a good thing.
The show, I think, recognizes that in the end Luthen was an even more interesting character than the titular Andor, who remains more of a cypher even at the end. I personally saw Luthen as a sort of spy equivalent of John Wayne in The Searchers, a necessity who doesn't belong in the world he saves.
May 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
The show, I think, recognizes that in the end Luthen was an even more interesting character than the titular Andor, who remains more of a cypher even at the end. I personally saw Luthen as a sort of spy equivalent of John Wayne in The Searchers, a necessity who doesn't belong in the world he saves.
I am disappointed that there's much more limited Discourse for s2 vs s1, TBH. A lot is ripe for the picking! The compromises of independence/freedom needed for successful resistance; the power of truth/lies; the morality of murder for the greater good; the cannibalism of authoritarianism...
May 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
I am disappointed that there's much more limited Discourse for s2 vs s1, TBH. A lot is ripe for the picking! The compromises of independence/freedom needed for successful resistance; the power of truth/lies; the morality of murder for the greater good; the cannibalism of authoritarianism...
Andor's a wrap! My non-spicy take: Season 2 didn't reach the heights of Season 1 (lacked the verve, freshness and tension), but still better than 90%+ of Disney SW and highly allegorical to contemporary times without necessarily intending to be.
Only light-spoilers 🧵...
Only light-spoilers 🧵...
May 16, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Andor's a wrap! My non-spicy take: Season 2 didn't reach the heights of Season 1 (lacked the verve, freshness and tension), but still better than 90%+ of Disney SW and highly allegorical to contemporary times without necessarily intending to be.
Only light-spoilers 🧵...
Only light-spoilers 🧵...
78th favorite 📽 : Driving Miss Daisy (1989). An easy-going and indelibly charming film, which has had its reputation substantially wane over the years. I think it holds up, even if its sensibilities are outdated. Such it is for many of the classics.
May 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
78th favorite 📽 : Driving Miss Daisy (1989). An easy-going and indelibly charming film, which has had its reputation substantially wane over the years. I think it holds up, even if its sensibilities are outdated. Such it is for many of the classics.
79th favorite 📽: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Justice is elusive in this world, but the *idea* of justice is not. Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch is rightly remembered as an icon of this ideal, even though as such he failed to realize justice in the central case of the film (& book, of course).
April 30, 2025 at 3:25 PM
79th favorite 📽: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Justice is elusive in this world, but the *idea* of justice is not. Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch is rightly remembered as an icon of this ideal, even though as such he failed to realize justice in the central case of the film (& book, of course).
Special shout-out to Alan Alda's turn; Alda is eminently likeable in every role, and here he manages to be the most sensible character of the lot. His advice was right! Driver should have listened!
April 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Special shout-out to Alan Alda's turn; Alda is eminently likeable in every role, and here he manages to be the most sensible character of the lot. His advice was right! Driver should have listened!
Like many of my favorite films, the movie exudes earnestness and honesty (at least, an attempt at honesty) in its treatment of intrinsically unpleasant subject matter. Baumbach goes to great lengths not to apologize for his stand-in (Adam Driver's character), which I appreciated.
April 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Like many of my favorite films, the movie exudes earnestness and honesty (at least, an attempt at honesty) in its treatment of intrinsically unpleasant subject matter. Baumbach goes to great lengths not to apologize for his stand-in (Adam Driver's character), which I appreciated.
80th favorite 📽 : Marriage Story (2019). A relatively recent entry on this list, the film operates as a sort of mirror to Baumbach's earlier The Squid and the Whale. The latter from the writer/director's perspective on his parents' divorce, whereas this gives an unflinching view from the inside.
April 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
80th favorite 📽 : Marriage Story (2019). A relatively recent entry on this list, the film operates as a sort of mirror to Baumbach's earlier The Squid and the Whale. The latter from the writer/director's perspective on his parents' divorce, whereas this gives an unflinching view from the inside.
81st favorite 📽 : Girl, Interrupted (1999). A movie with a serious mood and attitude that I really dug. Aided by a top-tier cast, Girl, Interrupted portrays the relatability of the range of characters and their various mental illnesses. Critics were, I think, wrong to pan this gem.
April 27, 2025 at 2:32 PM
81st favorite 📽 : Girl, Interrupted (1999). A movie with a serious mood and attitude that I really dug. Aided by a top-tier cast, Girl, Interrupted portrays the relatability of the range of characters and their various mental illnesses. Critics were, I think, wrong to pan this gem.
82nd favorite 📽 : Capturing the Friedmans (2003). A difficult film, to say the least, one that offered an unflinching investigation into a deeply disturbing, yet surprisingly murky case. The filmmaker is hardly impartial, but personal investment seems inevitable in a case like this.
April 26, 2025 at 1:25 PM
82nd favorite 📽 : Capturing the Friedmans (2003). A difficult film, to say the least, one that offered an unflinching investigation into a deeply disturbing, yet surprisingly murky case. The filmmaker is hardly impartial, but personal investment seems inevitable in a case like this.
83rd favorite 📽: American Beauty (1999). Admittedly the film is somewhat over-wrought, but I found its characters intriguing and off-kilter melodrama endearing, aided by an excellent script. The characters all strive to escape a sort of emptiness, a suburban malaise of the soul.
April 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
83rd favorite 📽: American Beauty (1999). Admittedly the film is somewhat over-wrought, but I found its characters intriguing and off-kilter melodrama endearing, aided by an excellent script. The characters all strive to escape a sort of emptiness, a suburban malaise of the soul.
The chaos and disorder of rebellion is in full display. This is its moral core (contrasting the crushing discipline of the Empire), but also its central weakness. So too today, with nascent resistance needing to organize against nascent fascism.
April 25, 2025 at 3:08 AM
The chaos and disorder of rebellion is in full display. This is its moral core (contrasting the crushing discipline of the Empire), but also its central weakness. So too today, with nascent resistance needing to organize against nascent fascism.
It's always a little obscure how much the creators are actively writing allegories to our present time. I choose to believe it's coincidental, that life is imitating art rather than the other way around. One mini-arc feels so pressing (spoilers) - the chaotic implosion of the Maya Pei Brigade.
April 25, 2025 at 3:08 AM
It's always a little obscure how much the creators are actively writing allegories to our present time. I choose to believe it's coincidental, that life is imitating art rather than the other way around. One mini-arc feels so pressing (spoilers) - the chaotic implosion of the Maya Pei Brigade.
I was worried for Season 2 of Andor, that they wouldn't be able to maintain top-shelf quality. Happy to report, 2 episodes in, the show remains in top form! Strong out of the gate with the casual, bureaucratic genocidalism of fascism (echoes of Wannsee), contrasted with the murkiness of resistance.
April 25, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I was worried for Season 2 of Andor, that they wouldn't be able to maintain top-shelf quality. Happy to report, 2 episodes in, the show remains in top form! Strong out of the gate with the casual, bureaucratic genocidalism of fascism (echoes of Wannsee), contrasted with the murkiness of resistance.