What’s Going On

What happened was this. On Monday morning I got a reminder that I had an appointment for a checkup on Tuesday morning. That immediately sucked all the air from the room and became the only thing I could focus on. This is because that although the doctor’s office is not far away, it takes quite a bit of planning and logistics for me to get there and back; I don’t drive and must make plans and requests. As it was, I left about 7:35 AM, getting a ride from my brother John, and getting home by 11:10 AM, riding back on the bus.

And even now I cannot relax, as I have another appointment with my foot doctor at 2 PM today. That is not so involved, as his office is only two blocks away and I can just walk there. Bracing myself for that (it will probably in the low 90’s by then) is also already sapping all my ‘juice’ for other activities. Especially anything creative. This is why my recent posts have been mainly favorite poems, which I lately gleaned from my old posts on Power of Babel.

But I think I can just about manage a little petty pop cultural rant. I was looking at the poster for the new Disney/Pixar offering Elio, to be released on June 20^th of this year. So of course I haven’t seen the film. But looking at the poster and seeing some commercials I can see that the main character Elio has been designed to within an inch of his life.

In the main, he looks like a skinnier Steven Universe. His short pants and socks give him the ‘just a kid’ vibe, while his alien shirt declares his ‘eccentric thinking’ bona fides. His cape declares his heroic and imaginative nature, and his eye patch (sometimes pictured, sometimes not) hints at his vulnerability while adding a swashbuckling air. His colander (metal strainer) helmet might be seen as creative if it had not been used dozens of times (the first time I saw it was in 1981 in The Time Bandits). And that hands on the hips, gazing into space stance? That's self-worth writ large.

The movie may be good. But it has obviously been curated to fit all sorts of tropes; maybe over-curated. Just that image strikes me as being almost too carefully designed, maybe past individuality to the point of cliche. We shall see. 

Update: Oh, my. Just found out Elio is also that rarest of characters in children's media, an orphan. The cosmic ballet ... continues. (6/20/25)