Welcome to The Real McTeag; coming to you to you from my lifelong hometown of Queens, New York.
2022 marks my tenth year of writing (and fourth year of actually editing) this blog. The movie and TV reviews that I’ve indulged in were always just more fun to write. Politics have become stigmatizing and boring- something the writers of Star Trek Discovery seem unaware of.
In the immortal words of Bill Pullman in the classic sci-fi movie Independence Day “We can’t be divided by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests.” This includes “Is this movie worth my time and money?”
Since 2012 I’ve stumbled across some weird and interesting stuff and that can still figure in from time to time. This may be the top place to find information on the so called cargo cults- analyzed through Star Trek! So sci-fi and love of pop culture has always been part of this journey you’ve taken a moment to observe. I’ve met one serial and one spree killer. So no doubt about it I live in America and this is definitely the 21st Century.
These 10 years have changed me. The world changed too. Politics went from adversarial to cut throat and mean.
At the same time as political discourse became despicable Star Wars and Star Trek just fell off a cliff. The classic franchises were riding trends too hard and self destructing. Then comic book movies also joined the punchline at Jonestown! The DCEU and the MCU are an uncertain place where a good movie is almost as likely as a bad. The movies are routinely marketed wrong or deceptively- which can be negligible, a disaster or ironically create a great Hatewatch.
I was angered by terrible movies like Into Darkness, The Last Jedi and especially the horrors visited on all of us by Star Trek Discovery and its conjoined NuTrek twins. Its patronizing and bigoted. Its cynical and terrible. I don’t need a pat on the head from Tilly to know whats right!
Storytelling in general seemed a shambles and worst of all politics was ALL OVER the supposed escapism. While Star Trek had a political element, but it was never so on the nose. It also was housed inside a better story.
Star Wars declined for the same reasons. The MCU went sideways and DC was always a roll of the dice. I felt much more invested in thinking about what makes a good Batman Movie than any new political wrinkle and I started to really achieve the goal I set in 2012- to be a better writer and have some people read what I created.
I do a couple of different kinds of reviews and make clear what Im going for early on. My takes on my trip to the theater and reviews of movies I see that way are not really rewatchable to be fully analyzed. So those are about whether i had fun and its worth your time more than anything else. the standard there is “Did I enjoy myself in the theater and why?”
The second kind of review is more comprehensive and is a Movie Analysis and Review. When i stream anything I can rewatch it and do a deeper analysis. This reveals a lot more than I ever imagined when I first started trying it.
With the subtitles on, at super slow speed, you see things and make realizations that you miss the first time. Sometimes the writers seem to simply be depending on them to reveal key information. For instance- in Loki most characters names only appear in the subtitles.
Writers also now use internet leaks to explain what they forgot to put in their movies. Some projects- like Star Trek Discovery – rely on for profit mobile games and bloggers talking down to us about what we missed. “Ten Easter Eggs You Were Too Dumb to See” is now just a trope. This is bad filmmaking enabling itself through Social Media. Most of the Easter Eggs are meaningless fans service. We try to play for higher stakes here than baiting you with triviality.
Nothing has revealed writers mistakes more than seeing something like “Triumphant Music Playing” during a blown attempt at creating a hero. For instance- this description is shown while and the most triumphant music played in The Last Jedi is when Luke is fishing. This truly makes no sense. It confirmed to me Rian Johnson was just putting any images he wanted to see on screen and going through the motions with everything else.
In Star Wars especially the score is almost a character in itself. George Lucas used it geniously. So did Gene Roddenberry. These days it’s almost a lost art.
Well, this probably means I’ll be forever banned from Disneyland now because their new content is so bad it begs to be reviewed and I will be ON THAT as much as I can stomach.
On my use of we- I consider you and your opinions a part of this. Though much of the discussion now takes place on twitter or reddit( @captainTeag, r/RandoGringo) – the comments here are enabled and I encourage all feedback.
Feel Free to comment on and critique my work!
Thanks again for reading and if you like it? Consider Following! The official Twitter for this page is @captainteag. you can follow me there for new posts and random observations.
If you enjoy what you read, please consider giving me a follow and Likes are always appreciated!
Cheers!
– Captain Mick Teag
12-30-21
The Real McTeag 
This is the most informative About page I’ve ever seen. 🙂 And please add an RSS feed so I don’t miss anything – I’m notorious for failing to visit websites but am addicted to my newsreader. xo
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i fixed it a little but damn i need to figga out how to how to network this more. for now i will be whoring myself on facebook when i post
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Love the blog, man. The style, the writing, the attitude, all right up my alley. I, too, was once a history teacher and, for some reason, have been a Mets fan since 1974. Way too fucking long. I wanted to thank you again for stopping by my blog as well.
Cheers, my man.
Bill
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email me…
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your email is somewhat suspicious. what would you like to talk about? why is talking here no good?
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Because I have info that you should hear. And I can also verify a lot of things for you…
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the email has been sent
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Hey Mc Teag. Happy Thanksgiving. You’re doing God’s work brother. Please check out my blog at http://fuckthegunindustry.blogspot.com/ It’s dedicated to Sandy Hook. It will require honest feedback.
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McTeag – I need some strokes. Please check this out:
http://flogthegunindustry.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-12-breakfast-of-champions_8.html
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done! i will def check your blog out!
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Thanks, McTeag!
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Hey McTeag, ever eaten the chicken biscuit at Pies-&-Thighs in Brooklyn? A food critic actually wrote that it may just be “the perfect food.” Ponce de Leon died looking for the perfect food, or perfect restaurant or something like that, right? How can this chicken biscuit be that fucking good? If a samwich is really, really good, you know, I’ve been known to make out with it a little before finishing it, but perfect? I don’t know if I’m ready for that man.
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lol havn’t tried it!
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I would like to talk with you
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whats on your mind?
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This is a funny post, but the only non-consecutive US administrations by the same guy belonged to Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.
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Sorry. I can’t recall.
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im approving this comment just to promote earthlink! wow, takes me back
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I really like the glasses look.
They’re cute on u.
Makes u look like somebody celebrity-ish I think–but who right now escapes me.
Told u I’ve got a bad case of CRS disease going on all this year☹️
Yay! I finally returned & completed reading your full bio intro! Good wrk me! LOLZ
How many non-star wars/star trek blog posts are there here?
If I read 1/2-1 a wk will I still be under 50 by the time I reach the last 1?
J/K
– J
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, more sci fi on the way!!
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Aw, thanks. Posts are about to pick up again!
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Just what the internet needs…Yet another pompous condescending Socialist/communist Ahole like you. Perhaps if you spent your time reading ACTUAL history instead of indulging in a juvenile fantasy life (Star Trek, CNN, MSNBC etc) you would understand the dangers of actual fascism (currently being practiced by Facebook, Google, Twitter, The Democrat Party and others), socialism and communism which has been directly responsible for the deaths of over 100 MILLION people in the last 100 or so years.
If YOU don’t want to be free or can’t handle the responsibility of actual freedom you should perhaps relocate to China or Iran.
ENOUGH with the anti-American Bullcrap!
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Apparently, in the Republican Party, you are “free” to support Donald Trump, or you are ostracized and your life is threatened. Is that the “freedom” you aspire to? Much like the German people were “free” to support Hitler, if they wanted to stay alive.
The GOP is an authoritarian crime syndicate modeled in Putin’s Russia, whom Trump and many American conservatives enthusiastically admire. Trump’s “America First” rhetoric exactly recalls Charles Lindbergh’s “America First,” Nazi-sympathizing speeches he delivered in the years leading up to WWII.
Your white nationalism is anti-democratic, anti-equality and anti-American. Go back down into the hole you crawled out from, and take the former Grifter-In-Chief down with you.
The adults are back in charge.
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I think that last sentence is says it all. Biden and his people seem off to good start. The Orange Man Still wants to cause problems though- not quite over yet
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Hahaha! You’re on drugs! My father fought as a US Combat Engineer during the tet offense- so don’t lecture me on patriotism- loser
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