When our daughter Randie said she was going get Rosie designated as an emotional support animal and take her to college with her, Andrea and I were a bit sad about that.
Rosie was so much a part of our lives here at the Fortress of Ineptitude, it was hard to imagine her not being here and my wife and I do miss our canine grand daughter a lot.
But Rosie has adapted well to her collegiate lifestyle and has made new friends. Randie's fellow dorm mates have taken to Rosie and Rosie has made a new dog friend named Ivy.
There is a grassy commons area where Rosie loves to romp and run.
As much as we miss her here at the ol' Fortress, Rosie is doing a good job looking after Randie and it appears that college has been good for Rosie.
There are lots of examples across many fields of sports, politics and entertainment where someone has a go at something, captures the proverbial lightning in a bottle and does very well at it and then decides to try it again.
And the second time around? Not so good.
So it would seem the announcement that Russell T Davies is coming back to Doctor Who might be more cause for trepidation than celebration.
But damned if there is not one negative note among the Doctor Who fandom of RTD's impending return.
Including from this corner. I personally see Russell's return as an extraordinarily good thing.
Yes, on one level I am concerned. RTD's initial tenure as showrunner and head writer was of a remarkably consistent high quality.
What could he possibly gain by engaging in a 2nd act as Doctor Who's head guy?
I think there are several distinctive characteristics at play here that make Russell's return to the show of his greatest achievement cause for hope rather than despair.
1) Russell T Davies left Doctor Who the first time at the top of his game. A lot of times, people try to engage in a 2nd act to make up for real or perceived shortcomings in their first go around. While RTD's run as Doctor Who was not completely perfect, on balance his time on the show was pretty solid and he has nothing to atone for.
2) Russell T Davies did not overstay his welcome the first time on Doctor Who. It is conceivable there were stories still left on the table as it were from his first run. We weren't completely done with RTD when he left the first time and possibly Russell wasn't completely done with us.
3) Russell T Davies has had other successes since leaving Doctor Who. Shows like Years and Years and It's A Sin have garnered RTD good ratings and better reviews. Sometimes returning for a 2nd act in something is because nothing else has clicked for that person. This is not the case when it comes to Russell and his relationship with Doctor Who.
4) Russell T Davies's reputation and skills as a great TV writer have only grown since leaving Doctor Who. He doesn't need to return to Doctor Who because he hasn't written anything worth a damn since Doctor Who.
5) The Russell T Davies returning to Doctor Who in 2023 is not the same guy who left in 2009. There's a very good chance that this "old" writer has learned "new" tricks. A lot of people attempting a 2nd act often have to resort to their bag of greatest hits tricks.
The upshot is that while Russell T Davies is a known quantity with a proven record as a good writer and the street cred of being a showrunner, I foresee that from the foundation of what we know about Russell, there is a lot of wonderful opportunities for Doctor Who to grow, move forward to the future.
Russell T Davies 2.0 is going to be good for Doctor Who.
The big story with Jeopardy is as it should be, a major ground breaking run by a remarkable contestant. Andrea and I were on hand to watch Matt Amodio cross the $1 million mark on Friday's game.
Matt seems a bit looser than he was in at the end of last season. He still asks all questions with "What?" even if the clue is about a person.
There's a video clip with Matt that makes this unusual phrasing a feature rather than a bug.
There were a lot of promotional clips for the show spotlighting Matt Amodio and not the host, at least for the first week.
We watched the week with Mike Richards and it was kind of awkward.
Like having Thanksgiving dinner with your mom and dad... and his girlfriend.
Mike as host wasn't inherently bad but there was nothing particularly remarkable about him either. Which kind of underscored everyone's misgivings about why he got the job. Since there's nothing special about his hosting abilities, one is left to speculate he got the job because he was in charge.
For the first week, we simply wanted Matt Amodio to outlast Mike Richards. And he did.
When Mayam Bialik took over the next week, I felt a palpable sense of relief with her at the podium. She's tightened up her delivery a bit, giggling less at the funnier clues like she did in her two week guest host stint. As much as I wanted Ken Jennings for the host spot (and he'll get his chance again in two weeks), I really feel that Jeopardy can get into a pretty good groove with Mayam as host.
Speaking of being in a groove, how long can Matt Amodio continue as Jeopardy champion? Having become only the 3rd contestant to win a million dollars in regular season play, I guess the next two targets are the records set by James Holzhauser and Ken Jennings.
Matt is not infallible. He had a close call one game where he went into Double Jeopardy not only in 3rd place but in negative numbers. He had another game where he was within reach of the 2nd place contestant for Final Jeopardy.
Andrea and I would like to see Matt last long enough to get to Ken's turn as host. Ken meets the man trying to break his record, that would be cool.
Meanwhile, Wheel of Fortune launched it's 39th season with some changes.
New logo and a new look for the studio. Lot of bright colors and no more blue screen vacation locales.
New interstitial music which is too invasive and Pat Sajak can barely be heard over it sometimes.
And Pat no longer makes the final spin of the game. It's made by whichever player has control of the wheel when the bell sounds indicating time is up. Andrea suspected maybe it was getting too hard for Pat to reach down to spin the wheel as he gets older.
Here is what Pat Sajak had to say about it: "The reason is, honestly, I’ve never liked the idea of imposing the host on the game. That always bothered me a little bit. I was looking for a way around it and we finally got to talking and we said, ‘Look, someone’s spinning the wheel anyway. We’ll save time and just let them spin it.'”
Pat Sajak and Vanna White have contracts to be a part of the show through 2024. So barring any health problems, Sony isn't anticipating any host changing drama on Wheel for the immediate future.
But as Pat Sajak (who is 74 years old) said, "We're certainly closer to the end than the beginning. I'd like to leave before people tune in and look at me and say, 'Ooh, what happened to him?'"
I do worry that Pat maybe pushing his luck. Most days he seems to be enjoying himself and has a good handle on the game. But there are times when I wonder if Sajak has stayed a little too long.
And Pat and Vanna have more work to do with a 2nd go round of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. Jason Alexander played the game very well in the season 2 opener, scoring just a bit shy of 200 grand for his charity.
I suppose Sony Studios hopes to get Jeopardy settled once and for all before having to deal with any succession issues on Wheel of Fortune.
OK, that's it for the Tuesday TV Touchbase this week. I watch way too much TV and there will be more to talk about next week.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
In the recently released book "Peril" journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa describe in some alarming detail plans by Trump and his capitulating cronies to overthrow the government of the United States.
Mike Pence got some props for not giving in to Donald Trump's fever dream of Pence's role as Vice President serving as a fulcrum to pry the election away from Joe Biden and hand the presidency back Trump.
But not so fast! It seems Pence was seriously down with Trump's whackadoodle schemes until former Vice President Dan Quayle talked him out of it.
John Eastman, one of Donald Trump’s legal eagles, drafted an outline for how Mike Pence could throw the election to the House of Representatives where Republicans could install Trump in office.
Eastman's plan was based on a spurious understanding of the Constitution and how elections work. Eastman's plan was a tale told by an idiot to other idiots signifying nothing.
The lack of any real legal standing in these plans to overturn the will of the people was hardly a deterrent. A lack of facts was never an issue for Trump or his team.
Their job was to make the case there was voter fraud; nobody said anything about having to actually prove it.
When Trump pressed the Department of Justice to say there was widespread voter fraud, the DOJ refused to do so without evidence. Trump's retort to that was to just "say there was fraud. I will take care of the rest."
"You provide the prose poems; I’ll provide the war.”
Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane.
There are sadly too many reasons why this is still relevant.
Donald Trump still will not shut the fuck up about the 2020 election being stolen. And he's got a base of 70 million who hang on his every word. Trump's delusional narrative continues to erode the confidence in America's electoral system.
The only reason Trump didn't make his nightmare scenario a reality is that there were just enough people of some decency and good conscience who said "no" to Trump's efforts to overthrow democracy for his own selfish gains.
And guess who is being targeted by Trump and his loyalists in the Republican Party? The same people who stood up to Trump and his lies about the 2020 election are being challenged in the courts, on right wing media outlets and eventually in the voting booth.
If the scenario of post election 2020 played out again, an aggrieved sore loser could more effectively wield levers of power that were now more conducive to such outside influence.
Even as efforts by the Republican Party fail to provide any factual basis of any wide ranging malfeasance in our elections.
The Republican led “audit” of the 2020 election results in Arizona’s Maricopa county found ZILCH of any widespread fraud, voting irregularities or miscounted ballots.
Republicans with every incentive to please their lord and master were unable to prove Trump was cheated in Maricopa County.
And yet...
And yet...
Trump insisted in a statement that the Maricopa audit had “uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD."
Li'l Donnie will NOT! SHUT! The FUCK! UP!
Also not shutting up is Rudy Guiliani but he'll have one less platform to spew his false assertions.
Rudy's been temporarily banned from Fox News.
Which confuses Rudy.
“It’s really strange that I’m on probation [at Fox News] at a time in which just about everything I said [about the 2020 election] is being corroborated.”
God, what a lying dumb ass. No, nothing you have said is being corroborated. Rudy, you have been laughed out of every court in the land with your specious arguments about election fraud with not even a smidgen of a smudge of any evidence.
Among the revelations in the Bob Woodward book is that Rudy Giuliani and other attorneys making scurrilous accusations of widespread voter fraud knew all along there was no basis in fact for these accusations.
And yet...
And yet...
Rudy Giuliani persists with this false narrative and insists he's being proven right when even his own party in couldn't prove anything in Arizona and even Fox News whose pundits have their lips firmly affixed to Trump's ass want nothing to do with you.
And Donald Trump (big surprise here) is refusing to pay you.
And Trump goes on.
Trump has pressured Gov. Abbott to conduct an audit in Texas.
Wait! Didn't Trump win Texas?
Well, yeah but apparently not by enough.
The Texas audit will target some of Texas' democratic enclaves (like Austin) where Biden did carry the day.
Why is all this relevant? Oh as much as I wish we could expend less energy giving a god damn about any thing this lying fat fuck has to say, the problem is Donald Trump was a bigger danger to democracy than we realized and continues to be a threat with the knowing and willing complicity of a Republican network of sniveling sycophants ready to do his bidding.
As Adam Serwer wrote for The Altantic on September 23, 2021 in Trump’s Plans for a Coup Are Now Public, a lot of Trump's attempt at a coup were right out there in the open all along.
Here are five pressure points along Trump's path to usurp the 2020 election and hold on to power
1. pressure secretaries of state
The most notorious example of this pressure was Trump leaning on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find more votes for Trump to overcome Biden's lead. Raffensperger refused to capitulate to Trump's threats and now is facing a primary challenge within his own party by Trump loyalists.
Trump failed in his efforts because secretaries of state were more devoted to facts and law than to Trump's ego. Trump and the Republican Party are seeking to replace these people with candidates who feel differently.
2. pressure state legislatures
Trump personally attempted to coerce state legislators to overturn election results based on the very questionable legal theory that such legislatures could simply ignore the results of the popular vote in their own states.
Again, these legislatures realized this was not an actual authority they had and now Republican state congressmen who held to the rule over law over loyalty to Trump are being challenged on the right by Trumpist candidates.
3. pressure the courts
Almost unanimously, every judge who heard every challenge responded with a "oh HELL no" and kicked Trump's legal lackeys out the door.
The amount of support these efforts received from Republican elected officials was alarming. These same Republican elected officials are in positions of authority at the state and national level to appoint judges to the bench that may place loyalty to Donald Trump over the constitution.
4. pressure Mike Pence
Trump publicly hounded Pence to reject the results prior to the traditionally ceremonial electoral-vote count in Congress. Pence said no but apparently thought about it a minute first. If Quayle had not convinced Pence otherwise, could Pence had tried to exercise a power he did not possess to keep his boss in power? How would the events of the January 6th insurrection played out if Pence put loyalty to Trump over his oath to the Constitution.
5. pressure the angry mob
Trump egged on the crowd gathered on January 6th, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” The angry mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol and presented a real and present danger to the lawmakers gathered inside.
The mob didn't succeed but if they had reached and harmed even just one legislator, the outcome of their violent efforts would'v been much different.
On each of those of five pressure points, democracy was placed precariously on the edge of an Occam's razor where if one person had acted differently, in a manner less beholden to the Constitution and more in deference to Donald Trump, the outcome would have been drastically altered from what we experienced. The will of the people would have been subverted to Trump's ego.
But as horrific as it is to imagine "What might have been?", it is important to acknowledge what can be. Donald Trump is not going away (damn it!) and the Republican Party is even more devoted than ever to making loyalty to Trump the ultimate litmus test for the party and it's candidates.
As Rick Hasen, a professor of law at UC Irvine, said, “You could look at 2020 as the nadir of American democratic processes, or you could look at it as a dress rehearsal."
Trump lost in 2020. But that was just a battle.
Trump and the Republican Party are waging a war.
A war they could still win.
Most civilizations have worried about the threat of barbarians at the gates.
For the United States, the barbarians are inside the gates.
Today's Cinema Sunday take back in time, way way back to 1937 with The Awful Truth starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant.
Jerry and Lucy Warriner are a rich couple that just don't frickin' trust each other. Lucy just knows Jerry is fooling around with other women and Jerry just knows that Lucy's having an affair with her singing instructor, Duvalle.
So it's divorce time!
A judge OKs the divorce but it will take 90 days to kick in.
Over the course of those 90 days, Jerry and Lucy mess with each other as they try to move on with new romantic partners.
Lucy hooks up with Dan Leeson, an oilman from Oklahoma who is a friendly, down to earth type who seems to be an odd fit for the sophisticate urbanite Lucy. Jerry does what he can to screw up Lucy's relationship with Dan but that just makes her more determined to stick with Dan.
Jerry's dating Dixie Belle Lee, a sweet natured singer with a sexually suggestive act at a local nightclub which catches Jerry off guard when he sees it for the first time.
Still determined that Duvalle and Lucy are having an affair, Jerry bursts into Duvalle's apartment to expose their duplicity but instead barges into Lucy's recital.
Oh crap! Lucy really is a vocal student of Duvalle.
Double oh crap! Jerry realizes he's still in love with Lucy.
Triple oh crap! What exactly is Duvalle doing in Lucy' bedroom?!
Jerry's distrust gets the better of him and he gets in a fist fight with Duvalle and Lucy is more committed to Dan ever.
Except...
Quadruple crap! Lucy realizes she's still in love with Jerry.
Even as Jerry moves on to dating Barbara Vance, a high maintenance heiress from a stuck up high society family.
On the final night before the divorce becomes final, Lucy crashes a stuffy soiree at the Vance household, pretending to be Jerry's sister, she does everything she can to undermine Jerry's image as a sophisticated man of high society.
The cherry on the sundae is when Lucy performs Dixie's risqué musical number from earlier in the film.
The Vances are appalled.
Jerry attributes the behavior of his "sister" to being drunk and says he will drive her home.
They wind up staying at Lucy's old family cabin.
Jerry and Lucy are in separate bedrooms although there is an adjoining door that just will not stay shut.
Between that damn door always swinging open and Lucy just oozing with sensual allure from her moonlit bedroom, well Jerry just doesn't stand a chance.
The awful truth is they still love each other.
Apparently, director Leo McCarey made life a living hell for Cary Grant in the early days of filming. Seems McCarey's rather laid back approach to filmmaking was at odds with the more structured approach Grant was used to.
Eventually Cary Grant adjusted to the rhythms of Leo McCarey's unorthodox style with improvised dialogue and comic elements. The result is one of Grant's best comic performances that would inspire him in other classic comedies such as Bringing Up Baby.
Irene Dunne is sharp as tack with a rapier wit and she's sexy as hell. I don't mean "sexy for 1937". That look on her face in the cabin bedroom scene at the end reached out across the decades and made me feel squishy inside.
The ins and outs of the plot are secondary to the remarkable chemistry of Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Even when they're screwing with each others lives, their snappy patter lights up the room. Even when they are at odds with each other, their connection is palpable and drives this movie.
With the fast paced comic banter and a twisty plot, the Awful Truth is the epitome of a classic golden age movie.
For today's Songs For Saturday, the source of the playlist comes from Red Lobster.
...
...
Yes, I should explain.
For lunch Sunday, Andrea and I went to our local Red Lobster where we both had shrimp, baked potatoes and salad.
Our waitress was Robin who remembered us from our previous visit to the restaurant about 3 weeks prior. Wow! That is impressive.
Andrea and I were having a pleasant time with conversation and dining as I became aware of a song coming over the speakers, "Hold Me" by Fleetwood Mac.
I must commend the management of this particular Red Lobster as the music was at perfect level to be quite legible without being too loud.
As our dining experience continued, I heard a song by REM, "Shiny Happy People". The song features guest vocals from Kate Pierson of the B-52s who like REM hail from Athens, GA.
Next up we heard a song that Andrea vaguely recalled hearing as part of a TV show. The song was "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter which was a staple of American Idol back in it's heyday on Fox.
Then we heard "Hold Me" by Fleetwood Mac. Wait! Didn't they already play that one?
A few moments later, it's "Shiny Happy People" by REM.
Followed by "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
As our meal reached it's conclusion, we heard "Hold Me" by Fleetwood Mac, "Shiny Happy People" by REM and "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
As we settled up the bill and bid a fond farewell to Robin (who was most friendly and attentive), "Hold Me" by Fleetwood Mac was fading away as "Shiny Happy People" by REM played us out the building.
And that, my friends, is our Red Lobster playlist.
Well, that is that for today's Songs For Saturday.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive.
Today'S FLASHBACK FRIDAY takes us back to Wednesday, April 3, 2013 as we take a look at what happens when the Caped Crusader of Gotham City takes to get a bite to eat in a little ditty I called...
BATMAN GOES TO A RESTAURANT!
This...is the Batman. A grim avenger of the night, he dwells in the shadows of Gotham City to strike at the vicious and cowardly criminals who threaten the safety and well-being of Gotham's law abiding citizens.
Sometimes, the Batman has allies in his war against crime. But more often than not...
Batman watches over Gotham...alone.
Batman stands alone.
Batman fights alone.
And sometimes...
...sometimes....
Batman must dine...alone.
And now, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You presents the tale of what happens when the Caped Crusader decides he wants a pork chop from Gotham City's finest dining establishment.
"I am VENGEANCE! I am the NIGHT! I...could use a quick bite to eat."
Surely with effective vaccines available to all, the worst of this damn COVID-19 is surely behind us, right?
Well, not so fast.
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March.
Hospitals are overwhelmed with ICU beds maxed out and health care workers physically worn out and emotionally demoralized.
And take a look at this nugget of news: In 2020, more people died in Alabama than were born in the state. Alabama is shrinking as the dying outnumber new lives being born. All this happening as Alabama's Republican leaders still oppose mask and vaccine mandates.
And the key demographic driving this death march to oblivion?
The unvaccinated.
71 million Americans have elected not to get the vaccine.
Who are these people not getting the vaccine?
Well, I call them "fucking morons".
The press resorts to a far gentler assessment, calling such people “vaccine hesitant,” “vaccine-reluctant,” or “vaccine skeptics.”
Eric Boehlert takes issue with such descriptors which suggests someone is making some kind of thoughtfully considered assessment of vaccines and deciding that, eh, it's not for them.
As Eric Boehlert says, these same people were not hesitant, reluctant or skeptical of vaccines "until a Democratic president urged them to take the COVID inoculation."
Trust me, if their lord and master Donald Trump had issued a mandate for vaccinations for all federal employees, these same Republicans would be falling all over themselves praising him for his bold and forceful leadership.
But instead it's a Democrat who has issued a mandate for vaccinations for all federal employees so these Republicans are falling all over themselves to show who can be the toughest in fighting this threat.
In short, these 71 million unvaccinated Americans are brainwashed cannon fodder in the Republican Party's own Game of Thrones to undermine the Democratic Party at every turn, even to the point of jeopardizing the very lives of their own base of supporters.
Get a load of this twisted logic (aka, "bullshit) from John Nolte writing for the right wing site Breitbart.
GOAL: Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Dr. Anthony Fauci want conservatives to NOT get vaccinated and die.
How to accomplish this goal? By having Biden, Pelosi and Dr. Fauci actually plead for everyone to get vaccinated.
Here's John Nolte bringing this nonsense in for a landing:
“The push for mandates is another ploy to get us to dig in and not do what’s best for ourselves because no one wants to feel like they’re caving to a mandate."
Try to keep up: Republicans won't get the vaccine because Democrats are telling them to.
If it weren't for the fact that unvaccinated Americans pose a risk to the rest of us doing our level best to keep each other safe, I'd say, fine, don't get the vaccine.
Just let the fucking morons die already.
As they lie moldering in the graves, they at least stuck to ol' Joe Biden, didn't they?
I mean, I had to. Literally every pair of pants I owned were thread bare, holes, cuffs unraveling, buttons popping off.
My pants were more a collection of tattered threads with delusions of being pants.
I had to buy pants.
I never want to buy pants.
Even when I was a younger, way more thinner Dave-El, I have found shopping for pants to be a be a nightmare in frustration.
I can never find pants in my size.
Even when I was young and skinny, pants could be found in any size that wasn't mine. I was too tall, not tall enough, too skinny, not skinny enough.
It's not any easier now that I'm old and fat.
I'm too tall, not tall enough, too fat, not fat enough.
Being fat is weird. It's like I'm caught in some kind of weird body swap thing.
Although I am in my late fifties, my emotional state still feels rooted in my teens. My brain still expects to be stuck in a gawky thin body.
Until I catch myself sideways in a mirror.
Or I try on a new pair of pants.
After dinner on Friday, Andrea and I went shopping to find me some pants.
Good news: Andrea found a pair of jeans in the same size of the very pants I was wearing.
Bad news: the jeans in the same size of the very pants I was wearing did not fit.
Andrea found a pair of jeans in the next size up from the pants I was wearing. They fit. Yay!
Good news: Andrea found a pair of dress pants in the same size of the new jeans that fit.
Bad news: the pair of dress pants in the same size of the new jeans that fit... did not fit.
Really?
The jeans I found fit and the dress pants in the exact same size did not fit.
This is sadly not a new phenomenon for me. Even when I was a kid, pants of one size and type would fit but another pair of pants in the same size but different type would not.
By the way, this shopping expedition for pants was taking place at Wal-Mart. You can't go into a Wal-Mart without being surrounded by out of shape people. I figured if anywhere would have relatively inexpensive clothes for a lumpy frame like mine, it would be Wal-Mart.
I figured wrong.
After about an hour, Andrea and I found exactly 2 pairs of pants in the size that fits. And only 1 pair that actually fit.
Well, damn!
One lesson from this is I should work to get into some kind of better shape. And perhaps I should.
But I never expect my pants shopping will ever get any easier.
Well, it's compare and contrast time again here on the Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Today we're looking at two series where crime and comedy intersect, one ending and the other just beginning.
Brooklyn Nine Nine aired it's series finale last week.
Bringing in a TV series finale for a landing is perhaps one of the hardest jobs in television. On one hand, the series is ending; there is no need to preserve the status quo and fans expect some kind of changes or some closure. On the other hand, change the status quo too much and fans get pissed off.
For the most part,Brooklyn Nine Nine sticks the landing. Yes, there are changes. Raymond Holt ends the series as deputy commissioner and Amy Santiago is a police chief. There is one other departure that may seem incongruous with what see saw of this character in season 1 episode 1 but has been telegraphed in earlier episodes.
Jake Peralta leaves the Nine Nine to be a stay at home dad. Man, all Jake ever wanted to be the was the best and coolest police detective ever. But now he is equally determined to be best dad to his son and not be the type of dad his own father was.
The last hour is centered around a heist, a wild and wooly caper as the members of the Nine Nine including Rosa Diaz and a returning Gina Linetti in an ever escalating cycle of can you top this gags. It is a wacky ride that recaptures the more free wheeling lunacy of Brooklyn Nine Nine that has otherwise been missing during the 8th and final season.
It was a sad and tragic waste when Fox sent Brooklyn Nine Nine to the curb after 5 seasons. But the show got to redeem itself with a renewal at NBC and got to end on it's own terms.
As Brooklyn Nine Nine was ending, another show where comedy and crime intersect was debuting.
Only Murders in the Building was co-created by Steve Martin who stars in the series with Martin Short and Selena Gomez. They play three neighbors in the Arconia, an upscale apartment building in New York City. They start a true crime podcast that covers their investigation of a murder in their building. The victim was Tim Kono who was not well liked by the other residents in the Arconia but about whom very little is known.
Steve Martin is actor Charles-Haden Savage who starred in a popular 1980s detective drama before drifting into obscurity.
Martin Short is Oliver Putnam, a struggling Broadway director whose dreams are bigger than his talents. His lifestyle in the Arconia is bigger than his bank account.
Selena Gomez plays Mabel Mora, a young woman who is ostensibly remodeling her aunt's apartment in the Arconia. While Charles and Oliver are struggling to find who Tim Kono was and why someone would kill him, Mabel knows more about Tim than she's let on.
Steve Martin has a dry self deprecating wit as he slowly peels back layers of Charles' lonely existence in the Arconia. Selena Gomez gives Mabel a level of bemused snark that hides her growing affection for these old men who have entered her orbit and her own sense of dread of what Tim Kono's murder might mean for her.
Oliver Putnam epitomizes Martin Short's excesses as an over the top dramatic Broadway star but Oliver is a tragic character as much as a comic one. Oliver is not as big and beloved as he thinks he is and Martin Short perfectly plays to that balance of narcissism and regret.
We're at the half way point of the first season as Mabel's secrets become exposed and all three of our cast are exposed to danger as they blunder through their investigation and their podcast.
Only Murders in the Building is a remarkable balance of comedy and tragedy. And at the midpoint of it's first season, the show has already been renewed for a second.
In the next Tuesday TV Touchbase, let's compare and contrast what the hell is going on with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
Last week, there was a political circus going on in California, a recall election to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Hear were the two questions on the recall ballot:
1) Should Gavin Newsom be recalled as governor?
2) Which of these 40 bozos should replace him?
Leading the 40 bozos was talk radio host Larry Elder, a pro-Trump lackey whose sole policy position was anti-mask/anti-social distancing/anti-vaccine.
Larry Elder had zero experience in government and seemed to have has many clues as to how to govern.
The only reason there was a recall is some Republicans got pissy over various efforts by Gov. Newsom to control the damn COVID-19 pandemic.
And it is ridiculously easy to stage a recall for governor in California.
Essentially the recall was a power grab by the Republican party over the will of voters in California.
So here is what could've happened.
1) As few as 51% of the recall in favor of recall could've ousted Gavin Newsom as governor. So in that scenario, more 49% of voters would have voted NOT to recall Newsom.
2) Whoever among the 40 bozos on the ballot set up to replace him got the most votes could replace him. Even if the top vote getter among those 40 people got only 10% of the vote.
In that scenario, a person voted for by 10% of California would've replaced someone 49% of California still wanted.
Thankfully, the reality of the recall left no doubt about the income as the recall effort was soundly rejected.
The recall had implications reaching far beyond California's borders. Imagine this: if Newsom had been recalled and a GOP Trump supporting sycophant had been installed as Governor, then if Sen. Dianne Feinstein (who is very, very, very old) became very ill or died and had to be replaced by the governor, well, there goes the Democrat's majority in the Senate.
The fact that the recall happened at all was seen as a sign of Trumpism run amuck.
The defeat of the recall has been described as Trumpism on the wane.
I think it is too soon to write the death certificate for Trumpism.
In heavily Democratic California, the GOP overshot their mark trying to take out the governor.
Trumpism succeeds by going after smaller targets then worming its way up the system to cause more damage.
Here in North Carolina, I've had to endure political ads in a non-election year for a Congressional candidate named Ted Budd. The ad extols his hard right conservative "virtues" but chief among them is his endorsement by Donald Trump. The ad ends with a stamp "Trump Approved" over an image of Ted Budd.
While it's over a year before the next national mid term elections in 2022, the primaries are about 6 months away and Donald Trump is getting the jump on endorsements. Typically Presidents (current and former) stay out of the fray during primaries but Trump is never typical.
In making endorsements at the primary level, Trump is taking punitive actions against any Republicans who have supported his impeachments or have not supported his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen. In short, Trump only wants candidates who are loyal to him to survive primaries and go on the general election.
Which is worrisome to the Republican Party. With loyalty to Trump a driving consideration in the primaries, candidates who do survive to go on the general election may not be electable to a general population that may find loyalty to Trump more of a bug than a feature.
In the short term, Trumpism has met a defeat in California as the recall effort goes down in flames. Gavin Newsom may not be a perfect governor but the people of California was damn sure no Trump toady was getting anywhere near the governor's mansion.
That battle is won but Donald Trump is still lighting fires everywhere. The war is not over.
Today, Cinema Sunday ventures forth away the vintage movies of Turner Classic Movies as Andrea and I ventured forth from the Fortress Of Ineptitude to go to an actual cinema... on a Sunday, even.
Today, Cinema Sunday turns it's attention to...
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!
Since this is a new movie, I will cover broad strokes of the story while avoiding specific spoilers.
Wenwu has been around for thousands of years thanks to the ten rings (which are more like bangles) which grant immortality and god like powers.
Well, the rich only want to get richer and the already powerful Wenwu wants more power. So he goes in search Ta Lo, a mythical village where he expects to find more power.
Wenwu meets Ying Li, a beautiful and graceful woman who serves as guardian of the village. Wenwu thinks that no mere winsome woman is going to stop him, master of the Ten Bangles of Power.
Rings. I meant Ten Rings of Power.
Anyway, that's what he thinks. Ying Li thinks something else.
And...
Everybody was kung-fu fighting, yo!
This is a super hero movie. Fighting leads to sex so...
Wenwu and Ying Li work their sex whammy on each other, they fall in love and she pops out a couple of kids. Then she dies.
Because we need to move this plot along.
Jump a head a few decades and one of her kids, Shang-Chi, is parking cars for a living as a valet at a swanky San Francisco hotel.
Shang-Chi has a mystic pendant around his neck that his mother once gave him and a bushel full of secrets he isn't sharing with his best friend Katy. For example, she thinks his name is Shaun.
No, his name is not Shaun.
While on the bus home from work, Shang-Chi is attacked by a gang of thugs led by a dude with a RAZOR for a FIST. (This one is called "Razorfist".) Katy is gob smacked to see her friend "Shaun" bust out some serious martial mojo.
You know what this means?
Everybody was kung-fu fighting, boyee!
Shang-Chi kicks serious ass but damn! Razorfist steals the pendant.
Of course he does. We gotta move the plot along.
Shang-Chi brings Katy up to speed. His name is not "Shaun" and he's the son of a thousand plus year old warlord with super powers.
And Shang-Chi is worried his sister, Xialing, might be in danger as she too has a mystic pendant given to her by their mother.
Keep that plot a-movin'!
Shang-Chi and Katy are on a mission, y'all!
They find Xialing who is not happy at all to see Shang-Chi.
Then the bad guys attack and you know what that means?
Everybody was kung-fu fighting, beeyotch!
Shang-Chi and Xialing are kicking butt before Wenwu shows up and that's all she wrote on account of he has the Ten Bangles of Power.
Rings. I meant Ten Rings of Power.
Wenwu is determined that Ying Li is alive and being held behind the gates of Ta Lo. He needs the pendant to find Ta Lo again where he will rescue Ying Li and burn Ta Lo to the ground.
Or. I mean, he will rescue Ying Li OR burn Ta Lo to the ground.
Or. And. Well, it really depends on his mood.
A character from Iron Man 3 shows up (it's a pretty funny guest star turn) to help Shang-Chi, Xialing and Katy get to Ta Lo before Wenwu does. There they find Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek Discovery.
Hello, Michelle Yeoh!
What's behind the gates of Ta Lo is not the living spirit of Ying Li but a big ol' honkin' super dragon of pure EVIL!
The big ol' honkin' super dragon of pure EVIL has gone and cast a spell on Wenwu to make him think it's Ying Li back there and not a big ol' honkin' super dragon of pure EVIL!
Wenwu shows up with this thugs and his Ten Bangles of Power.
Fuck it! They're bangles.
And the warriors of Ta Lo are ready to throw down and you know what this means, right?
Right?
C'mon! Say it with me!
Everybody was kung-fu fighting, y'all!
OK, am I making fun of this movie? Do I not respect Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings?
Well, actually I do. It is another fun and exciting outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing something new and fascinating to the MCU mix.
But it often seems to be too convoluted and too weighed down by it's super powered mysticism. Which results in too much of the movie's time taken up with some dodgy hard to follow CGI to take up the heavy lifting with some of the more complex action scenes, particularly anything involving a certain big ol' honkin' super dragon of pure EVIL!
The film has humor and heart and Awkwafina as Katy is crucial in that regard. Fast with a quip and snarky observation, she's also quick to step up in the face of a threat. Even if that means singing "Hotel California" really loudly at an attacker.
Simu Liu as Xu Shang-Chi has a tough row to hoe. He's got mad skills as a fighter but a hell of a lot of baggage packed with doubt, guilt and fear. The backbone of this film is Shang's journey from hiding himself in a dead end job in San Francisco to actually being a hero.
The unexpected guest star from Iron Man III adds some welcome comic relief to the proceedings. OK, I will tell you it's not Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings can be a bit messy but it has an epic scope leavened with humor and heart and adds something new to the MCU.
OK, having referenced the damn song a gazillion times during this post, I gotta wrap up this post with this...
Next week, Cinema Sunday goes back to black and white and to a movie that came out in freaking 1937!
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
Today's Songs For Saturday spotlights two new tunes from the Swedish super group ABBA.
For years spinning into decades, the idea of the 4 members of ABBA reuniting to perform new music seemed as elusive as an unicorn.
ABBA has frequently been adamant that they were done. Finito! No more!
Until....
On 27 April 2018, all four original members of ABBA made a joint announcement that they had recorded two new songs.
After various hints and suggestions, it seems the return of ABBA has finally reached its fruition.
ABBA has been reborn.
Or should I say "Re-Bjorn!"
Those two new songs have been released.
Let's start off today's play list with "I Still Have Faith in You".
These two new songs have morphed into an all new album called Voyage coming out later this fall and after that a new 'digital entertainment experience' featuring ABBAtars, a virtual and young again ABBA.
OK, here is the 2nd new song from ABBA, "Don't Shut Me Down".
The whole thing with the ABBAtars risks being more weird than cool.
But damn! The big story is that ABBA lives again.
Thank you, ABBA, for the music.
Well, that is that for today's Songs For Saturday.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive!
Or as they say in Sweden, "håll alltid musiken vid liv!"
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