Batwoman meets its mid-season finale with a fairly significant change to the status quo.
Mary Hamilton has the evulz!
Earlier in the season, Mary got infected by "Poison Ivy" and not the plant that makes you itchy but whatever it is that turned Pamela Isley into a maniacal plant controlling uber-villain.
There were some clues that something was up.
Gaps in Mary's memory.
Mary was always excessively drinking water.
Mary suddenly is really, really good at botany.
And Team Batwoman did not have this on their radar at all.
I mean, they did have a lot on their respective minds.
Rene Montoya is pressuring the team to recover the lost Bat-villain artifacts.
Luke Fox is still trying to figure out how the Batwing armor works.
Ryan Wilder's birth mother is alive and is high powered business woman Jada Jett whose business is business and you best keep your business out of her business or she will show you the business. Or something.
Which is all no damn excuse to ignore Mary Hamilton that way. How bad is it that the only one who seemed to be paying attention to Mary's metamorphosis is Alice.
Yep, psychopathic murderer Alice is Mary's one source of support.
And things end with Mary in full emerald regalia as that plant mistress of crime, Poison Ivy.
More to come in January.
Meanwhile, Andrea and I are following the Argmeddeon event on The Flash. More about that after I get those 5 episodes done.
We have three episodes to go for Andrea and I to finish off Star Trek Discovery.
And I am halfway through the 6th season of Justified. As much as I enjoy this series, it's clear that the pressures on Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder are building towards a final and I presume fatal resolution.
Tomorrow, it's Doctor Who Is NEW! as I post about this past Sunday's episode.
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.
There's a saying that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not being followed.
My wife Andrea is scared of everything.
As Lucy told Charlie Brown, she has pantaphobia, the fear of everything.
Most of the time, I try to reassure her that the odds are not in favor of the worst case scenario.
I mean, the worst case scenario CAN happen but the odds that it WILL happen are usually less.
Usually, I am right.
Then the pandemic came along.
There are few things worse than having a paranoid person be proven right.
And Andrea clutches tight to that paranoia. Even with three vaccine shots coursing through her veins, she will not go anywhere without a mask if she goes anywhere at all.
No, the danger is not completely over but rates of new infections are falling, the number of deaths are declining and we seem to be heading in the right direct-
Fuck! It's a variant!
South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus.
From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to 2,465 on Thursday.
South Africa has alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) and and the new variant been seen in travelers to Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.
WHO designated the new version of the coroanvirus as a “variant of concern,” naming it “omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet.
There's already been some snark from right wing bobble heads that WHO should've named the variant "Xi" after the president of China because there is no dead horse that right wing nut cases will not stop beating.
WHO experts have said that “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,” as compared to other variants.
Data on Omnicron is still coming and there are things we do and do not know.
Scientists know that omicron is genetically distinct from previous variants.
They do not know if these genetic changes make it any more transmissible or dangerous.
So far, there is no indication the variant causes more severe disease.
Even though some of the genetic changes in omicron appear worrying, it’s still unclear if they will pose a public health threat.
It will likely take weeks to sort out if omicron is more infectious and if vaccines are still effective against it.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the variant is likely already circulating in the country.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Friday, limiting hospital capacity to emergency needs as of Dec. 3 and arranging for the purchase of medical supplies. The emergency state, which temporarily bans elective surgeries, will remain in effect until at least Jan. 15.
Meanwhile, Stephen Miller arose from his coffin to declare that there would already be a vaccine for Omnicron if Trump were still President because there is no dead horse that right wing nut cases will not stop beating.
In the meantime, Andrea is providing me hourly updates on what's going on Omnicron.
Sometimes a work of art will take an unexpected turn. A movie, play, TV show or book, it has been one type of thing then suddenly there is a sharp turn towards the tragic, a dramatic change of course.
You're watching what is ostensibly a comedy and then someone dies?
Such an abrupt change in tone occurred in a movie Andrea and I were watching from 1937 called Stage Door, a story about several would-be actresses living together in a New York City boarding house.
There's a lot of fast paced dialogue loaded with snarky quips and zingers as a group of young women vie for a shrinking number of Broadways roles. It is a weird balance of competition and mutual support as these women struggle for their big break. Or any break really.
A fun time is had by all.
Until tragedy strikes.
Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn) moves into the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house in New York. Terry is the daughter of a wealthy mid-western family who against her family's wishes has come to New York to fulfill her dreams of being an actress.
Terry's polish and sophistication are an odd fit with the baudier ladies who reside there.
Particularly irked by Terry's superior attitude is Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers), a dancer by trade and a bitter, cynical soul by practice. Lots of practice. It's a rare moment when Jean isn't running someone through with her rapier wit and brutal honesty.
Theatrical producer Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou) factors into the lives of the women the Footlights Club. Powell uses the boarding house as a personal hunting ground for a pretty young thing to have on his arm when he's out on the town. The women pretty much roll with this. Jobs are scarce and he takes his chosen women out to really nice dinners which are a significant improvement on the ubiquitous lamb stew served nightly at the Footlights Club.
It's Powell's ostensible job as a theatrical producer that causes the most problems for the women at the Footlights Club. With X number of roles to cast and x times a thousand number of women looking to play them, Powell has a nasty habit of not being available to meet with any of them.
Which is a problem for Kay Hamilton (Andrea Leeds). A year ago, she was in a play with rave reviews. But that was a year ago and now there is no work and no money. Kay really anxious to get the lead in Powell's next play, Enchanted April. Kay knows this script up and down, front and backwards and sideways.
Kay gets an appointment with Powell who cancels on her. She faints in Powell's office, the culmination of weeks of malnutrition, due to not eating due to no money for food.
Terry barges into Powell's office to tell him off. Terry's bold movie in defense of Kay puts her in good standing with the other ladies in the boarding house.
Except...
Shenanigans!!
Terry's father is secretly financing Enchanted April on condition that Terry be given the starring role, hoping she will fail and return home.
Well,damn!
And it seems like the plan might work. In rehearsals, it is clear that Terry has no damn idea what she's doing. Never mind her wooden acting skills but she's lacks experience in technical stuff like entering on cue or hitting her marks.
Kay is completely heart broken. She lost the role in Enchanted April that she most fervently wanted. She lost to a woman who she thought was looking out for her. And that woman is incredibly bad at acting.
It's enough to make you want to throw yourself off the roof of the Footlights Club.
Which is what Kay does.
Whoa! Who does what when now?
OK, up until now, we've had a fun banter filled romp about a group of women trying to make the best of it in New York's theater world and someone has to die?
As Kay was climbing the stairs, Andrea was watching this with me and she immediately began to worry about Kay's fate.
I reassured Andrea that this was not that kind of movie and surely someone will stop Kay before...
What the hell? Kay's dead?!?
It's opening night for Enchanted April and right before the curtain is set to go up, Jean tells Terry that Kay killed herself and it's all Terry's fault.
Which is more than a bit cruel. Terry did not know about Kay's obsession with getting the part and does not know about the secret machinations of her father that put Terry in the lead in the first place.
But something about Kay's death changes Terry, inspires her.
After weeks of dreadful rehearsals, Terry enters on stage on cue and delivers her opening lines with a sense of feeling and passion she has never exhibited before.
Powell, fully expected Enchanted April to open and close in one night is astonished by Terry's performance. So are the other ladies from the boarding house. And so are New York's critics whose reviews push Enchanted April into one of the season's biggest hits.
Well...
Damn it!
The best bits in Stage Door take place with the ensemble in the boarding house, lots of chaos and cross talk as the women as the women snark off about omni-present lamb stew, their clothes, bad jobs and the lack of jobs. It's very funny and sounds very natural. The actresses talking and joking off set during rehearsals was incorporated into the script and the director allowed them to ad-lib as well.
Mostly, Stage Door is a light hearted movie. Yes, these woman have it rough, trying to make it in a tough industry (Broadway) in a tough time (the Great Depression is still a thing) which is hardly a light topic but the women's collective wit and will in the face of their obstacles makes this a mostly positive experience.
In a manner most cruel and heartbreaking, we are harshly reminded it is not always a positive experience.
In retrospect, Kay's tragic fate may not be as abrupt as I make it out to be. Of all the women at the Footlights Club, Kay is not part of the chaos, not engaged in the back and forth zingers between the rest of the women. Her drive to regain the success she once had and her fixation on getting the lead in Enchanted April isolates her from everyone else. So when Kay loses the lead in Enchanted April (and to Terry of all people), she has nothing left.
Still, Kay's suicide is still such a tone shift from the rest of the movie that has gone before, it is very shocking.
Think Penny's death at the end of Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog.
Or the tonal shift on the second half of Into The Woods*.
*RIP Stephen Sondheim who passed away over Thanksgiving at the age of 91.
All that has gone before does not prepare you for what happens next.
I might guess the original stage play of Stage Door was more nuanced, more of an overall balance of comedy and drama while the film version emphasized comedic elements more.
The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Dept.
Lucille Ball (who I wrote about last week in Dubarry Was A Lady) is on hand, still a brunette.
Ann Miller is on hand as well. Ann was in other movies I've covered in Cinema Sunday such as the Marx Brother's Room Service, Too Many Girls (another early Lucille Ball film) and Kiss Me Kate.
Franklin Pangborn as Harcourt, Powell's butler was in Design For Living as a theatrical producer. So Franklin went from playing a producer in 1932 to playing a producer's butler in 1937.
"Take That, Dorothy Parker"
Terry's opening line in Enchanted April is "The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died."
The line is from a 1934 play called "The Lake" where Katherine Hepburn's performance was panned by Dorothy Parker as "running the gamut of emotions from A to B."
Stage Door can be a fun movie, especially when the collective ensemble of women are bantering in the boarding house.
It's just a shame that Kay has to die to make Terry a better actress.
Today's FLASHBACK FRIDAY reposts not ONE, not TWO but THREE classic posts from March of 2013.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
And now....SEX! Tales of the STRANGE and the PERVERSE
In a blatant and shameless attempt to draw attention to this blog, I now present.....
SEX!
TALES OF THE STRANGE & PERVERSE
Today's post:
A Woman's Passion For Her Machine
Whew! I don't know about you but...WOWZA! That was HOT!
OK, everyone just cool off, take a shower or something and perhaps at some other time in the future I will present another installment of..........
SEX!
TALES OF THE STRANGE & PERVERSE
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Return of....SEX! Tales of the STRANGE and the PERVERSE
Once more, I feel have to resort to a blatant and shameless appeal to purient interests in order to draw attention to this blog. And so I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You presents the return of...
SEX!
TALES OF THE STRANGE & PERVERSE
Today's post:
Sweet As Candy!
WHOA! HUBBA-HUBBA! Shake it, baby! Don't break it! ("It" being your candy coated shell.)
Oh, sorry. I....ah...got carried away there. But I'm not the only one, right? RIGHT?
OK, everyone just chill out a bit, maybe stand in front of the refrigerator or something. And maybe if you're good (or if you're BAD), I will post another installment of..........
SEX!
TALES OF THE STRANGE & PERVERSE
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Revenge of....SEX! Tales of the STRANGE and the PERVERSE
Hello! I thank you for taking the time to come visit my humble little blog, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. It means so much that you've taken time in our busy social media schedule to pop by and enjoy the various amusements presented here in this blog for...your...well, amusement.
But NOT ENOUGH of you are dropping by to satisfy my desparate longing for attention and validation...er, I mean my desparate longing for attention and validation. (Wait, that's not how that's supposed come out!)
(Just keep moving, nothing to see here, nothing to see.)
Anyway.....
So once more I most stoop to the most base of man's instincts and desires to draw eyeballs to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. Yes, I'm talking about the kinky, the naughty, the salacious....
SEX!
TALES OF THE STRANGE & PERVERSE
And for today's post we have bona fide celebrities.
Please give it up, y'all, for Kid's Choice Award winner
KATY PERRY!!!!
And please give a warm welcome to her co-stars, all the way from from Springfield in the 2nd dimension to the 3rd dimension of our world, currently in the 24th year of their acclaimed 5 year run, The SIMPSONS!
Starring in......
Puppets For Her Pleasure!
Take it away, Katy and the Simpsons!!
Oh, WOW! I'm so glad I was "Wide Awake" for this oh so sensuous presentation. This is so SEXY....so HOT....so FREAKY.....so....so.....
Lame. The word I'm looking for is lame.
I mean, I really think it's the high point of erotica to have Katy Perry felt up by PUPPETS?!?!
"Felt up by puppets"....heh heh...good one.
Ahem!
So maybe this is not the best way to get attention to my blog. I feel so used, so humiliated, so...
Dirty.
......
OKAY THEN! Keep following the wackinesss here at I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You and maybe...just maybe....I will present another taldry and wicked installment of..........
Well, today is Thanksgiving here in the ol' U. S. of A.
And here at the ol' Fortress of Ineptitude, we'll be dining here at home. The menu includes beef brisket, chicken tenders, macaroni & cheese, roasted potatoes, a zucchini vegetable medley, Hawaiian rolls and for dessert, pumpkin and apple pie.
I'm a veritable Martha Stewart.
Except I'm not making any of this from scratch. Bought everything pre-made at the grocery store. Like I'm going to make a beef brisket from scratch.
In case you're wondering what about turkey, it's been years since I last had turkey on Thanksgiving.
Mostly Thanksgiving has been spent at my brother in law's house where the menu eschewed the traditional turkey for a variety of grilled chicken and beef dishes.
It was a delicious spread but it did make the inevitable "did you get enough turkey" queries on Monday morning especially irritating.
We're not doing Thanksgiving at my brother in law's house this year. Not sure what's up. My wife Andrea hasn't heard from heer brother in months.
For the record, I can make a pretty damn good turkey.
The key is patience and preparation.
You know those silly things that occur in movies and TV shows where some beleaguered host is waiting frantically for a 20 pound frozen bird to finally cook while desperately hungry guests begin to chew on each other like some kind of Hallmark version of The Walking Dead.
Planning and prepping need to begin days in advance for thawing, seasoning and basting.
I cannot emphasis enough the importance of butter.
And just because you can get a 20 pound turkey doesn't mean you should. Unless you like those 50/50 odds of having a turkey that is overcooked or undercooked.
My best turkey I ever made topped out at 12 pounds and was more than sufficient for everyone at the dinner table.
If you really get stuck cooking a turkey, you can always ask a friend to help. If that friend has a time machine.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and remember to always be good to one another.
We're now 2/3 of the way through Series 13 of Doctor Who.
Sunday's episode was an improvement over the prior week's episode with a more focused approach. Yes, we have cut aways to Bel where she has an encounter with Azure and Passenger.
But for the most part, the focus of this week's outing is that favorite to Doctor Who settings, a quaint old English village where weird stuff is happening.
After the break, we'll do a deep dive into this latest installment of the Flux storyline and as always, spoilers, sweetie.
VILLAGE OF THE ANGELS
by Chris Chibnall & Maxine Alderton
Hey, it's Claire who we met in episode one, someone who knew the Doctor but not in the right order. A Weeping Angel zapped her back to 1967 where she is a participant in experiments by one Professor Jericho.
Good ol' Professor Jericho could've been the typical stuffy authority figure who keeps denying the fantastic things happening around him but bless him, Jericho is fairly good at rolling with the punches and keeping an open mind. I guess when your field of study is psychic phenomenon, an open mind is to be expected.
And he's getting readings off of the time displaced Claire that don't make sense.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village, everyone is out looking for missing little girl named Peggy. While the Doctor is following the sonic screwdriver to Jericho's house, Yaz and Dan are joining in the search for missing Peggy.
Until Weeping Angels appear and zap Yaz and Dan into 1901.
And the Angels are also attacking Jericho's house.
The Angels are causing a mess of trouble for everybody.
The Doctor is trying to keep the Angels at bay while trying to work out what's going on with Claire. Oh crap! She has an Angel living inside her with skin turning to stone and dust falling out of her eyes (like what happened to Amy in "Time of Angels"/"Flesh And Stone" way back in Series 5.)
The Angel inside Claire is a rogue Angel and also an agent of... Division.
Oh those bastards again!
Meanwhile in 1901, Yaz and Dan find Peggy and find out the quaint isolated English village is very isolated. Go too far to the edge of town and you wind up on the void of space.
There's also a rift across time where 1901 can look in on 1967. Peggy does make it back to 1967 the long way around. Child Peggy has a conversation with old lady Peggy. The Angels are up to something bad.
Meanwhile, the Doctor gets turned into a Weeping Angel and that brings us to..
To be continued!
Whoops! Not done yet! The closing credits roll but then they get interrupted with a scene where Vinder has missed Bel by just this much.
I don't want to be a dick about this but what is arguably the strongest episode of the Flux storyline is the only episode not solely written by Chris Chibnall. Maxine Alderton who provided last season's spookily atmospheric "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" is on hand for this episode. And "Village of the Angels" is full of moments of suspense, tension and terror.
It's still a bit of a muddled mess as the Weeping Angels are pushed past the limits established in prior episodes. And the need to service whatever larger narrative Chibnall is up to, shoehorning his "Timeless Child"/"Division" retcon into the proceedings.
Under "Chibnall does love his classic Who", the Doctor solves a problem by "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow", a piece of technobabble used by the 3rd Doctor, Jon Pertwee.
No personal growth for Yaz this episode but she does show her police officer bonafides when she seeks to get the villager's search for little Peggy organized.
Dan is on hand to be bemused and confused. He's the companion to Yaz's "Doctor".
So the Doctor is a Weeping Angel now as it looks like the Flux in all it's universe eating glory is centered around getting the Doctor back in the grasp of Division again.
Seems like to me there should be an easier way to do that.
We'll find out more on Sunday with the next new episode as I'll be back here on Wednesday to write about it.
Hi there! Before we get into the main topic of today's Tuesday TV Touchbase, a quick shout out to Jeopardy champ Amy Schneider who won her 4th game last night.
Amy is not Jeopardy's first trans gender champion but she's certainly making a big impression, crossing over $155,000 in total winnings in 4 days.
By the way, Ken Jennings is doing a very good job holding down the fort. As much as I like Mayim for the gig, I still hold on to hope than Ken can get the Jeopardy hosting job on the regular.
Season 4 of Star Trek Discovery premiered last week but I won't be writing about it here. Andrea and I have a few more episodes to complete season 3 first.
Season 3 catapulted the starship Discovery 900 years into it's future to the 32nd century which is probably the best thing to happen to this show. No longer bound by the restrictions of being a prequel show, Star Trek Discovery is free to explore a completely new part of the Star Trek universe.
Life in the 32 century has a many steps back as it has steps forward. An event known as "the Burn" decimated Starfleet and virtually all supplies of dilithium. Warp travel is no longer an abundant luxury.
The Earth has turned isolationist. The Federation exists but far from the power and influence it had in centuries past. It's hard to be of service to a collection of worlds that are too far to reach in any short period of time. Resources are limited and must be marshaled carefully. Sadly not all cries for help can be answered.
Enter Discovery with a cargo hold full of dilithium AND a spore drive that doesn't need it.
Season 3 presents an interesting challenge to the idealism of Gene Roddenberry's original concept. The crew of the Discovery have the ideals of a Federation that was strong and growing in influence; they have to interact with a Federation that is weak and losing influence. The Federation of the 32nd century has not given up on it's ideals and it's mission but it's hard to hold on.
Saru, now captain of the Discovery (and about damn time, too!) is determined to have his ship and crew be of help where they can but in deference to the Federation they have found in the future, not the one they left in the past.
For the 32nd century Federation, Discovery represent hope that had been lost. Hope can be a wonderful thing and it can also be a dangerous thing as well.
Joining the gang in the their new future home is David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, a freelance courier who partners up with Michael Burnham after she fell through time and spent a year waiting for Discovery to catch up to her. Ajala was Manchester Black in Supergirl.
Also on board now is Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, A human bonded with a Trill symbiont. Adira is the first non-binary character in a Star Trek series. Stamets keeps referring to them with she/her pronouns. Adira sets him straight and Stamets gets the they/them correct from there.
Among the returning cast, we're spending more time with Paul Stamets & Hugh Culber (who make such a great couple and looking after Adira is prompting some urges to parent) as well as Detmer. Detmer has grown into more than just the woman with cyber thing in her head who pilots the ship. Her storyline of her PTSD after the ship crashed into the 32nd centruy was well handled.
With time spent wandering with Book, Michael Burnham considerably more mellow. She can be has intense as ever but she also allows her to relax and smile. Still after nearly 3 seasons, it still irks me that Sonequa Martin-Green whispers half her dialogue.
There were a lot of things about Star Trek Discovery that I found to be more than a little frustrating from it's first season. But show has built itself into more of an ensemble, not just a starring vehicles for the adventures of Michael Burnham. The new status quo with the ship in 32nd century is the best thing to happen to this series.
Also in the Star Trek universe, Andres and I have been following Star Trek Prodigy. An animated series created for the Nickelodeon network, the series is set in the year 2383, five years after the USS Voyager returned to Earth.
In the Delta Quandrant, young aliens are working as slave labor on a dark and forbidding mining planet ruled by a ruthless and ominous being known as the Diviner.
A small ragtag group of them find an abandoned Starfleet ship, the USS Protostar. Taking control of the ship, they must learn to work together as they make their way towards the Alpha Quadrant.
A couple of things right off the bat about Prodigy. The theme by Academy Award winner Michael Giacchino is I think the best Star Trek theme ever.
And the animation for this series is gorgeous, lots of imaginative detail and great use of color.
So Star Trek Prodigy looks good and sounds good. But is it good?
Well, yes. Kind of. Sort of.
OK, Star Trek Prodigy wasn't built for me. There is a definite appeal to a younger demographic which is admittedly the show's mission. Where is the next generation of Trekkers coming from?
This show is a great introduction for younger viewers to the Star Trek universe. Because the principals are young and being introduced to the concepts of the Federation and Starfleet. The characters and the target audience are both on the same journey.
As for those characters, to be honest, Dal is still getting on my nerves. A 17 year old maverick who fancies himself as the captain of the Protostar, he has until been broadly drawn as just wanting to have fun and avoiding responsibility. Well, who can blame him after spending his childhood as slave labor on a bleak mining planet? His fading memories of his parents and his lack of knowledge of his own species lends him some emotional weight lends him some emotional depth but he thinks he's going to be the leader of his crew, he needs to start earning that title of "captain".
Rok-Tahk is a big hulking brick monster, the crew's muscle. Rok-Tahk is also an 8 year old girl who feels left out and yearns for connection and companionship. Rok-Tahk is a sweet, sympathetic character.
My favorite character of the crew is Zero, a Medusan.
Meduans were introduced back in the original series as noncorporeal, genderless, energy-based lifeforms whose very appearance can drive others to madness. Zero wears a containment suit. Zero is super smart and capable of withering snarky comments but lacking in wisdom and experience.
Zero is not the only energy-based character on the show. There is also Janeway, the Protostar's Emergency Training Holographic Advisor. The ETHA is based on Kathryn Janeway, captain of the USS Voyager who the hologram describes as one of the most decorated and accomplished officers in Starfleet history.
Hey, Hologram Janeway, I've seen the season 2 finale of Star Trek Voyager and I take exception to that description.
Anyway...
ETHA Janeway provides a practical plot device to info dump some Star Trek knowledge on the new kids but there are hints of some character development. Hologram Janeway is seen frequently drinking coffee like her human counterpoint. The sly look on ETHA Janeway's face when Dal thinks he doesn't need help running the Protostar when he's on the verge of destroying the ship or the slight look of worry when the kids go out on their first away mission and she can't accompany them because she's a hologram.
Like the EMH Doctor on Voyager, it will be interesting to see if ETHA Janeway has to evolve her programming to do things that maybe a little differently than her human template, Kathryn Janeway, one of the most decorated and accomplished officers in Starfleet history.
While Star Trek Prodigy has a first season order of 20 episodes, we're not getting much time to settle in with the crew of the Protostar. After 5 episodes, the next batch of new episodes will not land until 2022.
Well, that is that for today's post. I watch a lot of TV what will I write about next? Find out in next week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Tomorrow, it's Doctor Who Is NEW! as I post about this past Sunday's episode.
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.
To paraphrase the late Norm McDonald, "Murder is now legal in Wisconsin!"
Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men, killing two, during last summer's protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man.
There is no question that Rittenhouse shot those three men. There is video of the 17 year old raising his weapon and firing at these men.
But nonetheless Kyle Rittenhouse walked out of a Wisconsin courthouse a free man, acquitted of murder and assault.
The reason for Rittenhouse's freedom? Self defense.
OK, a few points to cover.
Kyle Rittenhouse was not in his own home.
Kyle Rittenhouse was not in his school, church or place of employment.
Hell, the son of a bitch was even in his own state.
He made the trip from Illinois to Wisconsin for the express purpose of taking part in a movement of "concerned citizens" who were taking it upon themselves to protect property from those protesting Blake's death.
Let's address that a moment.
There were these people taking action that they were not authorized to take to do what no one asked them to do.
So get this straight: Kyle Rittenhouse was in a place he wasn't supposed to be at doing stuff he wasn't supposed to be doing.
And he gets to claim self defense?
And it works?
Oh, about that self defense. Who exactly was Rittenhouse defending himself against?
Rittenhouse claimed he felt threatened by the men he shot.
Of the three men Rittenhouse, only 1 of them was armed with a gun. And that one was not brandishing his weapon. And that guy was a paramedic who did have business being on the scene.
And Rittenhouse's reason for being in Kenosha evolved.
Reason #1: Rittenhouse said he went to the protest armed with an AK-style semi-automatic weapon to protect property from rioters.
Reason #2: He then testified he had also gone to Kenosha to provide medical aid and was carrying a medic bag. Rittenhouse did nothing to render any medical aid to the men he shot. Instead in fled from the scene.
Rittenhouse would later claim he was running to find the police.
So to make sure I have this straight:
A 17 year old who had no reason or authority to be where he was "felt" threatened by people there and acted to defend himself by shooting 3 men.
And he gets away with it.
Hey, everybody! "Murder is now legal in Wisconsin!"
Ronald Sullivan, a law professor at Harvard Law School, wrote on Saturday that the Rittenhouse verdict violates 5 standards for claiming self-defense
#1: The use of force must be proportionate to the force employed by the aggressor.
#2: The use of self-defense is limited to imminent harm. The threat by the aggressor must be immediate.
#3: The person’s assessment of whether he is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury must be reasonable, meaning that a supposed “reasonable person” would consider the threat to be sufficiently dangerous to put him in fear of death or serious bodily injury.
#4: The law does not permit a first aggressor to benefit from a self-defense justification.
#5: A person has a duty to retreat before using deadly force, as long as it can be done safely.
Conservative politicians have for years sought to undermine these rules with "stand your ground" laws which has broadened options for those accused of shooting someone to claim self defense where a more rational application of common sense would not normally apply.
Kyle Rittenhouse was in a place he wasn't supposed to be doing stuff he had no authority to do. That means his feeling threatened by BLM protestors would be on his dumbass.
Well, the verdict should not have been a surprise since the fix was in.
Judge Bruce Schroeder wouldn't let the prosecutor refer to the men Rittenhouse shot as "victims". He was OK with "looters", "rioters" and "arsonists" but not "victims".
Rittenhouse's defense team called into question video evidence suggesting "algorithms and AI" in cell phones add information to videos. Which is clearly bullshit but Judge Schroeder lent credence to their fatuous argument by ranting about trouble he apparently routinely encounters with his cellphone.
Speaking of his cellphone, Schroeder's phone rang during the trial, his ringtone being Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” a favorite song played at Donald Trump's rallies.
Schroder also picked an overly white jury in only a day, an overly swift process many legal experts called into question.
It was clear which way Judge Bruce Schroeder was leaning on the subject of Kyle Rittenhouse's guilt or innocence.
By the way, a juror was dismissed after making a racist joke a deputy about the black man shot by Kenosha police.
“Why did it take seven shots to shoot Jacob Blake? Because they ran out of bullets.”
If the juror hadn't been dumbass enough to tell his alleged "joke" to a deputy, he would have stayed in the jury until Friday to help render a verdict that everyone hoped would not be coming but surely feared would be the result.
And get a load of the reactions of these morons.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) was gleeful about Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal, posting a video urging his supporters to “be armed, be dangerous.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) asked his followers on Twitter if Rittenhouse should get a congressional medal of honor.
But as Mark Evanier noted on Twitter, "And one day soon, someone of a different political view and/or race will do what Kyle Rittenhouse did and all the folks cheering today's verdict will be screaming, 'Rule of law!'"
Murder is not politics. Murder is murder and you're guilty or not.
And it's clear to anyone with functioning eyes, a modicum of wisdom and no political axe to grind that Kyle Rittenhouse was guilty.
A month or so back, I stumbled across a movie on TCM that unexpectedly checked off a few boxes of interest on the part of my wife Andrea.
It was a movie that starred Red Skelton. Shelton was a favorite comedian of Andrea's family and was the source of a brush with fame. Andrea's grandmother encountered Red Skelton in a K-Mart when he was in town for a live show.
It also featured Gene Kelly, a favorite classic actor here at the Fortress of Ineptitude for his roles in Singin' In the Rain and An American In Paris. This movie featured a young Kelly, predating his more famous roles by a decade.
And the movie also starred Lucille Ball. Long recognized as the grande dame of TV comedy, Ball spent a lot of time in the movies before I Love Lucy ever became a thing. Andrea had never seen a movie with Lucille Ball.
So for this week's Cinema Sunday, from 1943 we present Du Barry Was a Lady.
Madame Du Barry was a courtesan of King Louis XV, his official mistress. One of her predecessors in the role was Madame de Pompadour of whom we learned a great deal in the Doctor Who episode "The Girl In the Fireplace".
Madame Du Barry was not as beloved as Madame de Pompadour so she never got a Doctor Who episode made about her.
She does, however, inspire a nightclub cabaret act. May Daly (Lucille Ball) performs a lavish costumed musical spectacle about the scandalized mistress of King Louis XV. Coatroom attendant Louis Blore (Red Skelton) and master of ceremonies Alec Howe (Gene Kelly) are in love with May but May only eyes for men with money.
Until Louis actually comes into money and May reluctantly agrees to marry him. But she makes it clear: she's only marrying him for money and not for any sex stuff.
(OK, I should point out this is an American film made in 1943 under the strict oversight of the Hays Office. May does not actually utter the words "no sex stuff" but I still heard it.)
Louis is actually down with this because he's just happy someone as pretty and talented as May has anything to do with him, even if it is just for money.
The Louis gets knocked unconscious (Why? Shenanigans. Let it go at that.) and finds himself the King of France, ol' royal Louie himself, King Louis XV. In this fantasy world, Madame Du Barry (Ball) is his mistress but even in his own fantasy world, she ain't putting out. Not for him, anyway. Her belongs to that mysterious daredevil, that fighter for the poor and the oppressed known only as the Black Arrow (Kelly again).
Then there's stuff and shenanigans and yada yada yada before Louis wakes up and is back in the 1940's. Louis realizes that May and Alec are truly in love and releases May from her commitment to marry him.
Which is all for the best as the money's gone. Louis has spent half of his new found fortune and the IRS has come to collect the rest.
Du Barry Was a Lady began life as a 1939 stage musical but by the time the story made it to the MGM lot, very little of the original play was left. Most of the original Cole Porter score gets cut from the film.
The 18th century fantasy sequence that formed the core of the stage musical is shunted off to the last 3rd of the movie. A variety of vaudeville acts fill time in the 58 minutes before the dream sequence ever gets underway.
Red Skelton dominates the proceedings with his signature schtick, firing off dozens of one-liners from his classic stand up comedy act. So a lot of the stage story was jettisoned to make room for Skelton's comedy routine.
The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Dept.
Zero Mostel stars as Rami the Swami in the night club and as Taliostra in the 18th century dream sequence. Mostel would go on to play Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of Mel Brooks' The Producers.
Lana Turner stars as Lana Turner.
Louise Beavers is Niagara, May Daly's maid and confidante. Like a lot of African American women of the era, Louise was often cast in the role of someone's maid or housekeeper. I'm citing her here because she was also a maid in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, a classic Cary Grant/Myrna Loy comedy that I should post about in Cinema Sunday one day.
Fun Fact: although a long time famous red head, Lucille Ball's appearance in Du Barry Was a Lady was her debut as a red head in film. In all her previous films,she had been a brunette but who cared, they were in black and white. For her Technicolor debut, it was decided Lucille Ball needed to be more distinctive and her hair was dyed red. Whoever made that decision, Lucille Ball liked it a lot and remained a red head for the rest of her life.
Here's something else that I find interesting. I've written of previous classic films where the lead actor was so much older than their leading lady. In Dubarry, Lucille Ball is older than Gene Kelly and Red Skelton.
Du Barry Was a Ladyis a surprisingly slight film, more fluff than form, more style over substance. The dream sequence, so central to the stage play, feels tacked on. If you like the corny comedy of Red Skelton or the suave sophistication of Gene Kelly, there's something to keep you entertained.
