Cinema Sunday: It Happened One Night

There are movies with reputations that have long had me intrigued and I've really been interested in seeing them. 

 Today's Cinema Sunday is about one of those movies.  

In 1934, director Frank Capra created a romantic comedy that has served as the template for all the romantic comedies that have come after. For nearly a century, romantic comedies have strived to replicate the cinematic alchemy of this movie.

Today, we're going to talk about It Happened One Night.

Claudette Colbert is Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has eloped with a due named King Westley, a ne'er do well pilot and fortune hunter.  Alexander Andrews, Ellie's dad, wants to have the marriage annulled because he knows this dude is only it for the money. 

Now Alexander is not coming off too good in the early going of this movie, acting like an insufferable tyrannical jerk. We don't meet King Westley until much later in the movie and when we do, just the sight of him tells you, yeah, he's in it for the money.

But NO! Ellie swears they love each other and dear old daddy will not get in their way. 

So Ellie runs away and boards a Greyhound bus in Florida bound for New York City to reunite with her husband. The detectives dear old daddy hired to find Ellie don't catch up to her because they though she was too high falutin' and fancy to take a bus.  

Apparently there is NO news of any significance going on in the world as Ellie's runaway adventures makes headlines while dear old dad keeps the heat on to find his wayward daughter.  

This is where Clark Cable comes in as a fellow passenger named Peter Warne, a newspaper reporter who recently lost his job. He needs a really hot story to get back into the good graces of his ex-editor. 

And there's one sitting next to him on the bus.   

Peter offers Ellie a deal: if she gives him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is. 

Ellie agrees as she needs all the help she can get. She's not even out of Florida and her suitcase with all her money has been stolen and she's doesn't have two bits left together.  

But she really finds Peter annoying and Pete is quite irked by Ellie.  

So our irksome pair are facing a long journey north. This is 25 years before I-95 even existed; it's like the friggin' Oregon Trail getting from Miami to New York City by bus. 

Over the course of their journey there are shenanigans mixed in with stuff 'n' junk with things going wrong running neck and neck with things going right.

Yeah, Ellie is high maintenance but danged if Peter ain't growing fond of the girl. 

And boy, that Peter can be such a smart ass but Ellie feels drawn to his roguish charms. 

Ah, these two crazy kinds are in love! 

Luuuuuuuuvvvvvvvv!!!! 

BUT....

But there misunderstandings, mishaps and some other 3rd word that begins with "mis-" and Ellie winds up with King Westley (and when we meet him, oh yeah, this bastard's in it for the money). 

Anyway, there's going to be a big formal wedding for a big to-do on the society page.

Then Peter confronts Alexander Andrews looking for money. Dad thinks Peter might be angling for the $10,000 reward money daddy dearest had offered when his daughter was missing.  

Nope! Peter is there for $39.60 to cover items lost and expenses incurred during his trek with Ellie.  

Walking his daughter up the aisle, Alexander quietly tells Ellie if she runs out on the wedding, that'll be OK and if she does, Dad has a car all gassed up and ready to go out front. 

And she's off!!  

And Ellie and Peter wind up happily together and yeah, not really a spoiler! C'mon! We know how these things work. 

OK, so a lot of what I described above my seem like a cliche. Look, if you sat through almost any Julia Roberts moving in the latter part of the 20th century (Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, etc), yeah, you've seen this movie.  

But a couple of things to keep in mind. 

1) It Happened One Night did it first. Every romantic comedy since that movie seeks to replicate the DNA of that 1934 film. And the reason for that is....

2) It Happened One Night did it best. Even with the knowledge of all the films that have come after, It Happened One Night crackles with a fresh wit and a sparkling energy that comes from a tight script, sharp direction and an undeniable chemistry between Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. 

A lot of what makes It Happened One Night still resonate nearly a hundred years later is the film is free of the artifices imposed on American film with the advent of the Motion Picture Production Code enforced by the infamous Hays office starting in July 1934.  

As an example of the relatively breezy attitude towards sexuality that would later be gutted by the Hays office, there's the famous hitchhiking scene from It Happened One Night where in Peter rhapsodizes over his ability to get a ride from anyone and it's all in how you put your thumb out. Many, many efforts of Peter's magic thumb failed to elicit a single offer of a ride. 

Then Ellie steps out to the side of the road and....

And I'll be damned if they don't get a ride.   

The film won all five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated at the 7th Academy Awards for 1934:

• Best Picture
• Best Director for Frank Capra
• Best Actor for Clark Gable
• Best Actress for Claudette Colbert
• Best Adaptation for screenwriter Robert Riskin

It Happened One Night deserves it's rep as a classic romantic comedy and did not disappoint my expectations.

Starting next week as April moves into May, I will be focusing Cinema Sunday on a selection of musicals. 

Songs For Saturday: Beyond the Sea

 

Today's Songs For Saturday is actually Song For Saturday with only ONE song this week.

But you will get it twice.

Here is "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin. 

And now here is "Beyond the Sea" but this time in French byTatiana Eva-Marie & Avalon Jazz Band.

No disrespect to the O.G. Bobby Darin but I kind of really like the French version. 

And that is that for this week's Songs For Saturday. 

Until next time, n'oubliez pas d'être bons les uns envers les autres et de toujours garder la musique vivante !

Or as we usually say it, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive!   

Your Friday Video Link: A Late Late Departure

 

This week marks the end of James Corden's tenure as host of CBS' The Late Late Show.

When Corden was Craig on his two episodes of Doctor Who, I liked him well enough.

Everywhere else...

Well, somewhere along the line, James Corden began getting on my nerves. 

And I never really cared for him as a talk show host.  

OK, "Carpool Karaoke" could be kind of fun. 

But he was too fawning over his guests and his monologues lacked the bite of Meyers or Colbert or Kimmel.   

Anyway...

Your Friday Video Link is the previous (and my humble opinion, still best) of The Late Late Show stepping down and moving out with an epic musical number.  

Here's Craig Ferguson and "Keep Banging On Your Drum".  

No Truth No Consequences

It's been a minute since I looked outside at what's going on in the world. So far this week I've looked inward at myself ("I am old! Wah! Wah! Wah!") and the blog itself ("The blog is old! Blah! Blah! Blah!") so let's take a moment to retrain my focus to the world outside.  

Which this post will do. Warning: "This news is old! Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!"   

Last week, Fox Corp settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over defamation charges.  This was just a smidge under half of the $1.6 billion that Dominion was seeking.

Proving defamation against a (real or alleged) news organization is tough. You can't just show that a newscast or a newspaper said something incorrect or malicious or harmful. You have to prove intent, that the news entity knew damn well that what they were saying was incorrect or malicious or harmful. 

And Dominion appeared to be able to prove just that. 

In advance of the trial date, Dominion's lawyers were offering up a shit ton of evidence that Fox on air talent knew damn well that what they were putting in the air about Dominion voting machines being rigged to turn Trump votes to Biden votes was bullshit.   

The trial that was scheduled to start last week offered the tantalizing prospect of seeing the likes of Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity having to testify under oath that they knew the wild conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines were totally baseless and yet allowed these insane theories be expressed on the air unchallenged.  

A jury was selected last Tuesday and was ready to get to working hearing testimony and evidence after lunch. Once lunch time was over, the jury was thanked for their service and told to go home.

Fox News offered to settle and Dominion took it. 

Click here where Devin Stone summarizes the Fox News/Dominion Voting Machines settlement. 

So what did Dominion get out of this other than just under $800 million? Well, not much. 

Fox issued a statement that was so absurd, CNN's Jake Tapper was not able to read it with a straight face.

Fox's statement is vague and non-committal at best. "Certain claims about Dominion were false" is right up there with Ronald Reagan's "Mistakes were made" about the Iran Contra scandal.  

Also another thing about Fox's statement? Guess who didn't get to hear it?  The settlement with Dominion did not require an on-air apology. The idiots who rely on Fox News and ONLY Fox News, you know, the very people who were being lied to and were believing those lies, didn't hear shit about this settlement.  

This history making payout for a defamation case didn't make the news on Fox News.   

And how much of this nearly $800 million dollars is coming out of Fox's pocket?  The likelihood is that Fox News has insurance for this sort of contingency and on top of that, may be able to write off as much as $200 million of that settlement as a tax deductible business expense.  

So for just under $800 million which Fox will likely not have to pay for with it's own money, the network avoided having it's contemptuous disregard for truth being exposed and dissected in open court. $800 million is chump change to allow Fox to have no consequences for no truth. 

Unless you're Tucker Carlson who was fired on Monday.   

I know it's been a bit much to expect a corporation to put it's self interest on the back burner instead of saving American democracy. Yes, Dominion took the money and ran and it was for them probably the right call to make. 

But Fox News can toddle off with it's financial pain mitigated by insurance and tax write offs while it can continue to do what it has always done and tailor it's message to what the audience wants to hear.  

Fox News is not quite out of the woods yet.  Another voting machine company, Smartmatic, has it's own law suit still pending.  

I fully expect to learn Fox knowingly lied to it's viewers about that company.  Actually some of the damaging evidence against Fox presented by Dominion also name checks Smartmatic.  

And I fully expect Fox will buy it's way out of trouble.  

I've Been Writing I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You For TEN YEARS?!?!?

So I was working on my birthday post for Monday when I needed to do some research on a prior post.

That I wrote in 2013.  

Ten years ago.

...

...

Wait! 

Ten? 

TEN YEARS AGO?!?! 

Holy fuck! I've been writing I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You for TEN YEARS?!?!?

March 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of this blog!  

REALLY?!?!? 

That can't be right.

Let me check with the crack editorial team in charge of I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You.

Shit! You guys are never any help! 

Seriously! Why didn't someone remind me? 

C'mon, Batman! I still read your damn comic books! Couldn't you do a fan a solid and remind of these important things?  

Well, that's pretty damn cold, Caped Crusader!  

Maybe I'll just stop buying your comic book, huh?

(Well, after the current storyline is done.) 

Hey, Russell T Davies meme, can you offer some solace to a fellow creative? 

Well, it's a big deal to me! 

Let me get the the I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You writing staff on this! 

I don't get it either.

And I am also not amused.

Let me see if I can use that fancy schmancy AI every one is using to create a really kick ass 10th anniversary celebration blog post.  

So the I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You AI is not going to help me? 

Let me check with the I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You tech support.  

So that's it? 10 years of writing this blog and THIS is how we're going to acknowledge that?

I'm gonna take this upstairs to the executive in charge of production!

Well...   

Fuck! 

OK, hooray for me for writing I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You for 10 damn years and I'm gonna keep doing this blog, I don't care how many of you don't care and I'm on gonna keep on blogging forever and forever and...

Really? 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Star Trek Picard

Normally the Tuesday TV Touchbase is about TV I watch.  Let's start off today's post with some news about TV I don't watch.

Tucker Carlson is no longer on Fox News. 

Fox announced yesterday that the network and Carlson agreed to part ways and his last show was on Friday, April 21st. 

Since Carlson ended his show on Friday telling his viewers he would be back on Monday, yeah, I'm guessing it's not all that mutual. 

Fox News certainly had a lot of reasons to can Tucker Carlson's sorry ass:

• racism
• homophobia
• sexism 
• anti-Semitism 
• xenophobia 
• misogyny
• white supremacy
• conspiracy theorist 

Well, anywhere else, all of those would be bugs. At Fox News, those are features. 

Fox News is loyal to it's on air talent as long as that talent makes more money than it costs. In the wake of the $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Machines, it may well be Carlson crossed that line from profitable to not profitable and the bastard had to go. 

More on the Fox News/Dominion settlement in Thursday's post. 

Last week, Andrea and I watched the series finale of Star Trek Picard and it was in a word awesome.

But to quote a maligned Star Trek theme song, "It's been a long road, getting from there to here."  

Star Trek Picard was at the time it was first announced the only project to allow Star Trek to move forward. In it's first two seasons, Discovery was a prequel as was Enterprise before it. 

In the movies, J J Abrams' Star Trek was a reboot of what had gone on before in the original series.  

Star Trek Picard would allow us to pick up from after where we left off, the deservedly reviled Star Trek Nemesis and tell us what happens next with the Federation, Starfleet and Jean-Luc Picard.  

Patrick Stewart was very clear that this new series was not going to be an exercise in nostalgia and would not be a Next Generation reunion show.  

OK, fine with me. And season 1 stuck the landing even if it did end of a very odd note: Jean Luc Picard dies but they saved his brain and put it in an android body that looks and acts human and will eventually die of old age.  

Well, that's just weird.

Season 2 was just... awful. A poorly plotted story involving an alternate time line where the Federation is fascist as fuck, time travel to go fix it and an interminable arc about how mental illness runs in the Picard family that was just so badly and ineptly handled and was completely unnecessary.  

To quote Keith DeCandido's assessment of season 2, "My head hurts! Augh!" (Click here for Keith's write up on Season 2 and all the myriad things it got wrong.)   

Which brings us to season 3 of Star Trek Picard for what is most definitely an exercise in nostalgia and is very much a Next Generation reunion show.  

But... 

While it's story about people characters we know from the past, we discover what they're up to now and how they have changed over the years as the cast gathers to confront a threat to the Federation. The Changelings from the Dominion War (Star Trek Deep Space Nine) have infiltrated Starfleet and are up to shit. 

Part of that shit is to capture Jack Crusher, the son that Jean Luc Picard did not know he had with Beverly Crusher.  

The name Picard is still in the show's title and a driving arc of this season is Jean Luc not only learning he's a father but what that means for his life and the life of his son.  It is a life lesson that will serve Jean Luc in good stead when the Borg come calling at the end of the season. 

Very long story made very short: the Changelings have fucked things up with Starfleet tech so that the Borg can assimilate a bunch of Starfleet officers from across space and now we've got starships at war with each other. 

Look, I could fill this whole post with quotes from Worf.

"For a moment there, I was worried we might actually survive." 

Or the joys and wonders of Old Man Data! 

“Greetings, U.S.S. Titan, this is your friendly positronic pissed-off security system, back online. Unwanted guests and monologuing protoplasms: I am issuing an immediate shift change.”

Yes, borrowing from the plot twist at the end of season 1 with Picard now living in an android body that can age and act human, we now have a way for senior citizen Brent Spiner to still play Data.  

And there is SO much nostalgia with so many references the vast universe of Star Trek: 

• Michelle Forbes is back as Ro Laren.
• Elizabeth Dennehy is back as Shelby, now a Starfleet admiral.
• Tim Russ from Voyager is back as Tuvok. 
• Walter Koenig, Pavel Chekov from the original series, is on hand for a voice cameo as Earth President Anton Chekov.  

But all this nostalgia is in service to a story that... well, to be blunt, it's a story that doesn't always make sense. There are plot holes a plenty and God knows the pacing on the first episodes of the season could do with some serious tightening up. 

But damn, once the finale hits, all those concerns fly out the window. The stakes are big and epic but the paths to resolving those stakes are found in the human condition, the capacity for growth, for forgiveness, for love. 

The series finale for Star Trek Picard gives Jean Luc and his Starfleet family the positive ending they were denied years ago. And it gives the fans who have patiently (or maybe not so patiently) put up with this show for three years to get the show we wanted all along. We got to spend time with friends we once knew and found out what they're doing now and what they hope to do next. 

And that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase. 

Next week, the Touchbase is brought to you by the letter "M" as I cover:

• the 3rd season finale of The Mandalorian.
• the debut of the 5th and final seson of the Marvelous Mrs, Maisel
• and I've discovered a murder mystery show that has captured my attention: Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. 

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.  

The Big Six O!

 Today is April 24th and it's my birthday.

Well, it's not just another birthday. It's what one might call a milestone.

Today I am...

I really don't want to say this.

I am old. 

Specifically I am 60 years old today.

Which seems so... weird.

In many ways, I have always been old. 

My body has always hurt. 

I have always wanted those kids off my lawn. 

My soup is always too hot or too cold. 

I have never understood these kids today.

Even when "today" was 50 years ago and I was 10.

Age 10 is the first milestone. While your age is still in the single digits, you can still cling to some vestigial fragment of being cute, adorable. When your age moves from 9 to 10, the expectations grow that you need to get your shit together.

A lot of my problems at the age of 60 stem from me not getting my shit together when I was 10. I never fundamentally answered that crucial question of what do I want to be when I grow up.  

Here I am at age 60, mere years from retirement, from fricking death itself and I STILL DON'T KNOW!  

Turning 20 can put a person in for an ass kicking. I know there are people who are ecstatic to drop "teen" from their age and be treated like a god damn grown up but fuck that. Look, being treated like an adult is a lifetime of being expected to hold down a job, paying your taxes and insurance and other shit.  

I was not ready to turn 20 to be treated like an adult because someone did not get their shit together at age 10.   

There's a certain magic for being in your 20's, the imprimatur of adulthood coupled with the energy and idealism of youth. Turing 30 is supposed to be the traumatic loss of that twenty-something magic. 

I don't remember how I felt when I turned 30 because I sucked at doing anything with my 20's. I remember kind of being struck by the fact that I turned 30 after that fact. "Shit! Did I turn 30 last month?" Perhaps I would've been paying more attention and noticed the death of my 20's but someone did not get their shit together at age 10.   

Turning 40 was a blur. It felt like turning 30 as far as any impact on my life. That was the decade the weight hit and came to stay. Before that, Dave-El was a moderately thin-ish person but starting at 40, the metabolism just fucking died and I became pregnant with twins. 

It's hard being 40 years old and the father of a young 3 year old daughter. Randie would try to convince me to do things.

Randie: "C'mon, Daddy! It'll be FUN!"

Me: "Fun? I am the enemy of FUN!" 

I'm not sure I can blame that on being 40. That was just me already being the ornery 60 year old curmudgeon I've always been in my mind, even way back when I was someone who did not get their shit together at age 10.   

I have zero memory of turning 50.  

Hey, I was writing this blog in 2013.  Surely I made some comment on the day.  Let's see, I posted this graphic on April 24, 2013: 

So THAT is what I thought about turning 50, eh? 

I did a post for my birthday the next year. Here's a graphic from that. 

I'm turning 60 today.  Will there in fact be cake? 

It's just Andrea and I here at the Fortress of Ineptitude and quote frankly, she's not good at surprises. I am not aware of her making or buying a cake so far. 

So I'm 60 years old. I'm still reading comic books and watching Star Trek and overall still being the same damn nerd for 6 decades now. 

And everything hurts. 

But everything has always hurt. 

This day is here whether I'm ready for it or not.

And I am not. 

Because someone did not get their shit together at age 10.   

Thank you for reading and I am so glad my suffering amuses you. 

Cinema Sunday: My Favorite Wife

It's been awhile since I wrote about a classic black & white movie here on Cinema Sunday. 

Today we go back to 1940 for a screwball comedy that's sure to be a classic, My Favorite Wife starring Cary Grant & Irene Dunne who teamed up before for The Awful Truth which we posted about in September 2021.  

It's been seven years since Ellen Arden (Dunne) was lost at sea.  Lawyer Nick Arden (Grant) has his wife declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca. 

In court, Judge Bryson declares Ellen legally dead and marries Nick and Bianca. It's a lot for the judge to wrap his head around. 

Guess who isn't dead? Yep, turns out Ellen was shipwrecked on a deserted island and has only now been rescued.   

And she's back in time for the first night of Nick's honeymoon with Bianca.  Well, that timing sucks. 

Nick wigs out when he spots Ellen and isn't sure how to break the news to Bianca.  Bianca is really weirded out by Nick's behavior and is really frustrated by the nonconsummation of their marriage. (Translation: Bianca is horny is hell, needs to get laid and her arranged booty call ain't putting out.)  

To fuck with Nick's mind some more, it turns out Ellen was not on her deserted island but with a guy named Steve. A tall, muscular dude with blonde hair that Ellen was alone with on an island for 7 years and insists she did not have sex with him. 

(Remember, this movie is laboring under the Hays Code for movie censorship.) 

Then Nick is arrested for bigamy and brought before Judge Bryson who is ever more confused than he was before with the woman he declared dead is now in the courtroom. Eventually he sorts out what's going on well enough to annul Nick and Bianca's marriage leaving Nick and Ellen free to be married again.

Except Ellen isn't sure of Nick's feelings for her and fucks with his head a bit before she realizes he still loves her and she loves him and it's... the end. 

When we watched this movie, Andrea thought it was very funny and sweet. And I can see her point. But a lot of my enjoyment of the film was diminished due how much the movie relies on Nick Arden carrying the idiot ball.  

Much of the confusion and complications that drive the film only happen because Nick is a stupid jerk. Bianca is treated badly by Nick in this film simply because he doesn't seem to know better. If there was plot point that made it necessary for Nick to not tell Bianca that his 1st wife is not dead right now, OK, I could work with that. 

One can make the point that Nick had mourned the loss of Ellen, made peace that she was gone and was ready to move on with someone new and this was not an easy process for him and then to just have the woman he thought was dead to just pop up and on his honeymoon, well, that could make anyone a bit crazy. I concur but after awhile the lengths Nick goes to in order to not tell Bianca the truth just come off as unnecessarily cruel Bianca.     

My Favorite Wife is considered a classic screwball romantic comedy and I can objectively see how others would consider it so. But this movie is in my humble opinion not a good look for Cary Grant. 

Next week, Cinema Sunday goes even further back in time, to 1934, for what many film critics consider the quintessential classic screwball romantic comedy.   

Songs For Saturday: U2

 

Hey, it's my birthday this Monday so for this Songs For Saturday, I'm going to celebrate with a couple of my favorite live performances by my favorite rock band, U2.  Leading off is an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is "Ordinary Love".  

While on tour in 2009, here is U2 performing at the Rose Bowl with "Amazing Grace" leading into "Where The Streets Have No Name".   

And that is that for this week's Songs For Saturday. 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive!   

Your Friday Video Link: The Gentleman Jack Wedding Scene

It's been awhile but I am still in mourning over the end of Gentleman Jack.

Your Friday Video Link this week is the extended sequence at the end of season 1 where Ann and Anne get married (as best they can in a repressive early 19th century English society). 

Throwback Thursday: Superman Gets High

Today is April 20th so I'm gonna take a break and re-post this thing from a previous April 20th (in 2019).  

Superman Gets High

Today is April 20th. 

Or 4/20 if you will.

As in 420.  

Which is a weed reference. 

The most common accepted answer to why "420" is even a thing for marijuana smokers is that “420” is code among police officers for “marijuana smoking in progress.”  

Apparently that isn't true but who cares? 

Today is April 20th so let's do a post in the spirit of the day, a post about the time Superman got high.  

I discovered this story while I was flipping about one of my favorite websites, TV Tropes and came across a section called Intoxication Ensues.

This trope involves a situation where one or more characters accidentally partakes of some behavior-altering substance. 
However it happens, they wind up behaving in a very loopy manner. 

They get high. 

Apparently, this happened to Superman.  

Seems the Man of Steel gets zapped by something called "silver kryptonite".  What does this particular type of kryptonite do? 

Well, let's find out.  

This was from Superman/Batman#46, written by Michael Green & Mike Johnson and illustrated by Shane Davis & Matt Banning.   

OK, I know it's impossible for the scent of anything to cross the hard cold airless vacuum of space but I still love this bit.

"We have to go to North Dakota. Right. Now." 

High-frickin'-larious!  

Enjoy your 4/20 day, guys! 

The Last Sears In North Carolina

 At the Sears Department Store here in Greensboro at the Friendly Center, a banner appeared across the front of the store.

It was alas a banner a long time coming and sadly inevitable.  

STORE CLOSING  

The Sears in the Friendly Center was the last Sears open in North Carolina.  

To be honest, I kind of thought the Greensboro Sears was already closed given the paucity of cars to be found in the parking lot.  

This Sears was important to me in a lot of ways. 

My Sears charge card was my first credit card. 

My first dentist and eye doctor as an adult were on site at the Sears store. 

I relied on the Sear auto center next door for my car repairs. 

It was also at Sears the last time I ever saw the first woman who ever said she loved me. I saw her coming down the escalator with her husband. 

I still remember that pain. Thanks, Sears! 

I used to work for Sears back in the 90's in one of the credit card centers. That center closed about 20 years ago. 

My wife Andrea used to work at the Sears telecatalog center. helping customers processing orders from then ubiquitous Sears catalog.  

When I was a little kid, I loved the Sears catalog, especially the double page spreads in the toy section of all the cool G I Joe gear. I knew my parents couldn't get me all of it but it was fun to dream about.  

Later when I was older, the women's lingerie section of the Sears catalog was the center of my attention.  

The once mighty Sears retail empire is sliding towards extinction. With the loss of the Greensboro store, I believe there may be about 18 Sears stores still open in the entire country. 

The loss of something of significance from my personal history and the American landscape.  

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Quantum Leap

 A couple of weeks ago, the new Quantum Leap ended it's first season with an epic season finale that tied together the plot lines of the show to date.

• Why did Dr. Ben Song leap into the quantum accelerator in the first place? 
• What was Ian's role in getting Ben to make the leap? 
• What was the mission of Ben's rival leaper, Martinez, AKA "Leaper X"? 

In the season finale, Ben leaps into the future, a first for either the new or classic series. Ben meets an elderly Ian who is the lone survivor of a destroyed Project Quantum Leap. Ian makes Ben commit to memory a code Ian's been working on for 20 years.  

Then Ben is pulled back into past, to the year 2018 where Dr. Ben Song leaps into the body of... Dr. Ben Song. 

Herbert "Magic" Williams has just assembled his new team to restart Project Quantum Leap and it's the night of Ben's first date with Addison who is also Ben's hologram companion. Caitlin Bassett has to do double duty as both her 2018 self and her hologram self at the same time.   

2018 is the focal point of Martinez' plan to stop Project Quantum Leap. He's working for a secret government cabal that has determined the project is more of a danger than a help. His primary goal was to kill Addison Augustine who was supposed to be the designated leaper for the revived project...until Ben made the jump instead. Martinez has leaped into Magic and expanded the scope of the mission: everyone involved with the project needs to die. 

The key to stopping Martinez lies in the code future Ian gave Ben and both 2018 and 2023 Ian are kind of stumped on what he's trying to say to himself.  I have raved about Mason Alexander Park as Ian in previous posts about Quantum Leap and I've just gonna gush over them again. The nuances in difference between the versions of Ian in 2018, 2023 and the future are subtle but significant enough to give a sense of Ian's growth as a character, as they evolve from an uncertain newbie to a more grounded and confident scientist to an older person who has had decades to ponder the mysteries of time and space.  

There is a climatic battle between Ben and Martinez as they leap backward into previous time periods where they had interacted before, 1954, 1989 and 1879.  

Martinez is defeated and it seems like Ben Song is coming home. Back in the present, the project team gathers as the accelerator lights up and something is coming out as Addison and the others watch breathlessly and...

We're out! 

A brief clip package shows us scenes from season 2 as Ben continues to leap from life to life. Well, we knew the show was renewed for a 2nd season so we knew he wouldn't be coming home now.  

So what is coming out of the accelerator? 

We'll have to wait until this fall. 

A few things about this revival of Quantum Leap. At first I was concerned that the present day elements with the project would take time away from Ben's dilemmas in the past but those sections of the show proved to be vital in giving the series a sense of forward momentum as opposed to just being random episodes. Modern audiences demand story telling devices like season long arcs and spending time with the project team in the present afforded the show a chance at that sort of storytelling.  

Without the present day scenes, I would have never discovered the sheer joy of Mason Alexander Park as Ian. 

I wasn't too happy at first with Addison as the hologram. She seemed a bit stodgy at first, at least compared to Al Calavicci who was Sam's hologram in the original series. But I started to warm up to Addison over the course of the season, particularly with her exasperation whenever Ben wouldn't do what Ziggy had calculated he should do.   

The show did well enough for NBC to give the series a fairly quick pick up for season 2 but I was worried the network was killing their golden goose. Ratings declined a bit over the season as the network scheduled some odd breaks in the series schedule.   

There was a shaky start to the series with some behinds the scenes drama with musical chairs on the production team but overall, the new Quantum Leap delivered a very solid first season and I look forward to what happens next in season 2. 

Next week, the Tuesday TV Touchbase looks at the  series finale of Star Trek Picard. 

And after that, I will have some thoughts on the return of the Marvelous Mrs, Maisel.

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.  

So Much Shit, So Little Time II - Electric Boogaloo

Last week I did a post called "So much shit, so little time". 

I had hoped that I wouldn't need to revisit that concept so soon just 1 week later. 

But between Donald Trump, his brain dead MAGA zombies and right wing nut cases, well, it's hard to narrow down any one topic that I feel compelled to cover in this space. 

So alas...

So Much Shit, So Little Time II - Electric Boogaloo  

And we're off!    

So much shit, so little time! 

President Donald Trump was giving a speech at the National Rifle Association’s conference in Indianapolis on Friday when Li'l Donnie hit on the number one danger to America! 

So Trump grew a pair and challenged the NRA's refusal to allow any sort of gun control?

Fuck NO! This god is damn Donald motherfucking Trump! 

Of course he found something other than guns to go after. 

“Upon my inauguration, I will direct the FDA to convene an independent outside panel to investigate whether transgender hormone treatments and ideology increase the risk of extreme depression, aggression and even violence."   

Then Li'l Donnie added this catty aside: “I think most of us already know the answer."   

So much shit, so little time! 

By and by, transgender people are still the favorite target for Republicans who aren't even bothering to pretend it's about protecting children anymore. 

It's just about attacking any and all transgender persons.  

For example, speaking at the Florida state capital on Monday,   Rep. Webster Barnaby called transgender people “demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world."  

So much shit, so little time! 

It's back to the NRA conference where  Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was making a speech and declared it's untrue that NRA is just filled with “old white guys” and that the NRA is way more diverse than that.  

Then the camera panned over the audience... of mostly old white guys.  

Do they not realize we can see them?  

Oh, and Noem also bragged her 2 year old grandson as guns.

Several guns. 

God, I hope she means Nerf guns.  

So much shit, so little time! 

Mike Pence made an appearance at the  National Rifle Association convention which is being held in his home state.

Mike Pence: “Hello, NRA!”  

Audience: "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Mike Pence: “I love you, too."   

The vocal disapproval appears to have absolutely nothing to do with Pence's views on guns (which are pretty much in lock step with the Republican Party: "You can have all the guns you want!") but rather was in response to Pence agreeing to stop challenging a subpoena for him to testify in a Department Of Justice investigation of Trump’s actions surrounding the insurrection in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pence did get some favorable reaction to this policy proposal:  “The time has come to institute a federal death penalty statute, with accelerated appeal, to ensure that those who engage in mass shootings face execution in months, not years."   

So if you're the victim of a mass shooting bleeding out on the cold floor of a school or church or bank or whatever, please die in the comfort of knowing we will kill your killer back quickly.  

Unless they kill themselves first or are shot by police on the scene which is I think what happens to most mass shooters. 

So much shit, so little time! 

Donald Trump raised a combined $34 million in the first quarter through his joint fundraising committee and his campaign.  

Now here's the part that will piss you off.

$15.4 million of that total was raised AFTER he was indicted for on 34 felony accounts of falsifying financial records. 

So much shit, so little time! 

So there's a big tizzy of a stink over a kerfluffle about classified Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine being misappropriated and leaked.  And it appears the fickle finger of fate is pointed at Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira.    

Now the MAGA morons have long been in snit that the United States is supporting the duly elected government of Ukraine against the unwarranted aggression of Vladmir Putin and the Russian army.  

Why? I think it might have to do with some MAGAs thinking Hillary Clinton's email server is Ukraine, maybe? Or something to do with Hunter Biden's laptop? Fuck if I know! 

Unfortunately, the leaking of classified Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine has played into every bat shit conspiracy theory about why Ukraine is bad and Russia is not.

And speaking of "bat shit"....

Marjorie Taylor Greene immediately leapt to Teixeira's defense and bemoaned he was “being treated like a traitor and criminal.”

Greene has suggested the guardsman was singled out because he's white, male and Christian.  

So much shit, so little time! 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill late Thursday night banning abortion after six weeks. 

Since a lot of women don't know their pregnant that quickly, let's call it what is, a ban on abortions.  

Sadly this act to deny women any rights over their own bodies is not unique with Republican governors and legislatures passing abortion restrictions as fast as they can in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade. 

What makes DeSantis' bill signing particularly craven and cowardly way he went about it.  Out of town "not" campaigning  for President, DeSatanis snuck into town and signed the bill Thursday night at 10:30 PM.  

He was back out of town the next day "not" campaigning  for President where he delivered a speech at the arch conservative Liberty University and made no reference to the bill he just signed. 

The stricter you are on abortion rights, the better it plays with the extreme right wing evangelical base of the Republican Party and the better that helps DeSantis in the primary elections.   

That same super strict on abortion strategy will likely fuck up his chances in a general election.  So DeSantis restricts abortion rights on the down low knowing the rank and file know what he done did but hopes the general populace isn't paying attention.

Well, we are paying attention and it just show Ron DeSantis for the coward he is.  

So much shit, so little time, indeed. And fuck it, that's not even all of it.