Tuesday TV Touchbase: Our Flag Means Death and My Life Is Murder

Before I heard about the death of Matthew Perry, I was already bummed out about the loss of beloved TV actor Richard Moll who died at age 80. Moll was best known for his role as Bailiff Bull Shannon on the original Night Court.  

(Yes, I will repeat my refrain: the wrong people keep dying!) 

Before his death, Moll had made it very clear he had no intention to return for the new series starring Melissa Rauch. Which is a shame because I thought of a really cool way to bring back Bull and Moll only had to deliver ONE single word of dialogue. 

Judge Abby Stone is having a conflict of some kind with the New York City Police Department and she takes her problem all the way to the Police Commissioner. We don't see the commissioner directly at first as Abby makes her case but then the camera shifts and we see the Police Commissioner is Bull Shannon. He nods his head in agreement with Abby's argument and simply gives his signature "Ooo-kay!" 

Well, it's a shame we'll never get that.

On with the touchbase.  

Yes, I know we were just here last week for Our Flag Means Death but but the series has already run headlong into it's season finale

We wait months or even years between seasons and the season gets burned through in a matter of weeks. 

But back to the season finale.   

Ed's fishing adventure to go fishing with fisherman to fish for fish does not go well. Fishing for fish is hard work and the fishermen Ed is hanging out with are pissed off that Ed isn't doing any hard work and is just an overall fucking lost cause as a fisherman of fish and they send him away to do whatever he used to be good at. 

Which isn't fishing. 

It is being a pirate so Ed dives to the ocean floor to retrieve his pirate gear and comes ashore as Blackbeard lives once more!

Douche bag Prince Richard and his British Navy frat bro assholes have taken over the Republic of Pirates. Zheng's pirate fleet has been reduced to smoldering husks and the crew of The Revenge has been imprisoned awaiting execution. 

Thankfully Stede Bonnet has a plan and with some help from Spanish Jackie's poison brandy, that plan gets Stede, Ed and the crew along with Zheng and her Auntie all safely back to the Revenge.

Well, not all arrive safely.

Izzy Hands is mortally wounded and dies in Ed's arms. Which was all kinds of sad. I mean, we absolutely hated Izzy in season 1  but season 2, Izzy gets what the hell the crew of the Revenge is really all about and becomes my favorite supporting character. 

Meanwhile, the Revenge sets sail into the sunset, new adventures awaiting it's crew.

Except for Stede and Ed who remain on the island to retire to the country and remodel an old house. 

How long will that project last before the sea calls to them again?

We'll leave that for season 3 of Our Flag Means Death whenever the hell we get that.

Meanwhile I'm all wrapped up for now with My Life Is Murder. 

The crime procedural from Australia/New Zealand has produced 3 seasons so far but cable channel I was watching this on has elected to leave me hanging after the 2nd season. 

The move from Australia to New Zealand between seasons one and two gave us Suspiciously Similar Substitutes in the person of Alexa's friend in the police department who brings her the cases of the week.  

Detective Kieran Hussey is replaced by Detective Harry Henare. (The two actors are to me virtually interchangeable.)  

There is a difference. Kieran was still trying to make things work with his estranged wife which put the kibosh on actually following through on the sexual chemistry between Alexa and Kieran. 

Harry appears to have no such obstacles as it seems Harry and Alexa did sleep together when Madison discovered a partially dressed Harry in their apartment one morning. Alexa herself was not there to confirm or deny anything as she had already absconded to Reuben's for breakfast.  

Alexa remains a stubbornly obtuse character, keeping a tight rein on her back story. We discover that Alexa's father was a con man and she became a police officer in repudiation of his lifestyle. Her brother followed in dear dad's footsteps which has him currently cooling his heels in prison.  

Alexa is an extremely private person and is easily irritated by the tendencies of others (like Madison) who in her estimation overshare. Really, who needs to post pictures of their lunch? 

Madison who followed Alexa to New Zealand for a case and wound up staying as her roommate grows a lot in season 2. In many ways, Madison's backstory of potentially being sucked into a life of crime but otherwise finding a different path is similar to Alexa's not that Alexa will tell her any of that. 

I like Alexa's fashion choice of a long jacket that flaps about her like a cape when she does a power walk up to a perp to lay down exactly what they did and how Harry is going to arrest them now.

In true Columbo style, it's always some damn small detail that no one else gave a single thought about.

Season 2 ends with a Xena Warrior Princess reunion as the murderer of the week is Renee O'Connor who was Xena's sidekick Gabriella.  

And this is where for now My Life Is Murder ends for me.  I'm not spending money for yet another streaming service just to get the 3rd season.   

Next week, Star Trek Lower Decks returns to the touchbase for the 4th season finale. 

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.  

And Happy Halloween, y'all! 

The Fall in the Fall

I want to start off by saying that no matter what you may have heard in the media, I am fine. 

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin. 

There was nothing about this in the media.

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin. 

No one is handing you bulletins.

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin. 

Really! Stop doing that! 

Fair enough.

So what happened was this.

It was Friday night here at the Fortress of Ineptitude. 

RUN ON SENTENCE ALERT!

I had stepped outside to turn off the Halloween lights when I looked up and noticed the moon coming out from behind some clouds which made for quite a pleasing aesthetic that I decided to take a picture of it and so I went back inside to get my phone and when I came back out, I fell off the two steps from my porch to the front yard and crashed down on the sidewalk.

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin. 

That must have been very painful.

It was quite painful.

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin. 

I thought we were going to stop the bulletin bit.

I never agreed to anything.

So where was I?

Yes, lying on the sidewalk. 

Immediately upon impact, I cried out in pain and yelled for Andrea to help me.

I needed help because I found myself unable to get up from the sidewalk on my own. 

I had flashbacks to my fall in the winter of 2017 when I stepped off a curb wrong and had a high velocity meeting with a parking lot that among other things broke my left arm. 

For this fall in the fall of 2023, I was able to determine that despite the pain radiating throughout my entire body, I did not appear to have broken anything. I had a full range of motion in my arms and I could move my legs. I just could not raise my self up from the sidewalk.  

I had Andrea fetch an old blanket for me to roll onto so my body wasn't at least on the hard surface. It also helped me gain a bit of traction to start to help myself up and with assistance from Andrea, I was at last able to achieve a standing position.

Which immediately seemed like a bad idea and I crumbled onto the ground next to sidewalk.  

I laid there on the ground starring up through the branches of a tree at the moon mocking me. 

"Thought you would take a picture of me, you paparazzi! Ha! Ha!" 

It was quite a pleasant night and I thought, maybe I just stay here, this spot of earth is my home now.  

Andrea did not think this was a tenable idea and perhaps we might need to call for help, like calling 911.

I really didn't think that would be necessary. Thinking back to 2017, when my left arm was broken and my right arm was stunned and numb from the fall as I very very slowly manipulated my phone to call 911, now THAT was a reason to call 911. 

This time was very different. 

While this was going on, with Andrea strutting and fretting about with her husband laid out prone on the front lawn, a couple went by walking their dog. We did not draw their attention. Which is good because it was quite a pleasant evening and I wouldn't want to interrupt their pleasant walk with what I am sure is their pleasant dog.

I asked Andrea to get a chair from the kitchen and bring it out the yard next to me. I made another effort to stand but when my legs got wobbly on me again, I had the chair behind me to sit down on. 

I sat in the chair and pulled up the old blanket to my lap. Really, it was a very pleasant evening and maybe I would just stay out here.  

OK, not a good long term goal and I needed to get inside as I had not entirely escaped injury.  Along my shin I had sustained a deep scrape that was bleeding and needed attention.  

I get it, this post is taking longer than I expected.

I will move this along now.  

Eventually I sensed that I could probably make another go at standing up so I did.

And I stayed standing up.

Now to try walking. 

Making small lurching steps like some kind of bargain basement Frankenstein's monster, I proceeded to and up the steps into the welcoming interior of my Fortress of Ineptitude. 

Ensconced upon my couch, Andrea took care of my leg injury which looked pretty gnarly, dude, but I did not think needed stitches. Andrea cleaned it, put ointment on it and a bandage. 

Then we finally watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

As I write this on Saturday, my legs are still stiff and the scrape on my leg is healing but it still stings a bit.

But Andrea is scared to death I'm going to fall down again and won't let me do anything.  

Wait! I am being handed a bulletin.

This blog post is over.

And about damn time! 

Everybody be good to one another. 

Will be back tomorrow with the Tuesday TV Touchbase and we'll catch up with the world on Wednesday.Thursday's post will introduce a theme for the blog for the month of November.  

Until next time, watch your step and always be good to one another.  

Cinema Sunday: House of Wax and Phantom of the Opera

Halloween will be here in two days so today's Cinema Sunday looks at two classic thriller movies.

Starting us off is House of Wax from 1953 starring that master of thrills and horror, Vincent Price.  

In New York City in the early 1900s, Professor Henry Jarrod is a talented sculptor who runs a wax museum. He takes extreme pride in his wax statues of historical figures.

Jarrod is particularly fond of his Marie Antoinette.

But Matthew Burke, Jarrod's business partner, is impatient with Jarrod's refusal to create more lurid sensational exhibits that will lure more ticket buying customers so he decides to burn the place down for the insurance money. 

Jarrod is horrified as he watches helplessly as his precious wax works melt. The doomed sculptor is still trapped inside the building when it explodes. 

Burke collects the insurance money but doesn't get to spend it. A cloaked, disfigured man strangles him and stages it to look like a suicide. 

A few weeks later the same man murders Burke's fiancée, Cathy Gray. Her roommate, Sue Allen, comes home and stumbles upon the murderer. The cloaked fiend gives chase but Sue is able to escape to the home of her friend, artist and sculptor Scott Andrews.   

Later, the cloaked killer arrives at the morgue where he steals Cathy's body.  Damn, that's the 2nd time the morgue as lost a body like that. Someone took Burke's body out of the morgue as well.  

Elsewhere and elsewhen, we find out Professor Henry Jarrod is alive (I know, I know. Stop jumping ahead of the plot, guys!) but not exactly well.  He is confined to a wheel chair and his hands are deformed. Jarrod is restarting his wax museum but is relying on accomplices, I mean henchmen, no I mean apprentices (that's the ticket) to rebuild his creations.  

Scott arrives at the museum, hoping to work with the great master Professor Henry Jarrod. He brings Sue with him who is a bit unnerved by the wax figures.

Especially the waxwork of Joan of Arc which looks disturbingly a lot like Cathy Gray. 

Jarrod agrees to take on Scott as a student which also gives him a chance to get closer to Sue. He is amazed by how much Sue looks like his dear long lost Marie Antoinette and asks if Sue would agree to model for him someday.  

Yeah, it's creepy.

And Sue is really freaked out at how exactly Joan of Arc looks like Cathy Gray. 

So Sue goes to the police. They recognize one of Jarrod's accomplices henchmen apprentices as a known miscreant with a rap sheet so they bring him to ask some questions. 

Like what is he doing with a pocket watch belonging to a dead attorney whose body is also missing? 

(Yes, I know you know. You figured it out at the start of the post. Just let me do my thing here and let me get to the end of this thing in my own way.) 

Sue arrives at the wax museum to meet Scott. Jarrod sent him away on an errand to....

(He's gonna trap Sue and then he's gonna....HEY! HEY! HEY! What did I say about jumping ahead of the plot?) 

Sue is alone as she pokes around the Joan of Arc statue and pulls off it's brunette wig... and HOLY CRAP! The statue is Cathy Gray. 

(Yes, I know you knew that.) 

All the statues are dead bodies dunked in wax. 

(Just shut up, OK?) 

Then Sue exposes that Jarrod is not confined to a wheel chair but is quite ambulatory. And his normal face is a wax max hiding his disfigured visage! 

(Yes, I know this surprises no one.)

And then Jarrod subdues Sue, strips her naked, straps her to a table underneath a spray nozzle hooked up to a vat of boiling wax! 

(Yes, I said stripped naked but this is a movie made under the Hays production code. You're gonna have to settle for some nude shoulders and bare feet, you pervs!)  

The cops show up after that dude they arrested finally crackded and gave up the deal that Jarrod's new wax museum is a veritable morgue of wax encased corpses.

Jarrod gets knocked into his wax vat and Sue narrowly escapes being turned into a wax statue. 

The End

Now it's time for the...

"What's Up With That?" Department.

What's up with dude with the paddle ball knocking the ball towards the camera lens?

House of Wax was made as a 3-D film and some shit had to come towards the camera. Hence the paddle ball guy and that awkward date where Scott takes Sue to see can-can dancers.

Next up for today's Cinema Sunday post is 1943 version of  Phantom of the Opera starring Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Claude Rains.   

Violinist Erique Claudin is dismissed from the Paris Opera House after revealing that he is losing the use of the fingers of his left hand. 

Claudin is totally screwed because he has no money, having used all that he earned as a violinist to anonymously fund voice lessons for Christine Dubois, a young soprano to whom he is devoted. 

(No, you do not remember any of this from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical because this adaption is definitely going it's own way from the source material.)  

In a desperate attempt to earn money, Claudin submits a piano concerto he has written for publication to Maurice Pleyel.  Thinking Pleyel is trying to cheat him and steal his music (Pleyel is not trying to cheat Claudin, he's just rude), Claudin strangles the music publisher. Pleyel's assistant throws etching acid in Claudin's face which horribly burns him and damages his face. 

Claudin escapes to the opera house where he hides in the tunnels underground, donning a prop mask from the opera house, he becomes....

The Phantom of the Opera. 

Meanwhile....

Christine dealing with attention from two different dudes she really isn't all that in to.

• Inspector Raoul Dubert wants her to quit the Opera and marry him. 
• Famous opera baritone Anatole Garron hopes to win Christine's heart. 

Wait until she finds out about the Phantom. He's off on a mission to make Christine a star, a mission he seeks to accomplish through intimidation, terror and MURDER! 

His plans and schemes coming to naught, the Phantom abducts Christine to his underground lair where he professes his love and his desire to hear her sing but only for him. 

Raoul and Anatole come charging to to rescue.  Raoul fires his gun at the Phantiom, but Anatole knocks Raoul's arm, and the shot hits the ceiling, causing a cave-in. Anatole and Raoul escape with Christine, while the Phantom is seemingly crushed to death by falling rocks.

In the last scene, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine choose one of them. She chooses neither of them so Anatole and Raoul go off together to have dinner.

I left out a lot of intricacies and nuances of the Phantom's schemes. There's a lot more going than this cursory summation would suggest. This version of Phantom of the Opera is competently made and Claude Rains does very well with the role of the Phantom. But the efforts expended to humanize the Phantom, to fill all the details of his life as Erique Claudin before he became the Phantom sort of undermines the gothic energy of the core story.  

Next month, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuse You will have several posts around the theme of "November Nineties" and we will have 4 weekly Cinema Sunday posts spotlighting movies from the 1990's. 

That starts next week.   

Matthew Perry

 Before we get to this week's Cinema Sunday, I wanted to put down some thoughts about Matthew Perry who died on Saturday at the age of 54. 

As I always say, the wrong people keep dying. 

And this one felt more wrong than most.

Six years younger than I am and beloved by millions of fans, why should Matthew Perry have to die? It makes no sense to me.

Matthew was best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends.  For all the fame and fortune that role brought him, he still struggled with a life beset by addictions to drugs and alcohol.  

In his memoir, Matthew Perry wrote of his time on thelong running comedy series.  ″Friends had been a safe place, a touchstone of calm for me; it had given me a reason to get out of bed every morning, and it had also given me a reason to take it just a little bit easier the night before.  It was the time of our lives. It was like we got some new piece of amazing news every day. Even I knew only a madman (which in many moments I had been nonetheless) would screw up a job like that.”

On the matter of his death, it appears Matthew Perry drowned in his hot tub.  Officials said that no drugs were found on scene and there were no signs of foul play but the circumstances of his death were under investigation.  

Matthew Perry didn't always have the easiest time with life and one hope he finds in death peace from the demons that afflicted him in life. 

Songs For Saturday: They Might Be Giants

 

Next week is Halloween, time for things that are strange and weird.

And strange and weird are adjectives that apply to the stars of today's Songs For Saturday play list.

It's They Might Be Giants and for no reason other than ye olde blogger is also strange and weird, all the songs on today's post begin with the letter "D". 

Up first is "Dr. Worm"! 

Our 2nd song from They Might Be Giants is "Dead".

Also beginning with the letter "D is "Don't Let's Start"! 

Rounding out today's They Might Be Giants songs that begin with the letter "D" is "Dinner Bell". 

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

Next month is November Nineties on the blog and Songs For Saturday will not escape as we feature music from the 1990's.  

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

Your Friday Video Link: The Evil House of Pancakes in 3-D!

Something goofy I like to do with my wife or used to do with my child when they were little was to present something in 3-D.

Take something like (for example) a shaker of salt, say "Would you like... some salt?" and then hold it out to their face and pull it back and forth while making a weird "wee-woo" sound. 

It's the House of Salt... in 3-D.

Your Friday Video Link is where I stole that bit from. 

From SCTV, here is....  Dr. Tongue's Evil House of Pancakes... In 3-D!!!!

Frank Robbins

 A few weeks ago, blogger Mark Evanier did a series of posts about writer/artist Frank Robbins. I enjoyed the posts so much I dropped him a line and in a follow up post, he acknowledged my email.   

I have once more had my existence validated by a person I do not personally know so "Yay! Self esteem!" 

But who was Frank Robbins?

Frank was a writer for DC Comics back in the late 1960's/early 1970's where he wrote for the Flash, Superboy and most significantly Batman.

While a lot of credit is given to writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams for moving Batman into a darker, grittier direction (after the camp silliness of the 1960's TV show starring Adam West), Frank Robbins was writing stories that were just as instrumental in moving Batman from Caped Crusader to Darknight Detective.  

Where the name Frank Robbins generates controversy is not in his role as a writer but as an artist.

While Robbins was primary paired up with artists like Irv Novick or Bob Brown, occasionally Robbins would take up pencils and ink and draw his own Batman stories.   

Robbins' style was not well received by those used to Adams, Novick and Brown. His art was sketchy and stylized.  

Frank Robbins drew some issues of DC's comic book version of The Shadow where his style was perhaps a better fit.  

Before taking up work in comic books, Frank Robbins was the creator, writer and artist for a comic strip called Johnny Hazard,  a pulp influenced action strip where Robbins' art was more at home.  

Around 1974 or so, Frank Robbins pulled up stakes from DC and took up residence at Marvel where Roy Thomas put him to work drawing his World War II comic book featuring heroes from Marvel's Golden Age, The Invaders.  

Which is where the hate for Frank Robbins, artist really took hold.

It didn't help that Robbins was not allowed to ink his own work with Vince Colletta pressed into service to ink those first issues of The Invaders.   

Then Colletta's spare inks were replaced by Frank Springer whose own art style was sketchier than Robbins.   

In addition to his work on The Invaders, Robbins was often called up to produce fill in work at a moments notice.  For example, Daredevil.   

At his best, Frank Robbins had an almost film noir look to his art. Unfortunately, by the 1970's the comics industry did not have a real home for Robbins' style of art, pressed into drawing super heroes he was not particularly adept at drawing and frequently paired up with inkers who obliterated or obscured his work. And often being called on to produce last minute rush jobs did not help his reputation among comics fandom. 

When his contract with Marvel was up, Frank Robbins moved out west, focused on painting and never did a damn comic book again for the rest of his life.  

When I was a kid in the 1970's, my heart would sink when I saw Frank Robbins name in the art credits.  It took years after his death to see what his art could be like when left to do what he wanted how he wanted it.  

Doctor Who Is (Almost Here And) NEW!

Holy hoppin' Rassilon, people!

We have a date!!!!

The first of the 3 Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials is coming our way on Disney+ on November 25th! 

The next two specials will debut on the following Saturdays, December 2nd and 9th.

AND....

We've got MORE NEW Doctor Who goodness on December 25th with the Christmas special with Ncuti Gatwa taking over as the 15th Doctor.

And more Doctor Who news? Earlier this week, filming began on Ncuti Gatwa's 2nd season of Doctor Who... before we've even seen his first? 

Wow!  

And speaking of Ncuti Gatwa's upcoming turn as our favorite Time Lord, here is Murray Gold's theme for the 15th Doctor.

My sweet Gallifrey, that gets my artron energy pumping! 

ALL NEW Doctor Who is on it's way and...

Permission to squee?

By all means! 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

The Muddled East

So the conflict between Israel and Hamas is still a thing.

It began when Hamas, the terrorist group that is also the ostensible governing authority of Gaza, decided it would be a good idea to lob a shit ton of missiles and a shit ton of armed fighters into Israel, a country with one of the strongest and most super trained militaries in the world and would have zero hesitation in responding to Hamas killing over a thousand Israel civilians with the full weight and power of that military and make Hamas pay for their reckless and deadly foray into Israel.

Except Hamas ain't paying for shit.

There are 2.3 million Palestinian civilians who live in Gaza.  

About half have fled their homes, resulting in an humanitarian crisis for the refugees. 

It's also a crisis for those who are still in Gaza who are rationing food and left with only drinking dirty water.

To be honest, even before Israel started putting the squeeze on Gaza, Palestinians were getting fucked over by Hamas. Money, time and effort that could've gone towards taking care of the citizens of Gaza went instead to armaments for a terribly misguided attack on Israel.  

Meanwhile, Israel is treating the Palestinian civilians in their path as much the enemy as Hamas.  

And that's the best handle I have on any of this.

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Our Flag Means Death and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune

So the 2nd season of Our Flag Means Death debuted a few weeks ago and the adventures of the gayest pirates ever in the history of gay pirates continue to be funny, absurd and sometimes emotionally moving.  

The development of Stede Bonnett's character has been very interesting. At the start of the series in season one, Stede was such a dandified persona, there is no way he can possibly survive as a pirate. 

This season, Stede still has his civilized cultured way about him but he's done some things, he's seen some shit and Stede's "Gentleman Pirate" has a somewhat tougher edge to him.

This really becomes evident when pirate Ned Low crashes the party,

Literally, a party. 

The crew of the Revenge are throwing a blow the fucking masts off the ship bacchanal to celebrate "Calypso's birthday". There's drinking and music and dancing and even damn the goddess Calypso herself in the form of Wee John in full, fabulous drag as Calypso, proclaiming “Raise your motherfucking glasses or feel my absolute wrath.” Who could top that entrance?

Well, Izzy Hands gives it a go, wearing drag makeup, his hair slicked back in a high pompadour, singing “La Vie En Rose”. 

Was it just one season ago that Izzy was particularly irked at Stede's crew and their weird shenanigans and now he's part of the floor show? Go fig!

Then pirate Ned Low and his crew shows up. 

Ned is a violin playing pirate whose cut from the same cloth as Stede Bonnet but no "gentleman pirate" persona for him. Ned is a full blown psychopath who tortures people because he finds screaming to be musical. Or some shit. 

So Ned gets going torturing the crew of the Revenge in various excruciatingly painful ways. The day is saved when Stede breaks free of his restraints and takes one of Ned's crew hostage and begins decimating Ned's hold on his crew in true Stede Bonnet fashion: pointing out Ned does not respect his crew's feelings and identities. 

Hellkat Maggie: "We're demoralized by your constant fucking criticism.” 

Ned Low: “You’re mercenaries. You don’t have feelings!”  

Hellkat Maggie: “How about you stop telling me who I am?”

Ned's crew agrees with that, the assault on the Revenge ends and Ned's crew abandons him to Stede as they discuss the concept of profit sharing. 

Then Stede does a very pirate thing to do and orders Ned to walk the plank. Ned is nagging Stede when Stede hurls Ned's violin at him and knocking him into the drink to drown and die.

Andrea said, "That motherfucker had it coming!" 

(I should point out that my wife did not in fact say the word "motherfucker" but she did indeed concur that Ned did having it coming and Stede did a good thing killing "that god damn rat bastard."

No, she did not say "god damn rat bastard" either,) 

Before Stede sent Ned to his death, it's Ed, the erstwhile Blackbeard, of all people who tries to talk him out of it.  

OK, how did it get this far into this post and not mention Ed before now? Given how central the whole Stede/Ed relationship is to this show, how could I ignore Ed? 

I think I find Stede's journey of progressive civilized man learning to be just tough enough to survive as a gentleman pirate more interesting than Ed's journey as the rough and violent Blackbeard evolving into a more mellow version of himself who does not need or want that kind of life.  

And Our Flag Means Death leans into the sitcom "will they or won't they" trope or as it became with Ross and Rachel on Friends,  "will they or won't they, oh they did, now what, let break them up again".  

Yes, Stede and Ed do get together only to have Ed break them up to go join a fishing boat to go fishing as a fisherman to catch fish. 

Besides character stuff, there's plot stuff going on in Our Flag Means Death with the return of Prince Ricky Banes and his fancy prosthetic nose after Spanish Jackie cut off the real one earlier in the season. Now he's joined the Royal Navy and is determined to stamp out all piracy. 

Chinese woman pirate Zheng Yi Sao (who we met in the Doctor Who episode "Legend of the Sea Devils"*) proposes to Ricky a way to stop piracy: have the British crown to pay all pirates a living wage so they’ll “stop stealing all your shit.”

*I could research this but to be honest, it's late when I'm writing this and I'm just going to assume both notorious female Chinese pirates are in fact the same pirate. 

The response to this is what you should expect from a pompous Englishman being essentially blackmailed by a person who is both Chinese AND a woman? 

We'll see what happens when the 2nd season of Our Flag Means Death wraps up this week. 

Before I wrap up this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase, I have to call attention to an epic fail on last week's Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.  

Former NFL superstar Rashad Jennings had just to provide one letter to solve a puzzle in the category  “Rhyme Time.” 

Jennings admitted, “I feel like I’m supposed to know something but I don’t.”

Yes, the puzzle was DRIVING TO RENO WITH _UENTIN TARANTINO.  

Jennings guessed the missing letter was "P".  

I'm pretty damn sure Andrea has never seen any of his films but even she knew "It's Quentin Tarantino, you fucking dumbass.

(I'm sorry that I keep attributing obscenity filled quotes to my wife when she does not talk like that. I guess I thought it was funny. It's not.)  

By the way, Quentin Tarantino has announced his next film will be his last. 

I hope you're happy, Rashad Jennings! You broke Quetin Tarantino! 

Next week, Our Flag Means Death returns to the touchbase for the 2nd season finale. And I will talk about other TV things.

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.  

Jim Jordan Vs. NOT Jim Jordan

In case you're wondering what's going on with ongoing debacle involving the still open seat of Speaker of the House of Representatives, the absolute worst possible candidate for Speaker, Jim Jordan, ain't gonna get it.

And the vote on Friday was fucking hilarious. 

In two previous votes, Jordan came up short by about a dozen votes against other names placed in contention for the role of Speaker. 

In Friday's vote, Jordan lost to.... Not Jordan.

In an internal vote within the Republican representatives, Jim Jordan got about 89 votes.  122 voted no, not Jim Jordan.

Jim Jordan wasn't in contention against a specific Congressperson. It was just Jim and in a vote to decide if the party wanted to put up Jim Jordan for Speaker or anyone else, anyone else won. 

No idea who that anyone else might be, as long as it's NOT Jim Jordan. 

The idea that Jim Jordan literally lost to any non-specified person who is NOT Jim Jordan is hi-frickin'-larious.

Meanwhile, the House does not have a Speaker. 

It's the Speaker's job to bring forth legislation for the House to vote on. Without a Speaker, the House of Representatives can't do shit about anything. 

Which I'm sounds like a "port hole in the Death Star" type design flaw somebody didn't anticipate when they came up with the idea of the legislative branch of government?

Alexander Hamilton, did you do that? 

Anyway...

So who wants the job now?  

Tom Emmer of Wisconsin has said, essentially, what the hell, I'll do it. 

 A high ranking person within the Republican Party has already voiced opposition.  

Yes, it's Donald Trump and the opposition is that Li'l Donnie thinks Tom Emmer isn't a big fan of Trump.  

Which is the whole problem with Republicans inability to select a Speaker. 

About half the party sees being pro-Trump as a job requirement.

The other half of the party sees being pro-Trump as a liability. After all, this is a guy who is under 4 federal indictments with a total of 91 felony charges attached not to mention other legal actions being taken against him for being an exceedingly unethical businessman. 

But the section of the Party still enthralled to der Fuehrer holds sway over the party and will stomp their feet and hold their breath until they turn blue if they get want they want, a Speaker of the House loyal to Trump. 

Also in the real world:

• Donald Trump's legal mess gets messier. 
• In the Fulton County GA election interference case, two of Trump's former attorney took guilty pleas for their indictments with agreements to testify against others who were also indicted. 
• And the mess in Gaza gets messier. 
• More on that on Wednesday.   

Cinema Sunday: Midnight Lace

Last week's Cinema Sunday looked at the psychological thriller Vertigo that explored a mystery that questioned what was seen and heard and experienced.

This week we check in on another psychological thriller that explores similar themes with America's mid 20th century sweetheart Doris Day as the target for mental torture and maybe even... MURDER! 

From 1960, we look at the film Midnight Lace.   

Doris Day is American heiress Kit Preston who lives with her British business owner husband Tony (Rex Harrison) in a wealthy neighborhood of London in a building undergoing major renovations. 

Tony's dealing with business stuff when an assistant tells him a large sum of money has been embezzled from their firm.

Meanwhile, Kit is dealing with a series of episodes that results in increasing levels of anxiety.  

• Returning home one evening in a dense fog through Grosvenor Square, Kit is startled by a disembodied male voice that threatens to kill her. 
• The next day Kit notices a strange gaunt man stalking her. 
• Then a falling girder from the building renovation nearly hits her. She's shoved out of the way by a contractor named Brian. 
• And then Kit gets a threatening phone call, the voice the same as the one from the park: Kit is going to die. 
• Kit is trapped in an elevator. Sinister shit or just a temporary problem due to the building renovations.
• A shadowy man is stalking her in the trapped elevator. Nah, it's just Brian there to help her get out. 
• Kit gets another obscene phone call.
• Malcolm, the son of Kit's maid who is off work due to illness, makes vague threats toward Kit, requesting additional money to help care for his mother. Could Malcolm be her stalker?
• That strange gaunt man mysteriously appears in her apartment and just as mysteriously vanishes.  
• Kit is pushed in front of a bus, narrowly avoids being run over.

In short, all sorts of shit keeps happening to poor Kit and she is a paranoid mess. 

Tony takes this up with Scotland Yard where Inspector Byrnes blows this thing off as Kit seeking attention from her too busy with business husband.

Well, screw you, dickwad! Just another poor hysterical wife desperate for some attention for her husband? Fuck you!

Except....

There is the little matter that no one else has heard these threats Kit keeps hearing. No one else saw the strange gaunt man. No body saw anyone push Kit in front of the bus.

Her neighbor Peggy hasn't seen anything.

Tony hasn't heard any of the phone calls.

Even Kit's beloved Aunt Bea, visiting London, is starting to worry. 

Is Kit delusional?  

On the grounds that Kit really could use a break, Tony finally decides to put business stuff on the backburner and take Kit on a long promised and long delayed trip to Venice.

Then Kit gets another phone call. Time is up and Kit is going to die.

And this time, Tony hears it. 

Tony calls Byrnes and sets up to have the house surrounded while Tony pretends to leave. They're going to catch this son of a bitch and Kit will finally be safe.

Except....

There was no call to the police. 

Kit is alone with the one who has been threatening her all this time...

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Her husband Tony! 

He was the one embezzling from his own company!! 

And Kit was worth more dead than alive to get Tony out of trouble!!! 

And he was having an affair with neighbor Peggy!!!!

Peggy was in on the scam the whole time!!!!!!

And the gaunt man was Peggy's husband lurking about looking for a chance to kill his conniving cheating wife!!!!!!!

And before Tony can kill Kit, Inspector Byrnes bust in to arrest Tony's treacherous ass 'cause he knew Tony was up to sketchy shit.  

Well, damn! 

The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Dept. 

The role of Kit's sweet Aunt Bea was played by Myrna Loy. I'm used to seeing Myrna in black & white, young and sensuous as hell, co-starring with the likes of Cary Grant & William Powell. It's kind of weird seeing her as more mature and in color. But that unmistakable Myrna Loy charm and style is still there. 

The title Midnight Lace refers to the slink black lacy dress that Kit buys early in the film and wears at the climax.

My only experience with the acting of Rex Harrison is from My Fair Lady so seeing him exposed as the dirty rotten scoundrel trying to make his wife go insane before killing her is well, it's a bit shocking. 

Meanwhile, Doris Day being cast in this sort of lurid, intense thriller works against her normal lighter persona but helps to buy the audience's sympathy. These bad things just shouldn't be happening to America's sweetheart!!

Midnight Lace is at worst a overwrought gothic thriller but at it's best, a twisty tale of watching someone spiral into madness and the viewer is drawn down into that spiral with her.   

Cinema Sunday next week is 2 days before Halloween and I will post about 2 classic thrillers starring Vincent Price and Claude Rains.  

Songs For Saturday: ELO, Olivia Newton-John, Heart and the Police

Since we are a couple of weeks away from Halloween, it seems appropriate for this week's Songs For Saturday to have a magic theme. Every song on this week's play list has the word "magic" in it.

Let's kick this off with ELO and "Strange Magic". 

Next up is Oblivious Neutron Bomb Olivia Newton John with a song from the "Xanadu" soundtrack called simply "Magic." 

From mellow gold to rock 'n' roll, next up is Heart and "Magic Man".

Wrapping up the playlist this week is the Police with one my favorite songs by the band, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"!

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

Next week with Halloween just around the corner, let's get weird with a spotlight on They Might Be Giants.   

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

Your Friday Video Link: Buckaroo Bonzai

 

1984 saw the release of an incredibly weird science fiction film called The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.  The movie starred Peter Weller as Doctor Who Dr. Buckaroo Bonzai,  a physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star.  

It's up to Banzai and his band, "The Hong Kong Cavaliers" to save the world by defeating a band of inter-dimensional aliens called Red Lectroids from Planet 10. 

It is a wild movie that defies easy summary. It's been years (decades) since I last saw Buckaroo Banzai and would love to see it again some time and write a Cinema Sunday post about it. 

In the meantime, Your Friday Video Link this week is the sequence that plays during the closing credits which features dang near the entire cast.

Except in this video, the credits have been edited out.  

THROWBACK THURSDAY: When A Stranger Says Hello

Looking back today on the surprisingly tapestry of this blog for a post from the past for today.

From  Saturday, September 12, 2015....

When A Stranger Says Hello

So the other day, this was trending on Twitter: #WhenAStrangerSaysHello

 

My lone contribution to this topic was as follows:

 

I say hello back because there's a really good chance this person is not a stranger & I'm incredibly bad with names.

 

I got a few favorites and retweet off of that one. But here's the thing: that's a completely true statement.

 

I have what you might call a field of reference when it comes to remembering who you are. If you come under this field, I will remember your name. 

• Wife
• Child
• Mom
• Most other family members but not anything from 1st cousin on
• People I currently work with in my immediate vicinity who I see almost every single day
• People who have broken my heart (Bitter? Who, me?)
• People I met within the last two minutes (After three minutes, it starts to fade)
• People with name tags (OK, that's cheating)

Beyond that, names elude me and not only that but also faces. Sometimes a face will resonate something in the back of my head but I'm not sure if I really know this person or they just look like somebody else I know.

If the person in question is black, I worry I might seem racist if I don't say hello.

"You know that white boy can't tell us apart?"

"What a racist!"

No, I'm not! Seriously, this issue with not recognizing people is an equal opportunity pain in the ass.

So I say hello to everybody. Yes, it's a nice friendly thing to do, even if I get startled looks from people who it turns out, no, I don't know them. But when I say hello to a stranger, there's is a very good chance that they're not a stranger, I just don't know that.

And I'm so glad my suffering amuses you.