Helene On Earth

Hurricane Helene hit the United States on Thursday when it blew a shore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane.  

The storm was devastating, reducing homes to kindling.

Helene barreled into Georgia leaving splintered homes and debris strewn highways. "It looks like a bomb went off,"  Gov. Kemp described the swath of destruction left in Helene's wake.

As I write this, this storm system has left nearly 100 people dead.

Helene was downgraded to only a Tropical Storm by the time it hit North Carolina but the word "only" underestimates the impact the storm had on the state.

Wind and rain pounded us here in Greensboro on Friday but by 3 PM, the storm had passed leaving a warm golden sun glowing in a beautiful blue sky.  

For people in the western part of the state, the nightmare was just beginning.  Helene had left behind the worst flooding in a century which Gov. Roy Cooper described it as “catastrophic”.   

Floodwaters left Asheville isolated Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service.  

Hurricanes are a brutal reminder that one person's experience is not that of another's.  From my perspective, I could wonder what all this fuss over Helene was all about. But my perspective is but a mere sliver of what Helene was all about.  

It shouldn't take a Hurricane to teach us that my story is not necessarily your story and stories are not guaranteed happy endings.   

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: The Big Heat

So here's how these movie themed posts usually work.

• Step One: Watch movie 
• Step Two: Assemble notes about that movie, a combination of my own observations and opinions coupled with some background information I culled from TCM.com or Wikipedia.
• Step Three: Write and publish post. 

Sometimes I let a little too much time pass between Steps 2 and 3.  Which leads us to today's movie post. 

Somewhere between steps two and three, I have forgotten I had seen this movie.

The movie in question is called The Big Heat, a 1953 crime noir film starring Glenn Ford and directed by a film noir master, Fritz Lang. 

If not for my notes on file, I would have no clue I watched this movie.  

Well, I've going to do a Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post about it anyway. 

What happens next? Your guess is as good as mine.  

Sergeant Dave Bannion is a detective for the Kenport Police Department.  He's a good egg with a wife Katie and a child at home. He's been called upon the investigate the death of one of their own.  

Officer Tom Duncan has taken his own life; his wife Bertha attributes this to his stress and depression over his failing health.

Bannion thinks too many things are not making sense. The Duncan's house is WAY too nice for a policeman's salary.

Muddying up the waters even more is Lucy Chapman, Tom's mistress.  Seems Tom was not in poor health at all and agreed to divorce his wife.

What does Lucy get for her trouble by talking to Bannion? Murdered, that's what she gets and tortured with cigarette burns first too, just for fun.

Bannion suspects Tom and Lucy were caught up in some serious shit with mob boss Mike Lagana and his local crime syndicate keeping the city in an iron grip of terror and control.  

Bannion is determined not to give up on his investigation.

But the detective is being pressured to drop the Duncan investigation. His bosses are satisfied with the story that Tom Duncan killed himself.  

Bannion is also ordered to not stick his nose in the Lucy Chapman murder as it's outside Bannion's jurisdiction.  

And as if the pressure from his own department was not enough, Bannion is getting threats from the crime syndicate. 

Bannion ignores those threats but there is a price to pay. 

Bannion's wife Katie is killed by a car bomb! 

Well, damn! That hurts! 

(And I think I'm starting to remember this movie now! Thanks, past me, for leaving such good notes!) 

Even with the death of his wife, the pressure from all sides continues for Bannion to drop this whole thing. 

Bannion accuses Police Commissioner Higgins of being in league with the mob.  This gets Bannion a suspension and the loss of his police badge. 

Good! This frees up Bannion to do whatever the hell he needs to do to find out who killed Katie, Tom and Lucy and if it's mob boss Mike Lagana, well, that son of a bitch is gonna pay!!!

Dave Bannion becomes Batman!

<checks notes>

<Hmmm! No, he does NOT become Batman. Er, sorry about that.>  

 Bannion begins working a lead at a nightclub where he chats up Debby Marsh who is the girlfriend of Vince Stone who is second command to mob boss Mike Lagana.  

Suspecting Debby was talking to the cops, Vince Stone throws hot coffee on her. 

With half her face horribly burned and disfigured, OK, NOW Debby Marsh is talking to the cops. Or to David Bannion anyway.

One of Stone's lackeys planted the bomb in Bannion's car.

Tom Duncan's wife Bertha was blackmailing Stone and Lagana.

Long story (as much as I can recall and my notes tell me) made short, dominoes start to fall.  

• Stone kills the minion who planted the car bomb.
• Debby Marsh kills Bertha Duncan. 
• Debby throws hot coffee on Vince Stone and burns his face.
• Vince shoots Debby dead. 
• Stone, Lagana and Commissioner Higgins are arrested. 
• And Bannion is reinstated as a detective with the police force.

And all is as it was. 

Er, except David Bannion's wife is still dead. 

So...

That's a bummer.  

I don't want my memory lapse to undermine the quality of The Big Heat.  As I went through this post, I recalled this film was a taut and gripping thriller with some powerful acting performances and I saw why it is regarded as an outstanding example of film noir. 

I feel bad that this movie slipped by mind until I started reviewing my notes. But cut me some slack: this is not my actual job to remember all of these movies. 

And I have seen a lot of movies.  

Others have deemed this movie worth remembering when The Big Heat was  selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011.

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Crossfire

The subject of antisemitism has been much in the news of late, it is sad to say.

Hate crimes against Jewish American are on the rise, ranging from vandalism to physical harm.  

Antisemitism has been with us for a long time as documented in American Cinema.  

I wrote a post on February 5, 2023 about a 1947 Oscar winner for Best Picture about antisemitism called Gentleman's Agreement.  

But that wasn't the only  film from 1947 that centered on antisemitism. From that same year, here is Crossfire.    

The film opens with... murder. A murder most savage. A man is beaten to death.

The victim: Joseph Samuels, a man last seen alive in hotel bar with his female companion and a group of demobilized soldiers,  "Monty" Montgomery,  Floyd Bowers and "Mitch" Mitchell.

Police officer Capt. Finlay suspects one of the soldiers of the murder and that suspicion narrows on Mitch who is currently missing.  

Monty tells Finlay that three soldiers met with up with Samuels in his hotel room.  Not feeling well from having too much to drink, Mitch leaves Samuel's room alone, then Monty and Floyd leave a minute or so later. And Samuels was still alive.

Sergeant Keeley, a former commanding officer of this group of soldiers, is concerned because Mitch just isn't the sort of guy to beat someone to death so he does his own investigating. 

Keeley finds Mitch who has a wrinkle to add to Monty's version of events.  Yeah, Mitch left early but as he exited the hotel room, he heard Monty arguing with Samuels. (The reason Mitch went missing is wound up spending the night with a call girl which will not go over well with Mitch's wife who is due in town soon. Ouch!)    

Keeley tracks down Monty and Floyd to an apartment.  Keeley questions Floyd about the killing while Monty hides. After Keeley leaves, Monty blows up at Floyd for not sticking to their story and beats Floyd to death.  

Finlay brings in Keeley to compare notes and agree that Monty killed Joseph Samuels and they know why.  Monty killed Samuels for being Jewish.  

Finlay sets up a trap that will incriminate Monty. Monty tries to escape, but Finlay shoots him dead.  

So there are three people dead:

• Joseph Samuels is murdered because Monty doesn't accept Jewish people as people.
• Floyd gets killed by Monty because  Monty refuses to accept that some people aren't down with lying to cover up the sins of others.
• And Monty gets killed because he refuses to accept the consequences of being caught. 

Put Monty in a MAGA hat and you could sadly still make this movie in 2024.   

Crossfire was made as a B picture with a lower budget that say more prestigious films (like say Gentleman's Agreement) but that didn't stop the Oscar nods from coming in. Crossfire was the first B movie to receive a Best Picture nomination.   

The three leads were all named "Robert".

• Robert Mitchum played Keeley.
• Robert Young was Finlay.
• Robert Ryan was Monty.  

It's... The Three Bobs! 

Crossfire functions as a perfectly serviceable crime noir but distinguishes itself with the motive for murder.  Instead of the usual film noir motives of money, power and lust, we get a murder instigated due to one man's unreasoning and unrelenting hate, fear and ignorance. 

Sadly in real life, other people met the same fatal fate as Joseph Samuels back in 1947,

And it remains a problem today.  

You May Ask Yourself Is This Your Friday Video Link

 

Your Friday Video Link is the Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime".

As performed by Kermit the Frog.   

Your Friday Video Link #2 is the Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime".

As performed by the Talking Heads.

Golden Age Weirdness: Stardust Gets Ahead

From the earliest days of what was known as the Golden Age of Comics, there's a lot of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.

Which resulted in a lot of weird shit.

And no one's shit was weirder than that of creator Fletcher Hanks.

I was doing research for an unrelated post when I came across some art from Fletcher Hank's wildest creation, Stardust the Super Wizard.

What could Stardust do?

What could Stardust NOT do?  

Stardust can do what the plot says he needs to do. 

Like reduce a bad guy to just his head and...

Well, see for yourself.

Bully in the Senate

This post is about something that happened last week.

I am still mad about it.

I have zero chill when it comes to racists or the willfully ignorant.

And I sure as hell have absolutely NO fucking patience for a bully. 

Especially when the bully in question is an alleged grown ass adult person in a position of authority.  

Pity poor Maya Berry, head of the Arab-American Institute, who came to Washington DC to speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee  about the subject of hate crimes in America only to be find herself being bullied.   

Let's be clear that Ms. Berry is an American citizen who came of her own free will to speak to Congress on the subject of other American citizens being subjected to hate crimes in the forms of harassment, intimidation, physical violence and even murder.  She noted that hate crimes against Arabs and Jews in the U.S. were up a respective 73 percent and 58 percent.   

Berry stated “By focusing on hate crime statistics, the federal government’s role in hate crime enforcement, and recommendations for policy remedies, I hope my testimony can help inform our collective response to combat all forms of hate."  

She is not in Washington for any foreign policy discussion.  

 

That didn't deter Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) from leaning forward in to his microphone and in his thick southern drawl  asked "You support Hamas, don't you?"

To her credit, Berry tried to turn Kennedy's inappropriate question back to the subject at hand.  “Senator, oddly enough, I’m going to say thank you for that question, because it demonstrates the purpose of our hearing today in a very effective way,  Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support, but you asking the executive director of the Arab American Institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country.”

 

Kennedy greeted her clear statement she did not support Hamas with a  continued line of questioning, repeatedly ask if she supported Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or their "hatred of Jews".  

Perhaps feeling a bit less magnanimous, Berry pushed back against this ignorant bully before her.  “I think it’s exceptionally disappointing that you’re looking at an Arab American witness before you and saying you support Hamas. I do not support Hamas,” said Berry.

 

Kennedy snapped back at her. “You know what’s disappointing to me? You can’t bring yourself to say don’t you don’t support Hamas!" 

As highlighted above, Maya Berry asserted twice she did not support Hamas. 

Then to cap off  his insane bullying tirade, Kennedy bellowed at Berry, "You should hide your head in a bag.”

 

Later asked for comment, Maya Berry said, “I didn’t expect a direct racist attack.”

You're a grown woman talking to an alleged grown man. The U.S. Senate is not fucking high school. You shouldn't have to deal with a god damn bully. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Batman, Star Trek and More!

Oh my God! So much TV, so little time! 

I recently completed season 1 of Batman: Caped Crusader.  

The last three episodes bring to a brutal conclusion the season long storyline for Harvey Dent, district attorney and candidate for mayor.  Deciding for once to actually stand up to crime boss Rupert Thorne, Dent pays for this effrontery with a vial of acid to the face. 

With half his face scarred, Dent descends into madness as a maniacal monster of murder as he seeks revenge against Thorne and his cronies. 

Then Dent becomes the target of Thorne's retribution and Batman and Commissioner Gordon are working to keep him safe due to his knowledge of Thorne's criminal organization.

Interesting take on Harvey Dent: when he's being vicious and vindictive, he angles his still handsome side of his face to whoever he's talking to.  When he reverts to being kind and concerned for the welfare of others, he presents his scarred face.  

Bruce Wayne gets a lesson in human empathy when his efforts to draw Harvey out after his acid attack to pump him for information backfire horribly.  Batman feels guilty that he may have pushed Harvey too far and created a threat to Gotham. 

The season ends with Batman finally addressing his butler as "Alfred" instead of "Pennyworth".  

All told, Batman: Caped Crusader hits all the right buttons and may well be among the best interpretations of Batman I've seen.

Last week, Andrea and I finished the 2nd season of Star Trek: Prodigy and if this is the last season, well, damn that'll suck because this show is very good.   

In the words of Star Trek writer and blogger Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Prodigy is still the best of the new Trek shows." 

I came to this series in the beginning with some degree of trepidation. This was a Star Trek series featuring a cast of kids made for a kid audience on Nickelodeon.  This show was not made for me.

But over the course of 2 seasons and 40 half hour episodes, I'll be damned if Star Trek: Prodigy did not appeal to me and I can't help agree with DeCandido that about how good this show is. 

Allow me to be lazy and let DeCandido do the heavy lifting for a moment. 

"The best thing about this show is that it works at everything it attempts. 

• As a Star Trek show, it’s magnificent, embodying the optimistic, compassionate future created by Gene Roddenberry and developed by so many over the past six decades. 
• As an animated series, it takes full advantage, giving us some glorious aliens (the Loom, the Nazamon, the bodies created for non-corporeals) and some spectacular landscapes. 
• As a kids’ show it never loses sight of the fact that these are young people trying to find their place in the galaxy, without ever once talking down to them."

Yeah, what he said.  

The growth of Dal as a character is a testament to this show's strengths. A cocky teenage boy archetype, I absolutely could not stand Dal when he was first introduced 40 episodes ago.  Over the course of those 40 episodes, Dal has struggled to find his place in the universe and he has evolved in that struggle.  It's not always been easy or even perfectly linear but Dal ends the 2nd season a better person that we found him. That he defers to Gwyn to be the Captain of the new Protostar speaks to his growth and new found maturity.  

Outside the main Prodigy cast, we get some really cool classic Trek guest stars.  Wil Wheaton is back as Wesley Crusher in full Traveler mode,  fast talking and perceiving space time beyond us mere mortals, Crusher is an ersatz Doctor Who type and is a lot of fun to follow.   

If sadly this is the end of the journey for Star Trek: Prodigy it ends satisfactorily with the gang all together for a new journey of exploration on a new ship.  But I do hope we get to see those adventures.

________________________________

I have wrapped up Umbrella Academy.  I will write about that in a later Touchbase.

We're one week out from the series finale of Snowpiercer and I will likely cover that in that same later Touchbase.

Meanwhile, we are starting a bunch of NEW shows here at the Fortress of Ineptitude

Agatha All Along is funny, scary and pretty damn epic. More on that later.  

High Potential is a new crime procedural about a high IQ woman who helps the police solve crimes even as her own dysfunctional life remains outside her control. 

After seeing promos for it all during the summer Olympics, Andrea is interested in the new medical drama Brilliant Minds starring Zachary Quinto as a super smart doctor with face blindness.   

Following up on the 2022 Matt Reeves film The Batman, Colin Farrell is back in The Penguin, a street level series about a crime boss in Gotham City.   

______________________

And that is that for this week's touchbase.

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.  

Nothing Could Be Finer Than Crazies In North Carolina

My home state of North Carolina has been getting a lot of national press lately.   

The rest of the country is finding out what we already knew here in the state, that the Republican candidate for governor is an ignorant, repulsive, morally and legally deficient fucking moron. 

Way to make us proud, Mark Robinson. 

"Nothing could be fine-ah 

Than crazies in Carolina 

On the ballot!"

The most recent scandal surrounding Robinson is a CNN expose of his activities on porn sites where he described himself in the comments section as a "Black NAZI!"  

I know we're all shocked by that revelation: Porn sites have comment sections? 

In addition to describing himself as a "Black NAZI!", Robinson also expressed a desire for the return of slavery and pondered that he would buy some slaves for himself. 

Does Mark Robinson know he's black?  

Also guess what his favorite kink is?

Transgender porn. 

Yep, the same guy who has decried transgender people as "filth" digs watching transgender people doing it.

Mark Robinson is from here in Greensboro NC where he had a favorite porn shop he would go to almost every day.

It's probably that porn store on Gate City Blvd. which is a block away from the former site of Toys 'R' Us. 

It's not like I've been there. It's right there on the side of the road in plain sight. 

I have NO desire to go in there.  At the very least, it's gotta smell bad in there.  

Robinson was such a regular that he would bring in pizzas for the staff and customers.  

You know, everyone is entitled to their adult consensual kinks but Robinson's sexual predilections are in marked contrast to his moral high horse from which he conducts his political campaign. 

The same man who says abortions wouldn't be a thing if women learned to keep their skirts down can't control his own impulses. 

How did Republicans get stuck with this moron?

Well, 1 answer is Donald Trump. 

Trump still believes in this simple calculus:

• Black people vote for Democrats.    
• But black people vote for black people.
• Get a black Republican on the ballot. 
• Black people will vote for the black Republican.

Robinson voiced his support for Donald Trump and the great lie that the 2020 election was stolen. 

Robinson gets Trump's endorsement.  

But Trump alone only explains part of the problem.  

The Republican dominated state legislature with the imprimatur of the Republican dominated state judiciary has jerrymandered the hell out of voting districts in North Carolina, districts where it is virtually impossible for Republicans to lose. 

With zero motivation to seek Democratic votes, Republican candidates are in a race to the right, to see who can be more extremely MAGA, more devoted to Donald Trump. 

Which plays very well during the primary season.

And fucks up the party something bad during the general election.   

Even before the most recent scandal revelations from CNN, Robinson has been trailing Democrat Josh Stein in the polls by a lot.  

And this could help Kamala Harris. 

Harris has been polling well in North Carolina, either in a statistical dead heat with Trump or in some polls even pulling ahead.  

I've already seen Harris' ads here in the state tying Donald Trump to Mark Robinson with video clips of Trump praising Robinson side by side with some of Robinson's crazier bull shit.

Is it possible Mark Robinson could cost Donald Trump a win here in North Carolina?  

Nothing could indeed be finer than beating Trump in Carolina! 

I dare to hope it could be true.  

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: The Best of Everything

On a personal note, I will begin a new job tomorrow.  Same employer but a new position within the company.

I don't post about who I work for or what I do because I do not want this silly little blog to cause any problems for me at work.

I will say that the position I am leaving is something I have been unhappy with for some time and the new position answers some of my objections to that old position such as a better work schedule. 

For all I know, I may be trading an old hell for a new hell but the new hell does not have me working as late.

So what does any of this have to do with what is ostensibly Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post?

...

...

<Psst! Cue the graphic!>

Because this movie post is about a film that begins with a young woman starting her first day at a new job.

From 1959, it is The Best of Everything.

I hope my new job with be less dramatic and traumatizing than what happens in this film.  

Don't let the romantic sounding Johnny Mathis theme song fool you: this movie is going to hurt and people will die!

Seriously!  

Caroline Bender is a recent college graduate beginning her first day on her job as a secretary at Fabian Publishing Company.

Caroline is assigned to Amanda Farrow, a bitter, demanding, jealous middle-aged editor. Amanda is suspicious of Caroline and suspects she's after her job. 

SPOILER:  Caroline will eventually get her job.  

Caroline is biding her time waiting for her fiancé Eddie to return to America where she will dutifully engage is some legally sanctioned heteronormative intercourse and pop out some kids. 

Then Eddie goes off and marries another woman! The cad! What's a 1950's college educated girl supposed to do? Become bitter, childless, maybe get herself a cat or ten and go after Amanda's job? 

Caroline joins up with two women in the typing pool:

April Morrison, a naïve, enthusiastic girl from Colorado

Gregg Adams, a glamorous aspiring actress. 

Caroline agrees to be their 3rd roommate in their tiny apartment.

Where dressed only in lingerie, they have pillow fights and engage in some light playful lesbianism. OK, no they don't but that would make what's going to happen next a lot more fun. 

Poor sweet innocent April is caught in the cross hairs of Fabian's lecherous editor-in-chief, Mr. Shalimar. April evades his advances while he continues to pursue other young female employees. 

Yes, there are LAWS against this sort of thing now but back in the 1950's, young women in secretarial pools were just fair game for sexual harassment and even assault. 

Oh that darn Mr. Shalimar! Who's gonna try to seduce next? 

Gregg is cast in a play directed by David Savage and the two become lovers. Gregg may be great in bed but she's a terrible actress and is  eventually replaced in the play.  OK, the acting gig is a no go but that shouldn't mean the sex with David has to stop, right?  Nope, he breaks up with her. 

Gregg becomes mentally unstable and starts stalking him. While lurking outside his apartment on a  fire escape to spy on David, Gregg's high-heeled shoe gets caught in the grating and she falls to her death. 

Damn!  That's dark!  

April meets a spoiled playboy named Dexter at a Fabian company picnic. 

Dexter pressures Apri to have sex. When April becomes pregnant, Dexter persuades her to elope. 

But the whole running away to get married thing is a ruse! Dexter is driving her to a doctor for an abortion. Distraught at the idea of ending her pregnancy, April leaps from Dexter's moving car. She survives, but the impact injures her causes a miscarriage.  

Oh my God! What is the deal with this movie? 

April becomes romantically involved with her attending physician.

I think April may have issues.  

Hey, isn't Caroline supposed to be our point of view character?

Caroline, upset after her fiancé Eddie marries another woman, gets involved with various men around the office.

One of them is named Mike.  

And Caroline is maneuvering her way up the food chain at Fabian Publishing.  Amanda quits to get married in St. Louis (What did the poor girl deserve for that to happen.  St. Louis? Really?)  and Caroline takes her place as editor.   

Then that traitorous bastard Eddie shows up to put the moves on Caroline.  Oh, he's not giving up the rich wife but he's willing to set up Caroline as his mistress. (The position of mistress does have a pretty good dental plan.)  

Caroline tells Eddie to fuck off (or it's heavily censored 1950's version).  

All the guys in Caroline's life look alike.  

Then Amanda returns, her marriage a bust and Caroline lets her have her job back for...  reasons? 

The film ends on a busy city street outside the Fabian offices as Carolina and...   Caroline and.....   

(checks notes) 

MIKE! Caroline and Mike walk off together and we have reached.,,

THE END.

Oh thank God! 

What the hell was that movie?

And why did I watch it?  

I thought I might be in for some kind of light romantic movie in the style of those Doris Day/Rock Hudson films. The Best of Everything ain't that.  

The Johnny Mathis theme song fool might make you think this is going to be one thing but it's another thing entirely.  

It's a dark and disturbing look at the total bullshit working women have to put up with in 1950's America.  

Gee, I hope my new job will not be this dramatic and traumatizing.   

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Rocketman

Welcome to another edition of Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post where I post about movies I have seen.  

Today's post is about a movie musical.

And it is NOT about a lavish MGM musical spectacular from the 1940's and '50's. 

Nope, it's a movie musical from THIS century, a film based on the life and music of Elton John.

From 2019, it's Rocketman.  

I happened to catch this on TV a few months ago and was surprised to learn it was a musical. 

Now in a movie based on the life of one of the 20th century's greatest musical talents, you would expect there to be music.

But this is a musical in that people just break into song to advance the plot or develop characterization.  

There's a thing in the movie industry called the "stealth musical" where in a movie that is a true musical is NOT marketed as a musical.  

Last year's Wonka was not marketed as a musical but there's Timothy Chalamet breaking into song.  

I remember seeing ads for Rocketman when it was released in 2019 and I had no idea from those ads that the movie was a musical. 

Time in Rocketman is wibbly-wobbly. The movie begins at the end when a distressed and broken Elton John drags himself into rehab and then we bounce around time as we watch a child named  Reginald Dwight growing up in the repressed 1950's struggles and staggers his way to fame and fortune as Elton John.  

Poor child, Reggie, all he wants is love. (He sings a song about it, called "I Want Love".)  But his mother is distracted and totally not affectionate for her son while his dad is one of those 1950's stiff upper lip stern English father archetypes right out of central casting. 

At least grandma takes an interest in Reggie's developing musical talents and takes him to his lesson with the Royal Academy of Music. 

We see young Reggie grow in to teen Reggie and eventually into Taron Egerton as adult Reggie.  There's a great song and dance sequence that evolves the future Elton John through these stages of his life set to "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting".   

Reggie takes on the name Elton John, gets a recording contract with a British record producer and is paired up with Bernie Taupin who becomes Elton's lyricist and lifelong partner in music.  

It's time to jump across the pond to America where Elton becomes a major success.  But sell out concerts and cart topping records are accompanied by a downward spiral of debaunchery, a near endless cycle of excess of sex, drugs and alcohol.  Elton is also an obsessive shopaholic.  

Erstwhile lover John Reid becomes Elton's new manager but does nothing to curb Elton's excesses. Physically and emotionally abusive towards Elton, Reid doesn't really give a damn that Elton John is in a downward plunge towards self destruction.  As long as the money keeps flowing in.  

During a party, Elton overdoses on pills and attempts suicide by jumping into his pool. He is rushed to the hospital, then thrust on stage to perform.   

As long as the money keeps flowing in.  

His addiction to prescription pills and alcohol results in Elton having a heart attack. In a moment of complete despair, realizing his life is out of control, Elton leaves a concert without warning and checks into a rehab center.

Which is where we came in.  

Elton renews his friendship with Bernie, who brings him new lyrics. Elton is worried that he cannot perform or compose without alcohol or drugs, but writes "I'm Still Standing" and returns to a successful career.

The epilogue notes that Elton has been sober for over 28 years. He remains good friends and song-writing partners with Bernie and is happily married to David Furnish, with whom he has two children.

His only vice is he still likes to shop a lot.  

Rocketman ticks off a lot of the boxes we expect from this sort of bio pic. 

• The struggle to escape obscurity.
• The simple joy of the first modest successes.
• The incredible pressures that come from greater success.
• A downward turn fueled by addictions and inner turmoil. 
• A desperate last chance at recovery and redemption.  

While all the tropes are there, Rocketman is still an entertaining experience and a lot of that rests with Taron Egerton who embodies an Elton John who just wants the simple joy of making music and wants nothing to do with all the other crap that fame has brought him, the addictions, the loneliness, the overwhelming despair.  

It is a note of caution not to expect Rocketman to have a documentation's adherence to the facts of Elton John's life. 

For example, Elton did leave a concert without notice and he did take himself to rehab. But the missed concert was due to illness and the rehab stint wasn't for many years later when Elton fell into a deep depression over the death of a friend from AIDS.   

There's a lot of mix and match of the details of Elton's life and some major compression of time lines and what not.  

If you're a fan of Elton John's music, Rocketman is certainly worth a look and making the film an actual music where in characters can advance the story by breaking into Elton John songs is inspired. 

Your Friday Video Link: Doctor Who "I'll Explain Later"

It's been a minute since I've posted some Doctor Who content.

Your Friday Video Link is a compilation of the Doctor's favorite past time: not explaining things.

Well, the Doctor will explain things...  later.  

Haitians In Jeopardy

*Greetings! The following blog post is very silly and we apologize for it in advance.

The editorial staff of I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. 

Ken:  Welcome back and it’s time for Final Jeopardy.  Our clue today is National Origins.  And the clue is “This is where Haitians come from.”  Now let’s see how our contestants responded.  Donnie?

 

Donnie: That’s PRESIDENT….

 

Ken:  Yeah, whatever.  For “This is where Haitians come from”, you wrote “What is Venezuela?”  

 

Donnie: I win! Always with the winning! I win so much, people come up to me, big strong guys, tears in their eyes, they say "We've never seen so much winning!"   

 

Ken: No, I’m sorry but you are incorrect….

 

Donnie: Lots of people, smart people, scholars, say I am correct! 

 

Ken:  “What is Venezuela?” is not the correct response….

 

Donnie: But Venezuela is opening up their prisons, their insane asylums…..

 

Ken: Let’s move on our next contestant, J D.

 

JD: Always happy to engage with a fellow human being type person.

 

Ken:  You wrote “What is Haitia?”  Oof! I’m sorry, “Haitia” is not the correct response.

 

JD: I want to change my answer.

 

Ken: You can’t change your answer.

 

JD:  I want to change it to Venezuela.

 

Ken: AND we’ve already ruled that Venezuela is incorrect.

 

JD: My boss says it is correct.

 

Donnie: Stop talking, JD!

 

JD: Yes, sir! Shutting up now, sir!

 

Donnie: And Venezuela is sending all it’s criminals who are eating our cats and…

 

Ken: Moving on to our 3rd contestant named Laura.

 

Laura: Hey, y'all!  

 

Ken: And the response to "This is where Haitians comes from",  you wrote "What is Africa?" 

 

Laura:  Ka-ching, am I right? 

Ken: No, no, you are not. Your response is not only incorrect but also disturbingly racist.

Laura: Why? Haitians are black, ain't they? 

Ken: OK, the correct response to "This is where Haitians come from" is "What is Haiti?"   

Donnie: It’s Venezuela!

Laura: Venezuela is in Africa, honey!  

 

JD: Can I call you "honey" too, sir?  

 

Donnie: Stop talking, JD!

 

JD: Yes, sir! Shutting up now, sir!

 

Ken: Thank you for watching Jeopardy.

 

Donnie: They’re eating the pets!

 

Ken: It's against my religion but I’m going to go get stupid drunk now!

Donnie: I will send the Haitians back to Venezuela!

JD: Can someone give me a ride back to the airport?