Kamala For the Farewell

 

Despite my cynicism, despite my worries and doubts.

I felt like we were on the verge of something...

transformative.

On the verge of something new and wonderful and good.

I felt like we were ready to move forward, not backward.

I thought, I dared hope, we were ready for Kamala for the win

What we got is Kamala for the farewell.

America had a choice between a woman who was smart, experienced and full of compassion for a man who was not any of those things.

And decided on the latter.   

At minimum, Kamala Harris had to do in 2024 at least as much as Joe Biden did in 2020.  Instead, she did less. 

Despite being on the road constantly, despite an organized ground operation, despite record fund raising, despite endorsements from Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and from even Republicans for crying out loud.  

Every box was checked off to lead Kamala Harris for the win.

Instead her opponent's grift was stronger than her truth. 

So we say farewell to what could've been. 

What could've been glorious.

Farewell to all that is good and positive.

Blog Classic: Congresswoman Batgirl

As I prep this post, the events of election day of Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 have yet to transpire.  

As I prep this post, I am filled with equal amounts of hope and despair.

As you read this post,  election day of Tuesday, November 5th, 2024 is in the past.

Has my hope been vindicated?

Has my despair been made manifest?

Until I get my thoughts around this, I am re-posting a piece I wrote for Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 10 years ago, following the mid term election day for that year.

Here is my post I called "Congresswoman Batgirl".

________________________________________

Yesterday was election day here in the good ol’ USA and you’ve probably have had enough of anything relating to politics.

Well, too bad because today, I want to take a look at Congresswoman Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl.

As Batman took a darker tone under the scripting of Frank Robbins and Denny O’Neil, the more colorful trappings of the Bat mythos began to take a back seat. Dick Grayson, our stalwart Robin the Teen Wonder, was shipped off to Hudson University and Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl heads off to Washington DC as a duly elected Congress person representing whatever state Gotham City was in.

I’m not sure how old Barbara Gordon, Gotham librarian and daughter of the policy commissioner, was supposed to be but as a Congresswoman, she had to be at least 25 years old, the minimum age for serving in the House of Representatives.  Since Dick Grayson was now in college, that put him at least at age 18, maybe even 19. I think in subsequent reboots and what not, Dick and Barbara are supposed to be closer in age to each other. In fact, given how Barbara is portrayed in the current Batgirl series and Dick’s new status in the series Grayson, I think Dick may now be older than Barbara. But that’s all New 52 stuff and I really don’t think I care. 

Back to the subject at hand…

The first time I encountered Batgirl in the comics was in this issue of Superman.* 

I've heard of falling poll numbers
but this is ridiculous.

As I was still new to this amazing world of DC Comics back in the early to mid-1970’s, the idea that a super hero could also be an elected official was a bit mind-blowing.

*The first place I ever saw Batgirl was on TV, played by the winsome Yvonne Craig who made a young Dave-El feel all weird and tingly. 

Bat-congresswoman makes known
her position on the issue of capes.

The 2nd time I read a story with Batgirl the Congressperson in it was Batman Family#1 wherein Batgirl and Robin teamed up to fight Benedict Arnold and Satan.

Really. Not making that up. Seriously. Benedict Arnold. And Satan.*

*And if  you doubt the veracity of my word, click here for Chris Sims' take on this most extraordinary tale. 

In the story we see Barbara on the floor of the House doing….I don’t know, politician stuff. Meanwhile, college student Dick Grayson's working as a Congressional intern. (How convenient.)  

Sexy Bat-congresswoman caught "Robin"
the cradle in torrid sex scandal

While I thought that the idea of a super hero as also an elected political leader was a very interesting idea, no one else seem to think so. It seemed Barbara’s position in Congress only served to provide Washington DC as a back-drop instead of Gotham City. As this was the height of Watergate, one would think that a really clever writer could’ve done something with the concept of Batgirl in Congress but no.  I think there was a storyline in Detective Comics where Barbara Gordon’s position on a foreign relations committee puts Batgirl in the middle of some stuff ‘n’ junk involving super beings in China. 

Ultimately Jack C Harris wrote Barbara out of Congress when she lost her re-election campaign. Afterwards, I think the idea of Representative Barbara Gordon was lost to the winds of time. Seriously, was Barbara’s time in politics ever referenced again? Not even when the Joker shot and paralyzed Barbara. You would think “former Gotham Congresswoman shot by insane clown criminal” would have warranted some media coverage. Then a bunch of politicos would get on the floor of the House and harrumph a lot about how something should be done about insane clown criminals and…well, I’m not sure what would happen next. Probably just like Congress in the real world: nothing. 

There have been other comic book characters who have been in positions of political power.
•    Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) became mayor of Star City.
•    Jefferson Pierce (Black Lightning) was the Secretary of Education under President Lex Luthor. (Yes, PRESIDENT LUTHOR! Boy, that really stuck in Superman’s crawl.)
•    Speaking of Superman, in a 1991 Annual, a future Clark Kent becomes President of the United States. Over in the New 52, a black Superman is President on an alternate Earth.
•    Over at Marvel, Tony Stark (Iron Man) was Secretary of Defense for a time and from the Spider-man titles, J Jonah Jameson became the mayor of New York City. 

I would probably be remiss to not mention the excellent series from Brian K Vaughn and Tony Harris, Ex-Machina, about an ex-super hero who becomes the mayor of New York.

There are problems with super heroes as politicians. If a politician is actually doing his job right, chances are there are few opportunities for a lot of super hero stuff to get done. And there’s the reality that politicians are not exactly well regarded these days. Currently the US Congress has an approval rating of 12%. A super hero would be better off moonlighting as a bill collector. 

Still, I think the 1970’s heyday of Congresswoman Batgirl was a really cool concept and I wouldn’t mind seeing someone try that again. I mean, a young woman dressing like a bat to fight crime isn't any crazier that some of the Tea Party nut cases already in Congress, right? 

____________________________________________

Tomorrow is a NEW post,  comic book theme and not politics as Dave-El's Spinner Rack takes a look at recent issues of Action Comics.

And some point, there will be a political post as soon as I have processed the events of election day.

Please (PLEASE!) let it be a good post! 

Edited at 3:45 AM,11/6/2024....

SPOILER! No, not a good post.  

Tuesday TV Touhbase: Only Murders In the Building and Happy's Place

A couple of shows Andrea and I followed had finales last week.

 

Agatha All Along, I will address in next week’s Touchbase.

 

Today, let’s look at the 4th season finale of Only Murders In the Building.  

 

Poor Charles was under a particularly hard emotional burden due to the murder of his stunt double and best friend, Sazz Pataki.  

 

Since she was dressed as Charles when she was shot, there was the worry that Charles was the target.

 

Nope, Sazz was who the killer meant to kill and sadly, me and pretty much everyone on the internet saw it coming.

 

SPOILERS!!!!

 

You were warned.

 

Marshall Pope, the screenwriter for the Only Murders movie, did the deed because he was desperate to cover up his theft of the original screenplay that Sazz wrote.   

 

For a character who died at the end of season 3, Jane Lynch got a lot of screen time in season 4 as we peeled back the layers of Sazz Pataki and what a good person she was and how much it suck at a lousy piece of shit like Marshall ended her life.  

 

There were a lot of distractions from the hunt for Sazz’s killer in season 4.  The side mystery of the odd people who live in the west tower from the Arconia and the mysterious Mr. Duddenoff. There’s a lot of fun stuff with this weird collection of people (you can’t go wrong with Richard Kind in the mix) but it seems to eat up too much time from the season’s main mystery.  

 

Charles, Oliver and Mabel had to deal with the 3 actors hired to play them in the movie: Eugene Levy, Zach Galifinakis and Eva Longoria were funny as hell as version of themselves who think they’re helping our intrepid trio with their latest murder case. 

 

And Melissa McCarthy is hilarious as Charles’ sister when he takes Oliver and Mabel there as a safe house from the killer. Except the doorbell keeps ringing with a lot of people who know exactly where Charles, Oliver and Mabel are “hiding”.  

 

We also got a brilliant turn from movie director Ron Howard as movie director Ron Howard.

 

Paul Rudd is back… as a different character than last season’s murder victim.     

 

And on top of that, there was Oliver’s continual stress out over his long distance relationship with Loretta. (It seems the fictional romance of Oliver and Loretta as led to a real life romance between Martin Short and Meryl Streep.)

 

The season ends on a positive note when Oliver and Loretta get married. 

 

My favorite sequence in the season has got to be the knock down drag out fight between Melissa McCarthy and Meryl Streep. WWE has got nothing on these two.

 

One reviewer online called season 4 of Only Murders a self indulgent mess.  I wouldn’t be that harsh but I get where they’re coming from.  There does seem to be an emphasis on “Hey, can we top this?” with celebrity cameos.  And that created a time crunch that came at the expense of Selena Gomez's Mabel. While Oliver got a story arc with his relationship with Loretta and Charles's friendship with Sazz formed the heart of the main murder mystery, Mabel lacked any kind of arc over the course of the season.

But I would rather spend time with a flawed Only Murders In the Building than not and the show will be back for season 5.

There has been another murder in the building.

Who killed Lester the Doorman?

_______________________________________

As if Andrea and I do not have enough TV on our plate, we've added the new sitcom Happy's Place.  The series stars Reba McEntire as Bobbie, a woman who inherits her father's bar following his death.  She also inherits a co-owner she doesn't want, Isabella, a younger sister by another mother that Bobbie did not know about.   

Happy's Place is a conventional multi-cam sitcom but it has some genuine laughs and it's enjoyable enough for us to stick with it for awhile.

If TV is comfort food, Happy's Place is a nice warm turkey casserole.  

I'll elaborate more on the show in a future Touchbase.   

_______________________________________

Coming up next week on the Touchbase:  Agatha All Along.

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.  

I Am... Fine

Welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, a blog about many things.

But not politics.

As I promised in last Monday's post, that post was my last political themed post until after the election.

Which is Tuesday, November 5th. 

Which is tomorrow.

And if I talk about the election today, that makes this a political post.

Which I promised I would NOT do.

So....

Anyway...

...uh....

How am I feeling?

Well, I'm...

I'm....

Fine.   

Yep, I'm fine.

Yep, I am a perfectly normal human type person just getting through life....

And NO I am NOT feeling elevated moments of euphoric hope and deep dark times of complete and utter despair because those kind of mood swings from the pinnacles of joy to the depths of utter sadness would be crazy yes completely crazy and I am NOT crazy I am a perfectly normal human type person just getting through life and not experiencing alternating hope and depression like some kind of god damn fucking yo-yo no not me I am FINE Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Who me crazy no way I am coping I am normal person coping and... 

And...

And...

<......>

<......>

I am... fine.

Just...  fine.

How about you?  

...

I'll wait.

...

...

You too, huh? 

...

Just... fine.

We'll try this again tomorrow.

We've got the Tuesday TV Touchbase with Only Murders In the Building.

Wednesday is a special reprint from 2014.   

Thursday is a new edition of Dave-El's Spinner Rack. 

And somewhere in there will be a new post to comment on whatever happens on Tuesday.

And I will be...

...

fine.   

<giggle>

Just fine.  

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Platinum Blonde

For our 2nd entry in Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post this week, we have another film from an era that TCM describes as "pre-code revelry",  released 93 years ago on October 31, 1931.  

Today's film post is about Platinum Blonde, directed by Frank Capra and starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow. 

NEWS FLASH!  Stewart "Stew" Smith, ace reporter for the Post, gets the goods on the Schuyler family scandal! 

Playboy Michael Schuyler being sued by chorus girl Gloria Golden?!?!  Oooh, what has our naughty boy up to?!?!? 

Unlike the contemptible reporter for the Daily Trbune who took a bribe to kill the story, Stew Smith of the Post gets to the truth and prints the truth!! 

Well, maybe not all the truth? 

Stew discovers love letters that the chorus girl was intending to use to blackmail Michael and returns them to the Schuyler family.  Michael's sister Anne wonders why Stew didn't include the letters in his story.  Stew explains the lawsuit was news, the letters were personal.

Anne contemplates that the slovenly, unpolished Stew Smith might be turned into a gentleman. 

Stew and Anne begin dating, fall in love and elope so they engage in legally sanctioned heteronormative sexual intercourse. (This may be pre-Code but we still have to mind our Ps & Qs.)  

The Daily Tribune gets the scoop of socialite Anne Schuyler's marriage to Post reporter Stew Smith.   

The Post's editor Conroy is not happy his paper got scooped on a story involving one of their own reporters.

Also gobsmacked by these events is  Stew's best friend Gallagher, a writer at the Post.  I should point out that Gallagher is a female woman of the opposite sex but it isn't clear that Stew as noticed this.  But Gallagher has noticed Stew and is hurt that the man she has been pining for all this time has been snatched away and to a high society dame, to boot! 

Conroy rags on Stew that he's a kept man, "a bird in a gilded cage". Stew takes exception to this characterization and insists that he is a MAN and he will take care of his wife without her money.  

Anne has her own plans as Stew finds himself living in the Schuyler family mansion and wearing really nice suits.  Stew is frustrated as he watches each bar of his gilded caged snap in place around him and he begins to act out against the niceties and restrictions of high society living.   

Things are not helped when Anne realizes that Stew's best friend Gallagher is not a man as she assumed but is a female woman of the opposite sex.  

SPOILER! 

Anne agrees to divorce Stew, Stew punches the Schulyer family attorney when he comes 'round offering to pay Stew alimony and Stew finally realizes that holy cow, Gallagher is a female woman of the opposite sex. 

Platinum Blonde is a light confection, a serviceable romantic comedy that provides some indicators of Frank Capra's more successful works to come (such as the 1934 classic It Happened One Night.)  

There a couple of noteworthy flourishes that Capra employs.  There is a scene with Anne and Stew embracing and kissing that Capra shoots through a garden fountain, their bodies flickering in and out of focus through the cascading water. And there is a long extended sequence as the camera follows Stew arriving to one of Anne's high society gatherings as he navigates the crowd towards Anne.   It is a long sequence that appears to have been done with with few if any edits despite the complexity of the crowded scene.   

The movie was originally called The Gilded Cage but studio execs changed to title to Platinum Blonde to capitalize on the surging popularity of Jean Harlow who plays Anne even though the role is a supporting one, not the lead. 

Loretta Young gets top billing but her part as Gallagher is also merely a supporting role which is a shame as her portrayal of Gallagher just sparks whenever she is on screen.

Tragedy came for Robert Williams who played Stew Smith. He died of peritonitis three days after the film's October 31 release.

Platinum Blonde may be a slight film, on the surface not very noteworthy but it is a significant part of Jean Harlow's rise as a Hollywood sex symbol and it provides a revealing snapshot at the great director Frank Capra would become.   

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Trouble in Paradise

Hello and welcome to another installment of Dave-El’s Weekend Movie Post.

 

Where Dave-El (that’s me) writes a Post (what you’re reading) about a Movie (also known as a Film) that I watched on a Weekend.

 

OK, that’s not quite it. I do not actually have to see the movie on a weekend.  

 

These posts appear during the Weekend.  

 

For the 3rd week in a row, I’m writing about a movie that TCM host Ben Mankiewicz talked me into. This time, Ben was joined by screenwriter and director Rian Johnson.  Rian is either 1) the genius auteur who created the classic murder mystery film Knives Out or 2) the royal fuck up who nearly destroyed Star Wars with The Last Jedi.   

 

The film that Ben and Rian convinced me to watch is from 1932 which means it’s free of the restrictive morality of the Hays movie production code. It was released 92 years ago on October 30, 1932.  

 

For this movie post,here is Trouble In Paradise.   

 

In a hotel room in Venice, a Baron courts scandal with a clandestine sexual liason with a Countess. 

Except the Baron is not a Baron but Gaston Monescu, thief and con artist.  

And the Countess is not a Countess but a woman named Lily who is also a thief and a con artist. 

They shed their fake personas as well as all the stuff each has taken from the person of the other.  

It's enough to make two thieves/con artists fall in love and they do so as they take their new joint act on the road to Paris.  

In Paris, the mark is Madame Mariette Colet, owner of the famous perfume manufacturer Colet and Co. Gaston introduces himself to Mariette as Lavalle and insinuates himself info her life as her new personal secretary.  With Lily brought on as an assistant to "Lavalle", Gaston manipulates Mariette as he convinces her to move a crap ton of money (nearly 1 million francs) to her safe at home.  

Gaston and Lily just needs to be patient and their mark will willingly deliver the money they are going to steal right to them.

Except....

Well, there are complications.  

Mariette has a suitor named François Filiba who was once robbed by  Gaston Monescu. He hasn't quite put his finger on it yet but Fliba thinks he knows "LaValle's" face from somewhere.  

Monsieur Adolph J. Giron is the manager of Mariette's perfume company and he thinks "LaValle" is pretty damn suss.  (Giron is not so squeaky clean himself, skimming off millions from the Colet family for years.)  

And much to Lily's chagrin, it appears Gaston is falling in love with Mariette.    

Long story made short, things than can go wrong do go wrong and Lily and Gaston need to make a run for it. Lily filches cash from the safe and Gaston purloins a  valuable pearl necklace.  

Gaston makes a quick but heartfelt  goodbye to Mariette.

In a cab to the train station, Gaston starts to give Lily the pearl necklace but she's already nicked it from him. As Gaston has already relieved Lily of the cash they stole. It's like Venice all over again as they fall into each other's arms in a passionate kiss and we reach...

The End. 

I can see why Rian Johnson, the genius auteur who created the classic murder mystery film Knives Out, would be drawn to Trouble In Paradise.  There are deceptions and cons aplenty has virtually no one is who they are supposed to be and doing what they're supposed to do.   

Even without the recommendation of Rian and Ben, I was still predisposed towards watching this movie for Miriam Hopkins.  I first encountered Miriam in another pre-code film called Design For Living.  Miriam gave an extraordinarily sexy performance in that movie and she's on fire in Trouble In Paradise as well. Miriam's Lily is sharp witted, beautiful, sensual but tough.

It's a shame that Lily kind gets sidelined halfway through the picture as the story focuses on Gaston's intricate plan to ingratiate himself in Mariette's life.  

Speaking of Mariette, Kay Francis gives Miriam Hopkins a run for her money in the "sharp witted, beautiful, sensual but tough" department.  I like to think that Mariette knows she's being played but she doesn't care. She's having too much fun and LaValle is pretty handsome, you know.  

Regarding Gaston/LaValle/the Baron, Herbert Marshall (who we met in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent) has quite the role as the quick thinking and smooth talking con artist, switching up playful and serious in rapid succession as he plays out his long game.  

Trouble In Paradise was made before Hays Production Code became effective, the film plays fast and loose with adult themes and sexually charged banter.  Also Gaston & Lily get a happy ending with no price paid for their crimes, something the code would not permit in later years.  

Trouble in Paradise was directed by Ernst Lubitsch (who also directed Design For Living) and was known for what cinephiles would call "the Lubitsch touch" for his unique style with the camera and his approach to storytelling.

In 1991, Trouble in Paradise was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Tomorrow I will have a 2nd movie post with another pre-code film.  

Your Friday Video Link: What's Cookin' With Dylan Hollis

Today's edition of Your Friday Video Link presents you with NOT one! NOT two!! NOT three!!!

But FOUR videos of our hyper active gay chef, Dylan Hollis! 

Halloween was yesterday but it's never too late for candy corn.

Or candy corn on the cob!

What fresh hell is this, Dylan? Let us see!  

In keeping with a post Halloween/Autumnal theme, Dylan prepares Pumpkin Cracker Bread! 

The next two videos features two recipes for Dump Cake! 

It may be hard to have good feelings about a dessert with the word "dump" in it but my wife Andrea used to make this dessert family gatherings and work events.

Since we no longer have a family to gather and we both work from home, there is no call for her to make dump Cake.

Which is a shame because it is a crazy good dessert! 

And it's also good because her recipe takes a crazy amount of butter which is not good for us.  

And that was our visit with Dylan Hollis. Always a culinary adventure.

I'll be back tomorrow AND Sunday with movie posts from the pre-Hays code era.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.