Movie Time: Wicked - For Good

It's Movie Time!

Last weekend, we embarked from the Fortress Ineptitude to go to see a movie.

The "we" in question was yours truly, Dave-El plus wife Andrea, son Dean and friend Jan.

The "movie" in question was Wicked - For Good.

(Rosie the Dog did not go because she didn't want to take the chance of seeing that bitch Toto.)

It's been a year since we ventured out to see part one of Wicked. 

And it's been a year since  Elphaba defied the Wizard of Oz. 

Elphaba has been busy fighting for animal rights in the Kingdom of Oz, animals who are being ostracized and tormented under the Wizard's iron fist rule.   

Elphaba's efforts to fight for noble causes is undermined by Madame Morrible's propaganda machine that has labeled our emerald hued sorceress "the Wicked Witch of the West".  

Meanwhile, Glinda is the kind, pretty face of the Wizard's kingdom, a bright and smiling epitome of all that is good to counter all that is wicked.   

Wicked - For Good brings us to a dark place, metaphorically and sometimes literally.  There are a couple of scenes where I wonder if director Jon M. Chu ran out of budget for light bulbs.

This is a problem not unique to this movie. A lot of recent films have had night scenes that are so dark, it is difficult to know what's going. I understand eschewing the hokiness of "day for night" shooting and embracing the realism of shooting in the actual dark but let's not lose sight of , well, not losing our sight. We still need to see what's going on.

I think Elphaba and Fiyero may have had a love scene.  It was hard to tell.  

Speaking of darkness, going to the movies should be an escape from the dark times we're living in. But listening to Jeff Goldblum's Wizard talk about people believing what you tell them to believe made me thing of a certain orange skinned wannabe tyrant and his idiot cult and damn it! I paid good money to get away from that shit. 

Sigh!  

Take a deep breath.

...

...

Back to the movie...

If all you know about the kingdom of Oz is from the movie The Wizard of Oz, some stuff might throw you.

A tornado does rip a farmhouse out of Kansas and drop it on Elphaba's sister, Nessarose. 

But this is no mere accident. Madame Morrible summoned the tornado for the express purpose of putting Nessarose in danger to lure Elphaba into a trap.  

Nessarose's shoes wind up on Dorothy's feet but they are still silver.  Apparently in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the shoes were silver and were only made red for The Wizard of Oz. It seems MGM owns the rights to the ruby red slippers so Universal's Wicked - For Good sticks with the shoe hue from the book.  

Dorothy does accumulate some strange friends along the way down the Yellow Brick Road but at least two of them (the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodsman) have serious beef with Elphaba, blaming her for being what they are.  As for the Scarecrow, we will discover by the end he has a more sympathetic understanding of Elphaba. 

Speaking of Dorothy....

She's not really in this movie.  We see her from behind and from a distance and what not which is apparently more than we see of her in the stage play Wicked.  In the play, she's talked about but never seen save for a silhouette at the end when she takes out Elphaba with a bucket of water.

Wicked - For Good echoes that sequence for the movie.

I had guessed the ending of the movie but I avoided reading about the play in order to not completely spoil it for myself. 

SPOILER

Dorothy does NOT kill the "Wicked WItch of the West" with a bucket of water. Elphaba stages her death with a good old fashioned magic trick involving smoke and a trap door. 

Meanwhile, Glinda struggles with her role in Madame Morrible's propaganda casting Glinda as Glinda the Good vs. Elphaba's Wicked Witch of the West. But by the end of the movie, Glinda is fierce as she confronts the Wizard with the depths of his sins (the woman he ordered killed was his own daughter) and tells him he's gonna hop in his balloon and leave Oz. 

And Glinda's final confrontation with Madame Morrible is epic with Glinda hurling Morrible's insults back at her and sending flying monkeys to carry her scheming ass to a prison cell.

So our movie ends at the end which is where it began a year ago in Wicked part one: Glinda finishes telling her story to the Munchkins.  

Glinda's in charge now and she's she going to be ruler who is good. For example, she restores Animal rights and they get their voices back. 

Elphaba and Fiyero (who is now the Scarecrow) leave Oz. 

So.... what's the verdict?

As my son Dean said, this did not need to be two movies.

Well, I'm not sure what director Jon Chu would've left on the cutting room floor to make this work as one movie but Wicked - For Good does feel less like a movie and more like an extended third act of the movie we started last year.  

A lot of what made Wicked so charming was the interaction, the chemistry between Ariana Grande (Glinda) and Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) which is missing in Wicked - For Good. The needs of the story keep them mostly separated but the scenes they do share crackle with energy and, dare I say it, passion. 

(Yes, you Glinda/Elphaba shippers are going to be disappointed.)

As a movie in and of itself, Wicked - For Good may be found lacking.  But I think it succeeds in bringing the Wicked saga in for a relatively satisfactory landing.  

A landing I think that would have had more power and resonance if it was part of a single whole instead of being doled out in parts.  

Your Friday Video Link: It's A Me, Silvia!

A frequent visitor to my Tik Tok For You Page is It's a Me, Silvia!

It's a series of totally nonsensical sketches perpetrated by a strange woman named "Silvia".   

Your Friday Video Link#1 is Silvia as a super villain.

And her henchperson.

And her secret agent arch nemesis. 

Your Friday Video Link#2 is Silvia as the absolute worst flight attendant.   

Your Friday Video Link#3 is Silvia as an incredibly clueless TV news anchor person.   

Your Friday Video Link#4?  Silvia dies!

Finally, Your Friday Video Link#5 is Silvia decorating for Christmas!  

It's a me, Silvia can be found on Instagram.  

That's all for this week's Your Friday Video Link!

Movie Time is up tomorrow as we journey to the land of Oz> It's Wicked - For Good!  

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

The Legend of the Long Streaker

 

My wife Andrea and son Dean are both seeking to expand their knowledge with learning another language using the app called Duolingo.

Both of them have committed themselves to practicing on this app everyday, developing their understanding of Spanish.

Recently, Dean received an encouraging post from Duolingo offering kudos and congrats for staying with the program for such a length of time.

It seems to me that a language app could find a better way to comment on a long streak than to call someone a "long streaker".

I want to express my pride in my wife and son for their respective efforts to expand their language skills and their dedication to do this every day.

It is, however, NOT an excuse to run naked through the streets.

It's not the 1970's, you know.  

Journeys With Food and the End of K&W

A frequent visitor to my Tik Tok For You Page is Dylan Huynh who apparently eats food for a living.

Nice gig, if you can get it.  

He posts videos on trying various kinds of restaraunts:

• diners along Route 66.
• comparing chain breakfast places (IHOP vs. Waffle House vs. Cracker Barrel, etc etc)
• fast food restaraunts 
• knock offs of fast food restaraunts 
• theme restaurants

And so on and so forth. Dylan's videos are fun and I appreciate his enthusiasm even if a particularly eatery does not meet his expectations.  

Here is a video Dylan making comparisons of the most expensive buffets in Las Vegas.

I wonder if cafeterias count as buffets.

If so, I would have been interested in Dylan's assessment of K&W.

But sadly that will not be happening now.

After being in business for 88 years, K&W shut down immediately as of Monday, December 1st.  

I really feel sad that K&W is gone.

I feel bad that I have not eaten at K&W in what, maybe over 25 years or so? 

I remember K&W being very cost effective and with a nice selection of different kinds of food.

Of course, with theTirzepatide injection I now take each week curbing my appetite, I'm not sure how far I would get out of K&W's extensive and varied serving line. 

I remember one factor that caused me some stress going to K&W was the "Whachermeat" lady. As you advanced through the line, a woman responsible for doling out whatever meat was on the menu, she would call out "Whachermeat" to people back in the line before you could see what the meat was.

My wife Andrea grew up in Greensboro and frequently dined at K&W with her grandparents when she was a child.  So the loss of K&W is particularly poignant for her.    

When I used to go to K&W, I was among the youngest people there.  

Now that I've aged into the average demographic for K&W customers, they are no longer around.

Well, that's kind of a bummer.

And I'm sorry Dylan Huynh won't get to try it. I would've loved to hear his review of K&W.  

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Time For Crime

This week on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, it's TIME FOR CRIME!

I don't follow Law & Order every single week but I do check in occassionally.

The o.g. L&O had a shake up in the cast when the black guy who used to be on Supergirl was replaced by another black guy who used to be on Supergirl.

Mehcad Brooks (who was James Olsen on Supergirl) left his role as Det. Jalen Shaw after 3 years at the end of season 24.  Apparently the decision to leave was so sudden, Reid Scott's Det. Vincent Riley did not have a partner for the first episodes of season 25. 

Maura Tierney's Lt. Jessica Brady would join Riley in the field which was not a bad thing. One of the things that even remotely keeps me interested in this revival of L&O after it's wobbly and disastrous start is adding Maura Tierney to the cast as the squad lieutenant.  Anything that gives us more time with Maura Tieney is fine by me.  

Eventually, Riley gets a partner in the form of Det. Theo Walker played by David Ajala.  Ajala was the villianous Manchester Black on Supergirl and also had a run on Star Trek: Discovery.  

Ajala also joins Hugh Dancy's Assistant D.A. Nolan Price as another Brit taking jobs from 'Mericans! Damn their flawless American accents! 

One series in the L&O franchise that I have not followed in the past is Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I understand the show is very popular but I find it difficult to engage with a show made for purposes of entertainment but on the premise of investigating crimes of sexual violence.  

But the unbiquitous nature of L&O: SVU reruns are hard to avoid and the enticing nature of certain guest stars engaged my curiousity and so I started sampling some episodes.

Like when Martin Short was a perp!

What the hell? Oliver Putnam from Only Murders In the Building as a Law & Order bad guy? One of The Three Amigos as a sex fiend? Really?

Gotta give it up from Martin Short who was very convincing in his smarmy incidious role on L&O: SVU.

I get why fans of L&O: SVU just love Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, detective turned squad captain. She has this uncanny ability to balance being a tough kick ass cop with a devoted compassion and fierce advocacy for the victims who come to her squad.  

All that being said, the subject matter of L&O: SVU leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. Which I suppose is the point.  But how the more devoted fans of L&O: SVU can just watch episode after episode, I just don't get it.  

I'm reluctant to list Leverage in this post as it is not a crime show, per se.  The people that the Leverage team go after frequently have not technically broken the law but these people of wealth, power and influence are guilty of fucking over some hapless individual or entity that does NOT have wealth, power and influence. 

Andrea and I are halfway season 2. 

Each episode is an elaborate con job to get some entitled prick to want to add to their already considerable wealth, power and influence only to fuck themselves over.  

The individuals of the Leverage team have strong established personalities and the show loves challenging them by forcing them into to roles outside their comfort zones.  Like Hardison, super tech wizard, would rather be safe at base behind a keyboard hacking some fucker's security or bank accounts but danged if team leader Nathan keeps finding excuses to put him in the field.

Or Parker, weird and quirky as hell, she is extraordinarily gifted at breaking in to anything and escaping from anywhere but she has the social skills of a brick.  So of course she winds up stuck having to engage someone in a "normal" conversation and she has few clues as to how to do that. 

Leverage is fun and often funny but also a cathartic release to see the rich and powerful being held to account.  

I can't discuss crime shows without mentioning that Andrea and I are still plowing through Hudson & Rex.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the cable channel UP TV ran a three day marathon and now our DVR is straining under the weight of umpteen episodes of Hudson & Rex. 

We will not be watching episodes after John Reardon's unceremonious exit from the show when producers fired him after his recovery from cancer during season 7. 

Until we reach the time of that despicable decision, Andrea and I have a LOT of Hudson & Rex to get through.  

Not much to say here but just a reminder I have watching random episodes of Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye, this odd duck of a crime show about a deaf female FBI agent to solves crimes along with her hearing ear dog Levi.  

It is the least offensive crime show you will ever see. Unless you're put off by some of the agents' Pro-America gingoism. 

And that is that for this week's Touchbase.

Coming up on future editions of the Touchbase.   

• Brilliant Minds 
• Stranger Things
• Peacemaker

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.   

Punishable By Rant

The Whiny Bitch In Chief has been busy lately.

Donald Trump has been particularly testy with female journalists, responding to inquiries from female women of the opposite sex with "Quiet, piggy!" and "Are you stupid?" 

But just to show Li'l Donnie can be an equal opportunity offender, he called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz "retarded".

And for good measure, der Führer went and called for a group of Democrat Congresspersons to be put to death.

Gee, is Donnie okay?  

The habitually grumpy Donald Trump seems to be even grumpier that usual.  The problem is der Führer keeps butting heads with stuff that does not accept his version of reality.

Trump keeps insisting prices are going down. People can fucking SEE that prices are going up. When confronted with questions about that, Li'l Donnie gets all petulant and insists he's is right and everyone else is wrong, prices are going down and why the hell can't we appreciate all he has done to bring down prices? 

der Führer keeps declaring victory over solving a bunch of wars and why nobody gives him credit for that.  One of those wars he "solved", Israel vs. Hamas, still has Israel lobbing missiles at Gaza.  

Trump is lobbing American missiles at fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela.  His version is he's protecting America from narco terrorists who have declared war on the United States using drugs.  

There is a distinct possibility these fishing boats are carrying drugs but there is no evidence any of this is true. But it gives Pete Hegseth who is just itching to blow shit up an excuse to blow shit up.   

Hegeth's reasoning for blowing up fishing boats? Because Trump said so.

Trump's reasoning for blowing up fishing boats?  Because he said so. 

Fun Fact: the President can't just blow shit up because he said so. There has to be some verifiable evidence or intelligence that there is a legitimate threat to American interests.  Evidence and intelligence that neither Trump or any of his boot licking minions have bothered to provide.

Meanwhile, a group of Democrat Congress persons who have also served in the military made a short video to remind those who serve in the military that they swore an oath to the Constitution and also have a legal responsibility to not follow illegal orders. 

These Democrats did not mention anyone by name or even specify any recent orders that may be construed as illegal. They merely stated a factual truth: troops do not have to follow illegal orders. It's the law.

der Führer immediately took offense and declared these Democrat Congress people to be traitors and guilty of sedition which is punishable by DEATH! 

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona was part of that group and Pete Hegseth has singled him out by threatening to recall the retired Marine to active duty so he can be punished for treason or some shit.  

Meanwhile, Li'l Donnie keeps insisting American cities run by Democrat mayors are burning cesspools of unrelenting crime and violence despite the lack of cesspools burning or otherwise infested with rampant crime and/or violence. 

Trump says sending the National Guard to Washington DC removed ALL crime. Which was a surprise to the two National Guard troops who were shot last week.  Trump immediately blamed Biden for the Afghan national who shot them.  

Yeah, the guy came here in 2024 when Biden was President.

But he was granted asylum in 2025 while Trump is President.

Trump claimed there was NO vetting done on this person which was Biden's fault. But what about the vetting to grant asylum that should've been done this year?

Nope! Biden's fault! 

And anyone who dares ask about this is STUPID!  

Especially any women who ask about this.

Meanwhile, Trump decided to go after Somalians because.... it's their turn on his Wheel O' Hate?

Minnesota has a significant population of people from Somolia who have lived in America for decades.  They are all here under legal protections granted by the United States and many have gone on to become full on American citizens.  

Trump insists there are roving gangs of Somalians rampaging across Minnesotas where good people are are quivering in fear behind locked doors and under their blankets, afraid to venture outdoors or WHAM! get attacked by Somalians.  

Trump's logic is that Somolia is a shithole country beset by crime and violence and I guess that people from Somolia bring that crime and violence with them or something? 

The reason so many Somolians call the United States home is that know first hand that their native land is shithole country beset by crime and violence and are very grateful to be here away from the crime and violence.

Anyway, Dementia Don is convinced Somolians are on a reign of terror against Minnesota and the state's Democrat governor, Tim Walz, is too "retarded" to do anything about it.  

By the way, the use of this slur against Gov. Walz has cost Trump the support of a Republican in Indiana. The Republican led state legislature is scheduled to take up the issue of redrawing their voting district maps to add a few extra Republican seats to the U.S. House of Representatives.  

Indiana state Sen. Michael Bohacek, who has a daughter with Down's syndrome, took exception to Trump's offensive language and announced he will NOT vote in favor of redistricting.  

Well, gee Mr. Stable Genius, I hope insulting a Democrat is worth losing Republican support. 

And this is only some of the insane bullshit that has come out of Donald Trump.

Is this part of that cognitive decline we've all seen coming from miles away for years now?

Is Donnie okay?

Or is this lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, small minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit just being himself?