Autumn

Wind River is stripping The Weinstein Company name from the film, and they're negotiating to donate all the TWC money to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. Good on them! Shows a real commitment from Taylor Sheridan and the stars to the cause of the missing and raped Native women.

I might go see the movie again if it's still playing, to support them. There's nothing else that I want to see, since all the horror movies are out for Halloween. I don't mind a mildly spooky or scary movie, but it seems all the horror stuff made lately is going for maximum gore, sadism, and grossness. No thanks.

Meanwhile, the weather has finally cooled in Texas, and it's turned positively chilly at night. Speechless had a great Halloween episode last night, very funny and with multiple costumes. That's the sort of goofy Halloween spirit I like, not horror.

TV news

I read that Amber Ruffin is developing a TV show based on her life, with help from Seth Meyers. I'll miss her so much on Seth's show, but I'm happy for her. Maybe the other women writers at Late Night will take up the slack and appear more often. I don't know.

As for other shows, I've found that The Mayor was hit or miss, but I liked the recent Halloween episode. Fresh Off the Boat had a good episode last night too, with George Takei guest starring as an ESL teacher. The show implied that Grandma liked him, so does this mean George will have a recurring role as Jenny's love interest? I hope so. Supergirl has been kind of all over the place and weird by introducing the Reign character to us as a single mother who's nice and just discovering her superpowers. Why do they want to start her out sympathetic and unaware of her origins? Anyway, I did like the recent episode on Mars and the new credits that talk about her being a refugee and feature the new actress playing Kara's mother. Maybe the season will get better.

I was sorry to hear that Robert Guillaume died yesterday. He was great.

Political garbage

Early voting is this week, and I went yesterday. It's an off year, so there's no candidates, just state constitutional amendments on the ballot. I had a little scare, though, because the election worker couldn't find my record at first, and had pulled up some other person's profile instead. Fortunately my ID matched my voter registration card, so the supervisor helped her look up the correct information. I'm still annoyed that the Voter ID law is still in effect after being struck down so many times in the courts.

Anyway, I was also concerned about the story of the 17-year-old Jane Doe needing an abortion but repeatedly blocked by the courts, but I just read that she finally got it. Last week I also heard that some Boy Scout got kicked out because he dared to ask a politician about gun control, even though all the scouts had been told to be prepared with questions. (Apparently it was the local den mother who kicked him out, but he was able to transfer to another den. Still totally unfair.) Apparently everyone's forgotten about the Vegas shooting now and all the promises to at least ban bump stocks. It's so depressing.

Marshall sexual politics

I went to see the movie about Thurgood Marshall. It's about an early case in 1940 in Bridgeport Connecticut, concerning a black man accused of raping a white woman. Because of the judge's ruling, Marshall is not allowed to try the case himself, and has to be second chair to a local lawyer named Sam Friedman. The movie portrays their defense of Joseph Spell, and the discrimination both lawyers face because Marshall is black and Friedman is Jewish. While I liked most of the movie, including the scene where Marshall dines with Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, I found some parts of the courtroom drama troubling and uncomfortable.

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women

I saw the Marston movie this weekend and loved it. Very warm, funny and well worth the wait, since I first read about the history. I'm not sure that the movie has all its historical facts correct, due to artistic license and the need to create dramatic conflict for plot, but it is a great portrayal of a polyamorous love story with an emphasis on consent and family. Elizabeth Holloway is frank and fabulous, railing against the sexism that keeps her from getting getting a degree from Harvard, and conscious of how society will judge and ostracize them for their relationships. Bill Marston meanwhile is very sincere and adamant about his psychological theories, idealistically believing that feminism will create a utopia without war. Olive is drawn to both Marstons, but seems to love the brilliant Elizabeth more.

The creation of Wonder Woman is slowly pieced together out of their lives, though the film portrays Marston's comic strip idea coming rather suddenly, omitting the part where he had a job as a psychological consultant on Hollywood films, then on comics, before he proposed creating and writing a comic himself. According to Jill Lepore, he had various odd jobs once his academic career went downhill. So the film makes it seem that Elizabeth is able to somehow support the entire family only on her secretarial job, and is also vague about Olive Byrne's career as a journalist.

Still, I enjoyed it immensely and wish it would do better at the box office. But then I like lots of critically acclaimed small movies like this. Before it, I also saw a trailer for The Current War about Thomas Edison vs George Westinghouse, with a little Nikola Tesla thrown in. It was rather weird/creepy seeing the Weinstein Company logo on it, and now I read that the movie's been delayed. I don't think I would have watched it anyway even before the scandal.

TV twists

I've enjoyed the last few episodes of The Orville, and tonight I thought I recognized the actress who played Nurse Ogawa on TNG, playing a Union admiral here, but I can't get confirmation anywhere yet. ETA: Omigod, that wasn't Patti Yasutake, that was Kelly Hu! My mistake.

It's a good show, though they don't always stick the landings at the end of episodes. I thought opening the sunroof on the bioship was a bad idea, and last week I didn't quite get how closing the wormhole erased Pria yet didn't create a time paradox about how their ship survived the dark matter storm.

SPOILERS BELOW

Worse and Worse

The news trickling out about Harvey Weinstein is horrific, and even Terry Crews confessed about being harassed (though by a different guy). Of course some misogynists want to criticize Hillary Clinton for not responding fast enough, and I like this snarky response.

Still, have to remember that there are other major crises at hand like the situation in Puerto Rico, the California wildfires, and Trump's threats against Obamacare, the Iran Deal, North Korea. It's like, where will it end? At least a lot of celebrities have organized a fundraiser for Puerto Rico, Mexico, and other forgotten places. It's sad that the news cycle seems to get myopically focused on one or two issues at a time, letting others disappear from view.

Te Ata

I saw this biopic about Te Ata, the Chickasaw storyteller who helped bridge cultural barriers. It's a lovely, moving story, and in contrast to the grim murder drama Wind River, this movie felt refreshingly uplifting and mystical. Though life on the reservation is indeed hard and oppressive, it's not totally bleak and hopeless, because people still have love and support from the community. It also revels in the beauty and wonder of nature.

The story begins when Mary Frances Thompson is a child, learning stories from her father and longing to be included in a ceremony of Elders. She grows up in the Chickasaw Nation, before Oklahoma became a state in 1907. Mary's uncle is the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, and her father is the newly appointed Treasurer. The Governor journeys to Washington D.C. trying to get some money released, but the federal officials lecture him that his people need to assimilate and give up the "mumbo-jumbo" rituals and beliefs of their culture. This becomes a theme of the movie, how the Indian Offenses Act outlaws traditional songs and dances, denying the Indians the right to practice their heritage.

Hoping

Meanwhile, the news and politics continues to be awful. The Las Vegas massacre, Puerto Rico's continued suffering, Tom Petty dying, federal budget fights, the continuing lack of a new DACA in Congress... It's hard to have any hope. Even Texas Governor Abbott was feuding with the Houston mayor about funds after Hurricane Harvey, but it seems he finally backed down and agreed to tap into the $10 billion Rainy Day fund.

There's been talk that some Republicans might finally get on board with a ban on bump stocks for guns, but we'll have to see if they actually do anything this time. In other news, a judge blocked Texas from giving info to that shitty Voter Fraud Commission. I hope that holds.

TV and movie

Inspired by Hamilton's history lesson, Black-ish premiered with an episode about Juneteenth, complete with a Schoolhouse Rock-like cartoon and songs staged like Broadway. I mostly liked it, though the beginning talking about Christopher Columbus myths reminded me of their past shitty episode about replacing Columbus Day with Daddy's Day. So again it felt partly like the writers criticizing Columbus Day while ignoring the fact that many people want that day changed to Indigenous People's Day. Please acknowledge that, Black-ish, or stop revisiting the Columbus Day well.

I find it also sad that Dre complains about Juneteenth being ignored by his coworkers. Who cares what your coworkers think? Do you need their approval to take a holiday that day? Maybe it's because he lives in California, rather than Texas where there's already Juneteenth parades and such every year. But just because the Johnsons have to celebrate privately doesn't mean it's a "fake" holiday without meaning. I did like the joke about hibiscus tea and strawberry soda, though.

Victoria and Abdul

I saw the Judi Dench movie yesterday, and it's still rather hard to believe. The things she does for her favorite Indian seem too good to be true, like historical revisionism, yet Wikipedia cites multiple sources for the facts of Abdul Karim's life, offering proof for almost every incident depicted in the movie. There is a major detail altered, though: the movie pretends that Karim and Mohammed Buksh were supposed to visit England only for one brief ceremony to present a coin, but in real life it seems that these Indians had always been intended to serve the Queen for a year, and that she had requested them for her Jubilee. So this portrayal of Karim innocently and accidentally winning over the Queen to get them permanent jobs is a stretch of the truth. Yes, he extended a one year job into over a decade, but he did not turn a one day job into a sudden career move, against Buksh's wishes.