new Tivo

I got a new Tivo and am still in the process of transferring recordings to it from my old Tivo, which was running out of space. I can't figure out how to do the MoCa network yet, but thankfully the devices can see each other on the wireless network instead. The new Tivo also has four tuners, so hopefully I'll be able to record everything I want no matter how the networks schedule midseason.

Unfortunately lots of so-called "midseason" shows are premiering in March rather than January, because they're trying to avoid the Olympics. It's so annoying, especially when it forces long hiatuses or weeks of reruns for some shows.

I saw a birthday special on David Attenborough (apparently it was recorded in Britain and aired there first, before belatedly airing here). He's still very active for 90, and such an icon. I also watched a special earlier this year about Zoo Quest in color. It was his earliest nature show in the 1950s, and it was broadcast in black and white because that's what most televisions were back then; however, their cameras originally filmed on color stock, so the BBC restored it in color this time. It was very fascinating and vivid. I liked it a lot.

Spoiled

I watched Mudbound this weekend on Netflix. I read spoilers beforehand to assure myself that nothing horrific would happen like the Jacksons all getting massacred or raped. Oh yes, there is tragedy, but I could handle it. I think the spoilers may have diminished the impact of some moments, but I still thought it was effective, showing how Henry McAllan, though not as openly racist as his father Pappy, is still not a friendly ally to anyone. He constantly intrudes on the Jacksons with tasks, treating them like servants, when technically they're just supposed to be sharecroppers working his land. When Hap breaks his leg, Henry makes Hap rent a mule from him and get half-pay until it's paid off; it's not a request, it's an order. He sure as hell doesn't offer to lend the mule for free. Henry even drives up in the middle of the night to demand an apology, and to warn Ronsel to not flout the Jim Crow system now that he's come back from war.

Even the other McAllans, though nicer, keep imposing on the Jacksons all the time, from Laura wanting Florence to watch her kids, to Jamie constantly endangering Ronsel's life because he wants to be friends, but keeps risking them being seen together. I'm not sure what was the private place that Jamie kept taking them to, when they drank and smoked. Though Jamie does try to fight for Ronsel, and never betrays him as a friend, his carelessness is enough to get them into trouble with the KKK. The Jacksons have to navigate all these demands, though sometimes they have happy moments, such as reading Ronsel's letters from the warfront. I liked it, especially the hopeful ending. Maybe I'll watch it again after I've forgotten most of the plot, so I can see it with fresh eyes.

Meanwhile, the CW crossover "Crisis on Earth-X" goes for Nazi villains as easy bad guys. I don't know why they bothered with the masks for the Nazi doubles of the superheros, when most of the promos for the crossover spoiled the fact that there would be evil twins. It was also confusing to have two masked arrow-shooting villains fighting at the same time during the wedding. I saw no difference between the "Prometheus" guy and the Dark Arrow guy. That's why I hate these crossovers which assume you know something about the other shows, or about comic books. I hate them, and I'm not gonna watch anymore. What's the point, when I know what will happen? The superheroes will be endangered for a little while, but they'll defeat the Nazis in the end, then go home to their respective worlds. Who cares? It's not compelling like the Mirror Universe in Star Trek, where there was some grey, and some hope to change the dark world.

Yucky episode

I finally watched the Fresh Off the Boat episode with Takei during the week of Thanksgiving. His character was written as annoying, and I'm guessing that Jenny won't be seeing him again after ESL class, so hopefully that will be the end of him recurring on the show. There hasn't been any further news about the scandal, everybody being caught in politicians' scandals instead. The rest of the episode was fairly good, and I was surprised they used the Barney "death" from the 1997 Thanksgiving parade. It was also kind of quaint for Jessica to think that Black Friday is the day that Christmas music starts, when nowadays it can start any time right after Halloween.

As for the Supergirl episode on Monday, Sam finally turned into Reign, but other than that, the entire episode was terrible and unnecessary soap opera. I expected some drama from Mon-el's return but this was disappointing crap.

Bewildered

International news outlets are reporting that there's been a military coup against Robert Mugabe, and that he is going to be impeached. I hope everything works out ok, though I'm not sure what the military will do with their power. Also, there's some kind of power struggle going on in Saudi Arabia that I don't understand. The world is becoming very perplexing these days, and it doesn't help that US media keeps ignoring global news to focus on the shitshow in America.

Anyway, now there's a Franken accuser who actually mentions physical touching. Will the stupid defensive deniers back off now about their "he didn't really touch her! It was just a joke, not harassment!" arguments? Satisfied now, or just going to attack her politics? Fuck you!

Meanwhile Jeffrey Tambor says he won't return to Transparent and made a stupid statement about the "politicized atmosphere" there. Dude, it's not politics. You're not making yourself look innocent and you're just encouraging other people to talk about a so-called witch hunt. I don't really care about Tambor's show, because I never watch things on Amazon, and I was always side-eyeing the show for casting Tambor instead of a trans actress. (I also still side-eye Arrested Development for its season 4 storyline about George turning feminine, which apparently inspired Amazon to cast Tambor as a trans woman. The George Bluth storyline is fucked-up and confused about what constitutes gender beyond a hormonal accident.)

Victim Blaming

A pipeline in South Dakota leaked 210 gallons of oil, and the Trump admin lifted the ban on importing elephant trophies from big game hunting.

Meanwhile, Al Franken was accused of harassment and groping on a USO tour. I never felt particularly close to him, though others obviously admired him as a senator, and I can understand being heartbroken about it like I still am over George Takei. I can even understand the impulse to not want him to resign, to keep crucial Democrat votes in the Senate. What I cannot understand, though, were the disappointing number of liberals on Daily Kos and other forums arguing technicalities over whether Franken actually touched her in the photo, or was just jokingly miming a grope. That doesn't fucking matter! What matters is that she was asleep, so she was not "in" on his tasteless joke. She could not consent or voice any opinion on whether she thought the crude humor was funny, no big deal, etc. It's creepy and gross, and I'm glad Franken acknowledges that now, though he still insists that the rehearsal kiss was different when he remembered it. At least he apologized and will cooperate with an ethics investigation.

What's worse is the number of Democrats insisting that it's all lies, a right-wing conspiracy, why didn't she come forward sooner, why did she continue on the USO tour with him, like her commitment to the troops didn't matter? Some even talking about how "feminists" are conducting a "witch hunt". Fuck you! I thought we all learned with the Weinstein scandal that it doesn't matter if the man's politics are left-leaning; we have to call out scumbags on our side too, especially when the other side won't. Sexual harassment/assault is always wrong even if the victim isn't somebody we like. Saying "it's just a joke! It wasn't that bad!" gives cover to all the fratboy abusers who tell victims "I was only kidding. Get a sense of humor" to excuse their offensive behavior. Fuck you people in denial.

If I can withstand George Takei breaking my heart, then why can't you stop defending Franken? Why can't you listen to Sarah Silverman's thoughts about her friend Louis C.K., asking "Can you love someone who did bad things?" Grow up and deal with it. Acknowledge that someone you like and respect might not be who you think they are. Do your best to get them to change, to protect other people, but don't deny the ugly truth.

Congrats, Australia

Hooray for Australia voting in favor of same-sex marriage! Hopefully their Parliament quickly makes it legal.

Meanwhile I heard a "Christmas music" station playing a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". WTF? That's not a Christmas song! In fact it's rather sexually charged, alluding to David and Bathsheba. It's like someone mistaking Hozier's "Take Me To Church" for a religious song, just because of the lines about worshipping like a dog and the "Amen" refrain. Fucking listen to the lyrics.

Murder on the Orient Express

Speaking of where to draw the line... for years Johnny Depp seemed cool and lovably eccentric to me. I had a naive crush on him. But Depp's schtick wore thin over the years and then Amber Heard divorced him and revealed how abusive he was. So now that I'm actively disliking him, what films should I be avoiding solely because of him? It's easy to skip the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, as that stupid franchise is way past its prime. And yet Hollywood insists on shoving Depp into other franchises, like making him a surprise villain in that Harry Potter spinoff, and Branagh casting him in Orient Express.

I was willing to tolerate Depp in this role because I know Ratchett is the victim who dies, so I was hoping we'd be done with him very quickly. Branagh unfortunately lets him linger quite a while, and the rest of the movie doesn't make up for it. The film is mediocre, and Branagh inserted some past love Katherine for Poirot. If you're going to shoehorn in a backstory for him, at least make it Vera Rossakoff, who's in the actual Christie books! The movie is not as bad an abomination as the David Suchet version, but it's like Branagh didn't learn the lesson from that awful version, that he in fact might admire that version. Blech.

SPOILERS BELOW

Can't have nice things

The accusation against George Takei is so damn distressing. Takei denies it, and yet there's apparently some audio of him on Howard Stern's show talking about grabbing somebody. (aside--Howard Stern's sense of humor as yucky as ever.) The accuser's account is so damn detailed, and he wants nothing but an apology, and he was outraged by Takei's response about Kevin Spacey. Many people are still defending and trusting Takei, but I think of Louis C.K.'s confession, admitting that his fans admired him so much that they would attack any accusers. I think of the years that no one believed Cosby's victims because they thought he was a wonderful father figure. I don't want to be blindly in denial just because I don't want the accusation to be true, just because I look to Takei as a hero, an icon, an activist. Just because I like his politics, and loved his Broadway show about Japanese internment.

I have to remember that a man can be good and right about some things, but completely terrible about others. That it's dangerous to invest your heart and ideals in a man you don't really know, but only admire from afar. I remember when I was a kid I loved Thomas Jefferson so much, knowing that he owned slaves, and there were rumors about him and Sally Hemings. I made excuses for him, looking to his statements about the evils of slavery, about him trying to put it in the Declaration of Independence, about him being a kind master. Because for some reason I could accept some contradictions about him being a man of his time, but I didn't want to think he was SUCH a complicit hypocrite that he would actually father Sally's children. But after the DNA evidence in the 1990s, I gave up such illusions, and so did most Jefferson scholars. I don't want to live in stubborn denial, just because I don't want an allegation to be true. Just because I find it heartbreaking and disappointing.

I don't know how to feel about Takei now. Ironically, I wanted his character to recur on Fresh Off The Boat, and apparently he is in the upcoming Thanksgiving episode. Be careful what you wish for? I have to always remember the painful lesson, that humans can be myopic bastards, thinking themselves heroes instead of villains, even when they do villainous things. Even people we love, look to as leaders and role models, can be secretly garbage. Heck, even when people are known to be rapists, like Roman Polanski, they will still have admirers praising them and working with them. Talking about separating the man from his art. Everyone has to make that choice for themselves, where they draw the line of what to boycott. I still have to make mine about Takei.

TV developments

I'm glad that Fresh Off the Boat is actually committed to the storyline of Nicole being gay. I thought it might just be a one off episode never mentioned again. She continues her friendship with Eddie, and now she has come out to her parents. (Well her stepmom and her dad. Don't know about her mom.) I delayed seeing this week's episode because this plot wasn't mentioned; the promos made it seem like Jessica would be an obnoxious, competitive softball monster in this episode, and I thought it would be cringeworthy and ugly, rather than funny. But no, the softball game wasn't that much of the episode, and Jessica finally realized that lesbians exist, and that her favorite bar was a lesbian bar. Good character growth for her and Marvin.

Black-ish had a fairly good episode too about rites of passage for the kids. Bow's mom even came to visit. I liked the episode of Finding Your Roots this week, also, though I got mixed up about some of the genealogy. I wish they would do only two people an episode. Three stories is hard to keep track of.

Supergirl finally addressed the fallout from that lead-bomb from last season. Lead is toxic to humans, not just Daxamite aliens, and there is NO amount of lead exposure that is safe for humans. They're handwaving it away that the Daxamites absorbed most of it, but I still don't see how that would work. Lena really seemed troubled and hopeless when she thought she was guilty. At one point I thought she was going to confess that she knows that Kara is Supergirl, but I guess I was wrong. I wish Lena had confessed what she knew to Kara about the chemicals, instead of doing the stupid thing confronting Edge alone. Sad that Alex and Maggie broke up, though they had a sweet loving last night together. I still don't like how the reveal of Reign is so damn slow. Is it going to take all season?

Miss Fisher and the Deathly Maze

Meanwhile I found a Miss Fisher computer game to tide me over until the movie. I liked it, though I couldn't find all the pieces to collect for the dresses I wanted, and there was no way to replay and get those pieces. Also I got stuck a couple of times too, not sure which clues I needed to put together to Deduce something. I loved that there was some implied flirtation between Mac and one of the women characters, but I was puzzled by Dot fighting with Hugh. Anyway, after the murder mystery was solved, there was a long sequence setting up the next episode, with the villain Murdoch Foyle.

Need some gun control

Syria will now sign the Paris Climate Change accords, meaning that because of Trump the US will now be the one rogue nation pulling out. We are fucked.

Mueller, can you keep working on more arrests for the Russia investigation? We got to get this incompetent traitor out. I wish he just would never come back from his Asia trip. Just stay with Putin and resign.

Meanwhile it's the same old shit since the church shooting in Texas. I had hope that something would change after Las Vegas, but nothing got done so I'm not going to hope this time. Even if Trump weren't in charge, these Republicans will never budge an inch, even though most people want some background checks, some bump stock bans, some form of gun control... It's so fucked up.

Fall Hiatus

I'm so glad that the little girl ICE was detaining in Texas was released back to her parents at last. Meanwhile, Democrats were having a huge pie fight about the DNC again. It's tiresome and distracting from the battles we should be fighting against Republicans and their shitty tax bill.

Anyway, The Orville got renewed for a second season, and I'm happy. Sad that a bunch of my shows won't come back for months because of Thursday night football. I guess I'll watch more DVDs. I recently downloaded an app so I could catalog my DVD collection. Sadly, most of them weren't recognized by Movies Anywhere because I didn't still have the codes for digital copies, and others were TV shows rather than movies. I'll have to keep this in mind with any new purchases to look for codes.

There's a new Thor film out, but I'm tired of Marvel and am waiting for the Black Panther in February. Still, I wish the movie well because of the director. I still love his Hunt for the Wilderpeople. In the meantime, I guess I'll see Murder on the Orient Express next weekend, despite Poirot's strange new mustache. I still don't understand why Branagh cast himself in the role instead of trying for an actual Belgian this time. Even if the movie's bad, I like most of the cast, and it can't be worse than the horrible David Suchet version of Orient Express that wrecked the ending for no good reason. So far, I still like Alfred Molina's TV version the best.