On Sunday I watched an episode of Maigret on PBS. It's one of the recent ones starring Rowan Atkinson as the French police chief. From what I've seen, the shows are fairly good period mysteries, not quite a cozy, but at least not a soap opera like that stupid Grantchester. It's not "light" and jokey but also not bleak like those depressing Wallender shows either. Wallender most definitely turned me off any Scandinavian mysteries whatsoever.
I think Rowan is good at playing serious, in an understated way, but I wish Maigret's wife had more to do. I also really wanted to have some resolution about the plot with her friend whose policeman husband was cheating on her. The show seemed to have some really weird viewpoints on sexual politics and marriage.
SPOILERS
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Get Ready to Vote!
The news has been exhausting, and all the discussion of sexual assaults with #WhyIDidntReport has been horrifying. I was glad to hear that the agent who assaulted Terry Crews finally got fired, and Crews posted the guy's apology letter. Finally some repercussions.
The Texas Senate race is a tossup, and they had their first debate on Friday. I didn't see it, but I did see a Cruz political ad on late night TV, with Cruz trying to stoke fears about illegal immigrants killing people and needing to be deported. Fuck you, Cruz, when a US border patrol agent is a serial killer maybe you shouldn't throw stones about who's killing people.
Even lawful immigrants like me are having their citizenship questioned, and being screwed over for taking government assistance, so excuse me if I don't trust Cruz to handle illegal immigrants any less cruelly. Even US citizens in Puerto Rico were fucking abandoned by Trump, but Cruz is fine with stoking racist sentiments. Fuck you, for saying you "serve the President" instead of Texans. Fuck you, for supporting Trump's horrifying Supreme Court pick and his family separation policies at the border. Fuck you, for wanting to kill Obamacare and support the NRA and the policewoman who shot a man in his own apartment.
Anyway, it's National Voter Registration day, so make sure you're registered. Midterms are coming. I gotta make some more donations and pick which races to spread my money.
The Texas Senate race is a tossup, and they had their first debate on Friday. I didn't see it, but I did see a Cruz political ad on late night TV, with Cruz trying to stoke fears about illegal immigrants killing people and needing to be deported. Fuck you, Cruz, when a US border patrol agent is a serial killer maybe you shouldn't throw stones about who's killing people.
Even lawful immigrants like me are having their citizenship questioned, and being screwed over for taking government assistance, so excuse me if I don't trust Cruz to handle illegal immigrants any less cruelly. Even US citizens in Puerto Rico were fucking abandoned by Trump, but Cruz is fine with stoking racist sentiments. Fuck you, for saying you "serve the President" instead of Texans. Fuck you, for supporting Trump's horrifying Supreme Court pick and his family separation policies at the border. Fuck you, for wanting to kill Obamacare and support the NRA and the policewoman who shot a man in his own apartment.
Anyway, it's National Voter Registration day, so make sure you're registered. Midterms are coming. I gotta make some more donations and pick which races to spread my money.
Friday, September 14, 2018
The Price of Misogyny
In addition to the Murphy Brown sequel, there's going to be a Designing Women sequel in the works soon. Sure there are too many reboots and revivals lately, but this feels like a good resurgence of feminist shows. When I was growing up there were many successful TV shows created by women like Susan Harris, Linda Bloodworth Thomason and Diane English. They were so popular for a while and then suddenly they were gone, replaced by more masculine-oriented shows. I thought it was some kind of cyclical backlash or even due to misguided chasing of the 18-49 demographic. Later, I even thought the dearth of quality shows was due to the decline of scripted shows in the face of the rise of reality shows. All sorts of reasons were given for the changing TV landscape.
But no, some of this change was deliberate misogyny. Linda Bloodworth Thomason's scathing op-ed about how Les Moonves sabotaged her career, along with talk that Les Moonves repeatedly tried to destroy Janet Jackson's attempts at a comeback post-Superbowl (while forgiving Justin Timberlake), point to how fucked up Hollywood can be. That one mogul could have that much power to fuck over people he doesn't like, apart from the separate sexual abuse allegations, is what's wrong with the terrible good ol' boys' network. People against diversity always complain about "quota systems" and insist that "the best person for the job" should be hired on merit alone. But the problem with that is that the gatekeepers are deliberately keeping out people who have genuine merit and talent, for the sake of a whim at best and malevolent revenge at worst. That's WHY the system needs to change, in Hollywood and everywhere else. It's not fair when "the best person for the job" is almost always a white guy due to the inherent unfairness of power brokers rigging the available choices. Equal opportunity needs to be available to everyone, not just a handful of favorites deemed acceptable.
I'm glad more women came forward, forcing Moonves to finally step down, and I'm glad Linda Bloodworth Thomason is getting her long overdue revenge. Yes, ABC, this is the kind of nostalgia trip you should be pursuing instead of holding onto The Conners out of desperation
But no, some of this change was deliberate misogyny. Linda Bloodworth Thomason's scathing op-ed about how Les Moonves sabotaged her career, along with talk that Les Moonves repeatedly tried to destroy Janet Jackson's attempts at a comeback post-Superbowl (while forgiving Justin Timberlake), point to how fucked up Hollywood can be. That one mogul could have that much power to fuck over people he doesn't like, apart from the separate sexual abuse allegations, is what's wrong with the terrible good ol' boys' network. People against diversity always complain about "quota systems" and insist that "the best person for the job" should be hired on merit alone. But the problem with that is that the gatekeepers are deliberately keeping out people who have genuine merit and talent, for the sake of a whim at best and malevolent revenge at worst. That's WHY the system needs to change, in Hollywood and everywhere else. It's not fair when "the best person for the job" is almost always a white guy due to the inherent unfairness of power brokers rigging the available choices. Equal opportunity needs to be available to everyone, not just a handful of favorites deemed acceptable.
I'm glad more women came forward, forcing Moonves to finally step down, and I'm glad Linda Bloodworth Thomason is getting her long overdue revenge. Yes, ABC, this is the kind of nostalgia trip you should be pursuing instead of holding onto The Conners out of desperation
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Rainy Days
It must really be fall, because we've had rain this week. Such a relief from all the hot weather this summer.
I recently read a historical novel called Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein. It's set in 1917 in a small town called Emporia, where people have gathered for the annual Chautaqua circuit show. The protagonist Marian Elliot Adams is a feminist lecturer whose subject is women's undergarments, and how women need dress reform so that they can do practical work free of restrictive fashion. Then she meets some residents and gets injured, forced to stay in the town until she recovers.
I recently read a historical novel called Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein. It's set in 1917 in a small town called Emporia, where people have gathered for the annual Chautaqua circuit show. The protagonist Marian Elliot Adams is a feminist lecturer whose subject is women's undergarments, and how women need dress reform so that they can do practical work free of restrictive fashion. Then she meets some residents and gets injured, forced to stay in the town until she recovers.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Dark Times
Sad that things are still so bad. Families still separated at the border, Puerto Rico still struggling, and now I hear that US Citizens are having their passports revoked and their citizenship questioned.
I'm a naturalized citizen myself, and my dad told me to get a passport (even though I don't travel much outside the country) as proof of my citizenship that I could show quickly without having to dig up old naturalization records. But if passports aren't enough, and people are getting deported based on ethnic heritage, rather than citizenship, what the fuck are people supposed to do? Perpetual immigrants, never to be accepted. Fuck. And it's only the white people who will be unquestioned, when they are immigrants just as much as any non-Native Americans.
And now we have the awful confirmation hearings and another lawsuit trying to shutdown Obamacare. There's so many things that need to be fixed NOW, and can't wait for midterms in November. It feels like nothing can save us, that it's already too late. But I gotta get myself out of that defeatist mindset.
At least Nike made a bold stand about Colin Kaepernick, so maybe resistance is getting more mainstream? Hope his lawsuit against the NFL succeeds. Trying to pretend they aren't all blackballing him.
I'm a naturalized citizen myself, and my dad told me to get a passport (even though I don't travel much outside the country) as proof of my citizenship that I could show quickly without having to dig up old naturalization records. But if passports aren't enough, and people are getting deported based on ethnic heritage, rather than citizenship, what the fuck are people supposed to do? Perpetual immigrants, never to be accepted. Fuck. And it's only the white people who will be unquestioned, when they are immigrants just as much as any non-Native Americans.
And now we have the awful confirmation hearings and another lawsuit trying to shutdown Obamacare. There's so many things that need to be fixed NOW, and can't wait for midterms in November. It feels like nothing can save us, that it's already too late. But I gotta get myself out of that defeatist mindset.
At least Nike made a bold stand about Colin Kaepernick, so maybe resistance is getting more mainstream? Hope his lawsuit against the NFL succeeds. Trying to pretend they aren't all blackballing him.
Monday, September 3, 2018
Searching is Awesome
I saw that Alpha movie, and it was pretty good. I didn't realize that Leonor Varela was playing the Shaman who presided over all the rituals. She played the original Marta in Arrested Development, season 1. Since I have the AMC subscription, I could rewatch it, I guess. Nice that they thought to give that role to a woman rather than making the society totally patriarchal.
I also saw Searching finally on Saturday, and really enjoyed it. I love the way they planted clues throughout the movie, as well as red herrings to keep you guessing. It felt like a real mystery, like I've been missing for so long, in this age of countless serial killers and psychopaths that have no logic for their evil. I highly recommend seeing it.
SPOILERS BELOW
I also saw Searching finally on Saturday, and really enjoyed it. I love the way they planted clues throughout the movie, as well as red herrings to keep you guessing. It felt like a real mystery, like I've been missing for so long, in this age of countless serial killers and psychopaths that have no logic for their evil. I highly recommend seeing it.
SPOILERS BELOW
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