Enola Holmes

This Netflix movie is very enjoyable despite its deviations from Sherlock Holmes canon. I've never read the original books by Nancy Springer, but the heroine is very likeable and clever, if a little naive at times. I was afraid that Helena Bonham Carter as the absent mother would be too quirky and wacky, but she was actually quite nice and used in small doses where appropriate. Wikipedia says the mother Eudoria left to live with the Romani, but this movie gives her a more compelling reason to disapear; she's a militant suffragist involved in making bombs, and no doubt thinks her daughter is safer without her.

Enola wakes on her 16th birthday in 1884 to find her mother gone without explanation. Her older brothers Mycroft and Sherlock come to the family estate, shocked to find it rundown, due to Eudoria having lied about upkeep expenses in order to squirrel money away for other purposes. Mycroft resolves to send Enola away to a finishing school, while tasking Sherlock to find their mother. The headmistress is modern enough to have a steampunk car, yet her ideas about women's education remain patriarchal and she even slaps Enola for talking back to her. Enola finds cryptic clues and money left by her mother, so she dresses up as a boy and runs away in the night. While escaping on a train to London, she meets another runaway, a young lord Tewksbury escaping his own family.

Hellscape

Still kind of stunned and numb about RBG's death. Fuck 2020. And with Trump recently blathering on about possible Supreme Court nominees, it looks dire. But Ted Cruz did say that he didn't want to be on the court, and there might be some senators we can pressure to hold the line against voting on a nominee so close to the election.

Meanwhile the issue of mail-in voting in Texas is still going though the courts. I am pessimistic that we'll get a favorable ruling (that's not appealed further) before election day. So I'm planning to early vote (as I always do) with a mask this time.

I'm told the Emmys are tomorrow as well as a fucking football game at the stadium in Arlington because Texas is stupid about coronavirus still.

September Rain

It's already Labor Day Weekend, and the hot weather is finally being broken up by thunderstorms. I guess this is what passes for fall in Texas.

Disney's new Mulan is now available for streaming. I wanted to see it, but $30 is a steep price to pay for one movie. I mean, I guess it's a good price for a family with kids, especially if you can see it multiple times, not just once, but you still have to stay subscribed to Disney+ to keep it. Also, I read that Disney plans on keeping it available for a month or so, putting it back in the vault for a month, then releasing it again in December without the $30 price tag. What kind of strategy is that? And if you paid the $30 in September, does that mean you can't watch it during November when it's unavailable to everyone else?

Meanwhile other movies are opening this weekend such as Tenet, but I don't care about Christopher Nolan. I did see that some theaters are showing Chadwick Boseman's 42 movie about Jackie Robinson too. I'm thinking of seeing the new Bill & Ted, but should probably rent the previous films first.