West Side Story

I saw the new West Side Story movie because it had good reviews, and I do love the song "Somewhere." Also, I heard that the Anybodys character is portrayed as a transman, so I wanted to see that. Unfortunately I was late to the movie due to a lack of parking near my theater. Overall, it was okay, but I couldn't follow a lot of the conversations that were in Spanish. The singing and dance numbers were good, though I didn't like how the Jets kept saying we should pity their hard upbringing.

Even though the plot is based on Romeo and Juliet, I just could not buy into these two characters falling instantly in love after sharing one dance at the school. Maria doesn't even know Tony's name, yet she's singing "Tonight" about how deep in love she is already. And then the next day they go on a date, and he says he wants to be with her forever; instead of being scared off by this, she pretends to marry him and pledges to be with him always. What the fuck? Then later when Maria finds out that Tony killed Bernardo in the rumble, she forgives him too quickly and even lets him stay the night. When Anita yells at Maria the next morning, I was totally on Anita's side and wanted Maria to shut up about her stupid love. Fine, you can't help loving him, but don't fucking expect Anita to forgive the guy or carry messages to him for you. What kind of manipulative sicko are you, Maria? If that's the show that's such a Broadway classic, then I'm glad I never saw it before now, because it would have ruined my love for the song "Somewhere."

In this film, by the way, that love ballad is sung by Rita Moreno's character Valentina, while reflecting on her own interracial romance with Doc. That helped a little, but overall I say thumbs down to Tony & Maria's romance. It's terrible, and the plot is horrible too. Anita's the only worthwhile character of the whole bunch.

Bye Netflix

Welp, Netflix cancelled Cowboy Bebop rather quickly. I mean, I know there were a lot of scathing reviews, but not everyone hated it. I saw mixed reactions online, and I personally thought it was cool with its retro-futuristic style. I had never seen the original anime so there was nothing for me to compare it to, but I liked how Julia started out all helpless dream girl, then slowly morphed into a more sinister and manipulative person looking out for herself. Anyway, I did cancel my Netflix subscription after all.

Speaking of revivals, Jimmy Kimmel did another Live Norman Lear special, and this time they cast adults as child/teen sitcom characters. It was weird, but somehow it worked. I was surprised to see both Will Arnett and Jason Bateman in The Facts of Life reenactment. Their hair was hilariously bad, and they joked around a lot behind the scenes, as usual.

Meanwhile on Batwoman, Mary Hamilton has turned into Poison Ivy Mary, but I don't know how the writers will resolve this next year. Yeah, Poison Ivy will show up and probably be a bigger threat, but how does Mary redeem herself and reunite with the Batfamily? Won't she feel guilty about anyone she's hurt or killed?

Politics

So Beto is running for TX governor, and other Democrats are now campaigning for statewide offices too. I got so many fundraising emails, but I had to pay my taxes and wait for my next paycheck. (Also needed new tires recently, so that was costly.) I gotta budget for the Democrats but also for some charities that I didn't get to on Giving Tuesday.

Hopefully Congress can finish the Build Back Better Bill and maybe confirm new people for the Post Office govenors board so they can vote out DeJoy. I'm aware of the Supreme Court hearing abortion cases now, but I don't know when they'll issue their rulings. It's looking dark indeed.

I got my booster shot before Thanksgiving. It might not work for the Omicron variant, but it's all I got for now until they come out with these pill medications they talk about. I hope the vaccines reach more poor countries too.

Race and Gender

Speaking of Netflix, I have been considering cancelling my subscription due to their wrong-headed handling of the Dave Chapelle controversy, but on the other hand, they have exclusive content that I can't find elsewhere, such as the live-action Cowboy Beebop with John Cho. (I mostly liked it, but found some storylines like Mad Pierrot too macabre and disturbing. Yet they had quirky comic scenes too such as Teddy Bomber wearing a giant teddy bear head while shirtless and fighting the bounty hunters.)

Netflix's defense of so-called "free speech" for anti-trans hate is all the more infuriating when they have movies like Passing and The Harder They Fall that handle identity issues sensitively.

Catching up on movies

It's December already and I didn't have time post about any of the TV and movies I've seen lately. I found out that on Disney Plus Day, they did a discount price of $2.99 for the first month, so I signed up for that so I could see some of the Marvel content people had been talking about like WandaVision. I also enjoyed the Muppet Haunted Mansion special with Will Arnett. I'm still debating whether to keep the subscription next month. It might be okay if I cancel my Netflix subscription, but I'm debating that.

Anyway I saw Eternals in theaters, but I found it somewhat underwhelming. It has a lot of diversity in the cast, but to accommodate that many characters, people had to die or be absent for long stretches in the movie. Many of the Eternals seemed to pair up in couples, but the main couple was Sersi and Ikarus. Also, when they kept talking about the Celestial Tiamut, it kept reminding me of the dragon Tiamat from the Dungeons & Dragons animated show.

SPOILERS

Film and TV

I watched Spencer and it was only so-so. I knew it wasn't going to be a full biography, just a snapshot of her life, but it was too "impressionistic" and fantastical for me. It's indeed like a horror movie. The film starts out very slow and claustrophobic, as Diana arrives for Christmas and keeps having whispered conversations and sneaking off to vomit due to her eating disorder.

She's having an emotional breakdown and keeps imagining herself as Anne Boleyn due to a book left at her bedside. Her husband Charles gives her the exact same necklace as Camilla Parker Bowles, and she tries to resist wearing it, but acquiesces to her dresser. At dinner, Diana hallucinates breaking the necklace and eating the pearls in her soup. Lots of imaginary things like this preoccupy the movie before we actually get to real conflicts, such as Diana not wanting her sons to shoot pheasants this Christmas, a royal tradition that Charles is insisting on. Also Major Alistair Gregory acts like an officious busybody constantly intruding on Diana and trying to remind her of duty. She eventually decides to escape a dinner and go to the neighboring estate which used to be her home as a Spencer. This is the only time Major Gregory decides, "fine, let her do what she wants." Park House is abandoned now and boarded up, but Diana breaks in and contemplates suicide as she recalls her past. The director uses this excuse for an indulgent sequence showing Diana in tons of her famous outfits, as if this movie was covering much more than just 3 days in her life. I wish the movie had spent more time showing her interacting with her sons, rather than being so interior.

Meanwhile, Supergirl had her series finale last night. For some unknown reason, my recording had weird static over all the audio, so I had to mute it and just watch with captions to follow the dialogue. Only about 20 minutes at the end came through clear of static. I'm glad that they dispensed with the battle quickly so we could move on to the wedding and the goodbyes. I was surprised by all the guest stars returning, including Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant. Jimmy Olsen also looked weird with a mustache. Overall it was satisfying. I wonder if any of the superheros will appear on other Arrowverse shows. The CW keeps advertising some 5-episode crossover including stars such as Black Lightning, whose show was already canceled. Plus Diggs from Arrow has been popping up on various shows lately. It seems like a show ending doesn't mean you won't see some characters return.

Scooby-Doo, Where are you now?

I just watched the CW's Scooby Doo reunion special. It's partly live-action and partly animated, with a cool-looking Mystery Machine van driving through the studio lot. The special appears to be a commercial promotion for a Warner Brothers studio tour, along with appearances from other Hanna-Barbera cartoons that they own. It's not quite as blatant and annoying as the recent Scoob! movie. The host spoke to the Scooby gang as if they were actors who have played the detectives for years and were reuniting on the soundstage where they filmed their old shows. TV clips are interspersed with interviews with actors and other experts who discuss the franchise.

The show has a small mystery about a character dressed up as a Snow Ghost villain haunting the WB studios and scaring people. As the gang investigate, we meet other fictional characters/suspects and eventually one of them turns out to be the villain, when the Snow Ghost is unmasked at the end. There's a laugh track and it's kind of amusing at times. It's mainly just a pleasant hour of nostalgia and fun.

Hilda Adams (Miss Pinkerton)

I've discovered a new lady detective, who is actually a nurse, named Hilda Adams. She works with a police inspector Patton who jokingly calls her Miss Pinkerton after the famous detective agency. Hilda Adams is even written by a woman author, Mary Roberts Rinehart, known as the "American Agatha Christie."

Having been tricked into reading the horrible Hilda Wade book, I was wary about this Hilda Adams, but fortunately, there was nothing to fear! Hilda Adams is everything I had wanted, a competent nurse who helps solve mysteries by gathering clues and reasoning things out. She's not on some ludicrous, convoluted revenge quest, nor is she anti-feminist. There's just a murder mystery to solve, and some characters to get to know. What a relief. The Miss Pinkerton book also taught me about "hypodermic tablets" which are tablets to be dissolved in sterile water before filling a hypodermic syringe with the solution; these tablets used to be a thing before vials were common in medicine. Nowadays they just have the powder in a vial, break it, and reconstitute it with water or lidocaine for injections, so they don't bother forming tablets with it.

Apparently I've started the series out of order. I just finished the Miss Pinkerton novel, published in 1934, but I need to go back and read The Buckled Bag novella of 1914. I couldn't find this novella in ebook form, except on Amazon, so I bought it as a hardcopy instead.

Political Dystopia

Greg Abbott appointed a Trump campaign lawyer to be secretary of state, to further guarantee fucking up Texas elections. Meanwhile, the attorney general Paxton is trying to get the Supreme Court to rule on Texas's abortion law faster than the other abortion cases this year. Roe V. Wade surely is in trouble. :(

Speaking of elections, early voting has started for a bunch of state constitution amendments. Apparently the Texas GOP think that the main problem with the pandemic was governments trying to shut down in-person church services in the name of public health. No, you don't fucking have the right to infect people, when churches could have gone to Zoom streaming or other options! I only heard about this election on Monday and didn't have a day off work to vote until Thursday. I'm already seeing some political ads on TV.

The only good news lately is that booster shots were approved for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and now you can mix and match booster shots. I hope the approval for kids under 12 will come soon.

Toxic Work Environments

Wow, a lot of disturbing allegations from Ruby Rose about season 1 of Batwoman. The execs forced her to work 10 days after surgery and allowed dangerous working conditions for many other assistants and stunt people. Unfortunately, instead of assuring us that Batwoman is now safe for current stars, Warner Brothers decided to issue a combative statement, claiming that she was fired based on complaints about her. Complaints from whom? About what? Anything at all equivalent to sexual harassment and endangering people's lives? How tone deaf can they be? Who the fuck works this PR for Hollywood types? Why do they think hitting back is the way to go, instead of a simple apology?

It's like when Scarlet Johansson sued Disney over her Black Widow paycheck; her lawyers calmly stated what was in her contract and said that they offered to renegotiate the deal when Disney wanted to release on streaming too, but they ignored her requests. So Disney, instead of being nice and calling it a misunderstanding, decides to accuse her of being greedy and heartless about people suffering because of the pandemic. What the fuck kind of response is that? Instead of addressing the issue about her paycheck or just saying, "sorry, the decision for streaming happened too fast for us to renegotiate with her beforehand. We're happy to negotiate now," they decide to look like jackasses who hate their own talent. Fuck these Hollywood corporations who can't show simple respect for human beings, let alone their valuable stars! I have my own problems with Scarlet Johannson, but even I could see that Disney were totally in the wrong and shouldn't have been shooting their mouths off.

It's like they assume that the audience won't turn against them. Even now, with all the controversy over Dave Chappelle, and the Netflix walkout, I'm only hearing Sarandos apologize for his tone, not his policy of free speech for anti-trans speech. If you really understood the pain you were causing, you'd accept the demands of your trans employees. Maybe you could negotiate in good faith to add a content warning or label like Disney does with its old offensive content. But not even giving a little bit is just horrible. It's like how Facebook and Twitter let hate speech run wild and let Trump violate policies just because he was "newsworthy" and attracted attention. Only now are they reining things in, out of fear of regulation by Congress. Don't let the hate stand.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

I missed the announcement on Friday, but Biden declared Indigenous Peoples' Day while restoring land to some national monuments. It's great, though I wish he had replaced Columbus Day. This is a good first step.

So in belated celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, here's a gif from CBS's Ghosts. 

https://t.co/EQIObDK4oi pic.twitter.com/sqLHSeNTTT

— Ghosts (@GhostsCBS) October 8, 2021

(If the image doesn't show, Isaac, a white man, says "We can't let these invaders take our land" and Sasappis responds, "Do you hear it all? Do you hear the words you are saying?")

This is CBS's remake of the British show. The Native American character is new for the American version. I hope he gets more fleshed out as the show goes on. The show has a diverse cast, and I read that the writing staff is diverse too, so good for them. I like that they eliminated the UK romantic poet Thomas and transferred some of his characteristics onto other characters. His continual obsession with Alison annoyed me. So I hope the American show keeps finding new storylines and humor for its characters.

Fall TV

It's officially fall now, and Texas is actually holding its State Fair this year. I've never been, and I'm certainly not going to start now while the pandemic continues. At least the summer heat has cooled somewhat, which in Texas just means 80s instead of 90s and 100s.

The TV season has started, and I liked the new Wonder Years with Dule Hill, but found Our Kind of People too soapy and over the top. The other new shows I'm interested in are coming in October or midseason. I recently found the BBC show Ghosts on HBO Max, and it's delightfully funny. CBS is making an American version that I hope will be funny too.

I've been watching Ken Burns's new Muhammad Ali documentary, and I enjoyed the beginning parts when he was known as Cassius Clay, but I start to like him less and less in later episodes. His charm and charisma can't cover for his faults such as cheating on his wives, and being blindly devoted to the Nation of Islam even when Elijah Muhammad suspended him and "revoked" his Muslim name. Ali did take a principled stand against the Vietnam War, of course, but his personal failings bother me, especially him having big fights funded by dictators in Zaire and the Philippines. Anyway, I also ended up watching the related One Night in Miami movie, based off the real night Ali spent with Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. It tackles a lot of political and racial issues as the men debate what they ought to do to support civil rights and uplift other Black people.

Dark Days

No surprise, Greg Abbott signed the new Texas voting restriction law. It's only gonna get worse when the GOP gerrymander our maps again with the new Census information. Voting rights organizations are suing, of course, but I sure wish the Senate would pass the federal law to help us out. We'll see what they do when Congress returns from recess.

The odious Texas abortion law, and the Supreme Court letting it stand, have been very disheartening lately. I had hoped that, given that the Supreme Court had punted or ruled favorably on a couple of transgender rights cases, that they didn't want involve themselves in culture war fights anymore. But I was wrong. It is indeed a deeply rightwing court.

At least many people and companies have been resisting the abortion law, and Garland just said the DOJ would sue. I don't know if people are going to start boycotting Texas like they do Georgia. I just hope that Blue State democrats remember that Texas Democrats are still worth fighting for. I can't stand when they blame us for the gerrymandering or gleefully cheer on secession like they're happy to abandon us to the crazies.

Labor Day

Well I'm happy that Shang-Chi broke box office records this weekend. It means a lot for Asian representation in this country to have another Gold Open. I know the Delta variant is still out there, but I'm vaccinated, and the movie theatres should be enforcing mask mandates anyway. Eventually the FDA should approve booster shots, though I hope they approve vaccines for kids first, so they can be safe too. (I did read somewhere that, now that Pfizer's vaccine is approved, doctors can individually give vaccines to young kids for "off-label" use, but I don't know if that's true.)

I enjoyed Shang-Chi, though I didn't get some of the references to Wong and his cage fight partner, as I've not seen Dr Strange. I also was very annoyed that nobody spoke the name of Death Dealer in the movie, so I had no idea who the fuck he was; I had to google him afterward based on the fact that he was masked. The faceless animal Morris freaked me out a little, and I was surprised that he was based on a Chinese mythological creature called a hundun. I did like the return of Trevor Slattery as a call back to Iron Man 3. The women characters got to shine as well, and the villain Wenwu thoroughly debunked the racist old caricature of the Mandarin; there was no trace of his comics Fu Manchu origins. He was a complicated villain with sympathetic moments who still had to be defeated, sort of like Killmonger. The protector dragon was very beautiful and it flew in spirals sort of like the dragons in Raya and the Last Dragon.

Meanwhile, there's a new Native American show called Reservation Dogs, about a gang of teens trying to get out of Oklahoma through crime. It has an Indigenous cast and crew, like Peacock's Rutherford Falls. Unfortunately, I don't have FX or Hulu, so I can't watch it myself. It's fairly acclaimed, though, so I'll have to see if it comes out on DVD later.

The drama about the new Jeopardy host was such a roller coaster. Sony finally fired Mike Richards after initially letting him keep his executive producer role. I don't know why they even hired him in the first place given his track record of discrimination at The Price is Right. I'm starting to not care who the permanent host is going to be, because the brand is so tainted by this scandal.

Movies

Texas had summer thunderstorms last week but now the oppressive heat is back. I tried to write a little but could not get very far. The whole debacle over mask mandates in schools is exhausting. Republicans love "local control" until it comes to counties, cities, and school districts defying mask bans to keep children safe. Then it's "how dare you" and "I'll block your funding" and lawsuits. The FDA better approve the vaccines soon so younger kids can start getting vaccines! Meanwhile the hospitals are packed with Covid cases because "freedom loving" adults still won't get vaccinated. So depressing. The rest of us will have to start getting booster shots.

I saw a few movies lately, such as Jungle Cruise, Respect, and The Protégé. They were pretty good. Dev Patel was great in The Green Knight, though I remain puzzled by what Morgan Le Fay was trying to accomplish with all her spells. Making a big deal of trying to protect him with the green garter/belt, but also seeming to suggest that it's a cheat which only a dishonorable coward would use. The director also makes the movie's themes very vague and mysterious, with the ambiguous fox spirit and all the weird magical occurrences. Gawain has a haunting ghost encounter with St. Winifred, as she tells him about how she was murdered. She rebukes him when he seems to want a reward for helping her. That's not how a chivalrous knight ought to behave. Is the whole quest to teach him how to behave? But then not give him a chance to learn from his mistakes? Perplexing. This interview with the director gives some answers, but is full of spoilers, if you haven't seen it.

Anyway, Maggie Q was great in The Protégé, but I didn't realize the film would take place mostly in Vietnam. I also didn't like her weird romance with Michael Keaton's character Rembrandt. First of all, I hate the Hollywood trope of a younger woman with a much older man. Second, he wants to play it like he's not really a terrible guy. He claims he wasn't behind Moody's death, the attack on her bookstore, and that poor guy killed in the laundry steam press, but I'm certain he was still complicit in that evil stuff even if he didn't dirty his hands in those particular incidents. (I don't even know if the bookshop assistant and the cat survived.) And then the movie has some other rival bad guy want to kill Rembrandt out of jealousy, so he and Anna have a mutual enemy for a while. It's a little silly, especially when Rembrandt's rival calls him a "boy wonder" when he's clearly not a boy, and not younger than the rival. But I did like seeing flashbacks explaining more of how Moody adopted Anna and why she was so traumatized that she never wanted to return. I don't know if I can take watching the gruesome deaths again, though it was good to see Maggie in Nikita mode again.

Jungle Cruise was fun, like the Brendan Fraser Mummy, but I think the backstory and myth about the conquistadors' quest was over-complicated. I might go back and rewatch Respect again, though.

Other TV

On the CW, Kung Fu finally wrapped up the quest for the 8 weapons, but left some storylines open for next season, such as Althea's sexual harassment case and Russell Tan becoming a new villain. The writers even brought back his son Kerwin, although he's on life support. I wonder how Zhilan will react when she finds out he survived. Maybe she'll go on a quest to heal him and earn his forgiveness, or maybe she still won't trust him. Anyway, in the big battle, Nicky and Zhilan didn't unite to defeat their mutual enemy Russell Tan, but they did both absorb the biange energy and reunite with Pei-Ling's spirit. It was implied to be her real ghost, and not just Nicky's imagination. Then Nicky released the energy and defeated Zhilan, but she's still alive to possibly return in the future.

Meanwhile I found a show on Peacock called Mohawk Girls. It's a Canadian show about women on the reservation and their dating life. It's funny, but also kind of depressing because there's a lot of slut-shaming and fat-shaming of various characters. They also feel an obligation to only date Mohawk men; if they don't, they are ostracized for betraying the community. A couple of the lead women could pass for white, appearance-wise, but they still identify as Mohawk, and their tribal identity is important to them. Zoe in particular is pressured by her mom to be the perfect role model for young Mohawks, but she won't let her have any leisure time to enjoy herself. It's sad. I watched all of season 1, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with it, since I'm getting tired of Caitlin staying with Butterhead even though he treats her so bad.

What a Week

What a week it's been, with all the Olympics controversy over Simone Biles pulling out due to experiencing the "twisties," which is apparently a spatial disorientation. She has to think about her well-being and not risk a career-ending injury or even death. Her teammate Sunisa Lee got the chance to shine instead and won a gold medal, so it's worked out great. Thankfully, standards have changed for Olympic athletes, and it's partly due to Naomi Osaka's recently focus on her mental health.

I haven't really watched the Olympics other than the opening ceremony. I've watched Amber Ruffin's short videos once I found them on Peacock, but overall I'm just not into sports. I've been watching mysteries on PBS. My sister recommended something called Professor T, a remake of a Belgian series. It's okay, but the tone has been weird and offputting at times. It's as if Adrian Monk was a university professor who sometimes has hallucinations, and he has a different, childhood reason for his trauma and OCD.

Recently I was happy to hear about Ben & Jerry's deciding not to sell ice cream in the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. I even bought a pint in celebration. Israel of course is reacting like they do to any other BDS action--calling it an anti-semitic attack. So hysterical.

Snake Eyes

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie stars not just Henry Golding as Snake Eyes but also Andrew Koji from Warrior. They play off each other well and elevate the story of blood brothers and betrayal of trust. I did watch the G.I. Joe cartoon as a child, but I didn't have the toys or read the comics. It's been so long that I've forgotten everything except character names like Scarlett, Cobra Commander, Baroness, etc. Storm Shadow is one of the characters I forgot, so I was really pleased to meet him here; this is his origin story too, and Tommy Arashikage is given a lot of depth and complexity, as the heir to an ancient ninja clan in Japan. Snake Eyes saves his life and gets invited to join the clan, but first he must pass three tests.

The movie does become too slow when Snake Eyes is hanging out in the Japanese castle grounds, almost feeling like he's stuck in a medieval world, but he does sneak out to Tokyo so we can see proper modern cities and confront the crime boss Kenta. At times the action does seem a little ridiculous, that the ninjas keep fighting with katanas (and even fans) when their Yakuza enemies could just shoot them down with guns, but there is also a mystical energy plot about a magic jewel protected by the Arashikage, so that may account for their feeling of invulnerability.

Snake Eyes is on a mission of revenge for his father's death, so he makes unwise decisions before he realizes how he's been duped and used as a pawn. His discovery of the larger battle between G.I. Joe and Cobra leads him to rethink his alliances and switch sides. That's when Scarlett drops in with her crossbow, and the Baroness arrives with a Cobra army of goons with guns. I like this movie overall, and it helps me endure the wait for other Asian-led movies such as Shang-Chi in September. I also saw a trailer for a new Maggie Q movie where she seems to be back in Nikita assassin mode. That might be fun.

Holding Pattern

I was working all weekend so I didn't hear about CPAC Dallas or anything much about the Texas special session. Have to just hope the our Democrats can hold off bad legislation again. It's really up to U.S. Congress to pass federal voting rights act. What happened to all the talk about Manchin proposing a new compromise? Why aren't they trying to pass that yet?

Meanwhile, the new Black Widow movie is out now. While I like the character in Marvel ensemble movies, I'm still pissed at Scarlett Johannson so I'm not eager to support her solo picture. I'm told that the movie features the sister character more and sets her up to be the new Black Widow after Natasha's death in the previous Avengers film. So hopefully I can watch future Marvel movies with the new Black Widow.

So instead I've been watching movies at home. Netflix's Ice Road was good for a while, but then that villain just refused to die and kept coming back for more over the top scenes, including a fistfight in the truckcab that never seemed to end. I also caught the new Leverage reboot once I figured out that IMDB TV was free and didn't even require me to give an email address. The new characters are used pretty well, but I was hoping for Hardison to come back. Hopefully he will appear in the 2nd half, due in the fall.

More Black Movies

Over the weekend, I saw the Summer of Soul concert film. It was a good mix of concert footage and historical background about the political and social issues of the time. The Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 preceded Woodstock and lasted for 6 weekends in the summer. It was free, too, so lots of people could come enjoy many genres of music performed by major stars like B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, etc. The Black audience showed the cultural transition from Motown suits to dashikis, as the growing culture of Black is Beautiful emerged.Watching the film made me wish they could release all 40 hours of footage, perhaps arranged by days, on DVD or streaming. The original filmmaker couldn't sell his footage for years, so I hope that now the footage is rediscovered, that he could finally sell all of it for those who want to buy.

I also watched Netflix's recent movie Concrete Cowboy, starring Idris Elba as an urban cowboy in Philadelphia. Lorraine Toussaint also plays a neighbor named Nessie. It's a fictional story, but it features the real-life Fletcher Street Riding Club, a historical group of Black riders and trainers who care for horses in Philly. They are a community of volunteers who mostly have other day jobs to support their horse passion. There used to be plenty of stables in the city, but development and gentrification have shut down most of them, causing overcrowding to the point that Idris's character Harp keeps a horse in his own house. Harp is estranged from his 15-year-old son Cole, who lives in Detroit. However, after Cole is expelled from school for fighting, his frustrated mother decides to make him stay with his father for the summer, and she drops him off in the middle of the night on the doorstep. Cole is resentful about being abandoned, but then he reunites with an old childhood friend named Smush, who is now a drug dealer. Harp tries to forbid the relationship, but Cole secretly still hangs out with Smush. At the same time, though, Cole begins to work at the stables and bonds with a horse named Boo. He also connects with other cowboys and cowgirls, hearing their stories and also envying them for getting Harp's fatherly attention. The tension in Cole's dual life eventually explodes, but he learns to embrace his new home and family. I enjoyed it, and some real life Fletcher Street riders star as fictionalized versions of themselves.

Happy July 4th

The Olympics don't start until July 23rd, but they've have been in the news lately due to some really bad rulings against black women athletes and swimcaps for natural hair. It's really astonishing that they'd be so tone-deaf still. I haven't cared about Olympic sports since I stopped watching the figure skaters years ago, and even then I remember lots of unfair commentary and judgments against the black figure skaters for being too "athletic" and less graceful, aka white. How the fuck do you call someone too "athletic" for the Olympics? I guess the same way you make racist comments about Venus and Serena Williams changing tennis.

I wasn't planning to watch the delayed Tokyo Olympics this year, but then NBC announced that Amber Ruffin is going to Tokyo as a commentator. So that's why her show is going on hiatus so long this summer. (Also, her show is preparing to have a studio audience in August.) I hope Amber doesn't get infected with any new Covid variants in Tokyo. I certainly don't feel safe flying anywhere yet, much less to a crowded sports venue. I guess I'll just follow along to see if Amber makes any fun songs or skits about the Olympics.

Awful

Shit! Bill Cosby is free after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction. I've read the legal explanation on Wonkette about why they ruled this way, but it's still devastating to rape survivors. Can the prosecutors correct the problem somehow and try him again based on evidence from someone who didn't testify at the tainted trial? Even worse, Phylicia Rashad was sickeningly happy about his release; I've often wondered why people didn't rebuke her more after #MeToo for defending Cosby. She still somehow thinks he's innocent. Fuck.

Anyway, the worst stuff that I expected to happen today was Trump meeting Abbott in Texas for more whining about the border wall. Abbott has scheduled the special session for July 8th, but I don't know how he can do that when he just defunded the Texas Legislature? Fuck him. He's become so cartoon villainous that he even vetoed a bipartisan bill to protect dogs from being chained up outside in the Texas heat with no shelter or water. Apparently humane treatment of animals is "micromanaging" to him. Please, Beto, please fucking run against him.

The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo

I recently discovered this old Nickelodeon show about a teen girl detective working as an intern for the police department. Shelby Woo is sort of like Nancy Drew, only Chinese, and Pat Morita played her grandfather who runs a bed and breakfast. My family didn't have cable TV, and I was probably too old for the show in the 1990s anyway; the first few seasons seem more sitcommy, geared toward young kids, around the age of Encyclopedia Brown. The last season, set in Boston, has better production values, with no more shaky single-cam, and the acting is less slapsticky and exaggerated. It's as if the show grew up and got better with her.

I do like that the Chinese girl is the star, solving crimes with her sidekick friends Cindy and Noah. The local police detective tries to discourage her from investigating cases, but she never listens, even when she gets into life-threatening danger. Each case plays out as if they're videos on her computer screen, and after the usual formula of gathering clues on 3 suspects, she finally solves the case and gets the police to arrest the culprit. I like the variety of cases, like robbery, fraud, kidnapping, assault, etc. Too many detective shows are snobby, acting as though a mystery isn't really intriguing or important unless it has a murder in it. Anyway, it was sad when Shelby had to move to Boston with her grandfather, but at least she got to say goodbye to her Florida friends before making new sidekick friends Angie and Vince. I'm not finished with all the DVDs yet, but I'm getting close.

Meanwhile, I had to find time to finish Lupin on Netflix too. It's been so long since Part 1 that I forgot who Dumont was, but I figured it out once I saw him in context as a police commissioner. The first episode of Part 2 really depressed me, so I had to go seek out spoilers to assure myself that the show really didn't suddenly get dark and horrible. After that fakeout, the show went back to charming heists, and Lupin's revenge on Pellegrini. I enjoyed it.

Batwoman brought back the awful Safiyah again and her stupid quest for more Desert Rose. Plus it was stuffed into an episode with Kate Kane, and Luke's crisis about wanting to die. There just seemed to be way too many things going on at the same time, and it looks like major stuff going into the season finale too. I mean, I get why the writers have to get rid of the Desert Rose plant, so that there's no easy way to cheat death again. I won't miss Ocean either, but I wish the Coryana stuff could have been offscreen so that Kate and Alice could have more time together. We'll see if Alice can pull Kate back next week, I hope, or things are going to get a lot more messy.

12 Mighty Orphans

Speaking of Fort Worth, there's a new movie out called 12 Mighty Orphans. Based on a book about the Mighty Mites, a Depression-era football team from an orphanage, this film opened in Texas first, but will expand nationwide soon. It's your typical inspiring sports movie about underdogs. Still, I couldn't resist the local connection, and if you go, you will certainly hear about UIL sports, towns in DFW, and famous Texans such as Amon Carter. There's also mention of FDR being a fan of the team. Luke Wilson plays Rusty Russell, a teacher and a football coach for the Masonic home for orphans, and he leads his team to success.

There's a lot of fictionalization, though the Fort Worth Star Telegram review claims that some of the facts are true. Still, the movie compresses about a decade of time into one 1938 season, and it ramps up the drama with a villain. The movie shows a 17-year old Hardy Brown coming to the orphanage right after witnessing his father being murdered, but in real life he witnessed this murder when he was 4 years old, not a teenager. That's a huge difference, and no more details are given about this trauma. And alas, this movie focuses mostly on the white members of the team while the darker skinned Hispanic team members stay in the background with little dialogue. I suppose the filmmakers didn't even want to address issues about race and how football would have been segregated at least black vs. white in the 1930s. I suppose that would dilute their feel-good movie drama.

But Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights also suffers a similar problem of having mostly light skinned actors starring, while relegating darker skinned cast to background roles. Still, I was impressed by the huge dance numbers, along with a sequence set at the community pool, looking like old Busby Berkeley musical numbers. I did like the romance between Benny and Nina, and Stephanie Beatriz has a minor part at the hair salon. I didn't really care for the frame device of Usnavi narrating the story to a bunch of kids including his daughter.

Juneteenth

Wow, what a stunning and quick turn of events. The Senate and the House passed the bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, then Biden returned from Europe in time to sign the bill. It's very last minute, and there's not even a wait to go into effect next year. The first observance is Friday, due to the 19th falling on Saturday this year. So it's an unexpected 3-day weekend for federal employees. Hope they enjoy it.

Yes, I did see grumbling from activists about how this is performative, and that what would really help is reparations, voting rights, accurate history in schools, etc. Sure Congress just did a symbolic gesture, to avoid more substantive, difficult reform. But that doesn't mean we have to accept that. Yes there is more work to do, and we can use Juneteenth for that work. We can celebrate with parades and cookouts of course, but we can also spend the day educating people on history, and registering voters. Just like we already use Martin Luther King Day for voter drives and solemn observances. It's a good thing to celebrate, and the symbol does mean something to Opal Lee, whose own family had their house burned down in the 1939. She knows the power of symbolism, with her symbolic walk from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. a few years ago. I'm glad she got to see her mission accomplished at last.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed the case against Obamacare, and they ruled against gay foster parents in a different case. But that ruling is narrow, so it won't set a precedent; it's almost like they want to tread lightly in the culture war that conservatives are demanding. It's not great, but better than the disaster we've all been dreading. I hope we get more judges confirmed soon.

New Day

Israel finally has a new prime minister and a new government. Yes, it's a fragile coalition, and the new PM is right-wing, but this Tablet article claims that the centrist Yair Lapid has veto power over Bennet's decisions, and that the center and left parliament members can block rightwing agenda. So the outlook seems a bit more optimistic. Even if the coalition falls apart later, there will be new elections, and by then we can hope that Netanyahu might be in prison.

More locally, here's an article about Texas progressives targeting midsize cities such as Grand Prairie, and they mention the recent victory of two Black city council members. So I'm glad they actually proved they could win local elections. I hope they can make a difference in turning the state blue.

Abbott keeps forbidding anyone to have a mask mandate, and has been threatening to build a border wall in Texas--does he even have power to do that? I'm sure the federal government will stop him, but it's still a fucking headache that he continues his saber rattling. At least the federal judge ruled that those suing hospital workers must be vaccinated; at will employment on the side of good for once. Nurses certainly shouldn't go around spreading conspiracy theories about the "experimental" vaccine, when we're still fighting the pandemic.

Movies

There's a new Vietnamese movie called Bố Già, which is a hit in Vietnam and is now released in the US as a subtitled version. It's based on a Youtube series that I've never heard of, and it's partly comedy, partly soap opera. When I watched it I found it episodic and meandering at first, until it finally focused on its core story between Sang and his son Woan. Then the tone shifts to the conflicted family melodrama. Eventually there's a tragic need for an organ transplant, but I found that this health crisis dragged on too long to milk the drama and suspense. It definitely felt too long to me, and I would have liked it to be more concise. Still, it's intriguing that the film is doing so well at the box office, probably due to all the Vietnamese immigrant community turning out to see it. My dad seems to like it, anyway. Plus its focus on fatherhood is appealing with Father's Day coming up.

There's a new Spirit horse movie out now, but it's not exactly a sequel. I saw the first movie almost 20 years ago, and back then it had a strong Native American story from John Fusco. At the end of that movie, the Lakota character Little Creek sets the horse free to live in the wild with his mare Rain. The new movie has a clean slate, with new characters interacting with the horse, who doesn't have a narrating voice. Therefore it is more related to the Netflix TV show, than to the previous film. Wikipedia also claims that this Spirit is son of the original stallion Spirit-Who-Could-Not-Be-Broken. I guess that makes sense, because original Spirit did not want people to ride him, while this new Spirit is going to let girls ride him. It looks more like a kiddie movie for young girls who love ponies, so I don't think I'll see it, but I did hear the soundtrack of the first movie playing at my local mall.

Tulsa and more trauma

I'm disappointed that Deborah Peoples didn't win the runoff election for Ft Worth mayor. But I was hugely surprised that Steve "Junior" Ezeonu won a City Council election in Grand Prairie. He's a 22-year old immigrant from Nigeria, who ran as a progressive. I didn't think he could do it in such a conservative city, and I was pissed off that his Republican opponent sent flyers describing him as a "radical" leftist candidate. Congrats to Junior on his win!

Meanwhile I watched the PBS documentary about the Tulsa Race Massacre The Fire and the Forgotten. Mostly filmed in 2020, it focused on the effort to excavate mass grave sites and looked forward to the upcoming centennial anniversary. They also discussed issues around reparations and the way the interstate highway deliberately segregated the city to cut Blacks off from wealthy neighborhoods. The legacy of this racial divide manifests in the local police treating Black areas as "war zones" and killing citizens with impunity. Tulsa apparently removed "Black Lives Matter" when people painted it on the street like that street in Washington D.C. Not a good move.

All the talk of mass graves reminded me about Canada recently discovering a mass grave of children's bodies at an Indian boarding school. It's quite horrifying and shameful, but America too had tons of those boarding schools where Native children were taken from their families to be force-fed white culture and have their tribal identity erased, all in the name of assimilation into society. It was deeply harmful to so many children, and I recently learned there was a similar practice with aboriginal children in Australia. So many lost children.

Cruella Sequel

Deadline reports that Disney is working on a sequel to Cruella, due to its good box office performance. I did like the movie, and would like to see how they continue the story, because when she gifts the Pongo and Perdita puppies at the end, it doesn't really make sense for how it connects to 101 Dalmatians. Someone online suggested that the sequel could have the Baroness come back wanting to kill the dalmatians in revenge, while blaming Cruella, so that might work. The music and costumes were great, and I'd love to see more about Anita and Roger.

They revised Cruella's origin story like Maleficent did, so she's no longer a puppy-killer (not that she ever succeeded in skinning the puppies in the Dalmatians movie). In the new movie, Estella/Cruella likes dogs, and even though she witnesses a pack of dalmatians killing her mother, Estella blames herself for the death, not the dogs. (So it's not as simplistic and stupid as the memes make it seem. It's not "I hate dalmatians and want to kill them because they killed my mother"; it's "I don't hate dogs. I hate the Baroness and want revenge.") She starts blaming the Baroness when she sees the heirloom necklace and remembers more details from the cliff murder. At no point does she blame the dogs for the murder, recognizing that they're not culpable for human actions.

June already

Well with Memorial Day, I forgot to early vote for the June runoffs. Luckily I can still vote on election day tomorrow. I was happy to hear about the Texas Democrats walking out on the Republican voting restrictions bill. They haven't done something like that for years. Abbott wants to call a special session (even though he didn't do it for the pandemic or the winter storm emergency) to pass the bill, and he made threats to cut their pay. But TX state legislators don't get paid a lot anyway, and it's only every other year when they're in session. I remember Chris Turner explaining to me once that you have to either have a different real job to sustain you, or you live off your spouse's salary instead. I was also pleased to hear about the high school valedictorian who gave her speech about abortion rights. That makes for two good things in Texas this week.

I'm glad that the New Mexico special election went well. What a huge win. Even though Oklahoma cancelled their Tulsa Massacre event, Biden gave a speech, and plenty of other media outlets marked the solemn anniversary. I noticed that PBS has a documentary about it on their streaming service, so I'll have to catch it this weekend now that I'm off work. It's so hard to keep track of what's streaming where.

Israel has formed a new coalition government to oust Netanyahu as Prime Minister. He's apparently threatening to resist, so we'll have to see if they can really get rid of him next week. It's just incredible that he continues to cling to power despite his corruption scandal and his general unpopularity. I am a little afraid that the new government will be more right-wing and pro-settler, but they might temper some decisions to try to keep the coalition together.

Black Lightning finale

The series finale was mostly satisfying. I watched the last two episodes together so that I wouldn't be stuck on a cliffhanger in between. The show surprised me when it revealed that JJ was not actually Jennifer Pierce but an alien entity from the ionosphere who took her place, fooling her family for several weeks. The real Jennifer returned and fought until she killed JJ, or at least made her disappear. No wonder the show runners never put out an announcement that they "recast" Jennifer with the new actress; they were keeping the plot twist under wraps. I also like that the finale did full circle moments with Jefferson going back to the house his father was murdered in, and Lala coming back to life after he broke out of the cement wall.

Kate Warne's Obituary

I'm trying to find a copy of the 2nd Kate Warne spy novel "The Great Show" by Peg A. Lamphier, but instead I found this article from 2019 on Kate. This Washington Post "Retropolis" article covers the same ground of her Pinkerton history, but the author quotes from reports that Kate wrote herself under her alias Mrs. Barley. Where are these reports? I thought everything burned in the Chicago fire? But wow, she cites a newspaper article with Kate Warne's obituary from March 19, 1868!

By the way, as I find that some books I want are not available as ebooks, I have to buy physical copies, so I need a physical bookmark to keep my place in them. So when I tried to buy bookmarks, I don't see the abundance of choices that I used to see 20 years ago. Now everything is "magnetic bookmarks" I guess. When did that happen? Why would you need a bookmark to be magnetic? Do they go on your fridge when you're not using them?

Meanwhile I've been trying some new recipes for Chinese stir fry and I came upon a new meat alternative--taro root. Now normally, taro is used like potatoes in recipes, but I found it sold as vegetarian chunks at my Asian grocery store. When I cooked it in place of chicken, it actually cooked well. It was chewy yet more dense than tofu, and it absorbed the flavors from the sauce. So this seems like a good natural product, not like these newly engineered "impossible" meat alternatives that are expensive. I can see myself using taro more regularly to have more meatless days. I'm not sure I can go totally vegetarian yet, but I can try to be more omnivore than carnivore.

Movies and Barbie

I tried to watch the new movie Dream Horse yesterday, based on the true story about Dream Alliance, the racehorse owned by a syndicate of working class people. It was pretty good and I was surprised to see Damian Lewis in it, along with a cameo role by Peter Davison of Doctor Who fame. All the advertising I had seen focused on Toni Colette, so I expected all the other roles would be Welsh character actors for the Wales-set story. Apparently Damian Lewis has Welsh grandparents, and I just wasn't aware because I think of him for his roles in British and/or PBS shows, while many Americans associate him with his role on Showtime's Homeland, in contrast. Lewis must have decided that he wanted to be in the story out of Welsh pride, and it's interesting to see him speak Welsh rather than posh British English or whatever it's called. Peter Davison's role is pretty small, as Lord Avery, a wealthy horse owner who is at first skeptical of Dream Alliance, then later tries to buy the horse once it proves its worth.

As I said, I tried to watch it, but unfortunately my theater had people talking loudly during parts of the film; that is so not what I miss about going out to the movies. Plus, I already had enough trouble with Welsh accents and no subtitles, so I could not understand a lot of dialogue, especially the songs. And my, there were so many songs. It's not exactly a musical, but the film makes room for many scenes of the group singing on the bus or singing in pubs to celebrate their wins. They also sing along to what I suppose is an anthem during the Welsh Grand National race, and the movie concludes with another song at the final credits. I'll see if I can find time to catch another showing, or maybe I'll wait until it's streaming so I can watch it with subtitles.

Meanwhile there has been a lot of casting news for Knives Out 2, but no plot details yet, so we can only guess that it's something taking place in Greece. I hope Johnson makes better use of his black actors this time, because I really did think that LaKeith Stanfield's role as the police detective was overshadowed too much by the more showy role of Benoit Blanc. I hope the whodunit plot will be good, and that he keeps the light comic tone. I hate the grim, bloodthirsty tone of so many true crime/serial killer shows; it's the reason why I stopped watching CSI and other police procedural shows. I hate so much that those crime movies/shows keep getting categorized as "mysteries" when they are not at all the same as detective whodunits!

In other news, I heard that Mattel started a toy recycling program for their Barbies and other toys. Maybe I should start clearing out some of my dolls? They also recently released a new Helen Keller doll. I kind of crave the Victorian clothes--at least the blouse--but I don't like that they use the thin figure on these dolls. And they keep making the faces too conventionally pretty instead of trying to resemble the historical figure. I don't mind wrinkles, you know? Inspiring women shouldn't need to be attractive to be role models.

Ceasefire

Given the news blackout among most American political websites, I was stunned when I got home from work and read about Joe Biden announcing a ceasefire in Israel. I was going to give him credit for the diplomacy, but the Guardian article says this deal was actually brokered by Egypt. They probably have more credibility than the US does at this point. Plus, Joe continued to "both sides" it: "I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy." And he praised Netanyahu and supports continuing to fund Israel's defenses.

There will never be peace as long as Israel is evicting Palestinians and pushing Jewish settlements into disputed land. They are actively provoking anger and refusing to let Palestinians live in peace. It's fucking apartheid and continues to be, even down to issues like providing COVID vaccines. You'd think, in Israel's own self-interest, that it would make sure that Palestinians who live and work close by, would also be vaccinated to help herd immunity, but no, they'd rather selfishly withhold vaccines and gaslight the world into believing they're somehow a super successful and awesome model for vaccination. Fuck!

Anyway, I do hope the ceasefire holds, but how I wish we could make some progress beyond that. Juan Cole says that it's good this only took 11 days, so I guess he's feeling hopeful. Biden, if you're really sincere about peace and human rights, how about moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv? How about reversing more Trump policies that's in your power, even if you can't get Israel to budge? And please fucking cancel/withdraw your approval for that $735 million arms deal to Israel.

Junk News

I've been disappointed by so called leftist blogs like DailyKos and Wonkette seriously under reporting about Israel, and not talking about Palestinian perspectives. I did see one personal diary talking about BDS, but so often the comment sections get filled with virulent Zionists and apologists for Israel's war crimes. Meanwhile the "news" that gets officially published are repetitive rehashes of low-hanging fruit such as Liz Cheney, Matt Gaetz, and Joe Manchin.

If it weren't for Juan Cole, I wouldn't be informed about the protests at the Ford plant in Dearborn. Other political sites only just talked about Biden driving the electric truck, turning it into a fluff piece. Biden's administration specifically said they wanted to focus on human rights issues, but instead they let Palestinian rights take a back seat to climate change, and block another UN resolution against Israel. And now they fucking approve an arms sale to Israel at a time like this! Where's your fucking human rights policy, Biden?

I'm even angrier that Netanyahu is using this horrific violence to prevent being ousted as PM. The most recent election still remains unresolved until someone can form a new government, so he wants to trash any possible alliances that could oust him. It's fucking sick that he'll order airstrikes just to save himself his job, and he knows he'll never be punished by the US for it.

TV Wasteland

The latest episode of Batwoman tackled police racism and brutality in a much more hamfisted way than Kung Fu did, and then they had the nerve to end on a cliffhanger about Luke. Fuck! So now we gotta endure a hiatus and look forward to yet another episode about Crows violence. Thanks a lot! About the only good stuff was Mary confronting her dad about the Snakebite, and Sophie quitting the Crows. I was greatly displeased with Ocean killing Enigma and arguing about how Kate failed Alice. How fucking selfish is he that he doesn't see something wrong with the mere concept of Kate losing her identity, let alone being brainwashed to become the daughter of a psychotic criminal? You don't fucking care about consent and brainwashing after your own coerced mindwipe? Fuck you, Ocean, and your stupid-ass name. I hope you go back to Coryana and die a horrible death offscreen because I don't like any of you selfish islanders.

Meanwhile TV networks have been cancelling and renewing shows in preparation for the TV Upfronts. I'm glad Bob Hearts Abishola, Kung Fu, The Equalizer, and Home Economics got renewed. I'm mildly interested in a couple of pilots I hear about it, but the premises start to sound all the same after a while. Why all these strange high-concept shows and reboots? Why not a a simple mystery show with no psychics or ghosts or time-travel or aliens? I guess only Canada is making shows like the Frankie Drake Mysteries. The closest thing we have to light mysteries are the Psych movies every few years.

What will it take?

My God, Israel's airstrike destroyed the AP press building. They just brazenly did it. And I ask myself once again, what will it take for the US to punish Israel? What naked atrocity or war crime will finally make us stop funding and apologizing for Israel's apartheid? What will be the undeniable eye-opener, like George Floyd's death was for Black Lives Matter?

This week, as the violence kept escalating, I kept hoping that somehow Biden would respond like a radical progressive, like all his bold plans for infrastructure, healthcare, etc. But no, it's just back to America's status quo, talking about Israel's "right to defend itself." In this area at least he's not pushing for transformation. I mean, he hasn't even reversed Trump's dick move of moving the embassy to Jerusalem. I'm so disappointed.

Plus this was the end of Ramadan. Contrast how the Glaswegians protested an Immigration Enforcement raid and got two men freed, to how Israel chose to evict Palestinians from their homes for the end of Ramadan, knowing that this injustice would provoke retaliation, so they could bomb Gaza again and claim "oh, we're only protecting our safety." And still it goes on, with no end in sight. It feels like Israel is fucking invincible and will never be stopped. That the US will back them until doomsday, and I can't fucking withhold my tax dollars to stop funding this shit. I don't know any more. I just don't know what to say.

Chang'e changed

Today I found a body donor for my Chang'e doll! It's a new yoga Made-to-Move Barbie. The curvy redhead in pinkish tie dye clothes, whose model number appears to be GXF07.

She's a perfect fucking skin match, a slightly more tan color than Barbie's regular Neutra color. I did a head swap, so now my Chang'e has a lovely curvy figure and no more periwinkle legs. Now she can also wear Barbie Curvy shoes, whereas before she could only wear the unique shoes bigger than Curvy but smaller than the WWE Superstar shoes. Chang'e is slighter shorter now, but not by much, and the loose-fitting Chinese dress still fits her curvy figure.

As for the redhead, I'm provisionally naming her Carmen Sandiego, after the Netflix reboot of that character, due to her tan, easily Latina skin tone. What awesome luck!

Friday

Kung Fu had a good episode this week about Black Lives Matter and also anti-Asian hate. There were a couple of moments that stretched the suspension of disbelief--such as Evan the attorney somehow breaking curfew to visit the restaurant in person instead of just calling on the phone--but otherwise it was a nice examination of racism in a diverse city. They also acknowledged that it's an ongoing struggle that won't be solved in one day. The episode also had some good side plots such as Ryan and his boyfriend sharing a kiss to seal their relationship. I'm only frustrated that Althea still didn't tell her fiance about her former boss, and that Nicky is too obsessed with her quest to have a nice lunch date. Maybe next week.

Meanwhile I'm glad that Facebook continued their ban on Trump. I only wish they'd just definitively make it permanent. He's got his own weblog to say whatever he wants to people still following him, so he's not being censored. We just don't have to pay attention to him, unlike the Republicans who continue to go kiss his ring for some insane reason.

I'm finally going to visit my mother for Mother's Day because now my family is fully vaccinated. So I look forward to some bit of normalcy at last.

Happy Cinco

Cinco de Cuarto was somewhat bittersweet this year, knowing that Jessica Walter is gone. I managed to do some writing on one of my Arrested Development fanfics, at least, so I'll post that to AO3 after editing the chapter.

Sadly, Netflix cancelled The Irregulars, even though I heard that it had been listed as popular. Was it too expensive or something? It wasn't a perfect show, but I did like many of the characters, especially Bea.

Meanwhile, in Israel, Netanyahu missed his deadline to form a government, so the president will ask the 2nd place guy to try to form a government. Here's hoping there won't need to be another election, and Netanyahu can be ousted as PM at last.

Runoffs galore

Well, the Texas special election was on Saturday. I'm not in the same district as Ron Wright's old seat, and it appears that no democrats made the runoff. So many candidates just split the votes too much. However, in the race for Fort Worth mayor, Deborah Peoples made it to the runoff, so that's good. I just hope enough people will remember to come back and vote in June.

Meanwhile some TV shows finally came back after being off air for Oscars and Covid specials. Batwoman finally revealed that Sionis used Enigma to brainwash Kate Kane into being Sionis's dead daughter Circe. She apparently died in Arkham, but no more backstory is available, and Circe from the comics is different. We'll see how it goes. Sophie finally got to do a smart thing by erasing Ryan's DNA from the database, but she should confess to the Bat team what she knows in order to integrate with them more. I'm tired of Commander Kane's drug addiction, but I hope it will get resolved soon now that it's been discovered. I'm glad Angelique is going to witness protection, and I hope Ocean is okay, but he might just disappear again. I really do not want to revisit the Safiya story.

The Equalizer also came back with a strong episode showing why the cop Dante is turned off by Robyn's vigilante ways. Her violence went too far for him this time, and she didn't even come up with a clever plan to get the serial killer arrested without compromising the evidence. I see why he'd be upset, and be willing to go in with the plot to arrest her. The promos promised 4 weeks of new episodes, so I hope the remaining 3 episodes are good.

Rutherford Falls

I checked out this new Peacock show due to good reviews and its diversity on camera and behind the scenes. I had hoped that all the episodes would be free (like the Punky Brewster reboot is all free), but only the first 3 episodes are free. You have to sign up for Peacock Premium if you want to watch the whole season. So I have to try to decide if it's worth it to upgrade my account.

I actually did not find Rutherford Falls to be very funny; there is some humor there, but a lot of it is from awkward, cringey situations. I thought that the plot about moving the Big Larry statue would be resolved quickly, after Reagan gave a perfect solution, but no, Nathan reneged, so that the writers can apparently drag it out all season. So annoying. The pilot also suggested that Nathan Rutherford's brother discovered some really shocking document in the ancestral family house, but then the brother never explains what he found when Nathan comes to visit him. The show mentions that the house will be sold, but the brother still says "this wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about." So what did you want to talk about, buddy? When do we learn what the shocking documents were? I hate dropped threads like that. So yeah, I remain ambivalent and undecided about that show.

In contrast, I mostly like ABC's Home Economics sitcom about three adult siblings with different money and family issues. The only annoying part is how Tom's novel is supposed to be secret from the other siblings.

I also recently watched the Scoob! movie that came out last year. Although I love Scooby Doo, I avoided the movie because the promos made it look terrible. Whichever trailer showed Shaggy and Scooby being beamed aboard a ship made me think they were being kidnapped by aliens. Turns out, that's not true at all, but the misleading marketing sure turned me off. Anyway, the origin story starts out fine, with young Shaggy adopting Scooby, then meeting the rest of the gang on Halloween night. They solve a mystery, then we get a remake of the Scooby Doo, Where Are You? theme song, but after the time jump to the teens, it's no longer classic Scooby. Apparently it's not aliens who kidnap Shag and Scoob; it's the superhero Blue Falcon. Warner Brothers basically used this Scoob! movie to shoehorn in their old Hanna-Barbera franchises such as the Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Dick Dastardly, and something called Captain Caveman. How self-serving can they be? The superhero adventure's okay, but I really would have preferred that the Scooby gang solve a traditional mystery by themselves. Guess I'll just have to keep watching the old toons on HBO Max.

Early Voting

Early voting began this week in Texas, and I forgot the first day, so I had to do more research on the League of Women Voters website before going out on Tuesday to vote. What a Tuesday, with Derek Chauvin being found guilty on all 3 counts! I was surprised and relieved, though we'll have to see how the sentencing goes later. Many reactions online emphasized that this was merely basic accountability, that we still had a long way to go for true justice in America. I see the point of the warnings, but still, celebrating small victories can keep up morale for the long fight ahead.

Anyway, the Senate finally confirmed Vanita Gupta to the DOJ position despite John Cornyn's opposition. She's great on civil rights, and she's one of the experts featured on Netflix's Amend show, where she discusses a lot of legal history around citizenship. Congress has been busy with hearings this week, and the Senate also passed the hate crimes bill on Thursday. Most of the Republicans realized how bad the optics would be to vote no on protecting Asian Americans. If only we could get them to pass the voting rights bill and infrastructure that easily.

It was a pretty good Earth Day yesterday, though I spent much of it feeling ill. Hope this weekend is better. If you are in Texas or in another state having elections, go vote while they still let you!

Infuriating

It's been a frustrating and exhausting week. Cops are still killing people, even kids, and lying about it so brazenly. The recent gunman at the Fedex facility means the return of regular mass shootings again, after I got used to the pause during COVID. Everything's reopening, so I guess we're going back to "normal" for gun-crazy America. Whoo-hoo!

I was even annoyed at Biden who decided to not lift the cap on refugees, but eventually he backtracked. I worry that he's not acting quick enough about immigrants still kept in camps; I know he's got a lot of things to do, but he needs to fill up more departments to deal with this.

Plus, PBS aired a Nova special called "Picture a Scientist", a documentary about harassment and discrimination against women scientists. When I think of #MeToo sexual harassment, I think of rape, Harvey Weinstein's grossness, and degrading acts like Anita Hill testified about. One woman does describe an overt case of the famous Francis Crick manhandling her; (he and Watson stole credit from Rosalind Franklin about the double helix, but that's another story). This "Picture a Scientist" special mainly talks about male scientists just being chauvinist pigs who belittle, undermine, and bully women to dominate them and chase them out of the profession. Some men do it by just consistently underpaying women or giving them less lab equipment and resources than male peers. Plus the whole system of how each scientist-in-training is dependent on a faculty advisor or other university boss to advance their career is broken; it encourages men to abuse their underlings and get away without repercussions. Checks and balances need to be put in place so that people have some recourse against intolerable behavior.

First Steps

Maryland recently overrode their Governor's veto to repeal the the "police bill of rights" that apparently gave them all kinds of special privileges. I really hope things are changing finally, to get rid of "qualified immunity" for cops. Just treat them like any other citizen, and make them accountable for their actions. Get them out of their militarized mindset and don't let them get away scot free.

Meanwhile, Will Smith's Emancipation movie is moving production out of Georgia due to the voter suppression law. I know that Stacey Abrams is against boycotting Georgia, but I think the Republicans won't change or back off at all until they suffer financial loss; all they understand is money and power. They act all outraged now about corporations getting political, but they still want all the money. I heard that 100 companies had a conference call discussion about whether to pause campaign contributions to officials that supported the January 6 insurrection. Notice they talk about "pausing" not ending altogether, and they never actually pledged to do anything yet. I hope they will actually follow through. If corporations continue to be "people" with free speech, then they ought to use it for something good for the rest of us.

Also I read that the book The Downstairs Girl is being adapted into a TV show. The protagonist is Chinese, but it's being done by a Korean studio, so I'm not sure if this will air in the US at all. I hope at least it is available streaming.

News

There's a field near my neighborhood that has bluebonnets blooming now. It's starting to feel like spring. I saw that Prince Philip died recently, but people are using it as an excuse to attack Meghan Markle again for the Oprah Winfrey interview, even though she and Harry stressed that the racism never came from the Queen and Prince Philip. Anyway, Meghan's pregnant and not going to travel to the funeral, probably because her doctor doesn't want to risk her having another miscarriage. I'm sure the racist UK tabloids are going to criticize her for it anyway.

The big Alabama union vote at Amazon failed, but that was probably due to their usual anti-union intimidation tactics. The union is appealing the results to the NLRB. Speaking of voter intimidation, the GOP are continuing to pass voter suppression bills. I contacted my useless Texas senators about H.R. 1, but as expected, Cornyn just replied with talking points about federal overreach and election security. I'm sick of the drama about the filibuster, but a recent report said that Biden is not stressed out about Manchin, so presumably he knows something or is negotiating some kind of deal to get Manchin on board. We'll see.

I read that there's another racist incident with a Black army lieutenant being brutalized by cops. It reminded me of the American Experience special about "The Blinding of Isaac Woodard" that recently aired. Black veterans returning from WWII were lynched by whites who felt that the soldiers had become uppity and no longer deferred to Southern racism. The NAACP used the outrage about Woodard's maiming to raise awareness and make Harry Truman sympathetic to civil rights. I watched the PBS special, but felt that it gave too much credit to Judge Waring and Harry Truman about desegregation. They act like Judge Waring talked Thurgood Marshall into making the Briggs v. Elliot case all about separate but equal. I mean, it's good to talk about white allies, like Orson Welles publicizing the attack on his radio show, but give the Black people credit too for fighting for their rights.

Kung Fu

The new CW reboot premiered tonight; the pilot felt a little exposition-heavy, and I was afraid that they were going to kill off the father played by Tzi Ma. But it's not clunkier than an average Supergirl episode, and the dead Shifu apparently will continue to give ghostly advice to Nicky. I was pleasantly surprised by Nicky's siblings who also wanted to help in the Tony Kang investigation. Will they be her team, like the team on the Equalizer? Anyway, the show clearly defined a mission for the season, to find eight magic weapons and defeat the villian Zhilan.

Meawhile I watched Godzilla vs Kong, and the fights were pretty good, though the plot was predictable once I saw the robot being constructed by Apex. I also found it hard to connect to the storyline of Benny and the kids even though I like Julian Dennison from Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I didn't know anything about Madison's backstory and I thought her group was on a HEAV going to meet the other plot in Antarctica; instead they were going on some kind of "pod" shipped by monorail from Florida to Hong Kong. Like, how could you construct that monorail, and why, if planes are available?

Locked Down

I got my second vaccine shot on Sunday, so I feel a little more secure to see the new Godzilla movie. I'll still keep wearing my mask though, in light of everything opening up so quickly.

All the political news sites have been obsessed with the sex scandal about Matt Gaetz. I'll be glad if it forces him to resign, but if it doesn't, then it's overshadowing a lot of bad things that also need attention, like Texas Republicans passing voter suppression and coming for our abortion rights. I did read, though, that Biden's Department of Transportation is putting a freeway expansion on hold due to civil rights issues, regarding all the residents that will be displaced in Houston. So it's good we have competent people in the administration who can pay attention to all the issues. I hope Deb Haaland is busy doing good things at Interior too.

Somebody rammed their car into a barricade at the Capitol! Scary, but I believe Congress is on Easter recess and that Joe Biden is at Camp David. Hope there's plenty of security for everybody who's still locked down in D.C.

Past and Present

I saw the news this week about a terrible attack on an Asian American woman in New York; it happened in broad daylight in front of witnesses who didn't help her. I haven't watched the video because the description sounds bad enough, and I worry for my elderly parents because parts of DFW can be redneck and intolerant. I will say, though, that people should not jump on the fact that Brandon Elliot is Black. He doesn't represent all Black people any more than Tou Thao, who helped Derek Chauvin murder George Floyd, represents all Asian Americans. Focus instead on the racist rhetoric that fueled this Anti-Asian violence. (And focus on the mentality of the police to kill with impunity.)

The Derek Chauvin trial has been televised this week, but I dread watching it, because I am really not sure that the verdict will be just. I remember years ago, when the LAPD beat up Rodney King, people really hoped that the video evidence would be enough to convict the police officers. When it wasn't, the fury exploded into riots in 1992. I do worry that the same thing could happen again. The world hasn't changed much since then despite numerous horrifying videos. (Hell, even all the video evidence of January 6th wasn't enough for the Senate Republicans who refused to convict Trump!)

I remember during the L.A. riots after Rodney King, there were also racial tensions between Asian immigrants and Black residents who resented them for past issues; rioters targeted Koreatown for destruction, and police abandoned the area. Pitting minorities against each other doesn't help any of us, and in fact it distracted from the problem about police brutality, which continues on, 30 years later, with still no end in sight. Wow, I'm old. But the racism in America is much older, of course.

Biden nominated some diverse candidates for judges this week. I hope he can keep nominating candidates to fill all the vacancies so we can reverse the Trump trend and possibly, finally, get more justice in our court system. But something's gotta be done about the police.

The Irregulars

I finished Netflix's supernatural horror series about the Baker Street Irregulars. It's pretty good, though I don't like Watson being so disdainful and deceptive all the time. Also, the last episode had way too much stuff happening, making it feel interminable; I would have preferred that we could focus on just the Rip drama without the extra battles in the Duck and Quiver cellar.

There are indeed some gruesome horror moments on the show, so squeamish people should cover their eyes or look away at the scary bits. As for me, given the "slicing people's faces off" thing from the Birds of Prey movie and the similar face swapping thing on Batwoman, I was able to withstand that episode with the taxidermy monster. A lot of times we also got reaction shots first, to build up the dread of the thing, before we saw the thing itself, so there's warning. Each monster turns out to be a regular person who makes a desperate wish and then receives supernatural power from the Rip, a portal between this life and Purgatory. But of course these wishes have terrible consequences, much like a monkey's paw or that stupid Dreamstone in the Wonder Woman movie.

Anyway, as I said, I don't mind aging the the Irregulars to teens, and I'm so pleased that the Asian girl Bea is the leader of the gang. Watson is indeed a black man, and moreover, he's queer in that he loves Holmes. I'm a little disappointed that this love is mostly shown in him being petty and jealous about Sherlock's love interest. I can't tell you how fucking relieved and happy I was that "A" stood for Alice and not Irene Adler. This writer Tom Bidwell at least has an original thought to create his own woman, and to not make her some weirdo psychopath cross with Moriarty. That's nice. We haven't had originality like that since the love interest in Young Sherlock Holmes. I don't know if there'll be a season 2, but the show was an intriguing ride so far.

Another long week

So sad to hear of Jessica Walter dying this week. I'll miss her. I always enjoy seeing her popup in guest starring roles in past TV shows like Wonder Woman or Murder She Wrote. I used to enjoy Dinosaurs too, but back then I had no idea who she was.

Meanwhile people are apparently very entertained by news of the ship stuck in the Suez Canal. The memes are cute, though I'm glad to hear that the US is going to send experts to help. Competent government for the win!

There's a special election in Texas in May, with an astonishing 23 candidates running to replace Ron Wright, who died. With that many candidates, it's hard to know who to vote for, when there's not enough info to distinguish the various Democrats. I'm going to have to rely on endorsements. Candace Valenzuela, who went silent after she lost her recent election, has started to be active again, fundraising for victims of the ice storm/power failure, and she has sent some endorsements on races.

Texas GOP are trying to pass voter suppression laws just like Georgia did. Such hypocrites. They won in 2020, but even that isn't good enough for them. They want to make sure there's no chance in hell of flipping the state blue. Fucking Chip Roy and Ted Cruz!

More TV

The Amber Ruffin Show is renewed through September! I'm so happy for her success. Her songs are awesome, and I love her skits with Tarik. Jeff Wright was also pretty good when he subbed for Tarik; the poor guy had Covid.

Meanwhile, major developments on Batwoman this week. Apparently Kate Kane is alive and recast with a new actress; that wasn't clear on the show itself, because she didn't move and she didn't look alive to me. She's bandaged up, so who bandaged her and why are they keeping her underneath a barber shop? Is she suffering amnesia and do they know that she was Batwoman 1.0? What do they plan to do with her, since they didn't respond when her dad put out a reward for information? Anyway, the showrunners are assuring fans that Ryan Wilder will continue to be Batwoman, so I guess Kate will come back just to resolve her plots with her family and the Bat Team. She's probably suffering some trauma from the whole plane crash/captivity and won't be up for superhero stuff right away. It's kinda inevitable that the show finally stopped writing around Kate's disappearance. They could not sustain that forever, since they're already writing around Batman's disappearance.

Also, those scenes which referenced the "False Face Society", turned out to be hints that Roman Sionis aka Black Mask will appear on Batwoman in an upcoming episode. So with Victor Zsasz earlier, that makes both the villains from Harley Quinn's movie. I mean, these guys have extensive comic book history beyond that, but I don't read comics, so I only know them from the Birds of Prey movie. I hope we don't get lost in lots of arcane lore, because this Coryana plot was weird and convoluted enough. Can't they be a little more straightforward?

Over and Over

With all the news on the Atlanta spa shootings or the more recent Colorado supermarket shooting, I didn't realize that the Israel election was on Tuesday, until I read about recent protests against Netanyahu. For now, the news is showing the results as deadlocked or inconclusive. This is the fourth election in two years, and we won't know if a coalition government can be formed for days or weeks. It certainly doesn't look stable at all, and they might be forced into a fifth election. As much as I hate the two-party system in America, the parliamentary system in Israel makes elections even worse.

Just the possibility that Netanyahu could remain in power and scrape together another government is sickening to me. How does he fucking survive over and over, even with how many people hate him? He's still trying to dodge a trial on corruption charges, and people don't like how he handled the pandemic. And once again, FUCK news media who buy into the lie that Israel is super successful at vaccination. They are a colossal failure because they are only counting the Jewish population, not the Palestinians living under occupation by Israel! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Meanwhile in America, our Congress tries to hold hearings about gun violence but we have the usual rightwing deflections and arguments against gun control. The same useless thoughts and prayers over and over. When will we ever be able to reform our messed up gun laws? Or tackle racism and misogyny.

The only thing that gives me hope lately was watching this Netflix miniseries Amend: The Fight for America. Hosted by Will Smith, it interviews a lot of historians and activists discussing the 14th amendment not just in the context of slavery and Black Civil Rights, but also its use in feminism, gay rights, and immigration. Progress isn't always linear, and we get setbacks, but we can continue to fight and win more legal victories.

Inclusivity

Deb Haaland has been sworn in as Secretary of the Interior! This is a historic moment for all Native Americans, and a first step to finally getting some justice for all the land grabs and broken treaties over the centuries. It'll be good to have her working for climate change and green energy too. Also, I've read about an upcoming show on Peacock called Rutherford Falls, which features indigenous people both onscreen and behind the scenes. Sounds great, and I'd love it to be better than that Stumptown show which had some complex Native characters that were unfortunately overshadowed by the P.I.'s soap opera life. (Meanwhile the stupid Washington Football Team continues to not have a new name, after nixing its old slur months ago. Lazy cowards.)

The horrific murders in Atlanta highlight how much Asian women have been oversexualized, such that people assume that massage workers are sex workers. (Not that it's wrong to be a sex worker, if it's a voluntary career choice. We need to stop criminal exploitation/slavery though.) It's the same stereotype of Japanese geisha as prostitutes, with white men fetishizing them for being petite and submissive. Plus, since the pandemic, there's been a rise in hate crimes against all Asian people in general.

Representation can help combat stereotypes and othering. I hear that this year's Oscar nominations are good for Blacks and Asians, though we'll have to see if that translates into any actual wins, or if some votes will be split, such as the two Judas actors both nominated as supporting actors. (Were they trying to avoid competing with Chadwick Boseman in the lead category?) There's also a chance that the Academy will vote for Mank, the movie about Hollywood, because Hollywood are so freaking in love with themselves and their history.

Happy Pi Day

The rescue bill passed Congress, and Biden signed it. Such a relief to have that finished at last, with no more delay. Not everything we wanted in the bill, but a solid package to help people recover. Congress can try again for the minimum wage increase and other stuff. I hope they finish voting on other nominations soon, including the board of the Post Office so we can oust DeJoy.

Meanwhile, the Oprah interview was much discussed this week so I recorded the rerun to watch it. Very informative, though I was annoyed by the editing; Oprah seemed to cut off Meghan from fully explaining some issues, such as titles and how she and Harry intended to just be junior members of royalty working part-time, but when money and security was cutoff, they had to make other plans. I can certainly understand her concerns about protection for her child.

There are still some skeptics who insist that Meghan is a liar, and that this scandal is just stupid soap opera, just meaningless trivial gossip. But that ignores the implications about racism and mental health; the interview is certainly more substantive than Republicans' recent faux outrages about cancel culture. Just because Meghan married into the royalty doesn't mean she was born privileged, and it doesn't exclude her from being wounded by the severe, constant attacks by the press making her into a villain. It also seems strange that the royalty would not at least fact-check some disinformation or allow her contact with friends who could have helped her not feel so isolated. Did they think that defending her reputation was somehow beneath the dignity of royalty? And why not allow her to go to a hospital or see a therapist when she was suicidal? Human resources said, "We can't help you because you're not a paid employee"? How is she not a paid employee of the firm if she and Harry are expected to go on global tours and media events on behalf of the Crown? Is that not work, and didn't they receive taxpayer funds? Policies need to change at the very least.

Raya and the Last Dragon

I watched the new Disney movie and enjoyed it immensely. Kelly Marie Tran is great as Raya, and Awkafina's Sisu wasn't just a comic relief dragon. She actually made good points about optimism and giving trust to help others trust you, so she wasn't as annoying to me as stupid characters like Mushu the dragon from the animated Mulan. Raya is a warrior princess, as the daughter of the chief charged with protecting the magical dragon gem. But she jumps the gun too fast in trusting a brand new friend Namaari, who attempts to steal the gem, only for disaster to strike when the gem gets broken, unleashing a plague upon the world. Namaari also is a princess of her own tribe, the Fang, and though she is Raya's enemy, the movie allows her to have complex motives and genuine awe and love for the dragon Sisu. This is the key to turning her and other enemies to help restore the dragon gem and heal the world.

It's a lovely message movie about taking a risk and striving for unity and peace. (Unity doesn't mean you can't be diverse societies.) I have seen some complaints online about Raya being a mishmash of different Asian identities into the Kumandra tribes. Are they Thai, are they Vietnamese, are they Malaysian, etc? Instead they're more vague, like a Pan-Asian fusion. I see the point, that white people mix us up and think we're all the same. But I don't care in the context of this movie. It's an original fantasy rather than drawing on a country-specific myth like Mulan, so this mythical Kumandra land is not confined to one real-world place. If anything, it reminds me of how Black Panther was Pan-African, taking different cultural elements from throughout the continent and creating a fantasy society; they even had different River, Mountain, and Border Tribes. I think of it as an homage celebrating the variety of African peoples, in a quest to speak to Blacks everywhere. So I don't mind Raya doing that for several Southeast Asian countries, who have long been overshadowed by China, Japan, and Korea in the rare times that Hollywood ever makes any Asian content. If it helps, white people do also make up generic European countries such as Euphrania and its hostile neighbors in the Cinderella movie The Slipper and the Rose. I just hope that we get more Asian TV and movies overall, then we can have more specific stories for each underrepresented community.

Anyway, for the release, Disney made a "virtual red carpet" event featuring the voice cast, as well as past Disney princesses welcoming Kelly to the fold. She wore a beautiful ao dai and headdress, apparently made by a Paris By Night designer. (Vietnamese kids know the phenomenon of Paris By Night videos which our parents constantly bought and played on TV.) Seeing the other Asian cast members talk about representation is great too, and it helps to have something to celebrate our heritage in the face of all the anti-Asian hate crimes since the pandemic. How I miss the days of the "Gold Open" with Searching, Crazy Rich Asians, and more.

Shameless

I mostly tried to ignore CPAC over the weekend because I don't want to hear any more about Trump, his family, or the cult-worshippers who seriously made a gold statue of him. But then Ted Cruz had to joke about Cancun as if it was just an oopsie and not a fire-able offense. Stupid me for optimistically hoping he'd have the decency to resign after the furor. But no, he has no shame.

Govenor Abbott has no shame either, opening up Texas and dropping mask mandates today. Don't you have something more important to do, like fucking winterizing our electrical grid? Fuck him. I hope Beto runs against him and wins. Wonkette reports that Mississippi's governor is doing the same, and that some blue state liberals are blaming us red state voters, even though we're plenty blue in our cities. The same way they dare Texas to secede from the union, ignoring how many millions of Democrats live here and can't just move. We're hoping to turn the place blue, after all.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Biden's nominee Tanden had to withdraw simply because people objected to her past "uncivil" tweets. Like she's supposed to be ashamed of having an opinion about fuckers like Ted Cruz? Everyone dunks on Ted Cruz because he fucking deserves it. What a double standard.