Disgusting

Remember how Greg Abbott and various Republicans at his press event called Beto "sick" for "politicizing" Uvalde, just because he rightly pointed out how the Texas GOP had loosened gun laws? They kept saying it was "too soon", as national Republicans always say it's "too soon" after every mass shooting.

Well on Monday an abandoned truck was discovered in San Antonio with a bunch of migrants inside, with many dead apparently from heatstroke. It's a tragedy, but fucking Abbott immediately blamed those deaths on Biden's "open borders." Fucking hypocrite.

(Anyway, Congress did manage to pass a new gun control law, though it didn't go as far as we wanted.) The Supreme Court also decided to just unload a whole bunch of horrible rulings in addition to the abortion ruling that we already knew about. There have been massive protests all weekend, so I hope there will be enough outrage that we can expand the Senate majority and finally get stuff done. At least Ketanji Brown Jackson got sworn in.

Democracy

I've just read that Israel's government has fallen apart. They couldn't hold together their anti-Netanyahu coalition. Apparently Bennet's co-prime minister Lapid will take over until new elections are held. It's such a disaster that their government is so unstable, election after election. I hope Netanyahu will not be able to return to power. I thought he was still on trial for corruption? They just have too many factions, splintering the Knesset.

Meanwhile, I have mostly not been home for most of the televised January 6th hearings. I feared that no one would watch, but apparently the hearings are making an impact. I'm also glad that people are paying attention and caring about people like Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman. It gives me hope in people.

Recently I was disgusted and frightened by how people were rubbernecking the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial. Why on earth was that even televised or available to stream? Why didn't the judge require the jury to be sequestered if he was going to let random people watch? What a fucking media circus; shame on Deadline for pushing it every damn day like it was a Hollywood reality show.

Into the Breeches

George Brant's play at Stage West theatre had a mostly female cast, although there were two male roles. Set in the 1940s, when most men are away at war, Maggie decides to put on a female version of Shakespeare's Henry plays at the Oberon theatre where her husband Andrew was director for years. He's on the frontlines now, but has encouraged her in letters to go ahead without him. So Maggie asks their leading lady to play a male role, and then holds auditions for women to play the other parts. It's like a reversal of the Elizabethan tradition to have men play all roles.

Into the Breeches is a funny comedy, but it also touches on timely topics like pay equity, racism, and homophobia. I was surprised to learn that the Oberon's diva Celeste had never been paid for her work for years; only the male actors were paid because "they have families to support." How horribly unfair and sexist! Apparently Celeste was supporting herself by giving voice lessons to people. So Maggie has to negotiate with the producer Mr. Snow to start paying the women to act; it helps that she has already cast Snow's wife Winifred in the play, to give her leverage. Other castmembers have problems too, and Maggie has to address these as she tries to make a cohesive unit out of them.

It was very enjoyable and moving. Some of the dialogue even referenced people and newspapers in the local Dallas/Ft Worth area, which I think was to make it feel more immediate to us. We don't see the cast perform the whole four-hour play, of course, but we do see them rehearsing several scenes to give us a flavor of how good the amateur actors are becoming. They become a community, a "band of brothers" as they use Shakespeare to show patriotic support for their men away at war.

Jurassic World: Dominion

I have not watched the previous Jurassic World films due to disinterest and bad reviews, but I was mostly able to follow the last film. The main confusing part was Maisie Lockwood being a clone, but I had read something on the internet that mentioned it, and the movie itself addressed the issue and apparently did a retcon on who was responsible for the cloning, and why.

Anyway, the Dominion movie was filled with nostalgic references to the original Jurassic Park film, even recreating some moments.  Drs. Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm had their own storyline, and were not mere cameo appearances. They were focused on giant locusts bio-engineered by BioSyn, the competitor to Hammond's InGen company that created the dinosaurs in the first place. Dr. Henry Wu from InGen was now working for BioSyn. (Apparently his character was expanded on in the last few films, to give him more depth and importance.) Wu gets a guilty conscience here, and tries to redeem himself, though not everyone trusts him. I didn't recognize the name Lewis Dodgson, but soon learned that he was the furtive guy who gave Nedry the fake Barbasol shaving cream can to hold stolen dino embyros. So it was fitting to see the Barbasol can again and to remember how Nedry died. Lewis is the main evil villain here, though he pretends to be a benevolent tech mogul. Ian Malcolm even works for him, which is how Grant and Sattler get invited to the dino sanctuary.

Juneteenth

There's lots of local celebrations of Juneteenth this weekend, and Opal Lee is doing her annual walk to raise money for a Juneteenth Museum for Fort Worth. I just watched a TV interview with her and her granddaughter. I learned that Opal Lee does much more than crusade for Juneteenth history to be taught. She runs a community food bank and a community garden. Also she told the history of how her family was attacked by racists and their house burned down in the 1930s, so she knows the importance of remembering history. If only the hysterical people trying to ban books and expunge history would listen.

I'm going to try to go to one of the festivals near me, and then I'll visit my family for Father's Day. I'm going to see a play called Into the Breeches at Stage West theatre. I also might try to see the Jurassic movie this weekend, but I wish more that I could find the Lost Girls movie closer to me. It's far away in a theatre I've never heard of. Just got to enjoy this weekend since we're heading for more 100-degree days. So hot, and it's not even July yet.

Summer Movies

Hooray! Mr. Malcolm's List is coming in July! I'm so glad they made the full movie, even if they had to recast Gemma Chan's part. I guess she had too many Marvel movies to film. This Jane Austen-ish romcom will be a bright spot this summer. I might also watch the Elvis biopic because it looks interesting.

Until now, I've avoided the Jurassic World movies, but I'll have try this new one with Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum. Hope they won't just be cameos, and that I won't be lost about the plot/mythos. Also there's a movie in June called The Lost Girls which tackles the weirdness of Peter Pan continually visiting Wendy Darling and all the women of her family. I found this generational hold on the Darling family creepy in the book too. It looks like a limited release, so I hope I'll be able to find it in a theater near me.

Meanwhile, I'm doing more sewing. I bought a Uniquely You Dress Form cover, but was completely confused by the instructions; the drawings were very unclear. I didn't understand how to do a vertical dart, or where to put it, until l read the steps on this blog, which has helpful photos and description. I don't actually have the styrofoam form, so I'm planning to stuff it with some stuffing I got at Joann's. If that doesn't work, then I'll buy some actual foam to cut up. (From what I've read in several reviews, most people had to cut the boobs and/or reshape the form to match their actual body.) Whenever I finish, I'll mount it on a stand and see if it actually works so I can sew clothes that fit me.