Murderville and More

I saw the Knives Out sequel yesterday, and it was pretty enjoyable. I'd forgotten that Angela Lansbury had a cameo on a Zoom meeting. The Glass Onion is funny and political, and the whodunit throws some red herrings at you. I'll have to watch it again knowing the twist. The tech bro is a narcissist idiot like Elon Musk pretending to be a genius.

Meanwhile I saw that Jason Bateman will guest star in Murderville's Christmas episode, so I'll have to stay on Netflix long enough to see that. Murderville was pretty funny with Arnett's antics, and the first episode involved magicians. The guest stars were fun, and there was also a season-long mystery that wasn't too annoying.

On streaming, I also went back to Peacock's Saved By the Bell reboot, which I only saw the pilot of before. They really did a nice balance between the new teens and the old cast. It's a really good update on the premise. Characters acknowledge that some of Zach Morris's schemes and pranks went too far; as kids we excused too much as "boys will be boys" rebelliousness, but now we've grown up and can see how bad it is. I like that Zach and the other adult characters can reflect on their high school deeds and grow into mature people now. I respect Mark-Paul Gosselar for having a sense of humor and being willing to poke fun at his old persona; he was just a kid when the show made him a star, and he was just acting whatever the writers wrote for him in their fantasy world. But the show continues to be fun with the new cast, as the poorer Douglas students adjust to the bizarre lifestyle of the Bayside students. Too bad it got canceled after two seasons.

Beauty and Tragedy

Speaking of historical fiction, last month I saw the play Guards at the Taj at Stage West Theatre. It's about lowly guards standing outside the gates of the Taj Mahal, and this is the last weekend it's playing, so catch it if you can, or if it ever comes to your area. The play starts out with a comical argument between the two guards about whether they are allowed to see the recently completed monument, but then it goes into darker themes. (It's based on the macabre legend that the Shah decreed that every builder, artisan, and architect have his hands cut off so they could not make something as beautiful as the Taj Mahal again.) So then the play becomes about the nature of beauty, power, and friendship. It's very dramatic and thought provoking, though I'm confused about the final scene, which is supposed to take place in the future. I'm glad that the legend does not appear to be true, but the fictional story is makes for a good character study for the actors.

Meanwhile, I saw Wakanda Forever and enjoyed its story about grief, colonialism, and war. Rather than Namor being king of Atlantis, his backstory is changed to Mesoamerica at the time of the European conquest. This recontextualizes the underwater kingdom and their fight to hide their own vibranium supply. He tries to negotiate an alliance with Wakanda but insists on killing the scientist who invented the vibranium detector, which Shuri can't condone. I didn't really like the subplot with the CIA. Like why do I care that Ross was married to that lady? Anyway, the crisis in Wakanda really takes a toll on Ramonda, Okoye, and Nakia; even M'baku tries to help Shuri deal with everything. I liked it overall, and they created a really rich character in Namor, whom Marvel will presumably feature in future stories. I'm just a little confused because people said online that M'baku became king because Shuri didn't show up to the ceremony at the waterfalls?

Enola Holmes 2 and RRR

So I caved and rejoined Netflix for Enola Holmes 2 and Murderville; it's only the ad tier, and I'll cancel again once I've seen Glass Onion, and maybe the Thai Cave Rescue show too.

Though they are different, Enola Holmes 2 and the Indian film RRR are similar in that they are both historical fiction. The Enola sequel features a real person Sarah Chapman who led the matchgirl factory strike in 1888, though the mystery plot and her romance are fictional. Similarly RRR features actual heroes Rama Raju and Komaram Bheem, but the plot is an epic fantasy about "what if" they met and fought injustice together? They have superhero-like powers and fight the British Raj in over the top battles featuring tigers and other animals. It is pretty entertaining, and I can see why the Indian film was a mainstream hit, but certainly I would not expect historical accuracy from it.

Back to Enola Holmes, though. I enjoyed the sequel, and they did a nice balance between Sherlock and his sister on the case. I didn't miss Mycroft at all and was glad that they finally talked about Sherlock living by himself; the absence of Watson in the first film was very, very loud and distracting to me. How on earth could everyone keep saying Sherlock "always works alone"? So finally Enola corrects that by introducing the subject of him getting a flatmate, though we only meet Watson in the end credits. The film also features a new Moriarty who toys with the Holmes siblings and is very much a spider manipulating them through her web. As to Moriarty's identity, so far she's okay and not offensive like BBC Sherlock's psychopath who destroys his own criminal network, or the horrific Adler/Moriarty amalgam in Elementary. So provisionally I will accept her and hope they don't ruin her somehow in a third movie. Oh, and I was very pleased to hear the music hall song "Where Did You Get That Hat?" because I recognize it from Without a Clue many years ago. I still don't understand why the lyrics refer to the hat as a "tile" unless it's just for the rhyme. Or maybe it's some Victorian slang I'm not familiar with.

Texas Blues

The election was disappointing in Texas, though we did keep incumbent Democrats in office. Salman Bhojani was a bright spot in Tarrant County along with Alisa Simmons. The rest of the country did better, so I'm glad for that. I still don't understand how white women can keep voting Republican. Votes are still being counted, so we don't yet know who gets the Senate and House. Warnock is in yet another runoff.

Meanwhile, Twitter continues to implode under Musk. He fired tons of people, who will sue him, and Twitter tried to hire some of them back. Plus the stupid blue checkmark is now a tool for impersonators and scammers. Isn't anybody capable of firing him due to all the money he is losing the company? I hope he goes down in flames.

I've gotta catch up on sleep. The time change caught me off guard.

Vote

I tried to dress up for Halloween, but couldn't get my headdress/headband done in time. Maybe next year. I did see some cute costumes for Everything Everywhere All at Once on the internet. Raccacoonie is apparently very easy and popular.

Other than this Blogger, I haven't joined any social media network since I made a MySpace page years ago, but I have long been able to follow along with various Twitter posts in the news. Currently many people are upset about Musk owning Twitter now. Some people are quitting it and calling for a boycott, while others argue that good people ought to stay and fight for the platform. (This is similar to what Democrats in Texas say, when explaining why they don't move away. They want to stay and fight.) I see their point, and I've also read articles arguing that Musk really can't make Twitter a right-wing, unmoderated mess without losing a lot of money. We'll see what happens I guess. Maybe a new platform will rise?

Anyway, I early voted last week, and Election Day is Tuesday. I hope the record turnout bodes well, though I never know with Texas. Greg Abbott's TV ads have been disgustingly terrible, and even puzzling. There was one ad featuring Abbott's niece endorsing him. What the fuck do I need to hear biased opinion from his family for? And dire warnings about how Texas will become a hellscape if Beto wins. How is it not a hellscape now? With Uvalde, and abortion laws, and a failing electrical grid? Republicans think it's okay now? Fuck them.