More elections

What a week with the Pope's death and drama in the Democratic establishment fighting with David Hogg over whether to support new, younger candidates in primaries. Hogg says he's not against old politicians, just the passive ones that don't fight fascism. But in related news, the DNC announced it would increase funding in all 50 states, with special bonuses for red states. I hope that can help in Texas. I early voted for our May elections; it was mostly for school board positions and mayor, and such local things.

I worked this weekend so I didn't get to seek Cory Booker and Hakeem Jeffries having a 12-hour sit-in. I hope the election in Canada goes well.

I read somewhere that Trump is trying to revive Columbus Day. Between that and him trying to change Denali back to Mt. Mckinley, it's clear he wants to reverse time and pretend nothing's changed in the world. It's as stupid as trying to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Sherlock and Daughter

Well Happy Easter, such as it is. I normally don't care about this holiday and can ignore Christians celebrating, but the White House getting corporate sponsors this year is fucking crass, and religious bigots continue to try to push Jesus onto everything. At least there were good protests yesterday, and the Supreme Court actually ruled to stop deportations from the Alien Enemies Act. Are they finally going to rein him in? Will someone do something finally about him lawlessly defying court orders? We'll see.

I saw the new Wedding Banquet movie on Friday and enjoyed it. The remake stars Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang and Han Gi-chan. Their characters have been friends for years, and the couples even live on the same property together. However these millenials have commitment problems due to mother issues and self esteem issues where they don't think they deserve love or would make good parents; they avoid confrontation and use delay tactics to not make decisions. This comes to a head when Min's Korean grandmother says she will force him to leave his art career and come home to run the corporate business. Meanwhile Lee and Angela's IVF treatment doesn't work and they don't have the money to try again. So Min comes up with the scheme to marry Angela to give them money and to stay in America with Chris. But then the Korean grandmother Ja-young flies in, and we get hijinks about putting on a traditional Korean wedding. You'd think that Chris would realize that Min loves him enough to live in a converted garage shack, so getting cut off from his family's wealth means nothing to him! Some of the comedy is mixed with relationship drama and tears, but I found the story touching as it showed the deep love in this found family. Finally something great in theaters.

On television, I saw the new Sherlock & Daughter show, and I loved it too. The late Victorian setting really cheered me, and I loved seeing a traditional Baker Street. David Thewlis is great as Holmes, and I like the young actress too. I didn't realize that the Amelia character would be partly Native American through her mother, and that they would reference real history about Wild West shows touring in England and such. Wonderfully clever idea. I don't find Amelia anachronistic, because Americans were always brash and less formal in manners compared to Europeans, plus Amelia is lower class and not white, so she's been raised as an outsider for a long time. Of course she would push Victorian boundaries and not know what a traditional English breakfast is. If anything, Clara the ambassador's daughter is the one who was unrealistically trying to be friends and inviting Amelia over for dinner. I like Amelia's personality and she reminds me of what I enjoyed about Netflix's fantasy show about The Irregulars, before they canceled it.

Sherlock & Co SIGN

Ugh, there's an new Easter movie called King of Kings that uses Charles Dickens to narrate the Biblical story of Jesus. Yet another thing from Angel Studios, and I guess they want to expand Dickens from his hold on Christmas to Easter also. I mean fine, he was a Christian, but the original book was private, meant for his family only, and he specifically forbade publication. This reads like the Dickens descendants doing a cash grab, and the animation looks ugly. But of course it's doing great at the box office, and most everything else out lately is horror movies or gimmicky thrillers. I'm so sick of this crap.

And the news remains awful and scary. So I'm trying find escape in shows and books, but the Sherlock & Co podcast continues to irritate. I finished the ten part SIGN case, and I see what the writer was trying to do, but he needs an editor. The case is still bloated, and I wish they had cut some of the rambling speeches by Jonathan Small. And the scene where Watson replays audio and catches Small in a lie; I got the clue the first time. Why does he have to sit there and replay the clips 3 or 4 times? Plus they could have cut Holmes's rambling deductions about the jewel guy Bernie; let Wiggins just threaten him again to force the guy to talk. Several choices could have been made that would have condensed the show and improved the pace, but no, they want to stretch everything out.

SPOILERS BELOW

Good Trouble

Congratulations to Cory Booker for speaking for over 25 hours in the Senate. (I don't care that it wasn't technically a filibuster.) I was only able to watch part of it before going to work, but he spoke passionately about American history and how we fought fascism in Europe only to now betray our allies and our own principles. I'm glad he invoked John Lewis too, and that other Democrats helped participate with their questions. Please let more Democrats speak out and make good trouble. Yes Democrats have limited power now, but we can take some stands and not just quietly obey.

And I'm glad that Wisconsin defeated the Musk-approved judge on Tuesday. At least one election couldn't be bought by the billionaire. I really hope Musk and DOGE will leave. How come his other companies don't beg for him to stop destroying their brands?

Meanwhile, I was sad to hear that Val Kilmer died, far too young. My favorite movies of his were Thunderheart and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Thunderheart was a good drama on Native American themes, and it alluded to Leonard Peltier. I'm glad that Leonard Peltier finally got clemency from Biden so he could go home, even if still not fully free.

I'll miss Richard Chamberlain too, though sometimes I would confuse him with Christopher Plummer. I was too young for any of Chamberlain's famous miniseries, so I knew him mainly as the prince from The Slipper and The Rose. I was going to try to watch Dr Kildare, but apparently that TV show is not streaming anywhere. Perhaps I'll try finding some of his other movies like theThree Musketeers or Count of Monte Cristo?