The May upfronts are coming, so the TV networks have already begun cancelling shows to make room for new shows. I'm disappointed that Speechless got cut; it was such a funny show with quirky characters and the mom didn't become too overbearing to take. I thought Speechless would survive despite its lowered ratings due to it being so close to syndication. Sad. Well, I'm not surprised that Murphy Brown got cancelled due to its low ratings, but I did love Avery's relationship with his mom.
Among the new shows, the CW has ordered Batwoman to series as well as Nancy Drew. Finally! This is the third attempt to make a TV show about her in recent years. I'm glad they went back to the premise of her as a teen detective instead of an adult. I hope it will be good, and make up for the fact that I don't have Hulu and can't watch the new Veronica Mars episodes. Too many streaming options, and I don't want to have a dozen accounts.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Cuatro done
I spent most of yesterday and today putting together a corner bookshelf only to find that one of the foot pieces totally doesn't fit. Then trying to get my Tivo wireless adapter working, and failing. Not my day.
Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow, but a local restaurant I know already had decorations up on Friday afternoon, apparently looking forward to a whole weekend of celebration. May the 4th also brought out all the Star Wars fans as well as AD fans celebrating Cinco de Cuatro.
I've got into Barbies lately and recently learned how to blowdry the doll's head so the vinyl gets soft, then I can pull out the ugly earrings and replace them with something else. I also was able to fix my Uhura doll's hair by cutting out the weird styrofoam bump they put under her overly gelled hair. But still I'm annoyed that Barbie advertises dolls as "fully articulated" when they don't have fucking ankles, which would make the whole issue of high heels vs. flats so much simpler. Oh well.
Monday, April 29, 2019
April showers done
Anyway, the weather was so rainy for a week, flooding the streets, so I'm glad to have some respite at last. After finding out about a local election at the last minute, I did some reading up on candidates and early voted this weekend.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to put together a Lego mariachi band, but need to get enough minifigures and instruments to do it. I ordered these custom mini violins but when I got them, they don't really fit the minifigures' hands. Why can't they design them better? I guess that's why real Lego doesn't make violins. They only make guitars, which do fit.
Anyway the Avengers movie is out, but I don't care about the team up movies anymore. I know that the Russo brothers directed again, but I haven't heard any spoilers that mention another Arrested Development reference like the staircar. Even if I cared to look for Easter eggs, I haven't got 3 hours of my life to spend on time-travel shenanigans, when I knew all along that they were going to find a way to undo the "dusting." No way were they going to leave Black Panther and others dead, and I rolled my eyes at the thought that people actually cried last year about the dusting. It's comics! Nobody's gonna stay dead. I mean, there are spoilers that some characters did die this time, but there's so much convoluted time-travelling stuff that it's difficult to really decide what timeline you're in. (Besides, they can always bring actors back for flashbacks, prequels, etc, and do more of their CGI de-aging stuff.) So yeah, I don't care enough about Marvel anymore, except for specific characters I like, such as Black Panther.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to put together a Lego mariachi band, but need to get enough minifigures and instruments to do it. I ordered these custom mini violins but when I got them, they don't really fit the minifigures' hands. Why can't they design them better? I guess that's why real Lego doesn't make violins. They only make guitars, which do fit.
Anyway the Avengers movie is out, but I don't care about the team up movies anymore. I know that the Russo brothers directed again, but I haven't heard any spoilers that mention another Arrested Development reference like the staircar. Even if I cared to look for Easter eggs, I haven't got 3 hours of my life to spend on time-travel shenanigans, when I knew all along that they were going to find a way to undo the "dusting." No way were they going to leave Black Panther and others dead, and I rolled my eyes at the thought that people actually cried last year about the dusting. It's comics! Nobody's gonna stay dead. I mean, there are spoilers that some characters did die this time, but there's so much convoluted time-travelling stuff that it's difficult to really decide what timeline you're in. (Besides, they can always bring actors back for flashbacks, prequels, etc, and do more of their CGI de-aging stuff.) So yeah, I don't care enough about Marvel anymore, except for specific characters I like, such as Black Panther.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Kate Shackleton
I think I've found a new mystery series that I like. Kate Shackleton is so much better than the dreadful Maisie Dobbs. She narrates the stories and she actually feels like a real person rather than some rich person's pet charity and philosophical experiment. Kate Shackleton is the daughter of a police superintendent, and her husband never came home from the Great War; she's effectively a widow, but she still holds out hope that Gerald is merely missing and surviving somewhere with amnesia. Post-war, she fell into searching for missing persons for other people, and eventually she gets hired as a professional detective and hires an assistant at the urging of her supportive father. The first case, incidentally, is a fictional mystery involving the Low Moor Explosion in August 1916. It's also set around the weaving industry, with the family being mill owners who secretly profiteered from the war. There's also a cameo by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lady Jean, who are apparently good friends with Kate's family. She doesn't like their spiritualist cause but humors them so they'll give her advice about solving her case.
Overall I liked the first book, and the writer skillfully places the 1916 flashbacks between the 1922 chapters. Nothing gets boring or tedious, because there's no unnecessary rambling; you can see right away what the plot point or character reason is for including that flashback. There's a lot of physical and emotional trauma in the book, what with the missing person, murders, and even a doctor treating war veterans for their postwar nightmares, but the book doesn't overindulge in psychobabble or other such extraneous crap from Maisie Dobbs. I look forward to continuing with this Kate Shackleton series. It's not as light and frothy, like with Daisy Dalrymple always falling over bodies (she was doing it about once a month for the first dozen books), but the characters are enjoyable and the writing's great. I'm only puzzled by her repeatedly using the word "buffet" to mean a bench or seat, instead of a sideboard or table. I wonder if it's a British usage I don't know.
I've also read some Alyssa Maxwell mysteries lately, and they're pretty enjoyable so far. The Lady and Lady's maid series is set in post-WWI England as well, and there is a prominent love interest who is a wounded war veteran.
Overall I liked the first book, and the writer skillfully places the 1916 flashbacks between the 1922 chapters. Nothing gets boring or tedious, because there's no unnecessary rambling; you can see right away what the plot point or character reason is for including that flashback. There's a lot of physical and emotional trauma in the book, what with the missing person, murders, and even a doctor treating war veterans for their postwar nightmares, but the book doesn't overindulge in psychobabble or other such extraneous crap from Maisie Dobbs. I look forward to continuing with this Kate Shackleton series. It's not as light and frothy, like with Daisy Dalrymple always falling over bodies (she was doing it about once a month for the first dozen books), but the characters are enjoyable and the writing's great. I'm only puzzled by her repeatedly using the word "buffet" to mean a bench or seat, instead of a sideboard or table. I wonder if it's a British usage I don't know.
I've also read some Alyssa Maxwell mysteries lately, and they're pretty enjoyable so far. The Lady and Lady's maid series is set in post-WWI England as well, and there is a prominent love interest who is a wounded war veteran.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Wild Nights with Emily
I saw the new Emily Dickinson movie yesterday. While there are some funny, absurd moments, it's not really a comedy. Also they flit back and forth in time, between Mabel Loomis Todd narrating Emily's life at a book reading to Emily's real life that was covered up and erased by Todd. The movie effectively makes Todd the villain who was obsessed with meeting Emily, felt rejected and jealous of her writing talent, then got her revenge by editing Emily's poems and creating the myth of her as a lonely recluse forever pining for a mysterious man known as Master.
I've read Emily's poems and biography, and I've seen the previous film A Quiet Passion which also did not have a straightforward timeline. I remember being disappointed in that movie which focused on Emily's sister Lavinia and her friendships with other women, but hardly any on Susan Gilbert, her long-time friend, sister-in-law, and her neighbor. That film also emphasized the theory that Emily was pining away for some man, and felt self-pity about being a plain spinster. So yes, this Wild Nights movie is definitely an improvement by restoring Susan to Emily's life and counteracting the image of her never trying to get published during her lifetime.
However Wild Nights plays fast and loose with time, compressing it to include Mabel's husband David Peck Todd getting institutionalized, but this took place only in 1922, after the Todds moved away from Amherst (decades after Emily's death). In the 1880s, Mabel is kind of vague about Austin Dickinson being David's boss; David is an astronomer teaching at Amherst while Austin is treasurer of the college. In real life David was a philanderer and didn't care about Mabel's openly known affair with Austin; the movie is giving a weird, false impression that David was unaware of the affair or locked up and unable to interfere.
I've read Emily's poems and biography, and I've seen the previous film A Quiet Passion which also did not have a straightforward timeline. I remember being disappointed in that movie which focused on Emily's sister Lavinia and her friendships with other women, but hardly any on Susan Gilbert, her long-time friend, sister-in-law, and her neighbor. That film also emphasized the theory that Emily was pining away for some man, and felt self-pity about being a plain spinster. So yes, this Wild Nights movie is definitely an improvement by restoring Susan to Emily's life and counteracting the image of her never trying to get published during her lifetime.
However Wild Nights plays fast and loose with time, compressing it to include Mabel's husband David Peck Todd getting institutionalized, but this took place only in 1922, after the Todds moved away from Amherst (decades after Emily's death). In the 1880s, Mabel is kind of vague about Austin Dickinson being David's boss; David is an astronomer teaching at Amherst while Austin is treasurer of the college. In real life David was a philanderer and didn't care about Mabel's openly known affair with Austin; the movie is giving a weird, false impression that David was unaware of the affair or locked up and unable to interfere.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
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