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.