I got some insight yesterday into why I’m finding the endless internecine war within the Democratic Party so goddamned irritating lately. (Aside from the possibility that Republicans will successfully exploit the fissure to permanently effect a fascist takeover, I mean.) It was a Twitter exchange with a fellow liberal who lives in Alabama that led to the realization.
Ever since I moved back to my swampy home planet in a Trump +20 district, I have a better sense of who the REAL enemy is. The town just south of Tampa where we lived for 14 years before I came back home was majority Republican. We’d see Trump signs scattered around the neighborhood. But the people were mostly Jeb Bush Republicans, not Trump nutters, even if they voted for Trump.
I’m not making excuses for them; fuck those fascist enablers with their Big Bertha drivers! But here among the true believers who still maintain Trump shrines — not signs, actual fucking shrines — and participated in and/or supported the insurrection, the stakes are rather clearer to me.
So, I’ve got less patience with ongoing crap about the 2020 and 2016 primaries. I find the continued seething about Bernie Sanders less relevant and the present-day hostility toward Elizabeth Warren and the Squad inexplicable. There’s zero evidence any of these people are going to tank Biden’s agenda and pave the way for a Republican takeover in 2022. In fact, it looks like the only Democrats who might do that are the Squad’s opposite numbers in the party, who may still be brought around, I sincerely hope.
Anyhoo, anyone who enjoys shitting on progressives who are fellow Democrats or cranky old independents who caucus with Democrats should feel free to continue to do so! Crapping on centrist Dems is also fair game in my book. I’m not trying to change the tenor of the discussion of either topic around here or on Twitter, any more than I’d attempt to change the course of the Mississippi River, which I suspect would be as futile. Just sharing an epiphany I had about my own attitude toward the topic and why it evolved.
TV Reviews
Have y’all seen “Unbelievable” on Netflix? Seems like I remember some talk about it around here a while ago and meant to watch it but then forgot it existed (I should really write things down). Well, I finally did watch it, and wow, was it good! Tough subject matter (sexual assault), but the acting was amazing.
Toni Collette is in it. I’ve loved her since “Muriel’s Wedding,” and she was great in this too. Merritt Wever is also outstanding, and it kept bugging me that I couldn’t remember where I’d seen her before, but it turns out she was the rookie nurse in “Nurse Jackie” (I had to look it up). I’d never seen Kaitlyn Dever (who played one of the victims) in anything before, but she was awesome too. Also Dale Dickey — RoseMarie in “Unbelievable” — who played the scariest meth kingpin mamaw ever in “Winter’s Bone.”
Well worth a watch! Another highly recommended show: “Hacks” on HBO, which features the incomparable Jean Smart. Seen anything else that’s worth watching?
Open thread!
Jeffro
Just my 2 cents but our current Democratic Party seems more unified than it’s ever been (even under Clinton and Obama). With the exception of Twitter twits, of course, but they don’t count. =)
And it’s 2021: anyone still cranking about the 2016 or 2020 primaries needs to drop it and get focused on 2022.
geg6
The HBO doc, Catch and Kill, based on the book and podcast about Ronan Farrow’s quest to bring down Weinstein is very good. And so far, it is really a nasty dig at our media. NBC and others come out looking as terrible as it’s possible to look.
ETA: I also binged the entire new season of In Treatment on HBO. I really enjoyed the acting a lot.
Old School
We watched “Unbelievable” last summer and second the recommendation. It was quite good (and it makes you angry!)
I don’t have any new recommendations as I just have a growing list of things that I’d like to watch. We recently enjoyed “Ted Lasso”, but that’s another show that lots of other people watched a year ago.
zhena gogolia
I’m not talking about it these days, and it’s not top of my mind, but no, I will never forgive Sanders for 2016.
ETA: Since you bring it up.
TaMara (HFG)
I got HBOMax for a month so I could watch In The Heights and was sorely disappointed.
Got to watch Perry Mason from start to finish and enjoyed that. Couldn’t get into Hacks – love Jean Smart, but the subject matter eluded me. Same with Ballers. I just couldn’t get into caring…But I’m in that place, so don’t take my reviews as anything but mood.
HBOMax on Roku sucks, btw and can’t wait to be done with the month, the interface is terrible. I am catching up on some favorite old movies though – including Michael Clayton and Butter.
Audrey, Hampstead and Sex/Life on Netflix has definitely caught my attention.
Betty
I wouldn’t be so upset with the Centrists if there wasn’t so much at stake. McConnell is counting on them to disrupt Biden’s agenda.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara (HFG):
Were you disappointed with In the Heights or just with HBO Max? We had terrible sound on In the Heights, but then we watched Clueless and it was fine. I haven’t cancelled yet, but probably will. I tried to watch Succession because I know someone who’s in it, but couldn’t stomach it.
Elizabelle
Cornell West has apparently sent a blistering letter of resignation to Harvard. “Dr. West” was trending on twitter …
Tazj
I watched “Unbelievable “ and thought it was excellent. It’s difficult to say I enjoyed it because the subject matter is so tough but seeing the female detectives solve the crimes and the victims get some vindication was satisfying. When you watch what victims go through when they report a crime which is like another violation, and then receive such backlash you can understand why women are hesitant to report. It makes you so angry that this was based on a true story.
On a smaller note, I remember appreciating how they showed Merrit Weaver’s character and her policeman husband’s character taking off their guns as soon as they got home and placing them in a safe and locking them up. The characters had children and I liked how they took the time to show how guns should be stored in the home.
kindness
A few of my friends who love to diss Democrats as much as they do Republicans I no longer call or consider them to be Democrats. And they really aren’t any longer. Many of them voted for Jill Stein in 2016 and wrote in Bernie in 2020. These people may be my family but they aren’t my political friends and I’m not going to them to help us save America. They’re just the other side of the coin of the Fox News types.
TaMara (HFG)
@zhena gogolia: I was disappointed in In The Heights (and yes the sound was awful). I don’t know what I was expecting…but the script/direction seemed to drag – I would love to know how it compared to the Broadway version. The actors were amazing and the locales were beautiful.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara (HFG): I never saw the show, but I have listened to the CD a thousand times, and I’m pretty sure the show was much better than the movie. They cut out many of the best songs and larded in a lot of heavy-handed commentary. They also cut one of the best characters, Nina’s mother.
Mike in NC
We watched the first episode of The White Lotus on HBO. Pretty good satire about fat cats at a Hawaiian resort. I need to go back since I forgot details about the plot.
Also watching Lupin and Mythic Quest this week.
Old School
@TaMara (HFG): Didn’t see In The Heights on Broadway, but saw a touring production. Of course, that was a decade ago, so the memory isn’t that distinct. (Mrs. School doesn’t recall seeing the production at all.)
I remember quite enjoying the live version, but I agree that while the film version was good, I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Neither will I. The people that BC mentions center the concerns of white people while ignoring others in the D coalition. For them economics trumps all.
jeffreyw
We watched Katla and liked it fairly well. It sets a new standard for bleak because of an ongoing ash fall from the Katla volcano. Supernatural elements, folklore of the Grimm sort.
We are a few years behind but we are enjoying The Knick.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It’s not, to me, about 2016 or 2020. It’s about upcoming elections, specials, mid-terms and state elections
I’d like to see Democrats be smart about them
schrodingers_cat
AOC was eager to jump at Harris for being insensitive to asylum seekers but has never said a word about the Vt senator’s anti-immigrant voting record prior to 2016.
VeniceRiley
I’ve seen everything already! *sobs quietly.
Yesterday, I watched Leverage: Redemption on IMDb. Was a semi-enjoyable rip off of BBC’s Hustle.
Mostly just liked the characters and actors. Surprising because Noah Wiley is in it and he usually bugs me.
I also watched Calra Gugino’s Jett on HBO Max… very skinemax sex and violence.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: DSA is with the people unless they happen to be Cuban people who are protesting against the Communist regime.
But they are not Communist sympathizers, no sir they just like Sweden, or is it Denmark?
schrodingers_cat
I have 3 episodes left of BattleStar Galactica. BSG has displaced DS9 as my favorite Sci-Fi show.
Baud
This reminds me, the only good thing about The Tomorrow War on Amazon is that JK Simmons is freaking JACKED. Gives me hope for myself.
laura
I thoroughly enjoyed Schtissel on Netflix- great dream sequences! Also, Derry Girls because I love a good soundtrack and girl stuff.
Baud
@Jeffro:
I feel the same. If stuff is happening, it’s fallen outside my bubble. This is the best it’s been since blogs began.
Thanks, Trump!
WhatsMyNym
I think I see what you’re doing wrong.
PS. Bernie who?
NotMax
For decompression: No explosions, no rubber squealing car chases, just an unpretentious, cute without being sappy little movie. Big News from Grand Rock, found on Prime.
Also a passing notation that The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is again included on Prime. Subversively silly.
Based on a friend’s recommendation, added the dip into the dark fantasist La Révolution to the Netflix queue. Liberté, égalité, virologie. Haven’t yet begun it so opinion tabula is rasa.
And a TCM alert – The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek being shown tomorrow at 8 p.m. Eastern time. A tickle your funny bone romp and a half.
Old School
Here are some of this year’s Emmy nominees. I’m sure there are some good options.
Drama Series
The Boys
Bridgerton
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Lovecraft Country
The Mandalorian
Pose
This Is Us
Comedy Series
Black-ish
Cobra Kai
Emily In Paris
Hacks
The Flight Attendant
The Kominsky Method
Pen15
Ted Lasso
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
I May Destroy You
Mare of Easttown
The Queen’s Gambit
The Underground Railroad
WandaVision
Joegy
Mr. Soul (via streaming PBS Independent Lens) was beautiful! Around 90 minutes. Best thing I’ve watched in a good while.
Anyway
Currently watching S1 of Virgin River (Netflix). S3 is out now and I am slowly catching up.
Seem to have lost my mojo for teevee…
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
I don’t think it’s even that economics trumps all. It’s that whatever they are personally interested in is the most important thing, and anyone who disagrees with them is engaged in identity politics. They really don’t see themselves as having an identity, which is classic straight white people thinking.
NotMax
@VeniceRiley
Ah, Hustle. If the word dapper didn’t already exist it would need to be invented for Adrian Lester. And somehow the directors managed to dredge up more than a semblance of acting from Robert Vaughn.
geg6
@Old School:
Not much I watch there. This Is Us, The Kominsky Method and Mare of Easttown are all excellent, though.
mali muso
I have a week off and after spending yesterday cleaning the fridge and taking out the recycling, today I am being completely lazy and watching period pieces on Netflix. Just finished “Lady J” (French) and am now embarked on “A Little Chaos” (in which Alan Rickman directs and plays the role of Louis XVII). And day drinking! After the year we’ve had, I feel like I’ve earned it. Lol
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Speaking of Toni Collette, I just watched her in About A Boy yesterday. I remember liking that movie when it came out and I just found it streaming free on Amazon Prime so decided to re-watch it. It holds up. Collette gives a great performance, Nicholas Holt is fantastic, and Hugh Grant is really good as the lead…he seems practically built for the role from birth.
rp
About a Boy is great. Definitely holds up.
Elizabelle
@mali muso: Enjoy!!
Omnes Omnibus
@Old School: Nominating Emily in Paris for a non-Razzy award is credibility destroying.
ETA: We probably do need to leave the grudges from 2016 and even 2020 behind. How about forgive but don’t forget? We need everyone right now. Purity of any kind is a luxury we can’t afford.
Chris Johnson
@schrodingers_cat: Cuban people protesting against a Communist regime are Trump voters. They are some of the most hardcore right-wingers you could have. I’m not sure what your point is here.
raven
Ever see “Japanese Story”? She’s awesome.
Betty Cracker
@Mike in NC: I will definitely see that because I love Jennifer Coolidge, and she’s in it. Did they drop the whole series at once, or are they released weekly? (I usually wait for them to bank some episodes so I don’t feel trapped by a schedule.)
Baud
@Chris Johnson:
Huh? Do you mean Cuban-Americans? Because the actual Cubans protesting in Cuba aren’t US voters.
Roger Moore
@rp:
I think there are problems throughout the party. You have centrists like Manchin and Sinema who are holding up the whole party’s agenda by acting like prima donnas. At the same time you have leftists who are shitting on the party and are at best nominal Democrats. Both of these are really serious problems.
OTOH, you have really good people at both wings. There are centrists who are fighting to win critical districts where a leftist could never succeed and giving the party the majority it needs to have any hope of success. And you have people on the left wing who are trying to push the party toward the kind of big picture agenda we really need to tackle our most serious problems. We need to focus our ire on people because they’re causing problems, not because of which wing of the party they’re part of.
mali muso
@Elizabelle: Thanks! I feel so decadent. Lol
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I remember really enjoying About a Boy back when it came out. A good fit for Grant. I think I’d enjoy revisiting it as well.
rp
@Roger Moore: Sorry — deleted my earlier comment because I decided I didn’t feel like getting into it. But I agree completely with your point.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: We liked The Kominsky Method too.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: FWIW Lester is my choice for Black James Bond. Let the Elba fans howl, Lest is the right guy. Hustle is actually the show that made me think it.
ETA: lamh is going to pie me for sure.
NotMax
Haven’t yet watched it but added The Lady in the Van to the Prime queue. Maggie Smith and Frances de la Tour are powerful incentives to give it the once over.
@mali muso
Speaking of period pieces, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day come back ’round to Prime on July 16.
Just One More Canuck
@Elizabelle: one of his complaints was that when ‘the news of his mother’s death appeared in a newsletter, he received only two public replies, whereas an ordinary announcement about a lecture, award or achievement typically received about 20’
He took the time to count? That’s not narcissistic at all. Perhaps if he wasn’t such a self-absorbed jerk, there would have been more replies. I can’t speak to his other complaints, and academic politics are a cesspool, but to whine like this isn’t a strong look
Roger Moore
@Old School:
I’m surprised at how well the Disney+ did, especially WandaVision, which I expected the voters to see as fluff.
Omnes Omnibus
@mali muso: Is A Little Chaos good?
mali muso
@NotMax: Thanks for the heads up! I shall put it on my list.
VeniceRiley
@Old School: A friend of mine just mentioned her husband has 4 emmy noms from the list.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris Johnson: The Cubans in Cuba. The one protesting the Cuban government.
Brachiator
I don’t understand most of the backbiting and in-fighting. Biden’s tax and economic policy have done more to help ordinary people than most efforts in decades. And he has put money in people’s pockets.
Some politicians seem to want to endlessly gripe that their own pet agenda item has temporarily stalled. But the stimulus payments, unemployment compensation exclusion, increases to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit and expansion of Obamacare are helping people right now. Which is or should be the freaking point of liberal government.
I understand the hostility toward the Squad. Some people need to hate and take down women of color. What has Warren done? I didn’t even know that she was in the news.
WhatsMyNym
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think this comment on IMDB explains your concerns…
“It felt like a CW show with a larger budget, then I found out the show was originally set to premiere on MTV.”
Pittsburgh Mike
@laura: Derry Girls is great. Turn on subtitles, though :-)
mali muso
@Omnes Omnibus: Enjoyable so far. Predictable story beats but Kate Winslet elevates pretty much anything, IMO. Coming straight off watching a French language period piece, it feels a bit weird to hear all the actors speaking plummy British English. Lol
lowtechcyclist
What I always wonder is, where do you people go online, that you are up to date on all the latest reasons to be pissed at people I’m barely aware of?
And please don’t just say ‘Twitter’ because I spend a lot of time on Twitter but clearly don’t experience it the same way.
Omnes Omnibus
@mali muso: Lady J? Recommend?
Baud
@Brachiator:
On that note, some people are on message:
Brachiator
@Chris Johnson:
Cuban people in Cuba are protesting.
Roger Moore
@rp:
I understand where you’re coming from. Some of the people I mentioned- Manchin in particular- could be lumped into both categories: important because he can win in a difficult to win state and frustrating because he’s holding up the agenda.
To me the important point is to focus on behavior you don’t like rather than people. Manchin annoys me sometimes, but I understand he’s really important to getting anything done. AOC also annoys me sometimes, but I think she’s doing important stuff by being an effective advocate for positions further to the left. We need to focus on the actions we do and don’t like rather than calling specific people good or bad.
Soprano2
Come sit by me, we’re of the same mind on this. I’m glad he’s saying the right things now, but that doesn’t negate the damage he did in 2016. I’m still mad about 2000, and if you ever mention Don Denkinger in my presence expect to hear some curse words (Cards fans hate him with the hot hatred of 1,000 suns for “The Call” in game 6 of the 1985 World Series).
NotMax
@Baud
(heads to Amazon to check out the prices on children)
:)
mali muso
@Omnes Omnibus: It ran a bit long and didn’t quite have the bite of Les Liasons Dangereuses, but I found it diverting. The dialogue is witty and crisp, the set and costume design very well done. If you enjoy French historicals, I think it would be worthwhile. Several of the main actors can also be seen in the excellent series Call My Agent, so that’s fun.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’m always way behind in the pop culture. Main thing that comes to mind is Kevin Hart’s “Fatherhood”, which is a really excellent role for him. And if you’re a dad, especially of daughters (I have two), it will destroy you.
We didn’t know until we saw the opening credits that it was produced by the Obamas’ company, Higher Ground. They are making some really impressive waves in the industry.
We like to check out animated stuff, even kid stuff, although there is nobody under 60 in our house. So we’re totally charmed by Michelle Obama’s foodie show, Waffles & Mochi. Also a Higher Ground production of course. And we recently enjoyed “Soul” and “Onward”, both of which I enjoyed much more than I expected from the trailers.
Speaking of Soul, if you’re at all a Jon Batiste fan, I highly recommend the Terry Gross interview with him. You don’t get to know the guy from the chit-chat he does with Colbert. That interview lets you peek into his capital-M Musician’s soul. The guy doesn’t just play music. He lives, breathes, thinks, feels music. When he can’t say it with words, he has to say it with music.
catclub
Actually, the Mississippi river could break into the Atchafalaya river’s basin any time now. Just give it the right shove. Outlet would then be well west of the present outlet that is at the eastern tip of the boot.
Omnes Omnibus
@mali muso: Cool. Thanks.
Roger Moore
@lowtechcyclist:
You get out of Twitter what you want to get out of it. If you obsessively follow a bunch of political posters, you’ll find out about all the latest reasons to be outraged.
NotMax
@catclub
The word Atchafalaya has always sounded to me like it’s the name of some sort of exotic skin rash.
;)
WV Blondie
Hubby and I watched Summer of Soul on Hulu Sunday night – just wonderful!
lowtechcyclist
@Roger Moore:
This.
I agree about Manchinema: while they’re a problem we’ve got to work with, because without them we’ve got only 48 Senate votes, they’re definitely a problem.
I’d love to sit down with either of them and ask them about global warming: how serious a problem they feel it is, how much needs to be done to avert the worst, and how fast, what Congress specifically needs to pass to have a chance of averting the worst, and how they plan on getting 10 GOP votes to address something the GOP is bitterly opposed to even recognizing as a problem.
And are they going to put preservation of the filibuster ahead of the fate of this planet.
I don’t see the leftists being nearly as much of a problem. How many votes have they cost us in this Congress? Bernie and the Squad and all are going to fight to get their priorities into a reconciliation bill that Manchinema can still sign on to, but they aren’t going to tank a bill. The rest is noise.
Baud
@NotMax: If you go to Costco, you can buy in bulk.
rp
Loki has been very good so far.
Lupin is a lot of fun.
Jerry
Hacks is, indeed, a great show and well worth your time if you haven’t seen it yet. Hannah Einbinder who plays opposite of Jean Smart is Laraine Newman‘s daughter. Yay!
Tenar Arha
I was giving my free Apple TV+ subscription a final workout & realized I could “share it” with my brother & decided to pay them for 1 more month, to let him see if he wanted to split it.
He said Greyhound was very enjoyable but definitely neither historically nor militarily accurate. Dramatically we agreed it was lacking in characterization for the crew, & basically it was the Tom Hanks-ness of it all, but the battling the wolf pack of submarines was cool.
Also I highly recommend Ted Lasso, it’s a great comedy show, & fundamentally kind. & I just really like the what if’s of alternate history the screenwriters of For All Mankind have chosen as their picks.
Recently I have discovered Letterkenny on Hulu. It took a while, but I like it now. ‘Nuff said.
I did start watching Motherland on Hulu too—another alternate history. What if witches were real, & became an integral part of the military of the US? I got distracted, but not because I didn’t like it, I’m just really busy & this one requires your attention.
rp
@lowtechcyclist: I have some sympathy for Manchin. I think he’s genuinely a centrist and is trying to represent his centrist constituents. And he mostly votes the right way. I have zero sympathy for Sinema. She seems like cynical fraud.
Jeffro
@NotMax:
I think 100% of the times I’ve encountered the word “Atchafalaya” have been in James Lee Burke’s books.
Well, 99% of the times…the other 1% being right now, here. =)
susanna
@raven: I second!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I’ve seen them in carts at Costco, you might want to check there.
jl
The GOP seems to be revving up for a real internecine war too, so for once we might have a head to head competition. The existing pattern is that the GOP will internecine war during primaries like lunatics, but then pull together for the general election. But Trump is pushing far into unknown territory and from news I read, the Trump line of 1000 percent pro insurrection and totalistic apologetics for the Jan 6 is not popular with non-Trumpster GOPers who vote in the general but not the primaries. So we’ll see.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
John McPhee wrote an excellent section about it in The Control of Nature. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in the topic. He explores the politics behind our attempts to keep the Mississippi from diverting down the Atchafalaya as much as the geology.
CaseyL
I’m completely out of the loop on most of what’s on TV these days. I only get TV via a few streaming services, none of which are Prime or Netflix.
Plus, I just don’t like a lot of TV these days: the comedies drive me nuts with the laugh tracks, and the dramas? I’m just not that interested in rom-coms, family life, or the latest Secret Conspiracy With Unresolved Arcs. And that’s… pretty much everything. (It’s not the programs’ fault; it’s definitely me. I’m receding more and more from programmed mass media altogether.)
On another note, the Delta variant is spreading like wildfire through more states than I thought. It’s not just the clusters; it’s in 45 states. Including Washington State, which frankly astonishes me – until I remember there are essentially two Washington States, and one of them (Eastern Washington) has gone in all-Trumpist.
It also looks like the latest wave is catching more younger people. Which makes sense, since most of the older cohort has probably been vaccinated.
jl
Oops, forgot about Bernie. Seems to me that Biden is genuinely interested in a more progressive Democratic agenda, and has learned from Obama’s worthwhile at the time, but ultimately fruitless experiment in searching for good faith GOP effort.
So, now that Sanders is doing stuff that helps Biden get an adequate program passed, he is subjected to the same ‘Dems in disarray’ corporate media narrative. So, Bernie starts bargaining with $5 or $6 trillion demand for domestic programs, because he won’t negotiate with himself, and even though it looks like we’ll get a historic Dem proposal, the corporate media spouts that Bernie has failed and, of course, Dems in disarray. Sounds like usual routine, some GOP hack calls around with the same tired narrative and the corporate press jumps on like it is world historical genius analysis.
Edit: so, when Bernie was in his crusading crank mode that periodically caused big problems for the Dems, he was great, but now he’s just another sadsack impotent Democrat loser.
More evidence for me that, as Jerry Brown once yelled at the press gaggle, the corporate press is like a neurotic lapdog: every time the GOP burps or farts, the news media runs to sniff it. I’d add that if the GOP is displeased with news media obeisance, they widdle like neurotic lap dogs too.
But… that is an insult to neurotic little lapdogs, and I do acknowledge and apologize for that.
VeniceRiley
Looking forward to this book! At least as a way to support Ms. Brown of the Miami herald. IMO one of the best reporters in the USA. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/13/ken-starr-jeffrey-epstein-book
Bloix
@rp: spoilers, perhaps.
In Hornby’s novel, the girl is a big fan of Nirvana. She feels that their music speaks to her and her situation in life. She picks the nerdy boy out because he happens to be wearing a Smells Like Teen Spirit tee-shirt. And the boy matures as he comes to understand her attachment to the band. Then, when Cobain commits suicide, the girl has an emotional crisis, setting off a series of dangerous events, which the shallow and lazy man who narrates the book averts by rising to the occasion – alone among the adults, he understands what is happening and acts decisively.
For the movie, the suits apparently decided that a mass audience wouldn’t understand. The whole Nirvana plot was dumped. Music is cool because, and the girl is just trendy and sexy. There’s no depth to her now-inexplicable relationship with the boy. The girl’s disturbing reaction to Cobain’s suicide, and the man’s role in preventing any lasting harm from it, is replaced with a Disney teen-movie school-assembly plot. Hugh Grant is not perceptive and decisive – he’s just a cool-dad type who can hang with the kids.
The movie isn’t bad, precisely – but it’s nothing like the genuinely serious source material.
rikyrah
@VeniceRiley:
This is a reboot from an earlier series with the same name starring Timothy Hutton.
Noah replaced his role in the show.
Kay
Montanareddog
@Betty Cracker:
Unbelievable was very good and very infuriating.
Kaitlyn Dever first caught my attention in a great supporting role in Justified
Dale Dickey was in Justified too
And the actor who played Ken Cosgrove in Mad Men, I thought was good in Unbelievable as well
Kay
“The Mooch” testified that the trial of the crooked bankster Trumper, so that must have been interesting.
These people are all just ridiculous. 16 million to buy the Secretary of the Army post. Just a regular work day in the Trump Administration.
Craig
@Tenar Arha: Hell Yes to Ted Lasso and Letterkenny. Both are two sides of the same coin, extremely well written, acted and produced shows that revel in building and documenting the community that is the heart of each show.
Baud
@Kay:
Something something Hunter Biden’s paintings.
Kay
They, like me, know that no one likes Josh Mandel. Or JD Vance. They’re both horrible candidates.
James E Powell
@Brachiator:
Agreed. And Hillary Clinton’s platform was the most liberal since the 60s, but the True Left attacked her as the same as or even worse than Republicans.
I don’t know if it really is in-fighting because with a few exceptions, the True Left are not in and don’t want to be in. Their brand is hating on the Democratic Party.
Steeplejack (phone)
Since someone else mentioned the former guy, I feel free to drop this bit of mind-bending Trump logic:
“This guy was a total loser, but I parked him on the Supreme Court. You’re welcome.”
Geminid
The struggle between the liberal and moderate wings of the Democratic can seem like a forever war. I wonder how much is real, and how much is the framing by media actors who delight in throwing apples of discord among Democrats. For instance, Val Demings, as a contender for the Florida Senate seat held by Marco Rubio, draws widespread support among Democrats. But Demings, along with Terry Sewell (AL), Lucy McBath (GA), Sharice Davids (KS), and many other Democratic Representatives are members of the “moderate” New Democrat Coalition which accounts for roughly half of Democratic Representatives in this Congress. The Progressive Caucus is similar in number, and they typically represent bluer districts. But aside from occasional kicks, both members of the team seem to be pulling in harmony, as they know they need to. I think that Demings will beat Rubio next year, and she will win because of Democratic unity.
James E Powell
@NotMax:
I never saw it before, but it sounds like one of those things mafia guys say in Scorsese movies.
Kay
@Steeplejack (phone):
It’s so great that he relives the 2020 loss every moment of every day. He’s more obsessed with it than he was in January. They should have just ripped the band aid off. Coddling never works.
Mike in NC
Just arrived in the mail today: Landslide — The Final Days of the Trump Presidency by Michael Wolff. I devoured the first two books about Putin’s puppet.
catclub
@Roger Moore: Thanks! A McPhee book I do not have, yet.
trollhattan
Jean Smart has a very good turn in “Mare of Easttown” for those who have not seen it. It’s a tricky “cynical wise-cracking mom” secondary role that she pulls off without overdoing it. She’s a treasure.
Binged the first “Succession” season to catch up before season 3 arrives in fall. Is it weird I have a new-found hankering to strangle the first Murdoch I encounter? Viewed as a very dark comedy it’s quite good. As a drama it’s a bit over the top. Whoever wrote it understands the world of the uberrich, because so many small touches seem on point.
“Hinterland,” an excellent detective series set in Coastal Wales, is riveting. Work on your accent ID skills (not quite Scottish, definitely not Irish or English).
catclub
@Kay: 16 million to buy the Secretary of the Army post. Just a regular work day in the Trump Administration.
Arranging a $16M loan is not the same as paying $16M for the Army Sec position.
…. unless the loan is quietly forgiven.
Roger Moore
@James E Powell:
Yep. The more liberal a platform the Democrats adopt, the more the True Left types will hate them. They want to replace the Democratic party, not watch the Democrats succeed at implementing policies they’ve only even dreamed about.
trollhattan
There will be a Season 3 of “What We Do in the Shadows,” the only vampire show you need.
Kay
James E Powell
@Kay:
Is anyone other than Tim Ryan running on our side?
Over the weekend, Matt Yglesias tweeted that the Ohio senate race was “totally unwinnable for Democrats.” Do you agree?
Roger Moore
@catclub:
The trick, of course, is that he was buying the position with other people’s money. It’s a lot easier to justify the expense when someone else is paying.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Was the letter’s main topic Cornell West? Just asking.
schrodingers_cat
@Chris Johnson: Cubans not Cuban Americans.
DSA stands with the Revolution (i.e. the regime in charge), they also love them the Communist regime in Venezuela. Socialists not so Democratic actually.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Agreed. I was trying to be more generous.
JoyceH
@geg6:
OT, but isn’t Ronan Farrow lovely? I’m so old I can remember when Mia Farrow and Woody Allen named their baby ‘Satchel’ and feeling sorry for the little tyke. But he overcame all that to become an awesome scoop machine, with the assistance of a serviceable middle name.
glory b
@Chris Johnson: I think she’s referring to the Cubans in Cuba, who are protesting the lack of food and health care. I believe the DSA are trying to have this both ways, voicing support for the people in the Cuban streets, and the Cuban government over the embargo that Trump put into place to counteract Obama’s attempt to normalize relationships with Cubans.
Betty Cracker
@Montanareddog:
THAT’S where I’ve seen that guy before!
I haven’t seen “Justified” yet. I’ve heard good things and tried to watch it once, but I guess I just wasn’t in the mood. Will have to give it another shot.
lowtechcyclist
@rp:
I agree with your character assessment, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re people whose votes we can’t do without, and we’re stuck with having to figure out how to get them to agree to something that will get climate change and voting rights legislation through the Senate, and still be worth something when it does.
As a certain recently deceased person might have said, you go to save the world with the Senate you’ve got, not the one you wish you had.
Mike in NC
@trollhattan: It’s excellent. Last night was the debut of Wellington Paranormal. (Subtitles are mandatory.) It was an OK show but too much took place in near pitch darkness.
smith
Wow, just got this text from an anonymous phone number:
I’m in Chicago, so I’m sure our school board will be pleased to hear that MLK didn’t want anybody talking about racism
JoyceH
@rikyrah:
I want to watch Lev: Redemption – I really liked Leverage. I’m a sucker for good-guy Caper stories.
But this is kind of annoying. L:R is on IMDB TV, which you’re supposed to be able to watch on Prime with commercials. But when I try on my TV, I get a message that says I can’t watch this program ‘on this device’. I watch streaming on the TV via my blu ray player, so I’m wondering which device is the problem, the TV or the blu ray?
I can watch those shows on my laptop or my phone, but I’d much rather use the big TV. Wonder if it’s just too old, or what’s the deal.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid:
Please, FSM, make it so. Although it’s a much less significant race, that would make me every bit as happy as when TFG lost. I really, really, really loathe that cynical, spineless opportunist Rubio.
glory b
@Soprano2: I’m ready to join you at the mean kids’ table, oh look, I’m already there.
Kay
@James E Powell:
I don’t and how would he know? I think it depends on if they have one of the two horrible candidates- Mandel or Vance.
I do think Ryan is our best shot so not the time for an experiment or a brand new person. He’ll do as well as anyone can. The Ohio polling has been absolutely terrible though as far as accuracy for Democrats though so won’t know until the votes are counted.
Kay
@James E Powell:
I don’t and how would he know? I think it depends on if they have one of the two horrible candidates- Mandel or Vance.
I do think Ryan is our best shot so not the time for an experiment or a brand new person. He’ll do as well as anyone can. The Ohio polling has been absolutely terrible though as far as accuracy for Democrats though so won’t know until the votes are counted.
Redshift
@lowtechcyclist: I’m frustrated by the centrists, because these days I feel like their position is similar to the “moderate” Republicans, “I don’t disagree with what the rest of the party wants to do, let’s just do less of it.” (The difference is that the Republicans, whether they believe themselves sincere, have to know that the only effect they’re having is to help McConnell undermine Biden’s agenda.)
I don’t feel like there’s any coherent political philosophy beyond “let’s just do less.” They used to have real arguments about the role of government and such, but now there are proposals with costs built up from what they’re designed to accomplish, and their response is just “I don’t like that number, how about this one?”
As David Roberts (formerly of Vox) says, there is no “moderate” position on climate change. Arguing that we should just spend less because spending is bad is an argument not to address the problem seriously, and the costs of that will be way more than the proposed government spending.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
As a fellow Saltine-American, I think Justified can be a little hard to get into because at the start of the first season they really leaned into the whole Cletus vibe. Like a lot of series, it took some time to find its legs, but it turned out to be a great show. I say give it another shot.
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: Glad to see you again! Grandpa Mittens couldn’t even bother to get dressed by Biden’s inauguration like he did for the Orange One’s. Must be because he loves Biden so much as my blog betters inform me.
glory b
@lowtechcyclist: Then again, I saw a report that AOC is looking to find primary challengers for members of the Congressional Black Caucus, her previous chief of staff (can’t remember his name, but she had to get rid of him because of his dustups with more moderate Dems) who agreed, and said they were looking for disruptions in safe seats so they wouldn’t get blamed for losing them to the Repubs if things didn’t work out.
She supposedly has her gunsights on Hakeem Jeffries first and foremost, after they had a disagreement when she gave advice on how to win to the veterans there (he told her that her formula wouldn’t work in the more difficult districts).
I’ll say this too, Lauren Underwood is the legislator people thought AOC would be.
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: She wants Ds to buy Facebook ads from her Silicon Valley buddies.
Geminid
@Steeplejack (phone): Washington Post reporter Ruth Marcus wrote a book on the Kavanaugh nomination that shines a stark backlight on trump’s trashing of Kavanaugh. According to Marcus, trump got cold feet after Ms. Blasey’s allegations against Kavanaugh came out, and he wanted to ditch Kavanaugh. When trump tried to contact his man in charge of pushing the nomination through, White House Counsel Don McGahn told his secretary, “tell him I don’t talk to quitters.” The nomination went through, despite trump’s hesitancy.
glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Oh, did you see that the MSM will be following Bernie on his great Cletus Safari, as he goes to convince the white working class about the errors of their ways? No mention from Maureen Dowd of why, if he’s so right about them, they didn’t vote for him on the two opportunities presented to them.
As I said in a previous thread, they like free stuff, they just don’t want to vote for the party with the black people in it (insert LBJ’s quote here).
glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Of course she does.
l3000
Lightweight fun: Candice Renoir on Acorn (French) Some online revs complain it’s retro sexist but I thought it made fun of both sides. Although the juggling boyfriends is a bit forced, it’s a good ensemble cast with interesting side characters. 6? seasons but so far only 2 on Acorn
Decent mystery: Truth Will Out (Swedish) on Acorn Older detective relegated to cold cases takes on serial killings, and based on true events. Not the standard serial killer mystery though.
Very light mystery series: Queens of Mystery (British) Some things are forced but with Juliet Stevenson narrating and Julie Graham. Just different, funny, and quirky. 2nd Season being filmed. Probably you either like it or hate it.
All on Acorn cuz .99/month for 2 months.
JoyceH
In other news, the pundits keep telling us that Manchin and Sinema are providing cover for other nameless Democratic senators who also don’t want to eliminate the filibuster, and I got to wondering if we could flush out those other senators.
So I called my two and think I found one. Warner. The staffer at Kaine’s office said that Senator Kaine does not believe in letting ‘arcane Senate rules’ stand in the way of enacting badly needed legislation, but the staffer at Warner’s office, while bragging that Senator Warner ‘co-sponsored Senate Bill 1’ is also ‘committed’ to finding ways to pass legislation without changing the rules of the Senate.
So – any fellow Virginians on this thread – man your phones. Ask and congratulate Kaine, and ask and educate Warner.
glory b
@smith: MLK’s daughter replied to the same statement from McCarthy, saying she wished they took to heart the other things he talked about, and gave a list.
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: He may love them, but they are just not that into him.
Craig
@Steeplejack (phone): As usual it’s just free floating narcissism from TFG. Kavanaugh was chilling out collecting $220,000 a year as a circuit court judge, he didn’t need saving.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@trollhattan: The original movie was so funny!
for anyone looking for escapist binge-watching, may I recommend Word of Honor on Netflix & Amazon Prime, a sleeper hit in China, and now, apparently, among foreign audiences: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-06/Chinese-Wuxia-drama-Word-of-Honor-A-big-hit-among-overseas-viewers-102Zd0SMxgY/index.html
The screenwriter and two of the producers are women, so even though it’s a martial arts epic with lots of fighting the emphasis in the story is on the relationships, which felt to me to be psychologically very real.
You can watch it carefully for all the disparate plot elements, or you can just assume they all work out (they do) and watch the chemistry of the main leads & all the cool battles.
WereBear
If anyone is on BritBox and feeling retro, The Sweeney is an absolute delight. This 1970s British police drama has clever writing, fun characters, and a continuous lineup of British actors before they got famous.
jl
@JoyceH: TPM blog has a list of all of the Dem Senators’ announced stands on filibuster reform, which indicates Manchin and Sinema are the only two who stand in the way.
I hope that is true. But I fear the Dems are adopting bad GOP habits. As long as those two are getting all the attention, others can say what they want and they think it’s a good bet that they’ll never be held to their word. And some, like DiFi have been all over the place, which is actually just like Manchin, but she gets no attention. Due to differences in politics of their states, Manchin probably likes that attention, DiFi wouldn’t.
Sorry to hear that your Greatest Deliberative Body in the World Senator is waffling whenever it can be kept out of the public eye.
Percysowner
@TaMara (HFG): If you still have HBO Max, I recommend the series Cold Case. It’s a procedural from CBS that isn’t available anywhere else because of music rights, but the music makes it pack a real punch. The idea is a squad that looks at cold cases that get brought to their attention. The show uses music from the time of the case to set the mood and insights to characters. It always ends with someone, usually a member of the squad seeing the victim after the case is solved. I cry at the end of almost every episode. It takes on societal issues too.
Steeplejack
Yesterday I binge-watched the new season of Unforgotten after seeing the first episode on PBS Sunday night. (Once the first episode drops, the whole series is available on PBS Passport. Ditto for Professor T.) I liked it—I kept going even though I was saying, “I’ll just watch this next episode”—but I’m not sure it’s everyone’s cup of tea. Maybe I’m being affected too much by a friend whose taste usually agrees with mine but who really disliked the previous season.
I’ll say that if you did like the previous seasons you’ll really like this one. Nicola Walker (DSI Cassie Stuart) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (D.S. Sunil “Sunny” Khan) are great, as is the supporting cast, and the plot is pretty good, in the now standard Unforgotten format: discovery of a long-dead murder victim leads to a handful of persons who must be investigated and their connections uncovered.
If you’ve never seen the series, this season stands alone pretty well, although there is a bit of back-story at the start because DSI Stuart is coming back on the job after a stretch of medical leave—basically stress from the toll of the job, exacerbated by the extreme creepiness of the previous season’s psychopathic killer.
Episode 1 of Professor T also was good but also may not be for everyone. OCD criminology professor consults with the police, irritates everybody but gets results. It’s way more subtle than that elevator pitch, though. The professor is played by Ben Miller, one of the interchangeable white guys from Death in Paradise, and the rest of the cast seems pretty good. It’s a remake of a Belgian series that I liked quite a bit. (Also available on Passport, at least for me with WETA here in the DMV.)
ETA: Correcting possible slight on Ben Miller. He was also in Bridgerton and (I had forgotten) The Armstrong and Miller Show. Didn’t mean to ding him.
Tim Ellis
Hard agree. Anyone still litigating the primaries is free to do so, but I’m not going to waste my time. I’m convinced that half the time it’s Republicans or paid trolls doing it to sow discord anyway.
Now I just ask people what they’re doing to get better politicians elected; if they can’t answer, or their answer is some form of “be loud on Twitter”, I bid them good day and move on with my life.
Gravenstone
@smith: Sad that “fuck off, you lying sacks of shit” isn’t an approved reply to their push poll.
Joy in FL
I loved Hacks.
I’m delighting in the 5th season of The Good Fight on CBS’s streaming service.
Can’t wait for Ted Lasso season 2.
dnfree
@glory b: Lauren Underwood is in the district next to mine, and I’ve got her on a monthly donation. We’ve got several good representatives in the Chicago suburbs right now, and a number of them got there in 2018 by defeating Republicans. We need to keep all of them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@glory b: I’ll bring pizza and beer
AOC(!) is exactly who I thought she would be the moment she joined that sit in in Nancy pelosis office
Lauren Underwood is who I hoped she would be when I watched her campaign in, then flip, the district of a recent republican speaker
geg6
@JoyceH:
Yes, he’s wonderful. Amazing how well he turned out with the crazy family circumstances. Have you seen Allen v. Farrow? Another excellent doc from HBO.
Percysowner
@zhena gogolia:
How old is your TV? I have a 2014 Vizio and I can get IMDB through Amazon just fine using my Roku. Can you get other Amazon Prime through your BluRay? Frankly, I love my Roku and you can get them for a pretty reasonably price. I can get IMDB through Amazon or through its own app on the Roku.
Geminid
@JoyceH: When the Covid relief bill passed by reconciliation in Februry, every Senator got to propose an amendment. In this “voteathon,” a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 was rejected with 7 or 8 Democrats voting against. These included several purple state Senators up for reelection in 2022. I believe Cortez-Masto (NV), Hassan (NH), and Kelly (AZ) were among them. Mark Warner (VA) and (I think) John Tester (MT) also voted no, along with Manchin and the Wicked Witch of the West. Everyone remembers the flamboyant Sinema. Not so much Warner, who would have to try hard to be one tenth as flamboyant as the senior Senator from Arizona.
This was a symbolic vote; the fate of a national $15/hr. minumum wage had been decided already. But these 7 or 8 Democratic Senators are a variable force within the Senate Democratic Caucus. They may vote in favor of women’s reproductive rights or gun safety measures, for instance, but maybe not for D.C Statehood.
They are experienced and more or less shrewd politicians. I am not sure how much they are pursuadable, even by their constituents. The best way and perhaps the only way to move them on policy will be to reelect the vulnerable among them next year, and flip some seats in states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, maybe even Iowa. Even if Sinema and Manchin don’t come around, I think the rest would.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Ahem. Angel and Buffy (hell, even True Blood, at least the first three or four seasons) beg to differ.
I’ve seen the movie version of What We Do In the Shadows, which I thought was pretty darn funny (“bat fight”!), but haven’t started on the series. Putting it on the list, tho.
Miss Bianca
@Steeplejack: I agree with this assessment. I nearly quit watching after the first episode because I was so turned off by the Cletus vibe, but decided to gut it out for a few episodes more, and I’m so glad I did!
(Almost gave up on Mad Men after the first episode, too. Again, glad I didn’t.)
geg6
@Miss Bianca:
I loved that show so much I just can’t even. There hasn’t been a drama on broadcast or basic cable that even comes close. Which may explain why I watch almost no tv dramas.
Betty Cracker
@Joy in FL: I hear so many great things about Ted Lasso, but I just can’t justify another streaming service at this time. Damn it!
Betty Cracker
@geg6: It really was a terrific series. Made it a lot easier to explain what copywriters do too!
Craig
If you like Chinese period pieces, and long involved detective plots I’d highly recommend Longest Day in Chang’an on Prime. Gorgeous production, great acting, a plot that bobs and weaves through 46 episodes. It’s a big undertaking, sometimes you really don’t know what’s going on, but then they give you something that clears things again. It’s a fun ride.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
You might garner some amusement out of Wellington Paranormal, originally a New Zealand show from a few years ago, currently streaming on The CW. From one review:
Miss Bianca
@geg6: Yeah, I just rewatched the whole thing with my particular friend D. I lured him in with, “Remember Christina Hendricks from Firefly? Well, you won’t believe it when you see her on Mad Men!“) ; )
Such a great cast, and such great writing and feel for the period. Sigh.
@NotMax: Alas, no streaming. Strictly a DVD-on-ancient-TV household at the Mountain Hacienda. Which might be part of the explanation for why I’m currently binging on Disney’s Zorro, but not entirely.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
@Miss Bianca:
In some ways, I feel like I grew up in that whole place. I didn’t really, but so much of my childhood was wrapped up in that style. My parents were NOT in the professional class when I was a small child. But my godfather and godmother, who lived next door, were a sort of real-life version of the Drapers. She was an unfulfilled, attractive, intelligent housewife and he was a young gun who went to work at IBM using his cutting edge computer skills learned in the Navy during the Korean War. They had the cool clothes, mid-century modern house and furnishings. He drove a Corvette – a ’63 split window, no less. They were about ten years younger than my parents and, I thought, very hip and Kennedy-esque.
glc
Some commentary from 2010 that holds up well …
https://braddelong.substack.com/p/hoisted-from-he-archives-battered
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Even if you for some reason can’t download its app or access it as a channel through a Roku or similar means, you can stream it on practically whatever device you’re using to come here. Free with ads.
Soprano2
That’s exactly right, everyone around him humoring him forever just made him worse and worse.
Miss Bianca
@geg6: Some of it is definitely nostalgia rush for me, too. I would have been about baby Gene Draper’s age during that time, and I remember so many of those cultural undercurrents swirling around just beyond my childish capacity to assimilate them – the Civil Rights movement, the nascent women’s movement, the assassinations, the youthquake…I had older brothers and sisters and so I picked up on a lot of the zeitgeist precociously, but yeah…I can definitely look back and see a lot of the Draper household gestalt in the way I grew up. (Betty reminded me *a lot* of my mother. Particularly in her parenting style.)
mvr
@Joy in FL: Thanks for that. Caught the first couple seasons on my tablet but then stopped watching TV again. Glad to know I can go catch up.
Betty Cracker
I don’t know what the official title is, but there must be people whose job is to scour thrift shops and antique auto shows and vintage furniture shops, etc., to find all the stuff to create sets for period shows like “Mad Men.” That would be a really cool job!
The 2011 film “Super 8” transported me back to my childhood, and they did SUCH a great job with the set. Every little detail was right. My sister and I even tried to make a movie once like those kids did, though ours wasn’t nearly as good as theirs! ;-)
jonas
@WV Blondie: That was a great documentary. The three standout performances for me were 1. Nina Simone — holy shit. 2. Stevie Wonder and 3. Sly and the Family Stone. And to think all that footage just sat gathering dust in some warehouse for decades…
schrodingers_cat
@James E Powell: Bingo. They are not Democrats. They are the ones who voted for Nader.
dimmsdale
@Steeplejack: @BettyCracker: If it matters (and in case you don’t already know, which you may) the series is based on an Elmore Leonard short story; the producers included Leonard as an Exec Producer, and their goal was to infuse the series with the flavor of his books. Bought the entire run-of-show DVD collection because I thought they got it so right. So my vote is, obviously, give it another shot.
Love that “Hustle” and “Leverage” are getting discussed, I love a good “caper-heist” show. Absolutely recommend the UK version of “Life on Mars,” 2 seasons worth of superb acting and gritty writing. (Occurred to me to mention it because Philip Glenister is such a knockout in it, an absolute bull in a china shop, and his brother Robert is one of the grifters in “Hustle.” Sorry, geek signing off now)
Mostly, thanks to all who contributed here, I don’t stream so lists like this are the only thing that keeps me from watching my Phil Silvers dvd’s for the umbty-umpt time.
Steeplejack
@dimmsdale:
I’m a big Elmore Leonard fan. I’m still amazed at what a faithful adaptation the movie of Get Shorty was. Apparently thanks to John Travolta! (Supposedly the original script was crap, and he exerted star power to make them go back to the book.)
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
There’s a whole department in charge of that stuff: production design. There’s a production designer who decides on the overall look, and then a bunch of underlings with titles like set dresser and property master who handle the details. If an period is really popular, there may be a company with a warehouse full of items and clothing from the era that a production company can rent. And, of course, there are companies that specialize in specific types of props across eras. For example, there are companies that keep prop cars- some running, but often just a chassis with no drivetrain- for the movie industry.
If you want to know why the TV and movie business is hard to lure away from LA, this kind of thing is a big reason why. It isn’t just a handful of studios. There’s a whole industry that you need to support this stuff. It’s obviously possible to build it all up from scratch, but it’s far faster and cheaper if you can just call someone up and rent all that stuff rather than having to find it yourself. Even though LA is an expensive place to live and work, it’s still often cheaper to film here because everything you need is readily available.
Craig
@Betty Cracker: Set Decorator, and Props People. I have a couple friends in LA who do that. Lots of shopping, lots of returns. Wading through prop warehouses. Sometimes when she’s not working a friend will go on road trips and scour flea markets then sell the stuff to a prop house once back in LA. It’s a tough job that sounds easy.
karen marie
@VeniceRiley: How many episodes of Leverage did you watch? I really enjoyed the first two. The subsequent episodes are nauseatingly saccharine in justifying what they’re doing, and it’s increasingly difficult to suspend disbelief that their complicated plans somehow always succeed.
I probably won’t watch the rest of the season.
karen marie
@NotMax: Have you watched “Carlos Spills the Beans” on Prime? I thought it was very funny and sweet.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
Don’t know if this thread is still active. But …
I loved Zorro when I was a kid. I have been watching YouTube clips of interviews with various actors. Jonathan Harris and Billy Mumy of Lost in Space talk about how the producers let Harris rewrite his own scenes and the show essentially became the adventures of Dr Smith, Will Robinson and the robot. This embittered Guy Williams who had signed on to be the star of a sci fi adventure series, not a comedy kid show. But he was still professional about it.
Later Williams moved to Argentina, where he was treated like showbiz royalty because of Zorro. I think he was even given an expensive apartment.
NotMax
@Brachiator
And a lifetime supply of pastel ruffled shirts.
:)
NotMax
@karen marie
Shall pencil a reminder note to check it out.
Feathers
All I am currently watching is Loki. It will end tomorrow. Sad, but looking forward to the finale very much. Have Disney until the end of the month, so doing Marvel rewatch. Fascinating to watch again, seeing how it holds together. Watched WandaVision, highly recommend. Will watch Falcon and Winter Soldier after Loki.
Interesting commentary I read on Loki: Marvel knows they will get the huge audience numbers no matter what they put out. Their choice has been to use that freedom to make shows that don’t fit the standard mold. The very slow buildup on WandaVision and Loki, using half the episodes to set up the world and do character exploration. They have incredibly charismatic actors, so they just let them hang out and talk to each other for much of the air time, not worrying about moving things forward. They then pay that off once the action starts. Both shows got a bunch of negative early reviews saying they were boring and nothing was happening. But what was really happening was Disney avoiding the streaming trap where you get 3-4 episodes with a breakneck pace to draw you in, 4-5 filler episodes, and 1-2 where the plot picks up again and wraps up the story. Too many people know a bit about how TV is usually constructed and complain when the template isn’t used, like stretching the rules is cheating somehow.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
A couple of the major studios used to have a huge inventory of items that could be pulled out and used for various productions. I seem to recall a big fire at one studio that resulted in the destruction of tons of almost irreplaceable material that had been used in countless films.
I have recently been listening to a great podcast about producer and production designer Polly Platt.
Very much worth a listen if still available.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I’m sure the big studio prop departments have a ton of stuff stashed away, but even that is never enough. I still find the amount of specialization in the movie business amazing.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
And good production design often requires artistry. I was not a huge fan of the books, but I was knocked out by the production design of the Lord of the Rings films, especially the look of one of the hobbit homes. So many little details that made it look like a real, lived in place.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
The Harry Potter series also had really phenomenal production designs. They managed to create a wonderful, lived-in feeling for the magical world. They also had a fantastic second unit, which among other things was in charge of filming all the moving photographs and pictures in the background. The pictures weren’t always obvious, but they contributed immensely to the feel of the films, and there was a huge amount of effort behind them.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: OMG, I didn’t realize that Guy Williams was in Lost in Space! Was he the dad? Off to IMDB…
dimmsdale
@Brachiator: Yeah, MY case-in-point would be Queen’s Gambit, which (to my eye, and I was THERE) captured the 50s-60s ethos perfectly; that’s a logistical and also an artistic challenge, and good production designers make all the difference in the world. (I do wish some of the hired period automobiles could be dirtied-up a little, with crumpled fenders here and there; too pristine takes away from the feel IMO).
Speaking of period, I have the EXACT electric GE alarm clock Don Draper has in his bedroom. I’ve had mine since the mid-60s, but it’s nice to know they’re getting their eras correct.
FelonyGovt
@dimmsdale: A friend of mine sells women’s’ undergarments, including vintage “new- old stock” girdles and the like, online. She has gotten orders from the production people for Mad Men and other shows.
Feathers
@Brachiator: Apparently for the Lokis’ lair in the most recent episode, the production bought the interior fittings of an entire old bowling alley in Ohio, shipping the pieces down to Atlanta. They used the flooring from the lanes and much of the bits and pieces of the walls.
Back in the 80s and 90s, the business was done by people in LA with huge Rolodex’s of antiques dealers and interior decorators. I actually had a gig where somebody who learned that the Boston Public Library had a collection of all the phone books in the country, paid me to go to the library and make a handwritten list of all the antiques dealers in the Yellow Pages. It filled one and a half of those school composition books. She didn’t want to give me his list to not write those down. I met her at a class in DC on how to get research gigs for Hollywood. When she found out I lived in Boston, I got the phone book gig. She paid my normal temp rate, so I worked nights and when I didn’t have another job.
Joy in FL
@Betty Cracker: I know that feeling. But you could get Apple + just for one month and binge Ted Lasso Season 1.
Then come back around for Season 2 later.
Feathers
@dimmsdale: Ha! One of the main issues with renting people’s classic automobiles for shows is that they cannot get a scratch on them. Also, having been in a movie ups the vehicle’s value a fair amount, so having it look good is part of the rental agreement.
Apparently the car in Taylor Swift’s Blank Space music video was rare and expensive, with a long contract about not damaging it. Her smashing it with a golf club was was an effects shot. However, she did put her hand on the hood, damaging the paint. Production had to pay $3000+ to repaint the whole car. Jalopnik article on the rental of the car.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Yep. Yep. Yep. The films were great in getting the look and feel of a universe in which wizards lived right.
It is tough for some sci fi and fantasy films to get production design right. The sometimes are good at getting a futuristic world right, but it does not always feel “lived in.” The Spielberg film “Minority Report” got it right. The tv series “The Expanse” does a good job in depicting various worlds.
There was an 70s or 80s tv series “Space: Above and Beyond.” One episode set on a space battle cruiser briefly showed the personal cabin of one of the military commanders. A bookshelf displayed various books, including operations manuals, and historical and future volumes on military history and tactics, and some popular literature of the future. It all seemed exactly what the character would read. I absolutely loved the creativity and detail that went into the scene.
Of the Trek shows I love, I think that DS9 was better at this than Next Generation. The original Trek didn’t really have the budget to do a good job of dressing the quarters of various crew.
Geminid
@James E Powell: When Matt Yglesias says that next year’s Ohio Senate seat is unwinnable for Democrats, I can’t help but smell a rat. Unless Yglesias is very lazy, he knows that Sherrod Brown won his 2018 reelection race by 300,000 votes. Brown is a formidable politician, but it’s not like he’s some unicorn. If Brown could win by three hundred thousand votes, how is it that a candidate like Representative Tim Ryan can’t win by 30,000?
I suspect Yglesias has an axe to grind, and is being cynical towards his audience. He knows that relatively few are aware of Brown’s victory in 2018, much less the margin. Maybe Tim Ryan just isn’t the right kind of Democrat for the “progressive” Yglesias. Soon we will probably see Yglesias writing about how very winnable Pennsylvania’s open Senate race is. But only if John Fetterman is the Democratic nominee.
Brachiator
@Feathers:
Very cool story. It is amazing how ingenious production designers have to be in order to find what they need.
Roger Moore
@Feathers:
If you just need cars for the background, like the parked cars in a scene where the character is walking down the street, there are companies that keep non-functional ones. My understanding is that they’re a lot cheaper than ones that can be driven. I don’t know if any of the companies specialize in ones that are realistically worn and damaged.
dimmsdale
@Roger Moore: Good question, and as to Feathers’ point, I suppose if I had a valuable classic that I’d spent thousands of dollars detailing, I wouldn’t want some production assistant daubing mud all over it either.
If you’re interested, there’s a guy named John Ficarra, over on the VinWiki YT channel, who used to be in the film-car business in NYC. His stories are priceless and he’s a wonderful storyteller, worth checking out. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCiXi0Azd3plUXLwi-wnX39cXHCIQ7X71
Geminid
@Steeplejack: Have you seen the movie The Tall T (1957)? It was based on Elmore Leonard’s short story “The Captives.” Richard Boone plays a homicidal outlaw; Randolph Scott and Maureen O’Sullivan are his captives.
I like Randolph Scott. He used to say, “I can’t act and I have 35 movies to prove it!” Ride the High Country (1966?), with Joel McCrea, was Scott’s last movie, and maybe his best.
NotMax
@dimmsdale
Trivia:
As Erich von Stroheim did not know how to drive, in the scenes with him behind the wheel of the Isotta-Fraschini in Sunset Boulevard the car is being towed by another vehicle off screen.
dimmsdale
@NotMax: I’ve recently been a little disappointed to discover that most US-filmed scenes of people in cars have the cars on a flatbed being towed. Presumably it lets the actors focus on their acting and lets the teamsters worry about getting the car down the street. Neat story about von Stroheim, though!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: Yglesias is very much in the pragmatic camp these days, and he has a personality that is inclined to trolling
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I guess I’ve got Yglesias confused with that other Matt. Still, I wish he wasn’t putting out such a bad take on the Ohio Senate race. A lot of people only read op-ed pieces by people like Yglesias and don’t know any better.
GrueBleen
If you like the odd thing from “a land down under” (I didn’t realise that Toni Collette and Muriel had an American audience) you may enjoy this:
https://youtu.be/onhN-VdH7ok
Cheers.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Geminid:
I’ve seen both of those movies, but not in a while.
I like Randolph Scott. A lot of movies don’t require great acting, just the projection of some necessary quality or presence. Scott had a leathery honesty that was a perfect fit for his movies.
Bonnie
I am an unashamed “bleeding heart liberal” to the nth degree. I have yet to meet a liberal, Democrat, or progressive who even comes close to my liberalness. I always wonder about the Dems, etc., who constantly gripe about us and finally have figured out that they aren’t truly Dems, liberals, progressive, etc., because they seem very intolerant of people who vary a little tiny bit from them. When will they figure out that we need every one of us if we really and truly believe in Democracy. Stop nitpicking people who are not perfect and (in the immortal words of Rodney King) “can’t we all just get along.”
I think the young women who are called “the Squad” are terrific; but, they still need to respect for their elders because some of us ol’ broads have a lot to teach them. And, we can still learn a lot from them. It’s two-way street.