Vee

LOL:

And now: There seems to be some fog of war atm as to whether he is simply resigning as Tory leader, PM or both, or whether he will remain in the PM seat until autumn awaiting a replacement. I have my doubts the latter will hold up for long.

Still bleeding more loyalists straight through the night to morning over in the UK.

That's why I love Drake, right there.

IIRC it was originally intended to film them back to back, but COVID wrecked that. I assume they'll be moving quickly now though, partly since the Duffer Brothers are contracted to do a miniseries of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman for Amazon (which Lucas reads in the finale). Spielberg has held the rights to it since the '80s. I think S4 is probably their strongest season and I was very impressed. Managing that scale and scope over nine feature length episodes is near-impossible for even bigger shows like Game of Thrones, which failed at it, but they kept up the pace and character depth here. (You can't service every character the same though, which is why I was fine with Finn Wolfhard taking a backseat for people like Max, Lucas, Nancy, Dustin, Eddie, etc., and I suspect Will will return to the forefront next time as well.) Hopefully they can stick the landing. I do have my doubts that it will be a 'bloodbath' though - I think some characters may die, but I think the Duffers seem to have indicated they don't feel constant death is needed to have stakes. Fans were just as invested and afraid for their favorites this season as they were last season or the one before; even though we've been through this before, everyone kept expecting a huge body count. In the end it wasn't that massive. You don't need to turn every show into GOT or Breaking Bad when all that's needed is the perception of risk and dramatic weight.

One of the greats, not only for his stage work but for his unique film productions of Lord of the Flies and Marat/Sade. RIP.

Winter #1 was Lori Cardille, right? I'll always be fond of her from Day of the Dead, which cemented her horror stardom (she had a long association with those George Romero zombie films bc of her family's involvement in all of them); I've never seen her soap work but I'd like to.

Those kind of responses are always going to be there from some, and Twitter is not real life. That doesn't mean messaging and targeting still can't substantially improve, because it definitely can within the Democratic machine. I think Biden was a good candidate, better than a lot of people were willing to admit (both media and on the left), and probably the only one who could've taken Trump in that field. I think he's a good man who I'm glad is there. I admire Pelosi immensely for a lot of the work she's done, and I know she'll spend the rest of her life taking the same ageist and misogynistic slings and arrows she's been taking for years while doing hard work. I'm never going to disrespect the whole of that establishment when my family worked down there most of my life, alongside many of those people, and knows it and some of them intimately - I know how much of the real work is just slow, boring and head-down stuff. And I think Democrats can and are able to be most of what the majority of people who are not Very Online need them to be. But I think the stated belief when entering into office that the GOP fever would break, and the current strategy of putting a band-aid on where we've been at and trying to rewind it back, has completely failed. And that's not all on Biden or his fault, it's systemic. A number of people in the party don't want to accept that we're at where we're at and can't just go back to the relative pre-Trump normalcy of hunting for purple seats with less urgency, just like you still have many burnout leftists still refusing to acknowledge that not engaging in '16 and claiming they 'can't be bullied by SCOTUS to vote for Clinton' helped get us to where we are now. 2016 was it for so many of these things. The truth is a lot of different elements bear different responsibilities and have made different mistakes, and both the responsibility and the urgency have to be acknowledged and reckoned with. The good news is, I think, is that Joe Biden is much more likely to do that than say, Dave Weigel or Will Stancil.

I agree with a great deal of what Valdez, etc. say but I think there's more room for nuance and also broad oversimplification on either side of this device than ever. Not everyone being supportive of the administration doesn't care about abortion, but not everyone very upset atm is a leftist deadender (and I'm not saying you're not very upset). The facts on this judge thing, for example, appear to be that there is a deal on the table for that anti-choice appointment the next time one becomes available. That is not going to be acceptable to Democratic voters in the current climate, and it shouldn't be. That potential deal needs to not exist yesterday. It's important that people screen signal to noise, and righteous anger in the wrong directions vs. complete irrationality - for example, Jude Doyle going around trying to claim that Biden has always been 'rumored' to be anti-choice when his pushing hard for the pro-choice Souter nomination before Republicans found out years ago is a matter of record. That's just flat wrong and needs to be refuted. I do not believe Biden is anti-choice. But pushing back on the WH weighing an anti-choice judge deal, or coming at the WH and party apparatus for its extremely weak and confused response to the last few weeks and months - I think that's fair. I frankly think it's been a rolling shítshow. I think they've been shellshocked since Manchin nuked BBB, as it upended virtually all of their conventional wisdom and have never fully recovered, and I think the overall Dem leadership response to Roe has been embarrassing so far. There's a few nice statements from Pelosi, etc. but that's not enough. Critics are correct IMO when they say the WH and the Dems must be specific about what seats need money where, why and what they specifically will pledge to do when they get them. Not platitudes and clucking about destabilizing the country - it's already destabilized. We are in an asymmetrical war. I think the WH can still do more to fix the problems, and I am very glad Biden finally got on the page of the base today re: the filibuster, but it's going to take a lot more. Which is why accurately parsing what is happening, vs. leaping to extremes of 'they don't care/are doing nothing/are shills' or 'they're doing fine and people are overreacting' is so important. I think both Valdez and say, Oliver Willis have legitimate strong points to make, when they're not demeaning each other and coming off like assholes in the process (or if Willis would stop going off on his stupid joke tangents). That's the box we're all in.

I hate that this isn't the first time I've seen this. Damn you, Faulkner!!

A bit of good news:

I liked a lot of the album as an experiment. Do I prefer it to the originals? Nope.

@DRW50

That track is even more relevant than it was then and still so good. I much prefer the original version to the remix from a few years ago.

Episode 3 (Nowhere to Run): Laura: Why do you stay with her? Gary: I said I loved her, I didn’t say I trusted her. Gary Ewing Enterprises is here! And so is "Westfork" (again, really, Gary?). Westfork is way more grand than Southfork AFAIC; Southfork is one chintzy pool/patio set and tacky yellow furniture from the '70s with a seemingly painted backdrop. This place, however, is vast, has multiple expansive vistas, a much larger pool (sorry, J.R.) and it's at the very least the match of our poor departed beach house. Abby seems less than enamored of it (but has real estate plans of her own), but you really can't ding the place in any way - I'm almost a little surprised Lorimar or whoever let them flex as much dough as this place looks like it cost to show a gigantic ranch on something other than the mothership soap. It makes Dallas look like a roadshow production. Diana’s turn towards Bonnie Parker/Squeaky Fromme didn’t wholly shock me due to spoilers, but I didn't know when or how it happened, or how intense it got here where she's actively committing crimes. I really didn’t think Ms. High School Dramaturgy Scourge '79-'83 could shrug off Chip's earlier behavior on the road so easily. What an idiot. It seems the turn must have come when Chip showed vulnerability, spun his story and allowed Diana to put herself into it as the maiden. What's more interesting is how Diana becomes the rock of the two when Chip begins to break down as they hit troubles. It leads one to suspect that Diana, the loud and obtuse overachiever, views this all as another grand adolescent rebellion, another brassy Fairgate ingenue project: Go on the lam, love her man, prove to the world she's a strong adult who can beat the odds and make grown-up choices. It’s completely nuts - it’s Karen's ethos curdled. That's the only way I can begin to understand and process what she's doing, that and Stockholm Syndrome. Folks over at Knots Blogging suggest that, just as with Karen's equal and opposite reaction to recent events, Diana is also reacting to the triple-blow of Sid, her mother's remarriage and now the Chip reveal. I think that could be true as well. Doesn't make me want to choke her out any less. That is Gary Grubbs as the cowboy auto dealer who rips the un-dynamic duo off btw, a prominent character actor in a zillion things. So this is not the first time they’ve shown it in the series so far, and I really, really want to try Valene’s chicken. Anyway. More Westfork real estate porn: I absolutely adore the rock garden courtyard. Laura gets off a great line as she greets Gary and Abby by the pool: "For us proletariats it’s the middle of a workday." As she runs down various real estate options, Gary the tycoon proves to still also be Gary the rancher and the man who loves nature, calm but forthright; his various selves seem increasingly more joined and synthesized this season ever since he got sober and chilled out a bit. Given his roots he’s doubtful about snapping up huge swaths of forestland (again, still relevant), but Abby just hears the cash register. Hmmm. More refreshing candor between the budding Gary and Laura relationship: Abby’s like high speed auto racing, Gary tells Laura, and he does love her. One could argue his passion for Abby, knowing how deceptive and controlling she can be, admitting to Laura he loves the risk, is how Gary sublimates and manages his own addiction drives when he's not drinking or gambling. I do think Shackelford and McCashin still have real, unexpected chemistry; that would be an unusual and fun pairing. Either way, I'm thrilled they'll be working together. There's a really sweet little scene with Eric and Karen as he punches through her perpetual edge of hysteria, reminding her she's not the only one who cares. Michele Lee, as almost always, picks the right moment to give ground to the kids in a scene, say Karen's been wrong and be tender with him. I don't know when exactly they write the boys out for awhile, or if they do with Michael at all (I've seen him in several main ensemble shots as he gets older) - I know both sons return as adults to play the story with Lar Park Lincoln from Friday the 13th Part 7, though I don't know all the details - but they should’ve kept them as long as possible. They may not be master thespians or central casting hunks, but they are talented and cute enough for their parts and they really ground so much of the show for me. (Diana can leave forever, and it's my understanding she does fairly soon.) I also really like Michael and Mack’s bond. Karen’s somewhat twee, play-to-the-house reaction to getting location news on Diana was a bit too coy for me. Either way, off she goes to try to apprehend Chip and Diana herself, leading to a scene of surreal pleasantries as Karen calls home on the wiretap she watched the cops set up, having gone rogue. She's just off the spool and I can't blame her, but I am glad to see Mack able to function as her support, quiet and easy, able to calm her down at least a little bit. A funny extended bit with just Michael and one of the cops back at the house bantering about guns is nestled in the hour here - another little grace moment they didn’t need to do but that this show excels at. Cute. From Chip and Diana’s hideout shack to the L.A. marina and a glorious new office space! Abby takes Westmont, her Iago (now played by the original actor again), to what is her gigantic new waterfront lair which I swear to God looks like something out of The Spy Who Loved Me or Octopussy. This is a stunning series of sets (if it's all sets) and it looks like some sort of Bond villain branch headquarters for Abby Inc. Abby's clearly already loving showing this off, and who can blame her? It’s another subliminal seduction of Westmont to get what she wants too, as she hangs off the winding staircase (“do you want to see the rest?”) which is both near-identical visually to how she slowly transformed her house at the cul-de-sac but also likely a redress of that living room set. Abby's clearly planning to build her own empire inside Gary’s, but this time her claims of doing it to protect his fortune from his rash choices ring totally false to me. Gary is free, sober, making moves and demonstrating entirely too much closeness to Val, and likely soon others Abby can’t control (Laura Avery, an old foe). So this is Abby's palace and we’re on her time now. I do wish/hope we could see more of the Abby who openly desired the aspirational Gary for the strength and passion he could express himself as a fully actualized Ewing, as opposed to the Abby trying to yoke him to fit her enterprises. Then again, it's possible Abby's just never fully made the distinction between the two herself - maybe that's the fatal flaw in her love. The standoff, as stage managed by Diana as another of her high school plays, starring her in every key role! Lord. Diana is now the aggressor and instigator as the state police arrive, while Chip is increasingly the inept, sniveling weasel. Ol' Chip’s starting to look like this whole thing has gone too apeshit even for him and he's begun to regret getting involved with a clear alumni of Broadway Kids. When they're finally apprehended though, Chip instantly comes back to life under the glare of the cameras, flourishing and vamping as press agent par excellence - I loved that, it happens with creeps like that all the time. And what do you say about the ending tag? "It's not Ms. Fairgate. It's Mrs. Tony Fenece!" Ship her to Mars!

Well, now I want to walk into the sea just looking at that place. So stunning.

I do too. But really, Westfork has more big, lavish exteriors than Southfork on Dallas, which looks rinky-dink by comparison. The new ranch is vast and gorgeous. Was it really a money issue?