Parachutes

I’ll be tuning in again when the next season airs! Season 2 rushed through a lot of development of the relationships and I think it suffered from not having a stronger overarching main storyline (Bette’s mayoral race or the tie-in of Alice’s show) that 1) offered updated commentary/representation on race/ethnicity, gender identity and other sociopolitical topics; 2) gave the audience a strong foundation and thread between established and new main characters and; 3) allowed space to introduce characters (even as foils) that make the world these characters live in feel less insular. Granted, I’m sure navigating Covid was like 60% of the problem, but for me, what felt really fresh about the new show was how the way the show was photographed felt really modern and stylish and expansive (lots of wide shots esp. in office scenes with big windows or the LA skyline in the backdrop). It’ll be interesting to see if my rewatch of season two still feels so small-scale (both story-wise and visually)

I’ve been taking advantage of Showtime dropping the episodes early to stream on the app and I’m pretty excited to have the show back as I didn’t expect to see it until next year at the earliest! So far, it looks like we’ll be seeing shake-ups in the pairings of actors and I’m very intrigued to see how the newer characters will be fleshed out: Dani and Sophie: The actors really sell me on during the love scenes but the characters seem like they could be better off with other partners. I’m not invested either way and will kind of follow the writers wherever they want to take them. Finley: She’s a mess but never really hurts anyone out of sheer malice, so it’s much easier to root for her a little in hoping she’ll figure things out and be able to shine at some point. Micah: Do NOT want to see him do a whole back and forth with José all season. I like the friendship they seem to be setting up with Maribel, Sophie’s sister. But hopefully, they’ll give the character more to do so he’s not just token transperson on the show. Tess: Jamie Clayton was really looking great and glammed up at the Poker game. And it seems they’re setting a little thang between her and Shane. I don’t hate it! Bette/Gigi: I mean… okay. I don’t hate this, either! Sepideh Moafi definitely was a scene stealer for me last season so glad to see she’ll have stuff to do besides being Nat’s ex-wife. And she seems to have a quality similar to Kate Moennig in which she just has raw chemistry with whomever she’s paired. With Bette as a character though? I don’t know. What will they talk about besides being cheaters? Yes, I said it! I don’t care. Fight me. That’s really all I have for episode one. Not too invested in Nat and Alice as it seems some more drama will be introduced into their relationship which requires Alice to do all the compromising. Stephanie Allyne has some good comedic timing and I enjoy the awkwardness of Nat when she’s engaging with other characters but I think they’ve reached the end of what they can do with Nat and she clearly has stuff she needs to explore outside of a traditional monogamous relationship.

Hm... well, I came across the spoiler a couple of weeks ago, so no surprise about what transpired with Michael. This show is such a joy especially post-US election and for the most part, very well-written (aside from the handful of episodes that dragged in the lead up to Jane and Michael's wedding and then, a couple of tertiary subplots.) I trust the writers to still take the show to interesting places, but weirdly, the way the whole thing played out has really harshed my mellow. The writers did kind of start writing themselves into various boxes with the amount of extraneous characters this season but the timing is a little too jarring for me to really get on board with a reset. I think I'll probably bow out for the remainder of the season and catch it in the post-season break when I can binge it and not have to wait week to week.

I may have missed some of the dialogue in these scenes where Jude and Noah are high and giggling, but Jude didn't have a choice in being ready anymore, right? Since he had already eaten the MJ-laced candy? And after that, he had no choice but to ride out the wave and ended up feeling okay with it in the end. I think he still would have passed on the pot altogether if Noah had initially told him that it was in edible form. While I wouldn't personally take this parenting route, I had to realize my shocked reaction to it as option was because of the stigma surrounding marijuana as a (mostly) illegal substance. But I think, as a country, we are realizing that just because something is legal and/or FDA-approved doesn't mean it isn't dangerous and that largely we are very conditioned to seek out medicine as a quick and blanket fix for any and all ailments before seeking alternative treatments. As for his parents monitoring the dosages, they are, but the problem is that they're not monitoring him while he's ingesting it which gives him that window to siphon it out and store it (and also, share it wish his peers). Totally agree about the self-care. It was hard to watch Callie finding a way to run again, but at least, Lena's harshness and her subsequent talk with Aaron was enough to quell that desire this week. Overall, I thought the episode marked a really good shift towards moving this into more balanced, adult drama when it comes to storytelling in the sense that I felt very inside the lives and world of these characters and everything felt more "every-day", somehow. And I give a ton of kudos to Cierra Ramirez and especially, Sherri Saum for being to hold so much tension in their bodies and mannerisms in their scenes where they had to really step up and be directly confrontational or on edge. It could have easily spilled-over into overacting, but their anger and tension felt really palpable. Very nice touch.

If this is the most annoying Rihanna song you've heard since "We Found Love," then your issue is mostly with Calvin Harris since he produced both of these tracks. I'm also not a fan of his work because there just isn't much variety to his sound, but I can see why it's popular. As for the "you" ad infinitum lyrics, it's a trend in pop music completely that has nothing to do with the lyricist. Everything revolves around production, so: Beats, bass-drops, alterations in vocals (whether in pitch or rhythm), and a music break in place in of an actual chorus with words that differentiate from each other. It's just where the sound is at right now and because people under the age of 30 are massively into it. It's definitely not disco, but it's reminiscent of its popularity and influence on youth culture not unlike punk, new wave, hip-hop, or grunge, either.

1) When I initially read the book, the set designer profession stood out to me, too. It also plays into who Therese is as a character who feels so disconnected from the people in her life (even though she likes them just fine for the most part) and why meeting Carol becomes such a life-altering event. Ultimately, it may have come down to two really essential things: budget (which was small for the talent involved) and storytelling. Todd Haynes mentioned a lot in interviews about being inspired by the NYC street photography taken by female photographers of the era; the "female gaze"; and the concept of subject, object, and who is on which end of being desired. Photography was a cherry stem that could tie pretty neatly whereas keeping her a stage designer may have required sacrificing the more multidimensional picture we were given of Carol for some of the more extraneous characters from the novel. 2) I saw a press conference of a screening and this very topic came up! I think they were aiming to avoid making the character too sympathetic in this regard. In the novel, Carol leaves Therese (in limbo) to attend the hearing, finds that the evidence is so insurmountable that she just readily concedes any custody of Rindy and has some sort of breakdown before she ends up meeting with Therese. It almost seems like she's making the choice to be with Therese because she can't be with her daughter. At least in the film version, Carol is written as making a more active choice by taking charge of the negotiations with the monologue and walking away with very clear terms of her own. She was given a bit more autonomy, I think, and we're privy to the aftermath as she mentions she's only seen Rindy "once or twice" since the hearing. So I did get a sense that she had ultimately lost something by making that stand. Your interpretation is accurate. Harge is threatened and bitter. Therese represents a reality that he and Carol tried to move past (apparently with a band-aid baby) and a tangible end to their marriage. The previous affair with Abby could almost be hand-waved away because it was an isolated event (as far we know and because, "silly women's feelings"). Seeing Carol entertaining a young woman alone (i.e. without men present), in the evening, suggests otherwise to him. The boldness is in that he can sense the ulterior motive behind a seemingly innocuous gesture of "gratitude". We don't really know the history of Harge and Carol's beginnings but I don't think it'd be a wild stretch to assume that Carol made the "first move" with Harge (or Abby, for that matter). I think predator or seductress are too strong of labels because it suggest something calculating and sinister but Carol definitely has a quality of someone who's very confident, very forward with her desires. (Man, that's way more than I ever wanted to write about Harge. It kind of undermines the refreshing quality of the story, but it's a testament to how much depth Kyle Chandler brought to the role, though.)

I don't care how much Public Enemy was played. Chris Rock has officially drank the kool-aid. I never expected him to really hand it to the Academy, but I was disappointed at how much he pandered to the audience for "applause" and (assumingly) future goodwill within the industry. I said this in another forum and thread, but his interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year was much more "in touch". With that said, the only surprise, for me, was Mark Rylance's win. I'm glad Iñarritu and Leo got their Oscars. Bummed that Carol had a pretty much entire shutout this Awards season. Very happy about all of the women involved in non-acting professions who walked away with trophies, tonight.

Nah, the first half of his monologue was so ridiculous and pandering that it pretty much canceled out all of the good (but previously and better stated (via Viola Davis and other black industry actors, directors, etc.) sentiments of the last half. He made way better points in his THR interview from months ago that this hosting gig, tonight.

I saw the film on New Year’s Eve – as in, literally, rang in the New Year with it since I caught a 10pm showing – and I have to say I was quietly blown away by it. It oddly managed to rekindle my love of film and filmmaking; something I kind of “grew out of” since what’s been trending as popular in the last five-six years could be categorized as: 1) Marvel Comics Universe/insert-franchise-here sequels/animation 2) Oscar Bait bio-pics 3) Oscar Bait quirky and/or twee indies 4) Adam Sandler Basically, if your film isn’t breaking opening weekend box office records or garnering Awards prestige*, it’s almost not noteworthy. That’s a crude oversimplification, but that’s how it’s appeared as someone who pretty much stopped watching movies altogether for half a decade. With that said, I’m not sure where one’s own personal experiences come into play, but I deeply connected with the film. This adaptation could have been so badly bungled with a different team, but for me, it was a perfect storm of players as far crafting the film. Where people found the pace slow, I recall thinking of how the use of longer shots helped the tension feel palpable which is what I loved when I read the book a couple of years ago. I have to say from experience, it is a hell of a doozy when you meet someone, experience an almost fatalistic connection, and couple that with physical chemistry. Also, I know there’s a lot of talk about the script, but I liked that it was very concise, but still managed to capture a lot of tone and feel of the novel. I feel like I got a lot more backstory with less dialogue because of what was left in and then there was the added bonus of having a really fantastic supporting cast (specifically, Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler) who also brought a lot of depth to their characters and the story. Though, one thing that occurred to me later on especially since some of the criticism for the film has been about how thin the story is and how it relied too much upon the gazes between the two leads is how much communication in the act of courtship has changed. We live in such a TMI-culture. We hold back a lot less. We overanalyze and then, we share our opinions to anyone who will listen. We’re quicker to engage in sexual intimacy, but hesitant to commit to actual relationships in hopes that a better option is around the corner in the left-swipe of an app. And yes, we Netflix and chill. It’s incredibly interesting to witness and maybe one reason (besides its shoddy rollout schedule) as to why the film never found a larger audience. Here, we have two women whose main interaction is primarily with the objective of finding out to what extent the other party is interested and how far they could push the boundaries of intimacy with each meeting. But perhaps, it was all too niche, too cold, and too gay. Whatever the case, I do hope it ends up being seen a lot more once it’s available to buy/rent. *Fully aware that this film also pretty Oscar-baity due to the topic, but because it was so restrained when it could have been melodramatic, it ultimately of bypasses that label for me.

For anyone who missed the livestream for PaleyFest NY, here it is replaying in its entirety on Yahoo! https://screen.yahoo.com/live/event/paleyfest-orphan-black

First things first, that car ride home with Nate and his girlfriend must have been a doozy... As awkward and clunky as the dinner was, I have a real blind eye towards Lena's behavior. I've been called "nigger" and the times it happened were during my formative years and I can tell you that it's a hard experience to try and transcend. I don't blame her for holding a twenty year "grudge" because it's been about twenty years for me and it's still a bit of a trigger. On first meetings, I give people the benefit of the doubt, but I think a considerable amount of black Americans are kind of always waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, when it comes to dealing with people dropping slurs or saying especially ignorant things regardless of how long or well you know them. With that said, I'm trying to decipher whether the show will continue to delve into the history of Lena's family relationships and/or whether they were trying to use this story the nuance and subtlety of how racism exists today. There are plenty of polite people who consider themselves open-minded and good people (because they have black friends or who have dated/married a black person), but who say and do racist things that feed into and help perpetuate white supremacy. With the few scenes we saw, I thought the balloon story was most interesting once it was revealed that he actually took the balloon. He spun the story to make himself look better in front of his girlfriend, but when Lena clarified the details, he didn't have such selective memory and deny that behavior the way he denied using the slur against Lena's mom. And as far as the confrontation, this is one of the few occurrences where we see emotion rule over reason for Lena, so I don't think this was ever going to go smoothly no matter what steps she took. The situation was always going to boil over because it had been so long. There isn't a delicate way to address these types of hurts and honestly, she doesn't owe him delicacy. It's not her responsibility to make him feel comfortable. Another thing I found interesting is that the show never actually used the word even in a neutral sense. It was very much tip-toed around which I think speaks volume about the country as a whole deals with the issue. It has such an ugly historical context that it makes people uncomfortable to even address it in an honest and realistic manner for the fear of appearing racist. As for LGBT prom, I'm kind of disappointed that it was used as a plot device to further explore the topic of labels. I kind of wished they would have saved it for the opportunity of having a more feel good moment, fun on the show for the kids. The rest of the episode was pretty standard teen fare. I don't hate it, but I'm not itching to break it down and analyze it at this time.

I think if the ratings had seen a significant bump like up to 5 or 5.5 mil instead of staying flat for the week, it might've been enough to firmly secure a season three. But it's pilot season, y'all... FOX might wait until May to announce and first see how strong of a crop of new shows they will get for Fall.

Yeah, his pain was pretty palpable. Mison did really great work there. I am kind of glad Abbie and Ichabod didn't embrace here. Because as much he's right about everyone having a choice and Katrina's/Jeremy's deaths being consequences of that, there is no way there isn't going to be fall out from the fact that he chose to save Abbie over his wife. I expect that there will be an internal conflict over that. Now, I'm just going to be twiddling my thumbs anxiously awaiting renewal news.

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but The Fenestella is figurative window. I thought this was a particularly enlightening and neat definition from Merriam-Webster: b : a small window or opening like a window (as in an altar front for allowing relics within to be seen) So really, tying in this in with the current interest in holographic images... I mean, I feel like I really have to give somebody in the writer's room their due for this bit of cleverness.

This is the first episode I remember sincerely enjoying since the trifecta of the Pied Piper, WendiJoe and Weeping Lady episodes. What I liked: -Abbie + Ichy upfront working as a team -Steven Weber as Jefferson / Jefferson as a hologram a lá Tupac -Jenny being suspicious of Irving -the new journalist dude and being written as a better foil than Hawley -Using "less is more" with Katrina and Jenry (this is most ominous that the Henry character has felt all season) -the Reavers -All of the undertones of the Ichy / Jefferson bromance What was questionable: -Having Jefferson tell Crane that he's as much of a founding fathers as the others. It was such an unnecessary line. He's already a Witness of the end of days. There's no need to add to his sense of self-importance. What I didn't like: - I can't believe they weren't able to retrieve ANYTHING from the Fenestella. It felt almost useless to introduce it.