Archery

Pickles, get thee to YouTube and find a video with subtitles, asap! I avoided it for a long time cuz I don’t have toddlers, but when I finally caved, I was hooked. It’s so catchy and clever, and the animation is the bomb. That travesty last night was a crime. (You’ll want to watch Surface Pressure, too.). The actual nominated song, Dos Orugitos, needs a bit of context from the rest of the film to fully understand.

I loved Esperanza’s “Wonderful World” In Memoriam, and also Queen Latifa’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Just a stripped down, melancholy song done with no frills by the oldest instrument used to express grief—the human voice. I also love when they include everyone, from major actors and directors to costume designers and sound engineers. As a black church girl, I get that they were going for a joyful Homegoing Celebration kind of vibe with the upbeat “choir” medley. But this wasn’t the audience for it. I’m sure there weren’t too many people in that auditorium thinking, Hmm, I could go for some Bapticostal hand clapping and foot stomping to honor these deceased people right now. You could probably do something like that at the BET Awards, but not the Oscars.

I’m sure this is neither the worst nor the most violent thing that’s ever happened to Chris Rock at a comedy gig.

Damn. I was really rooting for LMM. Dos O is a beautiful song that is intrinsic to the plot and tone of the movie. NTTD is just cookie cutter Bond. Anyway, LMM will have many more chances. I like Will Smith, and I hate when someone I like does something really stupid. At least Jane Campion can let out a big sigh of relief, as she isn’t the biggest A-hole of the awards season anymore.

I liked the football “gimmick.” The blue team almost screwed itself over by trying to game the points (changing the order), but it turned out that the red team chef would have gone home in any event. It was cool that Dawn coached her team to a win in this challenge, since she won her season’s head-to-head drive in movie challenge with popcorn. I think I rewound three times just to see Padma’s face as she tried to chew that queso crisp thing.

I was annoyed by this episode. I do internal investigations IRL, and the FIRST thing I would do would be to have the TA walk me through exactly what happened in that lecture regarding the salute, instead of listening to her whine about her student debt. I like Prof. Joan partly because she is funny and not an “older woman” caricature, but also because she sets expectations for her students (do the reading) and isn't interested in their fragility. I wish the town hall were purely satire of cancel culture but, sadly, no. I dislike Juju, but the age, phase, and adoption processing are pretty spot on.

I just binged S1 on Amazon Prime, and I don’t think I will be returning for S2. Although it had a better budget than PR, the emphasis on “brand” over design or construction made no sense. Weirdly, Megan’s elimination made me see red for a couple of days. Honestly, I felt like Megan was held to a standard of perfection, while Jonny’s flaws were excused. Megan lost the branding win because her model was sitting down, even though Jonny’s whole brand name put one in mind of a burn victim unit. And then this episode, Jonny’s first look was, everyone already has each of the pieces in their closet, versus, the crotch on this one pair of Megan’s pants isn’t perfect, and also, Esther invented black clothing. Megan should at least have made final three, as her collections consistently were wearable across a broad consumer base.

My UO: Bill Cosby’s Himself is in the Comedy Trilogy, along with Murphy’s Raw and Pryor’s Live On The Sunset Strip. It was funny then and is funny now, and a whole lot of folks can still recite it from memory. Also, The Cosby show was often genius, and deserved every Emmy it won. It anchored NBC’s Must See TV Thursday night, pioneered TV for black people, and provided a little education on black culture for non-black people.

This was a quarantine catch up binge for me. I was so disappointed. The crooked cops were one dimensional—like they wanted to be the cops from The Wire, except they were made out of cardboard. The family started out as a realistic picture of grief, then fell apart from stupidity. A family so deeply-rooted in the church, particularly the black church, would never have been left to disintegrate like that. There would have been a church mother with Latrice daily. Urban pastors have extensive training and, unfortunately, experience to counsel families who lose loved ones suddenly to violence. The courtroom scenes would have been laughable if they weren’t so rage inducing. Did the writers not know any lawyers who could consult? I would have done it free just to spare myself the aneurysm. The constant disregard for criminal law and procedure was just fricking lazy. This could have been really great drama, with something to say—how often do we see a story centered around a black person’s death that isn’t gun related and completely innocent? Instead, it sucked, Regina’s Emmy notwithstanding.

On my second watch, I noticed that Angelica has tears in her eyes when she begins "It's Quiet Uptown," and at two other points (third watch), Eliza has rolling tears. That floored me, since, who would notice that from the audience, yet both actors were so totally committed. I had watched a video essay (relating to the film version of Les Miz) all about how actors should not cry when they sing a sad song, but L-MM's choked up verses in "Quiet," as Eliza will not look at him, were really effective. On the comedy side, I loved the transition of "can we get back to politics?" with Madison's tearful, "Please?!" Diggs as Jefferson is my favorite thing to watch in the background of any scene he's in.

While I’m sure there are tons of specific African country (Ethiopian, Nigerian, Gambian) restaurants all over America, that’s not at all Eric’s concept. And for celebration of white Southern cooking without acknowledging the buried racial heritage of it, see Exhibit A: Paula Deen. Her whole shtick was “here’s how we cook in the South” (unspoken: “just like our Negro domestics used to make for our family for generations”). I think Stephanie was in that same headspace that Cheeto-on-a-Snickers Mikey was in seasons ago. She literally did not have the first clue where to start with the restaurant concept. Without that added pressure, she likely would have done just fine with her schnitzel.

Yes! I very much enjoyed learning about new categories of food, and for the most part, Eric's food was very well received in both seasons. I really want West African cuisine and, for that matter, Haitian cuisine, to be held in high regard in restaurants, like French or Italian food, and not relegated to food you eat at your friend's aunt's house. I didn't get the sense that Eric's restaurant would have literal shackles and other reminders of the slave trade, but rather colours that tied back to the theme, and would be pitched as food of the African diaspora (basically, food of everywhere in the Americas). I do think the name, Middle Passage, will disappear somewhere in the development of his restaurant. He'll be talked out of it. Honestly, I was more skeeved out by the Caucasian Brian Malarkey's concept of marrying food from the Baja (Mexican) with Asian cuisine -- all I could think was, yes, go ahead and marry up the cuisine of two oppressed California peoples and act like you invented it. Padma's "FFS" expression whenever Malarkey gets going is priceless. Also loved Leanne's Brad Pitt in "Se7en" impression: "What's in the booooooox?"

I finally watched Perks of Being a Wallflower and was incredibly moved by it. I loved that when my mind said, "Oh, this dramatic plot moment is about to happen" (e.g., this girl is going to betray the boy's confidence and humiliate him), something else BETTER happened. The sweet moments legit made me tear up. It's rare to see a teen movie that is not a collection of mean things happening to a character. Every time a "friendship" moment happened instead of a "because, plot" moment, it lifted me up just a little.

Unintentionally timely episode (if I ever get to watch it -- FY Fios), since AP flour is hard to find in grocery stores right now.

Padma seemed to be having a blast during this Quickfire -- not in a "this is going to be really hard" diabolical way, but rather she seemed ... delighted. And the casual jeans look really suited her. I loved that the top 3 Elim dishes were non Euro-American condiments.

The Wentworth chapters (recounted in flashback) are, imo, really well done. I've read them several times, pretty much each time in a different mood. Ultimately, it's the weightiness of Jamie's account that gets me: the way he tries every which way to get BJR to kill him or to die in the aftermath; what it takes to confess all the details to Claire; and the care with which Claire receives all of that information. Those chapters, more than any of the sex scenes, demonstrates to me how close and unbreakable their connection is.

I’m not good at remembering which book is which after Book 4, but: When Jamie holds it together long enough for Claire to treat his snakebite wound (pure alcohol right into the tissue) with her makeshift syringe, and only cries when everyone leaves. Claire tells Jamie that she named the baby Brianna, after his father, and he responds that it’s a terrible name—because she’s mispronouncing it. Jamie receives Extreme Unction and Last Rites in Book 1. So beautifully written. Also, Claire keeps watch over the Host in the chapel, and confesses her secret to Bro. Anselm. I love the whole Abbey section of the book. Unpopular opinion, but I think the spanking scene and its aftermath are quite hilarious. Jemmy ready to attack the bear with his wee knife. Turtle soup.

Watching Designated Survivor: FBI agent Hannah Wells works reluctantly with a British spy, begins an affair with him, then discovers that he may be double crossing her in her investigation. He sneaks into her apartment while she’s sleeping, then holds her at gunpoint. She’s pissed. He sits facing her, then places the gun next to her on the bed, saying he just wants to talk things through. When she (naturally) grabs the gun and points it at his head, he says, kind of smugly, “You’re not gonna shoot me.” She pauses. Just when I start rolling my eyes at the inevitable she lets her guard down because chemistry/sex/stupidity and he gets the drop on her moment, she says, “You’re right, I’m not gonna shoot you,” and clocks him unconscious with the butt of the gun. Next scene, he’s cuffed in an interrogation room. Love that character.

Having binged my way through Great British Baking Show and made some of the recipes semi-successfully, I was feeling myself. . . until at some point during last night's premiere I thought, I don't even understand what you did with that ingredient! These people's cooking is legit next level.

Geoffrey’s Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man collection was not at all attractive. More cartoonish than anything else. And, omg, the tears. So over him, whining about if he doesn’t win he’ll have to get a job. Boo hoo. I couldn’t get into Nancy’s fabric—it looked scratchy and stiff. It must have a different quality in real life. I ended up not liking Sergio or Victoria as characters, but each of them had some beautiful, wearable pieces. V’s white sweater dress was great and made me wish I had nice shoulders, or even just one. Sergio’s grey/silver reflective thing was stunning. i did enjoy the season as a whole: Christian’s tough, snarky love; the way they gave them extra help; the mix of model body types. There were a good 20-25 really fabulous looks throughout the season.

Kobe Bryant made sense, as an Oscar winner. Which is why Luke Perry, who was in a nominated film this year, being omitted was inexcusable.

It’s baffling that the Academy cannot keep track of film industry deaths over the course of the year. Just sign up for a forum like this and posters will do it for them. Also, what happened to iconic lines/ scenes that they usually include? You didn’t really get a chance to focus on each person’s contributions.

I love a show that doesn't explain every little reference to me. I had to google Gardner Minshew, and that made me happy. I teared up when Janet and Michael were saying goodbye ("make a doctor's appointment right away") when Janet's voice broke, and I imagined the moment he arrives back to take his test and meets her again for the first time. Look, 4 seasons of 22-minute episodes wasn't ever going to Explain It All, and it certainly doesn't line up with my chosen theology. But the idea of being able to walk into perfect peace and become one with the Universe (or, for me, God) is a very satisfying concept for me. I would love some version of that to be true. I think this finale was a home run. It would be nice if such a smart, compassionate, well-written, deep show were given its kudos at next year's Emmys.

He looks like he is in the process of traveling through time back to ancient Japan. Also: beautiful man, stupid suit.

Ashley the judge was very a lot. Everything she said at the runway seem designed to create a hashtag moment. Do they not show everyone's goodbye hug, or does Karli not hug every eliminee? I love Delvin more every week. I'm nobody's high fashion model, but I could easily be convince to wear that pant suit. It really was flattering on the model. Yeah, it wasn't earth-shattering, but in the end, he's got to build his business on stuff people will actually wear. I appreciated Marquise admitting that he lacked the skill/experience to tailor for a curvy model. Other designers in the past have blamed the model for not fitting their designs properly. Having said that, I wish the model had worn a foundation garment that lifted those girls; it would have made a difference with those tragic darts. Shut up, Sergio. And shut up, Victoria. At this point every designer has experienced the embarrassment, disappointment, and shame of being on the bottom (I think), so stop acting like a burn victim. And I love Christian's mentoring. He has credibility from having been in that same insane atmosphere, but also, his brand of mentoring is incredibly practical and helpful, not like Tim Gunn's vague "you should think very carefully about that..." He was spot on with Nancy's oversized coat situation.