Luckylyn

That article surprised me. I had heard the stories of Barrowman exposing himself but not about him touching people with it. The flashing is bad enough but doing stuff like placing your penis on an actress as she sits in the makeup chair is too much. The stuff about things improving after Tennant joined the show I guess means Barrowman didn’t expose himself on set in the episodes he guest stared in during the Tennant era. But what exactly was happening on Torchwood because it happened there too. I don’t buy he was reprimanded because it was ongoing apparently even when he moved on to Torchwood. But the behavior did stop eventually so maybe after a long while something was said to him. I am fond of Barrowman but so disappointed too.

I remember Pratt talking about it on Graham Norton. He mentioned getting a letter from the network making it clear he wasn’t allowed to do it again. He seemed more amused than chastised by it. At least the people in charge set a clear boundary. People won’t do inappropriate things on set if the people in charge make it clear it’s not okay. The people in power have to set the standard and enforce it. But when people are permitted to do whatever they want without consequences from the boss it’s a recipe for a toxic environment.

The John Barrowman situation makes me understand why people can have blindspots in this situation because I find I am such a fan that I struggle to think badly of him. I have enjoyed him so much over the years and hear all these lovely stories of him being wonderful with fans. When stories about Micheal Weatherly’s behavior on set including taking down his pants happened it didn’t even occur to me to compare that to John Barrowman flashing people on the set of Doctor Who and Torchwood. It’s an old commonly known story that been told as jokes for years by members of the cast and even is mentioned in a parody song. Now I can look back and see this was problematic. Freema Agyeman’s story off being startled to see Barrowman walk around set with his penis out and how everyone behaved matter of fact like it was a normal part of the day was interesting. She didn’t see it as funny. Did the whole group really think it was hilarious or did they feel they had to act okay with it? Does it matter that he hasn’t repeated this behavior in several years and apologized years ago? If people felt harmed but didn’t feel comfortable speaking up an apology doesn’t fix that. Still can people change and be redeemable. But harm done even if unintentional is still harm. Barrowman isn’t the only issue but the people in charge on set that allowed it also need to be discussed. I am really curious how Barrowman responses. I follow him on Facebook. He normally posts daily but he’s gone silent. He hasn’t posted in several days. I don’t know if he’s just sitting quietly hoping the controversy will pass or if a statement is coming. This video captures my mixed up feelings about Barrowman and also references the Noel Clarke allegations.

I feel like some characters have an expiration date and that it can hurt a show for the character to keep coming back. I felt that way about Sylar on Heroes. I was pissed he survived after season 1. I felt the character worked in a limited capacity and keeping him around damaged the show. When a villian lingers too long it diminishes the stakes in the conflict because it’s just lather, rinse, repeat until the show’s series finale. Then there’s the villian who ends up “redeemed”. Sometimes that works but I hate unearned villian redemptions. Dan Scott from One Tree Hill getting escorted to heaven by the ghost of the brother he murdered will never fail to piss me off.

One thing I found fascinating/horrifying is how willful blind the production was to how bad Weatherly’s behavior was. They submitted to court behind the scenes footage that showed that Eliza cursed on set as if that was somehow worse than sexual harassment. This evidence that they assumed would damage Eliza’s case just ended up providing the judge with footage of her harassment and the toxic environment on set. Somehow the people in charge of the didn’t see the harassment even when looking at their own footage. It’s so hard to come forward when the people you are dealing with refuse the see the problem right in front of them. In the end, the person who points out whats wrong is treated as the problem while the people causing the hostile work environment are protected. So Eliza gets fired for pointing out there’s an issue, but Weatherly continues without consequences. It’s like you see a person burning down a house and you report it but everyone is mad at you for pointing out the fire instead of being mad at the person who set it. It’s so unfair. And people have the nerve to wonder why victims have a hard time coming forward.

I really loved this analysis of the fashion of Fran Fine on The Nanny My favorites:

Death has been handled inconsistently in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Some were permanent and others were worked around like your example of a character continuing in the series as a ghost. So I guess there’s a possibility that the character I mentioned could return but the way things were handled made it seem this was a permanent one. But who knows. Almost anything is possible in this series.

I just started Lover Unveiled by JR Ward. I really enjoy the Black Dagger Brotherhood books but am feeling a little weary. The last book in the series killed off a character I had assumed was going to get featured in their own book at some point. I thought there was some potential for a story for them. So I was kinda disappointed. Still the world of the series is getting bigger and bigger and many new characters added so it makes sense that some characters aren’t going to get their own story and will either remain a side character or leave the narrative in one way or another.

I enjoyed when a YouTuber referred to Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a romantic comedy with explosions. I thought after Civil War that Sam/Bucky had the potential to be an epic Snark to Love romance but didn’t think Disney would got through with it. Instead they are more like bickering brothers than sparring lovers. I was disappointed that they didn’t go with a romantic storyline with Sam/Bucky. Still I am on board for Bucky/Sarah despite their minuscule screen time. There’s a spark there and it’s sweet how they smile around each other. And Bucky with Sarah’s kids is so appealing. Seeing Bucky so relaxed and at home is lovely. I feel like he really needed a home and that he has that now. He has people to return to when he isn’t fighting regardless of whether or not he ends up romancing one of the Wilson siblings. As for Sharon and Sam, she was definitely checking him out when he had his shirt off. So I wondered where that might go but now they’ve taken Sharon in a direction that makes a romance unlikely. One thing though is

He just looks so content and at home with the Wilson family as a whole. Plus I really like Sarah. She’s a civilian who gets the job that Sam and Bucky do.

“While travelling with top-secret documents on a B-17 Flying Fortress, a female WWII pilot encounters an evil presence on board.” So I think the premise had the potential to be a great suspenseful action movie. Those early scenes with her trapped and hearing the horrible things being said over the intercom were really good. I like that at moments I worried she was in danger from them and then at other points I wondered if she was the danger to them. I was really getting into it and coming up with theories about what was in the box. I wanted to know the symbolism behind the red and green colors. The director made some interesting stylistic choices, and I loved the score even though the music was more 80s than 40s. But somewhere after I think 40 minutes it basically turns into a ridiculous live action cartoon. It just gets more and more bonkers. I realized that I just needed to turn my brain off. This movie was accidentally hilarious. I laughed so hard. I had so much fun watching it. It’s terrible in a way that is so entertaining. I genuinely recommend watching it for a good time. This review really gets into how bananas the movie gets

I associate that song with that movie and it makes me smile everytime.

I remember watching a documentary about disability and film. One commenter gave an example of casting a scene of a guy running into an ex-girlfriend in a bar. Casting defaults to white, slim, cisgender, and not disabled. The ex-girlfriend is a blank slate and could be played by anyone. There many roles that on paper are blank slates where the casting could go a variety of ways but people in the industry default to the same type over and over. When casting Lethal Weapon, when Danny Glover’s name came up the director Richard Donner initially said no because Murtaugh was white. Luckily the casting director pushed back and asked where in the script it said Murtaugh was white. The script said nothing about the race of the characters and Donner said it made him realize he defaulted to white. He said the situation made him realize he had some subconscious biases that he needed to be aware of. He was someone who had marched in support of civil rights and it never occurred to him that he could have that kind of bias. It’s good that Donner reevaluated rather than get defensive and double down on the insistence that Murtaugh was white. There’s this idea that the script must specify that the character is disabled, non-white, not straight, etc... in order to cast more diversely. But it should be that if the character isn’t specifically labeled then casting should be wide open to a variety of people.

I definitely saw a spark in the little screen time they had. Plus he’s good with her kids. I hope in future movies they have more interactions. In the finale

I just finished Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. I liked a lot of it but sometimes got frustrated with repetitive conversations between the leads. I thought the conflict addressing real woman’s rights issues of the time period was good. I am going to start Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron. The novel is set 200 years after Cinderella has married the prince. Girls have to attend a special ball when they turn 16 where they are either selected to be brides or are never seen again. The lead of this book is trying to resist being forced to participate in the ball.

Lindsay Ellis mentioned in her video that she won’t be able to walk away from Twitter like she wants to because she has contractual obligations to her publisher that require her to post. So she’s planning to honor that but otherwise stay off of Twitter. I wonder if Chrissy may have similar obligations.

Lindsay Ellis has posted a video in response to the Twitter drama It's quite long and really deep dives into the various issues.

I love The Matchmaker! I appreciated the scenery porn in As Luck Would Have It. I enjoyed it. I really liked both leads. I remember the actress from the Reba sitcom. I also remember the actor from Dowton Abbey.

I have blocked that from my memory. It’s like a rejected Sargent Pepper uniform.

I am starting The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King. It’s a fantasy about an orphan girl eventually becoming a warrior.

I liked the Ugly Betty finale that left the outcome for Daniel and Betty ambiguous . Daniel realizes he has feelings for Betty and asks her to dinner but viewers never see the dinner so it’s up to our opinion what happens next. If you want to believe she rejects him romantically but they stay friends or if you believe she loves him too is up to you.

Even though the friend to lovers trope can be wonderful, there is value in strong platonic friendships. I am so happy that 30 Rock never went romantic with Liz/Jack and Parks and Rec kept Lesile/Ron as friends. I wish Zoey/Max was kept platonic on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. He’s got this “nice guy entitlement” attitude that comes out towards Zoey that makes him hard to like sometimes. In other interactions I like him. I don’t like the Simon romance either because of the emotional cheating when he was engaged. Plus I hated that whole quad of Max/Zoey/Simon/Fiancee whose name I forgot. The writers need to not have her go back and forth between Max and Simon. Let her pick one and stick to it or just be single for the season letting her meet someone viable (not neighbor guy) for endgame in season 3. Also Zoey comes off poorly. She breaks up with Max because she’s not ready so soon after the death of her father but then she’s going to be with Simon. I’m not thrilled about Simon/Zoey because I wanted them to be friends but now that it’s gone in that direction I want the show to stick to it and not have her end up ping ponging back and forth between Simon and Max. I hope giving Max a new love interest works out. I do find him more likable when he’s not in romantic mode with Zoey. The only good thing about the Max/Zoey/Simon triangle is that the guys ended up friends with each other and Mo. I thought that was a unique direction to go. I want more Max/Mo/Simon friendship stuff.

I just finished Forever Amber. I found the ending abrupt and unsatisfying. It’s almost like the author didn’t know what to do next so it just ended. It’s one of those books where most of the characters are not likable but can be compelling. I can respect Amber’s cynicism and ruthlessness. A woman of her class in that time period had such limited options and so some choices I don’t judge her for. But the whole fixation on Bruce is one that really diminishes her as a character because of how desperate she is. I am firmly convinced his unattainability is his main attraction for her and that she’d grow bored if she ever felt she had him completely. That’s a romance where both are terrible and you pity the people around them who love them. Now I am moving on to read Act Your Age, Eve Brown which is the third book in The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert. I really have enjoyed these books. After finishing Forever Amber I need to read a book with likable engaging characters. Plus, I there’s so much comfort in romance novels because of that guaranteed happy ending.

I love Something New. Great characters and hot chemistry.

$20 remake of Justice League. This looked fun to make. I especially loved their laughably cheap but creative special effects. It made me flashback to my childhood where we’d try to recreate movies like Back to the Future.