Wiendish Fitch

Shirley Temple is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. I admit a lot of her performances are horribly dated and saccharine (though it feels unfair to place all the blame on her). I think I just mostly respect her for ending up so well-adjusted as an adult, because that level of fame when you're in the single digits would all but crush anyone else. But to give the late Ms. Temple her due, if I had to pick one performance that I think really displays her chops, it would be as Sara Crewe in 1939's The Little Princess. Yes, they change the ending from the book (to be fair, so did the excellent 1995 version), but I like that Temple genuinely goes through the emotional wringer. It turns out it is incredibly hard to stay brave and positive when you've lost everything and the world seems determined to break you. I also love the scene where Sara stands up to Miss Minchin. The "try it, bitch" look Temple gives Mary Nash when she threatens to slap her is perfection.

I'm sorry, but I HATE Rachel Zegler's hair in this. That horrible semi-Dutch bob parted in the middle is sooooooo unflattering. Say what you want about animated Snow White, but her hair was ON POINT: the soft, 1930s waves with the cute hair bow can't be improved upon.

I also hate Xander for the same reason I hate Ross and Rachel on Friends: I don't like people with "dog in the manger" attitudes. They all behaved like such appalling assholes when the person they liked (heavy emphasis on the past tense) was with someone else. Yeah, it sucks to like someone who doesn't reciprocate, or see your ex who you might still hold a torch for move one with another person... Get over it. No, seriously, get to adulting and suck it up. You struck out, they don't want to be with you, and no one is so special that they are owed a relationship. And I will bet dinner and a dessert that if Xander did wind up with Buffy, he would instantly grow bored with her, because wanting is more exciting than having.

I've brought up my revulsion at Xander's actions in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" a few times to other people, and someone will inevitably "challenge" me with a question like "So all characters should be perfect? Characters should never make mistakes?" That would be a "no". Characters absolutely should make mistakes. Characters should absolutely have flaws. But let's always keep the following questions in mind: 1. Is said shitty action motivated? If so, then by what? 2. Does the character in question suffer consequences, feel remorse, try to repent, whatever? Plenty of characters I like have done questionable or even horrible things. The difference? They realize they've done something terrible, feel remorse, confess and repent, and are willing to endure whatever comes their way in order to make amends. Xander's motivations for the love spell? To rob Cordelia of her autonomy, brainwash her into loving him, and then dump her just so he could assuage his wounded man pride (um, then what, asshole?). The consequences? Xander is mobbed by hundreds of brainwashed girls (but not really physically hurt), Amy and Giles (not Xander) are the ones who undo the spell, and... Cordelia gets back with Xander and Buffy thanks him for not raping her while she was brainwashed. Willow is miffed, but gets over it by the next episode. WTF?!?! Think of all the things that would have gone a long way in redeeming Xander in this episode. He could have gone on an arduous quest to fetch any materials needed to break the spell. Maybe Druscilla could have shown up in a violent, jealous rage (remember, the spell affected her, too) ready to kill everyone, and Xander could have placed himself in harm's way to protect them. Xander could have-bare minimum!- begged Buffy, Cordelia, and Willow for forgiveness for the awful, awful thing he did to them and put them through. Instead, it's treated as no worse a crime than farting in an elevator. He doesn't even regret it years after the fact. God, I hate Joss Whedon so much.

Bolded mine. If anyone needs me, I'll be taking a shower. For the rest of my natural life.

Christmas came early for Spartan Girl!

My feelings toward The Sound of Music are the same I have about 1942's Random Harvest: Let the haters sneer. I love this movie and think it's wonderful. One is free to mock this movie until they're blue in the lips, but The Sound of Music was made with absolute love. The setting, the sets, the iconic shots, the visual storytelling, the acting, the songs, everything comes together gorgeously. Robert Wise has some mediocrities on his resume, but when he was good, he was incredible. Julie Andrews is enchanting, of course, but I confess I mostly watch for Christopher Plummer (RIP). He was so ding-dang dashing and handsome, and who could forget this scene?

Jake at least got off easy.

I am so glad this is now part of my life.

Boy howdy, a fairy godmother sure would be nice right about now...

I can't decide what my favorite Kacey Musgraves song is, but this one is definitely up there.

She very likely would have.

If I'm wrong and there is a Hell, I hope Bela is forced to perform grueling exercises, while being deprived food and water,* and constantly being screamed at for being fat and lazy. All day. Every day. For all eternity. *Yeah, you probably don't need food and water in the afterlife, let me have my comeuppance fantasy.

Bette Davis. That is all I will say.

Oh, that's good! 😃

My Starship Troopers UO: Diz had it all over that vacuous Carmen.

I watched the last episode last night and... yeah, no, I have no sympathy for Katie (I REFUSE to call her by her other name). She was an abusive, exploitative cult leader with bullshit philosophies and horrific judgment. While I agree that women tend to get criticized more harshly than men, I am not going to succumb to whataboutism. That Harbhajan Singh Puri (I also won't call him by his preferred name) was an utter monster doesn't make what Katie did all right. Yes, her crimes were lesser, but she was still horrible as well. I practice what I call Basic Bitch Yoga, and I find it extremely beneficial, but there are too many out there who twist yoga into something gross and sinister that's cultish at worst, ruinously expensive at best.

A few weeks ago I had an interview for a receptionist position at an insurance company. It was a video interview, it went well, and the interviewer sent me the link to an online course to get my insurance license (yes, even receptionists need one). Not only that, he even gave me access to the employee discount (I was able to get it for 50% off). I got to studying, and then I got invited for an in-person follow-up interview! Awesome, right?? They saw something in me, I'm a diamond in the rough, or else they wouldn't have hooked me up with a discounted online course to get an insurance license! So I went in, did the best I could (certainly couldn't have been as awful as my last interview), and... I didn't get the job. It could have been for any number of reasons, and they don't owe me a job, but I can't help but be a little pissed that I was stupid enough to get my hopes up and that my time was wasted. I am still studying, I will try to get my license; not because I want to, but only because I'm hoping it will make me a more attractive hire.

He was so fun as King Francis in one of my all time favorite movies, Ever After.

I've unsubscribed to Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert on my YouTube account. I don't even want jokey reminders.

I cannot remember the last time I had any interest in what Bill Burr had to say. Now, more than ever, I have no tolerance or patience for aging edge-lord comedians who just rehash the same fucking points over and over again

"Just keep telling yourself..."

I believed, really believed, that people had seen the light and that good would triumph over evil. I want to slap myself for being so stupid and naive. People wanted this, and I don't know how much is borne from a genuine belief in this grotesque hellspawn, or how much was just to spite the other side they hate so much. And I actually felt guilty, like I hadn't done enough. For the record, my husband and I both voted, and that was all we could have done, but I still felt responsible somehow. I can't remember the last time I felt so goddamn powerless, and I can't even bring myself to imagine what the future will be like.

Really, how can you go wrong with Bob Marley?

I remember when, after 9/11, MTV showed this video constantly. The song still puts me at ease all these years later.