Netflix's show about President Garfield is Lightning in a bottle

I've spent the last 10 years recommending Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard to people, particularly when I'm volunteering at Ford's Theatre. Most people don't know anything about President James A. Garfield, much less about his assassin; before reading that book, I only really knew what I had learned from Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell and the musical Assassins. The book is fantastic; go read it.

So naturally I was VERY excited when I saw that Netflix was released a limited-run series based on it, titled Death by Lightning (from a letter written by Garfield, in which he noted that "Assassination can no more be guarded against than death by lightning"), and prayed that it would be better than Apple TV's Manhunt. Of course, being much less versed in Garfield assassination lore than in Lincoln, I knew I wouldn't be turning quite the same critical eye on it--particularly since it has been almost 10 years since I read the book.

Matthew Macfadyen (Charles Guiteau) and Michael Shannon (James Garfield). (Larry Horicks/Netflix)

I was struck that, like Manhunt, the tv adaptation told a pretty different story than the book did. There's maybe 40 minutes left in the series when Charles Guiteau shoots President Garfield, which seems like an odd choice, because one of the remarkable things about the Garfield assassination is how very long it took Garfield to die (more than 2 months). Another fascinating piece is the Guiteau trial, one of the first major trials where it looked like the insanity defense could come into play.

One of the biggest things I remember from Destiny is the involvement of Alexander Graham Bell--his history, his inventions, his motivation to try to help find the bullet lodged inside of the President. In Lightning, he's basically a cameo.

I do wish the show had spent more time after the shooting. But the story the show wanted to tell was, for some reason, the clash between Garfield and Roscoe Conkling. It makes some sense, in today's world, to want to tell the story of Garfield, who seems to have been an excellent person, fighting the political machine and winning. If there's a takeaway from this story, it's that the spoils system is bad. And especially right now, it's good that people (a) learn what the spoils system is and (b) learn that it's bad.

The show does a good job of weaving Guiteau through the story. We only get flashes of his life before 1880, but it's enough. Macfadyen's portrayal is pretty much exactly as I've picture Charles Guiteau--enthusiastic and off-putting and sometimes charming but a bit strange. It's truly a fantastic performance. The flashes of anger, of betrayal; his convictions; the way he writes his story in his head, it's all there. There are moments when you feel bad for him, but then he goes and does something and you're out.

Honestly, the entire cast is fantastic. There's a lot of great performances, including Michael Shannon as Garfield, Nick Offerman as Chester Arthur (and I feel like Arthur historians undoubtedly were yelling at their televisions throughout the show; I know virtually nothing about the man and still feel like liberties were clearly taken with his story), Bradley Whitford as James Blaine, Betty Gilpin as Lucretia Garfield. Like, yes, thank you, I do want to watch Josh Lyman and Ron Swanson go at it! And when Gilpin's Crete confronts Macfadyen's Guiteau while he's in jail...that scene was amazing. I'm sure it never happened, but I don't care. 

Do I wish the show reflected Millard's book better? Absolutely. Do I plan on recommending it to anyone and everyone, particularly when I'm volunteering at Ford's Theatre? Also yes. Seriously, go watch this show; it's only four episodes and is well worth your time. 

Living the retired life

Capers in fabulous retirement communities seem to be having a moment, between Netflix's A Man on the Inside and The Thursday Murder Club book series and Netflix movie. And honestly, I am here for it. It's good to see that kind of age representation on screen, and also for people to see life in senior living communities.

I've seen some people say that Pacific View Retirement Community isn't realistic. It seems a lot of people--and, indeed, some of the media surrounding Inside--think that it's a nursing home. And it isn't. At nursing homes, people are generally getting a lot more care; it's generally even more than what you'd get in an assisted living facility. Rather, retirement communities tend to offer a continuum of care, where residents can live independently and, if needed, eventually move to assisted living (generally still with very nice apartments and amenities) and/or memory care. They're not nursing homes.

(Coopers Chase, in Thursday Night, is possibly unrealistic. The thing is, like, a castle. It was filmed where Pippa Middleton got married, for heaven's sake! And the apartments the characters live in match the setting. Pacific View is nice, but in a way that matches my experiences. But I also certainly don't know anyone in England in a fancy retirement community.)

What really struck me with Inside is how well it showed the different levels of care in the community (though it did generally skip over assisted living; there barely was anyone even with a cane, much less a walker or wheelchair), and I loved the depiction of life for the residents. Particularly, though Ted Danson's Charles moves in and immediately starts getting to know everyone and make friends (as part of his assignment to hunt down a jewelry thief), it shows that that's not the case for everyone. And the residents talk about how they handle the knowledge that they're in a community where many of them will die, where people will deteriorate physically and mentally. 

But these are communities! The activities we see at Pacific View and Cooper's Chase are accurate. There are happy hours and classes and sports and excursions. There's gossip and cliques. There are routines and resident committees. 

There were so many little moments in the show that hit him for me. Both of my grandmothers lived in retirement communities; my dad's mother lived in a couple before winding up in an assisted living facility. My mother has lived in all parts of a retirement community--independent living, assisted living, and memory care.

Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix

Both Man and Thursday Night deal quite directly with adults with memory loss and both were so well done. In both, a main character has a spouse with memory loss (both presumably Alzheimer's, but I don't remember whether it was specified in either); I feel like the portrayal in Thursday Night is a bit more idealized, perhaps, but everyone's journey is different (and I only hope Stephen stays at that plateau for a long, long time). Man, being a series, has a bit more time to spend, so we get to not only learn about Charles's experience as a caregiver, but also experience not only residents experiencing memory loss but also, again, how the other residents handle that situation.

None of it is easy. Charles and his daughter have a conversation near the end of the series that pretty much broke me. It all rings incredibly true.

These are both very much worth watching. Man is from Michael Shur, who did the Good Place and Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine Nine; it is very funny. (Bonus: One of the characters is an Orioles fan!) Shur is incredibly good at finding the balance of humor and poignancy. Thursday Night is less funny--though it certainly has its moments--but is a very fun whodunit. 

And they're both excellent reminders that life doesn't end at 30...or 40...or 70.  

JUST SING ALREADY

I have, of course, been watching The Gilded Age, which is now in its third season on HBO and has been picked up for a fourth. It's from Julian Fellowes, who also did Downton Abbey and Gosford Park. It's not as good as those; there are far too many characters, particularly since the action focuses on two households and have the family and servants for both. There are definitely storylines where the characters appear on the screen and I'm just like, "Ugh, I don't care!" 

The thing is...the actors. I'm not saying that literally every one of them has at least a Tony nomination, but most of them do. One of the storylines I don't care about involves the chef at one of the houses, and I can't get too mad at it because the chef is played by Douglas Sills, who I saw in The Scarlet Pimpernel in the 90s and actually met at the stagedoor and let me tell you, he was the loveliest person.

However, all this also means that I spend every episode muttering about how I just want everyone to start singing. This has gone into hyperdrive this season, because while Audra McDonald--AUDRA MCDONALD!!!--has been a regular for the entire run, BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL just showed up this season. Every time they appear on the screen together, I practically start vibrating on the coach from the strength of my desire for the two of them to start dueting.

On the positive side, the actors themselves are very aware of it. Morgan Spector, who plays George Russell (and who doesn't have a ton of musical theater in his background, though Wikipedia says he did a tour of The Lion King), said in a Variety interview

“You know what we should do? There’s the British tradition of the Christmas special,” Spector tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “If we could have a Christmas special, then we could have some singing and it would be great. Give the people what they want.”  

Someone needs to get on this. 

Rebellions are built on hope

My sister is a big Star Wars fan, so I grew up surrounded by the original trilogy. I don't particularly remember sitting down to watch the movies that often, but watching them now, I sure can recite an awful lot of the dialogue. Which came in handy, because my husband is also a big Star Wars fan. We haven't watched all of the various Star Wars properties, but we've watched quite a few.

After the first season of Andor came out, everyone raved about it, saying it was one of the best Star Wars-related properties in years. So naturally we watched it; we just finished the second season (and naturally had to finish off Cassian's story with Rogue One.) 

After watching the first season, I remember thinking that I liked it well enough--I mean, Diego Luno is fantastic--but wasn't as over the moon about it as some people. And that remains true after the second season, which I did like quite a bit. There were some plotlines that I wasn't particularly interested in (i.e., pretty much anything with Mon Mothma, though I did like the wedding; Saw, who I honestly had forgotten about being in Rogue One; that weird bit with Cassian in the group of random rebels early in season two, which I assume is Making a Statement about the looseness of the rebellion) and it felt like bits could be tightened up.

I spent a lot of time watching the second season and thinking about when this must've been written--ages ago, given the amount of time it takes to revise, film, do post-production, etc.--and how incredibly resonant it is for today's world. And I got frustrated thinking about the number of people watching this series who voted for Trump who can reconcile that (or, honestly, just not even think about it) while rooting for Cassian and Mon. It felt like the show was ripped from today's headlines, with the news that Syril's mother watches and the protests on Ghorman and how they were framed by the government and the reaction to the massacre there and the checking of papers on whatever planet that was where Bix was hiding out. It honestly felt too on-the-nose at times for me, to the point that I was distracted from the actual show.

Hopefully there are people who watched it and thought about it and thought about what the creators of Andor were trying to say about our own current political situation, and how tenuous a time it is we live in. Sadly, I wound up mostly thinking about sure, Cassian helped to bring down the Death Star. But they built another. And even after that was destroyed, the Empire rose again (much as people want to not think about Episodes 7 through 9) (OK, not think about Episodes 8 and 9; The Force Awakens was dope).

Rebellions are built on hope. Sometimes it's hard to find some. It does help knowing that there are people like Cassian and Mon and even Luthen out there. 

The Simpsons and history: A comedy!

My favorite Simpsons episode is "Cape Feare," in which Sideshow Bob gets out of jail and chases the Simpsons, who are in Witness Protection, to Terror Lake. The courtroom scene, the H.M.S. Pinafore performance, the rakes! Genius.

Woolly Mammoth's Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play is set at some point in the near future, after an unnamed catastrophe has turned off the power, wiped cities off the map, and caused nuclear power plants to melt down. A small group of survivors spend their time recounting the plot and memorable quotes of "Cape Feare", and we see the shared history of The Simpsons bring the group together--when they're not confronting strangers with guns and patting them down.

The second and third acts bring us 7 years in the future, then 75 years after that, giving us a chance to see how civilization has progressed and how they remember what life was like "before." The longing of people to be able to relive the past was fascinating, and playwright Anne Washburn's details seemed believable (trying to figure out how many cans of Diet Coke were left, for example, made perfect sense).

The third act gives us the final telling of "Cape Feare," blending the story with how the survivors' descendants viewed the long-past disaster. The play moved from largely comical to a much more dramatic tone.

The play appealed to me as a theatre lover, a fan of The Simpsons, and a historian. ("Historian." History major?) How do we remember what happened? How important is pop culture? How does pop culture influence our lives? When we don't have the resources to remember the details of everything our lives--a post-Google world--how do we share what's important?

It was an entertaining play, and a thought-provoking one. If frustrating. I may have spent part of the first act mentally trying to tell the actors various quotes from the episode. It only made the show that much more relevant to me.

Synthesis

I just finished reading Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the International Hunt for His Assassin. This is how history books should be written. It's always amazing when you read a book in which you know the outcome manages to be a real page-turner. I did not want to put this book down. Sides manages to weave together the stories of Eric Galt (a.k.a. James Earl Ray), Martin Luther King Jr., and the FBI in the days leading up to April 4, 1968 flawlessly. In so many books like this, I usually find myself more interested in one of the stories, but that wasn't the case with this book.

And then I discovered that PBS had done an American Experience on this topic: Roads to Memphis. It's basically the same story, exactly--Sides even pops up. But it was fascinating getting to watch the players in action. Particularly moving was the footage of the speech King gave the night before he died. I'm pretty sure I had heard parts of it before, but in context, it's fascinating.

Today I was at the National Museum of American History and went to see the Kinsey Collection, which relates to African American history, and found myself staring at a sign held by marchers just after King's death. As I was leaving after working in the American Presidency exhibit, the program on the Greensboro sit-ins was going on, so I stopped to watch...and wound up singing "On My Way to Freedomland," which I had just heard in Roads to Memphis. It just all came together, and really has piqued my interest in the civil rights movement.

It's called acting, Nick. Look it up.

I was conflicted when I heard that Nick Jonas not only was portraying Marius in Les Mis, but that he'd be part of the 25th anniversary concert. I justified that it wasn't really stunt casting because he had played Gavroche when he was little; plus, he's clearly the talented Jonas Brother (at least, he's the one who writes their music; plus he plays drums AND guitar!) (and probably piano?). (Though it isn't like Les Mis hasn't resorted to stunt casting in the past but LA LA LA I can't hear you.)

Anyway, someone linked to a clip of his performance in a discussion of the British series I'd Do Anything, which followed the search for a Nancy in the West End production of Oliver! Apparently, one of the runners-up not only ALSO was in that concert (Eponine), but she and Nick are an item.

ANYWAY. So I heard the clip a bit and was actually impressed. He didn't sound bad at all! So that's good. And then I watched the clip. And dude did NOT impress me with his acting. He seemed very...samey. His character in JONAS was very dry, and maybe that's just his personality, because watching that clip, I just saw Nick Jonas. Not Marius. I mean, he's obviously trying to act. It just looks odd (his entrance is at about 3:00).



And then, of course, is the originator of the role, My Boyfriend Michael Ball. Here he is in the 10th anniversary concert, when he's both too old and too puffy for the part. But because he has actual theatrical training, he is Marius (entrance around 2:00). Just because you can sing a role doesn't mean that you're necessarily acting it.



(Need to keep going? "A Heart Full of Love" is here.)

Counting the days

Oh my G, people. When I was little, I had a Sesame Street Christmas album (on tape) that I loved. I adored this thing. I only had the tape itself, not the case. But I listened to that thing all the frickin' time around the holidays. To the point that yes, my tape died. And then I couldn't find it on CD. And I was heartbroken, because there's nothing people like more than to relive things from their childhood.

And then, oh day of days!, there it was. On Amazon. I LOVE THE INTERNET. I sampled the songs. The track list was right. And, for $8.99, it was mine. And then I scared the cats by clapping excitedly and squealing. I do not care that it's not even Thanksgiving. I AM LISTENING TO THIS BAD BOY RIGHT NOW.

And I have never been happier.

Edit. I am possibly gaining insight into my psyche. During "The 12 Days of Christmas," they go through and make comments on each piece. Grover had "8 maids a milking" and you hear cows and he says, "Aw, cows!" And I? Love cows. And Grover is my favorite. This all makes sense now!

Behind the times

I consider myself fairly up on pop culture. I do pretty well in general conversation; if someone mentions a book or a movie or an Internet meme or celebrity scandal, I usually have heard of it and am familiar with the general situation/plot/whatever.

I run into problems with music, though. I don't think I've been really up on music since I was in elementary school (and buying Madonna's True Blue on record). I frequently have heard of a song--which, when it comes to a movie or tv show, is good enough. I can cough up actors or the latest evictee from a reality show. But with music? It's harder. I can see people referring to songs, but rarely have I actually heard the song.

For example, watching Glee, a lot of the time, I'm all, "I don't know this song at all," and my friend Dave will be all, "Really???" I heard of Cee Lo Green's "F--k You" AGES ago, but only just heard the song itself a couple of days ago (when I finally watched the video on YouTube) (totally worth it, by the way) (and, OK, I did it because I know it's going to be on Glee next week). Katy Perry's "California Gurls"? Heard of it in, like, June. Heard the song? August or so.

This is the problem with getting so much your pop culture knowledge from the Internet instead of actually experiencing it for myself.

Making someone's day

The last time I volunteered at Ford's Theater, I was working the outside line, meaning that I answer questions ("Where's the Spy Museum?") and make sure that everyone has the correct ticket. I noticed a guy's t-shirt as he walked into the lobby--"Rogue Demon Hunter." I looked at him and asked, "You hunt rogue demons?" He and his girlfriend stopped and looked at me. I was like, "Angel, right?" They grinned and said that I was the first person to get the reference. It was awesome.

So glad my brain retains this stuff

I was at work the other day when a guy walked by. I asked a coworker who it was, and she said, "Oh, that's Gordon." And out of nowhere, my mind went here:




I cannot remember the last time I thought of Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, a Disney movie that first aired in 1990. I recorded it and watched it approximately a million times. Depite it being at least, oh, 15 years since I've seen that, I can sing along to that song. And I totally had a crush on Dan Gilroy, who played Gordon. (Though I liked him in the outfit he wears through most of the movie; less so the new jacket and hat from the end of the movie.)

Naturally, I immediately had to see whether there were any clips on YouTube. And the whole thing is on there! I have never been so happy!* And at some point, I'm going to rewatch. Because I'm sure it'll hold up! It's only been 20 years. I'm sure I'll still like everything I liked when I was 11.

* This may be an exaggeration.

Looking for lighter fare

Naturally I watched the Emmys last night--I love award shows and I love television. It's a can't miss. And the opening was just a complete win.



And John Hodgman is also awesome. The show started off well enough; I was hoping for an NPH win, but Eric Stonestreet is great on Modern Family. Jim Parsons is fabulous in Big Bang Theory, so I was psyched for him. I'm not the biggest Sue Sylvester fan, but Jane Lynch gave a fantastic acceptance speech.

As the night went on, though, I realized something. I don't watch dramas on tv. I watched Lost, but it's done. I have the entire second season of The Mentalist on my DVR, and the second half of Flash Forward. I couldn't get into The Good Wife and don't watch House for some unknown reason (yes, I know that Hugh Laurie is fantastic). Breaking Bad? The Wire? Mad Men? Nope, nope, nope. I watched part of the first season of Mad Men, but didn't care enough to keep going.

I could probably get into some of them, but there are a lot that I just can't get motivated for. I can't cope with dark, dark, dark, and it seems like a lot of the dramas on tv these days tend to be very dark. I'm sure these are good shows with great acting, etc. I just think that right now in my life, I prefer entertainment that makes me happy.

All about preparation and deprecation

A while back I took an online Jeopardy! test. Things lined up for me, and I actually did well enough on the test to get contacted about a follow-up audition, which involves an interview, a mock game, and, God help me, another test. I've decided I need to prep for this (and if you are an expert in a particular field, feel free to pass helpful information my way!), and, naturally, have decided that the best way to prepare is to read Ken Jennings's book Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. Hey! It has some questions in it.

But, really, it's a history of trivia woven with the story of Ken Jennings's Jeopardy! run. When writing about his time on Jeopardy!, Jennings needs to walk a fine line. If you're reading the book, you obviously know why Ken Jennings is famous. And when he writes about appearing on the show--particularly when he writes about the early games, when his goal was to win one game, and the games that were close--it would be really easy to come across as falsely modest. But he doesn't.

He comes across as really, really likeable.

He totally owns up to his nerdiness, explaining how he got that way, admitting that he was ashamed of it at certain points in his life. He's amusingly self-deprecating (not obnoxiously self-deprecating), and he outlines his thought processes enough that you're always on the same page as him. (Insert rimshot here.) He writes about how he felt bad about the people he beat--and again, it comes across as very genuine. Obviously he couldn't be all, "Ha ha, SUCKERS!" in the book, but that he acknowledges his advantages (comfort with the buzzer, etc.) and that luck is involved is good to read.

If I didn't already like him, I would've been won over when I got to page 179. He write about his relationship with Alex Trebek. Because of the rules regarding contestants interacting with anyone who has access to the questions, Jennings and Trebek weren't allowed to interact other than what you saw on screen. Jennings himself wondered whether Alex was annoyed with him (his musings about the producers freaking out about his streak are pretty funny). Which leads to this:

Despite all the quality time Alex and I have been spending together lately, he still seems a little chilly, as if he's rooting against me. Is this just part of his constant saltine-dry impartiality? Does he think I'm bad for the show? Does he dislike sharing the spotlight with a sidekick? Or is he just plain sick of me? I feel like passing a junior-high mash note up to his podium. "Dear Alex. Do you like me? Check one. Yes/No."

Awesome. I highly recommend this book. Also, I kind of want to be friends with Ken Jennings now.

I could be your girlfriend

There was a period of time where I read a lot of Office fanfic. But I also quite enjoyed fanvids. This was during the Pam-Jim-Karen triangle, and one of my favorites was to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend":



So much, I loved this video. To the point that I downloaded the song and still love listening to it.

Anyway, years go by. After Kristin Chenowith's recent stint on Glee, I found myself back on YouTube, looking for fanvids of Olive and Ned from Pushing Daisies. (I liked Chuck, sure, but there's no way she and Ned could have a real relationship. Plus, I have a ginormous soft spot for unrequited love. So I shipped Ned and Olive.) And what do I find? Same song:



Whee! I'll pretend it isn't totally lame that this completely made my night.

And holy crap. There are at least three for Veronica Mars, which is kind of odd, because of these shows, it's the one that really doesn't have much of a triangle. Sure, there are times that people get between Logan and Veronica, but most of the time, it's their own issues that are the problem, not other people. I don't care, though. LoVe videos are right up there with Jim/Pam ones for me.

Darn good tv

A bit belated, but the other day was the 20th anniversary of the debut of Twin Peaks. And thinking back, there is NO WAY that 11-year-old me should've been watching that show. I actually can't think of Bob without getting freaked out.

I would like to go back and rewatch. I'd probably limit myself to daytime viewing, but it'd be cool to see how well it holds up and whether 31-year-old Barb is as fascinated by the weirdness as 11-year-old Barb was. I feel like I may have less patience for that than I did back then.

But then, it does have Kyle McLaughlin.

So, for your enjoyment, Sesame Street's take on it. (I find it hard to believe that Sesame Street did this. Did it make ANY sense to the kids watching?)

When worlds clash

In general, I don't like covers of songs I like. Sure, there are exceptions, but most of them? No. And covers of Beatles songs? That is just wrong, my friend. Seriously, there is no reason anyone other than the Beatles themselves should be performing Beatles songs. It's not like someone else is going to make the song better.

Naturally, I was conflicted to see this Glee promo:



I love Glee. I love the Beatles. I was already not fond of their version of "Imagine." I have similar concerns about the upcoming Madonna episode. I just need to accept that it's OK for me to not enjoy every song they do. I mean, there are songs on the CDs that I regularly skip.

(Hence my "Best of Season 1, Part 1" CD.)

No Superman

Tonight was the finale of Scrubs. Well, sort of. The real finale, I think, for most people was a year ago. (I mean, really. It was called "My Finale." And the hallway scene? The final montage? Plus, after a season or two of the show getting weaker, the last season came through in a BIG way. The characters returned to form and it all gelled.)

This past season's hybrid was just strange. I understand why they brought Zach Braff in for a few episodes, but it was handled incredibly oddly. Why was J.D. leaving after a few classes? He was there, they talked about the fact that he was leaving, but never why, really. And it was odd seeing Turk and having him talk about Carla, but never seeing her.

I will say that the Med School season got stronger as it went on. Braff leaving helped, I think. The characters became more complete, though I think it would've been better to have Drew as the narrator instead of the girl--who obviously is so incredibly memorable that a mere hour after watching the show, I can't remember her name. (Lucy! Got it.) We don't need a J.D.-lite, particularly when they made her as crazy as J.D. was in later seasons. Early J.D. was odd, admittedly, but the absurdity didn't take over until the middle seasons.

(That having been said, I did love Lucy's horse obsession.)

And by tonight's episode, I found myself enjoying the characters. I wouldn't mind spending more time with them, but I can't imagine how long this show could've gone on. I'm not particularly sad to see it go--it did end strong. Except the coda, with Turk. I wish they would've acknowledged the end of the show better. Or used it to acknowledge the end of the show at all.

(I'm also a bit disturbed that I only found out in passing that it was the "series finale." I didn't see an announcement anywhere. Which means that I'm afraid Better Off Ted--which is AWESOME--has been dropped as well, and I just don't have confirmation. Oh, BOT. You deserved so much more.)

Not a week that's only Mondays

Of course I watch Glee. And am totally in love with Matthew Morrison. Who, naturally, I fanned on Facebook. I get a little swoony when iTunes decides to play "It Takes Two" from Hairspray, and I've spent some time on YouTube trying to find clips with him in that. Luckily, he posted one himself!



It's just nice to see a clip that isn't "You Can't Stop the Beat." Not that I don't love Beat. I do. It makes me happy every time I listen to it AND every time we practice our tap routine to it. But I just like to see other bits of the show.

And also? This works so much better than the movie version of this song. I prefer Link and Tracy actually singing this to each other. And, you know, totally making out at the end. Yay!

Not Bitter

I follow Jen Lancaster (author of Bitter Is the New Black, amongst others) on Twitter (she's @altgeldshrugged). Something she posted a month ago (...and I am only writing about now, yes) caught my eye:

To clarify, I can appreciate the acting, writing, and staging - just hate the characters, the moral turpitude, and the feeling of nihilism. 1:59 AM
Dec 27th, 2009 from web

got Fletch the first season of Mad Men for Christmas. After everyone's rave reviews, am a bit surprised at how much I dislike this show. 1:42 AM
Dec 27th, 2009 from web

I found it interesting because it kind of reflects how I feel about her writing. Kind of. Reading her books--particularly Bitter Is the New Black--I kept thinking how I didn't really like her, but man, she was funny. Her writing is really well-done and amusing. I couldn't relate to, like, anything she was talking about (high-powered job; stable relationship; loads of confidence; losing a job; scraping the bottom of the barrel, financially) and I couldn't imagine having a conversation with her and enjoying it...but I couldn't put the book down. And I've since bought her other books. (Don't have Pretty in Plaid yet; waiting for paperback.)

It helps that I do read her blog and Twitter; she's easier for me to get a grasp on now, I think. But those tweets reflect how I felt after reading Bitter.

Daily Show prototype

In reading the Daily Show With Jon Stewart thread at Television Without Pity, I found a YouTube clip of Jon doing stand-up in 1996.



The thing that's amazing about this video--other than the fact that it's still funny, 13 years later--is how much this is like the current Daily Show. I know it shouldn't really be that surprising; after all, Jon Stewart is obviously a very smart guy who's had these opinions for quite some time. But it's just so odd to see the young Jon giving what could almost be a current monologue; I mean, I guess I just think of him as the guy on MTV, not as someone thinking about politics. Maybe in my mind he just didn't become political until starting at TDS in 2000. Which is silly, I know. I mean, obviously there was a reason they chose him to be the host.