No One Mourns the Wicked

I've written here before of my love for the long running Broadway classic, Wicked.

It struck me the other day, while driving home from work and listening to Ben Shapiro beautifully dismantle the latest absurd instance of race essentialism in the news, that a big reason for Wicked resonating with me so much is that it's a great parable for today's culture of condemnation.

At first blush, the story of Wicked seems tailor made for the modern left's racialist world view - Elphaba is  unnaturally GREEN and thus ostracized by her classmates.  She arrives ready to support the Wizard of Oz, giddy at the prospect of teaming up with this great man.  But it turns out that the Wizard is originally from Kansas and believes the animal-folk of Oz should be livestock, rather than articulate and intelligent denizens of cities and towns. 

So it's a perfect analogy for the racism that our country was founded on and still permeates the United States today.

Uh, not quite.

On the surface, it is indeed an obvious anti-racist (in the traditional meaning of the term) parallel the the USA- but even bigger than that, from my perspective, Wicked has become a potent correlation to the very recent extreme polarization that has erupted between garbage covered blue cities and the rural refuges of flyover country.   

On one side you have the conservatives - traditionalists, who believe in the founding fathers, the Constitution and the true principles on which our nation was founded.  Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - that all of us are created equal in the eyes of God - and entitled to nothing less than the opportunity to be free and thrive with hard work.

On the other - you have the radical left - which recently has been determined to insist on a dismantling of the USA.  After all, our country was founded on racism, and to this day we are still mired in this disease.  The only way forward is to tear it all down and start over, with an emphasis not on equal opportunities for all - bur rather a state engineered EQUITY that will insure by hell or high-water, an equal outcome in success.  

The conservatives in Oz want their land the way it has been for a thousand years.  Animals and humans, side by side, free to succeed or fail - all contingent on determination and excellence.  A true meritocracy founded on the principles of freedom.  It doesn't matter if my professor is a goat, what matters is if he knows what he's talking about.

The new left in Oz wants a new world order.  Animals are livestock, not life partners.  Animals are meant to be corralled, groomed and even eaten - all to sustain the greater good.  What has come before was wrong and evil.  There can be no equality.  Only equity.  Only a pre-determined outcome of good over evil.  The only way forward is to tear it all down and start over.

And the punchline to this way of thinking is the same from both radical leftists in the real world and Munchkin extremists in the land of Oz.  

If you're not with us, you're against us.  And you aren't just wrong, you are evil.  

You are Wicked.

****

In the opening of Wicked, Galinda asks the key question - "Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"

This has resonated with me greatly over the past few years.

For a long time I have said that the difference between conservatives and hard left progressives is that the former just thinks the latter is wrong, while the latter thinks the former is evil.

In 2022 that is more true than ever.

This is because the far left has been wrong on just about everything and the only weapon they have remaining is the very effective tactic of castigation.

You are a bigot.  A racist.  A homophobe.  A misogynist. 

You are a Wicked witch.

(Spoilers ahead if you don't know Wicked)

Elphaba is branded as a Wicked Witch early on after her break from the Wizard and his orthodoxy.  When she chooses to stand up for traditional values, she is cast out and smeared broadly by the cool kids, including her ex-besty Galinda, now Glinda the Good Witch of the North.

Wordplay is a running through-line in Wicked, used to illustrate how the statists manipulate language by whim to control others.   The Wizard and his lackeys frequently use nonsense words as a cudgel to get their underlings to submit.

Glinda goes right along with it, and makes sure everyone stays in line - all the while filled with regret over the demonization of her friend.

Elphaba is eventually forced to submit, in that she has to embrace the label of Wicked Witch - and she wears the mantle, but she never bends or breaks under it.  She still fights resolutely for what is right.  But it all comes to a breaking point with the arrival of a powerful new Witch from the Wizard's homeland.

From her perspective, this Dorthy chick is just as bad as the Wizard and perhaps just as powerful.  Think about it - a young beautiful witch arrives from on high, and drives a house on top of her sister - killing her instantly.

And Dorthy has the same belief system as the Wizard.  Animals are livestock.  I take what I want.  Those Silver Shoes?  (Or Ruby if you prefer)  Those are mine.   I have your ex-best friend's fiancé' (also your one time lover) at my command, along with your sisters unrequited love and a big ass lion.   Animals can never be equals - their inferiority is baked into our history.  We must corral them and slaughter them if need be.

Elphaba leaps at the chance to go deep undercover by faking her own death (based on more lies from the left, er, the Munchkins) because the wrath of Dorthy and the maniacal Wizard is just too much to bear.

Elphaba will continue the fight undercover, but for her own safety and sanity she must remove herself from the equation.

***

I feel like a lot of us who perhaps at one time dipped our toe into the public square to make our views heard - have had wickedness thrust upon us - and have been forced to withdraw.

I work in an industry where the vast majority of my colleagues are much more inclined to embrace the destructive radicalism of the left (the mostly peaceful BLM organization, the pronoun police, the removal of merit based school testing, etc.) and cast off people like me who disagree as Wicked.

There is a very real danger that if I stand up too forcefully - that I will severely limit my future employment prospects.

So to this day I stay mostly silent.  I'm in hiding, gently pushing back when I see an opening that won't hurt my career or invite too much wrath.  But my patience and faith is starting to wear thin.

I fear there may be a time down the road when it's too much and I have to stand and become the Wicked Witch.

I wasn't born this way.  Wickedness has been thrust upon me, and hundreds of millions of Americans, by the cult of the woke and their corporate overlords. 

But whether I find the courage to stand up fully against the anger on the left - or if I can only manage a more stealthy subversiveness - I will never bend my knee to the social justice madness that has infected our country, just as the evil sorcery of Madame Morrible silenced the animals of OZ.

I will never submit, I will never surrender to compulsory language, I will never fit in with the cool kids. 

I will NEVER apologize to any of these people.

EVER.

 

Movies and More - 2020

 2020 changed the game - in many ways more than one, but as far as I'm concerned the biggest alteration to our universe is what the year did to movies.

Going to the theater was no longer a thing - for most of the year - at all.  My family and I were part of the true lockdown for the first half of the year, before I got cranky and restrictions were loosened enough that I left the house anyways.   But still, movies were not a thing.

In fact, in 2020 I didn't get to the theater at all!  It wasn't until early 2021 that I attended a private screening of Godzilla vs. King Kong that I sat in front of a big silver screen.  Boo!

So stuck inside the house, we had to turn to what was available - and a good portion of that wasn't feature films, but rather television streaming series.

Much to my delight, the quality of what I saw was so high, that I feel perfectly comfortable sliding in a bunch of television offerings into my yearly movie top 10 for 2020.  I did delay making this list for over a year, because there were hardly any movies to rank, but then I reflected on just how good all those tv shows were and figured - why not?

So here we go.  First, the runners up!

Tiger King

Bat-shit insane documentary that plays more like a crazy comedy/drama found footage tv series.  Yes, my wife and I were thoroughly captivated by this both repulsive and irresistible garbage caravan of ego, sex and sin.  Couldn't stop, wouldn't stop watching.  We binged it in two and a half days.

Can't say I was sympathetic to any of the players at all.  Maybe a little bit for the poor person who got their arm ripped off by a tiger, though I certainly don't blame the tiger at all.

Birds of Prey

Saw this on our newly subscribed service - HBO Max.  Enjoyed it a lot actually.  Great action, lots of fun and depraved moments.  I was less crazy about Ewan McGregor's sadistic villain - the scenes of him torturing a family and terrifying a young woman in his club were very odd and out of place.  Didn't fit the tone of the film, and served no purpose beyond that establishing that his character was a bad guy.  Yes, we already got that - didn't need gratuitous violence and sexual anger to establish this.

Onward

Pixar swings for the fences, and mostly comes up with the goods in this fantastic tale of brotherly love set in a Zootopia version of Middle Earth.  Liked it very, very much.  Almost loved it.  The choice of dealing with half a dad was a bit odd, the way having Princess Merida's mom turn into a bear was also odd.  A bit off putting and strange, but in the end the emotional notes do get struck well enough.

Umbrella Academy

Don't know if this was actually released in 2020, but I was kind of blown away at the production value and how the story held my interest.  There really is a great golden age of television quality these days.  Hoping for a third season.

Top ten - 

10. Big Mouth

Unless I specify otherwise, with the TV shows that pop up on this list I am including them for all the seasons that have aired so far.

Ok, this is a cartoon that is all about kids in middle school and all the shit they go through.  The stories are primarily focused on puberty and sex and awkwardness.  It is highly embarrassing, highly uncomfortable and HUGELY hilarious.  I typically laugh so hard I'm in tears at least a couple of times in every single episode.

There is much that is OH SO WRONG about this show - but I have to say, it does pretty much nail every topic that it deals with.  Yes, there is a bit of woke preachiness that seeps through, especially in later seasons - but the show is so foul and politically incorrect that it never sticks. 

9. Soul

Enjoyed this a bit more than "Onward" - Blown away, again, by the animation - which perfectly captured the outlandishness and otherworldliness of the after-life, and also the overwhelming joy of "the real world".   Pixar does enjoy these strange body-switching tropes, and switching with the cat was another "Ok, I guess we're doing that" moment, but this time it works a bit better.  As with all of their best stuff, the emotions run deep and the big questions raised are profound.   Seen this twice, over a year ago at this point, and I need to watch it again.

8. The Invisible Man

I remember catching this fairly early in the pandemic.  It is simply an outstanding thriller that uses all the right tools in the right measure to string us along and shock us at all the right moments.  The story also serves as a powerful analogy for man on woman abuse - and delivers a satisfying resolution of justice in the end.   Great stuff.

7. Hamilton

I was supposed to see this live pre-pandemic, and gave my ticket to my wife when I forgot I had scheduled a poker night.  She thought it was ok.  I was still excited to see it some day, and then Disney decided to drop this on their streaming service a good two years earlier than expected.  I was happy to check it out - and I was pleasantly blown away.

I love history, I love America - and this production is an absolute genius way to get everyone excited about both.  Lin Manuel Miranda's brilliant high concept, casting primarily people of color in the almost all white roles in our history - does the trick in relieving the audience of their baggage and letting them absorb the true power behind the words of our founding fathers.

I must've watched this three or four times the weekend it came out.  I now know all the songs, and like all of them and LOVE more than a few of them.  The Skyler Sisters, Say Goodbye, You'll Be Back & Burn jump to mind as some of my favorites.   Hamilton is thrilling and invigorating, and makes my heart swell with pride.  I will always and forever be a patriot, and Hamilton is a great affirmation of this fact.

6. The Boys

Another television series - this one is an absolutely brilliant sendup of the Marvel and DC movies.  It's dark, extremely violent and sexually explicit - but oh so great.  I've watched and loved both seasons and can't wait for the third to drop.   Great to see Aya Cash show up in season two, she was the lead in my old high school friend's show on FX "You're the Worst" and she's fantastic here as a literal ex nazi super-baddie.

So many great eye popping moments (sometimes literally).  I love Karl Urban's c-word loving leading man (why is it that the c-word is so easy to say with an accent?) and it's amazing seeing Dennis Quaid's kid take the reins as our long suffering protagonist.  My favorite character is probably the pathetic "The Deep" his talking gills are just super bizarre and amazing at the same time.   And of course, Homelander is the ultimate "Super" villain.  Can't wait to see what happens with him next!

5. The Crown

The first season or so were certainly pre-2020, but since I wasn't allowing tv shows onto my list prior to that, this seems like a good time to rank this here and to praise all of the shows seasons that have been released so far.

And yes, all the seasons and characterizations are great - but I confess I do love the first two seasons and Clair Foy's QE II the most of all.  She is absolutely brilliant, and beautiful of course, and I love learning about the early days and events of the queen's monarchy.

I also confess, as an American, I have lived the bulk of my life with little or no appreciation for the royal family of England.  After all, we are born and raised to believe that it's not what's in your blood but rather what's in your soul that matters.   Royal entitlement is backwards and not who we are.  

But this show, more than any other book or documentary I have read about the royals, really demonstrates why the family and the crown matter.  It's about heritage, it's about legacy, it's about tradition and how our ancestors influence who we are.  It's not easy to dismiss this if you are born British - and certainly impossible to discard it if you are actually in the royal family itself.  This show gives a window of insight to these truths, and I really enjoy finally understanding what all the fuss is about.   

Yes, ultimately it is a soap opera, and there are certainly giant historical inaccuracies throughout I have no doubt, but it is highly entertaining and every production dollar certainly shows up on screen.  It's a much watch if you have any interest at all in the royals or if you are like me and have curiosity 

4. Ted Lasso

Sucked it up and plunked down $4.99 a month just so I could watch this show, and I have to say it was worth it.  It lived up to all the hype that my friends built up.  At first glance TL seems like a typical, well crafted comedy/drama with snappy dialogue and contrived but enjoyable situations.

But really the show is a lot more than just that.  The major themes of the show, kindness and forgiveness loom so large that they actually supersede the prime directive of these kinds of shows - conflict at all costs.  I knew I was forever hooked when (spoilers) the lead character IMMEDIATELY forgave Rebecca when she confessed what she had done to him.  So unexpected, so fresh and so powerful.

2020 was the year I watched season one, so I will save my praise for the second season until 2021 - but I have to say, I don't know if I've watched a better show than the first go-around of Ted Lasso.  Remarkable lead character who is certainly a role model as to how to live, and a brilliant supporting cast that is sucked in and seduced by Ted's unstoppable optimism and kindness, just as the audience is.

3. Rick & Morty

I have been watching this show for quite a few years now - but let me take this opportunity to sing it's praises and rank it high on my top 2020 list of Movies AND TV Shows - for all of the seasons, including the one I watched in 2020.

This show ranks for sure as one of my all time favorite TV series.  It is deep, it is profound and it is also deeply and profoundly disturbed.  The humor is twisted, and often explicit.  The show can be gory and shocking, but it is also enthralling for a Star Trek / Star Wars / Sci-Fi fan.   The writing is both brilliant and hilarious, the characters are surprisingly deep, especially our two leads and their immediate family.

Love R&M so much and love that my teenage daughter and I have bonded over this show and never miss an episode.  It makes me laugh, sometimes makes me cry (not because of heart breaking scenes, but because the show is just so damn good) and will live on in my life probably for the rest of my life.

2. The Queen's Gambit

Although this is a tv show, it is a limited one time only, one season, mini-series - so it feels like a movie and will not continue and will always be perfect.

I just love this story, entirely fictional though it is, even though it does try at times to get a bit preachy.  It's just so well done, so well written and acted and shot - that I couldn't help but be enraptured by the story and the chess and the characters.

Favorite moment - when we see that all of the chess girl's friends that we've met along the way are on the other end of the phone all working together to help her succeed.  Such a stand up and cheer moment!  Love this show so much!

1. The Mandalorian

2020's season one was about as good as it gets for a Star Wars fan.  I'd say season 2 (in 2021) might've even been better - but I'll focus on season one here.

Amazing, thrilling, exciting and fulfilling Star Wars in long form, live action!  Just awesome.  Loved it so much and didn't miss an episode and in fact watched all of them again more than once.

God bless Faverau and Filoni, they've rekindled the love of Star Wars in fans of all ages even more so than even the big budget movies of late.   Can't wait to hopefully follow these characters for many years down the road.  Grateful that it seems to be continuing with the surprisingly different "Book of Boba Fett"

My one big disappointment in 2020 was Wonder Woman 84.  I wanted to love it, really I did.  My first impression on Facebook that I offered was mostly positive.  But in watching it again and listening to the well deserved criticisms it received from my friends, I have to say, it was pretty awful.   The villains were terrible, the story was all over the place and badly structured.  The best stuff was the interaction between Gal and Chris Pine, and even that suffered because Chris' character died and the way he was brought back was pretty flimsy.   Makes me sad that so many talented people could make something that is so bad.

Anyways, that's it for that shit-show known as 2020.  A lot of great entertainment was available, even if it wasn't traditional movies in theaters.  I'm glad that 2021 has returned a bit more to tradition, and so my upcoming top 10 for that year will return the focus more to movies.  But not entirely!

The Beatles White Album - Redux

 My entire premise here is EXTREMELY presumptuous and arrogant.   But since this blog has always been about how I feel and uncensored in that mission - I will dive right in.

The Beatles are the greatest rock-n-roll group ever, with the best songs and the best albums...

...but...

"The White Album" is too long and is loaded with less than great songs.

George Martin says it should've been one kick ass LP and I agree entirely.

The problem of course, is when they recorded this record they were pretty much fed up with each other.  Also John getting into more absurdly hard drugs and latching on to a kooky avant guard screamer didn't help either.  Don't get me wrong, I love Yoko these days and don't blame her for breaking up the band more than a dozen other factors - but she was one more element in the kindling that saw the boys fighting a lot more.

So when they made the record it was either John or Paul or George (and Ringo for one song) and three other lads.  And when it was time to put out the record, the decision was made to make it a double LP no doubt because feelings were frayed enough at that point.  I really believe, as a complete non-expert in all things Beatles, that this had to be a driving factor in the decision to just say "fuck it" and include everything, rather than make the hard choices and kill babies in the name of making a great album.

So, I took the liberty of doing it myself.

My two prime missions in track selection were -

-The record should feel more like a group rather than individuals.  So it should feel balanced between John and Paul and also include George and Ringo.

-To help in this aim, of making the record more cohesive, it should be first and foremost a rock-n-roll project.  There are so many great 'bangers' to choose from, it seems a natural approach that this album  be focused on rocking out, rather than the more fanciful and folksy stuff.

Side 1

• Back In the USSR
• Dear Prudence
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Helter Skelter
• Happiness is a Warm Gun
• Julia

Side 2

• Birthday
• Sexy Sadie
• Blackbird
• Piggies
• Don't Pass Me By
• Everybody's Got Something to Hide
• I Will

It should be noted that side one is slightly over the 23 minutes that an LP in 1968 would be capable of holding, but side two is enough under that all of these songs could indeed fit on the record.  That was my rule for rebuilding this LP, it had to be doable, somewhat.  In the end, I really like this sequencing of songs.

Back in the USSR segueing into Dear Prudence was and will forever be one of the greatest album transitions in rock history.  Left that alone.

Omitted Glass Onion (more on the rejected tracks later) because it's as indulgent and as self-absorbed as anything the Beatles ever produced.  This could only be a John song, he was very much into himself at the time.

Obla-Di gets a lot of flack for being fluff, but it's THE ear-worm of the record and as iconic as any other song on the entire original double LP.

While My Guitar is not necessarily my cup of tea as far as my personal tastes go, but there's no denying that it's an absolute statement of George's arrival as a songwriter that rivals those other two blokes.  That he brought in Eric Clapton to solo only cements his commitment to making the very best song that he could.  It's an epic power house that deserves to be front and center on this record.

Helter Skelter goes here because I really see the whole album as a confirmation of The Beatles as rock-n-roll artists.  As you can see, I left off a bunch of the softer songs, because while they are worthy in their own right - the record really works best I think adhering to the rock aesthetic.  This song follows George's crying guitar epic and cranks up the rock even more.

We slow down just a tad with probably one of the most underrated and underplayed tracks by The Beatles ever.  Happiness is a Warm Gun is juvenile yes, but it's also delightful in it's bawdiness and it's hippie languishing vibe.   A very unique song, a bit of a head scratcher.  Both whimsical and sophomoric.  I really love it and don't know what to think of it at the same time.   

Julia caps off the first side with perhaps the most brutally personal song John has done before or since.  Yes, this is his mom.  She was struck by a car and killed when John was a kid.  And although his relationship with her up to that point was complicated, her passing was still beyond traumatic for him.  Plaintive and mournful, it's impossible not to be moved by this ode to John's mummy.

Birthday is indeed a bit of a gimmick, but it's also super upbeat (we need it after Julia) and catchy and now in popular culture - absolutely iconic.  It is THE birthday song, after the ACTUAL birthday song.

Sexy Sadie could be passed off as just more lazy, bluesy based music by John (a trend that would stay with him as long as he was in the heroin pit, another five years or so) but what saves this track is the awesome lyrics and the story behind it.   I just LOVE this refutation of the cult that was the con-artist maharishi that The Beatles sought out.   For a great expose' of all of it, you could do no better than this blunt calling-out of bullshit.  There's also a great chunk of the new Peter Jackson documentary that deals with it and makes this song even more delightful to listen to.

Blackbird is simply one of Paul's best songs.  That is all.

Piggies is a bit odd, but as with Warm Gun, it has a delightful and somewhat dated hippie vibe that makes it fun.  I also think it's important that George have at least a song on each side.

Don't Pass Me By is Ringo's contribution, and his first crack at songwriting that makes it onto a record - and it's great.  Best of all, it gets us back to rocking out.

Me and My Monkey is a kick ass rocker.  Love it so much.  Reminds me in the best way of The Beatles best uptempo bangers.  This goes alongside 'Hey Bulldog' as my favorite underrated, underplayed and under-appreciated Beatles bops.

I Will and we slow things down for the capper.  A lovely bookend, soft yet upbeat to close it out.  A simple love song, but very powerful - as this is what was ultimately The Beatles best selling point.  Yes, the L word.  Unconditional and forever.

As always, when you kill babies, you're going to lose some that you really love.   There were indeed tracks that I adore that did not make the cut:

Mother Nature's Son - Paul does melody better than anyone, and this track is one of his loveliest.   But as I mentioned, my goal with the white album was to make it first and foremost a Beatles album (meaningful equal attention to both Paul and John as well as room for George and Ringo), and the best way to accomplish this in my view was to make it primarily a rock-n-roll record.   There are only so many slots available for the soft stuff, and though Paul is the master, this is not his album alone.

Martha My Dear - committed for the same reasons as MNS.  Too similar to Paul's other work, and too much of it.    I do absolutely LOVE this song though.

Savoy Truffle - I absolutely love this rocker, and probably should've found room for it - but again I didn't want to shove aside another Beatle to make room for more of the same from John.  He's got the 'Monkey' song as his big banger, as well as Prudence (one of his all time greats) and Gun and Sadie, plus Juila as his ballad. He gets 5 and Paul gets 6, George 2 and Ringo 1.   I didn't necessarily want to be bean counting to determine the track selection - I thought it more important that the album FEEL balanced.   If I added Savoy then I have to lose a Paul song, and sorry - those are all just too strong and iconic to remove

And then there are the leftovers - some of these I still like quite a bit, but others I think belong in the Anthology box set rather than on an actual Beatles album.

Glass Onion - see above comments.  Fart sniffing nonsense.

Wild Honey Pie - a non-song, They Might Be Giants Fingertips filler nonsense.  Indulgent and mildly off-putting.

I'm So Tired - I know there are those who love this sort of thing, but to me it's just more heroin rock from John.  Meh.

Rocky Raccoon - Love that it inspired the name of one of my favorite Marvel characters.  Yes, it's a fun and interesting Western movie ballad.  Doesn't really fit the rock aesthetic of much of the album, certainly doesn't fit my mission statement of making a rock record.

Bungalow Bill - I would love to know which song came first, this one or Rocky.  Both seem cut of the same cloth.  Whimsical and cinematic, but ultimately more for kids and stoned 20 year olds than anyone else.

Why Don't We Do It in the Road - Speaking of kids, this one is pretty middle-schoolish.  I know because when I was in middle school I thought this song was awesome.  Why don't we do it in the road, heh heh, uh huh huh...  Beevis and Butthead no doubt would love this song most of all.   I do love that the story behind this song was Paul seeing two monkeys in India going at it in the middle of the road and musing as to why people don't typically do this as well.  It makes me chuckle.

Revolution I - very strange to me this remix and rearrangement.  Completely unnecessary filler, especially because it's an alt version of a completely KICK ASS single.   The Beatles are unique in rock in that their singles truly do stand on their own, for the most part separate from the albums.  If the original rocker 'Revolution' had been included on this album, and not this tepid John heroin version, it of course would make the cut.   It's interesting, because although this bluesy version was recorded first - it was the hard rocker that we all know and love that was released first (as the other side of Hey Jude) - so in my mind, the single is the definitive version and this is just John being John.

Yer Blues - Another 'Don't Let Me Down' blues-a-thon from John.  Sorry, I got rid of all of them for this record.

Long Long Long - swing and a miss for George.  Sounds unfinished and experimental.

Honey Pie - lovely melody and lyrics from Master Paul.  Too light for a hard rock record and also too similar to the smarmy storytelling already accounted for with Obla-Di.

Cry Baby Cry - is actually lovely as well.  Love the all too brief accordion work and enjoy the lyrical play, for once uncharacteristically inspired from John in a period of time for him where inspiration didn't come around often enough.   This one might not belong in this reject pile, but I still don't think it makes the cut.  It does have an unfinished vibe to it, similar to the Let It Be sessions.  The Paul coda is superfluous and indulgent.

Revolution 9 - pure shit.

Good Night - nice effort to give Ringo a song.  But it's plodding and forgettable.  Not the button they hoped it would be.

*****

So yeah, I've got a lot of nerve and no real right to be so critical of the lads.  Paul says it in the anthology doc -  "It doesn't need fixing, it's the fucking White Album.  Get over it."

Yes, he's right of course.  But I still enjoy these thought experiments - even though they are far more indulgent than any music The Beatles ever created that's for sure.

But I stand my assertion that the White Album is too long and has too much substandard stuff on it.

I really believe it would've been better had it simply been a rock record, a step away from Sgt. Peppers  indulgence and a step back to what The Beatles have always done best.   That doesn't mean lose the creativity, the story telling, the interesting characters and compelling melodies - but it does mean to lay off the bluesy wailing (John) and go easy on the fairy tales (Paul) and make the best damn rock record you can.

I believe my redux achieves that, and I enjoy looking at what might have been.  It doesn't diminish what was, real life is often a lot less streamlined and more imperfect that what we would like it to be.   

Spider-Man: No Way Home REVIEW

THE USUAL DISCLAIMER - This isn't an actual review.  I'm a HUGE Fan-Boy Man-Child when it comes to superheroes and comic books and blockbuster entertainment.  This is my first draft, almost entirely un-edited first impression stream of consciousness blather.  Remember that Chris Farley sketch on Saturday Night Live with Paul McCartney where Chris just kept saying "Remember that?  That was awesome!"  Yeah - that's pretty much what this is, only about the latest Spider-Man movie.

******

Dragged the wife and daughter out to the theater opening weekend for the latest Spider-Man installment.  Happy to say, the cinema was PACKED.  It was one of AMC Burbank's larger rooms, probably over 200 people - genuinely sold out - and the most special icing on the cake of this very special movie was the opportunity, really a privilege, to see this film with a throng of loud and enthusiastic Spider-Maniacs.

All of us laughed, we cried, we cheered and even spontaneously broke into applause on more than a handful of occasions.  I will forever be grateful to that I got to see this movie, in 2021 at the tail end of a pandemic, under these conditions.  Nothing beats a theater full of pumped up fans watching a movie that meets and often exceeds very high expectations.

So yes, I absolutely loved this movie and I am super happy that Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a great help from Sony Pictures, still has enough in the tank to deliver an 'Avengers: Endgame' level of excitement experience to comic book nerds of all ages.

Going forward in this 'review' there will be a TON of SPOILERS, so if you haven't watched the movie, STOP right here and make sure you do that first.

Oops too late.

I don't know exactly where in my MCU ranking this movie will fall just yet.  I've seen the movie twice and absorbed all the essential elements, but I do need to ponder some more before I place it in the pantheon in it's correct ranking.  I also have to find a place for Black Widow and Shang-Chi, not to mention Eternals which I haven't even seen yet - but that's a whole other couple of reviews and musings for another post.

But I can say at this point that Spider-Man: No Way Home  (SM:NWH) easily for sure falls into my top five favorite MCU entries, and could very well be top three for that matter.  Yes, it's just that good.

I know I skipped out on a movie top ten for 2020 because of Covid, but I will be retroactively posting that in a month or so, along with the 2021 post - I can tell you right now - SM:NWH is number one on the latter list with a bullet.

As you know, if you've read more than one of my top ten movie posts, I place great value on movies that give me "the feels" - that is, which stories give me the most chills and manly tears.  SM:NWH had me laughing hard, ugly crying and cheering loud all through out.  

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FUNNY STUFF -

I love the humor in these movies because I loved to be entertained.  I really don't want to watch a somber and serious, self-important comic book movie that has no breaks from drama.  It's a comic book!  I want to laugh along the way, even when the stakes are high.

As always, the MCU expertly brought the funny - so much so that it almost fooled me into believing this was a lighter side of Spidey.  Almost...

 My top five laughs were...

5 - MJ throwing bread at Andy Spidey.  The whole scene was just overflowing with JOY, but MJ and Ned's mom reacting with bread and pillows was the comic frosting that was just perfect.

4 - Tobey Spidey getting uncomfortable at discussing his biological web shooters.  Just the right amount of gross implications!

3 - MJ freaking out at being plopped onto a bridge girder 20 stories up.  Just LOVED her reaction and Tom Spidey's initial indifference to her plight.  Yes, Spider-Man does this every day, and momentarily forgets that almost everyone else on the planet never does. 

2 - Coach Wilson hissing at Peter Parker while the other teachers welcome him.  This just cracked me up!  "Naw man, you're a murderer.  We know what you did..."  A great comedic device to illustrate the divisions in American society over believing Peter or believing the Daily Bugle.  A not very subtle parallel with American politics, but very effective.

1 - Andy cracks Tobey's back.  I just love this so much - yes it's hilarious, but it's also touching at the same time.  The best of the MCU's humor works this way.  It's funny but it also ties in directly with the characters, in this case reminding us that Tobey almost lost the role of Spider-Man because of an all too real life injury.  Here Amazing Spidey Andrew Garfield reassures the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Tobey) and helps him feel better with a good old fashioned back crack!

*****

MANLY TEARS -

Along with the laughs, I also appreciate the MCU's expertise at bringing out the waterworks.   There was more than one moment that I got something in my eye watching this flick.  Here are the top five moments that really got to me...

 - either because of sadness or because a moment was just so AWESOME it hurt.  My top 5 tear-jerker moments were...

5 - Tom Spidey let's MJ go at the very end.  I didn't actually manifest tears, but there was a sizable lump in my throat.  The moment PP saw the bandaid on MJ's head and made the decision that he wasn't going to hurt her anymore - just a lovely and powerful moment.

4 - Villains are cured - None of these moments by themselves got a manly tear to fall from me, but all together, when I think back on each of their moments of clarity, I can't help but get a little misty.  Even Lizard and Sandman had lovely moments when they were fixed.  The quickest and least satisfying was the Lizard's cure but Thomas Hayden Church had a surprisingly touching moment as the CG of sand melted away as we got to see his real (albeit de-aged) face.  Jamie Foxx's best moment in an otherwise just ok performance was when he was 'all tapped out' of power and had a lovely interaction with Andy Spidey about the impending arrival of Miles Morales. Willem Dafoe's incredible kick-ass performance as the best Spidey villain ever had a nice finish with his realization of what he had done.  And the best of all I thought was Doc Oc who not only was cured of his malcontent, but was able to pitch in and help with the others.  Nicely done all around!

3 - Tom Spidey decides to wipe the slate clean.  If you blink you might miss it - but I caught it, and it put a lump in my throat and a gleam in my eyes.  When our MCU Spidey realizes the sacrifice he has to make, and asks the good Dr. Strange to wipe out everyone's memory of Peter, to fix his mess and make things right.  Probably the most under-recognized but truly great and tear-jerking moment of the whole movie.

2 - Andrew Garfield saves Tom Holland's MJ.  Sure, it was predictable, but it also 100% worked to get me to tear up and sob (in a good way) quite a bit.   The perfect moment of redemption for the Amazing Spider-Man that no one liked or wanted - until he showed up in this movie and now people are clamoring for an "Amazing Spider-Man 3".    Absolutely lovely moment, made even better by Zendaya's perfect answer to Andy's question - "Are you ok?"   "Yes.  Are YOU ok?"

1 - Aunt May passes away.  Well duh, this one got me actually ugly crying - no joke.  Such a powerful scene, and wonderfully executed from start to finish.  When May takes the hit from the Goblin Glider, I thought "Oh, she's dead - oh no!" but then May popped up and seemed to be alright.  

But Marisa's performance perfectly portrayed what often happens when someone experiences a brutal trauma.  (This often happens to motorcycle accident victims) The injured person will pop up on their feet quickly, as a surge of adrenaline takes over.  You can read it on her face the entire time - she is up, but her breaths are shallow and quick.  She is not well.

And then she delivered the Uncle Ben line, this time with the exact verbiage taken straight from the comic book and the pen of Stan Lee himself.  "With great power must also come great responsibility..." and I'm wrecked!

Her subsequent breakdown and departure from the world is pure agony for Peter and for us.  Tissue please!

*******

STAND-UP AND CHEER

And these are the top 5 most iconic moments in the movie for me.  The parts that gave me ALL THE FEELS in all the right ways.

5 - Andy and Tobey show up!  Even though I already suspected this moment was coming - the way it was done, and that both Spidey's from other movies ended up doing a TON more than just make cameos - they were truly IN this movie, participating and interacting and expanding/enhancing their own lore - makes these portal emergences truly significant and emotionally resonant.  Also funny (bread throwing, cobweb cleaning and youth pastor-ing).

4 - Tobey Spidey stops Tom Spidey from killing.  Beautiful culmination of Aunt May's message.  Spider-Man will always be the hero.  Imperfect and sometimes impulsive - but always the good guy.  Meaning he will stay his hand when his adversary is at his weakest, even if that means taking a knife in the back.

3 - 3 Spideys Attack Together!  After a frantic and scattered first attempt at fighting the bad guys, I was afraid we weren't going to get a satisfying team up moment.  But after the 3 Spidey bros regrouped and made a plan - the long continuous shot of all three running and diving together - and landing in iconic poses - WOW!!!  A thunderous applause in the theater, probably the biggest of the entire film.  What a moment!

2 - Brothers hug.   Yes, this could've gone on the crying list - but I was moved beyond tears, I applauded like crazy along with everyone else when Tom Spidey throws his arms around the other two and they all embraced.  All credit to Andy Spidey who set up this moment beautifully earlier when he said "I always wanted to have brothers"  -  Just perfection!

1 - The kiss.  I think it might be Giachinno's score that pushed it over the top - but for me this moment more than any other in the entire movie gave me chills upon chills.  Two people mashing their lips together is a moment that is tough to pull off in even the best movies.  In fact, perhaps the most memorable kiss prior to this one in cinema was between Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst in the very first Spidey movie.  It was upside-down and very wet and very iconic.  But this one for me surpasses even that one.

What made it work was that it was such a huge culmination of all the feelings that Peter and MJ had for each other, through all of their movies together but especially this one.  Somehow their chemistry, which has always been good - became GREAT in this movie.  This doesn't always happen with real life couples, but here you can plainly see a true and deep love in both of their faces.  And the payoff here, with the perfect lighting, the perfect angle and the perfect uplifting music (with the exact right amount of bittersweet chord progression) just crushes it.  

This moment is an exclamation point on a love story which is just tremendous and far bigger in importance to the Spider-Man story than it was even in the comic books.  Bravo Tom and Z!

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WRAPPING IT UP

Before I go I just have two more points that I'd like to mention...

1 - Andrew Garfield now is clearly everyone's favorite Spider-Man

I, like the rest of the country, was seduced and beguiled by Andy's energy and passion in this movie.  Obviously I and everyone else are now clamoring for "Amazing Spider-Man 3" - whereas before he showed up again, I had no idea we needed this so badly.

And I can say this without bringing down Tobey at all.  He was also great and had plenty of awesome moments.  But Tobey was part of a massive successful trilogy - even the third much maligned movie made more money than both of Andrew's movies and Tom's first movie believe it or not.   Tobey's first movie was a massive cultural moment and his second movie has been, and still is, hailed as one of the greatest comic book movies ever.

Andrew's movies alas, never reached near the box office numbers nor the cultural importance of Tobey's films.  

Andrew's appearance in No Way Home is a genuine redemption for him, and a reminder that he was always great - even if his movies suffered in comparison to his predecessor.  

2 - The SECOND of three acts is actually the BEST act.

Many a nerd on this here internet has spelled out that the 2nd act of this 3 act movie is the weakest.

I would agree insofar as the middle chunk of the story has the fewest great moments (see my lists above to affirm this) BUT - in my opinion it's NWH's 2nd act that puts the most meat on the bone and allows for the MONSTER emotional payoffs in the last third of the film to exist.

Let me clarify - SM:NWH transcends being very good and is GREAT because of it's big themes - and the big themes are FORGIVENESS and REDEMPTION.

The seeds for all of this are planted in the second act - by Peter Parker's determination, at the behest of his Aunt May, to not simply push a button and send all the "bad guys" back to their deaths, but to do his absolute best at giving them a real chance at redemption.

And he does this by automatically forgiving them.  The most difficult and clearly the most genuinely heroic thing to do.   He pushes forward to help the villains.  Some are hesitant, others flatly reject him.  But this is who Peter Parker is, and it is magnificent to see.

This trait - the instinctual impulse to forgive, is not held up high in our modern culture.  This movie holds it up as the highest virtue, and that is truly refreshing.

It also makes it that much more earth shattering when Aunt May dies because of Peter's efforts to repair these broken men.   But May does not die doubting that she and Peter have done the right thing - not for one second.  She goes to the grave at peace, 100% certain in her righteousness.

And she did not die for nothing.  She died for everything that Peter Parker is and that we could be if we pay attention and seek out the good in the darkest of hearts.

That is significant and meaningful and FUCK Martin Scorcese for saying these movies aren't "cinematic" or worthy of our attention and devotion.  He is ENTIRELY WRONG.

Plus he's old and cranky and who cares what he thinks.

I forgive him ha ha.

3 ( extra bonus point)  - Just want to acknowledge what others have already said - this movie and the others before it, are INDEED a Spider-Man origin story, even though we thought we skipped over it.  All three "Home"movies, plus 'Civil War' and the Avengers movies,  the entire trilogy plus three other movies it turns out, were made to introduce us to Tom Holland's Spider-Man.  Surprise!  Just awesome!

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Anyways, that's it for now.  I would like to get around writing a 'review' of Shang-Chi, I actually did like it a lot (don't know if I loved it like I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home) but we will see if have the energy or interest.

In any case, I will be updating my MCU ranking in an all new post soon - stay tuned for that!

Black Widow Review

 Been a minute around these parts, so I thought I should weigh in on Scar Jo's MCU swan song.

When Black Widow came out I insisted on dragging my family out to the theater, even though we could watch it for less in our living room.  This was in that brief and glorious time in Los Angeles when there was a reprieve of the mask mandate, so it was extra fun.  I was certainly in a great mood to see the movie, despite some grumblings here and there in the nerd-verse, and the good news is - overall I really enjoyed the movie and was happy to shell out another $30 later and watch it again at home.

My daughter was over the moon about the film - easily her favorite Marvel movie right now.  She's a HUGE fan of Florence Pugh, her of the Midsommar and other indy endeavors.  

Black Widow is a prequel set in the time right after the events in the movie Civil War.

The story starts with an amazing flashback to Natasha's childhood in the United States.  Her parents, it turns out, are Soviet spies and her sister is not really her sister.  Kid Widow is played by Mila Jovovovich's child who is just amazing in her role.  This entire opening sequence is super strong and went a long way to reassure me that we were in good hands with the filmmakers. 

After a super groovy but grim opening credits sequence, we get right into catching up with Natasha and a vicious assassin who turns out to be her brainwashed non-sister from childhood.  The action is fantastic throughout the movie, good geography and plenty of thrills and chills, which is what I love in action sequences.  

The story builds to a nice emotional climax by building up and fleshing out Natasha's family. Turns out this is her second family that she discovers after she has made a family with the Avengers.

There's a lot of great humor, as per usual in the MCU.  I found myself laughing out loud a bunch of times. One of the things I love so much about these Marvel movies is that they always put the emphasis on Entertainment, and the second best tool they have at getting this done is humor.  

The best tool they have is of course story - which is born out of the Disney braintrust which was born out of the Pixar and Disney Animation story breaking work ethic.  Breaking a story has been put at the top of the pile of importance in making these mass marketed blockbusters for going on 20 years now, and it consistently shows.  We are still, I would say, in a golden age of mainstream cinema when it comes to sci-fi/fantasy genre filmmaking.  

The villain it turns out is Harvey Weinstein, (not literally, but clearly this is who is represented) which is a very powerful choice and makes it very satisfying when good finally triumphs in the end.  The final act action wise is solid and also has some pretty great emotional payoffs.

I say pretty great, but it was not ABSOLUTELY great.

I confess I was and am (after watching BW again) a tad bit disappointed that the emotional resonance that was mined didn't quite plumb the depths that could have been reached.

I would have preferred to see a more direct connection with this movie and Natasha's fate in Endgame.   As I'm not a movie maker I'm not sure exactly how I would've done that, but it seems to me there was great potential in a Black Widow movie, where we know that eventually down the road she will die, to get some real ugly crying out of the audience.    A couple of ideas I had that would've helped, I think -

- Have Steve Rogers meet Natasha at the Quin Jet at the end.  This probably is not realistic as Chris Evans now apparently hates money, but as it was the final pre-credits scene, I think it would've been a very powerful moment to remind us of the fate that awaits Natasha.

-The mid-credits cemetery scene was amazing until Julia-Louis Dreyfus showed up and turned it into a comic bit designed to connect to a Disney+ tv series or upcoming movie.  This was a terrible choice I think, and it really diluted the emotional impact of the scene.   My suggestion - have a truly quiet and emotional moment with Yelena and her sister at rest and let it play out.  Save the exposition/connection blah blah blah to future tv shows and movies for after the credits entire.

- Somehow make a much more obvious and direct connection in this movie to Endgame.  Either by literally using Hawkeye or other characters, or having a situation in the Black Widow movie that parallels what happens in Endgame.   Having one of Natasha's family members sacrifice themselves in a similar fashion to how Natasha does in Endgame is probably a clunky way to do it, but there's probably all sorts of clever ways to make the emotional connection that would propel the Black Widow movie into the stratosphere of emotional resonance.

Anyways - I did really like the film a lot, loved certain parts of it that's for sure.  Not sure exactly where it ranks on my master list, but at some point soon I will drop it in.  As of right now it's definitely in the top half.

Just this last weekend we again trekked out to the theater, this time to see Shang-Chi.  I am still ruminating on the movie, I will post a full review soon.  Overall, I have very positive thoughts to share. Stay tuned!

Justice League: The Zack Snyder Cut

 Ok - Justice League: The Snyder Cut.

Positives -

The story is indeed a LOT better and much more coherent. Side characters, especially Cyborg, get a lot more to do and their actions make a lot more sense.

The villain Steppenwolf is no longer one note - he has motivation and a character arc that is surprisingly satisfying and even a touch emotional.

Overall the film has a much more cohesive vision and makes a lot more sense.

Negatives -

The movie is FOUR HOURS. Not that this is especially negative in the context of a streaming service. I was never bored, but the long length did mean I watched it over two days. Thankfully Snyder smartly breaks the movie up into chapters - six parts labeled with title cards, so stopping after 3 chapters felt natural and easy. So not necessarily a negative - but something to be aware of going in.

The movie is NOT light years better or different than the Joss Whedon theatrical cut. It is indeed better and substantially different in parts, but all of the big action set pieces are the same and the key character moments are still pretty much intact and where they were before. There are cosmetic changes (the final act is color graded the way Snyder grades all of his stuff, in grays and deep blacks (as opposed to the red that Joss colored it) and the editing is a bit different here and there - but the big hero key shots are almost all the same.

The movie still doesn't hold a candle to any of the Avengers movies, including the much maligned but underrated (IMO) Age of Ultron.

The movie loses a lot of the humor "Joss" writing, including my favorite scene where Aquaman spills his soul by accidentally sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso. While many nerds will likely rejoice at the loss of humorous moments, I am not one of them. I love to laugh in general, and I always appreciate funny but grounded humor in superhero flicks. It's a shame to lose some of Joss' gems throughout.

Most infuriating for me - the movie is in a 4:3 aspect ratio with giant black bars on the sides of the picture. I had to stop the movie five minutes in and google what was happening - apparently Zack Snyder talked himself into believing that this was the best way to present his vision of the film. My question is - how far up your own ass do you have to be as a filmmaker to think that 4:3 is the way to go anywhere outside of an Imax theater for a superhero movie? Pretty far up is the answer.

Forgive me for harping on this - but I'm going to harp. I stopped the movie and googled "Justice Leage 4:3" and instantly it auto filled to "Justice League 4:3 aspect ratio Snyder cut) and gave me article after article of Zack Snyder's reasoning for this choice.

I just about lost it when I hit his quote about it being the gold standard and that Citizen Kane was shot in 4:3. Zack. I admire you very much as a filmmaker. I love a couple of your movies, like a few more and think that the rest are mediocre. Movie making is hard, I get it, I certainly couldn't do what you do. But for the love of God - because the Wizard of Oz and other cinematic legendary movies were shot in 4:3 in the 1930's and 40's doesn't mean that you should be doing that, ever.

Damaged Legacy

 Random train of thought - I greatly enjoyed the documentary "Best of Enemies" about the ground breaking televised debates between conservative Buckley and the liberal Gore Vidal. (Though I do have issues with the documentary's conclusions)

This whole Trump supporters defiling the capitol building reminds me in a way of those debates. Vidal spent 90% of those debates being nasty to Buckley, always getting personal, calling him a crypto-nazi among other many insults. Buckley remained above the fray, refusing to give in.

Then towards the end, after a particularly nasty personal attack by Vidal, Buckley had had enough and finally lashed out with the nastiest attack of all - "listen, queer, I will sock you in your God damn mouth.."

And the needle went off the record, and the room and the media and the American public were AGHAST. How could Buckley stoop so low? How could he do such an AWFUL thing?

Yeah, that's pretty much where we're at with this. The radical left spends most of 2020 taking a giant steaming shit on our country, and finally Trump supporters (most of them clowns) lash out and it's Bill Buckley all over again.

Buckley was wrong to say those things, these ding-dongs in the capitol were wrong to do what they did (and many will rot in jail as they should) - but in the end, that's what the media and consequently the majority of the American public will remember.

They remember that Vidal came out on top, because Buckley lost his cool. Never mind that Vidal had his ass handed to him throughout the entire series of debates, over and over - in the end it didn't matter. Look at the CRAZY conservative! Good job Gore Vidal! You won! lol...

In the end, I fear that this is what we have here as well. Trump delivered 4 years of incredible prosperity, roaring economy, lowest unemployment in half a century (lowest EVER for blacks), peace in the Middle East, mediation with North Korea, and on and on and on.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Look at the guy in the viking hat in the halls of congress. Biden won! Good job Joe! You really showed them!

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

More than just a game show host.

So 2020 sucked.  And the coup de gras' on the shit sandwich that was last year was the passing of the legendary Alex Trebek.

There have been a great number of tributes already, and no doubt the final week of episodes which will be airing this week will unearth more - I wanted to take the time to add my tiny voice to the chorus.

I'm old enough to remember my mom telling me that one of her favorite shows was coming back on the air, a game show called "Jeopardy!".   We watched it and enjoyed it, and would watch it again.  My mom said this new host didn't compare to the original, but overall it seemed worthwhile.

"Jeopardy!"  had originally aired from 1964-1975 and it was hosted then by a man named Art Fleming, and it had been hugely successful in a noon time slot on NBC.  It's numbers only faltered when it was removed from that time slot and it was cancelled shortly after this executive blunder.

To compensate the show's creator, Merv Griffin, NBC switched in a new show called "Wheel of Fortune" later that very same year.  My mom detested Wheel.  And in fact to this day detests almost all of television except for baseball with the Oakland A's.  

So when she started watching the new "Jeopardy!" I was surprised but pleased that my mom would sit down and watch television with me that wasn't sports.  Neither my mom nor I knew at the time, but the very reason "Jeopardy!" was brought back was to piggyback on the wild success of "Wheel of Fortune".

As we watched those first seasons, I am able remember that I was terrible at the game and that my mom was much better than me.

Slowly the years passed, and I did get better and also grew to appreciate the show more and more.  Eventually as an adult I could hold my own again my mom, but I never passed the online test - though I've had half a dozen people in my life (ranging from good friends to acquaintances) who have been on and even some who made some money.   My mom eventually did get around to conceding that Alex was just as good (maybe even a little bit better) than Art Fleming.

When Alex passed away, we all knew it was coming, and yet somehow it was still shocking.   New shows were still airing, and he seemed on camera to be the Alex we had always known.  A bit grayer, a bit more hoarse, but the energy and the twinkle remained.

Come to find out, he had just finished taping a bunch of shows and passed away only 10 days after wrapping.  Shocking indeed.

But pancreatic cancer is one of the nastiest diseases there is in a family of diseases that is the absolute worst, and it turns out that the man who appeared to us on television for over 35 years as a great sage of wisdom and a font of firm but fair treatment to all who played his game - was in the end, only human.

That he would die so abruptly, without warning (even though we certainly had been warned) hit everyone hard.

Sure it was "just a game show" and Alex was in the end just a game show host.  But looking at the totality of his work, of his life - it seems to me that he was a lot more.

Alex was to me, the very embodiment of the American dream.  First and foremost, he was an immigrant.  Second, he worked extremely hard to get where he was - starting out as a utility player for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked endlessly announcing and hosting just about every show available to him at one time or another, all the while going to college at the same time.

In 1973 Alex moved to the US and began hosting a string of successful game shows, including two I remember very well - "High Rollers" and "Pitfall".  The man never stopped - at one point, even after he had been hosting "Jeopardy!" for a few years he was also hosting two other game shows at the same time - "Classic Concentration" and "To Tell the Truth".

Third, perhaps the most American of all, he slowly but surely became a national treasure by hosting the very best game show in the very best way.  He was firm but fair and exuded confidence without ever being overbearing or insufferable the way some of the best of his colleagues couldn't avoid.

And he outlasted them all, save one - Mr. Sajack who was clearly fed up with his job decades ago and still is snotty to his contestants.

But more than being calm and cool, Alex was at the helm of a show that exemplified what is great about the good ol' US of A.

Jeopardy is calmly and coolly, just like Alex - all about being the very best, in this case the best of "trivia" which is actually a massive amount of general information that we as worldly people should aspire to consume and retain.

It really is beyond a game show - it is a showcase of exceptionalism.  A mixture of hard work (learning what you need to know), physical ability in timing (gotta get on that buzzer quick!) and a bit of luck - it's ALL about the categories!   If I as a poker player and Star Wars nerd got "Sci-Fi Movies" and "Vegas Gaming" as categories I would be much happier than if I got "Latin Broadway Musicals" (an actual category from a rerun the other night).  I do know musicals pretty well, but the latin part stumped me!

It's tough to communicate why the show has grown so large in importance to me and to our country over the years  - I feel like I'm falling very short of giving reasons why it matters.  And why Alex mattered so much in this equation.

So now's the part where some of you may get mad at me - because I have to spell it out.  

I will NOT say it has to do with politics - because in my view what is happening to our country has nothing to do with policies or even ultimately politicians.  

My issue with the way things are going with our country and why I love "Jeopardy!" so much is all of the marxist garbage that has migrated from college campuses into the real world is absolutely refuted by a show like "Jeopardy!" and by a man like Alex.

Let me say this - in a world where the values of hard work and determination are now facing push-back as somehow unjust or even somehow racist (yes, this is an actual thing now) - "Jeopardy!" for me has become a reassuring bedrock of reliability as a venue where excellence still matters.

Being on time is not "colonialism".  Turning your work in on time is not "a value of whiteness".  Striving to be the best is something we as a nation, and as a world for that matter, should always hold up as admirable.

"Jeopardy!" is a firm and unwavering statement against the forces of idiotic "wokeism" that has infected our youth and gone from college campuses to the mainstream in only a few short years.    

Alex embodied this refutation until his last breath.   My favorite line of his that he would use often when the first round commenced was "Let's go to work."  Indeed.

No one could say it better or mean it more.  Alex was and will forever be a national treasure, and Jeopardy hopefully will continue on for many years to come.   Whoever ends up hosting, and I'm praying it's not the shrill and panicky Ken Jennings (not to mention his awful politics which he loves sharing on twitter) - but rather someone, anyone, who can keep things calm and sensible, without turning over yet another treasured institution to the social justice nonsense that is breaking our country and breaking my heart.

For now and hopefully forever, Alex Trebek will stand as far more than just a game show host.  He will be remembered as the cool and calm Canadian who came to the US and helmed one of the biggest and best legacies in television history.   

A tv show that became far greater than just a tv show - it is an institution and a statement against mediocrity and destructive group think.  One that our country needs now more than ever.

Whoever steps into Alex's shoes, I do pray for them - to stay strong, stay mostly silent on twitter, and to keep the faith in hard work and the pursuit of objective excellence.

2nd Row right to left - me, my mom, my wife and my brother - watching the legend!

This is the Way

 So if you're a 50 year old like me, who actually saw the first ever Star Wars movie in the theater, you likely have enjoyed The Mandalorian very much and see it as a return to what made the franchise great.

As an aging nerd, there's lots to love. The show clings closely to the production design of the original films and also has a great economy of story and character that echoes the best moments of the movies we remember most fondly.

In 1977 I was dragged into the theater by my mom after she gave a hard pass to seeing a Disney cartoon, "The Rescuers" - I was upset that I couldn't watch cartoon mice - but I quickly changed my tune.  I will never forget seeing that Star Destroyer pass overhead at the beginning of the movie.  It was a moment forever burned into my 6 year old brain that I can still see clearly today.  It was the beginning of a life long love for blockbuster entertainment and the impetus for me to try and get involved in any way I could, as an adult, into an occupation connected to movies and/or tv.

And I think ultimately, the big reason The Mandalorian has hit home so hard and strong with us Gen X people, is that the images burned into our brains have been there now going on 40 years.  It's hard to escape being enthralled with a tv series that is so technically superb at bringing those etched-in pictures back to life.  

But as blown away as I and others my age have been, the generation before us must be completely out of their minds.  These are kids, now adults, who literally watched the original trilogy on VHS when they were still in diapers.  They then came of age right as a second wave of Star Wars movies hit the theaters.

And although my generation did it's level best to crap all over these movies as much and as loud as we could, ultimately we failed to dampen the love for George's prequels.  It is very obvious at this point, if you pay attention at all to the social media of young people, that Episodes 1-3 are not only finally being openly appreciated, but that there is a deep and protective love for little Annie, Jar-Jar and all the rest of the problematic gang.

And although I've only noticed this love recently, I can gain understanding from my 16 year old daughter that the love has been there for a LONG time.  Since the beginning really.  Gen X decided we would act exactly like Baby Boomers and make everything about us - and in the end it didn't matter because the prequels weren't made for us at all, they were made for the next generations of kids.  George knew this, even though the unwavering determination of Gen X to be miserable about the prequels certainly hurt his feelings to some extent, in the end I think he recognizes that ultimately all the bile has less to do with the prequels themselves and ultimately more to do with the boring truth that you can never go home again.

Well, the genius that is Dave Filoni came along when George wanted to flesh out the timeline between episodes 2 and 3 in the form of an animated series called the Clone Wars, and he managed to help build a very impressive and massive amount of stories that went a long way to greatly improve the importance and emotional power of the prequels.

And it makes sense right?  The prequels amount to less than 8 hours of story telling, the Clone Wars animated series has nearly 50 hours to play with.  Even if Filoni wasn't as great of a story teller as he is, it would be pretty hard not to improve the prequel legacy with such a large amount of time to build and expand with.

But the good, or rather great, news was - Filoni is a master story teller, who cut his teeth on the impressive Avatar: The Last Airbender animated show (that my daughter made me watch and I'm glad I did) and then came in and gave an enormous kick in the pants to Star Wars universe with a massively rich array of characters and satisfying character arcs in the form of an expertly animated series.  And then he did it again with another animated series called "Rebels".

Flash forward a year or two and John Favreau, the brilliant fellow behind the amazing movie "Elf" and the genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the original "Iron Man" - is tasked with a live action Star Wars series, and who does he bring on right from the beginning?  The genius who took a deep appreciation for the prequels and turned it into an animation juggarnaut,.

Oh, I guess I failed to mention that Filoni loves the prequels.  I suppose it would be an obvious qualification for someone whose job it was to tell a story between episodes 2 and 3, but the anger for the prequels runs so deep in people my age that it would be an easy thing to ignore.

Filoni, truly and deeply LOVES the prequels, and more than once has publicly and loudly gone to the matt for George's maligned movies.  The most impressive defense of the prequels I've ever seen is in the Mandalorian documentary series on Disney+. Filoni at the directors round table talks unedited for a solid 12 minutes about why the lightsaber duel between Qui-gon Jin/Obi-wan and Darth Maul is the most important fight in  the Star Wars saga, and it's truly impressive.   His love and knowledge of the prequels, and his expert breakdown of why they matter so much - it has to be seen to be believed.

And so Mr. Filoni brought this passion and expertise to the Mandalorian, and thank God he did because the show it turns out is not only great nostalgia and fan service for us 50 year old curmudgeons who stubbornly insist on only appreciating the movies that were around when we were kids, but the show is actually a massive continuation and enhancement of ALL of George Lucas' Star Wars.  And the show is all the richer for it.

Filoni's deep love and massive talent for ALL the Star Wars, permeates the show.  From the "Roger Roger" droid parts in a sand crawler, to an aborted Snoke clone in stasis.  But production design isn't the only all-encompassing embrace of Lucas.   Character after character can be connected to the prequels and even some to the sequels, which is now the new whipping boy flavor of the month of the Gen X hate parade.

Bo Katan, a beloved Clone Wars character, showed up this season in episode 3 and millennials lost their minds.  The very next show, Ahsoka Tano, another Clone Wars giant (the only character from that show on par in importance with Anakin and Obi-wan) finally made her long rumored appearance and the collective orgasm across the nerd-verse was heard and felt far and wide.

These massive waves of pleasure were so HUGE that they couldn't help but put cracks in the armor of us cranky asshole fans - yes the 50 year olds who insist on acting like babies with every new Star Wars product.  Next thing I know, I'm seeing reaction videos on YouTube of overweight balding guys like me wetting themselves as Katie Sackhoff (Bo Katan) and Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano) show up.

Really dudes?  You hated the prequels, you poo-poohed the Clone Wars 'cartoon' and now you're on board? Ok , boomer or gen Xer or whatever.

Whatever indeed.  I'm actually ok with my generation now, despite being fickle and bitter beyond reason at the arrival of 3 brand new Star Wars feature films in 1999-2005, and then again over the past 5 years with 3 even better feature films. The Mandalorian and Dave Filoni have disarmed a lot of that cynical anger in one fell swoop.

Season 1 of The Mandalorian was a well crafted set-up, a serialized western that followed 'The Man With No Name" across the galaxy as he rescued a kid (take that asshole Gen Xers who hate little Annie) and protected him.

Season 2 was the spectacular payoff which to the casual eye would seem to be fan service in the extreme, but to a Star Wars fan - be it a cynical old fatty or a wide eyed youngster with a Jar-Jar stuffy, it was deliverance on a biblical scale.

And it has cut across the generations.  The youtube reaction videos this morning after the season 2 finale are full of 20somethings through 60somethings, all with tears of joy in their eyes. I can't help but be watery eyed myself doing the ultimate dumb thing of the 21st century - watching other people react to something I've already seen.

And now it's time for SPOILERS - so if you haven't digested all 16 episodes of the Mandalorian series you should stop now and come back when you're done.

The people my age and older on youtube who are this morning blubbering tears of joy - think they are doing so because Luke Skywalker showed up.  While this is a big part of it, the bigger part is that the emotions are not only rooted in a single character from a movie that's 44 years old - it's THE character from a massive saga that spans all of those years in ever emerging and flourishing content with far more stories than just three and far more characters than just the holy trinity (Luke, Lea and Han).

Take away the prequels, take away the Clone Wars and Rebels, and take away the sequels.  Now try to imagine a show like Mandalorian existing, pretty tough.  Then try to imagine if it somehow had come to exist and then think about Luke Skywalker showing  up in the season finale. Yes, it still would have been pretty cool - but it wouldn't be the ocean of joyful tears that we are seeing right now.  

I have no doubt in my mind that the focus would've been more on the CGI and less on the return of the character - the opposite of the reaction today.

But the reason Mandalorian works, and the reason Skywalker's appearance was so knee-buckling, is because we have been living through constantly emerging and evolving Star Wars content for 4 decades.

That many of us have been needlessly nasty about most if not all of that content, is pretty despicable.

I've said it many times before but it bears repeating.  No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans.

And yet, here we are - all but the nastiest of us have abandoned the dark side (for now) and have returned to loving Star Wars again.   All thanks to Favreau and Filoni and their incredible team of artists.

It is a great morning to be a Star Wars fan that's for sure.

And my fondest hope is that when the next piece of content comes out that doesn't meet the expectations of my generation, my generation for once could maybe shut the fuck up a bit instead of gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands like a little bitch.

Star Wars does not belong to us and we are entitled to nothing.

You are certainly able to criticize if you feel a story falls short, certainly I did with "Rise of Skywalker" but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

When you want to voice displeasure - do it with respect, do it with thoughtfulness and do it without questioning the heart and character of people like George Lucas or Kathleen Kennedy or whoever else is creating content.  

If you see a Star Wars movie or tv show that you don't care for as nothing more than a cynical cash grab - you and not the creator are the problem.  All movies and television shows are a "cash grab" in that none of them would exist if there wasn't a profit to be made.

Grow up and recognize this first before you get out the knives to eviscerate the character of someone you know nothing about.  Or rather, you are ignoring the one thing that you do know - that they unequivocally love Star Wars and wouldn't be creating Star Wars content if they didn't.

Rick Berman got it in Star Trek and George Lucas got it in Star Wars - an irrational hatred from the fan base that is rooted in their own inability to recapture the magic from childhood and has little to do with the thoughts or feelings of grown ass men and women who are trying their best to create a story in a creative universe that they love and is also loved by millions more.

Sometimes they screw up.  Sometimes they fall short. Sometimes they don't have the time they need to do justice to the story that came before (Rise of Skywalker I'm looking at you).  But never, is a creator giving thought to how they can most thoroughly rape your childhood.

Let's all get over ourselves and yes, embrace the feels of great joy when they succeed wildly (Mandolorian Season 2 Finale) and thoughtfully criticize when it's necessary.  Hopefully in that criticism we can use the sandwich technique and couch it in what we did like.  Much more productive and helpful than just shitting all over something because it makes you feel better.  That's not what fans do, that's what bitter babies do.

Example;  Rise of Skywalker has many fantastic and emotional moments even though it drastically shortchanges characters like Finn and Rose and often feels rushed and not very well thought out.  The Palpatine re-emergence and lineage especially feel out of left field and are disappointing developments because they appear to be retconning bold choices made in the previous film.  Thankfully there's still enough great moments to off-set these shortcomings.  Enough that I still ended up enjoying the movie.  And I for sure love the sequels and pray that some how this is not the last time we see these characters.

See?  It's not that hard.  I could do an even harsher criticism for Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, as I truly feel that is by far the weakest Star Wars movie - but again, my love for Star Wars goes so deep I couldn't bear to do it without pointing out what did work and what I liked.

I can't imagine writing an entirely negative screed, or even worse going on youtube and ranting non-stop about how much I hated Episode 1, even if I did genuinely despise the film - which I don't.

There is only one of these movies that truly dislike, and that is "Nemisis" - not  Star Wars.  It's Star Trek, the other great sci-fi love of my life.  That is a truly awful movie.  I would be hard pressed to say much positive about it.  The sandwich technique probably wouldn't soften the blow too much.  But I don't waste my time thinking about it, pretty much at all.  I likely haven't thought of that film at all in over a decade.  I'm almost positive as I'm writing this that the movie "Nemisis" literally hasn't entered my brain in 10 years.  Whereas the average Star Wars hater, or you could say the average 50 year old Star Wars "fan" probably thinks of Last Jedi and Phantom Menace all the time.

But, still,  I don't hold the awfulness of "Nemisis" against the creators, including Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart who had a hand in the story.  I certainly forgive them and still hold them in high regard. And in the end - if I'm ever flipping channels and stumble across "Nemisis", I likely somehow won't start screaming at the sky.  I'll probably crack a smile and maybe even watch it for a few minutes.  Maybe.   It is a truly God awful movie.  But I'm looking forward to watching the new show that is out right now called "Picard" and I would certainly love it if they incorporated the "Nemisis" story line, and that would no doubt make the last Star Trek feature film (and the franchise as a whole) that much stronger.

So I didn't really mean to make this a rant about Star Wars fans - as insufferable as they can be - but I think I've made my point.

Star Wars is wonderful and amazing - and when it's at it's best it can even be transcendent.

Let's hold on to that transcendence and love in our hearts and remember that it won't always be this great - and when it isn't - it's okay to lead with kindness and a be a positive "force" instead of being a ranting dickhead.

Oh yeah - and when that green lightsaber busted out I was like "Daaayum!  Luke!!!!"   That was awesome!