This blog has NOT died!
But it HAS been ignored for far too long!
My apologies!
(Been super busy with my Track & Field blog--but that's NOT the best excuse!!)
So I thought I'd return here by giving you my list of the best (IMHO) TV shows & series of this century!
This does NOT include shows that began in the 20th century, and ended in this one--such as NYPD Blue!
Some were one season wonders, while others have gone on for 14 seasons or more, and continue to this day (or will return in 2019!).
These ratings are based on my own personal tastes and interests!
One thing--the only one of the 15 that I watched LIVE (the year it first appeared on TV) was Commander-In-Chief!
All the others I "binge-watched" on Netflix just in the last 3 or 4 years!!
And several of these I've watched more than once---all the way through!!
Enough!
I will list them in inverse order, beginning with number 15!
15. GLOW
Season 2 just began (or became available on Netflix), but I haven't watched it yet!
So this review is based on Season One!
Based on a real TV show from the 80's, this is the story of an LA-area Women's Wrestling team that became so famous, it had its own TV show!
It follows the (male) team manager, and all the ladies of GLOW!
Funny, dramatic, with great fight scenes, you'll grow to love these women!!
14. Girls
I LOVED the first season, and wound up watching the next 3.
But my interest faded with each passing season!
It wasn't just the megalomania of Lena Dunham, but the agonizing ME-ME-ME-ness of the entire cast!
(Though I liked Jenna the best--the British girl!)
13. Cedar Cove
Andie McDowell plays a beloved Judge in a small town near Puget Sound and Seattle!
She meets the handsome new editor/writer/etc of the town's newspaper in the 1st episode!
This 3-year series follows their up & down relationship!
There's a nasty villain, of course, who wants to develop the cozy little hamlet with condos & casinos---and Heaven forbid!--tear down the 100 year old lighthouse!!
Some good characters--especially Moon, the hippie owner of the town's main hangout!
12. Life, Unexpected
This show, together with Switched at Birth and The Fosters, centers on a teenage girl!
She's almost 16 when the show begins, and wants to be emancipated from foster care!
She discovers her birth parents are a slacker bar owner and a popular Portland morning radio host--who she's been listening to for years!!
They take custody of her, and the show moves forward in linear fashion!
But this girl is a decade older in "wisdom", and, it seems, life experience!
She does more damage to herself than the big old cruel world ever can!
A GREAT show---one I wish had been extended to more seasons!
(But a good finale!!)
11. Pitch
This show lasted just one season---even though people BEGGED for it to continue!!
It follows the year Major League Baseball's 1st female spent with the San Diego Padres!
(Scenes take place in the Padres ballpark!!)
There's a veteran catcher (who catches her games), an old manager, her agent, and the team's owners!
Lots of great game scenes, and even better locker room scenes!
(No nudity!!)
A fascinating premise, well developed, and could easily have been renewed!!
10. Sarah Palin's Alaska
If you don't like her politics, please give this show a glance anyway!
While highly controversial, Sarah the Person is entertaining and very personable!
So is her family (husband, 5 kids, parents)!!
She takes you on a "reality show" tour of her beloved state, where she was Governor from 2006 to 2009!
And yes, you CAN see Russia from Alaska---but not from her house!!)
9. Madam Secretary
Tea Leoni plays a former CIA operative who is called on by the President to become the Secretary of State after the current one dies!
The series follows her world travels, her interactions with the President (and his gnarly Chief of Staff), and her husband and 3 children!
Some thrilling episodes, some romances (among staff members), and some good family scenes!
First season is best, where they look into the former SecState's mysterious death!
8. The Fosters
Just saw the 3-part finale of Season 5---and the entire show's end!
Fantastic!
Callie is in "Juvie" when the show begins, but becomes Stef & Lena's latest foster child!
They're a lesbian couple who have 1 biological son--through Stef's marriage to a man--and 2 foster kids--twins, a boy and a girl!
They soon bring in Callie's younger brother!
Callie has suffered through many years in bad foster homes, and is "scarred", but her super-serious demeanor does not fit her teen age of 16!!
She moves from 1 boyfriend to another, from 1 crisis situation to another--rarely smiling or enjoying life!!
Brandon (the biological son) almost becomes her incestual lover, but is forced to back off!
Callie is played by Maia Mitchell, an Australian girl!!
7. Masters of Sex
Based (loosely) on the true story of the relationship between Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson (Masters & Johnson), this follows their 1st meeting, their romantic development, and how their research changed people's thinking on female sexuality in the 50's and 60's!
Some excellent "50's" settings, hairstyles, clothing, etc!
Also good episodes which show you some of the history of those times--especially the racial fights of the 60's!
Masters's wife (Libby) becomes involved with a black activist!!
Some really funny scenes, AND lots of nudity and simulated sex scenes!
6. Grey's Anatomy
Believe it or not, I watched all of its first 14 seasons in a few short weeks of intensive binge-watching!
Meredith Grey is the daughter of a world-famous doctor (who, as the show begins, is suffering from Alzheimers!), and is one of the new interns at a large Seattle hospital!
She meets Derek Shepard in a bar, has a 1 night stand, then learns HE is the surgeon she'll be working with!
A romance soon develops, and despite numerous operating room scenes--and looks into the lives of the other interns--the series centers on Meredith & Derek!
Thus, (Spoiler Alert!!) when Derek dies, the show falters!
Another of my favorite characters--Izzy--also leaves the show!
While the show moves on with the other players (and always Meredith!), my personal interest has faded a bit!!
BTW, I'd never watched the show "live" when first aired!!
5. Switched at Birth
In its pilot episode, the rich parents of "Bay" discover that Bay is NOT their biological child (now 16), but was "switched at birth" by a neglectful nurse!!
The "other" child--Daphne--also now 16, has been deaf since age 3, and was raised by a poor Puerto Rican hairdresser in a "bad" part of town (Kansas City).
Bay is another of those teens older than her years, who seemingly flits from one boy to another---and even steals 1 or 2 of Daphne's!!
What sets this show apart is the extensive use of ASL (American Sign Language), and REAL deaf actors!!
Everyone grows older in the show's 5 seasons, and Bay becomes your favorite character to hate!!
4. The L Word
As you might already know, I'm a connoiseur of Lesbian-themed TV shows and movies!
And this 7 year series is the very best!!
It follows a group of lesbians in the Venice area of LA!
Some have long-term relationships, a few are promiscuous, and one (Jenny) is "straight"---but soon becomes involved in a lesbian relationship!
There's nudity and sex scenes, and tragedy and comedy!
In other words, it shows normal people living their normal lives---albeit as women loving women!
3. When Calls the Heart
You might see this show as my "anomaly"!
It stands out among all the others because it's probably the only purely G-rated show on this list!!
(It shows on the Hallmark Channel!)
But I LOVE it!
Set in a small coal mining town a few days stagecoach ride from Vancouver BC in 1910!
It has excellent sets, costumes, and atmosphere!
The heroine is a city-bred rich girl who becomes "Coal Valley's" new teacher!
The classes are held in a saloon after the church/school burns down!
The show begins 3 months after a mine disaster killed 46 men (& some teens!).
She meets the area's new Constable (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and they slowly develop a loving relationship!!
Two other key characters are Abigail Stanton, widow of the mine's deceased foreman, and Henry Gowen, an "evil" & sleazy money-grubber---who later becomes one of the "good guys"!!
If you can take all the sweetness & Hallmark gooeyness, this show WILL grow on you!
It did on me!!
And it's super popular--and Season 6 will begin in January!!
2. Commander-In-Chief
This show's ONE season (eighteen 45 minute episodes) was 2005-2006!
It was said to be the blueprint for the 2008 run by Hillary Clinton, and starred Geena Davis as the Vice-President who becomes the President in the pilot episode when the current President dies!
Probably the first show to take the idea of a woman becoming President seriously!!
"Mac" is an Independent chosen 2.5 years earlier by the Republican candidate to be his VP!
She is opposed by "Nate Templeton", the wily & sleazy Republican House Leader--played by an excellent Donald Sutherland!!
A really well done show---but it suffered from its "connection" to Hillary!!
1. Californication
This show lasted 7 years--and is probably TV's SICKEST show ever!!
It has extensive nudity, sex scenes, and language that gets a "XXX" rating!!
In its pilot episode, Hank (David Duchovny) walks into a church to talk to Christ, whose statue hangs on the wall!
A Nun comes out to assist, and soon offers to give him a blow job!!
The scene changes to him in bed with his latest lover---who is busy giving him a BJ---so that scene with the Nun was just a dream!
But it's a perfect example of the SLIME this show offers---in EVERY episode!!
The story is of Hank and his off & on relationship with Karen--with whom they had a daughter--Becca---who is 12 as the show begins!
(Everyone ages normally as the seasons progress!)
DESPITE the sleaze, it's a FANTASTIC show with HUGE amounts of hilarity (if you can stand George Carlin-style humor!!), and romance!!
The daughter becomes a rock band leader, and is the spitting image of Courtney Barnett--my current favorite singer/songwriter!!
The actor who plays Hank's agent is wonderful, as is the actress who plays the agent's wife!
(Her job is shaving the pubic hair of famous female movie stars!!)
One element that moves this series way above some others is its music soundtrack--rife with Classic Rock standards!!
This show deserves its position as my Twenty First Century favorite!!
No promises as to WHEN I'll be back with another post here!
But I DO want to continue with this blog!!
Friday, July 20, 2018
Friday, April 21, 2017
Dylan, Music, and Me---Chapter 3
In previous parts, I spoke of places---NYC, Palisades Amusement Park, LA & the Hollywood Bowl--that featured in my musical interest & development.
This continued as I "aged"--especially in the years from 1964 to 1973.
In June 1959, my Mom & I followed my sister to Sunnyvale CA, where I attended Sunnyvale HS in the 10th grade, then moved to North Hollywood, where I graduated in June 1962.
Being already immersed in the soul of rock (Not a conflicting term!), the jukebox in the SHS cafeteria became my "study hall" of sorts, as the "45's" we spun were history in the making---rock history!
It was there I first heard Ernie Fields's In the Mood!
But maybe more important to my development as a person---as a heterosexual man--was hearing (and dancing to!) the Fleetwoods Mr Blue! (The Fleetwoods--NOT Fleetwood Mac!!)
Not yet an athlete, I was totally a sports fan!
Baseball, football, basketball--even, on the periphery, track and field!
So obviously, the SHS cheerleaders became a center of interest too!
Especially Peggy Nettles, golden-haired Susan Stanich, and---Miriam Price!
Aah, sweet seductive smiley BIG busted Miriam!
It was her breasts--never seen, but ever-revealed beneath her thick white or cream turtlenecks--that I dreamt or thought or fantasized about!
So Mr Blue (What a perfect title for who I really was!)--also the Highwaymen's Michael, Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalk, or Johnny Mathis's Misty---became the conduits that led me to "touch" Miriam's beautiful boobs!
To touch meant to "slow dance" in those days!
We couldn't actually touch, but we could gently pull her a bit closer, so that just the tips (Not then knowing enough to refer to her nipples!) of those breasts would "touch" our sex-deprived chests!
So the Sunnyvale HS cafeteria at lunchtime became my 2nd home--if not for Miriam & the other cheerleaders, then surely for the fantastic selection of its juke box!!
It was there that my knowledge of, and love for--rock continued and evolved!
With the move to NH--just over Laurel Canyon from Hollywood--a hamburger & malt shop joint right across the street (Can't remember its actual name, but it was our chief "hangout" after school!) became my 2nd home!
There too--just as with SHS's juke--its juke was filled with that era's hits we'd hear every hour on KRLA's Top 40 shows!
Tossin & Turnin, Do You Love Me?, The Wanderer (An "oldie" in 1962!), and then Chubby Checker's The Twist!
And yes--not to brag!--I became quite the Twister!
I could twist my legs, go low, come back up, swing those arms, jazz my hips, dip & doodle with the best!
And the music!
Chubby's song--and his other hits!---actually had a damn fine beat!!
"You could dance to it", as the saying went!
And so---besides on NHHS's track in my Senior year--that burger joint & its juke box became my favorite place to be!
Then I--and future star actress Teri Garr (then known as Terry), a class mate & casual friend--graduated!
Although I briefly attended LA Valley JC that fall--my classroom schooling was essentially done (until its resurrection in 1975 at Humboldt State University) by 1962's end!
But my "adult" life was in its infancy--in fact, still in utero!!
For over a year, I worked at shit jobs, drove shit cars, lived a shit life---except for my running!
The music too was dying--the music I'd loved & lived for since 1956!
Elvis was then becoming an "actor".
Pat Boone & Frankie Avalon (though the latter had SOME real talent!), Shelly Fabares & Annette Funicello were "defining" Rock & Roll!!
But there wasn't much rock in the roll--or roll in the rock!
In fact--the "roll" was pretty stale, metaphorically speaking!
Until 1963.
My--and the music's--story continues--soon!
This continued as I "aged"--especially in the years from 1964 to 1973.
In June 1959, my Mom & I followed my sister to Sunnyvale CA, where I attended Sunnyvale HS in the 10th grade, then moved to North Hollywood, where I graduated in June 1962.
Being already immersed in the soul of rock (Not a conflicting term!), the jukebox in the SHS cafeteria became my "study hall" of sorts, as the "45's" we spun were history in the making---rock history!
It was there I first heard Ernie Fields's In the Mood!
But maybe more important to my development as a person---as a heterosexual man--was hearing (and dancing to!) the Fleetwoods Mr Blue! (The Fleetwoods--NOT Fleetwood Mac!!)
Not yet an athlete, I was totally a sports fan!
Baseball, football, basketball--even, on the periphery, track and field!
So obviously, the SHS cheerleaders became a center of interest too!
Especially Peggy Nettles, golden-haired Susan Stanich, and---Miriam Price!
Aah, sweet seductive smiley BIG busted Miriam!
It was her breasts--never seen, but ever-revealed beneath her thick white or cream turtlenecks--that I dreamt or thought or fantasized about!
So Mr Blue (What a perfect title for who I really was!)--also the Highwaymen's Michael, Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalk, or Johnny Mathis's Misty---became the conduits that led me to "touch" Miriam's beautiful boobs!
To touch meant to "slow dance" in those days!
We couldn't actually touch, but we could gently pull her a bit closer, so that just the tips (Not then knowing enough to refer to her nipples!) of those breasts would "touch" our sex-deprived chests!
So the Sunnyvale HS cafeteria at lunchtime became my 2nd home--if not for Miriam & the other cheerleaders, then surely for the fantastic selection of its juke box!!
It was there that my knowledge of, and love for--rock continued and evolved!
With the move to NH--just over Laurel Canyon from Hollywood--a hamburger & malt shop joint right across the street (Can't remember its actual name, but it was our chief "hangout" after school!) became my 2nd home!
There too--just as with SHS's juke--its juke was filled with that era's hits we'd hear every hour on KRLA's Top 40 shows!
Tossin & Turnin, Do You Love Me?, The Wanderer (An "oldie" in 1962!), and then Chubby Checker's The Twist!
And yes--not to brag!--I became quite the Twister!
I could twist my legs, go low, come back up, swing those arms, jazz my hips, dip & doodle with the best!
And the music!
Chubby's song--and his other hits!---actually had a damn fine beat!!
"You could dance to it", as the saying went!
And so---besides on NHHS's track in my Senior year--that burger joint & its juke box became my favorite place to be!
Then I--and future star actress Teri Garr (then known as Terry), a class mate & casual friend--graduated!
Although I briefly attended LA Valley JC that fall--my classroom schooling was essentially done (until its resurrection in 1975 at Humboldt State University) by 1962's end!
But my "adult" life was in its infancy--in fact, still in utero!!
For over a year, I worked at shit jobs, drove shit cars, lived a shit life---except for my running!
The music too was dying--the music I'd loved & lived for since 1956!
Elvis was then becoming an "actor".
Pat Boone & Frankie Avalon (though the latter had SOME real talent!), Shelly Fabares & Annette Funicello were "defining" Rock & Roll!!
But there wasn't much rock in the roll--or roll in the rock!
In fact--the "roll" was pretty stale, metaphorically speaking!
Until 1963.
My--and the music's--story continues--soon!
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Music, Dylan, and Me--Chapter 2
Ernie Fields is not a name usually associated with Rock & Roll.
Doesn't really matter who the killer was, but we knew that energy of Berry & Presley & Fats Domino & the Everly's just wasn't breathing too good!
The British Mods understood that--or at least FELT it!
John, Paul, George & Ringo weren't the sexiest of Men--although McCartney was always referred to as the "cute one"!
THAT was BeatleMANIA!
I attended the 1965 Hollywood Bowl concert!
Cost--$7.50 for a middle-Bowl seat!
I parked my Mustang convertible--red & black--in the lot 2 hours before the show!
Already, a few hundred kids were there!
Until you listen to his version of In the Mood!
That song--released in 1959--demonstrated a "new" form of music--one with a driving power surge that turned its wheels in an ongoing rhythm, progressing down the road of riffs at an ever-faster rate, yet with each new level reached seeming smooth as butter, and powerful as a 16 wheeler going downhill!
Compare it to Stevie Wonder's Maybe Baby, Hot Tuna's John's Other, or the rhythmic overlap of voices in counterpoint, as with the Beachboys & Beatles!
Compare it to Stevie Wonder's Maybe Baby, Hot Tuna's John's Other, or the rhythmic overlap of voices in counterpoint, as with the Beachboys & Beatles!
It was so different from the early Rock stuff where the music virtually stopped throughout the song, as changes of key or tempo happened, knocking the dancing mood into a holding pattern while the instrumentalists got going again!
When Hendrix or Beck (Jeff Beck, NOT Beck!) came along, I immediately sensed a connection with Fields's "Mood"!
Why would I--if it wasn't THERE?
Why would I--if it wasn't THERE?
Other songs from the 50's & early 60's had that element!
Tossin' & Turnin' by Bobby Lewis, Last Night by Floyd Cramer, New Orleans by US Bonds, later with Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High!
Tossin' & Turnin' by Bobby Lewis, Last Night by Floyd Cramer, New Orleans by US Bonds, later with Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High!
But I had to wait for Wonder's brilliant Maybe Baby for it all to come together!
It was THAT driving music that cast my love for the music in cement!
But music is more than the instruments played, or its tempo, or how it's layered & structured!
But music is more than the instruments played, or its tempo, or how it's layered & structured!
Music is Poetry too!
(Oh, thank you, Cliche!)
But it IS!!
And Poetry has Words!
And Poetry has Words!
(Brilliant, Child!)
I love you, yes I do!
Sun is burning, I am yearning.
I love you, yes I do!
Sun is burning, I am yearning.
Honey child, you're so wild!
Then Chuck Berry--May he Rest in Peace!--sang Nadine & Roll Over Beethoven & Johnny B Goode & Too Much Monkey Business--and we suddenly discovered that Rock had WORDS!
At puberty, one isn't exactly knowing of love & sexual desires & all that human relationships entail!
At puberty, one isn't exactly knowing of love & sexual desires & all that human relationships entail!
As Hendrix asked--Have you ever been experienced?--Well, at age 12 or 13, I haven't!!
(Nor have you, if you're honest!)
So words like I'll love you till the sun goes down passes over our adolescent heads--even bores us!
So words like I'll love you till the sun goes down passes over our adolescent heads--even bores us!
(Did you ever enjoy--or understand--a movie's or book's love story when in elementary school?)
Maybe that's one reason so many rock instrumentals found success early on--by bands like the Ventures, Dick Dale & the Del-tones, Johnny & the Hurricanes, Duane Eddy, B Bumble & the Stingers, or Ernie Fields!
I loved all of those, but when words were added, the story was complete!
Maybe that's one reason so many rock instrumentals found success early on--by bands like the Ventures, Dick Dale & the Del-tones, Johnny & the Hurricanes, Duane Eddy, B Bumble & the Stingers, or Ernie Fields!
I loved all of those, but when words were added, the story was complete!
I could FEEL a song's music, but I could UNDERSTAND it by its words!
And that's why the Beachboys, Beatles and Bob Dylan gave re-birth to this "dead" music!
And that's why the Beachboys, Beatles and Bob Dylan gave re-birth to this "dead" music!
Doesn't really matter who the killer was, but we knew that energy of Berry & Presley & Fats Domino & the Everly's just wasn't breathing too good!
Just as pockets alone don't make a shirt, nor do pockets of musical greatness provide a life-sustaining reason for going forward!
Music needed to be Born Again!
Music needed to be Born Again!
The British Mods understood that--or at least FELT it!
John, Paul, George & Ringo weren't the sexiest of Men--although McCartney was always referred to as the "cute one"!
But the impact of their combining adult words with smashing musicality stirred the secret soul of music lovers everywhere!
The Sexual Revolution was born--or at least Born Again!--with I Want to Hold Your Hand, Twist & Shout, and She Loves You.
They wouldn't let you sit down!
They shook the very foundation of your most intimate needs.
They wouldn't let you sit down!
They shook the very foundation of your most intimate needs.
Without a naked body to fuck, you had the tensed bodies wanting to ejaculate its caged passions, holding it all in because SOCIETY demanded you do so!
Until that music ROCKED your very soul, and like the Atomic Bomb, or like the tectonic plates below the Earth's surface rubbing together causing earthquakes, it all EXPLODED into a Shake, Rattle & Roll that was never-ending, and would more than merely survive, but would BE the underlying chemistry of our very existence!
Until that music ROCKED your very soul, and like the Atomic Bomb, or like the tectonic plates below the Earth's surface rubbing together causing earthquakes, it all EXPLODED into a Shake, Rattle & Roll that was never-ending, and would more than merely survive, but would BE the underlying chemistry of our very existence!
THAT was BeatleMANIA!
I attended the 1965 Hollywood Bowl concert!
Cost--$7.50 for a middle-Bowl seat!
I parked my Mustang convertible--red & black--in the lot 2 hours before the show!
Already, a few hundred kids were there!
Mostly braces-adorned girls!
I remember the KRLA News helicopter flying over, and the girls would SCREAM--There they are!!
But no, it wasn't "them"!
The Beatles arrived in a bullet-proof limousine 2 minutes before going on stage!
They left the same way, seconds after ending their 25 minute concert!
They left the same way, seconds after ending their 25 minute concert!
The "music" was more the noise of the screams than the guitars & drums played--mostly off-key!, because they couldn't hear themselves!!
The Beatles became a CULTURE more than a musical band!
They became 100's of "intellectual" arguments comparing them to Beethoven & Bach!
They became 100's of "intellectual" arguments comparing them to Beethoven & Bach!
(The only comparison I heard was their version of Berry's Roll Over Beethoven!)
Then someone wrote an essay saying that the Beatles were so popular because they used a repetition of a few simple words---you, I, love, need, want--giving breath to the idea that life & love & relationships were simple & pure--Zen-like!
Then someone wrote an essay saying that the Beatles were so popular because they used a repetition of a few simple words---you, I, love, need, want--giving breath to the idea that life & love & relationships were simple & pure--Zen-like!
If only!
And that's why we NEEDED Bob Dylan!!
And that's why we NEEDED Bob Dylan!!
When a child, you put jigsaw puzzles of 20 pieces together, learning how each piece interacts & intersects with the others!
As an adult, you play with puzzles of 500 or 1000 pieces!
As an adult, you play with puzzles of 500 or 1000 pieces!
Even the "pictures" become fuzzier, more intricate, more complicated, forcing your mind to "bend" with each puzzle's pattern!
She Loves You were those 20 piece puzzles!
Chimes of Freedom, A Hard Rain's-a-Gonna Fall, It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding, and later Like a Rolling Stone & Idiot Wind were the 1000 piece babies!
The challenge--for the lyrics writer--then became a CHALLENGE--in all its monster shapes & forms!
Whether rhymed or not, each line needed to tell a story, or to paint a picture!
I've often said Visions of Johanna is my favorite Dylan lyric!
For those immersed in ART--words paint a picture--as in the Chinese proverb that One picture is worth 10000 words!
She Loves You were those 20 piece puzzles!
Chimes of Freedom, A Hard Rain's-a-Gonna Fall, It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding, and later Like a Rolling Stone & Idiot Wind were the 1000 piece babies!
The challenge--for the lyrics writer--then became a CHALLENGE--in all its monster shapes & forms!
Whether rhymed or not, each line needed to tell a story, or to paint a picture!
I've often said Visions of Johanna is my favorite Dylan lyric!
For those immersed in ART--words paint a picture--as in the Chinese proverb that One picture is worth 10000 words!
Great books we've read--or even movies we've seen--describe moods and thoughts and scenery so you can SEE them!
Feelings & emotions are brought to life by the structure of the poem, the interlacing of descriptions broken off into sections (or verses!), not so much by the stories or the plot!
When the WORDS become that perfect recipe, you can TASTE the "lemon running down your leg", or the "country music station play(ing) soft", or those "visions of Johanna" that "make it all seem so cruel"!
(Aaah, Don't Be Cruel, Elvis sang!)
Vincent Van Gogh is my favorite artist.
(Aaah, Don't Be Cruel, Elvis sang!)
Vincent Van Gogh is my favorite artist.
But when I heard--then read!--the lyrics of Johanna, I thought of Edward Hopper, whose paintings of lonely folks sitting in lonely post-midnight cafes struck a heartfelt chord in my soul!
I could SEE that loft Dylan spoke of!
I could FEEL his lust for Johanna, even though "Louise held a handful of rain, tempting you to defy it!".
And when he sang those words--the ghost of 'lectricity HOWLS in the bones of her face", you could SEE the vampire-ic shadows of life's lines & indents in that face!
Howls.
Yes, Allen Ginsberg had written the epic poem "Howl" in 1955, about the same time Elvis & Bill Haley & Old Chuck was creating a music that would "howl in the bones of OUR faces" a few years later!
I saw the best minds of my generation--destroyed by madness--starving, hysterical, naked....!
I could SEE that loft Dylan spoke of!
I could FEEL his lust for Johanna, even though "Louise held a handful of rain, tempting you to defy it!".
And when he sang those words--the ghost of 'lectricity HOWLS in the bones of her face", you could SEE the vampire-ic shadows of life's lines & indents in that face!
Howls.
Yes, Allen Ginsberg had written the epic poem "Howl" in 1955, about the same time Elvis & Bill Haley & Old Chuck was creating a music that would "howl in the bones of OUR faces" a few years later!
I saw the best minds of my generation--destroyed by madness--starving, hysterical, naked....!
Dylan's new lyrics were the "Howl" of HIS generation!
And changed the idea of POETRY forever!
(Just ask those who wrote of Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature last year!)
To talk of my involvement with Dylan--NOT personally, NOT in our living rooms or in some loft!--but in the SEX of our connection, our joining of minds like Siamese twins, the siblings-like nature of the Beast--will take much more line space than this chapter provides!
Chapter 3 follows shortly!
And changed the idea of POETRY forever!
(Just ask those who wrote of Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature last year!)
To talk of my involvement with Dylan--NOT personally, NOT in our living rooms or in some loft!--but in the SEX of our connection, our joining of minds like Siamese twins, the siblings-like nature of the Beast--will take much more line space than this chapter provides!
Chapter 3 follows shortly!
Music, Dylan, and Me--Chapter 1
Tried to learn guitar, but quit before I grew calluses!
Same with piano, harmonica, and drums!
(But played tambourine one time with an LA group called the Leaves onstage at the Whiskey a Go Go!)
Music, as listener, as observer, as lyrics writer, is ingrained in my life!
It fills so many spaces & places in my life, soul & heart, I can't explain!
And I know I'm not alone!
At age 72 (born June 24th, 1944, same exact date as Jeff Beck!), I was breast fed on Elvis milk, weaned by Ernie Fields, masturbated with Hendrix, lost it to Janis, married Bob, divorced Tom Petty, got sick over Alanis, took out the Garbage, played Pick Up Sticks with the Dixie Chicks, and now, I don't have a clue!
In reality, it began with Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956!
Was living then in Edgewater NJ, facing Manhatten across the Hudson River!
Listened to Alan Freed on NYC's WOR radio, the first Top 40 station!
Also lived across from Harlem, where I never attended the Apollo.
Never lived in the Village, or saw Blake visions at Columbia University, or shared joints and ass fucks with Ginsberg & Kerouac!
Elvis--and those 'burns!
Mom, I want sideburns too!
When you're older, son!
So I combed my hair into a duck-tail and shook my hips instead!
I'd heard the black music, what was called jitterbug or rhythm & blues, until King James said it's funky!
I was never afraid of Harlem!
Once defied my Mother's instructions & changed trains at 125th!
(Later would walk the streets of the Fillmore District--fearless as a white ass rebel!)
But it was the music that turned my head!
It was that tingle and burn I felt deep within--an inner me I couldn't then define--that would add to my life a passion I'd never lose!
Some do.
They feel it too--but then lose it to the suburban zookeepers & their monotonous daily feedings!
I didn't lose it!
And it made my life what it became!
It was torn down in 1965, but I went numerous times to Palisades Amusement Park, a slow uphill walk from our apartment.
They had bands play there--early rockers, not too adult, not kids!
All later appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand--a show I watched all the time!
But I remember some earlier music too!
My older sister (Born in 1939, still kicking it at age 78 in Arizona!) loved Eddie Fisher!
His version of Oh My Papa was MY favorite Fisher song!
(She was a real FANatic--had whole scrapbooks with everything Eddie Fisher!!)
To this day, I still love that song!
Bob Dylan is turning out CD's of real oldies now--and I don't mean ROCK oldies!
Couldn't figure out why I don't like his doing that--until I reminded myself he and I were born 3 years apart!
He was raised on THOSE oldies--I was raised on ROCK oldies!!
We appreciate what we hear--what first fills our ears & minds & voids!
Why did Rock & Roll begin?
Why did it inflame the energies of America's youth?
The generic reason given by "experts" was that the 50's were too staid, too boring, too conservative!
The sexual passions were hidden behind bedroom windows in houses made of ticky-tacky, those Valium wives without values!
And it was born of fear--of the bomb, of living a life without LIVING it, of the TV image of the Stepford household where "Father" knew best--but knew nothing!
It was those Commies!
It was them John Birchers!
It was the "Nigras"!
Oh my!
But check out the reality!
Black R&B & Be-Bop revved the engines of war-ravaged lads and ladies!
They weren't really racist!
They probably never even heard the word "racism"!
But in their bones, they knew!
We can't be friends with them, but we could dig their MUSIC!!
Oh baby, they SWING!!
And we swung WITH them--in our secret hideaways, our midnight escapes to jazz clubs, our radio tours of THEIR music!
But shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone your dirty little secret!
And that's why Elvis became Elvis!
He was the white innocent (even with his hip shakes!) who twisted James Brown flash and Muddy Waters blues and Robert Johnson porch swing into the seed that became known as Rock & Roll!
Elvis became the butterfly, the tree, the rounded Earth, the eternal Sea, the REASON rock survived past its emergence from the Womb!
His voice was sweet & sensual, his leer a temptation but not a rape, his songs instant hits!
Past the record burnings, past the church sermons (Ironic, really, as Elvis made some really beautiful Gospel albums!!), past all the noise & fuss, Elvis helped Rock take its first steps, speak its first words (You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog! I want you to be my Teddy Bear! I Got Stung!), and become potty trained!
Can you imagine Elvis clone Ricky Nelson sitting on a toilet at his Garden Party?)
Then Pat Boone MURDERED this infant culture!
Or maybe it was Elvis himself who did the deed!
He enlisted in the Army in 1958.
He emerged back into his old world in 1960!
I was by then a Californian--first a year in Sunnyvale, then to North Hollywood!
From East coast to West!
From Alan Freed to Wink Martindale!
From WOR to KRLA!
From the Cafe Wha? to the Hollywood Bowl!
From blizzards & thunderstorms to droughts & sunshine!
From James Brown to the Mothers of Invention!
And I followed the path--which became my own!
My journey--and Music's evolution--continues in Chapter 2.
Coming soon!
Same with piano, harmonica, and drums!
(But played tambourine one time with an LA group called the Leaves onstage at the Whiskey a Go Go!)
Music, as listener, as observer, as lyrics writer, is ingrained in my life!
It fills so many spaces & places in my life, soul & heart, I can't explain!
And I know I'm not alone!
At age 72 (born June 24th, 1944, same exact date as Jeff Beck!), I was breast fed on Elvis milk, weaned by Ernie Fields, masturbated with Hendrix, lost it to Janis, married Bob, divorced Tom Petty, got sick over Alanis, took out the Garbage, played Pick Up Sticks with the Dixie Chicks, and now, I don't have a clue!
In reality, it began with Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956!
Was living then in Edgewater NJ, facing Manhatten across the Hudson River!
Listened to Alan Freed on NYC's WOR radio, the first Top 40 station!
Also lived across from Harlem, where I never attended the Apollo.
Never lived in the Village, or saw Blake visions at Columbia University, or shared joints and ass fucks with Ginsberg & Kerouac!
Elvis--and those 'burns!
Mom, I want sideburns too!
When you're older, son!
So I combed my hair into a duck-tail and shook my hips instead!
I'd heard the black music, what was called jitterbug or rhythm & blues, until King James said it's funky!
I was never afraid of Harlem!
Once defied my Mother's instructions & changed trains at 125th!
(Later would walk the streets of the Fillmore District--fearless as a white ass rebel!)
But it was the music that turned my head!
It was that tingle and burn I felt deep within--an inner me I couldn't then define--that would add to my life a passion I'd never lose!
Some do.
They feel it too--but then lose it to the suburban zookeepers & their monotonous daily feedings!
I didn't lose it!
And it made my life what it became!
It was torn down in 1965, but I went numerous times to Palisades Amusement Park, a slow uphill walk from our apartment.
They had bands play there--early rockers, not too adult, not kids!
All later appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand--a show I watched all the time!
But I remember some earlier music too!
My older sister (Born in 1939, still kicking it at age 78 in Arizona!) loved Eddie Fisher!
His version of Oh My Papa was MY favorite Fisher song!
(She was a real FANatic--had whole scrapbooks with everything Eddie Fisher!!)
To this day, I still love that song!
Bob Dylan is turning out CD's of real oldies now--and I don't mean ROCK oldies!
Couldn't figure out why I don't like his doing that--until I reminded myself he and I were born 3 years apart!
He was raised on THOSE oldies--I was raised on ROCK oldies!!
We appreciate what we hear--what first fills our ears & minds & voids!
Why did Rock & Roll begin?
Why did it inflame the energies of America's youth?
The generic reason given by "experts" was that the 50's were too staid, too boring, too conservative!
The sexual passions were hidden behind bedroom windows in houses made of ticky-tacky, those Valium wives without values!
And it was born of fear--of the bomb, of living a life without LIVING it, of the TV image of the Stepford household where "Father" knew best--but knew nothing!
It was those Commies!
It was them John Birchers!
It was the "Nigras"!
Oh my!
But check out the reality!
Black R&B & Be-Bop revved the engines of war-ravaged lads and ladies!
They weren't really racist!
They probably never even heard the word "racism"!
But in their bones, they knew!
We can't be friends with them, but we could dig their MUSIC!!
Oh baby, they SWING!!
And we swung WITH them--in our secret hideaways, our midnight escapes to jazz clubs, our radio tours of THEIR music!
But shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone your dirty little secret!
And that's why Elvis became Elvis!
He was the white innocent (even with his hip shakes!) who twisted James Brown flash and Muddy Waters blues and Robert Johnson porch swing into the seed that became known as Rock & Roll!
Elvis became the butterfly, the tree, the rounded Earth, the eternal Sea, the REASON rock survived past its emergence from the Womb!
His voice was sweet & sensual, his leer a temptation but not a rape, his songs instant hits!
Past the record burnings, past the church sermons (Ironic, really, as Elvis made some really beautiful Gospel albums!!), past all the noise & fuss, Elvis helped Rock take its first steps, speak its first words (You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog! I want you to be my Teddy Bear! I Got Stung!), and become potty trained!
Can you imagine Elvis clone Ricky Nelson sitting on a toilet at his Garden Party?)
Then Pat Boone MURDERED this infant culture!
Or maybe it was Elvis himself who did the deed!
He enlisted in the Army in 1958.
He emerged back into his old world in 1960!
I was by then a Californian--first a year in Sunnyvale, then to North Hollywood!
From East coast to West!
From Alan Freed to Wink Martindale!
From WOR to KRLA!
From the Cafe Wha? to the Hollywood Bowl!
From blizzards & thunderstorms to droughts & sunshine!
From James Brown to the Mothers of Invention!
And I followed the path--which became my own!
My journey--and Music's evolution--continues in Chapter 2.
Coming soon!
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Rating TV Shows--21st Century
For my first post here since October 3rd (Sorry!!), I've decided to do something with this perverted sickness I suffer---binge-watching TV shows on Netflix!
For a year or so (though some date from earlier), I've watched a total of 34 TV shows---all dating from this century!
Sixteen of those either lasted just 1 season, or that's all I chose to watch!
The number of seasons a show lasted (or that I watched) made rating ALL 34 shows problematic!
I thought it unfair to pit a one-season-wonder against a show that lasted several seasons!
Then there's the number of episodes per season.
Some had as few as 10, while some averaged 20 or more per season!
Also, some shows had episodes lasting 30 minutes or so, while others went 45 to 60 minutes each episode!
The following lists are mine, and mine alone!
These are MY opinions!
Yours may---and probably will--be entirely different!
For example, I didn't watch even ONE episode of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, two iconic shows EVERYONE watched---except me!
I made THREE lists!
One for those ONE season shows.
Another for shows that lasted TWO or THREE years.
Then the last for shows that went on from FOUR to SEVEN years!!
I'll present each list in inverse order!
Hope you enjoy this---and maybe you'll decide to watch some of these, inspired by this post!
ONE Season (16 shows)
16. Slasher (Kind of easy to rate a show "last" when you can't even remember anything about it! Must have been OK, though, since I watched the whole season!
15. American Housewife (Did NOT watch a whole season--just 4 episodes! The "housewife' was so whiny & bitchy, I couldn't watch anymore!
14. Better Things (I LOVED Pamela Adlon in Californication!! But, while her 3 daughters were adorable, and 1 or 2 cameos were interesting, a show can't depend on one actress's strengths, no matter how endearing!)
13. Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (This is essentially a tie with the next show listed! Ms Silverman is an acquired taste--and I chose to NOT acquire future years of her show! While some might label her the "female Lenny Bruce", I found it difficult to sit through all the racist and sexist "jokes". Sad to say, however, that I actually LAUGHED at most of them!!)
12. The Sarah Silverman Program: First Season (See above!)
11. This Is Us (This show had REAL possibilities!! But after its pilot episode, confusion set in! The back-and-forth between the present and the past became too much for me to keep track of. I loved the character of the dying father! And the relationship of the obese couple! But joined together, they became lost in the plot lines!)
10. Aquarius (I saw this AFTER watching the brilliant Californication--all 7 years of it!! So I'd become a fan of David Duchovny as slovenly sex-crazed foul-mouthed Hank Moody! The whole Charles Manson thing was fascinating--as I'm a person who still remembers the 60's with fondness--but even that couldn't overcome the alterations in Duchovny's appearance, demeanor, and everything else! Besides, I HATE Manson. Why make a show showing any form of "humanity" in him?)
9. Life's a Tripp (I was, and to some degree, remain a fan of Sarah Palin! Shoot me! But I'm able to separate her politics from HER! Seen as a PERSON, Sarah is a fascinating character! So is her family--3 daughters, 2 sons, a few grandkids, Mom & Pop! Two of them--Bristol and Willow--are featured in this show, with cameos from Sarah, Todd, and some others! Take this show as a look at the lives of a celebrity's kids! You can exchange them for ANY set of a famous person's children! But maybe you just GOTTA like the Mother!!)
8. Search Party (This is another show that I've pretty much forgotten the plot, characters, and the show itself! But I DO recall being embraced by the suspense, the drama, the realism factor, and maybe the attractiveness of the lead actress!! Give it a shot! I think I will---again!!)
7. Easy (This--and the show following--was about SEX! And how sex makes--or breaks--a relationship! I remember it as funny, dramatic, and with scripts you could believe! Of course, nudity helped!)
6. Love (This and the above show can be laced together, even though they're NOT at all connected! Again, sex, and its role in relationships based on and formed from love, plays a large role! Cast nudity as a frequent guest star!!)
5. Scandal (I LOVED this show's first few episodes! Such a STRONG---and even PERFECT---lead woman character!! Then I saw this same "perfection" (beauty, smarts, always a winner) as "breath-taking". As in--literally--breath TAKING!! No woman---or person--is THAT perfect! It took too long for me to find the flaws in her! I enjoyed the character of the President! One more thing--the woman introduced in the pilot got lost in the shuffle--until it got so late in the game, I didn't really care about her anymore! Too bad--I liked her!!)
4. Tell Me You Love Me (I admit it! I found this show by googling "TV shows with REAL sex"!! Of course, there's still a question as to whether REAL sex REALLY happened here! I for one doubt it! Whatever the case, this had good scripts about 3 couples and their interactions with a female shrink--played exquisitely by Jane Alexander, one of my favorite actresses!! Too bad it went just 1 season!)
3. Sarah Palin's Alaska (See my comments about the other Palin show--Life's a Tripp. But this one isn't whiny in any teenage-ish way--like "Tripp". Taped in 2010--when Sarah still held some gravitas as a recent VP candidate and Governor--this follows Sarah and family around her beloved state! While some episodes--the log-sawing on Kodiak, and the hike up Mt McKinley--were a bit too "staged", I enjoyed the series as a whole---and NOT solely because of Sarah! Her youngest daughter--Piper, then 9--is featured quite a bit--and she's adorable! But maybe the best feature of this show was ALASKA!! What a gorgeous state!!)
2. Pitch (PLEASE, let the 2nd season begin!! The first female in Major League Baseball--the female Jackie Robinson--in a way! It scored from the very first shot in the pilot episode! And found the middle of the strike zone with every "pitch"!! The baseball scenes were as realistic as could be--filmed inside the San Diego Padres home stadium!! But the locker room scenes--but, awwww, no nude shower scenes!!--were just as good, and maybe realistic too!! An excellent show, in all aspects!)
1. Commander-In-Chief (Made for the 2005-2006 season, this was supposedly based on Hillary Clinton! I saw this "live"--in its original showing on TV---then later in DVD form! When I first saw it, I didn't know about Sarah Palin! But when I saw the DVD, it was post-Palin as VP candidate---and potential President! So I watched it THEN with Sarah, NOT Hillary, in mind! So, impressed as I was by "Mac's" strength, decisiveness, genuine humaneness, and overall Presidential demeanor, I saw this as being supportive of Sarah Palin being our President! But whether you apply a known woman to Geena Davis's brilliant performance, or see "Mac" as a prototype for a generic First Female President, doesn't really matter. It's a well-done show that SHOULD have been given a 2nd season!!)
TWO or THREE Seasons (13 shows)
13. Starting from....NOW! (Sorry, but can't recall what this was about! Although I believe it was one of those series that went out on You Tube, not on TV! I think it had to do with lesbian life, as that subject holds my interest! I may check it out again!)
ADDED NOTE (Feb 23rd) I watched this entire series again yesterday--after posting this! It IS about lesbians, and IS on You Tube! But it went for 6 seasons, not 2 or 3! However, because each season's episode count was SIX, and each episode lasted less than 10 minutes, I watched ALL of them in one day! It's good, with good acting, and in a future rating like this, will probably move UP a couple of places! It's from Australia!
12. Blue (Ditto here! It was a You Tube series that went 3 seasons, and I watched all of it! They were brief episodes--maybe 8-12 minutes each--as I recall! Also about lesbians!)
ADDED NOTE (Feb 23rd) I did NOT watch this one again, but I DID research it, and now I remember what it was about! NOT about lesbians, but about a single mom of a 12 year old son, who sides as a high-end call girl to help pay bills--as she has another job! It's a drama. I would probably leave it right here in a future rating!
11. Orange is the New Black (Why isn't this iconic show rated higher? Just too "crazy" for me---and my using that word also references one of the leading character's names--as in "Crazy Eyes". Some scenes were good, but as a whole, too much crazy!!)
10. Satisfaction (Basically the British version of "The L Word", the 3 seasons were good, with the requisite sex scenes, and the interlocking of relationships. But after seeing "The L Word", I've lowered my estimation of this show! It's not bad--just not up to the other's standards! Also, it's NOT available on DVD's that work in the United States! That's a big flaw, IMO!)
9. Bliss (This was the earliest 21st century series I remember watching! Filmed in Canada--thus being more liberal with its nudity and sex scenes--though NOT as much as would happen later on other shows!!--this one had different characters and plots on each episode! No thread running through them. Not bad for its time!)
8. Lip Service (Here's yet another series---about lesbians?!--that I've lost touch with! Maybe too like "The L Word", but in a much less controversial way! Another series I may give one more shot!)
7. Wentworth--or Wentworth Prison (An Australian OITNB, but critics all say is far better, and much more realistic! Extremely tough, gritty, no-holds-barred attack on your senses, this features Bea Smith, a smart-ass lesbo who confronts, and defeats the prison's "Boss Lady" in the first season, then becomes her over the next two seasons! There's also the :Governor"--read Warden!--who gives Bea a run for her money! Death, sex, drugs, babies, rape--it's all here! You've been warned!!)
6. Cedar Cove (A genteel Lifetime Movie sensibility smothers this fine show--to its advantage!! Starring the adorably sexy Andie MacDowell as the Judge, this has all the tools for a sunshiny, all's well, touchy-feely series! There IS a villain, of course! But he gets what he deserves in the end! I just wish he'd been sent packing much earlier!! HATED the asshole!! The grizzled restaurant owner was GREAT!! A show MADE for Valentine's Day!!)
5. Grace and Frankie (My rating is based on its first two seasons! I LOVED Jane Fonda as a hippie mother in the movie "Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding"! So it was a bit much seeing her transform into Grace, a posh, snobby, elderly matron in "G & F". But after that initial shock, I loved her character! Frankie's immersion in all things mystical wasn't as pretty! Loved seeing Old Farts Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston KISSING and playing gays to the hilt!! The "kids" all were good, and added much to the show! Scripts maybe TOO scripted, still a great show!!)
4. Rita (Another show NOT available on US DVD's!! A Swedish show, it featured "Rita", a teacher of grades 4 & 9 in a fairly small school. She's having an affair with the Principal, while juggling a single mom home life and her immense popularity with her students! Why aren't great "foreign: shows made more easily available to US audiences?? Luckily, I found all 3 seasons on Netflix!! There's another series that features one of the characters from "Rita", which I don't care for! "Rita" was too in your face to enjoy someone else in the same school!)
3. Madam Secretary (The first season covered the story of the death of the former-Secretary of State--whom Tea Leone's "Elizabeth McCord" replaced! Leone's only flaw is that she hasn't aged!! Still as sexy as she was in "The Family Man" and other movies, it was hard to see her in as important a role as Secretary of State!! I hope that doesn't sound sexist, because I don't think a person's attractiveness should determine their political status! Think Abraham Lincoln!! Also, I wish they'd featured daughter "Stevie" more! And I liked the relationship between the speechwriter and Press Secretary in the first season! Still, I'm hooked!!)
2. Life Unexpected (Why was this show cancelled after just 2 seasons? Beautifully scripted, plotted, and acted, I truly LOVED this show! Showing life inside a radio station is novel. I live near Seattle, where they have a morning male-female duo! This show takes place in Portland, so its sensibilities are pretty similar to what I'd imagine the show being based in Seattle would be!! Follows the thread of a teen girl searching for--and finding--her birth parents, after many years in various foster homes! I sought out this show AFTER having seen my Number One-rated show--which is next!)
1. The Fosters (I'm now watching its 4th--and final--season! But this rating is based solely on its first 3 seasons! "Callie" is released from "Juvie"--or Juvenile Detention--into the care of lesbian foster parents Stef and Lena--a police officer and school vice-principal! They already foster care for latino twins--a boy and girl--and their own child, the prodigal pianist Brandon! Callie brings in her younger brother--a kid just itching to "out" himself as the gay he seems to be! The ONLY flaw is with the seriousness the kids take and see life! Don't they ever soften their "edge" just a little?? Jeez!! But that notwithstanding, I absolutely LOVE this show!! I've seen the first few episodes of its final season. Hint: they are DYNAMITE!!!)
FOUR to SEVEN Seasons (5 shows)
5. Girls (Let me tell you, all five of these shows could get top-rating--all deservedly! But since this is MY rating, Girls falls to the "bottom" of this list!! While Lena Dunham as Lena Dunham might be truly lovable, I don't see her character as such! It's not her weight, or her tattoos, or her being so obnoxious! In fact, I don't know what it is--but she just GRINDS on me!! My fave character is that of the British world traveler! Never a huge fan of Adam Driver either! But I'm willing to see Season Five, which has already begun!)
4. Masters of Sex (Based on the true story of Virginia Johnson and Bill Masters, sex gurus of the 50's and 60's, this goes off on tangential--and inherently false--incidents in their lives, historically documented in various books! But as a "show", it works! The acting is brilliant! There's drama, love, humor, nudity, and of course, SEX!! In every sub-strata imaginable!! In and of every human orifice and fetish! Also, and this is important, they deal with historic moments in a memorable and realistic manner! Just sit back and enjoy the ride!!)
3. Switched at Birth (If they'd stopped after the first 2 episodes, I might have rated this higher! As with The Fosters, the kids here take life way too seriously!! I was a teenager once--long ago and far away!--and I don't recall all this angst and drama! If you get past that, this show about two sets of parents---one rich, one not---who accidentally take home each other's babies from the hospital--is excellent!! "Daphne" has been deaf from age 3, while "Bay" is a hip artist-rebel! The fact that they each wind up being "promiscuous" is a bit problematic for me! Daphne seemed too GOOD for that! Her transformation becomes less believable because of that! Loved the signing!! Has REAL deaf actors!! Now in its 4th season--and still excellent!)
2. The L Word (This was my latest "binge-watch"!! I sat still for all it's 6 seasons of hour-long episodes--not wanting it to end!! I held off seeing this show because I had the---wrong!!--image of its being like "Sex and the City"--i.e. pretentious, elitist, Danielle Steel novels brought to life! How far OFF was this show!! Locked in from its pilot episode on, I was enthralled--and made horny!!--watching these ladies fuck each other senseless--in bare-all scenes--in EVERY episode!! A blogger counted 97 such sex scenes in its 6 year run!! You can even forget they're lesbians! Their stories are universally HUMAN!! Love, death, compassion, sex, desire, loss! The ULTIMATE lesbian show!! Only possible BETTER show would have to include ALL the ingredients that made this the BEST---PLUS include porn-style sex scenes!! Is anyone brave enough?? And talented enough??)
1. Californication (What a PERFECT title! This show's 7 seasons had a central theme--the love affair of Hank Moody and Karen. They were lovers in NYC, then moved with 12 year old daughter Becca to Venice CA! Hank's a writer with a BFF-agent, while Karen still loves Hank, but can't BE with him!! Karen's set to marry Dull Bill, whose 16 year old HOTTIE daughter Mia, Hank soon takes to bed!! Oh my!! From there, the shows evolves through all the ups and downs, ins and outs of Hank and Karen's relationship!! Becca, however, becomes MY favorite character!! About the same time when I first watched this show, I got turned on to Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett! Compare their faces--and hair styles! Don't they seem almost TWINS?? Not to mention that Becca's also a singer-songwriter!! Hank's agent and his wife--played by Pamela Adlon!--are GREAT, and add much to my liking the show! There's TONS of nudity and sex scenes, plus 1000's of STRONG cuss words--so beware!! Spoiler alert!! This one has a HAPPY ending!!)
Apologies for the length!
Hope you enjoyed reading it, and wish you'll try some of these shows yourself!!
Let me know what YOU think!!
For a year or so (though some date from earlier), I've watched a total of 34 TV shows---all dating from this century!
Sixteen of those either lasted just 1 season, or that's all I chose to watch!
The number of seasons a show lasted (or that I watched) made rating ALL 34 shows problematic!
I thought it unfair to pit a one-season-wonder against a show that lasted several seasons!
Then there's the number of episodes per season.
Some had as few as 10, while some averaged 20 or more per season!
Also, some shows had episodes lasting 30 minutes or so, while others went 45 to 60 minutes each episode!
The following lists are mine, and mine alone!
These are MY opinions!
Yours may---and probably will--be entirely different!
For example, I didn't watch even ONE episode of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, two iconic shows EVERYONE watched---except me!
I made THREE lists!
One for those ONE season shows.
Another for shows that lasted TWO or THREE years.
Then the last for shows that went on from FOUR to SEVEN years!!
I'll present each list in inverse order!
Hope you enjoy this---and maybe you'll decide to watch some of these, inspired by this post!
ONE Season (16 shows)
16. Slasher (Kind of easy to rate a show "last" when you can't even remember anything about it! Must have been OK, though, since I watched the whole season!
15. American Housewife (Did NOT watch a whole season--just 4 episodes! The "housewife' was so whiny & bitchy, I couldn't watch anymore!
14. Better Things (I LOVED Pamela Adlon in Californication!! But, while her 3 daughters were adorable, and 1 or 2 cameos were interesting, a show can't depend on one actress's strengths, no matter how endearing!)
13. Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (This is essentially a tie with the next show listed! Ms Silverman is an acquired taste--and I chose to NOT acquire future years of her show! While some might label her the "female Lenny Bruce", I found it difficult to sit through all the racist and sexist "jokes". Sad to say, however, that I actually LAUGHED at most of them!!)
12. The Sarah Silverman Program: First Season (See above!)
11. This Is Us (This show had REAL possibilities!! But after its pilot episode, confusion set in! The back-and-forth between the present and the past became too much for me to keep track of. I loved the character of the dying father! And the relationship of the obese couple! But joined together, they became lost in the plot lines!)
10. Aquarius (I saw this AFTER watching the brilliant Californication--all 7 years of it!! So I'd become a fan of David Duchovny as slovenly sex-crazed foul-mouthed Hank Moody! The whole Charles Manson thing was fascinating--as I'm a person who still remembers the 60's with fondness--but even that couldn't overcome the alterations in Duchovny's appearance, demeanor, and everything else! Besides, I HATE Manson. Why make a show showing any form of "humanity" in him?)
9. Life's a Tripp (I was, and to some degree, remain a fan of Sarah Palin! Shoot me! But I'm able to separate her politics from HER! Seen as a PERSON, Sarah is a fascinating character! So is her family--3 daughters, 2 sons, a few grandkids, Mom & Pop! Two of them--Bristol and Willow--are featured in this show, with cameos from Sarah, Todd, and some others! Take this show as a look at the lives of a celebrity's kids! You can exchange them for ANY set of a famous person's children! But maybe you just GOTTA like the Mother!!)
8. Search Party (This is another show that I've pretty much forgotten the plot, characters, and the show itself! But I DO recall being embraced by the suspense, the drama, the realism factor, and maybe the attractiveness of the lead actress!! Give it a shot! I think I will---again!!)
7. Easy (This--and the show following--was about SEX! And how sex makes--or breaks--a relationship! I remember it as funny, dramatic, and with scripts you could believe! Of course, nudity helped!)
6. Love (This and the above show can be laced together, even though they're NOT at all connected! Again, sex, and its role in relationships based on and formed from love, plays a large role! Cast nudity as a frequent guest star!!)
5. Scandal (I LOVED this show's first few episodes! Such a STRONG---and even PERFECT---lead woman character!! Then I saw this same "perfection" (beauty, smarts, always a winner) as "breath-taking". As in--literally--breath TAKING!! No woman---or person--is THAT perfect! It took too long for me to find the flaws in her! I enjoyed the character of the President! One more thing--the woman introduced in the pilot got lost in the shuffle--until it got so late in the game, I didn't really care about her anymore! Too bad--I liked her!!)
4. Tell Me You Love Me (I admit it! I found this show by googling "TV shows with REAL sex"!! Of course, there's still a question as to whether REAL sex REALLY happened here! I for one doubt it! Whatever the case, this had good scripts about 3 couples and their interactions with a female shrink--played exquisitely by Jane Alexander, one of my favorite actresses!! Too bad it went just 1 season!)
3. Sarah Palin's Alaska (See my comments about the other Palin show--Life's a Tripp. But this one isn't whiny in any teenage-ish way--like "Tripp". Taped in 2010--when Sarah still held some gravitas as a recent VP candidate and Governor--this follows Sarah and family around her beloved state! While some episodes--the log-sawing on Kodiak, and the hike up Mt McKinley--were a bit too "staged", I enjoyed the series as a whole---and NOT solely because of Sarah! Her youngest daughter--Piper, then 9--is featured quite a bit--and she's adorable! But maybe the best feature of this show was ALASKA!! What a gorgeous state!!)
2. Pitch (PLEASE, let the 2nd season begin!! The first female in Major League Baseball--the female Jackie Robinson--in a way! It scored from the very first shot in the pilot episode! And found the middle of the strike zone with every "pitch"!! The baseball scenes were as realistic as could be--filmed inside the San Diego Padres home stadium!! But the locker room scenes--but, awwww, no nude shower scenes!!--were just as good, and maybe realistic too!! An excellent show, in all aspects!)
1. Commander-In-Chief (Made for the 2005-2006 season, this was supposedly based on Hillary Clinton! I saw this "live"--in its original showing on TV---then later in DVD form! When I first saw it, I didn't know about Sarah Palin! But when I saw the DVD, it was post-Palin as VP candidate---and potential President! So I watched it THEN with Sarah, NOT Hillary, in mind! So, impressed as I was by "Mac's" strength, decisiveness, genuine humaneness, and overall Presidential demeanor, I saw this as being supportive of Sarah Palin being our President! But whether you apply a known woman to Geena Davis's brilliant performance, or see "Mac" as a prototype for a generic First Female President, doesn't really matter. It's a well-done show that SHOULD have been given a 2nd season!!)
TWO or THREE Seasons (13 shows)
13. Starting from....NOW! (Sorry, but can't recall what this was about! Although I believe it was one of those series that went out on You Tube, not on TV! I think it had to do with lesbian life, as that subject holds my interest! I may check it out again!)
ADDED NOTE (Feb 23rd) I watched this entire series again yesterday--after posting this! It IS about lesbians, and IS on You Tube! But it went for 6 seasons, not 2 or 3! However, because each season's episode count was SIX, and each episode lasted less than 10 minutes, I watched ALL of them in one day! It's good, with good acting, and in a future rating like this, will probably move UP a couple of places! It's from Australia!
12. Blue (Ditto here! It was a You Tube series that went 3 seasons, and I watched all of it! They were brief episodes--maybe 8-12 minutes each--as I recall! Also about lesbians!)
ADDED NOTE (Feb 23rd) I did NOT watch this one again, but I DID research it, and now I remember what it was about! NOT about lesbians, but about a single mom of a 12 year old son, who sides as a high-end call girl to help pay bills--as she has another job! It's a drama. I would probably leave it right here in a future rating!
11. Orange is the New Black (Why isn't this iconic show rated higher? Just too "crazy" for me---and my using that word also references one of the leading character's names--as in "Crazy Eyes". Some scenes were good, but as a whole, too much crazy!!)
10. Satisfaction (Basically the British version of "The L Word", the 3 seasons were good, with the requisite sex scenes, and the interlocking of relationships. But after seeing "The L Word", I've lowered my estimation of this show! It's not bad--just not up to the other's standards! Also, it's NOT available on DVD's that work in the United States! That's a big flaw, IMO!)
9. Bliss (This was the earliest 21st century series I remember watching! Filmed in Canada--thus being more liberal with its nudity and sex scenes--though NOT as much as would happen later on other shows!!--this one had different characters and plots on each episode! No thread running through them. Not bad for its time!)
8. Lip Service (Here's yet another series---about lesbians?!--that I've lost touch with! Maybe too like "The L Word", but in a much less controversial way! Another series I may give one more shot!)
7. Wentworth--or Wentworth Prison (An Australian OITNB, but critics all say is far better, and much more realistic! Extremely tough, gritty, no-holds-barred attack on your senses, this features Bea Smith, a smart-ass lesbo who confronts, and defeats the prison's "Boss Lady" in the first season, then becomes her over the next two seasons! There's also the :Governor"--read Warden!--who gives Bea a run for her money! Death, sex, drugs, babies, rape--it's all here! You've been warned!!)
6. Cedar Cove (A genteel Lifetime Movie sensibility smothers this fine show--to its advantage!! Starring the adorably sexy Andie MacDowell as the Judge, this has all the tools for a sunshiny, all's well, touchy-feely series! There IS a villain, of course! But he gets what he deserves in the end! I just wish he'd been sent packing much earlier!! HATED the asshole!! The grizzled restaurant owner was GREAT!! A show MADE for Valentine's Day!!)
5. Grace and Frankie (My rating is based on its first two seasons! I LOVED Jane Fonda as a hippie mother in the movie "Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding"! So it was a bit much seeing her transform into Grace, a posh, snobby, elderly matron in "G & F". But after that initial shock, I loved her character! Frankie's immersion in all things mystical wasn't as pretty! Loved seeing Old Farts Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston KISSING and playing gays to the hilt!! The "kids" all were good, and added much to the show! Scripts maybe TOO scripted, still a great show!!)
4. Rita (Another show NOT available on US DVD's!! A Swedish show, it featured "Rita", a teacher of grades 4 & 9 in a fairly small school. She's having an affair with the Principal, while juggling a single mom home life and her immense popularity with her students! Why aren't great "foreign: shows made more easily available to US audiences?? Luckily, I found all 3 seasons on Netflix!! There's another series that features one of the characters from "Rita", which I don't care for! "Rita" was too in your face to enjoy someone else in the same school!)
3. Madam Secretary (The first season covered the story of the death of the former-Secretary of State--whom Tea Leone's "Elizabeth McCord" replaced! Leone's only flaw is that she hasn't aged!! Still as sexy as she was in "The Family Man" and other movies, it was hard to see her in as important a role as Secretary of State!! I hope that doesn't sound sexist, because I don't think a person's attractiveness should determine their political status! Think Abraham Lincoln!! Also, I wish they'd featured daughter "Stevie" more! And I liked the relationship between the speechwriter and Press Secretary in the first season! Still, I'm hooked!!)
2. Life Unexpected (Why was this show cancelled after just 2 seasons? Beautifully scripted, plotted, and acted, I truly LOVED this show! Showing life inside a radio station is novel. I live near Seattle, where they have a morning male-female duo! This show takes place in Portland, so its sensibilities are pretty similar to what I'd imagine the show being based in Seattle would be!! Follows the thread of a teen girl searching for--and finding--her birth parents, after many years in various foster homes! I sought out this show AFTER having seen my Number One-rated show--which is next!)
1. The Fosters (I'm now watching its 4th--and final--season! But this rating is based solely on its first 3 seasons! "Callie" is released from "Juvie"--or Juvenile Detention--into the care of lesbian foster parents Stef and Lena--a police officer and school vice-principal! They already foster care for latino twins--a boy and girl--and their own child, the prodigal pianist Brandon! Callie brings in her younger brother--a kid just itching to "out" himself as the gay he seems to be! The ONLY flaw is with the seriousness the kids take and see life! Don't they ever soften their "edge" just a little?? Jeez!! But that notwithstanding, I absolutely LOVE this show!! I've seen the first few episodes of its final season. Hint: they are DYNAMITE!!!)
FOUR to SEVEN Seasons (5 shows)
5. Girls (Let me tell you, all five of these shows could get top-rating--all deservedly! But since this is MY rating, Girls falls to the "bottom" of this list!! While Lena Dunham as Lena Dunham might be truly lovable, I don't see her character as such! It's not her weight, or her tattoos, or her being so obnoxious! In fact, I don't know what it is--but she just GRINDS on me!! My fave character is that of the British world traveler! Never a huge fan of Adam Driver either! But I'm willing to see Season Five, which has already begun!)
4. Masters of Sex (Based on the true story of Virginia Johnson and Bill Masters, sex gurus of the 50's and 60's, this goes off on tangential--and inherently false--incidents in their lives, historically documented in various books! But as a "show", it works! The acting is brilliant! There's drama, love, humor, nudity, and of course, SEX!! In every sub-strata imaginable!! In and of every human orifice and fetish! Also, and this is important, they deal with historic moments in a memorable and realistic manner! Just sit back and enjoy the ride!!)
3. Switched at Birth (If they'd stopped after the first 2 episodes, I might have rated this higher! As with The Fosters, the kids here take life way too seriously!! I was a teenager once--long ago and far away!--and I don't recall all this angst and drama! If you get past that, this show about two sets of parents---one rich, one not---who accidentally take home each other's babies from the hospital--is excellent!! "Daphne" has been deaf from age 3, while "Bay" is a hip artist-rebel! The fact that they each wind up being "promiscuous" is a bit problematic for me! Daphne seemed too GOOD for that! Her transformation becomes less believable because of that! Loved the signing!! Has REAL deaf actors!! Now in its 4th season--and still excellent!)
2. The L Word (This was my latest "binge-watch"!! I sat still for all it's 6 seasons of hour-long episodes--not wanting it to end!! I held off seeing this show because I had the---wrong!!--image of its being like "Sex and the City"--i.e. pretentious, elitist, Danielle Steel novels brought to life! How far OFF was this show!! Locked in from its pilot episode on, I was enthralled--and made horny!!--watching these ladies fuck each other senseless--in bare-all scenes--in EVERY episode!! A blogger counted 97 such sex scenes in its 6 year run!! You can even forget they're lesbians! Their stories are universally HUMAN!! Love, death, compassion, sex, desire, loss! The ULTIMATE lesbian show!! Only possible BETTER show would have to include ALL the ingredients that made this the BEST---PLUS include porn-style sex scenes!! Is anyone brave enough?? And talented enough??)
1. Californication (What a PERFECT title! This show's 7 seasons had a central theme--the love affair of Hank Moody and Karen. They were lovers in NYC, then moved with 12 year old daughter Becca to Venice CA! Hank's a writer with a BFF-agent, while Karen still loves Hank, but can't BE with him!! Karen's set to marry Dull Bill, whose 16 year old HOTTIE daughter Mia, Hank soon takes to bed!! Oh my!! From there, the shows evolves through all the ups and downs, ins and outs of Hank and Karen's relationship!! Becca, however, becomes MY favorite character!! About the same time when I first watched this show, I got turned on to Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett! Compare their faces--and hair styles! Don't they seem almost TWINS?? Not to mention that Becca's also a singer-songwriter!! Hank's agent and his wife--played by Pamela Adlon!--are GREAT, and add much to my liking the show! There's TONS of nudity and sex scenes, plus 1000's of STRONG cuss words--so beware!! Spoiler alert!! This one has a HAPPY ending!!)
Apologies for the length!
Hope you enjoyed reading it, and wish you'll try some of these shows yourself!!
Let me know what YOU think!!
Monday, October 3, 2016
A Poem or a Song
First, my apologies for taking almost 6 months to produce another post.
Was VERY busy with my Track & Field blog, this having been an Olympic year.
But still, not a good excuse!
My intentions for this blog was for a much more frequent output.
Then again, it's quality over quantity--eh?
Writers have 2 methods--planned and spontaneous.
In one, you form a plot, give life to characters, draw outlines, keep Thesaurus & Dictionary at hand.
In the other, you apply pen to paper, or fingers to typewriter keys, and let words and symbols fall where they may--to be edited & revised later.
But that speaks to a finished product that--eventually---will look (and even feel) the same at its conclusion.
You will have a book---or a poem--or a short story--or a play--or a song.
It will be--in the end---what you intended it to be.
But what of those "works of art" that BEGIN as a poem, but END as the first in a series of 7 novels?
If you're an artist--a painter--how often does your drawing, your sketch, turn into a brilliant painting hanging on a museum wall?
A lifelong Bob Dylan fan, I've always agreed with those who call him Rock's Bard, its Minstrel Poet.
You have the music, of course, which is often brilliant by itself.
But Dylan's grand legacy will be his WORDS, not his songs.
Take "Visions of Johanna"--which happens to be my favorite Dylan lyric!
I've often described it as an Edward Hopper painting brought to life.
Or as Van Gogh's "The Night Cafe".
Maybe even linked to that mysterious woman named "Mona Lisa".
Dylan's in the meat-bone of New York City, in some "loft" where "the heat pipes just cough", and though "country music plays soft", there's really "nothing to turn off".
Except "Visions of Johanna", a woman in the writer's life who has an intense hold on his tired wracked brain and his lonesome eyes and wounded heart.
Who is "Johanna", a woman who even though "Louise is alright, she's just near", and she's "delicate & seems like the mirror", but who "makes it all too concise and too clear" that Johanna----that woman Dylan loves--isn't there!
Yet, in Dylan's "Vision" he sees "the ghost of 'lectricity" that "howls in the bones of (Louise's) face"---but allows that aching for Johanna to be traded off for this psychedelic visage of Louise--who instead is "entwined with her lover" in the rapturous movements of love---with the music of "harmonicas" & "skeleton keys" & "the rain" as background.
No wonder Mona Lisa had the "highway blues"!
Who wouldn't?
I digressed.
But what were Dylan's words intended to be?
A song?
A poem?
Journal ramblings of a stoned wanderer?
Same applies to this post.
It began as a piece looking at how one's INTENDED format isn't always the END product!
Though my love of Dylan is passionate, I truly did NOT intend to make his best song the core focus of this post.
That happens with characters in novels too.
In my "novel" about an important (life-changing!) relationship I had with an artist in the late '70's (title of "Identity"), one of the characters was Kate Caplan (Shute), who was estranged from her husband, Mark Shute.
Mark was INTENDED to be an almost invisible minor character, an "extra" in a movie.
Yet midway through, my heroine, "Sally", is at her cabin near Lake Tahoe, alone with her 12 year old son, Charles.
Mark suddenly enters, begins an attempted rape of Sally--only to be stopped in time by young Charles, who scares Mark out the door!
This scene was NOT planned!
I had no idea Mark Shute would do what he did---or that Sally's son would save her!
Or that the entire direction and structure of my novel would be forever changed---making its 2nd half a whole different "vision".
Talk to a thousand authors, and they'll tell you the same story--names changed.
It's nice to do a piece that starts and finishes in basically the same place.
A poem stays a poem--a play is never a short story--a haiku doesn't transmogrify to Whitman's "Song of Myself"!!
But as "traders in the arts", we all know (and try to accept) the volatility of the ingredients and tools we use.
We need to be ready to see three words become a 300,000 word novel.
We must know that characters are more than words on paper--that they are blood, sweat, and tears.
My vision?
I'd love to see Hopper, Van Gogh, and Dylan sitting in that "Night Cafe", or in Hopper's 3 a.m. diner---or in Dylan's "loft"---talking about their visions.
And Madonna?
Well, like all women to a lonesome man's eyes, she "still has not showed".
Was VERY busy with my Track & Field blog, this having been an Olympic year.
But still, not a good excuse!
My intentions for this blog was for a much more frequent output.
Then again, it's quality over quantity--eh?
Writers have 2 methods--planned and spontaneous.
In one, you form a plot, give life to characters, draw outlines, keep Thesaurus & Dictionary at hand.
In the other, you apply pen to paper, or fingers to typewriter keys, and let words and symbols fall where they may--to be edited & revised later.
But that speaks to a finished product that--eventually---will look (and even feel) the same at its conclusion.
You will have a book---or a poem--or a short story--or a play--or a song.
It will be--in the end---what you intended it to be.
But what of those "works of art" that BEGIN as a poem, but END as the first in a series of 7 novels?
If you're an artist--a painter--how often does your drawing, your sketch, turn into a brilliant painting hanging on a museum wall?
A lifelong Bob Dylan fan, I've always agreed with those who call him Rock's Bard, its Minstrel Poet.
You have the music, of course, which is often brilliant by itself.
But Dylan's grand legacy will be his WORDS, not his songs.
Take "Visions of Johanna"--which happens to be my favorite Dylan lyric!
I've often described it as an Edward Hopper painting brought to life.
Or as Van Gogh's "The Night Cafe".
Maybe even linked to that mysterious woman named "Mona Lisa".
Dylan's in the meat-bone of New York City, in some "loft" where "the heat pipes just cough", and though "country music plays soft", there's really "nothing to turn off".
Except "Visions of Johanna", a woman in the writer's life who has an intense hold on his tired wracked brain and his lonesome eyes and wounded heart.
Who is "Johanna", a woman who even though "Louise is alright, she's just near", and she's "delicate & seems like the mirror", but who "makes it all too concise and too clear" that Johanna----that woman Dylan loves--isn't there!
Yet, in Dylan's "Vision" he sees "the ghost of 'lectricity" that "howls in the bones of (Louise's) face"---but allows that aching for Johanna to be traded off for this psychedelic visage of Louise--who instead is "entwined with her lover" in the rapturous movements of love---with the music of "harmonicas" & "skeleton keys" & "the rain" as background.
No wonder Mona Lisa had the "highway blues"!
Who wouldn't?
I digressed.
But what were Dylan's words intended to be?
A song?
A poem?
Journal ramblings of a stoned wanderer?
Same applies to this post.
It began as a piece looking at how one's INTENDED format isn't always the END product!
Though my love of Dylan is passionate, I truly did NOT intend to make his best song the core focus of this post.
That happens with characters in novels too.
In my "novel" about an important (life-changing!) relationship I had with an artist in the late '70's (title of "Identity"), one of the characters was Kate Caplan (Shute), who was estranged from her husband, Mark Shute.
Mark was INTENDED to be an almost invisible minor character, an "extra" in a movie.
Yet midway through, my heroine, "Sally", is at her cabin near Lake Tahoe, alone with her 12 year old son, Charles.
Mark suddenly enters, begins an attempted rape of Sally--only to be stopped in time by young Charles, who scares Mark out the door!
This scene was NOT planned!
I had no idea Mark Shute would do what he did---or that Sally's son would save her!
Or that the entire direction and structure of my novel would be forever changed---making its 2nd half a whole different "vision".
Talk to a thousand authors, and they'll tell you the same story--names changed.
It's nice to do a piece that starts and finishes in basically the same place.
A poem stays a poem--a play is never a short story--a haiku doesn't transmogrify to Whitman's "Song of Myself"!!
But as "traders in the arts", we all know (and try to accept) the volatility of the ingredients and tools we use.
We need to be ready to see three words become a 300,000 word novel.
We must know that characters are more than words on paper--that they are blood, sweat, and tears.
My vision?
I'd love to see Hopper, Van Gogh, and Dylan sitting in that "Night Cafe", or in Hopper's 3 a.m. diner---or in Dylan's "loft"---talking about their visions.
And Madonna?
Well, like all women to a lonesome man's eyes, she "still has not showed".
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Our First Woman President
You might be asking yourself, "WTF is this guy doing? This is a blog on CULTURE! Is there ANYthing "cultural" about a political race?"
My answer would be, "Yes, there is!"
It might have begun in 1948, when Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn starred in "State of the Union", the story of Tracy running for office, but the greater power--the power behind the throne, as it were--being Hepburn!
There was a farcical attempt to place a woman on the ballot in 1964, when Polly Bergen had "Kisses for My President".
In real life, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice-Presidential candidate, which stirred women's hearts and imaginations!
Would it be possible?
But it really wasn't until 1992 that "serious" movements towards a Female as President took place.
In the actual race, Governor Clinton's wife--Hillary--became more controversial than her womanizing-draft evading husband!
Talk of her hair, clothes, figure--and her being one of the 100 highest rated lawyers in the country--dominated the news!
But it was an obscure--and Impossible to find!--Lifetime Channel movie that truly opened some doors!
Blair Brown starred as a Field General whose strategic moves won a Gulf War--who is urged to run for the Presidency--does, and wins!
The movie was called "Majority Rule"--which isn't so fictional when you consider that women outnumber men--in the population, and as likely voters!
While some of the later plot becomes a bit much--nearer to Hollywood than to Washington DC--it helped give weight to the notion that a woman COULD be our President!
(Interesting that a REAL General was making a name for herself about then--and even being talked about as "short list" material for Veep!)
I've read several novels about women running for, or holding, high office.
One, by Blayne Cooper, called "Madam President", had some good scenes, and some decent dialogue, but the woman was a late 30's lesbian who, after being elected, hires a woman to come live in the White House and write her biography!
It then turns into a "lesbian novel" rather than a serious treatise on what a woman President might do!
For one season--2005-06--a TV show called "Commander-In-Chief" took its turn on the ladder toward building hype behind a female candidacy for the Oval Office.
Geena Davis plays "Mac Allen", a 2-term Congresswoman who quit for ethical reasons, became a University Chancellor, and was asked to become "Teddy Roosevelt Bridges" VP.
Two years into their first term, he suddenly dies, and she fights off Republican House Speaker "Nate Templeton"s attempt to get her to resign, and takes the Oath!
Templeton is played brilliantly by Donald Sutherland, and their battles throughout the 18 episodes shows her savvy--and strength!
The rumors--maybe the truth!--was that Davis was Hillary Clinton--who was said to be planning a Presidential run in 2008!
(Who says "truth is stranger than fiction"?)
Then along came Sarah!
John McCain shocked everyone when he announced the Governor of Alaska as his VP choice!
And for about 3 weeks, it worked!
Her brilliant speech at the Convention, and her popularity on the stump, made people believe we'd have our first female Vice-President.
And with McCain then 72, images of a "President" Palin weren't so hallucinatory!
Then McCain killed it with his stupid move to suspend his campaign to try to stop the economic meltdown, and boom, we had instead our first black President--a man!
And here we are--it's 2016--and the same Hillary Rodham Clinton--now 69 years old!--is on the precipice of becoming--for REAL--America's first President with breasts and ovaries!
It's maybe ironic that Palin endorsed Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner--in a race to STOP a woman from becoming President!
It's been Palin who's been most vocal in speaking of a new Feminist dialogue and paradigm for the past several years, as she's defined in speeches before important "women's groups".
IMHO, it's sad that this argument--and this woman!--has been so severely attacked--even with death threats against Sarah and her family!
The reason--or the MAIN reason--seems to be Palin's total advocacy of a "pro-life" philosophy!
Yet, on every "woman's issue" standard, Palin's life history truly DEFINES feminism--and its child, feminIST!--like no other!
If Clinton becomes President, will life in America be any different than under the rule of the 44 MEN who preceded her?
Look at the many examples around the world.
We've had Presidents (or Prime Ministers) in India, the Philippines, Great Britain, Germany, and Israel, among others.
Those countries are still alive and kicking--to varying degrees!
I can't see "Armageddon" for America with a woman President!
One difference we MIGHT see, however, would be a rush by writers to pen the "great American novel" --an "All the King's Men", or even an "All the President's Men" (if Hillary becomes the SECOND Clinton to face impeachment!!)--although the latter wasn't fiction, but as many reviewers said, read like a mystery novel!
I can imagine novels written about a lesbian becoming President--but with a more serious tone than Ms Cooper's earlier tome.
I can foresee "sex scenes" and marital discord perhaps trading chapters with discussions of peace treaties and terrorists and "global warming".
There would be children, and pets, and in-laws (Polly Bergen played a wonderful Mom to Geena Davis's character in a few episodes of "C-i-C"!), and most likely, affairs!
After all, what's "normal" for her 44 male predecessors would be normal for her!
Why not?
It's politics, yes, to think of what a woman Presidency might be like--but all we need do is look at some of what the movies and novels have said about it to get a fair idea of what to expect!
It would have been great--again in MY humble opinion!--if we had been served TWO women to choose from instead of one!
Imagine a race--if Sarah had decided to run!--between Palin and Ms Clinton!
Between "old feministic" ideas and "new" ones!
Between a "woman of the 60's" vs a "woman of the 21st century"!
The mind boggles.
IMPORTANT NOTE!!
This blog will NOT accept nor publish any comments speaking to the "popular" memes of "Palin as idiot" , or any comments which demean Palin in any way as a PERSON of SERIOUS demeanor and ability!
Same goes for Hillary--though it seems MOST of the attacks have been against Sarah and her family!
Otherwise, feel free to comment!
My answer would be, "Yes, there is!"
It might have begun in 1948, when Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn starred in "State of the Union", the story of Tracy running for office, but the greater power--the power behind the throne, as it were--being Hepburn!
There was a farcical attempt to place a woman on the ballot in 1964, when Polly Bergen had "Kisses for My President".
In real life, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice-Presidential candidate, which stirred women's hearts and imaginations!
Would it be possible?
But it really wasn't until 1992 that "serious" movements towards a Female as President took place.
In the actual race, Governor Clinton's wife--Hillary--became more controversial than her womanizing-draft evading husband!
Talk of her hair, clothes, figure--and her being one of the 100 highest rated lawyers in the country--dominated the news!
But it was an obscure--and Impossible to find!--Lifetime Channel movie that truly opened some doors!
Blair Brown starred as a Field General whose strategic moves won a Gulf War--who is urged to run for the Presidency--does, and wins!
The movie was called "Majority Rule"--which isn't so fictional when you consider that women outnumber men--in the population, and as likely voters!
While some of the later plot becomes a bit much--nearer to Hollywood than to Washington DC--it helped give weight to the notion that a woman COULD be our President!
(Interesting that a REAL General was making a name for herself about then--and even being talked about as "short list" material for Veep!)
I've read several novels about women running for, or holding, high office.
One, by Blayne Cooper, called "Madam President", had some good scenes, and some decent dialogue, but the woman was a late 30's lesbian who, after being elected, hires a woman to come live in the White House and write her biography!
It then turns into a "lesbian novel" rather than a serious treatise on what a woman President might do!
For one season--2005-06--a TV show called "Commander-In-Chief" took its turn on the ladder toward building hype behind a female candidacy for the Oval Office.
Geena Davis plays "Mac Allen", a 2-term Congresswoman who quit for ethical reasons, became a University Chancellor, and was asked to become "Teddy Roosevelt Bridges" VP.
Two years into their first term, he suddenly dies, and she fights off Republican House Speaker "Nate Templeton"s attempt to get her to resign, and takes the Oath!
Templeton is played brilliantly by Donald Sutherland, and their battles throughout the 18 episodes shows her savvy--and strength!
The rumors--maybe the truth!--was that Davis was Hillary Clinton--who was said to be planning a Presidential run in 2008!
(Who says "truth is stranger than fiction"?)
Then along came Sarah!
John McCain shocked everyone when he announced the Governor of Alaska as his VP choice!
And for about 3 weeks, it worked!
Her brilliant speech at the Convention, and her popularity on the stump, made people believe we'd have our first female Vice-President.
And with McCain then 72, images of a "President" Palin weren't so hallucinatory!
Then McCain killed it with his stupid move to suspend his campaign to try to stop the economic meltdown, and boom, we had instead our first black President--a man!
And here we are--it's 2016--and the same Hillary Rodham Clinton--now 69 years old!--is on the precipice of becoming--for REAL--America's first President with breasts and ovaries!
It's maybe ironic that Palin endorsed Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner--in a race to STOP a woman from becoming President!
It's been Palin who's been most vocal in speaking of a new Feminist dialogue and paradigm for the past several years, as she's defined in speeches before important "women's groups".
IMHO, it's sad that this argument--and this woman!--has been so severely attacked--even with death threats against Sarah and her family!
The reason--or the MAIN reason--seems to be Palin's total advocacy of a "pro-life" philosophy!
Yet, on every "woman's issue" standard, Palin's life history truly DEFINES feminism--and its child, feminIST!--like no other!
If Clinton becomes President, will life in America be any different than under the rule of the 44 MEN who preceded her?
Look at the many examples around the world.
We've had Presidents (or Prime Ministers) in India, the Philippines, Great Britain, Germany, and Israel, among others.
Those countries are still alive and kicking--to varying degrees!
I can't see "Armageddon" for America with a woman President!
One difference we MIGHT see, however, would be a rush by writers to pen the "great American novel" --an "All the King's Men", or even an "All the President's Men" (if Hillary becomes the SECOND Clinton to face impeachment!!)--although the latter wasn't fiction, but as many reviewers said, read like a mystery novel!
I can imagine novels written about a lesbian becoming President--but with a more serious tone than Ms Cooper's earlier tome.
I can foresee "sex scenes" and marital discord perhaps trading chapters with discussions of peace treaties and terrorists and "global warming".
There would be children, and pets, and in-laws (Polly Bergen played a wonderful Mom to Geena Davis's character in a few episodes of "C-i-C"!), and most likely, affairs!
After all, what's "normal" for her 44 male predecessors would be normal for her!
Why not?
It's politics, yes, to think of what a woman Presidency might be like--but all we need do is look at some of what the movies and novels have said about it to get a fair idea of what to expect!
It would have been great--again in MY humble opinion!--if we had been served TWO women to choose from instead of one!
Imagine a race--if Sarah had decided to run!--between Palin and Ms Clinton!
Between "old feministic" ideas and "new" ones!
Between a "woman of the 60's" vs a "woman of the 21st century"!
The mind boggles.
IMPORTANT NOTE!!
This blog will NOT accept nor publish any comments speaking to the "popular" memes of "Palin as idiot" , or any comments which demean Palin in any way as a PERSON of SERIOUS demeanor and ability!
Same goes for Hillary--though it seems MOST of the attacks have been against Sarah and her family!
Otherwise, feel free to comment!
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