All The news that is fit to print and quite a bit that most likely is not...

[shadowkat]

1. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this presidential election has become a crazy reality series that won't end? Run by evil marketing people? Either that or an endless online shipper war, where people bash characters, misrepresent facts, and endlessly rant.

The news is basically that Hillary Clinton has won the nomination, she has more delegates than anyone running currently does. I'm not sure why Sanders is hanging in there, but according to the news he is quietly ramping down. If you don't believe me -- go here, and read the down and dirty facts from Politico Factcheck.com -- which has the Delegate Tracker.

*Politico Delegate Count - This shows who has the most delegates. Here they are:

- Hillary Clinton : 2,205
- Bernie Sanders : 1,401
- Uncommitted: 127

Needs: 2,383 Delegates Needed for Nomination

Conclusion: Sanders lost. Support Hillary, or deal with Trump. Not a hard decision. Anyone bashing Hillary from this point forward, might as well be campaigning for Trump.

Interestingly enough, Trump only has : 1,068 and requires less delegates to get the Republican nod, although all of the candidates running against him dropped out.

* Fact Checkers Confirm Hillary Clinton is More Honest (She still lies, but all people do. And all politicians do. There's no such thing as a politician and/or businessman or celebrity who doesn't lie.)

In other weird election news, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio is being investigated for campaign finance fraud and manipulating the Democratic Senate Election by the NY Board of Elections. Coincidentally, this happened right after NYC Mayor De Blasio started to investigate the NY Board of Elections for voter fraud, which got dropped in favor of the campaign finance investigation. I smell a skunk in NY politics.

2. You ever wish you could magically remove certain people to another dimension ( a safe one, just like here, they'd never notice), permanently?

3. Why is it that every workplace that I've been in for a lengthy period of time has at least one person that for no logical or apparent reason has decided they have it in for me? I'd say it was me, but I was talking to a project manager who had the same experience. Maybe the solution is not to stay too long? Or to telecommute? Oh well, at least this round they have no power over my job, work, or anything else. I can technically pretend they aren't there for the most part.

4. Sciatic nerve is gone. Yoga worked. So did melt balls. And sitting differently at work. Still going to discuss with boss and see if anything can be done. Although rumor has it we are moving again in November and December - either downtown or back to Jamaica, one or the other.

5. Poor North Carolina, not only has Bruce Springsteen canceled all concerts in the state, NY State all business transactions and travel to the state (quite proud of NY for doing that), but now, the US Federal Government has slammed them with Civil Rights Lawsuit -- their bathroom law violates federal civil rights statutes. Georgia's governor took the high road and vetoed that legislatures discriminatory act. Seriously, the right to practice religion does not trump the right to pee, if anything it is the opposite.

Sigh. I'm beginning to think there's too much religious freedom in this country and we need to cut a bit of it. The religions aren't only taking their rights for granted, they are taking advantage. No wonder religion gets a bad rap. It's not religion's fault that people are bigots.

6. On a brighter now, well depending on your point of view, Young Han Solo has been cast, and it's the guy from Hail Cesare, which is a movie I haven't seen.. Yes, they are doing a prequel to the Star Wars films featuring a young Han Solo, before he met Luke and Leia. (It's basically Firefly except in the Star Wars universe and written by Empire Strikes Back and Force Awakens scribe Lawrence Kasdan with his son, Joe Kasdan.)
Reactions have been mixed.

7. The reviews are in - Captain America:Civil War is a great movie and a hit. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 91% rating which syncs with flist. Some reviewers think it may have been better if it wasn't such a good movie. So, apparently it is has outdone Batman vs. Superman in the critical reviewing department. (Which admittedly wasn't that hard to do, considering how horrible the reviews were for B vs. S, I think only two people liked it, and both with serious reservations. ) How it does in the box office department remains to be seen, I'll be surprised if it doesn't beat BvsS in that department as well. (Apparently deadline dot com (they won't permit me to put a link in any way) my original source for box office numbers..is not fit to print and consider a spam provider by LJ. Who knew?) I might see it in the movie theater this weekend or next. I like the themes it tackles, and the characters interest me. Also it's not quite as grim and has quite a bit of humor, which regrettably has been sorely lacking from Zack Synder's films of late (except for The Watchmen, which was unintentionally funny in places.) And...well have already decided to watch Batman vs. Superman on demand. (I'm admittedly more of a Marvel fan than DC anyhow...although not so much the Avengers, have to say, I preferred the Justice League to the Avengers growing up. Now, in the movies, I seem to have swung in the opposite direction. Most likely due to burnout, can't think why, it's not like there hasn't been 50 Years of Movies of Superman and Batman prior to this.

8. Just when we thought we were nearing the end of the Awards season, out come the Tony's, the Daytime Emmys, and the head-scratching and somewhat silly Hugos. (They weren't always silly, they've just gone a bit downhill since the internet made it more accessible to folks with agendas.) Yes, The Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies are at it again. I keep wanting to call them Bunnies. I mean why did they pick the name Puppies? The mind boggles. Also, I wonder if Jim Butcher would get nominated if it weren't for the Puppies? Is he secretly financing their campaigns? I say this knowing full well that I will most likely read the next Dresden book and buy it. I like Butcher's writing style, but I wouldn't give him an award. Actually, I wouldn't give anyone award, I think awards for entertainment and art are silly, because obviously just a popularity contest. But that doesn't keep me from following them and occasionally reading and/or watching the winners. Luckily I'm not a member of any of these organizations so don't need to nominate or vote. I can watch the silliness from the sidelines.

The Tony's are notable this year for giving Hamilton a record number of 16 nominations. They may cancel themselves out in some of the categories. Although I'm rooting for Leslie Odom to get best actor in a musical for Aaron Burr, the man's voice is amazing.

I do wish they'd stop hyping it. It's impossible get tickets. Wait I take that back -- there are 4 Ways to Score Tickets to Hamilton :

* Buy Official Resale Tickets from $757 to $3,375. (Theater producers scalping the tickets.)
* Buy Unofficial Resale Tickets $741-$3000 (which are risky and basically from scalpers)
* Stand in Line. (either via the online lottery or on Wed's the outside the theater lottery) or outside the theater for the possibility of standing room only tickets which may or may not be available.
* Wait for it to go on tour.

Right about now, I'm kicking myself for not seeing it in previews in August, before it got popular, but I was sort of busy with other things and not in the mood.

Why is it remarkable? 1) Diversity in casting, and colorblind casting (rare), 2) Diversity in musical styles, blending and merging classical with hip hop, 3)historical piece about a rarely discussed historical figure, making various historical issues relevant to a younger more diverse generation.
4)it's also well done.

* I doubt you care about the Daytime Emmy's, actually few people do, it's online available for streaming, no longer televised, unlike its heyday (1980s -2010). Cable and streaming are slowly killing daytime television.

Comments

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

does anyone else feel like this presidential election has become a crazy reality series

Does anyone not?

We ought to take the news media to task for constantly feeding the trolls (i.e. Trump and his adoring fans), and not explaining to everyone, including Sanders voters, weeks sooner that his path to victory passed through never-never-land because of the rules the Democrats have about proportional allocation of pledged delegates and the fact that Sanders has attracted only a small fraction of the superdelegates that Clinton has.

Latest episode in the reality series? Sanders now says he'd accept a VP nomination from Clinton. While that may be a mild surprise, I can't see Hillary jumping at the chance to add someone with so little backing from the party establishment. He and his supporters deserve that he be able to give a speech at the convention, and have a say in the platform, but beyond that...

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, Larry Correia (the author who started all this a couple of years ago because he was upset that he didn't win the award in 2014) coined the term "Sad Puppies" because he claimed that if he didn't win an award his dog would be sad.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Our presidential election feels like an insane harry potter movie. we have a race dumbledore vs voldemort and voldemort is going to win. to depressing to think about it.

butcher is there because of the puppies. but i doubt he is involved with them. keeps completly out of it. they are financed by vox days daddy.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Like his dog would care. Dogs have better things to worry about like being fed, walked, a comfy place to sleep, and groomed regularly. Only silly humans care about awards. LOL!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard Austria's election was even worse. I actually think cactuswatcher may be right - blame the crazy media and information industry -- that appears to be more interested in spinning propaganda than actual reportage.

Oh, I know about Butcher...he's copying Neil Gaiman, taking the high road, and ignoring the whole thing. But it is interesting that he keeps getting nominated by the Puppies.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

In a way Sanders as VP would be interesting and pull the party together. Not sure the establishment would go for it though. He's not conceding yet, because he wants a seat at the table, which I can understand - or at the very least to ensure his platform isn't dismissed out of hand. He did to a degree push Hillary a bit more to the left, then she'd have been otherwise.

That said, I agree -- the media has turned this into a reality show circus act that won't end to feed its own bottom line.
I hold it responsible for Trump and the swing towards populism that is taking the globe. (Austria's election is actually worse than ours.)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the media here (in part sure), but mainly the total failure of the current government. We do have what is called a "nanny state" in the US. And these days the the nanny is sitting drunk on the couch, leaving the kid crying with full diapers. Consequently the level of brown shit is rising again.

The green candidate is actually a really brilliant and honestly good man, but the nazi is going to win. Every time someone with brown skin commits a crime he gets more votes. It's disgusting.

The puppies love Butcher, because his hero is straight, white and bangs a lot of pretty women. I get why Butcher keeps quiet but I think he should speak up. Contrary to Gaiman (who I put on the ballot myself), he would never have goten the nom without the puppies.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

It may depend upon who you read and consider in the media. My mom has never looked at, say, 538. She only watches network news. So I constantly have to explain this to her.

I read the Washington Post. All of this stuff - actual odds and such - is in the paper every day.

I don't know who Hillary would pick, but I think Bernie would do much more harm than good as VP. Has never demonstrated that he can be a Team Player, and the VP needs to do that.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Bernie is a bit like Henry Wallace, FDR's second VP, in that regard. Though he was also a socialist, the party mostly wanted him out as Roosevelt's health deteriorated because he was difficult to work with.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I agree about Butcher (which lay behind my somewhat sardonic comment about him financing them). And his books have steadily drifted downhill, with an increasingly troubling chauvinistic subtext, which makes me wonder at times if I want to continue with him. His last book in the Dresden series was a mess and ironically the one nominated.

Gaiman, I know, got a bit fed up/disillusioned with the Hugos a few years back due to The fandom's negative reaction to his pick for speaker (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/06/neil-gaiman-fans-jonathan-ross-hugo-awards).

And I think he mentioned on Twitter that he'd rather the Hugos didn't become a rerun of the US Presidential Election.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Yep, Skin Game was weak. I still want to read the conclusion of the series, but I agree about th chauvynist subtext and it being a turn off. I got the Dresden Files because JM was doing the audiobooks and I'm still not reading to them but listening because I enjoy his voice. Anyway, it is not Hugo material, least
of all Skin Game. I have no intent to start another series by Butcher and I have very strong doubts that it could be anywhere near as brilliant as Jo Walton's thessaly series (basically Plato fanfic), which had good chances to get on the ballot.

I tend to think of the Hugos as niche and Gaiman is in a way to big for them. His Sandman nom is deserved but of course it is worth nothing because the category is full of puppy poo. The actual competition like Descender or Bitch Planet got kicked off by the slate.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

I live far, far away from NYC and will probably never get tickets (sad face), but the Hamilton cast album is amazing. Like you, I'm hoping for Leslie Odom, Jr. to get the best lead actor Tony, because he's amazing. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the damn thing, he can have all the other Tonys. I seriously get chills every time I hear Odom sing "Wait For It". The funny part is the first time I listened to the album, I was kind of like, "yeah, whatever" about the song, because I was in a hurry to find out what happened next with the plot. But then I listened to it again, and was all, "Oh my God, this song is amazing." Same thing with Phillipa Soo singing "Burn".

There is another option for tickets. You can sign up for the mailing list at the official Hamilton Broadway site and they'll send you an email alert a few days before another tranche of "standard tickets" goes on sale (I live nowhere near NY, but that's what planes are for, if I ever scraped the money together). Standard tickets aren't as good seats as the Premium tickets, but they start at $139 USD per ticket, which is still a lot, but a hell of a lot more reasonable than $700. The disadvantage is you'd have to book months in advance. But I signed up for the mailing list a few weeks ago and they haven't sent me any junk mail whatsoever, just an email right away asking me to confirm that I'd signed up with that email address, then nothing.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the heads up about the mailing list! I might try that. Although, not sure I can handle standing all day at the theater -- been there done that.

Agreed on the cast album. It is frigging amazing all on its own. Partly because Lin-Manuel went out of his way to create one for people who couldn't get in to see the show. He grew up listening to and loving cast albums for shows he couldn't see. Also agree on "Wait For It" -- the song gives me chills as well -- it's such a complicated song, about a man who enters a duel and ruins his life. "Burn" is also an amazing song. Some day I will make it to this musical. It just may be in 2020. LOL! After the hype goes down and we get a different cast, sigh. ;-(

The musical inspired me to read the book it's based on, which is good, but slow --- I'm not a fan of non-fiction.
Bogged down on the chapter detailing the commerce in and out of the Caribbean islands.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think Gaiman's upset that Scott McCloud's The Sculpture got kicked off. He considered that to be better than his work.

There are other sci-fi/fantasy awards, such as the Luna, and the Nebula.

Jo Walton is of a different class altogether -- more intellectual/philosophical, or literary than genre, I think.
I read one of her novels, Among Others, and it had an academic literary feel to it -- which is off-putting to most genre fans, who don't want to think that hard after a hard day at the office. ;-)

Butcher is fun, pulpy read. Best-seller fiction. And honestly, you don't need to give a best-selling writer awards -- they are already getting the marketing hype. Which is why Gaiman yanked his work out of the awards for a bit, felt he should give others a try. (I truly love that man, he is a kind soul.) I personally think Stephen King is a better writer though, his characters are slightly more developed. And I much prefer Illona Andrews novels, for both the Eastern European/Asian mythology focus, subversive take on Christian mythos, shape-shifters (she has hyenas), the characters and wit. Much better writer than Butcher.

Like you I got into Butcher, listening to Marsters reading the novels. Then I just bought the novels themselves. (Not a fan of audio books, mainly because I have sort of auditory dyslexia, so tend to mishear things...and lose bits and pieces of the story. While when I read a book, I can re-read, and miss less.)

Just saw a mouse - first time in a while. Freaked. Now I got to figure out what to do about said mouse.
Because there may be more. Ugh.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that the mailing list is for when tickets go on sale online as well as in person at the box office. I think they realize full well that they have fans who don't live close enough to go and line up at the damn box office. Here's the link for the mailing list. (http://www.hamiltonbroadway.com/index.php#tickets)

Realistically, there's no way I'm going to see it until it tours either to Seattle or Vancouver. I could justify hopping a train down to Seattle, get a not-too-expensive hotel for a night or two. But there's no way Leslie Odom, Jr. or Phillipa Soo or Renee Elise Goldsberry will be in the touring cast. Sad face. But with you in NY, you could probably get standard tickets at a not-TOO-extortionate price.

BTW, your tale of not being able to get to its off-Broadway run before it transferred to Broadway reminded me of an LJ friend's tale of woe. She had a fairly inexpensive single ticket to the off-Broadway show, a few weeks before it closed at the Public Theatre and made the transfer to the Richard Rodgers Theatre (sorry, I know I should say "Theater" instead, but I'm Canadian. "Theater" just looks WRONG to me). But she failed to realize it was on a day with 2 shows, and failed to realize it was to the matinee performance, showed up at the evening performance and got turned away. Fortunately she did eventually manage to catch it on Broadway, but she was furious with herself.

Have bought the book recently, but haven't yet started it. I actually LIKE history books and biographies, so I doubt I'll get too bogged down, it's just a question of starting. Maybe you could skim through the section that's bogging you down until it stops seguewaying and goes back to talking about A. Ham.

Good point about how Lin-Manuel Miranda made the cast album for people who couldn't get to the live show. Apparently there's only 1 missing scene, and that's the scene where A. Ham discovers that his close friend and fellow abolitionist John Laurens has been killed at the Battle of Yorktown at the very end of the war. According to Miranda, that's a scene rather than a song, and he decided to hold something back for the live show, I guess as a sort of Easter egg for people who've listened to the cast album prior to getting to the show. And maybe the scene didn't translate well into a purely auditory medium.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It also supplies information on the online lottery - which is just $10 a ticket, but difficult for people outside of NYC, since you have to buy the day of. Also be on the computer and checking email.

When Hamilton was in previews in August, my parents were coming to town for their 50th, and I wasn't sure at the time that they'd like a rap/hip-hop musical....so went the safe route with American in Paris. We could only see one.
And I'd no time to see two that month. They are awfully long - 3 hour running time, plus intermission, and about 45 minutes away. So you have to set aside about 4-5 hours, including the commute to the theater.

No worries regarding theatre, I keep spelling it both ways, because of all of the Brits, Canadians, and Europeans on my flist. I've picked up a lot of Britishisms, apparently. And living in NYC makes it even more confusing, because it's sort of a melting pot of language and slang here.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh, because of Hamilton, non-white or POC performers may sweep the Tony's for the first time in history or get the majority of the awards, which is a nice contrast to the Emmy's and the Oscars.