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1. So, weirdly, I've engaged in a discussion with a rather self-righteous singer who thinks everyone should love to express themselves through song. Uhm, why? I don't enjoy singing in public or private. Seldom do it.

Out of curiousity, is there any one else out there who doesn't sing in the shower? Or read in the bathtub. And can't really sing?

Singers and musicians seem to think everyone can do it, because they can do it. Uh. No.

Also, I don't think in sounds or auditory...I have an sort of auditory dyslexia.

2. The Resident

I'm loving this show right now. The characters, the story, all of it. It's my new favorite show.

Anyone else watching?

Hits all my medical show kinks rather hard.

Although, will state that the lead, Matt Czurchy, is playing sort of the same character he did in Gilmore Girls and The Good Wife. A man who hates his rich, successful father, much to his own detriment and those around him.

But this a great show with complex characters and a diverse cast. My favorite character is Nina, the surgeon from Nigeria, who is treating patients out of her home. Also, Bruce Greenwood and Melinda Karadikas, play very complex villains.

Best medical show that I've seen since ER, realistic and gripping, without the insane frenetic pace of a Code Black or Chicago Med.

Also enjoying 9-1-1, mainly for the women characters, who are awesome. The male characters are rather weak and need tweaking. But it has some awesome female characters. Angela Bassett rocks in this series as a female cop who takes no prisoners. (I adore Angela Bassett.)

And the cases of the week are rather amusing, because Ryan Murphy and Tim Minear are the show-runners and have a wicked sense of humor. Minear has joined Murphy's writing group. This week the theme was "karma is a bitch", and well...one case was a woman who kept stealing packages off people's porches, until one package was so heavy she broke her hip. In another case, a man was shot by the tree that his wife shot trying to defend herself against him, by the same bullet. And in another, a guy got hit by a dump truck after robbing a convience store.

It's a much more positive series than Murphy's other series...which means the writer is becoming less cynical and more hopeful. It's the anti-thesis to Nip/Tuck.

This is US has it's season finale next week. I'm guessing it'll be replaced by Rise.
It was good this week, if a little cliche and manipulative in spots. I'm finding it a bit predictable in it's storylines lately and a little over the top in the sentimentality department. Scale back a bit please, writers.

That said, this week's episode was interesting in how the writer chose to parallel the experiences of the central character's family, an middle class white family, and upper middle class black family, with a poor, working class single black mom and her daughter -- struggling to not be evicted or end up lost in the foster care system. It was painful in places. So a good episode, but I felt a bit more nuance could have benefited it.

3. Ah, a friend on FB, who I knew from ATPO Board, and gets this sort of thing, finally saw The Black Panther -- and she picked up on all the things I did. (If anyone would, she would.)


*In any other movie Killmonger would’ve been the superhero: tragically loses parent as a child, complex search for identity, finds out about his hidden birthright, American entry point view from our world to mystical land, takes throne back from his murderous uncle. (And like many mainstream American movie heroes he forged his strength killing brown people in Iraq and Afghanistan in black ops operations for the US.) Also - hilarious that the diaspora character turns up and has opinions on how things should be modernised back home.

EXACTLY.

* Lots has been said about Black Panther’s aesthetics- and it was fab. But for me, it was stunning to hear non European, accented English presented as sexy, intelligent, authoritative and compelling. I loved it. Even when you resist the brainwashing, it’s hard to escape the constant message that our accents are jokes, are signifiers of low intelligence and poor vocab. That the ‘best accents’ (English speaking) rarely come with non white skin. As someone who has stubbornly held on to my accent for decades, I am reminded: yes, our voices are beautiful.

EXACTLY

This film changed things. It took a white male superhero/action trope and flipped it inside out.
Not only that, improved on it, and provided a wonderful message.

Black Churches Host Screenings of Black Panther

That pretty much says it all.

Mark my words, this film is changing things.