Clinton Invokes RFK Assassination
Keith Olberman just gave birth to a litter of kittens live on the air over it, so I doubt it will mean much in the long term, but Hillary Clinton defended her decision to stay in the Democrat nomination race by reminding everyone anything can happen. You see, her husband did not secure the nomination until June 1992 and we should all remember Robert Kennedy was assassinated in the summer of 1968. So, you know, it may take a while for Barack Obama to win and someone might even kill him before then,.
Clinton has spent the afternoon backtracking on her statement She meant to invoke the assassination in an historical perspective, not to imply she was hoping some decides to make a name for himself by killing the first likely black president.
It is telling the possibility is foremost on the minds of Michelle Obama and Clinton that Obama is placing himself in a precarious position by running for president. Mike Huckabee made a distasteful joke at an NRA meeting a couple weeks ago along similar lines, proving it was on his mind, too. The NRA crowd, whom one assumes are not big Obama backers, acted in appropriate disapproval.
I do not think Clinton is hoping for something like an assassination to keep obama from securing the nomination,. I think she is just one of those people who is so smart she says stupid things without realizing how they sound to most people. I suspect she is also an emotionally cold person to whom life is largely a political calculation. That is what having a sense of entitlement to leadership will do to you. The emotional impact of events on real people is lost.
All that said, this election certainly is turning intro a retread of 1968. John mcCain is a liberal republican who got kicked around the first time he ran for president. An old school Democrat is running against a young hipster on how to end an unpopular war. A third party candidate like Bob barr may be a huge factor in an election with immigration as an issue rather segregation, but it is emotionally charged issue regarding race anyway. The last thing we need is an asassin’s bullet making everything come full circle.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Mutt Lange's Other Woman
No, that is not Shania Twain’s mother with her in the above photo. Both Twain’s parents died tragically when she was very young. And the good times just kept on rolling, because that woman is Marie0Anne Thiedaud, a former close employee and the woman with whom husband Mutt Lange has been carrying on an affair
Yep. My Def Leppard producer has been cheating on Shania freakin’ Twain. With a woman who, only five years younger than twain, looks like ten miles of bad road.
What the heck? At forty-two, twain is still hot. He is not backing the beast with two backs with this Thiebaud chick for money, either. He has loads. So what is wrong with lange? Is he a masochist? Does he have mommy issues? Could he just be an idiot? Maybe so. When was the last time you heard a Def Lappard song you liked? Heck, when was the last time you heard a Def Leppard song period? Lange must have “Amageddoned It” with both his marriage and career.
In all seriousness, I thought Shania Twain was hot stuff when she hit it big in the mid- ’90’s. she started going a little wonky there in the late’90’s when country’s popularity started fading, but so did other semi-country acts like Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. You can probably throw the Dixie Chicks in there, too. By the time I read a Rolling Stone interview with in 2002, Twain was flirting with Art Garfunkal cosmic awareness type weirdness. But she was still talented and still beautiful have a difficult time figuring out why a man would dump her-- especially for that old bag above. You do not go eat at Billy Bob’s Flat Beer & Boiled Shrimp Emporium when you have Red Lobster at home.
At least I have an excuse to post her duet with Willie Nelson on “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
Jessica Simpson Does Self Breast Exam
Surely there is no lack of volunteers to examine them for her. I am no doctor, but I do have a compassionate soul. that should count for something to her. I guess this is proof Tony Romo has headed for the hills. or away from Jessica's hills, at any rate.
The photo is awfully blurry. I owe you a better image of the lovely Ms. Simpson, do I not?
Not bad.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
What is the Point of Facebook?
With rumors surfacing Microsoft is about to purchase face book, presumably for an obscenely large hunk of change, I have to ask--why?
I have been on Facebook for a few months now. I signed up solely because I had been getting frequent e-mails from readers asking if I was a member. Rather than saying no and enduring a sales pitch, I joined. I have hooked up with some old friends from college and high school I probably would otherwise not have. I have also developed a fondness for the Scrabble rip off, Scrablous, that has sweept through the ranks of the face book faithful. But otherwise, I have found the place rather boring.
Aside from finding some old friends, I have fielded random friend requests from people I have never met before and cannot know anything about until I add them since the vast majority of profiles are private. I assumed they were blog readers since many folks seemed to think it wasv odd I as a blogger was not on the site to begin with. Alas, no. They have by and large been random people who evidently click on friend requests and take their chances you will join their collection. Sue me, I generally have even though I find it peculiar. More peculiar than when the same happens to me on MySpace.
It comes back to my original question of what is the point? There is nothing thrilling about it. The site is 99% applications which clutter up your page, quickly grow tiresome, and are annoyingly intrusive when each of your friends invites you to try a dozen new applications a day. Somehow this is a multimillion dollar venture? If so, you should be able to throw a rock up in the air and make a fortune, since that is about as thrilling as anything Facebook can muster.
Yes, I am a face book detractor. One of the few around these days, it would seem. I take heart in the news Microsoft may be taking over, though. I know their history of improving things by making them even more complicated to the point of uselessness (See: Widows Vista) that most everyone else will get tired of the site just like I have.
Texas Had No Right to Take Sect's Children
Wow, you think?
A Texas Court of Appeals found the state had exceeded its authority when it seized children from a polygamist sect. The ruling may very well torpedo any further actions against the sect. the court specifically stated the legal and rational grounds for seizing the hundreds of children were insufficient under Texas law.
I have zero knowledge of relevant texas law, but I understand the rationale was “protecting’ the girls from being pushed into underage marriages and the boys from being taught that is a hunky dory way of doing things. The children are being brainwashed definitely, but are in no immediate danger, which is the requirement for an emergency seizure without a court order. It should be noted the court did not call for the immediate return of the children to the sect.
These kinds of cases fascinate me. Situations involving religious freedom versus child welfare have gotten a lot less cut and dry for me. Used to be, in my more fundamentalist days, I was solidly in the my religion and no one else’s school of thought-- assuming you can classify that as thought. After spending some time around people my age who had been brought up in sheltered, closed environments, I began to see not only the dangers of brainwashing kids, but the realization it only has to go on a short period of time for it to be irreversible. These days I am more inclined to leave religious zealots to their own beliefs up until children are in physical danger. After all, it is not a crime for parents to teach their kids stupid things. If it was, we would all be wards of the state.
The High Cost of Being Denise Richards
Denise Richards, who played second fiddle to Neve Campbell in Wild Things as far as I am concerned and high priced hookers as far as Charlie Sheen is concerned, went on Larry king to plead poverty. She claims to have been forced into starring in a new reality show because of a cash flow problem. She has no particular interest in reality television, but still seems awfully upset ex husband sheen has tried to block production of the show.
Sheen says he wants to keep Richards from exploiting their children. How is that for a change of pace in Hollywood parenting? Probably hypocritical since Richards, one of their children, and Martin Sheen have all appeared on sheen’s current sitcom, but why split hairs? Maybe his heart is in the right place. Richards just says he is a self-centered, prostitute lovin’ meanie who wants to start his family to death. While I admit sheen is on the sleazy side (I have seen Two and a Half Men and say with much embarrassment I cackle like I am stirring a bubbling cauldron over the juvenile humor.), but I get a sense he might just be on the up and up here.
Sheen pays Richards $ 52,000 a month in child support. That is more money than most hard working people earn in a year. But wait. Richards also received $60,000 a month in alimony for two years--adding up to $ 1.44 million. She also owns a chunk of the aforementioned Two and a Half Men, the syndication package of which alone could net her up to $ 25 million.
It is one thing to want as much cash as you can out of life. It is something else entirely to pretend you need it for anything other than mainting a frivolous lifestyle. I guess people feel sorry for her regardless, though. Right?
McCain Hosts Veep Retreat
...and the prospective Veeps should beat a hasty retreat. Republican nominee John McCain has invited alleged Veep choices Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, and Charlie Crist, along with a small army of consultants and BFF Lindsay Graham on a vacation retreat this holiday weekend. We can be pretty confident the weekend is not all about grilling burgers and working on suntans. This is McCain running names up the flagpole and seeing who salutes. There is still an air of lost cause for McCain’s presidential prospects, so I doubt anyone who aspires to hold another office in the future is going to join the ticket.
If I am right, I doubt any of three will want the Veep nod. Romney has plans to run again in 2012. Losing the nomination and then serving on the losing ticket would be two strikes against him next time around. Besides, if he could lure conservatives to the polls, he would be the nominee instead. I would not be terribly shocked to see Romney in a possible Cabinet, but even that might be too big a risk. Cabinet heads are the first ones to roll when someone needs to take a fall for the president.
Jindal is a rising star, but that is probably the reason he would refuse the Veep slot. He has ambitions, maybe even fr president himself. He is youg, too. At only 36, he is the youngest governor in the country. McCain cannot very well critique Barack Obama’s inexperience when he has someone a decade younger than Obama on his ticket with even less elected office experience. There are no plusses there for either McCain or Jindal.
That leaves us we Florida Governor Crist. I have no idea if he has further ambitions or if Sunshine State governor would satisfy him as the pinnacle of his career. I cannot imagine him launching a legitimate White House bid on his own later with any expectations of winning, but lots of pols think they can catch lightning in a bottle. He probably has nothing to lose by running with McCain and he may bring Floridainto the McCain camp. But that is also something that would probably have happened anyway.
Out of three, I would think Crist is the most likely to agree to run, though maybe not McCain’s first choice. He owes Crist. The governor is credited with turning his campaign around with his endorsement during the Florida primary campaign.Crist’s position on the ticket may serve as nothing more than a thank you. Maybe I am just being cynical. I still cannot figure out why Jack Kemp joined Bob Dole’s doomed campaign in 1996. Maybe he and Crist are more optimistic than I give them credit for.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
American Idol's Goose Cooked
I figured David Cook was going to win tonight. Simon Cowell confirmed it when he backtracked shortly before the winner was announced and almost groveled to Cook for brutalizing him last night. Frankly, I think Cowell had it right the first time. David Archuleta killed the competition over the last few weeks, singing with soul well beyond his years. He was clearly the best singer, but American Idol is not about who is the best singer. It is all about popularity. The girls went ga ga for Cook, so he is the man of the hour.
Since you were thinking it, yes, I embrace my own hypocrisy on the issue. I liked Brooke White oodles even when she was clearly in over her head. But it was not all the frizzy hair, bare feet, and gentle sense of naiveté. She was a balladeer in a contest in which contestants have to be a jack of all trades and who cares if of is a master of any. I feared David Archuleta was in the same boat. He was just too good to be popular.
Then again, I bet he and cook wind up like Clay Aiken and Reuben Stoddard. Stoddard won AI, then quickly fell off the map while Aiken carved out a niche for himself --an odd niche of young girls, old women, and gays, but a niche nonetheless --and is still around. Cook cannot aspire to be much more than Eddie Vedder. Archuleta will get his own steady and loyal following.
One other note. I do not know if she was actually drunk or not, but I swore there wwre several times I thought Paula Abdul was going to rip her clothes off and start dancing on stage. She was boogying down to songs that honestly dud not merit the gyrating. She was particularly bad about George Michael, which I thought was doubly pitiful considering he is gay as a French horn. Even a young, nubile woman could not crack that, much less poor Paula. Was it my imagination, or was Randy Jackson holding her as she sobbed to Cook’s final song? I swear that is what it looked like.
Paris is Not an Heiress
Look into the bugged out eyes of that Chihuahua. There is an animal desperate to make a break for it like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. If only the little critter could reach the kick stand on a motorcycle. Anyway, Paris Hilton is back in the news. It is not just because she has expressed the terrifying desire to breed with her new Good Charlotte boy toy, but that the revelation her grandfather is giving away his fortune to charity is an extremely touchy subject.
Baron Hilton, founder of the famous hotel chain, has expressed both a desire to help make the world a better place with his fortune once he is gone and a deep embarrassment for Paris’ antics to the point the does not want her blowing his money on further making a spectacle of herself. His concerns might not go in that exact order, but I will give the old chap the benfit of the doubt. Maybe he does care about the mass of unwashed humanity who cannot afford to set foot in one of his hotels.
In a recent interview, a visibly annoyed paris curtly demanded a reporter ask his next question when the subject of her inheritance came up. She will openly discuss her DUI and stint in jail, but when it comes to Paris the Heiress, mum is the word. Mum is also the word on that favorite Bible verse she owes Larry King, but I digress, as I so often do.
I am going to shock all of you here and point out that greed might very well be behind Paris’ recent altruistic behavior. She is worth a ton of cash on her own, but money is like Jell-O. There is always room for more. While I am certain Paris has no clue who Ayn rand is, she certainly has the concept of the virtue of selfishness down pat. I think it is safe to say her charity work, such as meeting with children in a South African orphanage, was an attempt to connect the concept of charity with herself just to win her grandfather’s approval and maybe more than a few of his nickels.
I gave her some credit for that act a few months ago. How did my cynical old heart ever make such an error?
Primary Concerns
Both victories occurred with wider margins than I predicted, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each won the primary they were expected to. Obama has moved ahead in the pledged delegate count to the point Clinton could catch up even if she swept the final three contests. Polls are showing Obama with a comfy lead over republican John McCain, too. The lead will get an even bigger bounce once Clinton is dragged kicking and screaming out of the limelight. Even afterwards, she will call for divine intervention to ensure her victory.
Pundits have been saying fr months it was already coming down to the super delegates, yet they talked about it last as though it was some new, exciting revelation. I kept flipping channels to watch coverage in between the American Idol finale (for a seventeen year old, David Archuleta can belt out a tune like a seasoned pro) and munching grilled hamburgers. Kentucky was called early and there was almost a four hour wait for Oregon’s results. The gap was filled with so much false drama, it was excruciatingly painful to watch even for the small amount of time I endured it.
The fact is, the super delegates want to go en masse for Obama. The only Clinton pick ups of late have been in districts she has handily carried. I suspect that is the case with the so called “uncommitted” delegates. Clinton won their district and they are afraid to anger constituents by supporting Obama. Clinton most certainly is aware of that, but I do not see how she can use it to her advantage other than delaying the inevitable nomination of Obama.
Much of the night was spent dwelling on Ted Kennedy. I have not written about him yet. There was not much to say up until yesterday when it was announced her had a brain tumor. I am still at a loss. I am certainly not happy to see him meet such afate. We do mot see eye to eye as far as politics go, but certain things transcend such petty concerns. I could name two past associates of mine who have verbally wished him dead. That is tacky, even for Regent University. 9Whoops. There I go again with that accursed place.) People are divided between the Kennedy mystique and the reality they have feet of clay exposed for the entire country to see. Very flawed, but deserving of some dignity in what is likely the final chapter of their patriarch’s life.
Doctor Who Music Video
It leans pretty heavily on Donna Noble's antics. I was not big on Catherine Tate joining the cast, but so far she has been a great addition and perfect foil for the doctor. None of that unrequited love angst which has gotten so annoying with recent companions.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Steven Moffat Takes Over Doctor Who
My favorite Whovian writer will become the show runner in 2010. The official word from the BBc is here.
Preggers or too Many Chili Dawgs?
It is not much of a debate. Britney Spears is about to pop out another young ‘un into her already manic, train wreck of a life But that is not even the oddest part. This photo was taken in Costa Rica where spears and her father are vacationing with neighbor Mel Gibson. Other than the proximity of their McMansions, I cannot imagine what brings them together. One can only imagine they bonded over, cocktails or Zionist conspiracies? Surely Mad Mel is not mentoring her on the evils of alcohol consumption. If you can name a more odd trio, I would love to hear. Jessica Simpson, Poppa Joe, and Tony Romo do not count, of course. I cannot make it that easy for you. `
You know what is worse? The baby’s daddy is bound to be journalist Adam Ghalib, the guy who latched onto Spears during her breakdown in January. Well, he latched onto whatever Dr. Phil McGraw left him after he tried to cash in. Ghalib has more patience than Dr. Phil, though. He has waited until now to shop around an alleged sex tape he and Spears made while in Mexico after Spears was released from her forced hospitalization. So what we have, judging by spears’ belly, is an alleged video of the kid’s conception. I would call it tasteless, but since Spears will inevitably sell the rights to the first baby photos, ik would have to classify it as more symmetrical than anything else.
Consider how angry Kevin Federline is going to be he cannot cash in as well, and you have to admit Mel Gibson is probably the most reasonable person in the whole mess. There is a scary thought.
I understand money makes people do strange and heartless things. Believe me, I have personal experience. But I am completely surprised, even with my cynical old heart, how vultures will descend upon someone who is clearly as distressed as Spears. Her career is in shambles, no doubt. She is going to wind up broke at some point. I assume that is the rationale for leeching off her--someone has to save the money. I do love how greedy degenerates can convince themselves of their own heroism. This will end badly, you know.
The Ocean and the BluegrassIt is time to make my usual Democrat primary predictions. Hard to believe I still have to do this half way through May, no? Today’s primaries are going to split between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama will win Oregon by eight to ten points. Kentucky will be a Clinton blowout, but not as large as west Virginia’s. I will give her a twenty point margin of victory.
Look for Clinton to take full advantage of the time zone difference between the two states. Kentucky, which is technically a commonwealth, I know, will be called hours before Oregon. Clinton will celebrate her victory there like she has won the White house already. Call it psychological warfare. If you look like a winner, people assume you are one. To counter the effect, Obama is throwing some sort of shindig in Iowa, where his assent to the throne began in earnest. Will it work for either of them? Nope. The American Idol finals are tonight. People care much more abour David Cook v. David Achuleta than Obama v. Clinton.
Tonight is going to be Clinton’s last big hurrah. She will probably win Puerto Rico next, but it will be of even less consequence than Kentucky’s too little, too late win. If she is to have any chance at all of continuing her campaign, she has to win Oregon. I doubt it will happen, but her base of older voters are astoundingly reliable and there are at least a couple polls that put her within the margin of error. But Clinton has spent most of her time in Oregon complaining about the press’ bias against her, real or imagined. If she has come across as whiny, she will have pretty much shot herself in the foot.
Clinton knows her chances in Oregon are slim to none at all. In response, shehas changed her tactic to now claiming she has won states totaling 300 electoral votes. I will grant her that one, but a not insignificant number of those states will only go blue in the fall if john McCain runs with Dick Cheney or David duke. In fairness, obama has won Southern and Heartland states that would not go for him in November, either. I Have no doubts the big blue states Clinton has carried during the primary season will happily go for obama over McCain, but Clinton does have a point. Why did they not go for Obama to begin with?
Doctor Who Music Video
It makes more sense when you know the blond is Agatha Christie. As for the giant wasp, you will just have to trust me on that one.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Lost Season Finale Spoilers
Whoever Lostfan108 is, he has come through again this year. He has posted spoilers regarding next week’s season finale. Assuming this is the same guy/girl, you can bank on these spoilers as accurate. Lostfan108 correctly predicted the flashforward for the last season finale. With all that in mind, if you want to remain a virgin, skip the rest of this post. Actually, you might want to skip them even if you do not want to be a virgin. The so called “Frozen Donkey Wheel” is incredibly absurd. You have been warned.
I will start with the island story. Ben signaled Richard Alpert to act as reinforcements against the mercenaries at the Orchid. They just happened to run into Sayid and kate, who will agree to help. Lapidas repairs the helicopter, so everyone eventually converges on the Orchid. Ben kills Keemy in revenge for the death of his daughter, Alex. He tells locke the island can be moved, not only temporaly, but physically as well, by a giant wheel under the island. (I told you it was absurd.) Locke and Jack have another go around, but they both agree he must concoct a story to keep the island’s secrets safe. Ben does his thing with the giant wheel. He informs Locke he will be forced teleport once the wheel is in motion. Hence, he shows up in the Tunisian desert wearing a parka a couple episodes back.
Everyone but Locke piles on the helicopter, but it was damaged in the battle with the freighter mercenaries. He cannot carry all of them, so Sawyer smooches Kate and jumps out safely. Hence, Jack tells her in the future sawyer made his choice to stay on the island.
They make it to the freighter. The people on theship have been unable to disarm the explosives. The helicopter can only take Sun and Aaron since they are both smaller than Sawyer. The freighter explodes. Michael is clearly killed. The fates of Jin and Desmond are not clear. Gy this point, the island is gone through time and space. The oceanicSix only remain. Exactly what happens to Lapidas and the helicopter is not clear. I suppose it crashes in the ocean. Sun is angry with Jack for the decision to leave Jin behind. The Oceanic Six are eventually recovered by the US Coast Guard.
The flashforwards follow the Oceanic Six and their encounters with a mysterious “he” who urges them to return to the island. The big moment is a return to the funeral scene from “Through the Looking Glass.” Bwn shows up while Jack is there. He tells Jack they have to go back and take the man in the coffin with them. It is John Locke. Somehow, he got off the island and was killed.
A big part of me hopes someone is yanking our chains. Considering the newspaper obituary said Jeremy Bentham was arguing with his teenage son just before committing suicide, I hope some is. But that may mean Locke somehow wound up with walt or some such. Not to mention a giant wheel beneath the island? Maybe the writers can pull this off, but I really hope it is a hoax.
Animal Instinct
Zoologists in China allegedly have videos of numerous animals, both wild and domesticated pets, going berserk shortly before the earthquake last week. The berserk behavior can best be described as panic rather than aggression. It is not entirely unusual for this sort od thing to happen. Historians record as far back as 473 BCE, animals abandoned the Greek city of Helice before an earthquake destroyed it entirely. Scientists have also noted the animal casualties from the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia were remarkably low.
Most scientists assure us it is merely coincidence, which is certain proof it is, in fact, not. I am sure there is a rational explanation somewhere down the line, but currently there is only a metaphysical one--animals just seem to know these things.
Everyone fears the unknown. Rationalists fear it because lack of answers makes them uncomfortable. The idea that something might be random, uncontrollable, or even *gasp* supernatural, is too scary to comprehend. The faithful fear the unknown because they are afraid of depending on the mercy of whatever might be in charge out there. It is even worse considering whatever is in charge does not appear all that merciful at times. Neither side ever notes their common ground. They miss out on the opportunity to cower under the bed together.
What can we take away from it? Not much other than if you catch your jittery cat trying to buy a first class plane ticket to a neighboring state with your credit card, you better tell him to make it two. You can never be too careful.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Dog Days of Campaigning
Word is Barack Obama is going to declare victory on Tuesday whether he has a clean sweep or not. There is no reason for him not to. By most math calculations, he is less than one hundred delegates shy of securing the nomination. He is already sparring with John McCain over foreign policy issues while Hillary Clinton can only spar with the Oregon press establishment she claums is being mean to her. So why did Joseph Biden, who I believe endorsed Obama, say on This Week there is no reason for Clinton to end her campaign. She should go all the way to June just for the heck of it, I guess.
He further claimed that win or lose, Clinton is the most powerful woman in politics. That maybe so, but I imagine Nancy Pelosi would have something to say about it. As House Speaker, she is not only the key player in setting the legislative agenda, but as second in the presidential line of succession, which makes her closer to decorating the oval office than Clinton currently is
Nevertheless, the Democratic nomination process is essentially over. The two sides are preparing to consolidate. I imagine the staffs are going to be more amenable to that than the candidates themselves. Surely there are a lot of Clinton supporters who would be just as happy with Obama. I doubt there would be many women voters who would shun Obama just because their filly did not win.
Many polls now are showing Obama with a lead over McCain since the two began addressing each other’s policies. You can expect a huge bounce for Obama over McCain once Clinton is gone. Whether it sticks is anyone’s guess. In 1988, Michael Dukakis had an 18 point lead at the time the GOP settled on their nominee and pittered it away down to a landslide defeat in the fall. of course, he made a load of blunders Bush 41’s hatchet man, South Carolinas’s own Lee Atwater, capitalized on. Obama has had a few blunders, but he has been pretty much a Teflon candidate thus far, even over problems like Jeremiah Wright. He is not Dukakis. Obama My very well come out the gate well ahead of McCain and never break a sweat from Tuesday until November.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Doctor who--"The Unicorn and the Wasp"
There are three reasons I really like Doctor Who. One, I am a cynic and the British seem to have a pathological need for stories to have at least some bit of a downer ending. Like is never wrapped up in a neat little package like American television tends to present it. Second, I am a science fiction buff. Finally, I am a history buff. Sometimes all three aspects collide in one episode to make it great. I think great might be too strong a word for “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” but I did like it.
I must confess murder mysteries are one step above romance novels and two steps about pop spirituality books in my hierarchy of literature. I have read Agatha Christie out of bibliophile obligation and recognize her talent, but I am much more partial to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his creation, old what is his name. One thing I will say for Christie is 1920’s Britain is the stereotypical setting which comes to mind when asked to picture a murder mystery. If you are going to have an old fashioned murder mystery with the Doctor, that is the place to do it and Christie is the perfect partner in crime.
At the end of “last of the Time Lords,” the Doctor was about to invite Martha to the 1920’s in order to meet Christie before his shell shocked companion opted to leave the TARDIS. A good move, honestly. Donna Noble struck me as a much better companion for this sort of adventure. I cannot see Martha or Rose interested in Christie’s novels. The story itself humorously and intentionally uses ever murder mystery cliché in the book other than having the butler do it. I enjoyed it, but I imagine Whovians with a greater fondness for murder mysteries found it and wink, wink, nudge, nudge hoot.
This being Doctor Who, there had to be a science fiction twist and this one involved the lady of the house once giving birth to a alien which eventually became a giant insect who committed all the murders in the episode because it absorbed its mother’s fondness for Agatha Christie novels. Yes, the last ten minutes explaining all this was a bit on the wacky side even for the Doctor. The whole idea of a cat burglar called the Unicorn was completely wasted and unnecessary for the rest of the story. Still, it did not ruin it for me. It might have knocked a star off my overall rating, but it was still an entertaining hour.
The BBC does period pieces fantastically well. I am beginning to think it is because of British fondness for the Empire’s glory days. The wasp CGI was unusually good for a creature used so often in the episode. The aliens tend to not be so elaborate when featured so often. I did find it bemusing Donna used a magnifying glass and sunlight to keep the critter at bay a couple times, but the writers have thus far handed certain comedic elements in every episode to Catherine Tate so that it does not feel so terribly out of place still, it would have fit better in a cartoon than here. The best part for a history buff/geek is that, like in the story, Agatha Christie really did disappear for ten days in 1926 after discovering her husband had an affair with another woman. I assume she was not really with the Doctor and Donna all that time, but you never know….
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Battlestar Galactica--"Guess What's Coming to Dinner"
We are finally speeding up the story arc this week. I have found the philosophical discussions on faith over the last couple episode fascinating, but apparently not advancing the story about the race to discover. This week, the fleet and the rebel Cylons finally make an uneasy alliance--or do they? The cliffhanger leaves
The BaseStar discovered by Starbuck and her crew emerge with the fleet. The rebel Cylons make a pact with the humans. The final Five Cylons, those who can point the way to Earth, were against the genocidal assault on Caprica to begin with. They are now hidden in the fleet. If D’Anna, the deactivated model who has seen the Final Five, can be rescued, they can be reunited and point the way to earth. In order to do this, the fleet must attack a place called the hub. The hub controls all Cylon resurrection ships. Destroying it would make them mortal.
Meanwhile, Roslin is still having prophetic dreams she cannot understand. This time Baltar is featured in them. Starbuck visits her during one of her cancer treatments and reveals the hybrid’s prophecy that “the dying leader shall know the secret of the opera house.” Roslin decides to do speak to the hybrid herself and brings Baltar along.
Athena discovers her daughter, Hera, has been making drawings of Natalie and Six. This does not make her happy. When Natalie comes aboard the Galactica as the rebel’s representative, she bends down to greet the child. Athena angrily tells Natalie they will never take her child, as though she understands the Cylons are destined to dio so. Natalie assures her there is no plan to take her child, but Athena shoots her anyway, apparently killing her.
Roslin and baltar arrive o the BaseStar while distrusting Centurions scatter about. They are not keen on allying with the humans even if it means finding Earth. Roslin wants thw hybrid reactivated. When it is, it orders the BaseStar to jump to unknown coordinates. It does, with Roslin and Baltar as hostages.
Finally, some action. It is a brillaint show, but seeing some actual peril beyond internal moral dilemmas is nice once in a while. That said, it is also interesting how the four hidden Cylons are slowly embracing their true nature. Col. Tigh instinctively knew not to fire on the BaseStar when it appeared. Tory is the only one who appears thus far to have accepted a moral ambivalence towards humans. She is the one who killed Callue. Strange, considering the Final Five were allegedly against the human genocide to begin with. I think it is too obvious for roslin to be the dying leader the hybrid prophesied. There has to bean other character who is not going to survive. Adm. Adama perhaps? Lee Adama isd an even better choice considering his growth as a character. I have suspected he is the fifth Cylon, but his destiny may lie elsewhere.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
