Quote of the Week

Nothing is clearer in history than the adoption by successful rebels of the methods they were accustomed to condemn in the forces they deposed.
--Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Will and Grace: “Eleven Years Later”

Will Truman has gray hair. That's the detail I most noticed in the first episode of the new season of Will and Grace, a valiant attempt to revive a series that really doesn't need to be revived.

Indeed, as nice as it was to see the old gang again, I couldn't help but find something sad about the whole effort. After all, when the series ended, both title characters were in steady relationships. Now as the new season began, they weren't. Will was between boyfriends and Grace was divorced. And although the show's writers did their best to put their best face on things, I found it hard to be happy that two sympathetic characters who were so obviously aging were now on their own.

On the plus side, there were Trump jokes. Not very funny Trump jokes but Trump jokes nonetheless.

Then again I'm getting a bit tired of Trump jokes even though I'm not a big fan of Donald Trump. Must be the contrarian in me.

James Bond Movies I Would Like to See

A Slow Gunboat to China

A SPECTRE Is Haunting Europe

For Spies Only

From Mecca, with Love

The Spy Who Drank Too Much

2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Game Night (2018)
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Ocean's 8 (2018)
Overboard (2018)

Don't Go Overboard Trying to See This Movie

It's a tale almost as old as time -- the rich young aristocrat who finds himself at the mercy of a bunch of paupers, who eventually learns to love the common life with all the enthusiasm of a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. As you might guess, it's hard not to be more than a little skeptical about the 2018 movie Overboard -- a remake of an old 1987 comedy with the same name -- once you understand its rather dubious premise. And it doesn't help matters that the filmmakers attempt to "modernize" the storyline by switching genders and having the rich person turn out to be a Mexican. Which means we get a lot of bilingual jokes but alas, nothing truly memorable or unpredictable.

On one hand, it's nice to see Anna Faris on the big screen again. On the other, it would have nice if she had actually held out for a project that was good. For that matter, I can't help but wonder if it was an act of charity that former TV star Eva Longoria was so unrecognizable in this movie. It was nice to see her on the big screen, too, but still.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Wild Wild West: “The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth”

This was the first episode with everyone's favorite half-“Hispanic” villain Dr. Miguelito Loveless (played by the unimitable Michael Dunn). Of course, as played by Mr. Dunn, Dr. Loveless came across as being about as Hispanic as James Joyce but he still made for a compelling villain. And it didn't hurt that he had Richard Kiel playing his tall, childlike henchman Voltaire. (It said something about the subtlety of the show's humor that a big bad henchman like Voltaire had the same name as a famous French intellectual despite being anything but intellectual.) Rounding out the trio was Dr. Loveless's sister Antoinette, a normal-sized woman played by Phoebe Dorin who constantly demonstrated Loveless's human side by singing with him almost every other time we saw her.

Dr. Loveless would prove to be a recurring character on The Wild, Wild West, basically playing yin to James West's yang in a number of episodes. Granted, the character itself -- a short man trying to act big -- had cliché written all over it, but it's a tribute to Mr. Dunn that the role nevertheless came across in a memorable fashion. James West faced other villains in other episodes, of course, but Dr. Loveless, I suspect, was always his most popular foe. He obviously seemed quite popular with the writers.

My Head Says I'm All Better Now...

...but my body keeps disagreeing. Especially my nose* and throat...


*Yes, technically my nose is part of my head. But still...

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Mi Sobrino!

My late sister's only son has a birthday today.

May he be blessed and able to celebrate many more such birthdays in the future.

Boo Hoo, I Have the Flu

According to my family doctor, I officially became the first person this year to come down with a case of the new "Flu B" strain, a fact I found out the day before yesterday. I should be well again by the beginning of next week but in the meantime, it's been a pain. I have been coughing a lot, wheezing, and trying in vain to keep my nostrils clear. For a while, even my appetite was gone.

But at least I'm feeling a bit better today than I did Thursday. I no longer cough as much, my nose doesn't run as much, I don't wheeze as much... Plus I've been eating more soup, so I definitely have more of an appetite.

I'm hoping to be well again by Monday but we'll see. Please wish me luck.

In Heaven, There Is No Corn



Easy enough to see why the 2007 movie Tortilla Heaven did not get much publicity. On one hand, it was not really a bad movie but on the other, it was not very memorable. The whole plot took place in a small New Mexican town full of eccentric characters -- though, ironically, the most eccentric of them was a transplanted English nudist (played by Olivia Hussey) -- that turned out to be the same town where a miraculous tortilla was discovered. The tortilla created a controversy that in turn attracted tourists and then next thing you know, the Devil himself showed up. No, seriously.

In light of the recent scandals involving the Catholic church, it seemed downright nostalgic to see a movie in which the local priest's worst sin was a rather childlike fascination with religious statues. But apart from that, there was not a whole lot about this movie I can recommend. On one hand, I did find it refreshing to see so many law-abiding Latino characters in one movie; on the other hand, well, I did mention that the Devil himself was played by a Latino, right?

Movie Quote of the Week

Well, if we do get canned, we won't be the only ones to lose our jobs because of a machine.
--Joan Blondell, Desk Set (1957)

TV Quote of the Week

His body is rejecting white culture, which makes me kind of proud.
--Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat, "Pilot"

Quote of the Week

I don’t care if every previous Pope is exposed. My allegiance is not to any man or institution, but only to Christ crucified and risen, who warned that it would be better to drown with a millstone around your neck than to cause his little ones to stumble.
--Patricia Heaton, Twitter, September 1, 2018