Curb Your Enthusiasm 11.1: Not Quite Tsuris

Curb Your Enthusiasm was back on HBO for the debut of its 11th season tonight, pretty to very funny, not the funniest of this show which can have you laughing out loud for most of its 30 minutes, but enjoyable and fun to see nonetheless.

As usual, Larry gets caught up in a variety of situations in which his grievances are justified but in apparent defiance or ignorance of social norms, for which Larry gets grief himself, but stubbornly doesn't relent.  Someone with declining mental abilities owes Larry $6000, overdue six months, and Larry thinks it's time to call in the debt.  Everyone else including slight acquaintances and especially Susie think Larry is horribly wrong to ask the guy for the money.

Speaking of Susie, she obviously plops down on a white couch, causing Larry to spill his red wine all over it, and no one wants to support Larry's insistence that it wasn't his fault -- including Jeff, who agrees with Larry privately but won't go against his wife.  Actually that was very funny, I'm beginning to think maybe I was too harsh in the first paragraph.  I hope Larry gets this far if he reads this review.

The two funniest interludes in the episode were (1)  Larry being forced to cast a young woman clearly not right for the part of Marsha in the "Young Larry David" sitcom Larry and Jeff manage to sell to Netflix.  He did this because the young woman's uncle drowned in Larry's pool, unprotected by the fence called for in the local ordinances. (My guess is she'll turn out to do a great job in the part.)  And (2) the pre-funeral, or whatever it's called that Albert Brooks puts together for himself, and gets Larry embroiled in.  Jon Hamm shows up and wants to express that's he's "bashert" about the faux death, or maybe express his condolences that Brooks' family and friends have "bashert", and Larry correctly tells him that "bashert" is not the right word for that, because it means "fate".  Hamm asks what is the right word, then.  And Larry says "tsuris".

Well, not quite.  "Tsuris" means "trouble" or "troubles" in Yiddish, but I'd say it's too weak a word to pertain to the death of a loved one.  What would be the right word then?  I don't know.

But, ok, I was wrong about the episode not being hilarious enough -- in the immortal words of Jerry Orbach's character in Dirty Dancing, "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong" -- and it's bashert that I'll be back with at least one or two more reviews of this season's episodes.

See also:  Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.1: Reunited! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.3: Garbage Cans and Apples ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.8: Meets Mad Men ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 10.9: Science Fiction ... Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10 Finale: Unjust Desserts

See also: Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.1: Hilarious! ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.2: Wife Swapping ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.3: Benefits ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.4: "Hold You in his Armchair" ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.5: Schmata At Large ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.8: The Unexpected Advocate ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.9: Salmon Discretion ... Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.10: Outfit Tracker

Discovering Star Trek: Discovery

One of my favorite lines in any movie or television show is Jake Houseman (played by the inimitable Jerry Orbach) lamely apologizing to Johnny in Dirty Dancing - "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong".  That's what I have to say about not watching Star Trek: Discovery until the past few days.  I wasn't in the mood for another Star Trek series, I didn't like paying for or even just watching yet another streaming service.  But I was wrong.

I saw Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access and loved it (here's my review).  But I of course was already very well acquainted with the character, so how could I resist not viewing his further adventures and tribulations?  Most of the characters in Star Trek: Discovery are new - the series takes place about ten years prior to Star Trek: TOS - and I wasn't eager to meet yet another whole new group of people in this saga.  But I did enjoy the new characters in Picard, and I figured, ok, it can't hurt to watch a least the first few episodes of Discovery.  I watched the whole first season of 15 episodes in three days.  And as soon as I finish this review, I'm going to start watching the second season of Discovery.

In case you haven't yet seen Discovery, I'm going to avoid specific spoilers.  I can tell you that time loops, alternate universes, Klingons, new modes of faster-than-light travel, and characters with all kinds of surprising true identities figure in this first season.   One major character from the original series plays a major role in Discovery, and at least one minor but memorable character pops up.  If you think about it, a narrative that takes place just a decade prior to the original Star Trek series has an enormous burden, to get it just right. The "it" is a story that is captivating and satisfying in its own right, while both setting up and not disrupting or contradicting what we know is coming next - what we know, and, in the case of me and many other people, have loved and treasured now for some fifty years.  I'd say Discovery by and large succeeds in this, admirably.

There's some distracting burlesquing and caricature - especially in a few of the Klingon scenes - but this is balanced by a winning subtlety, as when we get confirmation of the time in which this story takes place with a list that's called up of the greatest Star Fleet captains, which ends with Christopher Pike.  The science is by and large ok, though I caught a gaff from one of the new major characters, who reminisces that "I was in a wonderful cafe on Alpha Centauri" (Alpha Centauri is a star not a planet).  But speaking of the new major characters, they all were excellent, and more than enough to make me want to see what happens to those who survived.

I'll tell you what I think of their story when I post my review here of the second season of Discovery, likely within the coming week.

See also: Star Trek: Picard: Non-Pareil ... Star Trek: Discovery 2: Tour de Force Story and Characters

 

Ray Donovan 6.10: Working Together

The best Ray Donovan of the season - 6.10 - last night.  Because ... there's nothing as impressive as the Donovans working together.  Even just most of them, in a configuration we haven't quite seen before.

Mick continues to be at the top of game, encouraging Ray, not quite himself (always, this season) after all of the continuing beatings he's taken.  Mick tells Ray to do what Ray already knows: take one of theirs, the only way to have any chance of getting back Bridget.

The "theirs," as we know, are the NYPD's - I'm sure they're thrilled with this season of Ray Donovan - and Mick does a great job in the bar of capturing one of the cops or detectives or whatever these lowlife criminals with badges are who took Bridget as a way to pressure Ray to give back his recording of the Mayor ordering a hit. 

Sadly, also among those miscreants is Mac, but he still has a heart.  He apparently took Bridget somewhere, for her safety, after getting the call from the other bald guy with a badge that Ray had Danny (the detective in the bar), and he (the bald guy) was on his way to take care of things.

All of which resulted in: Danny beaten by Mick, and threatened by Ray (not only Danny but his family), revealing where Bridget is being held.  And although Ray doesn't free her in the end - because Mac has (presumably) taken her somewhere to keep her out of harm's way - at least Ray is close.

It's always good to see Donovans working together - in this case, with Jerry Orbach getting a shout-out from Mac for his Law and Order role, with Dirty Dancing playing on television.

See Ray Donovan 6.1: The New Friend ... Ray Donovan 6.2: Father and Sons ... Ray Donovan 6.4: Politics in the Ray Style ... Ray Donovan 6.6: The Mayor Strikes Back ... Ray Donovan 6.7: Switching Sides ... Ray Donovan 6.8: Down ... Ray Donovan 6.9: Violence and Storyline

See also Ray Donovan 5.1: Big Change  ... Ray Donovan 5.4: How To Sell A Script ... Ray Donovan 5.7: Reckonings ... Ray Donovan 5.8: Paging John Stuart Mill ... Ray Donovan 5.9: Congas ... Ray Donovan 5.10: Bunchy's Money ... Ray Donovan 5.11: I'm With Mickey ... Ray Donovan 5.12: New York

See also Ray Donovan 4.1: Good to Be Back ... Ray Donovan 4.2: Settling In ... Ray Donovan 4.4: Bob Seger ... Ray Donovan 4.7: Easybeats ... Ray Donovan 4.9: The Ultimate Fix ... Ray Donovan Season 4 Finale: Roses

And see also Ray Donovan 3.1: New, Cloudy Ray ... Ray Donovan 3.2: Beat-downs ... Ray Donovan 3.7: Excommunication!

And see also Ray Donovan 2.1: Back in Business ... Ray Donovan 2.4: The Bad Guy ... Ray Donovan 2.5: Wool Over Eyes ... Ray Donovan 2.7: The Party from Hell ... Ray Donovan 2.10: Scorching ... Ray Donovan 2.11: Out of Control ... Ray Donovan Season 2 Finale: Most Happy Ending

And see also Ray Donovan Debuts with Originality and Flair ... Ray Donovan 1.2: His Assistants and his Family ... Ray Donovan 1.3: Mickey ... Ray Donovan 1.7 and Whitey Bulger ... Ray Donovan 1.8: Poetry and Death ... Ray Donovan Season 1 Finale: The Beginning of Redemption


 

It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...

Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles 11 of X: Underrated Revolver

Rob Sheffield's chapter on Revolver is one the best, perhaps the best, chapter I've read so far in his stellar Dreaming the Beatles.  It's chock full of Sheffield's handy use of lines from Beatles songs to make his points, and lots more, but what rings out for me is its convincing argument that Revolver may be the greatest Beatles' album.

I said in a review of an earlier chapter that Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper have always been tied for me as the Beatles best album, with Revolver a tad below.   Sheffield has shown why I was wrong:  I was basing my assessment on the American version of the album - "butchered" as Sheffield aptly puts it - because it omitted three songs that were on the British version.

And three of those three songs - "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Dr. Robert," and "I'm Only Sleeping," all by John Lennon - happen to be among my all-time favorite Beatles recordings.  As just one example, I just love the national health line in Dr. Robert, and its rhyme with see yourself, and that's just one of many lines in all three songs, which also have melodies and harmonies and arrangements that are so memorable they've been part of my DNA since I first heard and loved them in the 1960s.

So, yeah, I was lazy, I should have done a modicum of research before I downgraded Revolver, but like the Jerry Orbach character in Dirty Dancing, I admit it when I wrong, or whatever exactly it was that he said.   So Sheffield's book, in addition to its other delights and benefits, has now forever educated me and changed decades of impressions in my head.

I should also mention that I'm crazy about "Rain" and almost as much about "Paperback Writer," which also come from this same period of Beatles extraordinary work.  I'll be driving later, listening to the Beatles channel on Sirius/XM radio, hoping I hear at least one of those five deeply wonderful songs.

See also Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles 1 of X: The Love Affair ... 2 of X: The Heroine with a Thousand Faces ... 3 of X: Dear Beatles ... 4 of X: Paradox George ... 5 of X: The Power of Yeah ... 6 of X: The Case for Ringo ... 7 of X: Anatomy of a Ride ... 8 of X: Rubber Soul on July 4 ... 9 of X: Covers ... 10 of X: I. A. Richards ... 12 of X: Sgt. Pepper ... 13 of X: Beatles vs. Stones ... 14 of X: Unending 60s ... 15 of X: Voting for McCartney, Again ... 16 of X: "I'm A Loser" ... 17 of X: The Split ... 18 of X: "Absolute Elsewhere" ... 19 of X: (Unnecessary but Brilliant) Defense of McCartney ... 20 of X: "All Things Must Pass" ... 21 of X: Resistance ... 22: The 70s Till the End ... 23: Near the Science Fiction Shop ... 24 of 24: The Last Two

And here's "It's Real Life" -- free alternate history short story about The Beatles, made into a radio play and audiobook and winner of The Mary Shelley Award 2023

 
lots of Beatles in this time travel

The Downfall of Julian Assange

One of my favorite quotes come from John Maynard Keynes, "when the facts change, I change my mind" (see Goodreads for a list of my favorite quotes).   This has now happened regarding my opinion of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

1. When Assange and Wikileaks were releasing classified government documents, which detailed what our government was saying behind the scenes about our foreign policy maneuvers, I thought that was akin to what Daniel Ellsberg had done with the Pentagon Papers regarding our involvement in the Vietnam War - i.e., good for freedom and our democracy.  I noted that then Secretary of Defense Gates said those initial Wikileaks had not endangered any American lives, and that Ellsberg himself said he stood with Assange.

2. I took pause, and was certainly concerned, when Assange was accused of sexual molestation and "lesser rape" in Sweden shortly after (details here).  But I thought Michael Moore made a good point when he wondered if the CIA or some other governmental organization was conveniently trying to frame Assange, and I noted, as time ensued, that no further allegations (that I know of) were raised against Assange regarding his sexual conduct (unlike the egregious Bill Cosby, for example).  It was also possible that Assange was a personal predator but still doing the right thing as far as freedom of information and world politics.

3. All of that happened in 2010.  Earlier this year - 2016 - I thought Assange's release of DNC emails at the beginning of the Democratic National Convention was not shining a cleansing light on government secrecy, but a heavy-handed attempt to influence our Presidential elections.  This was especially grievous, given that the opponent of the Democrats is a fascist, Trump. the likes of which we have never seen get so far in America before.

4. But the straw that finally broke the camel's back for me regarding Julian Assange was his recent implication that Hillary Clinton may have had something to do with the murder of a DNC staffer in Washington DC in July.   With this suggestion, Assange has moved from disseminator of classified information and hacked DNC emails, to purveyor of sick conspiracy theories, in league with the arrant nonsense that Hillary killed Vince Foster, etc.  It's in league with what Trump has been spewing, and caters to worst elements of humanity.

So, as the Jerry Orbach character says in Dirty Dancing, "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong".  I was very wrong about Julian Assange.  He is part of the problem not the solution.  And I can only hope that, whatever happens with the rape charges, he and his business are quickly consigned to the dustbin of history.

Jeff Goldblum on Law and Order Criminal Intent

Just caught last week's debut of Jeff Goldblum on Law and Order: Criminal Intent on the USA Network. I thought Goldblum's Det. Zach Nichols was outstanding, and could be one of the best characters ever, in all the Law and Orders across history.

Nichols is a high-energy, happy version of Goren. Both are clearly geniuses - in contrast to Chris Noth's Mike Logan, just a very smart detective, whom Nichols replaced. But whereas Bobby Goren - brilliantly played by Vincent D'Onofrio - is morose, wounded, almost sadly pathological in his quirky, brilliant insights, Nichols brings a winning smirk and a joie-de-vivre to his work.

Genius, whether dark or light, works best in the Criminal Intent format. Much as I liked Chris Noth's Mike Logan, and enjoyed following him from Lennie Briscoe (also one in a million, Jerry Orbach is irreplaceable) in the original Law and Order old days to Criminal Intent, the shows with Goren were usually more memorable. It takes a slightly cracked out of the stratosphere mind to best catch the criminals on this show.

Nichols' partner Det. Megan Wheeler is not on this level at all. She wasn't with Logan, either, but since he was no genius, and wasn't supposed to be, they worked pretty well together. Whether Wheeler's sidekick character will work with Nichols remains to be seen - but, to make matters even more interesting, actress Julianne Nicholson will be off the show for an episode or two (the character and the actress are pregnant), so Goren's partner Alexandra Eames (played by Kathryn Erbe) will step in as Nichols' partner.

Eames has been a more powerful character than Wheeler - Eames had to be, given that she's partners with Goren - and it will be fun to see how she works with Nichols.

I liked Goldblum best in The Fly, and of course the Jurassic Parks, and I'm thinking Criminal Intent has the potential to make him even better known, in the long run, as Zach Nichols.

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The Plot to Save Socrates


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