We have another out-of-date episode of Al Franken’s podcast, that again slipped under the wire since it got posted on a different schedule than usual. But also again, it’s valuable and interesting – and much shorter than a normal show, this time just 17 minutes. He calls it “Al Gives His Closing Argument for the Impeachment Trial.” As he describes the piece, “Any intellectually honest Republican Senator would vote to convict after hearing this. Unfortunately, that’s not near enough.” As the trial showed a few days later, he was correct, it wasn’t near enough. But it’s still very good.
The other day, I posted a video here of Cloris Leachman performing a wonderful rendition of "Adelaide's Lament" from Guys and Dolls. I noted that for my taste it was one of the best renditions of the song other than Vivian Blaine's original version because pretty much everyone else simply does a copy of Vivian Blaine. Leachman, on the other hand, gave her own interpretation that was just spot-on right, subtle and funny and correct. I thought it would be nice to see the original, as well. And to be clear, Vivian Blaine is wonderful -- she created the role on Broadway and was so famous for it that he repeated it in the movie. She's big and brassy in the role with a very heavy, over-the-top New York accent -- but she was the first, and that's what they wanted. And being first, there's a borderline matter-of-fact naturalness to it. The others, as I said, are just copying her. This is what they're copying -- And I thought I'd post a bonus. Not exactly to prove a point -- since I'd have to post several dozen videos -- but to confirm what I'm talking about...and to prove a reply I made. Reader Douglass Abramson sent a comment how good he thought Cloris Leachman was in the video and wondered if Faith Prince had ever seen it, and had perhaps patterned some of her own performance of it when she did the role of Adelaide in the 1992 Broadway revival. I replied that no, I doubted that Prince had seen the video, and also she was doing Vivian Blaine. I said I was planning to post Vivian Blaine tonight, so let's also toss in Faith Prince. This is what I mean by -- everyone does Vivian Blaine. And Faith Prince absolutely is. (Fun Fact: For those who've watched the NBC series Zoey's Extraordinary's Playlist, the actor who played the father, Peter Gallagher, starred in this revival as Skye Masterston. And the actor who played Nathan Detroit -- the man that Adelaide is long-engaged to who she's singing about -- was Nathan Lane.)
This is a great ad. Really. I won’t say why. Let it reveal itself on its own terms....
I've been on -- if not actually a deadline, then -- a sort of self-imposed schedule. And I've enjoyed the work, diving back into my screenplay project as a result of some discussions with the producer and conversations he's had. And I tend to lose track of time in those conditions, and so the last few days I've been working until around 1 AM. (It's 1:04 AM as I type this...) And then the next day, I jump back in to it. As a result, I know some of the postings here the last few days have been more somewhat random-ish or uncommon than usual. So, I'm sorry about that, though "uncommon" is sometimes good, but hopefully they've been fine, and we'll get back around to normal sometime soon.
But that means -- since it's now 1:07 AM -- that I will not be waxing especially eloquent and detailed at the moment. But I can't let the Texas disaster go without mention. It's especially been on my mind -- not because of Ted Cruz -- but because a good friend lives there, and I've been getting regular updates from him. Or as regular as one can get from someone with limited electricity. Fortunately, he planned ahead with food and water, but it's still been hellish. I can only imagine who horribly worse it is for others. I was a little concerned about him losing food because of defrosting, but he said that no, that hasn't been a problem. I guess when your home is at refrigerator level indoors, things defrost much slower than in other climates.... I felt good that he had a portable power station I'd recommended a while back when he was concerned with the hurricanes they'd been getting, a Yeti 150 from GoalZero. It's their low-end model but still heavy duty. Unfortunately I felt bad that -- now that he needed the device during an emergency disaster -- it was defective and he wasn't getting the benefits he needed. Fortunately, it seems that it's working okay-ish, but it's not displaying the charge left very consistently, going from 90% left, to 20% left to fully-charged without doing much. It's supposed to let you charge a phone up to about 12 times, or fully charge a laptop twice, or run a lamp for 50 hours, and things like that -- but after one charge it was showing that he'd almost drained the power station. But then later, it would be okay. Anyway, when things return to normal, I expect he'll contact the company which has an excellent reputation, and he just got a semi-dud. On the better news front, he personally has gotten his power back, and just keeps his fingers crossed that it holds. And that the warm front does come in this weekend. What he has also said is how livid people are about Gov. Abbott, and that not only did no one serious believe Abbott's initial story to blame the non-existent Green New Deal for the problems, but that they'd angry he'd even try that. He says that everyone knows that it's the fault of the governor, state legislature and power industry that has created a grid with limited controls for protecting against something like this. And Abbott and them all are being vilified. And then Ted Cruz got added into the mix. And it's been really terrible for Cruz -- and deservedly so, skipping out of town during the emergency, and then not only coming up with a lamebrain excuse but blaming it on his daughter. Only to later have his travel manifests uncovered, and now his wife's emails about the trip to Cancun. Personally, I think the level of hypocrisies here with Cruz are impressive even by GOP standards. How he had slammed California during the wildfires for not being to provide the most basic services like electricity to the people. And slamming the mayor of Auston for taking a trip to Cabo during the pandemic. And then toss in his infamous one-person filibuster trying to block the Affordable Care Act by reading from Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. A great thing to be reminded of during a pandemic when you've skipped town for Cancun. And then to top it all, his involvement in helping incite the insurrection. It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. And as much as I wish this disaster emergency didn't occur, since it's heart-wrenching, I can only add that since it did occur, I'm not losing much sleep that it was Texas that got hit. I'm deeply sorry for all the the people there -- and with special attention to my friend who's dealing with it all -- but Texas caused the problem for itself by being arrogant and irresponsible about its power grid, keeping it in state control only without participating in the national grid. And Texas is the state that often tries to swagger about seceding from the union. And here they are, in dire need of national assistance -- and, because Joe Biden is not Trump, they're getting that assistance. And should get it, and thankfully are. And I hope this ends so, and people can get past the aftermath, as well, which will be extremely tough. But maybe this will get Texas on the national grid and understanding of the benefits of federal participation and an acknowledgement that science and Climate Change are a real thing and things to embrace and learn from for the betterment of society and not blame as a personal excuse for head-in-the-sand irresponsibility. Though I doubt it. Because, y'know, yee-ha and all that. Anyway, I think that's enough for now. It's around 1:45 AM, and I'm just hoping that enough words here have been spelled right. If so, then I consider this a win-win all around... Let's head back to What's My Line? for another "Mystery Guest" segment. And the celebrity guest here is Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum. For someone with such a dour screen persona, he has a light-hearted fun time here. And there's one particularly funny answer about his credits. Enjoable, too, is that former-New York City Mayor John Lindsay is on panel. If you only want to see the "Mystery Guest," just jump to the 14:00 mark. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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