Stumbling into the New Year -- Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

     Another year down, and another end of year holiday season with it. I never handle this well. I travel the same path each time - from the inflated, vague expectations of All That Will Happen during The

Holidays, to the deflated reality that comes from both being reminded of how little time it ends up being, and how poorly-focused I am on the things that might be accomplished with that time.
     Nearly ten months of pandemic life - of safety protocols, social distancing, and radically altered work situations - and I've still not adapted well to much of it. Oh, I've met professional obligations (though not including the wish lists of some higher-ups), kept the work flowing and bills paid, but anything more - anything to improve myself and the state of my life? Not so much. My health and general fitness have definitely suffered, and if I've noticed that then it will have to be a striking thing to those I've not been seeing for months on end. Then again, I hadn't adapted particularly well to the "normal" 58 years that preceded it, so what did I expect? No life & social skills prodigy, I.

     Here at the end of one year and the start of a new one - me writing this at the end of 2020 - and I'm not feeling a theme. No strong desire to (nor preparation done for a) plunge into a video year in review, nor to try to sketch out detailed expectations for 2021, nor even a World of the Future theme. If pieces of any of those creep in here, that'll have to be enough.
     In the just over fifteen months since Garbo drew the Consortium of Seven project together and  launched the weekly blog where we'd each have a day of the week, I've found myself mostly sticking to things I've recently been watching, or that were imminent and had caught sufficient attention that I was planning to give them a try. While I've done some broader themed pieces, and included some retrospective moments, I've mostly approached it as a sort of spastic TV Guide for

(mostly) streaming content, all strained through my often developmentally-stunted and socially-awkward tastes. There's so much content in play, so much that's appearing most weeks, along with such a vast pool of new-to-me items, that with a weekly spot I've seldom wanted to put all new content considerations aside in favor of a themed post. One of my blogging aims for 2021 will be to try to find a work-around for this.
     Weekly choices and misgivings, especially as the other six days of the week, from the other six contributors on the blog, see so much more depth of experience, emotion, erudition and life. You should do yourself the favor of taking a look at them.
     Not generally finding ourselves in an age of affection for long-form textual content, I have to remind myself that eschewing long pieces isn't a new development, just one that's gained social ease. All it takes is thinking back to the '80s, when I first ran across the dismissive, squelching reproof tl;dr -- short for "too long; didn't read", and that was in a bi-monthly group where we primarily communicated by writing! That some try to elevate it to the level of "editorial note" is ludicrous, though, because an editor reads the piece. At best, it's a sort of social director's note from a realist who is trying to give broad tips to help the writer connect with an audience, and knows from experience that the average, casual, prospective reader will react to a wall of text much as a traveler inconvenienced by a barrier. Their first impulse is to look for an easier way around, second is to stop and ask themselves if they really wanted to go in that direction after all. It was even erudite Ghostbusters nerd Egon Spengler who declared "print is dead." At last check, whether or not Egon was channeling Marshall McLuhan, was still up in the air. As if most care either way.

    In the years since it's simply become common, and so, seemingly, casually acceptable to look at any block of text and summarily declare it to be Mount Boring, or an indistinguishable part of the Tetons of Tedium. I no longer take offense. I don't, in part, because we're all overloaded with pressing, demanding, unsolicited information. We know there are better ways of communicating, and very little of it, if any at all, ends up being important. Not being immortal, and not being paid to read, we have every right to look at such things as tasks and say "no."
     So, those of us who blog or otherwise write when we're not being paid (much less by the word) had best be doing it in large part because we enjoy the process. Any positive attention from readers is a bonus.
     Enough of that.
     I've been greatly enjoying Star Trek: Discovery over on CBS All Access, in part due to the

ensemble cast. One of the characters that joined the series in season two, has continued into the ongoing season three, and is signed up for season four, is acerbic engineer Jett Reno, played by observational comedian. podcaster, actress and former band manager Tig Notaro. (Side note: Tig was given the privilege of naming her own character, and did so in what was her mind a riff on "Joan Jett", a creative pathway that blinded her until it was too late to the fact that probably a majority of the viewers would think, instead, of Janet Reno.)
     Notaro gained some prominence back in 2012 after being diagnosed with breast cancer, and bringing that revelation into her act. She opted for a double mastectomy with no reconstructive surgery, something that found its way into her act, including a 2014 set in New York where she did part of the set topless, showing the crowd her scars, and then moving on in a fashion that moved most of the audience comfortably past it.
     Back in 2015, Notaro and writer/producer Cody Diablo shot a pilot episode of a semi-autobiographical series for Notaro called One Mississippi. Reaction to the pilot led to a six-episode first season in 2016, and a second season of equal length in 2017. One of almost innumerable items I was aware of but hadn't taken the time to look at, I credit the extra attention from seeing her regularly on Discovery for bringing the project back to mind and prompting me to take a look.
     While the series wasn't picked up for a third season, and there had been plans for further episodes, it nonetheless ends at a reasonably comfortable stage. Sure, you'll still wonder what was to come next, but that's just because we're drawn in. Wanting to have the sense that there are more and better things coming for the characters I'd eventually want an open, non-ending ending anyway.

     An engaging, entertaining series with a fun cast, it works on both the comedic and comically-accented dramatic levels. Family and romantic relationships, history, identity, and regional culture are all in play. As I think back on it, they packed a huge amount into twelve episodes, each of which was less than half an hour, all without it feeling in the least rushed.

     While still being interested in the show, Notaro expressed some relief about the cancellation since the show's association with executive producer Louis C.K. had become problematic in the years since production for the pilot. Revelations about some of C.K.'s behaviors - something that arose publicly as rumors in 2015, formal charges in 2017, with the comedian confirming his behavior in the press late that year - were especially uncomfortable for Notaro as she had a personal history of sexual abuse as a child. There was much relief for her in just being able to declare it "done" and move on.
     So, those two seasons are available on Prime if you have access to it. It's entertaining and thought-provoking.
     Tonight, continuing the annual tradition (it used to be on Christmas, but changed to New Year's day in 2019 with the new/current Doctor) we have the return of Doctor Who. Jodie Whitaker, the (formally, though that was an already muddy count when she arrived, then became vaguer still following additional revelations) 13th incarnation of The Doctor, is back.

     Yes, my enthusiasm came down at least half a notch when I saw that they're back to the Daleks again - oh, they're popular and therefore inevitable, but I'd have preferred them slipped in somewhere during the main season. Despite that and the gloomy tone of the trailer, with an imprisoned Doctor and what looks like mostly an episode focusing on her human companions teaming up with the immortal Captain Jack Harkness, I'm hoping that by the closing scenes we get at least a little of the buoyant optimism and constructive spirit of the Doctor as we launch into the new year. Especially after 2020 the world needs an upbeat science hero.
     We'll be getting a 13th season (of the new era, kicked off in 2005) later in the year, with the dates currently still undecided as everyone's still cautiously negotiating the pandemic. It's simultaneously

understandable and a little aggravating that we'll be getting a shortened season, with only eight other episodes instead of the ten we'd gotten each of the previous two seasons. (That already down two from the twelve-episode seasons the previous Doctor had gotten, which in turn was down from the thirteen that each of the Doctors nine through eleven had gotten. Yes, too many numbers.)
     I'll be trying to work in at least a partial re-watch of last season to bring me back up to speed, especially as this Doctor has maintained a small group of human companions and I cannot in the least remember what state each of them was in when last seen.
     Speaking of semi-comedic, BBC, fantasy-adventure series, this Sunday will see the launch of The Watch, with the first two episodes run back to back. I've let this one sneak up on me, willfully knowing little more than what's to be picked up from the trailer.

     There I'm going in with the sense that it's simply a fantasy adventure-themed comedy, and so expecting the goofiness. I'll likely end up watching it time-shifted by a couple hours into late Sunday night, riding the insomnia that's all but pledged to accompany the roll into the first, full, work week of the new year.
     As we approach the end of each year, usually around the middle of December, TCM starts running a memorial roll for those in front of and behind the camera who we've lost that year. Inevitably, when I see it each year a morbid turn of mind takes me back to that last page of the calendar, as I see how many days remain and wonder how many others will join the list before the clock runs out. The most recent one I've seen is still at least a week old. If I see an updated version to include any late-goers, I'll replace the video.

     And if you want one, final stab at 2020, and you have both Netflix and 70 minutes, there's Death To 2020.

     A retrospective mockumentary from the creators of Black Mirror, with a cast that includes Hugh Grant (honestly didn't recognize him at first, it mostly coming through in the voice), Lisa Kudrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Tracey Ullman, and more.
     I briefly, repeatedly, considered writing about Wonder Woman: 1984, but I think a little more distance might be needed. Almost immediately polarizing in the fan community, it's not something that lends itself to a (fair) one or two lines of comment. That seems to imply I'm contemplating a re-watch, which isn't something I want to think about now. I didn't enjoy it, marking it as a disappointment. As an audience member I felt repeatedly insulted by the goofiness of it once they moved past the opening flashback scene and dropped us in the filmmaker's idea of 1984 Washington, DC. Appearing on Christmas Day on HBO-Max, it's slated to only be there for 31 days, so the clock's ticking for anyone who wants to take a look.
    Once again, that's just about enough for another week.
     Aside from the above mentioned The Watch - if those first two episodes work out - I don't have much in the way of new, weekly shows happening at the moment. Star Trek: Discovery's third season's been solid, but that will finish next Thursday. Also on CBC All Access, and also on Thursday, next week will see episode 4 (of 9) for the new adaptation of The Stand. So far I'm continuing to let it be its own thing, setting aside the casting concerns and their still curious choice to tell the tale out of sequence, in layers. Wednesdays continue to bring season five episodes of The Expanse, which I've looked forward to each week.
     I'm glad to have 2020 behind us, though not at all foolish enough to think there's any barrier there, containing the awfulness and preventing it from freely spilling into 2021 -- not to mention what's new or just so far unnoticed that's already lurking.
     Enjoy the time off if you have it, and try to make a better time of it for yourself and those around you. See you next week!  - Mike