Take a Break From the Daily Doom and Gloom (AKA "the News")

 I was looking for info (years on the air) for the old TV show Dharma and Greg the other day and decided to watch a couple of episodes. 

This is a thoroughly delightful series. No violence, superb writing, great comedic timing, and just plain entertaining. Dharma (flower child), Greg (lawyer), Dharma's parents, Larry (old hippie), and Abby (free spirit), Greg's parents, Edward (CEO), Kitty (socialite) are the characters but they are really caricatures of themselves.

The juxtaposition of conservatives and liberals in the context of two diametrically opposed families brought together through marriage is the basis for some hilarious situations. Dharma's father, Larry, is so serious in his denigration of republicans, the wealthy, the police and the government (he's almost a right-wing liberal, if that makes any sense). 

Greg's parents are so stereotypically a white privileged classist couple. Dharma and Greg are always trying to get their parents on the same page, but it is nearly impossible.

So much of the dialogue and humor is still relevant today. However, I think, we unfortunately lack the humor nowadays.

Watching more episodes is on my TO DO list. Hope you enjoy the show as much as I do. Link to full series:

https://youtu.be/QA6D79_7IXQ

Remembering Marcus D'Amico - Michael Tolliver/Mouse

The actor Marcus D’Amico has died at the age of 55. D’Amico is best remembered for playing the role of the beloved gay character, Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver, from the 1993 TV production of Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. 

I am feeling like I've just heard that a best friend has passed away.

The books, Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, etc. came into my life just as I was embracing and celebrating my gay identity in the eighties. 

My first trip to San Francisco in 1984 or '85 for an AIDS Conference was one of the most exciting events that ever happened in any job I'd ever had. San Francisco, from the moment I left the airport, seemed like being home. But of course I had to return to Connecticut where reality consisted of holding a job, being self-sufficient and not dreaming too big, let alone even thinking of moving across the country.

But when the TV series, Tales of the City aired on PBS, it was like being transported to OZ. Back to San Francisco!

Very soon, it was like I knew all these amazing characters and knew them personally. They were a temporary but significant part of my early gay life. They all became acquaintances, and some, like Michael Tolliver and Mona and Mary Ann became like friends I'd known for years. They helped make my being gay a positive, life-affirming reality.

I was an invisible tenant at 28 Barbary Lane and secretly watched all the drama. I lived vicariously through all of them and their many misadventures, loves and intrigues.

Funny, I never even knew the actor Marcus D'Amico, never knew his name until now. But his character Michael Tolliver was sweet and shy and fun and cute and vulnerable and sincere and loving. The actor Marcus' passing is also the death of Michael (despite the title of one of Maupin's later books, Michael Tollive Lives.)

 This has truly been a year of sadness.

 If you have never seen the series (the original PBS and Showtime series 1994. 1998. 2001) treat yourself. It is available on Netflix and possibly some other platforms. Here is Season 1, Episode 1. 

Letter from Michael Tolliver to his Momma as read by the cast of the 2019 Tales of the City Netflix update: (Italian captions were not intentional on my part, it's the only version I could find)

Some Things to watch on Netflix

We haven't been watching a lot of Netflix lately but here are some picks:

The Queen's Gambit

The mini-series starts out slow and, well it's about as exciting as watching two people play chess. But it is both a pleasant change from murder mysteries and cop shows and a well written, well acted drama. 

It does draw you into the story after a few episodes and there is enough suspense in who will win the next Chess Tournament to keep you tuning in. The acting (and the relatively unknown-to-me actors) is really quite good. 

Ratched

A take-off from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The series focuses on Nurse Ratched, a new employee of a luxurious, mid-century Asylum for the mentally ill in a sea-side California locale. The doctor who runs the place is an egomaniac who imagines he has the miracle cure for every patient. This macabre series does get a bit beyond believable, and I found that I lost interest in both the characters and the plot after six  or seven episodes. For those who like bizarre stories and classic insanity.

 

 

Someone Has to Die

A Spanish series with dubbed English dialogue. Gay characters; nineteenth century Spain. We haven't gotten into this one far enough to give a review. But here's the trailer:

 

Popcorn Movie - Deep Water - Netflix

Sunday was a stay-indoors Netflix day: cold, wet and dreary. We decided to binge-watch an Australian 4-episode miniseries called Deep Water. 

Australian Detective Tori Lustigman gets deeply  involved in investigating the murder of a gay man near Bondi Beach. She and partner Nick Manning are led on a trail of evidence that goes back to a series of gay-bashing murders that took place in the 1980s and 90s that were never solved or pursued by the authorities.

Intricate threads of evidence and connections are revealed as the story evolves and the many loose ends keeps one wanting to watch and learn more. There is not only the mystery being solved, but also the many deeply emotional scars that the characters reveal during the investigation that make the story compelling. (not to mention some eye-candy) We had to watch it through to the end of the 4th episode to see how the many loose ends are finally resolved. Definitely recommended (but if you are anything like me when it come to other than American English), with this caveat:

USE YOUR CLOSED CAPTION OPTION because the Australian accent is very strong (especially that of Chief Inspector Peel). The closed caption made a world of difference as I was getting exhausted trying to translate Australian to English in my head and missing much of the dialogue. Did the rewind from the beginning after 10 minutes, with captions...much better.

The story is based on actual cases of a large number of murders of gay men that took place along the Australian coast in the late 80s and early 90s. *


After a whole day of cold, dreary rain on Sunday, we woke up to this, this morning:

Much too early in the season for snow and freezing temps in this neck of the desert. Hope I can save some of those tomatoes!

* Note: I have been irritable, angry, cranky, depressed and disturbed all day today (Monday) and I think it has something to do with after-effects of watching the "Deep Water" story. The fact that gay men were (and in many cases still are) bashed and murdered for being who they are, is disturbing to the core. 

As Wikipedia states "The drama is based on the historical, unsolved hate murders of possibly 30 to 80 gay men in Sydney's eastern suburbs and beaches in the 1980s and '90s."  A documentary was aired by Australian TV at the same time as the series.

Links to the documentary here: Part 1    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5tq9ju
Part 2   https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5txh5s

I haven't watched the documentaries yet...I'm not sure I'm ready emotionally to watch.

Netflix Review - Queer Eye

The new Netflix "reboot" of Queer Eye is not necessarily always for the "straight guy" (in one episode the new Fab Five make over a gay guy whose been struggling with his own internalized homophobia) but it keeps to the original format which always went beyond fashion and grooming to compassion and understanding.

I was skeptical about the show, figuring it would be all superficial and too contemporary. But because the show does stick to the original premise, the episodes are far from shallow presentations of guys being a canvass for fashionistas and pop culture. The Fab Five are truly compassionate, feeling, non-judgmental human beings who not only zero in on their subjects psychology but, in the process, reveal their own vulnerabilities, challenges and life experience.

While each is an expert in some area - design, fashion, food, grooming, culture - I am amazed that they have such a gift for focusing on the interpersonal and psychological elements of their subjects lives - and facilitating what appear to be deeply personal transformations. And they do so with respect and sensitivity.

I do have some questions, however: Who pays for all the furniture, clothing, painting, grooming and products? (One shirt probably costs more than my yearly clothing expenditure at KMart) How much of the show is scripted? How do Leon and I get a makeover from the Fab Five?

Yes, there is plenty of frivolity and silliness in each episode (we've seen 3 so far), sometimes embarrassingly so, but if the shows don't bring a tear to your eye, you may be hopelessly hard-hearted.

This Stuff Still Goes On - "Christianity" - In Action

We don't get Showtime (we're on antenna only) but I would like to see this when and if it becomes available on the net.