Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 5:12:51 AM

1

lucius septimius 12/23/2021 6:29:09 AM

2

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 6:47:14 AM

3

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 6:59:47 AM

4

I see an ad for a new film, The Tragedy of MacBeth, starring.. Denzel Washington.

No skin off my nose, but I'm just trying to imagine the outcry if this were instead A Raisin in the Sun, starring Ed Begley, Jr.

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 7:04:15 AM

5

I just wish they had cast Samuel Jackson instead.

“SCOTTISH, MOTHERF**CKER! DO YOU SPEAK IT?!”

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 7:06:48 AM

6

In #4 Occasional Reader said: No skin off my nose, but I'm just trying to imagine the outcry if this were instead A Raisin in the Sun, starring Ed Begley, Jr.

++++++++++++++++

Hahahahahhaahahahaha!

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 7:11:27 AM

7

Reply to Occasional Reader in 4:

Actually, a few years ago I saw a Broadway production of "Come Back, Little Sheba," which had S. Epatha Merkerson, the black police sergeant from Law and Order, in the role Shirley Booth played in film, the wife of the alcoholic "Doc."  

Merkerson is a good actress, and did justice to the role, but casting her in a mixed-race marriage in a play set in the late '40s/early '50s was grossly ahistorical, and thus extremely jarring.  It did the production no good.

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 7:18:17 AM

8

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 7:

I give more leeway to stage productions, since there is more of a willing suspension of disbelief. Hollywood films have the budget and the flexibility to be more realistic. 

But anyway, I eagerly await the anxious cries of “cultural appropriation!“ from the left about the casting of Denzel. That will happen, right?

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 7:30:45 AM

9

In #8 Occasional Reader said: I eagerly await the anxious cries of “cultural appropriation!“ from the left about the casting of Denzel. That will happen, right?

Sure it will.  Suuuuuuuuuuuuure it will.

By the way, since you mentioned "A Raisin in the Sun," I'd love to see that re-staged to show the tribulations of a white family that manages to scrape together the down payment on a brownstone in a neighborhood like Harlem or Bedford Stuyvesant or Brownsville---or Anacostia in DC---where the residents of this "historically-black neighborhood" are "resisting gentrification."

lucius septimius 12/23/2021 7:32:54 AM

10

In #7 buzzsawmonkey said: Merkerson is a good actress, and did justice to the role, but casting her in a mixed-race marriage in a play set in the late '40s/early '50s was grossly ahistorical, and thus extremely jarring.  It did the production no good.

A few years back the BBC responded to criticism by putting black actors willy-nilly into roles whether it made sense or note.  And as you note, the ahistorical aspect made the casting absurd in some cases.  

The problem is that these sorts don't care if it makes sense or not.  They are utterly uninterested in art, except in the Stalinist sense that "art" exists solely as a vehicle to advance Socialism. 

lucius septimius 12/23/2021 7:33:42 AM

11

In #9 buzzsawmonkey said: I'd love to see that re-staged to show the tribulations of a white family that manages to scrape together the down payment on a brownstone in a neighborhood like Harlem or Bedford Stuyvesant or Brownsville---or Anacostia in DC---where the residents of this "historically-black neighborhood" are "resisting gentrification."

That could be a great show, but it could never be made.

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 7:38:25 AM

12

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 9:

Heard a story from a friend a few years back about a couple she knew, white yuppie liberals, who bought a place in Anacostia. They were quite proud of themselves for doing so, and threw a big housewarming party.

The Housewarming party was robbed at gunpoint by three or four armed men.

lucius septimius 12/23/2021 7:42:59 AM

13

Reply to Occasional Reader in 12:

Did the party guests tell everyone that it was ok, that the robbers obviously needed the stuff more than they did.  And that somehow the NRA was responsible for them having guns?

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 7:45:29 AM

14

In #11 lucius septimius said: That could be a great show, but it could never be made.

In that spirit, I've been thinking about trying to do "The Island of Dr. Moreau" as a musical about a mad doctor attempting to accomplish true "transgenderism."  In a similar vein, it would be interesting to do "Tiresias!",  a musical detailing the year which the blind seer of Greek mythology spent as a woman---or, alternatively, a show depicting the year that Heracles spent as a woman when he was the slave of Omphale, Queen of the Amazons.

doppelganglander 12/23/2021 7:47:47 AM

15

Reply to lucius septimius in 10:

The new black Anne Boleyn comes to mind, or "Bridgerton." Nontraditional casting doesn't bother me with Shakespeare or the Greek classics. I saw a multiracial production of The Oresteia (a newly adapted version by a black writer that collapsed the trilogy into one play) in DC a few years ago and it was excellent. But I think we'll be waiting a long time for a race-reversed version of Othello (Olivier doesn't count - you'd need a black Desdemona).

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 8:03:00 AM

16

In #15 doppelganglander said: you'd need a black Desdemona

Well, here's a black Desde-Oh, Mo'nah...

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2021 9:57:23 AM

17

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 10:13:03 AM

18

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 17:

I am busy sending out belated greeting cards for Don Vito Corleone’s birthday…

Kosh's Shadow 12/23/2021 10:25:35 AM

19

In #18 Occasional Reader said: Don Vito Corleone

There used to be a store in Westborough, MA that sold dog treats: "The Dogfather Bakery; Offer them a treat they can't woofuse"

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 12:14:59 PM

20

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 19:

In a similar vein; do I recall correctly your noting some time ago that you'd seen a beauty salon named "Curl Up & Dye"?  Or am I completely imagining that? 

Kosh's Shadow 12/23/2021 12:37:41 PM

21

In #20 Occasional Reader said: In a similar vein; do I recall correctly your noting some time ago that you'd seen a beauty salon named "Curl Up & Dye"?  Or am I completely imagining that? 

I wasn't the one who saw that. There was one in Maynard, Ma (home of Digital Equipment Corp) called Shear Madness

Some other stores with funny names - pet store specializing in birds and fish: "Fish and Chirps", and a Chinese restaurant/deli "Wok and Roll". A jewelry store "The Bead Hive". And one year there was a bait shop called "The Bass Hole"

A sports restaurant/bar changed names. I don't remember which was first and which was second: "Home Plate" and "Chip Shots"

Occasional Reader 12/23/2021 12:45:21 PM

22

In #21 Kosh's Shadow said: I wasn't the one who saw that.

Okay.  Because I noticed just the other night, it's the name of the salon where we first see Carrie Fisher's character in The Blues Brothers.  I don't recall, then, were else I'd seen the name mentioned. 

Meanwhile; in response to the Great Covid Testing Kit Shortage Crisis!,  the Biden Gang's response is now... to declare that Uncle Sugar is going to solve the shortage by just ordering a half-billion kits.  Voila!  Shortage solved!  And then you'll get your FREE!!! kit, citizen!  (Sometime this spring, perhaps.) 

Even the Dem hacks at Politico are having trouble spinning this.  (Hat tip: Insty)

Kosh's Shadow 12/23/2021 1:24:26 PM

23

WHO - Boosters will only prolong COVID

I can't believe any of what they say any more, but...

During a news briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate.” He appeared to agree with dissident doctors and censored scientists when he said, “No country can boost its way out of the pandemic.”