You Can't Stay Silent For Ever, And Sulking Is Such An Ugly Look

Despite all the assurances from my American friends that it simply couldn't happen, there is no going back now - President Trump will be a reality. It does though beggar belief. I will confine myself to the solace of his sounding (for the first time) at least vaguely presidential in his victory speech.

Some interesting figures to conjure with: Clinton will have won the popular vote by in excess of one million votes. Pretty good for a system allegedly rigged in her favour. Trump has won with fewer votes received than 'Loser' Mitt Romney four years' ago.

It's not enough to have every intelligent person in the country voting for me. I need a majority.    Adlai Stevenson

But hey. ho, life goes on. A distraction has been the melodramas of Bette Davis, specifically Mr Skeffington and Dark Victory. Melodrama is not, of course, purely a cinematic genre but it certainly enjoyed a jolly good run as such, not least with Davis as the star vehicle. At the core of technical success of these films was Hollwood's careful custodianship of the image of Davis herself as self-made, self-sufficient, the anti-glamorous if you will. These films are product but they are top-grade product. For collectors of such things Dark Victory includes a portrayal of a harmless lush by Ronald Reagan and a woefully miscast Humphrey Bogart as a stable hand.

Unusually I Have Nothing To Say. I Have Said It All Already. Vulgarity Vanquishes All.

A Bit Of Feminism Can Be Good For You

It only took us twenty-five years to get round to it but the other night we watched Thelma and Louise. Sorry about that, but life, as we all know, is too short to do everything we ought as soon as we ought. And watching Thelma and Louise is one of those things we all ought to do.

I've long been a fan of Susan Sarandon - the very fact of being in Bull Durham is a mark of greatness. She is reliably excellent and Geena Davis keeps pace with her. The two male reservoir dogs, Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen, are excellent in supporting roles and the film wears its energetic feminism gracefully, not least because the Keitel and Madsen characters are sympathetic. A dangerously young Brad Pitt also puts in a good shift. This is altogether a good way to pass two hours. 8/10.

We are gradually catching up with House of Cards, American style and have just done episode 29 (series 3.3). As a rule I can't find any notable fault with this show and it makes (along with Veep) for a useful antidote to repeats of The West Wing. However this episode was slightly off-key - some clumsy Putin bashing being the theme. Nothing wrong with Putin bashing - the chap appears a cad - but that sort of politicking is not in the usual House of Cards mixture. Polished as ever, but discordant.  

Meanwhile real life America outdoes its fiction. Trump gets no better and Clinton is still further enmeshed in the email scandal. From a distance, this stuff gets you down - what must it do to Americans?

The Boy Parris Done Good

Matthew Parris writes well, not in the Champions League category with the Boy Liddle of course, but nevertheless he's got a good engine. All of which has made his recent peevish articles denigrating those of us who voted Leave rather tiresome. However let us put that aside (as I am sure we will all shortly manage to do as the embarrassing realisation dawns that the world has not come to an end) and applaud his return to form - Blair/Chilcot - an article in which a bit of realpolitik intrudes on the whinnying grandstanding of the chatterati. He clearly can't stand Blair (sounds fair enough to me) but puts to the sword the sanctimonious claptrap of shitbags such as that oaf Salmond.

Trump v Clinton is about to wind into full swing. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Beyond A Joke

This has now gone past the point where we can laugh about it. The outrageous shitbag Donald Trump should be condemned for the bigot he is. I love America but people you're sleep-walking into moral oblivion and I'm damned if you're taking me with you. Trump Fascist