The 18th Annual Wriphe.com Batman and Football Month got off to an inauspicious start last night when my cable provider Spectrum unexpectedly dropped ESPN from its lineup without warning just as Florida was preparing to kick off the season against Utah.

Apparently Disney wants Spectrum to pay a boatload for the privilege of sharing the same content you can get directly through a subscription to Disney+, and negotiations have stalemated as Spectrum rightly fears trying to pass that charge along to their subscribers like me, who are already paying $110 a month for a package that somehow no longer includes ESPN or ESPN2 or the SEC Network (or Disney or FX or nearly a score of others I can't say as I watch much).

I assume this tactic is intended to make me call Spectrum and demand they raise my rates to get ESPN back. Given that Disney and the other Hollywood producers don't seem very interested in paying writers or actors to create other content — today marks day 122 of the WGA strike and day 49 of the SAG strike — they rightly recognize that live sports is currently (and perhaps for perpetuity in the age of AI) their most valuable commodity.

While I respect Disney's right to try to negotiate for Spectrum's 15 million subscribers, I'm not particularly happy about becoming a pawn in these hardline tactics or the timing of all of this coming at the dawn of football season, especially since for the foreseeable future, it looks like I'll have to leave my house if I want to watch Monday Night Football or a wide selection of college games. It sure seems like Hollywood doesn't really care who they inconvenience in their quest for the biggest possible buck, and that just plain sucks. I won't forget this. As my father always says, pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered.

And Gators... Gators lose 11-24, according to my local evening news. So it's not all bad. The University of Florida football team losing is a good start to any season.

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I often say that I'm completely impervious to advertising. I'm too intelligent and too set in my ways to fall for such blatant manipulation.

And then came this.

https://youtu.be/yOOb52AJOzo

I got as far as the keytar, and I immediately ordered a dozen pairs of women's soccer shoes.

Seriously though. If someone ever made a video like this about me, I would have it playing on every television in my house until I died. And then I would find a way to have it play on my tombstone.

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From the Wacky Neighbor Department:

Peacemaker Tries Hard #1, July 2023

James Gunn's Peacemaker show on HBO was a big hit, so of course its star eventually found his way into his own comic book, bringing the continuity of his DCEU — that's "DC Extended Universe," by which we mean the setting and characters of the Warner Bros movies featuring DC Comics intellectual property — with him.

In this particular case, that's a good thing, because it lets us spend time with characters who, in the comic book DC Universe — the "DCU," 'natch — remain dead.

Characters like the Red Bee.

That's him there, in his civilian identity. Back in the day, Rick Raleigh was an assistant district attorney. But that's not so far removed from being a parole office for super criminals.

It would seem that an old man with a beard like that would be retired from super-heroics, and there's no explicit reference to the "Red Bee" nom de guerre in this particular issue. But keep your eyes out, kids, because something* tells me we'll be seeing more of the Red Bee in issues to come.

* That "something" is the retailer solicitation for advanced issues.

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Dear Diary,

Today I saw Seth Meyers perform stand-up comedy at Atlanta Symphony Hall. He was *so* funny. I laughed so hard, I spit.

His act was mostly jokes at the expense of his family, especially his wife and kids. There were also bits about the Muppets, the pandemic, weddings, and sports. There was no explicit talk about Late Night, which remains on hiatus during the ongoing writers strike.

I sat in the front of the Logue Left section, which gave a great view of the stage. I had the middle of five seats, but I did not know my seat neighbors. I went alone. So far as I could tell, I was the only person in the whole auditorium who did.

I didn't even ask if any of my friends might want to accompany me. I usually watch late night talk shows alone, so I jumped ahead to the conclusion that I didn't need any company to enjoy this, either. I'm glad to report that I was right.

John Oliver is coming to the Fox Theater later this summer. Since there's no sign that Last Week Tonight will be filming new episodes by then, I might have to go to that, too.

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39/2205. Barely Lethal (2015)
Pay television likes to show this movie late at night, probably for nostalgic 20-somethings. I think this is a rare case of a script (and cast) being better than the final execution. I only watched it all the way to the end because it was filmed in Georgia, and I wondered if I would recognize anything. I didn't.

40/2206. Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
I liked this somewhat more than Gold Diggers of 1935. (Of the three numeric "Gold Diggers" films, I'd still only recommend Gold Diggers of 1933.) There are just too many horrible doing horrible things to one another to enjoy too much time in their company when they aren't singing and dancing.

41/2207. Black Adam (2022)
I said I'd never watch it... then on a Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do, I did. It's... okay. The plot is too thin, many of the characters are too poorly developed, the third act grafts on a zombie subplot... and it's just so damn violent for a superhero movie! Honestly, as a DC comic book guy, I have real problems with the presentation of well-established Justice Society members as morons and pawns, but my biggest gripe is that Black Adam kills everyone, and he's supposed to be the idea of the kind of hero the world needs? #MakeMineSuperman

42/2208. Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961)
Sadly, this has nothing to do with Aquaman. It is, however, the 60s equivalent of a super-hero action film, as the inhabitants of a scientifically advanced society pay for their hubris with the destruction of their world. You know, like what happened to the planet Krypton.

43/2209. A Walk in the Sun (1945)
"Nobody dies" is Private Rivera's mantra in this "Day In The Life" approach to World War II. The enemy is always present but never clearly seen, and most of the run time is taken up by bits of conversation as the soldiers try to keep the horrors of war out of their minds. The influence on Saving Private Ryan is obvious. It's really very, very good.

More to come.

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19/2185. Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940)
I love these sorts of breezy mystery movies. The formula here would go on to propel countless television episodes for decades to come for a good reason. Fun, if not particularly memorable.

20/2186. Dom Hemingway (2013)
Just about every character in this film is completely despicable, and, apparently, the viewer is intended to enjoy the constant set-backs of the titular protagonist. Jude Law is clearly having a blast, but outside of a couple of jokes delivered by co-star Richard Grant, I can't say that I joined him.

21/2187. Lost in Translation (2003)
When this came out, it was the talk of my art school. People loved it. I can see why. It's different and charming. I don't relate to it personally, but I admit that probably says more about me than the film. I can certainly see why the artists loved it.

22/2188. The Divorcee (1930)
When a wife discovers her husband has been disloyal, she repays the favor in kind and tells him about it. He acts like a complete hypocritical ass, sending their relationship into a tailspin. This sort of melodrama is not normally my bag, so why do I keep watching them? I'll let you know when I figure it out.

23/2189. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
A musical movie written by Dr. Suess should NOT be this boring. It's almost like they were trying to make it terrible for some reason. If you have the opportunity to see stills of the sets and costumes, do so. But do not watch! (I considered trying to make this entry rhyme, but the movie does not deserve that kind of effort.)

More to come.

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8/2174. Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)
I adore these pre-television medical dramas. This is exactly the formula that hospital procedurals are still using 80 years later (plus or minus a little male chauvinism).

9/2175. Black Legion (1937)
Humphry Bogart plays an honest working man who is naturally disappointed that the American Dream is passing him by. He does not handle this well, and his runaway emotions lead him to be taken advantage of by would-be populist thugs up to no good. It's a good cautionary tail, and I'm so happy that this sort of thing can't happen anymore.

10/2176. DC League of Super-Pets (2022)
This is a DC Comics comic-book movie for people who aren't familiar with DC Comics. Sure, it's for young children, but you'd think the people in charge could have read at least one DC Comic book featuring the Legion of Super-Pets. I did not care for it.

11/2177. Smart Blonde (1937)
This is the first in a series of mysteries featuring whip smart female newshound Torchy Blane (played by Glenda Farrell). I've always loved the movie trope of the fast-talking 30s girl reporter (see Barbara Stanwyck in Meet John Doe or Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hudsucker Proxy), so of course I think this is very good.

12/2178. Fly Away Baby (1937)
Torchy's second movie hits the will-they-or-won't-they-get-married button pretty hard (and has a weak ending), but it also establishes that the chemistry and formulas in the first movie were no fluke.

13/2179. The Adventurous Blonde (1937)
Torchy Blane's third movie (of 9) is better than the previous installment, even if the murderer was obvious from the beginning. I'd love to see the next 6, and one day I will.

More to come.

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I was already having a bad day — Dad continues to be A) confused about what medicine to take when, and B) very resistant to any means to address that problem — and then I saw that the new Powers That Be at the recently merged mega-corporation Warner Bros Discovery have decided to axe TCM Underground, effective immediately.

Dear whoever made that decision: Fuck off.

If you weren't aware, Underground was TCM's wee-hours-of-Saturday-morning block of programming that presented... shall we say "niche" movies. The kind that were generally made by or for unconventional audiences. You know, the kind of movies film nerds traded on VHS tapes and college art professors showed to their impressionable students to stimulate creativity. (Rest in Peace, Bill Marriott!)

I'd be more disappointed than I am if I hadn't already enjoyed TCM Underground for nearly 2 decades. Everything has a natural lifespan. (As they say, "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.") Underground's 18 year-run was a very, very long time in the entertainment industry, which only thinks in terms of how much money it can make today. It deserves praise for its longevity more than mourning for its passing.

There were great things before Underground, and there will be great things after. It's the same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we are is dust in the wind.

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Not so long ago, my anonymous friend — let's call him "Randy" — asked, "Can you name one thing that is better now than it was a few years ago?" It's a pretty good question.

Certainly, there has been a parade of bad news over the past half decade or so: COVID, Trump, Ukraine, drugs, inflation, immigration.... I'm sure you can think of a few more. Certainly, a lot of things don't seem as fun as they once did: watching the television shows you want to see costs a small fortune for a dozen streaming services, most of the content in video games can only be unlocked with micro transactions, corporations bought the fun out of the Internet, comic books cost $6.... I'm sure you can think of a few more of these, too.

From an objective point-of-view, things for most of us are actually still pretty good, as evidenced by the fact that we all have so much time to bitch about what sucks. Could things be better? Yeah. Yeah, they could. But were things better than this just a few years ago? Has American society peaked? I have doubts.

Judging whether the future we got is "better" than the present we had is a matter of comparing what we hoped we would get to the reality of what we got. That's never a particularly fair comparison. Hope might spring eternal, but reality, to borrow a phrase, always bites.

But in answer to Randy's question, yes, I can name one thing: Georgia Football. Georgia Football is better than it was a few years ago. Way better. Go Dawgs!

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I'm not sure I would call myself a connoisseur of kids cartoons, but I sure liked 'em a lot when I was a kid. And a teenager. And an adult. And now as old man. The good ones remind you what's great about being a kid. The best of them remind you what's great about being human.

If you have little kids right now, you can already guess that I'm talking about Bluey.

Bluey is an Australian Broadcast Company/BBC show about talking dogs. More accurately, it's about raising children by allowing children to be children, but it takes place in a world of talking dogs. I'm not so nuts about children, but I love talking dogs. Especially this one.

click image to toggle 3D on/off

That's Bingo, Bluey's little sister. Mom's beau asked why I would paint Bingo instead of Bluey. The answer is pretty simple: I like Bingo better.

She's my kind of talking dog.

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