I'm having trouble finding things to blog about that don't mention Donald Trump. I do get the feeling that even if he loses badly, he will consider the whole campaign a whopping success because it made him the most talked-about person in the country. And since Trump has always had the knack for turning fame into dollars, it will probably prove to be quite lucrative.
I didn't see the Emmy Awards the other night. I've developed an allergy to most award shows — something about experiencing mega-doses of self-congratulation by rich people — plus I just find Jimmy Kimmel to be the least sincere person on TV not on Donald Trump's payroll. Friends who felt like I do about him tell me he's getting better and one of these days, I'll give him another try. I'm sorry they didn't find room in the "In Memoriam" section for folks I was fond of, including Pat Harrington and Marvin Kaplan. Pat was an Emmy winner and a guy who was on a helluva lot of TV shows so I'm inclined to think that was an error, not a judgment of his importance.
Last night, I got an annoying phone call from a political website to which I have in the past donated money. Essentially, it was "Thank you for your past support. Will you give us more right now?" I told the guy that I donate periodically to them and will stop if I get one more of these phone calls. (This was the third or fourth this year.) He said, "I understand and I'll remove you from our list." Fine. But then he added, "But while I've got you here, would you consider helping us out in our pre-election solicitation?"
I spent a few pleasant hours last Saturday down at the Long Beach Comic Convention. It's a fun convention with plenty of cosplayers and not enough parking. I am not actively collecting anything I'm likely to find at one of these but it was fun to be around so many happy and creative people. Boy, there are a lot of comics these days I've never heard of.
The Criterion Collection — which I refer to as the "class act" of home video — is about to bring out deluxe, fancy DVD and Blu-Ray sets of The Valley of the Dolls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. These are two films I find fascinating for opposite reasons. The first is so unintentionally phony in its dramatics and its manipulation of the audience. The "in-name-only" sequel is intentionally phony in all those ways, so it's quite the hoot, especially if you can see it with a big, hip audience. I first saw "BVD" in a nearly-empty theater at a matinee and didn't much like it. Then I saw it years later with a big audience that got every bit of its deadpan, planned campiness and boy, was that a different movie. And fun!
I'm buying these and I'll watch the special features since Criterion always does those well (even when they hire me) but I'm not sure I'll watch Beyond in my home. It needs at least thirty people in the room to be truly effective. You can order one here and the other here. And by the way, the non-sequel actually does pick up a few of its many storylines from the first one as if it was a real sequel, but those moments are well-disguised.