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by notesfromachair
One of my resolutions for 2020 was to not get sidetracked by what ifs and to stop worrying about things I can't control.
Don't give me that look!
Aside from personal issues of life, health and death, that includes everything from who will win at the Oscars this year to the harrowing prospect that Donald J. Trump could be re-elected president of the United States.
Three weeks into 2020, I've already broken my vow.
Don't judge me!
And not just once but many times over.
Still, hope springs eternal and not only because Quentin Tarantino was given Oscar's precursor, the Golden Globe, for best screenplay over Noah Baumbach's overrated Marriage Story.
No, what gave me hope this week was the pomp and circumstance of the Senate hearing that inaugurated the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump.
Let's say that again.
Actually, let's allow the actual words of the Sergeant of Arms in the U.S. Senate to say it for us:
Hear ye, Hear ye, Hear ye –
All persons are COMMANDED – to keep silent on PAIN OF IMPRISONMENT– while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of IMPEACHMENT- AGAINST – DONALD JOHN TRUMP – president of the United States…
Pete Souza's shade really cannot be matched 🍑
Now, I'm not one for pomp and circumstance. In high school, I finally found a real excuse not to stand up for the National Anthem due to my opposition against the Vietnam War.
Even in elementary school I remember thinking it was silly to put my hand over my heart and pledge allegiance to a ….flag? I mean, what would THAT prove when no one could know what I, or anyone else, was really thinking?
Not to mention that to this day, whenever I see anyone bow before the Queen of England I'm still one-step short of appalled. A crown? A scepter? …Really? (Note: And yeah, that was the sound of me cheering the no longer Royal Harry and Meghan, for flying away to Canada and choosing to live in our real world of multi-million dollar endorsements. Well, sort of).
She drives! She's free! #ohcanada
Still…I could watch the pomp and circumstance, the formality, and the antiquated ceremonial loveliness of the invocation to the formal Senate trial that inaugurated Trump's impeachment on Thursday every day on a loop until Quentin Tarantino's OSCAR win for best original screenplay on Feb. 9th.
In fact, here it is now!
Hands up, baby hands up!
I suppose this makes me a bit of a hypocrite along with 63 plus million other American voters. But after three years of immigrant kids in cages, our leader's embrace of murderous, authoritarian world leaders over our long held allies (many of whom stood by our side in times of devastating war, most recently after 9/11), and a list of daily lies, corruptions and/or general nastiness to support his frail ego and questionable financial empire, the formality of a public ceremonial Trump guillotine in a court of law is looking pretty damned good.
Excuse me while I enjoy my tea
Our steely, and it turns out quiet prescient Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, recognized this when she finally agreed some months ago to skillfully open charges of impeachment against our Electoral College POTUS, though not for any of the aforementioned insurrections that enraged me (Note: And I would imagine "she").
Rather, it took a rock solid case of Trump using his office to withhold billions of dollars in much needed foreign aid to a small country (Ukraine) in order to pressure them into helping him win re-election (i.e., dirt that could scandalize the potential Democrat most likely to run against him and beat him at the time, Joe Biden), that finally crossed the line.
It's happening, it's really happening
Rather than anger or hubris, her motivation – and lest anyone doubt it look over her many statements opposing impeachment over the last three years – were the guidelines set down by our Founding Fathers over two centuries ago in the U.S. Constitution.
As she explained to Bill Maher on his HBO series Real Time over the weekend:
…He (Trump) used the office of the president to try to influence a foreign country for his personal and political benefit and in doing so he undermined our national security. He was disloyal to his oath of office to protect the Constitution and he placed in jeopardy the integrity of our election. So really, he gave us no choice…
Earlier on, some of the charges, violations of the law, I said 'he's not worth it.' But once he crossed that bridge it wasn't a question of HIS being worth it. The CONSTITUTION was worth it. He HAD to be IMPEACHED.
My religious moment of 2020
Yet lest any of us think Speaker Pelosi, is above gloating just a smidge, it is worth noting that when asked what she'd say to Trump if he were watching, she smiled slyly, looked straight into the camera and proclaimed:
You are impeached forever. No matter what the Senate does, it can NEVER be erased.
That was Nancy D'Alesandro — a woman raised in a political powerhouse family where her father was mayor of Baltimore and later it's Congressman, and her brother became city council president and later mayor — who was speaking.
A woman who not only understands the Constitution but is a maestro in the mixed martial arts of politics.
She doesn't get sidetracked by what ifs or people and things she can't control.
She simply stays in the moment, studies her options and then takes appropriate actions the way she sees fit, letting the chips fall where they may.
She also claims, and I believe her, not to HATE anyone.
One day, when we all grow up, we might to take a collective resolution to stay in the moment and be more like her. In the meantime, let's focus and at least try to do it until Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
Lou Reed – "This Magic Moment"
Standard | Posted in The Red, White & Blues	| Tagged bea arthur gif, Bill Maher, billy porter tea gif, canada, constitution, Electoral POTUS, impeachment trial, Joe Biden, john roberts, Meghan Markle, Mitch McConnell, nancy pelosi, noah baumbach, obama peach, oscar nomination, pete souza, Prince Harry, Quentin Tarantino, senate, this magic moment lou reed, Ukraine, US senate	| 0 comments
2019, Take a Seat
I'm thinking of 2019 as the year of the bad breakup. It was miserable, endless and painful and yet it had a few high points where you got some revenge and even won several arguments.
No, that's not a particularly healthy way to think. But it is satisfying and harmless if you only indulge at the end of the year. Like a pizza dinner with fries on the side and a chocolate anything for dessert. Or sex with the wrong person.
Yeah, I said it.
No one really wants to look back on a year such as this one but as 2019 comes to a close a handful of moments might be worth remembering. That is aside from teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg taking every one of us over forty out to the virtual woodshed for destroying the planet over the last 30 years.
Some moments are in a class by themselves and have far more meaning than the off year in which they occurred.
And with that:
THE CHAIR'S BEST OF LIST:
The Finger Point Seen Round the World
Say what you will about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi but her total domination of the Electoral College POTUS who thinks He's King in 2019 was one dependable, if sporadic, joy to behold. This was typified by that October still photo Trump tweeted of her dressing down the sort of prez over his Syrian policy with her words AND her finger with the attempted shaming caption, Nervous Nancy's Unhinged Meltdown!
Only he could never imagine she would embrace an image where she was confronting a table full of clueless straight white men who could barely look her in the face, make it her Twitter cover photo and in turn have it embraced as THE symbol of female empowerment and popular resistance to the patriarchy heard round the world.
AND you thought she couldn't top last year's meme of her leaving the White House in that red coat and oversized sunglasses…
The Strangest and Best TV Special that Shouldn't Exist but Does
Netflix's John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch is exhibit A in defense of Netflix because it's hard to imagine it would get green lit by or as widely seen on any other platform in the world.
But how to describe it?
Well, see, there's this smart comic named John Mulaney (Note: Co-creator of SNL's Stefon) who had an Emmy winning Netflix special last year and thought for his fellow-up he'd mix it up with a group of musical theatre pre-teens he gets to sing, dance and emote with in a post-modern remix version of the eighties kids shows Electric Company and Zoom!
This, of course, sells everything about the program way, way, waaaaay short.
Intrigued, confused, weirded out? All of the above.
Suffice it to say any show that features The Talking Heads' David Byrne, Broadway's Andrew De Shields and moviedom's star Jake Gyllenhaal singing along to Mulaney-penned or approved original material with youngsters who have much better voices than they do is worth seeing.
If that doesn't grab you how about a young guy warbling Sascha's Dad Does Drag, another singing, Grandma's Got A Boyfriend or a young woman getting to wear David Byrne's iconic big suit while dueting Pay Attention with him?
What about Jake in a colorful xylophone jacket having a sweaty nervous breakdown as he desperately and unsuccessfully tries to convince us of the places where he is sure music sprang from.
Are you sure I'm not on drugs?
Be honest. You like to watch….don't you?
The Unforgettable Performance
Clang, clang, clang goes the Oscar?
Judy Garland is likely the most imitated performer in the history of show business. Or at least in every gay bar across the world, which is, let's face it, where all of show business sprang from.
That is why Renee Zellweger's incredible performance in title role of Judy, a film that chronicles Garland's final musical comeback towards the end of her life, is such an achievement (see my post about that here).
It's not so much that she delivers a carbon copy imitation. It's more that she manages to evoke the very tremulous essence of the vulnerable performer and turn her into a recognizable brew of strengths and weaknesses that each of us can relate to.
… and she did indeed #tehehe
On paper this might have seemed like a disaster, especially since there is nowhere to hide when half the film is shot in close-ups and two-shots of you either alone or pulling focus from others by just being you (nee Her). That Zellweger manages to pull this off (and then some) in a film that will likely win her the competitive best actress Oscar that eluded the real Judy is sweet. Even sweeter for her is the fact that it has vaulted her right back on top of contemporary Hollywood after the tongue waggers-that-be delighted some years ago in categorizing her as already past her prime before she even turned 50.
Tee-hee. Hee.
Best Shirtless Brad Pitt Moment
He's 56 years old and it was in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. Without CGI. That is all.
Priceless Mean Girls Moment
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French president Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson huddled together at this year's NATO summit dishing Electoral POTUS Donald Trump and it made us ALL feel better about being human.
Oh, OF COURSE NO ONE IS CONDONING GOSSIP OR BITCHY BEHAVIOR!!
Still, Mean Girls was a best-selling book, a hit movie, and a Broadway musical that ran for almost two years and will likely be playing at a city near you in 2020 so there must be something to it.
We all know Regina George would make Electoral POTUS cry.
Sure, the best strategy with a know-nothing bully is not stooping to their level. But we all need to blow off steam, and preferably where they are in close enough proximity to know that you HATE them!!!!
Not to mention, the message must have gotten through. Trump promptly left the summit early just a day later in a huff, knowing he was not wanted.
Wait….you feel bad? Really???????
Because his latest revenge against Trudeau, hot off the presses: Trump and his son, Donald Trump, Jr., tweeting that it was the Canadian Prime Minister who was responsible for Sr's cameo in Home Alone: 2 (1992) getting cut from Canadian television over this year's Christmas holidays.
The best part of this – other than the savory irony of Don, Jr. referring to anyone else as "triggered" – is the reference, in this assault on journalism from bizpacreview, to Home Alone 2 as a "classic 1992 film." https://t.co/YJA8TevE8o
— Ben Mankiewicz (@BenMank77) December 27, 2019
As if!!!
Best Joyous Hate Watching
Will you ever forget…the very first moment in 2019….that you saw…….the trailer to……the movie version of………CATS????
The fake fur, the pointy ears, the strange facial expressions and inhuman semi-sexual gyrations. It delivered everything and more…or less. Universal recently took the historic step of actually announcing that after a week in release it was redoing some of the special effects and issuing new versions of the print to the thousands of theatres it was playing.
Our response to that is: PLEASE DON'T.
Don't change a frame for those of us who are waiting to stream it…along with a side of magic mushr—well, something.
And this just in from the gift that keeps on giving: Dame Judy Dench was only just a handful of days ago quoted as saying her cat, Old Deuteronomy, is…transgender!
Please don't make it stop. Now OR forever.
And finally – THE Prophetic Musical Moment
Taylor Swift was much more than a regrettable 2019 supporting turn in Cats. Sure, her You Need To Calm Down record and video is a song about LGBTQ equality and acceptance. On the surface. But in a sense, isn't it also the overriding message to all of us when we reflect on the entire year and strategize for what's inevitably to come in 2020??
Taylor Swift – "You Need to Calm Down"
Want more Chair 2019 takes? Dip into our archive and find gems like: The Chair Sees Hadestown with Hillary Clinton (plus Woke-lahoma review), Farewell Dear Rhoda, Paul Rudd Refuses to Age, Prince George Can Dance If He Wants To!, and lots of love for When They See Us, Fosse/Verdon, US, and more.
Standard | Posted in Just Sayin'	| Tagged boris johnson, Brad Pitt, cats special effects, cats the movie, chrissy three's company gif, Electoral POTUS, emmanuel macron, fosse verdon, greta thunberg, hadestown, home alone 2, Jake Gyllenhaal, john mulaney, judi dench, judy, Justin Trudeau, mean girls, nancy pelosi, NATO summit, Oklahoma, once upon a time in... hollywood, Oscar predictions, Renee Zellweger, sack lunch bunch, taylor swift, Trump, us, when they see us, you need to calm down	| 1 Comment
Cadavers in Revolt
NO, Kevin Hart will NOT host the Oscars this year despite self-elected Queen of Us Gays Ellen DeGeneres' efforts to allow him to do so.
And NO, newly minted Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was NOT smeared when right wing Republicans began re-tweeting a video of her fabulous self doing the Breakfast Club dance back in college.
And CERTAINLY NO, not even newly minted Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) became marginalized EVEN SLIGHTLY when Trump tried to chastise her this week for saying: WE'RE GONNA IMPEACH THE MOTHERF-CKER!
don't worry, GOP, "impeach the motherfucker" is just lady locker room talk
— Elizabeth May (@_ElizabethMay) January 4, 2019
That way of thinking is SO, SO, SOOOOO 2015. If you haven't been keeping up with the times, well, the rest of us have. So you wanted the guardrails off, well guess what?
THE GUARDRAILS ARE OFF, MOTHER F-CKERS! GET OUT OF OUR GOD D-MNED WAYS OR WE WILL CUT YOUR D—CKS OFF AND FEED THEM TO YOU FOR BREAKFAST. Yeah, you too, Ellen.
Oh it's about to GO DOWN
Oh, and finally, guess what what? No way in the god d-mned world will I ever be marginalized, ostracized or slightly, even vaguely, smeared by writing that. Sure, this is a blog but I do have a watchful editor and as any self-respecting WOKE FEMALE in 2019, SHE (Note: My editor, yeah, she's a GIRL) is certainly, totally on board with that…and more.
I gotchu Chairy
You can't have it both ways, kids. All this faux outrage only works when you recognize there are standards and practices, things you can't say or don't say in polite company and intellectual discourse. Norms one follows and morals one adheres to that are generally accepted by the whole of society, or at least by a majority of Electoral College and/or Motion Picture Academy voters.
But when you spend two years (and in some cases, many more) either subverting or ignoring those parameters in hopes of a Supreme Court justice or two, career fame and fortune or just plain expanding your audience in hopes of world-view domination, you DO NOT GET TO COMPLAIN NOW.
I guess kudos for being consistent #ignorance
All right, sure, you get to complain. Yell and scream all you want, it's a free country, right now. But do NOT expect it to register much. The general American zeitgeist may not be too swift on the whole but on the whole they do eventually get what's faux and what is most certainly cadaverous outrage.
This temper tantrum you're now having about the majority speaking up and grabbing some of the power you slyly and not so slyly stole from us in your attempts to marginalize anyone who didn't agree with you, or worse yet, render them voiceless, these days registers as nothing more and nothing less than:
CADAVERS IN REVOLT.
You WISH you had these moves
Give me a friggin' break, Ellen. People that don't want Kevin Hart to host the Oscars because he made AIDS jokes in 2004 and apologized by way of saying it was a different time then, are HATERS? (Note: Your words, hon, not mine).
And seriously, Congressmen, you're going to actually BOO Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and no one else when she cast her vote for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House? And then say they were just playful boos? What are you, eleven? Are you playing kickball? If you have a secret crush on her, why not playfully just go up to her and punch her in the arm? Right, you can't do that anymore in the age of #MeToo. Then just speak to her privately and tell her you like her, despite everything. No touching, though.
Oh, don't back away from this, ELECTORAL COLLEGE POTUS and all of your minions and surrogates, one of whom is bound to be reading this. Or at least, an acquaintance of a friend who might happen to whizz by it while surfing the web at 2 a.m. in search of Chair porn.
I'd rather look at this than "The Mule" #sorrynotsorry
You know for a fact that mother f-cker is just a term you use (Note: or he if you're a surrogate) first thing in the morning at Mar-a-Lago in reference to your illegal alien cleaning lady when she doesn't empty the gold plated garbage can of all those tissues you used the night before in your gold glited boudoir en suite. Open concept, indeed.
Oh, do NOT start with us about mother f-cker, you MO FO. You might not have been caught on tape saying the "N" word (Note: Yet) but you have proclaimed it's okay to grab women by their p-ssies and have been widely quoted hurling F, S and B bombs by friends, acquaintances and co-workers on an hourly basis.
I mean….
Of course, you're also the guy who told a friend that you thought Jared was A LITTLE SWEET (Note: GAY) when your daughter Ivanka first introduced you to her future husband so you're right, it doesn't make you quite as homo-hating as Mr. Hart. Were it not your only offense.
#MeixcansAreRapists
#ShitHoleCountries
#GetThatSonofAB-tchOffTheField!
#GrabEmByTheP-ssy (Note: Repeated for the number of times you've said it and it's been written about over the last two and a half years and we've had to listen to it).
So please, when asked about the new Michigan Congresswoman referring to you as a mother f-cker at a bar, do not say stuff like:
I thought it was highly disrespectful to the United States of America
You really missed your calling in standup #HILARIOUS
We'd much rather have you curse. At least that'd be honest.
For a change.
Because as former POTUS (both Electoral AND Popular Vote) Barack Obama once so eloquently stated:
We Are The Change We've Been Waiting For.
Know that you, as well as so many other power brokers in the mainstream (Note: Yes, we're speaking to ALL of you), helped get us here.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing – Breakfast Club Style
Standard | Posted in The Red, White & Blues	| Tagged 116th congress, Academy Awards, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing, AOC, barack obama, clint eastwood chair, Electoral POTUS, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Hart, Liz Lemon Gif, Michelle Obama air kisses gif, Motion Picture Academy, nancy pelosi, Rashida Tlaib, snow white laughing gif, The Breakfast Club, the oscars, Thriller dancing gif	| 0 comments
Tweets From The Chair
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