Queen Watch: "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs"

"The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs" establishes its conflicts in the recent-as-of-the-setting vicissitudes of World War Two, as well as the still-building Cold War. When the episode aired, more recent history involved Watergate and the Vietnam War. The episode, consciously or not, injects some of the issues of 1975 into its 1947 setting.

Now with very few exceptions, cop shows and detective shows tend to draw on an older, more conservative audience. That being the case, you might expect a prime time whodunit examining Watergate-era betrayals in a post-WW2 setting to be muddled in some places, simplistic in others. Unfortunately you'd be right, which is why this isn't one of the stronger stories. Has its charms, though.

Inside the Gipper

Well, I'm certainly not going to tell Patti Davis not to feel the way she does. Only human. Still, this movie project sounds interesting.

Of course many people not related to Reagan by blood or remarriage still take him very... I was going to say personally, but that's not quite it. He quickly became a plaster saint for the bulk of the conservative movement.

So a movie like this might not be makeable, that is possible to finance or release without theatres being burnt to the ground, for a few generations. Look for it on automated floating cube.

Yes, chameleons

Jemmy the Chameleon from Wayne Carlisi on Vimeo.

Just having a little fun here, juxtaposing the real chameleon with the animated one. There's an exaggeration, but it's not that big.

Of course if you're a house pet loose in the house, it might be better to be seen. Sometimes, anyway.

April is the cruelest month etc

Spring is a time when young people come out of their shells, and do so en masse. Which means they start partying, so you're walking along or you're at home and you all of a sudden hear them. It's a more abrupt change than the one into summer. During summer school is out - for most at least - but it's already been warm for a while.

And indeed more power to them. I do find that the hibernating months seem more "me" though.

Queen Watch: "The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance"

"The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance" is a 1975 episode of a short-lived television show set in the now long disappeared world of radio drama, during the Truman administration, featuring central characters introduced in 1929. You wouldn't expect it to feel contemporary in 2016. Yet in a lot of ways it does.

Part of it is the casting of Betty White. While most of the people who appeared in this episode have passed on, White has only loomed larger in the nation's culture in the ensuing decades. Just a few short years ago she became the oldest host in Saturday Night Live's history after a viral campaign on Facebook. And she does have a couple of bravura scenes in this episode as a fairly snotty talent agent.

Good night, sweet...

Does Rock 'n' Roll Heaven need to expand for tax purposes or something? Damn.

This song I actually wasn't familiar with, but I'm glad the scramble to find Prince-related content brought me to it.

Adios, Andy

Looking at the $20 bill currently in circulation, I can see the appeal of Andrew Jackson on a visual level. With that wind-teased hair of his, he practically invented "stylishly invented" at least for American men. That and the cravat and the Travis Bickle expression all add up.

Not a great president, though, even if he did lead a colorful life. Thomas Jefferson is increasingly maligned in the Hamilton era, but he did do other stuff besides own slaves - Louisiana Purchase, inventing the dumb waiter. Most of Jackson's "accomplishments" would land him on trial in the Hague.

So yeah, you could say I'm Ready for Harriet.