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QUEEN'S GAMBIT AND BLACK PINK

  From Worldometer:


        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093    4732        1185       246          82
July    22     1205    7128         1293     1120         572
Aug    12     1504     6556       1242       835         130
Sept     3     1094    5886         830     1083         174
            9      1208    6222        1136      1168           82
Oct      8       957     6420         730       967        160
          12       316     3757           203       710          83
          13       843     5006           354      723       165
          14       970     6075           716       694       123
          15       873     6106           734       835       158
          16       928     6189           716       886         61
          17       638     5639           461     1032         38
          18       448     4040           215       578         63
          19       442     4392           321       594         21
          20       952     6169           662       714       164
          21     1225     6849           571       703         85
          22       973     6470          503       683       102
          23       903     6526         566       656         48 

Summary: not good.

It is rare that Rotten Tomatoes reviewers and audiences both rate a movie or series at 100%.  Well, a special treat just appeared on Netflix.  Here are the two films I just saw:

                                          Rotten Tomatoes       My Grade

                                      Reviewers  Audiences

Queen's Gambit                    100           100            ?

Blackpink: LUtS                      85            98            B+

Queen's Gambit is a mini-series with seven episodes of around 46 minutes each.  I've watched three so far, and, while entertaining, not quite yet close to those 100% ratings.  Maybe it will get better.

The story begins with an 8-year old girl losing her mother in a car accident, with a father who had earlier been pushed away for good.  So she ends up in a spiffy orphanage.  In those days (50's?) they gave the residents (all females) a vitamin pill and tranquilizer every day.  It was there that she became an addict.

A janitor teachers her chess, and she was so good that he invited the high school chess club head to play with her.  At the that point she must have been around 13 or so, played the chess club (all males) simultaneously, embarrassing them. 

She subsequently got adopted, where, again, the husband sort of disappears, essentially abandoning the family, with her new mother not particularly supportive about chess.   But Beth Harmon (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) begins winning chess tournaments, all against male opponents, and winning real dollars.  Her mother takes note and becomes her planner for future competitions.  At the end of episode 3 she loses, for the first time, to a superior U.S. champ (right).  You know that in coming chapters she will beat him, then on to the Russians, who dominate the world.  Four more episodes to go.

Earlier this week I featured BTS, a Korean boy group, who at that time had songs ranked #1 and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Blackpink is not quite at that stage of success (reached #12 with Ice Cream--teaming with Selena Gomez), but, like in LPGA golf, the women are coming.  Their Netflix documentary, Light Up the Sky, tells us all about them.

To appreciate Blackpink, you need to go back to YG Entertainment, which was established in 1996.  They were the ones responsible for Psy and Gangnam Style in 2012.

According to the film, YGE from 2009 recruited throughout the Orient, placing 30 or so trainees in a dormitory and trained them to sing, dance and become socially compatible, finally whittling them down to four in 2016:

  • Jisoo, from Korea, represents Dior
  • Jennie, born in Korea, but spent five years in New Zealand, Chanel
  • Rose, born in New Zealand, Saint Laurent
  • Lisa, from Bangkok, Bulgari and Celine

Blackpink symbolizes femininity with a dark mystery.  Kia Motors and Samsung, particularly Galaxy, are among a host of national and international companies, like Pepsi and Adidas, paying them to sell their products.  They first became popular in South Korea, than toured Japan in 2018/2019, then on to the USA last year, becoming a huge hit at Coachella.  Like all Korean stars, they with fanfare donate large sums to worthy causes.  Remember, YG Entertainment runs their lives.


Favorite song #67 represents that key song providing mental peace to comedians who teamed with famous singers:

RaBYBwaDM was written in 1918 and immediately became a #1 hit for Al Jolson.  Dean Martin actually came out with it first in 1950, but the Jerry Lewis' 1956 release did better, reaching Billboard's Top Ten.  From Wikipedia:

After their partnership ended with their final nightclub act on July 24, 1956, the boys went on to successful solo careers and neither would comment on the split nor consider a reunion. They were occasionally seen at the same public events, though never together. On two occasions, in 1958 and 1961, Martin invited Lewis on stage, but the split was too serious for them to reconcile. Later in September 1976, Sinatra surprised Lewis by bringing Martin on live stage, reuniting them after 20 years apart[40] and then in 1989, Lewis attended Martin's 72nd birthday.

And here is why this song made Lewis' life:

After his partnership with Martin ended in 1956, Lewis and his wife Patty took a vacation in Las Vegas to consider the direction of his career. He felt his life was in a crisis state: "I was unable to put one foot in front of the other with any confidence. I was completely unnerved to be alone".[33] While there, he received an urgent request from his friend Sid Luft, who was Judy Garland's husband and manager, saying that she couldn't perform that night in Las Vegas because of strep throat,[33] and asking Lewis to fill in.

Lewis had not sung alone on stage since he was five years old, twenty-five years before, but he appeared before the audience of a thousand, nonetheless, delivering jokes and clowning with the audience, while Garland sat off-stage, watching. He then sang a rendition of a song he'd learned as a child, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" along with "Come Rain or Come Shine." Lewis recalled, "When I was done, the place exploded. I walked off the stage knowing I could make it on my own".[33]

Thanks for the Memory was composed by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin for The Big Broadcast of 1938 (this is the whole film), where this tune was sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.  The song won an Oscar and became Hope's signature tune.  He hosted the Academy Award Ceremony 19 times, solo and in a team.  Dorothy Lamour also released her version and is many times mistaken as the female voice on Bob's record.  Bing Crosby also released this song, in 1956.

Bob Hope was also linked to another popular song, Buttons and Bows, from The Paleface in 1947 with Jane Russell.  Dinah Shore, however, released the most popular version the following year, hitting #1 on Billboard.

Even before this #67 song, Bob Hope in 1933 was the star of Roberta on Broadway, where unknowns like Fred MacMurray, Ray Middleton and Sidney Greenstreet appeared.  Also, a singer on this show, Dolores Reade.  She ended up marrying Hope, and they were together for 70 years.  He passed away in 2003 at the age of 100, but she went on for 102 years.

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