Skip to main content

NETFLIX and The Menendez Brothers

Worried about our economy?  The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted yet another record day yesterday, rising 341 points to 42,353.  Percentage wise, that was a jump of 0.81%.  The S&P 500 went up 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite increased 1.22%.

U.S. job gains increased in September by the most in six months, while unemployment fell to 4.1%.  Much of this was the Fed last month leading with a 50 basis point rate cut.  The end of the dockworker strike helped.  Economic activity in this fourth quarter will likely remain strong.  This is a surprise, and wonderful for Democrats. 

One more diversion, abortion is so hurting Republicans, that many are softening their stance.  Incredible, but they are being led by Millenia Trump.  To be released on October 8, her memoir, Melania, will defend individual freedom of women to do what they wish with their bodies.  She said there is no room for compromise.  This is the polar opposite of Project 2025.  What does Donald say about all this?  To Millenia:  You have to stick with your heart.

I don't go to movie theaters any more.  A lot of network television for news and sports, but even some series I now record and watch, like Dr. Odyssey (mind you, only 34% from Rotten Tomatoes, for a good reason, as it is kind of boring) and Suits (RT: 91/87).  I suspect next Dr. Odyssey will be my last, but Suits is a surprise.

  • I am watching what is the 9th season.
  • I was not aware that this series began in 2011 with 12 episodes, and seasons #2 to #8 had 16 each, with #9 down to 10 chapters.
  • Seasons 4, 5, 6 and 8 got 100 ratings.  The one I'm watching only has a 93 score.  
  • Decisions.  Decisions.  But do I now go to Netflix or Prime and start with season 1, which only earned a 78% rating.
  • This 9th season is the finale.   
  • Megan Markle, plays a not so important role, but she is Mrs. Prince Andrew.
  • Was added to Neflix and Peacock last year, and caused a sensation, that there will be a spin-off, Suits:  LA, on NBC.
Just watched a 2024 documentary, Will and Harper, on Netflix a couple of nights ago.  RT scores of 99/82.  Best to quote Rotten Tomatoes.

Three years ago, Will Ferrell was filming a movie when he received a most surprising email: his‬ dear friend of nearly 30 years was coming out to him as a trans woman.‬ That friend was Harper Steele, a writer he met on his first day at‬‭ Saturday Night Live‬‭ back in 1995.‬ From that fateful first meeting in the halls of 30 Rock, Will knew he had found a match made in‬ comedy, and their friendship and creative partnership would only continue to grow over the next 3‬ decades.‬ In this intimate, honest, and heartfelt documentary, Will and Harper hit the open road together to‬ process this new stage of their friendship and reintroduce Harper to the country that she loves --‬ this time, as herself. Over 16 days, the two drive from New York to LA, visiting stops that are‬ meaningful to them, to their friendship, and to America. Through laughter, tears, and many cans of‬ Pringles, they push past their comfort zones as they re-examine their relationships to these‬ spaces, and to each other, in this new light.‬

Life is not perfect, and we saw Marlow last night on Prime with Liam Neeson and a restored Jessica Lange.  RT:  26/37.  Those numbers are about right.  Harkens back to film noir in 1939.  We both had a triple scotch on rocks to get through the film.

I thought, I've seen this movie before.  So I searched, and found The Big Sleep, a 1946 film directed by Howard Hawks, with Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall.  Book written by Raymond Chandler in 1939.  RT:  96/91.  Basically the same story, but something about authentic film noir in black and white made the difference.

Time magazine has an article on Here's What's New on Netflix in October 2024.

  • The focus is on Halloween, for Netflix is adding movies like Halloween (2028), Psycho and Scream.  Also, Bride of Chucky leaves at the end of this month.
  • Netflix and other sources have long been involved in the case of the Menendez brothers killing their parents, and recently Netflix offered two more productions.  Some history.
    • In 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were watching TV in their Beverly Hills home when sons Lyle and Erik, then 18 and 21, shot their parents to death.
    • For the longest time, they were not prime suspects.
    • Then they were arrested, and two juries were deadlocked in 1994, resulting in mistrials.
    • You can read Wikipedia for details, but in 1996 another jury found them guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
    • There have been numerous productions of this incident, but Netflix recently got involved with two.
  • Kim Kardashian, part time criminal justice advocate, also got involved this week and had an NBC news op-ed, saying that she spent time with Lyle and Erik, and they are not monsters.
  • Just this week, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gáscon said his office was taking another look at the case.  
Gascón notes there is no question that the brothers killed their parents — a fact the two have admitted. But, he said, his office has a "moral and ethical obligation" to review the evidence. That evidence includes a photocopy of a letter from one of the brothers to another family member mentioning him being a victim of molestation. Another is testimony from one of the members of the hit Latin band Menudo who said Jose Menendez molested him in his early teens while he was an executive at RCA Records. None of this information has been confirmed, Gascón said.

    • Erick is now 53, and Lyle, 56.
  • Between the MeToo movement starting a national conversation about sexual abuse and the case going viral on TikTok in the last few years, the brothers think the Netflix doc can reach a more sympathetic audience that didn’t exist in the early 1990s. 

- 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more