Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No one could have predicted…

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    If you hate it, why watch it? Isn’t there enough pain and frustration in life without voluntarily adding to it?

  3. 3.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: I have to admit I do hate read/peruse some fashion blogs to laugh at the trend salad some bloggers wear and the vacuous advice they give their adoring fans. An example, how to wear a dress as a blouse, and no I am not kidding.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    Last weekend I re-watched Hook on ABCFamily. It was even more awesome than I remembered. RIP Robin Williams.

    So yeah, I’m good.

    Besides I’ve never been a fan of women playing live-action pre-pubescent Pan. IDK it wierds me out.

  7. 7.

    Olivia

    Allison Williams is no Mary Martin. And poor Christopher Walken is more whiney than evil. He appears a bit arthritic.
    I love the colors of the set.

  8. 8.

    hilts

    FUCK shit for brains Sen. Mary Landrieu!

    Beleaguered Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., underdog in her forthcoming Senate runoff election, warned Pelican State voters on Wednesday that her defeat would elevate an advocate of “windmills” to a powerful position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She was speaking about Democratic colleague Sen. Maria Cantwell, who just then was sending out an email appeal to raise money for Landrieu.

    h/t http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/12/03/landrieu-warns-about-cantwell-cantwell-raises-money-for-landrieu

  10. 10.

    Mart

    You have no kids that were saturated with ads for PP the past month. What the hell Cole. I am looking forward to Franco and Rogen on “Naked and Afraid – Unrated”. I know that is going to be awful, but I gotta look.

  12. 12.

    beth

    How is it possible that the wire work was so much better back in the 50’s (60’s?) when Mary Martin did this?

  13. 13.

    hilts

    Has anyone seen The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything ? Is either film worth the admission price?

  16. 16.

    Paul W.

    But you have to love watching Hook. Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams are a fucking masterclass in that movie.

  21. 21.

    Mike J

    @hilts: I’d like to see both, but I went to see Interstellar and it reminded me of everything I hate about going to the movie theater. Great movie, but the half hour of commercials beforehand ran at 120dB.

    Both of those look good, but I’m guessing ToE has top end before Hawking dumps his wife.

  22. 22.

    Xantar

    @lamh36:

    As a kid, I could never understand why everybody was treating Peter Pan like a boy when he was clearly a woman. I could never get into the story or pay attention to the singing because I was spending all my time trying to figure out what I was missing.

  24. 24.

    beltane

    Peter Pan was my son’s school play this year (he was the crocodile) so I am kind of Peter Pan-ed out. It brings back weird memories for me. When I was very, very young my mother would read me the book based on the Disney version and I remember always getting upset when Tinkerbell dies. I had completely forgotten all this until I saw the play last month.

  25. 25.

    Olivia

    @Xantar:

    As a kid I was so disappointed when my mom told me that Peter Pan was played by a woman, a woman older than my mom. It wasn’t clear to me and it was like being told about the Santa thing. My grandkids watching this each said, “Why is a girl playing Peter Pan?” They are so much smarter and more savvy than I was.

  26. 26.

    beltane

    @NotMax: My 9 year old got through the first half hour before dozing off. It’s always been important to me that my kids eat and sleep at regular times, at least when they’re little.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    @Paul W.: Ab-so-freakin-lutely!

    Every scene was great. Robin Williams played the role so well. From the first time he’s on screen, when he interacts with his kids, when he give that speech and in one breath sound like a speech a kid would give, but he was obviously a man.

    Next Dustin Hoffman who’s Hook wasn’t particularly scary, but who still was a villain through and through, i mean even the dude who played Smee was awesome.

    The whole Neverland segments were great too. The kids who played Peter Pan’s kids and especially all the kids who played the Lost Boys were perfect casting.

    My only quibble, and I admit it’s probably cause I’m no fan, was Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell. She was meh to me.

  29. 29.

    satby

    My friend textured me to tell me it was too bad I didn’t have regular tv (Roku) because I was missing Peter Pan.
    And I heaved a sigh of relief and contentment. Sometimes the happy gets delivered right to you.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    @beth

    Both decades, actually. A telecast was done live in 1954, a different telecast live in 1956, and yet another in 1960. That last one was the one oft re-shown (also the only one videotaped and still extant in color).

    IIRC, my family did get a color TV to watch the 1956 broadcast. Memory is that it was about a 9- or 10-inch screen, as opposed to the much, much larger b&w TV (at least 21 inches, although might have been 25) in the living room. There were very few things being broadcast in color,so that set was an adjunct to, rather than a replacement of, the b&w set. For all intents and purposes it was used primarily to watch The Wizard of Oz each year. But the color unit was an attractive piece of furniture on its own (all polished real wood, with twin doors with brass fittings which could be shut to hide the screen) so doubled as a tall side table.

    And no, we were far from fabulously wealthy. My father at that time ran his own TV and electronics repair service out of the basement of the house, so had better access to wangle equipment of all sorts.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    The tradition of having Peter played by a female goes back to the very earliest stage production, done while Barrie was still living.

    Also too, no matter the stage magic employed, that ol’ bugaboo puberty can and does sneak in for boys when least convenient, limiting any single young male actor’s time in playing the role onstage.

  35. 35.

    Xantar

    @NotMax:

    Oh I understand that now. But try explaining that to a six-year old kid who is used to seeing child actors whenever the role calls for it.

  36. 36.

    beltane

    Huge crowds marching in NYC right now. It looks like the true cross-section of the population-old, young, black, white.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    A bit more on Peter being traditonally portrayed by a female.

    …[The producer] reasoned that a man would be wrong for the part, and if they cast a boy, the other children “would have to be scaled down in proportion.” English law prohibited the use of minors under 14 on stage after 9 p.m. So a woman it was.
     
    Nina Boucicault, the sister of the show’s director Dion Boucicault, was tapped for the lead in England, and she originated the role in December of 1904.… Source

  39. 39.

    RaflW

    From the NY Times this evening:

    …the Captains Endowment Association, which represents the Police Department’s upper echelon, said the police and the mayor deserved credit for managing the protests on Wednesday night. But he echoed a sense of embattlement expressed by many officers in recent days. [emphasis added]

    Well, there’s a police fraternal organization name if I’ve ever heard one.

  40. 40.

    Groucho48

    I thought tonight’s version was no more than decent. Allison Williams seemed like a competent college play actress. As for Walken, I kept worrying he’d fall over dead. He didn’t like good. He probably would have been great for it 20 years ago. Though, Cyril Ritchard is a tough act to follow.

    The production wasn’t very sharp. It tended to underplay the big moments.

    As for Peter Pan being played by a woman. I don’t think I ever had a problem with it. Back in the day, I saw all three live productions with Mary Martin and Cyril Richard and loved them. Took my kids to see the live version with Cathy Rigby, who did a solid job.

    I was 6 or 7 when the first Mary Martin version was done. Was probably one of the first TV shows I saw. I still kind of remember the thrill when all the kids started flying. What kid wouldn’t want to fly off to Never-Never Land?

    http://youtu.be/NtpYzeBnuaE

  42. 42.

    skerry

    Just got home from seeing “Newsies” in Baltimore. Had to change my route going into and coming from the city due to demonstrations.

  44. 44.

    beltane

    @RaflW: Never heard of them before, they probably keep a low profile.. It’s possible they do feel embattled, it looks like the whole city is out tonight (well, except for Staten Island). It almost reminds me of a big, European style protest march.

  45. 45.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I read about the “I can’t breathe” poem earlier and thought it was pretty powerful. I just got off the phone with my wife who is touring D.C. with her AP students and she was in the chamber to see it in real time! Of course, she said there were hardly any other representatives around and those that were there were of course on their cell phones and not paying attention.

  46. 46.

    gwangung

    @beltane: You know what my feeling is? “Tough.”

    One of their own killed a man. And they were negligent in caring for him. They SHOULD feel embattled, because it was one of their own whose actions kicked it off.

  48. 48.

    beltane

    Ugh, watching the livestream from NY and the police are starting to get nasty. Midnight must have been the preordained hour to start with the arrests.

  50. 50.

    Mike J

    @Karen in GA: The volume was bearable and understandable during the movie. It was the ads that went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on at an incredibly loud volume that got me.

  52. 52.

    skerry

    @beltane: I’m not sure how many people were out, but multiple intersections were blocked. When we went into the theater, there were a couple helicopters hovering over the area. Didn’t look when we came home.

    ETA:
    Baltimore PoliceVerified account
    ‏@BaltimorePolice
    We are committed to ensuring the 1st amendment rights of our citizens to peacefully assemble and express their right to free speech.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    One time at the summer camp I worked at for many years we were doing a stage production of The Wizard of Oz and wanted the wicked witch to fly to the stage from the back of the room, beginning behind and thence over the heads of the audience.

    Rigged up a proper set-up, beginning on a platform way up at ceiling height. The girl camper playing the role was game, but we wanted to be ultra sure, so repeatedly instructed her to step off the platform, and not to jump.

    Had her watch a counselor who outweighed her by probably 150 pounds step off the platform and fly down the wire onto the stage just fine. Several times, in fact.

    Naturally, the first time she tried she jumped, fell, and broke her wrist (hairline fracture). But she was a trouper and played the part with a cast, which was painted green. Oh, and also did successfully learn to fly.

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    @Omnes Omnibus: It is self evident. If you are watching Peter Pan, then you have never, ever protested, voted, or done anything to change the current system. Ever. Neverever.

    Any you’re a poopypants. Or something.

  63. 63.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RaflW: I didn’t watch Peter Pan. I watched an old version of A Christmas Carol. does that make me a good or bad person?

  65. 65.

    Xantar

    @skerry:

    There were protesters marching around the Lighting of the Monument. Pretty good show by the police, I have to say. They were not wearing anything out of the ordinary or brandishing any weapons. They just stood around the perimeter and mostly looked bored.

    Except for the mounted police. They looked like they were having a good time just sitting on their friends.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    It just began here 20 minutes ago. Not gonna stick with it, but the costumer designer ought to be strung up. The flat chest prosthesis on Peter is laughably dreadful, which is only accentuated by the use of a fishnet undershirt.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @kc: it seems rather silly too me. Unless they are saying that if you are not in the streets at this moment, you are siding with the oppressors, but even then it is more than a bit hyperbolic.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    If it was the version starring Alastair Sim, then a very, very, very good person.

    If the one starring Seymour Hicks, drop one very, but still a superlative person.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: I am a Sim man.

    ETA: I am also a Christmas Carol slut. I love the story. What can beat this: “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business! “

  72. 72.

    skerry

    @Xantar: I heard they were keeping with the theme of “no justice, no Christmas tree”. They also went up to the train station.

    ETA: Were you there? If so, kudos.

  75. 75.

    Lavocat

    WTF is “hate-watching”? Sounds fucking Orwellian. Are you telepathically willing Peter Pan to burst into flames?

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Lavocat: I assume it is a way of keeping internal rage at peak level. I am not sure why current news doesn’t suffice, but some people are addicts. If it isn’t booze, it may be rage.

  78. 78.

    eemom

    @Mike J:

    How about George C Scott?

    I’m in the minority here, but I LOVE that version.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I well recall your disagreement with that opinion….also, IIRC, that you knew Scott’s sons.

    Like everything else about Christmas, can’t believe it’s been a year already.

  81. 81.

    Tone In DC

    Got no patience for a play like that. I’m better off watching something a bit more uplifting, like Mad Max.

    If I were forced to sit through Peter Pan these days, I’d be rooting for the damn alligators; if I had my way, the reptiles would be the only ones left standing by the end of the play.

    Last, but not least… who the hell decided to cast Brian Williams’ less than talented daughter in that production? Was Megan McCain not available?

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @Karen in GA:

    I don’t want to make you feel bad, but it was pretty awesome. Though I’m sure that G got tired of me turning to him and whispering some of my favorite lines from the MST3K version.

  87. 87.

    divF

    @Omnes Omnibus: another Sim man – fortunately, since Madame divF would evict me for the holidays if I weren’t.

    Dickens’ language is indeed a delight. I think I’ll go download it and read for a bit.

  88. 88.

    Mnemosyne

    @SarahT:

    I think the police spokesperson accidentally told the truth in that story:

    “This one went bad from the standpoint of how it ended, but the officer was doing exactly what we want him to do.”

  89. 89.

    SarahT

    @beltane: and they did arrest then – at least 10 by my count where we were (W.14th St. & 8th Ave.) – on way back from shutting down the Lincoln Tunnel. Glad we brought milk for people who’d been tear-gassed. Think after 10pm was the time the cops decided to try to shut it all down.

  93. 93.

    Tehanu

    Since I was about 7 or 8 the first time I saw Mary Martin’s Peter Pan, I just can’t relive the magic now, though I’m still extremely fond of the songs from this show, and the sets and costumes are quite good. Alas, Christopher Walken looks like he’s sleepwalking, in spite of his excellent costume. Too bad they couldn’t get John Malkovich or Norbert Leo Butz or Hugh Jackman for it. Allison Williams isn’t horrible, but she’s got no spark — there was a reason they cast Mary Martin, who had already been one of the biggest stars on Broadway for 15 years, instead of somebody’s daughter. Sigh.

  94. 94.

    SarahT

    Correction, if anyone’s out there &/or gives a rat’s ass, & for accuracy’s sake: No tear gassing @ NYC protests – pepper spray. Baby steps, guess.

  95. 95.

    Bonnie

    Christopher Walken is 71; he probably is arthritic. However, I read where he started out as a dancer; but, even Fred Astaire lost a lot when he got older. We all get older. I thought Walken was the only interesting character. But, I turned it off when Elementary came on.

  97. 97.

    JustRuss

    @Bonnie: I think Walken could have killed it 10 years ago. I still enjoyed the show for the spectacle, such as it was. Only caught the last hour or so.

  99. 99.

    Another Holocene Human

    HARDtalk was on the radio on my way home, missed the head of the hour and the interviewee was saying a lot of stuff I was agreeing with, made some good points … during the short ride I realize I’m probably listening to Cornel West … and I’m wondering why this brilliant man is expressing himself in such an inarticulate fashion

    Is this an act? Is he clowning and the joke is on the audience? And I was surprised by the segue to Wall Street (unsurprised once I realized who was talking) because it’s such a firebagger talking point.

    He did make good points, too bad it was in between complaining that Obama was worse than Bush because he sold us out. West is way too smart to be blaming Eric Holder for Clinton and Gingrich repealing Glass Steagel (with Greenspan winking at their good judgement) and Bush for running a feckless SEC and stuffing the DOJ with hacks while dismissing competent public servants before Holder even got there. Holder was busy unwinding Gonzolez and Bush’s incompetent messes like “Fast’n’Furious” when DOJ with SEC (still sleeping!) and the NY AG office should have been roasting banksters over spits.

    West is so dishonest in his critiques of Obama he dismisses Obama’s remarks about Trayvon Martin with Obama’s later remarks about rule of law as if we didn’t know what happened to Obama and the state of a very ugly racial conversation immediately after Obama said that. Obama doesn’t say what he thinks because real people get hurt in the backlash. Very disingenuous. It’s funny, a REAL socialist, Van Jones doesn’t run around saying this shit even though if anyone he ought to have a bigger beef with BO than Cornell West does, getting canned out of the admin in the first year for basically nothing. But he doesn’t, idk maybe Van the Man cares more about actually bringing about positive changes in people’s lives than worrying about his image and status …

    West made a lot of “I” statements, “I care about poor people” was a popular one. Too rich, Mr Sponsored By Walmart. I hate hypocrites.

  100. 100.

    Another Holocene Human

    @SarahT: They’re not into tear gas, their bag is more kettling, false arrests, and sexually assaulting female protesters.

    eta: I forgot to mention assaulting bicyclists, they get a real chubby from that one

  101. 101.

    Another Holocene Human

    @SarahT: Thanks for going out there and protesting. I wish I could drop everything and go protest on 12/16 but I don’t have the cash (and I have bargaining that day)

  103. 103.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Olivia: That’s because the big screen was gaslighting you as a child.

    I can thank MST3K for introducing me to the short film MR B NATURAL.

    So. Wrong.

  105. 105.

    Gemina13

    I enjoy “A Christmas Carol” every year. I try to see both the Sim and Scott versions (I love them both, sorry). Everyone in my family had a different preference: the Old Man loved the ’30s version; Mom loved the Scott one; my brothers won’t watch any but the Sim film; and I also have a secret liking for the Albert Finney one (done in the ’70s, not the Muppet movie).

    We’re having protests in Seattle, too. Apparently, with many progressive protest groups telling the anarchists to fuck off, much less shit is getting broken–or else they got hired by Guy Vidra. At any rate, one of my best friends took his caroling group to Westlake Center downtown, and ended up serenading the protesters. I have to find out his feelings about the gig.

  106. 106.

    tones

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Me too, I will watch every single version every single year shamelessly.
    You are right about the versions the Alister Sim one makes me cry every time.

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