Author: Francine Brokaw

It is indeed a small world

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

As the citizens of the planet Earth have discovered during this Corona Virus pandemic, it is a small world.

The latest edition of the Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction collection highlights “It’s a Small World.” Each month Minnie Mouse dresses in a different outfit to focus on an attraction in Disneyland. This month she is touting the memorable and beloved boat trip that takes guests on a trip around the world. This is “the happiest cruise that ever sailed” as guests see children singing and dancing in their native outfits and languages. And for anyone who has been on this attraction, the song is unforgettable…literally!

Minnie is dressed in a colorful dress in teal, pink, yellow, and purple. She has a teal bot on her head and a smile that says she loves the way she looks. Minnie is a fashion icon and there’s no doubt she is happy with her special attire.

To go along with this specially dressed plush Minnie Mouse, there are other items in the collection. A pink Hip Pack from Loungefly is perfect for when guests are allowed back in the park. It is small but can hold a phone, some money or credit cards, and of course the ticket to the theme park.

A coffee mug is also part of the collection. It is also done in pink with colorful designs depicting the entrance to the attraction. A special Minnie Ears headband matches Minnie’s real ears. A pin set rounds out this month’s collection.

The newest collection for the Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction Disney It’s a Small World will be available beginning April 18, 2020 from shopDisney. Items are limited so get your favorite soon!

And if you want to relive the fun of that memorable cruise around the world, click here.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. Follow her on Twitter.

‘Mrs. America’ answers our burning question – ‘How did we get here?’

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

I was born and raised in Japan, the eternal Mad Men land, and I saw no bright future in the patriarchal and chauvinistic society. So I escaped to the Land of Opportunity! Since then my life experiences have been decidedly and drastically better than those in my motherland. I genuinely thought I had died and gone to heaven. So you can imagine my surprise when I previewed FX’s fascinating eye-opener Mrs. America. I neither grew up here nor was around in the 1970s. I had no idea women’s rights are still not constitutionally guaranteed!

Mrs. America, a thought-provoking limited series, tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and how the amendment was stopped in its tracks. The show contrasts the conservative women’s movement led by Phyllis Schlafly with the feminist women’s movement represented by the likes of Gloria Steinem. “What really struck me about all the women from this period was how messy they were. They’re contradictory in nature. They quarrel. There’s joy, there’s love, and there’s hate. I wanted to have all the characters contain multitudes,” explained Creator/Showrunner Dahvi Waller at a press conference held early this year.

Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett) aka ‘the sweetheart of the silent majority’ was, indeed, a woman of contradictions. While she advocated ‘pro family, pro life value’ by projecting a perfect wife and mother at home, she stood on the shoulders of her successful lawyer husband to get into the good ole boys club in DC, where she dismissed as ‘Godless leftist city.’ She knew how to schmooze her way into her domain of military & defense strategy by tailoring her ‘little ol’ me’ persona to neither antagonize nor intimidate high-ranking government officials and powerful industry leaders.

As a matter of fact, Schlafly ran for Congress twice, in 1952 and 1970, and lost both times. Waller took her failures to imply “she wasn’t getting any traction in terms of defense strategy and managed to find a different way into the politics.” This conservative activist emerged out of nowhere and created controversy when the ERA was about to get bipartisan support. She led the STOP (Stop Taking Our Privileges) ERA campaign and stopped the amendment in its tracks. The ERA is a constitutional amendment designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens, regardless of sex, but Schlafly argued that the measure would lead to gender-neutral bathrooms, same-sex marriage, and women in military combat, among other things.

The other side of the decades of equal rights history is represented by lionized second wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), Betty Friedan (Tracy Ullman), Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale), and Shirley Chisholm (Udo Aduba). And believe me they fought and argued about their vastly different agenda! Mrs. America shines a light on some sore spots and tensions (a lot of it!) within the pro-ERA women. Whatever side of the fence they were on, they were all flawed and of all different political, ethnic, and religious persuasions and socioeconomic backgrounds. No wonder they didn’t have ‘one voice’ like the silent majority. They simply couldn’t have.

The ERA is considered as one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s, but according to Waller the series is “like an origin story of today’s culture wars, and you can draw a direct line from 1972 to today through Phyllis Schlafly and really understand how we became such a divided nation.” Yikes! This skillfully interwoven story sure enlightened me as to how we got to the current ‘unhappily divided place,’ but at the same time it disappointed, distressed, and depressed me to no end. I was under the impression that I had moved to the most advanced country in the world that constitutionally guarantees equal legal rights for all Americans regardless of sex, but if that was merely my wishful thinking…where do we go from here? Does Virginia’s vote to ratify the ERA mean it will be adopted as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution eventually? Experts say that an amendment that is already nearly a century in the making is not likely to end in 2020. Talking about the Constitution, I’ve always wondered why there is not a separation between church and state in this country’s “democracy.” I thought that is unconstitutional…Just saying. So many questions! So little time!

Mrs. America streams the first three episodes on April 15, 2020 and every Wednesday a new episode drops on FX on Hulu, the FX-labeled part of the streaming service.

About the Author

Meg Mimura is a TV critic who actually watches shows zealously in search of thought-provoking and paradigm shifting human drama worth our precious time. She is a member of Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter.

Editor’s note: What is the ERA? This is exactly what it is: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

For information about the ERA, click here.

‘Killing Eve’ Season 3 returns on April 12 for totally bored adults during the coronavirus stay-at-home order

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

 

There seems to be a consensus that this pandemic crisis demonstrates interconnectedness like nothing else. Really? Every time I hear “We are all in this together!” from for-profit organizations, it makes me wonder if it is just a self-aggrandizing lip service to fill airtime with.

Actions speak louder than words. Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group, is stepping up to rescue the cooped up and totally bored adults. She has moved up the season premiere of Killing Eve from April 26 to April 12. She made the decision “knowing how adored this series is and how keen people are for great content right now.”

In a nutshell, Killing Eve is a dark spy thriller depicting an intricate yet bizarre love-hate relationship between a ruthless assassin and a MI5 security officer and its deadly ripple effects on their loved ones.

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) is a MI5 security officer, but totally bored with her desk-bound job and mundane married life. She is secretly into profiling psychopaths and desperately in need of adrenaline rush, she’s set her heart on becoming a spy! When she suspects a female psychopath is responsible for the recent high-profile murders across Europe, Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw), head of the Russia Section of MI6, comes to her rescue and tasks Eve with tracking this attention-seeking assassin.

Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is a mercurial, talented assassin who relishes fashion-forward and gourmet lifestyle her job affords her. She enjoys getting into character to complete her assignments, but most of all watching her targets taking their last breath. When Villanelle and Eve meet, a fascination for each other is palpable. Against her husband’s numerous plea, chasing Villanelle fuels Eve’s inquisitive nature to explore her own dark side. In the first season, this epic game of cat and mouse ended in Paris when Eve stabbed Villanelle!

The second season showed us that given a common enemy, Eve and Villanelle could indeed work together. However, Villanelle tricked Eve to ax her then-handler and that was exactly the moment Eve realized that she had been only curious and fascinated by the danger Villanelle had represented. Neither could she turn into Villanelle nor was she in love with her. It climaxed with Villanelle shooting Eve. Message? “If I cannot have her, nobody will!”

The third season of Killing Eve picks up six months after last season’s cliffhanger in Rome. Still nursing her bullet wound as well as her hurt and pride, Eve camouflages herself with dreary routine of working and living. Sure, everybody tells her to move on, but Eve prefers the very British way of gunny sacking her guilt, grief, resentment, disappointment, and fear. Unfortunately, more death and destruction follow Eve this season. Is she going to finally find out what kind of person she is capable of being?

Heartbroken, Villanelle tries hard to move up in the world. She’s in the process of becoming a keeper for The Twelve, a shadow organization her present and former handlers work for. However, she quickly finds out that she is not fit for the managerial position.

Carolyn is reprimanded for the debacle in Rome and her future at MI6 seems to be bleak. She doesn’t know what to do with herself; work is the only escape from her stoical existence.

The upcoming season follows the three women with three distinctively different obsessions; Villanelle with control, Eve with curiosity, and Carolyn with workaholism in order to cope with emotional discomfort and feelings of inadequacy.

The eight-part Season 3 of Killing Eve returns to BBC America and AMC on April 12, 2020. This is a show for adults only.

About the Author

Meg Mimura is a TV critic who actually watches shows zealously in search of thought-provoking and paradigm shifting human drama worth our precious time. She is a member of Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter.

‘Woman Times Seven’ on Blu-ray

Posted on by Francine Brokaw


Shirley MacLaine was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performances in the 1967 film Woman Times Seven. This film shows MacLaine’s strength as an actor as she plays seven very different women in this haphazard and fragmented film.

MacLaine takes on the roles of seven women each dealing with personal crises. First she is Paulette, a newly-widowed woman at her husband’s funeral grieving while being wooed by a friend (Peter Sellers).

In another segment of this film MacLaine is Maria Teresa, a woman who just discovered her husband is cheating on her with her friend. What should she do? She contemplates becoming a prostitute for a night to teach him a lesson. Strange lesson.

As Linda, MacLaine is a translator who seems to be a common and straight woman, but she has another side of her personality. And as Edith she is a sweet wife who goes out of her way to make her husband notice her. In another segment she is a rich, spoiled wife obsessed with a one of a kind dress.

As Marie she and her lover (Alan Arkin) make a suicide pact, and when MacLaine portrays Jeanne, she is a woman being followed by a handsome man (Michael Caine) with an ulterior motive.

These are the kinds of women portrayed in the seven segments of this film. While it might not be an appealing movie for many viewers, it will entertain fans of the actor as she moves from one persona to another and displays her acting chomps going from highs to lows. Her range as an actor is on display in this movie.

Woman Times Seven is not rated however due to subject matters, it is not suitable for young viewers.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. Follow her on Twitter.

Decorate your Easter Eggs with White House style

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at the White House has been cancelled, along with Passover and other holiday events around the world due to the Corona COVID 19 virus. If you still want a fun Easter Egg activity to do with your children, download these White House Easter Eggs to color and stick on your own eggs and you can have your own White House Easter Egg Hunt in your own home!

 

Download larger versions here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/egg-coloring-pages.pdf

‘The Good Fight’ Season 4 depicts the current lawless chaos

Posted on by Francine Brokaw


 

The Good Fight, a drama series that openly questions and challenges Trump in real time, returns Thursday, April 9, 2020 on CBS All Access. Robert & Michelle King have produced the spin-off and sequel of The Good Wife for four years with acuity and much needed insights. First they decided to drag our liberal power attorney Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) kicking and screaming into an unfriendly environment of Chicago’s preeminent all African-American law firm.

The Good Fight has been extremely successful in capturing the ‘Trump-fatigued’ good people. In ‘the Dark Night of the Soul’ second season, Diane stumbled through the topsy-turvy months of assault after assault on our democracy. When resistance proved to be futile, however, Diane discovered that the secret to happiness is insensitivity. Trust nobody. Mistrust everything. Naturally, I followed her lead.

In the ‘storming’ third season, Diane joined a covert operation of political nuts to take Trump down and reluctantly followed the New Rules; move fast, be smart, attack, lie and don’t get caught. Diane found comfort in fighting the good fight, but when she refused to stoop to the ‘victory at all costs’ approach, she became yet another victim of the group’s harassment tactic. Diane was SWATted!!!

The Good Fight Season 4, ‘Catch 22 year,’ shifts the focus from Trump per se to the current lawless chaos. Dumped by Chumhum, Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart had no choice but to be a part of STR Laurie, the world’s 7th largest company. Diane, now in charge of pro bono cases with 22 lawyers under her, quickly finds out that the BSL partners might have rushed into this inscrutable partnership; they might have just sold their souls to the devil…

When Diane loses case after case for preposterous reasons, she realizes that she’s fighting a losing battle. The ‘Catch 22 year’ is about a gross absurdity in witnessing the uneven playing field. The rich and powerful, defended by STR Laurie’s own, don’t feel they need to obey the rules any more since they can afford to work the system to their advantages. We’re reminded again and again what the current political situation is doing to the law. If the federal court ignores the law, what’s left?

While the fourth season depicts injustices in the world, it also alludes to the impending doom and gloom of being ruled by one gigantic profit machine triggering social and regulatory consequences. STR Laurie claims to be a good corporate citizen, but behind the facade of Nirvana lays nefarious plans for domination of the universe. You know which overlord they’re talking about, right?

CBS All Access original The Good Fight Season 4 returns Thursday, April 9, 2020. A new episode drops every Thursdays except April 23. There are a total of ten episodes.

About the Author

Meg Mimura is a TV critic who actually watches shows zealously in search of thought-provoking and paradigm shifting human drama worth our precious time. She is a member of Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter.
 

Any political views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Family Magazine Group.

 

‘Like a Boss’ for home viewing

Posted on by Francine Brokaw


Like a Boss is the story of friendship. Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish star in this comedy that is a bit crude so it is for adults only.

Mel and Mia (Byrne and Haddish) have been best friends since middle school. After college they started their own cosmetics company called ‘Mia and Mel.’ Mel is the brains and Mia is the artistic partner of the operation. Together they make a great team, both in business and in their social lives. They live together and are truly the best of friends. But the business is not doing as well as their friendship.

Then a cosmetics mogul, Claire Luna (Salma Hayek), offers them a business deal that is almost too good to be true. Claire has ulterior motives other than adding ‘Mia and Mel’ to her conglomerate. She wants to split up their friendship so she can take control of their entire operation.

While Claire is doing her dastardly deeds, Mel and Mia’s friendship begins to unravel. Claire’s plans are coming to fruition. She will soon have complete control of their company. Or will she?

This is the story of friendship. Businesses come and go but true honest-to-goodness friendships last a lifetime. Through ups and downs, good and bad, if a friendship is true, it will last.

Jennifer Coolidge co-stars as Mia and Mel’s friend and employee, along with Billy Porter. Lisa Kudrow has a small but important part in this story of business and camaraderie.

The relationship between Mel and Mia is at the heart of the film. And watching Byrne and Haddish together is fun and the best part of the movie. They are a wonderful on screen team.

Like a Boss is available to buy on digital beginning April 7, 2020. It will be available “on demand” and on DVD and Blu-ray beginning April 21.

The film has some funny scenes and is peppered with raunchy dialogue and some inappropriate elements for children. Like a Boss is rated R and is definitely meant for adults.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. Follow her on Twitter.

Raycop RN Product Review

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

I have always been an allergy sufferer. I am also a germaphobe. So when Raycop sent their latest and greatest hand-held vacuum, the Raycop RN, I was overjoyed and excited to try it. This new vacuum is meant for furniture and mattresses and will clean the particles out from deep within the fabrics.

This newest hand-held vacuum from Raycop has powerful suction. This new vacuum has a strong pulsating brush to get deep and clean even pet hair while at the same time sucking up dust, dirt, allergens, pollen, mites, and mite eggs.

Also part of this unit is a UV Light for super sanitation. UV Light can kill bacteria and viruses. Not every virus is killed immediately with this device, but it has been proven to kill many of our everyday viruses and influenza. The COVID 19 virus is too new to have been tested on the unit, however the flu virus as well as others have definitely been tested and killed with this unit.

So, there is the strong pulsating brush to suck up all the gunk, the UV Light to kill bacteria and viruses, and a HEPA filter that will not let the particles back into the air. What else can users expect from the new RN? There is a new ventilation technology that won’t let the unit suck up fabric while it is sucking up the pollens, dirt, dust, mites, and hair. This is a great feature. There is also a high capacity box that allows users to use the Raycop longer before having to clean it. And the dust box and filter are easily removed for cleaning.

The Raycop RN is easy to use. The handle is comfortable to hold. It is a bit heavier than other handheld units, however the strong power and the peace of mind at having the germs gone are worth it

As I mentioned in the beginning, I am a germaphobe and suffer from allergies. I regularly clean my linens in hot water. After all, I do not want to sleep with mites and their feces and eggs. Who does? After using this RN for the first time on my mattress, I was shocked to see all the junk it collected. And this junk contains not only dust, but also mites, their feces, and eggs as well as possible bacteria and maybe viruses.

Just see how much junk was sucked up from one supposedly clean mattress:

 

This Raycop RN is going to get a lot of use in my house. With allergy season in high swing, all of my couches, chairs, and other surfaces will be getting a regular and thorough cleaning with the Raycop RN.

The bottom line is that the Raycop RN kills the germs and mites deep within mattresses, couches, chairs, etc., and with the strong pulsating and rotating brushes with all that suction, it sucks them out of your furniture. So you will not be sharing your couch or mattress with mites, their eggs, their feces, viruses, bacteria, and other unwanted particles.

I get many products to test and some of them are keepers. This one is definitely a keeper and going to be used over and over again. Keeping my house and family clean and rid of dust, pollens, mites, bacteria, viruses, and all the junk courtesy of those disgusting mites, it a priority. Raycop delivers on its promise to “clean the unseen.”

Check out their website for more information and other models. I am using the Raycop RN and personally recommend this unit. With the pulsating brush it is the best unit for pet hair.

About the Reviewer

Francine Brokaw writes about products, books, travel, and entertainment. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. Follow her on Twitter.

‘Vivarium’ is a Twilight Zone-style suspense

Posted on by Francine Brokaw

Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots star in Vivarium, a movie that takes viewers into a Twilight Zone-style world. This film would have been a great episode of the sci-fi series except for the ending.

Tom and Gemma (Eisenberg and Poots) are a young couple looking toward their future. They embark on a quest to find a home to start their new life. They meet a very weird real estate agent who insists they look at the new community of Yonder.

The couple follows the agent to a strange community where every house looks the same, they are all the same color of green, and the lawns are perfectly manicured. When they enter the house, #9, they see what looks like an idyllic house with a nice yard and pleasant rooms. The nursery is blue and Gemma remarks it is for a boy. But the couple do not have any children.

Soon they realize the agent has gone. His car is gone and he is nowhere to be found. So they get into their car and head out of Yonder. But they cannot find an exit. Every road leads them back to #9. After driving in circles for hours, their car runs out of gas – in front of #9.

They have no options other than to stay the night. The night turns into days, with boxes of food and other items mysteriously arriving in front of the house. And then one day a box arrives with a baby boy inside, with the instructions to raise the child and they will be released.

From there the story gets really strange. Their lives get even more bizarre, leaving audiences to wonder what the finale will be. Unfortunately, the finale leaves a lot to the imagination. It would have been better to have a definitive ending. The concept is interesting but the film falls flat.

Vivarium is rated R. .

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. Follow her on Twitter.