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Category Archives: Politics
Armitage, Del Potro and Trump
Yes, yes – everyone knows that at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday – a complete surprise – Berlin Station became available on line. – or anyway – that’s when I learned about it. As it happened, I experienced an almost indescribable, panicky, anxious 20 minutes. I lost my grip. You can see it here, from my quick post sending out the news ( which I found from @Chrissyinwm on Twitter). Here’s the post – look at the last sentence, now in bold ( and that’s what came up on Twitter which automatically picks up my new posts) I’m not correcting it or deleting it, but I am a bit ashamed.
See It -Berlin Station Episode 1 – I think
http://video.vanityfair.com/watch/vanity-fair-social-club-berlin-station-episode-1-an-epix-original-series Here – available internationally, I think
I might actually have to wit a few hours until two long tennis matcihes re over.
I wrote ” I think” because (a) I didn’t believe it and (b) I took a quick look at the beginning, and what I saw was so different from what I was expecting, that I thought maybe it was a teaser. Never mind that the site clearly said, Berlin Station, Episode 1. Never mind that one could see it was a video of close to an hour.
Then I realized that I should credit Chrissy – but in my hysteria, I couldn’t find her tweet and I have had a continuing problem remembering her handle – in my head, I think of her as Chrissyswim. I don’t think she much cared, because obviously, she was watching Berlin Station. So I did the best I could
What happened was this: I follow tennis quite closely, especially the majors. For the past 11 days I’ve been following the U.S. Open, which is my favorite tournament ( no surprise, there). There were a few days last week when in the early rounds, singles matches were played all day and night, and I watched tennis from 11 a.m. until late into the night – with a one hour break, only because there were no on going matches during that hour. Yes – a couple of days of almost 12 hours of tennis. Fortunately for me, the U.S. Open, played in New York is just an hour ahead of my time, so as time differences go – this was easy. ( The Australian Open is near impossible for me, but I do some of it.)
On Wednesday, Serena Williams was playing at 6 P.M. my time, followed by a match with Juan Martin Del Potro ( a favorite of mine) against Stan Wawrinka. No problem, right? Wrong.
First, Wednesday was one of the rare days when I was not on line at all. I was hosting my Jewish Women’s Book Club, ( or is it the Women’s Jewish Book Club?) which was set to start at 2 P.M. In the morning, I went out to buy some snacks for a spread. I also was expecting one member of the club to come earlier for lunch and watch the afternoon tennis match.
Anticipating the meeting was causing me stress. Only 5 women were attending ( the balance are not down from the North yet). Of the five women, who I will name Perry, D, E, T and M – Perry and T are not speaking, T and D are in the middle of some conflict, D and E are in some conflict, E and T are in some conflict ( yes – T is a problem) and M was clueless as to any of these side issues. On top of that, the book for the month, which I chose, was Nemesis, by Philip Roth. It takes place during a fictional polio outbreak in 1944 Newark. Add the fact that I left the TV on without sound so D and I could keep track of the match, which turned out to be some really exciting tennis (surely an annoyance to some) and the presence of D’s huge, lovely, but smelly German Shepherd , Risa, who was being teased by Mulligan the cat, and let’s just say it was a rough two hours – made rougher by the discussion, which was impossible to get on track because a few of the women wanted to talk more about Polio stories and Zika, than the novel. In fact, T, who is older, lived through a few seasons of polio outbreaks and insisted on acting out some of the various disabilities she observed from polio victims in her school a hundred years ago – think Donald Trump making fun of a disabled reporter. Asked to stop by E, T ignored her and kept it up for way too long.
Everyone left at 4 except D, who stayed to watch some more tennis with me, and, maybe perversely, maybe not, was rooting against Serena Williams!
Finally, D left at about 7:30 and around 8, I called E to dish about the meeting. ( I mean, I needed a little pleasure after all that.) I called E while watching the match without sound, and scrolled through my Twitter while the phone was ringing. As usual, I started by asking E whether this was good time to talk. “NO – we’re just getting ready to watch the Commander in Chief Forum” Shit – I had forgotten all about it.
At almost the same time, I saw the tweet about Berlin Station. Well, I think so. I can’t be sure of the order of things. All I remember is that everything came at me at once. What to do? Check out Berlin Station – done. Post about it. Done. But then what? Berlin Station might or might not be here later. The tennis match will never be here again. The Forum will never be here again. And, I felt obligated to credit Chrissy with the info.
Armitage or Del Potro? Armitage or Del Potro? Armitage or – Trump????
Finally, as my tweet suggests, I put Berlin Station on hold, kept the sound off the tennis match and listened to the Forum, which pissed off me and about everyone else I know.
When it was over, I called E again, and we chatted for a 20 minutes or so, rehashing the strange afternoon. ( all the time, I’m watching silent tennis – it’s okay, but it really helps to hear the sound of the ball against the racquet)
At the same time, I checked my email, which contained an unsettling message that my New York cat, Oliver, who I re-homed in a wonderful home when I moved to Mexico, had died ( he was sixteen and had a great life) When? On the exact same date that my runaway cat, Mulligan, had returned home. It made me very sad, but also weirded me out.
The men’s match went to four sets and ended at midnight. My guy lost.
Only then, did I turn on Berlin Station. I was completely wiped out, but managed to watch the first episode – which I’ll actually write about in my next post. I have to say, though, being as tired as I was, and having the usual problem of concentrating on the actual episode when it’s a new Richard Armitage work, it was almost a wasted effort. Everything moved too fast for me in my present state. I was really only getting the gist – that is to say, I was missing those small statements and actions that are integral to figuring things out. What I did notice were the colors of Berlin – ( and bleeding out Daniel Miller). And what I also noticed – duh – was Richard Armitage and how great he looks – that’s my favorite Richard Armitage look.
I was concentrating on the American accent and the Armitage look – oh look – he’s biting off his glove again – oh look he’s dorky flirting – oh look he’s at a table figuring something out, oh look – what a great profile shot, OH LOOK! ( you know which part this is), Oh look he’s blinking a lot – oh look he’s trying to walk down steps, oh look, he’s kissing.
Oh look – it’s time to get to sleep. So who did I dream about? Armitage, Del Potro or Trump?
Stay Tuned.
@RCArmitage Keeps “splainin’
@RCArmitage – Reddit & Brexit
Never heard of Weetabix – Shredded Wheat, maybe? Wheat Chex? No Clue.
One of these tweets was deleted.
Today’s Political Tweets by @RCArmitage
Brexit and his homeland’s future seem still in the forefront of his thoughts. Hmmm. So is he still in the U.K. or elsewhere. If he’s in New York, he’s up with the chickens.
Armitage Agonistes 