THE VERY BEST ON AMAZON PRIME

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil   India   South Africa

June      9     1093    4732         1185      246         82

           10       982    5163         1300      388         48
           11       904    4951         1261      394         74
           12       791    4603           843      389         70
           13       702    4229           890      309         69
           14       331    3263           598      321         57
           15       425    3415           729      395         88
           16       849    6592         1338        ?           57
           17       809    5264         1209      341         49
           18       747    5123         1204      342         63
           19       719    5066         1221      366         94
           20       573    4428           968      307         46
           21       267    3338           601      426         53
           22       363    3880           748      312         61
           23       863    5465         1364      468        111
           24       808    6071         1103      424        103
           25       649    5179         1180      401          87
           26       663    4893         1055      381         48
           27       512    4547           994      414         73
           28       285    3463           555      384         43
           29       346    3415           727      417         73
           30       764    5072         1271      506       128
July       1       676    4857        1057      438         92
             2       687    5155         1277      377         95
             3       616    5170         1264      444       108
             4       254    4494         1111       610         74
             5       251    3572          535       421       173
             6       378    3573          656       474       111
             7       993    5504        1312       479       192
             8       890    5507        1187       491       100
             9       960    5411        1199       479       118
           10       849    5416        1270       521       140
           11       731    4995          968       543       111
           12       380    4118          659       500       108

Summary:  

• Across the board drops in new deaths.  
• However, now India is #2 with 25,364 new cases.  Double that is the USA with 58,349 as #1.
• A few harebrained activities are surfacing:
• Texas COVID parties to test their sense that this pandemic is a joke.  One has already died.  His last words were, "I thought this was a hoax, but it's not."
• University of Alabama students have a different kind of party where pools are formed to see who can catch this disease first.
• Some health experts have chimed in casting doubt if those events ever happened.  But reminded that we are talking about the states of Texas and Alabama led them to reconsider.  I made this latter part up.  Now that's a joke.

Do you know of a 5-star hotel that regularly does not change sheets and pillowcases for new occupants?  Well, Trump Hotel in New York City got nailed.  In response, they lied.  Can you imagine anything associated with Donald Trump lying?

On June 28 I provided the Very Best of Netflix, and there were 156 of them, although I focused only on the top eleven, for they were all rated 100% by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers.  So here is something similar for Amazon Prime.  There are only 55 shows that scored 64% or better by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers.  Further, only 2 scored 100, with #11 down to 94%.  Here are the top ten:

#1  Fleabag (2016):  100%  A hilarious and poignant window into the mind of dry-witted, sexual, grief-addled women trying to make sense of the...Phoebe Waller-Bridge.  Two seasons, both rated 100%

#2  Undone (2019):  100%  From acclaimed creators Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg, a groundbreaking and genre bending ANIMATED series about...Rosa Salazar, Bob Odenkirk.  Second series not yet rated.

#3  Catastrophe (2015):  98%  An unplanned pregnancy turns a weekend tryst into a serious commitment for a British woman and American tourist...Daniel Lapaine and Julie Perreault.  Four seasons, first three rated 100% and fourth 95%.

#4  Bosch (2014):  97%  A relentless Los Angeles homicide detective pursues the killer of a 13-year old boy while standing trial himself on murder charges...Titus Welliver.  First season got an 83% rating, but the next four each reached 100%!

#5  A Very English Scandal (2018):  97%  It is the late 1960's, homosexuality has only just been decriminalized and Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal party...Hugh Grant.  First season.

#6  One Mississippi (2015):  96%  In this dark comedy based on the life of Tig Nataro, a young woman returns to her hometown following the...Tig Notaro.  Season 1 93%, 2 100%.

#7  Sneaky Pete (2017):  96%  After being released from prison, a con man hides from debtors by assuming his cellmate's identity and lands a job...Giovanni Ribisi.  Season 1 97%, 2 92% and 3 100%.

#8  The Tick (2016):  95%  In a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an underdog accountant with zero powers come to realize his...Peter Serafinowicz.  Season 1 90%, 2 100%.

#9  Mozart in the Jungle (2014):  94%  Exploring the world of classical music...Gael Garcia Bernal, Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters.  Season 1 91%, 2 88%, 3 100%, 4 100%.

#10  Forever (2018):  94%  Married couple June and Oscar live a comfortable but predictable life in suburban Riverside, California.  For...Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Catherine Keener.  First season.

The Rotten Tomato ratings are from reviewers.  Audiences are different, and some of the top 10 didn't do that well.

I'm also watching:

Eureka:  ***  5 seasons  A town of geniuses with weird happenings.  Interesting that the first season only got a 59% rating, nothing for seasons 2 and 3, 85% for 4 and 100% for season 5.  I'm tempted to jump to the final season after seeing a couple of season 1 episodes.

Hannah:  ***   Journey of an extraordinary young girl raised in the forest and her evasion of the CIA.  Here again, season 1 only got 67%, but season 2 received 92%.

Honey Boy:  This is a movie at 94%/92%, rated R.  The screenplay is by Shia LaBeouf, based on his life.

Our Guy in Japan:  Only two episodes and not rated yet.  This guy to the right...visits Japan.  Sounds interesting.

One Child Nation:  A documentary from China, rated R, about the one child policy.  RT:  98%/85%.

The Last Post:  Old fashioned dose of escapism set in the mid-60s about a unit of Royal Military Police officers and their families in Aden, Yemen.  The intriguing attraction is that reviewers gave it a 64% score, while audiences bestowed a 96% rating.

The Family Man is an edgy action series of a middle-class man who works for the National Investigation Agency.  A series from India with no reviewers rating but a score of 92% from audiences.

The Collection is a UK/French production about a family's Paris fashion house in a city emerging from the occupation of World War II.  This one is even more divided, with RT reviewers' score of 42% and an audience rating of 95%.

Blow the Man Down is a 2019 American black comedy/thriller film rated R.  RT:  98% reviewers and 74% audiences.  In this type of film the audience is almost always closer to the the value.  I haven't seen it yet.

So last night I went to Amazon Prime to watch one of the above programs.  However, in the corner of my eye I saw reference to Till the Clouds Roll By.  THAT IS THE FULL 2 hour 15 minute film!!  It was released when I was 7-years old.  While I've seen snippets now and then, I didn't think I had ever watched the whole film.  This was the life of Jerome Kerns.  Fabulous.  If you don't have 2hr15min, here is the 9-minute finale of some of his hits:

• Yesterday
• Long Ago and Far Away, Kathryn Grayson
• A Fine Romance

• All the Things You Are, Tony Martin
• Why was I Born?, Lena Horne
• Ole Man River, Frank Sinatra

As you then know, he wrote Showboat, on which he partnered with Oscar Hammerstein.  They were working together on Annie Get Your Gun when he suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945 at the age of 60 and passed away.  The score was then passed on to Irving Berlin.  

I later checked with Rotten Tomatoes, and, no wonder I thought the movie was terrific, for their reviewers gave Till the Clouds Roll By a 100% rating.

Next for me?  Roberta, another Kern masterpiece.  Did you know that the Broadway show starred Bob Hope, and included George Murphy, Sydney Greenstreet and Fred McMurray?    The 1936 film had Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott, and included I Won't Dance, Lovely to Look At and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. 

I would like end my posting today with a tribute to a close friend, Dr. Takeshi Yoshihara, who passed away on 25 June 2020.  He was first a colleague of my older brother Stan, for they both worked at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory in Port Hueneme, California.

• Tak was born in the state of Washington, from where he and his family were sent to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho during World War II.  
• Subsequently was accepted in Annapolis and became the first American-Japanese to graduate from the Naval Academy.  
• Went on for additional degrees:  
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for a BS in civil engineering, 
• MS and PhD in civil engineering from the University Illinois and 
• an MBA from George Washington University.  

To quote Melvin Inamasu, my now retired doctor:

Humility. Honesty. A passion for service to country. These qualities define Takeshi Yoshihara, who, in 1949, became the first Japanese American to receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy.

He retired from the Navy and joined me in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Hawaii.  After three years he became the energy director for the State of Hawaii.  From there he joined the staff of U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga.  He recommended me to replace him in 1979.

I did not get to know his two sons too well, but one of them went to Annapolis and became commander of the destroyer squadron with the USS Carl Vinson Battle Group.  Tak was married to Elva (who was also associated with the University of Hawaii, here, next to Emmett White, former Arcadia CEO, whose daughter Suzie now runs the system) for 67 years.  I know her quite well and the last time I saw her she was president of the residents at Arcadia, a sister property of 15 Craigside.  She is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and very competent.

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