The case for the standalone TV episode

Due largely to the success of Game of Thrones and the rise of “binge watching”, TV shows have been gradually moving from the traditional standalone episode format (also known as “monster of the week”) in favour of serialised story arcs. Even series known for their standalone format- including Star Trek and South Park- have switched to arc-driven plotlines. But it really comes as a massive surprise that Power Rangers, the ORIGIN of the term “monster of the week”, is moving to a similar format beginning with the next series, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury.

Why am I surprised? Firstly, Power Rangers is a kids’ show. This isn’t to say kids’ shows CAN’T have story arcs because they can and have, but children don’t quite have the attention span of adults. I remember as a kid waiting all week for the next episode of a serial- I just couldn’t, especially if the previous episode had ended on a cliffhanger. One of the reasons I and so many other kids loved Power Rangers was that each episode gave us something new. Screenrant attempts to defend the change, but it just comes across as woolly. The author, Marcelo Leite, merely frames the change in light of other changes to the franchise with Cosmic Fury, offering no real insight to why he thinks that serialisation is better than standalone episodes. So what if the Ranger suits are specially created as opposed to being an adaptation of a Super Sentai costume? Doesn’t mean you have to change the format which made the show popular in the first place! That’s another thing kids aren’t too fond of- change.

Secondly, as I’ve mentioned, when Haim Saban set about to adapt the popular Japanese Super Sentai series for American audiences, he put the emphasis on action as opposed to story- just like the Japanese original. And this was what made the show so wildly popular for a few years. When he first sold the IP to Disney, they made very few changes to the product. He bought it back again, and then sold it to Hasbro, who are making these extreme severances with the past. The departure of Jason David Frank, who has made semiregular appearances for years (and of course was the star of the original Mighty Morphin’ series), early last year wasn’t the beginning of Hasbro’s changes, but it definitely wasn’t the end*. Most people watch action-themed shows for the action. Yes, Dragonball Z had a TON of long arcs but do you think the kids (and many adults) watching it cared about the plot?

There are many things that are possible within an episodic format which can’t be done convincingly in serialisation. All the great BBC comedies had standalone episodes, enabling the writers to try a different scenario every week. If they faced the same scenario for an entire series, the writing suffered because: 1. they couldn’t pack in as many jokes over the course of the series and 2. they would run out of ways to make jokes about the premise. I for one noticed a steep decline in the quality of Only Fools and Horses once the Del Boy/Raquel arc started. And many other viewers felt the same as it was axed shortly after Del became a dad, sometimes returning for Christmas with- wait for it- standalones! Well, a number of the Christmas specials were two- or three- parters, but that was all.

And another advantage of standalone episodes is if you choose to binge, you don’t have to watch the entire series in order. The early series of The Simpsons were so good you want to skip straight to your favourites. This can’t be done in a serialised series. In the later days of VHS, themed Simpsons tapes were top sellers, consisting of four different episodes from different series with a common theme. Again, this couldn’t be done if The Simpsons was an episodic show.

*There is a blind item on CDAN suggesting that JDF was fired for bullying, and that losing his job along with his divorce might have contributed to his suicide at the end of last year. However, this has yet to be verified.

Well that was quick…

I took two COVID tests today. Both came back negative.

As you may remember, I took a test on Monday when I developed a runny nose. That was negative. I took a test on Wednesday night when my symptoms grew to include flu-type ones, that was positive. Thursday I felt quite unwell with fatigue, mild fever, GI discomfort and aches in addition to a minor cough, but when I woke up today I felt refreshed, with the only lingering symptoms being a mild runny nose and cough as well as aches, mostly localised in the right chest.

That’s right, I staved off COVID in two days.

…Apparently. From experience and research, I KNOW COVID infections generally last closer to a week than two days, and as such this case raises more questions than answers. Could it have been my negative test on Monday was a false negative? It was around a week after a household member developed an extremely mild cough, meaning I could very well have already been infected at the time I made prolonged contact (last Thursday) with someone who tested positive. It’s worth noting here that the household member did not test as their symptoms were so mild. This household member also tested negative this Wednesday and Friday. This doesn’t mean I didn’t give them it of course, but they have a cough and cold right now. Any armchair virologist knows that unless one’s immune system is FUBARd the chances of getting two viral infections of the same clade in such close succession are astronomically low. Right now, the three virii in wide circulation are COVID, the common cold and the flu. It could have been the flu, it could have been COVID, it could have been a cold. But given the timeline, the two viral infections that this person had were in all probability two different viruses- corona or otherwise.

Now I know that the flu generally prevents more severely than the cold and Omicron variant COVID. But we were both vaccinated in October with the flu and bivalent Moderna jabs. When I last had COVID, it was in April, six months after I’d had the Delta Moderna jab, and I had a more typical course length. It could, therefore, be a closer proximity to the jab that led to me only testing positive for such a short length of time. If it was the flu, it’d be a similar story. But personally, I’m more inclined to believe the false negative on Monday, because I was symptomatic by then.

It’s a mystery…

Notes on the Hipkin(s) family of Norfolk/COVID

New Zealand’s incumbent PM is a man by the name of Chris Hipkins. His Wikipedia doesn’t give much information on his ancestry, but his name immediately caught my eye because my great-great-great grandmother was a Hipkin. Here are some notes on her ancestry.

Eliza Hipkin was born in Rotherham in 1875 to parents from Norfolk. Her father John (23/11/1846-1901) was born in East Rudham and her mother Susannah (18/10/1850-?, nee Wright) was born in South Creake. Her father’s recent ancestors all appear to have been from the Norfolk area. Her mother’s ancestors also came mostly from Norfolk, but her father Charles was the illegitimate son of a man called Samuel Potter from Fakenham and a Romanichal woman called Susan Wright. Eliza would herself marry a Romanichal man (from the West Midlands) called Amos Smith, but that’s a story for another time.

Eliza’s earliest-known male line ancestor was Richard Hipkin/Hibkin/Hipken(s), born in Norwich c. 1646. So we know the family has strong roots in Norfolk, but Bardsley (1896) suggests that the surname proper, at least in the Norfolk region and East Coast, had ultimately Low Countries origins. This is not backed up with any evidence, and in fact he himself says “Hubert or Hobart was a familiar fontal name in Norfolk in the surname period”- the surname apparently being derived from the diminutive form Hob. It could also be a variant of Hopkins, which Bardsley claims is from a diminutive form of Robert and as such a separate name. Bardsley lists Hyppe, Hippo (LOL) and Hitch(e) as potential variants of Hipkin.

In other news, I have COVID again. The initial symptom was a runny nose, which of course is indicative of bupkis, and it was only when I tested last night I found out I had it. I returned a negative test on Monday when I first developed the runny nose, but if you’ve read my entry on my previous bout with the coronavirus, you’d know I was returning negative tests for a WEEK despite having symptoms- only testing positive AFTER recovering from what I assumed was a cold! On Tuesday night I had quite a bad headache, which I assumed was due to hormonal factors (I usually get them about a week before my cycle begins), and last night I felt a bit off with some GI discomfort, but right now it just feels like any other cold. I am VERY bunged up, and I have an occassional cough.

As for when I was infected, there are two candidates. Last week, a household member had a very mild cold with cough but did not test. I was also in prolonged contact last Thursday with someone who subsequently tested positive. I’m going with the latter, although part of me hopes it was the former as I don’t want to feel guilty if I infect other people within the household.

Here’s hoping I follow a similar course to my April infection.

The new Wikipedia and its unlikely inspiration?

Wikipedia has finally rolled out its Vector 2022 interface, and frankly, I’m not a fan.

The white space, by God, the white space. Wikimedia attempts to defend this thusly: “People are able to focus more easily without the distraction of sidebars or other elements.” I’ve been using Wikipedia since I was a kid and I can’t say I find sidebars distracting. I guess it’s a case of YMMV though. White space is ugly as sin though. My monitor is 1920×1080. I get enough white space as it is, I don’t need MORE forced upon me.

Ultimately, Wikimedia cites diversity and inclusion as the driving force behind the redesign. In a western context, we think that diversity and inclusion is mostly about identity groups (race, class etc.) and not groupings through other categories. But Wiki, to their credit, have broadened the scope to include linguistic minorities and those who use older technologies. According to fieldwork they conducted in India with people unfamiliar with Wikipedia, many were unable to find the content they wanted in their preferred language, not seeing the list of translations in the sidebar. But it still doesn’t excuse the fact that the design is ugly. The needs of linguistic minorities (or, for that fact, any minority) are not catered for with white space and a generic Web 2.0 layout. Personally, I found it a lot easier as an aspiring polyglot to access non-English content through the sidebar.

The term “diversity and inclusion” has been bubbling under for around a decade now, but only became part of the household lexicon after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Wikimedia’s Inclusive Product Development Working Group was founded in July of that year, likely in response to the killing. Therefore, it’s easy to assume that George Floyd was the driving force behind Vector 2022. But it isn’t. The redesign, according to Wiki, has been in the works as early as 2019, which is when the fieldwork with Indian subjects was conducted. The results of the fieldwork were published at the end of April 2020, just two months before Floyd was murdered. However, the PDF I linked to in the last paragraph mentions “diversity”/”diverse” exactly three times and “inclusion” never. It’s likely that Wiki began using this language in response to the Floyd killing, but it does not mean the murder itself influenced the creation of the skin. It’s an effort at rebranding using currently “trendy” speak that was barely on the lips of the design team before May 26th, 2020. They can make vague allusions that the white space is the result of black lives. But it isn’t. And if it was, the already apparent unpopularity of the redesign would get people to ask why? Why did they piggyback the racial justice movement for this? MLK spinning in his grave etc. etc.

At least they’re not like Marks and Spencer, bringing out skintone-diverse women’s knickers they claimed to have been inspired by George Floyd (apologies for the link source). This is not just piggybacking…

How on earth did I miss these?

As we go into the brave new world of 2023, it’s reassuring to know that some things just won’t change.

Once again, a white person has been outed as fabricating an indigenous identity for personal gain. The person in question is one Kay “Nibiiwakamigkwe” LeClaire, a leader of a queer indigenous collective in Madison, Wisconsin. LeClaire, who identifies as “two-spirit*” and uses they/them pronouns, has publicly referred to themselves as being of “Métis, Oneida, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Cuban and Jewish heritage” since around 2017. They have been extremely vocal in indigenous and LGBT activism in the Madison area for roughly the same period of time, repeatedly referring to themselves as “indigenous” and related terms.

Except, it turns out that they’re more indigenous to Europe than to the Americas. “advancedsmite” on the New Age Fraud forums, which specialises in what I like to call “Pretendian Studies” found evidence through genealogical records that “Nibiiwakamigkwe” is of mostly French-Canadian, German and Swedish descent. The Madison365 article opens with some of the pictorial evidence advancedsmite found of Kay LeClaire’s previous existence. Take a butchers:

It’s Rachel flipping Dolezal all over again. The spraytan, the plaited dark hair. It’s a front, a backwards ass front. Literal redface (well, more orangeface, let’s be honest). How did this person believe they could pass as a Native American, even a mixed one?

And now, they’re grovelling to Madison365 saying that they have stopped using their Ojibwe-language name (which was given to them, presumably, by a genuine Ojibwe person), have resigned their positions while playing dumb with regards to the revelations the forum user found, claiming it to be new information. Excuse me, if this genealogical debunking was new information, why weren’t you claiming various American Indian ethnicities at the time of your blonde-and-blue high school photoshoot?

Another case I’ve just stumbled across, this time a few months old, is that of Canadian judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. She claimed that her father was a Cree man and that she grew up on a Cree reservation. When it came out that her father’s parents were listed on a baptismal record as being of British descent (with his mother being born in Essex), she scrambled to do damage control. Now her father was still Cree, but he had been adopted by British parents. An undocumented adoption, by the way.

Alarm bells. Her paternal grandfather, as a medical doctor, would have known better than to adopt a random baby from under the table. Just because he worked on the reservation she claims to have grown up on doesn’t make her father Cree. Is an elephant born in a pig sty a pig? No! While her father did look slightly Amerindian, phenotype does not equal genotype. I have people in my own family with similar appearance, and their Amerindian-type admix is distant, if even nonexistent. He also takes a lot after his own father (right), negating the slim chance that he was a non-paternity event, the result of his mother mucking about with one of her husband’s patients.

And this being Canada, where the issue of indigenous identity is VERY hot-button, she is getting dragged across the coals and then some. She wasn’t even born on the northern Manitoba reservation she claimed, instead being born well over 700 miles as the crow flies from there, on the US-Canada border! Not only that, she has spoken at length about her father being an alcoholic wifebeater- none of which is true! She is taking the very real issues of alcoholism and domestic abuse on Indian reservations and playing the woe-is-me card with them like she’s a contestant on X Factor! As the recent Jean Telliet report commissioned by the University of Sasketchwan says: “Indigenous identity fraudsters often play heavily on stereotypes of alienation from their culture and heritage, intergenerational trauma, family violence, addictions, racism, and poverty.”

Imagine if, instead of claiming a Native American identity, these people claimed a black one. In order to compensate for their pale skin, they say their mother is white. She was a crack addict. Her black boyfriend walked out not long after their baby had been born. See how racist that sounds? This is exactly what these hucksters are doing when they claim to be something they’re not. Again, as I’ve reiterated so many times, this is not the same as honestly believing one’s great-great grandmother was a Cherokee princess. This is taking a family story- or even fabricating one’s heritage completely- in order for personal gain. I know all too well that genealogy can throw up so many false links, and that’s why I’m thankful for DNA. But DNA doesn’t always prove Amerindian ancestry, as I’m sure Liz Warren knows all too well. The small amounts of Amerindian I score on some calculators are more likely than not misplaced Sami, Siberian, Turkic or Hunnic.

And I probably score more Amerindian than these wannabes.

*A term used by some American Indian LGBT activists to describe indigenously-rooted expressions of sexuality and gender, sometimes used as an umbrella term for all LGBT Native American people.