Round Up!

-- I don't know how much time documentary moviemakers Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin spent in creating their Netflix miniseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness about former Oklahoma wildlife park owner Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage. But from my point of view it was all wasted, because I know how much time I'm going to spend watching it.

-- Fifteen years ago this week, Christopher Eccleston introduced himself to Billie Piper. Or rather, the Doctor introduced himself to Rose. "Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" Thus began the reboot of the famed British science fiction television show Doctor Who. It had shuttered in 1989 and had a sputtery attempt at a reboot in 1996. But for some reason the 2005 version took and Who fans have been getting their fix ever since. Eccleston played the Doctor for only one season and remains the best incarnation of the newer group of episodes, although the way showrunners and writers have tried to make the Doctor do and be things the Doctor doesn't do or be very well (have a romance, comment on current social issues, etc.) have hamstrung most of the other performers taking the role since Eccleston began it.

-- In an attempt to squash Scottish identity during the Jacobite uprisings, the English parliament banned kilt-wearing in 1746. This step, taken after the decisive English victory at Culloden, was supposed to render the Scots as culturally English as they were politically. As this article at Mental Floss notes, the ban was successful in moving the kilt off the everyday wear list for Scotsmen -- but it had the reverse effect in the realm of culture, as wearing it became a sign of Scottish defiance and diversity. The ban had overlooked a different but equally important aspect of Scottish culture: thermonuclear-level stubbornness. Against such, a little thing like the law of the land stood no chance.