esrosedotblog

SHOT

Franklin went in for his annual shots and a physical today. He has a new doc, Doctor Kaplan. No first names. He is an old guy. Well, younger than us, older than Franklin, older than Dr. Leonard who moved back to Chicago. Dr. Kaplan is a good guy and so is Franklin so they got along really well. We were all good guys.

The shots went in without a squeak. We gently put our finger in his ear to distract him and he never really felt a thing; or, if he did, he was far more interested in getting our fingers out of his ear than dodging the shot. Dogs do not like fingers in their ears. I told my dentist this when he gave me novocaine last time. He put his finger in my ear when he did it. It works with people too.

Franklin is top dog physically; near anorectic, strong, good in all categories, head to toe, top to bottom. He weighs just the same as two months ago when John stopped at the vet to put him on their animal scale. I guess that means he has hit his max. Good. He is just right. We would not mind a bigger dog but right now he is perfect-size-dog.

All we need to do is a worm check; take in three samples for a scan. Then we are done for another year. Oh, he gets new jewelry. This year's rabies tag for his collar is a heart. Last year was a bell. The heart is red. It is pretty good looking.

ATLANTIC CITY(1980)

Today's movie; NYT1000Best; Louis Malle; the young Susan Sarandon; Kate Reid in a wonderful character role as a gigolee--the boss of a gigolo who is Burt Lancaster. We miss Burt a lot. He never got a face lift, he played the way he was, and in here he is 67 being about that age and even has bad hair which is his own; badly coiffed. The film is a wonderful exercise in comparing the demise of the old and the birth of the new; the City being a huge backdrop metaphor. If you have spent any time in Atlantic City, you see a lot of fading landmarks. It opens with the big walk-on elephant that used to be at the entrance of the city off the causeway.

Lancaster had a great career and is probably in 5 or 6 of the 1000Best films. He has 88 credits at IMDb. We both had a thing for him as kids; and still do, actually. He did a lot of shirts-off work and had the stuff to show for it; it starts there. Then he grew up with us. He was 20 years older; so we always looked to him. He was one of a few older stars who had the beef. He had been an acrobat; the skills fully on display in a potboiler called THE PIRATE which we still watch from time to time. It is great fun. Even when he was in a bad film he was great (we saw him in THE SWIMMER earlier). And so on.

Back to the film. This is early Sarandon. She glows. Malle must have loved lighting her. She has her shirt off in this film too. Even I know that she has the beef for it too. I mentioned Kate Ried. There is peek at the very young Wallace Shawn. Robert Goulet does a wonderful caricature of himself; a tongue in cheek thing that he never hesitated to do; why we have to like him. There are a lot of really good character roles in this. It is a one man film--auteur; Malle. I give it a 4 on the Netflix5scale.

CHO TIME

I just stumbled upon the Margaret Cho Blog. It is a whole different Cho-side. Look at her entry for 4/26/04. I challenge you to read it without a weep or a throb. Suddenly, the list of the dead is everywhere. Soon to be on Nightline. Support for the war plummets. People are getting up their courage to say what they been thinkin'. Snowball. I digress.

John and I went to see Cho a couple of times. Last time was in PS; had Vaginal Davis, a SoCal phenom, as the opening act. Something to see; Vaginal. And I mean it to be 'that' as in genderless. S/he licked whipped cream off a shirtless volunteer from the audience. There was some debate in our section on the genuine-ness of the volunteer; he was a little too hot for belief. Anyway the 'act' was just so weird.

Then Margaret. We can only see her every so often as there is a danger from overdosing on laughter. It is non-stop. Her timing is near machine gun. No rest. We are due for a dose. I hope she is coming soon. See, everything has a double meaning with the Cho!

CIRCUIT PARTY

The spa pump has been erratic; off and on and off again at weird unprogrammed times. This is not a huge problem unless you want to go into it at 730 pm and have it dependably at poaching temp. Well, that is what we want. So, if it was deciding to go on at the programmed time, we would get hot; and if not, well, not; hot. I figured it was just 'the timer'. You know, a little part that would be easily replaced, then back to business.

I told Frank. Frank told the electric pool guy; a specialty here. They have niched the pool repair market. The electrical pool guy came and ran through a lot of the stuff I did; cancel the program, reset it, look for phantom programs, and so on. Then he shook his head in that undertakerish way that all service men have now adopted. "I am afraid it is bad news". (gasp) "It is the control panel; either at the equipment or the one here in the house or both". (gasp gasp) "They get a lot of money for the replacement boards". (that is a three gasper) "And when you replace one, if we could figure which one that is, you usually have to replace both because they have updated the boards and............" We are a flotilla of gasps here and miss the rest. I was wrong. It was not just one part. It was two! And A BIG TWO!

We live in the age of the circuit board; the chip. They are everwhere. You have a bunch in your car. I know they are all over the house. They are watching. I am typing because they are letting me tell this story. It is about THEM! Aaaaaargh. And, when something goes wrong, they have to be replaced. All of them. Both of them.

When I was a young, struggling, processing engineer (another life), we built circuits from pieces. There were switches. There were timers. There were frigging wires! We worked from circuit diagrams. Then one day, someone (not me, unfortunately) looked at the circuit diagram and said "Why don't we just print this diagram on a board, stick on little switches and timers and things and run little solder lines between the pieces instead of wire; then we could just wham it into a panel and flip a switch. No more tedious wiring of the bits and all". The rest is history. They made everything smaller; transistors. No more switches, no more timers. Chips. Now we live by the board and die by the board.

I told the guy we would take a breather and meditate on it. I am working on a new deal. A cyber-psycho-circuit board. I am going to meditate a board, a circuit, a time schedule, a hot spa on time. Oooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm. Or is that Ohmmmmmm? Hmmmm. I bet you saw that ohm thing coming huh? Well, it wouldn't work to chant amp now would it? Or volt?

OK. Today, the timer is acting normally so far. It may be working. I will let you know.

CRYPTONOMICON

I have stumbled upon a new book marathon project. Neal Stephenson is a phenom with some major works behind him; the word cyberpunk has been used but I will eschew it. NS is in the middle of a huge trilogy of which the second volume has been completed. On a leap of faith I ordered a few of his books and have started the one published previous to the trilogy, the title of which is emblazoned in the heading. I am already deep into it at (I know, it is laughable) only 24 pages!

I have laughed a lot, been seriously challenged mentally (some mathematic theory), figured that real people are intertwined (Alan Turing, who has already been outed and found to be a great guy, even if he is a homo), and realized historic events imbedded in a shocking way. The time frame happens to be my present life-span. I have gasped once; not quite out of my chair but I had grabbed the arms and was an inch out of the seat before I stopped myself. So I am stuck. My experience is that if a book does this to me in the very beginning it is going to do a whole lot more.

Oh. That symbol is the alchemist's gold. And I know, when I come upon something like this, I feel a bit like someone who has arrived at a surprise party in his honor. I now await people to jump out from behind the furniture telling me they already read this, know all about it and that I am a welcome latecomer to the party. OK.

I am relieved to have made a leap out of the sword and sorcery stuff which I have really enjoyed for several years but was running out of interest in. I was getting worried I would not find another place to put my attention; the dark before the dawn. I had even considered re-reading some things. Then this. Aha! Eureka! And so on. And oh, does anyone want to read along with me? John is looking askance and we only have one copy. He and I usually do serial, not parallel, comparisons; that way we get to relive it.

1+1=3.2

Of course, a visit to the doc means a stop at the medical lab on the way home. For me, it is the PSA test that confirms a satisfactory digital test. The lab I go to is a study in management theory. After all, I am sitting there waiting. I cannot help but watch the action; it used to be my work; still on the job after all this time.

When I first went there, only one person was there; Deb. She reminds me of John's cousin Frankie; a good ol' gal. That is like a good ol' boy only the other gender. She did the paperwork, took the blood, and later in the day did the test. It was fast and painless and she was fun to talk to. They got very busy. She got behind. A second person was brought in. The whole thing has changed.

Under the new and improved system of two, it no longer takes about ten minutes for the whole thing to be done; it is more like twice as long. It is not enjoyable. Mostly Deb seems pissed off and shut down. I do not even know who the other person is; I think we are on the third second person.

How can this be? How could things be worse when we wanted them to get better? Well, for one thing they have divided the work so one does one thing and the other does another. Every other day they switch. (I asked--carefully and delicately). Today Deb does paper and Sally (?) does the bloods and urines. Tomorrow the other way 'round. The paper person has to go first. After that is done, you go to station two. Simple enough. But not so. The times are not equal. Taking bloods sometimes take longer than the paper and visa versa. Not only that, each person, only doing their job, moves more slowly.

In the old days, Deb did it all. Bang bang bang. As efficient as could be. Oh. The other thing is that they talk to one another. That takes up more time. In the 'old days' Deb talked to ME. And you know that is better than sitting and listening to her talk to Sally; mostly aches and pains and bitching about the company. That SEEMS to take more time. And so on. Got the idea? The solution to work problems is not usually to add people. I remember that when I had my own company, the worst time was when we had the most people. Today tells me why. But, then I am an introvert. What do I know? They are probably getting off on just being with us. Prolonging the pleasure.

TOP DOC

My doc opens the session with a hug. Yeh, I know. In the abstract I view it as a little wet too; but in the reality of the moment, it is not only a comfort but charming and a little sweet. A lot of friends complain about the impersonal and mechanical approach of their own Doc and his office. No such complaint here. A hug. Imagine.

It is a good thing mostly because, while we chit chat, we are there on serious business. Mine is to check on the status of my 7 year remission of prostate cancer and to be given a general once-over. There has to be some anxiety. It is quickly dissolved with the hug which is followed by competent professionalism. I suppose if the guy was a klutz and didn't seem to know dick about medicine, the hug would be less effective.

The other thing that I like is that our doc is a one man operation; not a group-practice which I think is the first step to medical hell. Groups have no heart. Groups want productivity. Groups promote de-personalization of everybody. Another plus is, like my dentist, my doc books to stay on time. No matter when you are scheduled to be seen, you will be seen at that time; period! Wow. I am not yet to the point of sayin' it is a total pleasure to get the once over but given the alternatives the setup could not be better.

HOWIE

I don't know a whole lot about Howard Stern and what I do know about him is all hearsay rather than first hand info; but some people, that I respect, consider him a revolutionary genius in the mold of Frank Zappa and other bomb throwers of recent memory; riffing his way to a new way of seeing the world and stuff. The 'shock jocks' actually seem to be the people who emulate Stern without the IQ or the creativity. He is the original. Smut there is; but where there is smut there is fire! (I just made that up).

Nevertheless, there is a great piece in the LATimes: Peril in the Air For Bush: Howard Stern in which the author tells us that Howard is pissed 'big time' (to use the big dick's turn of phrase) at all the bushies for the harrassment he feels he is recieving and is now using his show as an anti-bush crusade. He calls junior "Mr Jesus". Take a look at the article or go listen to Stern. He has a huge audience of a crucial demographic in all the major markets and these people listen to him as the dittoheads follow the fat drug addict. What is more, they vote and influence others.

You have to register for this but you should anyhow. You do it once, tell your computer to take the cookie. They will not send you anything else. It is a good paper. Way better than the the Boston Globe (no contest actually) and is rapidly gaining or catching up to the sinking NY Times.

STOP

I liked this headline and opening graf from The Onion (link upper right):

Bush To Iraqi Militants: 'Please Stop Bringing It On'
WASHINGTON, DC—In an internationally televised statement Monday, President Bush modified a July 2003 challenge to Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces. "Terrorists, Saddam loyalists, and anti-American insurgents: Please stop bringing it on now," Bush said at a Monday press conference. "Nine months and 500 U.S. casualties ago, I may have invited y'all to bring it on, but as of today, I formally rescind that statement. I would officially like for you to step back." The president added that the "it" Iraqis should stop bringing includes gunfire, bombings, grenade attacks, and suicide missions of all types.

ADVERT

I know, I know, a lot of people think that I am an extrovert, but I do not think so. We all have to figure it out for ourselves. I identified with this article: Caring for Your Introvert.

It is all on a spectrum of course; but I still like the either/or quality of it. There is also a potential for using it as an excuse: 'that's the way I am wired'. But, times may call for not going with the flow and pushing ones self to go another direction. I liked the article though.

ARTHUR(1981)

Today's Movie; NYTimes1000Best; a funny-drunk story (some are, I hear); Oscar to John Gielgud for his role as the butler. Let's put it this way, the butler did it. Without JG, this film would have been a little horror.

At best, Dudley Moore is an acquired taste which I never acquired; Lisa Minnelli appears with tons of makeup and all the moves from CABARET; no chemistry between them. It is not on the new NYTimesBest list. My guess is that time took its toll. The 80's were a lot like this picture. I kept thinking Richy Rich.

The film does has its moments; I laughed and I got a little maudlin here and there; but now I am sort of ashamed to admit it. I watched it to the end out of duty. I decided not to cop out using the new list as an excuse. The policy is: no skipping, no pause button and no copping out. I rate it a 2 on the Netflix5 and, if it was not for Sir John, it would be a 1.

SMEAR

KOS is good today on (1) Cheney Smacked and (2) Medals Thrown. The latter just after the Catholic Pro-Abortion lady pic. It would seem that the smear machine works on the proposition that the smear will be covered, the defense and or the retraction will be given back page attention. So far, they are right. Pew said junior's approval rating shot from 43 to 48 points in April. John is in despair about the state of America. I just look for the next cycle. Let's see. April is an even month. October is an even month. Shit. The election is barely in November when Kerry will be on top.

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON(1981)

Today's movie; not one of the NYTimesBest1000; but pretty good for a B-break from all the high art of the last week.

It is not quite as good as we remembered from the first time around in theaters; still it is a lot better than John Landis' followup; AAWWINPARIS in 1995 which we mistakenly ordered and watched anyway the day after we saw AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, the musical. And so on. We were just dicking around with the titles. Now the game is over.

This film is a lot of fun and has a lot of jokes built in to relieve the tedium of the story which does not deviate one iota from any werewolf legend you have heard. WW bites boy, boy bites people, boy gets visitation from victims who let him know he has to end the line by dying or else they will walk the earth as the undead. The werewolf in this is very good as is the young man who plays the college student who gets bit. Not one of the young actors in the film had any real success in films afterward; mostly B's. Begin as a B and end as a B. It must be like being in a porn movie. You get marked and that is it. I am giving it a 3 out of a Netflix5.

DOGGED

PETsMART Sunday. Dog food is low; we need a new big collar for the big, big dog; we are almost out of dog biscuits (offered only if the plate is clean--about half the time--and they are the same thing as the kibble); no toys, we do not need any more toys. No, no, no. No toys. That last one is for us. Of Franklin's 30-40 words, toys is not one of them; ball, Carl (his stuffed camel), rope; all these he responds to. He does not know what a 'toy' is. But we do and we are soft about it; wet. NO TOYS!

If you have never been to PETsMART, you are in for a treat. Dogs are welcome; I guess other pets too, but dogs are the default pet. There are cages of cats and dogs for rescue; they like to be visited. There are fish, birds, gerbils. Today, Franklin was the only pooch on the premises. He got a lot of attention. Oh, was that on the list? Dog food, collar, biscuits, and attention!

We all needed a dog day out; a long ride in the Jeep (oh boy oh boy); wind in our hair from the open windows and a walk in the smelly aisles--other dogs, dog food, dog toys--on and on; air soup. And the humans have fun getting dog-compliments and watching the ever evolving growth and change of their pup who is slowly but surely quieting down, easing his way into society, and getting to be a bit of an adult. There is no test like a high stimulus place to show the degree of maturity, if any. That goes for the owners as well as the dogs.

We have a good time with it. It takes about an hour and a half door to door. A bonus is in the ride. We go out to the desert to get there and back; see Mt. San Jacinto from afar (he still has snow on his head), take in the wide open spaces! Everyone is tired out when we get home. And for the first time that I remember, we did not get one toy. Life is full enough.

BRIAN

Eric Idle in the LATimes today: the "success of Mel Gibson's snuff film" has led to the remastering and reissue of THE LIFE OF BRIAN.

George Harrison saved this film when the Python's banker pulled out. George mortgaged his house to put in $4 million smackers because he "wanted to see the picture". He structured it as a tax loss but it turned out a huge profit. Harrison referred to it as the most expensive theater ticket he ever bought. "Look on the sunny side of life", indeed.

EAT IT

Kerry is showing promise. Yesterday, he went to the Paulist Center in Boston and had communion. Defiant in the face of objections from the guys in the Vatican; one of them the reputed 'next Pope'; a black African. That should be interesting; and, evidently as hard ass as the Pole.

I cannot say that I begin to understand the deal with communion. It is not part of my background. But I can say that I have taken communion at the Paulist Center! It didn't take. I went through a period of trying to be a Catholic on the theory of 'act as if'. I tried to be everything at least once. I finally decided to be me. The guys at the Paulist Center were great with me. They had seen insincerity and lack of real commitment before. They are major exceptions to the hard line neanderthals who seem to have all the rules and proscriptions.

Anyway, this is about three things at once. The jaw dropping heavy handedness of the roman church; defiance, which I obviously like to see as I have a bit of it myself; then, the fact that Kerry has is sailing his own course. Take your pick.

SEMI-COLONICS

There is a new punctuation book; (substitues for 'and' or 'that is') quite popular in the UK (no periods–my choice) called: (colon as I am about to name the book; it means 'herewith') Eats, Shoots, and Leaves (italics as I italicize titles of written material in the blog–I don't have a style-book; I use totally upper case for FILMS); (I think this semi provides a nice breath and subs for 'they are') her commas not mine. It is the kind of book which raises hackles to all who write. The NYTimes Book Review (I underline periodicals) guy is all aflame over the author's (possessive) eschewal of dashes.

I get anxious, at times, (subordinate clause, right?) over my extensive use of the semi-colon. The reviewer does not like semi-colons! (indicates shock and dismay) I should not have read this review; (something about a preposition) but my friend Lynda told me the book was good. She is in London. The reviewer says the book is filled with distracting Briticisms (a word I have just made up indicating a mix of jargon and wit, get it?). Well, Lynda is perpetually distracted with Briticisms by merely being American and living in London; (breathe) so it did not bother her.

Should I get the book and worry every piece I write; (another way of saying what I did in the first part, separated by a semi) sieze up with punctuational constipation? (rhetorical question) Or continue in happy intuitive use of all marks; (break) emphasizing and featuring the semi-colon; (another meaning) semi-colonics to loosen things up? (rhetorical do not answer) I think I will pass on the book. I learned touch typing when I was over 50. I don't think I am going to be able to learn proper punctuation at 67; (adverbial clause on its way) especially when the 'experts' (small quotes indicate irony) cannot agree on any of it. (Period; as I am done with the thought and the whole issue).

FULL HOUSE

We had a house full of kids (old ones) and grandkids (younger ones) last week. It was a lot of fun. And now it is quiet. At first, that is fine. To be honest, there are moments in a full house when we pray for quiet. But, you have to be careful what you ask for. Today, we got it. It is very, well, quiet.

The towels and sheets are done. We have picked up here and there. John's study is now a study and not a bedroom for two active boys. The busy work is over. Did I mention that it is quiet?

Franklin has slept a lot today and, frankly, so have we. It is good work to have guests and takes a lot of different energy. Everyone got home safely, lives are resumed; it is a busy week. We will keep moving and then slowly get familiar with the pitter patter of 8 feet (two plus two plus four).

THE APOSTLE(1997)Rewritten 18:25 PDST

Today's movie; NYTimes1000Best; WOW!!!. I am committed to watching all of all of the 1000 Best films and, sometimes, this commitment scares me a little. I did not approach this one with a lot of positive anticipation. Fooled. Wrong. Contempt prior to investigation.

It is an astonishing film; astounding! I was 'wet-eyed' through most of it; not sadness, just feeling; most of it good. It is touching, funny, sad, exciting, suspenseful. Duval has this role knocked from the beginning; a human preaching machine. He does it in a way that takes you inside the man. He is no saint and knows it. He gets in trouble. He gets out of it. He is on a journey.

I would say that anyone watching this film would have to drop their shit about Jesus and preachers and churches; but I have to admit that my shit just dropped away in the process of the early scenes. I became available for this wonderful film by just relaxing and taking it in. No. I have not been converted. The 'shit' is back and that is OK too. It is funny/weird. We just saw Duval do his Colonel Bill Kilgore in APOCALYPSE NOW and the two guys are not too far apart; just opposite sides of the same coin. A familiar phrase. I keep seeing people, places and things as the opposite side of the APOCALYPSE coin.

OK. What else? Who else? Billy Bob Thornton in a small, important role--a disruptive red-neck; June Carter Cash is Duval's mom and sings; Farrah Fawcett as the wife who takes it all away from the rev; Miranda Richardson is just marvelous as a girlfriend along the path; and a whole bunch of (I bet) non-actors fill the scenes with a gentle sweetness that is just transforming. The music is great throughout. These are jubilant Christians; nothing dour about them; Pentecostals; holy rollers for sure and not to be made fun of. They sure do rock. Duval, who wrote and directed has treated his subject and his people, all of them, with respect and finds the dignity beneath the drama. There are no caricatures or cartoons; none.

OK. I give it a 5 out of Netflix5. That is two 5's in three days. But I am down about the next A=ARTHUR. Now, I just know that I am not going to like that one.

POLLS2

More about how and how not to read polls at Why It's Called a Race by DAILY KOS contributor DHinMI. Illuminating and perspectivizing.

APOLLO 13(1995)

Today's movie; NYT1000Best; Ron Howard's version of the Lost Moon mission. The other side of the military-industrial coin from yesterday's APOCALYPSE NOW. Quite a contrast. Here the 'copters ferry and save astronouts, the pilots are all working to make scientific breakthroughs, no one shits their pants, and, in as many days as they men were up there, there is only the mildest five o'clock shadow. This was obviously made with a lot of NASA support and it is interesting to now be able to see the after-years. This is the time that we were still giddy with the success of it all. Only a few of the cracks in the NASA system are allowed to show.

It is interesting that when I Googled "Apollo 13", I could only get two or three pictures of the real guys. Almost all of it is from the movie. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it does show where the interest and the inevitable 'story' gets told. I figured that someone ought to show Lovell himself instead of the Hanksfacsimile. That is him to the left. It is not the Hanker.

The film itself is a nicely made, technically impressive, dramadocumentary; the usual Ron Howard formula. The best performance in the film is Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell. She carries the 'heart' of the picture. This film is where we begin to see Tom Hanks mail in his performance. Yeh, he sweats, he firms up his jaw, but the voice is gettin' just a bit narrator-like. Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton are more convincing and even get their hair messed up. I bet the real thing was a godddam mess and they convey some of that. OK. I give it a 3 out of the Netflix 5.

Oh another thing. I had more or less forgotten this whole film. I knew the rough outlines but was even surprised to see that it involved the moon, so I approached it as if it was the first time. I actually had been looking forward to see the other astronaut film THE RIGHT STUFF(1983). It, too, is on the 1000Best but we will have to wait for the R's. Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid (and his abs) and the rest of the gang. It is a much more enjoyable and memorable flick. They drink and carouse and get down. Tom would not be in that picture.

'NUFF SAID

"I think it's entirely who you are from birth, personally. Some people might choose, but I think that it's who you are. I think people need to be able to be who they are. I have a friend who was married for many years and then the marriage dissolved and he came out ... and he lived this life of tension and of great difficulty. ... It's in your system. It's in your genes. ... I think that people have a right in America to be who they are, who they are born as, and we are all God's children." -- Presidential candidate John Kerry in a March 26 MTV interview.

APOCALYPSE NOW(1979)

Today's movie; NYTimes1000Best. What can I say? It is a masterpiece. 5 out of Netflix5. I had it all to myself. John and the family went out to the dinosaurs on the 10 and had lunch and then toured around. I stayed home and moved from here to there while Mari cleaned around me. I used the laptop and headphones; very aware of the sound! Perfect alone time to watch the film. There are some really special moments. I will not elaborate. It will be worth another viewing in a couple of years. I've included this special moment for David; and myself. It is the turning point, I believe.

BUSHISM OF THE DAY

"My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate."—Washington, D.C., April 21, 2004. For complete compendium of executive hilarity see: bushisms.

esrosedotblogism of the day: "Think, like, about the early morning of November 3d, junior".

JUMP

So Kerry must have read the esrosedotblog. He got the military records out and they actually look great! And what is more, he issued a complete list of all the meetings he has had with lobbyists and corporate groups. He also asserted that the bushers would not; indeed, could not do the same thing as they are so locked into the lobby/corporate complex. Look: Kerry Issues List Detailing Contacts with Lobbyists. It took 16 pages. Bush would need a library.

HA HA

The New Yorker has its annual humor issue this week or last week; we get a long mail lag from the east where it is printed. It is pretty good and features a great profile of Aaron McGruder the cartoon Daddy of Boondocks which is a daily read for me. The article is on line, at least for now at PROFILES: The Radical. He is quite a guy; a bad boy. I like bad boys. They do not polish him up for us.

And while you are at the The New Yorker, in the same issue, there is an upsetting review of the Farrelly Brothers' plan to do a Three Stooges update: DEPT. OF SCREENWRITING: Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk!. While certain aspects of their concern in doing such a thing are evident and reassuring, the whole deal of adapting and resetting great works of art is very unsettling to me. I wrote about it recently. Sure, you could say it is a 'homage' or a 'tribute'. But, putting a dog turd in a woman's mouth and having a new Moe comment on it or having the boys pull on each other's pubic hair rather than use a trademark poke in the eye is not a homage. It is just plain profiteering and wallowing in the mire. I won't go see it. But I digress. The article does have a nice concise history of the actual Stooges, all six of them! Oh, and the other thing that pissed me off is that they want to have that awful Russell Crowe as Curly. Sucks!

LEFT TURN

Just watch. I have a prediction. Bush will start to steer left towards the middle for the election. He is moving the 6/30 date on outtaIraq; he is letting the UN come into the picture. There are other signs. Relenting. Returning to Compassionate Conservatism.

There is no risk at this point in seriously alienating the righties. They will howl here and there but he only needs that slice we were talking about; the undecided, the Independent. Watch my words. The UNinIraq thing has already muddled Kerry's message. The turn serves both purposes. Get the middle guys and get Kerry stuttering and doing something they can call a flip flop.

POLLS

Just when we needed it, here is a review on the basics of polling that helped get me calmed down: A Polling Primer from the Gadflyer's Paul Waldman. I know all this, sorta, but then I forget.

BOX COOK

There is a new book by food historian Laura Shapiro: Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America. I haven't read it but I have read two reviews of it; which, for a book like this, is as good as reading it. I was brought up short by the assertion that people do not use prepared foods to cook anymore. I beg to differ. I have become a master; an artist of the semi-box meal! I say 'semi' because I would not make a teevee dinner at all (well maybe a Lean Cuisine for lunch or when John is out); that would be all box. I would not take two prep products and mix them (see below). But I would accept assistance from a mix or a bottle or something that would save me some kitchen time.

I did my time with Julia and James and all the 'cookies'; the elaborate recipes made from scratch and done properly with the correct tools. It was fun. But, it is no way to live if you have anything else to do. Further, it is not very healthy. All that flour and butter and other stuff on top of a simple piece of meat or surrounding vegetables is not really very good for us.

What Shapiro is talking about is the phase we all went through in the 50's and 60's which, in my mind, prepared us for the more sophisticated cooking that came later. Back then, people combined boxed foods into more complex recipes: Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise*. I have been at that table. I remember late 1979 going to a party where the guy cooked all his own food and had done so for a week! It was a box-fest. Everything was made with cornflake toppings, mushroom soup enrichment, tuna-noodled-cheezewhizzed-ritzcrackertopped-surprises. I was stunned. All in one place. It killed box cooking for me for quite a number of years.

But today, as I make up some stir fry with a bag of frozen rice and vegetables (the rice IS better than I can make), enhanced with half a bag of pure stir fry vegetables, I will thank the processed food guys who kept enough of the idea alive to save me some time and energy. And, yes, I will be marinating the chicken with Teriyake sauce out of a bottle!

*NYTimes review headline

SNARL

It is hard to unsnarl yesterday's Oregon decision that (a) the issuing of licenses to gay couples will be put on hold, (2) The Oregon Legislature MUST draft civil union legislation within 90 days to assure equal rights for gays (which civil unions do not), (3) the licenses and marriages already conducted [3000 of them] must be validated. In other words, something for everyone, but progress nonetheless. It will all be appealed; but here we go! Yeh Oregon.

And in California, for the first time in the USA, a legislative body (a committee) approved a bill which would permit licenses to all couples regardless of gender, period. It would change the wording to 'two persons' rather than whatever is there now. The bill must go to the (what?) the Appropriations Committee next. Why? Are they going to appropriate money for the receptions? Anyway, the march continues.

TURTLE

I am worried about the Kerry campaign. I am willing to admit that it is still early on; useless to be upset at the bush return to a lead in two polls last week; Gallup and the ABC/WashPost. Sure. OK. And today, the Zogby tracking shows them even. OK.

But when I look at the Kerries my worst fears about his running for prez are realized. They are slow; turtle slow, out of the gate, into the first lap. They are not defining him. The bush attack machine comes out with a new charge and Kerry gets all reactive; loses momentum. He is constantly being turned on his back; turtled. Got the image?

Today the bushers are on Kerry's military records. They are turning the tables; making Kerry's military record an issue; questioning the validity of his Purple Hearts! They say, of course, that bush turned his records over (he did?) so Kerry should too. Yep. Turnabout is rarely fair play. The bushies are masters at the innuendo and smear.

So what is the Kerry reaction? He promised the records on a talk show Sunday. They took this long to get to them. They say that the time is being taken up scanning the things. Not all of them are there. They are on their backs struggling. By the time they get the goddam records out there the blood will have already been spilled and the crowd moved on. It really upsets me that this happens over and over. Lurch.

Then there is the Nader drag. Kerry seems to be ignoring the left flank entirely. Does he agree with Nader that all the troops should be pulled out in six months? No, but he is not aggressive in saying so. He is caught on both sides.

As far as the egomaniac is concerned, Tom Schaller in The Gadflyer has a great idea to neutralize Ralphie. See Dennis' Choice; wherein Schaller proposes that Mr. Kucinich resign the field, endorse Kerry, then follow Ralph around as a one-man truth squad. Kucinich appeals to a lot of the lefties who would be idealogic enough to throw the election to junior again. They are the ones, incidentally, who blame the Supremes for the 'stolen election'; conveniently forgetting that they unlocked the gate and let some of the horses out in the first place. Don't get me started on that.

VIN DE CYCLE

I was downloading some guy-pictures for my screensaver and the site I was pilfering had a collection of Vin Diesel photos. Some were pretty good.

John and I had a real jones on Vin for awhile. Wherever he was, we would pore over the pictures and stories and watch the films; sometimes twice. We were/are convinced he is gay; but then we are convinced that all good looking movie guys are gay and even some that aren't very good looking. I am sure that it is the same thing as hetero-guys believing that all actresses are straight; just as fantastical.

Nevertheless, when I saw these pics, I realized that our fascination for Vin had waned and also, he has been scarce of late both in publicity and in actual films. I looked him up. He is in-production on three films. OK. Two have no other recognizable actor names; a sure tipoff that it is a 'B' or straight to video. On top the list (no jokes about Vin being on top) is a new film, the third, just announced. He is going to be Hannibal! The guy who went over the mountains. Perfect type casting! Hannibal was even multi-racial. And the script is by the same guy who wrote the Gladiator. Maybe this is Vin's time. He missed the car thing by asking too much $$ for the FAST AND FURIOUS sequel FAST AND FURIOUS TWO. It was a hit without him. Perhaps climbing on the elephant will do it, and, oh yeh, what about the loincloth and the off the shoulder leopard skin? We hope that is in the script too. Come on Vin, you can have a second start!!!!!

D.S.P.

A weird thing this morning. Franklin and I were walking along in the half light and, as usual, the going was a bit slow. He can see great in the early light, but I cannot. We got to the desert corner lot half a mile from here and he balked. I figured he was thinking of where to go next. That would be the usual balk-reason. I said 'which way' or something to that effect. He set out towards the Royal Sun Hotel; we had to cross the street. In the middle of the street he stopped; not a good idea even at 530 AM with so few cars. I urged him on. He balked again. I asked what was up. We did hear someone singing way out ahead; not loud; more like a drunk or homeless wanderer. I figured that was it.

Next thing, still mid-street, he turned around and started back to where we came from. Was he freaked out by the singing? What? Across the street and into the desert lot again. At this point I began to feel queasy. He started to go up Crestview. I followed him; let him take the lead. I began to have waves of intestinal distress. I was reluctant, even then, to return but it was obvious that he was heading back to the house. We weren't even retracing steps. We were taking the fastest route. Halfway to the house I lost it. I even lost his leash for a moment; he walked around me in circles. The episode passed and I got going again; Franklin with me. We got home and I went to get medicated, clean up and get changed. He would not leave me; standing tall, faced outward, feet firmly planted. By this time John was up, and the situation passed. He broke the defense pose when John showed up.

It is only in retrospect that I realized he began acting 'on alert' even before I 'got' that I was sick. It is very interesting. John says that if they know there is going to be an earthquake; or get freaky before a storm; why wouldn't they pick up that something is wrong with their closest buddy? Well, I would say so; but what if the buddy doesn't even have half a clue there is something wrong with himself? I dunno. Another anecdote to add to the mystery library and a story to tell about our great new friend Franklin; who may be able to look after us even when we are not doing a very good job at it ourselves.

Yeh, I know; what we used to call 'high woo woo' stuff. DSP. DoggySensoryPerception. I have some ESP myself. Not 48 hours before, a grandson had shown up in the kitchen with me at 4AM with the same malady. Maybe Franklin diagnosed the virus as contagious and made a calculated projection of the time that I would get the same thing. Of course, then that would be high woo woo too! (heh heh). Only in that case ExtraDoggyRationality. Whatever. Like I said, a new Franklin story; something to bore people with at the fireside when I get to be one of those old codgers who repeat the same stories over and over.

Oh. The picture. You do remember Iron Maiden don't you?

NEW TRICKS

We have grandkids here this week and it is fun to watch them work it out with the dog. Franklin has never been around little people before. Well, they are not too little at 7 and 11; it is more their size and their style. Kids have a different scale and warp speed.

There are not a lot of young people around here for him to practice on. He is always interested when he sees kids on his walks and sometimes gets to say hello to them; but it is quick--over and out. Now, he has to pay attention 24/7! These guys are in his house!

For the boys, it's also a new thing to have a dog around all the time. They live in a pooch-free home. It is one thing to pet or play with a neighbor's dog; time and space limited. This pup is around 'dogging' them for attention and play much of the time they are visible; and, he is often waiting outside their door for them to emerge, when they are out of the mainstream.

It is going OK; amusing to watch. Dogs and kids are very open with their behavior and express their inner 'weather' quite well. It is all out there; easy to see. Most adults pretend that they like your dog whether they do or not. It is hard to pull off if they faking it or if they are fearful or uneasy about him. The body language always tells. It is as graphic as a dog's tail position and frequency of wag. I will not reveal the details here. I do not want to create an even greater challenge for wannabe dog-lovers to add to their act.

Kids do not pretend. They are like the pup! They are all right there on the authentic scale; all the action is spontaneous and real time. Fear, doubt, and insecurity are apparent as much as fun, frolic, and affection.

For now, both dog and kids are on a break. The boys are in LA with their parents and Franklin is resting a lot. The games will begin anew tonight when they come back to the desert for two more days. We are taking grandstand seats. Like I said, it is great to watch and be a part of.

YOUR FIRED

I can remember when getting fired was a probable event in public life. Now, the process of termination has been reduced to a joke; a reality teevee show. It would appear that incompetence or failure to perform are no longer grounds for ending employment; the worse you do, the longer you get to do it. Look at George Tenet. Look at some of the neo-con clowns running down the Iraq mess. Wolfowitz; referred to, in something I read, as the intellectual father of the Iraq campaign. Holy shit. He is still in there stirring the pot! Fire the stupid bastard!

I have a theory! Here it is. Ready? Firing people, or even nicely asking them to resign, has passed out of favor because once you start dumping the incompetents there will be no stopping it; all the guys who currently regard the world as their private playground would be gone. If you dump the Wolf, then you have to let go of Rummy. With Rummy gone, you would have to move along to the other egoists and idealogues who see nothing wrong in killing young men for an ultimately failed goal. There is no way to win in Iraq. Not the way we are going.

Better than a theory, I have an IDEA! It is not new though. Here it is. Stand back! Watch out now: Let's start at the top. Let's dump the head incomp and his handler; the guy with the halfsmile. Fire them. There is no time to impeach so we will just have to wait until next January for the Demo-inauguration. With buscheny gone, the house of cards will collapse. That, of course, would leave Tenet standing; he is not technically a part of the electoral process. Same with Mueller and the rest of the cozy bureaucrats who have become a part of the bush family apparatchik. For them, lets just have a general roundup. Get them into a room and tell them that there has been a management decision to dump every last one of them. "Clean out your desk. You got until 5 PM to clear the premises on your own power". Then promote from the organization. Get some pros who knows. You could not do worse.

Thus endeth today's simpleminded lesson for government renewal.

RICE PUDDING

Here we go again. Now, Rice is running from talk show to talk show, pillar to post, denying items in the Bob Woodward book; deja vu all over again; stirring up the pot, hoping it will all get covered up again. Aren't they even embarrassed? Of course not. It is not for 'us'. It is for that slim margin who still wait to make a decision; the thin slice that won them the election last time; with a little help from their friends; the Su-premes.

WEIGHT A MINUTE

I used to weigh myself once a day. I have been told that this is unnecessary; a complication of weight control; once a week is just fine. My e-diet asks for a weekly weigh and measure. They must think that it is OK too. That is not enough for me. I am the kind of guy who wants to know the latest news, the current temperature, the latest stock quotes. Why would I stint when it comes to personal data? I want to know today's situation.

Furthermore, I have learned, that my weight varies from day to day! There can be as much as a two pound swing from high to low and back again in few day's time; water, undigested food, I will not elaborate . That has intensified my interest in the day to day data. The more I know, the more I am compelled to discover.

A year or more ago, we got a new scale; one of those models that measures your body fat. I was told that body fat is a more informative number than weight; especially if one works out regularly and intensely (my hand goes up here). There is a difference between lean mass and, well, I guess you call it 'fat mass'. I discovered that this number is much more stable; it does not vary much even week to week. It takes quite a while to take the number down a point or even half of one. This is, somehow, more comforting. Dependable. Stable. I can be gaining weight that's all lean! That means that there are muscles in there even when you cannot see them. Good news. And mine is pretty good. This photo-scale has an average guy my age on it: 18.4%. My body fat percentage is about 13.5!

When we got the new scale, I took the old scale and put it in the guest bathroom. Without thinking too much about it, I started stepping on it when I used the guest facilities early in the morning and didn't want to disturb anyone. I discovered that my weight swings back and forth during the day! I weigh more at night than in the morning. I got interested in this phenomenon. The next thing I knew, I was weighing myself two times a day. I had become a micro-manager of weight.

Some might view this behavior as compulsive. There are a number of my daily behaviors that might be so judged. But, I make an appeal to a higher court on this one. Self study leads to self understanding. Self understanding leads to personal improvement. Isn't self improvement the goal of living? Don't answer that!

All of this is a way of saying that both scales now tell me that I have gained five pounds. It is five pounds more in the morning and five pounds more in the night. Not only that, my body fat has gone up one percent. It is not lean mass resulting from my new workout regimen. Like all getting fatter, it comes from stuffing more calories in than burning calories out. Self study; understanding; self improvement. Of course I have to change my behavior at some point to improve the self. Hmmmmmmmm. I can think of some reasons that I could delay this but i am putting them aside. I am starting in on a reduction of intake. I will watch the pounds melt away two times a day and observe the percent fat plummet before my eyes each night. I will compulsively reinforce my changing behavior with positive results.

Oh. About the compulsive part? I worked with a personal trainer once who would weigh himself every day before he and I worked out together. Well, I worked out; he weighed himself. He would always read his weight, step off the scale, then get back on and weigh himself again; twice in one weigh-in. I commented on this once and told him he was exhibiting compulsive behavior. He said "No I am not" and stepped back on the scale to check it out a third time. We both looked at each other and laughed. I guess everyone has their own weigh of doing things.

BOOK IT

Here comes Bob Woodward with his book and the drum beats are beginning. Just what the bushies need; a new set of revelations. Seems that BW's first bushbook was kinda nice so they let him into the tent again. Mistake.

The NYTimes today has: Powell Said to Have Warned Bush Book Says headline this morning. And speculates that Powell cooperated with Woodward.

Gee, we just finished watching ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN so we know that Woodward is a reliable source even though he 'builds' the story with reconstructed interviews these days. Nothing like what he had to do to 'prove it' on the newspage. I have to remember being upset at his Clinton book. Yet, it is heartwarming to see some of the Republican chickens coming home to roost.

HEART AND SEOUL

More on the Korean impeachment thing in the NYTimes this morning: Impeachment Case to go Forward In Seoul.

KOREA?

Deja vu all over again. I mentioned the Israel thing stretching back in my time. Here is another one: Korea. When I went to college I shared a dorm with Korean veterans. They had the 3000 yard stare. They had seen the real thing. That shut up whatever political naivete there might have been on our floor. That would put this North/South thing at FIFTY years. Jumpin' jeezus. Even I am surprised when I do the math.

And, here we are still doing the 38th parallel thing. The North went under the crazed hands of Kim Il Sung (Sr.) and Kim Jong Il (Jr); the South went western into industrialization and all the attendant dirty government stuff. The pot kept simmerin'. The South got so western, they even used impeachment as a political axe on their liberal government.

Josh Marshall Talking Points Memo has an interesting piece (April 15th scroll) drawing parallels between their politics and ours as well as pointing to the impact of our politics on theirs.

If you want to learn more about the Korean police action go to 50th Anniversary: History of the Korean War. When we think of parallels between Iraq and Viet Nam, we might also want to consider Korea; lessons learned and forgotten.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

When we moved here seven years ago, we got some help cleaning the house. Don't misunderstand, we are committed house cleaners; we just don't translate that commitment into consistent action! We mean well; there is talk about the strategy and tactics of approaching the job (you do the wets and I will do the dries); then, a good movie comes along or we need to take a walk. Or, we get busy with other stuff and simply forget. The dust collects.

In our 'in-between' year in Boston, we had a four room apartment and we did pretty well with it; no outside help. When we left, we had to confront the truth of our situation; the accumulation of dust bunnies underneath things was a bit of a shock. The accumulated grease in the kitchen was an occasion for shame. The areas that never got scrubbed or vacuumed loomed large without any furniture to cast a shadow. How could we have lived in this sty?

So, we arrived in the desert with hard data about our own cleaning capabilities; committed, but clearly not capable. Celia joined us and we began a nice relationship that has lasted longer than most such arrangements. Then, recently, there were some clunks and clanks in the process. Appointments were missed, phone calls made and not recieved; the usual signs of dysfunction. We took action; a talk here, another talk there; to no avail. It came time for change. No one was happy so why keep it going?

I have a theory that any service relationship is doomed from the start. I learned this from the other side. It was rare for clients to last more than 5-7 years; most less than that. In five or six (or seven!) years things get taken for granted; little annoyances mount up; the shape of the relationship changes as life happens to each party. Fatigue. Wear and tear. This has always happened in our company and in our house. Lawyers, accountants, plumbers; all of it. Now cleaners.

It is not an easy thing to come to terms with change. Denial haunts every observation and consideration. The risks of the unknown new thing are high. How do we find someone else? How will we know that they are OK? And so on.

In our case, we have learned that the best way to find someone new is to ask someone else who has suffered the slings and arrows of the 'service industry'. Our friend Dan is the PA for a couple who have been 'service users' in the desert for a long time. Further, they are perfectionists. We called Dan, Dan spoke to Sharon, we got sent to Marisol who was billed as methodical, meticulous, thorough, having a good sense of humor and a willingness to work; sounded like our kind of woman. We had a little talk and we hired Mari straight on. She has been at it for three weeks and is making a great start. There are a few things. We like the toilet paper roll to go over the top and not the bottom; we have to get her re-trained in that one. Also John has his own bed changing routine which even I am not capable of doing. Mari is mastering that. Otherwise, working for Sharon is the best training ground anyone can have. Marisol says "perfecto" and smiles that winner of a grin.

The most important test was passed the first day. Franklin adores her. He follows Mari from room to room and has to be shooed away when it is time to mop. The nicest sight is to see them going down the hall together; Franklin gazing up at Mari and her fingers lightly scratching his head. Today it seems as if we will all be together forever.

OVERDOSE

Too much of anything, even a good thing, is not a good thing. I am an addict in all my affairs. The Gaza entry took me over the edge. I have been way too preoccupied with the pols and their tricks. It is cyclic for me. I get all disengaged and then something happens like the blatant lies at the 9-11 Commission or somebody's book reveals more skullduggery and I am off and running. When I find that I am caught up in some business that has been footballed for almost my entire lifetime–Gaza/West Bank; I realize, whoa, let's back off a little here.

But before I give my ranting up entirely or even for the day, which is more likely, I noticed this. All of a sudden the bushers are thinking about a 'pre-empt' of the Commission by proposing an Intelligence Czar and suddenly will have a demo of a secure train station in Maryland. Looks good on paper and re-election ads. Between the quadrennial election cycle and my rants, maybe there is some good being done. I will stay at it, just mellow it a little here and there.

STRIPSHOW

I gotta admit I don't know a lot about the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and I have been around a very long time listening to the stuff about it. I am sure that they were trying to explain the expropriation of Arab lands when I was in high school. Right or not, I do know that it has caused a whole shitload of trouble for everyone involved and that has always included us--you know U.S. us. I suppose, at some level, I do not think that it is any of my business and I have this sneaking feeling that it is not any of my country's business either; at least in the micro-sense. I can't help but think that it has more to do with politics than anything else. Somewhere, somehow, it always seems that the 'jewish vote' gets wound up in the discussion. Since I ain't part of the 'jewish vote', I guess I feel left out. Oh, someone said the right wing christians are voting for this too. Gee, a new bloc influencing our policy!

The other level here is that, somehow, the bush shift on the strip is also to help Sharon out with his party, with the Israeli voters, and somehow deflect attention away from the graft and corruption scandals he has going. So. A link. Evidently 'the jewish vote' is also the Sharon vote? I do not think so. Maybe someone from that special interest group can enlighten me how this right wing zealot is good for his country or ours. Of course, I guess the right wing zealots have to support one another and that puts our guy right in the same ballpark; busharon!

Then there is the other possibility; that somehow, there is some diversion of attention necessary just now. While we are 'losing Iraq', extending National Guard tours and so on; at least for a little while, people can get hot about the Gaza strip; a lot of people who are as misinformed and confused as me, no doubt. So I am puzzled. Again, my leader has not told me what his thinking is; a bunch of slogans that I don't relate to fail to move. I have this feeling that I am being conned again. I wonder what 'the jewish vote' thinks or are they as confused as I am?

Somehow, I think, whatever is behind this, has nothing to do with the people who suffer on both sides of the divide. I am not sure that it ever has. And, there has been untold suffering. I guess it will have to continue as the politicians dance and do the Gaza Strip.

ANNIE HALL(1979)

Today's movie: NYT1000Best; a perfect gem of a film. I had forgotten how funny and innovative this was; a re-revelation. It got four Oscars: Picture, Director, Actress (Diane Keaton of course), and Screen Play.

It is not hard to remember how we used to wait for an Allen film. They used to roll out about every nine to twelve months and, in Boston, were shown at the same theater; The Paris on Boylston Street. The lines formed outside on opening day and stayed for a week or two; often more on weekends. It is harder to remember when the lines quit forming and the familiar routine of self examination grew stale. This later knowledge of Allen's life and oeuvre does not detract from pure joy and happiness at watching this early film.

He is so close to himself; Alvie Singer is Woody. Anyone who wonders if his work is autobiography would have missed this one. It is all there; it sets the stage for many to come; even some of the actors he used over and over are in it.

The theme, of course, is intellectual angst and self absorption. It is a joke that is turned back on the audience; for to understand what is going on, one has to be at least a moderate intellectual with enough free floating anxiety to identify. We are all in the movie. This film also has Allen's first swipe at the west coast; a lot of us eastern-escapees are in the film too. The cars and reflected glare of the sun; the palette; the attitude. He does nail it and will return to it again in later films.

I am talking too much. The film is just flat ass funny and wonderful. Always surprising; flash backs, talk to the audience, split screens, walk-outs from the story line. I give it a 5 on the Netflix 5scale.

WISH I'D SAID

This is an excerpt from an email to Andrew Sullivan who raved and got all pants-wet over junior's 'strong impassioned' performance the other night.

"The sad part about this [press conference] is that conservatives are going to call it a strong performance. We now have a President whose not much different from a Special Ed student. We clap and cheer every time he has his shoes on the right feet."

I ON THE NEWS

Press: De-pressing but predictable results from the rare press conference last night. Junior has his script and sticks to it. The people for him liked it; those agin' did not. How about the people in the middle; the vast undecided? Who knows? He may be resolute or, if you will, stubborn; but he is sure one of the most inarticulate guys that I have seen in there since Eisenhower. No Wonks: The LATimes picked up a theme today that I have seen and noted before. All good governments need a balance of idealogues and wonks. You gotta have the political types to frame the philosophy and write the message; and they need to be supported and balanced with the guys who know how to work the levers and do the math. This government has driven all the analysts and fact people out or covered them up; all message no thought or facts. A good example is the guy in HEW who had the high numbers for the Medicare Reform and was told to sit on it. Exhibit B: We are going to turn the government over to someone in Iraq on 7/30; don't know who yet; maybe the UN dude will tell us; george actually said this. The UN? Shit! I thought they had their head up their ass! Now they can give us some ideas. Rice stressed strategy versus tactics; what you are going to do not how you are going to do it (sorta). No detail thinkers. No plans. No facts. Back to last night's performance. Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead! Release: I like the fact that the 9-11 Commission releases bits of its draft report around each testimony cluster. I have never seen this before. Bush did not want this commission. They suppressed Hart-Rudman. The results will come out in July. We will know what they are. Blah blah. Wonder how the fence sitters see all this? Juiced: Those of us who are steadfast Apple fanatics can rejoice in the fact that the guys are actually making money again and getting good press. Jobs is doin' a good job. Why oh why did he step back? Well, the revolution will only take a little longer. Lookout MS.

THE CREATION

You know I was one of the skeptics when it came to this movie about THE PASSION. I did not go to see it. I am not up to the gore whether it is blessed or not and I figured that it was either a cynical attempt to grab a piece of the religious market or perhaps a manifestation of Mel Gibson's nuttiness and self absorption. But, now I read that the film has made a gazillion dollars and that Mel is totally rich and will never, ever have to work again. This is truly a revelation. The scales have dropped from my eyes. I can see now that this film is really a part of god's true plan for man and that Mel has been touched by the lord. You couldn't make all that money if it was any other way. While all the critics who panned it and the people who saw it as an S&MFest were carping and swiping; Mel was laughing all the way to the bank. God's will is clearly being done.

SUMMER

Today was the first day of summer. Surprised? Here is how I figure it. At the Shell carwash north of town, after I pay and walk the long alleyway to the outdoor waiting room, I stand meditatively and suss the cosmic situation. I await guidance from the universe. I allow my body to respond unconsciously and without interference from my ego or my id or any other brain-type thought kind of thing.

Ommmmmmm. If it is winter, I will find myself taking two steps out from under the sunshade (one of those slat things that take out half the sun) to stand in the full sunlight. If it is summer, without thinking, my body moves autonomically toward the bench directly under the slats and I sit, serenely of course, in the shade; not in the lotus position which I am too unlimber to do and would attract attention anyway. I just sit. I listen to the wax machine applying the final coat, the drier vacuum thing blowing or sucking the water off the cars. The chatter of the guys who do the final-wipes.

None of this is a conscious thing. I just 'do it'. Throw myself into the spiritual stream. Is that the tao? Of course, my natural state is the meditative; so I 'notice', the action; breathe; and then identify. Ahhhhh. I stepped out of the sun. It is summer. Booonnnnggggggzzzzzzzzeeeeeee! Meditation class is over.

I first noticed this after we were out here a couple of years. There is no way to really demark seasons in the desert. It is just warmer and colder. Sometimes in the same day. I found myself moving in this body-mind sort of way. Now I just see myself as a human form of those little weather houses we used to have when we were kids. I am not sure whether I am the witch or Hansel and Gretel (that is who was on my little house). I might hire myself out to the weather guy.

KERRY

I notice that I am not writing about Kerry at all. I am sure going on about the bushies; but no Kerry stuff. I have thought about this and think two things.

One: Kerry is lying low. There is no way that he can get into the middle of all the shit flying about the 9-11 Commission or, for that matter, the Iraq situation other than what he has said about bush' failure to engage allies. I think that this is a good strategy and, what is more, a good example of his ability to moderate his mouth. It is statesman like; and, of course, senatorial. And, he is not really the candidate yet either. The surrogates are busy and that is OK.

Two: I am not engaged. The 'anyone but bush' compulsion does not include actually liking the guy. This is not new for me, of course. I can support someone who I am not in love with; but it sure does keep the juices subdued. I am over Howard Dean (for now) so it is not a resentment or a recovery period thing. It probably has to do with the fact that Kerry would be very good for the country. By this, I mean that people I am likely to support and promote usually make lousy leaders; they are issue candidates; doctrinaire. Another consideration is that my ballot is the kiss of death to most candidates and propositions. My history of being in the consensus on any person or issue is dismal. I am an outlier.

So, my distance and low respiration rate may actually bode well for JFK2. Boy, I hope that they don't do anything as stupid as saying or thinking that '2' stuff. Incidentally, I am not one who thinks that Kerry should distance from Ted Kennedy either. He needs a wide spectrum of support and TK has a great amount of support to give. And, he is no longer an embarrassment (if he ever was). He is a lion in winter. And he still has his teeth.

THE APARTMENT(1960)

Today's movie; NYTimes 1000 Best; Billy Wilder (shown) wrote, directed and produced--a one man band. John and I have a theory that the best films are the ones that one or two people wrote. Here we have all three stakeholders in one. Wilder never had to answer to anyone after a certain point in his career and everything he did is marked with his deft hand. This film is no exception.

Wilder's work was always funny in serious way. The themes were not trivial. In the inevitable comedy there was always the dark side. Here, amid the frivolity are the shades of infidelity, corporate corruption, personal dishonesty, and both subtle and overt forms of self destruction.

Jack Lemmon does the honors as the shlemiel; Shirley MacLaine as the girl that takes him out of his sorry groove; and Fred MacMurray plays the cad, a role he had patented prior to his My Three Sons days. As usual in Wilder every character actor and their act is a small jewel.

This film has one of the best endings that I have ever seen (spoiler warning). After nearly two hours of the Apartment Theme (which is not bad at all) the music swells and crescends and accelerandos as MacLaine runs to meet Lemmon only for it all to crash at the peak of excitement. Then, we have the real climactical moments; a gin game. A Wilder ending, indeed.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix 5.

REDUNDANT

I don't suppose there is any use in re-posting the 'Bushisms' website; anything collected there is merely competing with the day's quotes from Crawford where he now seems to reside full time. On the other hand it is a nice 'historical document' and you know how much the bushies like those.

So, just in case you miss something, here it is again for your own delectation or horror or both: Bushisms. It is not quite Chairman Mao's Little Red Book of aphorisms; but, as monkeys type novels, it may be that someday there will be enough nuggets in all the volumes (three so far) to get enough distilled wisdom for one small pamphlet. No wonder he fears going off the written script.

I ON THE NEWS All revised 16:00 PDT

Push: It is interesting to me that the bushies seem to operate behind the curve. When push comes to shove, they relent and do what they should have done before. Rice cannot testify; furies are unleashed; Rice testifies; memo is suppressed; furies are unleashed; memo is declassified; junior is disengaged and is driving Repubs nuts with his passivity; he relents and has a press conference live tonight. This is not necessarily the work of smart operatives. It is covering their asses. The real problem is that there is no government and no initiative for the work that has to be done. Ashes: News is that Ashcroft gets really bad reviews in the draft from the 9-11 commission for his pre attack non interest in terrorism. He was too busy thinkin' about going after the porn merchants and other right wing obsessions is my guess. Robert Scheer brings up another theory in today's Op Ed page in the The LATimes (link upper right). He sees it the problem as their obsession with the 'war on drugs' which even took the Taliban into the tent to quell the dread poppy crop. Ashcroft will be on the griddle. Maybe he is the throw-away fall guy on all this. Sure is beginning to look like it. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella'. Freeh at Last: Which brings us to the colossal ego of Louis Freeh (ex FBI chief) who will appear before the panel today to defend himself. He just couldn't wait; so excited to participate that he Op-Eded his self defense in the Wall Street Journal (link upper right) yesterday. To pre-empt any nasty oppo from the committee? Louis is a first class me-firster and self-promoter. Chumps: Why are we backing this guy Chalabi? The Pentagon's favorite horse in the race for post-US leadership in Iraq. He has his fingers everywhere. His son is to be the new defense minister. He has the Hussein secret files to work his evils with. We gave them to him! Keerist! Evidently, he is the source of advice in going after the radical sheik Sadr. How dumb can we be? This shit has happened over and over. We always back the most vile and corrupt local to do our dirty work and the puppet ends up working the strings. Chalabi isn't even a local. He left Iraq when he was 12 and just returned last year at 61. He is rejected by all the leaders there. This is so dumb even I saw it coming a year ago.

Re-DUCKS

OK. So we did 'Duck and Cover' the other day; and, today, I found the film archives Duck and Cover Commercials.

The source is interesting. You might want to bookmark The Prelinger Archives; public domain films and commercials.

KILLER!

Today's Movie: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS(1997); NOT a NYT1000Best; but not a bad 'B' picture either. We liked it a lot. Obviously, it was suggested by the previous day's movie (see below). The action is fast and the effects are pretty good. It has a lot of laughs which both divert attention from plot holes (not many) but also from the gore which at some levels is both repellant and cheesy. There will be no bad dreams from this one.

The kids are cute and a bit sexy. I have to admit that some fuzzy thinking led me to expect another film; AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. I will have to make amends for this to John. Actually, both are written by John Landis and 'LONDON was done earlier--1981. This one must be a 'cash in on the franchise if any' move. There were no thirds. 'LONDON is a great film and a lot of fun and probably better than this one. We are going to see it soon. It is fifth in the queue right after some serious shit like APOCOLYPSE NOW.

It is my intention to break up the long march of 1000 Best Films with both short and long vacations. This was a short break. One day. Tomorrow; on with the big show. We have comedies and musicals just now, so we don't need too much down time from the high ahhhht cinemah or, for that matter, the serious shit.

KELLY!

Today's movie: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS(1951); NYT1000best; 7 Oscars; Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron (her first movie); Vincente Minnelli directed; we sat and, at times, wept at the golden years when musicals were full and happy and abundantly satisfying. Kelly was an artist of considerable skill in the three key areas: dancing, singing, and acting. Here he brings all three together in tight focus. All the music is Gershwin and not all the obvious hits! Oscar Levant appears as the best friend and plays some mean piano; perhaps for the last time on film or anywhere, as he soon lapsed into his neurotic haze. They always needed a piano guy and after that it was Jose Iturbi and the like.

The ballet stuff is a bit forced for me and, had he been alive, I am not sure Gershwin would have thanked them for the hash they made of his Suite of the same name. It is a good thing that Minnelli, Kelly, and Caron distract us with the show. But, if Gershwin had been alive, he would have done it for them. So we have to do with second best. It is all great stuff and well worth a 5 out of the Netflix5; a home run.

We are going to see Gene Kelly again in SINGING IN THE RAIN, another 1000Best; thought by many to be the best musical ever, hence best Kelly film ever. I do not know. I would love to see the man in anything, anywhere, any time. We both have a huge cinecrush on him. We notice everything. His clothes are always perfection. Watch his pant cuffs (up or down) and white sox. He rolled the pants up and showed the sox to make us watch his feet. When he is with others, try to watch their feet. It is impossible, even when they are all doing the same step. When the cuffs are down, we watch his body; a whole different thing.

Incidentally, he was the only musical star that was a hunk. They tried to put some non-dancer/singers, who were lookers, into leading roles or as walkers for the women; Fernando Lamas comes to mind; but that was clearly for the look not the talent. Name any of the other male hoofers who look as good as Kelly; I mean sexy. See? I told you. I am told that a lot of women thought Astaire to be sexy. It must be a hetero thing. For me, he always has to work against 'type'. He often succeeds but, as often, flops at the end of the dance into the old shlemiel look. Not that there is anything wrong with looking like a shlemiel, if you are one; but he was not supposed to be.

LONGBEACH

I went to Long Beach yesterday and spent the day with Randy. I had a great getaway time. I left at 5 and got there at 7AM in time for lengthy tour of Randy's new condo--a hit!--breakfast at The Garden and then we walked: to the refurbished downtown with a rehabbed mall area that even has its own WalMart and Albertsons SuperMarket; thence to The Pike; a totally new rehab area built on the site of the old Amusement Park. This section is contiguous with the Convention Center and the northern beach where the Aquarium and the Queen Mary development are located. It is a great place to walk and people watch and the fountain at the Aquarium is back in business. It was being refurbished last time I was there

Then we walked the length of the beach south to Belmont Shores; quite a hike, but necessary for me to get my beach-fix. Lunch at Chucks Coffee Shop (Locally World Famous and Home of the Weasel--we havn't figured either of those out and forgot to ask Tom who hangs there); where you can get the best turkey burger you would ever want if you wanted one; we did. Thence onward back north via Broadway and a return to Randy's place. We arrived at 2 PM. So take two hours out for eating and pee stops and we basically walked at a sorta-brisk pace about four hours continuous. Nice.

Nap, hookup with Tom and dinner at Ambrosia which is a semi Greek Restaurant nearby. Great evening, early bed and headed back to PS at 6AM this morning. Got here 745. Whirlwind and wonderful. Thanks Randy.

ON THE LINKS

Tom Schaller hits it hard again today in Daily Kos; link to the upper right. See Active tense, passive approach by Tom Schaller: Posted Sun Apr 11th, 2004 at 11:55:55 EDT. Part One: I am not as concerned about whether Rice was telling the truth or not as whether SHE THOUGHT she was telling the truth! Over and over, the bushies seem to be in a daze of denial. They continue to say the same things and reassert even disproven concepts. Zomboid.

In the second part, Schaller touches on the news we have been having all week (I have seen it five or six times in non-political media) about how many days bush has vacated this year either in Crawford or camp david. Here we have an interview from a golf cart. Not unknown for a President but perhaps a bit laid back for a week in which we have lost two cities in I-rak and added a good percentage to the list of the dead who he doesn't like to mention too too much.

There was also a disturbing opinion piece in the LATimes today (again link to the upper right) about bush' christian-driven 'crusade'. This was written by some Hoover Institute guys who do not even seem bothered by the scarey born-again mode. Junior figures that since all the terrorism is 'anti-christian' so should be the anti-terrorism. He is acting on god's will. Wait a minute! Hold on. And they say this right out? I figured it but not that it was a given creed. We were even treated to his morning bible readings and how they guide his comments in the day.

Let's see. What else is bothering me? In the same Kos as cited above, keep scrollin'. See: Iraq revisited by DemFromCT Sun Apr 11th, 2004 at 14:21:27 EDT. I thought that Bremer was the one guy who might be plodding along in the right direction much of the time; and now, it seems that everyone is backing away from his decision to close down the Shiite newspaper and go after the radical sheik (get it? radical chic? Not funny at all in the context, huh?).

In a lighter, more serious humorous vein, I am amused to see how Andrew Sullivan continues to stand on his head turning dark to light and failure into success; gold from lead with his little alchemistry kit. If you want to see the wand at work go to the link upper right; but I warn you. He will send you running with the twists and turns. Andrew is all right on the gay stuff and some of his rants about the fallible left; but he sure has his head up his ass these days about Iraq and the bush league guys.

Note:

No postings for April 10th. I am off to Long Beach for the day to see Randy's new condo!

Back in time for the egg hunt easter morning.

PREMINGER

Revised 7 PM: added Saul Bass site in para 3.

Today's movie; Anatomy of a Murder (1959); NYT1000Best; we know who dunnit; we don't know if James Stewart can get him off. This is long long long. I was brought up on 90 minute films so........I will allow two hours; but this is 160 minutes and I stayed.

Otto Preminger had an up and down career and was notable more for the topics that he tackled than the quality of the films although sometimes he hit the bullseye with both arrows. That is the case here. Bullseyes! This one is about rape, wife battering, and insanity defenses. For its time, it was very daring. And it is still riveting; although its adherence to legal niceties is pretty thin.

Preminger did a first class job all the way; spare no expense and managed everything including the marketing of his pictures. He sought strong publicity. His use of Saul Bass graphics was extensive and Bass was a 'name' in his time. See Saul Bass on the Web. It is a great "tribute site"; I guess like a tribute band; she uses all kinds of Saul Bass devices to show off Saul Bass' work.

A neat trick here, is that the judge is none other than Joseph N.Welch; the attorney who nailed Joe McCarthy in those Senate Army/McCarthy Hearings in 1954. When I was a senior in high school we took a trip to Washington D.C. and when I had free time, I went and stood outside the place the hearings were held. I saw Welch and many other principals leave. It was pretty thrilling stuff for an 18 year old hick kid.

So it was all a kick and I heartily recommend the movie whether you know who Joseph N. Welch is or not. The film has great turns by Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott, Arthur OConnell and Eve Arden, god bless her. I give it a 4 out of a Netflix5.

FRIED RICE

Here is my take on yesterday's Rice testimony: she was a consummate game player; surround-sound. She was a wall of sound with words and figures of speech which left the listener in a backwash of 'what?'. This is always effective when under interrogation; put them to sleep; confound them metaphor; make them think that you might be smarter than they are.

Now, there are those who will defend this new mandarin-speak as reflective of the complex world of national security and I can only say that if Condi talks to junior this way, there is no chance that he will understand squat. No wonder everyone sat around reading reports. They were waiting for the frat prez to get through the prose.

I await the long suppressed 080601 memo from the CIA that entitled: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. It is not a good sign when a performance designed to put doubt to rest raises new dust.

2/3dFILLED

I went and got the first two of three fillings done today. Doctor Mike told me, a while ago, that I would not have any more cavities; I was too old for it. Finally; something that I am too old for that is a good thing. He did fail to mention, or I failed to hear, that there would be many old fillings to refill; general deterioration of the infrastructure. I was lulled.

So, imagine my shock to hear that I would need three refills! Well. Naive, you might say; but shocked nonetheless. Tooth denial runs pretty deep as does my gum line. Someday he is going to tell me about that too; that the long-in-the-tooth thing has progressed too long; time to go the falsie route. Not today.<>Anyway, I was a good do-be and took my novocaine; didn't try to be any braver than necessary. Mike is pretty good, a painless shot, a serene dig, and, of all things a METAL refill. It seems that they 'used to' think plastic would be a good replacement for the old magnum; but no. Not in the molars. Too much action, heat, pressure.

Used to? Hell, I had all my metal replaced with plastic in the year or two before we moved out here; not even a decade. So I have now been the route from metal to plastic back to metal again all in one dental lifetime.

MOORE THAN EVER

Roy Moore, the Alabama Justice who got canned for installing and then fighting the removal of the ten commandments is back in the news again. See Slate's Timothy Noah Draft Moore: The Web Site. See Moore's website at Moore for President The idea is to make Moore bush's Nader. The crazies on the right would go for more and drain off just enough votes to kill any chance bush has.

It is pure folly of course, but then on second thought, why not? Eventually, the religious right is going to discover that bush is as wrong for them as for the rest of us; after all, a false prophet is without honor even in his own party wing. Moore tells us at his site What's wrong with george bush? This is really the best link. I have to say that I agree with a few of his points!

It is funny that the same day I saw this, Alex sent me the following e-bulkmail:

Despite how you may have personally felt about the issue, there was a good logical reason for removing the Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building. You cannot post things like "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery", and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

pol polls

Interesting. In the Washington Post Campaign Report (an email special) they point out that bush' ratings are down because of the Iraq situation and not because of the economy; where Kerry was thought to have the most leverage.

Kerry has not missed this. Today, he started in attacking the current plans to turn Iraq over June 30 (which will be purely ceremonial as we are not leaving or letting go of anything). He is also intensely critical of all the rest of the fantasy management decisions; how they are totally dissonant with the reality. I think Kerry really has traction on this.

Bush was going to be the strong war-time leader. Now he has what he wanted. The bushies never seem to get that gestures do not work. You gotta deliver. He chose his ground and the ground is slipping. Check out Kos (see link upper right) for Wednesday Polls and meta-polls and the meaning of it all.

And while the war opens up as a legitimate topic of debate, Kerry makes a thoughtful and coherent speech on the economy. The election 'war' now has two fronts.

DST

We are adjusting to the new time thing. It is not just a matter of light and dark; although that is enough to consider. Not to complain, of course. The idea of a longer twilight and a not-hot morning is just perfect for the desert. No. The problem is more dealing with time adjustments. First we have to remember how many clocks we have in the house (17 counting Woodie LeBaron which is unsettable and not counting John's many wristwatches) With the clock-timers on the sprinklers and pool, we have to rethink the settings because some things happen with the sun and not the time; solar heat, afternoon sprinkler best time. So we have to adjust two things. Blah blah. At least the computers adjust themselves!

Then there is adjusting the people and the dog. Franklin is ready for his walk at 1630 hours. Now, that means that we would be going out in direct sun. Not good. In direct sun, a pooch needs frequent lie-downs in the cool wet grass; and then, once relaxed, it is time for some rolling around and, if you can seduce them, some serious belly rubbing from the walkers. We avoid direct sun walks; they take too long and we lose our aerobics in dog play. So. It is not simply 'go to 1730 hours"; no. While we are adjusting to the simplicity of DST, we are also faced with a lengthening day. It is now still sunny at 1730. And, we eat at 1800. Not good for a one hour walk.

So here is the deal. The afternoon walk is now on it's summer schedule; postponed to after dinner or 1830; four hours after the time we have been going since this goddam time thing ended in October. From a dog's point of view this is an out of mean/average two hour delay. There is pouting, pacing, false starts at open doors, and do not even think about taking out a jacket. He is ready. Two hours of readiness

But, it will all work out. Even as I type, he is out chasing some birds in the bougainvillea and it is 17:11 hours. Not a sign of impatience. Change is accepted. Serenity returns.

Now. What do we do with the humans who are still having sleep problems?

NIGHT SONG

The mockingbirds are ramping up for their spring songfest; which is to say that it is their mating time. We have the benefit of their day song all year; except for a few cold weeks in December, when they take a short trip south. In spring, they work the swing shift too!

Normally, birdsong is territorial: "I am here, you are there; let's keep it that way". When the juices flow, it is all about dating and the eventual love thing. With the mockers, the most attractive singer gets the first dance; and, what is more, he is most likely to succeed in taking his lady home and staying for breakfast. The girls are very demanding. I have watched a pair work at their negotiation for much of an afternoon. Interestingly, the female has no song. She just does a loud and disapproving squawk.

The guys work hard at it and practice a lot. When Franklin and I get up around 3 AM there are a one or two of them out there rehearsing. By the time we are out and back and getting set up in the house for our breakfast, they are all atwitter. And they are loud! I think our lights and noises get them started; and I have been known to throw a whistle or two into the mix. That can really get things going.

It has occurred to me that, if I do too much of that, I might find myself with a mockingbird girlfriend; but I do not think there is a risk. The guy's songs are very ornate; sometimes three, four and even five distinct phrases. It is original stuff. I assume that since the most musical dude wins the prize, the evolution of song skill has continued to grow with the generations. He who sings best sires the child. I could hardly approach that level of mocker-sophistication.

During the rest of the year, when things are more simple, the birds are susceptible to my whistles. I can get them to approximate my tune. They sometimes do this more accurately than the mynah bird down the street. S/he has a fairly fixed collection of set pieces which are learned over a long period and will improvise somewhat but only a small variation.

The mockingbird is a tough survivor. They can do the chase thing pretty well. I have seen a mockingbird oust a raven from its nest area. They are very aggressive. Franklin has learned that they are not at all intimidated by an airedale. They will wait for him to 'stalk' them and then just walk away. When he runs at them, they do a duck and dodge which is filled with cool detachment. They are uncatchable. No wonder they have lived so long and so well to have crafted the most beautiful songs. I can hear them now just jammin'. Tomorrow morning, we will get the concert.