esrosedotblog

SPANISH FLY

Look at these Spaniards run up the rainbow flag and let it fly: Spain Legalizes Same Sex Marriages.

And this is a country where, during Franco's regime, homosexuals were tortured and killed.

Note that in this very catholic country the church has no grip on the machinery of government; well, a loose one.

LONG LIVE THE KING

The trailer is here: Peter Jackson's King Kong.

MY FRONT PAGES

Boy look at this if you want to waste hours: Today's Front Pages—Newseum.

Yeh, I know that there are other pages like this but not like THIS.

Drag and drop.

Today it would seem that "everyone" got the same line out of bush; 'it's worth it'.

The sub-heads would indictate that some are dubious.

Anyway, what a great way to view the world. I got it from Kos.

BEST F'ING FILMS

Did you notice that we turned a corner today?

I am in the 'F's of the NY Times Best 1176 Films.

Time to refresh oldtimers and inform newcomers.

The New York Times movie critics have published two 'Best' lists in five years. The lists are not the same. Melded together they add up to 1176 films; hence the number.

Best of what? Best foreign and American films since sound.

What am I doing? I am watching them all!!!

Why? Because I like lists and am an obsessive person. Also, there are a number of films on this list (half? 558?) that I have never seen and a lot that I would like to see again.

This seemed like a good way as any to do it.

So. I am committed. Or obsessed.

And for the most part, I am committed enough to watch them all without exception.

Face/Off is the second film I have aborted. The first was Blue Velvet but at least with that one, I did the FF thing and dipped and looked as it 'unfolded'. It actually more or less regurgitated.

I have found that it is a mistake to skip because of 'feelings' about the film; even memories. I have surprised myself several times; so I march on relentlessly. John allows himself to not watch or to walk. I stay and watch. All of them. Except as I indicated.

You now know how bad I thought these were.

People ask me how near done I am. Well, I have seen three pages out of ten of the list.

That has taken a year I think. No MORE. I just looked. I started the alphabetical thing in March of 2004. So it has been a year and a quarter; fifteen months.

At this rate, I will be through the Best Films in 35 months; nearly three years; 2008.

It will probably be more because I will be interspersing with mini-festivals.

STONEWALLED II

Just in time for 'Pride Week': Same Sex Marriage Law Passes 158-133.

And passage in the Senate seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Oh!!! Canada!

INVERSE LOGIC

As far as I can tell, the busher has taken a negative and turned it into a positive. Or is trying to. An old ploy of the rove machine.

He has to keep the terror thing going because that is the only place he has reasonable poll numbers.

So, he has taken the unanticipated consequence of immigrant terrorists in Iraq as a rationale to stay there. The fucking terrorists are swarming to Iraq to get the evil christian satan. Or so he says kinda.

Turning the message around is always risky.

He said 'bring it on' and they did. Now he is saying that he can wipe out all the terrorists as they run into the busher's jets. He LURED them there by goddam.

Is everyone following this logic?

Oh my head is about to explode.

WHO'S WOO

I could only handle about half an hour of this picture: Face/Off (1997).

It is a John Woo thriller starring Travolta and Cage. Joan Allen is the wife. Right there we have an indication of how things are going to work. Joan is a sufferer.

The thing is about assumed identity. Travolta the cop assumes Cage's face to get Cage's brother to spill about where and how a bio-bomb will let go over LA.

Why is it always LA? What is it that makes us such a target? Are the villains all New Yorkers? Is that it?

Anyway, I could see the arc of the plot in the first half hour (there was a pretty wild chase scene to start the film off) and I wanted no part of it. I could see that Cage would then somehow get Travolta's face and then start harassing Joan Allen and that they would then meet in the middle somewhere.

I could also see the cute disparities in persona that each guy has in the beginning and could imagine each actor taking the other one's thing on.

Again. No thanks.

Did I mention that it begins with Travolta's terminally cute son getting shot on a carousel by Cage who is trying to hit Travolta. No I didn't. See. You won't want to watch it either.

I won't rate this when Netflix asks me.

How did it become a Best Film? Well it was only the first of two four-years-apart lists and I assume that some critic was still high on the bouncing cars and all. After four years, they bumped it for another current genré favorite which will not be on the next list they put out.

It is a nice poster though.

THE EYES HAVE IT

I went to the ophthalmologist's office today. (Don't you love that word? Did you know it had the -ph- in it?)

It was an annual checkup. Everything is 'fine' in the eyeball health department. The vision has actually improved. I am becoming less nearsighted!

By the time I am dead I will have 20/20!

Good news, bad news, unfortunately. That means that the correction in my glasses is no longer 'correct'. Actually, it has not been exactly correct for a few years.

My last glasses were three years ago. There has been a 'small change' three times. That now adds up to mean a large change in correction.

That means one hell of a lot of cash for new glasses.

I was asleep while all the 'improvements' came in; all those extras.

There is coating; there are better plastics; there is shining of the edge; there are titanium frames; and this time, there is (I was sold on) the continuous/no bifocal lens. No more pigeon-head correction for reading and computering.

I decided to go for it. I tried it many years ago and dumped it after a day (back when you could do that) but the guy convinced me the technology was a lot better. And one should give it a few weeks not a few hours.

And, of course, we need to have sunglasses and they must at least aspire to be fashionable.

The funny thing is that each of these improvements cost something. It adds and adds and adds. I can remember when glasses cost...........oh never mind.

There goes the budget for this month. Broke the bank.

SCHLOCKSTER

I am not upset by the Supremes giving content makers the right to sue the bejeezus out of the techies who make the machines and software to copy illegally.

I was in a copyright dependent business for many many years and we defended our rights vigorously. If we found something or someone with unlawful use we went after them. Letters, calls, threats.

I think that almost all the people we went after ceased and desisted. This approach was effective because no one, I mean no one, wanted to go to court.

Over time, the tightness of interpretation loosened. It started with the vast technologies of reproduction. People began to copy at less cost. People shaved the edges and renamed things. The longer our property was out there, the more likely it was to be stolen by inches.

Our defense then evolved into making updates and re-creating the material in less copyable form.

The battle never ended.

Now, is this right? To try to protect your property? Only someone who has no property or no creative product would say it was wrong. The freedom fighters over the copyright law have nothing and do nothing. They just want to use.

The defendants lost because they were blatant. They made no attempt to regulate or warn users. This is why the video tape machine makers were able to get by. They worked hard to keep people from using their machines illegally and were rewarded for the effort. These people have laughed in the faces of the creative community.

So I say hurrah to the Supremes who sang out yesterday. "Stop! In the name of love. Before you break my heart. Think it over"......... before you copy me or make loose with your techie shit.

BEAT THE DEVIL

I have waited for a long time, 32 years, to see The Exorcist (1973).

Now I can check it off my list.

I think that it is one of the NYTimes 1176 Best Films because it rings all the bells of its genré but that doesn't make it particularly a good film.

There are a lot of plot holes. Or missing pieces. Why does it start in the desert? What about the stuff the exorcist finds in the digs there. How come it is such a small world that he is the one called to clean out the mess. And all that.

It is like misdirection. The effects keep us from asking questions like 'why this kid'?.

The other thing is that they hired big stars to cover it.

I like Ellen Burstyn. That was a good casting decision for the mother. Max von Sydow was hamming it up as the exorcist. Not good. The walk through by Lee J. Cobb, a cop, is totally useless to the plot. He offers peace and tranquility. It is a sort of Colombo character who does nothing to advance the action. But he has so much good business and we are so happy to see him, it distracts from the central action.

Troubled priests. What a concept. They all look like they are over the edge. Even the higher ups.

I liked it and didn't like it.

I didn't find it scary but I admired the technical stuff. Partly this is the trouble of 'hearing about it' over the years. I have to say that I am still a lot more upset about seeing William Dafoe get his thumbs chopped off the other day than I am an hour later after seeing Linda Blair vomit pea soup.

I am going to give it a 2 out of Netflix5 so that they don't put stuff like this in my 'recommendations' algorithm.

STONEWALLING IT

Yesterday and today are the 36th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, NY.

I was still working my way out of the closet at this point. The feelings that I had about the riots were quite profound.

I did not want to be a part of it, but then, I felt that I was a part of it whether I wanted to be or not. I knew that nothing would be the same afterwards.

Of course, this was not an immediate reaction. It took a little time. Blood had been drawn in a battle that was for me as well as countless others.

A lot has happened since that time: to me; to the countless others; to the world.

I never imagined that things would change so much. This is proof of our inability to scan the future from present events. The idea that only 30 years later, we would be arguing the merits of gay-marriage is radical from the point of view of the 60s. And yet today, it is an issue of daily discourse. We are the news as much as any other event or situation.

They are passing constitutional amendments against us now. In one way, it is amusing to see. In another, tragic.

I will go for 'amusing'.

This is the season of what has come to be known as the 'pride' season. 'Pride' has become a noun. "Are you going to Pride"? I think this is partly as we are not 'gay' any more. We are a bunch of initials.

I don't know how this came about, but there it is. GLBT and god only knows what else? A strange umbrella. We are assuredly not the same. In fact we are often, wildly in opposition to one another. But, I guess we are all 'proud'. Some days, I am not sure.

I have to say that I don't like it. I have never joined the bigger club. I am a a gay man and that is that. If that sounds like intolerance and geezerism, so be it.

The events surrounding this anniversary are wide and varied. They range from the serious to the absurd.

I guess that is as it should be. It is an absurdity to seek basic rights in this way. But, again, here we are. That is the way it is happening.

My first gay pride parade was in Boston and there may have been a few hundred people; just marching. Chanting. No floats. No sponsored group. No fee to walk in the parade. Shit, there were more fairies on the sidewalks watching and tut-tutting than there were in the parade. It was a little scary.

I remember going from happy friendly Charles Street to less and less happy austere Cambridge Street through the canyons of the business district. There was that turn where I always expected 'something' to happen. It never did. There was no violence. It was very benign.

I get a bit nostalgic for 'the old days' but then that is as it should be too. The current problems are always upsetting and the pain of the past is forgotten in the haze of happy success that has happened; to all our surprise.

The past is prologue.

BUILDUPrevised 062905--see Grissom

Today, we had the long buildup towards an Escape From Alcatraz (1979).

I say that because the escape is almost anti-climactic in this Clint Eastwood thriller.

We get a great story of how it is to enter and survive in the most impenetrable fortress of a prison--that is 'out' not 'in' impenetrable. Eastwood is perfect for this; sardonic, tough, very very intelligent.

The characters and drama are vivid and clear and very engaging. There is the sadistic warden, the old guy who has a mouse as a pet, the black king of the mountain who Eastwood comes to befriend, the haplessly unfortunate bully who plans to make Clint his punk, and even the old con who is a painter and raises flowers. I know. It sounds like a cliche; and it is, yet, in the hands of Don Siegel, it works.

We also have Fred Ward, a favorite, as one of the escapees. Love to watch Fred. He is little. One of his best films was Miami Blues, an Elmore Leonard adaptation. He had to play half the film without his false teeth. I know. It doesn't sound that hot but Fred Ward is.

He was also Gus Grissom in The Right Stuff. (Paul corrected this for me. I had it down as the Apollo picture. I always get them confused).

What else? I liked it. Not as much as to make it a Best Film which it is on the NYTimes 1176 list. But I will make it a 3 out of a Netflix5.

SCIENCE CLASS

More about Scientology:
Scientologists vs. Psychiatrists: Why they don't get along.

BIDEN MY TIME

More about the candidacy of the gutless wonder and acommodator
Clueless Joe.

My campaign season starts early.

REVIEWS

I come late to the Amazon Book Reviews of Henry Raddick.

Sadly, Raddick has retired but his reviews live on.

I suggest browsing through the pages.

I had already learned that mocking reviews are fun to read and do on the 'Zon. But, Raddick is the champ.

MEMORY

So we have another WWII film today but not really. We watched the Best 1176 Film The English Patient (1996).

We did not see this when it was around for some reason.

I think the reviews were mixed and in those days there was no way I would go see a film that took as long as this one does; 161 minutes. I forget why I had this bias. It might be that I was brought up on the 90 minute standard or it was just too long to go without a smoke or, perhaps, I just was too antsy and impatient. A character defect that I still hang on to.

Nevertheless I sat through this and got two hours before I took a pee break. That is the other thing. I would need a trolleyman's friend in a real movie house.

Why am I going on like this? So off the subject.

Because the film is indescribably wonderful and layered and complex and defies easy summary. It is based on memories in fragments. And it is a puzzle. It has been said that it is too complex for one viewing but I think that is not the case. We both got it. But you do have to work with it.

It is based on a book that I could not get through. If I remember, I tossed it across the room after about a tenth had been worked through. Like I said, impatience. Good, they made it into a film. Compared with the book this was easy.

I am not a big fan of actresses per se but this film has two who I like a lot: Kristin Scott Thomas and Juliette Binoche.

Then there are the men headed by Ralph Fiennes. Oddly, he does not make my heart sing, but he is a great actor and is beyond excellent in this.

I am going to give this a 5 out of Netflix5. That should be enough. I do not have to describe the indescribable.

WAR KIDS

In one of those odd Netflix/Best Film coincidences, we have just seen two films that concern the impact of WWII on young boys. They share an alphabetical connection.

Empire of the Sun and Europa Europa chronicle the extraordinary skill and resilience of two young men in the face of sudden catastrophe, loss and extraordinary hardship.

I was the same age as these kids during WWII. There is not a doubt that the experience was traumatic. Yet, by comparison my own experience would appear somewhat trivial.

Yet, in our own minds, we do not compare in the midst of unsettling events. My father went away for three years and came back mentally affected. It took him decades to shed the upset of his experiences; North Atlantic winters on a small ship and later kamikaze attacks in the waning Pacific campaign.

For our part, my Mom and I endured rationing. We saved tin cans and grease and couldn't use the car much. We got puffy from the carbo loading of our diet. I got scarlet fever and my mother had to handle it all. We had no anti-biotics; it was frequently fatal. I remember being pretty sick. They had to burn everything I had touched and we were quarantined.

But that didn't have a lot to do with the war, even though I have folded it into my wartime memories.

No one shot at us or took us prisoner. No one was tortured. We didn't lose our home or our country.

It is hard to dredge up the memories now. As we get older we mostly forget pain. A good thing.

It was good to see these films and know that each of the boys grew to be productive men who were able to write about their experiences in a compelling way.

Good powers of example; no matter how severe our experiences might have been.

IDENTITY

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Europa Europa (1990).

A Jewish kid, caught in the chaotic early stages of WWII, gets thrown into a series of escapes and near misses as he heads east toward the Russian front then back west to the German side, all the while attempting to hide his identity as a Jew; most notably, his circumcision.

The use of this pivotal device, so to speak, adds to the humor as well as the suspense. Well, it is totemic isn't it?

It is the crux of his identity. He is not religious but he does feel the bond of brotherhood. He is a Jew through and through.

Sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes horrific, sometimes sad and terminally upsetting, this autobiographical tale makes for quite a good movie.

The boy who plays Simon, Marco Hofschneider, is great to watch. Julie Delpy of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset plays a small and important role here. She is one of the threats to circumcision exposure.

The last scene in this picture is worth the wait. I will not spoil it for you. Get the disc.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

OH TOMMY!

I know that Tom Cruise is out there making a fool of himself but I never saw the Oprah show where he did the wild thing.

Finally, we have it available: Tom Cruise Kills Oprah.

Stop this guy before he hurts someone else. He is fucking out of control.

That Scientology is scary stuff.

There are a lot of views about Scientology. Here is another one.

And now that you have heard the other side, here is the official version.

Why am I afraid that they will plant cookies on my Mac? Or are already sending a squad out to zap my site. Or me?

All I know is that these are the cats who used to walk up to us on Boylston Street and ask if we wanted to take a 'personality test'. The test still lives on their site.

Maybe they are still walkin' Boylston Street too.

OUTTA CONTROL

Andrew Sullivan today on the thug karl rove:

ROVE: It seems to me that Karl Rove's sickening generalization about "liberals" in the war on terror is revealing in ways not obviously apparent. Sure, there were some on the hard left who really did jump to blame America for the evil perpetrated by the monsters of 9/11. I took names at the time. But all "liberals"? The New Republic? Joe Lieberman? Hitch? Paul Berman? The Washington Post editorial page? Tom Friedman? Almost every Democrat in the Congress who endorsed the war in Afghanistan? You expect that kind of moronic extremism from a Michelle Malkin, but from the most influential figure in an administration leading a country in wartime? Ok, ok, I'm not surprised. Rove is a brutal operator. But to my mind, the hysterical attacks on Durbin and now this outburst (and the White House's subsequent endorsement of it) are an indication of some level of panic. We face at least three more grueling years of warfare in Iraq with our current troop level, and it's not at all clear that the public is prepared to go along with it, given the incremental progress we are making. Rove knows this. He also knows that the haphazard way in which the White House prepared for the war, its chronic under-manning of the occupation, its failure, as Abizaid conceded yesterday, to make any progress against the insurgency over the past six months despite the enormous psychological boost of the January election: all these have made the administration unable to really shift the blame. Rove's strategic decision to make social security reform the center-piece of the second term has also, shall we say, not gone according to plan. So what to do? You do what you always do. You create a scenario in which you cannot be out-demagogued. You deflect from the awful fall-out from the decision to exempt terror suspects from bans on cruel and inhumane treatment to a senator's analogy to the Gulag. And instead of leveling with the country about the real difficulty of the war we're in, acknowledging error and sketching a unifying vision for winning, you divide the country into good folk and "liberals" and hope it works as well as it always has. If you want to know how well the administration really believes the war is going, listen to their rhetoric. And start worrying.

WINDED

I wonder if we are the only dog-owners to take their pooch for a ride on a regular basis; at least twice a week.

It came about this way.

On Tuesday's and Friday's we leave the Jeep out on the street to make room for service people to get their gear up close to the house.

Then, when that is finished, we put the Jeep back.

Well, you can't just go and move the thing. The dog has to go along. A ride around the block is fun.

Then it got bigger. We noticed that Franklin likes the wind. All dogs do.

We won't let him hang his head out a window but there is enough room to get a good mouthful if he stands close.

He has also found the exact point where the wind from all the windows hits in the back (seats are down). A formula: Maximum Wind Velocity=Where Franklin is sitting.

So, we started going for more than a block; getting up speed to get Franklin some high speed air. That was fun; so we made the loop even longer; a couple of miles; ten minutes.

I know. Nothing for old men to do but putter and spoil their dog.

But there is something about watching him luxuriate in the wind. Now that it is hot, he even likes the oven-effect of dry 8% humidity heat at 105-110 across his snout.

It is all very amusing. And very inexpensive entertainment.

Movies cost 10.00 now. Well, geezers pay 6.00 but still.

15

It didn't turn out this way for me and that is OK, but boy oh boy, I would have liked to have some of this advice when I was 15.

If one of my grandchildren or any other kid is dealing with this now I hope that they could read this (strong elbow nudge to my kids).

Do As I Say

Advice from older gay men and women to 15 year olds who think or know they are gay.

And take a look at the on-line additions too.

This is from Dan Savage who has written more useful stuff for all sexualities than any other writer. I think.

Actually, all of us can benefit from a visit to Dan's weekly column; if not for ourselves directly, then for increasing our acceptance and understanding for others.

He is also, happily, irreverant, kind, and very witty; an unusual combination. Quite winning. It is hard to develop a consistent written persona and he does remarkably well at it.

OUR LADY OF TOASTMASTER

Has the pope heard about this new shroud of Turin thing? See
Jackson's Face Appears On Toast.

Incidentally, this is not one of those Onion things. This is for very so real.

MORERevised 062305

Empire of the Sun still lingers in the mind.

I even had it going last night during the night.

I did not mention that the story is written by Tom Stoppard from an autobiographical novel by J.G. Ballard. I think this is a very important part of the film's success; the writing.

It would be so easy to veer off the road into maudlin sentimentality on one side or mean torturous agony on the other. They hew a fine course of believability and solid dramatic impact.

I am going to try to get the book. Ballard became a very successful writer with many books still in print.

His Crash was made into a film by David Cronenberg in 1966.

Dave corrected my earlier assertion that this is the more recent film with the same name.

The Ballard one stars James Spader and, as I remember from the reviews, is pretty weird and gross. I think I will start with the book after I read Empire.

BALE BONDS

We saw Empire of the Sun (1987).

It is some picture! We had forgotten how powerful.

The main thing about it is the first appearance of Christian Bale as a young Brit lost from his family in Shanghai in WWII. You can see the expert adult actor in the boy's performance.

We also see John Malkovitch, Joe Pantoliano, Ben Stiller, Natasha Richardson and others just starting out their careers.

It is a strong 5 out of Netflix5.

They say it is Spielberg's overlooked film. Too bad. It is one of his finest, I think. Certainly beats what we see from him now.

It is way big in scale but the people are in strong focus. It is really a series of vignettes; a coming of age, loss of innocence picture. The story is simple. Boy lost, boy survives, boy found. It is the journey that matters, not the destination.

Did I say it was a FIVE! Yesss.

How many kid actors have succeeded as adults? I draw a blank. There are a lot that started working young in commercials and light parts. I mean kids who had a starring role as a kid. Not Macaulay Culkin. Not Haley Joel. Well, Natalie Wood. But that is a long time ago.

CUT

Novel approach to cost control (WSJ):

Anesthesiologists' Path to Lower Premiums
Anesthesiologists pay less for malpractice insurance today than they did 20 years ago, mainly because they chose a path many doctors did not: Rather than push for legal protections against patient lawsuits, they focused on improving patient safety.

BIDEN MY TIME

Just what the Demos need; Joe Biden for Prez.

How smooth was it to dis Howard Dean and then let out the news that he is running? Obviously to let us know that he will be in the middle.

And I sure hope that is where this pompous windbag stays; right in the middle or back of the pack.

Tedious. Sanctimonious. Boring. Full of himself.

Surely we can do better than that.

Well, I am not sure it is 'we' anymore but as long as Dean is doing the Chairman thing I am with them.

Besides, there is no other team. As yet.

Fightin' Joe. Look at those cufflinks.

THE LONGEST DAY

Today and tomorrow mark the Summer Solstice. At precisely 1:48 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time on June 21 (9:48 p.m. Eastern on June 20), the rays of the sun will be perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer at 23°30' North latitude.

Thus, the earth's "circle of illumination" will be from the Arctic Circle on the far side of the earth (in relation to the sun) to the Antarctic Circle on the near side of the earth. The equator receives twelve hours of daylight, there's 24 hours of daylight at the North Pole and areas north of 66°30' N, and there's 24 hours of darkness at the South Pole and areas south of 66°30' S.

June 20-21 is start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere but simultaneously the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It's also the longest day of sunlight for places in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day for cities south of the equator.

I copied all this from about.com's writeup on the solstice. I didn't know any of this. And I am not too sure of it now. You will have to go there to get the complete lowdown. We would be in the Los Angeles breakdown. You will be where you are. Like you are now. The same place. Unless you are near here too. Then you can look at LA.

Just to complicate it further, we have shorter days than Los Angeles because we live here next to the mountain. Our sun goes 'down' about two hours earlier than LA. So I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about any of it.

Why is this important? Well, we walk the dog when the sun goes down so we have to keep shifting the second p.m. walk time to get the best advantage with other household activities.

Right now, we are at the period when we walk after dinner. Not ideal. Well it is good for digestion but it is kinda late. I go to bed at 8pm. In the winter we are walking him at 3pm. See?

You really don't want to hear all this do you.

Me neither.

JAMES DEAN

Today's Best NYTimes 1176 Film is pretty good.

But the main thing about East of Eden (1955) is the James Dean show that is its centerpiece.

Dean breathes oxygen into an adaptation of the Steinbeck novel. And Elia Kazan lets him have his head.

Dean was a method actor and is all tics and small moves. He steals every scene, yet it all works.

We lived through the Dean phenomenon and it is good to see that we were not kidding ourselves. He still gets the heart racing. You will not be able to keep from watching him.

The story is timeless. It is the Cain and Abel tale brought to California's central valley. It is spare and clear and except for a little anti-war rant, it moves right along.

Richard Davalos is Dean's brother and they are pretty good together. Davalos is strong enough to keep balanced with Dean.

Julie Harris is a weak reed in this. She slows down every scene she is in. It is hard to see her as anyone's love interest. The older actors Raymond Massey and Jo Van Fleet more than hold their ends up. A thinner Burl Ives hangs out as a sort of greek chorus.

It is fun to see how 'Cinemascope' take itself very very seriously. They wanted to out-do television and this was one approach.

They tried to take serious works and adapt them. This film would be an example.

They tried to focus on the sound breakthrough with special effects and music. There is an overture in a less than two hour film.

They wanted an 'in your laps' effect. Kazan is probably being pushed to do a lot of camera things that simulate 3-D. All rather pretentious and tarted up but the story still works.

Cinemascope only lasted a short time, buy it was a breakthrough in sight and sound presentation. The stereophonic sound it introduced became a basic staple of all film 'improvements' thereafter. Every theater that took the Cinemascope lens also had to install stereo speakers.

The 'sight' part was a simple optical trick that used an ultra-wide angle lens to squash the image onto a standard 35mm frame. It required a special projector lens to 'unscramble' the image in the theater.

The lens arrangement was imperfect; blurred at the edges and was soon eclipsed by other, more effective, big screen approaches. And, since the hardware was in place for stereo sound, the stage was set for the sonic revolution that we know of today.

I don't want to get off on a tangent here but I believe that this sound thing opened many, many doors. There was no stereo in the home in 1955. There was only the beginning of 'hi-fi'; high quality monaural reproduction. I remember going to hi-fi shows in Boston while I was in school and marvelling at the big speakers; the turntables; the tuners.

Another aspect of the stereo thing was that it introduced me to the first classical music I ever heard. Light classical, but classical nonetheless.

I went to Stroudsburg PA to see my first Cinemascope movie. The equipment had just been installed there. I don't even remember the feature. But there was a short with the Polovetzian Dances; chorus and orchestra. I was captivated. I have never ever heard anything like this. So I got the music bug and the stereo bug at the same sitting.

Oh. What about East of Eden. Today's movie!

We liked it a lot.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

IN SHORT ORDER

You know that I dearly love Dan Neil who started as the auto-feature-writer on the LA Times and has gotten a Pulitzer for it.

He still does that column and has started a weekly column in the magazine section called 800 Words.

He is as good in general as he is on cars; funny, ironic, well written. It is an interesting exercise to keep it at 800.

This week it is about short order cooking: Cooks on Fire.

I did short order cookery when I was in college. I understand all of the stuff he is talking about.

I think that I could still do it. I know the fundamentals: timing, thinking ahead to the next step, lock step routine, and 'clean as you go'.

I lasted two years. I was in the middle of the pack in terms of keeping up and not making any errors. I made great eggs. I never had to do with freshening the hollandaise though. That is high end short order. I suppose eggs benedict.

Neil mentions St. Lawrence who, as it turns out, was slow broiled for his saintly goodness. I nominate him as the patron saint of short order cooks.

BALLET

Gotta take a look at this dance!

Thanks to the Internet Weekly Report.

DAD'S DAYRevised Sunday morning-twice.

I want to get my licks in early. Before I sit back and wait for my kids to call me!

It will be my Dad I will be thinking of tomorrow. Well, a little about myself. Being a dad is a pretty good thing too.

My father and I got 'over it' before he passed 17 years ago and with some time to spare! A lot of sons don't get to do that.

I was with him as near the end as I could get. I was able to tell him it was OK to let go.

I focus on the end because it created a space where freedom arises. That freedom allows me to live with all of it; the good times and the bad.

I would hate to say that I 'forgive' my father for anything. I know he would feel the same. We both did what we had to do and sometimes it rubbed the other harder than we either would have liked. But, that is life and living isn't it?

Now, I can remember the times he tried to get me to go fishing with him and like it and not wince.

I can remember the fights about working; where and how. He had been a caddy so why wasn't it good enough for me?

I ended up working for him for five years. It was a good experience for both of us. We finally got to understand that, while we were different, we could meet in the middle and do very well together there.

Then, there was the thing about being gay. That took a long time. I remember when he met John for the first time. Somehow they connected as Navy men and within an hour were poring over my dad's WWII photos. They became friends.

Years later, he told me that when it came down to it, he was pleased to see that I was happy. A nice resolution. He didn't need to be convinced. He had his own yardstick on the value of things.

Stuff like that. If there was any lingering 'stuff', it has been unloaded long ago.

I wanted him to be different too. Not so rough and tough. I didn't like that he went off to war when he didn't really have to. He was too old. He later made amends to me about that.

I more than accepted.

He told me when he was in Boston and I had taken him to the place my mom and I used to stay when we visited him between North Atlantic crossings. He was a radar man on a destroyer escort; a tin can.

I laughed and told him that if he hadn't been in the Navy I would never have gone to Boston where I lived most of my life. He gave me the gift of my very own city.

There are a lot of men who may consider themselves self-made; an image that lacks some humility. My dad; he was self made.

He never got beyond 8th grade in school. He had a hard life. And he never let those circumstances get him down. He ended up on the local school board for a number of years and had a lot of success in his just barely white-collar job as a food store manager. But beyond that, he had wisdom beyond what one can get from school.

Yeh, we can smirk about the 'school of life' but it is there. It is real. It beats a lot of other educational institutions for practicality.

You can attend the 'school of life' or skip. Your own risk. My dad attended and learned and became a good and wise man as a result.

Most of all, what I am most grateful for, is that my dad taught me how to be a father.

What a gift. I don't know how well it all turned out on the other side. I know some of it and I am pleased. I never felt a lack for a model or a power of example when it came my turn to be a dad.

I used to be annoyed at being a 'junior'. Today I am proud to have the same name as my father. It helps me remember him and feel the love we had together.

PITT CRUISE

Frank Rich nails it in todays NYT: Two Top Guns Shoot Blanks.

I have been waiting for the ego-machine to get his comeuppance. It is time.

Did you notice they made Katy step down or put him on a box at the 'engagement' photos?

Just another illusion. That, along with the idea that he is a normal heterosexual, just doing his exuberant smiley thing.

Rich nicely segues into a critique of the bush reality show. It is all good.

TARZAN

I have been thinking about The Emerald Forest; the film that I saw the other day; Friday.

And not just about Charlie Boorman with his war paint and not much else.

I forgot to mention the Tarzan connection in my writeup.

It is sort of obvious; the same story arc, similar circumstances. The kid gets taken by the aboriginal tribe instead of monkeys.

Where I think they always had to push the Tarzan myth a bit because of the apes; squeeze out some more believability; this is not the case in this film.

There is a language. People from the outside including the boy's dad understand it.

The people who raise the kid have wisdom, dignity and grace. They are loving and highly skilled.

Late in the film we find that some other tribes have civilized and were able to do it. The language barrier is crossed. They are not stupid. They are well evolved.

Anyway, nice thoughts. It is still all a fantasy like situation even if it is based on a true story.

It lingers nicely in the mind. That usually gets a film a 5 out of Netflix5.

And while we are at it, I found out or remembered that Charlie Boorman is the best friend that traveled around the world on a motorcycle with Ewan McGregor.

Here's Charlie 20 years later. And Ewan. There is a DVD of the trip; The Long Way Round

MESSY

We are mostly used to films that hew a centerline and follow the conventions. Today's Best NYTimes 1176 Films film is not that way. It is way messy and while it gets there in the end, it meanders.

Enemies—A Love Story (1989) is a Paul Mazursky film based on an Isaac Beshevis Singer novel.

A concentration camp survivor who cannot make up his mind ends up with three wives. Don't ask. Go see.

Mazursky tries to keep the complexity and ambiguity of life rather than simplify it. While he succeeds, this does not always make the story easy to follow or identify with.

I am not sure how much I actually enjoyed it. I laughed and got 'worried' and all. But, then I would get impatient with the characters. I wanted them to get on with it.

Of course, that is just what they were doing; getting on with it. I was stuck in the conventions and not always willing to move along with them.

Another thing is that this film is relentlessly Jewish. That is not a bad thing but it is a cultural gap to get over at all times; accents, customs, that sort of thing. I am familiar with the conventions; the stereotypes. They are there. But there is also something deeper. I think that I would grasp it and then it would shimmer away.

The ensemble performances by Ron Silver, Lena Olin, Anjelica Huston, Margaret Sophie Stein, Alan King, and Mazursky himself are great.

The entire set design as well as costumes are incredible. I actually 'smelled' the streets and the Coney Island locations. They are richly genuine. Remember, that this is part of my time and I was close to it; late forties and fifties; New York City. There is a segment at a resort in the Catskills that might as well have been filmed right near my 'boyhood home' in the Poconos.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. We are having a good run here.

PAYBACK

Just when you think that they couldn't stoop any lower, they do a double dip bend and come up with something that doesn't even seem decently possible.

The mind boggles: Probe Sought in Terri Schiavo 911 Call.

They are without shame. And resolute in destroying those who sail against them.

Jeb. Pieface. It has to be in their genes.

OK. That felt good.

I got my invective out of the way.

Now let's see what a more reasoned NY Times had to say today: Politics and Terri Schiavo.

ECO-DAD

Today's Best NY Times 1176 Film can be seen as a coming of age film; an ecological tract; a son-dad movie; or the noble savage all rolled into one. And it is pretty good.

The 7 year old son of an engineer working to build a dam in the rain forest walks into the jungle and is 'stolen' by the 'invisible people'; an aboriginal tribe being edged out of their land.

John Boorman's The Emerald Forest (1985) is a thoroughly researched piece of work. Read the story at the link.

You need to bring a bit more than the usual 'suspension of disbelief' to this picture which, paradoxically, is based on a true story and actually has Boorman's son getting it on with being as much like a modern boy stolen by a primitive tribe as you can imagine.

When you think that we sit and identify with the most errant nonsense in many films that we see, it is weird that we would have trouble connecting with this one. How far we have come or gone?

There are times when the film has to cut to the chase as it takes a very long, peaceful time to evoke life in the forest. This is only a bit off putting as we want to have the crisis over anyway and get back to the way things were. Of course, this is a fantasy which cannot be fully realized. There is no way to go back. We can only make the most of what we have already fucked up.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

NUMBER TWO

We got another earthquake; same strength; further north; about as far away. You can see the last one in blue and yellow.

A trend?

VENOM

Every once in awhile we need to see some of the media elite eating their own.

A good place to look for it is with James Wolcott who dips them in acid scorn before taking a few bites and then throws them back in to marinate for awhile.

The Early Bird Gets to Squirm.

I just like the sheer exuberance of Wolcott's bite.

And I don't think much of Diane Sawer and her ilk either. So it is nice to see her get bit.

I saw the Imus tear down of Tucker Carlson. There is a clip if you want to see it. It is pretty good too.

I used to watch Imus at the gym and he mostly appalled me. But, I do like his brio.

WET

Today's movie has many things to recommend it.

It is a film adaptation of the first grown up paper back book that I ever bought for myself; I was 14. It turns out that it was a highly praised book by Nicholas Monsarrat. I lucked out.

This added to the punch when I saw the movie 4 year later. It really got to me.

My Dad had been on a destroyer escort as was my husband John only I didn't know the second part then.

It has Jack Hawkins, an actor long gone, who I adored. Father image.

And, it passed the acid test of having a real navy destroyer man watching critically without any adverse comment from start to finish. Now that is something.

The Cruel Sea (1953) (scroll down for the second review) is a less a story than a set of vignettes that capture naval life for the five year span of the war.

It expertly links these situations together to make for a quite emotional story of two men who manage to spend the entire war in service together.

There is an extensive use of film clips from the real war and they somehow fit in seamlessly. It is quite uncanny how they are able to make this work.

It is a NYTimes Best 1176 Film and I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

SCHIAVO

Where will all the christers and demagogues be when they get the news that, as predicted, Terri's brain was about as functional as a grapefruit?

You will not see or hear from them.

They have already made their points and, if you will remember, facts are of no importance.

The parents still deny the facts of the autopsy. Now, their life can continue to be all about Terri. Sad. Two more 'deaths'.

We knew this was going to happen. Well, not all of us.

They made their political mistake in the bright open sunlit air though. I wonder if they will be able to backtrack. God knows they have tried already. Bush says he won't change his mind but he never does. The shit.

Well, at least that is the end of that one.

Now there will be something else. They never rest.

SPARKLER

David Diamond, 89, Intensely Lyrical Composer, Is Dead

A lot of people have never heard David Diamond's work but every once in awhile you will catch it on one of the classical music stations.

I would imagine it would be one of those works that stop you in your tracks and has you asking who, what?

He fell out of fashion and then back in again. If this trajectory continues, he will be more popular dead than alive.

He out composed Copland with whom I have a long standing grudge. Diamond should have gotten the prizes. He was also out-gay where Copland was closet queer like Bernstein.

We live in a musical world that is parched with thirst for melody and song.

Listen for him. He is the one who will give you the goose flesh.

No. He is not related to Neil.

OK

I ordered the Tiger!

Done.

TWO-FER

Take a look at this double win: Airbase Hosts 1st Military Gay Wedding.

Those Canadians.

It's great!

TWINS

I am not sure why
Dead Ringers (1988) is one of the NYTimes 1176 Best Films.

It could be that Jeremy Iron's performance as the identical twins is carried out with meticulous detail so that we are always aware of which one he is playing.

It could be the terrific special effects that are used to carry off the dual scenes.

It might be because of the 'true-crime-story' base for the script. Could these guys have really pulled this off?

Dunno.

I am not even sure why I was glued to it.

The answer must be in the hands of the director David Cronenberg. He carefully builds the story to a walloping finish and when the film is done, we are limp.

But that still does not make it a great film. It is OK. An unusual horror flick along the lines of Frankenstein, if there were two doctors; a bit of Alien; a lot of clinical obstetric detail.

It is a stunt. Irons has to do back-flips and the cinematography is seamless. I was only occasionally aware of the 'trick' and only in a 'gee whiz look at that' kind of way. Still, it is distracting.

Oh. Genevieve Bujold is in this film. She is pivotal in that she introduces one of the twins to drugs. She has some sorta kinda kinky sex scenes to play.

Otherwise she is a benign presence that is under utilized. She is great to watch.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because of Jeremy and the clever effects. And Bujold.

I suppose I could give it a 4. I just think it is kinda nasty and I didn't actually LIKE it that much. Or them. Just her. I guess that is all preference and not related to the quality of the film itself. Personal bias. Oh well.

RUINT

This is pretty good:
Did George Lucas and Steven Spielberg Ruin the Movies?.

Good question.

Someone did.

Of course, the current culprit is thought to be 'market forces'. Yeh, yeh, yeh. Same old, same old; greed.

Nevertheless there is a sequence in here where one of the scariest scenes in film is discussed; the scene where Roy Schrieder is shoveling fish guts into the ocean to attract the shark.

As I read this guy's account of it, my hair stood up and I saw the scene as if it was happening right now.

We tend to underestimate both Jaws and the original Star Wars because, well, we saw them already. But, there is no underestimating the impact of the first viewing.

And that is why sequels always suck no matter how many people keep going to them hoping that this time it will be different.

NO?

I was surprised to hear the 'not guilty' verdict for Jacko. I honestly believed that he would get pounced on by the jury.

But, then I thought O. J. would be found guilty too and the evidence there was harder with the consideration time way shorter.

I suppose, when you put in reasonable doubt, there is a lot of it. And 98 pages of detailed points of law. It makes for a pretty tangled thicket to come down with a verdict on. On the other hand...... I don't know. And that is the truth.

I wrote before that I think the whole thing is just sad and tragic from top to bottom. Whether we look at the accusers or this poor lost boy who is a master manipulator of the victim role. Victim versus victim. Sad. Sad. Sad.

Unlike my kids, I was never a fan. There is nothing in the man's past that I have any attraction to. I was just not there to hear or see it; outside my time.

Lost boys.

LATER: I read about the jury press conference. It seems to me that the verdict was actually: Victim's Mom GUILTY and MJ not. He won the victim race.

Some of the comments seemed silly. "he probably has committed pedophilia sometime, somewhere......" and "the mother snapped her fingers at us".

Jeezus Christopher

TWISTED

Great picture: Tornado and Rainbow Over Kansas.

CHARACTER

Today, we saw Bertrand Tavernier's first film

L'Horloger de Saint-Paul / The Clockmaker (1974).

It stars Philippe Noiret who I have enjoyed in many many roles. Everyman is his specialty. He is the Clockmaker; wonderful to see.

A father learns that his son has committed murder. There is no doubt about it. From this point we may think that we are going to see the unravelling of a mystery, the solution to a crime misunderstood, false accusations. But no. The deed was done. The son did it and is unrepentant.

The story is about character. The characters in the story and the matter of having character. The pace is slow. We get to know observe the human landscape.

The father indirectly gets to know his son, then directly. The father develops a friendship with the inspector who is working on the case. The father's friends come in and out of the story. Politics are involved but are really a distraction; an intensifier of the son's predicament.

Making peace with one's self and the reality of a situation is more to the point. The careful working of this film, based on a George Simenon novel, is wonderful to see and quite emotionally engaging.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. It could creep up to a five if the impact on me lingers. I will see how the characters continue to play their lives out in my head. This is always the mark of a fine film;one that works on me inside.

You will enjoy this film, I think. You may not like the circumstances but you will like the people a lot.

Updated 061305

DOG ALERT

Franklin started whining and running around about 3-4 minutes before the rest of the dogs in the neighborhood started barking.

I asked him what was up. I tried to get him to settle. He would not.

No more than a minute later I hit the floor and we felt the 5.6 (moderate) earthquake centered 20 miles away in Anza.

It was a rippler; vibrations; not a cracker. A few doors opened in the house.

I have never seen or, rather, heard this dog-effect before. I guess I was just paying attention.

Franklin is still a little spooked and comes now while I am typing to 'talk' some more. We snuggle. Maybe we will get an aftershock in another minute. No. It is done for now.

CUSACKED

I have been taken to task for omitting the name of John Cusack from my appreciation of Eight Men Out and worse, to state that there were no 'stars' as Cusack is clearly at least a near-star although he did not star in this picture. It was really an ensemble kind of thing.

He did stand out!

As he always does.

He is the almost good guy who gets swept up in the scandal; they prosecuted the entire starting team.

That aside, let us examine the word 'star'.

In many ways, today's 'stars' are shameless, overpaid hacks when compared to actors like Cusack who regularly comport themselves in excellent fashion in a wide variety of parts.

While our John relies to some extent on a consistent persona, as some stars do, he does act proficiently; if not to say consummately. He is top notch.

And the consistent persona is always pleasing; a bit ironic, sense of humor, intelligent. He's not an airhead like Cruise or a little bit dimmer like Pitt or a brute like Crowe who, while being consistent, are about as shallow as you can get.

Well, maybe Crowe isn't shallow so much as a nasty piece of work. (More letters coming now).

Let's put it this way. I would not miss a Cusack picture while I would gladly miss the above named 'stars' vehicles and do, on a regular basis.

There, have I made amends?

After all, I am one of the few who was out there with him and the boom-box in Say Anything.

I am happy to see that he is 'in production' playing Torvald Helmer in A Doll's House in Norway.

See?

Imagine Tom Cruise as Torvald. Can't be done.

Cusack=Actor. Others=stars.

THE UNWIMP

Thank god some Demo leaders have their head out of their asses:
Democratic Leaders Back Dean, Don't Want 'Wimp'.

FIXED

Imagine trying to balance 8 main characters and about a dozen subsidiary ones; large crowds; an immensely detailed group of sets; a complicated story which is half-well-known and carry off a fast moving, easy to read, fully satisfying film experience.

You gotta hand it to John Sayles. He has made some very good off-beat pictures and this is no exception: Eight Men Out (1988) shows us the White Sox World Series scandal in human terms.

Ebert (the link) didn't like it for all the reasons that I did. I am OK with that. He seems to want a messy situation to be laid out in big bold letters. You will not find that here. In fact, each player goes down for different reasons. Some reconsider. It is not a simple matter of blanket corruption.

The actors are pretty good. No stars. All were second level players at the time. They play well together. The baseball scenes are convincing. The extravagant attention to the period is very rewarding.

I liked it and will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

LOVE ?

A wild car chase ends in a violent accident that throws off three stories along with the flying wreckage.

The stories are about all kinds of love: brotherly, fatherly, profane, love between man and dog and that is only a partial list.

Amores Perros / Love Is A Bitch (2000) is a wild, violent and sometimes hard to watch car chase in and of itself. It is generously rich in story, visuals, and pacing.

There were times that I didn't want to watch and did anyway and I am glad I did. It is 150 minutes long and I am the one who wants movies to go back to the old 90 minute format. This one held me despite my usual antsiness.

Gael Garcia Bernal is in one of the intertwined stories and that made it all the more worth while.

Read the Ebert link. It is pretty good.

So is the film. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

Today the LA Times had a loooooooong, and I mean looooooooooong article on the prison that, if convicted of any of the ten charges, will house Michael Jackson:
For Celebrity Convicts, a Safe Space Behind Bars

Isn't this a bit like buying the coffin before the x-rays come back?

Whatever.

I have to admit that I read the whole thing as it is fascinating.

This is the special section reserved for the famous, most likely targets for harassment or worse by other inmates.

I was amazed to see that Charley Manson, a prospective neighbor, will be in his 70's. Also Juan Corona who killed at least 25 migrant workers. Sirhan-Sirhan is the first to be placed in the unit.

He is not safe. While the unit is peaceful, only one door separates them from the nut-cases, the worst, next door. Once, they got through.

But, why are we reading this? Because it is interesting. We would not have known about it without the Jackson case. A collateral insight into the justice system.

BILATERAL PEE

Am I the only one that thought this was a men's room shot? At the international urinals.

A joint pee session?

Given what Blair got out of his trip I would suggest he look down to see if the busher is pissing on his leg too.

I don't know. It is just a silly afternoon. Willy wagging.

HOLD THAT TIGER

For those interested in such things, my reluctance to dive into the new Mac Tiger X Operating System is eroding.

The regular notes from those already converted have taken a toll; all about what I am 'missing'.

We just recieved the new MacWorld which tells me how to optimize the use of my Tiger and, shit, I don't even have one.

I am slipping.

Just a moment ago I read Walt Mossberg's piece in the Wall Street Journal about the impact of Apple's conversion to Intel chips. In it, he praises the Tiger inordinately.

I almost went to Mac.com to place an order! Reflexively. Compulsion.

But I held back.

I am close.

Is this like prolonging an orgasm? Enjoyable in and of itself? Teasing one's desire along the edge? Computer pornography?

I will keep you advised.

CHEW

The bushies keep misinterpreting that 'mandate'; biting off more than they can chew.

Now, I am an ex-smoker without a grudge. I am glad I quit smoking. But all those years I resented the imposition of social controls on my own behavior.

Philip Morris used to be a big client of mine and I never had a problem with it or them.

This isn't about smoking. This is about big business getting another major break from the administration. And now, they got caught.

Brazen, unashamed predators. Bastards. And so on.

The judge gets to make the judgement anyway. It is just an outrage to see their disregard for their real constituency continue.

Did you really vote for them to kiss big business' ass?

OPRAH

You know, we can make fun of Oprah or dismiss her impact or whatever disparagement us sophisticates want to do. That is OK.

But, I am knocked out to find that she is doing Faulkner in her book club this summer.

Now I have read the three books in question. They are not easy. This is a great thing.

I am so tired of people going on about how we are dumbing down. All that. Of course, it is everyone but whoever is making the remark. A form of false pride which is particularly unattractive.

Believe me, anyone who spends the summer reading As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in Augustis not dumbing down. And, at the end of the summer, they will not be the same person who started the process.

I am very impressed with this. And they must have some idea that it will be picked up and followed. They don't do stuff without the research.

READIN'

I finished the Dog book. I enjoyed it. I liked its warm evocation of a life behind the mask of autism. I liked the realistic family scenes. I liked that it was a page turner. I liked the puzzles and math problems inserted. All of it.

I have moved on now to one of my grand sweep efforts; reading all I can of one author. In this case, Harry Mathews, an expat writer now approaching 75 years of age; a little ahead of my cohort. He would have been 25 when I went to college.

I stumbled upon him through a NYTimes Book Section review of his latest How I Joined CIA in which he 'admits' to being a long time CIA operative; or does he? Is it fact or fiction or both? Dunno.

He is allied with a type of writing called OuLiPo: Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle / Workshop for Potential Literature; the only American member.

Oulipo members favor the use of constraints, mathematical and otherwise, to tighten up and discipline the writing process. I will have to wait and see how this has affected Mathews.

I have started with one of his mid life works Cigarettes which seems to be constrained to the use of segments only involving two people directly. Peripheral characters will appear in their own bi-personal chapter.

In a way, they read like short stories; as in smoking a cigarette. Twenty minutes of satisfaction, then the need for another one. Here the need to go on is compelling. As layer after layer of people's stories are removed, certain central issues emerge which begin to loom. In this case, who has the real painting.

I know, it is sort of globby to describe. But I sort of get the idea of the technique. In the meantime, the story or stories themselves are quite entertaining and enjoyable.

I will report on other Mathews works in due course, including his edited work on Oulipo!

I can hear the yawns out there now. There is nothing more boring than to hear about someone else's reading, unless it is to hear about someone else's movies. But we do that all the time. So this is just more of the same and it is what is going on today and tomorrow. No films. No real appointments of any kind. Reading. It is summer.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.