esrosedotblog

WENT TO PIECES

Today's movie hasn't worn very well for me over time.

Even the parts I remember as just great (the ordering food at the diner)(the two dykes who they pick up)(the whirlaround fuck of Sally Struthers)(playing the piano in the moving truck) don't come off any where near what I have kept in the memory bank.

You know the film. Let's all say it in unison Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Well, we were all trying to get out of our box then and here is little old alienated Bobby who just hitchhikes onto a logging truck at the end and gets out of his.

Well, he does not. He remains a liar, a probable alcoholic, a womanizer, an unrepentant prodigal son and the champion all-star alienation artist; a cop out. He is still fighting Daddy well after the fight was called on a TKO. Daddy is all stroked out.

He is also an expectant father fleeing his support payments.

This is one of those Freudian movies of the 60/70s. Id vs superego.

Nicholson is pretty good I must admit; a no-one angrily going no-where. It is still the young Nicholson. Odd that we just saw the old Nicholson chewing the scenery in that Marine trial picture.

Our own Ralph Waite (Poppa Walton) is the supercilious brother/violinist. We could not understand half of what Karen Black was saying.

I think it is a NYTimes Best 1176 Films because it was in its time. It is not now.

At best a 3 out of Netflix5. I will probably give it a 2. I saw it 35 years after its prime.

ZEFRANK

I have debated with myself whether to leak out items from this web site or to give it to you whole. I think I will give it the full blow out.

ZEFRANK has so much silliness and stuff that you will be able to spend a totally engaged hour or two going through the short films, written humor and so on.

Make that 'hours'.

Of course, if you took the humor test below then you will know whether you like zany or not. If not, forget it. This is zany and the guy is extremely talented.

Look at those eyes.

SNOWED

It took a while to get into

Atanarjuat / Fast Runner (2001)

but they give you plenty of time. It is 172 minutes long.

Filmed in Inuktitut and with a cast of all Inuit people, it gives us a thousand year old legend.

I did not know this until I read Ebert's review incidentally. What is cool/kool about it is that the whole thing seems very contemporary. There is magic, but what's to hold us back from believing in it? We all have a lot of magic and/or magical thinking in our lives.

A good and evil yarn, it is also a way of seeing a way of life for the Inuit people which 'is still within living memory'.

Sometimes it is a bit tough to watch; animals getting shoved around and killed and all but these people live on the edge.

In the same way it shows how a small society has to protect itself, sometimes from itself, to survive.

It is some work to get into. I just sat with it. I am programmed for 'western' (in this case southern) ideas of pace and story line and so on. But, it's gentle motion is seductive and it gets to you. Well, me. Let's stay with 'I' statements.

Did I mention that the two leading men, one good, the other evil, are wonderful to watch. Incidentally, the women are very powerful in this film as, I guess, they are in the culture which appears to be only mildly hierarchical.

I liked it a lot. It is a NYTimes Best Film and I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 because I think it could have been shorter and, at times, the plot got a bit obscured by the need to show all the details of things like scraping seal hides of fat. One session would have been sufficient.

BUSY

I had a busy day today so it is time for you to do some work.

Take this test:

The Three Variable Funny Test.

It is fun, actually. Funny I should say. I LOL'd a lot. And it is serious too.

I will tell you my results later. I don't want to influence you. Maybe on Monday!

I guess you never thought the blog would have homework, huh?

GRAND SLAM

It is hard to write about today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film Field of Dreams (1989) because so many of us have seen it and been deeply touched by it. It is a delicate film in many ways and yet, by the end, it is a four bagger; a solidly hit home run.

There are many elements in this. There is the simple life of a farming couple. The disillusionment of the sixties. The enduring innocence of baseball. The story behind the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Unresolved father stuff.

There are peerless performances by Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan as the young couple. James Earl Jones, for once, is able to harness his great talent and peerless pipes for a realistic essay of a burnt out writer who secretly loves the game. Burt Lancaster appears in a gem like role with its own surprises.

I sat and squirmed through the early parts of it worried that, having seen it, the film had been ruined for me. Not to worry. I was caught after about 15 minutes and did not let go until the wonderful ending.

I had forgotten that there were so many meanings to the now universal catchphrase "build it and he/they will come". There are also a few other 'whisperings' as well that have many meanings.

This is one of those lifetime movies that need to be seen every 5 or 10 years. Just long enough to sort of forget the details.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

FEWER GOOD MEN

I have thought more about the film we saw yesterday; A Few Good Men. I am downgrading it to a 2 out of Netflix5.

I found some plot holes. I will not bore you with them.

I thought more about the implausibility of the courtroom behaviors.

I thought about each 'stars' performance. In particular, I am sure that Nicholson was given free rein to be as nasty as he could. This included really sordid and grisly sexual harassment of the Demi Moore character.

The pot all boiled way too high.

And no one, least of all us, should have to sit through the arrogant sophmorics of Tom Cruise. John says that Tommy's way to show emotion is to widen his eyes. True.

I looked Rob Reiner up. He has not done a lot. Son of a famous father, he has not used the marked cards he was dealt out of the deck very well. And, if he runs for governor of CA, we will kick his ass.

He already has played a role in the initiative game; cigarette taxes going to preschool. Pretty good when the state has a lot of money but not so good when reallocation of funds is urgently needed.

I didn't like him in All In The Family either.

Meathead.

STOPPED COLD

Now, I am not any kind of a believer in the so-called herbal supplements. I think they are a rip off and, often, a dangerous detour from getting proper treatment.

But, I had read, and did believe that Echinacea was effective in 'increasing resistance' to colds. Pretty flower too!

I have taken the pill for several years every time I felt a cold coming on. Most of the time, the cold did not come on.

Now, it turns out that the cold didn't come on because it was not a cold:

Study Says Popular Herb Has No Effect on Colds

I have to admit that since I have been taking Allegra® for my sinus I haven't had any cold symptoms.

Since there were only three herbal supplements that I had thought to work (zinc losenges for sore throat and saw palmetto for prostate) that now makes it two. And I guess we cannot be too sure of them.

I take fish oil and calcium and biotin (for nails) but I think that those are food supplements.

Shit. Another sure thing falls by the wayside.

YARDS

We are getting a lot of new construction here.

You have to know that technically we are a city, but it is country with a concentration of civilization. Wild, wilderness all around the 'settlement'

It is hard to miss the fact that the developers are really packing the houses into the subdivisions.

Most individual homes are built with as little side setback as possible. One, near us, but not too near us, has zero sideyard and this is for million dollar plus houses.

But, we have always been amazed at the way Californians who have all the space in the world, sort of, use up all the available lot space with HOUSE!

We are fortunate or think we are. We have a fenced front yard, a sizable side patio which we can eat on and a back yard which, even taking out the pool, is way larger than the house itself.

There is a lot of room for the dog to run and the dads to grow things and have separate 'outdoor rooms'.

Our neighborhood is old. In California years (about 4 eastern years) this means back to the mid fifties. About half the houses have good sized back yards. They tend to be the older ones. The newer ones have no yard room at all; maybe a pool and a patio but no more.

There are whole neighborhoods that have no yard but back onto a golf course or a common 'lawn' and pool area. These are condo houses.

Many of the mid-fifties houses use up an incredible amount of front yard with driveway. Californian's addiction to their cars.

This cheek-to-jowl living just knocks me out.

Then I thought, maybe that is because I am an easterner. I am used to space. But it is funny. Back east has much less space but uses it quite differently. Big yards. Funny.

Then I wondered. Is this true? Dave is on the Zoning Board of Kingston MA. I wrote and asked what was up there; actually, what is side to side and around back.

Here is the dope. In a new house today they require 15-30 feet side setback depending on the zone. Keerist. That would wipe these guys out here out! The lots are probably not that big in some cases.

I asked about history. Yard size goes along a time line. It is the same as here really. Really old houses have big yards. Houses built prior to zoning got way small yards. That is one reason why zoning was put in, I suppose.

Dave says that subdivisions, small ones in their case, are like here. Near zero side setback.

What gives?

This idea of filling your lot up to near overflow with house is very strange. As a kid I grew up in yards. Where do kids play? What about dogs? What about the oldsters? No fresh air?

Conspicous consumption?

Maybe it is because we are surrounded with such wide open country. We are hunkered down. But I don't think so. Too atavistic.

And so on.

Just one more way we are all going to hell in a handbasket?

I do have to admit that we spent 10 years in a high rise apartment (with a great view) and another 12 years in various row houses in Boston. No yards. So what the hell am I complaining about?

Mostly that we moved out of the city to get to the 'burbs and the 'burbs' are turning into the city.

TRIAGE

Today's Best Film has three stars who are on my shit list. But, as it turns out, all three play to type and it works out pretty well.

A Few Good Men (1992) stars Tom Cruise as an arrogant young shithead lawyer, Demi Moore as a ball-cutting bitch and Jack Nicholson as a nasty ego-driven commander of Gitmo. Voila. They are all comfortable with their roles and they fit in. It is a vehicle!

There are a lot of good performances by the second tier as well; Kevin Bacon and J.T. Walsh stand out. Both are favorites. Walsh died early of a coronary. Too bad. Bacon is still working as a humble journeyman actor doing great work. The three stars are past their prime.

We also get to see Keifer Sutherland and some other actors just breaking in small rolls. Nice.

Rob Reiner directed. Is he still working? The last time I heard he was thinking of running for our governorship. Lord save us. A left wing arnold.

This is a standard courtroom procedural set in a military situation. All the elements are there. The crime, the investigation, the dead ends, the need to go way out on a limb and take a chance. Cruise wins his case because the script gives it to him. Well, that and Nicholson's histrionic breaking of his story.

Actually, it is knockoff of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial

It is OK.

Sometimes it crackles.

Ebert points out that it is one of those films that tells you what is going to happen, then it shows it happening, and then it tells you what happened. This is true. And it spoils some of the tension at the end.

There is a bit of a twist but it is not enough to nourish the need for a climax.

I will give it 3 out of Netflix5.

Oh. There is a wonderful drill team performance in the beginning over and under the titles. It has nothing to do with the film at all but it is wonderful to behold.

TRUTH

This from PlanetOut News:

"Stonewall Wasn't Sponsored by Budweiser" -- Sign carried by a Queer Revolution protester at the Portland, Ore., Gay Pride parade June 19. According to the Portland Independent Media Center, "Queer Revolution and the Dyke March crashed the corporate-sponsored Gay Pride Parade."

I wrote a long piece on how it 'used to be' with Gay Pride Week.

I am glad that some folks still remember.

SELLOUT

I have a long resentment toward the fucking DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) and their unelected shill Al From.

Now, Hillary has chosen to be their mouthpiece!

Clinton Angers Left With Call for Unity: Senator Accused of Siding With Centrists.

It is a political axiom that when anyone asks for unity they are asking for everyone to follow their lead.

Hillary, fuhgeddaboudit!

You ain't Bill, so you can't get away with it.

At least not with me.

BALLS

Nuts, 'nads, little buddies; whatever you call them (see below). It looks like the prosecutor Fitzgerald may have a few pair in his hands:

Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net.

I have said, often, that they sure have a lot of balls. Well, now those balls are low hanging fruit. That is what I think.

DEPP

Someone asked if I was going to see Johnny Depp in the chocolate movie. I said no.

First, I don't go to remakes although I guess this doesn't sorta qualify. But second, I don't want to be looking at him in this role.

I suppose I am going to have to accept that the early Depp period is over and now, what with the chocolate and two pirates coming up he is into the big movie and out of the small.

I don't go to sequels either. Two strikes on the pirates.

Our favorite is still Don Juan DeMarco with Brando and Dunaway. But there are many close seconds: Chocolat; Gilbert Grape; Donny Brasco; Blow; Sleepy Hollow; Ed Wood. Well, you get the idea. Most of them.

I guess that the thing to do is to wait it out. In another ten years or so, he will be too old for the big movie and will go back to the small.

But maybe it will not take that long. He is signed for an unfinished Hunter Thompson novel, a film where he will play a guy who is totally paralyzed and another where he escapes from prison.

Maybe he will go back to not repeating himself after the Pirates.

Oh. I did not go to see Neverland either. But I will get the DVD sometime. I can't tell you why I am holding off. Maybe it is too soppy or I am afraid of it somehow.

There. That is the deal on the Depper.

HORSE

I was fascinated by the horseman knight in the Fisher King. Terry Gilliam is great with such stuff. It is a signature piece.

The horse is a symbol for the memory that the Williams character does not want to see.

Here is the horse on the street in NYC without benefit of smoke and mirrors.

OVER THE TOP

We just finished watching The Fisher King (1991). It is exhausting to watch.

There are some really great parts. And there are so many of them. Unfortunately, the sum is less than the parts.

Terry Gilliam does not spare the horses. In fact, one of the best things is a huge fire breathing 'puppet' horseman; the kind of thing that makes Gilliam films so distinctive. All the sets are incredible. There is a fantasy scene shot in Grand Central Station that is just wonderful. Dancing commuters. And more and more.

There is Jeff Bridges who is beautiful. We have Mercedes Ruehl in a knockout performance. And we have Robin Williams who cannot restrain himself or be restrained. There is Michael Jeter who does some of the best comic drag scenes you will ever see.

In a way, we do not want the film to end just as we hope for another piece of candy or more peanuts. It has to keep on going to survive.

The ending is tough to deal with. I think that Gilliam wanted it to go on too. There is so much party party going on that it is sad to end it and I didn't buy the final conversion of the Bridges character much at all.

On the other hand, what's wrong with watching a lot of actors and a director chewing all the scenery and having the time of their lives doing it? Nothing.

It just doesn't rate as a too very Best NYTimes 1176 Film. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

TAKE IT OFF

The Full Monty (1997) made the NYTimes 1176 Best Film List.

I am surprised. While I really liked the film, it felt as if it was too much fun to be 'good'.

Well, having sat listless and bored in front of someone's idea of a comedy, I know that making fun is an art. And in this film, they have mastered the art. All of them.

By this time everyone should know the story. If not, where have you been?

The guys are great. The editing is great. The story is great. A nice combination of comedy and a little pathos. John said it was like Billy Elliot, only for adults. We adored Billy, who did not make it into the Best List.

Anyway, who is counting?

We liked Robert Carlyle who we have seen in several films and liked him a lot. He is perfect here as the guy who gets it all going, then walks the fine line of fear and courage to keep the dream alive.

There is a nice gay connection in the film as well.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

THATS THE WHOLE BALL GAME

This was in Slate this last week:

Where Have All the Jockstraps Gone?.

I was in advance of the trend. I haven't worn a jock-strap for many years.

When I was a kid, it was mandatory to wear a jock for gym class. Just one more onerous aspect of gym along with showering, having to play competitive games, dribbling (I still cannot play basketball), wrestling (terror time for a gay boy), and so on.

The jock strap was to 'protect yourself'. The euphemism 'yourself' meant your 'balls'. We used it a lot. He strained 'himself'. Well, I guess we said 'balls' but not with the parents around. Now, most kids say anything they want in front of the parents. Things have evolved.

Anyway, I could never get the 'protection' part. First of all, there were no jock straps in kid sizes. The cup was way bigger than my nuts. (another euphemism for 'myself'). So there was nothing shoving them up.

The other thing was that my nads (yet another euphemic) were not all that big in the first or even, as it turns out, in the second and third place. I am not, as they say, hung (another one).

So it all seemed sort of pointless.

As I got older, and made sly observations in the locker room, I determined that some adventurers did not wear a jock. They either wore briefs or, gasp, went commando. That means balls-out.

In college, I did all the PE without a jock. All swimming (speedos) and sailing (come as you are). When I started running I wore briefs. And so on.

Later still, I found that in gay life, the usefulness of the jockstrap was almost exclusively fetishistic. This is not a predeliction that I happened to share. I owned a strap in case anyone was interested but it did not come up (so to speak) very often.

As it turned out I married someone who was as disinterested in the jock as a turn-on as I was. End of the jock in my entire life.

So I am glad that the general public (male division) has finally gotten the message. Jocks are of no use. Briefs or lycra are better unless the lycra is too tight, then it is not only unattractive but it could be a real nut-buster.

Let's see. I have gotten in all the euphemisms except 'junk'. That's a new one. My 'junk'. I guess it is like 'my business'. Very close, actually, to where we came in with 'yourself'. How can I work that one in?

Oh.

It is not OK to just let your junk hang out in the breeze. You do need a little protection. Sometimes a lot (getta cup for the contact sports and the fast ball games).

And, even those who watch that region of the body more than the average don't want to see the full monty in one viewing. A bit of the seven veil routine is more stimulating.

Have I exhausted this topic for now?

OK.

JINX

We got our windows washed Friday. By Saturday afternoon we had rain.

I cannot think of an occasion in the last year when this did not happen. Clean the glass; it rains.

We are beginning to believe that we are in trouble with the Glass Gods.

Or would it be the Rain Gods?

Whoever it is, we are in trouble and have a rain-spotted skylight, sunroom ceiling and random and various sliders where the rain can reach.

This is not the most serious problem in the world by any means.

In fact, it is a sign of how well things are going that we can find this the worst thing to complain about.

Our next window washing is on Friday September 23d. Get out your umbrellas.

AUTOBIO

We compensated for an empty house (after our visitor had gone) by watching a NYTimes Best Film.

Fanny and Alexander (1982) is a big sprawling three hour film with very rich detail and a full range of emotional connection.

It is not strictly autobiographical but it is certainly about Bergman and it is clear that he is Alexander.

The kids grow up in a happy extended theater family and then the dad dies and the mom gets involved with a stern clergyman who turns out to be a little more weird and austere than she bargained for. He catches her on the widow's rebound.

We enjoyed all the pieces. There is a lot of funny stuff. There is some scary stuff. And always always always Bergman plays with fantasy and magical stuff especially in the mind's eye of Alexander.

For example, he sees his father for a long time after his death and finally says goodbye to him.

The mom and kids escape the clergyman after some edge of the seat moments and, by the end, all is well.

But no one gets out without some scar tissue. Ebert thinks this is an artistic autobiography showing us the young artist full of life and then the austere middle life where big issues loom.

Finally we are shown the small canvas artist who is interested in rich detail on a microscopic scale. Big issues still abound but in the context of simple people and situations. And that is just where the film ends.

It is pretty good. Well more than pretty good. A 5 out of Netflix5.

POTTERED OUT

I finished the Harry Potter yesterday and it is a triumph!

I won't get into the detail as anything I write would be a spoiler.

It is the most stirring I have read and left me ready for the next and final episode.

NOBODY'S PERFECT

But Mitt Romney comes close to being the perfect asshole:
Governor: Cross out 'father' rather than changing language.

How petty can you get?

We obviously did not move from Massachusetts because he was going to be the guv' but had we known it would have been one of the reasons.

This is just more of the same religious bigotry that runs out of obsessive belief in rigid doctrinaire systems.

In this case, christers crossed with the followers of smith and the angel moroni.

THROES

That dick, cheney, said we were in 'the last throes' of the insurgency.

Whatever.

Defying U.S. Efforts, Guerrillas in Iraq Refocus and Strengthen

SCAN

Something else to worry about.

Franklin has one.

Is There Anyone Out There Who Can Read My Scan?

What is disheartening about this kind of thing is that real people and real pets get caught in what seems to be a corporate greed/ego trip.

P&G was going to put readers in all vet's and shelter's offices for free and stopped because of these bastards.

SLOWDOWN

We are in guest mode around here so that is getting priority. Little or no blogging for a couple of days.

Not that there is a lot to blog on.

Locally, we are in a long heat wave with humidity. The remnants of one or two—I never did figure that out—are hovering above. The humidity has not been bad, actually. More like 25-30%. Not the 90-100% of back east.

Last night we had a lot of heat lightening, then thunder, and rain.

The spell check did not stop 'lightening' nor does it stop lightning. I just discovered the reason. Lightening is a word but not the word I meant:

The sensation of decreased abdominal distention during the latter weeks of pregnancy following the descent of the fetal head into the pelvic inlet.

How ever you spell it, Franklin did not like it. It got me up to soothe him and there was a very short disruption in electricity; enough to stop the clock radio but nothing else.

The rain couldn't have lasted long. But it did 'clean' things off. We get a little dusty in the summer.

I was forced into defrosting the garage refrigerator yesterday. I don't think many people have refrigerators that require it, but we do. It came with the house.

I finally figured out where the drain hole is. The one that catches all the water from the thaw. I have only been doing this two or three times a year for the 8 years we have lived here. Some info comes slowly.

The world seems to be getting along without me worrying about it. I didn't even finish my run through my daily net-readings yesterday. A first for a while.

The Rove/Libby scandal continues to simmer. The Supremo appointment which seems sort of bland did not rock it from the headlines.

They pumped five shots into a tackled man in the Brit Underground. I guess they are getting serious.

There is other stuff but it can wait.

I will be back in business on Sunday.

WHITER WHITE

Borowitz jumps on the bandwagon:
ROBERTS VOWS TO BE MOST GENERIC WHITE MALE IN HISTORY OF SUPREME COURT

SOLEI-OD

Someone has finally caught their measure:
Cirque du Soleil—Canada's insane clown posse.

We have seen a lot of them including Verekai from which we had the same sense of befuddlement. I counted it as the last of my Cirque experiences; OD.

It sure lasted a long time with us. Now we are in the state of 'not going'. Not going to see the Vegas skin show or the into the sand show and certainly not going to the Beatles show planned for next year. OD meets OD.

The idea of this article is to dissect middle brow culture but I think it rather has the effect of showing that a lot of so-called middle brow culture is pretty good.

You can sniff at the Cirques if you want but there is nothing else that has held our attention so long.

I remember when we overdosed on the Julliard Quartet. I remember having enough of certain divas. We got over going to England.

You can only do so much stuff whether it is high or middle or low.

Anyway, back to the Cirques. I think I began to be disillusioned when I found out that the lyrics to all the sung music in the shows were nonsense syllables and had no meaning at all. I would have been glad to have not-understood French or Bulgarian for that matter. Somehow not understanding nonsense was more of a shuck than I would like to have done to me.

WHITE

I am pretty much of the same mind as Neal Pollack on the Supreme guy:

Meanwhile, President Bush has nominated the whitest man in America for the Supreme Court. If I were an anti-abortion timber company executive, or a brainwashed automaton, I would consider John Roberts (whose name sounds like it should belong to a protagonist in a bad Bruce Willis action movie), a fine nominee. But instead, I'm an abortion-loving athiest with Jew blood. George Carlin is the only nominee who would really satisfy me. Those odds are long.

John Roberts is one of those two-first-name guys you went to school with. He is a member of the club; handsomely blank. He is another family retainer willing to step into the breach; a compromise. But he is poppy's guy not georgies.

For my money, he is a good candidate for becoming another Souter or Kennedy. That is OK with me.

The ones that scare me are crazy vengeance seekers like Thomas or zealous egoists like Scalia.

R-LEN

I used to like Arlen Specter and then I didn't like him but now, I think I like him again.

It is interesting that he has 'betrayed' the GOoPer right wing by suddenly swinging back left again (which means mildly right).

My personal theory is that he has gotten some spiritual strength from the onset of his Hodgkins Disease and realizes how foolish it is to piss away his life working for such assholes as Dobson et. al., the shits.

Here is Andrew Sullivan's comment today.

I cannot imagine that bush gave him a late night meeting. Weak weak weak.

Three months ago the President would have delighted in jamming an untra conservative like Janice Rogers Brown down the Senate's throat while invoking the nuclear option and spitting in each Democratic senator's eye. Fast forward to this week, when he was forced to accept a late night visit from Arlen Spector, who had the audacity to demand that Bush replace O'Conner with a "moderate justice" in order to "maintain the balance." This the same Spector who was on his knees vowing fealty to the President just last year.

The Roberts nomination is not a sign that Bush is finally getting "sensible" on judicial matters. It's an indication of just how politically weak he's become. Roberts is just conservative enough to squeeze by the Dobson crowd without howls of anger. He is arguably the least conservative of Bush's "short list" of nominees. Clearly, Bush and Rove were terrified about losing this battle to the Democrats and moderate Republican senators. Having lost already social security and with the Rove scandal boiling, such a loss would be too devastating to contemplate.

TRAPPED

For anyone who lived through the 50's, it is understood that the 60's really started to happen then.

The fractures were apparent and beginning to widen.

It is also true, that the 60's never really happened until the 70's. Civil rights, the sexual revolution, and a huge disruption of social morés really did not climax, so to speak, until 1975 or so.

And, of course, we are still reverberating from it all. The end is not in sight. We still fight the 'cultural wars'.

This film, determinedly, preserves the look and feel and attitudes of the Fifties Issue Movie. I cap that because they always felt as though they were filmed in capital letters.

Todd Haynes modeled this film, Far From Heaven (2002) , out of films like All That Heaven Allows which we saw earlier. He even keeps the 'heaven' in it. That one had Jane Wyman consorting with her gardener Rock Hudson. Haynes ups the ante to the Fifties by using a black gardener. He says that he wanted to show the levels below what the fifties only hinted at.

And, it works; he does show us the fractures further down and makes them wider. Here we have the dread homosexual betray his faithful wife. We see the wife seek solace with a black man only to totally disrupt the 'good society people' of Hartford.

This makes the film very squirmy and difficult to watch. I got up a few times and took a breather. I 'get it' and I don't like it. It seems to be a reproduction with artificial distress poured on. If the Fifties had been this openly fucked up, they would have been the Sixties and the Sixties would be the Seventies and we would be more 'over it' by now.

I suppose as a cinematic exercise this is OK and is to be admired, sorta.

But I didn't much like it and I still don't like Julianne Moore who they keep shooting around because of her diminutive size. It is too obvious.

They made Dennis Quaid a self hating closet case; playing way against type. We do get to see the famous abs though.

I didn't like it and think it is an unnecessary resuscitation of a time we might all forget. But then, maybe we shouldn't forget it. But we didn't have that time. We had our time. See? It exaggerates to the point of non-meaning.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because I did admire the lighting and cinematography and adherence to the 'look' of the time and the movies that were made then. It is all changing artificial light; lottsa blues and greens and fiery reds for contrast. There are long crane shots of autumnal streets. Blowing leaves.

Now, for a second thought. The Quaid character is a closet case because he thought that he could somehow undo his early gay experience by marrying. I identify.

He thought that he could not live in the gay world. After all, he is a successful business man. I identify.

He hurts a lot of people in the process of being true to himself. I identify with that too.

What is not clear at all, is his side of the story. This is appropriate because it is all about the wife and much more about her relationship with the black gardener.

But we are left with a nasty taste in our mouth about Quaid and his sordid life. Motel rooms, a younger man, a lot of booze and so on. I identify with some of that too but it is not easy to look at. We would be the same age more or less.

I did my stuff in the early Seventies. The Quaid character has, in some ways, a lot more courage to live out his truth in way more difficult times. Here's to him.

It wasn't easy on anyone, those times. We were all sideswiped by them. I guess that is the point. No one got out or through them easily. But there are those branches with spring blossoms in the last crane shot. Hope.

Now, I have to reconsider. I really did get a lot out of being forced to look at this whole thing through Fifties eyes. Maybe it is a better film than I thought. Maybe a 4. No 5 though. I will see how it 'percolates'.

DETERMINATION

This is a wonderful piece. It sure beats the blah-blah of judges and plames and all the rest. It is about real people doing wonderfully real people things.

Finding Fargo

GOOD GUYS/BAD GUYS

How Costco Became The Anti-Walmart.

I only went into a Wal-Mart once, way back, and that was a sorry experience.

They were the only store on the block and I was looking for cigarettes. How dumb could I be? Oh. And I hate that greeter shit.

I am not a bargain shopper. I have always valued my time more than the effort to bulk up and walk those aisles. Besides, I don't want to have to store all that Kleenex and toilet paper in the house.

Costco is big here though. They have a lot of party food and the like which people enjoy.

I am not too influenced by social issues in my purchasing except in one instance and that would be Wal-Mart. Despicable assholes. Mostly on the basis of what they do to cities and towns to pry their way into the picture.

They did it here. The desert cities are more than happy to cut tax deals to destroy their own local retail infrastructure. Then the Wal-Mart threatens to close up the store if the benefits are not extended.

They are fucking predators and deserve all the pushback they can get.

Other than that I have no strong opinion. I don't want to seem biased in any way.

I am always pleased to see the outcome when nasty business practices fail to pay off in the long run.

BILL

Last night, I was wondering what Bill Clinton was up to so I went to his Foundation website to find that he was on his way to Africa to work with AIDS problems there.

Here is the first bulletin from there: Clinton opens Lesotho clinic, says must stop AIDS.

He is going to write a diary on this trip beginning tomorrow 071905.

This is just after Bill had completed the first 6 months work on the tsunami relief effort.

There is a posting on the Foundation site of an article he wrote in the NYT and, also, a report to the UN of his efforts.

So there he is. Still trucking along.

My hero.

I am voting him in as UN Secretary General.

Boy, that would piss off the bushers all to hell.

FACT BASED

It seems that even some GOopers can't stomach the administration's attempt to make the party line 'faith' based:
GOP Chairmen Face Off On Global Warming.

BESTED

The NYTimes Best 1176 Films, which I am watching (but not today), is not the only best list by any means.

The AFI Hundred Best Films are meant to be the best of the best.

There is only one film on the AFI list and not on the NYTimes and that is Forrest Gump

I don't feel deprived by missing out on that one. A Tom Hanks vehicle. I had read the book. I did see the film. Hard to swallow.

ENOUGH

More than I wanted to know about L. Ron Hubbard who died of an overdose of a psychiatric drug:
L. Ron Hubbard—Scientology's esteemed founder

Like all con-artists, Hubbard's legacy depends on the handy work of his minions who saw an opportunity and took it.

I knew part of it, but here is all of it.

And that is enough of it for now.

GAIN

I have been cutting minutes off each of my four weekly bike runs.

They all started at an hour and now are down to 50-55 minutes.

I am going faster.

So today, I added an extra hundred yards of hill.

On the run out to Andreas HIlls, there is a long long long hill that I used to be able to top. The ride down is incredible.

But time, tide, and training effort eroded that peak, so to speak. I fell back to half the hill.

The hundred yards is a piece of the harder half of the hill. Maybe I can make it to the top again.

I don't believe that aging is all down hill. Some of it is. But not going up hills, if you get my drift.

Besides if Lance can take the hills with the same or more vigor in his 7th Tour, this is the least I can do.

POTTERED PLANT

I am planted in the middle of the new Harry Potter.

I read somewhere that it started with the English Prime Minister and the American President on the very first page.

So, I figured I would take a look. I didn't stop until p.18 and that was because I had to make dinner.

I guess the sorting hat picked me.

OUCH

Our neighbor from up the street, Suzanne Somers, has put together a show which just opened for a limited engagement on Broadway.

I would say, from this review in the NYT that it will be very limited.

The Blonde in the Thunderbird.

I don't know much about her, really. We see her on a walk occasionally. Nice enough. In my neighborhood no one is overly friendly. Just friendly.

Besides, in this town, it is understood that you will leave the celebs alone and let them be as normal as they can be.

Somers has transformed herself several times professionally. She started with a jiggle show and ended up as a self-help guru and shopping channel huckster.

Apparently, she is trying a u-turn back to performer again. Better put the Thunderbird in 'park'. Or reverse.

Come home Suzanne. We won't pick on you.

RECORD

I think we might have another record for the day.

It briefly hit 121 F. a little while ago.

But dry. 9% Humidity.

For contrast, it is now 127 at Furnace Creek, Death Valley, CA. So we are not the highest.

It is enough though. Just about right for hard-crack candy.

I just came in from watering the fountain and potted plants in the front. They all thanked me.

UNDERCOVER

Jeez, there is something for everyone on the web.

This is for people who don't want to sign in to a web site like the NYTimes or Salon or other to get through the gate.

Take a look at BugMeNot Tutorial.

I don't mind signing up for the simple ones. But others are a real pain in the ass.

This is not going to save you any time but perhaps you are worried about your identity being stolen or something. Gotta worry about something!

This is for you.

HATE CRIME

It is hard to place today's Best Film in context. It is the first film done about anti-semitism. It is a ground breaker in the film noir technique. It was a smash hit and won five Oscar nominations.

Crossfire (1947) just came out on DVD. That is why we had to jump back to a 'c' movie.

There is still anti-semitism but nothing like those times. When I went to college in the fifties, I lived in a dorm quad which was mostly Jewish kids. I always wondered if they took a look at my name (Rose) and put me in there. I don't know. A lot of it was by choice I think. Self ghettoization.

Up to that time I had never really known any Jews. I got an immersion course in the culture and also the view from the other side of anti-semitic behaviors and practices.

The film looks at minority hatred as similar to a loaded gun waiting to go off. A simplification but not a bad one. It is easy to see how this film could apply later if the victim was black or even after that, if the victim was gay. They would not have to change much except the victim words.

The story also focuses on post-war malaise. Today it would be called post-traumatic stress. The loss of an enemy and the focus of war for a group of soldiers still waiting to get out. Time on their hands. Feeling the 'snakes'.

The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk (who ironically was blacklisted and fired shortly after this film--add commie to the list of hate objects). He filmed it in 20 days and was able to compensate for a small budget with lots of lighting tricks, shadows, surprise shots and other gimcracks to make up for its cheapness. His bundle of quirks add up to what was to become noir.

Oh, and lots and lots of cigarette smoke. Everywhere. Enough you might worry about the second hand aspect of it.

There is a snappy opening of the murder itself all in shadows playing out on a wall. A lot of flashbacks are used to tell the story. There is some trickery in the story itself but somehow it all works together.

We have three Roberts: Ryan, Young and Mitchum. Ryan was always a slightly scary hair trigger guy and you see him here as the murderer. It is not a whodunnit as much as a willtheyfindoutwhodunnit. Robert Young is other worldly as the burnt out detective. There is no trace of his later 'good' dad and doctor persona.

Then we have Robert Mitchum with his famous face, physique and posture. He is just unbelievable. Raw power. He has a lesser role in this but he is really there when he is on. We saw him all his career. Take a look at the link for a great slideshow of Mitchum photos and 'quotes'.

One of the best was filmed in Boston; The Friends of Eddy Coyle (1973) and we used to shudder when we passed the bowling alley where his character was killed. It was on the expressway so we passed it a lot.

Then there is Gloria Grahame playing a floozie as only Gloria Graham could do. She is not on a lot but when she is, she steals the picture.

We also get Steve Brodie and Sam Levene, both victims of the killer. Brodie was a great character actor and Levene ended up as Nathan Detroit in the original Guys and Dolls.

What else can I say about this film. I am stoking myself up about it. I am almost ready to give it a 5 but it is not that good. The story is thin and a little tricky. But all the rest is great. A 4 out of Netflix 5.

Now go look at the Mitchum slide show. He was arrested for marijuana possession—a terrible charge at the time— and it never nicked his career. Right there you have something to like about him.

FIFTY

Disneyland is fifty years old today.

We have had our ups and downs about the place. I saw it way back in the 80's sometime. I was at a convention and they stayed open one night for the attendees.

Then in recent years we went twice with grandchildren. Believe me, it is a lot more fun with little kids than it is with a bunch of training weenies.

I figure three times is enough, but you never know. I have done most of the rides and seen most of the sights.

I am not much for the roller coaster type rides but I do like the teacups and a few others. Mostly it is just being in the middle of a world famous destination I think.

And, as silly as it is, I still am anxious for a glimpse of Mickey. We have a Mickey head on the Jeep antenna. We saw another one like it today. Theirs and ours both have only one ear left.

Happy silver anniversary Mick!

NO DEAL

I have mentioned before that we are totally in the dark and extremely skeptical of the new Medicare drug plan.

We, like most people, have not gotten any information about it. We do not see any signs that our insurance company is going to participate. Nada.

This is another mess from the bushers. A war. A botched economy. And they can't run anything unless it is to scrape the graft off the top or give corporations another break.

More here: Official's Pitch For Drug Plan Meets Skeptics.

SATED

Here is more than you could ever want to know about Blade Runner; the sets, the cast, the behind the scenes shit:
Official Blade Runner Souvenir Magazine.

67 pages. All interesting. Look at the sets. The one set I show in the 'review' is used over and over.

What it does not show is the streams of people. And the rain.

And look at the whole fansite: BRmovie.com.

ANOTHER BEST

Today's movie is not on the NYTimes Best1176 Film list. Maybe that is because it is about LA. The NYT hates LA.

But, a few weeks ago, the LA Times (a pretty good paper on its own) said that Blade Runner (1982) was one of the top 25 movies of all time.

So I put it in the Netflix queue. We can't have the NYT running all the show.

It is pretty good. Contrary to our policy, we could not get the theatrical version, so we saw the director's cut. It does not have the Harrison Ford voice-over, there are a few more scenes here and there, and the ending is bleaker.

It is an amazing film and I did not see it when it came around. The visuals—23 years old—are fantastic and are, apparently, the template from which all subsequent films have been made.

I loved all the 'business' in the interstices; the people, the scenery, the funny bits like the 58 Caddy that goes by, tailfins and all. It is Southern California for sure. You have never seen so many old cars as we have out here. No rust.

I am not usually too happy in this genré movie-wise even though I read a lot of books that 'read' like this movie.

It is basically cyber-punk literature brought to life. A Philip K. Dick novel was used as the basis for the story which is pretty thin. But almost all Dick novels are thin on story and high on atmosphere.

I actually 'saw' it as being more Gibson's Neuromancer (1984) or Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992). They both, presumably saw the movie too. I am sure they read Dick.

Who knows? These guys copy each other all the time.

This film is Ridley Scott the younger. He read all the books too. You can see Alien in all the wet technology.

And so on.

What am I saying? The movie seems derivative because it was there first. It is the real thing. It is all good. I think that this one gets special points for having a neat sense of humor.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 although I don't think it is one of the best 25 movies of all time; even the LATime or the NYTime. Time is a long time.

HARRY DAY

It cannot be helped. If you pre-ordered the new Harry Potter from Amazon.com, it is going to arrive today.

We are innocent of trying one-up; to be the first kids on the block to have it.

But it will be here. It doesn't matter. I am not at all excited.

I do notice that I have been watching the front door and listening for the bell a bit more than usual. Even though I am not into it that much, I don't want all the effort that has gone into this mass shipment wasted. I want to act as though it is very important.

That is the way you keep service people, like the mail-man (in our case, a woman), motivated. Act as if you are really really happy they are doing this wonderful thing.

We won't read the book the minute it is here. I know it looks as if we are jockeying for first position. That is not the case.

We are just clearing the air. Being honest about our current reading. Letting our priorities be known.

We have tried dual reading and it does not work. One always has the book when the other one wants it. And,if it gets too competive, we will just use the sorting hat.

I had thought of ordering two, but then the mail-woman would have two packages to lug up to the door. You also have to be sure not to aggravate the service people, either.

I have to go now. It has been a while since we looked out the window to see if there is a package out there. They might not have rung the bell. You know how lousy the mail service is. And if she had done that; then no fucking tip at the holidays either.

Not that it matters. One day is like any other day.

Gotta go.

OPERATING HOURS

A blog-reader was worried about my sleep patterns. There are so many 330 AM entries in the blog, he thought maybe I was working off insomnia.

No. Just normal operating hours.

I suppose my schedule is, to say the least, eccentric. But, not unhealthy.

I get up about three so I can get everything done. But, then I go to bed about 800 PM. Seven hours. Then a nap to make it the recommended 8!

These are a combination of desert and geezer hours. Well, no. I have always gotten up early. When I was on the road, I tried to get to the gym before I started working and I started working at 730AM, so that meant a 430 rise time.

Out here, I started getting up even earlier. The morning is the best time. The desert stars are brilliant; no humidity. At three there is little light pollution.

We can see the sun rise over the easterly range, way out there. The light coming up on the mountains behind us (west) is pretty dramatic. There are birds. It is cool.

I get up and do some opening business; peeing Franklin (after me), a little walk together under the stars, feeding Franklin (before me), doing some beneficial readings, meditating, checking the email, reading the NYTimes on-line and some of Salon (subscription). Then some breakfast and the LATimes; hard copy delivered by 4AM.

By that time, it is light enough, depending on the time of year, to do the biking. An hour out over 5-6 different routes. Back home for a swim and change and then out to do something depending on the day. Three days, 'something' is a Meeting, two days it is shopping, one day it is general chores. The seventh day I rest. It is Sunday and the Times is a big one. Then there is the NYTimes Crossword.

I work in about an hour of net-reading in the morning then do another similar stint in the afternoon. I have about twenty regular stops in the day.

My mid-day is about 10 AM. I need a nap. Then up and lunch and, if we have one, a movie. After that, blog some, read some, make dinner, and then, after we eat, it is my turn to walk the dog for his second hour-long outing of the day.

By that time, I am ready to pack it in. We all go out to the spa for awhile and soak. Well, Franklin runs around and does his end of day patrolling. He doesn't do water. We are grateful. Then it is bed time.

Somewhere during the day, I am able to get in some time with John, work with friends in recovery, do some visiting and phoning. I have enough friends to keep me out of my head and have something of a life beyond my little domain. Every once in awhile something spontaneous happens and that it is good too I suppose. I like my routine but breaking it makes me realize how and why I have it in the first place.

So there we are. Operations. The hours. Busy but not overloaded.

It is a good thing I don't have a job, there is not enough time to squeeze it in.

NOTE:

The 'clocks' in the lower diagram were put there for purely graphic effect. They came up on a google image search and I thought they were fun for the piece; mangled time, and all.

As it turns out, they are the actual results of a mind/hand coordination test. People with Alzheimer disease have difficulties with drawing a clock face with the hands at a quarter to two. This has also been used as a screening test to detect AD.

I know. I know. You tried it too. I figured you would. How did you make out?

I made it.

And I did it in ink. No one timed me though.

SCHMALTZ

Yeh, it is all sentimental nonsense. Uh-huh, it is all about upper middle class heterosexual fantasies gone awry.

But, at the same time, it features that wiley actor Spencer Tracy who wipes the genré slate clean with a bravura performance in
Father of the Bride (1950).

This is not the remake(s). This is the real McCoy. With Elizabeth Taylor as the bride and Joan Bennett as Mom.

I have been a bridal and 'groomal' father enough times to get the drift here. The theme here is universal and timeless. Identification is a powerful engager. I sniffed here and there and teared a bit at the end.

There is the silly stuff about the wedding going all wrong but no slapstick as was put into the Steve Martin remake.

This is about real family values. You know. The kind we had before they got ahold of the term as a political slogan.

Vincente Minnelli directed so the production values are first rate; lighting, set, ensemble.

Very enjoyably a 4 out of Netflix5 for this NYTimes Best1176 Film.

DETAILS

It is still a little confusing but this has it nailed down:

ROVEGATE EXPLAINED.

The Daily Show. Where something like 40 % of us get our up to date news. Well not me. Them. Someone.

SMALL FAVORS

The threat to gay marriage may be a lot less than I thought:

U.S. MAY NOT BE ABLE TO WAGE WAR AGAINST IRAQ AND GAY MARRIAGE AT THE SAME TIME:
War on Obesity Also in Jeopardy, White House Concedes.

LANCE

While you are thinking of Lance Armstrong whizzing up those mountains, take a look at this picture and imagine those thighs making it in a record time. A truly amazing photo:

Thanks to Outsports.com