esrosedotblog

MAHER

I'm not a big Bill Maher fan but I will make an exception in this 'case':

Indicted?

HAPPY

HAIR TODAY GONE TOMORROW

The lefty blogs are tearing their hair out about Alito.

I am composed.

I have to relax.

There is absolutely nothing that I can do about this.

I do not vote. I am not in a position to write to any one—all my reps but Bono are on my side and she is not influencable.

So. I will let it rage and not rage with it.

I gotta choose my fights.

KEY CHAIN

Hurricane Wilma did a job on Key West FL:

Key West Tries to Get the Party Restarted

We are KW veterans. We saw it through its transition from as a low down end-of-the-world dive to a favorite gay resort. It then reverted to the newest bestest place to be. The sexually ambivalent Calvin Klein bought a home there and the immuminati followed.

We still visited, often combining a drive to the Keys with stops at South Beach or other stops in Florida.

There was a time we thought we might live there. We used to do this all the time; everywhere we went. We had a fantasy about a defunct gas station near Duval. John may still have the plans for it.

We lasted even unto the beginning of its current state as a haven for the 'parrothead' Jimmy Buffet fans; a cruise ship day stop; a loud and raucous, well, expensive dive town. It had come a full circle.

When it was 'nothing' it was great fun. I had my very first snorkelling there. The town was proudly half Cuban with a large dollop of hippy-gay. People came for the bone fishing and the quiet that pervaded away from Duval Street.

In its way, it was a southernmost New Orleans. Its architecture was unique and it had the Hemingway House. It had a little railroad that went around town on rubber tires. It had the Truman vacation 'white house'. We used to go to a place called The Pig; a cuban diner that only served pork dishes.

Once, we went to a carnival and rode on an elephant. Great ride; swing and sway. We used to go down to the sunset at Mallory Square and they had buskers and other 'acts'. I remember a wonderful guy who had trained cats.

There was a place where they used to harvest and slaughter turtles which is now a turtle refuge. You could buy aloe products in Key West before they were anywhere else. Great memories.

It was always a bit on the outlaw side. Lots of violence. One year I dragged my business partners to a meeting there and we went walking. We walked and walked and eventually realized we were lost.

A guy came along, a black guy, who told us that we ought to get out of there and fast. We were walking into one of the roughest areas. This is when Key West was at its prime as a drug smuggling port.

We changed course.

Oddly, while Key West is surrounded by water, it has no beach. It sits on coral rock. Well, there is a place where they cart sand in. And that is its whole problem. It has no depth. They bury above ground.

They have not even put the houses on stilts as they do up the coast in FL. The place has always been hurricane country. Now, with the big storms and warming it will be even harder to stay dry there.

Did I mention that we always had a good time in Key West? The first time we went it was so cold that we had to sit with blankets on in the room. It rained. But we were newly in love and didn't mind. There was The Monster; an outdoor disco. There was a lot of action all around us. It was one of the first places other than PTown where you could hold hands.

The last time we were there we stayed on a side street at the very east of end Duval Street; a nice house with the coldest pool I have ever gone into. Cold water. A Key West thing.

The place had changed radically. In one way, it was still like Provincetown. The real estate values had cranked up so high that only people like us could afford to stay there. Our landlord was one of the 'new Key Westers'. A lovely house and yard with a pool in a water logged town. That level of affluence.

I ran down Duval early every morning and some of it was the same. Sloppy Joes was still sloppy; drunks; broken glass and vomit. The money-laundering t-shirt shops were still there laundering money off the day-trippers. But it was sadly plastic and changing over to the chains.

I mostly remember that we didn't feel OK holding hands.

A sad end to a wonderful place.

HANGOVER

I spoke to soon about getting through the clock change smoothly.

Franklin was itchy at 2:30 and I was soon to follow.

I know it is time to get up when I am lying there starting to worry about things like whether the refrigerator will wear out today or what I will do if...............fill in any imagined catastrophe from a broken shoelace to a major earthquake.

The crazy mind machine starts.

Waking nightmares.

It is weird that, the second my feet hit the floor and real life clicks in, I am free from this kind of paranoia and fear ridden prognostication.

It is a wee-small hours thing sometimes but I can pray myself back to sleep or simply focus on my body.

When it is wake up time, I think that it is my alarm.

"OK, lie here and I will deliver the most grotesques shit into your head that you will have to get up".

The mind is a wonderful and sometimes perverse gift.

ALITO

Well, we are in for it now.

Pandering to the base in a time of trouble?

Of course.

This guy is Scalia light or maybe heavy. Some call him Scalito.

Italian opera to come.

Reid warned not to do it yesterday.

Georgie likes to take a dare.

We live in interesting times.

STILL BILL

Some think that he is getting ready to return to the fray. High time.

Democrats can't be afraid to talk about hot-button issues, including abortion, and should fight back against personal attacks from conservatives if they want to regain power in Washington, former President Bill Clinton said Saturday.

"You can't say, 'Please don't be mean to me. Please let me win sometimes.' Give me a break here," Clinton said. "If you don't want to fight for the future and you can't figure out how to beat these people then find something else to do."

Clinton, whose 2004 memoir "My Life" was a best seller, drew roaring applause during his speech from the several hundred people gathered in the Texas House chamber to kick off the 10th annual Texas Book Festival, an event started by first lady Laura Bush when her husband was governor.

Sic 'em Bill. We have had enough of the inept and spineless.

Our buddy Howard is in there already kicking ass, Let's get the rest of them.

PSSSSST

We got through the time change OK.

I think it was last year that I set the clocks the wrong way which put us two hours off. We caught on pretty fast but it was embarrassing.

The thing now, is to get used to the early sunset.

Yeh, I know everyone has that. But, we are up against the mountain and so the sun 'goes behind' at about 330 PM. It is not quite the same as sun set but close enough. The birds start going to bed and Franklin expects his afternoon walk.

So, we slide forward again to an even earlier time. OK with me.

The best thing is that the light is back in the AM for the 6AM bike ride. John and Franklin can leave at the same time.

The light will diminish until mid December then go back up again. But it will never be darker at that time than it was Friday on my last ride.

I am OK with it but I lose the edge. I cannot really see the road surface all that well and I am concerned that people may not be able to see me. There is also the 'thought' that I might hit a skunk to say nothing of the reality of sand or water patches.

I wear white and drive for the other guy (as well as the skunk) more carefully.

So it is a good deal all around.

PST. Pacific Standard time. Can winter be far behind?

EARLY KIRK

Seven or eight hours in a squad room with a focus on one tough detective. A NYTimes 1176 Best Film:

Detective Story (1951)

William Wyler adapted and directed the Sydney Kingsley play. It looks like theater. It is theater. It is pretty good.

I loved the flow and blocking. The script must be twice as heavy as a conventional piece.

There are a lot of actors as 'stuff' happens constantly. It is a busy place.

Centerpiece is Douglas' sadistic cop. No holds barred. He was a great actor; held the screen and a dubious story together in this one.

Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Lee Grant in her first role and the young Joseph Wiseman who became Dr. No in the first Bond movie.

Somehow I was always attracted to Wiseman. Yeh, I mean that way. The itch was still there today. And he was almost always a psychopathic killer. So, sue me.

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

YOU BETTE

I have loved Bette Midler for a long time and for a wide variety of reasons.

This is one of them.

Midler Embraces Passing of Time and Greening of a City

Mostly she is an unsung heroine, or a singing, unsung heroine, for this work.

I like the line about people's saying it's all a vanity project. Typically blunt, she says, 'so what! It works' or something like that.

I don't think it is vanity that has kept her at it for all these years. And if so, so what?

Before this, she litter-picked in LA.

Whatever the 'reason' (why does there always have to be a reason?) she is a great person and I admire her deeply. I think I will go play one of the discs.

FLEW

I couldn't get the NYTimes Best 1176 Film Vincent Price 1958 version.

So, I got the less than the 'best' David Cronenberg Jeff Goldblum 1986 version. On a whim.

Yes. "Be afraid. Be very afraid".

It is The Fly (1986)

I had never seen it and had missed Jeff in about as good shape as an ectomorph can get.

Sadly, this buff turns into an unrighteous mess before the film is over.

It has some of the wettest gore of any picture I have seen including Alien. Wet is a lot more upsetting than dry; all those oozing body fluids

I liked a lot about it. The sets were very good. The story moved along; it only takes 90 minutes or so. The best time.

Geena Davis is great as the sweetheart who gets left with the sequel in her tummy. We didn't watch the sequel of the remake on the other side. I assume that it is son of the Fly.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and perhaps a 2 if I forget about it before supper.

FAT LADY

I know that some are disappointed that the slug-like Karl Rove didn't get his yesterday.

I am not one of them.

First of all, I was elated to see not one but five indictments of one of the Dark Dick's henchmen and a story line that runs through them. A complete attempt at deception. There are some who think that this really kicks Dicks ass. I agree.

That alone is worth the ticket.

But then, I am made happy about the fact that the story line will be fully fleshed out in the trial. You know, the perjury was hiding a story. To show the perjury they have to show what really happened.

Get out your popcorn.

Back to Rove. It is not over. They all get to have continued heartburn. Bush' brain has a lesion. Damage is being done.

There are some who believe that he might be copping a plea, He has had criminal attorneys from the beginning. Oddly, perhaps in hubris, Scooter did not. He had a trust attorney or something and is now out shopping for the real thing.

Criminal attorneys will do anything to keep their client from being indicted.

There is another point though.

I am satisfied that this guy Fitzgerald is thorough and honest. If there is not a case for Rove to be indicted; so much the better for the system that he not be tried.

It shows that we will not stoop to try the most despicable low life among us for crimes they did not commit.

The fat lady has not sung for the fat man and so we will see. But, no matter how it plays out, Rove has been deeply wounded and the methods he developed to play political hard ball around national policy are being exposed for what they are.

In a way, he is on trial and has been convicted as much as Libby. It is all of a piece.

BOOSTER

I didn't mention that we went and got 'booster' shots the other day.

Diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, and pneumonia.

Sore arms? What sore arms.

Just don't reach too high or bump them.

Stay away!

This is the kind of thing a lot of people don't think about.

And, I am one of those naggers who thinks that everyone should to be doing what I do.

So check into it! Get a boost. Or, if you haven't had any of it ever then go get the series along with your hepatitis too.

Listen to esrosedoccom!

CHIP

Franklin got a little rice size chip in his neck with an id and directions if he is lost.

It is nice to see that the system works:

Missing US Cat Found in France

Let's take up a collection.

FITZ

I watched Fitzgerald's press conference today on C-Span net.

He is my hero. He sure looked good.

He made a great pitch about how perjury and obstruction are major crimes. "Truth is the engine of the legal system". I think that he managed to pre-empt the spin in the GOoPers talking points. He even mentioned them.

The indictments are not isolated events about distortions of fact. They tie together. They say that Libby concocted a story and repeated it several times. Heavy duty.

Fitzgerald looks clean as a whistle. He is very canny guy. Fast on his feet. Very smart.

I don't know about the indictment. I wouldn't want to be looking at five counts. Libby is looking at up to 50 years depending on how you count it.

I don't think that anyone expected five counts; to say nothing of the 'story line' bit.

Of course Libby is innocent until proven guilty. We heard only about the indictment; not the case.

This is going to go on and on and on. You could not get closer to Cheney.

Fitzgerald is not done. It will fester and boil. The bitch Ann Coulter says it is the worse thing that could happen to them. She said 'us'. Boy, I am glad she is on their side. Finally the right has harridans too.

I am going to sit back and await further results.

CHAPLIN

It is a pretty tough job to balance slapstick comedy and a tract against Hitler and the holocaust; but somehow it is carried off in

The Great Dictator (1940)

The idea is one of dual identity; look alikes. A Jewish tramp and the dictator get exchanged. It is clunky as a plot but the satirical underpinnings of the film make it OK.

There are a lot of funny bits. There is a lot of tragedy too; even more given our knowledge of what happened after the film was made.

The final speech where the tramp/dictator recants and speaks for world peace is still relevant; perhaps more so.

Chaplin is not to my taste comedy-wise. I laughed more when Jack Oakie came on as the Mussolini character. We also get to see Billy Gilbert as one of the top henchmen. Paulette Godard, Chaplin's wife at the time, also looks good and changes prol accents on a dime; cpckney, Brooklyn. I hope it is intentional. Kinda clever if it is.

It was easy to watch and not an old-timey drag.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

BREATHING OUT

She may be the highest profile athlete to throw the door off the closet:

Swoopes Says She Is Gay, and Exhales

Maybe Martina was bigger.

But the word is that the WNBA has a very tight lid; teams an all. Tennis players and golfers are more independent.

Whatever.

It is high time that some others do the same.

Whattabout the guys?

DO IT YOURSELF

Don sent us this Halloween activity.

Something to get you in the mood.

COIN TOSS

Look at this phenom!.

Stay with it. The level of difficulty goes quickly from 1 to 10 and beyond.

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan

SOAP OPERA

I am about as illiterate with Dickens as I am with Shakespeare; with an equivalent sub-zero desire to delve into it.

I can happily go to my grave without scaling the craggy peaks of high literature.

I suppose that Dickens is not as high as the bard but it falls into the same category of tiresome stories elongated into endless prose when a few words would do.

Dickens was a serial writer and his work extended to get the penny a page payment I hear.

So I just bypassed it. I tried but would zee out early on.

I know all about A Christmas Carol and that is quite enough.

When I was a kid I may have seen the film of A Tale of Two Cities. A lot of head chopping, that. I think I saw it in school assembly. Mandatory.

So, it is not difficult to keep my rule: I don't see what I have already read and I don't read what I have already seen (and no sequels either)

Good thing as today's Best 1176 NYTimes Film was David Lean's

Great Expectations (1946)

I liked it very much. It is a film-film. No pretense is made for realism. It is done much as a dream in many of its parts; sometimes nightmarish and, other times, quite happy.

I imagine that there is much more to the literary soap operatic version. I will not have to read the book as I have seen the film. Not that I would have anyway it being Dickens.

There are some great English actors in this who I used to see frequently when we had the British cinema as a part of our daily lives. They are welcome old friends.

I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5.

DADDY

John advances the theory that Harriet Miers is a retard.

No not that way.

She is stuck as a little girl who needs a daddy.

Take a look at this article in the LA Times

Before Bush, U.S. Judge in Texas Was Miers' Hero

Look at the cute bunny and kitty cards.

Look at all those exclamation points!!!!!

The older men. The authority figures.

Not married. Best buddies with a silver fox with a beard.

For awhile we thought maybe she was in the Janet Reno mould but apparently not.

She is one of those who is a neuter; stuck in an unrequited adolescence of hero worship and a bad case of the heartstruck.

Lie down on our couch. We will analyze you or anyone else you want.

2000

Look at Those Who Died in Iraq.

NYTimes

GANGLY

Today's Best 1176 NYTimes Film is so charming that I wanted to replay it immediately; but I know that the charm would wear off with repetition. That is not a bad thing. It is just that 'charm' has a very short shelf life. So does 'cute'.

Gregory's Girl (1981)

is a Bill Forsythe film and these are always fun to watch.

It is very funny. Gregory is very awkward and physically maladept. No surprise there. He has grown five inches in just the last year.

He falls for a girl on his soccer team. All the rest of the story follows from that.

Everyone in this film is just perfect; Gregory's buddies, the teachers, the very seldom seen parents. Like I said. Charming.

Here, Gregory, on a date, dances lying down.

The best thing about this film is that it does not insult our intelligence. It does not stoop low to get laughs. It uses our intellect. It is not your standard Hollywood teen comedy by any means and yet there are tits and there is sex of a sort. There are also zits and those awful yawning silences on a date.

Nevertheless Gregory, and the boy who plays him (John Gordon Sinclair), is utterly winsome and delightful.

The other nice thing is that nothing bad happens in this. No teens are hurt during the filming; no one in the audience either.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER GUY DEPARTMENT

Letters Show Frist Notified Of Stocks in 'Blind' Trusts

Actually, 'it' did not 'happen' to him.

He did it to himself.

This supports my theory that crooks and dirty politicians (not always the same thing) have the seeds of destruction built into their very acts.

They still believe, somehow, that crime pays; that lying works.

Nothing could be further from historical fact. They all get caught one way or another.

Somehow, the moral blindness of the pol and the hack and the crook include blindness to the reality about being caught.

A bad case of denial? Maybe greed kicks in. Hubris.

Whatever.

They wound themselves, the blood goes in the water and the sharks come around.

Frist is a blatant opportunist; a doc.

You know, I love doctors but they are really dumb about most non-medical aspects of life. People kiss their ass(es). They get an outsize view of themselves. Ego kicks in.

This one is also a pol, a hack, a bigot, and now a dishonest manipulator.

Like I said. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Oh. I have been trying to work the pun 'frist fucking' into this and failed. Maybe later. He screwed himself. I am still working on it. Maybe when 'they' all go after him I can use it.

KEEPING TABS

I have finished

Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star.

It is pretty good.

A lot of 'and then I acted in....' kind of stuff but he had a very very busy career.

What is nice is that he shows the arc of his coming out as a gay man which is very interesting to me. He never really hid. No fake marriages and so on.

He played the studio dating game but that goes on with all the stars, the het and the homo, down to today!

They are a hot item for the duration of the picture promotion and then break up. Look at Bennifer.

We were with a 30 something friend this weekend and I mentioned the book. He didn't have a clue who Tab Hunter was or is!

Shocking. The lack of fundamentals in the coming generations of gay men.

I didn't go on about how, later in his career, with tongue firmly in cheek, Hunter was able to take his original stud-star status and squeeze it for all it was worth with Divine; the infamous, crossdressing Glen Milstead.

Polyester was a John Waters film and Lust in the Dust, a hilarious putdown of the texy-mexy-sorta spaghetti western, that Hunter wrote himself.

Anyway. It is a happy book. He did a lot of things. He was naturally endowed with the looks and charisma and lacked, by his own admission, any training as an actor. He went ahead anyway.

I enjoyed it. It would be fun to read even if you are too young to know who Tab Hunter is.

I am planning a Tab Hunter film festival to enhance the enjoyment of the book.

More later.

Soon, everyone will know Tab.

ANONYMOUS

John went to a 'book brunch' today. When he came home he still had his name tag on.

Name tags.

I won't wear them.

Another one of those 'introvert' things, maybe.

I have never worn a name tag.

If, in a fit of conformity, I 'make myself' or if someone else insists that I put one on, I will remove it at the first possible opportunity.

I figure if people want to know my name they will ask. If I want them to know me, I will introduce myself.

I don't see that the tag serves any purpose. Certainly it is not a memory jogger. Is that it?

Well, shit, if they don't remember my name then to hell with it.

Of course, I have a memorable name. Not Tom, Dick, or Harry. You don't have many esrose's running around!

Maybe it is just my rebellious thing. I don't bow to convention.

Whatever is going on with my mental quirks, it is the starting point of my copping attitude at a social affair.

Of course, if there are no name tags, I will find something else to cop an attitude about.

The whole idea of a lot of 'affairs' is that they are premeditated fun.

You are supposed to have a good time.

Who says?

Same with the thing about 'you should meet people'.

Why?

And so on.

You can see why I don't go to many or any social functions. I am sunk before I start.

26

The other day, I celebrated my 26th year clean and sober.

A lot of people have helped me along the way.

I am grateful.

TRUCK STOP

Today's NY Times Best 1176 Film was

Gas Food Lodging (1992).

I thought it was a peculiar choice but, on reflection, I can see how this first film by Allison Anders has a lot of fresh viewpoints on mothers, daughters, absent fathers, fuckover boyfriends and the like.

And, it is funny and sad and sexy too.

There is absolutely nothing going on in this small desert town (that we can see) but the lives of this small family; one mom, two daughters. And that leaves plenty of time for the moments to accumulate into a story. Usually it is the other way 'round. The story must be lived out and the people are dragged through it.

Here, you get the through line by inference.

It is pretty well done.

I have to admit to some problems identifying with women. But, somehow, this film helped me get over myself.

It helps that there are a few really attractive and nice men among the dropouts and heels.

I will give it a 4 out of a Netflix5.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

I really liked this article:

As Different as Balls and Strikes, But United in World Series

The two men who shaped this year's Chicago White Sox prepared for the start of the World Series with a flare-up behind the batting cage.

Manager Ozzie Guillen charged toward Ken Williams, the general manager, arms flailing, expletives flying. Players turned. Coaches flinched. Williams took a sip of his coffee, raised his hands and walked away.

That is how baseball's oddest couple coexist. Guillen does the talking; Williams does the walking. Guillen is the heart of the team; Williams is the head.

I have had partners and I have had partners but the best partners were the ones I could laugh and fight with.

These guys are classic.

They do not fear conflict. A major asset in any league.

GREAT ESCAPE

Today's Best NYTimes Film was

La Grande illusion / Grand Illusion (1937)

It is the first war prisoner escape film and a template for all those that followed.

But, it is also about class and the dissolution of the old order.

Jean Renoir.

I liked it a lot. There is nothing particularly 'new' about the plot because it has been copied so many times. What is unique is the interplay between the men who escape. They are not the stereotypes that came later.

There is one scene which is just a show stopper. There is the requisite drag show and one of the guys gets dressed up to see if the clothes fit. He repeatedly moans about how awful he looks while the entire dormitory stops dead to look at this 'female' apparition. They have not seen a skirt for a long time and by this time, gender is immaterial. The guy in drag is oblivious.

Other stuff like that. Good bits and a good whole.

It is sometimes hard to watch older films that suffer from primitive production techniques. On the other hand, it focuses one on the acting and story. Of course, contrasted with a lot of today's films, there has to be acting. There has to be a story. Or it is all 'effects'.

The film has Erich Von Stroheim as a german commander. You can see why he was considered a star director. He controls all his scenes even when he is 'only' acting.

The film has an interesting history. It was seized immediately upon the fall of France and the negative was to be destroyed. But it was smuggled from here to there and survived.

This is another reconstruction by Criterion and the film appears to be brand new.

Anyway a 4 out of Netflix5 on this one.

ASS-KISSING

This is a great article based on the Harriet Miers flattery to bushie; all the bunny cards and cutsie platitudes coupled with the most blatant slathers of butter. They are really such fucking shallow people!

The Timeless Art of Flattery

As, they say, Eddie Haskell would be proud.

The question before the house is whether this kind of blatant ass kissing works.

Well, of course it does, or people would not do it.

It is especially effective with the insecure and ego ridden.

No one is really immune to it of course. Having one's own company will illicit some of this 'yes-man' behavior. It is hard to resist but necessary.

I got so wary of it I would suspect even genuine compliments and squirm away from them.

Not so our George.

He promoted the woman time and time again. Did I mention that the ego driven and insecure are most vulnerable? Look at the mess he got into this time.

OUCH

So I had the tooth out today and it was not painless.

You have to get all the infection out for that to happen and I didn't.

There is no way to know until you are in there.

I went to a dental surgeon. He is a good guy. Very high tech. The prep is amazing. Awesome gadgets. Lots of staff.

But, when you get right down to it, it is the same deal as Dr. Mullen doing it alone in his house/office in 1949.

You shoot in the novocaine or whatever and then you wait.

Then you lever and pull.

In my case they drilled or sawed or something and then pulled.

There was some pain. But it was a clean pull and there will be no side effects.

That is a prayer not a prediction.

I am OK. I have pain pills; non narcotic Toradol. I have penecillin to get the rest of the infection. I have gauze pads for the, uhhhhh, bleeding. Are you still with me?

It is OK. I don't think we will be able to see the gap and I will still be able to chew on that side.

They rush you out of the office for some reason. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. No time to stop and chat.

OK with me.

I was going to put a photo up but you should see the images for

'tooth extraction'

at Google images. I will make it voluntary.

SEEING RED

If, like me, you get up at three, you could see the October mars/moon combination very clearly in the western sky.

It is quite dramatic but not quite as dramatic as this shot.

More like this but not blurred. Hold your head still!

Actually it is time lapse; why the moon is so bright.

And very very orange/red (vermilion?). More than I remember from last time.

These are google-image shots but the bottom one is pretty close to what we are seeing now.

NONE OF THE ABOVE

I guess that the multiple choice test Miers expected turned out to be essay:

Miers Hits Another Snag as Senators Fault Her Questionnaire

I feel sorry for her, actually.

I think that she is a pawn in a game that is bigger than she is.

My sympathy doesn't extend to an opinion on her qualifications, if any.

On the other hand, she has been right in there kissing bushie's ass all these years and you reap what you sow.

You know? She is so obscure I cannot get an image on google. They run behind the news but no news is no news.

MORE WORMS

Delay got the warrant for his arrest today.

Fingerprinting and booking soon.

Will there be a perp walk?

An orange suit?

No. Surely he can come up with the 10,000 bail.

The SEC has subpoenaed Frist's financial papers and he is in heavy denial mode.

We are only in the first year of the four year term.

Remember?

I promised you scandal after scandal. Here it is.

So many criminals; so little time.

WORM TURNS AGAIN

I haven't had much to say about the Plame case which is really the Joseph Wilson revenge and wipeout case.

Or Fitzgerald's grand jury. That's him over there on the left. Fitzgerald.

If you read the blogs, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

But, it is all speculation. Delicious but not the real thing. Virtual conspiracies. Virtual indictments.

Having been burned before (as in President Kerry), I hate to get on any bandwagon.

But the wormS do seem to be turning. When co-conspirators start to make deals, the house begins to shake and tremble.

Second Cheney aide cooperating in leak probe, those close to case say

This is from Rawstory who usually gets it right.

There are rumors that Cheney will have to resign. Jeez. What a shaker that would be.

But, there you go. President Kerry again.

So. We await the Fitzgerald grand jury's conclusions with quiet amusement.

I read that Fitz is a bulldog. Someone has coined the name FitzMas for the day he makes his announcements.

IF any, of course. We don't want to jinx it.

BONDED

I have never been a James Bond fan.

Not even when it was discovered that Kennedy read the Ian Fleming stories and we all tried them out as well.

It all seemed kinda dorky actually. All those devices. All that mechanical sex.

I guess that is the same thing. Everything plunges or shoots

But, what do I know? I was and am a gay boy and the Bond movies are made for straight boys. Emphasis on the boy part.

Of all the films,

Goldfinger (1964)

seems to be considered the best. So saith Ebert and the people who made up the NYTimes 1176 Best Films.

It is a bore today.

I don't know whether it's because all the stuff has been copied over and over or not. I think not. I remember that I was as bored the first time.

Do I dare say that I don't much like Sean Connery as Bond? I liked him in other things.

I don't know.

I am even annoyed that they use a lot of matte shots; fake backgrounds to the 'talk'. Hitchcock did it too. I suppose it saves money and improves the sound but it looks lame. A nit.

I am trying to fill the page. I am even bored about me writing about Bond.

Thank god this is the best one and that is all I will have to watch in the series.

And come on, really. Pussy Galore? Cut it out.

A 2 out of Netflix5. I reserve 1's for the really offensive ones and this movie wasn't even that.

Zzzzzzzzz.

NEO-THEO

Yesterday, I credited what is happening with the government in Iraq as a sort of small d democracy.

Actually, upon reflection, I have to amend.

It is a theocracy. Allowed by our neo-cons! The originalist constitution crowd and all.

We are enabling the solidification of church and state. So what gives with that?

Even more shit to shovel.

What is scary is the degree to which we are becoming a theocracy.

Of course it is christian so that is ok. We have people who tell us this is a christian country all the time. I mean real people here in our town.

It is all so fucked up I can hardly stand it.

PLASTICS

There is no denying that today's Best Film is a classic; but Ebert has a contrarian view in this review of the disc we watched today; the 30th Anniversary edition.

Can you imagine?

And now it has been 38 years!:

The Graduate (1967)

I don't share Ebert's diminished view.

I still liked it a lot and it is a 5 out of Netflix5.

That said, it is a sort of 'plain clothes' version of what was happening at the time. It is a sort of stealth approach to the sexual revolution and the refutation of the establishment. You know, they still had to sell movies to the straights.

Of course, Benjamin is a dork. But he is a dork with courage.

This was Dustin Hoffman's first picture. He is great. And quite buffed out.

And it is the late great Anne Bancroft who steals the picture.

I was not ready for the impact of Simon and Garfunkel's music. It still has great impact.

And Mike Nichols. Wow. What great shots and dissolves and pans and.......just whew.

It is interesting that the group of brain-dead people that Benjamin is running from are back in charge today.

Too bad.

BOOM

I didn't make it to the biking today. We had a lot of rain.

But, the big news was the fireworks we got from about about 9 PM to 5AM.

There was a continuous series of storms; all thunder and lightning and very very heavy rain. And 'sheet' lightning. Not bolts to the ground. All up there.

Did I mention that this went on all night?

I wear earplugs and it woke me up; the flashes, the bangs, the downpour on the roof. We have no attic. No airspace over the ceiling. This is California; all flat roof. You can hear every drop when it is coming down hard. Torrents. Tropical.

OK.

You got the picture.

Franklin is getting a lot better with this kind of thing. But, when we see him standing in the center of the room we know it is time for a sitdown snuggle and a series of "It's OK".

It helps if you think it is OK yourself.

In the morning, all friends agreed, there has not been anything like it here in their PS 'lifetime'.

A 'winter' storm off the North Pacific is blamed. Cold, cold air, meets our warm air.

We cannot see it today but they say that there is snow down to 7000 Feet.

There is nothing weird about that part. We often have snow up there in October.

And that is the weather report from the desert.

CATCHING UP

It is amazing how long it takes for the bushies to catch up with what most of the rest of us already know and believe:

Administration's Tone Signals a Longer, Broader Iraq Conflict

The idea that 'democracy' will somehow dissolve all conflict is just utter nonsense in the first place.

For people who are so centered on the 'war on terror' (not terrorISTS, mind you), they sure don't get what the fundamental fact of terrorism is in the first place; fundamentally anti-democratic.

Even if democracy, of a sort, is taking shape; and especially if it is taking shape successfully, then the extremists have even more reason to create chaos.

It is because they are a hopeless minority that they terrorize.

The neo-cons and the bushers do not get this somehow.

I notice that there aren't a lot of people running around with fake purple fingers this time. Reality must be seeping in.

DARK, OH!revised 101805

I went off the Best list today and watched a film that I have heard and heard and heard about:

Donnie Darko (2001)

It is a kind of mess of a movie which I bet is headed for cult status.

It is one of those 'figure this out' films. Which, I believe, leaves all the right brain analyzers out of the picture, so to speak.

It is not a rational issue. You sort of take it in and let intuition and feel take over. You either get it or you don't. I think I got it but I cannot for the life of me tell you what 'it' is.

The review at the link is from the NYTimes on the theatrical version. The film opened right after 9/11 and, as it is apocalyptic, that wasn't good timing. In addition, it does not lay itself out for you. It is a teen-pic with so much angst and weird shit happening that it probably alienates ever conceivable market niche.

On its first trip into the theaters it bombed. $500,000 gross and out.

Here is the Ebert review on the director's cut which is the version we saw.

I am glad that I saw it. It will sink in. I like Jake Gyllenhaal and his sister Maggie is his movie sister. Neat.

A lot of conventions are skewered here and I always like to see that.

I am going to give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

OK. OK. I will take a crack at it.

This is all spoiler from here on. Do not read this if you haven't seen the film and think you might want to.

Save the seminar until after.

Jake is a gifted schizophrenic kid who 'sees' a being who tells him how to use a time portal. There is some serious doubt about whether this is in his own head or not; whether maybe he is dreaming it.

They even screw with us on this when he runs the time back and goes to sleep. You think "oh this is Dallas" or something. He will wake up and it will be over.

I don't think so.

I think that he does have a gift and he does get into the portal and that there are things that are happening for and to which he is instrumental.

He sees a lot of shit coming down the pike; a lot of which he is instrumental in. He realizes that, if he can travel back and kill himself, all the things that he is instrumental in will not happen.

So he returns to the original day that the movie starts and lets the pivotal thing happen to him so that it kills him and thus, saves the world. He is a christ figure, after all. There are a lot of clues to this.

How do I know this? I studied modern American literature with Carvel Collins at MIT. That is why.

There is a lot of recreational stuff thrown in and around the through line that I have described to make it time-portally. There is a lot of god stuff hanging around. Psychoanalysis takes some hits and then comes through. There are some barbs left over for Tony Roberts type gurus. There is some funny fundamentalist religion, sort of.

And all that.

There is even a pointer in the picture to how and where he starts and/or finishes the drama. Lit teacher Drew Barrymore talks about the deus ex machina. In this case it is a very very large jet engine which, as it happens, probably drops off his mother's plane thirty days after the day that the engine falls into DD's bedroom. Gotta see it.

The rest is up to you to see in the picture. Enough spoiling.

Now, I am going to give it a 5 out of Netflix5 and include myself in the cult.

The director of this first film is only now 30 years old. How in the hell did he get them to let him make this? Richard Kelly.

BOOKIE

I know teach'.

I haven't turned in my book reports for awhile.

I have read quite a bit since last semester. I just ain't turned in the reports. I was too busy reading.

I re-read the Ethan Mordden Buddies cycle.

I first encountered these stories in the old Christopher Street magazine.

Then they were put together for the first book Buddies (the list at the link is not in the right order) and then became five books over about ten years time.

'Buddies' because it is about a group of young gay men who hang out together. Not so coincidentally, the Mordden stand-in is nick-named 'Bud'.

So, by the time I had read the magazine version and then all the books, I had read most of the stories twice. I like them so much I have pulled them out one or two more times.

I love Mordden's voice. He is NYGay all the way through; smartass. You live in his world. It is a bit condescending. In fact, his feigned patronizing pisses some people off. But he kids himself so, to me, it makes it all the more fun.

He writes as though it is autobiography. Names are named. The people, presumed to be real. You get to follow their loves and lives over a very long period of time.

You get to see one view of gay life in NYC, pre-AIDS (1980) through the 90's. It is all there; the clubs, the parties, the Pines.

As I started in the cycle again, I looked Mordden up only to discover that he has just released the 'last' book in the series which brings us up to the new millennium. It has been an 8 year wait and Mordden says this is truly the last one. OK.

We heard that there is a stage version coming to LA. It is quite a saga so there is a lot of material.

Also on my book report, I have read Eragon Volume One of the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini.

He was only 15 when he started this book.

The second volume, Eldest, is in the house. John is reading it now. It was just published.

Paolini is working on the third volume. He is 19 years old.

Wow, huh?

We are suckers for dragon books. Swords and dragons.

There is a web site to tell you all about this phenom: Alagaesia.com.

The story involves the quest of a 15 year old boy (!? get it) named Eragon.

In the first volume, it begins a bit thin; you can detect the young man writing.

Then, as they say, the plot thickens, and you forget the source of this wonderful story. We are hooked.

I have finished reading Dan Savage's

The Commitment : Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family.

We read Savage's syndicated sex advice column weekly. It is excellent.

We also enjoyed his book The Kid which tells about the adoption of a baby boy by Dan and his partner Terry. It is a great story.

This book updates the family life, six years later as Dan and Terry (and 6 year old son DJ) decide on whether to get married or not.

On the way to this decision, there are a lot of laughs and some pretty incisive exploration of the gay marriage issue.

I will not tell you how it comes out. But, by the time the book finishes, you are thoroughly drawn into the issues surrounding this big decision.

We have had to ask ourselves the 'marriage' question. There is not an obvious answer. Dan and Terry have been together already for ten years. They encounter many of the same questions that we have.

It is a wonderful book. Very high on the scale. If it was a DVD it would get a 5 on the Netflix5 scale.

Just to get some more points, I am currently reading E.L Doctorow's The March; the fictionalization (more like Doctorowzation) of Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea.

Also, in parallel, I am really enjoying Tab Hunter Confidential; the autobiography.

It is really good.

I don't know why I am surprised. I guess I had lowered my expectations.

A tell-all, blond hunk, story with a gay-man twist. But it is not that at all; or not just that.

It is a life. And the story is told at many levels. It is quite entertaining and moving.

The fact that this hetero-heart-throb was gay is not news. He was exposed by a rag (that we all read); Confidential magazine. And it made no difference. He had charisma and power and, as it turns out in this book, he was a fully formed adult who understood what was going to happen to him. When the fun was over, he resumed an interesting and happy life that was ongoing when he became a star.

It is fascinating.

I am also headed toward Eldest, the second Eragon volume, as soon as John is done with it.

Melville's Typee and Omoo are just under that pile. I am going to give Melville a go and these first books will get me ready for the great white whale.

So, it may be awhile until the next report.

How about some extra credit now? Huh teach'? Points for good intentions?

FEET FIRST

This is pretty good:

More Than Meets The Eye.

REVENGE

Today's Best 1176 NYTimes Film was

Get Carter (1971)

Michael Caine is a London gangster whose brother gets killed in Newcastle. He seeks the killers to take revenge even though he is told by his boss to let it go.

Thus, we have a who-dunnit followed by a hard boiled and merciless revenge mission.

And now, people are after Carter because he is breaking the criminal code of territory and personal vendetta. Apparently, this kind of thing is not done in these circles.

All of this is told against the sleazy, seedy, background of Newcastle.

It is sort of noir in color with a strong dose of cinema verité; a lot of handheld.

Caine is relentless. He lets out all his inner thug.

He has appeared in such a grab bag of films; mixed quality. He says that he has always been afraid of being broke and so he took everything on offer.

Caine fans must beware of the bad bits in his filmography. In this case, we have one of the good ones.

I liked it even though it is not the kind of thing that I would choose for myself; another Best Films bit of serendipity.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because I felt a bit of distance. Not into it all the way.

BLARNEY

But good blarney in the Leo McCarey

Going My Way (1944)

It won a lot of Oscars and is a NYTimes Best 1176 Film.

I saw it as a kid and remembered it almost scene by scene.

There is a lot of sentimental irish-catholic fantasy in this. You have to remember this was a different time. Innocence.

Bing Crosby goes to Barry Fitzgerald's church to take over from the old man only Barry doesn't know that he is and so on. Crosby turns the bankrupt church into a money maker with a pop-boys choir. They sing, among other things, the great "Swingin' on a Star".

There is a romantic side story. Risé Stevens, a popular soprano at the time, appears. A lot of stuff happens.

Blarney. And I guarantee that you will laugh and get worried and even cry at the end.

The real star of this film is Barry Fitzgerald, a great Irish actor. He was an Abbey Theater principal and went to Hollywood. He steals every scene. He is wonderful. He IS the picture, actually.

Crosby seems insipid now. At the time he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world. A little hard to see now. But he was. Times change. Tastes change too.

I liked it. It fills my quota for sentimental claptrap for this quarter.

I will give it a 3out of Netflix5.

Did I mention that this came out toward the end of WWII? The country desperately needed this kind of happy distraction. It filled the bill.

At the time, my dad was in the Pacific dodging (and not dodging) kamikazes on a small destroyer escort. We had done without him for a long time. It was a sad and depressed period. No wonder this happy optimistic picture filled with 'fathers' made a dent.

UNINTENDED

I wondered about this.

Everyone who has stopped smoking has gained weight. Me too.

It is an interesting excursion into the familiar land of 'unintended consequences'

Smoke-Free and Fat: The health hazards of kicking the habit.

But I don't think I will light up. I just got my ass onto a bike seat and pedaled. That and a little less of the fat making foods.

The real problem is self indulgence and social stress.

But, I don't see any chance of that lessening. It may be intrinsically human.

The phenomena of craving is universal and can only be directed to healthier pursuits.

Spirituality is such an avenue. Body work, athletics; another.

FAST TRACK

OK. OK.

I admit it. Now.

All those years I was supposed to fast before getting my annual physical blood and urine tests? When I said I did?

I didn't.

Risky business if you believe the testing premise. But I don't.

Back east no one ever had me fast. For anything.

Out here. SoCal. Purity. Fast before tests.

See? I plead, "I get up at 3 in the morning. That is one long fucking time until I get to the lab, after the doc has at me, at 9!"

They only say that it is too bad but I need to fast.

I would die. Shrivel. No way.

So, for years I wheedled and fibbed and so on.

At one time, I had my Doc pleading to do it for him.

I didn't.

Hey. I will even go further. I didn't abstain from red meat before I took my fecal samples either.

So. Release. Reconciliation. Reprieve. Moral certitude now possible.

Suddenly, circumstances have come to my rescue. I don't have to lie anymore.

They consolidated two Quest labs here and the new one opens at 5 AM! Just about the time I would be completing my first breakfast anyway. They have made me an honest man.

So no more lies there either.

So.

This morning. Up at 3; out at 445; tested and gone by 515; I had breakfast only an hour late at 530.

And, part two, they now have a new improved fecal test (I know this is icky but I disclose all or as much as I can stand. I can stand this. Can you?) where you don't have to abstain from red meat (or aspirin or other necessities). And you can brush! No popsicle sticks.

Can't be beat. I am residing in truth. At least as far as blood, urine and poop tests are concerned.

New problem though.

Now, I am worried that if my baseline for all this time has been non-fasting, what will the deltas look like now that I fasted.

I guess I will have to wait.

ANOTHER BILL

I don't know if he is or will be running for President, but I told you: Bill Richardson has the goods.

A U.S. Democrat to Go to North Korea for Nuclear Talks

This is the kind of statesmanship that we need. A talented guy, willing to cross partisan lines, helps carry the load on a really tough problem.

Public service. A commodity and commitment sorely lacking in these hacky pol days.

I don't know why I am so attracted to this guy.

It is the kiss of death for candidates though.

I have a political graveyard behind me. My whole life, I have backed the losers.

But they were the best people!

WHO'S ON FIRST

One of the thrills of rising in the early morning (330 AM) is to hear the night sounds.

And no sound is more thrilling than the sound of whoo-( )--whoo--whoo. The blank is the missed note in a four beat measure. One whoo and then a space followed by two more whoo's.

It is the neighborhood owl.

I hear him about three times a year which makes it even more thrilling. Chills.

We see him sometimes flying over. Once, I saw him in a tree two streets over.

He is a big bugger. A wide wingspan and a grey belly.

I think that it is a Common Barn Owl.

First, they are indigenous to the Southern California deserts and second, get this, we found a feather the night before on the dog-walk! Franklin picked it up.

A big feather. Long and white with a black striped tip.

Who? Who. Who. Look at this picture. Long white feather!

Barn owl for sure.

WORM TURNING DEPT.

Latest NBC / WSJ poll:

With the 2006 congressional elections a year away, 48 percent of respondents said they preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 39 percent who said they preferred Republican leadership, NBC said.

The 9-point difference was the largest margin between the parties in the 11 years the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had been tracking the question, NBC said.

For the whole thing more or less:

Bush approval rating dips to 39 percent - poll.

Oh yeh.

A yawn over the sub-40 prexy poll.

It has been down so long it must look like up to him.

PINTER

Nobel Prize for literature:

British Playwright Wins Nobel Prize for Literature

We have seen a lot of his plays. One in London.

We have also seen much of his work in film without really knowing it.

He is a well known anti-war activist.

Might be a message there.

I love the photo at the link.

RED TAPE

Did you know that a third of medical costs are for the bureaucracy? Read this:

Treated for Illness, Then Lost in Labyrinth of Bills

We only get a small amount of this kind of thing. We get a Medicare accounting. We get a Blue Cross accounting.

For each visit. Weeks and months late.

I have no idea what most of it means.

We wait for the Doc's bill, if any. Mostly none.

I won't give in to it.

I also have the Medicare book on the new drug program. It is an inch thick.

Big type; but an inch, nonetheless.

I am planning on not reading it and letting our supplemental provider Blue Cross make an offer. We have drug coverage so it is a simple matter to wait it out.

For others who are in HMOs and the like, it is a nightmare of 'what to do'?

My old slogan is 'when in doubt do nothing'. But many cannot afford that approach.

Now, I see there is a new layer of bureaucracy.

The explainers. You can call and get help from someone to get through it.

Of course, they are baffled too. It is like the service departments you call in the corporate world. Well, it IS the fucking corporate world!

Universal government controlled healthcare anyone? I vote YES!

IN THE DARK

We made the switch yesterday from post- to pre- dinner dog walking.

This is always a big adjustment for the pooch as well as the people.

First of all, there is sun!

In the summer, we always wait for the sun to go down and the air and pavements to cool.

Of course, the air and pavement are cool already. It is autumn.

But, this does not seem to affect Franklin's attitude. "We don't walk in the sun".

We will get through it.

For the people in the house, it means prepping dinner , then walk, then finish the prep and eat.

It is easy to postpone blog writing, reading, fooling around to apré meal.

Not the dog stuff though. Last night Franklin came looking for his walk after supper. How do you explain? I ran him in the yard with his soccer ball and then came in and we did some more stuff.

Displacement activity.

We will all get used to it soon though.

Daylight savings will be over and it will be sundown at 4 (our mountains give us early sunset) and all will be right with the world.

It is hard to change a dog's or a man's routine.

WAGES OF SIN

Today, I finished the trilogy with

Godfather Part III (1990).

They waited 16 years between this and the second one. It may have been intentional. Dunno. But the aging of the carryover actors is very convincing because, to a great extent, it is real.

Part III was also a NYTimes 1176 Best Film; a trifecta.

A lot of people were disappointed with it. It actually shows people suffering for their sins.

One of these groups is the roman catholic church. It shows the gang war over the vatican that presumably had John Paul I get a planned heart attack.

A corrupt archibishop (NYC no less) is not a stretch. But, the pope? Well. No. That is not a stretch either.

There are a lot of new people in this one. Eli Wallach as an old old Don is old and doing his very good thing. It was great to watch him steal scenes effortlessly.

Andy Garcia is the new Don. Nice.

Sofia Coppola is unfortunate as Pacino's daughter. The usual Coppola nepotism. It often works for him; NIck Cage, Talia Shire. Not this time. It is only fair to say that she stepped in for Winona Ryder; so maybe it was justified. Maybe. There aren't a lot of young actresses out there who could have stepped in for Winona, huh?

Anyway, I liked it. I now feel complete.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix 5 becauase the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Nine hours of my shortening life. OK. It was worth it.

BOXED

One thing that came up in the Gleaner's movie was the 'button box'.

My mother had one; so did John's.

When clothes got thrown out or recycled, the buttons came off and went into a box.

I think people also bought or collected buttons from other people's clothing.

My mother's buttons were actually kept in a metal container; one of those fruit-cake type.

I used to play with the buttons.

Yeh, I know. I didn't have all of them. Or someone learned how to push them.

Buttons.

Name me one person who has a button box today.

I would surely like to see that button box my Mom had.

Maybe one of my kids has it.

GARBAGE

Agnés Varda put together an extremely idiosyncratic documentary in 2000 and then did a followup in 2002. It was a national sensation in France and is one of the NYTimes 1176 Best Films.

Glaneurs et la glaneuse, Les / The Gleaners and I (2000)

It is a look at the modern form of gleaning carried beyond its agricultural sense and extended to all manners of gleaning including, of all things, psychiatry; pouring through the leftovers of the past.

I said it was idiosyncratic.

It is also wonderful and the omnipresence of Varda with her exceptional digital video camera is, at times, gasp producing.

You will enjoy it as we did. The disc has the followup program she did as well. I don't usually watch the boni and only turned this on out of curiosity. We stayed the course.

Oh. And the whole thing is/was based on gleaner art, chief of which is The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet. Prints of this painting (shown) were everywhere when I was a kid. My Aunt Flora had one. They were meant to present the moral value of conservation. Using it all.

I am giving this a 5 out of Netflix5. I really enjoyed it.