esrosedotblog

HOW DO YOU SPELL HYPOCRITE?

OK, we are addicted to oil.

Oh boy.

The week after Exxon made its record bundle, after tricky dick cheney had all his energy policy mojo workin. All that. The environment. Jesus.

That is what we have come to. Slogans and trickery and empty promises.

Gotta hand it to them though. The reason to pull it down is the war on terra'.

I had friends who started a pool on how many minutes it would take to get to the 9-11 allusion.

Oh what a state our union is in.

SOTU.

CULTURE SHOCK Revised 020106 4AMPT

I have to admit that when I saw that

Chan is Missing (1982)

was a NYTimes Best Film, I thought that it was a Charley Chan movie (almost always played by an anglo).

That is one of the many points of this simple little indie film. The Chinese in America have a complex cultural overlay.

There are the two Chinas, commie and Taiwan. There are the traditional and the assimilated. And so on.

As it turns out, this Chan has some money that is owed to two guys who go in search of him. They encounter many people who might have clues. Each of the people has an idea of why Chan is missing. There lies the conflict.

By the end, there are maybe thirteen reasons.

A little like Godot. If Godot was Chinese.

It is all set in Chinatown in San Francisco.

This is Wayne Wang's second film. He was named after John Wayne. How is that for culture shock?! He made it for 22,000 dollars. It has more to chew on than most of what we are offered on the big screen for megamillions.

It is crude and yet, at times, quite poetic and beautiful to watch.

There are times when a caucasian (me) will squirm at what is going on. Also the point of the film.

No. It is anything other than Charley Chan. Let alone with an anglo actor.

It gets a 4 out of Netflix5 from me.

DOG EARED

Franklin got his grooming yesterday and the staff agreed that he had something going on in his ears.

They have done this before; worried about his ears. So I was skeptical.

My theory is that if you bring a clipper next to my big hairy floppy ear and apply it with vigor, I will tell you there is something wrong with my ears too.

Anyway, we trucked to the vet at a hastily arranged 5PM appointment so we could find out whether this was a clipper moment or a real infection—or something more dire. Cancer anyone?

You know how dog owners get.

Well, perhaps you didn't but you do now.

So it was great. We go to a big animal hospital—eight docs—and we don't look for a specific doctor. They all seem to be good.

I suppose that if we had something dire we would look around but not at this stage of triage.

They have a new administrative staff. The house was cleaned in the last year. It had been a scrabble to get into the doc before.

Now, the system works and we were in the doc's hands within minutes.

We were ushered there by a wonderfully cute young man who was great with Franklin; weighed him (regretably not us) and ushered us all into the examination room.

Then the doc. A new one who we liked a lot. A guy. Many are women. In this place it is gender imbalanced to the female side.

No big deal with the ears. They washed them out, gave us some stuff, talked about allergies (if a problem we administer 25-50 mg of benadryl on our own), and let us go.

You can see why there might be a problem down there. Look at all the angles!

The best part of it all was leaving. There were a lot of people and dogs in the discharge area; paying bills, getting meds; complaining and whining (the people not the dogs).

This is an ideal environment for Franklin.

He becomes the center of attention almost immediately. He greets each dog as a long lost friend (whether friendly or not), flirts with all the women and has them in his paws before two minutes are out. The woman processing my credit card ignored me and was around the counter playing with him as were several others.

He is a charmer.

All this done, we got home and had dinner in plenty of time.

Another adventure with no dire consequences except for the wash that the vet gave us.

We will have to douche his ear once or twice a month beginning today. He will not like that as much as being the star of the discharge queue.

Sooner or later we all have to pay for our fun.

BILL SPEAKS

Davos and Bill is the headliner.

He says that it's global warming, stupid.

And has a lot to say about every key issue today.

He even got John McCain to fight his way to the first row for a listen.

Clinton: Climate change is the world's biggest worry.

Oh, I do miss Bill.

You know, it is just too much to have to sit here and read the truth while these assholes bungle and lie.

HUH?

This Best 1176 NYTimes Film involves some heavy lifting.

I am not sure what to make of Atom Egoyan's:

The Adjuster (1992)

I will need some help from the 'experts'. Egoyan's website is not much help. Although he does say that he writes and edits around 'dreams'. That makes sense to me. A lot of this film is about dreams.

At the link, we have a sort of positive review from Ebert. Then again, here is a rather negative review.

What did I think?

Well, I think that it is a great film festival film. It has a lot of 'who was the masked man?' about it. You get hit with something and then you get a sort of answer.

There is a lot of sex; not necessarily good sex.

There is the play with time; backward chaining to what it all means which is often fun; sometimes not.

The hero is handsome. He is pansexually the adjuster in a lot of people's lives. The insurance adjuster cover is a metaphor along with the bow and arrow he plays with and the isolated house he lives in and the.............

Well, you ought to see it. Then you will know what this is all about. Or not.

I, for one, will give it a Netflix3 out of 5 just for being annoying while it is wonderful to look at and sort of funny. But, I think that it circles around and sticks its head up its own ass.

SOME PROS DON'T KISS ASS

Well, it is starting.

The gorge rises when you try to shut down a pro-bureaucrat or, especially, a scientific one.

We have seen prosecutors who prosecute (although one has gotten promoted to a judgeship to shut him down) and many other smaller fish who have persevered in the face of the bush hack-a-thon.

This is a big one and an important issue.

Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him

Little by little, drip by drip, all the people who voted for this asshole will discover that they have been betrayed.

But when?

POCKET POOL

What to say about today's NYTimes 1176 Best Film

The Hustler (1963)

I know it is supposed to be one of Newman's landmark films; the one that launched him into major stardom.

He is good. And was asked to reprise this kind of role of the nasty loser over and over.

Perhaps that is why it seems a bit hackneyed now.

Sorry.

The other thing is that the film might be about the rise and fall and rise again of a guy with 'no character'. On the other hand, it is easier for me to see it as a story about alcoholism.

Eddy is a drunk.

They make it obvious that his girl friend, Piper Laurie, is. So are some of the others. Booze is a featured player.

And so on.

Ebert liked it more than I did the second time.

I was pleased to see Jackie Gleason again and to watch Myron McCormick who was a well known stage actor. He is Newman's manager in the down part of his short career.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

It is good. But, not as good as it thinks it is or wants to be.

NATAL

My birthday is just one day after Mozart's!

Not the year.

He is 181 years older than I am.

Just the day of the month.

69: a nice round year.

Now, I can tell people I am almost 70 and wait for them to say that I don't look it.

And wait.

And wait.

STEAM HEAT

My Zojirushi NS-PC10 Electric 5-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer arrived today and its first batch of rice is sitting in there warming.

It worked good except for the very thin layer of scum on the bottom. I guess they meant it when they said to wash the rice.

OK. Next time.

Otherwise, it all seems fine. It is a big mo-fo! An extra large footprint.

There will be a bit of jockeying around for the best position.

My, how fluffy the unscummed rice is!

I will be trying brown rice and maybe some specialty items like the aromatics.

But first I should get it right for plain old white rice.

WOLF MAN

Here is a nice article that blows away a lot of Mozart myths and reveals the man:

Forget 'Amadeus': Mozart Revealed

OLD HOLLYWOOD

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was made when I was a junior in high school. I am sure that I saw it.

It is in Cinemascope and opens with an overture with a full symphony orchestra. This was the introduction of stereophonic sound.

It was thrilling! Remember that is the first wide screen. The speakers were arrayed across fifty feet or more behind that screen. We were stunned.

Now, on our stereo playback (four feet projected out) it is not worth one shiver.

We are also treated to wide screen moments that were meant to dazzle: a plane landing on a runway--eeeek look out!

Yes. It had that impact.

It is also pure Hollywood fantasy product in the old style. And that is a good thing.

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

Remember, this is when inflation had not set in. A million was a lot in those days; 7,314,000 dollars to be exact.

The stars are Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. These are three major female stars of the time. Actually, Bacall begat Grable begat Monroe. They are all more or less in the same mode.

This is one more film in which we get to see Monroe really do some major acting. In a plane scene with another favorite, David Wayne, she goes from superficial to deep in about a two minute interval. She just wins you over.

The men are David Wayne (yes), William Powell, Rory Calhoun (who was gay and we knew it) and Cameron Mitchell. All good.

I really liked it and not for nostalgic reasons. It reads a bit slow now. Movies have become so fast. But the pace is fine. Once it gets going, we have a nice comedy with some really flashy scenery, costumes, and good feelings at the end.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

HOOK UP

This is almost enough to get me to hook up to the cable teevee:

Sly Stone's Surprise:
Reclusive Musician May Emerge to Perform At Grammy Awards

This band was, more than any other, responsible for my seventies flip.

Whaddya mean?

They were the first band I heard through earphones. They were the first band I am aware of hearing while stoned; the Family Stone, indeed.

They were always always always upbeat and happy. I got to love funk through them. They were big for me.

Am I dating myself?

GOIN' FISHING

The presnit doesn't want an Abramoff fishing expedition. Of course not.

But we do:

Majority Believe White House Should Release Abramoff Records

76%. That's a lot. Watch them scramble.

And I want to see the fucking pictures too. Rumor has it that the RNC paid 140,000 dollars for all the rights to them.

HAPPY 250th BIRTHDAY

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

January 27th 1756—Salzburg, Austria

It is only in recent years that his music has reached out to us.

He illuminates our times.

There is no 'great' Mozart work.

It is all great.

You know from the first measures who wrote it.

Sometimes I think that I even know why it means so much to me. Then the thought passes and there is only the music.

It is enough.

HUMMER REDUX

Just as I finished writing about the humming birds this morning, two of them plowed into our dining room slider.

This happens about once a year.

I think that the news spreads and the rest of them take care.

So there were the two bodies. On their backs. No motion.

Then slight twitching.

Ten minutes. One is upright.

Another ten minutes. Both are upright.

Ten more minutes and the first one up flies away. The second one stays and sits.

I agonize.

I wait.

I ask for John's opinion. Franklin and I need to go out but I don't want him after the downed bird.

So. I give in.

I go out with a paper towel; gives traction and it doesn't scare the bird as much as fingers.

I gently pick the bird up. A little prayer to do the right thing.

It is looking at me.

I decide to put it up on the wall in the sun. There it goes. And woooooosh! It flies up into the tree over the fountain; then down to take a drink.

They almost always survive. They act punchy for awhile but then recover.

Hummers. What fun.

One got in the house once and stood up on the ledge of the skylight. I watched Celia, our houselady, reach up and take it in her hand and then outdoors. The paper towel. Celia's solution.

VEGAN TERRORISTS

If you didn't laugh you would cry.

ACLU Releases Government Photos

The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files on Wednesday that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected of being threats simply for expressing controversial opinions.

Two documents relating to anti-war and anti-government protests, and a vegan rally, prove the agencies have been "spying" on Georgia residents unconstitutionally, the ACLU said.

For example, more than two dozen government surveillance photographs show 22-year-old Caitlin Childs of Atlanta, a strict vegetarian, and other vegans picketing against meat eating, in December 2003. They staged their protest outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway in DeKalb County.

An undercover DeKalb County Homeland Security detective was assigned to conduct surveillance of the protest and the protestors, and take the photographs. The detective arrested Childs and another protester after he saw Childs approach him and write down, on a piece of paper, the license plate number of his unmarked government car.

"They told me if I didn't give over the piece of paper I would go to jail and I refused and I went to jail, and the piece of paper was taken away from me at the jail and the officer who transferred me said that was why I was arrested," Childs said on Wednesday.

The government file lists anti-war protesters in Atlanta as threats, the ACLU said. The ACLU of Georgia accuses the Bush administration of labeling those who disagree with its policy as disloyal Americans................WXIA-TV ATLANTA

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR DEPARTMENT updated 5pm PST

The bushies are fighting for democracy in the middle east.

(yeh, all lower case, so sue me).

Democracy solves all problems.

So Hamas won the election and the Fatah movement will not play ball.

Hamas says that they will not negotiate with Israel.

What do they do when the results of a democratic vote turn out to go to the terrorists?

They don't like it.

Bush Says U.S. Won't Deal With Hamas

Shifting the rules around as they go. That is the bushers whole thing. It is power not policy they are interested in.

Add this to the democratic process (sort of) and the results they got in Iraq and I would guess we may hear less about 'we are fighting for democracy' than we have.

LOST AGAIN

Had I known that, I might have ditched it.

I am not much of a classical scholar. When at MIT I took all contemporary literature and theater as my electives.

But, having just completed the Pullman, I guess I will not have to read the Milton. Although, I am reasonably sure that the remake is quite a lot different than the inspirational piece.

Did Milton have armored, talking polar bears?

And don't let that put you off either. Milton or the bears.

It is a wonderful read and it has all kinds of things to say about us and our society and, oh baby, about organized religion which are all the bad guys in this 'godless' chronicle.

Amazingly, it is written for older kids. I didn't find it at all childish or beneath my interest at any time.

It would be similar in impact to Harry Potter. This is also published by Scholastic in the US.

So, I am on to Hal-reccomended Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell; a retelling of the King Arthur story.

And, oh yes, I am still reading Mardi as part of my quest to read all of Herman Melville.

DOWNER

I have not written much about the political scene lately. It is so depressing.

But, there have been worse times than these. One nice thing about growing old is that one grows some perspective along with growing the wrinkles.

I grew up in WWII. How is that for a comparison with these times?

It didn't take long before we had the Korean War. I remember the horrible suspense as the Chinese entered the war and snatched victory out of 'our' hands at Inchon.

Viet Nam. Countless other 'police actions'. All war.

Even though we are in one, there is less war in the world now than there has ever been.

I remember the political battles of the Democrats as they lost the South. The Dixiecrats.

The Democrats have always suffered from the third party blues.

There were the red-baiting times; Macarthy, HUAC.

There was Watergate.

There was always always always the cold war and the threat of atomic war.

And so on.

So what is so much more depressing about this time?

I suppose the whole moral vacuum and incompetence of the bushies and the apparent impotence of the establishment Democrats to have a unified push back.

Stalemate.

What passes as debate is not and the hostility of the battles is the most vitriolic that I have ever seen.

I don't worry about the corruption stuff. It has always been thus.

I don't much worry about the Supreme Court. It will be balanced in time with the sense of the members' own importance. Besides, they are not as powerful as we would like to think.

I am worried about global warming and the environment. I am worried about the power of the executive. I am worried about the loss of privacy. I am worried about the economy which is so stretched.

I am not worried about terrorism for one minute. We are in it. We have been in it. It will continue. We will win.

I will be out of my funk soon. It never lasts long. I am an optimist.

Look at all that has happened and we are still OK. More or less.

I need an issue I guess. There are so many.

I will think about it.

HUMMMMMMM

The humming birds returned today.

They have been away on their annual migration south to Mexico. The go there to get the warm weather, the nice flowers, and, most importantly, to mate.

We will see the eggs here in the later spring.

Incidentally, we do not feed the hummers. No solutions of sugar (bad) or honey (probably bad). It is not only bad nutrition for them but it creates dependency which often leads to non-migration. Hence, too cool weather, no mating, and little exercise. Bad for people too; come to think about it.

A fed bird is a dead bird.

And, this morning, when Franklin and I went out to pee (he does the actual peeing), I heard the mourning doves. They have been away too.

We welcome them back but do not become attached as they are primarily hawk food here in the area close to the mountain.

We will have a pair, there will be eggs, then some babies then 4 or 5 doves and then—poof—a pile of feathers in the lawn.

At the most we can have four couples, one on each side of the house. At the least, one. I guess he or she couples with a neighbor. They are never gone gone. Only partially gone.

We do not feed the doves either but not out of principle. They are probably short lived whether they are coddled or not.

BEE-UUU-TIFULL

I know. It says that they bloom once a year but ours comes out twice.

We have three smaller ones up on the north bank but for some reason they do not really bloom as well. In the desert, the microclimates are so touchy that a few feet, here or there, can make a big difference.

The orchid blooms are gorgeous and they smell great too; a musky purplish smell.

And, we have no hibiscus (white in front, red in back) because they also take a winter vacation for about a month.

In a couple of weeks we will have about five big birds of paradise out front. They are spearing up now. I have to help them a bit and split the stem at the blossom or they will wither. It is a bit like a caesarian section.

In February everything will start to come back and be in full bloom for ten months or more. One more short performance by the Orchid will be sometime in July.

WHIMSY

Today's Best Film is a film film in the sense that it is full of camera stuff, funny whimsical devices (particularly in the beginning) and a romantic story in the Hebrides Islands which, though austere, is a land of faeries and legends.

I Know Where I'm Going (1945)

is a nice movie with a nice story and interesting characters and it was very very popular in Great Britain and the US when it was released.

It holds up well.

I liked it well enough and don't have a lot to say about it.

Here is another review.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

PUZZLES

The Medicare D fuck-up story is unfolding as a time line.

Today, there is a poll that says:

Most Find Medicare Program Puzzling

Well, these guys are down at the very beginning of the experiential time line.

After 'most' are puzzled, 'most' are going to find that the decision they made to choose a company will turn out to be questionable. By this, I mean that once they decide on a company they will find that the particular company that they chose is probably as confused and confusing as the system is.

What is more, as they get into the process, they will find that no one is 'ready' to be on line full time with this.

We have insurance. The card is in our hands. We have started to buy drugs with it. But we are still not 'approved' by Medicare and, oddly, we have yet to recieve our first bill. No problem with that one.

After this confusion and delay, the next barrier will be at the pharmacy. The new plans are not going to be liberal in their application of the benefit. I have already been told to try an OTC remedy before re-applying for my prescription.

We still have not had the second member of the family try out his card and prescriptions. I expect more 'confusion'.

So, the well documented confusion of the pre-selection phase will be followed by yet more confusions as more and more people sign up and get started.

This is to say nothing of what will happen when there are a bunch of people signed up and they hit the 'hole in the doughnut'. The plan discontinues when you have spent 2250 dollars. From then on you are on your own! Until your drug expenses hit 3600 dollars.

No one has explained why this hole was inserted. It will be a killer because it will hit all of the highest drug users. They will not have the kind of money to fill the gap.

We got insurance that has NO deductibles, either at the beginning or at the hole but most people will not have this available.

The mind boggles at the nightmares that await.

If they think this poll is negative wait for what is down the line. And it will be right before the elections! Perfect timing.

BIG JOHN

I am not much of a McCain fan anymore but I do like it when he pisses in the GoOPer soup.

McCain: Bush Does Not Have “The Legal Authority To Engage In These Warrantless Wiretaps”

FEEDBACK

I have 'run' this blog for about two years.

In the beginning, I had no idea what I was about.

I had no goals or 'story'.

Then it began to gel and today there is a voice and a view and, to some extent, a story.

I have never felt it important to have a comments section. I have maintained an email spot for people to send mail and that has been quite sufficient.

Do I get mail? Yes I do. Sometimes the blog shows up on a google-search and so I get comments from far and wide. Other times, friends and family comment to me about what is 'up' on the blog.

I recently found myself reading a few personal blogs and getting involved with the comments section. I even left a few.

So I decided that I would enable my blog to take comments.

There is now a click-on for every item in the blog from the very beginning. I will get an email when and if anyone comments (until it gets to be too much email, then I will just scan through and check).

I am not sure whether I am more worried that I will get comments or that I will not get comments.

But, one must work through one's fears, eh?

So. Are there any comments?

FLASH!!!

Blog-world has been full of reports about five photos that show bushie being cozy with Abramoff.

The White House had made a frantic search of their archives and presumably cleansed the system of any visible taint.

They then foolishly proceeded to spin that A and B did not equal C!

Well, shit, we knew that Abramoff was a 'pioneer'; that is 100,000 bucks territory with access.

Once again, the coverup gets to be the story because Time has seen the five photos, The holder would not release them for free or something but they are there.

And, in due course they will see the light of day.

When will they get that the coverup ends up being the story?

In the meantime, get out your popcorn and watch the show.

FRAMED

Today, we saw Susan Hayward walk the last mile in

I Want To Live (1958)

It is a strange selection for a Best 1176 Film selection because it seems so dated. On the other hand, in this period, it was the social issue film; a Dead Man Walking for its time.

It is based on the more or less true story of Barbara Graham; an amoral two bit criminal who gets in with the wrong people from the very beginning. She does time for perjury to save someone else. So she is a loser too.

Whatever her history she did not kill anyone but she got pretty much railroaded in a trial which painted her as a 'scarlet woman'. The other two defendants pinned the murder on her and would not recant. Deals were made all around.

The picture really has two parts. The first half has Hayward living her dissolute life and is done in noir style. It is very good to look at. Robert Wise puts a jazzy underworld look to the whole story accompanied by a band headed by Gerry Mulligan (we get to see him play in a club) with a score by Johnny Mandel.

The second half is all cold jail cell stuff up to and including a pretty convincing portrayal of what happens in a gas chamber. The minutes tick by as many tries for a reprieve or stay is attempted.

It was difficult to watch because it is dated in the way that Hollywood films at that time are now. Hayward has full eye makeup and the rest. Today, she would be Uma Thurman or someone plain with a sneer.

Some of it is overacted but Hayward got an Oscar so who can deny the performance's effectiveness.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

BIZ WORKS

Not to sound like a republican or anything but you know that, when it comes down to it, the real and effective reconstruction of the Katrina damage will be business, the profit motive, and capitalism; not government. Period.

A Company Town on the Mississippi

God knows, if it is government, it will not be these republicans.

GOLDEN TREADMILL

We got our weekly The New Yorker yesterday and I told John that I felt like I was on a The New Yorker treadmill.

I had just gotten done reading one and here was another right behind it.

Lucy on the cake assembly line?

It is not a bad treadmill to be on, actually. I have been on it for fifty years.

This will be the approximate golden anniversary of my weekly readings of the magazine.

When I was a sophomore at MIT, I lived on East Campus and there was an office, mailboxes and so on, with a small magazine stand.

Freddy, the major domo of the office, handed me a magazine with my mail one day. Freddy was a flamer from the old days and kept a lot of 'his boys' under observation.

He 'explained' that if I was to be a cultured boy I should read this magazine and nothing less would do.

So, I took it (gratis for the only time since) and read it.

I was hooked.

Now. The New Yorker is not a gay magazine. But it is, or was, required reading for the homo-talk that went on in and around the random queer event. It would be like straight boys reading the sports page every day so they can manage in the land of the het.

In addition, it is, by and large, the most civilized and civilizing institution in the western world. It incorporates the arts, science, politics and many other areas of interest that one would not find elsewhere. It has a liberal sensibility as well as a biting tongue.

And, not only that, it has wonderful cartoons!

The only possible match for this magazine is The Atlantic and it does not even come close.

So, it is The New Yorker every week, week after week; fifty years of it. Let's see. That is 52x50=2600 copies!

Do I read it cover to cover every week? No.

That is what makes the treadmill possible. There is a frequency of more or less unreadable issues; issues where everything is dull or uninteresting.

These occasional lapses, what I call the 'junk issues', are what make the treadmill possible. It is a week off the machine. A time to rest.

Certain special issues can be counted upon to be duds for me: Fashion, often Literature, and sometimes even the cartoons are all too preciously featured in one issue. Too much of a good thing.

I would tell you more about the magazine but I do not have time.

As I said, the new one just arrived and I have to get started or next week I will be behind and that is not a good thing. I would never catch up again.

GLOSSY

Take a good story by E. M. Forster and give it to Merchant-Ivory, the producing-directing couple and get some good Brit actors and you have a Best 1176 NYTimes Film.

They filmed five of the novels:A Passage to India, A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Maurice and this one.

Howard's End (1992)

We had seen it before but it felt new. It has been 14 years.

The production is beautiful, of course: wildly so. It is amazing that they could put so much detailed business into these films; the street scenes, the country houses, the crowd scenes.

I suppose that today they would do it digitally.

The acting is impeccable, if a bit distant; Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter. All very good as well as the wonderful character actors.

In any event, there is a certain stiffness to any Merchant-Ivory enterprise which is inevitable. Maybe it is all the precise detail. A little sloppiness here and there might actually help. Even the lower classes have extremely stage dressed looks to them as well as the costumes.

There I said it.

Sometimes I think that to dis this team is like farting in church, but there it is.

Pooot.

That is why I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Passage is the only other Foster/Merchant-Ivory film on the Best list. We will have to wait until the 'P's. Perhaps I will do a fest with all of them some day. I will get my stiff upper lip ready.

SMOKELESS

I am coming up to 9 years without a cigarette; on my birthday; the 28th (nudge nudge).

I am happy about it because it is what I set out to do. It was a health step.

I had cancer and was going to get radiation treatment and I knew it was best to ditch the smokes in preparation for it.

Actually, they say it takes 5 years to get recovery from the damage (if ever) but too late is better than not at all.

I enjoyed smoking. Thoroughly. I never really wanted to give it up.

I regarded the social engineering of non-smoking legislation and the like as an incursion upon my personal rights.

On the other hand, I didn't blow smoke in people's faces either. Well, a little. John had to deal with it in the car (with the window down) and in early years where we lived. Let's face it. Smoking is indefensible.

But that does not mean I won't want to do it. In fact, it might increase the probablity that I would want to do it. The cigarette has long been the scepter of the rebel; James Dean, et.al.

After all this time I am glad that I quit. I wouldn't go back. It was ready then. I used the patch but it was not a really really hard thing to do.

I no longer think much about a smoke. Every once in a while it comes up and I use the other tool that I learned at the time of quitting. I remind myself that it is a craving and that it will pass. Amazing. It works.

I have smoking dreams. A lot of them.

I am used to that too. It is like a 'drunk' dream. All alcoholics have them. A sponsor told me that he regarded such a dream as a greeting card from his disease. "Here I am! Remember me? I remember you. Want to get together?"

No

What else about smoking?

I am not one of those asshole-ex-smokers who have a fit over other people smoking. I can be around it and it does not bother me either way. I don't want one and I don't mind having it around.

I still think that a lot of fears about second hand smoke are bunk.

I have always been fit. I ran half-marathons while I was smoking. I went to the gym. I worked energetically.

So do I 'feel better'? Hard to tell. I don't even feel superior or 'good' for having done it. It was just a choice and continues to be the same.

I suppose if I show up with some cancer or emphysema that could be traced to the smoking I will be philosophical about it. I won't go on a crusade then either.

That is about it. It is not very inspirational. I would not urge a smoker to quit or to keep smoking. It is up to them. When and if they have enough they will quit. Or not.

I remember a nurse friend tell me that he saw patients in a chronically ill hospital (VA) smoking through their tracheotomies. So, a lot of people decide not to stop.

As I said in the beginning, I am glad that I did because it was what I set out to do. What was painful was all that stopping that didn't work. I could quit but not stay quit. Now I have done it. Nine years.

CRIME FIGHTERS

This today in all the papers:

11 Indicted in 'Eco-Terrorism' Case:
17 Attacks Claimed by Activist Groups Caused $23 Million in Damage

I am not a supporter of eco-terrorism but I was astonished to read this quote by the FBI head Muller:

The director of the F.B.I., Robert S. Mueller III, who appeared with Mr. Gonzales, said one of the bureau's "highest domestic terrorism priorities" was prosecuting people who commit crimes "in the name of animal rights or the environment."

Well, of course. These 'terrorists' are working against the bushie deconstruction of the environment and Pharma's continued abuse of animals for testing. Both high bush priorities.

They must be hunted down and squashed. Use of the 'patriot' act of course.

Osama been where?

CUL DE SACKED

If anyone is still not worried about the mega-corporate control of the media, this should give some pause:

Television Cul-de-Sac Mystery: Why Was Reality Show Killed?

One hand washes another and one branch of the same mega-corp does the same for its sisters and brothers. It is inescapable.

I know that this shit goes on all the time but it is rare to see it laid out so clearly.

An ABC guy says the theory is "ludicrous". Yeh. The more ludicrous the more we want to sniff around these days. Conspiracy theorists seem more sane and balanced in an increasingly corrupt and crazy world.

OGLING GOOGLE

It is amusing that the bushies are choosing just now to get into a public fight with Google over access to Google's data base.

Of course, it is not about porn, it is about testing access.

Just when some were worried that the NSA wiretap thing wasn't getting enough cred.

It is stupefyingly stupid.

And what is more, it will piss everyone, and I mean everyone including the fundies, Who loves privacy more than a right winger bent on conspiracy theories?

I am, of course, worried about all this privacy breaking.

On the other hand, I am worried about the people who have to sort through all this massive data.

How many pop culture hits and personal blog slogs could an intel guy or gal take before they threw their hands up in surrender and despair?

The mass of trivia that they would have to run through is staggering. Flikr hits alone would be enough to kill all incentive to burrow through yet more of it.

NIX

Molly Ivins puts it very nicely:

I will not support Hillary Clinton for president

Neither do or will I.

Love Bill. Can't cope with Hillary.

My theory is that she is as aware as I am that Senators do not make good candidates for President. They have a long record which is nothing but ground meat to the negative ad wolves.

So, she is working it. No record, no meat.

Anyway. No one is asking me or Molly right now.

BACKLASH TIME

One reason for the separation of church and state is that confluence of the two messes up the religious aspect as well as the state.

I am not normally concerned about this but, while not being religious, I do have a spiritual orientation that respects and values legitimate religious thought and action.

This is, of course, as long as those religious do not try to mess with my spirituality. That's what I mean by 'legitimate'.

And that is where the separation of church and state and, I should say culture, comes in.

This guy has it right I think:

Wayward Christian Soldiers

WITH AN EGG ROLL

Boy, I like this a lot.

LGBT families plan White House Easter

Something for American families to see other than dykes on bikes and drag queens in the gay pride parade.

FLUSH

The honey wagon came to our house this morning. We are too far from the sewer line to be required to hook up and have a cesspool. We get a pump every year around this time.

Once again, the guy who came to do the job was interesting, engaging, funny, interesting, and a born conversationalist.

This has been the case since we got started with this company. We have an annual meet and greet with the sewage pumper.

This one has a horse, his wife teaches at Pamona college, they live in rural Banning on a small ranch, the company is expanding into all kinds of sewage treatment, they are the hookup people for the new sewage lines in Cathedral City. On and on all in a flow.

I wonder what makes this particular job so attractive to interesting guys.

The affect could be compensation for the nature of the job. But, wouldn't it be equally true that they could be a rather glum lot; taciturn and 'serious' in response to their profession?

They are also almost supernaturally sensitive. Each and every one has been as interested in us as in telling about themselves.

They clean up carefully and make a fuss about the dog who cannot come out to 'watch' but stands by the slider screen as close to the pumpout port as he can (about 12 inches as it turns out).

At the end, there was a question about the price. It was more than twice that of last year. He was non-plused that 'the office' hadn't told me about the increase. All costs are up including the new pumpage fee at the city sewer.

He went to do the reciept and came back with it and my check and told me that he cut the volume he had pumped so the bill would only be about 50% higher than last year. Would I please write out a new check? I demurred. He insisted.

How good a deal is that?

That is their truck for real. They have flames running from the radiator down the side of the hood and the cab.

Indeed.

I guess the whole company is 'like that'. A nice sense of humor about themselves and their craft.

YIN AND YANKED

For those following the list, I have deleted two films from the project.

The first is Neil La Bute's In the Company of Men (1997) which I know to be an exercise in cruelty and I do need that in my head right now. This is probably the one theme that I can not abide in a film. It seems so unnecessary.

The second film I deleted was just the opposite; Frank Capra's inverted A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life (1946). I have seen enough of it.

So, if you are emulating the project, you should include these in your viewing or, at least, your consideration.

HOOPS

Good news/Bad news on the Medicare Rx front today.

Good is that my card worked. I am in the system.

Bad, or not so bad really, is that they denied my Allegra, the expensive allergy med, and left a note to try Clariton OTC.

Now I understand this. In fact, they might be right in the cosmic sense. After all, the Allegra costs almost two dollars a day and Clariton is less than half that and, better for them, I pay for it!

Voila!

I can deal with this.

As Lisa pointed out (she's in nursing) there are far more serious issues being faced by people a lot less able to cope or afford it.

Perspective.

So, I am up for trying Clariton. I am even up for trying to do without the pill at all to see what happens. In either case, I am not going to suffer so much.

I said to my pal David, the druggist, that I guessed they were going to make us jump through some hoops for the cheap coverage. There are no bargains.

He said that professional ethics prevented him from giving an opinion on that in the store but, if he was outside with his name tag off, he might agree with me. Add a smirk.

The general situation is another scandal. David said that they are getting errors or no contact on every other submission. That is 50% problem cases. Their work is piled up—stacked, I could see it—waiting for people to come in with the right info and a card that will work.

If the bushers spent half the energy governing that they do in covering things up and playing power games, this would be less of a mess. There would be a mess, no doubt, but we would be on our way to solving it in the foreseeable future. That is not now the case.

It is interesting to read this Robert Novak column in which the political ramifications are revealed.

Medicare Rx Blunder May Hurt GOP

Evidently the impetus behind this was to gain an edge with the elderly voter.

Talk about your 'unintended consequences'!

Blowback big time.

BED TO WORSE

We got new pad/bolsters for Franklin's crate today.

Understand, the crate is a good thing. He goes in to rest and to 'get away from it all'. It is a den. We do not bother him when he goes in there and he uses that as a way to keep us at arms' length when we get too annoying.

So, you can understand that a change like a bed pad could be a big thing especially for a dog that is change-averse anyway.

The box came and we opened it together. He got to help unwrap the bed from the plastic. He drug it to the crate as I suggested.

When I took out his old dusty bed and put the clean new one in the crate he tried to pull it out.

Granted, this could just be the confusion over its being a toy to play with and a bed. But, probably not.

He has not been in the crate all day. Nor on the other new pad which we put in the living room as a 'cot'; near the fire, near us when we are reading, near us when we are in the dining room and he doesn't want to be too close. (Airedales are like that).

A little while ago, he started his patented groaning over near the crate. I went to look. He went in and started scratching or pawing the pad as he does when he wants to make a nest. Unlike his big bed in our room, this doesn't move much. It is a pad.

Then he bitched around some more. Then he went in and bit the bolster part and kept it in his mouth.

We were unmoved. This is an acceptance phase that we must go through. It is like grieving. It has seven stages or something; anger, denial, bargaining, grief, then whatever.

Now he is lying in the crate, on the pad, his head on the bolster, dead to the world.

Finally, acceptance.

PILOT ERROR

I went to take a shower today and the water didn't get hot.

I went to look and the pilot was off at the water heater.

This kind of thing freaks me out. I want to know the cause.

Well, it was windy and last night it was cold. Sometimes it blows down the flue and whoosh; out goes the light.

The gas man who came when our meter went out told me that there is sand in the gas line all the time.

I demand answers!

There will be none.

Anyway, I relit the heater and the water was hot in less than half an hour. That is something!

Here is the problem. I lack faith in the simple solution.

I have been going out to see if the pilot flame is still flickering. At first I went out about every fifteen minutes.

Now the frequency has settled down a bit into one-two hour bits.

It has not gone out yet.

This will go on for a few days until it becomes old hat or until another problem comes up to hit me in the ass. Something else to compulse about.

It is 6:14 PM now. I will get in two or three more looks before bedtime.

I have to get down flat on my belly on the garage floor. At least there is a carpet.

Yes.

We have a carpet in the garage; the sort of outdoor carpet that they used to sell. Maybe they still do. It was here when we bought the house. Wall to wall.

It is filthy. At least with concrete we could wash it down.

But a concrete floor would be cold on my belly as I lie there staring at the pilot light. What's a little dirt?

I need to go check it out again. See ya'.

BEN VS. GEORGE

The Great Franklin-Bush debate...in 6 rounds

LAPPING IT UP

If I was still on the road and needed another computer, neither of which is so, I would get this right now.

The 15.4 inch:1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro.

But I am prone to impulse buying and the new chip is not 'proven' and all. But I still would like to try it out.

My present laptop which was my former full time machine is now my backup and I do not use it much. So it would also be a foolish purchase. Nevertheless.

RICH RICHARD

Happy Three Hundred year birthday to Ben Franklin.

A tribute:

Poor Richard's Redemption

SMART ALEC

Today's Best 1176 NYTimes Film was Alec Guinness'

The Horse's Mouth (1958)

It is a sort of cracked artist comedy with Guinness turning in another singular performance. There he is in the picture to the last upper right.

This is nearly the end of the Guinness comedies and it is a nice finale as he phased into the serious dramatic actor who got the recognition and respect.

In college, we used to line up for the next Guinness comedy, usually known as the Ealing comedies after the studio. So this was nice to see again and not to have to line up. It is in color which was a new thing then; all black and white up to this one.

The plot is sort of nonexistent; a series of sketches really. But the ruminations on art are interesting and the people who accompany Sir Alec from beginning to end are of the high Brit eccentric variety. It was all enjoyable if a bit strange and, at times, strained.

I will give it a Netflix3 out of 5.

The really surprising gem on this Criterion restoration disc is the appearance of D.A. Pennebaker's short Daybreak Express; a wild whacky ride through NYC to the sounds of Duke Ellington's tune of the same name. It was Pennebaker's first commercial film. The rest are historic.

Daybreak was originally coupled with the Guinness film and, now, they are reunited on this disc.

It is a very short short and well worth the ride. It was a great bonus and gets a 5 out of 5 if they were to ask me.

BIKED

The wind died down, I biked, and by the time I got back home it was blowing again.

A nice window. Today was hills so I got the toughest part of the biking week over at the same time.

WINDY

To bike or not to bike. That is the question.

Whether it is nobler to face the added force and cold of the breeze or to just pack it up and do the dog walk with John and Franklin.

It is an off or on wind. Not constant.

Here I sit thinking about it when it is really not time to decide.

The next thing to do is to sit and breathe for awhile—meditation—and then go get the paper which has already been delivered (the early delivery is back for three weeks now), have a good read over today's cereal and then decide.

Nothing weighty today. Just whether it is too windy to bike or not.

LOSS

Today's NYT 1176 Best Film was a weeper; but a good weeper. Five Academy Awards!

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

They say that it is John Ford's best (?) non-western which may be damning with faint praise.

Set in a Welsh mining town we see the green, happy valley fall to a misbegotten slag heap through the eyes of the Morgan family.

The first 15 minutes are all happy sunny days with the wonderful family (six sons, one daughter) and then, bit by bit, it all falls apart.

Cut wages, two sons go to America, one son is killed, the daughter is asked to marry the mine owner's son, two more sons go off, the slag continues to pile up symbolically.

It is, despite the melodrama, the story of the losses wrung out in the name of 'progress'. It is here right now and quite up to date. It is just that the way the story was told 60 years ago seems a bit trite and over the top now.

It is a social document nonetheless. These things did and are still happening. Just go to Sago, West Virginia and all the other wastelands being created each day.

There is one really annoying thing—the constant fucking music. Mood music.

I grew up with it and I am sure that at the time it was just fine to have. Now, it just seems ludicrous and inappropriate. Noise. I doubt that there is any minute in which there is not a sobbing violin or a men's chorus singing traditional songs.

What else? Roddy Macdowell as a child star in the making. He is a bit too cute here and it is hard to imagine our Roddy working in the pits but there he is. I am more attuned to his turn in Lassie and Lassie Come Home which I saw as a child. Then, he grew up to be a pretty good photographer, actor, out gay man and one of the apes on that planet.

I am meandering.

It was a rich film with plenty to look at and there were even some tears. Helpless. All that sobbing music made me do it.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. Maybe a 4 if it stays with me.

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

As a transplant from back east, I am especially aware of the sort of downhill tilt that exists in the eastern view of western cultural life.

The east sees itself as old, established and culturally superior; the west as raw, raucously disorganized and a cultural wasteland. Hollywood, you know. NYC particularly has it in for LA.

This is perpetuated in the eastern media. I notice regular snide and mocking articles in the NYTimes and elsewhere using the 'boorish LA' meme.

So it was amazing to see the NY Times do a glowing review of at least one aspect of west coast cultural life today; the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Continental Shift

We can listen to local broadcasts of the LA Phil and read about it regularly in our own Times. It is a part of the 'scene' here.

With a new hall to play in, they are among the best, no doubt.

And unlike Boston, where we were before, they support innovative programming and a wide selection of modern music.

Of course, in Boston, we had "the Jap". And no one thought much of him or the orchestra in his time.

I don't mean that the Orchestra was not beloved. People just didn't think about it because the man was so totally absolutely not there. I don't know that Levine is any better. I will have to ask.

But here, Esa-Pekka Salonen is present. He is engaged. The Orchestra and its Director are a vital part of the community. Many satellite ensembles exist around the 'Phil'.

There is even a world class chorus here. It is not grudgingly scraped up here and there for special performances. It is considered as great an asset as the Orchestra itself.

And the local musical establishment is enthusiastically supported by the community.

Rich. Wonderful. Refreshing. So called 'classical' music is not dying here.

SHELLEY

Shelley Winters 1921 or 23 to 2006

I loved Shelley Winters. She was a great actress who finally shook her original blond bombshell image and became a highly respected and awarded pro.

My best film memory is of seeing her in an art cinema in, of all places, Richmond, Virginia, when I was in the Army at nearby Fort Lee. She was starring in a film version of Genet's The Balcony and she was a memorable force.

Well, it was almost 50 years ago and I remember.

Here is her NYTimes obituary:

Shelley Winters, Tough-Talking Oscar Winner, Dies

I like that she had no secrets; two autobiographies and she told all. And she had a great life to tell about. Read the whole obit.

I like this story:

Ms. Winters and Mr. Holden had a "Same Time, Next Year" relationship, meeting in his Paramount dressing room on Christmas Eve for five years.

They both went on to be great stars.

She had 130 film credits. That's a lot!!

FORGETTING/REMEMBERING

Today I saw Alain Resnais' great film of the French New Wave

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

This is a great film for many reasons. One cannot ignore its timing just 14 years after the Second World War. For those of us who were there then, this has an added impact as it certainly did in its own time.

I do not think that I saw it then. I was just out of school a year and away from the art houses and free time of that part of my life.

It is not too much of a spoiler to say that it surprises us with the discovery that the French woman having an affair with a Japanese man has as much to forget as her lover has.

He is the son of a lost Hiroshima family; vaporized. She is one of the young French women who took a German lover and was shamed and vilified at the end of the war; shaved head, isolation, all that.

The whole thing unwinds with great cinematic control. A lot of this has to be the work of Margeurite Duras who wrote the script and collaborated with Resnais in making the film.

It is beautiful to watch. Another example of the power of black and white film to engage and involve.

There is a lot of heavy lifting for the film critics and scholars here. I will simply say that it was deeply enjoyable even when some of the images, early on, are horrifying.

The Criterion restoration is flawless.

This is a 5 out of Netflix5 for one of the best NYTimes 1176 Best Films.

BRIT UPPER LIP

There are some films that are so full of human emotion and energy that seeing them seems to burst your insides; all the feelings get played like the string section of an orchestra.

Such is the case with today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film: John Boorman's

Hope and Glory (1987)

I am sure that part of my experience was in identifying with the boy (Boorman) whose whole life is changed with the onset of World War II. I am not British but there are many touchstones for an American boy in the same situation.

All the rules go off. People change radically. A father goes off to war. Relatives carry on as though nothing is happening. There is somehow more joy and fun above the basic dread.

All that.

The film is almost entirely from the boy's perspective so there is no rant and lecture about war. It just is a fact of life. The world turns upside down. So it is.

There are very funny parts in this film and ineffably sad ones as well.

It is just great.

This is a fiver out of the Netflix five and you ought to rent it NOW.

TAP TAP

There is nothing new under the sun.

Bugs In Our System

Same shit, another day.

Build it and they will bug; technology is irresistable.

Then it was the phone, now it is the net.

For myself, I don't care, actually. I have no secrets.

Well, except for my finances and those calls I made to............. Well, never mind.

You have to live long enough to develop a healthy distrust of in authority of any kind.

Especially when they wear funny hats!

BLACK CATS

Today is one of those rare Friday the Thirteenth days.

I know that you will get through it OK.

I plan to.

Just don't put a hat on the bed or walk under a ladder or step on any sidewalk cracks and you will be OK.

Where does this stuff come from?

Try this:

How Friday the Thirteenth Works

Yup. It is those pesky christians again.

There is some more to it but that is the main source. There is Loki and other 13 things.

In any case, easy does it today.