Monday, April 30, 2007
WALLED OUT
We had planned to replace a section of our perimeter wall today. It is being levered up by the roots of a palm tree just on the other side.
We chose a guy who was reccomended by a friend and he seemed competent enough. But a series of 'administrative' lapses got us bothered.
We were 'in line to be done' and were waiting for a number of weeks when he called last Wednesday and wanted to come the next day.
We said that we were going away for the weekend and didn't want the wall open while we were gone.
He wasn't too happy about that but agreed to start between 8-9 this morning.
After a no show by 10, we pulled the plug.
He wasn't happy about that either. But, we didn't spend too much time in debriefing or getting and giving feedback as managers are supposed to do.
Mostly we said 'goodbye and thanks'.
Click.
I think that he will come to realize that he is as well off rid of us as we are rid of him. We would be nagging and whining creatures all worried about progress and dates and things like showing up.
Now, we have to find another contractor.
Oh well.
Labels: repairs
FREARS ONE
This is the Stephen Frears Festival.
We had never heard of Frears when we went to see
My Beautiful Launderette (1985)
We were bowled over by the film and have seen it several times.
At its core, this film is the perfect 'gay' film in that it incorporates gay into a tasty stew of class, ethnicity, age, gender, politics and culture.
It is Daniel Day-Lewis' second film.
It has a great story with a wonderful cast.
So, it is our opener which will not be chronological. It is more a buildup to see his most recent film The Queen and it will take us about five films to get there.
This was a great beginning.
Labels: films, Frears, gay life
SORRY BARACK
The last thing we need is another born again christian thumping the tub for jesus.
Here we have it in the Democratic Party!
A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith
This guy is looking for some gravitas; any kind, somewhere.
He is over his head.
I can see the idea behind this.
Maybe he can co-opt the right wing's hold on the bible beaters. I don't know.
If so, it seems pretty cynical.
I think this was the bush approach.
But Obama is injecting christianist jargon and philosophy into his campaign talk.
I don't like it.
I won't vote for it.
I want the church the fuck out of politics.
I won't get it any time soon but in the meantime I am going to stay away from any candidate who appears before crosses in his photo opps.
This is the third such photo I have seen with Obama in a week.
I know that they have to do some pandering to the church. They might even belong to one.
I don't mind that.
It is the strident, first layer testifyin' that I cannot abide.
Does he have a chance to be nominated?
Is there going to be a third party?
Labels: christist watch, obama
Sunday, April 29, 2007
VIRTUAL SHOPPING
I mentioned below that I got my new Braun electric at Amazon.
I shop there most of the time.
I get clothes at Lands End.
I gave The Gap up. Shoddy.
There are other sites I use for specialty items. Drugstore.com for the obvious.
A few others.
I do almost all my shopping on line now. Other than our bakery and the super market it is all mail order.
Isn't this the way it is going?
No.
Some people still reality shop.
I don't get it.
On line I can pick and choose and compare and I don't once have to get in my car or put up with other customers or clerks.
I have mild agoraphobia, true. But isn't this really easier?
Maybe.
But it sure creates a lot of corrugated to recycle and I hate to think of my carbon imprint or is it footprint?
I had at it with that a few days ago. Don't get me started.
I know that it used to be more expensive to shop on line, in general. That is no longer the case. I get free shipping from many regular sites and the discounting and sales are frequent.
I am not a bargain shopper anyway.
No coupons.
Just show me the shit and tell me what it costs and I am out of here.
Not a shopper.
Labels: shopping
FOG
We went to Long Beach overnight.
Someone's fortieth birthday.
Had to be there to see the transformation. You know, when the wrinkles come in and the back sort of hunches over.
It happens at midnight.
Anyway, while there, we saw fog!
Misty in your face fog.
It felt like we were back in Boston.
This morning we went and had breakfast at a seaside restaurant in nearby Seal Beach and it felt like we were in Provincetown.
Weather!
It was cold. I had a hoody on and had to wear socks.
Yesterday was very nice—polo and sandals with shorts.
Always shorts.
Never long pants.
Even when there is fog.
We came back to the hottest days of the year. 106 yesterday and maybe as high today.
The Coachella Festival is this weekend. They are getting a good taste of the desert.
It is believed to be the most well run festival in the country if not the world.
Over a hundred performers.
60,000 people at the Polo Grounds in Indio.
The facilities are excellent and they have a great support infrastructure.
Next weekend the same people will be putting on the country and folk festival at the same venue.
Labels: weather
INCOMPLETE
Hosts of readers have written in asking for the model number and name of the wonderful Braun Shaver that I bought the other day.
It is the Braun SyncroPro 7505.
Don't forget the upper case P in the middle. You might get an inferior substitute.
I bought it where I buy almost everything. Amazon.
Well not my groceries.
Labels: appliances, shopping
Friday, April 27, 2007
RAZED
My Braun electric shaver began to stall.
There is no way that I will ever go back to the blade.
So, I ordered a new one of the same approximate style.
It had to be a Braun and I don't want some of the gadgetry that they have added to some models (a cleaning bath for the shaver, a new Gillette technology version—30 dollars more).
I also ordered it for overnight. I didn't want to go without my Friday shave.
It arrived yesterday.
I charged it and tried it out today for the first time; three days of stubble.
Keerist! It took off. A high frequency buzz. Power.
It shaved me at least twice as fast as the old model.
I don't think it is just that the old one was tired. I never had a shave like this.
I think that they have souped up the motor and I know that they have redesigned the neat foil that touches your face.
The holes are not regular but have a sort of spiral arrangement.
Whew!
I may start shaving every day instead of my usual three times a week.
Well, it isn't that good.
Labels: appliances, shopping
A LEVEL
was a play in London, then New York and then adapted for a film which we saw today.
It is probably not as good as the play since it depends, to some extent, on the theatricality of the situation and story.
Fortunately, they do not 'take it outside' all that much but there is still a bit of the chafe of the two mediums crunching together.
That said, I will not be seeing the play so no matter. I got to see its heart.
And it is a heart that beats very strongly.
It is challenging and rewards the work you put into it.
It is funny and sad and exciting; all the emotions that good drama should offer.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Worth seeing again sometime.
Labels: films
Thursday, April 26, 2007
SPECTORACULAR
It has finally started.
It is about fucking time.
The Spector trial.
You may not even know about it (or care) but for SoCal folks it is manna.
It has everything.
A long dimmed star of the rock firmament.
A B movie actress turned, well probably, hooker.
A murder or closely observed suicide.
A history, on the defendant's part, of kinky sex with firearms instead of body parts.
And so on.
It may be that the rest of the country is watching the news about Cho and Gonzo and the latest bushie episode of the take-down presidency, but we are into the trial.
I am not going to the gym these days but I remember that the gym guys already had the trial a couple of years ago when Phil got arrested for the murder.
He was found guilty and they also threw in a few other convictions for crimes that he was not charged with; snuffing for sexual release (well maybe) and necrophilia.
Incidentally, necrophilia was not illegal in California until 2004.
For those of you from other parts of the country who would like to get a taste of the first day events, here is our resident cynic and rabble rouser Steve Lopez.
Glad That Spector Didn't Take a Powder
Incidentally, those big, big black guys are Spector's personal bodyguards. I first saw them in an LATimes photo.
In that one, they are pushing and shoving to get their man through the crowd.
I would move.
I was so taken with the scene that I went and found this photo on Google.
I love to find things like this.
It is a showcase. No shit.
Labels: California, lopez, spector
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
MAC ATTACK
We MacPeople have waited a long time for headlines like this from the WSJ on line report:
Boosted by demand for iPod players and Macintosh computers, Apple reported its profit soared 88% to $770 million and revenue reached $5.26 billion. The company shipped 10.5 million iPods, up 24% from a year ago. Mac shipments rose 36% to 1.5 million machines. "The Mac is clearly gaining market share," said CEO Steve Jobs.Separately, a group of Apple board members issued a statement defending Mr. Jobs from accusations tied to the company's stock-options backdating. The directors said they have "complete confidence" in Mr. Jobs's "integrity and his ability to lead Apple."
Apple shares jumped 10% to $102.55 in late trading.
Keep on making the $$ Steve and they will defend you from all attacks.
The SEC backed off and cleared him.
Labels: macintosh
HERE IT COMES!!
I told you the second term would be all scandals.
So far so good and it would appear that we have just seen the beginning.
Some call it a "partisan witch hunt," others call it an overdue return to that hazy old constitutional concept of executive-branch oversight: since Democrats assumed control of Congress in January, they have hired more than 200 investigative staffers for key watchdog committees. (Washington Post)
Labels: bushies
BALLS
Today's movie was Bill Paxton's
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
We watched it because I wanted to see Shia LaBoeuf who stars as Francis Ouimet who wins the 1913 American Open from the golf great Harry Vardon.
Ouimet has a great life story as does his caddy Eddy Lowery. Both are enshrined in a statue at the Brookline Country Club that depicts this photo.
Now I do not do golf in any form but this is one hell of a movie.
It is a great story and the special effects with the ball and the course and the players add to the drama. They do not distract. I think that Paxton has managed to take what could have been an interminable set of golf course shots and made it compelling and full of energy.
I do not know how a dedicated golfer would view it. I asked one today. We will see what he says.
In the meantime, I will be giving this film a 4 out of Netflix5. The story is great and the actors do a sufficient job but they never come up to the golf itself.
Except, of course, for Shia LaBouef and Stephen Dullane who play the principals; Ouimet and Vardon.
They are not played as rivals so much as brothers under the skin.
Both are lower class, both play from the inner golfer, Ouimet's rise is inspired by Vardon and so on.
The 'villain's, such as there are, are the upper class bastards who controlled the game at that time and the hangers on.
The background story about Ouimet and his father are first rate and not all soppy. I love Dad stuff.
I had a good time and I will not be taking up golf anytime soon.
TRUTH WILL OUT
April 25, 2007 -- 6:59 a.m. EDTQuotes of the Day
"Tales of great heroism were being told. At my parents' home in Wirt County, West Virginia, it was under siege by media all repeating the story of the 'little girl Rambo' from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting. It was not true. I have repeatedly said when asked that if the stories about me helped inspire our troops and rally a nation, then perhaps there was some good. However, I'm still confused as to why they chose to lie and try to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were legendary," former Iraq prisoner of war and Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch testified yesterday at a congressional hearing on "misleading information from the battlefield. "The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes. And they don't need to be told elaborate lies."
"To our family and friends, it was a devastating loss. To the nation, it was a moment of disorientation. To the military, it was a nightmare. But to others who were in the government, it appears to have been an opportunity," Kevin Tillman, the brother of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, told the hearing, in accusing the Pentagon and the Bush administration of deliberately concealing the circumstances of the former football star's 2004 friendly fire death in Afghanistan in an attempt to shift attention away from the detainee abuses at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as the Los Angeles Times reports.
Breathtaking.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
OOOPS
Maybe not so honorable. A whitewash?
CREW: OSC wrong choice for Bush, Rove investigation
We are in the hall of mirrors again.
Labels: bush. bushies, criminal morons
TIME WARPS
Today's film was
starring Shia LaBoeuf. He was 16 when this was shot.
He is good and it is interesting to see him grow in the film itself—dumb clueless kid to savvy hero.
This is based on a well known young adult book which everyone seems to know about but me.
It is a great film. Family fare. G rating. We do not see many of those.
It also has Jon Voight, Sigourney Weaver, and, an old favorite of mine, Tim Blake Nelson. Henry Winkler plays the dad and other stars appear here and there.
There are many levels to the film and it is challenging to watch. Not mental chewing gum.
We liked it a lot.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. It is not a classic but it is very very well done.
HONORABLE PEOPLE
I figured it only a matter of time before principled and honorable people in the bush administration would have had enough.
It seems that the USOSC is ramping up to investigate Rove and others for malfeasance and misbehaviors.
Here is the LATimes version:
Low Key Office Launches High Profile Investigation
And I guess this guy is a bush appointee!
Labels: bush. bushies, criminal morons
Monday, April 23, 2007
UN EARTHED
I let Earth Day go by.
It was yesterday if you didn't notice.
I didn't either.
I am an every day is earth day kind of guy which means that it probably isn't.
Am I being clear?
I just think that it is one of those 'days' that is designed to make us feel good. No substance. No result.
I went to the earth day site.
Well, there are two.
It features busy work. Like change a light bulb. Calculate your carbon footprint for chrissake.
Then there is your government in action.
Earth Day US Government Portal
George and Laura in their brush clearin' clothes telling us that we should use the day to celebrate our progress; cleaner air and all.
Meretricious.
Both of them. Look it up.
Bogus. Another word.
How about pap?
The fucking world is heating up and the polar bears are taking a dive and I am supposed to calculate my carbon footprint?
So much of this is wrong headed and misleading.
I am a child of WWII. They had us saving cans and grease and we gathered milkweed blossoms for kapok life jackets.
It turned out, when it was all over, they didn't use any of it for anything. It was just a hype to get people doing something so they didn't think too hard about what was happening. Or something.
Since then, I have been wary of citizen activities.
I recycle. I read the other day that it leads to global warming. It would be cooler to bury it.
Paradox upon paradox.
You use more energy by washing a reusable cup than it takes to make a styrofoam one.
Blah blah.
My actual belief is that there is nothing short of walking into the desert with a loin cloth and walking stick we can do about any of it.
Carbon fucking imprint. Give me a break.
Who will be first to quit their cellphone? What about that teevee and the computer. The internets!
How about...........make your own list.
Only big action by big entities will make any difference and that will only be to slow the inevitable down until maybe someone can come up with some creative solutions.
Birth control anyone?
We might want to consider it before Mother Nature starts making her decisions for us.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
GOING UP
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Michael Tolkin's
Tolkin takes the mumbo jumbo of the christianists dead serious and weaves a very tight movie around what might happen if you got carried away with it; following to a logical conclusion.
It is a sort of apocalyptic horror film. It even had Gabriel blowing his horn.
Here is another appreciation which takes a different slant on it.
Mimi Rogers is the main convert here and she does a great job of working the range from really serious sin to born again-ness.
All of the stations of the cross are covered; the glassy eyed co-workers who discuss their religion in little cliques, the door to door Mormon type clones, the kind of insanity of the cult.
The counter weight to Rogers' conversion is David Duchovny lookin' real good in his younger years.
There is some very sexy stuff in the early scenes.
You gotta take your sinnin' serious.
Some of this is hard to watch. Squirmy.
But then that is the experience of the non-convert. On the other hand, I cannot see a practicing evangelical watching this without a LOT of squirm.
There are some Palm Spring area shots. Nice.
Rogers is very good.
Speaking of conversion, she was married to Tom Cruise for three years (yikes! another netflix coincidence we saw him yesterday). She is the one who converted him to Scientology.
Talk about your glassy-eyed kool-aid type cultism.
It is said that she no longer practices. I guess she just converts.
So, that is the end of the rapture for today. We will just have to wait for the real thing to come along before we can mock it any more than this.
Incidentally, the film does not mock. It takes it dead serious and, as such, is an even more powerful statement.
This will be a Netflix4 out of 5.
Labels: best films, christist watch, culture
CHO
I finally watched one of those Killer Cho tapes.
I lasted 30 seconds.
You could see the guy was blasted from the start.
It is like watching a snuff film.
I don't know whether these tapes should be available or not.
I am not in favor of censorship.
But those of us who espouse and value the First Ammendment should not be naive about the fact that there is evil shit out there and not all of it should be easily obtained.
Somehow we depend on the MEDIAtors to filter out the shit.
But, there are no mediators any more.
Network censorship used to be a joke but now, in hindsight, I can see the point of the office if not all the practice that was done.
The same with movies.
Most of the censorship was around silly stuff, usually sex, and they squandered their credibility away. So now there is none.
Besides, there are so many holes in the screen at this point that the teevee folks are not much of a factor.
In this case, Cho chose the media—NBC. Otherwise someone would have gotten hold of the tapes and released them on the net or something.
Why didn't I watch more of the Cho tape?
Not because I was chilled or repelled so much. More that I do not trust that little secret part of me that wants to hear this shit and maybe even wallow in it.
We all have a teeny or bigger than teeny inner Cho.
That is why. I don't want to roil my waters.
What else?
I am sorry for this sad, sad boy who never got whatever he needed to head this off.
Not as sorry as I am about what he did.
But a little bit of sorry.
He was one of god's little time bombs ready to go off at a moments notice.
I think that there are a lot of Cho's out there. I think that a lot of the so called terrorists are really Cho's. The religious shit just triggers them off.
Our war on terror is beside the point at this level of insanity.
This was the biggest there ever was.
Here.
In a day, a Cho with a body pack of plastique or a car full of explosives are doing as much damage somewhere else in the world. We don't know the one hundredth or even a thousandth of it.
177 the other day in Iraq.
Cho's.
Labels: criminal morons
Saturday, April 21, 2007
SAVANT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Barry Levinson's
Tom Cruise is type cast as an arrogant asshole who discovers that he has a brother, Dustin Hoffman.
I love watching Hoffman work. He is meticulous. The Method.
In this, he has to get to us through the 'mask' of autism. He does this fitfully which of course is the thing about autistics; fitful occasions of clarity and presence.
Cruise does not have a chance against this onslaught of business but somehow it worked for me. I guess because I ended up watching Hoffman and luxuriating in his stuff. That means I didn't have to watch or depend on Cruise except to be the irritating fulcrum for Hoffman's innocence and eccentricity.
It is a buddy film, a road film, a transformation film (although I don't buy that Cruise really transforms—he is just a nicer asshole).
Levinson is really a good director and he knows how to make a story cook. He keeps this one moving.
Spoiler.
While you think something really bad might happen it does not. The brothers keep on cruising cross country (no airplanes for the autistic bro') and they meet a lot of situations through which, with luck or the kindness of others, they endure and bond.
Actually, it is the women, not Cruise, who gets through to Hoffman.
I don't mean to make this a critique of Tom Cruise.
Hoffman is worth watching anytime and this film affords him the same avenue that he limped with Ratso Rizzo.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
It might be a 3 if I get curmudgeonly about it but I will not.
The supporting actors (including an uncredited Levinson) are superb.
They will get the film over the 3-4 hump.
Labels: best films
ON THE OTHER HAND
Perhaps Gonzales did have a bad day and that he has added one more cut of the axe to the bushie's pirate ship's timbers.
But, maybe not!
Maybe he as added to that power!
Take a look at this contrarian view of Thursday's events in the hearing room.
Gonzo for Gonzo: Maybe Alberto Gonzales was brilliant yesterday—and everybody missed it.
Hmmmm.
Interesting.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons, gonzales
CYCLES
No posts on Thursday.
The 'well' is dry this morning.
This is the ebb and flow of blog-energy.
I have been at this for three years so it is a familiar rhythm.
What goes up must come down. Or, as a nice man once told me, what goes down must come up.
I don't worry about it much.
I used to think that this was a signal that blogging was over and it was time to pull down the curtain.
The net is filled with such dead-ended blogs.
I will go to a link that once was vibrant and alive and find that the blogger has left the scene; posted his/her last message.
I did this with my original photojournal.
It was a blog based on photographs which I took myself.
I had it up on my own software; FrontPage, I think.
When I was done—tired of the photo part as well as the writing part—I brought the whole thing down.
It did have a final presence which lasted only as long as I paid the rent.
On Blogger, this would not be necessary. No rent. It stays forever. At least I think that it does. Maybe they drop you after so many months of inactivity. I doubt it.
So, in a way, the net already has its graveyard. The bodies are just not in the same place.
I don't get that end-of-blog feeling anymore. I know this dry spell will pass.
Look at at this. I have a few paragraphs and I have nothing to write about.
I read last night about the writing exercise where you just keep writing for ten minutes. The only objective is to write. The product is of no importance. It is all process.
I guess that is what this is.
Process.
Have a good day.
I am going to go to a meeting, have a nap, and then watch Rain Man.
More on that when the film is over.
Friday, April 20, 2007
ONE GOOD THING ABOUT BUSH
"I often get aggrieved with President Bush — the things he does, the things he says, but one thing I have to remember is to give him a break in my thoughts because this man all by himself has totally disproved the myth of white supremacy."Congressman {and African-American} Charlie Rangel
Labels: bush
PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
There was another one that I lost. A guy with a fatigue hat was holding up a scoreboard on the number of times that Gonzo said 'I don't recall'.
There were 50 or so tics in the photo at the time.
Labels: criminal morons, gonzales, gonzo
EPIC
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Kurosawa's
This is the samurai version of King Lear.
It is pretty good.
Ebert has a a second review that takes an historical angle on the film.
This is the kind of film that I watch intently because I think that I am supposed to.
There is no doubt about the quality, the integrity, the artistry.
And it is not "audiencentric".
It is long. It is operatic. We know the story.
The 160 minutes do not melt away as we watch. At least not for me.
But I am glad that I saw it and it is indisputably a 5 out of Netflix5 and I think that you ought to see it too.
Labels: best films
VICTIMIZING
The business in Virginia is terrible and the media response is way over the top.
I am not in sync with this hyper mourning stuff.
I am not alone.
I am down with Rosa Parks in this very well written OpEd in the LATimes.
I don't know when all this started.
I can empathize.
I can offer my sympathy and support.
I can even volunteer to help out.
But I don't get to act as though it happened to me.
Think about it.
Labels: culture
IF NOT HIM WHO
I didn't watch wall to wall with the Gonzo yesterday but I did hit a lot of highlights and read some transcripts.
My conclusion is partisan, of course.
One: he is a liar and dissembler.
Two: He is covering up for the White House.
I don't think that he is really that bright a guy. He is a water carrier.
That has been his job description with bush from the beginning.
So, today's NYT editorial hits the nail right on the head.
If he didn't do it—make the list, decide on the hits, give the orders—then who did?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Rove?
Are you there?
Labels: bushies, criminal morons, gonzo
TERMINAL CASE OF DENIAL
Bush, on Friendly Turf, Suggests History Will Be Kind to Him
Labels: bush, criminal morons
DAY BREAK
Did you notice?
I didn't blog yesterday.
No reason. No time. No inclination.
No guilt either.
It was a nice day. I had a new book to read. The house was getting cleaned and so I was moving in and out, back and front.
Very easy and laid back.
I missed you though.
Labels: blog
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
HIP HIP HOORAY
I loved this bit. Funny. And it is informative.
More disinformation debunked.
Labels: health
POLICE PROCEDURAL
Today's film was
I read reviews and wanted to see this very subtle film about a police squad and their search for two killers.
The film is beautifully done.
Not a moment is lost.
We feel the grit and the emotion of the squad room; the frustrating aspects of the detection; the final thrill of the chase.
We follow a young cop on his first assignment and share his experiences of cop-life through a fresh perspective.
Mid film, the attention turns to the squad leader; a woman just returning to duty after a bad emotional time.
The photography is stunning. There is no music. It is all the play of the people and the story as it unfolds.
We feel part of the team.
I think this film pulls no punches on reality. There is no Hollywood ending and there are no surprise twists or turns to keep things upbeat.
Nor is it a downer.
Well, in a way. You will see.
I liked it a lot.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
REVISE THE GALBRAITH RULE
You know. If someone says that he will not resign four times, it means he will.
Now add that if the White House expresses confidence in you four times you are expected to resign.
W.House says Bush still confident in Wolfowitz
Tomorrow is Gonzo's big day. He is 4 for 4 on both counts.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons, gonzo
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
SHIA
I know. I know. You have heard enough about Shia LaBouef.
But maybe not.
Here is a great review in The Onion AV Club
Labels: shia
MODS VS ROCKERS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is The Wild One or all those B-Biker films only set in Britain.
The background is the Who's album but it is way in the background.
It is fascinating to watch downward spirals and that is what this movie is about.
Teen age angst to the nth degree. Angsth.
The acting is fine and the production almost like a documentary.
The kid is great to watch.
Spoiler alert.
It is a bummer at the end.
Don't read this if you are going to see it.
You keep cheering for him and he finally turns you down.
By this time he is a speed addict.
No other way to go.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 even though I couldn't understand some of the Brit dialogue.
Maybe a 3. I don't know. I need a bit more uplift but that was not on offer.
Labels: best films, coming of age
BRAND NEW
"Rebuilding, and rebranding, St. Louis when some basic quality of life indicators point in the wrong direction has not been easy."
This is from an article in the NYT about the decline of St. Louis.
A new 'brand' of jargon is hitting us.
I am reading about 'brands' everywhere.
A term that used to be restricted to commercial entities like breakfast cereal and autos has broken loose. It is being used to describe almost anything.
People.
Movie stars are a brand. Political candidates.
Look for it in your latest PR/press piece.
The implication is that we market everything so everything is a brand.
I guess that is right. In the celebrity society where, more and more, everybody and everything has its 15 minutes of fame, we are all brands.
This blog is a brand!
Me too.
I know. It is just a fad. It will pass.
It is not anything new. Selling yourself is as old as the Pilgrims and as American as Apple pie. Three brands right there.
When everything is a brand then nothing is centered, serene, at the point of quiet. Everything is a gimmick. It is the ground of cynicism. The foundation of not caring about the fundamentals.
The marketplace just took over completely.
The selling of the Human Race©. Look out, here comes Global Warming™; the brand!
Labels: culture
Monday, April 16, 2007
MEAN JEAN REDUX
For my OH 2 friends. We keep a sharp eye on Jean Schmidt for you.
Victoria Wulsin To Challenge Jean Schmidt Again In 2008
She only won by one percent last time so we shall see whether her 'record' can sustain her.
She is the same Mean Jean who beat Paul Hackett who we were so enamored of in the special 2005 election.
There she is up there in the photo calling John Murtha a coward. In her red, white and blue sweater.
We don't mad. We just get even. It may take a long time.
We can't wait for Jean to ride out on the same broom that she rode in on.
Labels: politics
LONDON CONFIDENTIAL
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
The Private Life of Henry the VIII (1933)
with Charles Laughton in his first film role.
It is a bawdy, pre-code, romp through the history pages with a few embellishments.
It is funny most of the time although the beheadings are a little grim.
All the wives are shown but the first. She, apparently was too dull to include.
The dialogue is pretty snappy and the action is near burlesque at times.
Laughton's turn with his life-wife Elsa Lanchester is really good. They have that rapport than makes you lean forward to get it all.
The DVD is very scratchy with a lot of hiss. It is not a Criterion restoration by any means. But, it is fun to see particularly the great Laughton getting his acting chops on.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Here are Charles and Elsa on their wedding night. They have no mutual attraction so they decide that they will divorce with treaties signed as originally intended. Instead of making love, they play a game of cards—for money.
She wins.
Labels: best films
KARASS
Thinking about Kurt Vonnegut this week.
Many regard Slaughter House Five as the masterpiece but more, I think, remember the details (and quote them) of Cat's Cradle.
Cat's cradle is a game of hand and string for suckers.
At the end 'no cat, no cradle!'.
See?
In this book, Vonnegut created Bokononism, a religion practiced by the inhabitants of San Lorenzo, a fictional Caribbean Island.
At the time, there were many friends who had read it and we would practice our Bokononism on one another.
"Busy, busy, busy."
We regarded ourselves as members of a "karass".
We indulged ourselves in fomenting "foma".
Of course, we didn't take any of it seriously as they were all lies.
"And so on".
This wasn't a goof so much as an acknowledgement of our love of this great man.
Some of my karass are still around today. You can't shake them.
Some new ones keep showing up!
Still thinking about Vonnegut.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
DISTURBIA
My interest in the young actor Shia LaBeouf has had some good results.
'Disturbia' grabs movie-goers' attention
I liked this quote (bold):
"Disturbia" launches a breakout year for LaBeouf, whose long-rumored casting in the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie was confirmed Friday by producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg, one of the founders of DreamWorks.This summer, LaBeouf provides the lead voice for Sony's animated penguin comedy "Surf's Up" and stars in the science-fiction saga "Transformers."
"The person you want to be right now is Shia LaBeouf. I want to be Shia LaBeouf. I want to be 20 and have all this happening to me. It's really great for him," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "2007 is Shia's year. He proved he can open a movie all by himself."
Labels: shia
EVERYONE GETS A MAC
I know. This has been all over but it is still worth watching until the end.
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan
ART FILM
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ingmar Bergman's
When you are not sure what a picture is about you are in art film land.
I do know that this is about artifice and identity and it is also about the art (of) film itself.
The opening shows the carbon arc of a film projector igniting. Then the film loop. The leader countdown 10, 9, 8, etc. A cartoon from the old luminaire device. Keystone Cops. Other images. Fast and furious. The history of cinema—even porno (an erect cock)— in a few minutes. And then, the show—Bergman!
You will like it I think.
It is engrossing.
The surest way to ruin an art film experience is to try to figure it out or rationalize it although, I think, that the messages here are quite straightforward.
There is a story sort of. An actress who does not speak and her nurse. Or is it the other way around?
Liv Ullmann, so beautiful, and Bibi Andersson; the Bergman muses.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5.
I think that Ebert has a good handle on it in the linked review.
He did a second 'appreciation' thirty-five years later..
But you should really see it for yourself.
Labels: bergman, best films
Saturday, April 14, 2007
AUSTEN REDUX
Today we had the newer
We saw the 9 hour mini-series film earlier this year.
This one weighs in at just over 2 hours.
Obviously one cannot compare the two as they are distinctly different takes on the wonderful story of Miss Bennett and Mr. Darcy; Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen.
Nevertheless, it is two hours filled to the brim with wonderful film imagery and great acting.
The Austen story is timeless. Convention holds no less hold on people today. Just different conventions.
The emphasis is on the internal conflict of head and heart. The young people are almost contemporary in their intensity and ego. This is not a complaint. How else should we watch a 'period' piece than with our own eyes and ears?
There are many long, one shot scenes which are masterly choreographed. The farm, particularly, seethes with life.
One is only mildly distracted with the thought of how all this could possibly have been done.
We are soon slammed back into the action and forget the legerdemain.
I liked it a lot.
I find that I am always as invested in the outcome of Elizabeth's sister Jane's romance with Mr. Darcy's friend Mr. Bingley. It is no less fraught and almost as fulfilling to see resolved.
This is a much sexier version than the PBS match but it does suffer from the lack of detail on critical subplots.
I guess that they figure we know the story enough to get it.
Since I did, I do not know how it would run if I had never heard of these people before.
In one of those cinematic coincidences, we get to see Donald Sutherland as the father just days after seeing him in the wonderful film Aroura Boreais.
He is our grand old man of the cinema!
Of course I would rate this 5 if I rented it from Netflix but I did not. This is a house copy owned by my partner who still cries at the end of the picture after many viewings.
Well, I did too but it was my first time.
Labels: films, Sutherland
MORE 13
I love to read The Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik, in the Wall Street Journal.
He has a daily blog (linked) and writes a weekly (sorta) column for the paper as well as co-writing the daily sports column.
When I knew it was the Friday the 13th, I wondered what Carl would say about it or if he would say anything.
He did.
It is an interesting (as always) column.
Labels: culture
STARWATCH
I run through new young movie stars.
Keannu, Matt—even Johnny—have sort of lost my interest.
It is not a conscious process. There is not one day that I swear off any of them.
They just pass; as the seasons.
I am always on the lookout for new blood to replace the old. I am not searching. It is just that one day someone catches my interest and sticks.
The current interest is Shia LaBeouf.
I saw him in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.He played the young Dito. The old Dito was Robert Downey Jr.
He is in a new release this weekend. Disturbia. Good reviews in the NYT.
He will be in the new Indiana Jones as the grandson of Indiana and, I think, the new star of the franchise.
Not too good a career turn. I don't like them to disappear into franchises. Goodbye Toby.
His bio is interesting. Read the link above.
I got an answer to why I like him when I read this. He is considered by some to be a young John Cusack; an actor of whom I never grow tired.
Friday, April 13, 2007
THUGS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This morality play has the advantage of giving us plenty of blood, criminal action, sex, and immorality to wallow in. So we get the point!
It is historic as an early Cagney vehicle; the one where he pushes a grapefruit into a moll's face. He also kills a few criminal vermin and a cop but the grapefruit scene is still the most notorious.
It is the old Hollywood story. You can have it both ways. The evil mixed with the sermon.
It is a pretty good movie, nonetheless. It is hard to watch these old films through the window of their time but I try.
There is some innovative cinematography but I really think that most of it is a silent movie with a sound track. The eyes roll and the bodies posture dramatically.
This has Joan Blondell who I always liked. Also Jean Harlow who is hard to figure. No talent with big hips.
She had something though. I just didn't get it in this iteration.
I am glad that I saw it mostly for historical purposes.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 though. I don't want them to start putting old gangster films on my recommendations plate. Not that I ever look at them.
Labels: best films
HIGH TEST
It is 425 AM and I am about to take off for the medical testing lab.
I have to leave some blood for my PSA and other tests that my Doc thought I should have.
I am totally happy that this lab opens at 5 AM.
I hate lines and there is always a line at the lab and that is to say nothing about the whole array of annoying people and procedures that come with the line.
When I leave there will be 4 or 5 people waiting.
Another thing. At 5 AM I don't have to worry about fasting. Well, I will delay one yogurt and fruit for an hour.
I just get up, do some of my normal things, then take off to do get the blood work done.
I can come home, have my breakfast and nearly have my normal day.
I will lose and hour so I won't do biking but that is OK. I will get to read up a bit.
Beating the system. First in line. Part of my life story.
PARASKAVEDEKATRIAPHOBIA
I always like to note the existence of Friday the 13th.
I do not have paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of the day) or, for that matter, friggatriskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) but I know that it always caused a stir when I was a kid.
I don't actually believe in 'luck' as a concept. Good or bad.
I suppose that we have luck or not but how do we evaluate the good and bad part.
I have had some pretty shitty things that happened to me that I might have construed as bad luck only to find that these very same shitty things opened up doors to discovery, transformation, or personal growth.
Not to put it too grandiosely.
I don't think one 'makes her own luck' either.
I just think that life is unpredictable and as programmed beings we don't like change or disruption and are likely to view the world's realities through an entirely personal peep hole.
We can't see the forest for the trees. Or maybe we see the forest and infer the trees that are in it.
I just figure, let it come and I will get what I need to deal with it.
Or not.
Now that I have spent all this time on the day, uhhhhh, why did I mention it? If I don't have one of those long-word things?
Because it is there. And I needed to have something to kick off my blog day with.
Labels: culture
Thursday, April 12, 2007
DAILY SCRIBBLE
Remember Beetle Bailey?
Appropriated from The Daily Scribble
Labels: bushies, Iraq, scribble
BIDEN HIS TIME
I am not enthralled with Biden but he gave a great video for the WaPo today.
I can't imbed it.
It takes a while but if you are interested in the strategy and politics about Iraq, I think that it is a useful primer.
Very straight and no bullshit.
RECOVERY
For those with a more than casual interest in SoCal flora, we have some guidance today on frost recovery from the LATimes:
After the Frost—Time for a Comeback
The article covers everything we have and have done.
Our prognosis and advice were right on target.
There are a few bougainvillea that are in doubt but, as the article states, we will know in June.
The only thing that it does not cover is hibiscus.
We cut our big bushes in the back down by half. They are bounding back. So are the new plants that went in 'in time for the party'.
The most satisfying thing is the white hibiscus at the front door.
It got mauled around and lost a lot of leaves but it has come back a bit and, unaccountably, is producing huge blooms on the less affected branches.
It is a tough mother.
An old bush too. Gnarly.
Labels: garden
SEMI ANNUAL
I went in to the Doc today for my 6 month checkup.
It is all about the prostate cancer remission. I have ten years now.
But, they check out the PSA just the same; do the digital.
I will get the numbers later. The finger says I am normal.
I had nothing else to report. If I didn't have the Ca I would be seeing him annually. I used to have it every 4 months so it is less guarded than it was.
I told him about the bike accident. He didn't even feel around.
He figured an 8 week recovery was pretty good. He would have said 12.
I got a quick going over—blood pressure and heart/lungs.
He gave me the 'a-quiz' where he asks some questions that would reveal if I am shaky on memory and all.
He tries to keep it under the radar but I catch it and comment. I suppose that is part of the test too.
I have a great Doc.
I am really grateful for his presence in my life.
He knows that I want to keep the engines going at least into my nineties and he also knows that I am not afraid of missing that goal.
I am not about to do it as a feeb.
We had a half an hour with nothing to go over so we shot the shit about death and aging.
He has a lot of interesting angles on the subject as that is all he sees from 7 AM until 2 PM. An expert.
He has patients in their 90s who are very happy. He has patients in their 70s who are healthy and not happy to be 'old'.
What the fuck is that all about?
When you get to my age all this stuff is interesting.
I have a keen interest in anything that has to do with me.
Labels: coming of age, health
BLAHHH
We are all about wind here.
Yesterday afternoon we had a heavy blow for about three hours and now, it is at it again this afternoon.
30-40-50 mph type winds.
They will end tonight.
This time there is rain in the mix which might help hold down the dust which was in the air yesterday.
We don't get weather very often.
It is a change up.
It is not very nice but it is, oddly, exciting.
It is hard not to notice the gusts. The palm trees create a great wooooooshing sound. Not a whisper. A whoooosh.
It will all pass over tonight with a few days respite and then start up again during the weekend.
It is that time of year.
Franklin doesn't like it very much.
He stays close by and when the heavy gusts come, he will come over for a pat or even get up on my lap for a comforting snuggle.
When we are outside in it, he is fine. He runs and lets it get all in his face. It is just when it is 'out there' that it bothers.
Come to think of it, I am the same way.
KURT
They must have read my comment below.
Here is the new headline:
Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84
That's better.
Labels: heroes, obituary, Vonnegut
AND SO IT GOES
There aren't many people who change other people's lives.
Kurt Vonnegut was a changer.
I could not read his work without being touched, moved, and transformed.
I don't get tears over obituaries very often.
I did today.
And then I laughed.
Kurt Vonnegut, Writer of Classics of the American Counterculture, Dies at 84
Counterculture? I guess so. I would just say "Writer of Classics".
Labels: heroes, obituary, Vonnegut
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
OUT OF HIS DEPTH
Why I will not vote for Obama in the primary and also why I don't think he will make it to the general election.
LEE
Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason
.I like Lee Iococca.
I first encountered him when I went to a seminar on market research and the Ford guys told of his introduction of the Mustang.
Now that was a long time ago, eh?
He went to Chrysler and did it again when he introduced the (my) Le Baron.
That's our car wrapped around his head.
He wanted a convertible Chrysler to drive around town to get the comments of people who saw it and him.
Incredulous flunkies asked him how they could make a convertible.
He told them to 'go get a coupe and saw the top off the sonofabitch'.
Lee was an icon breaker then and he continues today.
I watch his stuff.
We parted ways when he supported Bush but, oh my, look at him now.
STEIGER/LUMET
Put that combination together and you have a recipe for deep drama, over the top performing, and relentless commentary.
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Lumet's
Add Geraldine Fitzgerald for some quiet redemption and a relentless score by Quincy Jones (our second in less than a week—Point Blank last Friday—and you have a balls to the wall movie that does not let up.
The story has an unusual turn as it shows the pawnbroker's complicity with his present dilemma.
By denying and repressing his past, he has so twisted his values and perspective that he cannot operate; he has lost his own humanity.
I do not imagine that this idea would hold up to a lot of scrutiny but it does keep us at a distance and withhold sympathy.
The pawnbroker's cage is a heavy duty metaphor.
Steiger is actually very good.
The wartime flashbacks are very upsetting particularly in the cattle cars and the contemporary situation is time-tense. Everything happens here in just a few days.
It is a pretty good movie and I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
I wanted to like it more than that but I did not.
Labels: best films
DOLLAR BILL
OK.
I gave some money to Bill Richardson today.
My values are consistent with my pocketbook.
My money is now where my mouth is.
It won't get him all the way there but it will help.
I am sure that there will be more as we go along.
It feels good to be back in it again.
Incidentally, I gave the money to Richardson's campaign through Move On so that it has a progressive tilt and spin.
I will never, ever give money through the Democratic National Committee even if they did get rid of that bastard Terry McAullife. Checkbook Terry.
He ran the whole thing as a financial campaign and let the grass roots dry out and die.
I trust Howard but not the DNC.
And, MoveOn is a lot more toward my progressive outlook.
They also can kick some serious ass. They are not faint hearted.
If you want to donate to any of the primary candidates you can at https://political.moveon.org/donate/donate.html
Labels: Democrats, Richardson
HOT POTATO
3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'
He can't even get the generals to go along.
Labels: bush
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
TRUTH IN ADVERTISING
I had forgotten about the Freeway Blogger.
How nice to see him still at work.
This 'action' took place in Chicago and lasted 15 minutes.
I certainly share the sentiments.
Labels: anti-war, bushie, criminal morons
ALL COWARD ALL THE TIME
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Noel Coward's
This is the only film that Coward made and he virtually made it himself. He wrote, produced, directed, composed, and starred in it.
It is a lifeboat picture.
A ship is hit and we learn its story and the men on it from the memories of the men as they float toward.............well that would be a spoiler.
Sir Noel Coward was quite a star in his time. He had many plays produced and wrote a lot of music. He performed. He had an enormous range of talent.
For the most part, his thing was suave and sophisticated wit. But he could do a battle film like this with great effect.
I saw his musical Sail Away which was written for Elaine Stritch.
I remember watching a teevee special with a college boyfriend who worked at the President's house as houseboy.
The prez and his wife joined us.
None of has had seen him before but knew his work up and down.
Coward even played Las Vegas towards the end.
In the old days they would have called him a 'notorious homosexual'. Now we know that he was out and about and rather comfortable with himself in that old fashioned homo way that is now gone.
A bit of a queen but never garish about it.
The movie? It is pretty good. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. It has a bit too much Brit sentimentality for me but then that's to be expected.
It wasn't written for me and my home front. Chin up and all that.
I would imagine that it did fine with the audience that it had.
Labels: best films, gay life, nostalgia
BILL R.
Today's LATimes has a great feature on Bill Richardson who is in North Korea today, probably succeeding at some world peace stuff that other candidates have no grasp of whatsoever.
While they are campaigning, he is doing the work of the world, the nation and his own state.
I know that sounds grandiose but it is the simple truth.
Richardson content to start slow in White House race
You should read this.
He has a world of experience. He has been all over the country. He is an executive!
Labels: Richardson
KING WEASEL
It is nice to see Don Imus get his ass kicked.
Imus Suspended for 2 Weeks Over Racial Remark
His most frequent epithet is 'weasel'! Look who is weaseling.
He is an equal opportunity bully; the kind of rough humor that you see in locker rooms and other places where white straight males hang out and do the nasty talk that wouldn't hold up anywhere else.
He is entertaining to watch!
I have to admit it.
I used to witness the spectacle every morning when I went to the little gym and had the teevee all to myself.
No one held me down and made me watch the nastiness and venom that he could spew.
Humor.
It was like watching a rattle snake working its way up to a strike.
The difference is that the snake is self protecting.
Imus is safe in his cocoon created by his buddies and sponsors.
With Imus, They Keep Coming Back.
Insult humor has always been successful. I like it and laugh when it is trained on some other guy. It is amusing to hear Imus call someone I don't like a 'weasel'.
When it is directed towards me and people I like, it is less funny; annoying, maybe.
But I would not get to the outrage the remarks really deserved.
There is an imperative in our culture of 'being a good sport'.
I think Imus has mastered the art of balancing between invective and good work.
He is talented. He is funny. He does good works which he endlessly promotes mostly involving disabled kids.
It is probably all an act.
Cynical to the nth degree.
His enabler and equal opportunity insult artist has been his producer Bernard McGuirk who is a bona fide racist and homophobe.
Even Imus would blanch at some of 'Bernie's' remarks. He is the one who lit the fire under this one. Imus was 'merely' one-upping Bernie.
McGuirk always reminded me of the South Boston tough who had a nasty word for and about everything. The primitive in a suit.
As I said, it is nice to see Imus get his ass kicked but I hope Bernie gets worse.
They have been going on like this for a very long time and survived all the outrage that would break out from time to time.
So, good luck Don with your slow train wreck.
I don't watch you any more. I lost the fascination which often led to self disgust for hanging with you.
You are living proof that those who live by the sword can die by the sword but not fast enough for my taste in most cases.
Monday, April 09, 2007
BEDTIME FOR GONZO
Evidently, Gonzales is doing so badly in his rehearsals for the 0417 appearance that a lot of his peeps have given up on him.
I wonder if that smirk is still in place.
Labels: bushies, gonzales, gonzo
FARCE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Preston Sturges'
It isn't very good. I seem to be the only one who thinks so.
Claudette Colbert decides to divorce Joel McRae so she can marry a rich husband who will give money to Joel to build a dream project.
The lines are snappy and the characters are goofy.
This is one of those films that excuses its slackness by claiming itself a 'screwball comedy'.
All they needed was someone getting slapped in the face with a fish.
Joel McCrea is good looking; a hunk of the era.
Colbert is smart.
Rudy Vallee is the candidate millionaire and Mary Astor is his sister.
There are a lot of the usual players of the time; William Demarest, Franklin Pangborne and the like.
And there is a small cameo for Jack Norton who was in an astonishing 184 films, then television. He had a wide variety of skills but mostly he played one of the funniest drunks in show business.
And we know that drunks are not really funny, eh?
Also Sig Amo, a german actor who did over 150 films with an accent so thick you could not understand him. His specialty was acrobatic stunts, falls, and clever comic bits. A clown.
I did have fun and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Yesterday we saw the film and today we see the real thing. Aurora Borealis:
I love to type and say those words.
If you want to see the big image go to
Beeeeeauuutiful.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
WATER FIGHTS
When I went to MIT, my recreational life included dormitory water fights.
The major weapons were primarily 'black mariahs'; lab hose filled with water and wrapped around one's body.
They could inflict a lot of damage on a room or group of freshman.
Occasionally, these devices would explode while on the shooter.
A mess; hose flying about, water exploding all at once.
A lot of damage on sophomores; frosh rolling on the floor with laughter.
For grenades, water balloons were used.
Here is an idea of the damage they could inflict on the enemy.
Labels: coming of age, MIT
WARM HEARTS/COLD CITY
Today's film was
with Donald Sutherland, Louise Fletcher, Juliette Lewis and a nice boy I had not seen before, Joshua Jackson.
I know that I am into a film when I get sniffy during the first 15 minutes.
Fletcher and Sutherland play grandparents facing his decline and Jackson plays the slacker grandson who has dug himself a comfortable hole/home in the wake of his father's death ten years before.
Juliette Lewis is the spark that ignites a long simmering fire cracker in his ass and with his granddad's help he gets his mojo working. I like her a lot. She is one of those sexy 'one of the guys' types. Very hard to carry off well, which she does.
The performances are what count here as well as the wonderful lines.
The location is Minneapolis. I used to go there a lot. I ran right through a place that is shown a few times (in the distance) and (I think) close up underneath, in the fucking cold, on the creaky snow, across the river and into St. Paul. That's across the Mississippi, actually. I also ran back.
It is a great little picture and it should have gotten more notice than it did.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: coming of age, films, Sutherland
RM W MT VW
How cool would it be to stand right here?
AGING NICELY
We saw Leo this morning on our Sunday walk.
He will be 94 in a month.
He is my role model.
He does a little boxer's dance and shadow boxes as he is talking and he has a grip of iron.
He is great to hug. You feel the energy coming in.
It is just a wonderful experience to be with him for even a little while.
Labels: coming of age
NO TO JUST SAY NO
All the pillars are crumbling.
States 'Abstain' From Federal Sex-Ed Funds
The thing is that they just do not work. To say nothing of the fact that kids are being misinformed or not informed at all.
For example, the Fed money prevents teaching boys to put on a condom. Also, that condoms are permeable to HIV. It is all religious scare stuff. Bastards.
It is so infuriating that they would have done such a thing in the first place that it is a big laugh to see it all undone.
Labels: bushie, christist watch
ON THE ROAD
So Bill Richardson does some quiet campaigning for peace in the world.
I really like this guy.
And the bushie's even approve of it!
Richardson on diplomatic trip to N.Korea
Labels: Richardson
CROSS OUT
Easter is a non-starter around here.
If you don't believe in the Easter Bunny, then you are stuck with a christian myth which you have to admit is a pretty grizzly story that requires a good deal of suspension of disbelief.
Some would say that 'belief' would suffice but I see it more an excursion into magical thinking.
We are told that a majority of people are into it one way or another.
Yeh, I know, we are a christian nation.
Uhhuh.
Another suspension of disbelief here.
I know what the numbers say but I don't believe it.
When I was a kid, easter was an occasion of mass attendance to church, even more so than christmas.
I didn't get it and still don't.
A lot of it seemed to be about hats and dresses.
Come in, make a show and then go out and act like the 'heathens' the rest of the year.
I was a cynical kid.
I never really 'got' the whole story anyway. The death, the rising, the going into heaven.
I don't want to step on anyone's faith here but I hope that you have a strong spiritual center to go along with the religious mumbo jumbo.
If so, then you won't feel trampled.
We will have a quiet day.
Normal.
And I hope that you do the same.
I will put aside the wish for a happy holiday.
Labels: eggs, holidays, religion
Saturday, April 07, 2007
CAN IT BE?
State-based impeachment: Now Wisconsin and Hawaii
It only takes a quarter?
Jeez!
Labels: bush, impeachment
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Early on, 'someone' is reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in this Woody Allen film:
The 'someone' in this case didn't get it. Too much scheming I suppose.
If 'someone' had gotten it, they could have saved themselves a good bit of trouble but then they might not have.............
Well, never mind. We would not have had this great edge of the seat story either.
This is a really good film. Even good for Woody Allen who has found a new life in his first London based production.
The cast is great and plays nicely together.
It is fun to watch the big-lipped Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the even lippier Scarlett Johansson go at it; a real lip mashup.
Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode and Brian Cox fill out the film family where money is no object for anything you want.
Cox just disappears into all his roles. Great.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5 but with Allen, ratings are beside the point.
This is not a NYTimes Best Film because it came after that list was compiled. I just wanted to see it.
HISSTORY
When I was a kid, the Alger Hiss case was almost constantly in the news.
I was fascinated with it. And I was only 11 or 12 when it all came down.
I remember that as a beginning of my skepticism around government and the people in it.
Hiss was a hobby horse for the McCarthy crowd to ride; a commie in the State Department.
Unless you were around at that time, you cannot imagine the depth of paranoia about communist infiltration of the government.
Since Hiss had a great deal to do with the founding of the United Nations, his 'guilt' was used to undermine the US role in it.
Today, UN enemies still run the bullshit to keep the United States from full support and participation.
Richard Nixon (below) got his start by Hiss-baiting.
The Hiss case still resonates as a subject for conspiracists on both sides.
Here is the latest:
Alger Hiss spy trial's gay angle revealed
This is a new gay angle incidentally.
We already know that Hiss' accuser, Whitaker Chambers, was a closet case and half a nut.
It is a fascinating story that will not go away.
Hiss lived a long life and continued to fight for his reputation in a very gentlemanly way. His sons continue the campaign even today.
Labels: blacklist, communists, nostalgia
Friday, April 06, 2007
CAMPAIGN
If I had some money to throw around in the election I would throw it at Richardson and outfits like this who are doing the dirty work of keeping the issues alive.
Labels: election
RICHARDSON ON THE ISSUES
Bill Richardson on Iraq, North Korea, and Energy
It would be amazing if he was able to bring 'remains' back from North Korea.
He has heavy diplomatic experience there (and a lot of other places as well)
I would love to see it. Not because of the 'remains' so much as that he would be able to pull it off.
Bill Richardson.
Labels: Richardson
NEO NOIR
Today's Best NYTimes 1176 Best Films was John Boorman's
in which Lee Marvin pursues an amount of money owed him while, at the same time, working a thug elimination project with "cop" Keenan Wynn.
I love both these men and to watch them work together is prime.
The film is a bit challenging as Boorman plays with time and dreams and reality.
Angie Dickenson takes the screen whenever she is on. What a moll.
You will like it and it will keep you on the edge of your seat for 90 minutes—the perfect movie length—the time I grew up with as a kid.
This will be a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, noir
Thursday, April 05, 2007
A SPOUSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
We are in one of these six states. I like the NH language.
New Hampshire's Marriage Compromise
Labels: gay marriage
SLOWLY BUT SURELY
Other people are noticing Richardson.
His fundraising is really robust for a 'second tier' guy.
The comments are interesting.
We will see.
Labels: Richardson
TAX TIME
The priority mail package came today.
Peter had sent my annual returns and the quarterly payment package.
It wasn't too bad.
I got some and I paid some and I ended up almost even.
I like to stay on the balance line.
If they owe me money then I am losing the interest.
If I owe them, I might have a penalty and I don't like attracting attention.
A retired guy's returns are pretty straight forward. It is almost like when I was just a salary dude.
Don't pay attention to the cartoon.
I just liked the picture.
This is not a big deal. I am used to the slight pain of paying.
I can show you a big deal. Confiscation. Cancellation of accounts. We have it pretty good.
My attitude is 'my government right or wrong' when it comes to the tax dollars.
Even though it is often wrong these days, I visualize my dollars going into good works and keeping the ship afloat while the bushies do everything they can to sink it.
Tax time is non-partisan.
I am happy to buy an interest in the best country in the world and the life that I have been able to live in it.
And don't start arguing about where else would be better. I won't hear of it.
I know some Canadians and people who live in the UK.
I will take what we have any time.
Labels: bushies, civic pride
GOOD SEASONINGS
Two landmarks today.
I wore shorts to bike. Not tights. And two t-shirts (one long sleeved) and no flannel hoody.
We are having morning temps in the low 70's.
When I came home, I saw the first iris!
Lavender. Scented. A big big one out back.
It has been harvested and now resides inside to celebrate its arrival.
Nice to have such tangible seasonal signals.
Of course, the last time we had such harbingers, it got too cold to believe the next week; so we shall see.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
STEP TWO
New Bid To Lift Bar On Out-Of-State Gay Marriages In Mass.
Always interested in the headline news from my old home state.
Labels: gay marriage
TEE VEE
I don't suppose that anyone noticed that I have had the first embedded video on esrosedotblog.
At least there has been no comment.
I guess I will have to get the pile driver out and make a point out of it.
I am proud to have the capability but a bit embarrassed that it took so long to figure out that all you had to do was insert the embed code at the source and you would have the video switch right on your text. My text, I mean.
At least I got there before some other sad assed blogs.
The trick now is to moderate and not put every video I see that is funny or interesting into the middle of the blog.
But, I did think that this was both ominous and funny. Cheney lurking in the bushes as junior tries, once more, to con the American people about Iraq.
What is he doing there? Can you throw your voice that far?
Or maybe that antenna in georgie's back doesn't have nearly the range we thought it did.
I got this from Daily Kos.
Poor reading performance by the kid.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons, Iraq
SPLIT DECISION
John has a book with 'writing tips' near the toilet and, from time to time, I delve into the rich store of comments by famous writers.
Today I read about split infinitives.
I totally realized that I had completely forgotten about this.
I absolutely mean that I pretty much do not even know what an infinitive is, let alone split the little bastard.
So I assiduously looked it up and found that the split infinitive and its allowability in correct use is decidedly unresolved.
Only 23 % of grammarians completely agree on whether it usually is OK to split one or not.
I decided that I would temporarily put this issue aside and not worry about it much.
At the bottom of the discussion on infinitives, there is a reference to splitting a prepositional phrase.
OK. What is a preposition?
That is the thing that you cannot end a sentence with.
See?
One thing leads to another.
You put these rules all together and you have a totally great language to wallow around in.
I bet Mr. Roan who taught me English for four years is absolutely rotating in his grave right now.
Labels: grammar
VOLCANO
I haven't shown any Astropix for awhile.
Take a look at this volcano and smoke cloud on one of Jupiter's moons, Io.
Labels: astropix
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
REPLAY
When I was 8 (1945), we had been through a family ordeal.
My Dad had joined the US Navy in 1943 and had spent the two years away on a destroyer escort, first in the North Atlantic runs back and forth to England and then, finally, in the Pacific where he was wounded.
It was a normal day. I was in the dining room.
I looked out and my Dad was getting out of someone's car.
He had been discharged and had come home for good.
The memory is indelible.
The feelings even more so.
I guess that is why I responded so to this when I saw it.
It should say Sailor not Soldier but I can handle it.
I knew he was a sailor!
Monday, April 02, 2007
LAST SNORT
Today we watched Ionesco's
This was a production of The American Film Theater (AFT) which was a failed attempt to film famous contemporary plays and then play them in a theatrical kind of way; reserved seats and all that.
It was a failed venture with many bad casting decisions.
Of course, for many of these plays, this is the only record we have and so we must do the best we can.
Zero Mostel who starred in a Broadway production of the play is in this film along with Gene Wilder.
It is directed by Tom O'Horgan, a brief bright flame of talent in the 70s.
He takes the play outside and ruins it. It is a theatrical piece meant for the imagination of the viewer.
Another example of an AFT bust.
But I was there to see Zero Mostel. It is his Film Festival after all.
And amid the wreckage of the production, his performance does come alive and we get a glimpse of the stage work.
The play is about the unaccountable spread of fascism in the 30's and 40's.
The hero, an anti-hero, is a weak, alcoholic man who does not go along with the crowd, all of whom have turned into rhinoceri.
There are a lot of metaphors and symbolism. Overloaded.
This was a nice trip back.
Remember, we were all waking up from the 50's.
Think of this, if and when you see this film, and be kind.
We were innocents trying to make sense of a world that had just gone from one mindless conformity to another one. Never mind what they say about pink shirts and charcoal flannel pants; white bucks.
They were the early signs that things were changing.
It would not be long until we had the flower child and public nudity to say nothing of faggots and all that stuff.
They say that the 60's are over but you know the culture wars continue. It is the same thing today.
Labels: avant garde, films, society, Zero Mostel
MARRIAGE HAVEN
This could be a big deal.
Massachusetts Gov. Patrick Orders 26 Gay Marriages Recorded
It means that any couple could get hitched in MA and then go back to their home state and challenge recognition in their own state.
I don't know.
It just seems like a good thing no matter what.
Labels: gay marriage
HAIRCUT
We are getting pruned, as I type.
The orchid tree has been shaped, the tangerines are off the newly trimmed tree, the grapefruit looks like an umbrella, the palo verde outside the wall has been brought back to encourage density, the bougainvillea that is dead from the frost is now gone (the only way to tell is to give it a couple of months to come back and if it doesn't, hack it), and now the olive is getting pruned down.
The olive is in bloom so we are anxious to get as many of the branches off as we can because we do not want baby olives.
We will even spray the tree to neuter the little buds.
Olives may go well as an appetizer but they are a black greasy mess when stepped on.
This is an annual rite of spring around here.
It is still a bit hard on eastern boys to see the radical cuts that need to be made. Things grow so fast.
But we are getting used to it.
But not the mess.
Franklin is housebound as the guys do their work. They sprawl.
It will soon be over.
FILM FLAM
You may have noticed that I have interrupted the flow of the NYTimes Best 1176 films with a film festival (Zero Mostel—still one film to go tomorrow) and some current films that I missed or want to see as soon as they are available.
This does not mean that I am abandoning my goal of seeing all 1176 films on the list but I have been doing this since 3/11/04—my god—just over three years!
I have seen over 600 of the Best Films.
I have needed a bit of a break at the half way point.
I am just reporting.
No excuses.
Labels: best films, blog, films
THE MISSING ROMANOV
Today's NYTimes Best Film was
with Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes.
It is just now available on disc and not worth the wait.
It is a romance without any heat at all between Brynner and Bergman and a speculation on the tale of the surviving daughter of the Czar.
There were two such claimants to the 'throne'; Anna Anderson and Eugenia Smith.
This film, based on a Broadway play with Viveca Lindfors has no connection with either of the women who claimed to be Anastasia.
It is fluff; one of those star vehicles that is all gussied up but lacks a heart.
I was very happy to see Akim Tamiroff who acts them all off the screen in his scenes and with great flair; the life of the party.
It is also in Cinemascope which was an excuse to trot out big scenes, parades and so on that have nothing to do with the drama.
Another annoyance. There is a window that looks out on the Eiffel Tower with a little train in front of it. There is not a scene in that room (and there are a lot) without the train going by the window several times. It even has a bit of sound effect to it. Gimcrakery.
It is also not a good transfer. The music drowns out a lot of the dialogue and there are spots where the sound goes loud and soft and sometimes crackly.
And so on.
I didn't much like it.
Can you tell?
It is a turkey.
I will be giving it a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, turkeys
CLICHE WATCH
OK. It is time to put the skids to the word 'embolden' and any of its forms.
In this WaPo piece, it is used three times (including the sidebar).
Democrats to Widen Conflict With Bush
I see it everywhere.
I think that they like it because it is a verb and sounds new.
To me it sounds like a made up word.
It is not but it sounds plastic. Particularly when used over and over.
How about animate, cheer (on), encourage, inspire, inspirit, motivate.
How about changing the sentence so the focus gets changed?
As for the headline and article, it is great to see them animated instead of passive.
I cheer them on!
They have been encouraged by their success and they should pursue it as far as they can and even further. They can afford to lose a few.
Steny Hoyer says as much in this article.
While he is inspired to pursue the bushies bullshit, he knows there will be backlash and it does not bother him.
He is motivated by the tug of war that is going on.
I, too, am greatly encouraged to see this pro-active role for the Demos.
Ooops.
I wanted to ban the word 'pro-active' not too long ago.
