Tuesday, July 31, 2007
ANOMIE
There goes another one:
Michelangelo Antonioni, Bold Director, Dies at 94
I think that I have seen all his films.
They are hard to sit through.
Not a lot happens.
People are caught in a web of their own making.
They are depressed. Misdirected. Unhappy.
The last one I saw was The Passenger with Jack NIcholson.
It was great.
The last shot is through the window of the house where his death waits but you don't know that until the camera pulls the lens in.
Yeh, I know.
Not exactly happy times.
I will give Antonioni a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
ROAD SHOW
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
A wistful road film and near travelogue, an old fashioned traveling circus covers the length and breadth of a radically changing Brazil.
The story line is thin but does hold us into the realization that change is unstoppable.
It is mesmerizing. The music is a full catalog of Brazilian styles.
The people are great to watch.
There are more than a few touches of magical realism which I always appreciate.
We are at the movies after all. Let's use them for what they were made for.
It is a wonderful little film.
I couldn't help tying the film to what I read today about the world's great forests.
They will be gone in a hundred years.
So will the life shown in this film which is dedicated at the end to the 'Brazilians of the 21st Century'.
Wistful.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Monday, July 30, 2007
FILMED!
One of the best fantasy fiction reads is the series His Dark Materials
The first volume of the trilogy has been made into a film, The Golden Compass, although it is possible they have put it all into one film and used that name.
In any case, it is thrilling to see this story come alive on the screen. This is a long trailer shown at Comic-con in San Diego.
Of course, my policy is to not see any film of a book that I have read or, for that matter, to read a book of movie that I have seen.
I have made exceptions in the past.
Perhaps.
THE WAGES OF SIN
I didn't see this before.
Paris Hilton loses inheritancePARTY princess Paris Hilton is $60 million out of pocket after her billionaire grandfather - appalled by her jail term for drink-driving offences - axed her inheritance.
Family patriarch Barron Hilton was already embarrassed by his granddaughter's wild behaviour - notably when her home sex video was leaked on the internet.
But the 79-year-old considered her 23-day sentence last month the last straw.
"He was, and is, extremely embarrassed by how the Hilton name has been sullied by Paris," says Jerry Oppenheimer, who wrote a biography of the clan called House Of Hilton.
"He now doesn't want to leave unearned wealth to his family."
Hilton senior, the only member of the family left with a sizeable stake in the huge hotel chain, has let it be known that he intends to donate to charity the $2.4bn he will gain from this month's sale of the company to private equity firm Blackstone.
The money will go to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the charity set up in the name of the founder of the family business.
Now I don't give a shit about Paris at one level. On the other hand, she clearly has an alcohol and drug problem with which she has to bottom sooner or later.
Maybe I will meet up with her someday.
What does interest me is that this violates the belief that 'everything' is going to hell.
To the contrary, old Baron is exemplifying good solid traditional beliefs in good behavior, pride of family, and that money should go to do good. Give it back.
One might quibble that he is doing it too late and for the wrong reasons but hey.
Labels: culture
ENDLESS PLEASURE
Ingmar Bergman, Famed Swedish Film Director, Dies at 89
I have seen virtually all his films.
Some still haunt me from time to time. The death images.
Others will be remembered with wonderful internal laughter.
I am thinking now of the exuberant Christmas dance in.................well which one? But I remember the dance.
I saw my first Bergman film 50 years ago when I was in college.
I am still watching in the Best Film rundown.
Endless pleasure. The great fact of great films. They are always with us.
Labels: obituary
Sunday, July 29, 2007
FINI
Let the record state that I have finished the last Harry Potter installment.
I leave the series as a satisfied customer.
When I turn so much time and energy over to an author it is important that I have trust in being dealt a fair deal and Rowling has always done that.
We have read a lot of this genré of fiction—wand and sorcery—and this is not always the case. Somewhere in a series (an all of them seem to go on and on) there will be a blip or a crack and one's confidence in the author is lost. Or you get to see a glimpse behind the curtain and it is disruptive. Some authors trick you and turn the tables with heroes who turn out to be villains. Nasty stuff.
I am not interested in the merits of the series as literature, serious or otherwise.
The general interest in it has been phenomenal and by any measure, a great success. It has been fun to be a part of that also.
I will not spoil or reveal but only say that, as far as I can tell, every character in the long series is accounted for and every plot turn straightened out.
The grand finale manages to involve all the characters that we care about either gladly or with deep displeasure.
The emotions are deeply affected.
I had one 'difficult' night in the middle of the reading.
A very nice job indeed.
I am not sorry that I hung in.
It was never a burden but not always an unalloyed pleasure.
It was always involving whether I liked the involvement or not.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
ITCHING TO GET BETTER
My knees are doing better.
I biked again on Thursday and Friday.
No problem.
The right one is a lot bruised and a bit swollen but it is going down day by day.
I hit it with some heat three times a day.
The worst part is the itching.
Internal itching.
I guess it is the hematoma being absorbed back into the body.
Or something.
Can't scratch it.
But I am pleased.
It is a small price to pay for the joy and benefit of the outdoor, on the road, bike ride.
Labels: bicycle
POTTED
I am down to the last 100 pages of the Potter book.
It is pretty good.
There are no spoilers here incidentally.
I am interested in the discussions about whether these books are low or high art.
I wrote about the toad Harold Bloom's long winded bloviation about it.
And the people who wrote to (legitimize)counter his jibes.
They all miss the main point.
Reading this stuff is fun.
Pure and simple.
Silas Marner it ain't.
It is well written fantasy adventure and if you don't like it don't buy it.
Anyway, I am into it and liking it. I am pleased that she has found a way to bring everyone, the good and the bad, in at the finale.
Ooops. No spoilers.
Friday, July 27, 2007
KILLER REVIEW
From the NYT OnLine
Movie Review | 'Molière'A Playwright in Prison, in Love and in Ruffles
Reviewed by A. O. SCOTT
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière, wrote more than 30 plays, every one of them a hundred times more witty and insightful than the movie “Molière.”
IS FREDO'S ROWBOAT COMING?
F.B.I. Chief Gives Account at Odds With Gonzales’s
I refer of course to the 'let's go fishing' sequence in The Godfather where happy faced liar Fredo gets taken for a wet ride.
Or have we gotten used to having a AJ who is a serial liar?
He wouldn't be the first or last but we don't have to keep him do we?
Labels: criminal morons, gonzales, gonzo
OFF BRAND
The latest most overused word is suddenly 'brand'.
Superman is a brand.
Well, we knew that.
But Hillary?
And almost anything else that has a 'niche'. They quit using that.
A movie star is now a 'brand'.
This is all shop talk that has slopped over into sloppy reporting.
It was once a bit innovative to use it. Now it is a cliché.
The cliché, niche, brand.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
MALE BONDING
Barry Bonds Home-Run Scandal Somehow Becomes Feel-Good Sports Story Of Summer
Labels: culture
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
NOT MUCH TODAY
This is a lowblog day.
I am in recovery!
I switched from cold to hot on my knee and the swelling is way down.
No collateral damage.
Tomorrow it is back on the bike.
People gag at the sight of the bruise.
They weren't too happy about seeing the swell and blood on Monday.
I guess that I am not to careful about sensitivities.
Word really got around among my friends though.
That has nothing to do with my blogging or not.
I am doing the Harry Potter book. That has cut in a lot.
And there was running around today.
Franklin had to go to the groomer in the AM and return in the PM.
It is his first time with this one.
She did OK. A bit funny around the eyebrows. Different.
It is OK. A slightly new look.
It is still a bit sticky.
The monsoonal conditions and all.
We have 'company' coming this weekend. I don't think it will clear out by then.
It is sort of normal for them. Hot and humid.
But one of them has been here before.
Won't be fooled.
That is about it from here until something more substantial occurs.
I was going to write about Gonzales' apparent perjury yesterday but it is like writing about dishonesty in professional wrestling.
It just is.
Labels: blog
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
HAIR
I am liking Edwards' campaign better all the time.
They aren't going to get away with Swiftboating this guy.
Labels: politics
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
We got some rain today.
The first since last February. And that wasn't much.
This is connected with the monsoonal conditions we have had.
Southerly flow of moisture into the area. Clouds, and (gasp) humidity.
The rain could mark the end.
Franklin and I were out in it. He doesn't like the thunder much but he wants to be with me.
I 'make' him man up and conquer his fear. Or accept his fear and go out anyway.
I imagine that they will say that it was just a trace of rain.
Maybe 0.01 inch.
For us, it was a deluge.
It seems to be over now.
The tempest is past.
It did lick the dust off the leaves.
IT ENDED THE SAME WAY!
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Franco Zeffirelli's
Ebert says that this is the best Shakespeare movie ever.
From my point of view, it is certainly the most accessible of the plays we have seen in the Best Film series.
I still can't make it all out but the Zeff helps us along with the visuals.
It is gorgeous and the youngsters are luminous.
There isn't a whole lot to say other than it is definitely a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
NO PLASTIC
There is a strong movement to ban plastic bags in stores.
Pressure Builds to Ban Plastic Bags in Stores
We used re-usable bags way back when we shopped in Boston.
Then we came out here and somehow the discipline collapsed.
But I am back on board.
The stores here are promoting reusable cloth bags. They look like paper bags complete with the store logo.
99 cents at Staters.
I have mine.
I think that I wrote about this.
They not only save the plastic but they hold more. They stay put in the Cherokee. They keep cool things cool.
They are way better.
Monday, July 23, 2007
TODAY'S RUDE PUNDIT
When Bill Clinton left office back in the ancient time of 2001, he had the job approval of over 60% of the public, according to nearly every poll. Indeed, this rating never fell below 50% for his entire second term. Indeed, after his public apology for lying about getting fellated by Monica Lewinsky, most of the poll numbers went higher, even over 70%. Those are numbers that George W. Bush would rape a dying orphan to get.
The whole article is here.
It is about shame and the shameless.
It is very good.
Get over your problems with his nasty language.
The guy has an excellent point.
And I think that he is funny anyway even if some of you do not.
Labels: bush, christist watch, criminal morons
HIGH ACHIEVER
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Wes Anderson's
I have seen this a few times.
I like it.
Anderson co-wrote this with Owen Wilson. I like the humor. A tad sophomoric. Just nicely over the line.
Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray compete for most immature man. Olivia Williams, a teacher, is the prize. Only she is as depressed as the other two. She mourns the loss of her great love; a young widow.
The 15 year old wins on maturity although the older man does reasonably well. The teacher 'gets it' and gets over her grieving.
So much for plot.
This also has Brian Cox and Seymour Cassell. Great actors. Always welcome.
Here is another review from The Rolling Stone.
They liked it too.
I have to say that I have only liked Bill Murray in his new incarnation which started with this picture. The smirk is gone.
He is an artist of the deadpan.
It has rough spots.
These guys were young and love a few of their jokes just a little too much.
Did I say that I love the music although I don't know it all? Cat Stevens. Inspired.
John Lennon doing Oh Yoko.
Keerist.
I haven't heard that for years.
It kills.
I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5 because I am trying to become a little more critical on the Netflix scale. I have way too many 5's. But if I wasn't on this campaign I would give it a 5.
Labels: best films
UPDATE RASH
Just because a lot of worriers read this, I should report on the pm status of the road rash from the bike accident this morning.
There is some swelling of the right knee but no pain or sprains at all. I am giving it rest, ice, (no compression) and elevation.
It is improving by the hour.
The swelling in the left knee is virtually gone. A light raspberry shade of scrape remains.
My hands are a bit sore.
There is very slight strain to some back muscles.
By this time there would be a full onset of negative symptoms so I think that we can write this one off as minor.
No emails please.
TAMMY FAYE
OK.
I guess this is a minority report on the woman who managed, with her husband, to bilk millions of dollars from people who could hardly afford it.
Rapacious.
Another christianist whose ego and greed knew no bounds and found a way for both to run riot when coupled with her personal 'ministry'.
To the end she threw herself at us appearing on the Larry King show in full eyelash and weighing 65 pounds. Terminal lung cancer.
She died the next day.
Vulgarity to the end.
She lived here in PS for awhile. She attracted the same kind of people who wanted their souls filled by someone so outrageous that she was beyond criticism.
A clown.
A fag hag who preached along with her husband that gays were sinners.
A monster.
Utterly without redeeming social value.
"Just a simple Mississippi girl". She was not being ironic.
No one from Mississippi is simple in that way anyhow.
Come on.
Give us a break.
The woman was a horrible person who ran roughshod over people who should have known better and a lot that didn't.
Good riddance.
Labels: christist watch, criminal morons
ROAD RASH
This morning I was on the bike path and a guy, a crip, was up ahead. Swinging his cane broadly and taking wide steps he had most of the sidewalk.
He was not going to get out of the way.
So I went on the grass to get around.
Coming back to the path, I hit a valley in the sod; too tight an angle to get back on and the wheel got caught.
I took a spill.
It was a five point landing; chest, hands, knees. A good decision on my part. Had I made one. Distribute the load on as many points as possible.
I got up, dusted off, noted the knee abrasions (none elsewhere) and got back on the bike.
The guy did ask me if I was OK.
He even thanked me for going around him.
He was not being ironic.
Home and time with the ice (the right knee began swelling) I seem to be in good condition.
I sat in a meeting with a wet ice pack and so there was some wound-weeping. Ugly. But there is a big bandaid on it now.
No pain.
Well, it is sore.
Nothing twisted or sprained.
I am a tough bastard. It takes a lot to do me in.
Labels: bicycle
HERO
Unlikely Adversary Arises to Criticize Detainee Hearings
You know that there are a lot of good Republicans whose values have been violated by the bushies over and over.
They are a straight laced bunch.
They don't like the kind of shit that the administration has been putting over.
Now, they are speaking out. They have had enough.
God bless the insiders who still have strong beliefs in this country's bedrock principles. Willing to call a spade a spade.
They have already started on him. Calling him a traitor. Uninformed. Misinformed.
But SCOTUS took a quick turn when he spoke out.
A lot of people like him are listening.
Labels: bush. bushies, criminal morons
Sunday, July 22, 2007
HALLIBURTON
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Paul Verhoeven's
with Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy and Ronny Cox.
We have Detroit in the hands of wanton criminals and the police in the hands of a mega-corporation that sub-contracts out government work including the cops.
Sounds just like what we have twenty years after the film was shown.
Weller is just great working around a tough costume. He comes through. The robot has soul. It is just the way we are supposed to see it. He slowly emerges. Very nicely done.
It is funny scary.
Hard to pull off.
You know what is going to happen but not how.
A good way to deal with a genré situation.
I liked it but wanted it to speed up a little.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
DOUBLE TAKE
Look at that picture below!
The one with the Charles River. The MIT fleet.
Look across the river.
There is a building that wasn't there when we left ten years ago!
The one with the breast shaped top.
Keerist!
How things change.
When I first went to Boston the skyline had two distinct features; the Customs House (now a Marriott) in the dock area and the old John Hancock Building (with the weather light) in the Back Bay.
I was away from the City for ten years and when I came back we had the Prudential Building and all its baby buildings. That is the bigger building behind the fleet.
The dome topped building is an infill on Pru land which was vacant when we were there.
We lived behind the Pru about four blocks. I did my grocery shoppiing at the Star Market there.
Now look.
It is all ruined.
I suppose that people who live there now don't share that view. Progress.
We got out before the final closing in; the new construction and the 'big dig' highway construction. More shade patterns on the neighborhood.
So some things get better (like the water in the Charles) and some do not.
COME ON IN THE WATER'S FINE
When I went to MIT, I took sailing lessons on the Charles River. That's the MIT dinghy fleet in the picture.
One of the major elements of our learning was the harsh discipline of the river itself. You did not want to swamp or overturn your boat because the water was so toxic.
No kidding.
And not only that. Just sailing along in the spray of a tack or a windy day was cause for an immediate shower even before leaving the boat house.
I lived only a hundred yards from the boat house so I went home and did the ablutions.
Now, things are different.
A Boston River Now (Mostly) Fit for Swimming
These guys in the article are swimming at just about the same area that we sailed only on the Boston side.
That's the Longfellow Bridge in the background. Salt and pepper shakers.
The river got worse before it got better. And I think that all the years we lived in Boston were taken up with news of various cleanup operations.
It would seem that they have paid off.
See? Some things do get better.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
THE LAST ROUNDUP
Our Harry Potter arrived here about noon today.
John is reading it as I type.
I am going to wait until he is finished.
It is hard staying away from the spoilers though.
I foolishly waded into the two reviews that appeared prematurely in the NYT and Salon. I thought they were just regular articles. No. Reviews.
I was not amused.
The LATimes put up a headline that I should get out my handkerchief.
It is OK. All this excitement.
I got a little teary when we got the book.
I know. So stupid.
But we have read each one and, unlike many friends, have stayed connected with it emotionally.
That doesn't make me a better person but it does say something about my refusal to jade or grow all cynical about shit.
It is a real phenomena. Not fake. Genuine.
There is little that has such a wide cultural span as this.
I do not agree with that asshole Harold Bloom that this is low art. Although I don't think there is anything wrong with low art.
I consider Rowling's work to be art of the highest sort.
All the myths it contains. Dickensian. And so on.
Did I say that Harold Bloom is an asshole? An ugly bastard too.
Ad hominem. Amen.
He is a right winger. Editorial in the WSJ.
So, the book is here and we are into it.
Labels: books
EDGED OUT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Fucked up kids and clueless, mostly absent parents.
One of the kids kills his girlfriend; "dunno why".
The rest look at her body and then generally avoid feeling.
I just looked it up.
As a social document, it is pretty pessimistic.
As a film, it is interesting but not so much.
I liked seeing the young Keanu Reeves for the wrong, non-artistic reasons.
Crispin Glover gives a wild performance as an uppers freak.
As usual, Dennis Hopper shows up as the only stable adult the kids have to go to.
That is how fucked up they are.
I am so over Dennis Hopper but this was 20 years ago, although I think I was over him then too.
There is an incredibly annoying 12 year old in this picture also doing a 12 year old's impersonation of a thug. He is a nasty little bastard and I hope I never see him again.
It also has Ione Skye (Leitch) who was John Cusack's girl in Say Anything. She is annoying too.
I guess this is going to get a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
DRIP
We are having our first monsoonal flow.
Sounds like something icky doesn't it?
Well, you are not too far off the point.
It means that the jets and weather systems are swinging from the south and we are getting Pacific and Gulf moisture mixed in with the air.
Our usual dewpoint of sub 60 goes up and we begin to feel just a little bit like everyone else who has humidity.
But not so much.
The humidity is about 30%, the dp about 65.
This is our 'winter'.
We just hunker down a bit until it is over. A small 'blizzard'.
It is not really at all bad. Nothing like it would be had we moved to Florida.
Miami's humidity is 76 and the dewpoint is 74.
The sliders are all open now and it feels nice. Balmy. Sultry. A nice 'thicker' feel to the air.
Labels: weather
REBELS
You can only kick the pros around so long.
U.S. Agency May Reverse 8 Decisions on Wildlife
We know that the bushies have screwed the bureaucratic processes since they came in. The old science versus politics fight. CPB, NASA, NOA. The list goes on.
The bureaucrats, once docile, are fighting back.
The bushie's tenuous hold on power has diminished considerably.
Thank heavens for courageous public servants who remember that they serve the public and not political interests.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
Friday, July 20, 2007
END OF THE REVOLUTION
I watched the second half of
today.
The story of John Reed; one of the founders of the Communist Party in the United States and author of Ten Days That Shook The World.
There were some problems with the disc so I can't comment accurately on its impact.
Let's just say that I saw enough to get the idea.
I don't think I will be getting an undamaged disc to get the whole picture.
It is very long.
Part of the problem is that the real people's experience in revolutionary Russia is obscured by time and circumstance.
A lot of what happens is guesswork.
But what we can be sure is that egos surmount ideology and the revolution is ended almost before it begins.
A new totalitarian government replaces the old.
Idealists are ground up in the wheels of power politics.
It is fun to watch though. Great sweeping views of the 'revolution train' flying through the steppes.
I will still give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Thursday, July 19, 2007
VOICE OVER
They tape the City Council sessions. You can go to the site and see the show.
I sort of thought about watching. Some neighbors did.
I saw them not ten minutes after they had quit watching and it was a bit weird to realize they had seen it all and now I was there and, well, it is a time warp thing.
I was a bit reluctant and then my son told me he had watched. All the way from Scituate MA.
Well, shit. I could see it too. So I did.
Of course I only watched myself and avoided seeing the five Council members dithering around trying not to offend a 'developer'.
Never mind offending us. Just us neighbors and citizens. Only 25 votes. No contributions. It costs $100,000 to run for City Council in PS now. I wonder where they get it? Hmmmmmm.
I used to see myself on video all the time when I worked in management training. That was ten years ago.
I was surprised. I still look the same.
It looked just like I felt. A little nervous. Reading the script and all. The fingers playing on the table.
One thing though is the voice. My voice has changed. I sound like an older man. I told John 'old man' but I have reconsidered. 'Older' captures it just as well.
I suppose this is appropriate given the fact that I am one—an older man—but it is still a bit odd to hear.
Coarser. A bit foggier. Less bite.
This is not some collapse into geezerhood. Just an observation.
I still have my edge.
Labels: me me me
WORD FOR WORD
I cancelled my on-line Wall Street Journal the other day.
There were several factors.
One was the potential buyout by Murdoch.
Why would I patronize such an endeavor.
If I take away my subscription it makes the buy less desirable. (yeh, I think that way)
Another thing. I needed the time. I was going back to the daily NYTimes Crossword and it does take some minutes out of the day.
Now I have many more.
A third thing.
The site crashed my browser a lot.
The WSJ has never been friendly for Mac browsers; Safari.
There are some sites that are not. Most are.
I used to have other problems of navigating. I could live with them. But the crashing is too much.
And don't say it is my computer.
I just went through a complete tune up and cleaned out a lot of disharmony.
I will miss a few features. I loved "The Numbers Guy", Carl Bialik.
They also had a running blog by a country doctor, a woman who used her family to diagnose personal financial problems and issues.
I will really miss the guy who is doing an ex-pat thing in China while his wife works an overseas assignment for her company. He is a house-daddy except that he writes!
But hard business news?
Not really.
I like the general articles a lot but I can do without them.
In fact, I have. This is the first week without it. I have not had one withdrawal syndrome.
I check the market (just for fun) on Yahoo Business which is really AP.
Labels: media
ENGULF AND DEVOUR
Now that they have ruined and closed some of the finest names in retailing (Filenes in Boston for one), the management wizards at Federated Department Stores are cashing out.
Macy's may be poised to sell itself
Federated were clients of mine many years ago. They were bastards then and they are bastards now.
They and their stores were members of Allied Department Stores which was a service provider to chains throughout the country. I worked for Allied.
Just here, in Palm Springs, we have one closed department store. In Palm Desert they ended up with two Macys so they closed one of them. There has been a lot of local fallout.
But these guys don't care.
They are assholes.
I usually reserve the title of 'criminal morons' for the bushies. I think I will add these robber barons.
Labels: criminal morons
CURB APPEAL
We went to the City Council last night to oppose the appeal of the McMansion guy. The one who wants to build a 2 story monster across from our back yard.
He had been turned down in five or more hearings before the Architectural Review guys and the Planning Commission.
Last night was his last best shot. He asked the Council to over ride the Planning Commission.
Which they fucking did!
Well not all the way.
I search for a metaphor.
They tried to play Solomon and decided to cut the baby in half. Only the developer got most of the mutilated baby.
That doesn't quite do it.
They bent over backward (as they are wont to do) to please a developer and stuck their head up their asses.
No.
Maybe this. Half a loaf means breadcrumbs.
We lost the argument about whether the lot qualifies to be two story. Flat out.
It does technically—well it does not technically—but it is close enough to say it does. So they decided to say that it does.
On the other hand they did see how the neighbors were unhappy with the immense size and mostly the way the house will 'look' into other people's yards. Us.
So they didn't deny the appeal. They didn't approve his plans.
They sent him back to the Planning Commission and architectural review with a second chance 'so he wouldn't have to pay his fees over again'.
Very disappointing.
A lot of the neighbors were more, way pissed than me.
I just take it philosophically.
It isn't the first time that I discovered others who did not share my world view.
I can see where they were not impressed with our opposition.
First the height issue. A technical KO.
Then the argument that this disrupts the character of the neighborhood. That it would make our nice neighborhood like other 'lost' sections of the City.
Well, you can't expect them to be sympathetic with that. They have presided over the overbuilding of the City and obviously can't agree that is a bad thing.
We obviously were seen as crybabies.
No account taken of our negative view of the house design either. It is an ugly mother. But they let people build whatever they want to. Property rights.
The Mayor asked if the McMansion guy had discussed any of this with the neighbors. He said 'no'. The Mayor thought it would be good if he did and try to make some changes. Come, let's reason together. Why can't we all get along?
Well, forget that. We already did all that through the design review process and he didn't change a thing.
And he probably will not this time either.
He will traipse it back through the same boards with the sympathetic comments of the City Council around his neck and get what he wants.
In the meantime, for me, it is another lesson in how 'the Man' isn't going to pay much attention to the needs of the people.
Yeh, I know that's exaggerated but I am in the middle of watching Reds.
For me, I am done with the process. It is on to Plan B.
I will get busy on the new trees that we will put in along the wall so they will grow nice and tall by the time the house looms over our us.
Time to move on. This has had us on near-fume for nine months. Time to let go of it.
I'm going for my bike ride then go get a hair cut.
Labels: macmansion
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
HALF LEFTY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the first half of Warren Beatty's
This is a long project for Beatty. An early history of the progressive movement in America.
Those of us on the left today may not even know this story.
Too bad.
The center of the story is John Reed (Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton).
There are many 'stars' in this great film.
The ingenious device is to interleave 'witnesses'.
Real people who were there when the events occurred in the first and second decades of the 20th Century.
Roger Baldwin, Henry Miller, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Dora Russell, Scott Nearing, Tess Davis, Heaton Vorse, Hamilton Fish, Isaac Don Levine, Rebecca West, Will Durant, and maybe 20 others.
These people are all in their 80's and they were there.
The film is over four hours long. It is expansive and yet keeps its eye on these two people and their closest friends.
I am looking forward to the second half.
Labels: best films
MORE STUFF
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the second half of
It is hard not to get emotional about these times.
Kennedy was President. We had national focus. The men in the space program seemed like, and were, heroes. Not the same thing.
The film conveys this very nicely and it is hard not to get a lump in the throat having lived through it.
My room mate Paul and I were driving back for the holidays when Sputnik went up.
It was eerie. Sitting in the car listening to the beeps.
But the Russia race was not the point really. Nor was the idea of sending someone into orbit in a tin can.
It was the idea of the frontier.
A lot of the film was shot out here in the high desert. I have been to Edwards AFB and Mojave. You still can get the thrill. Some of the planes used in the film are still there to look at.
And so on.
It is a good movie. It was a better book. They could have wrecked it. They did not. I think that the 'they' who made it work is Philip Kaufman who wrote and directed.
That's Sam Shepard the film Chuck Yeager with the real Chuck Yeager. The Yeager presence frames the entire story. He is the original 'right stuff' guy.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Monday, July 16, 2007
GETTIN' READY
The MacMansion guy is appealing his total wipeout at the Planning Commission.
You know. They guy who wants to build a huge house on a little lot right at the pool end of our wall.
It is a blivet.
Ten pounds of bullshit in a 5 pound bag.
So we are getting ready.
The signs are good.
We got his writeup today. It isn't very good and even more interesting, he did it himself. There is no lawyer in the picture. He had one last time.
We were concerned because the Council blanches a bit at legal beaglism. They don't like lawsuits.
His photos suck too.
Another thing. The Planning Commission report really gives him the shaft. Once they vote all the power goes into defending their decision.
Good for them. They are on our side now.
Buddies.
They were not always so cordial to our position.
I went over my speech and finished it off.
I am the lead speaker!
It is Wednesday night.
I am ready. Poised. Loaded.
We will see.
The regular Council Meeting starts at 6PM. Early dinner.
We do not know when we are going to be heard.
I hope that I am home (with happy news) before my bedtime.
I usually don't stay up so late.
But this is worth it.
I will prop my eyes open.
Well, the adrenaline will be high.
Labels: macmansion
HALF RIGHT
Today I watched the first half of
It is 3 1/2 hours long.
There is some pretty good 'stuff' in the beginning showing the early days at Edwards Air Force Base.
I have been there and seen the first mach 1 plane.
Over in Mojave which is the non-government testing area, the facilities almost look the same as we see in the film.
Sam Shepard is Chuck Yeager.
Then, we get to the astronauts.
This is all based on the Tom Wolfe book and so, probably, apocryphal.
Nevertheless it is a good story.
The guys are fun to watch and there are some actors that I especially like; the aforementioned Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid (with baby fat), Fred Ward, and Ed Harris.
I am looking forward to the second half.
The review at the link is the original Ebert review. Tomorrow I will have his 20 years later writeup.
Labels: best films
Sunday, July 15, 2007
CROSS EYED
I used to do the NYTimes Sunday Crossword (in ink) every Sunday.
When we moved out here and could not get the hard copy paper, I went on line and paid for a subscription to the daily puzzles.
Somewhere along the line I quit doing them.
I was busy. I was blogging. I had to read. The sun was too nice outside. I had to play with the dog.
I think the plain fact is that I had a bit of crossword fatigue.
Today, one of the bloggers I read (Kevin Drum) posted about his frustration as a new crossworder.
I found myself downloading today's puzzle and, as used to be the case, working on it (and solving at least four words) while it got printed.
It is now over 2/3 done. I have a really good chance at getting 100%.
And I am enjoying it too!
I might add that I have taken three long phone calls today, read up a storm, went outside and did some needed work, I played with the dog.
There was plenty of time for everything.
I might just do a puzzle a day.
The easiest are on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday.
Sunday varies.
Back on track with an old pleasure.
In ink.
Labels: passion
POP ART
The Beckhams have landed on the west coast.
Taking up residence in their "understated" 20mm estate.
Dave says he is just a regular guy.
He earns a living by doing hard physical labor.
Posh is all about fashion design. She does her own hair. She collects fashion.
That's what she says.
Careers.
It is 24/7 in the local press.
I am not too sure that there is anything wrong with this.
They have three nice boys.
So, they are attractive. So W features them in bed in their underwear.
I was looking it over.
ME!
It is phenomenal.
My friend Lynda in London says we are welcome to them. They are all Beck-weary.
But this is the frontier of the new world and we are ready.
Beckham is pretty savvy with the media. They have good management (Simon Cowell). Same as the Spice Girls.
He speaks softly and carries a big stick.
She only talks about her clothes and the designer business.
They are actually pretty close mouthed.
They let us project whatever we want on them.
I don't know about the soccer/football business. Is he good for the franchise? The US game?
Dunno.
It is all kinda irresistable.
You can't help but look them over. He has a really nice ass and he doesn't say much. The ideal fantasy date.
'Nough said.
The only fly in the ointment that I can see is that the Cruises are buzzing around them a lot. Recruising them for the cult?
But it adds a bit of negative thrill to the whole scene.
Will they fall into the pit?
Stay tuned.
SPEED READING
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Lawrence Olivier's
Yawn.
I thought I would be prepped for this after seeing Al Pacino's Looking for Richard which breaks the play down and shows us the various pieces done in Al time.
No.
I was awash in half-drowsy after the first few scenes.
A constant reader of the blog would have expected this. I have a long time bard-dysfunction.
So, after nearly an hour of it, I started on the fast forward.
Much better.
Right down to 'my kingdom for a horse'. And the writhing operatic death that Olivier concocts for himself.
Olivier wears a very weird wig. Off putting.
And a false nose. I kept worrying that it would bend when Claire Bloom and he kissed.
I did get to see the young Geilgud and Richardson. Very nice work.
Once I had dozed out a couple times, I took the speed route. I can check this one off as at least seen. The Readers Digest version.
I will give the film the benefit of the doubt and put a 3 out of Netflix5 in the little star column.
I don't know if there are any more Shakespeare films on the list or not.
Shit. I hope not.
Labels: best films
Saturday, July 14, 2007
UPPER CRUST
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Anyone old enough to have had enough of the Von Bulow case when it really happened will either be fascinated or totally repelled by this re-enactment and simulation of the various sides.
Jeremy Irons is almost near the edge of parody with his haughty playboy Von Bulow. He did win the Oscar for it.
Glenn Close plays comatose almost half the time as the wife, Sunny.
Uta Hagen gives a nice edge as a (maybe) scheming personal maid.
Ron Silver plays Alan Dershowitz pretty straight. He is as obnoxious as I imagine the real Dersh to be. We used to sit near him at the Celebrity Series in Boston. I cannot attest to his assholism but he does have an aura about him.
As to the film, I was neither fascinated or repelled.
I thought it clunky as a matter of fact. I didn't care.
It draws no conclusions (which is OK) but it is quite herky jerky in getting to that point. The process does not justify the non-ending, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, it will be lucky to get a 3 out of Netflix5 from me. I will see how it sits.
The rich are different. They are very, very boring.
They don't even make interesting addict/drunks. Or gold diggers for that matter.
Labels: best films
BLOG FATIGUE
I am going through one of those dry periods with the blog.
This is an old, familiar condition.
It begins with the feeling that nothing is important enough to put up there.
This feeling flies in the face of facts.
I have written blog items about virtually nothing, of no importance whatsoever.
So history does not support this 'feeling'.
There is also the issue of 'time'.
I don't have 'time' to make an entry right now.
Well, shit, I never have time to make an entry. I just make entries.
Time moves along and there is no issue.
I am retired after all.
Then there is ennui. A frenchy kind of word.
A lack of interest in life and, oh, I don't know.
A swift boot in the ass is usually enough to get me out of that one.
What comes to mind right now is a great cover and article in Vanity Fair about Shia LaBeouf (Sh-EYE-a La BUFF) who is the star of the big summer Michael Bay spectacle Transformers.
Long time readers will know that I have taken a shine to Shia and have seen all of his films except I-Robot which requires a tolerance for Will Smith which I do not have.
He has a great story.
I would link it but it is not one of the 'linkables' on the VF site.
Well, I got one item out.
Now I feel myself subsiding back into that frenchy stuff.
It is time to go anyway.
Meditate, breakfast, off to a Meeting.
Today is Saturday. No bike.
Labels: blog
Friday, July 13, 2007
UNBELIEVABLE
What if you held a debate and *almost* no one came?
How dumb is that?
Labels: criminal morons
CHOICES
Today's film was
Efter brylluppet / After the Wedding (2006)
This film was one of the five Academy nominees for Best Foreign Film.
It is very good.
It is one of those films where the plot, which is quite astounding, is hard to summarize without wandering through a minefield of spoilers.
How is this?
Some people have to make some big choices which affect a lot of other people.
The acting is superb. The photography and composition is often surprising and wonderful.
It is a very satisfying film.
It is a definite 5 out of Netflix5.
We haven't seen the Oscar winner yet. It is coming up soon. Other People's Lives.
It must be a humdinger if this one lost!
Labels: films
Thursday, July 12, 2007
POUGEY AND BEST
This is a great video.
And if you stay tuned you will get a second feature.
Never mind us. We like all things Apple.
Labels: macintosh
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
I am a regular reader of Alison Bechdel's comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.
There have been 509 of them over about 20 years.
Bechdel, who just wrote an autobiographical graphic memoir Fun Home (just out in paperback) keeps a blog now.
She has been really busy working on a second book, so she is running old strips of DTWOF.
This one is so astonishingly current that it is scary.
If you have time, go to the archives of the strips (top left of the page).
The story line and the art have evolved over the years.
It is great stuff.
So is Fun Home. I read it and loved it.
RACER
I was biking this morning and came to the 'bunny place'.
Well, actually it is about half a mile along a golf course and the bike path runs along the edge.
The rabbits are having breakfast.
When they see me coming, most run for the bushes; across the path and to the other bushy side.
Others sit and wait until the last minute.
I have a dread of running over a cottontail.
So this morning there were two or three who took a really long time to run across the path. I slowed and talked to them.
They didn't move. I went more slowly.
Then, out of the blue, this fully costumed spandexed asshole on what we used to call an English bike blasts by me and the bunnies who, fortunately, are too startled to move.
This is a common rudeness of fully equipped bikers.
They do not say hello when you pass. Not even a wave.
They come up behind and pass but do not warn; no yell, no bell.
It pisses me off.
I shouted my usual 'good morning' in my most mocking voice and then, the rabbits having taken off in the right direction, I decided to catch this ass clown if it killed me.
Which I proceeded to accomplish.
Reminding you that I have no gears, no special tires. Just a coaster braked Schwinn.
It took some real effort but I pulled up along side of him and just hung there.
By this time we were in the pitted parking lot of Demuth Field. He was struggling.
Surprisingly, I was not.
He peeled off and went for the sidewalk.
A pussy move.
I stayed on the road and maintained the pace all the way to the next intersection where he went left.
It was over.
When I got home, I found that I had gained three minutes on my time for this track.
Amazing what a little anger and a dab of competitive spirit can do.
The bastard never did say hello.
Labels: bicycle
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
AWOL
We took Franklin to his groomer's today and there was no one there.
No explanations.
No phone calls.
Sunk without a trace.
It is in a pet store and the guy didn't know anything.
Enough.
That is it.
We don't go up to the plate more than once.
I made an appointment for him with the groomer who works at our vet.
Thursday.
They last about two years.
Then something goes haywire.
This guy was not very good at his business side in the first place. But he was good with the haircuts.
We have to start all over but that is OK.
Rather that than stand in front of a store for 20 minutes with an impatient Airedale.
I don't wait for doctors either. Even if they are there!
A friend told me today that she waited for an hour and 20 minutes for an x-ray then walked out.
I would have been out in 20 minutes.
My limit.
I also make noises in the waiting room. They hate that.
Labels: servants
BLOOD AND GORE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Quentin Tarantino's
This is set like a Greek drama.
It has tragedy and plenty of blood and violence.
There is a chorus. There is story telling of the events that led up to the present crisis.
There is agapé.
Look it up.
It unfolds as a stage play would. One main scene. The rest all subordinate.
That is about all that I can seriously make out of this. I really doubt that Tarantino was thinking about the Greeks when he made this. But how would I know.
I sort of dreaded seeing this film but once in it I actually got with the program.
I can't say that I liked it.
It may be one of the few Harveu Keitel films in which he keeps his clothes on for the entire film.
On another level, it is just a caper film where everything goes wrong.
Relationships form even though the crooks are anonymous to each other. A nice wrinkle.
There was a little too much sadism for me. But I am able to turn my head.
I would give it a 4 out of 5 if it didn't have that element to it.
Gratuitous.
So it is a 3 out of Netflix5. Maybe by the time I rate it I will get it back to a 4 again. It is so over the top that it is not real, actually.
See? I am already moving.
Labels: best films
WALLED IN
I didn't mention that the wall project was done.
We have even had the gardener come and plant some prickly plum plants in the space made by the new tree-vee.
The job on the wall is perfect.
Imperfect is the cleanup that happened after. There is always that last 2%.
I had to call them back when I found a stash of rubble on the neighbor's yard across the drive.
And this is the good neighbor.
I wouldn't want it on any neighbor's side.
So they came and got most of it and then said they would return for the rubble which they didn't so I did the work this morning and distributed the rubble where it will not be seen.
Sort of under the back of the lantana growth outside the wall.
Lantana is both a weed and a cultured plant. These are really weeds. They grow in mats which are impenetrable.
Soon, the rubble will be enfolded and invisible.
I also had to have the gardener repair a broken sprinkler line for which no one would or could claim responsibility.
"Not me man."
But it is done now.
I guess there is no perfect project completion (any more).
The grumbling (any more) is about the old days and how there used to be perfect jobs. But I probably have a lousy memory.
By next week, I will think that this one is too.
What I like about this project is that unlike most replacement jobs, this one does look different because of the vee that we put in to accommodate the tree. The tree that was pushing the old wall in.
Labels: projects
Monday, July 09, 2007
BONKERS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Roman Polansky's
Catherine Deneuve plays a sexually repressed woman whose world becomes more haunted when she is left alone for a couple of weeks while her sister has a vacation.
It doesn't sound like much but Polansky inches the film up the fear meter very nicely while Deneuve gets battier all the time.
It is very good.
There are a lot of layers to it and finally we discover where all the neurotica started.
Nice closure.
We get to see into the mind of the afflicted as well as watch her actions.
The cinematography and use of sound is very skillful.
There were a lot of images that reminded me of the other Polansky film that we saw; Knife in the Water.
Rosemary's Baby is coming up soon on the Best list.
It will be fun to see how today's film fits into that work.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Sunday, July 08, 2007
UNDEAD
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is a zombie movie.
It is a little slow getting started but once it catches its own rhythm it is quite enjoyable in a gory-goofy kind of way.
There are a lot of surprises.
Some of the ideas are really good.
The guy in the lab pan looks like John Kerry. Hair and all. Lurch.
Most of it is funny.
I enjoyed it.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. It wasn't that good.
Labels: best films
Saturday, July 07, 2007
GUESSTIMATES
Netflix has a new feature.
Now, they predict your ratings for a particular picture.
They flash the average and then what they think you will rate.
I have run some of these and there is a reasonable accuracy to it. More than I would think. Usually lower.
For example, Radio Days (1987) which I just saw has predicted rating of 4.1. I gave it 5. But the average is 3.6
Now let's see how well they predicted that awful Indiana Jones mess that I had to watch yesterday.
They thought I would give it a 4.2. I gave it a 2. The average is an unbelievable 4.5. Cretins rating.
So much for the accuracy of that particular algorithm.
Labels: films
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Woody Allen's
Like Allen, I grew up with radio.
It got into my head.
In this rich and generous, elaborate film, Allen gets to the heart of the matter.
We lived and breathed radio. Our brains made the pictures. Those pictures became deeply imbedded.
He hits all the notes here, particularly the music. A lot of the film score is from the actual recordings were heard.
The radio is on for the whole film.
There are some great bits.
There is wonderful crazy Woody humor and then war and sadness. Tragedy.
Just as radio was.
I think that radio made us more of a community. Allen captures that.
It is all there.
I loved it.
Read the Ebert review at the link. He gets it.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, nostalgia
TEN
Today is not just any 070707 day.
This is the day that we arrived in Palm Springs a decade ago.
070797.
We drove across country in the Cherokee (still have it) and landed here a day early to beat the furniture which had somehow managed to get ahead of us on the road.
It worked out OK.
We got here on the 7th and the stuff arrived on the 8th.
Not a single regret.
It has been a great ten years and we are truly here.
Labels: nostalgia
WHAT HEAT?
The national news is filled with word of the western heat wave.
For us, it is just business as usual.
The days are some warmer than normal—4-5 degrees—but that is a minor amount.
It is hot. No doubt.
The problem in other areas of the west is that they are not used to it. Body thermostats are not set 'right'.
The other factor is humidity.
When the dew point is under 60, as it almost always is here, there's no sweat.
I mean that literally.
And, here, if you go in the shade you feel a gizormous difference. Cooler.
With breezes, even more so.
So don't worry about us.
Worry about the poor bastards out in LA who are sitting in the nineties with smog and humidity and no breezes.
We are fine.
I think I will go take a quick dip in the pool. When I get out, I will feel cold from the fast evap.
Labels: weather
Friday, July 06, 2007
YAWN
Let it be recorded that I sat through today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film
Indiana Jones; Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
It wasn't any better than it was the first time.
The story is in the setup page of the disc. They show all the scenes.
It is like the Disney ride which I have taken.
In, up, down, up and out.
There is no story here. No depth.
This is one damn thing after another. A 'best of' compendium of all the adventure films we have seen.
A museum piece about museum pieces.
There are no characters. The 'ark' has more personality than anyone in the story.
In a retrospective review, Ebert wrings some insight out of this exercise in serial escapes. Escapism.
Don't get me wrong. I like a little escapism as much as anyone but this is very thin stuff. High production values though.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5 because I do like watching Harrison Ford.
This is the best part and it is in the beginning of the picture.
Labels: best films
SENSATION
The EU has its own channel on YouTube and recently put this promo on its site.
It is pissing off the Polish Premiere and causing a sensation.
It is also pretty good.
I have seen a few of these films. There is a wide variety of age, orientation and even body image.
Labels: film
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE
The Rude Pundit is added to the daily blog reading at the right there.
Slate is deleted.
I am opting for rudeness and crudity over impenetrable prose and an aggravating tendency toward provocative but inaccurate headlines. The latter leading to a lot of wasted clicks.
While the politics are liberal, the attitude is snotty.
I banished them before and then brought them back for some reason.
They are now routed again.
Enough said.
The rude guy is way transgressive and I like that. He is the one who the critics of blogging might be referring to when they object to the nasty tone of liberal or progressive blogs.
One read here and your hair will curl.
More than I could gin up.
His headline today is "Thomas Paine Would Fuck George W. Bush's Shit Up" and then proceeds to show us how.
Informative too.
Labels: blog
BOBBING
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is the lightest of fare.
This was the third 'Road' picture.
I would not have seen it as I have this no-sequel review. But it is one of the two more highly regarded films in the series. The other is Utopia, The Road to.
These ventures are like the Marx Brothers films; vehicles for the stars to play.
Hope and Crosby had a career long 'feud' and made much of it.
When I was a kid we always looked forward to one or the other's radio or television shows because there would be a cameo at least of the rival star.
The movie is formula fun with lots of wise cracks from the boys.
It is surprising that the material still seems fresh.
It is a musical. Four songs. One of them my mother's favorite—Moonlight Becomes You.
I heard it most of my life. But it is a good song.
Hope's career lasted longer than Crosby's.
It is hard to remember the immense popularity that Bing had. Only Sinatra got that level of play and fame and that was after Bing began to wane.
I don't want to forget Dorothy Lamour who was in all these films and as important to the 'thing' as the guys were. She had a lot of energy and steals many scenes. She plays it straight for the most part but when she has a zinger she sends it home.
Anthony Quinn is in this as the arab shiek. Pretty.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 before it just flies away. It is so light.
Labels: best films
INDEPENDENCE DAY
I won't have much of a holiday here today.
Nothing unusual.
I don't really celebrate any holidays.
I am more of an internal celebrator.
I like to think about the day and what it means and have some memories about past days and then let it go at that.
Since I don't work anymore it is not a day off.
When I was a kid, we mostly saw July 4th as a day to have fireworks.
That was the big thing.
There might be an extended-family picnic but for many years we had those every summer Sunday anyway.
We would take a carload to Promised Land Lake and have a swim and watermelon then head back to our own town for oven fried chicken and all the trimmings.
But the focus would be on the fireworks.
Ours were at a private club at the north end of town, The Skytop Club.
They set them off for their members.
Townies would park along the road outside the estate and sit on the edge of the golf links to watch from a half mile or so away.
The whole thing may have lasted 20 minutes. One display at a time. Every two or three minutes. There was a lot of waiting.
I don't think there was a grand finale and if there was it wasn't that grand.
But it is all we had and we absorbed every second of the spectacle.
We also had a lot of hand fireworks available although I wasn't allowed to have any.
I had to do with powder caps made for a cap pistol. Does everyone know what a cap pistol is?
We would take the rolls of caps and hit them with a hammer. Quite a flash and bang.
There were sparklers too.
I doubt whether we thought one second about what the day meant beyond the noise and flash.
I will try to make up for that today and think about our country and its history and how, eventually, the good overwhelms the bad in it.
I sure hope we haven't run out our ability to do so with all the evil of the last 6 years.
But I am sure we will. A long hard road is ahead. But it is doable.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
RUDE BOY
I really like The Rude Pundit. He uses the same blog template that I do! We are related.
Here is what he says about Scooter.
But what's so goddamned annoying about the Scooter Libby commutation is that its so fucking, tiresomely predictable. Fun as it was to imagine Libby being sold for a pack of cigarettes and a couple of old, crusty Hustlers to a large-cocked guy who's serving time for murder after coming back from his third tour of duty in Iraq, there was never a chance that Cheney was going to allow Libby to be in a position to testify to the truth of the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. A pardon would have allowed him to speak, free and clear. Commutation is just about the sentence, not the crime or any connected crimes. The real dick move with the commutation is that it's a threat as well as a reward.
Rude. Just about my sentiments.
If I have any more.
I am so weary of all this.
How many days is it?
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
WALLED IN
I haven't written about the wall.
The project finally got started on Monday.
We had to tear down and rebuild about 30 feet of outside block wall. A tree was pushing it over.
So the new wall has a V-shaped opening for the tree.
Can't fight mother nature.
This is one of those projects that will end up looking like we did nothing. Except for the V of course.
The crew is good.
They are well managed and they were ahead of schedule the first day.
This is the second day and they have the full wall built and mudded.
The actual stucco will be applied tomorrow.
Then it gets painted, the tiles that border the top of the wall get applied, and--well I don't know what else.
We are getting some other wall sections stabilized with epoxy in cracks that have formed over the years. Some repainting. Not much.
It is still a mess.
I don't like having people in the yard.
It is OK.
It will be done by Friday.
These guys even work on the holiday!
It has been very hot. They start at 6AM and end about 2PM.
For a good part of the work day they are in some shade. You would be surprised what a huge difference that makes in the desert.
The air is so dry that while it is hot (and very hot in the sun) the lack of humidity is a huge relief from discomfort.
Still, they are working. They are doing quite well. We are supportive.
We got a good contractor. More bucks but extraordinarily attentive.
Labels: repairs
TRAILER TRASH
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the Coen Brother's
Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter head up the usual cadré of Coen eccentrics.
Jokes are hot and heavy.
There is a lot that goes by. It might do with a second viewing some time.
Cage is good. This is before he sold out and was still acting. Hunter is just nuts!
I liked it. The whole thing knits together nicely and, despite the chaotic fun, there are even a few teary moments at the end.
I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
FAINT PRAISE DEPARTMENT
I get pissed off when Americans make unfavorable comparisons between our northern neighbor and their own country.
Canadians (except for my best friends) tend to do such comparing with the usual restraint and non-confrontational approach.
Nevertheless, it rankles.
So this is a fun read from the WSJ on-line letter today.
Oh, CanaduhAmericans are often criticized for their perceived lack of knowledge about their nation's roots, but it seems that their neighbors to the north are no wizards when it comes to history, either. According to a recent Ipsos-Reid survey, some 60% of Canadians know so little about their homeland that they would flunk a basic test new immigrants must take before becoming citizens. "Canadians appear to be losing knowledge when it comes to the most basic questions about Canadian history, politics, culture and geography ... [they] performed abysmally on some questions,'' the polling outfit discovered. Only 4% knew the three requirements a citizen must meet to be able to vote. Only a third could correctly identify the number of provinces and territories. "It is frankly disheartening to see the lack of progress made by our group and the countless other organizations working to improve civic literary of Canadians over the last 10 years," sighed Rudyard Griffiths of the Dominion Institute, a body which aims to boost knowledge of Canadian history and values, to Reuters.
So, it seems that we are not dimmer and dumber than our neighbors.
As in many other categories, we share a unique and ungrateful ignorance of our own country and its traditions.
But we sure as hell want those immigrants to have it down!
Labels: culture
Monday, July 02, 2007
BEVERLY SILLS
We saw Sills regularly at productions of Sarah Caldwell's Boston Opera Company.
I can still remember her sitting in a cage as part of a 'new' production of The Barber of Seville.
She was a beauty in the non-traditional sense. Here she is in Baby Doe.
It was always a treat to see Ms. Sills on popular television programs.
She was surely an all-American product. The real thing. But no diva in the nasty sense of the word.
Her glassy clear voice remains in my mind.
Beverly Sills, the All-American Diva, Is Dead at 78
Labels: obituary
ANOTHER TIME
Today's movie was Emilio Estevez'
I wanted to see it originally because of my Shia LaBouef fascination (he is great in the picture as a political geek).
I found a lot of it overwhelming. Positive. I lived through this time.
There are a lot of picky reviews of this film. I think that is because people today cannot comprehend the events that the film conveys.
In any case, it got to me so that as the ending approached I was wailing.
Such a loss. Such a tragedy. Our last chance.
Perhaps not. Maybe someone will come along again. Could it be the Obama thing? I am surely open to it. Some people think so. I dunno.
The use of news footage from that time and the interweaving of it, particularly at the end, is ingeniously handled.
There is a cavalcade of actors here. Some do better than others but all of them add to the understanding of the climate that Bobby was so engaged in.
Some are politically serious people. Others merely awaken a bit to themselves and what is happening around them.
Finally, all are touched by the events of the day and the night.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5 out of my personal experience. I know that this is a flawed picture but that is beside the point of it.
Labels: culture, films, nostalgia, politics
Sunday, July 01, 2007
LEFTY REVENGE FANTASY
I forgot to mention one of the things I really liked about Shooter was the overwhelmingly left wing bias of the piece.
There is a clear case made against the present administration, secret special forces, torture and the like.
Many of the images are directly from the current news (burlap bag over head, waterboarding).
Whatever military goodness there is lies in the tradition of the Marine.
Yes. I know that there should be less violence in the world but until these bastards let up there won't be any peace.
Our own home grown, made in the US of A terrorists.
Labels: criminal morons, film
ONE MAN ARMY
Today I watched the Mark Wahlberg thriller
This was an edge of the seat treat to watch.
Pure escapism.
We like Wahlberg a lot and he does not disappoint.
The film also has Ned Beatty as an oil company bought and sold US Senator. It is so good to see this veteran pull out all the melodramatic stops. A sneering red-neck / red state / red meat villain.
Not to spare us the full stop pleasure of seeing bullies get their due, Danny Glover (getting old) is the quasi CIA no-initial agency head that carries out the Senator's bidding.
It was fun to watch and I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. Just for fun.
Labels: films
