Friday, August 31, 2007
LOU RAWLS
On the way back from San Diego, I stopped at a tribal casino that is about half way. In Anza.
It is a great pit stop as it is open 24 hours.
It is a small operation as these things go and rather sad. Mostly slots.
But someone decided to put in a superb sound system.
It is just a knockout.
I was sitting in the men's room disabled stall when Lou Rawls came on with this wonderful song.
A tile john is as good as a shower for singing.
It set my foot tappin'.
NO! Not that kind of tappin'.
Lou Rawls.
I love this song.
Labels: culture
ROUTED OUT
I have had to give up my new regular route before it could become boring!
They have closed off one of the main legs to install a new water culvert system. It is needed. I have pedaled through water at that spot.
It will take 6 weeks (maybe).
So I am back at an old standard up into the Andreas hills and have added a new leg, out to the Indian Reservation's entrance to the south canyons. Ten minutes of a very long hill and a ride back down.
A good omen. I saw a jack rabbit out there this morning.
The jack rabbits, unlike the cottontails, are spooked by people and have been pushed back into the wilds as new home construction has gone into that area.
This one didn't like me disturbing its morning constitutional either.
S/he jacked up and gave me a look and a listen with those huge ears. I was past before he could decide to take off.
S/he was a beauty.
TENNESSEE, ANNA AND BURT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Tennessee William's
It is presented as a play that barely moves out of its original settings which is good because we see the performances.
This is a lighter more comedic Williams; a relief.
Anna Magnani seems to be forgotten but she was a formidable Italian star. She is on only one other disc, also a Best, which we have seen; Open City.
She is paired with Burt Lancaster and, as usual, he is just wonderful.
He is in many of the 'Best Films' as he should be.
The sexual tension is palpable even though it is the fifties. There is enough symbolism for us to wallow in.
It is a pretty good picture and I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 as a film. Magnani and Lancaster get a 5. The plot and the other characters/stereotypes drag the film down.
Labels: best films
Thursday, August 30, 2007
KING OF THE ROAD
When we first moved here,there were two king snakes living outside the wall in the ground cover.
Every time I went out there, whether to weed or check the sprinklers, one of them would somehow sneak up on me and spook the bejeezus out of me.
I never got used to it and, though I knew they were there and this would happen, I was never prepared. Really.
Then, we cleared the ground cover out little by little and the king snakes moved on to other territory. Maybe.
Today, for the first time in a long while, there was a young >king snake coming in the opening in the wall at the end of the bougainvillea planter. I was hoping he would turn right into the shrubbery but he did not. He turned left onto the terrace.
He was slow.
I was on the phone and I took my time.
About the time he got to another drainage hole in the wall, I went out and just walked up to him talking away.
He stopped.
Looked.
And I tapped my foot.
Not the same way that Senator Craig did.
And he went into the drainage hole and out.
It might be the king snakes who are creating caverns behind my dry wall out there.
But, I would rather think that it is the king snakes who are going to clean out whatever is in there. Or their babies. I hope that he isn't living on my lizards.
We will see.
A week or more ago it was a baby rattler out back. King snakes are immune to rattlers venom and will kill them.
I think we will be careful about how we leave the screen sliders open.
Franklin may have to ask to go out for awhile. I don't want snakes in the house and it would really be painful if he killed the king.
Oh. A question from the back of the room!
Yes
"Why are they called king snakes"?
They are called king snakes because they are the only snake that can and will kill other snakes.
SETS MY FOOT A'TAPPING
I also missed this guy Craig who has gotten caught with his dick in the wringer for a men's room sex come on. Actually, caught with his pants down.
This is so Fifties.
But then that is the GOoPers for you.
Decades ago, gay men had to go to extremes, sometimes unbelievable in our times, to meet and have sex.
Toilets were one venue.
The whole foot tapping thing is classic closet stuff.
You will still find bathroom sex between closeted homos in the far reaches of Idaho and the like but, actually, cruising in the rest areas, the airports, and virtually anywhere is really safer and easier to get the job done.
The thing here is not the homoness of the deal. It is the hypocrisy of it.
This guy has been a fervent ranter against Bill Clinton's immorality.
He is a right wing dunderhead and panderer to the religious right.
And he says he is not gay so I don't have to embrace his rights and all. Although they have been trying to pin the gay tag on him for several years.
It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Just for the record.
The men's room sex thing is also a special niche in the kink area for some guys who are not in the closet. Nothing wrong there. They like adventure and a bit of the rough in their search for sex.
I don't think the good Senator is part of that crowd. But maybe he will be some day when he is just a civilian.
Labels: criminal morons, gay history
GONE ZALES
Just as I left for my vacation, word leaked that Fredo would get whacked.
Then, the morning I left the deed was done.
I missed the rejoiciing. The hosannas. The whole stinking pile of gloating that had to be done.
Just as well.
And Galbraith's rule lives.
Anyone who says he will not resign four times, will.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
RETURNEE
I got back this morning from San Diego. I didn't want anyone to worry about me 'on the road'! I had a safe trip and arrived OK.
I left there at 4 and arrived here just as John and Franklin were finishing their walk. They were way up the street and Franklin gave me the 'look' so John left him off the leash and he did one of those run/walk things. So cute. Then all over me. I wore a white shirt. Bad idea. I had to change.
I left early so I could see the sunrise over the desert from the heights over Palm Desert. Instead I got a wonderful light show all the way from SD. Lightning bolts. Yellow and blue. Heat lightning. Some kind of weird front was coming through.. The lightning was far more dramatic and, at the end, I got a sunrise anyway. Quite a trip. Really beautiful.
I had a good trip. Nothing happened. Here are my pelicans.
They are on the rocks at the boat ramp across from where I stay. They are waiting for boats to dump their fish guts and all. Grumping that there is nothing doing just at this time and also that I am really too close.
One of the best things I saw was this ship returning from wherevever. All the crew are out in their dress whites.
It has to be the end of the cruise and this is how they come into harbor. I think that this is a frigate or destroyer. I didn't check with the Navy man on this.
I hope the photo isn't too big for your machine. I wanted the detail.
It was quite thrilling to see this.
I had a good time doing very little and being silent as much as possible. I had good food. A new chef at the hotel's restaurant. I mostly spent my time walking the length of the island and sitting and watching the boat ramp. Out in the morning (4-5AM is a good time) and back in the PM. Reading. Sitting.
Oh. And the first night I got up to see the full eclipse at 3AM. Called John and got him up to see it together. It was quite something.
Labels: life
Sunday, August 26, 2007
VACATION
I am off to watch the pelicans at Shelter Island in San Diego.
No mail, no computer, no chores.
I will walk the beach and hear—and maybe see—the seals, look across the bay to the city, watch the naval ships move in and out of the harbor, see the aircraft land and take off, kibitz and look around the many shipyards (yachts) that line the main road, get up early as usual and go watch the fishing boats leave from the boat ramp just across the road, watch them return in the afternoon, sit on the balcony of the hotel and read, see some fog, feel some rain (maybe), take in the cool (70's) air, walk and walk and walk again.
And mostly let stuff happen. Whatever.
I will be back Thursday.
Labels: life
WET
Todays NYTimes Best 1176 Film was part two of the epic beginning with Jean de Florette; Claude Barri's
Manon des Sources / Manon of the Spring
The water comes and goes and then comes back again and this conclusion is totally satisfying and quite surprising.
At least I didn't see 'it' coming.
Yves Montand and Daniel Autieul are wonderful villains to watch as they get their comeuppance. The other actors are great to watch.
It is a fine film.
I assume that it was all shot at the same time. Why the two films were not distributed together is a mystery.
We saw the first one in theaters and were quite turned off at the no-conclusion conclusion. We never went to the second one.
I guess we didn't read the right publicity.
Nevertheless, it is remedied by this fine disc which you simply flop over to get the second half.
And this will be the first film to get a 5 out of Netflix5 on the new marking curve. A fiver here really means something.
Labels: best films
Saturday, August 25, 2007
DROUGHT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Claude Berri's
with Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, and Gerard Depardieu.
I guess that it was distributed as a single film but, in actuality, it is the first part of a four hour saga.
I will see the second part, Manon of the Spring tomorrow.
Rural France. 1920's.
Uncle and Nephew plot to get the land of an idealistic man who wants to be 'authentic'.
They eventually bilk him by hiding the spring that he needs to make his dreams come true.
It is a cruel business.
At the end, the young daughter Manon sees the two con-men uncork the spring.
We await revenge tomorrow.
In the meantime, I will savor the bucolic scenes. The great under the top acting of Montand and Auteuil who are just villainous enough but not all that villainous.
Auteuil suffers in confusion because of his affection for the dupe, Depardieu.
It is pretty good.
Today was two hours. A little less tomorrow.
I will wait to rate until it is all done.
Labels: best films
WILDLIFE
This guy showed up just outside the sun room.
I grabbed the camera quickly but not quite quickly enough. I also failed in sneaking up on him.
OK. Him or her.
Gone in a flash.
I don't think it is a redtail. But it surely is a raptor.
There are a lot of hawks around here. They make a regular feast off our doves, leaving just enough to breed out a new batch a few times a year.
Smart hawks.
Then the other day, Franklin was messing with something at the slider off the bedroom.
We just chased him.
Then later, I found that it was a small rattle snake. It had been dead awhile as the slider had decapitated it.
Should I have warned you about this?
A decapitated rattler that was probably inches from coming into the house.
So, I cleaned him/her out yesterday after a day in the heat.
There wasn't much left but liquid inside the skin.
And a great smell for a dog.
I guess I should have warned you.
We don't see many snakes but when we do it is dramatic.
Last year we had a racer in the house. We channeled him/her out the front door. Pillows and stuff.
There used to be king snakes outside the wall but we left the vegetation die out.
Rattlers are rare.
I will keep my eye peeled for more young or old, males or females.
Labels: nature
Friday, August 24, 2007
CLASS DYSFUNCTION
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala's
Room With A View (1985)This is still a wonderful movie to watch. The acting is great. The story by Forster is well adapted. The production values are of the highest order.
The Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala machine does not always work for me. It is a bit too much NPR and Masterpiece Theater-ish.
But this one is an exception.
This is the one where Daniel Day-Lewis plays the prig Cecil.
It is a 4 out of Netflix5 and maybe even a 5. I will think about it some more. There is always the new curve to consider.
I don't think that I have given a 5 since I started it.
Labels: best films
PARTITION
The horrific dilemma of staying or leaving Iraq is that either solution gets us carnage. The ultimate solution to this dilemma may be already playing itself out by the people themselves.
More Iraqis Are Said to Flee Since Troop Increase
There is no question that if we leave there will be chaos. That point of no return was passed long ago.
Bush' stubborn refusal to explore options with Iran and Syria have isolated solutions to a few no-win options.
Only Senator Biden has said the obvious out loud.
The solution is a three way partition.
One region for Kurds, another for Sunnis and a third for Shiites.
Until now, that solution was believed to mean incredibly large dislocations.
But it would seem that the Iraqi people are voting with their feet.
The dislocation is occurring.
An unintended consequence of the surge is to drive people out of the heterogenous and dangerous neighborhoods to areas that are homogeneous and safe.
There is a good video with the article.
Labels: Iraq
Thursday, August 23, 2007
AUTO PILOT
I read today that Karl Rove is an autodidact.
I had to look it up.
It means that he is self taught.
A closed system. No outside interference.
I am no sure what the author of the article I was skimming made of it.
I suppose that it is a good thing but then is it not like the lawyer who has himself for a client?
A fool.
Just think. This man's entire life has been political chicanery.
You must have seen the old film of him working in the Nixon dirty tricks department as a young man.
A closed system.
He is gone.
What the hell?
Actually, I don't think that he is gone. I think that he has just been put out of harm's way.
He, himself, is still positioned to do a lot of harm.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
HUH?
In bushies' flim flam about Viet Nam the other day at the VFW, he also threw this bit of topsy-turvy thinking into the speech. Or perhaps some Democratic prankster.
"In 1955, long before the United States had entered the war, Graham Greene wrote a novel called "The Quiet American." It was set in Saigon and the main character was a young government agent named Alden Pyle. He was a symbol of American purpose and patriotism and dangerous naivete. Another character describes Alden this way: "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."After America entered the Vietnam War, Graham Greene -- the Graham Greene argument gathered some steam. Matter of fact, many argued that if we pulled out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people."
Alden Pyle is one of literature's dunces.
He was a willing and, sometimes unknowing, tool for a failed policy.
He is a stand-in for US incompetence and amorality.
I doubt that bush has even read the book. He probably saw the movie with Audie Murphy which soft-pedaled US involvement in Indo China. In fact it turned the moral of the story on its head.
He surely didn't see the one with Brendan Fraser made in 2002.
It focuses on the romantic triangle but gets the political wiring right; the use of benign aid workers to mask covert activity designed to catalyze the situation into war. (We saw it not too long ago).
I think that the wheels are so far off the track at the White House that they can't even think straight anymore.
If they ever did.
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
D'MOBE
In the process of getting my Moby Dick image, I found this neat left coast screenwriter's take on the novel as script material.
It is pretty funny.
Labels: film
ENDINGS OF BEGINNINGS
I notice a tendency to skip followup in the blog.
I tell when things start but not when they finish. Sometimes.
For example, my smashed knee is 95% healed.
The guys cleaned up the big branch that fell from the carob tree earlier this week.
The beautiful zinnias are failing. Too hot and the grew up in front of their water source.
That kind of thing.
Another one.
I have quit my goal of reading the entire corpus (redundant?) of Herman Melville.
In fact, we are still at sea waiting to find that fucking white whale.
I put it down about, maybe, a year ago and haven't picked it up since.
Don't even ask what is going on in this picture.
Somehow, I fell in love with Typee and Omoo and figured I could only love the rest of his writing.
Authors get better don't they?
These were his first two semi-autobiographical works.
No.
Melville didn't get better. He just got dense.
Never mind what they say about Moby Dick.
It is a crashing bore.
Melville should have done as I am doing.
Do the first two and then quit.
Take the job in the NYC Customs office and work his way up in the bureaucracy.
Retire in 20 years and go do a B&B in Nantucket.
Labels: blog, garden, health, reading
NORMAL?
The house is quiet.
No visitors.
It is likely to remain that way for awhile.
November maybe?
Bitter sweet.
But this does not bring things back to normal.
I am leaving Monday for my three day annual 'vacation'.
Just me.
I go to Shelter Island in San Diego and sit on the beach for three days.
No heat. It will be in the 70s.
It might even rain! We are all due for the dregs of Dean in the Southwest. In the desert that will mean some more monsoonal flow. Humidity.
In San Diego, humidity is a given but the lower temps make it all kinda nice.
Good for the skin.
I will be quiet. Read. Walk. Look.
I stay in a place that we used to use for small training programs. It is nice, not roughing it.
I will eat there and probably not even get into the car.
Shelter Island is a yachting center. I don't have a boat and I am not interested much in them but I am totally interested in the culture. There is great people watching.
There will be pelicans. Other sea birds.
It isn't Provincetown where some of my family are spending this week just yards from where we used to stay.
I am envious.
But, the Pacific is an ocean, San Diego has a bay.
I forgot to mention that I will be watching the naval ships coming in and out of the channel just across from my room.
And the city. Just across the bay! The urban experience without any urb.
I am looking forward to it.
And three days will be quite enough.
Labels: life
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
CARNAGE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
All hokum all the time.
A B-western dressed in B-biker movie drag.
The main villain is mad because his boyfriend got killed by the hero.
Homovillainuals.
And so on.
And on.
And, did I say, on?
There is a nice dog in this sequal to whatever the first one was named.
A spoiler. He gets killed.
In the first one, Max' wife and baby got killed.
This film is proof that sequels suck.
Oh yeh.
Mel Gibson of course.
You can see the S&M promise of the jesus movie in his eyes.
Well, one eye is closed at the end.
Another spoiler.
Actually you cannot spoil a film like this one.
It is predictable and inevitable.
Now, let me say that the costumes are great.
The character actors are wonderful. Aussies just look terrific.
The chase scenes are inventive.
I even jumped a bit on one of the 'hits'.
What else can I say?
Avoid sequels.
I will give this a 2 out of Netflix5.
I think that the NYT Best Film guys got carried away with their testosterone (if any) and adrenaline.
Here are the homos.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
GOLDEN YEARS
I suck up every news article on active, engaged, older people who are still making a contribution.
My own goal is 90, but if I can get as far as this guy—well—it would be a great gift.
Labels: aging
Monday, August 20, 2007
I DIDN'T DO IT AND I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN
No surprise here, but Rove has no more idea of accepting responsibility than his soon-to-be-ex-boss.
Rove Talks: If Mistakes Were Made, They Weren’t His
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
ON THE GROUND
This is the NYTimes Op Ed that has to be causing major administration heartburn.
The truth from the ground and from the troops and not the report of some VIP walkthrough with a political agenda and a whole company of armed protection. Joe the Shmoe Lieberman for example.
Labels: Iraq
Sunday, August 19, 2007
GEE WHIZ*GOSH*GOLLY GEE
I think Romney is a zomboid.
Whether he is legit or fake he is still a time warp kind of guy.
I am sure, golly-gosh, glad that I wasn't around Massachusetts with this creep as Governor.
I love this article from the Boston Globe.
Life With Romney: Gee Whiz Rules
I have met guys like this.
It is beyond fakery.
First, he is a Mormon and they do have a bit of this quality about them.
It is like the born-again smile. The one that says s/he knows we are all going to hell and s/he is going up in the rapture but s/he tolerates us anyway.
Love the sinner and hate the sin. Uh-huh.
The rest of it is calculated but he has been doing it so long he half believes it himself.
He is a throwback.
Somewaht intentionally so.
Regardless of the theatrics though, I think that he is a serial liar and flip flopper and will do anything to get power. His power motive is very, very high.
Labels: politics
GOOD AND BAD
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Sidney Lumet's
This film is a harrowing tale of a bad cop who tries to convert and become a good cop and inform on corrupt police activity.
It weighs in at almost three hours in length.
It is interesting to me that the time was not an issue in watching it. Somehow, it was necessary to build up the emotional investment in the story.
Did I say it was harrowing?
Treat Williams is on screen almost the entire time.
We also have favorites Jerry Ohrbach and Lindsay Crouse.
Many ethical and legal issues that seem to be obvious are not.
A crucial scene towards the end has a roomful of lawyers debating the merits of the situation.
There are a lot of good actors and the surroundings are very realistic.
It is a very good movie.
I will give it a new curve 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
SONIC BOOM
Look at this!
For a bigger picture and discussion, go here
Labels: APOD, astropix, technology
PRUNED
Franklin went out for our morning pee and look at the stars (he pees, I look at the stars).
We wandered out to the front and there was a huge branch from the carob tree.
It had pruned itself during the night.
No harm done.
Somehow it twisted 180º so the big butt end swung away from the house. It is hanging over the bikes but, apparently, is cushioned so that the bikes are not under any pressure.
I already got my bike out for tomorrow's ride.
The carob is a big old mother of a tree.
Literally.
She bears lots of carob beans every year.
Dad is on the other side of the wall.
It has occurred to us to remove Dad so that Mom doesn't get so pregnant so often.
It is a gorgeous tree though. Shades our whole patio section on that side.
This is not the first time this has happened.
The wood is a little brittle so from time to time there is a self-prune.
The guys will be here Wednesday on their regular visit. They will have a little extra work cutting up the leftover limb.
Labels: garden
Saturday, August 18, 2007
FOXY
I have been working with an older browser—the 1.0 Safari for the cognozenti.
This is because updates 2 and 3 will not work on my 10X system.
I have never moved ahead from Panther to Tiger and I won't go with the new animal either.
Unless I have to.
TMI for PC users.
So today, I hit a new hurdle.
I could not get into a mac.com web site to see some photos.
With some help from Dave, I decided to make the change to Firefox.
I have considered it before but I hate the name (Mozilla is a dumb name too). Good reason, huh?
I suppose I should also mention that I hate the logo even more.
But we are interested only in utility, right?
So far so good.
It is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!
And clear.
It remembered most of my passwords. All the bookmarks.
So there isn't a lot of new shit that I have to enter.
Just enough to make me nervous.
I probably should have done this a long time ago.
It feels better to be more up to date.
There will come a time when everyone's browser will fail them as the net world just keeps moving along.
Labels: macintosh, technology
Grit
Today's movie was James Toback's
with Harvey Keitel.
I watched this because it is the film from which The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) (see August 11, 2007).
The stories are the same but the Koback piece is far rougher and tougher. Primal.
Keitel is less convincing in his role but he is pretty good.
There is less story line in the original but that is to be expected.
I liked it and was not at all bored having 'seen it all before'.
I know it is rude to mention but I have a record to keep here. Keitel does get naked. He does it in every picture.
If you got it, flaunt it.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Average on the new curve marking system.
Labels: best films
Friday, August 17, 2007
AGONY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This one has Frederick March and Charles Laughton as Valjean and Javert.
It is hard going at first. They cut out about 2/3 of the making good story and the second coming and all that. But the second half really gets rolling and, for all its travails, feels really upbeat.
By this time we have had this story up to here but somehow this version transcends all that.
Laughton makes Javert a much more complex character than I had thought.
It is a pretty good movie in an excellent restoration.
On the new marking curve, I will give it a 3 (the real average but remember we are talking mostly best films that I am watching here) out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
JACK AND NEAL
I cut my lefty pre-hippy closet homo teeth on Kerouac*.
Guys at MIT adopted all black outfits and the chino and Ked thing in Jack's name.
Yes. The Sixties started in the Fifties.
Now comes the original On the Road; the one that he wrote on a long roll of paper—120 pounds of paper.
I think that I will get it and ride the road again.
There is also a great slide show on the foreign language versions of the book.
And Ginsberg; Howl
Labels: books
THE ANTI-SEMITIC CARD
It has seemed glaringly obvious to me for some time that our policies regarding Israel are outdated and dysfunctional.
Israel, with our encouragement, has become a virtual rogue state.
You need look no further than their recent unwarranted destruction of Lebanon.
Of course to say such a thing is regarded by many as anti-semitic.
There are some places that I would be vilified for saying the obvious.
Same as happened to these guys who wrote a book about it.
Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel
The same thing happened to Jimmy Carter when he wrote his last book on the Middle East saying about the same thing,
There are a lot of hysterical supporters of Israel who see any criticism as a vote to heat up the ovens.
They have to get over this.
Or we have to get over them.
Labels: Israel
Thursday, August 16, 2007
F BOMB
It's time for a little Lewis Black.
He is opening at Disney Hall in LA tonight.
He will be the first stand up comic to work there.
He says "The nice thing about venues like the Disney is that the acoustics are perfect for an F-bomb,"
Here is a little of Lewis on Broadway.
Labels: culture
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
BEAUTIFUL LOVE SLAVES
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This lush and beautiful film uncovers the nastiness of everyday life in a rich multi-wife home in the old China. The time is not stipulated but I would guess the 20s or 30s pre-Mao.
The story is a simple one. A new wife (the fourth) joins a rich mans household and begins as the favorite.
Over time, she is drawn in to the house intrigues and some nasty shit comes down.
All the visuals remain beautiful however.
It is slow.
Interesting about Asian films. There is not a lot of story or action (except when there is) and yet they are fully satisfying.
The time flies.
I liked it.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. 4 is the new 5.
Labels: best films
SCOOTER
Back when baseball was a game that you could enjoy watching and reading about, Phil Rizzuto was an outstanding star.
I was never a Yankees fan but I surely admired Rizzuto.
He is gone now.
Here is the NYTimes obituary. Take a look at the slide show. Watch that bunt! Listen to Phil broadcast the game in a lightning storm.
Holy COW!
Phil Rizzuto, Yankees Shortstop, Dies at 89
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
COMPULSION
Today's film was
with Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, and Mark Ruffalo.
The obsession of a detective, a career crime reporter and a simple cartoonist with a thing for codes shows how each deals with the story taking over their lives. All different. Only the geek gets to the end with it.
This sprawling story had to be a mess to corral and tied down.
I think they did a pretty good job.
It is long but it covers a long time.
I liked the news room scenes.
Some of the night photography really sets you up for 'something' to happen.
Some of the dialogue gets lost in the critical street shots.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
STAY AT HOME
I am 70 years old.
I don't feel it (or look it either).
I can do almost everything I could do ten years ago if it doesn't involve hiking down a cliff on the knees I have left.
So, when people talk about moving to assisted living or something like it, I find myself nodding and agreeing with them that it might be a good idea for them but thinking to myself "I will never, ever do that". "Period".
I know. "Never" is a long time but I don't want to go live with a bunch of old geezers.
I want to stay right where I am in the middle of the boat. Old, young, whatever.
We even bought a long term care policy that focuses on home care.
I am not alone in this. There are a lot of people who don't want their last years mediated by bureaucrats or, for that matter, adult children.
This NYT story is a pretty good boost to the idea of staying out of assisted living.
A Grass Roots Effort to Grow Old At Home
Well, I am old and I am at home and I am staying put.
I don't know if I need a village to keep it that way but if I do I will start recruiting.
Labels: aging
Monday, August 13, 2007
ROVE AGAIN
Andrew Sullivan gives the enlightened conservatives take on Rove:
The man's legacy is a conservative movement largely discredited and disunited, a president with lower consistent approval ratings than any in modern history, a generational shift to the Democrats, a resurgent al Qaeda, an endless catastrophe in Iraq, a long hard struggle in Afghanistan, a fiscal legacy that means bankrupting America within a decade, and the poisoning of American religion with politics and vice-versa. For this, he got two terms of power - which the GOP used mainly to enrich themselves, their clients and to expand government's reach and and drain on the productive sector. In the re-election, the president with a relatively strong economy, and a war in progress, managed to eke out 51 percent. Why? Because Rove preferred to divide the country and get his 51 percent, than unite it and get America's 60. In a time of grave danger and war, Rove picked party over country. Such a choice was and remains despicable.Rove is one of the worst political strategists in recent times. He took a chance to realign the country and to unite it in a war - and threw it away in a binge of hate-filled niche campaigning, polarization and short-term expediency. His divisive politics and elevation of corrupt mediocrities to every branch of government has turned an entire generation off the conservative label. And rightly so. It will take another generation to recover from the toxins he has injected, with the president's eager approval, into the political culture and into the conservative soul.
Did I say that I didn't give a shit?
Guess I do.
Labels: bushies
FAILURE
Kevin Drum in Political Animal today:
THE END OF ROVE....Obviously everyone already knows this, but in case you either just woke up (like me) or spent the morning on Mars, Karl Rove is planning to leave the White House.Instant analysis: It doesn't really matter. History will judge Rove a colossal failure, a man who never understood how to govern and, for all his immense knowledge of polls and politics, never really understood the times he lived in. It was 9/11 that both made and broke the Bush presidency, not some kind of mystical McKinley-esque realignment. Rove was blind to that, and blind to the way Bush should have governed after 9/11. His one-track mind, in which every problem is solved by wielding the biggest, nastiest partisan club you can lift, just couldn't adapt. It's fitting that he insisted on making even his final act as calculatedly partisan as he could, announcing his resignation not through the White House press office, but in an interview with the editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Sic transit, Karl.
Labels: bushies
ROVING
I suppose I should feel good that the slug Karl Rove is on his way out of the White House.
But I haven't much given a shit about him in a long time.
He is part of the sad picture of this administration and his golden touch has tarnished a lot.
I am always interested in the 'reasons' people retire.
In this case, as usual, "the family".
Keerist, his kid is going away to college.
He needed him all those years he was playing sock puppet with W.
It can't be a sex scandal as I suspect there isn't any. Sex, I mean.
Or maybe I am wrong. This is the kind of guy who might have a strong kink groove running.
Maybe he is in the DC Madam's phone book.
Naahhhh. No way.
They may be getting a little too close to him with those subpoenas but I doubt that is the issue.
He will write a book. He probably has some money to make from 'consulting'. The kid is in college after all.
We will never know.
In any case, he is gone.
It is a little scary to think that bushie might take even more guidance from the evil Cheney.
Well, it couldn't be any worse.
How many times have I said that?
Labels: bushies
FREUDIAN SLIP
Today's film was
Inconscientes / Unconscious (2006)
This spanish film is one of a kind.
It features the art, architecture and analysis of early 20th century high society.
The whole thing is a Freudian fruit salad.
If you have not read or do not know your Freud I am sure that it is still funny and quite worthwhile.
If you are up on the lo' down of the unconscious, you will have a fine mental workout parsing the lines right out of the Freud literature.
An analyst disappears suddenly and his very pregnant wife enlists her brother in-law's help. He is the closest friend of the missing husband.
Both are analysts and............well.
The inventive graphics. The wonderful sets. The snappy dialogue.
The 'chase' that involves the case study of four clients of the missing shrink.
It is a great movie.
It didn't play much in the USA but did get a great reception at Sundance which is where I read about it.
You will want to see this picture.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5. New tougher rating criteria.
Labels: films
MORE MERV
Griffin (below) was a local luminary.
He lived in the valley for a long time.
One of his holdings was a high end spa on 111.
I bike by it every day.
He doesn't own it now but it used to have his name on it and we would shout 'Merv the perv" as we rode by.
That is the kind of school kid behavior that anger will drive one toward.
It took some of the edge off.
Labels: gay life, gay politics
MERV THE PERV
Only the NYT mentioned that Merv Griffin was gay.
And notoriously gay at that.
One of the power-closet guys.
Mike Signorile has it down pretty well.
Merv Griffin's Dangerous Closet
You will have to scroll to Sunday 12 August 2005 as Signorile (like me) does not have permalinks.
Labels: gay life
Sunday, August 12, 2007
SHHHH
Rachel Maddox has something to say about the biggest (gay) rights outfit. The one that just sponsored the (gay) debates which were not really debates but little interviews. Softballs.
We go way back with the Human Rights Campaign Fund.
Back then we didn't think much about the name.
But we did eventually.
We also thought about the fact that the HRCF didn't do a whole hell of a lot.
And it has a terrible efficiency rating as a charity.
See the Charity Navigator
Andrew Sullivan went after them recently. They wouldn't ever respond to his questions.
We got the picture and moved on to sponsor the group who got marriage in Massachusetts. Tangible. All your money went to the cause.
Look.
I am glad that they had the so called debate. But it is a bit passé to do such a thing sitting in the closet with the door half open.
Labels: gay politics
CHICKEN SHIT
When I wrote the thing about cage free chickens I didn't think about the fact that I have raised actual chickens twice in my life.
When I was a kid, during the War—the big one II—we had chickens and they were my responsiblity. Feed and eggs.
When the hens got old, my mother killed them.
Much later, when I tried alternative off-the-land living and had a farm we had chickens.
When it came time to kill the hens, my wife had to do it.
I did learn to do it the bloodless way after a hen I had tried to hatchet to death got away from me.
Messy. Noisy. Upsetting.
But I realize that I managed to be 'out of town' when it was time to have the roosters culled or the non-productive hens winnowed out.
So, I have experience on the up side and not on the down.
Our chickens were cage free in the larger sense. They got to run over a wide area. They were well muscled and lithe.
The other thing that they don't dwell on when you are thinking about going into chickens is that the chickens are almost perfect feeding machines.
They eat constantly and, like all birds, defecate indiscriminately and almost in an ever flowing stream.
I ended up with the cleaning job both times.
I have not considered raising chickens since.
There are chickens in Palm Springs. I hear them on my morning bike ride. The roosters.
Both operating stables have them and if you go to some of the Mesoamerican neighborhoods you will hear them as well.
I think that, for now, I will consider these my chickens.
A nice crow in the morning and I have my chicken fix.
Labels: agriculture
BRASS BALLS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
I did not see the play but it caused a sensation with its 'behind the scenes' view of top brass making life or death decisions in the glare of press coverage and congressional oversight.
WWII. Air Force over Germany.
I suspect that it is not dated at all and that much the same thing happens every day today.
A group of top male stars moves the dialogue out of the realm of talky talk to real drama as the crisp exchanges move us through a slightly creaky plot with one or two too many side stories.
The essential drama remains front and center. A general has to make life or death decisions in his command. Period.
If he is distracted by the side issues, then everything is lost.
We have Gable, Pidgeon and Donlevy as the generals, Johnson (Van) as the top sergeant who keeps Gable's wheels off the ground. Charles Bickford is the publicity guy. John Hodiak the hero who has to step into the line of fire to make it human.
Gable steals the picture but Pidgeon holds his own.
They are all good really.
They kept the play intact. There is some good camera work to support the drama but they resist any temptation to 'open it up'. There is news footage skillfully interspersed. And John pointed out, they didn't add a love interest to spice it up. Not a female in sight.
It is a 3 out of Netflix5 in my new more critical rating system. A 4 in the old 'I like everything' mode.
Labels: best films
LIVE FREE OR DIE
Well, I started a new craze.
Suddenly, the Hunt Is On for Cage-Free Eggs
I have been cage free (or my eggs have been) for many years.
I am not actually sure that it is better to have chickens running around beating on each other and squawking but at least it is natural.
I also don't like the de-beaking thing.
I used to have a client who sold drugs to the chicken people. I learned a lot about commercial practices.
I know a chicken isn't too high up the evolutionary scale toward sentience and all but I couldn't hack the conditions I saw.
In fact, most of the drugs that were sold to the breeders were to accommodate the battery accommodations!
Talk about your vicious circles. With a chicken in the middle.
Somewhere some people have said that cage free eggs are better.
I don't know.
But I am happy to pay extra to have the chicken at least modestly happier and living more in a flock.
Of course, if I was really serious about it I would stop eating eggs entirely.
But if I did, who would support the cage-free hens?
Labels: agriculture
Saturday, August 11, 2007
CONFLICT
Today's film was
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
Not on the best list. Just a film I wanted to see.
There is a genré of films about tough guys who have an artistic side. Beauty and the Beast.
It is hard to pull off.
John Garfield played roles like this several times in the Forties.
This one is based on a James Toback film, Fingers with Harvey Keitel which I will see later in the week.
This one has a strong father/son thing going on.
Dad is a small time real estate scam artist tough guy. Mom was a concert pianist. Dead and gone.
Don't ask about how they ever got together.
The son got both sides.
Romain Duris is totally convincing in a role that demands suspension of disbelief.
The inner and outer battle is played out quite skillfully.
The supporting players are wonderful to watch.
There is real rapport.
The film is 'noir' in feeling. It looks great.
I enjoyed it immensely.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
BUZZ
You know that I cut my long hair off. No ponytail.
Well, not me. Someone else did the cutting.
I went twice and had to endure the barber's dog licking my feet, the barber's yakking, and the barber's unwillingness to do what I asked.
"Number two plastic, no taper, no lowering the ears, no talcum".
In other words just buzz the damn hair.
He said that he hated doing an incomplete job. I told him that wasn't his problem.
I notice that he collected the full fee when I left.
So I had enough of the dog, the yak and the attitude and realized that for the cost of two unpleasant haircuts I could buy a Wahl shaver and have John do it.
After all, there is no taper. No neck work. No lowering of the ears.
So I bought the shaver and today saw its first use.
I think that the new barber (his first time at bat) was a little nervous but, really, the job almost does itself.
In less than five minutes I have just the barbering job I had to pay $15.00 plus tip for.
One thing though.
It turns out that I still got my feet licked.
Franklin.
BLUE RIBBON
This is the second year I have put zinnias where the old grapefruit tree stood.
For the second year in a row we have a stand of flowers that would be the envy of any zinnia enthusiast.
I am not really an enthusiast.
But, I am glad to step up to the plate and take an award for the nicest zinnias I have ever seen.
The fact that I pinch them is both the reason they are gorgeous and the reason that I don't much like them.
A life lesson here somewhere.
Pinch and ye shall find.
Labels: garden
WHAT IS AFOOT?
This is a report on my damaged knee—two and a half weeks ago.
Only the news is about my foot.
The knee juice (bruise, lymph and all) moved down to the foot.
Gravity.
So my foot has been swollen and uncomfortable.
It is finally clearing up. I can see veins in the foot again. I can wear a tight sandal band.
I have never really been in pain. It is a bruise. Edema.
Anyway it is getting better. Thank you for asking.
Labels: health
HERE COMES THE GROOM
We are off to another groomer again. Our fourth for Franklin.
This time it is administrative.
No call when he was done.
Then, because he had to get 'redone' a bit, an incredibly long wait where we just got marooned in the system.
The grooming is in the big animal hospital and is given the medical model of management.
But you don't get to go with the dog. You can't see what is going on. You are isolated.
We don't like it.
So we will be moving on to a woman who does terriers especially and has an 'open shop'.
It is a fucking trudge.
If it is not the cutting quality it is attendance. If it isn't attendance it is client insensitivity.
And we are very hard to please. And when we are not pleased, we walk.
Labels: Franklin
HILLARY IS RIGHT
I was really interested in this op-ed piece by Bruce Bartlett*, an old Reagan man who is on the outs with Bush.
He says that Hillary has a good chance of stealing a number of conservative votes.
I think this makes good sense.
The GOoPer slate is just as shallow as it could be without disappearing.
There is no conservative conscious in any of it. Poseurs.
Look.
I believe that there are good conservatives and bad ones and the good ones are sick to death of bush; actually hate him.
They are chagrinned at the Republican Party and what it has become.
They want an alternative.
Like it or not, a lot of Clinton's positions speak to broad interests in this country.
This week I saw her talking at Yearly Kos and saying that she wants to be President to all the people; even (gasp) business!
I can go along with that.
This is why she annoys Progressives even though she says she is one.
I am still not ready to vote for her but I like what I am seeing of her recent appearances.
Most of all, right now, I like her sense of humor.
She has a great laugh.
How long has it been since we have had any politician who could guffaw and do a good belly laugh?
*Bartlett famously wrote: IMPOSTOR: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. Like I said he is a good conservative. At the same time, he is still hell on the Democrats.
Friday, August 10, 2007
TOO DUMB FOR PRIME TIME
Update: The Richardson campaign released a 'clarification' after the debate and Richardson himself will be on the Signoreli show to explain. They know he blew it.
Well, there goes my support of Bill Richardson.
In last night's Democratic debate on gay issues:
Perhaps the most surprising moment of the night came when Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, causing a visible stir in the audience, replied to a questions about whether he believed being gay was a biological fact or a personal choice.“It’s a choice,” Mr. Richardson said, a view that is contrary to the position of many gay rights advocates. He added, “I don’t like to answer definitions like that that are perhaps grounded in science or something else that I don’t understand"...........from today's NYT
I had heard rumblings that Bill R was not quite up to snuff on his gay politics.
This is the proof of the pudding. And in front of a progressive gay audience.
He doesn't even know enough to shade the position.
I am not a one issue guy except on this one issue.
They are all equivocators and afraid of the issues like gay marriage.
But this is cro-magnon.
Labels: gay politics
Thursday, August 09, 2007
GOODBYE
I took my grandson to the airport this morning and saw him off on his flight back to Boston.
We did OK. Security and all.
An 'unaccompanied minor'. I heard the guy say 'I got a UM here!'
We got there early and the lines were light.
We had a nice chat.
Then they did the early boarding and he was gone.
I waited until the plane left.
They ask you to but I would have anyway.
The plane went out on the tarmac and I saw it take off.
That is when it hits for me.
They are gone.
There is something so 'not turning back' when those wheels leave the ground.
We had a great visit.
It was his first time traveling alone.
Everything worked so well.
We are grateful to his parents for sharing him with us.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
HE'S BACK
When I was a kid, we went out with teachers at night and looked at stars.
Well, once.
And the one constellation I learned was Orion.
I knew about the dippers.
Since then, Orion has been my main man.
I can see him out here for all but the summer months. He goes behind the hills when it gets dark around June and then comes back in the morning in August.
This morning as a matter of fact.
I went out to get the paper and it was just dark enough to see him on the eastern horizon.
I just happened to look and there he was.
A thrill.
I mean it.
The one dependable thing in my life. Sorta.
Orion.
The hunter.
In this picture he looks a bit camp but they get the essence.
Hey. It takes some imagination!
Labels: faves
PATRIOTISM
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Preston Sturges'
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
with Eddy Bracken and William Demarest.
This is a great comedy filmed during the height of WWII.
The issue is heroism and what it means. What people think a hero is. What it takes to be heroic.
These sound like serious themes to be put in a comedy but that was Sturges' great talent.
It is a funny and engaging film.
There is a host of character actors to keep anyone like me busy naming and enjoying old favorites.
The lines are fast and I bet the screenplay came in at twice the size of a normal film.
It is amazing how timely the film is.
At home patriotism. Hollow and real.
It is a great film. Even the cinematography is admirable.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
GONE
We have been Chrysler fans for quite awhile.
But they are making it very hard to maintain any loyalty.
They took away the classic Jeep and gave us a bunch of half-assed SUV solutions.
We tried the Liberty once. No comparison.
We still have our 1997 Cherokee.
That was the Germans.
We did buy a Sebring convertible in 2004. We had always rented this car on vacations and it was the closest thing to the SAAB convertible that we had in Boston.
It still sings.
But no more.
Take a look at this.
Top to BottomThe Germans are gone and now we have the financial undertakers.
Do they know anything about cars?
No.
So they hired the failed, overcompensated president from Home Depot to take over.
Huh?
He doesn't know anything about cars either.
And now the new Sebring is a disaster?
The Germans again.
We now have all Chrysler products.
I hope that the extremely excellently supported service network continues to hold up.
We are going to have to make what he have last.
Labels: automobiles
WHO OR WHAT?
Every time we hear a poll result, someone in our house asks "Who are the 30% who still support Bush?".
"What are they thinking?"
Well, to the second maybe the answer is "not so much".
To the first try this one courtesy Tim Grieve in Salon:
They like me, they're like meIf you've ever found yourself asking who could still approve of the job George W. Bush is doing, the AP's Deb Riechmann has the answer for you: The people who still like Bush are people a lot like Bush.
Based on a recent AP-Ipsos Poll, Riechmann builds a "composite" of the Bush supporter, circa July 2007: "a conservative, white, Republican man, an evangelical Christian who goes to church regularly."
That "regularly" part is important. As Riechmann notes, 56 percent of white evangelicals who attend church every week still support Bush, but only 44 percent all white evangelicals do.
Overall, Bush's approval rating stands at 33 percent in the most recent AP-Ipsos Poll, which was taken in the middle of last month. That's low, but not as low as the 29-point approval number Newsweek got when it polled Americans at the start of August.
Labels: politics
Monday, August 06, 2007
REVOLUTION updated
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Lindsay Anderson's
I saw this when it came out and it was as shocking today as it was then.
Some consider it 'the most shocking film'.
The equivalent, for England, of The Wild One or Rebel Without a Cause.
A misbehaving group in a traditional English school rebel in a totally surprising and revolutionary way.
It is allegorical. The establishment—the ins—and the establishment's minions—the outs.
The British class system in microcosm.
And all that.
The film has Malcolm McDowell who is great as the head rebel.
I have never been to a traditional British school but the depiction of the life there is incredibly detailed and seems totally realistic.
There are hundreds of kids.
There are a lot of scenes with so much going on that you cannot really take it all in.
The usual themes are here. Sadism. Homosexuality. Rigidity of form. Stupidity and twisted morality of the people in charge. Hypocrisy.
But Anderson blends all the usual stuff into a really unusual film.
Because of its polarizing ending, it asks the question "whose side are you on"?. Could be either I suppose.
The movie is also interesting because of Lindsay Anderson's place in British cinema.
He developed a philosophy of cinema which found expression in what became known as the Free Cinema Movement in Britain by the late-1950s
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 because I am trying to be more critical. It has some rough spots and a few quirky things are just annoying. Like a seemingly random switch from color to black and white and back. I didn't get it.
Labels: best films
BUSY
We have a grandson visiting.
He came out all the way from Boston (by himself) for a few days.
So the schedule is changing here and there and there may be a few less postings.
We will all be on vacation.
Labels: blog
Sunday, August 05, 2007
HILLARY WINS A FEW
You know that I am not a Hillary Fan.
I read the progressive blogs. No one there is a Hillary Fan.
But, I have to admit that she managed to break the ice at the annual gathering Yearly Kos.
I saw the video.
Nice.
She took a few lumps and handed it back to them and everyone ended up laughing over it.
It is a healthy sign.
Those of us who identify as Progressives (beyond Liberal for godssake) are a prickly lot.
It is good to see 'us' having fun with our squabbles and not letting them turn on us.
Hillary will be fine if she is nominated.
So will we.
She can kick any GoOPer's ass.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics
Saturday, August 04, 2007
MESS
I knew what I was headed into but curiosity got the better of me.
I remember when The Velvet Goldmine came out. It was universally panned and then sunk without a trace.
Glam Rock. Which lasted about as long as the film itself. Maybe longer in the UK.
Recently though, I had discovered that it is a cult item and has many YouTube out takes.
It is also an early career film for Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. A trifecta. Also Toni Collette.
So I rented it.
How bad could it be?
Well, it is really bad. A mess.
It has time line problems. You never know where you are.
They commit their own spoilers throughout the film so you know what is going to happen because it already happened but when it happened you didn't know who was who so it really didn't have any impact.
That kind of time line problems.
Some of the performances are quite good though especially McGregor who plays a Curt Cobain/Iggy Stooge amalgam. He is quite riveting.
There is also a lot of homo and bi sex.
Interesting but not worth the in-between pain.
I still have not figured out how to work through a DVD in the same precise way that you can work a VCR.
The other thing is that everyone is quite glum all the time. They are taking themselves and their business and the film way too seriously.
I didn't.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5.
I could have just worked through the out takes on YouTube.
Labels: film
Friday, August 03, 2007
CLINTON HAS NO ENERGY POLICY
Obama is weak on detail.
So it is back to Edwards (I remembered his name on the first bounce) and Richardson.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
FUNNY HORROR
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film is Neil Jordan's
I had some trepidations about this film.
None of the summaries do it justice.
It is about a kid who has a rough time growing up and deals with it in some crazy ways that don't conform to society's goals.
There is a Cuckoo's Nest tinge to it.
No.
It is utterly original.
The kid who plays the kid is really really good.
There is a host of well known Irish actors who interact with him along the way.
This is the one where Sinead O'Connor plays the Virgin Mary.
Magical realism.
It is also played against a 60s background.
Duck and cover.
Is this making any sense?
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 under my new, stricter marking system. In the old days it would get a 5.
Labels: best films
UNDECIDED
I got one of my Zogby surveys today. I am on their panel.
Whenever you read the results of a Zogby on-line poll, I am there.
I had to sort through the presidential candidates along 10 (count them, ten) parameters.
They all began with a 'p'.
Presence, package, PR, political, and so on.
It was useful.
I realized why I couldn't go for Richardson anymore.
He has done some dumb things.
I don't like how he has presented himself.
That leaves me with Obama or (godammit, why can't I ever remember his name just like that out of the hat) Edwards.
I am so blocked on him.
But, he has a lot going for him.
I hear that Richardson and Edwards have really good shots in Iowa and New Hampshire.
I don't know about out here.
Shit.
I also got to do a few 'publicans.
I gave them all a one in every department.
Any chance I get.
This is the first year that I am in the undecided column for the primary.
They are all OK of course. I want the most winnable one and I think that scuttles Hillary. They all do well against any of the GOoPers.
Labels: politics
HEAVEN
Of all the places we left when we came west, the hardest to let go of has been Provincetown, MA.
This appreciation by Andrew Sullivan brings a slight tear to the eye.
The magic of the Cape tip is hard to convey but Sullivan manages to do so every summer.
It is certainly one of the the nicest place that I have ever been.
My first visit was about 1963 or 4. It was the beginning of the years of 'alternative cultures' and Provincetown was doing its part.
For a number of years a close friend lived there and so I went frequently.
For five years, John and I rented an on the beach cottage for the summer. A long summer. April through October. As soon as we could stand to live without heat and until we were driven out by the winter wind.
Our last phase was frequent vacations on the East End.
It was sure hard to give up.
We even considered living there.
But, the winters are terrible.
And now, it is overpriced and overbuilt.
Sullivan still gets the place as it was because he is close to the beach in a section that has not been hit with the condo conversion craze.
He also bought early before the bubble.
I can't have it all.
The desert has much of the same allure.
When I bike in the morning and look at the mountains (just over there) I feel much the same rush as I used to feel in Provincetown.
And I don't have to run in October, then stay away until April.
We still feel cold though. Our thermostats got readjusted.
Labels: nostalgia
ROLLER COA$TER
The stock market has been doing one of those tummy turning up and down things over the last couple of weeks.
For someone whose occupation is 'nest egg keeper', this can be a bit trying.
It would be a lot more trying if I was only in stocks and if I managed my own portfolio.
But I am not and I do not.
I am spread, as they say, and the portfolio is managed by real people for a flat fee. No commissions.
They do pretty well.
I have managed to continually withdraw a good living from my savings with them remaining more or less constant.
The ever-full granary.
And I have been through more turbulent times than this.
But this is the one I am watching now. Hence. Well, 'hence' not much.
I don't get all twisted about it anymore.
Last week I took a paper loss equivalent to half a year of retirement living. This week I got a lot of it back.
I only look at the results once a week.
Today it is up and down.
I told those silly ass bastards not to give high risk mortgages but do you think that they would listen?
I have friends who were flipping houses. I sort of told them too.
Now the rest of us are going to get our asses kicked because of a few greedy bastards.
Such is the ecological balance of the economy.
But, I have come to believe that what goes down must come up as what goes up must come down.
The theory of cycles. Unremitting cycles.
Hey. Look at this!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
ON TAP
I drink tap water.
When we moved here we decided that this was the best tasting water we had ever had.
We had been living in Boston and I travelled the 'world over'.
So that is how it goes.
And yet we see people here drinking all manner of water, even some of the pop brands of filtered, you got it, tap water.
It is insane.
For all the reasons. There is one simple one. If you live here, our water tastes better.
I do have to admit that I buy a six pack of Crystal Geyser from time to time.
I love their bottles.
We have insulated plastic bottles for biking and walking but, around the house, cold water in the refrig is one of the best taste events of the day. Six squirts.
The CG bottles get refilled with PS water. And, do you know? As I drink that CG water I can't wait for the bottle to empty so I can get to the home grown.
I don't drink anything but water actually.
No soft drinks, no coffee or tea. Just water.
It is the best.
I wonder. Maybe all those branded bottles I see are getting refilled from the tap also.
Hmmmmm.
And more. Same day different paper.
First they came for the smokers. Then the overeaters. Now, it is time for the bottled water drinkers.
Labels: culture
HEAVENLY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is a fantasy about a boxer who flies a plane and is killed while on his way to a championship fight.
His guardian angel, new on the job, snatches him out of his body a bit too early.
A series of coincidences and mishaps ensue as he tries to find a body to live the rest of his life.
Another film Heaven Can Wait was a remake of this original. It wasn't as good.
Robert Montgomery is the boxer. Edward Everett Horton is the angel. Claude Rains is Mr. Jordan (crossing the river—get it?), a heavenly fixer upper, James Gleason is the boxer's manager.
I have just named some of my favorite actors. Gleason gives a beyond character acting performance which got him an Oscar nomination.
Evelyn Keys is the love interest.
Why am I going on with all this casting detail?
Because the plot is so implausible that the actors have to carry it and they do!
It is lol funny in a lot of places and there are even some tears at the end as Mr. Jordan manages to fix up all the missing pieces which, by then, include three separate bodies to worry about. A hat trick.
I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5. It is a great movie if not great cinema, if you get my drift.
Labels: best films
BOUGHT OUT
So there goes The Wall Street Journal.
I already cancelled.
I don't want a part of anything Murdoch owns or touches.
And that includes his favorite candidate in the Democratic primary too.
Yup.
It is my man Bill's wife.
No matter how I would like Bill to be the first husband, I have to have her for Prez.
Too steep a price.
Labels: politics
