esrosedotblog

SPOILERS

I am really worried about Ralph Nader running. All the time. For years.

And for good reason. He did us out of 2000 and 2004. I am sure of it.

Now, I see that the GOoPers have some third party anxiety too.

It seems reasonable.

Giuliani to spur third-party campaign?

I gotta admit that it would be fun to see two third parties, meaning a fourth. One for the left, one for the right, and one for the rest of us in the broad middle who want a change. Now.

Labels: politics

VACATION

We drove up to Idyllwild today. It is a mile high town. All pines and normal trees. Well, normal from a back east point of view.

A friend of ours who moved to Bisbee AZ, another interesting place, is house sitting.

So we went up the 74 which is a very windy road from Palm Desert.

Franklin went along too. He had to find his sea legs to deal with the serpentine.

He did a good job.

There was a cat in the house, so Franklin and I got to take a walk and sit outside much of the time.

It was nice.

Two dogs, two squirrels. Different friends.

It is about 15 degrees cooler up there which isn't a big deal this time of year but the sky is very blue. It is very quiet. It is a nice place to visit.

But I wouldn't want to live there.

They have a persistent threat of fire and it is tinder dry. Has been since '97. Sittin' on the edge.

The other thing is that I have had my fill of that kind of country.

Sure. It is California country and not the worn out Poconos where I grew up.

But it is all kinda' trashy in the same way.

They do have their artsy side and work hard at telling about it but, in the end, it is the boonies.

We came back the same way but the ride is totally different.

First, you can see the alpine areas a lot better because we are coming from the upper side.

This section of 74 is the most filmed piece of road in America.

If you have watched a car commercial or seen people riding in the country in a movie, they are on this road.

And then the ride down the s-curves is totally less stressful. We are like a stone falling. Easy.

The ride up is all feeling the g's of the push, the engine roar, the gear changes and all.

Down is just plain, unadorned DOWN. Down.

I like driving the entire trip in the Cherokee. Standard drive.

The way god meant us to drive.

It was a great trip. And short. We left at noon and were back at 4.

A whole other country and back in half a work day.

Labels: life

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Today's film was the documentary

The Camden 28 (2007)

I am not sure that anyone does civil disobedience in this country anymore.

Shit, public figures aren't even allowed to be angry (Howard Dean).

I am not sure that there is such a thing as the 'catholic left' any longer.

In this respect, this documentary is an exercise in nostalgia.

28 people were tried and found not guilty for a draft board invasion which they admitted that they were guilty of!

The FBI had set them up. They managed to put the Viet Nam war on trial.

The jury engaged the act of 'nullification' in which a defendant is basically excused from following the law in the instance on trial.

It is the first time draft record destruction led to acquittal.

It was a big deal.

It IS a big deal today.

We are back where they started.

An eye opener.

For one who was around and active at the time it was a wonderful reunion of the spirit to reminisce with these people 35 years later.

Everyone is there including the FBI guys and the prosecutor.

And the informer who betrayed his friends thinking that they would not be tried.

I don't want to tip it all but it is a matter of public record.

It is a short and well done documentary that pulls the complexities apart and helps us see the action and then the trial unfold.

Very nice.

Very tight.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 for old times' sake.

Labels: film, films

FORMATION

Today's film was

Diarios de motocicleta / The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

This is a road picture, a travelogue, a people-logue. A buddy picture.

It is a light handed sketch of the radicalization of Ché Guevera at 24.

The picture begins as two bourgeois young men—best friends—take a journey through three countries and see a world which had been unimagined.

Gael García Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna.

We learn some basic characteristics about Ché. He is honest to a fault. He is observant. He empathizes with people.

He sees himself in others and others in him. That is empathy doubled.

He is persistent.

The scenes are short. The longest period spent is at a leper colony and the experience is transforming for all including the viewer.

I am sure that a majority of the people encountered are 'real' and not talent.

There are wonderful (freeze frame but live) black and white portraits of the people encountered in their situations.

It is a feast.

And for dessert, at the titles, we get photos of the real trip of the real people. Thrilling.

It is hard not to feel the weight of what we know about Ché from the very beginning but they help us throw that off and get into the trip itself.

At the end, we are briefly reminded of the history. The weight returns.

This is a high 5 out of Netflix5.

I read that it is even better if you understand spanish! But that is often the case with subtitled pictures. Half a lof is better however.

Labels: best films

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Not many people get attached to their dentists but I have.

I have been seeing Dentist Mike for almost 9 years.

He did magic on my shaky mouth and stabilized my teeth and gums.

He has been an enjoyable companion in the good and bad (not many of those) times.

And now he is gone.

I went to my 4 month checkup today and he sat down, looked into my eyes (really) and let me know he is giving up his practice.

He has a job with the state penal system.

Perqs. Salary. Someone else to carry the administrative burden.

Mike has worked alone. No hygienist. No office staff to jerk you around.

Low overhead.

But he has been through a nasty divorce. He is tired. He is looking ahead to his later years.

And a sinecure with the bureaucracy looked better than staying with me.

I didn't take it personally.

Well, I did.

It was hard to say goodbye.

I got teary.

I know that he will hand me off to someone I can trust at least for a little while.

We will see.

In the meantime, I am thankful for his presence in my oral life.

I have never had as good a dentist.

Well, I have only had 5. Still.

I thought I would be freaked out at another level. The thought of going to a new person doesn't appeal but it doesn't seem too bad.

I will take it as it plays.

I am pretty good at managing my own care and I don't take any shit from anyone.

We will see if I can hold my record for good relationships with my docs.

Labels: life

TILLING THE SOIL

Today is the day that the summer flowers get pulled.

The land lies fallow.

The weed seeds get to sprout and then overturned. The soil gets to aerate.

Time for the zinnias to disappear; the viney "red-apple" things in the front to get refurbished. They are neither red nor do they even approximate apples. I suspect a corruption of the translation from spanish to english.

Whatever they are called, in a few weeks, new viney plants will be put in and they will last through next summer.

At the same time we will put in the petunias which will last through winter if there is no killing frost like last year.

Zinnias return in April.

Rotation of crops!

Labels: horticulture, seasons

SHOVING MATCH

For once, other denominations stand up to the christists and give them a shove out of the pulpit. Backbone found.

Churches back California marriage equality

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

HARVEST MOON

Those are not our cacti. We don't have saguaro.

But it was our moon last night.

Saguaro Moon

Labels: APOD

DISCO DEMONS

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

with John Travolta and Karen Gorney.

Watching this film gets all twisted up with the era which John and I lived through, somewhat older than these kids, in gay clubs in Boston.

The music and dancing in this film are superb.

The Bee Gees are perfect.

In fact, it is a milestone in the evolution of the film musical from improbable insertions of song and dance mid-story to highly probable integration of song and dance in the actual plot.

It is also the peak of Travolta as a young actor.

He is at that magic cusp between boy and man.

As a late bloomer, he is coming of age and finding his present life in the discos wanting.

They hit all the notes to what is basically a genré story very nicely with few misteps (we could have done without the extra tragedy toward the end).

It is surprising how well it holds up.

Ebert even gave it a second retrospective review.

He brings up another evocative theme of the film that I identify with—the need to get away—to run to the city.

I had it and I did it.

So the evaluation is highly personal and this film rates very highly for me.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

FREE SPEECH

There was a lot of right wing nonsense about letting the Iran guy speak at Columbia University.

I thought they handled it pretty well.

They let him speak but not until the university president Lee Bollinger, in introducing him, basically called him an asshole and excoriated his administration.

My questions for President Ahmadinejad

Of course, the asshole didn't answer the questions.

I saw some of the tape.

He did let us know that there are no homosexuals in Iran.

He did not mention that is because they hang them at an early age.

There is no line on free speech. It either is or it is not.

We deserve to hear this guy.

And we also deserve to have our say at him in return.

From Salon

The Iranian president responded by departing from his prepared remarks. "I think the text read by the dear gentleman here, more than addressing me, was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience present here," Ahmadinejad said, according to a translated transcript. "Nonetheless, I should not begin by being affected by this unfriendly treatment."

Labels: free speech, politics

FIXED

Our solar pool heater has been off for two weeks—a leak.

I called the company who, when they arrive, are very good at fixing these things.

The problem is that they are in Temecula and we are in Palm Springs.

Let me put it this way.

When I return home from San Diego I turn off the 15 at Temecula. Going over the mountains.

90 minutes, maybe. It depends on who you get behind on the grades.

So, this is not the first destination they think of when they put together their maintenance calls for the day.

I called today to nudge them and the manager told me I had a message!

It said that they fixed the leak on Friday.

News to me.

I went out and have run it for almost two hours and it seems OK.

Good thing.

I was losing the heat.

So now, starting tomorrow we will be on the upswing again.

Gotta get it warm for the guests due here the 13th and the 18th. Two sets.

Amd then there are the easterners who are arriving Thanksgiving week.

The process starts now.

I'm not kidding. I will watch it every day and, when necessary add the pool cover at night.

We take our pool temps seriously out here.

Life in the slow lane.

Labels: life

INDIA REVEALED

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Salaam Bombay (1988)

This is a workshop film, built from the stories of real Bombay street kids. Then the kids and some adults acted in it.

A little like Chorus Line only the other side of the coin.

It is a sad story but also a bit pat. It has the feel of a National Geographic special only with kids instead of animals.

Life in the wild.

I am not resistant to some sadness and despair that this kind of thing happens. Especially in India which takes such a superior view of itself on the world stage.

We do see a lot. The structure is good. The main kid is perfect.

It just seems a bit faked up and, according to this, there is no way out. I wonder if the participants went back to the life after the filming was done.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

SEASONING

The cool weather season is here and that brings out my inner cook.

I can feel the old roasting and basting instinct come to the surface as the temperature drops.

That doesn't mean that I don't work in the summer kitchen but I think of it more as preparing food.

Salads, light fare, cool chicken and fish. Poached not broiled.

I try not to turn the oven on at all during the hot time.

But that is over now.

In the last week, I have worked up a batch of chili, baked corn bread, concocted several servings of stew, concocted a meatloaf. All that.

Yesterday I roasted a whole turkey breast.

We don't eat much in the way of carbos during the summer.

Now, the rice machine is back in business.

I have made spaghetti bolognese and will add pasta to the mix—with sausages and chicken. The potatoes are going back into the shopping basket.

We hardly have any seasons but hot and cool. 8 months of cool and 4 of hot.

A nice little vacation from the hearty menu then back again.

Labels: life

ALWAYS IN DENIAL

This from AP

Bush Unwelcome on Campaign Trail.

Of course, he doesn't think so.

Just this week he said he considered himself an asset.

Labels: bush

MIMER

I am sorry that Marcel Marceau is dead.

But he did have a long and happy life.

Well, at least, long.

You can never be sure about the happy part.

Besides, in his case, how would you know? He can't be cross examined/couldn't.

I have never cared much for the mime 'art'.

When I watched teevee, it would drive me from the room.

Creepy.

And, since he was the 'best' at it, he was even more unwatchable.

For a long time there seemed to be mimes everywhere.

The white grease paint crowd.

Now it is celebrity look-alikes.

All basically mute and, for all intents and purposes, without a shred of talent.

I had a friend who always told the mimes to 'get the fuck away'.

I was never that harsh. I just got away myself.

After all, how can you really confront a mime without looking like an asshole.

All that cloying innocence.

I think that is how they avoided serious criticism.

Like slapping a cute kitten.

RIP Marcel.

I don't suppose there were any last words, huh?

Labels: culture

ALL OVER

Hillary Clinton was on all major (5) talk shows today.

Now that is coverage.

Labels: hillary, politics

GUILT

Today's film was

Stephanie Daley (2007)

I got this to see Tilda Swinton and it was very worthwhile.

The story itself shows parallel lives.

A sixteen year old girl who is in denial about her pregnancy and then has a miscarriage is on trial for homicide because the baby is technically beyond the 20 week dividing line between legal 'life'.

The psychologist (Swinton) assigned to her case is pregnant and has had a miscarriage and has some other issues going on for her self.

The film shows parallels and concludes somewhat surprisingly without resolving the question of what the 'right thing' might be to do in such cases.

It is pretty well done. A bit hard to watch at times.

The teen age stuff comes across a lot more clearly than the adult stuff between Swinton and her husband and, well, a confusing third party.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 for the film.

Swinton would get a 5. She is formidable.

Labels: film

MITT'S BOYS

Gee Whiz!

Gosh!

The Romney campaign invited 'outsiders' to produce videos for his campaign.

Be careful what you ask for.

Five Brothers

There will be a very short ad for a car. Sit it out.

Labels: politics

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Today's film was

Red Road (2006)

Not a NYTimes Best Film—too recent—but it will be some day.

Jackie works as an operator of the Glasgow video surveillance system. The new security state in action.

One day she sees a person from her personal past.

We are on our way to a unique thriller. Unpredictable. Incredibly moving.

The filming technique is in the minimal Dogma 95 mode. Handheld cameras and natural light.

Gritty realism which matches the video monitors Jackie watches day in and day out.

Slowly we learn her story as she moves outside the monitor room to find the man who has such an important place in her life.

It is in scottish english so use the subtitles.

This is a 4 out of Netflix5. Maybe a 5. I will sleep on it.

Note: Red Road is the first film in Advance Party, a projected trilogy. This is a set of rules which dictate how the films will be written and directed. They will all be filmed and set in Scotland, using the same characters and cast. Each film will be by a different first-time director.

Labels: film

NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF

Machine guns surround MIT student wearing her art project.

Is Star Simpson's "fake bomb" just an art jacket?

We have all seen them. These 'security' guys. All wired on coffee and donuts with a lot of time on their hands.

Another sign of what it is getting to be like living in Fortress America.

The terrorists are winning.

Who are the terrorists again? The 'staties' with the machine guns?

Labels: culture, terrorism

WELL, NO, I AM NOT DONE

The Illustrated Daily Scribble on the fatuous flatulent Senate.

Labels: politics

DISCLOSURE

I didn't mention that I am a member of MoveOn.org.

You can be too.

Click on.

The Betrayal theme goes on.

Labels: Iraq, politics

AND A PHONY COWBOY

Look at this

Bush is scared of horses

This gives some versimilitude to the famous Will Farrell Bush ad.

Labels: bushie

STILL MORE

Changing the Subject

Had enough now?

I have.

Labels: bush. bushies

ONE MORE TIME

I guess I glossed over the actual 'offense' of the MoveOn ad "Petraeus Betray Us".

Bushie said it is disgusting.

70 something senators with nothing else to do condemned it.

A guy was thrown out of a hall for asking too many questions of John Kerry; then tased.

Hillary now screens her crowds and excludes people with the wrong signs or tee shirts. Just like the GOoPers.

Get the drift?

There is a gradual damping down of speech.

Offensive or otherwise.

Not good.

A symptom of 8 years under the Cheney/Rove administration.

Disgusting?

I will show you disgusting.

Just look at the war stats.

About ads? What about the Swiftboating, now a generic term for over the top oppo ads.

But I don't want to play that game.

Look.

You and I might disagree about the taste and utility of certain ads. But that doesn't shut them down.

Do I think that Petraeus betrayed us?

Well, in a sense.

Like Powell before him he has allowed himself to be the stalking horse of the bushies. A sock puppet.

I think that he is career hungry and it is said that he wants to run for higher office someday.

I can smell that in his whole demeanor.

The actual war is a game to these people. Deadly as can be but a game.

So keep on moving MoveOn.

Until the Democrats get more of a spine you are the only truth to power (I hate that phrase but it fits) outfit going.

Labels: politics

DIAL UP

Did you know that

Do Not Call listings to expire in 2008

I just dialed up the registry an redid ours until 2012.

Do Not Call Registry

Labels: life, technology

STORM DRAIN

As often happens the reports of our 'twenty year' storm are beginning to be revised back and down.

Back one day. Down in severity.

As it is to start today, I guess we will soon know the answers.

I am not worried about it.

It is cold though.

65!

I put the heat on this morning for the first time this fall.

Labels: weather

HEALTHY HILLARY

Health Care Hopes

Krugman on Hillary

The column not the blog.

This health thing is going to be a big deal.

I said that it took some courage for Clinton to come up with this even though Edwards had already done it.

Edwards has nothing to lose and Clinton has everything.

Labels: hillary

BETRAY US

This kind of shit makes me so angry:

Senate Approves Resolution Denouncing MoveOn.org Ad

How many people are dying while they take the time to play these games?

What with its automatic filibuster rules, the Senate is rapidly becoming an anachronism.

Worse is that some 20 of these bastards were Democrats.

To their credit, Dodd and Clinton voted no.

Obama was fucking absent!

The asshole romney has already taken up the cudgel against Clinton for voting against it.

Talk about handing the GoOPs their issues.

Demagoguery begets demagoguery.

Labels: criminal morons

LOONY TOONY

So the dollar has fallen so far that we are the same value as the Canadian dollar (the "loony" so named for the bird stamped on its face) for the first time in thirty years.

That was when I was forty!

I remember when the two currencies were so the same that stores would take the Canadian although machines would not--too light.

This is the same day that Bush said that our economy was in great shape and that he should get an A on handling it.

Was that A for awful or A for arrogant?

Of course, there is some credit due the Canadians for bolstering their currency.

It is not all our falling down. But mostly.

Labels: bushies

NEW BLOG

Now that the NYTimes has taken down their firewall, fee paid for op-ed writers and all, they let Paul Krugman put up a blog of his own.

I will be reading it every day until he pisses me off too much but I don't think he will.

He is pretty smart and has a lot to say. He also says it briefly.

The Conscience of a Liberal

Labels: blog

OK OK I'LL GO FOR IT

Today is the day that I go for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

I gave up on Richardson and then stayed in suspension.

What moved me is the courage of her health insurance plan.

What, today, has lost me is Obama's tax plan which is so lame and pandering that he should bow his heard in shame.

Maybe VEEP.

I have been a long time resister of Hillary (which she says I can call her—it is on the bumper stickers). But she has gotten me with her level headedness and a new sense of humor (born out of her confidence?).

And I like the policies.

And, OK, I don't mind the idea of Bill as first spouse at all.

And, I do think that she can win.

Her GOoPer opposition is hard and in the low forties. Formidable but she will be able to chip away at that and take it down to the present thirties of our present lame duck.

Mark my word.

I give you my nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics

SAMURAI REDUX

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was Kurosawa's

Tsubaki Sanjûrô / Sanjuro (1962)

This is the sequel to yesterday's Yojimbo but it is really not a sequel.

The same character helps out a group of foolish civic leaders to unseat a corrupt official and to save their kidnapped leader.

And so on.

This one is funnier than the first one. But, at the same time, plot suffers.

Toshirô Mifune is the scruffy ex-Samarai.

This is less a 'western' from the east than a simple comedy.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

A great director is a great director even when he has lame material to work with.

Labels: best films

TWENTY YEAR STORM

We are supposed to get our asses kicked with the weather tomorrow and Friday

Special Weather Statement

What a time for our solar pool heater to be down—the usual lat summer heat-leaks.

Of course, by the looks of it I won't be going out into the pool.

Floods. Tornadoes.

STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL OCCUR IN ADVANCE OF THIS STORM IN THE
MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS THIS AFTERNOON INTO FRIDAY. THIS STORM SHOULD
BRING MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH COOLEST
TEMPERATURES FRIDAY. DEPENDING UPON THE EVENTUAL TRACK AND TIMING OF
THIS STORM...THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HEAVY PRECIPITATION
AT TIMES FROM LATE THURSDAY THROUGH LATE FRIDAY. THIS STORM WILL BE
QUITE COLD FOR SEPTEMBER WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS AND
EVEN FOR SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 6000 FEET. THERE IS ALSO
THE POSSIBILITY OF WATERSPOUTS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS AND TORNADOES
OVER ADJACENT LAND AREAS.

ANY HEAVY RAINS WILL BRING THE THREAT FOR FLASH FLOODING AND DEBRIS
FLOWS OVER THE RECENT BURN AREAS OF THE ANGEL AND BUTLER FIRES.

Labels: weather

RISING SUN SHOWDOWN

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Akira Kurosawa's

Yojimbo (1961)

It is Kurosawa's homage to John Ford; mixing the samurai and western genrés.

Starring Toshiro Mifune as an out of work samurai who comes to a civil war torn town, the film refashions many western clichés in traditional Japanese theater/film terms.

The translation illuminates the bits which we have grown used to. Seen in a different light, we get the picture more clearly.

There is the idiot-villain, actually two. Numerous showdowns on the main street. The craven bourgeois who hide in their homes. The impotent bureaucrats who kiss the outlaw's ass. The wily hero who is eventually too smart for his own good and has to crawl back into control. All of it.

It is pretty good.

It would have to be. Kurosawa.

But the story is a bit hard to follow as we struggle with the names and the sometimes shaky plot.

That is not his problem but it is a hurdle for this roundeye.

There is a sequel which we will see tomorrow. Same samurai, different town.

I will give this one a 4 out of Netflix5.

I can't take points off because of my inability to see the difference between some oriental faces and names.

Labels: best films

ERUPTION

Here is another great APOD shot. That's two this week.

This is good. Lately, they have been running to star cloud pictures. Colored milky ways.

Yawn. Just another galaxy.

For bigger pic and explanation see Tungurahua erupts!

Labels: APOD

ARNIE'S GOT IT

The California Gay Marriage Bill is sitting on our governator's desk ready for signing.

Will he do the right thing?

Well, probably.

If you mean that the right thing is to take a right turn and veto it.

Or will he do the really right thing and sign it?

Hard to tell.

It is not a good time for him. He is so far out of the loop with state GOoPers that there is no party platform or position.

But some issues, like this one, are perennials and easy marks so I bet that he does veto it.

There was recently an LATimes report on a sort of gay mafia within the administration.

Arnie's chief of staff Susan Kennedy is a domestic partner of another woman and she and they had fooled around with some commission that gave money to some gay guys.

So there are plenty of queers around the big guy.

It is just the old republican thing though.

Have it both ways. Closet gays on the inside bash the rest of us and get the wing nut points.

Rex Wockner, a long term gay journalist, writes the Gov an open letter.Pretty good.

Labels: gay marriage, gay politics, gay rights

APPLE SLICE

I love Apple.

So this slam by Bill Maher is appreciated.

Labels: macintosh, technology

GREENING

We have added a new step to our greening up our life.

No, we are not going off the internet, the most wasteful additions to global warming. Not our cell phones. And I sure didn't leave the AC off today.

No, I mean at a more micro level.

Another area than global warming.

I have been on and off with organic products.

I usually am interested in them because they are superior in quality. I care less about the chemicals and all.

I read another article the other day that says organic makes no healthful difference. It made me angry. So I know that I am onto something here.

I took the first tangible step with cage free eggs. I wasn't interested in the eggs as much as how the chickens were kept.

Then I saw how cage free works and the chickens are still all crowded in.

So I have gone the next step to free run eggs which, by coincidence, are also organic.

I guess that when you have them all closed in you have to feed the antibiotics and hormones and color for the flesh and all that.

Actually I know that they have to do this.

I used to have clients who made the chemicals. I worked with their salesmen. I went on sales calls to see their unique problems. I learned that a chicken in the usual store sense is all tricked up with unnatural ingredients.

Anyway. With each change, from regular to cage free and from cage free to free run, there has been an incremental increase in quality!

Now. Another new thing.

I was in the milk case looking for the best date and I found that they have organic milk. Fat free. And ultra pasteurized so the freshness date goes out 6 weeks.

No (added)hormones. No antibiotics. Happier cows.

We haven't tried the milk yet but it can't be as problematic as the cartons I have been getting of the regular stuff. They frequently stink a couple of days before the past sale date.

Now, I bought organic and all that when I lived in Boston. Bread and Circus. Now Whole Foods.

It was just better food, like I said.

When we came here I gave it up.

Now I am taking it up again.

Another area.

I realized that the natural ingredient household products were as good as the regular. Now they have dishwasher tabs, household cleaner, laundry detergent and dish detergent. They are going into the bag too.

All of this costs more.

I don't care.

I am happy to pay the added amount.

Is it worth it?

I don't know but it feels better.

Now, if I could find me some biodegradable plastic bags.................

Labels: fool's paradise, life, shopping

FRIGID

We are under a deep trough of cool air off the Pacific and, as a result, it has suddenly turned frigid.

I know that this is hard for back east people to understand but cold, here, means anything under 70 degrees.

John says that is the 'freezing point'.

I think he means the he freezes.

Last night we had to limit the doors open to three. It hit 67.

They predict that night temps could go down to 63 this week. Days will be in the 90s. Today we only hit 100.

We did turn the air on today, more out of habit, but off at about 5 PM. Normally the hottest time just before sunset.

We will eat our dinner outside for the first time. I washed all the chairs and tables today in preparation.

It is welcome, the cooler air.

We had a mild summer until the last three weeks and then it kicked our ass with prolonged heat and humidity. Just like fucking Florida!

The light is about right now too for the roses to start coming back. The cool will help them.

In the heat they bloom and sort of shrivel.

See? We have seasons too!

Labels: weather

ENOUGH

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was supposed to be

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

But we have seen it 'recently' and that was difficult enough.

It is one of the 'angry young man' films. Tony Richardson's second after Look Back in Anger

It is a brutal film with little in the way of redemption. Relentless pessimism.

Finney is memorable.

But I don't have to see it again.

I would have knocked it out of the queue if I was paying attention.

I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5 because of the nastiness of it all.

After this film, Finney made and still makes great films.

He is a wonderful actor. Happy ending to angry story.

Labels: best films

QUEASY

Take a look at this.

For a bigger better pic go to APOD directly.

Labels: APOD

MAN OF THE MOMENT

So right there today, there is an article and a video of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. NYT Magazine fashion spread and interview. Be sure to watch the video.

How coincidental is that?

Kid Rock

Labels: actors

MEMORIES

Today's Film was Gregg Araki's

Mysterious Skin (2005)

This is one of those films that is tough to watch but has a totally redeeming resolution making the travel all worthwhile.

I rented it because I had heard of it and also because it starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt who we enjoyed watching in The Lookout.

You can see how one thing leads to another. Now I want to see more of Araki's films.

This one is about two young men who shared experience with a pedophile.

Their lives parallel each other and eventually they meet.

It is quite an outstanding story.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

You can see why Gordon-Levitt is getting a career out of this early appearance.

Labels: film

GET SHORTY

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Zucker/Abrahams?Zucker's

Ruthless People (1986)

Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Bill Pullman.

Relentless situation comedy extremely well done.

Even the dogs are funny.

Premise: A nasty businessman's nasty wife is kidnapped just as he has decided to do here in.

The whole company takes it from there.

It is a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

RING A DING

What is this all about ring tones?

Not to offend anyone. Of course.

But WTF?

I read that it is a multi-billion dollar business.

Rock songs. Rap music (a contradiction in terms). All that.

All to make a little sound when your phone rings?

Of course, I am the one who sees a phone as a phone. Not a camera. Not a teevee set. Not an email source.

A phone?

You know? To call people. To get called.

It seems to me that the ring tone thing is all about other people.

If I had a non-ring, rock tune ring on my phone I would soon bore out on it.

It would have to be that I want others to hear it, hear me. And all.

I also understand that you pay three times for this service.

You download it and pay and then you pay when you put it on your phone and then you pay every time the little fucker rings.

Of course a lot of the 'ringles' are bootlegged.

We knew a guy who left a perfectly good job with a games company to work with Yahoo or somebody selling ring tones.

I thought it was a joke.

I guess not.

But is this value added?

A new thought I have is how all this shit is causing global warming. More internet. More heat. More wasted time on something that has absolutely no redeeming value. None.

Rant over.

Oh! What is my ring?

The one built-in-the-phone option closest to the old dial phone I grew up with and that is hard to really hear in its little snide echo and overtones.

Labels: culture, life, technology

THE LAST WORD

I have not been able to let go of this story:

Brainy Parrot Dies, Emotive to the End

Evidently, others have been stirred as well.

There have been three separate articles in the NYT about Alex the Parrot and all three have been on the most e-mailed list for 3 days.

Alex went beyond mere talking and into the realm of conversation.

He could also do calculations and mental tricks.

I always wanted a parrot.

But, I was unwilling to do the work required to have it.

We had friends who had a very talky bird when I was in my 20's and that seemed to satisfy all my craving for avian conversation.

But no.

Every time I encounter one I stay and am captivated by the phenomenon.

I have written about my current neighbor's minah bird which would mostly whistle and imitate motorcycles. Sirens.

S/he died of West Nile.

Now they have a baby who I whistle to every time I go past. It does a good wolf whistle and can do a two note song.

There is a downside here which I have to admit to.

I really don't think that parrots were meant to be kept in cages and trained to talk.

I think that their nature is to be in the forest imitating forest sounds as well as captivating each other for mating.

But these are perilous times for all birds and animals.

Parrots are pretty good survivors but I figure every threatened animal could use some human support.

I don't think that I want a pet polar bear though.

Labels: nature, polar bears

WHAT? COME AGAIN?

These are GOP Senators incidentally; Luger, Hagel and Warner. And of course, the new General to be shoved up front by the bushies. Remember Powell?

Labels: bushies, Iraq

BUGGED

Today's film was

Dasa Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others (2006)

This would be in the Best List if had been done before the list was written.

Set in East Berlin, it shows the extreme degree of snooping that had been institutionalized. Everyone was listening.

And around this, a story of one small group of people and how they...........well, no spoilers.

It is a fascinating picture.

Very well done.

A great denouement.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

No one could see this film without thinking about all the bugging questions that bug us now; the invasion of our privacy. How the same kind of thing could happen again.

It creeps.

And gives me the creeps.

If they were listening to us and reading my mail and net stuff, I would be in jail right now.

Labels: film

TEXTBOOK

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Sahara (1943)

This is a WWII film that hits all the notes of cinema cliché and yet is an enjoyable and moving film of men at war.

This is the magic of movie making skill.

The acting, the pacing, the editing? Who knows?

You can even say to yourself that you are watching an ancient story being played out. And yet it seems strikingly new and urgent.

Humphrey Bogart helps as well as a fine ensemble cast.

I enjoyed it.

It looks as though they did too. See the cast photo below.

Some are real soldiers helping with the film which was shot not too far from here in the Mojave desert.

There is some standard WWII propaganda but I grew up on that stuff.

What is most interesting is that the values espoused are the traditional American values.

They resonate with me.

This was also filmed at time that 'we' were losing the war.

The message was loud and clear.

Today's war should be so aligned with public sentiment.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

911

OK.

It is the day.

Time for all the demagogues to get out their bullhorns and weepy eyes.

My own reaction to all of this is get over it and get on with it.

We have now way exceeded the number of deaths in the Towers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And that is only our own people.

More death for the Tower's deaths?

Eyes for an eye.

But who is counting?

It was tragic.

It was sorrowful.

It has been six years.

Enough.

There is a 911 industry out there which will not let go. But in the meantime, let's remember that we know nothing about living in terror.

Try Iraq. Try Palestine. Try Lebanon.

I am a flag waver but not over this.

Sorry.

Labels: terrorism

ADDENDUM

In my review of The Lookout yesterday, I neglected to mention Matthew Goode who devours the role of the head bad guy.

We last saw him in Match Point as Scarlett Johansson's husband.

Totally different!

He and Gordon-Levitt are great together.

In a scary way.

In The Lookout:

In Match Point

Labels: film

MORE OF THE SAME

No surprises there.

Bushies' general with bushies' speech as bush prepares to go out with single minded purpose.

Paul Richter in the LA Times nailed it in this morning's analysis.

Bush policy to bequeath Iraq to successor

The talk in Washington on Monday was all about troop reductions, yet it also brought into sharp focus President Bush's plans to end his term with a strong U.S. military presence in Iraq and to leave tough decisions about ending the unpopular war to his successor.....

"Bush has found his exit strategy," said Kenneth M. Pollack, a former government Mideast specialist now at the Brookings Institution.......LAT

Labels: bush. bushies, Iraq

ALLEGORY

If you want a good parallel to the Petraeus / Congress affair, take a look at the

Rude Pundit's

entry for today. He doesn't have a permalink feature.

Like me he uses the free, no frills blogger.

Nevertheless, as always, it offers some good salty reading.

I do have to warn you that the named pundit is rude.

You are, incidentally, meant to click on the links as you read.

Otherwise, no allegory!

I'm not sure that it is an allegory.

Anyway.

Enjoy.

Labels: Iraq

DILUTION?

Did I mention that I am watching a lot more films that are not on the NYTimes Best List?

Yes.

No?

I don't know.

Anyway I am.

I don't feel too guilty about it.

It does amount to a mild change in cinematic priorities.

The longer I go with this the more good films are stacking up in the unlisted queue.

The Best List was compiled last in 2004. A lot of films have come out since then. Many would be on any new list.

So I am taking matters into my own hands.

I am reading reviews more carefully and also checking out people's 'best of' lists for the years since then.

And, above all, I am relaxing about the whole thing.

Letting one thing lead to another.

Lookout to Mysterious Skin.

Like below.

Labels: best films, film

NEW TWISTS

Today's film was

The Lookout (2007)

It was around at come and go warp speed this past spring and I wanted to see it.

It got good reviews but no audience.

All the more reason to see it.

It is a thriller with a twist. A brain damaged but not too damaged boy gets swindled into a bank heist at the bank where he works as a janitor.

The plot goes along very nicely but the real thing about this movie is the cast and its interplay.

Ensemble.

And the unusual twist of a former bright star that has dulled some but not too far to see that he is being fucked over by the bad boys.

Another twist. Jeff Daniels as a blind guy; our not so bright boy's roommate.

I am just idling here. I don't want to tell the quite unusual plot.

I enjoyed it and will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

The boy is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was also in Greg Araki's Mysterious Skin which I am not going to rent. I was anyhow, a queer film. Now more the reason.

Gordon-Levitt is a newcomer who is hot. He has three new films in the can. Gotta catch up with the latest.

Labels: films

ASTOUNDING

According to this

Americans Feel Military Is Best at Ending the War

only 5%

of Americans feel that the bushers can end the war.

Key quote:

Only 5 percent of Americans — a strikingly low number for a sitting president’s handling of such a dominant issue — said they most trusted the Bush administration to resolve the war, the poll found. Asked to choose among the administration, Congress and military commanders, 21 percent said they would most trust Congress and 68 percent expressed most trust in military commanders.......NYT

Talk about your crisis of confidence.

It is interesting that people also now align Petraeus with the bushers and have almost a 60% lack of confidence in his objectivity.

That means that some other generals who will also weigh in today, notably Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Pace will have more impact.

Stunning.

That 5% must really have their brains wired for conservatism. (see below)

Labels: bushies, Iraq, politics

I WONDERED WHAT IT WAS

When I encounter conservatives (which isn't very often), I often wonder what makes them tick.

Why do they seem so fundamentally different than I?

It seems so basic. The differences.

This helps out a little:

Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain

According to this, it is fundamental.

It doesn't bode well for bi-partisanship.

Labels: politics

ALONE TOGETHER

John went off to Long Beach—visiting—and San Diego to see the Dead Sea scrolls. A lecture. Something.

Two nights, three days.

Franklin and I get to stay home and have some quality time together.

Or at least time.

We each get thrown off kilter a bit.

We are a threesome here and when one is away the others are affected.

Our regular Sunday walk was just the two of us.

The cues were off.

Regularly, Franklin knows the two or three possible routes (longer than usual) and we just set off for the march.

Yesterday he faltered. Was this Sunday? Where was the other one?

We found our way but it was not quite as smooth.

Franklin gets that John is away for more than a day. The suitcase tipped that one off.

He sees it and then refuses to acknowledge its presence.

We are doing OK.

Soon, we will all be back together.

Another walk this morning instead of my usual bike ride.

A day of normal things.

And the other third will walk in to great jumps and leaps of pleasure.

And that is only me.

Franklin will be beyond ecstatic.

We had a good time but better times are ahead when John is back home.

Labels: Franklin, life

THE SEASON

The Sunday papers are all full of the new season.

The new films. The new plays. The new music.

Previews of coming attractions.

It is a sure time of change.

When we were in Boston it meant getting ourselves set for tickets to the concerts and then working around those to decide on plays and other events.

From September through May we were out every week one or two, maybe three, times.

In 20 years we saw or heard just about everyone and everything there was to see or hear.

We spent a lot of hours in those seats at Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall at the Conservatory.

Now, I'm in a different place.

I see all these things coming—LA is no less full of such events. But they are a long commute away.

There is a concert series here but the stuff is second rate. We get the B and C-list.

I don't want to be all snobby about it but we tried, and it is not worth the time. Or energy.

And that is where the nub of change lies.

In Boston, ten years ago, I was beginning to be weary of going out. Listening. Seeing. Hearing.

It seemed like work.

One becomes used to this kind of change as one gets older.

I was told about it.

Enthusiasms pass. Interests change.

The theater was the first to go.

I remember sitting watching some play and realizing that I was totally not engaged.

At first I felt guilty and then, realized, that I had been watching theatrical shenanigans for so many years that I could see right through it. The magic had gone.

I could smell the greasepaint and found it cloying.

I am not sure exactly when concerts became work.

Somewhere when I realized that, since college, I had heard just about everything there was to be heard or something like it.

Now I now that is not true. And I still love to listen to music today. But it is not the same.

Somewhere the acuity went. I realized that I no longer needed high fidelity reproduction because I couldn't hear all the range.

Maybe this had something to do with my lessened interest in live performance.

Now.

This is not about getting older.

I know. I know.

It sounds that way because it involves some of the dynamics of age as well as the eventual decline of long time interest and involvement.

But it is really more about finding new stuff.

I am sure that our declining interests in urban pleasures (and if theater and concerts are not urbane what are they?) led to our decision to get out of the city.

And not only that but to get out of our wintery seasonal life.

We found, instead, mountains. Biking. Hiking. Warm air living.

Not as an escape but as a new engagement. A new way of life.

And here we are.

I see the coming season and I am glad that it is coming. It is a sign that the world is not going to shit.

I will still want to see the films—at home.

Out of the stink of popcorn.

I will still want to hear the music (but not much of it)—on CD.

I still have a voyeuristic interest in the theater.

And so on.

Things pass and yet they remain the same.

Just different.

Labels: life

STICKING IT TO FRED

I just want to get these over with because I don't really think he will be around that long.

Now, on the sex appeal thing, just who is it aimed at? The fifty something percent of the population that is female?

Or, perhaps he is hoping for a bit of the homo-vote.

The male part of the homos I think. Dykes are left out on this.

You know, the Log Cabin guys.

Where have they been incidentally?

Labels: gay politics, politics

FREDERIC OF HOLLYWOOD

And part time lobbyist.

Labels: politics

DIVISION

Today's film was Ken Loach's

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)

This is another telling of the Irish 'troubles', particularly during the time just before and right after formation of the truce and partitioning of 1922.

We see that victory over oppression has its own downside as the divisions occur as the oppressor leaves.

Two brothers discover this most intimately; Cillian Murphy (a standout) and Padraic Delaney.

This is, at times, a very difficult film to watch. Not so much the grisly but the mental stress of continued conflict.

This is too late for the NYTimes Best Film list but I am sure it would have been a contender.

I rented it because it has gotten such good reviews and high interest.

I can't get enough of the Irish stuff. It is under my skin somehow. I have seen almost all the major films about this period. They keep coming.

It is like the holocaust; never over.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

INSIDE LOOK

Amazing.

I thought there was a little man in there.

No.

Really.

I thought that it was all electronic.

You mean that everything I do makes that little scratching noise?

WTF!

Labels: computer

DARKENING

I notice that the light is leaving us fast.

I have decided to leave earlier than normal for my bike ride—530AM.

It is probably too dark but I wanted to get it in so we could take the Woods in for his first maintenance check in a year!

Yesterday we went in and they had no power. So we did it all again this morning.

It is dark out there on the bike but it is awesome to see the light coming up in the east.

I am on my new route out to the Indian Canyons so I am seeing the mountains in a whole different perspective. And really early that is with the very first light on them.

Today I caught up to two coyotes running along the road.

Very nice.

I got just parallel with them. They didn't mind me or me them.

I think that you get these moments when there is little fear on either side.

Then I passed and they did a quick dip off the road as I went by.

A nice experience.

And did I say that it was cool?

The hot weather has broken and we are opening the house in the night.

I wore shoes and socks (not sandals) to bike.

Great air.

Labels: seasons

Today's film was

Disturbia (2007)

I got it because it has Shia LaBeouf. I really like watching him and his expanding career.

This is his thriller film.

It is a play on Rear Window but in a sort of suburban, high school, hi tech sense.

I had some expectations from reading reviews (which I do in a blurry eyed scanning kind of way so I don't pick up spoilers). And they were not met really. A good thing. A lot of surprises.

It starts with a bang and has some stuff that is pretty moving in the beginning.

LaBeouf is pretty good at conveying the mood of things.

It also has a Japanese-American sidekick. Never saw that before.

The girlfriend is kind of a dip.

The villain, David Morse, is awesome. He is scary in an elemental way. A quiet time bomb.

Some of it is improbable and a little hard to figure out but it doesn't let you dwell on that so much.

It moves.

Also, it is a genré film so we fill in the spaces from our experience.

I liked most of it and actually screamed in the scary parts of which there are many.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

STILL BILL

Slide show from the Atlantic.

The Clinton Effect.

Really good stuff.

The last photo is worth the whole slide show.

Not this picture. This is Bill and Nelson Mandela.

I cannot imagine the bush doing anything like this.

Carter comes closest but he has nothing like the mega-watt charisma and intelligence of Bill Clinton.

The impact of this one man is inestimable.

Through the Clinton Foundation he has an incredible reach. Through his own one man operation (and a good staff) he has even more impact.

"This is one of the most exciting times to be alive in all of human history. It is exploding with opportunity, yet marred by inequality, insecurity, and clear unsustainability."

.......Bill Clinton University of Michigan Spring Commencement April 28, 2007

Labels: Bill Clinton

MORE ABOUT LARRY

Huff-Post:Edward Ugel: Tap, Tap... Lie, Lie, Lie

This just about says it all.

Good job.

Labels: gay politics, politics

FLARING JOWLS

The Rude Pundit weighs in on Fred Thompson, an easy target.

9/06/2007
Make Room For Fred Thompson's Saggy Jowls:
In a move more inexplicable and crazily egomaniacal than Rudy Giuliani running for President, Watergate stooge, lobbyist for hire, intensely mediocre actor, and even more intensely mediocre former Senator Fred Thompson has tossed his hat into the Republican ring. Thompson's qualifications seem to be jowls and a hot wife who adores plastic surgery. Oh, and in In the Line of Fire, he was a prick to Clint Eastwood.

But, in case Thompson's looking for lines to use in his ads, which no doubt will have all kinds of patriotic music and use of his sonorous Foghorn-Leghorn-on-Tylox voice and talk about how gen-you-ine Thompson is because he's a millionaire from Tennessee as opposed to being a millionaire from, you know, New York or Arkansas, here's a few quotes from a review of one of his epic performances:

"Beautiful, big, strong, majestic...truly an absolutely amazing animal. See how he whinnies furiously and rears up in rage, the whipping of his ebon tail and the trashing of his hooves, the flaring of his nostrils and the glare of his eyes. When he gallops, just listen to the mighty beating of his hooves, you may even feel his hot breath at the back of your neck. Absolutely gorgeous! When this ruthless monster rears his handsome head, you’d better run for cover, coz he’s the boss of his very own gang of fearsome stallions, each one of them professional racers, bred to compete" - from a review of Racing Stripes, where Thompson was the voice of the evil horse Sir Trenton

Labels: politics

NOW YOU DON'T

This neat bit of observation psychology through Andrew Sullivan:

Went by me.

Labels: psychology

WHEEEEEEWW

We are out of it.

The two, three weeks of heat and (gasp) humidity are over.

This morning it was a dry 72 and we had the house for the first time in, well, two, three weeks!

I hate sleeping in air.

The high pressure that has hovered and the hurricane remnants that have intruded are outta here and the cool blast of a northern jet stream are upon us.

We had a really mild summer until these last weeks.

It is like late February back east.

I just get to the point where I think that enough is enough.

I stay with it; bow my back and put my head down but it is not very pleasant.

Even the endorphin flow doesn't quite get over it.

So it is Autumn!

And will be so for a protracted period.

We will stay in the 70-90 pattern from now until Winter. Sometime in mid-December or early January.

Spring in February.

Labels: seasons, weather

HILL IN OHIO

This is interesting.

In head-to-head matchups, Ohio voters said they favored Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, over former New York mayor Giuliani, 47 percent to 40 percent. The same candidates were tied in an Aug. 8 poll by Quinnipiac University. In other matchups, the latest poll found that Clinton topped Arizona Sen. McCain, 46 percent to 41 percent; and she also beat former Tennessee Sen. Thompson, 49 percent to 37 percent. The poll also found that Clinton's lead over Illinois Sen. Obama remains strong in the Democratic primary race. The Republican primary race is more muddled, with Giuliani still on top at 21 percent, followed by Thompson at 15 percent..................AP on Yahoo this morning.

So Clinton beats them all in Ohio.

Gotta win in Ohio, they say.

Not bad.

I gotta say that she is looking better and better to me as time goes on.

Perhaps that is because her nomination seems inevitable and I ought to get behind her.

But actually, it means that they are all good and I am not attracted to the rest of them.

Obama still seems callow to me and vague on the specifics of anything.

Too Gee Whiz.

He is the Democrats' Mitt Romney.

No on Edwards and am I the only one who finds the wife annoying?

The other way that I can tell that I am coming toward Hillary is that I get defensive whenever I see anything written or said against her and get happy when she gets supported.

For example, I am always dismayed when Andrew Sullivan does one of his ad hominem rants on her (is it ad hominem for a man or a lady?) and felt great elation the other day when he admired her clarity on Iraq and what has to be done.

I had heard her do this on, of all places, the Letterman show and I was impressed as well.

She was also funny doing the top ten list; her campaign promises.

She is developing a sense of humor.

She also looked good with Ellen.

Labels: hillary

GAY RIGHTS

I am glad to see Sen. Larry Craig make a comeback.

Not so much over the gay issues.

More to smoke out the hypocrisy of the Senate leadership in dealing with his situation.

Sen. Vitter who got his name in the DC Madam's book didn't get half the shit that Craig is getting.

But even more interesting is that this story has such strong legs.

It is going to mess up the news cycle for Fred Thompson and maybe even the smooth talking Petraeus and his oppo PR campaign.

And all on the GOoPers doorstep.

Labels: criminal morons

DEATH TRAPS

I have a life long rule.

Do not go to a hospital.

Explore every possible alternative including maiming and death before you do it.

Coupled with that is the redundant sounding second rule.

Do not have surgery for anything if there is any alternative at all. Any. Even suffering pain during a period of unaided physical recovery.

The latter is not redundant because so many surgeons are working outside the hospital these days.

There is a third one which is a little harder to parse but it involves no invasive diagnostic 'procedures' unless there is a logical and clear need.

For example, no colonoscopies unless there is a prior negative rectal bleeding test.

Here is the reason:

Hospital Error

Now, I know that I go against the grain on this but I am also, somewhat, in sync with another truism about today's health care system.

Hospital and private procedures are, for the most part, unnecessary ways for docs to get income in a declining payment climate.

Government and insurance companies are squeezing the docs so they make it up with unneeded procedures.

This is not paranoia.

An article in the LAT the other day talked about how Blue Cross is cutting payments yet again and how more procedures is the only solution for docs to maintain income.

I believe it.

Look.

We have a very conservative doc who doesn't over prescribe and has little incentive to squeeze the system.

He works alone in a low overhead business (he is right next to my dentist who does the same thing) and he doesn't believe in doing a lot of stuff just to do it.

He listens to me when I tell him how I feel.

Now, if I came up with blood in my bowel or a mole that kept increasing I would go get the thing handled. But not as a pre-emptive or prophylactic step.

It is too much like panning for gold.

Recognize that once you are on the treadmill, they won't let you off.

Diagnostics will always lead to some treatment whether it is needed or not.

Take responsibility for your own care.

Well, you do what you want.

That is my advice to myself.

Labels: health

I was biking this morning and about to cross the Bogert bridge.

There was a big dust cloud coming at me and I looked down into the dry wash.

The riders from the Smoke Tree Stable come up this way as they ride to the Indian Canyons.

I saw a horse skittering and a guy on his hands and knees in the sand.

Someone got thrown.

The guide had turned around, got the skittering horse and slowly rode to where the guy was still shaking the stars out.

Calm.

No panic.

The other riders didn't seem to be bothered.

We used to go riding at that stable.

We took grandchildren.

Then one year a kid (not ours, not on our trip) got badly injured when a horse threw him and stomped him as feral dogs came running at them.

That was enough for me.

No more riding.

We had a great time for as long as we did it though.

We had a guide who was an original.

He had all the earmarks of a saddle weary cowpoke.

He had lots of stories. Some, we could catch the exaggerations but it didn't matter.

He was a great guy and taught us a lot. Mostly by example. Mostly by doing.

I remember that we once went up a trail that seemed benign and the next thing I knew he was taking a left along a high trail that looked down over the wash.

Very high.

I got over my fear of heights on a horse.

Another time we just went in a field and wandered around in circles getting used to different rhythms.

It is one of those things that I do because I want to try it and then, once I have a good feel for the experience and no love for it, I just drop it an move on.

The stomping just precipitated the inevitable.

Oh.

The rest of the story.

Today's thrown rider.

I was on the bridge which is narrow and there is no place to stop really so I just kept riding and did my circuit.

Maybe five minutes. No more. Maybe less.

When I came back there were no horses or riders to be seen.

In either direction.

The guy must have gotten back on the horse (as 'they' say you should) and life went on.

I don't think he got stomped.

I suppose that I should also mention that in the 'old' days, under the bridge, visible only from a horse, was an owls' nest which we would stop and look at every ride.

I wonder if the owl family is still there.

Labels: life, nature

READ ALONG WITH ME

I read a lot and I don't tell the blog about all of it.

Some of it is just escapist crap (but good escapist crap). Some is compulsive. All of Ward Just's work, for example.

David Mitchell, the same.

Bernard Cornwell.

I just know other people don't want to do that routine. Or hear about it either.

But this is an exception.

I have started William Gibson's new novel Spook Country and it is so good after the first hundred pages that I want you to promise me that you will go right out or go to Amazon or any book site and order this book.

It is in hard cover but you will get a discount.

It entered the NYT Best Seller list at Number 5 this week.

I never read anything that gets on the best seller lists but there are many many Gibson fans.

I have read all he has written.

This one is based on the present and it is more creepy, funny, exciting than the ones written in some dystopian future.

Optimistic dystopianism.

It is the dystopian now.

Post 9-11 but it doesn't wear that on its sleeve.

It is so good.

I have never reviewed a book before I finished it.

Labels: books

FARCE WITH AN EDGE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Jean Renoir's

La Règle du jeu / Rules of the Game (1939)

This nearly lost (the masters were destroyed in WWII) masterpiece of cinematography is restored by Criterion.

It is not easy to cuddle up to.

First, it is farce on French terms. We are not in that culture.

Second, it is farce based on life in France just prior to WWII so it is really social comment with a slice of propaganda from another time and place.

It is still enjoyable at a certain level but it has timed out.

The cinematography, however, is a smash.

There are a lot of stunning long hallway shots and off-in-the-distance scenes particularly on the obligatory hall of doors (which open and close with people careening in and out).

And other stuff like that.

There is enough to stay amused with it.

Ebert's review at the link gives a lot more background.

I was happy to see it and to check it off as a bow to cinema history but I won't be stopping again any time soon.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 for historic value. Like a bit of good medicine for appreciation of the art.

Labels: best films

AND ALL THAT JAZZ

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Round Midnight (1986)

This is the story of the jazz guys who went to France to live and play in the sixties.

Dexter Gordon is astounding as the famous (fictional) musician, Dale Turner.

His performance is so non-theatrical and yet right on the mark.

No actor could have played it this way.

The story is about a friendship between this man and a younger french artist who is inspired by the sax player and whose career rises as the older man declines.

There is a lot of jazz played in this film, all of it real time real.

Herbie Hancock wrote all the original stuff and did the arrangements.

Of course, no one really writes for Dexter Gordon but the framework is there.

The Parisian milieu is strikingly portrayed by the camera and lighting.

This is a once in a lifetime kind of picture. Nothing else I have ever seen about jazz even approaches the quality of this film.

Even the opening musical bars have meaning.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

GETTING HIGH

Today's movie was

High School Musical (2006)

which was actually a teevee show but is now a disc phenom with a sequel for television and a third version coming up as a feature film.

I kept reading about it and figured I should check it out.

I am glad that I did.

The word "nice" comes up when I think of it. Even the bad kids aren't that bad.

They have managed to marry current pop music tropes with the classical musical comedy framework.

The cast is charming. The plot thin but tense enough to give the finale a thrill. The romance is very G-rated and cute.

If this is all the rage of kids 'everywhere' or even has modest popularity I would say that there is reason for optimism about our youth.

Very engaging.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and we will get "2" when it comes out.

Labels: films

DELISTED

I have a box in the email where I put all the codes and passwords and user names that come along when I use the web.

I would like to use the same monikers for all the sites but some want 6 figure passwords, others 8, some with letters and numbers mixed and so on.

Hard to remember.

The other day I was trying to find the username and password for blogger because every once in a while they close the gates and make you start over.

I had a hard time finding the file because there were so many items in the box.

I decided to clean it out.

Whew. There was a lot of junk in there.

Goes back for a few years.

Pacer. What the hell is Pacer. Out.

Yahoo photos. I used it once to get in and see someones slide show. Out.

The Nation and New Republic. Done with them.

Atlantic. I get the magazine.

John Kerry. Howard Dean. Richardson. Over. I never tuned into Al Gore.

Paypal. I have been permanently barred because I wouldn't sign their agreement once. Then when I tried to get in they sent me a notice that someone unauthorized was trying to get into the site. I gave up. They are redundant anyway.

Google mail. I tried it once. No thanks. Clunky.

No more WSJ.

Classmates. What a mistake that was. I had to hide to get away from them.

My whole cyberhistory flashes before my eyes.

Who needs junk mail when I have so much of my own!

It is time to clear the cookies out too. I do that once every couple of months.

Clean the closet.

Labels: computer

QUIET MENACE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Roman Polanski's

Rosemary's Baby (1968).

No special effects. No groaning and moaning. Only the tick of a clock. The occasional bump. And before we know it, the devil is screwing Mia Farrow while the local coven looks on.

Then normal again.

A dream? Is Farrow a little nuts? Polanski keeps the pressure on throughout.

John Cassavettes, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, Sydney Blackmer, Maurice Evans and a host (coven) of great character actors show up including Patsy Kelly.

And, oh yes, the Dakota in New York City.

I will give this classic a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films

DISORGANIZED LABOR

I approach Labor Day as one of those non-holiday type events that give the working man and woman a day off and me a day without postal service.

But I do have to admit to a history in the union movement.

When I was a kid, I worked for A&P and was therefore an involuntary member of the Retail Clerks International Union .

I never went to meetings. I never was in on any labor action.

I did pay dues and I did get a newsletter.

I remember that the company carried out a campaign of disinformation about the union. Principally, that it was affiliated with the Teamsters who were going through a period of negative publicity. Well, they have always been in that period.

This was not true however. No Teamsters.

Somehow, despite my inactivity, my affiliation stuck with me. I have always regarded myself as a union member even though I only paid dues for about two years.

I think that I recognized early on that A&P did not have my interests at heart but the Union did.

Years later, my Dad, who had been an A&P manager for 40 some years had a moment of clarity and told them to shove their manager job. He joined the Union and became a Union Steward!

Heresy!

They were his happiest years with the company.

More positive reinforcement.

This early experience influenced my politics life-long.

Sadly, I think that even the unions have forgotten the significance of the holiday.

I am in the memory chain that includes adults who had been exploited as child laborers.

I have been up close and personal with migrant workers in the south when I worked for another food chain. These were our underpaid factory workers.

I saw sweatshops even when I was living in Boston.

Unions are still an important force for social good.

The bush years and the plutocratic movement have seen to that.

Without a union, workers are basically fucked.

Yes, I know. Unions evolved into bloated, corrupt bureaucracies.

But the worm is turning.

We will see what we shall see.

Labels: coming of age, politics

WHAT I SAW TUESDAY AM

This is big. You will have to scroll right.

I didn't take the picture.

See here for detail:

Kalamalka Lake Eclipse

Labels: nature