Monday, December 31, 2007
CELEBRATION!!
It is New Years Eve and John has gone off to a movie and a meeting after that.
Franklin and I are staying home and I will have a frozen lasagne with salad for dinner.
When John gets home Franklin and I will be in or on our way to bed.
8 PM PST.
Before the new multicolored (is nothing sacred?) ball drops in Times Square.
Tomorrow we will have a no mail day again.
No gym
So we will compensate by actually going to a real movie theater to see the Depper sing in Sweeney Todd.
I am willing to put up with the popcorn stink, kids crying, people talking as well as ads and trailers to see this movie.
I imagine that it will do me in to put up with all this shit but nevertheless I am determined to see Johnny sing in this wonderful Sondheim musical.
Yes, I know it has been altered. I understand that Sondheim approved it all.
I know it is bloody.
But I prepped today by seeing the Johnny To film (see below).
Then we will come home for a walk with Franklin.
When that is over we will go off to an open house featuring chili as a nostalgic tip of the hat to cold New Years Days back east when hot chili was a really good idea as you suffered the coldness.
We are having high 60s and a lot of sun here for the weekend.
This has, perhaps, been the coolest winter that we have had since we moved here ten years ago. Eleven almost.
It is OK. We haven't had a foot of snow, a wind chill of zero or anything like it.
It is a good start to a new year.
And it is just another day.
Without mail.
Labels: holidays
Sunday, December 30, 2007
GUNNED DOWN
I wanted to see a Hong Kong shoot-em-up by Johnny To and I did.
It was today's movie
It is a spaghetti western kung fu picture with guns instead of swords and shit.
The production values and artistic level of this production are very high.
The story and situations are primitive to say the least.
It was great fun to watch and not take seriously.
The gun play is balletic but no one flies which is a good thing.
There is one innovation; a red mist puffs out around each wounded victim when they are hit by a bullet. This is both realistic (I am told) and helpful to keep track of who's getting wasted when a dozen guys are shooting at each other.
I don't know why people get all upset at the violence in our own films here in the good old US of A.
Look at these Asians cut the rug!
I was going to look at two more of his films but sent them back. I figured I had seen the whole deal. I liked it and I don't want to see it again.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5.
GOODNESS
Today's movie was
Cama adentro (inside bed) / Live In Maid (2004)
This Argentinian film is about goodness.
Two women bound by class and caste find that they can have a life together with some equality and understanding.
The review says it is about a marriage. Pretty good.
You can see where it is going. It is very quiet
But each moment is filled with meaning and importance.
Carefully observed lives.
I enjoyed it very much. The acting is superb.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
TRIAGE
I could vote for any of the three; Clinton, Obama, Edwards.
And I think that when it comes time to decide, I will get my vote in and it will count.
The first time in many decades.
It has always been decided before it got to me.
Well, not always. A long time.
I don't think that the early ones are going to change things.
Even if Obama or Edwards gets Iowa and/or New Hampshire, Clinton holds such a national lead that it will be hard for an early winner to claim victory.
On the other hand, if Obama or Edwards win both, it might be a decisive factor.
But I don't really think so.
I am not at all interested in the back of the pack.
I assume that some will not make it out of this scrum.
They might throw their support to one of the main three but I do not think that it will matter much one way or another.
I think that we will get to decide it. February 5th.
Watch the teevee. You will see me vote the winner.
RAPPED OUT
Rap music is an oxymoron.
There is nothing musical about it.
Loud and profane, soaked in violent and hate filled images with no redeeming social or artistic value, the rap phenom took over the music business in a particularly sad way.
For black kids and young adults, it perpetuates the ghetto.
A whole generation of pimpled white boys in backward baseball caps have lost their ability to hear or appreciate a tune.
And so on.
You don't want to know any more about what I think of this awful pop-culture genré, this blot on society.
But, there is good news in the NYTimes today.
"Sales are down all over, but hip-hop has been hit particularly hard. Rap sales slid fell 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and that trend seems to be continuing. It’s the inevitable aftermath, perhaps, of the genre’s vertiginous rise in the 1990s, during which a series of breakout stars — Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G. — figured out that they could sell millions without shaving off their rough edges. By 1997 the ubiquity of Puff Daddy helped cement hip-hop’s new image: the rapper as tycoon. Like all pop-music trends, like all economic booms, this one couldn’t last."They also started killing each other off.
The chickens are coming home to roost.
Labels: culture
IT'S THE COVERUP STUPID!
It boggles my mind that decades after Watergate, the pols and bureaucrats don't get this simple idea.
Now look at this spectacle.
Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image
They not only made the tapes secretly to stay out of trouble, they destroyed them for the same reason.
The funny thing is that most other intelligence services (Israel, Great Britain, France) routinely tape interrogations to learn what works (good cop bad cop) and what does not (torture and waterboarding).
Everything is available for research.
The morons who run our country still do not get the most simple idea of openness.
And, they seem addicted to violence.
Land of the free, home of the brave.
Labels: criminal morons
Saturday, December 29, 2007
REVOLUTION?
Today's movie was the light-weight Romanian farce
A fost sau n-a fost? / The 12:08 To Bucharest
It is so light weight as to float off the screen but it is still very funny. And serious.
The second half is a call-in panel show about the revolution that occurred 18 years before.
The first half is about the mundane lives of the panelists pre-show time.
The validity of eye witness history is engaged.
Who was there? Who was there first? How were they there?
And does any of this mean anything at all?
There is a neat analogy for a revolution and how it works.
There are other funny bits.
You don't have to Romanian or Eastern European to get it.
I am glad that I saw it.
It is a curiosity as well as a neat skewering of the pomposity built into a talking head show.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
ETERNALLY ROSED
Talking about the weather reminds me of the rose bushes which are flourishing.
Normally at this time we would be cutting them back for their spring rush in February but they are all abloom and abud.
I can't figure it out.
Perhaps the intersection of the bush's age—2.5 years—a peak time and the peculiar warm day/cold night weather we have been having all December.
Global warming?
Certainly not the demise of the bush administration just around the corner.
Something.
They are gorgeous.
My photos of flowers never really come out but I will show you anyway.
There are a lot of people around here who have roses year 'round.
I have never had this until now.
We will see.
Labels: horticulture
ALMOST FREEZING
Last night was the second night of 'freeze anxiety'.
Our water pipes go across the roof and down rather than through the slab an up.
They used to go through the slab and up but then leaks developed and so they went up and down.
This is the desert. We hardly ever get any frost. So the roof dodge works.
It sure beats the alternative of digging the slab up and relaying pipes. The errant leak(s) would never be found although there are many people here who are Leak Doctors or Leak Detectors.
They still dig up the slab but now they do it with a title. Make it look official. "It's OK. I am a Doctor".
Anyway, as long as there is no frost, the roof route is no problem.
Well, except in summer when the water out of the tap is hot until it clears of the roof pipe and starts to come direct from the ground.
When we have any threat of frost we get nervous. And for good reason.
Last year we didn't get nervous enough and the two lines to the back of the house froze.
Leaks.
Rotorooter plumbing—which is very good but expensive.
So, these cold nights (38-40F) I am running the faucets whenever I get up.
Which is often.
I never thought of a lot of night peeing as an advantage.
The weather is going to warm up tomorrow.
This may be the end of it. Tonight a little worry and then none for as far as they can see.
Last year the cold spell came in January. Maybe we are getting that now.
And we will have an early spring.
Late January?
Labels: life
Thursday, December 27, 2007
ROCK SOLID
I am in my second week at the gym.
There are a lot of good things about it. The old friends are there. I am back in harness on the weights. The cardio machines are superb.
Some annoyances; mostly the incessant blare of the music video.
It is not as loud as when I left but it is intrusive.
"OK", I thought. "I can get off on watching old favorites while I do the cardio. A half hour of Classic Rock".
Good enough for the first week.
This week I realize that the idiots have programmed it for the same songs at the same time on the same day.
The cycle repeats itself on a weekly basis right on the same hour for hour program.
That means that anyone who goes to the gym at roughly the same time every day, every week—practically everyone—will see the same songs over and over.
I am not sure that it is perfectly true. It will take another week to be sure.
How idiotic.
Should I write a letter?
BHUTTO
So they killed her.
There goes the bushie hope for more democracy in the world. He picked the wrong allies.
I was shocked but not surprised by the assassination.
I have been interested in Bhutto since she went to Radcliffe College and caused a stir in the Cambridge/Boston world. Phi Beta Kappa—1969-1973—Government.
She was the bright and articulate daughter of a popular Pakistani leader. A member of a venerable political family.
Here she is in 1976 when she began as an adviser to her father.
Later she took over from her dad.
She was dogged by corruption and other charges to say nothing of all forms of palace intrigue.
It is still in my mind for some reason. That young woman in the news then. Fresh and probably terribly naive.
I wondered how and why she had come back to her country when she was obviously in so much danger there.
To be a martyr?
Labels: politics
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
THROTTLED
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Hitchcock's
with Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright.
It is somewhere in Hitchcock's middle period. And, in a way, is atypical.
There is an innocent caught up with evil but the evil this time is in a nice conventional small town with a nice conventional family.
The machinery does creak a little and I am sure that it was scarier then than it is now because the settings are outdated and not familiar and safe.
On the other hand, Hitchcock's thing has never been so much fright as dread and anxiety. A foreboding.
He carries this off in every way. The camera tilts a bit and the shadows become more pronounced when evil wanders into the picture.
The musical score also plays a great part of it but is totally subliminal. You are seldom aware of it except when he wants you to hear it loud and clear but it always is working on us.
Cotten is a very convincing psycho and Wright makes for a slightly smart ingenue who 'knows' that everything is not OK with her uncle.
There are some nice parts for Henry Travers, McDonald Carey and Hume Cronyn.
I enjoyed it.
I will give it a good average 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
BREAKING THE RULE
I have these movie rules: no sequels, no film of a book I have read, (and no book of a film I have seen) and no remakes.
Every once in a while I have to test a rule or try to find an exception.
Exceptions are rare.
Take today. I tried out the sequel rule.
I tried to stay with High School Musical 2.
We enjoyed the first one. It was not great art but we enjoyed its spirit and its old fashioned musical verve.
The sequel is painful.
A great opening with a leaden plot.
We left it at about half way.
I won't bother you with any more comments.
We had fun for awhile and I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5 for the spirited opening.
GIFTS
What a nice gift in the NYT this morning.
A very short story by Roddy Doyle.
Brilliant.
Labels: holidays
YOU GOT A LIGHT?
The other thing we did last night (a tradition) is to pile into the Cherokee and run around town looking at holiday lights.
Franklin doesn't get it.
He thinks that each slowdown means an arrival and then we just speed up again.
Growl. Rumble. Whine.
But he finally settles even though he thinks it is insane to do this and we all end up happy. More or less.
The last stop is the over-the-top house for Palm Springs.
Every city has one.
This one gets bigger every year and is just too much.
I don't think that I want to see it again.
You can't even see the house.
Each in his own way I guess.
We came home through the 'village' and saw the beautifully old fashioned comet stars all lined up for a mile or more on each palm and post.
And that is enough.
We got home lit up enough to carry us through another year.
Franklin got out of the Jeep and made a mad dash down the side drive after something. Disobeying the rules. All that pent up energy.
Then he runs back to the house, past John and me (to avoid recrimination) and then stands there waiting for us inside the door. A welcoming presence.
"Where did you guys go?"
Labels: holidays
HE GOT HERE
I followed the NORAD Santa (see below) for awhile last night but quit when he was in Ohio.
It was mesmerizing somehow.
First thing this morning I checked in to see that he had completed his 'mission' and there was a package right over Palm Springs.
Everyone likes to visit Palm Springs!
He was here and we missed seeing him.
But that is the deal with Santa isn't it.
He ate my cookies, he left tracks in the snow. When I had my own kids he rang sleighbells and made shuffling sounds.
These days, it is just a package on a computer screen.
But we know he was here. We can see the signs.
Merry Christmas.
Labels: holidays
Monday, December 24, 2007
TRACKING SANTA
Christmas is not complete without the intrepid tracking system developed by NORAD.
NORAD Tracks SantaThis year they have the assistance of Google Earth.
Don't miss it.
What is NORAD?
Check it out. They have been in my life since the end of WWII.
I once toured one of their bunkers and that was in the old days. Quite impressive.
I looked at the North Pole while I was at it but it was in the summer.
Incidentally, you might want to look at a number of the video records. They are all different.
Mt. Fuji measures his speed.
Labels: holidays
MOON 'N MARS
I got John up to see the sky this morning about 5AM.
In case you missed it, here is the view.
This is not my photo. I found it at APOD.
We had to see it just before it went behind our mountains.
Labels: APOD
KUMBAYA
Kevin Drum is as skeptical as I am about Obama and his talk of hope and unity and all.
He also gives some perspective to the real politik of Hillary Clinton.
Nice short piece.
I, at least, am consistent.
I couldn't stand the political schtick of the listed candidates. No more James Earl please.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
Sunday, December 23, 2007
GEEZERS
When I was a kid, I remember going to the houses of 'old people' who didn't have kids.
No lights all over the outside of the house.
No decorations inside either! No candy.
No toys of course.
They didn't have carols playing.
There was often no tree.
Or, if there was one, they had some little bastard version.
It wasn't much fun. A bummer.
Now, we are those 'old people'.
Our house is that house.
We have a lit wreath with tasteful little white lights on the front door.
Some decorations inside but limited.
A big poinsettia (a lovely gift) rather than a tree.
The cards are not displayed all along the mantel so you can see how many we got. They are all in a dull little deer shaped holder thing.
No carols.
No candy. No fruitcake and no cookies. Well, some that a friend brought.
No gifts all beautifully arranged.
It is a pale shadow of holidays past.
We used to decorate a five story house from the top to the bottom. We had a huge open house christmas eve.
Everything was on show especially under the tree. Cards all over. The works.
None of that now. And it is just fine.
Everything has a season and we lived through all of ours.
Now, it is all lightened up. Minimal. The spirit is there but not so much of the material.
I would like to take credit for it all but it just sort of happened.
Part of it is surely that we live in a warm place. No fireside, hot cider, candle warmth needed.
And the rest is that we are simply done with it.
Less is more.
It takes a while to find that out.
DE-ENDORSEMENT
The Concord Times kicks the robotic ass of Mitt Romney.
Romney Should Not Be the Next President
Has any paper ever done this? I am sure so.
But it is sure nice to see in the case of this plastic asshole.
He isn't even realistic in that respect.
All fake all the time.
Labels: republican whack jobs
TOP RATTED FILM
Today's film, too late to be on the 2004 NYTimes Best 1176 Film list, was
but I have no doubt it would be included.
It is the best animated film that I have seen. I think.
The story is complex yet satisfying. Maybe they are figuring out that the two things work together! People have a brain.
The whole cooking thing appeals. They do it right. Any good cook can see it.
The people behind the rats are great and, while there are no stars per se, there are some good solid veterans on the scene to give some gravity. Ian Holm is the evil chef and Peter O'toole the dreaded and not so dreadful food critic. Janeane Garofalo is the love interest and Brian Dennehy is the loving father (Django--the rats are sort of like gypsies) that our little rat must rebel against to get where he needs to go.
I like the many value themes such as 'tell the truth', 'be true to yourself', 'don't rat on a friend' and so on.
I believe that this kind of thing works wonders on kids and adults in a world where the fast buck and the cutting of ethical corners seems to rule.
I enjoyed it a lot with the sort of mild anxiety with which always seems to attend the viewing of an animated film.
I am not sure where it comes from. Sweaty palms and all. Perhaps from my first animated features which scared the shit out of me. I was always dragged to them before I was old enough to not be frightened.
Actually I think that this one has a limited amount of that kind of fear built in. There are many dilemmas but they are not prolonged and they work realistically. There is no magical thinking about it.
The principles take personal responsibility and solve their own problems saving blame for the few villains involved who do get theirs' when the appropriate time comes.
I will happily give this one a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films, film, films
HABEUS WHAT?
One more reason to be grateful that Harry Truman was president when all this came down.
Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950
It was bad enough as it was.
Eisenhower wasn't having any either. Gotta tip my hat to the bald man.
I lived through this. I was in high school.
We were learning to duck and cover. People were scared shitless.
My Dad wasn't very worried. We never did the bomb shelter thing. He laughed about it.
He had a strong idea of the American spirit.
I still have it.
I am not afraid of the terrorists either.
But I am afraid of our own fear and the power driven people who would exploit it for their own power.
Take a look at 'the skull', Chertoff. Tell me if you aren't scared of this guy.
Trading on fear to gain power.
Be afraid but be afraid of the ones who are in the tent with you.
Keep the fire stoked up outside the door.
The ogres out on the other side of the fire will kill themselves off or just go away.
The worst terrorism is local.
Labels: terrorism
Saturday, December 22, 2007
HATE 101
Today's film was
Against the backdrop of the Falklands' War and Thatcher's administration in Great Britain, a boy grows up alone at school and fatherless then meets some Skinheads.
At the time, they are a benign group of social outsiders, a timeless film theme. Rebels without a cause.
Here, the Skins get taken over by racist leaders and the game of being an outsider becomes one of finding other outsiders to hate. A way to become an insider again.
Newsreel footage of the war bracket the story which is really an anti-coming of age tale.
A false start and a new beginning.
The kid is great. So is the racist ex-con gang leader who takes over.
The film is relentless. It looks a lot like the news footage that shows us the war. Washed colors, handheld, I am pretty sure it is digital.
I can't say that I liked it as it was an uncomfortable ride. It is a 'tract-film' with a definite social message.
I already have the message but it does not hurt to have it reinforced.
It is not just about Great Britain. It is also about any country that diverts itself with war adventures in the midst of its own serious social problems.
The home front gets worse.
Sound familiar?
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Friday, December 21, 2007
DOOR TO DOOR
The doorbell rang and I went to see what was up.
We don't get much in the way of unexpected door traffic.
We are off the main way of a minor street which is sort of landlocked.
It is not a normal path for the door to door people.
But there he was.
A happy warrior, glad to see me, ready with a quick comment about the 'nice dog' and some other banter that went by me.
I asked him what was up?
He wanted to know if we had a house cleaner.
I said we were all set. Mari had been there that day.
"No—a house cleaner".
I noticed he had a spray bottle in his hand.
I told him I wasn't interested.
He looked down at the tile walkway and said "look at this" while he aimed the fucking bottle at the tile.
I yelled "stop!"
"Don't you spray anything"!
I think I scared him.
He looked like he was about to run. An act? Dunno.
I told him that I wasn't interested in buying anything. Never door to door. Nothing.
And I didn't want him spraying his chemicals on anything either.
He just gawked.
I can get dramatic.
Then he said something like "I'm sorry you are having a bad day" and turned tail.
One of my neighbors has a plaque near his bell and on his front gate: "No solictors, no salespeople, no religions"
John won't let me get one.
So I guess it will continue to be me that has to run them off.
The religionists (usually the 7th Day Adventists) are easy. I tell them that I am queer and not qualified to join their congregation.
If that doesn't do it, and sometimes it does not, I say that we are queer atheists and have no desire to change.
Sometimes, the word "homosexual" has a better toxic effect on them.
I almost always thank them for stopping by.
The solicitors are pretty easy to say no to. They are often the fake students who push the magazine subscriptions or some other obvious ploy.
A "no" almost always suffices. If they persist, I tell them that we never give money at the door—to send us a letter.
I often wonder what it is like, the door to door life.
I remember as a kid that I went around the two streets I lived near and sold christmas cards to get some prize or other.
I also went door to door for donations.
But these were neighbors.
I had been there for trick or treat, I shoveled some of their walks, I was a known quantity.
This coming up to strangers is not something I would be able to do.
On the other hand, I do like the anonymity of it.
I did campaign for office back when I ran for Town Meeting Moderator in Plymouth, MA.
But it wasn't door to door.
Maybe it is the door part. The privacy of the home.
I don't know. But on this side of the door no one gets past the gate. No one gets a yes.
Ever.
Labels: life
SPIRIT
Today's film was Michael Apted's
This is the story of the abolition of slavery in England (and hence the world) through the life story of William Wilberforce.
It is an old fashioned movie in many ways, sumptuously told.
The entire cast is focused and brilliant. Ioan Gruffudd is Wilberforce. Albert Finney and Michael Gambon are especially fine in small but critical roles.
The whole thing is quite moving.
I can not discuss this in any effective way without somehow diminishing the experience of seeing it.
The impact comes from all sides of the enterprise.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
HANG ON
Tonight at 10:08 PST we will be at the maximum tip for the winter solstice.
The darkest day.
That means that slowly and surely the days will get longer again.
Less of a concern now that I am back in the gym but still.
I am leaving the house around 4AM each day.
It isn't ever going to get light at that time.
Labels: nature
Thursday, December 20, 2007
IN SINK
There is lip synching and then there is lip sinking.
This spoof is hilarious.
I hope it isn't too gay or anything.
Labels: music
SORE
I am into the fourth day of my new gym regimen.
It is actually my old gym regimen brought back to life.
I am using the on line trainer at Gym America which is the same software that I was using at Mens Health (now a really lousy Good Housekeeping for men--hetero sex hints, abs obsessions and tabloid level articles without the aliens).
So, I am at Gym America.
Where was I? Oh yes. The gym.
Well, it is the same only different.
The equipment is in great shape.
Many of the people are the same. My friend Joe is still holding court.
A few have died in the 2-3 years I was away—a really old guy and a couple of steroid users. Don't they get that it will get you?
I have settled into a workout routine. Thirty minutes on the elliptical or the bike. Thirty minutes at the weights.
I am OK on the cardio work. I am getting to relearn all the settings. The seat. The program. The heart rate.
And I get to watch video.
Classic music (The Stones, Hall and Oates, and so on. Some of the older guys shown as they are today). And then some shit on TNT. I don't even bother watching.
CNN is not the CNN that I left. There is no news there.
This morning I saw the marooned family emerge from the north California forest three times, Dr. Gupta and useless medical hints 2 times, Rudy with flu symptoms countless times. Little else.
There was no business or world news. There were no serious headlines. There was nothing but pap. Pure pap but pap nonetheless. And smiling. I have to mention smiling.
I had heard that this was the case but I had not seen it.
It makes me sore that we have come so far from a central ethic or truth. This is the mainstream. It sucks.
Sore.
Oh. Yes.
Muscle sore.
Not too too bad really.
It is general but not too bad.
When I went on the etrainer program I did pushups for them. I won't tell you how many.
So they know more or less how slack my upper body is.
They are treating me gently ever mindful of the negative training effect. All pain and we don't go back.
I like it.
I am glad to be back inside.
I have not missed the bike so far.
All is well with the world.
Labels: gym, health, television
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
UNPROGRESSIVE
Paul Krugman doesn't much like Obama.
Krugman Ramps Up Case Against Obama
And I don't either.
THE WRITE STUFF
Today's film was the documentary
This is an enjoyable graphic feast. The photography is outstanding.
I learned a lot without thinking about learning which is what graphic design is all about.
It has some history of the ubiquitous typeface and a good rundown of why it works.
Contrary views are aired.
It is a very nice film.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
I do not watch enough documentary work.
Labels: film
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
SWEENEY TODD
I am so ready to see this.
I might even go to a regular movie theater to see it.
It is one of Sondheim's best musicals.
And everyone does their own singing.
Burton Reinvents the Movie Musical
Johnny Depp is coming into his full powers as an actor. He and Burton make fabulous partners.
THE TOOTH FAIRY
I went to my new dentist today. Recommended by my MD.
There was 'trouble' in the changeover to the DMD or DDS approved by my ex.
It was like stepping into the 21st Century!
Panorama digital X-rays. Computerized records. A thriving job shop of dentist and technicians.
A factory of dental apparatus and procedures.
An assembly line.
An all stop shop.
They do everything but braces. No going outside.
Culture shock.
And a shock to the realities of my own dental condition.
Bad.
I have always been extraordinarily healthy except with the teeth.
They are a source of continued vexation.
I also suppose that I have not always had the best dental care either.
This new guy was not accusatory but he didn't do much to dispel the notion that I have had the equivalent of witch-doctor care.
I emerged with a plan.
He is flexible. Reasonable about the issues of throwing good money after bad.
He pointed out (convincingly) that I will end up with plates (he did not add "if you live long enough") but he reserved this prophecy for the upper set.
The lower set is salvagable if I do certain things. Caps. Shit like that. Bone buildup.
I went today because I had trouble. I had planned on a cleaning and meeting of the minds in February.
An infected tooth had its say and so I went today. Since I am new he had to do the whole thing anyway. Or, rather, they did. A panoply of assistants and technicians.
I liked him when I finally got to him and while it is not unusual to get a lot of upselling from the hygienist I found him very low pressure, professional and even likable. Imagine.
So.
I will go in on January 8 to have the sick tooth out.
Get this.
I will go in the morning for a mold to be taken of the tooth.
I will go back in the afternoon at 300 PM to have the tooth extracted and my partial with the new tooth will be ready to go back in my mouth.
That kind of high tech, factory oriented, consumer centered dentistry.
I am not so sure that I will like the rest of what will come but we agreed that it can all be strung out over time.
I am still thinking that one over.
Oh.
Money.
At market. About the same as John has been paying.
I have had it less expensive, I know, but then it looks like I have been getting down market care no matter how amusing Dentist Mike has been.
End of report.
I am on antiibiotics for the infection and that will settle the thing down in the interim.
Not bad for a dentist who has a huge tooth in front of his office. One of the other reasons I went there.
Monday, December 17, 2007
BROOKS DOES A SULLIVAN
I don't know why conservatives (the good ones) like Obama so much but they really really do.
And David Brooks makes very good points here whereas Sullivan is simply anti-Clinton and will not be reasonable although his Atlantic article was throughly analytical of Obama and balanced than his daily tirades.
I think that Brooks has done the better job and he actually has an impact on my own view.
I agree that the presidency is like a bacterium and that the candidate with the least wounds does the better job.
In my time I have seen the impact of presidents with strong character (FDR and EJC along with HST). But I have seen some who have gotten sick in office and never recovered. (RMN, JEC)
I don't know whether Obama is it or not.
I am still cautious about his readiness.
Nevertheless, I am happy and proud to belong to a party that has not three but, perhaps, five people who would be up to the job (Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson and Dodd).
Choosing among the best is a wonderful opportunity.
Look at the sad choices if you have the misfortune to be registered Republican.
Labels: hillary, obama, politics, Richardson
FUCK COUNT
I didn't mention the spectacular number of times the word 'fuck' was used in The Big Lebowski
Btrgv sent me a YouTube that helps to understand. There are said to be more than 281 of them and that this clip doesn't include them all.
Until a more definitive compilation is available, this will have to hold us.
This is also a nice short version of the film.
FIRST DAY BACK
Today was my first day back at Gold's Gym.
It has been three years, I think.
My buddy Joe is still there. He was glad to see me.
Another guy, Tim, was taking a day off.
The Doc is dead. Two years. He was in his 80's when I was last there.
Today's workout was CV only.
It wasn't hard to keep a heart rate of 120 on the elliptical trainer. 30 Minutes and cool down.
Not a lot has changed. The attendant isn't at the door as usual. Sleeping on the shift.
They still have vandalism and theft in the parking lot. Because the attendant is asleep I suppose.
They have all new equipment. High, high tech.
It is going to change my morning routine for the rest of the stuff I do in the AM but it is just displacement. Change of order.
I had time to feed Franklin, do my morning meditations—reading and sitting—and a cup of apple sauce before I went.
No NYT Headlines.
But I had CNN. They have closed caption.
I am on my way.
I had a good time.
I will go back tomorrow.
It will be a half hour cardio and a half hour of weight work.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
LUDWIG B.
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ludwig, happy birthday to you, da da da DUM!!!!
237 years young.
Labels: music
THE DUDE
Today's film was the Coen Brothers
I don't know how I missed it but I did.
End to end jokes.
Chock full of mystery/thriller/B movie type clichés turned on their heads.
A lot of fun.
Great fantasy/dream shots.
And bowling. How I miss it!
Jeff Bridges holding the fort with John Goodman.
Steve Buscemi of course. It is a Coen film.
Cameos by Ben Gazzara and John Turturro. Sam Elliot.
It is the first movie that I actually liked Juliane Moore. Quite an accomplishment.
A good time was had by all.
There is no plot or, rather, it is all plots thrown into a pot together and somehow they all come out in a single credible (sorta) pile at the end.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
One of these months I am going to order all the Coens' films and see them chronologically end to end.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
HOW INTERESTING!
Or is it HOW INTERESTING?
The Des Moines Register endorsed Clinton and the Boston Globe( for the NH primary) endorsed Obama. Both liberal papers.
A tossup.
But both papers endorsed McCain for the Republican side.
What do endorsements matter?
An old question.
Certainly the Iowa recommendation slows the momentum for Obama some.
In New Hampshire there are all kinds of crossover questions. So many Independents.
They could run to either side to change the dynamic.
But McCain?
Well, liberal newspapers.
But it does point out how hard it is for them to name any GoOPer that is running. It is a definite slam on Romney in both cases. All that money he has spent in Iowa. And the ex-gov in MA.
Rudy is disappearing in sleaze.
Forget Thompson.
The Huckster? No way either paper is going to go for him.
So it is nice for McCain and of all of us, I guess, would hate to see him in there the least.
It is all interesting if not yet heart pounding.
Labels: hillary, obama, politics
SWEET
Saw this on Andrew Sullivan.
The reason that I keep looking at his blog.
He finds neat stuff.
This is Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes.
The video is awesome. It has everybody in it.
Labels: love
THE OTHER SIDE
Actually, I am not sure that it is the other side.
I mean the rationale for torture. Specifically water boarding and stress positions.
Soft torture.
I agree with a good deal of what this guy says.
On the other hand, I don't want shit happening in secret in my name.
If there is to be another set of guidelines then I think that they should not need to be lied about..
Look.
Everyone knows we do this stuff. Everyone knows that 'they' do it too.
There is a line and I don't know where it is.
Do I think that they should be torturing people? No.
Am I glad they did?
Sometimes.
I happen to know that there are instances where a twist of the nuts and a little extended pain led to someone spilling the beans.
What a surprise. An ambiguous moral position in an immoral or amoral world.
This is why I don't write about torture in this blog.
I think that there is a lot of immoral shit that is done and it is not ambiguous. Pollution. Cruelty to kids and pets and adults who are incarcerated—enemy combatants or not. Some politicians. Some parts of the military industrial complex and so on.
It is like they say about pornography. I know it when I see it.
And I don't always see it about torture.
I do see it about the lying about it and when it is simply harassment and stupid besides and without any purpose on people caught up innocently.
All that.
Not clean cut at all.
Labels: criminal morons
LIFE OF THE PARTY
So I went to the party today and it and I were a success.
It was for 12-2 and I got there at 12:30.
I knew 80% of the people there and what is more, I like all of them.
Mutual friends attract mutual friends, huh?
I went around and talked to everyone that I knew and then I got to meet at least 5 that were new to me.
I didn't ever make small talk and neither did any of them.
I met a nice young man who lived in the South End at the same time we did in a house not two blocks away.
They had the signature event--a cake with candles--at 1 PM.
Perfecto. I even got to be present for the high point.
I talked a little more.
I ate and drank nothing.
And then when there were a few others beginning to leave, I was right with them. In the middle of the huddle.
Less than an hour. A good time. Pleasant memories.
Not one cringe moment in the whole time.
Bingo.
Life of the party. No corners and no lampshades on my head. Right down the middle.
Labels: culture, holidays, life, Party
SOCIAL LYIN'
You know.
"I have a commitment that night".
That kind of lie.
Or, if it is an open house and you don't intend to go but no one will really notice, "Sure, thanks a lot".
I used to be an expert at this sort of thing.
I am a committed lifetime introvert.
I carry a membership card.
We take a pledge.
It involves standing in corners and not indulging in small talk ever. And leaving at the earliest possibility.
And those are the rules for if you have to go in the first place. The real emphasis is on creative fabrication of reasons not to attend.
But then,last year, I foolishly went off the reservation I gave my own party. This is actually OK for an introvert to do because you are sorta in charge and it is in your own house so you know where to hide.
The downside was that I had to start accepting some other invites of people who came to my place.
Don't get me wrong.
The rule of thumb pretty much holds that people who come to your party will not invite you to theirs, if any.
But a few will. The committed extroverts.
As a matter of fact, here they are.
And you know that they are all looking at YOU!
Last year I stumbled through more of other people's parties than I wanted to. I had fun at a couple but not in general.
This year I am rationing the invites out.
I will go to two affairs.
One is today and actually marks another milestone more than it does the holiday. I went to the same place last year. I know the layout and the plan. It is an open house.
Lots of leeway for escape and many many corners. Even some trees to hide behind.
Next Saturday we will go to our neighbor's house—the Dads to Franklin's best friend Bruno—for a prolonged buffet and small talk marathon.
I will go for awhile and then disappear.
I have their house cased out and know all the secret exits.
No one who will be there will be surprised at this, if they notice, nor will John have to explain.
That is what is nice about having a reputation. A repeat of last years' behavior is just more or less accepted. And all the closet introverts enviously give mental applause for an escape well carried out.
Labels: culture, holidays, Party
STILL RECREATING
Slowly and surely I am restoring my old computer bookmarks and software.
I think that I am getting down to the end though.
Last night I broke down and bought (again—for the third time) the Delta Tao Eric's Ultimate Solitaire.
I don't use it much but when I want it I need it badly.
So now I got it.
There are a lot of bookmarks that I am not bothering to restore. I haven't thought much about them and the work to bring them back to life didn't seem worth it.
On the other hand, I have also added some new ones that I have discovered through linking through the web.
I really like the new Leopard software.
As usual, I am a slow adopter but when I take the new thing on I really commit to it.
I am earnestly backing up all my stuff this time.
I had a pretty good backup on the PowerBook for critical items like Quicken and some bank reports.
I didn't have a very good backup on bookmarks.
So I am doing some screenshots and sending them on the the PowerBook for file.
Just reporting for those hackers and slackers that are interested in this kind of stuff.
Friday, December 14, 2007
HILLAPHOBIA
Kevin Drum takes on Andrew Sullivan's intense hatred of all things Clinton, with comments.
I have commented on this in the past and will refrain from doing more now.
Labels: republican whack jobs
PRETTY AS A PICTURE
I love the photo of Hillary used below.
It is a sign of the times that she finally has good photos showing up on Google images.
Well, there is one with horns on her head right next to it.
But still.
Labels: hillary
OLD AS THE HILLS
The Obama drug story has legs.
Clinton Rejects Official's Obama Comment
This is just the kind of hardball politics that the Clintons practice.
Get a story out there and then reprimand the guy who did it so that you don't seem to be using so called negative campaigning.
They have used this skillfully for three days or more and kept the Obama/drug thing alive.
Now the progressive wing and the lefty blogosphere hates this sort of "underhanded" tactic. They are embarrassed by any form of assertiveness.
That is why we haven't had any strong Democratic politicians for too long now.
We do not play the traditional game in the tough manner.
I don't like it much myself. I am, after all, a lefty progressive blogger.
But among her many positives, Hillary Clinton knows how to fight and play rough. And I want the Demos to win.
Do any of the supporters of truth and light think the GOoPers will play nice this time?
If they do they are fatally naive.
This is the way that the work is done and it is done in the trenches. It is not traditional Democratic politics. Look at FDR. Look at Truman. And then we got Adlai and the whole thing went into the shitter. Kennedy was a fighter almost. Bobby was all elbows. Then the softies.
The NH guy fell on his sword but you can believe that there is a calculated spin to it. No one put him up to it. Hillary has deniability. No one has even winked or nudged. But they/we know it was a put up job and no mistake. Like I said. It is the way the Clintons and all good politicians operate.
Kerry was always blindsided by this stuff. He was a numbnuts patrician. Even worse.
Wait until Mitt or Huck or Fred or the professional POW gets up there.
They are going to get their asses kicked if Clinton is the nominee.
Notice that I have taken Rudy off my list of possibles.
And my liberal bretheren—they are pissed because she said "now we get to the fun part".
Well, hell YES!
Do the Harry Truman thing to the bastards.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics
8-10 REASONS WHY I AM GLAD I LIVE IN PALM SPRINGS
I know it is none of my business now but this article contains two of the main reasons we are in Palm Springs or someplace, not Boston.
As snow melts, officials look at what went wrong
The first is the obvious—8 to 10 inches of snow in as many hours.
The second is the traffic snarl that resulted—enormous. Not the snarls. The enormous traffic.
We saw this coming.
Boston bigger.
The 'big dig' meant more traffic where it shouldn't be. Unimpeded.
Except by nature or man made catastrophe.
As my Dad once said, "There are just too goddam many people!".
All that money to make it easier for people to get out and drive all over.
Don't get me wrong. It isn't just Boston.
You can see the same problem here.
LA freeways gave everyone the freedom to drive anywhere they wanted until too many people tried to do it and now there is gridlock most daylight hours.
Give us a fire or an accident or anything to impede the flow and there is all hell to pay.
But I loved Boston the way it was.
A sweet walkable quiet city. Especially in the snow!
It is way too big now.
I know.
You can't stop growth.
But we had better figure out a way to do so or we will drown in our own excesses.
ON REFLECTION
I decided (with some prodding from John) that maybe it is time to bring my fitness game back indoors.
It is going to be cold for awhile. The wind chill on the bike is not to happy at 6 in the morning. And there is the continued threat of unknown ice spots waiting out there for me.
Despite my earlier elan, I am a bit shaken by the near catastrophe yesterday (see below). Notice that it has moved up the scale of upset some. I think it took awhile to sink in.
And, I need to get some strength training back.
After a couple years of mostly aerobic exercise, my upper body muscles have become as flaccid as yarn.
So, this morning I signed up for my old on-line trainer program.
This time with Gym America.
It is the same software that I used with Mens Health—Genisant.
I will begin Monday.
I don't know how I will work it yet.
I will be at Golds.
We still have the old 99 dollar a year Lifetime Membership that we got when we moved to the desert ten years ago. We renew every year whether we are going to the gym or not. Keepin' it alive.
I bet they kick themselves everytime we renew. I think it is more like 99 a month now.
Maybe not. The deals change all the time.
Golds was open 24 hours. If they are still doing that, no problem.
If not, I will adjust.
It is time for a change.
It has been suggested that maybe I am too old to be vying with cars and trucks on the highways early in the morning.
I don't yet accept the "too old" part but I will accept that there is some risk involved on the road and I may not want to take that risk anymore.
Well, at least for now.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
CLOSE CALLS
Today's bike ride was fraught.
I took off a bit late with some light, not sunup light but light.
I had no more than turned onto Palm Canyon and went into the left lane to turn into LaVerne than I heard a car on my ass and turned only to see a headlight even closer to my ass.
I got that 'here it goes' feeling. I was helpless.
But the car swerved and went into the right lane and stopped. I suspect she missed me by a hair.
The woman driver was shaken.
So was I, quite frankly, and so I turned off and stopped.
My upset was offset by my gratitude at not getting hit with her car.
She had followed me out of the same street, just after I turned, and was entering the left lane to make the exact same maneuver that I was.
Only she did not see me.
I did not see her either as she was not in the picture for me. Not on the left as I entered Palm. Not in a lane at all as I turned into the left.
Until I heard her.
I had no time to make a move and any one I might have made might have put me in greater harm's way.
I asked if she saw my red light flasher. She said no.
I looked. It was not on.
It had died. On at the house, off on the road.
A whole set of circumstances. Adds up.
A couple of things. Don't assume because there is no one in either direction on the road you are turning into that there is no one going to be on the road from a sidestreet or from the same street you have just come from. On your tail but blind corners all around.
Double check the batteries.
The bottom line is that you cannot assume other drivers are on their toes. She should have seen me. I could see traffic hundreds of yards ahead. Light enough out or not she just didn't see me. I wasn't supposed to be in that lane.
She probably turns out every day into the lanes, makes her two turns and is on her way. All reflexive. As far as I know she wasn't on a cell phone. That would have been worse.
Just be grateful for the save wherever it came from and now look another couple of ways. Especially behind on turns.
The other close call?
There was frost this morning out on the golf courses.
I slowed to a crawl when I got to wet spots making sure that there was no ice on the sidewalks.
There wasn't but it is enough of a worry that I won't be going out that way anytime soon until we get some warmer AM weather.
You might remember that I slipped off the bike last year and bunged up my left side and twisted my left leg.
Learning from my experience.
Labels: bicycle
FIVE
Today is Franklin's fifth birthday.
He plans to keep a low profile on it.
He heard that in people years that means he is 35 and he has no plans to drop a lot of his puppy behavior anytime soon.
Middle age is not for him.
In keeping with his wishes, we will have a normal day and try not to sing Happy Birthday to him so many times as in the past.
There will be no cake. He has never had any.
There might be a special visit to the marrow bone biscuit tin though.
We will take our traditional step to celebrate though and send a fat donation to PetSmart Charities
Unlike the other animal charities like the Humane Society, PetSmart charities has a very high efficiency rating in the Charity Navigator.
We give to the general fund although the special funds are tempting.
We trust them to run the show.
Labels: Franklin
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
MACMANSION DENIED
This is for those of you who have read about our long fight against a two story, over powering house on a minimum lot just over our wall.
I have a conclusion to the story.
The developer submitted new plans to the Planning Commission and was denied a third time.
That should be the end of the story.
We think.
At least it is the end of the story for this set of plans.
He appealed to City Council and got a bit of relief the last time he was denied and it is doubtful that he will try it again.
But who knows.
He is a maroon.
John made a heroic speech and was instrumental in organizing the neighborhood's fight against this monstrosity.
My hero.
Labels: neighborhood
OUT WITH THEM!!
The small town of Potrero, CA, southwest of here on the Mexican border, just had a recall election for the town officers who had negotiated with Blackwater to build a training megaplex there.
The recall was resoundingly successful. The main Blackwater backer was recalled with 70% of the vote.
Blackwater Potrero Recall an Unbelievable Success
It was thought by some that building the training camp there would be a foot in the door for Blackwater to join up with the Border Patrol.
The rent-a-cops have some experience fucking over brown people.
Labels: criminal morons
MEN!
Today's movie was
which won a lot of acclaim earlier this year.
It is a kind of fantasy of how men put upon women. Not that the stereotypes don't exist but these are stylized in a way that sometimes grates.
There is the abusing husband, just short of physical. The Don Juan. And the father figure (a surprisingly old Andy Griffith).
There is a suitably happy ending as the "waitress" who puts up with all this shit gets her life turned around.
These are not spoilers.
The fairy tale quotient of the film lets us know early on that things will get better. We just aren't let in on how this might occur.
I liked it well enough but not enough to give it more than a 3 out of Netflix5.
There is a back story to the making of the film itself in that Adrienne Shelly, the director, producer and co-star, was murdered just after the film was accepted at Sundance. Before she saw it shown there.
I wonder if there is a slight sentimental push to like the movie a bit more because of this.
It is hard to watch, in a way, knowing that one of the principles got a bad deal in real life.
Sometimes reality bites.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
CAMPAIGNIN' WITH JESUS
Lord, deliver us...My speech on religion and politics.
John Kenney in the LAT.
Pretty good.
They are a sketch the way they go on about their lord and saviour.
Labels: republican whack jobs
HILLARY IS THE MAN
The same article linked below has a very encouraging rundown for the Democrats with very strong national numbers for Hillary Clinton holding up during a very tough period for her.
The poll found that just 1 percent said they might be swayed by the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who has been campaigning for Mr. Obama in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire the last three days, drawing huge crowds and allowing his campaign to identify new supporters.
Actually this is the good news of the poll.
We knew that the GOoPers were a bunch of cardboard cutouts.
The Demos rule.
Labels: hillary
WHAT DID YOU SAY YOUR NAME WAS?
Poll Finds G.O.P. Field Isn’t Touching Voters
Labels: republican whack jobs
Monday, December 10, 2007
FOUR IN ONE
Today's movie was
with Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Demi Moore.
I didn't have a lot of hope for this film. And my pessimism was justified.
I just wanted to see the Costner/Hurt routines as an addicted serial killer (Kevin) struggles with his bad angel (William).
It was worth wading through four or five half completed plots to see them work together.
I am not a particular fan of Demi Moore but I gotta say that if she is half the film bitch in real life then I hope Ashton Kutcher has some really big brass ones.
She is formidable.
The movie is an attractive mess.
It kept me involved at a nice level where I could accept the good stuff—there was some—and laugh at the silly or pointless.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because it was so good to see Kevin and William work it out and to admire Demi's balls.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
QUARTET
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Steven Soderbergh's
It is a talky film with a lot of neat effects.
People talk on the phone and the sound is natural, not tinny. It is as though they are in the same room and I bet they were when they filmed it.
The windows are always filmy with stuff like traffic happening beyond them.
There are dart boards in two of the four places. Huh? There are a lot of plants.
There are some nice cuts.
The people are not as much fun to watch.
I don't much like James Spader and Andy McDowell.
Peter Gallagher is fine and Laura San Giacomo steals every scene as a bad sister.
It is very good but not as good as it thinks that it is.
I don't think Soderbergh has ever matched it but that is not much the point.
Incidentally, this is one of those films that I remembered in black and white.
I still haven't figured out why that happens.
I will give it a 45 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
DREAM ON
I usually don't remember my dreams.
They are gone within moments of waking.
But there are some that endure.
There is the travel dream where I am going to Europe but I have no connecting ticket or I am naked or the gate is obscure.
There is also the airplane dream where the plane doesn't actually fly but travels on the ground and then takes off from a regular highway, stays at tree level, and then lands without so much as a bump. I think this is the same as the old flying dream that everyone has. The one without the airplane.
There is the one where I am in Boston and remember that I have a second apartment that I never vacated in Charles River Park. I go there and open the mailbox. Go to the apartment and set up housekeeping.
I think that a part of me still wants to rent.
I still have some MIT dreams. There is an exam and I haven't attended a class or done the reading let alone the homework.
Not too far off the truth actually. I fiddled a lot while rome burned in the classroom.
I have a few recurring sex dreams but I won't bore you with those.
The training dream has several variations.
There is the one where there is no training room. We have to meet outside. Sometimes in the woods.
There is the one where I am naked.
There are some others that are non-specific but have the general taste of failure in them.
Last night was the one where I have no time to even start the program let alone get it finished. It was at my old client McKinsey.
The group was late and then when they arrived they had to rearrange the furniture.
Then I had trouble getting through introductions as I had no charts.
It was a fuck-up compilation. All the things that can go wrong.
The difference now is that I don't seem to mind much. I do the work and do my best and that is that.
Since this particular course only lasted about fifteen minutes before they had to leave it wasn't too painful either.
I always wake up relieved that it was just a dream but, in this case, I had a tinge of regret.
I wish I had a course that lasted only fifteen minutes. Three days was the norm.
Don't get me wrong. These are not nightmares. They are just one hazardous step from some form of reality or worry that I had in all the years I have lived.
The nightmares are few and far between and almost always involve some cataclysm or devouring beast.
I have never had either happen to me.
All lower brain stem stuff I am sure.
I don't know what Freud would make of all this.
Probably not too much.
Sometimes a training room is just a training room.
Labels: dreams
WASHOUT
No family walk today.
Heavy rain.
Now tapering but the wind is picking up.
We are getting our asses kicked by a storm centered in Mexico. This is only the northern fringe.
So we made do.
There was a break early this morning so Franklin and I went out in the wet dark and played with a ball.
Then he and I tried a very wet walk about 7AM.
No takers.
We got a hundred feet from the house and he wanted to go back in.
So did I.
I had a short errand at the store and so we all went in the Jeep for a longer spin to see the snow which is down to about 3000 feet. Very nice.
Maybe we will have a white christmas. Up there, I mean.
I can't see the very top. It has been a few years since we had a good snow pack but this is a promising start.
For now, we are canceling the walking.
A look ahead says that it will clear today and then be very cold. Even into the freezing zone.
That means no biking for me. Just dog walks.
The fall on the ice is too fresh in my memory to try again.
January 15, 2007.
Labels: weather
Saturday, December 08, 2007
ARTIFICE
I am offended by Oprah's media binge on Obama.
Somehow it seems inappropriate.
Is that because I am for Hillary?
I also think that somehow it will backfire.
It is too show biz. Too out of the mainstream.
One more example of why I cannot take him seriously.
Look at him gape at her and smile all touched by her interest.
He is starstruck.
Don't get me started.
It was inevitable.
We are in the celebrity age. It matters to a lot of people.
I don't know whether I am more pissed at Oprah for show boating or Obama for taking it all in.
KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN HUCK
So Huckabee is the new darling of the right wing nuts.
The only acceptable theocrat.
A born-again-baptist preacher.
In the White House?
I don't think so.
As he has risen in the polls there is a daily shooting gallery opening up on his true life adventures as a governor.
The release of a serial rapist murderer because the perp was 'born again'—a frequent tactic of the parole seeking inmate.
Now he is seen as wanting to quarantine AIDS patients in the late nineties well after anyone believed 'it' was catching without intimate exchange of body fluids.
And the other day it turns out that he was unaware of the new NIE data on Iran's nuclear capability.
Another guy who doesn't read the papers.
He is led by god so he doesn't need them. Intelligence reports. Or is it intelligence.
Huckabee.
The name is irresistible. OK. I will be the first to say it out loud.
Fuckabee.
Fuckupabee?
UPDATE: Ooops. Sorry Huck. It was 1992. Not the late nineties. But still a more enlightened time.
Here is what he said about the homos (that's me he's talking about folks)
"I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."
Like your ass huckafuck.
Labels: republican whack jobs
OUT OF THE LOOP
I am going off the political grid a bit.
With the new computer, I lost all my bookmarks to the lefty sites and couldn't think of any that I would want to go and look up.
I have kept getting email from a lot of them though and I realized that I wasn't going to use the email to put them back up on my list either.
In fact, I figured that if I couldn't remember them or miss them why keep getting the email?
So I am unsubscribing.
I have said "no" to Senator Leahey, the National Democratic Committee, Equal Rights in California, and so on.
I have only kept MoveOn and the Clinton Foundation which is not really political but then again is very political isn't it?
In the same vein I am also unsubscribing from some magazines and other mailings that I asked for but never, ever look at.
Time to clean house.
Why invite one's own spam?
I know that to answer spam mail in general is just asking to be bombarded with more spam—they know that you are really there—but the legit sites are more than happy to unsubscribe.
This is all part of an opting out strategy overall I guess.
I can see the pattern.
Of course I am on the No Call Registry for the house and cell phones.
And now I am also canceling catalogs that we get without asking. Not that we ask for any. Maybe Road Runner, the athletic shoe/clothing place.
You can go to this site: Catalog Choice.
Goodbye Sharper Image, Hammacher Schlemmer, Wolfersons, Harry and David, and so on—the persistent, we never buy why do they send us these, catalogs.
Labels: culture, life, politics
FAITHFUL TO THE END
Today's movie was the wonderful
This Canadian picture is a three way (at least) satire of the world of zombies, the Leave it to Beaver Fifties and the Lassie pictures all scrunched up into one film.
It is funny throughout and never too horrifying.
There is even an understory which has a 1984 sort of feel. When the military industrial complex gears up to solve a problem you have nothing but problems.
Billy Connolly the Scot comic and actor is Fido. Carrie-Anne Moss is the mom. Dylan Baker, one of those guys you see all the time but don't know his name, is the dad. Tim Blake Nelson is the neighbor.
The kid is great. His name is K’Sun Ray. Obviously the child of hippy parents ala the Phoenix family. Although he is actually too young for hippy parents. I am just guessing. What a name for the marquee.
Another thing. As a Fifties survivor, the sets and colors had me feeling quite at home. I was there!
One thing that I liked about this film is that, while there is not a lot of gore, no one seems at all shy about shooting a zombie cold or, if you are a zombie, taking a bite out of a human just like s/he was a hamburger sitting on a table.
I liked this movie a lot. There are many, many LOL moments and that is watching it by myself.
I would give it a 5 but I have a new curve and it would have to be timeless for a the top rating.
It is certainly up to the George Romero films and the first 28 Days Later.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Friday, December 07, 2007
TWO FACED THEOCRAT
Dear Mr. Romney,
In your speech yesterday you made some profound statements of belief that eloquently displayed your devotion to the tenets of Christian faith. You described how as a child your parents taught you to “honor God and love my neighbor.” Did your parents also teach you that the best way to honor God and love your neighbor is to build fences on the southern border in order to keep Latinos out of the country?
You said yesterday that you believe strongly that every person has “inherent and inalienable worth” and that “every single human being is a child of God – we are all part of the human family.” Why then do you repeatedly demonize some members of your human family by calling them illegal and insist that they have no basic human or civil rights?..........and more.Bill Mefford, Director of Civil and Human Rights for the United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society
And the Methodist Church is basically a conservative entity. They don't support gay unions or gay clergy.
I used to be a Methodist. Up until puberty. I had no choice really. I was dragged there by my mother.
She quit dragging me when she got fearful that my anti-christian rants would be heard by the social ostracizers there.
Most of them are still assholes. But look at them here. Very good. Maybe the ice is melting.
Labels: Theocracy
MONROE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
The major attraction here is Monroe who holds every scene she is in.
Tom Ewell plays a city husband freed up for the summer when his wife and kid take off to Maine.
The play was quite famous for groundbreaking sex and language. All this was removed for the film so it is a bit bland and shows. You can see the stage play behind the film scenes.
The famous dress scene is shown here.
It is a period piece.
It is directed by Billy Wilder but my guess is that he did it for the money.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
PRICEY OBSERVATION
For a long time I have gotten through my twice a week grocery shopping with a total bill in the 70s and 80s.
For quite a number of weeks now, I have been breaking through 100.
I have changed nothing.
The only time that I would get over the century mark would be on a day when I bought a lot of meat or some other explainable excess.
That is not so now.
The people in the store see it.
They say that their company tells them it is the cost of corn (meat, produce, a lot of prepared foods) and gas. Transportation.
No one says the truth which is that there is now a period of gouging going on that is unprecedented.
I have nothing to support this except to point to the 7 years of GoOPer tolerance of big business bullshit.
I just thought I would mention it.
Labels: life
INFAMOUS
Today is Pearl Harbor Day.
You didn't remember?
Not many people do unless they are old enough to have been listening to the radio that day.
I was and I was only 4 years old.
I do remember it. The day.
My mother fainted as my father was glued to the radio. Relatives came over and it was hashed and rehashed.
The Second World War changed my life considerably but that is only clear in retrospect.
And, to that extent, it is just another strong influence. Had we not had that one there would have been another.
It was a long war but not as long as the one we are in now.
My Dad never really got over it. He was on a Destroyer Escort plowing the North Atlantic over and over as they took transport ships across and back.
Then he went to the Pacific where a kamikaze plane hit his ship right before the end of the war there.
I think it is the effect on my father that changed things more than anything else.
The nightmares. The inability to forget the event.
It was the best and worst time of his life.
And therefore, to some extent, his family's.
That is a pretty microscopic look at the situation.
They say that the Big Two was the last 'good war'.
Well, OK.
I suppose to the extent that no one doubts our motive in participating, that is true.
There has been doubt about every war since.
It is hard to remember today that, in the beginning, there were many citizens who did not want the War or America's entry into it.
But, they were a fractious lot with a great many differing reasons.
FDR had the power to go with it and he did.
Veterans worry that no one will remember this day.
That is probably true.
In the final scheme of things it is only a day.
And now we have what we believe to be more pressing concerns; greater calamities.
Global warming. A third world war. That kind of niggling shit.
Those are my thoughts.
I can't make as big a deal out of it as I did before and I can't dismiss it either.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
THEOCRATS
That is the word I want for the pandering religious bible thumpers at the gop primary.
Labels: Theocracy
ENDING OF AN ERA
There was a time when gay life centered in the gay bars.
This was the case when I came out in 1975 but it is not so much the case today.
This article is written by a 'kid' who came out in the 90's and he is all nostalgic about the change in 15 years.
Think 30!
He doesn't even name the old ones I knew. Sporters, Chaps, 1270, and many more. Herby's Ramrod Room. Yup! Jaques. The Other Side. Skippers. I could go on and on. And that doesn't include Cambridge and the suburbs.
We could make the rounds of five in a night before we fell out.
Of course there was a downside.
Some of us were budding alcoholics and the bars pretty much brought us to our bottom. We either got sober or not.
Nevertheless it is truly the end of an era. Part of the new gay life style.
Which is good.
The bars were a lot of fun but they were also a ghetto. Some never left.
There are so many alternatives today.
A lot of guys come out in high school. Pre bar babies.
In the old days, kids had to sneak into the bars. Now they have their own clubs and peers.
It is so much more healthier.
I am glad about it.
We each have what we have in our own times.
The thing is that since being gay is not a choice it has been good that there was a place to go even if it was not wholesome.
Actually, the less wholesome the better as far as I was concerned.
AND WHAT IS MORE
He is a religionist--christian version.
Deeply offensive.
Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom....Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.
....Whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people.
....Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests.
Well that is all code for "I will be just like gwb and the separation of church and state will really be in the shitter".
Labels: republican whack jobs
WELL IF WE DIDN'T WONDER ABOUT IT BEFORE, WE WILL WONDER ABOUT IT NOW
I don't think Romney wanted this headline.
Romney vows Mormon church would not run White House".
Labels: republican whack jobs
HAPPY ME
Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of this blog.
I have made 4,109 posts counting this one. That's about 20 a week. 2-3 a day.
If you want to see how it began, go to the right side there and click the top item under "Archives".
It is not too embarrassing.
I notice that I failed to title the first entry.
People ask me sometimes how to do it. Should they? Could they?
The real question is "Will they"?.
It takes some determination to start and a healthy self regard.
The mechanics are easy.
There are a number of free blogging hosts but I like Blogger.
It is easy. It is almost hardly ever down. The technology has steadily improved over time. There are myriad improvements in features since I started.
In the old days, the free part was justified with ads placed along the top of one's blog.
Sometimes they were infuriating. I had GWbush ads on top of my anti bushie rants.
I remember the time I read the blog and there was an add for a hemorrhoid cure on the very same day that I wrote about my own personal set of piles acting up.
Yes. I have written about damn near everything.
There are no ads today. I don't know how they justify the service.
Maybe somewhere I am being scanned for some evil scheme but I doubt it.
Blogger is now owned by Google and they don't do evil. Just censorship in China and stuff like that.
But I digress.
The whole experience of blogging is enjoyable. There are ups and downs.
I have days that I cannot stop writing even though common sense and propriety says that I should.
There are other days that I can't get it up to save my life.
I have come to accept both states and strive for the middle.
I seldom censor myself. There are a few such instances but they are mostly things I thought so important which faded into insignificance 5 minutes later.
You should try blogging. Some 50-70 million other people are doing it depending on how you count.
Oh. One more question.
You there in the back.
"Do I ever wonder if anyone is reading it?".
Yes. And it doesn't make too much difference to me.
I do get a bit sad about the possibility that there is no one else out there at all but then someone will write to me about an article and I am assured that at least one person is reading it.
The point is, really, that I read it. Every fucking word.
And I like every word that is in here. All 4,109 times 250 (average) = million of them
So I plan on staying with it.
It is against my principles to stop in the middle of something that is fun to do.
Labels: blog
THE DARK AGES
We aren't Sweden (see below).
No midnight sun—yet.
Will that happen with global warming?
But it is getting darker in the morning. Inexorably.
And just a few weeks after the delayed DST change.
There is a whole lot of darkness going on.
I downloaded a widget onto my dashboard (no translation for PCtards) that shows the sunset and sunrise and all. Twilight. Dawn.
It is creeping inexorably to the solstice.
I can see it get darker every morning and, as a result, colder.
I now wear the thermal gloves and tights and hooded sweat every day and am into the second line of defense of tying my tassle at the hoodline.
Soon I will be wearing a thermal under the sweatshirt.
I am not into headlighting it yet. My tail lights are on though.
We have about two weeks until the darkest day.
And then we climb back into the light.
I know this is not a hardship but it makes good blog grit.
On reflection, if we were in Sweden it would not get dark. So it is not apt to include it in here.
WTF.
It seemed right at the time so I am going to leave it in.
Besides, I like the line about global warming. There have to be jokes in it somewhere, eh?
This picture is in Alaska but it is the same thing as Sweden. Or close enough.
Labels: bicycle, nature, weather
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
WINNER
My best book read this year won the National Book Award in November and is now on the 'notable' list for the year in the NYTimes.
Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke is a series of connecting stories of the Viet Nam war from both the VN and US point of view.
There is everything in it.
I really enjoyed it a great deal and I am very happy to see that Johnson is getting some recognition.
He is also the author of Jesus Son which I have not read but I did see the innovative movie with Billy Cruddup--also wonderful.
This is a big year for Johnson who does not give many interviews and when he does they are grudging exercises in obfuscation.
Good for him. He saves himself for the work.
Labels: books
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
MEDIEVAL SWEDISH ANGST
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ingmar Bergman's
Det Sjunde inseglet / The Seventh Seal (1957)
This film has been satirized and mocked so many times that it is difficult to see it freshly.
Somehow I keep seeing Woody Allen playing chess with death.
It is pretty stark. Full of christian (I think) theosophical questions.
I found myself nodding off occasionally.
Max Von Sydow is good but not that good. It is interesting to see the Bergman rep company emerging in this early film.
It was OK.
Not great.
Ebert says it is out of fashion.
No kidding.
All the way from the end of the crusades to 2007.
Quite a leap.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix 5 just out of respect to the master. Otherwise a 2.
Labels: best films
3 /12 MORE SAMURAI
Today's Best NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the second half of Kurosawa's
Shichinin no samurai / Seven Samurai (1954)
It is a fine film.
I saw some stuff I had never seen before.
A fighting horse. Actually a few of them.
I have read about them but never seen one in prolonged action.
I know. That is not what the film is about but it is an example of the copious detail of the production.
This is the main aspect as the plot is somehow predictable. Not because of the film itself. So many films have been made copying it that it seems to be predictable.
It was not at the time.
Seven guys. Seven stories. All that.
The final battle between the samurai and the bandits is played out in the rain. Mud. Wetness.
Japanese films are the wettest I have seen.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
I suppose that it deserves a 5 from the standpoint of fine-filmism but that is not how I approach these. I am just watchin'.
Here is the S S doll set you can buy. I'm sorry. Action figures.
Labels: best films
WOBBLE
I have been long fascinated by the analemma effect which affects the location of the sun on rising and setting.
It accounts for the sudden changes in rise and set time as well. Uneven incremental changes.
Movie: Analemma Over New Jersey
I had seen photos of this phenomenon before but never a time lapse movie.
Watch the seasonal change on the ground.
LIKE IT IS
“There is a funny argument in fashion these days — it goes something like this — those of us who have been fighting and winning these battles are not the right ones to push our country forward,” she said. “The argument suggests that people like me, and Governor Richardson, and Senator Dodd and Senator Biden, are somehow disqualified from making the changes that America needs, even though we’ve been doing that for decades.”
“Well,” Ms. Clinton said, taking the edge off a little, “I respectfully disagree.”.......Hillary Clinton in Iowa--NYT 120407
Monday, December 03, 2007
WATCH IT
I have to admit it turns my stomach a bit to see Hillary attacking Obama's character.
I don't like it.
It is OK to go on the issues but leave the ad hominem alone.
I wouldn't switch over it but I don't like it. At all.
THREE AND A HALF SAMURAI
Today I watched half of Kurosawa's
Shichinin no samurai / Seven Samurai (1954)
So far so good.
It is over 3 1/2 hours along. Too much for me.
But I enjoyed the first half a great deal.
There is a nice long buildup of characters as the samurai are collected.
It is funnier than I remember it from the first time I saw it—a very long time ago.
Perhaps I was too intimidated then about its provenance.
This is a NYTimes Best 1176 Film after all.
Labels: best films
PROGNOSTICATORS
It is amusing to see all the furor of changing polls for Clinton and Romney in Iowa.
They are changing tactics because of it.
But the reality is that the caucus system is so complex that polls are meaningless.
Well, they do project an overall state preference or view which caucus members might take under advisement.
But it ain't a poll of the people who will go to the polls.
No one knows what will happen.
They changed the dates.
It is in the middle of winter.
Right after New Year's Day.
And then there is the 15% rule.
If your guy gets less than 15% in the caucus then you have to go to another candidate.
That means that Kucinich and Richardson people will take a jump.
How can you predict this?
The other thing is that it doesn't mean diddly shit.
Iowa?
Please.
But in the national political and journalistsic imagination it holds inordinate sway.
What a system.
Did I mention that I don't get to vote until February 3d?
Oh. And I am still with Hillary. Obama looks more shallow/callow and more like a loser in the general than ever. But I would vote for him if he wins the primary. Obviously.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
À LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU
I have a standard snack where I pile a layer of vanilla no-fat yogurt under a layer of double chocolate.
Every time I lick the chocolate spoon I get a kind of misty memory from childhood.
It is fogged somehow. I don't get it.
I don't have other memories like that.
I remember a time when I had the taste of chocolate in my mouth.
At Dick Roach's birthday party when I was 4. Next door. I got some chocolate ice cream on my shirt and just had to let my mother know (who didn't come because she couldn't stand Dick Roach's mother--they were from Scranton).
I can just hear Ms. Roach muttering "Oh jesus, what's with the little sissy now". I don't know that she muttered that but she conveyed it.
Body language. I was already reading it.
Ms.Roach bellowing from the front porch to my mother next door to come see what had happened.
I still look down at my shirt front after the yogurt is done.
Another image comes of me next to Williams Drug Store. There is a church bizarre. They have ice cream and only chocolate. It is not what I want but I take a cone anyhow.
Not all of these images are painful.
Another time I will be in the back of Ms. Jone's restaurant for an ice cream cone. It is not free but David Bixler and I are a pain in the ass while they are trying to get dinner together so she only gives us chocolate.
Some other times I think of chocolate in a more contemporary mode. The swiss- chocolate-almond-vanilla cones after a Meeting in the, then new and quite exciting, Häagen-Dazs store on Charles Street. Boston.
I never get this kind of thing with any other flavor. Just chocolate.
What is up with that?
I don't think that I will spend most of my life writing about it though.
BRRRRR
It was 46 degrees this morning.
Wore the parka for the threesome walk.
It will be up to the 80s by midweek. A taste of desert winter. Up and down.
Labels: weather
A CUT ABOVE
I got my haircut today.
John does it.
He has been my barber for a few months.
We got the Wahl barber set which is pretty shabby except for the clippers. Today the string came off the customer cape.
Made in China.
How could they be a fucking world power?
Anyway, he is getting pretty good at it.
I get the cut every two weeks. Number two plastic. No taper. No lowering of the ears. All number two.
It lasts pretty good. Well, two weeks.
That is fifteen dollars plus tip to squander elsewhere.
I am not sure who spends it, him or me.
Maybe both.
Jesus. Maybe the haircut is costing me thirty plus tip!
I am thinking of making the cut a little more complicated. Maybe get the taper. Or perhaps go even farther.
This is a haircut in China or somewhere like that. Asiatic.
Yes. I know it is not all the same. I am not that big a racist.
He isn't using the Wahl and it is a cloth cape.
They export the shit and keep the good stuff at home. I guess we do the same.
Labels: life
Saturday, December 01, 2007
HOLIDAY LAUNCH
We started up our annual advent calendar on December 1.
We do it every year.
All 24 days.
It is a wooden tree with little hooks.
There are little boxes at the bottom. You open a box and you hang the little ornament inside on the tree. One day at a time.
We have had it for 15-20 years. I don't know.
It came from Lord and Taylor. How long have they been out of business. It is all Macy's now. Sad.
The calendar is kind of worn here and there; tape on the first little window flap.
We have had to replace an ornament or two that got lost in the shuffle.
It is an important ritual.
Not for the holiday so much as for us.
We take turns. Odds and evens.
It is fun.
Even Franklin gets into it. I think he reads the energy and he arrives mid-ornamentation. So far he has not asked for a turn at it.
I think he is happy to just see the pack together.
That is about the holiday for us.
We do send cards.
We got those all done today.
John is mailing them now.
It is our aim to beat everyone else. I think we will make it this year although John has a cousin who now sends Thanksgiving cards instead. Doesn't count in the holday card race.
I always think that this will be the last year we will do the cards but there is a bit of a lift in seeing the names march by and writing them out.
There are only fifty left now.
We don't send cards locally. There would be a couple hundred if we did.
We see the people or not but they are there. We could call.
We send mostly to far distant family and old friends back east who we still exchange with.
It is all based on exchange.
If we get two outs in a row they get cut off the list.
The exchange is the whole point really. Touching someone very lightly.
And then there are the memories as we write the address.
It is a nice thing.
Another thing about the cards is that we get to page through the address book. We never ever delete people from the book.
It is a history.
There are people in there who we haven't seen in decades. Nor do we wish to.
But we met them once. Maybe in St. Croix. Maybe at some other connection.
We read the names. Sometimes we laugh. The stories.
All in all this annual exercise is refreshing. Helping us see who we were and who we are now.
There won't be a lot more. Maybe mince pie on the holiday. The friends who usually come by for the holiday are otherwise engaged this year.
We will see what unfolds.
Oh. That is the tree on Boston Common.
Labels: holidays
GODZILLA ON STEROIDS
Today's movie was
I wanted to see this because I am tracking Shia LaBoeuf's career and this was his latest effort.
It was not worth it to sit through the bullshit.
It is one of those CGI movies that knows it can't carry the weight so it adds all kinds of side plots.
The LaBoeuf teen comedy aspect is funny to a point but full frontal cliché and somewhat over the top. He is too nerdy to be so smart. Or something. It is a tough character but is LeBoeuf's strong niche.
It is time for him to grow out of it.
He is way better than the story.
The Quatar section with Josh Duchamel is lame to the nth degree.
The government sections—Jon Voight playing it straight—are all cartoonish.
The sets are too expensive and too distracting.
The action moves very fast so you don't have to think about anything.
There is even an amusing but nasty little robot like the little weasel in the Rings Trilogy only mechanical. It doesn't play.
The whole plot is one of those things where the outsiders have all the answers but the insiders won't let them in and so they have to keep struggling while the world is ending. Probably realistic but quite irritating when you have to sit for an 2 1/2 hours.
Yeh. Way, way too long. Too self regarding by half. Half an hour!
Like I said. Bullshit.
I shut it down after 45 minutes. I couldn't go the distance. Shia or no Shia.
I will give it a stinker 1 out of Netflix5.
I hope they let LeBoeuf grow up in the Indie Jones sequel he is now filming or he will disappear into Dreamworks land never to be seen again.
OK—ONE MORE ON THE WEATHER
So, it is absolutely clear except for this huge cloudbank that is sliding off the top of the mountain as I type. It is headed for the SE at very high speed.
I am looking at it over the top of the computer.
We are all in the clear and there go the clouds.
It is like being in a plane, only upside down, if you get the visual.
And there is snow on the mountains. I drove out east this morning to see it. Out on the high hills past Andreas Hills.
Not a lot. But the first snow in a couple of years too.
When we were first here there was snow from October through May up until maybe five years ago.
Warming? I don't know. More like drought.
This will not do a lot for the drought but it will quiet the fire hazard for a while.
A month they say. Not long.
Now, here is the last thing. We are getting up to 50 mph gusts of wind. Why the clouds are moving as the new front comes in.
Tomorrow in the 70s. Monday in the low 80s. Dry.
Labels: weather
