Monday, March 31, 2008
IN HOT WATER
The new Bosch 2700 ES-NG tankless water heater arrived today and will be installed tomorrow.
I hope it works.
We know a lot of people who have gotten them.
This is the newest latest model with the most capacity. So new I can't find an image of it on Google.
It saves a bunch of energy.
What I am interested in is that we are done with the tank.
I have had tank water heaters all my life and they always fail. With a splash.
The one we have now is as old as we are and is calcifying inside so that we are getting flakes of ca-carbonate stuck in all the screens in the house faucets.
It is not a huge annoyance to clear them but it is an annoyance. Not a reason to get the new system but now that we are getting it, nice to have over with it.
That is not to say that the new heater won't calcify some. But it is simpler and it will take a lot longer to do it.
We have very hard water.
Everything gets a coat of the white stuff.
Labels: appliances, rehab
'NOUGH SAID
Gallup: Dems, Reps Agree: Obama Tougher Opponent for McCain
Labels: Democrats, hillary, McCain, obama
THE SAME SMALL TOWN WITH NEW KIDS
Today's movie was a very small gem
Since I grew up in one, I am an expert on growing up in small towns and getting out of them. The feeling that you might be stuck there forever. The excitement of change.
This film captures it. Three best friends brought together by their not fitting in.
It has some wonderful moments. A guy doing handsprings and backflips behind one of the love songs. Dancers waltzing in the huge graveyard for which the town is famous. A whole chorus number of barflies who exult at the demise of cupid in their lives. A party that no one wants to be in or at. A pas de deux on a car whose alarm is honking.
And the town, a real one, is a great metaphor.
The songs are the center, written by one of the three stars, the gay one, naturally. Soulful, exuberant and optimistic even when they are at their darkest.
I liked it.
Much of it is amateurish but the verve and spirit is genuine.
I will give it a Netflix3 as a movie movie but a 4 for its heart and soul. I am up there inside one or all of those kids.
Get it.
More about the making of this film here.
Labels: films
THE WOMEN'S VOTE
Yesterday I read that women 'everywhere' were mobilized by Hillary's comments (again) about the big boys bullying her.
The gender card again. The one she never, ever plays.
Well, so much for the mobilization. The second woman Senator endorsed Obama.
Freshman Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who recently voiced concerns about the rancorous tone of the Democratic primary, said she was forced to choose after the difficulty of remaining uncommitted.I like that line about "Barack and a hard place". It seems to refer directly to Ms. Clinton. The hard, cynically edged Ms. Clinton."Between Barack and a hard place, I chose Barack," she told reporters in a conference call. "He's able to dissolve the hard cynical edge that has dominated our politics under the Bush administration."
Klobuchar joins Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in backing Obama, who hasn't fared as well with white female voters as Clinton has. Clinton leads Obama among white women 59 percent to 36 percent, according to exit polls of 27 competitive Democratic primaries held so far. Obama has won among white females in only Vermont, New Mexico and his home state of Illinois, while tying Clinton in Utah.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama, politics
Sunday, March 30, 2008
HOUSES OF CARDS
Slowly but surely the collapse of the real estate market is showing its ugly head in our neighborhood.
Signs "For Sale" are sprouting.
The thin financial facades of the flippers, the over achievers, the aggressive developers and, sadly, the overextended are slipping.
Since no one in their sound mind would have a house for sale at this time, the signs are of the times, not the usual good happy reason to be moving from one home to another.
It is not all sad news. A few homes have sold here recently.
It is a bit depressing but very few of the people involved here are innocents. They were playing with the market and they got burnt.
It is too bad. But it can't be helped.
The neighborhood will survive. Pretty soon, the prices will drop to a point where there will be buyers and the houses will be 'saved'.
The cycle will start again.
When we moved here in 1997, it was at the end of the savings and loan disaster which hit Southern California very hard.
There were 'For Sale' signs everywhere. In those days, no one put up a foreclosure sign. Today, that is not the case. It is right out there. It moves the offers!
There are still not as many around as there were then. It is not that bad. Yet.
We bought our home at depressed market prices. The people had to get out.
They already had left and were lucky to be renting it.
Cycles.
What goes up must go down but the converse is also true.
What goes down must, eventually, go up.
Labels: market
FIRST OR SECOND?
I don't know if this qualifies as second 'I won't resign' statement or whether it is just an elaboration of the first one yesterday.
She’s in it to win it — for at least another five months
This seems extreme so it is probably meant to do just what we think it will do. Reinforce her own campaign, quiet donors, and keep the lid on an increasingly difficult situation.
Yesterday, it is said that Obama gained 9 more delegates out of the Texas caucus meaning that he ended up getting, net, more delegates from Texas than she did. It will, apparently, be announced tomorrow. They have only counted 60% of the votes so far.
She can make noise now to cover the fact that she is falling behind every day.
It is hard to believe that the Clintons would take it to the scorched earth phase but who knows?
The people who have never liked them would not be surprised and the people who now see them as obstructing the Party's progress will be more than willing to believe it.
It is a bit scary.
I am sitting tight with my prediction that it will be over when Indiana and North Carolina go for Obama.
She could technically win in both states but it is unlikely given his momentum.
Another thing.
I thought Edwards would endorse him after NC but maybe not. I read today that he and Elizabeth didn't like Obama's approach to them. Maybe if he kills in the election, the Edwards will get over their sniffiness about Obama not kissing their asses. They don't like the Clintons either.
So. Having written this, I will take this as part of the first 'I won't resign' statement toward the Galbraith quota. See below.
Didn't I say that I was going to give the election a rest?
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
HEAVEN SENT
Today's film was the Luc Besson’s
Angel-A (2005 released here 2007)
This smart take off of It's a Wonderful Life and Heaven Can Wait has all the charm of its parents and more—a Parisian twist. And turns.
Besson has also given us Amelie and Paris Je T' Aime which we just saw recently.
Whimsy and clever turns are his specialty and nothing is spared in this gentle comedy.
It is a very sweet film.
Rie Rasmussen and Jamel Debbouze, the improbable couple who are on screen almost 100% of the time are quite wonderful.
The other major member of the cast is the city at dawn and at night. Sometimes almost unpopulated.
Beautiful photography.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
WHY IS IT SMART?
Because, obviously, he is powerless over the Clintons. Won't waste his energy.
Moreover, he is seen to be out of the fray about the timing of the nomination. Above it.
Another thing. He is controlling the narrative and notice that it is Obama who is 'allowing' her to continue. Gracious.
Almost condescending but not quite.
A nice touch of tough politics.
And it is cool.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
Saturday, March 29, 2008
FILTHY
I just tested this site on the 'cussometer'
I was 118% higher than the average of blogs tested so far.
The average is about 10%.
I am not surprised that I am high. I am surprised that the average is 10%. Most of the blogs I read do not have cussing and I am under the impression that the preponderance of blogs are about fluffy kitties and down home recipes.
I guess not.
Labels: blog
ADDALINK
I just put The Carpetbagger up as a regular blog link (Steve Benen).
Over there on the right. Well, you know. He is actually on the Left!
I have been reading it for about three weeks and am spending more time as I go along.
Look at today for example:
A nice bunch of writing and reading.
I didn't hear it all here first but he does a nice job with reviving and freshening the older items laying down some new paths and ideas.
Labels: blog
FOLLOW THE MONEY
From Daily Kos today:
Obama's PAC has donated more than three times as much to superdelegate campaigns than Clinton's. A recent study suggests that is good news for Obama:The study found that the presidential candidate who gave more money to the superdelegates received their endorsements 82 percent of the time. That's based on a review of elected officials who are serving as superdelegates and who'd endorsed a candidate as of Feb. 25.
Labels: obama
ANOTHER ROLE MODEL
They just opened a new edition of Gypsy on Broadway with great success.
Patty Lupone.
But the thing that caught my eye is that it was directed by Arthur Laurents who wrote the original libretto in 1959 and directed another revival in 1974, winning a Tony each time.
It would seem that he has a good chance of another Tony this year. It got a great NYTimes review.
The thing I noticed immediately is that Laurents is 90 years old!
He is not the first to do this trick.
The prolific director George Abbott worked into his 100th years.
Abbott was something special and so is Laurents who, I should point out, was openly gay before a lot of the rest of us were.
Never mind that he was in the theater. It is still difficult there. How many theater guys do you think are in the closet still today?
Think hundreds.
Anyway, I like to see this stuff.
I don't know why I set 90 as a goal.
I think that it is actually a bit modest. Many people live to 90 and beyond. I had three aunts who did it so the odds are genetically better for me.
Of course, if I don't make it I won't be disappointed. I won't know that I didn't make it, will I?
Labels: coming of age, life
THE GALBRAITH RULE
I have written before about the late, great J. Kenneth Galbraith who developed many 'rules' and theories about economics and politics.
One of these is: "When a politician says he or she will not resign three times, s/he will".
I wonder if the Galbraith Rule applies here.
Clinton Rules Out Leaving Race Early
Start counting.
The pressure from the big guys is increasing.
Casey stops being neutral, endorses Obama and gets on the bus with his own team helping out in Pennsylvania.
Leahy says she ought to step down.
Pelosi and Dean are setting June and July, respectively, as the times when it should be over.
I read elsewhere that 'they' (the Clinton campaign) are saying that even winning Pennsylvania is not enough. She has to get Indiana. And if she doesn't get Indiana she will step down.
Remember. Three times.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama, politics
Friday, March 28, 2008
YOU CAN'T HOLD THE IDIOTS DOWN
Obama the Muslim and his Christian Preacher
I sort of figure that this kind of moron does not vote. But then I see some Fox News stuff and I see that they are actually on teevee spreading their ignorance.
Labels: criminal morons, republican whack jobs
AN HOUR? GOTTA BE KIDDING.
Another useless gesture.
The kind of thing that some people will do and then feel as though they have taken a big step.
Then, they will flip the lights back on, get into their SUV's and go to the mall for some more mercantile therapy.
I read a great article in the LA Times the other day.
Global Warming: Just Deal With It, Some Scientists Say
This is pretty much my thought.
It is going to get warm. The polar caps are going to get warmer. The water is going to rise.
So stop building next to the water.
Bring the building back inland where it can be protected to some extent.
The animals? Do what you can to preserve them just as we are doing with seeds.
Easy for me to say. I won't be here.
But it seems to me that no one, no one, is really going to pull back their life style until they have to. Until the style required is a little more basic.
The damage is done.
The deal is dealt.
As I sit here typing, Google servers are heating up the universe to make it all happen on the page.
The list of depredations by the human animal is endless.
But human ingenuity is also boundless.
The handwringing, the carbon footprint folly and the rest of the 'gestures' are empty, empty, empty.
The time is coming when reality will set in.
In the meantime, prepare with steps that have some sense to them.
Labels: global warming, nature
WHETHER PREDICTION
If you want to predict the weather in Southern California—whether it is going to rain or not—you should know that we got our windows cleaned today.
It is a guaranteed rainy day sometime within a week.
On some past occasions, it has happened within a day or two.
Here in the desert, rain is not just rain. It is rain and dust melded together.
I wouldn't say that it rains mud exactly, but close.
So a washed window is only clean for a short time.
The other dependable factor is the prevalence of flies and other attractions that bring an Airedale's nose to the glass. Spit. Snot.
You have to clean them sometime. Otherwise all the rain/mud and dog spit/snot would accumulate so that we could not see out.
And we have a lot of glass. 7 sliders on the east and south sides. A lot of mirrors inside. They came with the house, the mirrors. But we like them.
Then some normal windows on each room on the north and west. The placement of windows that should be on all homes.
In addition to that, we have a sun room. Yup. In the desert. Sun. With a glass roof.
And a skylight in the living room. Two big lucite bubbles. 6x6 feet, each?
We don't always do the skylight as it is scratchable and is not usually dirty dirty. Just dusty. Somehow it seems to repel the kind of mess that gets on the other glass. For one thing, the Airedale's nose doesn't get that high. Usually.
Three guys come to do the work. It takes them about an hour and a half. Maybe an hour if they aren't talking on their cell phones to their girl friends or whoever.
This being the desert, it doesn't cost that much. Well, considering.
Considering our distaste for dirty windows.
An extravagance? Sure.
But otherwise it ain't going to get done.
I don't do windows!
Labels: life
LOST IN THE SHUFFLE
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
An hour today because we lost some time with window washing this morning (not me, the guys who come a few times a year to do all the glass) and another hour tomorrow. Then I have only one disc to go. The final chapter and the epilogue.
But I am going to have to wait to see it.
I screwed up the shipments and 'lost' the 6th disc in my queue.
I will look on the positive side.
I will be seeing it as the public originally saw it as a television blockbuster.
He made it as one large film.
Then they just cut it up into unequally timed parts and showed them on television.
Then the film was restored as continuous again.
When Criterion restored the film they put it back into the television episodes.
So that is what I am watching.
In the meantime, I will be watching 5 or 6 other films to get a break and then back to the longest film ever made.
It took a year to make it.
Not as long as, say, Apocalypse Now which took a year for just the editing.
But it is a long time.
And it is taking a long time to see it. And a very rewarding time it is too.
Labels: best films
Thursday, March 27, 2008
WELL OK
I guess we can talk a little about the campaign.
Here is a great article about how Obama hopes to topple Clinton's lead.
Did you know that Senator Robert Casey, an RC with a lot of clout in that demographic, is going to endorse Obama today?
Maybe this will be interesting after all.
Obama to Begin Push in Pennsylvania in Hope of Offsetting Clinton Advantages
Labels: obama
ENOUGH ALREADY
OK.
I am the biggest political junky that I know and I have to declare myself.
I am done with all this election shit.
Maybe I just need a rest.
Obama went to the Virgin Islands—St. Thomas, not St. Croix where we went for many years—for a few days.
But Hillary kept right on going. The robotic candidate.
I just figure that it is all out there. We have heard it all. There is not a lot more to say.
The two sides positions are hardening.
Now there are some people who are crazy enough to say that if their Democrat doesn't win they will vote for McCain.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!
The other thing is that the game has gone 'inside the house'. It is the time of all kinds of political doings for the superdelegates votes. Trades. Promises. Behind the scenes stuff.
That doesn't leave us a lot to ogle or talk about.
There is a lull in the voting. The polls are unsatisfying. Like eating faux food somehow.
Of course, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico and North Carolina and Indiana and other states have yet to have their say.
The full excitement will come back in a few weeks.
I can wait.
I think that I will just take a break while they are all going at it.
Tune in again on election eve 042208.
How long has it been since we saw a presidential candidate in a bathing suit?
I can't remember one.
And none that I would want to see in one either.
Barack is lookin' good though.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
TOUGH GUY, RAT, HERO
You name it. Richard Widmark could play it.
I don't know how many of his films I have seen. All my life.
His first big role was as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. He pushed an old lady down the stairs and then laughed maniacally.
It is a tribute to his skills that he broke through the rat-stereotype and went on to play a bit of everything. Westerns, film noir, good guys. All of it.
He lived to a ripe old age. Making him a hero to me as he passed the line I am aiming for.
Richard Widmark, Actor, Dies at 93
He was a lifelong progressive. He produced films that were 'political' when that was not fashionable. If it ever was.
I read here that he had the same wife for 55 years. He maintained that an actor could lead a normal life. He did.
Well, one with money. But not a lot.
Labels: heroes
STRESS WITHOUT STRESS
I have been shutting down a bit.
I suspect that I have been more affected by the renovations in the house than I would like to let on.
There is an inherent stress to any change.
Having someone in your house all the time, no matter how benign, is stressful.
Having dirt and displacement even though it is very temporary and always cleaned up is still stressful.
Having the refrigerator in a new location is stressful. Think about the 180 degree pivot as one goes to the old location and remembers the new one mid-turn.
Then there is the matter of getting the new appliances to work. Will they?
So far yes.
This morning I had a fantasy of the tankless heater that is due here next week not working and then having no hot water until it was fixed or the old tank was put back in place. Or something.
This is exactly what is going on. My mind is playing its old tricks. If I can't find a problem, it will think one up.
Don't get me wrong.
The whole renovation has gone without a hitch, so far, but just at the last moment it might get all fucked up. You know what I mean?
I am never very good around things that are going well. Meaning most or nearly all of my life.
My inner problem solver needs to keep busy.
I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or maybe the first shoe.
It isn't disabling. Just annoying.
Since nothing really justifies my fear in the real world, when it comes up, I stuff it.
But then it pops up around odd places.
This morning I had a bout of anxiety wondering if I had put stamps on two letters that I mailed yesterday.
Stooopid.
But it is OK.
A little extra meditation. A bit of spiritual reading. Talking to others.
And soon, it will all pass. The work, the stress, the crazy thinking.
It will fade.
I will not.
Right now, everything is jake.
FIVE PERCENT?
David Brooks, who bats for the other side, sometimes has an interesting column that I am willing to listen to.
Today, he shows how Hillary is toast.
This is now the fashion of the chattering classes. Predicting Hillary's demis.
But it is a fashion that is self propelling.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama, politics
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
MISCELLANEOUS
I finished the 10th Chapter of Alexanderplatz today. Actually, the 9th and 10th.
I am not in the home stretch yet but it is going well.
I watched on my iMac as there is a retiling going on in the bedroom/theater.
A bunch of tiles were loose in there and apparently, when we moved the bed a few months ago, it roiled them up.
There is not much glue under them. Another half-assed handyman job no doubt.
In general, this house was in very good shape when we bought it but there are certain, well, let's say, anomalies that one finds when a wall is removed or something stressful happens to the infrastructure.
We had enough old tiles in the outdoor closets to accommodate. A good thing about the previous owner. They kept everything.
Most of the 'everything' is gone now.
John did a major cleanup and all the old shit is out in the carport awaiting removal which will happen when we take out the water heater tank next week.
That is it on the material side. On the horticultural, we have a lot of change.
There are iris buds this morning and the lilies are really coming on strong with the green.
The roses are all abud and ready to burst.
A few more hot days and that will do it.
In the meantime, we are happy to see the bougainvillea roaring back into bloom after a year of recovery from the great January 2007 freeze.
I know.
This is a kitchen sink blog entry.
It is the best that I can do today.
Labels: blog, horticulture, life, rehab
Monday, March 24, 2008
DICK THE DRAFT DODGER
What a blatant, insane asshole.
Just when you think that it couldn't get worse.
Labels: criminal morons, republican whack jobs
LUMPY
We took Franklin for a checkup today.
He has three lumps, one old, two new.
The old one and one of the new ones are subaceous cysts. You mostly just let them go.
The third lump is not the two kinds of cancer they worry about. In fact, it may not be cancerous at all.
But it is suspicious.
So we are having it taken out at the same time he will get knocked out for his teeth to be cleaned.
We have held out on the teeth and now it is time.
We don't like anesthesia but it has to be done so we will do it.
We just will not over do it and will get two hits for the one knockout.
We and the doc are not worried about it.
He will be all good after the operation and they will get a full and complete biopsy when he gets the tissue out.
Labels: Franklin
RENOVATIONS CONTINUE
Things are slowing down now.
Today, we just got a new faucet in the kitchen sink.
Our fifth.
We are hard on faucets. I think because we buy the Lowe's or Home Depot versions of brand name items.
We just found out that many companies make a down market version for both chains so they can keep a lower price and that certain compromises are made.
This is getting to be a trend. Better, if possible to work with wholesalers. I guess.
Or high end specialty stores.
Tomorrow, we get some tile repaired in the bedroom.
The last big push is the tankless water heater which I ordered today and will be here in a week. From Vermont.
A Bosch 2700 ES. Four users at a time, they say. It is the biggest and only costs 100.00 more than the next two user size.
A no brainer.
Labels: appliances, rehab
SECOND HALF
I finished the 8th Chapter of
today. The third disc. Two more discs to go. 7 Chapters and an epilogue.
It is still easy going. Enjoyable. There is something 'heavy' in each chapter.
I am part of the underworld family now.
This is one of those stories that have an apparent detachment from world affairs yet, every once in awhile, there is an update as to what is going on outside.
Today it is 1927 and elections are about to be held. This is the one where Hitler will win some seats. Enough to tilt the scales in his direction. 28 parties.
Labels: best films
Sunday, March 23, 2008
DELETE
I took Crooks and Liars off the link list today.
It has made my browser get stuck several times in the last few weeks.
I blame them, not Safari, but no matter who is at fault, it is not worth the price of a restart.
Actually it has gone down hill lately as most sites do.
Except this one, of course.
Labels: blog
SECOND LAP
I am into the 3d disc and the 6th episode of the 15 1/2 hour long Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), the record length film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
The title refers to where the action takes place.
"The Alex" is a huge square in Berlin with many historic connections.
I am sort of settled into it. The film, not the square. It is very comfortable. There are several interesting continuing characters.
There are complex relationships.
The sets are beautiful—the photography moody. There is always a light coming back at us as we watch.
I suspect that it is as genuine as can be all the way down to its floor tiles. Weimar Berlin in the 1920's.
The plot is thickening as our anti-hero continues his pledge to go straight after his four years in prison. We first saw him as he came out of the prison gate.
It is a tough line to tread.
Labels: best films
Saturday, March 22, 2008
IT'S OBAMA
This is just one of a long drumbeat of compelling stories and story compilations:
Media Narrative and Hard Financial Facts Turning Against Clinton
It may not be time to stick a fork in her but it is getting very close.
Even if Obama loses in Pennsylvania (my birthstate and the place I ran away from) he is almost certain to cut into Clinton's present advantage.
I bet he comes close to even with her.
That would be as much a loss to the Clintons as anything could be. The final blow to her 'coronation' strategy.
I don't think that they will wreck his chances for the general either.
There is too much history against such a thing and the Clintons want the approval of history.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
ROUNDED THE FIRST TURN
I am still watching Rainer Werner Fassbinder's
meaning that I have about 10 hours to go. Maybe 11.
I am caught up in it. I dream about it some but not annoyingly so.
It has its ups and downs.
The main guy is very good. Günther Lamprecht.
Today an old favorite of mine and a Fassbinder vet showed up. Hanna Schygulla.
It is fun. Well. Sort of sad, dramatic, tragic at times fun.
Sometimes he/it slips into fantasy. Nightmarish stuff.
Today there was a ritual slaughter of a sheep which was real. I didn't like that at all. But I got it.
I hope that I don't dream about that.
I will continue but be ready to hide my eyes.
Labels: best films
Friday, March 21, 2008
GREAT SPEECH
I am not a speech listener. I have yet to hear the entire Obama race speech.
But I sat through this one riveted.
Bill Richardson does a real stem winder endorsement.
He could have sent it in by mail but this is a major rhetorical effort and very exciting. Emotional.
Labels: Democrats, obama, Richardson
SPRING
I sort of missed the Vernal Equinox this year.
Although I guess it is still in process.
Happy Vernal.
For those of you who have Spring that is.
I just talked to a friend who is visiting his mother in Michigan. He was driving through a snow storm—15 miles per hour.
I can only barely remember what that is like.
Better that he be doing it.
I said that I imagined this was not a good time to be on a cell phone and we said 'later'.
PHASE TWO COMPLETED
The washer and drier are installed in a beautifully made 'closet'.
We had about a quarter inch left on the front.
My husband is a careful measurer.
He also says that these are the smallest you can get so I guess it is just 'desperation' measuring.
The machines are beautiful and very very technological.
It had its own programmed test of the system.
We are now doing sheets.
The washer is top loading but works as a front loader. No agitator. Spins and rocks.
It tells you fucking everything as it is doing its job.
We started with 'conventional' which uses more water but most of the washing will be done in low water.
The drier is just a drier but it is pretty.
Now we move on to tile repair in the bedroom and a tankless water heater to replace our 12 year old model.
Just to speed us up, the tank's pilot light went off today.
Before my shower.
And we will put a new faucet on the kitchen sink as a grand finale. Our fourth or fifth since we have been here.
This time we paid the piper for a long dance.
Labels: rehab, technology
WEIMAR BERLIN
Continuing with the Fassbinder 15 hour saga. I am into the third installment.
It is pretty good.
It is interesting that there was a Netflix 'long wait' on the first disc, then the second and then the rest of the discs are ready 'now'. I suspect a quick fallout of those who have no iron pants.
Labels: best films
Thursday, March 20, 2008
BILL COMES OUT FOR BARACK
No. Not that Bill,
My first choice, Bill Richardson, did the endorsement thing early this morning.
Good Friday indeed.
I think that this is a really good thing.
Richardson can help a lot both with voters who liked him but also with superdelegates with whom he has a very high schmooze factor.
It also turns the page on all the stuff about Obama's preacher.
Religion.
The sure fire way to get your electoral hands burned.
A lesson for Obama.
Labels: Democrats, obama, politics, Richardson
ROBO DOG
Let me tell you one thing.
No Airedale Terrier would ever be caught dead being a slave to this kind of machine.
The Airedale's skill lies in getting the human to chase the ball (and the Airedale) rather than the other way 'round.
I showed this to Franklin and he sniffed at it. Another dog enslaved by his human.
Labels: Franklin
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
PHASE TWO
Today, the old washer/driers went out and the new ones came in.
Angel has ripped out all the shelves and shit from the laundry itself.
New plumbing is being installed. Well, plumbing in a new more secretive location, although the drain pipe will still have to be visible.
John is not going to get his clear, uncluttered look entirely. More like 90%.
There will be room for a shelf to the right of the washer and drier. Maybe a cabinet.
The entire interior will be lined with Formica ®—white.
The old drier was really in bad shape. The lint line was completely detached and so all the lint was spewing behind the units. We are lucky that we have not burned the house down.
Once again, there is nothing to do but stay out of the way.
John has gone to LA for two days of museum looking and sight seeing with our French friend. I am only a bit resentful at being left to 'handle' the project as there is nothing to 'handle'. Just my own impatience.
It is not even messy, confined as it is to the laundry closet. Well, there is a lot of shit out in the walkway awaiting use in the project or removal as trash. Angel is impeccably neat. My standards could not even come close to his.
So I am reduced to telling about it and not doing anything. Well, paying for it.
My ideal project.
We got Fischer and Paykel units.
This is a New Zealand company that just opened up a plant in Huntington Beach.
Cruise the features. They are rated 'pretty good' by Consumer Reports. They don't do as well with grimy clothes as some other units. We don't have grimy clothes. None.
The look good sitting in the garage right now waiting installation.
All shiny polished inside the drier. That won't last.
Labels: appliances, rehab, technology
LONG MARCH
Today's film was the first installment of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 16 hour marathon
This beautiful restoration (Criterion) of Fassbinder's crowning achievement (for good or ill) is the saga of one man who is released from prison to resume life in Weimar Germany and, in the process of that life, encounters the myriad elements of the society including the rise of the Nazi party.
I assume that, from the beginning, the protagonist is a symbol of Germany itself. Nothing less could be the case with Fassbinder.
The linked review says that the actual story could be done in 90 minutes but we are going to see everything that the original novel, a favorite of Fassbinder's, had on every page.
I had a good start but I couldn't take more than the first episode (about 90 minutes).
The look of art moderne Germany pervades the film.
It is beautiful to look at.
The hero is quite non-heroic. A worm.
I will see.
It is meant as an endurance test. I may be up to it.
No rating so far of course.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
HI TECH MULE
This is just amazing.
Explanation here.
It is so life like that when the guy kicked it I wanted to rush to its defense.
Labels: technology
ROLLER COASTER
So today the market is rebounding. Yesterday it was drooping.
I try to give some perspective to what is happening.
I have been through these things before. They tell me that this is the worse one but it felt a lot worse in past dips.
I guess this comes from knowing I am powerless, that I am not going to change where I have my money (in a mixed managed fund which is doing 'better' than the market) and that what goes down must come up.
If the coming up happens in the long term, I might not be here to enjoy it. On the other hand, if I am going to quit the scene that early I won't need the money anyway.
Ya' see what I mean?
No prob-a-lem.
The papers are just beginning to grasp that this is another of the bush failures. The signs have been out for this for months.
Even a week ago, fearless George was saying that there was nothing to worry about.
He seems hopelessly out of touch with what is going on.
Katrina? Post Invasion Iraq? Hello? Hello?
Shit, he didn't even know that gas was edging towards $4.00 a gallon.
I don't usually go for Maureen Dowd, the bitch lady, but she gets this right:
COMMON MAN
I finished watching the NYTimes Best 1176 Film, Bertolucci's
If bigger is better, this huge (cast of thousands), splendidly costumed, ravishingly photograped epic has to be the greatest ever film.
But it is not.
It fails just at the point where the story of one man who lives through momentous historical events never gets in touch with those events or his possible role in them.
That is he in the picture at left. A young man. Clueless.
At the end, his main accomplishment is to be a competent gardener.
He is dragged through the First World War, the Second World War, all the Chinese putsches and revolutions including the Communistic. He sees Mao become the new 'emperor'. He is re-educated to the new society.
The most touching moments are those when he is one on one with others. Sometimes happiness; mostly when personal tragedy strikes.
But for the most part, even though he falls in love with western culture, he seems immune to the news of the day or how he is or could be involved. Even when his wife's baby is 'assassinated' by the Japanese, he doesn't get it.
There is tragedy here but tragedy requires a great fall. No greatness. Just misunderstanding. Wrong moves.
Hopeless naivety. Innocence.
Tthe film succeeds mightily as a historical document and, in that sense, it is a great film.
Bertolucci is able to link the personal with the political to some extent.
The use of flashbacks and flash forwards helps give momentum to what is, day to day, year to year, a relatively static life.
I liked it and didn't like it.
I suppose that someone is going to say that I have to see it on a bigger screen to enjoy it.
I don't usually buy that proposition but in this case, I think that might just be so.
I did see it when it came out and I know that I enjoyed it more then than now.
I repeat that O'Toole is a presence but just a wee bit out of it most of the time. Too bad. Sir Peter.
I will give this a reluctant 4 out of Netflix5 just because it is so big and so wide and the center does mostly hold throughout. An endurance test is passed. Bertolucci's and my own. Although I took it in two separate laps.
Labels: best films
Monday, March 17, 2008
HALFWAY IN
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Bertolucci's
I got through the first half. It is 3 1/2 hours long. Too much for one sitting. For me.
It is a great film.
A somewhat teetery Peter O'Toole anchors the action from the first years of the last Chinese Emperor until the last years of the no longer Chinese Emperor.
That is him in the picture.
The emphasis here is on pageant and story. There seems to be a strong impetus to get the history right.
Very good so far.
I will look forward to seeing the second half tomorrow.
Labels: best films
CENTURY
My dad was born one hundred years ago today.
Imagine.
In 28 years I will be the same age.
There is not a day that goes by without some thought of him.
He was a great guy. Still is!
We always had fun with the fact that he was born on St. Patrick's Day.
He would always get the cards that had the two 'holiday's' together. "Ah, top o' the mornin' to ya' and a happy birthday too".
He didn't mind sharing the day.
I will be thinking of him more than usual today I suppose.
I have a bunch of photos close at hand to stimulate my thoughts.
But the mind's eye is the most accurate camera. Drawn from life. I can see him smiling.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
THE DUKE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was John Ford's
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
This is John Wayne at a turning point in his career.
Aging.
It is also Ford at the top of his cliché game in a beautifully photographed Monument Valley setting. The 'stuff' is really great. The buffalo, the horses, the atmosphere.
There is the usual supporting cast of Ford regulars especially Victor McLaglen who is an old favorite of mine.
When I was a kid, I saw every John Wayne film. Every one.
I remember that I did see this one. I was 12.
The restoration of this film is very good. The colors are radiant. The sound is full.
The only thing you have to endure is the theme song's repetition.
And of course, the sad stereotypes of the bad 'indians' and the good cavalry.
We lived in different times then.
Not necessarily the better for it.
But Wayne's performance here is really touching. An old man in a young country. Saying goodbye and goodbye and goodbye again.
There is a sort of second ending tacked on which undermines the central theme. I bet Ford was forced to do it.
But I didn't pay any attention to it.
I will give it a nostalgic 4 out of Netflix5 and ignore its political incorrectness.
Labels: best films
HASH
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Stanley Kubrick's
This is a compendium of horror clichés, dead ends and histrionics. A mess.
I suppose one could look at it as an exercise in studying realities but I prefer to see it as a film gone completely off the tracks.
It is way too long.
It has the hamminess of Nicholson who, I guess, had become NICHOLSON by this time.
It has the weepiness and strange appearance of Shelley Duval (she needs her teeth worked on).
Only Scatman Crothers holds it in and he is the one actor who should be allowed to let it out.
I figure that Kubrick's films were only about half good ones and that the good ones were so good (Strangelove) that he could coast with the others or got a free ride.
I kept worrying about their messing up the nice hotel.
Why did they let Jack bounce a fucking ball on the mural over the fireplace. Did they put a fake one over the real one so that he wouldn't hurt it?
What about the winter scenes. Did the actors have to stay there all year long?
Did the kid do his own 'possessed' voice?
We should not be thinking of this kind of shit in a horror/suspense film.
Who cleaned up the mess that Jack made in the kitchen with the silver service?
Why did they keep the lights on—all the goddam lights—all the time?
Look closely. Does Jack have a serious underbite?
I will give this a 1 out of Netflix5.
Is the maze really at the real hotel or is it something they built for the movie? It looks totally fake.
How did they keep the camera from going bump over the carpets in the numerous (too many) hallway tracking shots?
Why did they make this thing so inscrutable?
Why am I going on about this?
Am I hallucinating too? Did I really see the film?
Labels: best films
SORT OF DONE
The kitchen renovation is finished.
We do not have the new refrigerator yet but, since it is not a built-in, that will be a minor matter to complete (with a major impact of course).
The big thing with the kitchen is that you can hardly see what is old and new in the cabinets. He did almost perfect matching.
Oddly, with all that was done, the biggest impact fix is the replacement of door hinges. They are the 'European' style, flush mounts.
Many of them had gotten tired and really didn't work anymore. As a result, the doors depended on gravity to hold them in place and, if they were not quite plumb, they 'drifted' slowly to a balance position somewhere between closed and wide open.
Now, they snap to the closed position. Bang. Bang. Bang. That would be three doors closing.
We will have to be careful of the noise.
I had forgotten some compromises we made as a result of the old worn-out hinges. The trash under the sink got moved out because that door kept falling off. The trash bucket has returned to its rightful place.
I have a whole new cabinet (the former broom closet) for pots and pans and the less used appliances.
We moved all the cleaning gear into a closet in the garage. The closet held all kinds of shit that we (and the former owners) 'might need some day'. Well, we needed the space more. The shit is gone.
The new setup is pretty nice.
A touch of having a new kitchen with all the comforts of the old.
Next week, we are on to the new laundry setup.
Labels: appliances, rehab
Friday, March 14, 2008
LEAN MUSCLE MASS
That's what they call it.
It seems redundant. Muscle is lean. Mass is muscle. Well not always.
I am getting it though. People notice it.
So do I.
A few minutes in front of the mirror and I get all the motivation that I need to get through the week.
I have triceps again.
I have biceps, sort of.
My legs have soared in their ability to lift in the angled leg press.
I can feel the pain each week when I sit down. The new muscle fibers are coming in.
You can't see anything down there but it works. I mean my ass. I will never have an ass no matter how much I can lift.
When I quit the gym for a couple of years I was at my peak of 550 pounds and I had no ass.
I have doubled my crunches since I started a few months ago. You can't see that muscle either.
All in all, I am doing very well and I am pleased with myself and the routine at the gym.
If you are a newcomer to weight training you should not expect this level of development this fast. A lot of it is muscle memory. All the years I put in before I took the break.
But if, like me, you used to work out and quit, you can bounce back very quickly.
I am living proof.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
DOWNSIZED!!
We won!!
No two story monster next door.
The final City Council hearing on the appeal of our neighbor's proposed MiniMansion was held last night.
They voted 3-2 to sustain the Planning Commission's denial of his application.
We all trooped up there again and made little speeches.
There was a good turnout.
That is the end of the current project. The guy can build within the code without seeking a variance or he can submit a new plan.
I presume that would take another year.
The best we can hope for is that the current housing slump will engulf the entire project and, for now, delay any further plans.
If we are lucky we can play the clock out and never have anything over there in our lifetime.
But that conflicts with my 'live to 90' plans.
This has been a long march.
The first applications were made over a year ago.
There have been 12 hearings.
We submitted letters to every board with detailed photos, data runs and graphical information.
In most hearings we stood and spoke against the project.
There have been as many as 20 neighbors engaged with a hard core of 10-12 people who have shown up for all events.
There has been little support from the Planning Department or any other public body.
Indeed, the project was approved on the first bounce.
The Architectural Advisory Committee made up of developers and architects have always OK'd it.
We have pushed back.
And back. And back again.
Finally, the Planning Commission went our way. Twice. Once on the original proposal and, then again, on the revised edition.
The City Council was not sympathetic in the first hearing, got more so in the second and finally went our way in the last go around.
Persistence.
A lot of credit goes to John. Most of it actually.
I have never wanted to bother with it much. Too inconvenient to go to hearings and all.
And I really can't stand the bullshit there.
Nevertheless it feels good to have the issue resolved and in a way that meets our objectives.
Another side benefit is that it has drawn the neighbors together.
There has never been much of that kind of spirit here. People are friendly but pretty much go their own way.
That has changed. There is a much stronger bond with each other and a greater sympathy for other issues.
One of the neighbors is having trouble with anothers' dogs. The dog guys aren't part of the network. Guess who we are rooting for.
On a broader front, this matter has engaged a wider following in the area which is known as The Mesa.
A year ago, we were one of the few areas in the City that did not have a City sponsored neighborhood organization.
This issue aroused the others to see that the same thing could (and has) happened to them.
So today, there is about to be a chartered Mesa Neighborhood Organization which can represent our interests more forcefully in the various City departments.
Not a bad result for all the effort.
We stopped an egregious project, got tighter with our immediate neighbors and stimulated a larger neighborhood movement for self protection.
Labels: neighborhood
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
DAMAGE CONTROL
Too little, too late?
Clinton Apologizes to Black Voters
I can't figure out whether she apologized specifically to Obama or not but I guess since he is a black voter, well..............
And an apology from Hillary.
Mark the date. It will be awhile until the next one.
I think that they made a big mistake with this one.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
CORRECTED
Ferraro was the Veep nominee with Mondale not McGovern.
She is still a terrible dinosaur of the type we do not need back in power.
Thanks to Jim.
We may trash someone but we want historical accuracy.
Labels: Democrats
HARRIDAN
So Ferraro resigned from a post she said she didn't have—couldn't be fired because she didn't have a job on the Clinton campaign.
In any case, she is gone.
This is the problem with Clinton.
She is surrounded by people like Geraldine Ferraro and they will never let go of the hold they have on her.
The reason we have a chance to get clean with Obama.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
GERALDINE
It is funny to watch Geraldine Ferraro's racism plop around for everyone to see.
This is not her first venture out on this thin ice.
She is basically an ethnic politician. Italian. Old stye.
Nothing wrong in that. But it means that ethnic/racial pandering is second nature to her.
Her fury at the Obama defectors from Hillary is so strong you can smell the sulfur.
Name calling and race bating are second nature to people like this.
Kos deconstructs.
Ferraro's White Resentment Card
Ferraro is not very bright.
She was a two bit politician when McGovern selected her to run for Vice President. And she is right. They wanted a woman and a woman who had some bite. She sure has some bite.
She had some ethics problems as well.
Her contractor husband seemed to profit a bit too much from her political connections.
An old pol, female division.
She reacted viscerally and imprudently and got caught out at it.
This doesn't register much on the Richter scale of the election. Some people thought this was a 'dog whistle'. One of those calls to the bigots to vote for Hillary while the rest of us would not hear it.
Republican candidates do it all the time to call out to 'the base' while sounding mid stream.
But I don't think she is that smart.
On the other hand, the Clintons haven't been to pure on playing the white card themselves. Bill in SC and all.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics
ODORIFEROUS
The citrus blossoms are out.
The air is sweet everywhere we go in the neighborhood.
Of course, there is a stronger whiff as you get closer to a blooming tree but there is no escaping the general perfume.
After awhile it can get cloying but the variations prevent that from happening too long.
Orange is different than grapefruit is different from lime and lemon to say nothing of tangerine.
On top of all this effluvia, there is another bloom coming on the orchid tree in the front yard. Another note on a full scale of scents.
It is spring in Southern California.
This happens every year. Our eleventh. But it is still a surprise when it comes. A year is a long time. We forget.
Labels: horticulture, nature
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
SLOGGED
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is a documentary about the route of Sherman's March and how it looks today. But something happened on the way to the historic site. The film morphs into a navel gazing exercise by the director.
In the first phases of the filming he gets ditched by his girl friend (good for her) and everything after that is a search for a girl, a meaning, a way of life, a purpose, a kitchen sink of southern post bellum tics.
It is very annoying and, at the same time, riveting. What forms of personal neuroses will this loser document next?
How many fucked up southern belles will he try to impress by going after them with his camera.
Dr. Freud, Dr, Freud! What do you think the camera lens stands for?
I wanted, just once, to see how perfectly ridiculous this asshole looked living his life with a 16mm camera pressed against his face. He even kisses a few with the camera going.
I gave up halfway through to the fast forward. It was too painful to endure. It is 2 and a half hours looooooong.
I suppose this is a Best Film because it shows the extent some people will go to humiliate themselves in the name of some obscure artistic principal.
But, I don't have to enable it by watching.
I will give this one a 1 out of Netflix5.
The only thing lower is a mark that says I didn't watch it.
Almost but not quite.
Labels: best films
Monday, March 10, 2008
SEX KILLS
Elliot Spitzer got his nuts in the crack.
Spitzer is Linked to Prostitution Ring
Political suicide.
It shouldn't be but it is.
It has to be hell on the family. Public humiliation for the innocent parties.
Why is the wife always dragged up on the stage for the mea culpa? Why does she agree to do it?
There is also the hypocrisy angle. He prosecuted sex workers.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I don't have to push the metaphor any further do I?
Labels: politics
MORE PROGRESS
The "new" cabinets are going into the kitchen today.
It is hard to see where he has adapted and shaped and redone.
Beautiful work.
We have been using the new shower controls that went through the back wall and never broke a marble tile—an 8 inch hole. It is a great pleasure almost the full price of the renovation.
It demonstrates how we have been 'putting up with' the old setup.
And no washers to change. Ever.
This guy has all the tools. He brought the saw table today. And a pneumatic nailer that puts in almost needlelike 'nails'.
What a find. Angel. He sure has the right name.
We are adding to the list of jobs he might do in the future.
Labels: rehab
EXACTLY
Sniping by Aides Hurt Clinton’s Image as Manager
Just what I have been saying.
If you can't manage the campaign and its money then how the hell can you tout your experience as an advantage.
We have lots of experienced incompetents in DC already.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics
Sunday, March 09, 2008
EPIC
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was George Steven's
Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur and Brandon De Wilde.
There are a host of classic supporting actors like Edgar Buchanan, Ben Johnson, Jack Palance and Elisha Cook, Jr.
And behind them all, the Grand Tetons which I have seen and, unlike many location films, they are always out there and you can see them as well as marvel at their beauty.
This is a classic story of sod-busters versus cattle men. What makes it different is character and the kid right in the middle of it.
The whole thing is beautifully rendered.
I also think that this is the beginning of the breakdown in romancing the western.
These people are roughing it. The town is barely there. Shane is just about worn out as a gunslinger. His profession is no longer needed.
It is a rich stew.
I have never seen this film before.
I am glad that I caught it. Better late than never.
Everyone is good. There are some light tears. I never looked at my watch.
I think that, in its time, it was groundbreaking. Sod busting?
De Wilde is the center of this film. Alan Ladd was a pretty boy actor of the old star mode and does well here but he is way more handsome than makes sense and we are always aware of their compensating for his being shorter than any one else in the film except De Wilde.
He steps up to the bar and has an extra step. Other people step down to talk to him. Perhaps it is not distracting if you don't know about it but, still, it would have been better with another less pretty star.
Incidentally, in retirement, Ladd opened a swanky hardware store in Palm Springs and his name still graces the four story building it was housed in.
But I digress. Back to the film.
You know that it is good if this inside story shit didn't detract from its power.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
BEATING THE SYSTEM
I think it is way too early to be using Daylight Saving Time but they didn't ask me.
I gamed the system and took my lost hour by setting the clocks ahead early last night and going to bed at the new time.
Better than losing an hour of sleep, I say.
Labels: life
Saturday, March 08, 2008
HILLARY IS IMPORTANT
I really enjoyed this Op-Ed piece in the LATimes today:
Now I know that it is a bit over the top here and there but the basic idea is true.
I have to admit at feeling some sadness when she was losing so badly and a bit of exhilaration when she won the other day in Ohio and Texas.
I have a friend who said she felt sorry for Hillary before last Tuesday.
She got over that fast.
I love that the Democratic Party has depth.
You know, there were at least three other candidates in the primary who were well qualified, Richardson, Biden and Dodd.
Not presidential timbre maybe but still.
It is McCain in the other party because there was no option. None.
And he is not the best.
The best didn't show up because it is so hopeless for them.
I am proud to be a Democrat today.
I have not always felt that way.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, politics
WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE PLAY
I am told that the turnout in the Wyoming Democratic Caucus today is way over the top.
And Obama is kicking Clinton's ass.
I like this.
The process is excellent.
An energized electorate.
As long as people can remember which party they wanted to be in when it is over. Kissing and making up is sometimes hard to do.
When we drove across the USA to move here we loved going through Wyoming. It is very sparsely populated. These people had to go miles to get together.
Let's hear it for a great state.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama, politics
MOVING DAY
My cold has moved from my throat to my head.
Usually, I get the opposite sequence.
It is not too bad. Annoying.
I know that it will all be over in one week as long as I take the medicines.
Otherwise, it would take 7 days before it got finished with me.
Labels: health
BUGS!
Today's NYTimes 1176 Best Film was
Even without the hi-tech, this is a better picture with more suspense than the remake with Jeff Goldblum.
This one is about the people and the horror of loved ones being taken away.
A different screw is being turned.
It is all Donna Reed in the beginning.
Well, actually not, as you know the end of the story in the first 5 minutes.
What you don't know and what the stretch involves is the "why done it". Not the "who done it".
There is a scientist, there is a lab, there is a nice family, there is a loving brother (Vincent Price to spice the stew I think).
There is a lab breakthrough.
Things go wrong.
It is all very orderly until it isn't.
The last parts of it are very exciting.
We know thing that they, on the screen, do not.
Tense.
Very good, even when it seems to be a bit too Fifties and is slowing down. I think that adds to the tension.
I will give it a surprised 3 out of Netflix5. I thought it would be a dud.
Labels: best films
Friday, March 07, 2008
LOOSE CHANGE
Today was one of those days that I won't want to repeat very often.
We started off with Franklin headed to the groomer.
We were not surprised to find the groomer's daughter waiting to tell us that her Mom had gone into what I presume is hospice care and that the shop would be closing. She has been sick for quite a while.
There was already a 'For Lease' sign out.
Our groomer of the day would be Amy who has helped out with Franklin a number of times.
She did a good job.
We discussed where we could get in touch with her and found that she had already joined another shop.
We will be happy to join her there for our next appointment.
Change One.
Home to Angel, the wonderful man who is doing all our work on the kitchen, master bath and bedroom tile repair to say nothing of the laundry.
He had started work on the bathroom fixtures which are behind the cabinet which will replace the refrigerator which is not on the diagonally opposite side of the room awaiting its new replacement in a couple more weeks.
Got that?
All day we watched the project move along. This guy is the best. Methodical, perservering, problem solving and, best of all, he does it all. There is no stopping for the electrician to come in or the plumber to make his entrance. We have it all in one.
Great.
And he cleans as he goes and cleans it all up before the end of the day.
In the middle of that I got the call that the iMac was ready for pickup so John and Franklin and I piled into the Cherokee and went to La Quinta to pick it up.
I am using it to compose this posting.
I had expected to wait a week. One day is not bad timing.
But it wasn't planned at all.
Ad hoc.
We got back about in time for Franklin's supper and then his walk which he chose not to take.
Wow.
He was wiped.
This has happened a few times in history but it is very unusual. He will simply not budge and looks back at the door.
Great.
I was tired too and had lost an hour in my 'day' and here was the hour coming back to me.
One more unexpected thing but that happens tomorrow.
Daylight Savings Time? Already?
I guess I knew it was coming but I hadn't thought about it.
At.
All..
It means that Franklin and I will have to slide our walk to after dinner. He won't walk in the sun.
And, since this is a month earlier than we are used to, there isn't all that much light after dinner.
So, an earlier dinner maybe.
We will work it out.
I just don't want to come home in the dark.
Actually, this is our most usual walking routine. Six months of it. After dinner. Before the spa. Off to bed. Both of us. Franklin and me. John stays up longer.
Life has its rhythms and today it was playing the bongos.
Labels: life
BACK
The iMac is back in service.
A minor glitch apparently with advice on what to do if it happens again.
A time worn prescription. Reload the system disc.
Labels: computer, macintosh, technology
Thursday, March 06, 2008
THROAT
I have a small throat cold.
I got out the echinacea the other day and I took some expectorant today to get the crud up.
I haven't had a cold in over a year.
I always say that because I really can't remember when it was.
A long time.
I will live.
And I am not uncomfortable.
Me and my iMac. A bit under the weather.
Labels: health
IT MUST BE THE WATER
My new iMac went down today.
It crashed all the applications and they won't turn on again.
Nothing is lost.
I have the hard disc backup and I have kept my laptop current with files.
It took me about half an hour to update the stuff that it missed since its renewal on Saturday.
The iMac is in the hospital.
MacService in La Quinta.
I will hear the diagnosis in 72 hours. Just like a biopsy. Wait.
And then maybe a week to fix.
I have an AppleCare contract. Costs will be covered.
Maybe I will get a new machine!
I am not thrilled about this but it is not too big a bum. I have already readapted to the smaller keyboard and all my stuff is here.
Comparing, it is not the worst thing that could happen.
I even had the time to take it in without stressing myself.
It picked a good time to get sick.
Labels: macintosh
BIG MAC
There was yet another hearing on the proposed MacMansion adjacent to our property.
This has been going on since 2006.
A guy wants to build a two story monstrosity next to us. Peers right into our pool area. Other neighbors worse.
It requires a variance.
Architectural Commission passes it. They are all developers with developer mentality. Rights of ownership and all that. Forget the rights of neighbors.
In short, assholes with conflicted interests.
The Planning Commission turns it down.
They tell him to redo it. He doesn't but brings it back to them. They turn it down again.
The developer appeals.
City Council sends it back through the process telling the guy to meet with the neighbors, go back and make the privacy thing better, and to start over in the process. They don't turn it down outright.
We meet with him. Not a pleasant meeeting.
The guy goes back with a reduction of the second floor and gets another OK from the conflicted assholes on the Architectural Commission then takes it to the Planning Commission and they turn it down again even more dramatically.
Last night he is back to the City Council to appeal the loss.
De ja vu all over again.
We have now attended more than 10 hearings on this thing.
Neighbors at each one.
The Council has one member (a rumored supporter for our side, the Mayor) on the sick list.
The vote is tied. No decision.
It has to go back on the agenda for next week when they have a quorum.
Holy shit.
Eight neighbors go out pissed off.
We will be back.
The votes against us were one know nothing. The ex police commissioner who should have recused himself since he was not around when this happened the first time.
The other is an architect with many such projects of his own where the technicalities often favor him and he does not want others or himself to be judged by any other consideration like size, design, appropriateness and so on.
Another politician with a pesonal axe to grind.
OK. I can take it.
We are told that we will win.
I have heard this all the way through the process.
What if we lose?
Nothing bad. The developer has taken the windows and balconies that looked at us out and so the privacy issue is gone.
As to the rest of it, I can live with whatever the outcome is. But in the meantime, we are working hard to stop it.
Would be be OK with a smaller, more appropriated design?
Sure.
We will see.
Labels: macmansion
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
FAMILY FIGHT
No harm done to Reagan / Ford either.
If you recall, Reagan won the general. And had Ford at his side throughout.
Kevin Drum again.
Labels: politics
LOVE IN A TIME OF HATE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Károly Makk's Hungarian film
After her husband is arrested for political incorrectness, his wife carries on her life particularly with his mother who is dying.
Rather than tell her the truth about her son, she tells her mother-in-law that he is in New York making a movie.
Indeed.
She concocts whimsical letters from the son to read. It is delightful and sad at the same time.
Small memory bits are included for the mother who is played by Lilli Darvis. Wonderful.
The last part involves the son returning to find his mother dead and his wife waiting.
Bitter sweet.
This film is about human love in its many forms.
Random acts of kindness abound in this movie from everyone (except the government, I guess).
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
BACK IN THE MIDDLE
Or is it muddle?
I am not upset at all about Clinton's revival last night.
I watched her on CNN this morning and she really hit the line items for her nomination hard.
She did an excellent job.
She swung me over to the middle again.
I am convinced that she could kick John McCain's ass and I am still not sure that Obama could or will.
I am still worried about his resilience under attack.
I don't think that he was very good under the kind of arguments that the Clintonistas made about him. Some were lame like his response to the Rezko scandal.
And again, his lack of real experience comes to mind.
I really like them both.
What about the dream ticket? An Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama pairing?
It would be a landslide. And a great positioning for either to run the next cycle.
That is probably not going to happen but still.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama, politics
GOOD FOR WHAT AILS THEM/US?
I think that all the fulminating about whether the current divisions in the Democratic Party are going to damage it are way off base.
I think that what is happening is very healthy.
So does Kevin Drum.
And he will point out what real division is like.
This is nothing compared to 1968.
And Humphrey nearly won then.
I CALLED IT
So it turned out pretty much as I expected.
Clinton got the vote but stands still on the delegate count.
Obama didn't do too well when finally attacked.
Let's face it.
She stole the momentum in the last weeks.
He has the Rezko thing to worry about. He has the NAFTA deal with the Canadians. He has the 3AM call commercial.
We will see how he does.
He will certainly have to fight back. We haven't seen him do that.
And he will certainly need to fight back when it comes to the general.
There will be all kinds of spin upcoming.
I think that, at the very least, we will keep the attention on the Democratic contest and steal the attention from the lackluster GOoPer McCain.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
RENO
Big day today.
The refrigerator is where the desk used to be and the desk is sort of pulled apart awaiting a reformation in the old refrigerator space.
It hasn't been heavy lifting for me.
I went for a nap and when I got up it was all done.
The afternoon was excruciating to watch but a snap for Angel, our contractor, who threaded the copper tubing (3/8") over the ceiling, through the maze of overhead lights from the water line to the new refrigerator location.
He is enormously patient. Focused. There is no waste motion.
A good day.
I had all the shit on my desk covered in a black sheet to protect it. Color coordinated.
Labels: rehab
STAR STRUCK
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Payday (1973) with Rip Torn.
This movie, a low budget Nashville, is all about Rip Torn who stars as a country western star about to make it big. Or not.
He is a nasty egomaniac who subsists on pills and booze and treats people as disposable.
He is a crybaby and a child-man. Not the same thing.
The surroundings seem very real. Small towns, country roads, music people.
Torn is transfixing.
You can see the booze and dope taking hold.
He becomes a monster and he wasn't all that neat a guy sober.
I know this sounds hard to take but there is some funny stuff interspersed with the tough stuff.
A lot of the people in it are real musicians, fans, and business professionals.
I liked it a lot.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Monday, March 03, 2008
ELECTION EVE
I had hoped that this was going to be the primary day that would tell us results!
I am now less optimistic that will be the case.
Clinton seems to have halted the Obamentum. At least that is what the polls say.
She got him on the 3AM ad I think.
Now there is some shit about what, if anything, he told the Canadians about his 'real' position on NAFTA.
His game had to get some flaws. Sooner or later.
There is still the delegate count thing.
Everything I read shows that he will still be ahead unless Clinton smashes him. Not probable.
So we will have to wait and see.
And this will be a long wait.
They are counting the ballots by hand in Ohio and the Texas caucus takes place after their polls close.
A long night.
I guess I am lowering my expectations.
I am already thinking that I will be OK with either when, in fact, in my heart, I have switched to Obama.
But I will be OK with either. Just more OK with him than her.
The McCain campaign is not going to be easy for either of our candidates. We must have party unity after this is decided.
The elders are starting to move toward it.
A slog.
A wait.
I already voted. We thought, out here, that we would have a hand in the outcome. Maybe be the deciders.
We didn't decide shit.
So much for local arrogance.
Labels: Democrats, election, hillary, obama
UP TO DATE
For years and years I have worn polo shirts of the Izod type with their collars up.
This is the way I wore them in college and this is the way that I wear them now.
Every once in a while some uninformed acquaintance will turn the collar down for me thinking that I have somehow forgotten to flap it down myself.
When I started wearing my polos this way, it was the fashion to do so.
Then it became less and less the fashion and more and more hors de la mode.
So much better for me. I am delighted to be this way. The more hors the better.
Now, finally, after about fifty years, la mode is coming around to my way of thinking again.
The bright young meterosexual male is wearing his polo with the collar up.
What they now call "popped".
If you wait long enough, you can be on the right side of the wave.
Now I will have to find another way to rebel.
I don't wear the brand name kind anymore incidentally. Lands End 29.95 heavy mesh polo. Perfect. And no label to show.
INVISIBLE
The work on the kitchen started today but it is hard to see what is going on.
The first step is to build some cupboard doors and shelves and so Angel (our contractor) is working on that in his own shop up the hill. At his house.
Better sawdust with him than me.
So, all my visions of dust and noise and disruption were wrong.
As usual, the worry is worst than the actual.
Labels: rehab
Sunday, March 02, 2008
ONE HOUR TOO LONG
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ernst Lubitch's musical
with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette McDonald.
This is a period piece and about a millimeter deep.
This is a pre-code film and quite racy for the day. People use double beds, there is an actual overnight sexual liaison (for the man not really for the woman) and the lines are often not even double entendré just plain entendré.
But Chevalier is quite magnetic and they really sing the songs.
McDonald and the rest of the cast are a bit hard to swallow and the story is non-existent but I stayed through the impulse to jump ship and I am not sorry that I did.
I wouldn't want to see it again. Once is enough.
The quality check is how many times I look at my watch during a film.
I looked at my watch a lot!
Nevertheless, it is not hard to see how Chevalier kept his career going for so long. He is all charisma and charm. Is that the same thing? It seems necessary to use two words. At least.
This will be a 2 out of Netflix5 so they don't put me down for any old musicals on my recommendations list which I don't look at anyway.
THE BEST LIST
A note on the alphabetical thing.
I am working through the Best List by the letters and am somewhere in the middle of the many S's right now.
I periodically check Netflix for availability of discs that have come out since I started and many additions have been made so that is why we are getting an O today and other out of list items other times. Catching it up.
There are 200 yet to go in the available queue, another 100 in the 'saved' queue (discs coming out but not yet in print) and another 70-80 that are unaccounted for in any listing anywhere at the present time.
Since I interleave current films that I want to see, I am going to be working on the Best List for quite some time.
Labels: best films
Saturday, March 01, 2008
REHAB
Did I mention that we are about to splurge on a 'new' kitchen and laundromat?
Probably not.
I have been resisting this for ten years. I don't like change.
But it is time.
Our refrigerator is aging. The work triangle in the kitchen really does need a redesign. And we have to make some plumbing changes here and there to remedy some handyman quality work that was done in the area years ago.
Part of this involves our master bath plumbing which inexplicably requires removal of the refrigerator to get to. Huh?
So.
A new refrigerator, a Whirlpool Gold stand alone, will soon loom where the mini-office desk thing is on the opposite side of the kitchen.
It will be white. Not stainless. The 'gold' is the name of the line.
While we are at it John got a deal on a small freezer on top unit to replace the old one in the garage. The new one will defrost itself.
I have been doing it three or four times a year for ten years. Free at last!
Then. A cleaned up piping-wiring setup in the laundry and an Fisher & Paykel Aerosmart Washer and Drier Combination. No impellor. A magnetically run motor. What is that? High tech.
There will be various other changes.
The key to the project is a guy we found who can do the whole thing. A neighbor!
He is a licensed contractor. He has a great rep with people we know. He is not expensive.
Bingo.
We start Monday.
I am prepping for taking the interruption to my routine gracefully and willingly.
A major effort for me. I do not like to be inconvenienced.
I will try to get over it.
That is my part of the project.
That and doing the accounting.
Labels: appliances
MORE ON WHO IS PREPARED—OR NOT
Clinton campaign challenged on the ‘tested by crisis’ claim
In general reviews are mixed.
Clinton certainly seems to have grabbed the news cycle but if it led to being exposed to the question of 'what has she done' or 'what will she do' there seems to be a thud.
I think that this is very good.
The GOoPers will be all over this in the campaign no matter who the Demo is.
McCain is all terror, all the time.
He is a muscle flexer.
He will be all over this issue.
Talking straight and tough and all that shit.
Of course, we had one of those poseurs doing the job for 8 years and look what we have for it.
But this is a campaign. Rules are different. Rhetoric, even the empty kind, matters.
I think that Obama has the only good answer.
The example of his judgement on Viet.......ooops.....pardon me. I just got out of a film about that.
I mean I-rack.
Labels: Democrats, gay politics, hillary, McCain, obama
IN MOURNING
The mourning doves are back.
They fly south briefly each winter. A month or two. And then they return.
We have a pair in the front yard. They have taken over the carob tree. I am sure there will be a nest and lots of bird shit underneath.
They will flush and whirr everytime I go out there, scaring me at the same time they are scared.
They will mate and run around and provide endless entertainment on the wall.
They will become part of the family.
I actually do not know if these are the same birds or their children.
How could you tell?
There are usually a pair on each side of the house until the hawks get them.
We will find a little pile of feathers and they are gone.
Life's cycle.
Labels: nature
SLOG
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
I am not much for 'the making of.." films or shorts.
But this one was well worth my time.
Apocolypse Now is a great film and here we have the process by which it was made. And almost not.
Francis Ford Coppola skirts the edges of failure throughout. Even the fates seem to intercede against him. Typhoons, heart attacks, actors who won't learn their lines while hundreds stand by.
His wife Eleanor shot much of the footage and others wrote and produced this documentary.
Vivid scenes from the film are included.
I got the same sort of headache that I got from the film itself. In a good way.
The only thing close to it is the Terry Gilliam documentary about his failed Don Quixote.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
CHURCH AND STATE
And a fresh controversy right in my own back yard.
A Town and a Baptist Pastor Vie Over ‘Eternity’
This is the same town that shuts down gay establishments that go too far with the x-rated stuff on display.
They are equal opportunity censors.
Labels: culture
