Wednesday, April 30, 2008
SHIT FLOWS BOTH WAYS
Clinton is caught pandering again and on the wrong side.
Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea
Even the dumbest of us know that the gas companies will simply raise the prices.
I view it as a plus for Obama. I like his line: ""This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."
Hillary. For shame! And to be found on the same side as McCain.
I paid 50 dollars to fill my tank this morning. 3/4 full.
While at the gym I saw the president of Shell telling us that the increased profits that his company made this quarter had nothing to do with what they charge. He also told us that the earth was flat. All smiles. A cherub. Clearly eating well. They didn't ask his salary. He was on CNN.
This is a volatile issue to be messing around with. Not a good choice for Hillary.
GENTLE FUN
Today's movie was
with Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche. I like both of them.
Here we have a family comedy that isn't all manic or wild and crazy or over the top fart and penis jokes.
I am not sure but I think that there was no profanity, no sexual situation and no one, absolutely no one, made a real fool of themselves for very long.
What a novelty.
Very enjoyable.
A guy goes to a family reunion and meets a woman he already met that he is attracted to but who is the girlfriend of his brother. Now what could be simpler than that?
John Mahoney and Diane Weist help out as Mom and Dad and numerous brothers and sisters and in-laws, as well as Carell's three kids (he is a widower), provide a lot of muscle to the proceedings.
Did I mention that the Carell character is an advice columnist?
The chickens come home to roost.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 just for being so nice and funny.
Labels: film
THE WRIGHT REVEREND
I have not written much about this thing with Obama's ex-pastor.
They guy is a loose cannon. On a roll into his 15 minutes of fame.
Bad timing for Obama.
But I think he is handling it well.
This is one more example of how we let religion mess up our whole electoral process.
The religionists seem to think that they have this claim on our attention. I mean both sides of every issue.
For every Wright there is another right wing ideologue demagogue ready to pounce.
It muddies the stream.
All in all we have just too much 'religious' blather entirely.
It is too bad but it cannot be helped.
This is surely a test of Obama's mettle.
It is also good to get all this brush cleared away now before the general.
I hate this shit.
We have let the christists take over the agenda in this country and it will be literally hell to pry their cold dead fingers off of it.
Labels: christist watch, obama, religion
BOOK REPORT
I realize that I haven't been covering my reading over the last months.
I told you below about my current Richard Price Lush Life.Before that, I was working through the three works of Tony Earley: his short story collection Here We Are In Paradise which lays down the infrastructure of the characters elucidated in his first novel Jim The Boy and his most recent followup to "Jim", The Blue Star.
I had read the first novel and so I just got them all and read them together. Definitely wonderful.
These cover a time and a style of life that I was born just an inch out of. They are meticulously written with a lot of poetry imbedded in the prose.
I enjoyed them all immensely.
On the other side of the coin entirely, I have finally finished all 12 Jack Reacher thrillers by Lee Child
These are among the best of genré that I have read. There is a new one coming out this summer.
The thing about these books is that they are all quite different. One or two are written in the first person. The others in the third. The situations vary although the fascinating loner Reacher does not.
You learn more about him as the series goes on. It is funny that he has his own Wikipedia profile.
Fun.
But violent.
The other series that I am involved with had a new volume out this Spring.
Bernard Cornwell, whose total work I have been reading through for quite a while, has a series based on Alfred the Great in Middle Ages England which is not even England yet.
The fourth volume is out now and we are ready for the fifth due next year.
Cornwell is the creator of the Richard Sharp series, a 24 volume story of a soldier/officer in the long Napoleonic Wars.
I have read all but one of those and am saving the last for dessert some day.
Cornwell is an incredibly prolific author who maintains his quality all the way through. I have about 7 books still to go until I am finished with all his work.
That is a lot of reading.
All good.
And now, I have reported in full.
Labels: books
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
LULL
I am in one of those blogging lulls.
Nothing much is going on that I want to write about. There are a few things that I can't but they are, for the most part, OK things.
Things that I can't write about. Other peoples stuff. I try to keep others out of this. Privacy and all that.
I also lack some energy for it.
Every time this happens, I write about the bloc and the next thing I know, I am writing again.
Perhaps I am just engrossed in my reading these days.
I am reading Richard Price's new novel Lush Life and it is engrossing.
Modern NY neighborhood. Cops. A street killing. A guy who gets all jarred up with it. Hard to describe. Great dialog. Slang, figures of speech. Colorful.
Price writes thickly and intensely.
That means that the reading is very rewarding and slow.
I read his Clockers some years ago and enjoyed it as much as I am into this one.
I am always reading something and most of it is good stuff. When I hit excellent stuff, I slow down.
The weather may have something to do with it too. It is warm and very nice.
Slowing down weather.
We have not hit 100 yet which is unusual. So it is a cool warm.
I told you the other day that it was very, very dry.
Still is.
The pool is in regular use now.
A nice way to cool the warm and wet the dry.
I didn't do a movie today. Had a guy over in the PM for talk. Nice.
I gotta get back to my book now.
WINNING MORE VOTES THAT COUNT
Obama goes for the superdelegates with a strategy that is good for him and the Party.
It is, interesting enough, the strategy of Dean, Rahm, Reid, and Pelosi.
Obama's 50-state-strategy looking good outside the Beltway
He has to do well next week in Indiana and North Carolina of course.
The dance he is having to do around the Wright mess is not helping that.
But he is working it.
COMING WAVE
This shows that sooner or later the chickens will come home to roost.
But, keeerist, it is a long time to wait.
If they all turn out this year, it will be a tsunami.
Labels: bush. bushies, republican whack jobs
Monday, April 28, 2008
FALLING OUT OF LOVE
This is the kind of thing that alienates me from the Clintons and, particularly, had me take my 'I Miss Bill' sticker off my Cherokee.
I read that they are going to increase the Bill's exposure from now on.
It will backfire.
It is disappointing to see that all the Clintons can think about are the Clintons.
Obama does not, clearly, bow down and kiss Bill's ass. He criticizes the Clinton Administration from time to time.
Bill does not like this.
I would expect that he would not. But his ego will not let him suck it up as he should.
I do not really believe that she can run with him on her back. I certainly do not want her to be his sock puppet if she is President.
Bill. Just shut the fuck up.
Labels: Bill Clinton, Democrats, hillary, obama
TOXIC WASTE
When we cleaned out the house closets a few weeks ago, we gathered all the shit we had accumulated along with the construction waste in one spot in the carport.
Then we called 1-800-GOT JUNK to come get it.
They came and did the estimate, then run over the estimate, thing which so many vendors do now. Just plan on a 20% bump. They don't get that we would have tipped 20 per man if this had not happened. Or care, I suppose.
I digress.
They did take all the junk except the ABOP stuff.
That would be anitfreeze, batteries, oil and paint.
We have the previous owner and our own in this category.
The junkies can't take it. Not allowed.
We have to take it over to the ABOP center.
You have to go and get in a line, fill out papers and you can only drop off fifty pounds at a time although you can drive back through again.
This kind of bureaucratic shit goes against my grain. I don't do lines. I don't like forms.
If it is so fucking important to isolate this stuff, why do they make it so difficult to do the job?>
So we have a GI can out in the carport filled with hazardous waste and it will sit there until we get the ambition to take fifty pounds, box it and go to the center. Or find someone to do it for us.
The open at 7AM in the summer. Maybe that will work. No lines.
We will see.
What galls me is that the state will not allow any of this stuff in the regular trash and you will get cited for one can of paint.
In the past I have sort of seeded it into the regular trash. I might do it again.
A few bottles at a time.
But what if I get caught?
Will I have to pay a fine? Go to jail? I want to know the risk.
I know.
My attitude sucks.
Who said it didn't? Not me.
I am more than willing to 'do my part' as long as it doesn't inconvenience me.
A moral failing I suppose.
But there it is.
I have a feeling that I wrote about this before. If so, I am still unrepentant.
Labels: ecology
NATURE VS. NURTURE
Today's movie is the Criterion restored Italian classic
Culture clashes when Alberto Sordi returns home to Sicily from Milan after many years.
The jokes keep rolling gently. The blond wife and kids in fashionable clothes. The black clad local crones. The mustache on his sister. The car. The cart. The whole thing.
The prodigal son must make amends to his godfather for the favors bestowed, the ones that got him out of town and into the job at Fiat.
Not everything that ensues is funny or fun. It is a bit of a serio-comic look at what's involved when you get in the maze of 'family' obligations.
Sordi is a great comic actor and he is able to navigate here between the complexity of the character's situation.
I love the Italian films that show family life in all its raucous glory. Here, also, we have the old chums who are still where they were when he last saw them years ago.
I got this because of the enthusiastic review last year in the NYT of the restored DVD.
I enjoyed it very much.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: film
Sunday, April 27, 2008
DRY
We are having extremely dry weather.
Right now it is an unprecedented 2% relative humidity.
That is a dew point of (-4 F).
That is dry, dry, dry.
Extra drinking and extra watering where it is needed.
And Franklin will need to get a drink too.
We do not perspire in this low humidity.
Franklin never perspires. It isn't in the dog system.
He uses panting and lolling of the tongue.
I am not panting or lolling yet.
HAPPILY FOR EVER AFTER
Today's movie was
and it was enchanting and very very funny.
It turns all the fairy tale and Disney tropes on their head. And this is from Disney.
The movie is a romp and very enjoyable and well done.
Did I say that I was enchanted by it?
A great cast and good music with some clever animation. All good.
Enchanting.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: film
COMING OUT
I can remember when the NYTimes would not use the word "gay" (try "avowed homosexual" as a nasty tongue twister).
Now they have a full magazine article on gay married couples living in Boston.
It is pretty good.
I don't know about the mid-fifties style domestic photos but I guess that is OK to goof on.
I tend to still take offense at anything that shows gay as being foofie.
It is nice to read about these young men who have made an early decision to couple and marry.
It is a whole new dynamic in so-called gay culture. Marriage. But I don't think it is that new. The coupling part.
It is just that the gay couples who have been around for decades were just not married and, while that does make a bit of difference, things are pretty much the same as they always were.
When I came out I knew couples in their 20's who have lasted unto this day. We have friends who have been together over 40 years and are not out of their 60s.
So, in a way, a lot of what these guys are experiencing is the same as we did in our first years.
One of the young men even refers to that old saw from 'the straights' who are so ignorant about gay life: "So who is the man and who is the woman".
Keerist.
It used to be asked a lot and, evidently, is still asked today. Nothing much changes.
The answer, incidentally, is "neither". We are two men and that is the point. If you wanted a woman you would be a hetero. Duh!
What marks these couples more than anything else is their yuppy-ness.
Gay has most often been seen in the light of an urban culture. The two things get intertwined.
Single men in the city are different than single men in the rural areas, gay or straight. And many of the issues discussed here are urban. Hence the term 'metrosexual'.
We have lived both ways.
In the city we were all that with the latest shows and the sparkly house and apartment. The night life. The arts.
Out here in the desert, we and a lot of other gay couples, young and old, are hardly distinguishable from the straights. We relax and slow down and don't go out at night much (that is for the tourists). We live a life outdoors and use the beauty of our surroundings to satisfy our aesthetic needs.
Our photos would be more of the 'hiking boots on a trail' kind.
Nonetheless, it is wonderful to see this happening and to realize that all that marching and protesting and petitioning and all has paid off.
These guys seem as happy as any one else and can live their life making their own mistakes and not start out behind society's eight-ball.
Labels: gay life
Saturday, April 26, 2008
BLEAK GENIUS
Today's film was the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's
This is a movie of a book that I read.
A violation of a principle: No sequels, no remakes, no books of movies that I have seen or movies of books I have read.
That said, this film follows McCarthy's pulpy western/stalker/good versus evil story almost scene for scene.
That is as I remember it and, now, I have confirmed by checking it out.
That said, I will have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the book and hated the underlying message. Even if it is true.
Evil remains in the world, unchecked and is growing. No matter what you do.
Bleak.
But both McCarthy and the Coens (that's them to the left) catch you both ways when you see this truth. I want to see evil doing its thing. As long as it doesn't touch me.
This is a western because there are very clear good (Tommy Lee Jones) and bad guys (Javier Badem) and in the middle is an innocent who is stubborn and resourceful even if he is a little dumb (Josh Brolin).
There is another in-between guy who tries to stop the madness. (Woody Harrelson).
It is a stalker film because we have the utterly psychotic serial killer Bardem wading his homicidal way through any human who is in his path.
Good versus evil because, like I said, the reflection is on the irredeemable evil that is in the world and the fear that it is growing. There is a reverse take on this when Jones meets an old deputy who reminds him of some pretty evil shit that happened to his granddad.
In the middle of all this is a film that is worth watching no matter what the genré or message.
It is clean cut and clear and never wavers. It is all pure Coen. Nicely done.
Did it work on me?
I don't know. I felt a consistent fear of impending doom even when I knew that they were turning the screws on me.
It works. Totally.
Would this be a film that I would want to see again? No.
I don't like the message and I don't want to see that much shit happen to people any more.
I also could not stand to see Bardem's crazy haircut one more time.
And that is another point which bears mention.
There are some really funny bits plopped down in the middle of the mayhem. A Coen trademark.
There is even the funny redneck mother-in law. A spoiler. She gets killed.
Bardem's haircut is the beginning of the dark humor as well as his way of toying with his prey. Harrelson is pretty good at the same thing. Brolin's whole persona is humorous and Tommy Lee Jones is given full rein with his dry, slow humor.
So the film hits all the emotions. Conflicts. Values.
A full bore experience.
Labels: film
Friday, April 25, 2008
MORE ABOUT WHY IT IS MORE ABOUT RACE THAN YOU THINK IT IS
I think the term used to be "uppity'.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
BEFORE MY EYES
I have read that, when one dies, his life passes before his eyes.
I am not sure who reported this.
Perhaps the same people who report a tunnel of light. The ones who had a near-death experience.
Unreliable sources. The same thing as hearing travel yarns about the New World from an explorer who didn't really quite get there.
I think there is a source of this life-movie theory that is quite real however.
As I have gotten older, I do 'see' scenes from my life quite spontaneously and without any intention. They pop up like random film clips. Like a movie trailer. Only the reverse.
Going soon from your neighborhood theater.
They are not even very traumatic or particularly memorable scenes.
I just got a scene of David Bixler and I playing cards in the entryway of his back door with his dog Lulu trying to get at us through the back door screen.
I am 8 or 9 years old.
Believe me. I do not think about David Bixler much at all. I cannot remember if I ever thought about Lulu. She was a puppy his dad had brought home from Germany at the end of WWII.
A pain in the ass as I recall.
There are myriad memories like this that simply pop up.
I think that we have seen this with old timers before. The ones who cannot resist telling you all about their memories. Unsolicited.
My mom and dad were different. It was hell to get my father to tell anyone about his own family or his personal history.
My mother would but as the years rolled by she tended to talk in circles so you would get, perhaps, five minutes of something and then she would repeat it almost word for word.
A stuck record. You remember 'records' don't you? Another simile. A short tape loop. Don't remember tape? Shit. Maybe nothing gets stuck anymore.
But I digress.
I have to hand it to Mom. If the story was not the truth she was sure good at protecting herself. The repeat was almost word for word identical.
And she could repeat the thing several times before she ran down or we left the room.
We didn't request a lot of memory stories from her.
I would report my "flashes before my eyes" stories here in the blog if I could remember them.
I had to sit right down and write the David Bixler Lulu Strip Poker story before it vanished.
Most of the memories are like the dreams one tries to remember. If you poke them too much for recall the memory bubbles burst.
Now that I have written this I wonder if I have just managed to document the onset of some well known mental disorder.
They will go down the list of comments here and put me in the bin.
Dementia or Alzheimers?
I don't think so. Those seem to deal more with a lack of memory or identity.
No.
I think that this is just that I have a lot of time on my hands and I am not absorbed with current tasks. My mind has free time.
This has been going on ever since David Bixler and I were playing strip poker. The mind constantly produces these pictures but we are too busy to notice.
Now that I have some spare time, I am getting to see my movie.
It is never a bad thing. Even if I get memories that are of unpleasant or painful times they just come up then pass away. There is no residual pain.
Excuse me.
Here comes another one. John and I just took off in an airplane and are headed, yet again, to St. Croix. We both have our clothes on. So far.
This could lead anywhere. We went there so many times.
It is like our photo album. All these pictures of blue water and palm trees and we don't know when and where we took them.
See ya' later!
Labels: life
MORE ABOUT TWO LANE BLACKTOP
Richard Linklater's Things I Love About Two-Lane BlacktopBecause it's the purest American road movie ever.
Because it's like a drive-in movie directed by a French New Wave director.
Because the only thing that can get between a boy and his car obsession is a girl, and Lori Bird perfectly messes up the oneness between the Driver, the Mechanic, and their car.
Because Dennis Wilson gives the greatest performance ever by a driver.
Because James Taylor seems like a refugee from a Robert Bresson movie.
Because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates.
Because there's a continuing controversy over who is the actual lead in this movie. There are different camps. Some say it's the '55 Chevy, some say it's the GTO.
Because it has the most purely cinematic ending in film history.
Because it's like a western. The guys are like old-time gunfighters, ready to out-draw the quickest gun in town. And they don't talk about old flames, but rather old cars they've had.
Because Warren Oates has a different cashmere sweater for every occasion. And of course the wet bar in the trunk.
Because unlike other films of the era with the designer alienation of the drug culture and the war protesters, this movie is about the alienation of everybody else, like Robert Frank's American Comes Alive.
Because Warren Oates, as GTO, orders a hamburger and an Alka Seltzer and says things like "Everything is going too fast and not fast enough."
Because it's both the last film of the '60s -- even though it came out in '71 -- but it's also the first film of the '70s. You know, that great era of "How the hell did they ever get that film made at a studio/Hollywood would never do that today" type of film.
Because engines have never sounded better in a movie.
Because these two young men on their trip to nowhere don't really know how to talk. The Driver doesn't really converse when he's behind the wheel, and the Mechanic doesn't really talk when he's working on the car. So this is primarily a visual, atmospheric experience. To watch this movie correctly is to become absorbed into it.
And, above all else, Two-Lane Blacktop goes all the way with its idea. And that's a rare thing in this world; a completely honest movie.
The original trailer:
Labels: film
THE BLACK ELEPHANT UNDER THE CARPET
This is one of the dumbest "analysis" pieces that I have read in some time and I have read some really, really dumb ones lately.
For Obama, a Struggle to Win Over Key Blocs
The conclusion here is that there 'might be' some problem with Mr. Obama's race with some key voter blocs.
Like older, working class, white people.
Gee. Do ya' think?
This kind of creeping up on a key issue is worse than the existence of the issue itself.
There is blatant racism in the Pennsylvania vote and the Clintons nudged the buttons on it.
ALMOST ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Whether you like opera or not, go here and see a phemonenon, a solo encore performance.
Ahhhhhh. Come on. You'll like it.
It is the most palatable opera that you can see/hear and you will get nine high-c's perfectly rendered.
A two-fer.
Ban on Solo Encores at the Met? Ban, What Ban?
I have seen this opera and it is fun to watch but I am sure that I have never seen a performance like this one nor has the audience at the Met that fueled the encore.
Labels: music
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
I know that people fret about the extended primary campaign helping John McCain but it hasn't so far and, I believe, will not.
It is all a fallout from the experience of real damage in1972.
I was there. Well, here.
Believe me, as strong as we all feel about the issues this time, there is nothing in any remote way like those times.
The issue is around who is best. There is no issue about what the problems of the country are or how, pretty much, to solve them.
Leadership quarrels are not usually divisive unless there are substantial issues connected.
This helps elucidate.
Believe me. When the Demo primary is over, John McCain's advantage will drop like a stone. At least ten points.
I guarantee it.
ROAD TRIP
At long last, I have seen the wonderful, long unavailable, road film
with James Taylor, Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates, a favorite of mine.
There are even great supporting bits by Clu Gulager and Harry Dean Stanton (as a gay pickup cowboy).
Oh yes. There is a girl. Laurie Bird. A mild distraction.
This film is so easy.
It flows along with the road trip the two car freaks are taking. They earn their living by betting on small drag races. Town to town. Across the country and back.
They encounter Oates who has a late model Pontiac GTO, stock. High powered.
He is such a wonderful blowhard. They get him into a long distance race from Texas to Washington DC.
There are many many side trips.
This film proves that it is the journey and not the destination.
I just got embraced by the whole thing. Gently taken along for the ride.
Very nice.
Nothing happens and everything does.
There is not a lot of talk. The director Monte Hellman is a past master at "show don't tell".
The film was only out for a short time in 1971. Then it went out of circulation and was very hard to get. I was never able to see it or think to look for VCR versions, if any.
This restoration by Criterion is just like new. I think that it is 16 mm.
It has been difficult to get it through Netflix. First a 'very long wait", then a "long wait" and now, I have seen it.
I am glad.
This is a 4 out of Netflix5 easy. Maybe 5 after it sinks in.
Labels: film
CORNER OF THE EYE
It is the time of the year when we go outside and catch just a quick glimmer of a shadow.
Just around the corner.
On the other side of the bush.
As you look out the window or a door.
The lizards are faster than the human eye.
If we are lucky, they will wait just an instant and we can see their beautiful skins glowing.
Then the sprint into the shade.
I recently saved a big one that had fallen into the pool. I still see him from time to time on the side of the house.
It is great. A presence that is all but unknown.
The desert is full of this kind of unseen life. Desert rats, squirrels, insects. All living outside the awareness of humans most of the time.
Camouflaged, fast, still as a rock.
Adaptive to everything.
Wonderful.
THE POLITICS OF HOPE
I am hoping that yesterday's results are a pyrrhic victory for Clinton. Gone up in her own flaming.
Some other people share the view.
I know. I will be over it soon.
But the worry that he cannot 'seal the deal' is still worrisome and is a meme already showing up.
We will see.
Two more weeks and we have another go at it.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
FRICKING FUNNY
When I was a kid, the Shipstad and Johnson's Ice Shows were the gold standard.
I never went in person but I did see parts of them on television and in some movies.
My favorite act was Frick and Frack. Comic, acrobatic skaters. A pair who had skated together as children when they shared one set of skates.
They were not only funny they were breathtaking.
Frack died some years ago and today in the obituaries
Werner Groebli, 92; 'Frick' of 'Frick and Frack' was a comic skater
Both were known for their cantilever position. A ball breaker. Or knee breaker at least.
Now I can add him to my pantheon of over 90 heroes who I hope to emulate.
Labels: life
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
OVER
So the long Pennsylvania primary nightmare is over.
Yesterday, I predicted a 10% margin to myself. I was right on the money.
He didn't do as well as I would have liked but he has hung onto the lead and any gain she has made in delegates and popular vote will be erased in North Carolina.
This is the primary where I really went negative on Hillary. As she was doing the same.
I am not the only one. Here is the NYTimes this morning.
They really kick her ass. And she is their Senator.
He made up some ground with older voters and white working class men. Good.
My home town Monroe County went for her 58-42. No surprise there. That is one reason I am not there any more. Not a change in 50 years.
I am not discouraged. I notice that this morning he is opening back up to the real issues and is addressing the candidacy of John McCain. Do you remember him?
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
IN THE BLOOD
I was thinking today about my angst over the election. Also my excitement.
Why aren't other people this aroused?
Then I remembered.
I grew up with a bust of Roosevelt in the home. My Dad was a vehement Democrat.
We went into mourning when Roosevelt died.
Seriously. Not just your light mourning. Heavy.
My Dad ran for Township Supervisor. The local elections were partisan. I remember the night he lost.
Not as bad mourning as for Roosevelt but deep.
Then, he ran for School Director and won!
He stood for reelection several times and finally stepped down a few years after I graduated from college.
I was political in high school. I was always running for something. Even when I didn't want it. And I wasn't all that popular. I remember winning by one vote for a club presidency. If I hadn't voted for myself I wouldn't have made it.
Well, of course, we vote for ourselves.
I didn't run for offices in college but I did win appointments. I went to the 'staff' side of things.
When I moved to Philadelphia, it wasn't long before I was the Treasurer of the Warminster Township Republican Committee.
Yup.
I don't think that I told my Dad.
Well, there wasn't any real Democratic set up there. It was the politics, stupid. That was what I wanted.
They needed someone who was naive and wouldn't ask questions.
I got 10,000 dollar checks from people who had no money.
I worried about it until the statute of limitations ran out. I decided that was the end of my 'staff' involvement in politics.
When I moved to Plymouth MA, I ran for School Director (like Dad) and lost.
I stepped for appointment as a member and later to run the Finance Committee which reviewed every motion in Town Meeting and made recommendations.
Then I ran for Moderator of the Town Meeting and won.
Shit.
Later, in Boston I participated in movement politics. Marching. Organizing.
I spent almost all my first 45 years in and around politics of one kind or another.
No wonder the adrenaline flows!
I am like a retired fire horse who hears the bell ring!
Labels: politics
NO TWIST UNTURNED
Today's movie,
is so complex that it has to show little memory seeds as the hero pieces together the clues.
And of course there are several near misses at solution which are even more confusing.
It is a great performance showcase because the plot is not believable. The actors have to make it real.
And they do most of the time.
Casey Affleck is very good with the constant conflict of values.
Amy Ryan is the welfare mother from hell. She was Oscar nommed.
Ed Harris is frought but nicely so.
Unfortunately, Morgan Freeman phones it in. And he is a key player.
It was a bothersome movie in that it takes place among the scuzz and fuzz of Boston. Landmarks were sparse for us as we didn't live in Dorchester or Chelsea.
Not that I am sticking my nose up at those places but.............
It is a 3 out of Netflix5 I suppose but not a very enthusiastic one.
I have seen this show too many times before. Just a new cast. Which was very good.
Oh. This is a script and direction by Ben Affleck.
It was his first time.
Question. If he can't act, will he be a successful director?
Maybe. It is a good first try.
Monday, April 21, 2008
STRESSED BUT NOT OUT
I sat next to someone at a Meeting today and we talked about what is going on with the election.
This guy, who I respect a lot as a smart, engaged guy, is all laid back about all of it.
He came up with the 'it doesn't matter' attitude.
Doesn't matter?
Fucking A it matters.
How do smart, healthy people stay laid back about this?
I don't get it.
Well, I know that I am more 'into it' than a lot of people. My whole house is 'into it'. Even Franklin tried to vote February 5th.
I am nervous about the primary tomorrow. I am anxious about the Democrats not aiming the gun at their own foot again. I am ready to get all excited again when the primaries are over. No matter who wins. Really.
But I know that the last time I actually made myself sick over the outcome. Bush.
So I want to temper my engagement. I am trying to keep a good balance for myself.
But goddamit! I want my guy to win!
TOUGH ON THE CAMPAIGN
One of the things the Clinton's like to say is that Obama is not tough enough.
I think that he has managed to be plenty tough and smart about the campaign so far and, as this little piece confirms, into the future as well.
I think that this is very smart.
And tough.
It is not easy to fly into the wind on this kind of thing.
I think that there have been more than enough debates. The fatigue showed up in the last one. Kicking dead horses is not a debate.
The Obamas went into yesterday tougher and meaner than they have been before and then today relaxed it with a garden appearance and a lot more 'hope' than we have seen from him recently.
He spent the previous week with record breaking crowds shouting the message about Clinton's lies and diversions.
The iron hand. The velvet glove.
I am satisfied over this issue which was basically why I originally supported Clinton.
Heaven knows Hillary is tough. And cynical and unrelenting and totally self centered.
Then too much. Bill included. And I switched.
We await the results.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
URBAN WESTERN
Today's film was
I watched this because I watch all the Mark Wahlberg films.
It was OK.
It is a set of film clichés set in an unusual way. Like a western with the good brother and bad brother and hard father and the bad guys and how the brothers get together eventually through hard straits.
Then overlay the battle between the NYCPD and a Russian mob (the bad guys) in the Queens and you get the idea.
In this kind of thing, style is all and the film is pretty good until the bad brother begins to move over to the good side.
I think this is because the tension is lost when this happens and it happened way early at about half way.
This is really Joaquin Phoenix' movie and Wahlberg (the good one) is pretty much assigned to be supportive. The Dad is a great Robert Duval. Eva Mendez is the love/lust interest and, for once, the brothers don't battle on that ground at all.
I liked it mostly.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
THE ORIGINAL
Today's film was
It is the original of yesterday's film, a remake, No Reservations (2007).
We can relax now. The 'no remake rule' holds.
It is part of the general declaration which says that that "I will watch no remakes, no sequels, no movies of books that I have read (no books where I have seen the film), and no more movies with Leonardo DiCaprio (if any) or Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and a few others who got to be too big for their britches.
This original, edgier, film is tighter and makes a lot more sense.
Mostly, this arises from the fact that the remake moves the setup to America and, as a result, the whole dynamic between the kid and the aunt as well as the old and new Dads is upset.
Don't worry about it.
Just see the original.
I enjoyed it as I did when I first saw it in 2002 at the Film Festival.
Now we can move on.
And this one gets the 4 out of Netflix5. The copy, which is still good, will get the 3.
Now we can move on.
UNBILLED FRIENDS
The personal is political and the political is sure personal.
This article parses the losses that the Clintons have undergone as key Democratic party leaders decide whether the Clintons are still good for the party.
Clintons Sort Friends: Past and PresentLoyalty is all to the Clintons. Loyalty is all to their supporters in the past. God knows he took us to the edge of endurance with his pecadillos and his lying about them.
I had to leave her/him/them, finally, in this campaign. I couldn't handle the entitlement; the nastiness. The us-first attitude.
I get what must be in the hearts and minds of people who have been loyal through all these years.
But they have not uncoupled. They cannot.
She has campaigned on his administration and we know that electing her will mean re-electing him as well. There is not one doubt in my mind about that.
She/He/They had their time and place and it is over.
Go gracefully into the sunset Billary.
Labels: Bill Clinton, hillary
TRAINING WHEELS
When I was a kid, all the presidential campaigns used the trains.
The 'whistle-stop' tour was a staple.
Obama has revived it in Pennsylvania (where I was a kid) by traveling from Philadelphia to Harrisburg yesterday.
This is after a rally the night before where 40,000 people jammed Independence Mall in the largest gathering in the mall's history (it said in the local news).
This from the NY Times.
Mr. Obama, who was accompanied by Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, traveled on an antique, blue Georgia 300 Club Car, festooned with red, white and blue bunting. As he arrived in each town, strains of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” filled the air.They say that he has closed the gap but there are a lot of undecided voters.For more than a year, the field of presidential candidates have campaigned across America by plane and by bus. The trip across a corner of Pennsylvania — intended for its marketing appeal, as much as its method of transportation — marked the first train trip of the 2008 race.
As he boarded his chartered Amtrak at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Mr. Obama pulled on the train’s whistle. “This is what I’m talking about,” he said.
People waited hours for Mr. Obama’s train to arrive. Young children, perched on their fathers’ shoulders, waved blue Obama signs.
But amid the revelry, Mr. Obama reminded people again and again that he needed their support on Tuesday.
“We are going to be unified in November,” Mr. Obama said. “But right now, there is a real choice to be made.”
We will see what happens soon. Just a few more days.
This is Truman whistle stopping.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
ON MESSAGE
Well, you know that it is going on but to read about it is quite stunning.
The NYT does an exposé of the Pentagon propaganda apparatus.
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
These go to military analysts are carefully groomed by the Pentagon and have ties to a network of military contractors.
Cozy.
I don't watch teevee but I still see their pointy little heads showing over the top of some web sites and occasionally on the gym's CNN stream.
Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military industrial complex" fifty years ago. I heard him say it! And here we have cable and network industry married to the military 'experts' in a carefully orchestrated way.
More bush scandal.
It is bad enough having the puppet Petraeus with his foot square posterboard of (largely ceremonial) ribbons lying to Congress but this adds insult to injury.
Why is this man smiling?
Labels: bushies, criminal morons
Saturday, April 19, 2008
POLICY QUESTIONS
Today's film was
Let me explain.
I saw the original of this film Mostly Martha a few years ago. A memorable film made in Germany.
In true, wasteful, Hollywood fashion, they bought the original script and made a new version only a few years later.
Now, I don't watch remakes. Especially of films that I especially liked the first time.
But the reviews for this film with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart were very good. And they have Abigail Breslin, the kid from the beauty pageant movie Little Miss Sunshine.
So I broke my rule. What is a rule without an exception.
Long story short, I left with the same good feeling about this film that I did the German original.
They even used one cut of the Paolo Conte score used in Martha.
To seal the deal, I am going to watch the first one tomorrow.
This remake gets at least a 3 out of Netflix5. I know that it's original gets at least that much.
Go read the review at the first link if you want to know what the movie is about.
Friday, April 18, 2008
WHO'S BITTER NOW?
Time, Delegate Math Working Against Clinton
He also got ex Senators Nunn and Boren today. Both are conservative Democrats.
FUNCTION FOLLOWS FORM
And this just in.
One memorable example of the power of choice architecture comes from the men's rooms at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. There the authorities have etched the image of a black housefly into each urinal. It seems that men usually do not pay much attention to where they aim, which can create a bit of a mess, but if they see a target, their attention and accuracy improve. Spillage at the airport decreased by 80%!
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan
Labels: culture
LOST AND FOUND
Today's movie was
I got it because I read that it was a gem which had been badly marketed and had dropped from view.
It stars Jeff Bridges and a wonderful ensemble cast in a story about people in a small town who decide to produce a porno film.
Don't worry. It makes complete sense in the film we see.
It is a funny, fast paced, sometimes very touching dip in to sweet vulgarity.
Remember this is a small town.
Jeff Bridges is brilliant and he is helped inestimably by actors like Tim Blake Nelson, Joe Pantoliano, Glenn Headley, Ted Danson (in a heart tugging role as a closeted gay man), and many others.
I liked it a lot. The jokes keep coming and the original story keeps surprising.
You will have never heard so many funny euphemisms for sexual parts or acts. The scenes where they make a study of porn films are gut busting. The filming of their film, even funnier.
I am glad that I found this one.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
INTERESTING
This says that Obama's electability over McCain is surging.
Ongoing nomination fight hurting Clinton more than Obama
I have thought that her campaign style, such as it is, was working much better for her in the beginning.
It is only recently, when she turned negative, that she lost people like me.
At the same time, Obama was making great strides in his credibility and now his electablity which is just what Clinton has recently hoped to attack.
It's too bad. I was a Clinton loyalist. That has ended. Sourly.
If he keeps his mouth shut, I will be willing to get back on his fan wagon but not her.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
Thursday, April 17, 2008
ROSE WINDOW
One of the first art things that John and I bought together is a stained glass piece about three feet high and a foot wide.
It hangs, now, in our doorway headed east.
It is a beautiful thing. Abstract. Eccentric.
I still stop and look at it every so often (as I do all the art work we have kept) just to take in its beautiful intricacy.
This week the morning sun is just perfectly placed to shine directly through the stained glass 'window'.
It casts a beautiful light show all the way down our white hallway from the door all the way through the house and out the back.
It is stunning.
We have been looking through this glass for over thirty years.
I'm glad we got it.
Labels: life
AWESOME DUDE
Stay until the end or jump ahead to hear the "awesome" part.
Labels: bushie, christist watch
POST DEBATE SCORECARD
Obama = 7; Clinton = 0.
That is how many superdelegates went to Obama today. How many didn't go to Clinton.
One of Obama's was actually a defection from Clinton. So she should have a (-1).
Let's write it out.
Obama = 7. Clinton = (-1).
I guess that is a good indicator of who won last nights 'debate'.
DEBATABLE
Well, I read that 'they' were telling her to go negative and she did with the help of Charles Gibson and her ex-bag carrier Stephanopoulos. They were thumping on Obama for the first half of the debate.
Look. It is not a debate. It is an extended duel interview with crosstalk. Another word for it is 'travesty'.
Anyway, as it turns out, George was not carrying bags so much as insisting that she say yes or no to the question of Barack's electability and she said "yes, yes, yes". Three times yes.
I bet out of pique.
But the AP and CNN this morning picked up on that as the signal moment of the debate.
Clinton Changes Course on Obama's Electability
Thus undermining one of her most important memes of the last week. An effort to woo supers away from him.
Her inner bitch has really been coming out the last couple of weeks and now is there with a vengeance. This almost always increases her negatives and has done so again. Why do they do it?
Is she that deeply wounded?
Time will tell.
Neither Wright nor "bitter" or, now, "electablity" seems to stick to him.
Is he the Democratic Reagan? Mr. Teflon?
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
PORCELAINS
I think that they are gold.
My new crowns. Two of them.
I was shocked when he wanted to do both at one time. But then relented when he pointed out that I would only lose my partial once rather than twice.
They have to fit the partial to the crowns.
So today the temporaries came out and the real crowns, along with the partial, went in and it didn't hurt (much), got done fast, and feels good. The three signs of dental success.
The next step is to get another two crowns and a root canal. This one went so well as a dual effort, I will dual it again.
Labels: dentist
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
HUBRIS
You know, the Clintons have lost me totally.
Money, power and prestige will do you in every time.
I still am proud of Bill and his administration
But the time to step down has come for him some time ago.
The sad thing is that he did step down and was building an admirable reputation as an independent elder statesman. Perhaps he can restore himself after this.
Perhaps she can become a great Senator. Maybe she will get to the Supremes as some hope and expect.
I have never bought into the idea that the Clintons were two for the price of one.
I honestly believed that she had the strength and ability to stand on her own.
The long campaign has shown her major weaknesses. And his.
Together they are less than the sum of the parts.
It is too bad but there it is.
The Nineties are over.
And so are the Clintons.
Labels: Bill Clinton, hillary
INTEGRITY
And Hillary.
Don't miss the shitkicker accent in the early bits.
Labels: hillary
DIAMONDS
Today's film was Julie Taymor's
This wonderful film has three threads: the story of young love, the story of the sixties, and 33 Beatle songs done as we have not really heard them before.
And further, never before as we have seen Beatles music before in their own films and others. This excursion is as fresh and new as anything could be.
We feel the music from a different perspective.
The young unkown actors are terrific.
There are some cameos by vets Bono and Eddie Izzard that cast them perfectly. It is not a stunt to have them there.
All of the Sixties are there as I remember them. The demonstrations, the puppets, the war, the lifestyle, the clothes (more realistically presented—there is not a tie dye in the lot) and, most importantly, the feel of it all.
This must be seen. One cannot imagine it before hand. Even out takes and previews that I have seen have not touched the wonderful reality.
It would certainly be on the Best Film list if the list had gone on this long.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
THE BOSS
Bruce Springsteen Endorses Obama for President
This is so weird.
Not that he would endorse him. That is a great thing.
What is weird is that I saw him sing on the gym video this morning and wondered if he was going to endorse anyone.
He has. And I think that it matters.
Very much.
"He stands for everything that I have been singing about for 35 years".
And she doesn't.
Labels: obama
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
OBAMA STRIKES BACK
And not only that, he has opened up his lead in the national Gallup to 11 points, unaffected by this "bitter" bullshit and has narrowed her lead in Pennsylvania to less than ten points.
There appears to be little or no affect of this sideshow on Obama's standing. Although, it has shaken me to see the press reaction to it over the last week.
And, it has been good practice for the general campaign, as the Clintons are surely working from the GOoPer template.
And at the bottom line?
Congressional Quarterly predicts from an analysis of each of the 19 Congressional Districts that Clinton will get 53 delegates and Obama 50. A whole different arithmetic at the bottom line.
No wonder she is getting shrill.
The debate is tomorrow night. I bet he is ready.
Labels: Democrats, hillary, obama
VACATION
I booked my annual August vacation today.
San Diego. The Bay Club. The same place as always.
Three days on the beach (and marina on the other side) looking at downtown San Diego from Shelter Island.
I have been going there for years, first to work, then to vacate.
It is just a motel. A bit fancy but not too much.
But right outside there are boats and pelicans and water and ships and a Navy base across the water and a long walk along the island with all the boat ramps and yacht builders. It is yacht central.
There is good food. I do not leave the place for anything.
I read, I meditate, I walk, I sit and look.
Wonderful.
But three days is all I can stand of it and once a year is often enough.
I will leave my normal life behind as well as the desert's summer heat.
I pick the dates because there are no concerts during this period at the venue that is next door.
As you may remember, I like to go to bed and arise early.
If they book acts between now and then I will reconsider the trip.
It is unlikely though. They leave this week dark every year. I am not sure why.
It is in the hands of the music gods and maybe I can make an exception and stay up until 11 one night and listen to the free concert or even go over and see the show.
WHERE THE ELITE MEET TO EAT
There used to be a radio show called Duffy's Tavern featuring a bar stool philosopher named Archie.
He opened with a monologue on the telephone: "Hello, Duffy's Tavern, Duffy ain't here, this is Archie" and it would be Duffy himself on the phone and hence the report of the day.
That just to explain the title.
You don't hear the term 'elitist' much any more but Hillary fished it out of the demagoguery tank and here it is.
Obama is an 'elitist'.
Is that like being a "liberal"?
The funny thing about all this talk is that I suspect that the bitter little small town people don't give a shit about any of this and it is just targeted to other really elite elitists, the superdelegates, whose faith in Obama might be shaken by his unelectability. If any.
This is an old Rovian trick. Take your own vulnerability, in this case Hillary's unelectability, and try to hang it on the opponent.
Come on.
We are all elitists here.
Bill Clinton himself said the same about small town people.
The other thing is the thing that Obama cannot say and that is that in small economically threatened towns the likelihood that a black man will get votes is much lower.
There are some really racist pockets in Pennsylvania. Well, anywhere, but the Keystone State has a lot more than the average.
Like the small town I came from.
We had one black family in that town. They lived at the railroad tracks.
There were black workers at the resorts, dishwashers and bellhops and the like. All transients.
Not one black kid in my school.
The high water mark of the Civil War was in Pennsylvania and not everyone in the state were fighting for the northern side.
And so on.
It is a side issue but one that seems to have legs.
Too bad he said it and too bad it has come to this kind of bullshit campaigning.
REEL WORLD
You may have noticed less movies lately.
So have I.
But the real world has intervened.
Friends here for the weekend. Someone to work with yesterday. Another today.
Busy, busy.
It is OK.
In the scheme of things, it is better to be with real people than the reel people if there is a choice.
Monday, April 14, 2008
FREE AND CLEAR
Doctor Jim called with the blood test results today.
I am OK on all counts.
The PSA stays the same as it has been for years which means that I continue to be cancer free.
My liver panels are still in the right range too.
You know. All those years of drinking and all. The results can show up for ever. Even after 29 years, which it is. Since the last one.
Imagine. No one told me about that then. Or if they did, I flipped it off and had another drink.
I used to worry about the bloods' results and dread the call. Mostly the prostate cancer test.
Now, I just sort of go to the test, let them take the blood and then forget about it.
Sooner or later I will hear what they found.
Whenever.
I think that after a while one just gets over worry as being useful in any way.
Knowing it is not useful doesn't eliminate it however.
That takes some serious and fundamental spiritual work. Meditation. Prayer. Like that.
I am still not worry free. There are some things that can still get me going.
So, I go to work on that one. Whichever one comes up.
When they are gone they are really gone though. What a freedom.
Worries that can still grab my ass: financial insecurity, close elections (I am nuts over this primary—each bump freaks me out), people who don't show up on time.
Stuff like that. I am working on it.
Labels: health
Sunday, April 13, 2008
SUCKING WIND
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
In Searching for New Job, Gonzales Sees No Takers
Most right wingers are rewarded for their loyalty by being hired to think tanks, law firms and other green pasture jobs.
Not Alberto.
He is the bottom of the barrel as we supposed. No one wants the little bastard.
Labels: criminal morons, republican whack jobs
MONSTER
I tried three times to write something nasty about the pope coming to visit and I couldn't do it.
He is actually pathetic. An old man running things beyond his time.
An anachronism.
Sure he has all that easy target stuff.
He looks like a snake that is all but slithering his tongue in and out of his pursed lips.
He is a sanctimonious old fart.
All that.
He is a hater. He wants me and my kind to be gone.
But, I can't do it.
The nasty little bastard has so limited impact that it is not worth my time.
I will let him come to preen in his golden robes and his little red Prada shoes and mince his way from one crowd of the deluded to another and not comment on the fakery involved. The hypocrisy.
He will talk about the abuse of children and smarm his way through the whole thing while not acknowledging that he sat at the last pope's right hand the whole time they were ignoring and covering up the scandal.
Some people will even believe him.
It is OK.
I wlll let him go.
There is no point in poking at corpse.
Labels: christist watch
BOUNCE
Franklin is bouncing back from his bout with dog life reality.
His 'wound' from the dog bite he got the day before is less sensitive. It is just a bruise but it is his bruise and he is careful of it.
Friends came yesterday for an overnight visit and he usually romps his way into the long hello. He was much more subdued than usual.
But then, towards supper hour, he got his groove back and by the time we took the evening walk he was bopping along.
We stayed local and went south away from the attack site but then came back and circled up the hill towards it.
He wanted to keep going past the place it happened.
I should mention that we had brought a hiking stick along for defense, in case of a repeat attack.
We went up the hill and then came down in the same direction that we were going when the dog got out over his fence.
You could see Franklin sort of reliving it. He walked cautiously. Then stopped. Then resumed.
We talked him through it.
You could see him walking through the experience.
He even ended with a bit of bravado turning back to look at the wall with a little bark.
The other dog was not home.
I am glad that we had the chance to do this return to the scene of the crime.
It works for people—walking through our fears—and apparently works with Airedale Terriers as well.
Labels: Franklin
LED KINDLY LIGHT
Have you noticed how many LEDs you have in your life?
I can count 17 within ten feet of me.
Well, sure. A lot of those are on and around the computers on my desk. The equipment.
Then there are a bunch on the new refrigerator behind me.
Another on the coffee maker.
But they are all over the house. Indicators, warnings, warm 'hellos' from my electronic world.
And they are getting bigger and better.
My bike light is LED. In town we have all LED traffic lights.
I know.
This has been coming on for a long time. I just have caught up to the density of it.
I hope they don't cause brain damage or radiation. One of those things that is an improvement until it is not.
Labels: technology
SMALL TOWN TRUTHS
This kind of thing makes my head feel like it is exploding!
Obama, Now on the Defensive, Calls ‘Bitter’ Words Ill-Chosen
We have been at this too long.
The Clintons, desparate to change the subject from the 'story telling' that is the hallmark of her campaign style, have lept onto Obama's remarks about the frustration or 'bitterness' of small town people who feel under economic pressure.
A passing remark.
This is the kind of micro-biting that has come to characterize modern campaigning.
People sit in war rooms poring over videos to find the embarrassing moment or the ill turned phrase.
First, I have to say that I don't like Obama prolonging this by going on the defensive. If he is.
He said it and it is true.
There is a bitterness in small towns hit hard economically and people in them do turn to issues like gun control and gay marriage to express their frustrations.
I come from those small towns and in Pennsylvania.
I don't think it is elitist to believe this at all.
It might, and obviously is, impolitic to say so.
But isn't that Obama's appeal?
It is unknown whether this will be an issue that voters give a shit about.
I certainly do in the sense that I get that he has his finger on the small town pulse.
And so on.
There. I got it off my chest.
Labels: obama
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ATTACK DOG
Franklin got attacked on the walk last night. The sled dog up the street came over the wall at us.
It is the second time.
His owner was in the yard with him and came running to get him off.
The dog is big and super aggressive. Franklin got two bite marks on his side. Bruised. No open wounds.
This dog is not socialized nor does it appear that he will ever get that way.
The owner is a sort of ineffectual guy more interested in theories of pack aggression than doing something about it. He and I had a frank discussion. Like the first one.
But this time we have started carrying a stick on the walk. And in half an hour I am calling the animal control department. We want to be on record.
We have also alerted other neighbors, some of whom have also had trouble with the dog. He has gone after Franklin's best friend Bruno, the boxer.
Of course the problem is not the dog. It is the owner who is basically clueless. He is not even defensive about it.
The trouble with the animal control approach is that it is the dog that will be taken and eventually put down if there is more trouble.
But I don't want my dog attacked either.
Neighborhood dilemma. How tough do you get with a neighbor who doesn't seem to get it. When good will is not enough.
Franklin seems to be doing better today. The bruise is tender. It is like being pinched.
He is also a bit timid. Staying with us. Closer. It is the first time that he has had his ass kicked. It is his first real battle. Most have been ceremonial as these things are and F has come out on top. Some pride has been hurt here too.
So now, his right side is off limits for petting. A scar from his operation earlier in the week on his neck and two big tooth marks (the very short hair got scraped off) on his side.
Tough week. And he will recover.
A friend has offered a meter reader stick which got left at his house. It has a tennis ball on one end of a flexible (whipping) shaft and a knob on the other. I think that I will start taking it along.
We will see.
In the meantime, Franklin is getting lots and lots of petting and encouragement. As I type, the other human is snuggling the boy.
We will love him back into shape.
Labels: Franklin
Friday, April 11, 2008
VIDEOED
I have commented on the music videos at the gym.
I don't go there to watch them but, well, there they are.
I realized the other day that I have some clear favorites and that always lead me to break away from either CNN or the vampire series (TNT) (the two other choices all with captions for the hearing impaired which is us because they turned off the volume on the non-music teevees).
I realize that it is the ones with the really clever production values and the most lively presentation.
The clear winner is Aerosmith.
They consistently stage their material with high energy and almost incandescent performance.
Today was 'Dude Looks Like a Lady'. That is it. The only lyric. It is based on a comment Steve Tyler heard someone make as they walked by. Probably 'Walk[ing] This Way'. Another winner.
There is a second video of this number with Run-M.D.C wherethe two groups play against a wall that comes up between them. Seemingly at war. Very clever.
The wall eventually comes down and they all perform together.
I do not like the M.D.C. kind of outfit but this video will almost stop me on the treadmill or the bike.
Second place is anything by Billy Idol.
These are also concert videos.
The Stones? Boring. Even Keith who I love to watch.
The worst is anything by Joe Walsh who they show a lot. He is not only ugly but there is absolutely nothing but the music going on.
He is fat too.
I like the music. I am talking about the video. That means someone ought to move huh?
I am not generally interested in the non-concert videos. Some of them are OK. The Talking Heads have some good ones. But if you think of it, they are really stage perfomances with an elaborate slide show. I like to watch 'Wild Wild Life' which has a host of other singers and rock stars standing in for David Byrne.
Some of the videos are interesting for the 'wrong' reason. I saw Michael Jackson with 'Beat It' today. It was quite sad to see this extraordinary young man and to know what he has become.
Then there are the dead ones. I have see Jim Morrison in his prime. Jimi Hendrix.
They do not keep the same play list all the time as I once thought they did. It rolls over every two weeks or so. That is enough. I get to see some of the favorites a few times. It is only half an hour.
UP AND AWAY
This is not news to me.
It has been going on for over 6 months.
I realized that I was paying over 100.00 per visit for the first time.
And I shop twice a week!
Now, I don't watch the prices at all. I do not shop for price. I do not save coupons. I refuse them if offered.
I am generally immune to increases.
But this was too much to ignore.
I bet that I have easily been paying 20-30% more for food shopping in the last year or less.
Part of it is general inflation. Part is the cost of gas. Part of it is the increase in corn prices. How many of the items I buy have something to do with corn? A lot. Dairy, meat, some packaged items.
And this at a time when people are losing their jobs and definitely not getting an increase.
I had to increase my take from my retirement account this year—7 % or so.
Now, don't misunderstand me. We live quite well. I did it rather than decrease my life style.
But, I won't be able to keep on doing this. I hope, in fact, that it is temporary.
Hope.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
OLD MAN
Sooner or later everyone will have to face the issue of John McCain's age.
He is my age.
He is an old man.
Now, I am an energetic, extremely healthy, aware and bright old man who is in very good shape.
I am not fit to be President.
I am probably not fit to hold down any 9-5 job.
I get tired.
I have seen too much. I am a cynic.
I lack ambition.
I am privileged and spoiled.
I have forgotten half of my experience and more.
I am obstinate and woefully out of touch with 'regular' people.
I am not a regular person.
I am an old man.
He simply cannot do it. So what does that mean?
He will be a surrogate.
His 'people' will run him.
Now don't get me wrong.
I am still good for something.
I work with a lot of people one on one. But I can't stand crowds any more.
Watch McCain. He can't either.
He schmoozes. That is OK. But he does not handle groups well.
I remember when my Dad hit that point in his life when he was pretending to 'get it'. I find myself doing that a little now and again. I stop it immediately.
I see this with McCain.
He misspeaks.
So do I.
I have excellent short term memory for a person my age.
But it is not enough.
I do not want that man's hand anywhere near the bomb or anything else.
A while ago, while I was still getting my haircut by a barber, I noticed a huge election sigh in the window. City Council. A man who had years and years of experience. He was 70-ish.
I mentioned that I would never vote for anyone that age.
The barber was incensed.
Probably still is.
These are the people who will vote for age.
The ones who venerate age for all the wrong reasons.
There are a lot of good things McCain can do.
We know that he is already an expert curmudgeon. A sign of codgerism if there ever was one.
He can be a Senator. We know that isn't hard work. Your staff does everything.
He could stay in the Senate. He could be a good advisor.
He could sit on a committee.
But he cannot be President.
No matter what other reason I would have to vote against him, this is the killer.
Labels: aging
BI-ANNUAL
Or is it semi-annual.
Anyway, I went to have my 6 month checkup with the doctor today.
We do it because of the old prostate cancer thing. Eleven years remission now.
But it is inescapable that we will discuss other issues.
He reviewed the results of my trip to the ass doctor after the last time.
There was a possible polyp in the lower rectum but no it was not a polyp but some more gentle defect in the bowel wall.
The ass doctor said, "I could fix that for you". I said, "What if you don't". He said "It will get worse".
I said "I have had it for twenty years or so. How worse could it be and I will talk it over with my doctor".
Which I did today.
Jim concurred that nothing needs to be done. There is a big difference between "can be done" and "must be done" as far as I am concerned.
I am not about to take something that doesn't hurt, has no apparent health impact and is utterly benign (well, an imperfection in my perfect body, but.....yawn).
As I figure that everything is getting worse. Why would I nip and tuck my ass hole and not try to repair all the other stuff?
Jim concurred again.
So, I have talked it out with my own doctor and we will let it get worse.
There is nothing else. My digital for the prostate was fine.
None of my new or old small skin blemishes (warts, moles, 'tags' and so on) are cancerous either. They stay too.
I am just a blob of worsening flesh.
But I am in good shape.
Lab tests tomorrow and I am done with it for another 6 months when I get the big physical.
Labels: health
GOGGLEGANGERS
This is a lot of fun to read.
Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet
Here is one of my net doubles who takes up all the first google page
I don't think he is very good. A little too dramatic for me.
Did I mention that I am a pianist too? Retired. I haven't touched a keyboard in some years.
There are some others. A doc in Iowa. A dead one also from Pennsylvania. A Minnesota mortgage broker.
I lost interest.
I don't want to contact or know any more about any of them.
I am an introvert.
Labels: life
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
CREATIONISM
Today's film was
with Ryan Reynolds. An up and coming star. Or should be.
It is three stories with the same cast doing sideways versions of the same story with a few overlaps. Like that.
A little challenging but very satisfying.
It does not hurt that Ryan Reynolds is very hot but that is not the point. It almost seems inappropriate to mention except that he really has three distinct personas in the film and plays then all quite differently. All three are hot.
There I go again.
There is some nimble play here with the universal and the theological. Or is it ontological.
Whatever.
I enjoyed it all very much.
This is one of the many worthwhile films that simply do not get the audience they deserve because of the dumbing down of the Hollywood machine.
That is actually two reasons. Dumbing and machine.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
We will see Mr. Reynolds soon again in another small film.
Labels: film
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
QUALIFIED PRIOR TO DAY ONE
Kevin Drum is sorta neutral in the Demo primary so his review of Obama's performance in the Iraq hearings is middle of the road.
Obama was able to hit Petraeus and Crocker very hard....He got Petraeus to agree with him that the total elimination of Al Qaeda is an impossible standard for withdrawal. Next he goes after Crocker's points about Iranian influence, pointing out that both Iran and Al Qaeda are in Iraq because we invaded and that we can not expect to eliminate Iranian involvement.No mention of Hillary who mostly rhetoricized as far as I can tell.Then came the hammer. Obama pointed out that if the definition of success is put so high - no Al Qaeda, no Iranian influence, a prosperous diverse democracy we will be there forever. He then points out that we still, after 8 hours of testimony, have no definition of success....Crocker's weak response its "hard and complicated."
Labels: obama
DOG OPERATIONS
Franklin went to have his teeth cleaned and his suspicious cyst removed from his neck.
We have had the call from the doctor and all is well.
The cyst is benign and will not even need a biopsy. It had a hard shell but was sebaceous.
The doc says that some dogs are cyst producers and it has no effect on their health or longevity. Some people are cyst producers too. Our vet says that he is one. He looks healthy and is relatively long lived. So there you are.
The teeth are all fine and are now tartar free.
We will go to bail him out at 4 pm.
We are doing pretty well too.
It was a little hard to let him go into the inner sanctum of the hospital and it has been a very quiet day but we are all about to be reunited.
He will get some food for the first time since last night. I had to deal with big pleading eyes this morning as I ate my breakfast in front of him.
I will make amends.
I am glad we are over it.
Labels: Franklin
LONG VOYAGE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Stanley Kramer's adaptation of the Katherine Ann Porter novel
This is one of those anthology films like the ones that take place in an airport or a hotel. It has a few big stories, a group of medium stories and some little teeny weeny stories and it is constantly shifting from one to the other.
There is not much interweaving which, in a way, is OK but it is distracting to keep jumping around. Mini-climaxes.
The best actor in this is Simone Signoret. There are other 'world' actors like Oskar Werner and Vivian Leigh with some Hollywood filler.
The idea is that all these people are deluding themselves. Since, in the film, it is 1933 we have the advantage of hindsight and so the 'lesson' is lost in our knowledge of what they are going to face in the future.
But then I suppose the message that we are also deluded is inescapable.
Sometimes it seems a little too preachy or obvious but there are also some nice little gems in it.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5 because I enjoyed it a bit less than average.
I think that it has hit its time warp. I didn't see it when it came out. Perhaps I should have. I might have enjoyed it more.
Labels: best films
Monday, April 07, 2008
INTROVERTED THUMBS
Dave sent me this:
Instant Messaging for Introverts
Introversion is an old topic on this blog and the writer drags out almost all the bells and whistles—not so noisy please, we are introverts—that can be found in my biblical passage on the subject. The most emailed item in the Atlantic Monthly history.
As for instant messaging, I simply cannot do it.
I freeze.
If I receive a message I forget how to retrieve it.
If there is a way to fuck it up or lose the message entirely I will do so.
Send one? Impossible. All that thumbing.
I know that the thumb is a big separator (perhaps the only) from other species but why go and build your communications life on it?
I am the same with iChat and other on line message things.
Many times I have tried to go to a 'meeting on line' and failed utterly.
Standing in the corner with a drink in my hand just like the old days.
And then there are the attempts that I have made to go on the 'comments' line of someone's blog.
It is horrendous. I work and work. And then if anyone says anything back to me or comments on my comment (as they will do) I am despondent.
So.
I stop at the blog which is all one way.
I can do email although I am careful about the 'send' button.
I am almost OK with a cell phone if people stick with the basics.
I would not be one of those 24/7 people who has the phone glued to the ear.
Or one of those blue tooth things which I read can cause brain cancer. Really.
But that is a dodge. I just don't want it in my ear like that.
I am not going into the digital revolution happily if it means being totally wired.
There are, incidentally, some good suggestions in the IM article.
I am not sure which I would follow, if any.
But there is a way out as there is a way out of the corner at a party. Show me a compelling, animated conversational partner and I am there. Engaged.
WHAT A FUCKING MESS—THE WALL
This is part of the terrible price we are paying for our fear and insecurity.
It is just absurd. Terrible. Sick.
This is what our 9-11 administration has given us.
Labels: criminal morons
Sunday, April 06, 2008
UP CHUCK
I wonder if they had to pry the rifle out of his cold dead hands.
Labels: republican whack jobs
GETTING HIGH
We are off to the high desert today to attend a barbecue.
There will be sheep, sheep dogs, horses and people. We know all of them. They are on the medium 'like' scale for the most part. We don't often see them but it will be nice to catch up.
Franklin is going along.
He will have a good time, for sure.
I am not too certain about myself.
I pretty much avoid parties and such but this is a long standing invite and it is too late to back out.
The existence of sheep and dogs and horses is attractive. How long has it been since I have been next to a sheep? Thirty years?
Besides it is a nice day and it will be a gorgeous ride up the 62 to Yucca Valley and then off on some dirt roads to the remote location.
One good thing about it is that I will not have to cook dinner today.
And another. Franklin will get more than enough exercise circulating in the company and will not need an extra walk.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
SOCKED IN
While we are into the seasonal changes, for the record, today was also my first full day with bare feet.
I have been in sandals in the afternoons for a few weeks. Today, I went all the way.
I am a Birkenstock guy most of the time.
To walk long distances I have the Teva type.
Fully equipped.
ALL WET
First swim of the season.
John gave me a haircut today and the little clippings were driving me nuts so I went and looked at the pool temperature and it was a perfect 85. So I went in.
It was perfect. And the air was nice when I got out.
I was surprised.
This morning it was 79 in the pool and 61 in the air. Way too cold for me.
But with the sun and all it warmed up. The solar system helps a lot.
I suspect that some people think that we swim all year 'round.
We live in Southern California, right? And not only that, we live in the desert, huh?
That is true. We do. But it is not swimming weather here from about November through March.
We can make the water warm but we can't really make the sun go up high or have it feel OK when we get out.
People from back east can go in almost all year.
Vacationers. People with thermostats that are used to minus 20 degree chill factors.
We are acclimated to the way things go out here. Winter is still winter. Some of us even wear heavy coats.
David Hockney didn't help the myth with his swimming pool paintings but he sure captured the pools.
That's another SoCal thing.
We enjoy our pools even when we aren't swimming in them.
They are the ultimate "water feature".
We look at ours all the time. The colors. The patterns. The very presence of it. A small coastline.
KATY BARR THE DOOR!
This is really interesting to me.
Ex-congressman explores presidential bidEx-Congressman Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee, May Seek Libertarian NominationI admire Barr.Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr said Saturday he has formed a presidential exploratory committee and may seek the Libertarian party nomination.
"America today faces a grave moral and leadership crisis, and those of us who care about our country's future can no longer sit on the sidelines and remain neutral," Barr told an audience at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
The former Georgia congressman left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration.
Barr, 59, became a darling of conservatives in the 1990s for his persistent attacks on President Clinton. He was among the first to press for impeaching Clinton and helped manage House Republicans' impeachment case before the Senate.
He currently runs a lobbying and public affairs firm with offices in Atlanta and outside Washington.
His clients have included the American Civil Liberties Union and the Marijuana Policy Project, a group pushing Congress to allow medical marijuana use and to cut spending for what it says are failed anti-drug media campaigns aimed at young people. Barr also holds the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation and is a board member of the National Rifle Association.
He left the Congress and the GOP over his party's lack of principle.
I would disagree with him on more than half his issues but I would respect him a great deal.
Some days I could easily be a Libertarian.
Look at his clients! What a mix.
He is tough and he is smart. He would really fuck up John McCain's parade.
That is really what I would like about him most.
He could be the GOoPers Nader.
MARRIED WITH TAXES
So I got all my tax material from accountant Peter.
All the signed forms and checks are in their envelopes.
For the first time, we are filing a joint return as a couple in the Republic of California. Actually it is a State but I like to think of it as a Republic.
It is a big deal.
I think that for some reason we saved money. We will get a refund.
But that isn't the point so much as this is another step forward in the continuing battle for equal rights.
The right to pay taxes together.
Even if it takes a tax return to make me feel more like a full citizen and even if it is only in California, it is a step toward being a normal person.
Not that "normal" was or is on my list of things I aspire to.
More, it is the right to be normal. That is the essential difference.
Labels: gay life
EXTRAVAGANZA
Today's movie was the Epilogue of the 16 hour, 13 disc NYTimes Best 1176 Film
In this grand finale, Rainer Werner Fassbinder wraps up his great epic with a reprise of all the cast through showing a hallucination of the hero.
In this, all elements of all the episodes are sort of turned on their heads and recombined in a way that, strangely, explains and enlightens the essentially linear flow of the film as shown from beginning to end.
It is far more avant garde in its presentation as it is a 'dream' of a madman, our hero has gone into a catatonic stupor, and then resolves at the end into the conclusion of the long linear story.
The hallucination also wraps into the future. Interesting. 1927 to the atomic era including the storm troopers and a mushroom cloud.
There is lots and lots of skin and Fassbinder finally lets his homoerotic impulse loose on the male cast members as well as a number of lookers obviously brought in for the fun of it.
I cannot complain about this.
So, it is over.
I have seen it all.
I have really liked it thoroughly and never wavered in my interest and attention.
There were times when I was repelled and had to look away. There were others that I was amazed and excited. There were many times when I felt anxiety for the hero and happiness at his getting over a particular hurdle.
In other words, it served all the purposes of a good film.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5 and, after a long rest, I might even want to see it again someday.
Labels: best films
WHITE BRED
Gail Collins has another great column on what has happened to the most abused minority of all.
The thing about Collins is that she writes smart and funny at the same time.
A rare gift.
Labels: Democrats
OLD FASHIONED CAMPAIGNING
I suppose that I like this article because I am from Pennsylvania.
Well, "from".
Meaning 50 years ago.
I bet it hasn't changed much.
It hadn't the last time that I looked.
Anyway, here is Obama running around doing the old fashioned retail campaigning that gets the voters engaged.
A Candidate Could Laugh at the Absurdity, if Only There Was Time
I liked the story about the Amero.
I had heard about the bowling.
I was very touched about his contact with a military mother.
Read it.
I am sure that they both go through this everyday and that they cannot be untouched by it.
But with Obama, who is new to this thing, it has a particularly genuine and affecting ring to it.
I like that he won't chow down like a fool over all the terrible food people give him.
Now that is Pennsylvanian. Terrible food.
Friday, April 04, 2008
IT'S A GOOD THING
Today was filled with ups and downs but one of the biggest ups was the receipt of a postcard from the County Jury Duty Administrator.
I have been granted a permanent excuse from all future jury duty for health reasons.
In California, when you are 70, all you have to do is tell them you have something that will compromise your jury service. You do not even require a written medical excuse.
My excuse is true for jury duty but hardly debilitating in daily life.
I have irritable bowel syndrome and can't sit for long periods. Especially under stress.
Or, at least, I think that I can't.
And evidently they think so too.
To say that I am overjoyed to be getting this permanent excuse is the understatement of the era.
And don't write me about my civic duty.
I will no longer be grist for the legal mill.
Labels: civic pride
ONE MORE THING
To add to the already exciting day, John went out to find the Sebring's rear right tire flat as a pancake.
Easy, though.
AAA came in short order and replaced the tire with a spare.
Boy am I glad to have decided to buy a real tire with the car and not a donut.
The AAA guy was happy too.
Actually, it is the Automobile Club of Southern California with whom we have ALL our insurance.
They do a great job. Service with a smile. And they are less expensive for the same or better coverage in all categories.
Labels: automobiles
SOLONG SALON
I have cancelled my Salon Premium subscription.
It has gone through a lot of changes and they are not to my taste.
I used to watch their Video Dog feature regularly. It was a compendium of web video moments and always provided a laugh.
Now they have their own video producer. Very serious. And boring. And not a kitty or puppy in the lot.
Also, I was addicted to Tim Grieve's War Room. It was a nice daily summary of lefty shit that always had a nice spin to it. He left precipitously and the guy who replaced is like the video guy. Boring. And nothing really new that I couldn't get elsewhere.
I used to depend on their movie reviews. Now they are cranky.
And the pilot who wrote about airline travel and had many stories to tell has shot his wad. Not interesting.
In all of the 'magazine's' articles, I have sited zero in the last year.
It is time. It is overtime.
Another site off the links to the right.
Goodbye Salon.
An aside.
I think that the time of the 'web magazine' is over. I quit Slate for the same reason.
I am cruising through HuffPo every day but it is really not a magazine.
I think that it is the same reason that the intermediary sites like AOL and Compuserve went out.
They, too, were a sort of mediator for the internet and became outmoded when people became their own navigators.
Passing of an era.
Labels: blog
NO, AH, IT DIDN'T RAIN
But it poured.
John got up in the night and his feet hit water.
The toilet in the guest room had gotten stuck in the "on" position and had filled the cesspool (one disadvantage to not having city sewage) and then proceeded to flood over the top of the toilet and into half the house.
Fortunately the slab is not level or it would have been in all the rooms.
So, it was my time to get up and it became John's time.
We pushed water out the door and scooped it over the sills for half to three quarter and hour.
Several rugs got wet and are in the sun as I type, drying out.
Another good fortune. We live in the desert.
Angel has been here and it is the ball valve. I had the mechanism fixed a few months ago and I remember the guy saying that he was leaving the flapper in because it was a Kohler special part.
We have ordered six. One for each toilet and a backup.
On line.
Angel will replace them.
We are also getting the cesspool pumped out. The guy is due in an hour. But the water is down in it. I just don't want any doubt.
So the damage is not what it might have been. We are in good shape.
Another 'fortunate'. We have a sunken bath in our Fifties extravagant bath. It is about two or more feet below grade. It was filled with backup water from the cesspool. Clean water.
Well, I wouldn't drink it.
But clear.
It was about 3/4 full. If it hadn't taken the back flow, we would never have gotten the water out of the house without professional help.
It all freaked Franklin out. He would not walk on the wet floor. Slipping and sliding is not his forté.
Another fortunate, although a bit late. He is off to the groomer this morning and has missed some of the aftermath which would have bugged him.
And he us.
Just when you get the house nice something else happens. Ain't it the way?
Life. It is OK. A bit of a challenge but we were up to it.
More teamwork opportunities.
Labels: life
