Sunday, August 31, 2008
SETTLING FOR LESS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was John Schlesinger's
Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Murray Head form a convenient triangle where no one can really get what they want but, at the same time, no one need take any risks.
In the background, the civilized society breaks down at the edges. Economic collapse, countercuture, sexual liberation.
This is a great film with lots of good bits. All the acting is superb. There is a touching bar mitzvah celebration, a wildly eccentric dysfunctional family, all kinds of 'friends' who define the main character's lives.
Very full and generous film making.
I would gladly see it again. That makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
FATED
I already wrote about how this hurricane fucking up the RNC convention could be a result of that christer who prayed for rain on Obama at his acceptance speech.
But I would like to go farther and include Katrina as well and the time that Falwell or someone said that it was punishment for the sinful city and the sinful nation who had embraced homosexuality and other licentious activity.
Well, all I can say is that we are not curtailing our gay life because of the weather and, today, McCain has announced he is curtailing the first day activities of the RNC.
He said that we are Americans first and Republicans second. Or he and they are. Not me.
Of course. Posturing. Wrapping himself in the flag.
The thing is that about 12 Senators and many other officials had already excused themselves from the election and now a bunch of governors. Our own governor is not going because of a 'budget impasse'. I bet Maria put her foot down.
I notice that Crist is not going, the Florida gov.
There is no hurricane threat for Florida. But he is staying home nonetheless.
I figure he is one of the 'manipulated' Veep guys and is pissed. To think. He had to date a woman and appear engaged for weeks so that he would be acceptable. To no avail.
The poetic and karmic justice in all this is too much to consider fully.
Get your popcorn, sit back and watch the spectacle.
Labels: republican whack jobs
OF MILD INTEREST
Political issues aside, I think that it is interesting to find both 'new' states in the running for presidential elections. Alaska and Hawaii.
I remember when they became states. Or is it States?
That's how old I am.
But no one has yet run for national office from either.
End of the frontier.
Labels: politics
AFTERMATH
After a week of convention attention and gawking at the spectacle of the May-December ticket on the other side, it is time for a rest.
We had a friend visit this weekend. A nice pause.
The weather has been messy.
We are still getting pieces of old hurricanes. Julio broke up on the Yucatan coast last week and spewed on us and the hurricane that flooded Florida did the same on the Gulf Coast later in the week. So we are getting 'imbedded' pieces of humidity and, yesterday, some heavy rain in the morning.
It is all supposed to clear today.
I hope so.
Labor Day is a non event here. Another day without mail.
I will not be following the 'other convention' this week. I have had enough politics for awhile.
I will get stoked again when the debates start.
In the meantime, there is wedding stuff to worry about.
The invitations were sent out Friday and we have the first acceptances. I am wondering, of course, why everyone didn't call immediately upon receiving theirs yesterday.
But I will be patient.
I have been here before. I am the only one I know who will respond to every email, phone message or, yes, wedding invite the moment it arrives.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
WHAT'S UP?
I haven't been too happy about the anti-Obama drift of the Associated Press lately but this sort of corrects.
Six Things the Palin Pick Says About McCain.
As it happens, none of them are good. Here are the 'things':
Read the whole thing. It is very well written. One of the best summaries that I have seen.
I also wondered at the poor stagecraft. 15,000 people and they were trying to distribute tickets up to the last minute. Very confused visuals. Theater in the round again.
Was Cindy there? Or is she still in Georgia? Lost.
Of course, none of this is any of my business. I am a Democrat.
Labels: McCain
A HEARTBEAT AWAY
Somewhere, Joe Biden is smiling and giving us a wink.
The McCain pick for Veep is surprising, in a way, and not.
Surprising in that it comes from under the deck. A surprise card.
Not, in that we have another cynical McCain pander. A pattern over the last year.
Gail Collins does a good job today:
I like the image, all hard on the outside and very soft inside.
A spunky soccer mom. A church lady.
It is the church lady that I see. That determined chin. The defiant glare. The judging eyes.
A creationist. Belief the global warming is not human caused.
Anyway, I feel detached from it.
I worried a bit that Biden would have trouble debating her. He couldn't seem to be bullying. But they are old hands at this. He is partly southern gentleman of course. Delaware is half deep south and he has seen the scene.
Then I worried that this would coalesce the right. But that would happen anyway.
The scariest part of it is the get-the-vote-of-the-right-at-any-cost cynicism of the move is the successor issue.
A heatbeat away.
I am not going to dwell on it.
I think this is a good project for Hillary to take on. Woman talk and all.
Gail has made a good start.
Labels: McCain
Friday, August 29, 2008
38.3 MILLION VIEWERS PLUS
And we didn't even get counted! We watched on the net.
38 Million View Obama’s Speech; Highest-Rated Convention In HistoryBigger than the Oscars, the Olympics Opening and the final American Idol.
Labels: Barack Obama
HURT FEELINGS
Obama had Hillary, now McCain has Romney and Pawlenty feeling used and manipulated.
Nothing from Joe Lieberman. He probably likes being used.
Maybe the American people will feel used and manipulated as well. Palin is a focus group driven ideological pander to the right.
She believes that creationism should be taught next to evolution and doubts that people contribute to global warming. She is anti-abortion. And many more.
Right down the right alley.
On the other hand, maybe the American people will like being used and manipulated again as they were in 2004. But I doubt it.
Labels: McCain
**!**STAR**!**
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was Billy Wilder's
William Holden and Gloria Swanson bring us the tale of a gigolo and a faded star.
Well, that's not how they see it.
It is a great picture. You can hardly say anything about it that doesn't diminish it.
It is a great film noir classic as well. Textbook. Watch the light. The streets. The cars. The clothes. Shadows within shadows. I guess that is the light, huh. See? You can't talk about it without diminishing it.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 and plan to see it again before my own star fades.
Labels: best films
YES HE DID!!
I have never seen anything like it.
Even the heady Kennedy campaign did not come up to it.
I don't know which was more exciting, the speech or the wonderful crowd.
I loved the sea of people. The 'tell it Barack' girls. The older people, like me, who have yearned for someone to say these things and want to do these things.
The tears and the joy. The concentration on the task to be done. No crap. No silliness. All business.
The people crowded out the pundits.
I am pleased to say that I got one of the text messages that were sent out.
I believe that the entire proceedings were masterfully done.
The convention has been orchestrated with deft hands.
His was the perfect culminating moment.
And he has stiffened. He is forceful. He is angry. He has had enough of the bullshit.
So have we.
Wonderful. Nothing to crab about. Everything to have hope about.
Labels: Barack Obama
Thursday, August 28, 2008
BIDEN
Nate Silver on Biden:
A lot of people raving about Kerry's speech as well, which struck me as beside the point. Yes, Kerry's was a very good speech, but in some ways an academic exercise. He's not on the ticket. He is correct on the arguments and right to be mad. It had a personal edge to it, given the story of the 2004 election.Nate Silver's blog is very good. His statistical analysis leaves me behind but his commentary, which is informed by his statistics, is very helpful.But Biden's speech was far, far more important, because he had to emotionally connect voters who relate to his very personally told story with Barack Obama's American story. Taking people down that emotional path takes a kind of skill that is underappreciated, I think. Joe Biden did that. He drew people into his story, he told American stories in an authentic way, and then tied it to the Obama story. Neither of the Clintons did that for Obama. Hillary Clinton made the great appeal to her reluctant supporters to ask themselves why they supported her in the first place, but it wasn't a vouching for Obama from a story perspective, it was a policy perspective. Bill did even less in that regard. Yet Biden did the personal vouching for Obama, that his story was one that Americans can and should relate to. As I watched it I suspected other watchers were "getting it" in a way that doesn't sink in when Obama tells his own story. I felt the "click."
I like his voice too.
Silver is the baseball guy who has done so well with statistical analysis.
Labels: Democrats
GOD'S WILL
The weather in Denver looks to be absolutely clear. If anything the DNC delegates may risk a bit of sunburn and heat rash waiting for the big moment.
Remember that stupid asshole who was urging people to pray for rain?
Well, get this.
The RNC may be a split screen convention, sharing it's slings and arrows with Hurricane Gustav. Dampening the righteous indignation of the right.
They are even thinking that maybe Bush won't be able to deliver whatever feeble message he has to give.
And it is the anniversary, nearly, of Katrina.
God is answering the prayer!!
Hallelujah and amen brothers and sisters.
Labels: Democrats, republican whack jobs, weather
KERRY
I just listened to Kerry's speech last night.
Wow.
I forgive him too.
It is a wonderful.
I loved seeing Barack's great uncle. As white as the 'ace of spades'. Just beautiful.
I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it.
Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.
Labels: Democrats
GREAT CONVENTION
I have been watching some of the convention on the net. The best site, so far, is CNN. They have three alternate feeds most of the time. There are no breaks.
For some reason, the DNC stream breaks up occasionally on my computer. They have a bigger picture. Maybe that is the reason.
In any case I have had a good view of it. It sure seems like a success to me.
Monday was a quiet buildup to Michelle Obama who gave a great speech. I think that she successfully cut through the nasty stuff that was out there about her. Of course, for people who are suckers for that kind of thing, her appearance probably will be viewed cynically.
I heard one die-hard Hillaryite say that 'the mother takes care of the kids'. This was a real bitch so we don't want her vote anyway.
Then they ramped up the anti-McCain rhetoric Tuesday and Hillary did her job. She is a pro. I already said that I forgive her. She redeemed herself some. Of course, the GOoPers are playing her jibes at Obama in ads on the cables but that will happen with anyone who was running. It will happen if McCain picks Romney. There are some choice clips from him.
Last night was Bill who refuted all the rumors to the contrary and came through even more enthusiastic than HIllary. Or seemed so. I forgive him too but I don't want to see much of him in the campaign.
Biden was the main star as far as I am concerned. Did you see how many Bidens showed up on the stage at the end.
And it was nice to have the surprise guest, Barack himself.
I have seen a lot of conventions. This was the best organized and paced that I have ever seen. As garish as it was, the set was great. The jukebox. There is a lot of mocking of tonight's set but I think it will appeal as well. Remember, this is teevee. I saw the set they used for George W. when he accepted. Did you? A Mussolini post-modern podium in the round with emperial steps up on all sides. And pillars behind. People in glass houses.
And I am about done with it. After Obama's speech tonight I will turn it off. I can't handle all the Republican stuff. I will satisfy myself to read the bloggers and all. I hope that they nitpick the McCain convention as much as the did the Democrats but it will probably be too boring for that. No risks taken. Unless McCain picks Lieberman for Veep. The hue and cry over that will be fun to watch. Same with Romney. I am betting on Pawlenty. He is bland as white bread.
Labels: Democrats
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
FINALLY
I suppose that we should mark the moment:
Obama Is Nominated by Acclamation
Labels: Barack Obama
THE CNN WORKOUT
I have been watching campaign coverage on CNN when I do a half hour on the bike in the morning.
It is interesting that when there was little or no campaign news, I had trouble getting my heart rate up high enough.
By this I mean that when you get older and stay in cardio shape you have to 'hurt' more to get an elevated heart rate and so it is unpleasant.
Not so on good political days. A noisy Republican surrogate or candidate can get my heart rate up about 5-10 points.
Some of them, particularly Rudy G. who was on this morning can get me so stoked that I have to turn the 'effort' level down a notch. He had me over 120 this morning.
So he is good for something.
Another drag queen.
FANTASIES
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was Hector Babenco's take on the Pluig novel
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
By this time, with the musical and all, we have been Spiderwomened to death.
It is still good to watch William Hurt and Raul Julia spar with each other in their little cell.
I am not too happy with the faggotry presented here but it was the 80's and the book is much earlier. Too much of the cliché to it. But Hurt somehow skips over it lightly.
The time for weak and misguided fairies is over. Well, at least we are not any more weak and misguided as anyone else.
But that is a quibble.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and be happy that I finally saw the whole thing and didn't walk out. I did enjoy it. Well, enjoy isn't the word exactly. It isn't the happiest little film that was ever made.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
HILLARY
Great intro. They are not afraid to show her campaigning or to let her be who she is.
It is full bore salute Hillary. You know that is Obama telling them what and how to do it.
It is a great film.
They all have signs! Great.
Jesus. I wish they didn't point out to the audience like that. Does Obama do that? I don't think so.
But she opens it right up. She is there for Obama.
"The time is now. To unite. As a single party with a single purpose."
I think that she even means it.
The theme tonight is that this is a fight for the future.
"No way. No how. No McCain".
Very very issue oriented. Good climax of issues to Obama.
"Democrats know how to do this. We did it before with President Clinton (Bill grins widely) and we will do it again with President Barack Obama".
"It makes a lot of sense that next week John McCain and George Bush will be together in the Twin Cities, because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart.".
I think she did very well. All is forgiven.
THE THREE GOVERNORS
Ohio's Strickland, Massachusett's Patrick and Montana Schweitzer.
All stem winders.
I love Schweitzer most of all. What a cheerleader!
He invents the word 'petrodictator'. With the emphasis on the third syllable.
Even Franklin and I got up to cheer.
Now, Hillary.
Labels: Democrats
QUOTES OF THE NIGHT
So far: Robert Casey Senator from PA. My home state.
1. "That's not a maverick, that's a side kick".
2. "Not four years, four more months"! He got them chanting that one.
And we haven't had the keynote or Hillary yet.
Labels: Democrats
MICHELLE!!
I stayed up a bit to see Michelle Obama speak last night.
I think that she was a smash and that is what I am reading today. A very good start.
Today is the keynote and Hillary.
There are two areas of bickering. One is whether Hillary is really over it even if a few of her supporters are not. Well, they won't be.
The other is whether the convention is 'too soft'.
I saw the snake, Carville, this morning on CNN bloviating on how they are wasting their time not slashing at McCain.
I hate that kind of meanness.
I think that they are trying to strike a balance and not be negative. Obama has a bi-partisan message and that will be part of the keynote tonight. Some don't like it but that is the platform!
I am sure that Hillary is going to be doing some bashing. She has to be angry at having her words show up in McCain's ads but it was inevitable.
If McCain is stupid enough to name Romney as his Veep, the same kind of ads will appear from the Demo side.
It is upsetting to see all the sniping and 'analysis' go on from the talking heads. But the GOoPers will get the same treatment next week.
I hope.
Labels: Barack Obama
YOUNG AND FLEXIBLE
Today's film was
Les Roseaux Sauvages / Wild Reeds (1997)
Four young french people learn the fable of the mighty oak versus the slender reed. The proud oak topples in the wind. The reed bends and survives.
All this takes place against the background of the Algerian War.
There is a full deck of characters. One gay boy with a best girl friend who has no desires and a crush on another male classmate. The fourth kid is an repatriate from Algeria. Bitter and lonely. Put them together. Voila!
I got it because I read about it. No one gets what they want. Typical French ending. And that is not a spoiler.
It won lots of prizes.
It is pretty good. I will give it a good average 3 out of Netflix5. If I could have seen it before I ordered it I wouldn't have ordered it. That is not a condemnation. It is just a way to describe the average.
The excellent, we want to see again.
Monday, August 25, 2008
PREPPED
We will each have our own and no one is going to know what they are until the event. Real time.
John got his done the other day. I asked and he told me that there were 120 words.
That was a relief. I had no idea what we were shooting for and that seemed just about right to me.
Then he told me that it was 112.
I have been thinking about this for awhile. I had some rough ideas. One idea was a sort of historic treatment. A walk down memory lane. I scratched that one last week.
But there were some good pieces. I kept one idea from that excursion.
Then yesterday, I just got 'inspired' with a second part. I jotted it down. A while later I opened the document titled vows and began writing. It was all done in a few minutes.
I counted the words. 113!
So I cut one word out and now we both have a vow with 112 words. Karmic.
Now I am memorizing them/it.
It isn't too hard. I think I will have it down by October 11th.
Labels: gay wedding, wedding
OVER AND OUT
The land line phone (Verizon) has been out of service for at least a week.
We don't use it much and so it could been out a lot longer.
We have been bumped from service calls three times.
We got pissed.
We bit the bullet and decided tha,t even if they did come to fix it, we wouldn't trust the work. The last time we had a repair take place the job kept failing over a three week period.
That was four years ago and that is when we went to cellular phones. Little by little we transferred everything over so that, now, we don't use the land lines except for the random call from out of the blue. Someone who is looking for us 'after all these years' finds us in the phone book.
That and junk calls. Election shit. Marketing from people who we are clients of.
So I just had them disconnect the whole thing today. We are done.
The upsetting part of this is mostly that we were going to use that phone for the RSVP calls for the wedding.
So we went and scratched out the phone number on all the invitations and put my cell number in. A sad resolution but we will get over it. It is not the last thing that will go 'bad' around the wedding plans.
Other than that, it is just the natural anxiety of having an umbilical removed. An umbilical that we totally do not use or need. 42.00 a month with long distance service.
Labels: technology
Sunday, August 24, 2008
BROTHERLY LOVE
Today's film was
Mio fratello è figlio unico / My Brother Was An Only Child (2007)
This great Italian film tells the story of two brothers over twenty years. Both are political only in different directions.
There is a dual challenge here. They want us to get the story of brotherly love and, at the same time, pick up the strands of changes in the Italian political climate in a provincial town.
The brotherly love story wins hands down.
The film has a rhythm of its own and, while the focus of the blurbs is on their loving the same woman, this is far less important than the story of the two men.
The drama is a bit over the top but the Italians love opera and this film will satisfy that need.
I wouldn't mind seeing it again at all.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
MORAL DILEMMAS
Today's movie was
Fälscher, Die / The Counterfeiters (2007)
A Jew, a world class counterfeiter, is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He is pulled from a death camp to a special unit that is seeking to counterfeit the British Pound and, later, the US Dollar.
Based on a true story, this film covers the moral choices in extremely immoral circumstances. Collaboration or sabotage. Quiet sabotage.
This is a great film. I enjoyed every minute. Well, 'enjoyed' is not the best word. It is rough and has some difficult situations.
I would like to see it again sometime as the complexities of the small prisoner social unit are fully rendered. I know what happened but I would like to see some more about the fringes. There is something going on everywhere all the time.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
SLEEPER
In the last poll before the conventions Obama holds a 5-6% lead in the popular vote. Good.
But of more interest are the results on the, until now, unexplored age question.
People say that they are a lot more concerned about age than race.
Look here:
THE DREADED SEPTUAGENARIAN ISSUE
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain, polls
NO BATHTUB RING?
We went to Lake Powell during a grand trip through the National Parks some years ago. Maybe 1993.
We rented a boat. You could travel all over the Lake at that time. We got maps and learned the general layout and took off.
We had a great time. We saw the Rainbow Bridge. Took our time wandering in the small canyons.
But at some point we realized that there was something wrong. There were canyons that didn't show on the maps and the buoys didn't seem to line up with the diagrams.
What had happened was the Lake had dried up. Lost its countours. It was as though we were in a totally different Lake than was on the map.
We finally figured out what was wrong and did a triangulation with the Navajo Power Plant (lots of smoke polluting the area, it has now been closed) and some other landmark. We got out.
It was a great adventure that I wouldn't want to repeat.
Now, it seems, the water is coming back and covering all those extra inlets and particularly covering the bathtub ring—mineral deposits left by the water as its level decreased.
And the maps will be good again.
Amid Dry Times in the West, a Lake Raises Spirits
Saturday, August 23, 2008
GAY GOLD
An out gay man at the Olympics got a gold.
A perfect 10 on the 10 meter.
Australia's Matt Mitcham.
There are ten out athletes at the Olympics.Of course, you can bet that they are not the only ones.
Labels: gay history, gay life
A SLIGHT STREAK
One of the things that I see when Joe Biden speaks is a very slight hint of George Carlin.
The wit, the facial expression, a bit of irony. The voice.
He is a great speaker and, while loquacious, can take people into the situation as intimates. A great story teller. And the 'takes' that he puts on are great.
Here are a set of Biden moments.
Labels: Joe Biden
BETTER REPORT
This is a great rundown of the rally today. And it pretty much captures the event as I saw it.
Labels: Barack Obama
MONEY TALKS
More telephone soliciting. Almost one a day now.
This time from the new branch of Wells Fargo just on the other side of us. There are two within a mile in each direction.
It was really more like a personal call. A real guy looking for us to know they were there and to stop in. Also a mild offer of a "0%" credit card.
I was actually pleased to get the call. I could go there. He says it is bigger and better staffed.
When I refused the credit card, he quickly dropped it with an understanding tone.
In these hard times, they certainly need to get business in. They have overbuilt the branches. And not many people are coming in to banks these days.
Labels: economy
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Two bumper stickers on one maroon Mercedes sedan.
JESUS WAS A LIBERAL
CHRIST WANTS HiS RELIGION BACK
I nearly ran off the road.
Let's see more of this left wing christian activism.
Labels: christist watch, religion
INAUGURAL
I watched the rally to introduce Biden today. It was rather stirring.
I thought that Obama was much more focused in his attacks on the McCain Bush record.
That is a new term I haven't heard before. Unequivocal. McCain-Bush. Bush-McCain.
Biden did a stem winder. He is just getting his footing but it was pretty good. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the reckoning is now... these times require more than a good soldier, they need a wise leader". Naming no names of course. And so on. They make a good team and seem happy to be together. The wives appeared at the end. Also happy. No kids. Biden's son is the Attorney General of Delaware and is off for a tour of duty in Iraq!
Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
TRAGICOMEDY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Preston Sturgis'
with Joel McCrae and Veronica Lake.
A Hollywood director goes on the road to get how the other half lives. He wants to make a serious film.
Well, it gets a lot more serious than he bargains for.
I didn't like it very much. It veered from slapstick comedy to dark social realism.
I got the point but it was pretty heavy handed.
Veronica Lake is pretty dim.
The rest of the cast shines but it was too much for me. I skipped parts.
That makes it a 1 out of Netflix5. Sorry. I wanted to like it.
Labels: best films
PLEASED
I got my text message when I woke up at 3 this morning.
It is Biden.
I am very pleased.
Yesterday I read that " he is a guy who keeps grinning while he is slugging you".
Just what we need. A sense of humor. Slugging. And some really good experience in the shotgun seat.
Did I say that I was very pleased?
Obama Chooses Biden as Running Mate
Love the poster.
I think that it is a game changer. Biden has real depth where Obama may (notice I say 'may') not. He is a humble man. He is 99th out of a hundred Senators in personal net worth. He hasn't made money off his politics. None.
And he is very white. People will like that. Believe me. Delaware is a border state and he has to have a lot of appeal to the white blue collar.
He is a pro-abortion Catholic. You can't beat that.
And he is from Scranton, PA. Just a stone's throw from my birthplace in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
He is also as 'presumptious' as Obama. He ran for the Senate when he was 29!
It's funny. Even David Brooks, the annoying conservative writer of the NYT, had a favorable column on Biden yesterday. He hoped Biden was the pick. I like this because it assumes that Obama will be President.
Read it!
Brooks does a wonderful piece of writing and tells many Biden anecdotes, his personal history. Quite a guy.
Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
Friday, August 22, 2008
POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!
An old Ralph Cramden line but now a too frequent comeback from the McCains.
And people are noticing.
Labels: McCain
MORE CONJECTURE
Isn't this fun?
One speculator posits that they are going for the media dead zone. Friday night after the news hours.
That way, they cut out ALL the crap from the pundits. There are no Saturday shows.
They get to have their own show.
Of course there is no way that the CNNs and Fox's will not have comment but who is going to be listening Saturday morning after the announcement. They are going to get the gist of it and then go have the weekend.
Does this make sense?
I don't know. I am going to have my dinner and go walk the dog.
Also, I see that they have booked Sibelius and Kane into two talk shows for Sunday to discuss the Veep choice.
Does that mean it isn't them?
I wonder if the plane from Delaware landed yet?
Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
GRAND OPENING
I saw them open the podium for the Democratic Convention on CNN this morning.
It is one spectacular mother of all platforms.
It sounds cheesy in the telling but it has strobe lights flashing and the arms of the immense backdrop run lights up over the hall. Red, white and blue.
There are huge video screens. Floor to ceiling with all kinds of multi-frame stuff playing.
It was very fun to watch.
I can't find any pictures of it yet. You will see it. Soon.
Labels: Democrats
MAYBE TOMORROW
The pundits are going nuts.
It is clear that the Obamas are running around the end and will have the word out on the Veep before any of them can say what they fucking THINK about it.
The idea of a 'media' gets me red assed anyway.
That is why the promise of C-Span seemed so strong.
But it is hard work watching the Congress at work. Or whatever. Unfiltered news is really very boring.
So we do need mediation—the media—in a way. But it is nice to see them sucking air for once.
They will get their turn but, this time, it is the people first.
Meanwhile, fun.
Fun With FlightAware: What's This Flight?
And, from a blog comment on Matt Yglesias' blog:
“He’s gonna drunk-text the nation around midnight. It’ll say ‘my vp pic is hak jfjdj’”
Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
HERO
Today's movie was the documentary
Pete Seeger; The Power of Song (2008)
I first saw Pete Seeger when I was a freshman at MIT. He sang as part of a fundraiser for some campus function.
He changed my life.
I had never heard such simple ideas. I had never seen such a courageous man.
This was in the middle of his problems with HUAC and he would be blacklisted from radio or television for 17 years until the Smothers Brothers had him on their show. The network censored the anti-Viet Nam War song Big Muddy and they fought it. Seeger was brought back for another show to sing it again.
The film captures all of this period and more. I learned a lot that I did not know about him.
He is 89 now. A hero.
I remember that the main part of his performance was getting all of us to sing. And that is the point of this film. Seeger gets participation. It is one of his core beliefs. I sang along to the film today!
It is a great movie and everyone should see it. I want to see it again sometime. That makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
SUSPENSE
It is 2:18 PDST and the suspense is killing me.
I have been carrying my mobile around all day waiting for the Veep message.
I keep looking to see if the goddam thing might have a message and didn't ring my bell.
They are playing this to the hilt. I bet that they got tens of thousands of mobile phone numbers today including the OK to keep sending txt messages.
I think that the timing is also meant to head off any critique and attack prior to the evening news so that they can have it exclusively for themselves. Why give the McCains all afternoon to prepare a counter message when they can jump it right into the news hours or even right in the middle of them.
It is quite artful. Drawing a lot of attention.
Although it did occur to me that maybe they can't make it work; that they have been trying to send the message all day and the enter button won't work.
You don't think they are trying it off Barack's Blackberry?
What a mess that would be.
Labels: Barack Obama
THIS IS WHERE I CAME IN
They are talking about irradiating produce.
F.D.A. Allows Irradiation of Some Produce
People are going to be afraid of it.
This technology was ready fifty years ago when I went to MIT.
I knew guys who were working on it and I used to regularly go to taste panels of all kinds with irradiated foods.
I am still here.
It is a superior system of killing bacteria where you do not want to alter the chemistry of condition of the food material.
There is no residual radiation. Your teeth give you more radiation than a thousand bags of irradiated spinach.
But the consumer resistance was fatal to the technology.
This was 1955. Just ten years after the A-bomb was dropped. Over the years the dangers of radiation were well publicized. The threat of nuclear holocaust was omnipresent.
When peaceful uses of radiation began to emerge, say in power plants, the same resistance occurred. Then there was Three Mile Island. Chernobyl.
People are still squeamish.
I know that some of the beef in my grocery store is radiated. I am not sure that anyone else knows.
It doesn't worry me. I would be a lot more concerned about getting a dose of E. Coli or Salmonella.
Labels: food, technology
Thursday, August 21, 2008
HIGH FIVE
We have the big Bose Acoustic Wave II FM/CD player.
It is our stereo set.
When we moved out here we left all our components behind and went to this one unit.
At a certain age you don't hear all the hi-fi sounds anyway but actually this set is unbelievably satisfying.
But there is a problem after ten years.
The CD player is defunct. It skips.
So I finally got the 5 CD player which goes along with the big unit.
It came today. It is pretty good. Well engineered in that it slips right under the old radio and wires itself into it very neatly. Well, I had to move the wires but the setup was easy.
So right now, it is on rotation with Jarrett, Evans and Brubeck. I can play discs randomly or in sequence. I can play cuts (bands?) in sequence or all five disc bands in random order.
And so on.
There is a new remote which replaces the old radio unit and incorporates all these moves.
Very nice.
And it plays without skipping!
Labels: appliances, music
TRIFECTA
The first is, obviously, that the man has so many houses he doesn't know how many he has. So rich that he.......and so on.
The second is that it opens the door to his wife's riches yet again and puts her in front of the campaign. I don't think that they want too many Cindi moments out there.
The third is the meme about failing memory. And I think that is the most relevant.
He has these lapses. It happened when asked what being rich means in the Saddleback appearance. It showed when he couldn't answer the Viagra versus birth control question. He is genuinely flummoxed at abrupt, unexpected questions.
So am I.
And I am a year younger than John McCain.
I remember my Dad having these moments. He would try to get the answer and it just wouldn't retrieve.
That is the light panic that I see in McCain's eyes.
It wouldn't matter if he humbly accepted these shortcomings but he does not. He is a macho poseur and has to have an answer or a quip. A comeback.
But the rubber band is getting slack.
Labels: McCain
LOOK ALIKES
You can get a small sense of the hysteria that famous people elicit when they are abroad.
If this guy was smarter, he would put those shades down and walk a little slumped. Maybe a hat.
But I get that he really enjoys his 15 minutes of fame.
Got this from Andrew Sullivan's site.
IN MEMORY OF ANN RICHARDS
I have been thinking about Ann Richards today.
She was the Governor of Texas. She was a great political warrior.
Big hair, big voice. A joke a minute.
She gave the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic Convention. Her memorable line still echoes.
'Poor George. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth".
That would be the first George Bush.
She would have a lot of fun with McCain's houses.
Today's DNC already is. I don't know where this is playing but still, it is getting a lot of attention on the internet.
I am hoping that there are some Ann Richards types speaking at the Demo-convention next week. It is time to have a little mean fun.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
CLOSED FOR REPAIRS
The DNC web site is closed while they do 'some work'.
You don't imagine that it has anything to do with putting up the full ticket name, do you?
Obama / Biden ? I would be happy with that but I will go with my CIC.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats
MANY MANSIONS
So McCain doesn't know how many houses he has and they are kicking the shit out of him on it. Worse, for him, his campaign seems bent on somehow answering every comment made about it. Keeping the story alive.
And we still don't know how many houses he has.
A housing issue: McCain not sure how many they own
It may not be a killer but it is one of the many stumbles that I think McCain is going to get himself into. Inattention. An inability to stay on message. A deer in the headlights look whenever one of these comes up.
He will get hoist by his own gaffes.
Labels: McCain
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Another milestone:
Now on the Hallmark aisle: Gay marriage cards
How commonplace can we get?
Labels: gay marriage
TURNDOWN
So this week is the one where we see the first signs that the summer is over.
We have been opening the house up most recent evenings, later, around ten.
Yesterday, I opened it at 630 and sat and read outside for awhile.
The day was only 103 and the drop in temperature at sundown was rapid.
This is a bit early. We have had a cooler summer. 117F was the max day and that was early on.
There seemed to be more moisture this year but not heavy monsoonal moisture. More a gentle humidity that didn't take too much out of us.
One day was a real bastard. A Sunday. We cut the 90 minute dog walk short that day.
Soon we will have the house open all the time and that will last until about October when it will get cool enough that we might even turn on some heat. Unlikeley though.
I know that most people will cringe at the idea that there is a cooling trend when it is over 100F but you have to remember that we have a different thermostat than you and, yes, it is a dry heat most of the time.
When was the last time you saw 8% humidity? Or 4 as we had it for many days in July?
That is why the temps drop so rapidly after sundown. Nothing in the air but air to hold the heat.
It is so nice to have seasons.
Labels: weather
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
HARD HITTING?
There has been a lot of bitching about Obama not playing it rough enough.
How is this for rough?
And timely. The money just got there this week!
Labels: Barack Obama
MAKEOVER
UPDATED:
I have always been ambiguous in my feelings about transgendering. I know that I want to be supportive but somewhere in my gut I am not.
I only knew one person who did it and he was an asshole. I am also not sure that he really went all the way. Somehow it seemed like a sham to me. An attention getter.
Hey, I know this is a cruel assessment but sometimes I am not the most sensitive guy in the world.
Now, I have found out that another friend, much closer, is going through the same process.
Well, it is not news actually.
My friend began to talk about his feelings some time ago. A couple of years, maybe.
I have to admit that I thought it was a passing thing. A phase?
I know. It is just like people thought about me when I was coming out. We are so unable to see our selves in other people's experience.
Anyway, little by little, incrementally, I noticed changes. Painted nails were the first.
Then more flamboyant, 'feminine' clothing.
Not cross dressing at all. Just, well, different. Definitely fem.
Let me also say that my friend is not the most good looking person in the world whatever gender. This helped buffer the drama of it somehow. He is just a regular looking guy. In fact, if he is going to be more female, he has some moves to learn.
I think that I was slow to notice other physical changes. I remember, once, having coffee with him and the waitress addressed him as 'Miss'. He was very pleased. I was astonished. What did she see that I didn't?
Then, after a long planning process, my friend moved away.
I haven't seen him in two years.
We have written back and forth.
In a few weeks we will get together for a visit.
He now has a female name. He dresses as a woman. He is on his way for the first stage of gender change surgery.
I am no longer ambivalent about the whole thing.
I am fine with him and fine with his decision and I support it whole heartedly. I guess I better start calling him 'her'.
There are times it is still a little squirmy but these moments are very minor.
Which goes to show that being open about who you are is the best policy. She has been open with me and I with her and we have moved along the path she has chosen without disruption.
This is why it was so important that gay people came out. That we got equal rights. That, soon, we will be able to marry. That we adopted or even had our own children whether surrogated or not.
We became visible.
We are seen and loved by our friends.
So I am glad to be on the other end of this process. As it turns out, it has been somewhat effortless. For me. Not for him.
I am a lot more ready to accept the whole transgender situation than I was before. I even feel some compassion for the guy/gal I knew that was an asshole. And probably still is. I took the gender thing out of the equation.
Labels: gay life, transgender
CELL JUNK
I have just gotten my third marketing call on the mobile in as many days.
Two of these are companies that have my cell number because I am a customer—Wells Fargo and Time Warner Cable.
The third, who knows?
I am on the national 'do not call list'.
But the new thing is that 'this is not a sales call'. 'We just wanted you to know about this new service'.
I am not convinced.
In all cases, I quietly ask that they put me on the 'do not call' list at their headquarters and at the national phone center (which would be redundant but I want them to do it just to take the step).
I predict that, with the economy like it is, we are going to bet bombarded soon.
Another intrusion.
POLLING FEVER
I get all weak kneed at some polling result or other and someone has to pull be back from the brink and remind me that it ain't about the popular vote, it is the electoral that matters. Then they have to show me the composites. Then they have to remind me that it is fucking August. A crazy time.
That voice of reason is most often the famous 'kos' better known as Markos Moulitsas Zúniga.
The big freakoutI used to be on the Zogby panel. It is easy to get on. All you have to do is sign up. In fact, the other day, they had a bulletin recruiting people for their polls. So guess what? I would think that any campaign worth its salt would sign up as many lopsided pollees as possible.
by kos
Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 10:07:40 AM PDT
So over at the post announcing the launch of my book, I saw a couple of people freaking out -- freaking out!!!! -- that McCain has the lead in some national polls.So I sauntered over to Pollster.com to see what all the hoopla was about, and clicked through to their national polls page. Then I rolled my eyes when I saw that the poll causing such aneurysms was ....
A Zogby poll.
Some people are frackin' hopeless. Really. At the same time, a new Q-poll has Obama up five, Gallup has him up three (after being tied a couple of days ago), Ras has him up two, as does Bloomberg/Times.
Look, the race is tightening at the national level, but it's much less tight when you look at the state-by-state numbers that, you know, actually decide the presidency. So while it's not exactly a cakewalk, freaking out over single polls from shitty, discredited pollsters like Zogby is pretty pathetic.
We've got the veep announcements and the conventions to get through, and then the race will start in earnest. Be zen. Freaking out over crappy pollsters is just lame. Keep your eye on the composite -- Obama still leads that by 1.4 percent -- and maintain perspective -- McCain has never crossed the 45 percent threshold while Obama bobs between 45 and 50.
I'll be officially worried when McCain shows the ability to break that barrier of support. If he suddenly starts hovering in the upper 40s, then we might have trouble. But ultimately, this is a state-by-state battle. And in the electoral college fight, Obama still has a solid lead -- without even taking into account the ground machine Obama is building (pollsters aren't).
Anyway.
It's all about perspective.
Perspective.
Perspective.
Labels: poll
TRAVELOGUE WITH PLOT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was David Lean's
Kathryn Hepburn again as a near spinster from Ohio who takes the entire film to fall for Rossano Brazzi. It is a 50's love affair. It was like that then. They even show fireworks when they finally make it.
The scene is Venice as it was fifty years ago and it is unbelievably, beautifully photographed. The Criterion restoration is done in full screen. I really prefer the big box picture if we can see a film that way.
Hepburn is very good. Brazzi too.
It holds our interest even though it takes forever to get to the climax, so to speak.
And there is an unconventional ending. Well, not a Hollywood ending.
I liked it. Once is enough though. That makes it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best movies
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
JACK HAMMER
I worry that CNN is turning rightward. I watch it every morning and they seem like a bunch of pawns for the wing nuts.
But then I read what good old Jack Cafferty is saying on the Situation Room evening news run up and I feel better again.
Here's Jack.
Cafferty (CNN): Is McCain Like George Bush?:Go Jack, go!
He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
Labels: McCain
SWEET AND SOUR
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is Speilberg's first film. The Times seems to have the need to put all of his films on the 'Best' list regardless of merit.
I think that there is a meritorious film in here somewhere amongst the car chases and the gun play. It just doesn't come along very often in this road film. Every fifty miles or so.
It has some great actors in it. Ben Johnson, always worthwhile. Michael Sacks and William Atherton.
Michael Sacks was an interesting actor who played Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five. He quit acting in 1982. Atherton has done a lot of teevee but no movies after this one. Too bad.
Goldie Hawn plays against type as a stupid, self centered, red neck........well, that isn't so much against type, eh? I can't fucking stand her.
I enjoyed the brief moments of actual plot and character study as well as the apparently real people who are on the fringes of the main action. But overall, I didn't like it. I did watch the whole thing though. That makes it a 2 out of Netflix5.
There aren't even any good Google images for this film. Sucks that bad.
Labels: best films
BLOCK HEAD
Dave forwarded this.
How far out of it can you be?
Blockbuster CEO 'Confused by Fascination' With Netflix
The other thing that he doesn't mention is that Blockbuster also will not carry any 'questionable' material. That is, anything gay, sexual or with a cover that is 'sensational'.
Some film producers ship DVDs to them with specially designed packages. Or they did when the boxes had tape in them.
The Blockbuster in Palm Springs closed about 6 months ago. It was a big store.
The Hollywood chain is still holding on.
I am a Netflix fan. Mostly because Netflix features almost totally cover the holes in the retail rental business.
They have a huge catalog. You are always assured of having what you want pretty much when you want it. You stay at home. You do not have to deal with stupid rules or store employees. It is cheaper.
Talk about your dinosaurs.
I do not have a 'fascination' with Netflix. I see it as the only way to go.
Labels: film
Monday, August 18, 2008
SADDLE BAGS
There is a lot of shit being written about the two conversations held by Preacher Rick with the presidential candidates.
I watched it on line.
First of all, the talk of winning and losing, it was not a debate. Never was.
Each candidate got to answer a set of questions that had been cooked up in advance.
Second thing. It was a setup made for McCain. The questions were right down his alley.
That is not unfair. It is reality.
McCain did a pretty good job of answering them. So did Obama.
It was not set up for Obama to hit any out of the park. He was not going to change his position on abortion. He was not going to say that he approved an anti-gay marriage amendment to the US Constitution. He was not going to hit any home runs with this group. But they were polite and receptive. He got some nice applause.
He did get to say, again, that he is a Christian and while his way of saying it makes me squirm, it was pretty clear that he has the language and the moves that these people share. He had to make ground against the rumors that he is not what he says he is.
I think that he also became human to them. He mentioned his sins. He talked about faith. He was very much to the point about where he puts his Higher Power in his life. This has to be good.
McCain on the other hand did a stump speech (even though Obama was explicitly asked not to do that), McCain was not. It was not a conversation. He did not even face Preacher Rick most of the time. He looked out into the crowd and played to it.
That is OK. It is all fair game.
I hear that, despite the agreement that McCain would be in a 'cone of silence' while Obama went on, that he was not.
That is OK. So he was prepped. Or, as they claim, not.
It doesn't matter much.
I think that Obama did not have to do this and he did. I think that he really could not lose and he did not. I think that he might even have made some incremental progress with this group of fundies who, admittedly, are in the middle of their cohort and not on the right fringe at all.
I came out thinking it was just fine. And no one will remember it in a week.
Labels: Barack Obama
TENNESSEE REDUX
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
It's Tennessee Williams again. This time a one act play drawn out to full feature film length. Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and a badly worn out Montgomery Clift.
This is another message from the closet. A smothering mother. A delicate and special son. John said that he had never heard so many euphemisms for describing a gay man. Well, he isn't gay. He is a closet case.
We do not see the man. Only the story of the people around him.
There are a lot of weird themes in this.
I didn't like it much.
I don't even want to write about it. Left a bad taste.
I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Sunday, August 17, 2008
NO MOVIE TODAY
We addressed the wedding invitations this afternoon.
A hundred twenty people.
There are only a hundred chairs. So we expect some dropouts. Please.
If not, there is the lawn furniture and, of course, one can always apply for SRO places.
I am glad that we ordered that extra layer of cake.
It was quite wonderful to work through the names of close friends who we want to stand /sit with us for this special event. Not to get all soupy about it or anything.
Nothing moist happened. Just a good feeling about it.
We have been here ten years and I think that we know more people than we managed to gather together in Boston in twenty years. We must be doing something differently.
Also this is a smaller town. One tends to have time to attract friends and to cultivate them.
Most of the invitees are couples. Or aspiring singles.
There is an excitement that is most surprising among younger friends who see a power of example. A new freedom for them coming along.
It is very important that we do this, get married. Making a statement and all.
And then there are all the great fringe benefits for us. The surprising emotions. The little tiffs over the arrangements. The sudden realization that we have waited for this all these years.
So unexpected. Such a gift. What a way to finish it off!
Well, not too soon for that part. But we are doing it upside down. Thirty three years before we get to have a honeymoon.
Labels: gay marriage, gay wedding, wedding
FIRST CHOICE
McCain picks his Vice President. Gets a jump on Obama. Looking for Veep bounce.
Labels: McCain
Saturday, August 16, 2008
NO TALKING POINTS
I really liked this slide from the Obama training of street workers:
Be yourself. Tell your story about why you personally support Barack.Listen attentively. Ask questions about what issues matter to the people you’re talking with. Ask why they care about those issues personally.
If you don’t know the answer, be honest. Just write down the question, the person’s name and number and go find an answer from a staff person or on our web-site and follow up with the person.
Listen for themes and write them down. Pay close attention to what types of people are on your call list or walk list. Are they raising similar concerns? If so what could you do to follow up? Host a house meeting on that issue? Or get them on a policy call with staff?
Don’t get discouraged. You will find people are very busy and can sometimes be rude. It has nothing to do with you, and if you keep going you will find more supporters.
It seems so, well, Obama like. Be yourself. Don't talk down. Listen. Listen. Listen.
After 8 years of message control (which the Obamas are really good with at the mega level) and talking points, it is refreshing to see them urging workers to be themselves.
Labels: Barack Obama
McCAIN LOSES WATER WARS
I drink Colorado's water so I understand what he was talking about. But I am sure glad that he put his foot in the water and got swept away from with the current.
Straight talk, I guess.
He has sure enraged Coloradians.
Actually, I am not in favor of any renegotiation of the compacts at all. They are a good brake on development in our state and the southwest generally. Water shortage is the primary 'damper' on development.
See? That's us down there around the Coachella Canal.
This is the kind of gaffe which is going to happen again and again with the 'maverick', the geezer.
Colorado to McCain: Hands Off Our Water
Labels: California, McCain
TIME OUT / TIME IN
I have been remiss the last few days. Postings here have been slim.
Sorry. It happens.
It does not mean that there is nothing going on in my life. There is actually a lot!
The ice maker in the new refrigerator has to be replaced. I think this is the new quality control system in today's appliances. Don't spend the money in the plant. Send them out the door and then let the consumer trouble shoot. I can't say that the refrigerator we had before didn't have problems. Usually they involved the ice maker. But still. It is OK. It is not the end of the world. A lot worse if the refrigerator quit entirely. We have a bag of ice made of Lake Arrowhead water. Nothing but the best.
Now I am pretty much caught up.
STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Werner Herzog's
This is about three misfits from Germany who decide to immigrate to the US and, guess what? They are misfits there too. Or here.
This film is super eccentric and, hence, its fascination.
Herzog uses all amateur actors and places them in settings where they can pretty much act out.
It is hard going.
I stayed through the whole thing. It is like watching a freak show that fascinates even though you don't want to watch.
The proceedings seem almost documentary.
Not surprisingly the woman who was a whore in Germany is a whore in the US. The retard is still a retard. And the old man who got them into this is still in his dotage. No fountain of youth here.
The rural scenes are in Wisconsin but seem very familiar to me. Like down home where I came from. Rednecks and trailer trash are pretty much the same in Pennsylvania.
Maybe that is why I sat through it for so long.
I ate the whole thing. But I didn't like it much.
That will make it a 2 out of Netflix5. Well, maybe a 3. I can't decide how much I liked it, actually. It was so fucking weird.
Labels: best films
Friday, August 15, 2008
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
From the blog Outside the Beltway (OTB):
"Clinton Supporters Want To Lose Again For Catharsis"
Labels: hillary
STELLA(R)!
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Elia Kazan's film version of Tennessee William's
This is the directors cut restored after many years.
It is a powerful film and still has its effect. I still got a lump in my throat at the end as Blanche slides away.
Of course Brando and Leigh are emotional center of this play but, this time, I was really touched by Kim Hunter's portrayal of Stella. She steams around Stanley. I had never noticed that before. It is very sexy. Ebert points to this as the restored sections.
Brando. What can you say. At short lulls, one thinks of what became of this young man. A thick lumbering cartoon of himself. Still able to summon his muse in later years but only intermittently.
Here is a performance that changed male film acting forever.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Thursday, August 14, 2008
COPPING OUT
I am only an honorary citizen of Massachusetts now but I am pleased to see this.
Under Plan, Road Crews Would Lose Police Escort
This is nothing new. They have been trying to get the Staties off the construction sites for decades.
Hard to do. The union. It is a plum job. Often overtime.
Out here, it is the opposite.
On road construction there is not a cop in sight. They use barriers creatively. There is rarely any need for anyone to direct or supervise traffic.
And drivers act accordingly. We slow down. We are careful.
The cops have a tight stranglehold on the Bay State. I hope that this time the hold is broken.
Not that it matters to me now. Just for old times' sake.
Labels: life
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
SOUND MARRIAGE
The sound man came today. A friend. Not another vendor.
He is going to set up the audio speakers and DVD. We will rent the equipment.
He will play the music that I have downloaded.
It is pretty simple, actually.
There will be an array of speakers all around the back yard so we don't have to blare out the sound and piss off the neighborhood. Even though some of the neighbors will be at the wedding.
It is another thing I had not figured on.
Why not a boom box? Set it up in the middle of the yard and lef' 'er go.
No.
I suppose not.
Labels: wedding
ANOTHER TAIL
There are more lizards living with us than ever before.
One has his home in the corridor between the front door and the outer gate.
He and Franklin have had a few run ins but no connection.
Today, another run in and the lizard, well, ran in the house.
Into the guest bath to be exact.
I am getting pretty good at this now. The lizards basically corner themselves. They are programmed to run straight and jagged. They don't get barriers.
I found him with a little leg sticking out under the shower door. So I got a paper towel and went in and slowly opened the door, lifting to take the weight off the door a bit. He went into the corner of the shower and I nabbed him but not solidly enough to spare the tail coming off.
It is a pretty neat defense but, in this case, inappropriate as I had him by the body.
The towel, incidentally, is for purchase and a soft touch. Bare fingers have to hold too hard and there is no pillowing. The towel also gives a bigger surface to hold him in.
I released him out by the gate, his normal abode.
Tail less. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the tail to return.
Labels: nature
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
CANCELLED
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 film was supposed to be Sam Peckinpah's
I didn't watch it.
I knew from Ebert's two star review that I would hate it or, perhaps more to the point, that I might actually like it in which case I wouldn't much like myself.
This is the kind of gratuitous violence that I have no time or stomach for.
I read that it began with kids torturing a dog. No thanks. I can handle some humans getting their shit tortured and ruined but not animals. I have come to that pass.
Peckinpah was a phenom of sorts. He was the kind of big balled macho guy that, for awhile, had Hollywood in his thrall. Against type. Not a sissy, arty guy.
So I will miss this one.
I have to fess up that I have skipped a few other films in the 'best list' as well. I have written about this before.
This is the first in a long while though. Well, since Shrek which I had seen in a theater and regard as the most boring cartoon I have ever seen.
So this one gets a little circle with a cross over it at the Netflix site.
Did I mention it has Dustin Hoffman in it? One of his carreer embarrassments I understand.
Labels: best films
