Tuesday, September 30, 2008
SUFFERING FOR YOUR ART
Today's movie was
This is a Norwegian film about two authors, young, who have lives that intertwine.
It covers all the bases of artistic angst and then some. Mental illness comes into it.
I am not too sure about these guys but I did like the stuff around them.
If you like to watch movies this is a pretty good film to watch. Very interesting visually and edited in a kind of spastic way. Sound is used creatively. Most directors forget sound as a medium of expression.
It is a bit upsetting and hard to figure at times but I like that in a film. I am a bit masochistic that way.
Ebert was not enthralled nor was my watching partner. But I liked it quite a bit.
I would be interested in seeing the director's next film to see how he works up to the game. He is clearly a player.
I would say a 3 out of Netflix5.
Monday, September 29, 2008
TODAY'S CRISIS!!
Not the Wall Street meltdown. That will come back. I am not going anywhere. Well, as far as I know. But if I do it won't matter anyway.
I don't like it but since I liked its rise into airy fairy land, I guess I can't complain about my portfolio or my real estate 'nut' coming back down to earth.
No, the real crisis today was that we couldn't find the fucking holiday cards!
We did the kitchen renovation in 'whenever' and have successfully forgotten where some of the stuff that was stored in moved cabinets went to.
Looked everywhere.
Except with the christmas decorations where, now, I remember we decided to put them because it 'made sense'.
Why are we looking for the cards now? Because this is when we have to go to the village, to a store, to get the early shipments of the artist we like.
The good, good news is that we have enough leftover cards from past years and won't have to buy any.
Good thing. I lost my whole nest egg today.
Labels: holidays
Sunday, September 28, 2008
DECADE
It has been ten years since Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence, tortured and killed for being gay.
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING TO DEDICATE BENCH IN HONOR OF MATTHEW SHEPARD
A bench.
Well, we will take it. And it only took them ten years to do it. Fucking generous.
I still cannot bear to think about this and many of the other fatal and non-fatal gay bashings that have occurred in recent years.
While we are grateful for the progress that has been made, our marriage, our lives, we must still remember that there is a lot of work still to be done.
Coming out is the first step.
The second is to speak out.
The third is to vote in the right direction.
John McCain and his crowd have nothing to offer human rights, gay or otherwise. It is not on their agenda. They are haters.
McCain's solution face to face or in national affairs is combat. His backers would root out people like me and, probably you, and exclude them. Probably do the same as they did to Matthew.
Hate is a virus.
The Obama people represent a totally different approach. Support. Love. Care for. Form community. Include. All that.
Isn't that apparent on the face of it?
Labels: gay politics, gay rights
COUPLING
Today's movie was actually a video of a production of Steven Sondheim's
This is the one that was done on the cheap with actors/singers also playing instruments.
I was leary of this but it actually works.
I just wanted to see a production of the musical because one of its climactic songs is in our wedding ceremony and it was fun to watch it in context.
This production is sharp and smart and very competent.
This is not the same as a film. The vocabulary is different. It is a reproduction of a successful stage presentation with a minimum of camera intrusion.
The fourth wall of the theater still operates but it is clearly staged and the instrument business underlines that.
If it were a movie, it would be a 4 out of Netflix5.
BI-NATIONAL ACTRESS
I will see every film with Kristin Scott Thomas.
She gets a great writeup today in the NYT:
The English Actress (Except in France)
She has been here and there in British films for a long time. Then we discovered that she has a parallel career in French cinema!
A new Netflix treasure trove.
Hey! A side note. She says in the interview that the advent of text messaging and all has led to an upsurge in people's willingnessto read subtitles!
One advantage of the fad. Craze. Annoyance.
POLITICS ON THE BLOG
Yeh. I know that the blog has become almost all politics all the time.
Well, that is me in the election year. Politics takes almost all of my spare attention.
If it is a little hard to take then gloss over.
There will only be another 40 days of it, more or less.
We will all get through this somehow.
Then we will return to the mundane.
Labels: blogging
HYPOCRAPISY
Now we have a bigger take on McCain the craps player. A huge investigatory from the New York Times today.
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
Well, we knew that he was a big time craps player. Or I did.
I have never seen it written up in the main stream media before.
I guess the time has come.
A gambler. In the casino and on the campaign trail. The man who would be President.
Dare I say that the combination would give us crappy results?
The whiff of McCain's gambling involvement has been around for awhile but he doesn't seem to give a shit about how it impacts his campaign or reputation. Not surprised. Brazen. Entitled.
We have alreay had one of those for 8 years.
For much of his adult life, Mr. McCain has gambled as often as once a month, friends and associates said, traveling to Las Vegas for weekend betting marathons. Former senior campaign officials said they worried about Mr. McCain’s patronage of casinos, given the power he wields over the industry. The officials, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity.The implication, in the article, is that McCain is very lucky when he goes to a casino to gamble. What a surprise!“We were always concerned about appearances,” one former official said. “If you go around saying that appearances matter, then they matter.”
The former official said he would tell Mr. McCain: “Do we really have to go to a casino? I don’t think it’s a good idea. The base doesn’t like it. It doesn’t look good. And good things don’t happen in casinos at midnight.”
“You worry too much,” Mr. McCain would respond, the official said.
Labels: McCain
Saturday, September 27, 2008
OVER BILLED
You watch now.
Bill Clinton was supposed to do some electioneering after his big Clinton Initiative.
Where he kissed McCain's ass.
And then did some positive McCain spin afterward.
I bet that you will not see him on the campaign road.
Hillary is in Michigan today. Doing god's work for the party.
And doing it with dignity and grace. No drama.
I bet they don't even invite Bill to the election night party.
Labels: Bill Clinton
MISTER MAGOO
Get off my lawn!!!
John Cole takes a look at McCain's nasty streak.
The narrative starts to settle in
I like the idea that when the pundits talk about 'vintage McCain', they mean that he is acting like a jerk as usual.
Where was the eye contact?
I still am struck with the fact that Obama used John's first name and McCain referred to Barack as Senator Obama.
Labels: McCain
BACKUP
Joe Biden was right there after the debate to work for his boss.
There was no sign of Sarah Palin.
I sure like Biden. He is one righteous partner for our man Obama.
Labels: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
RACISM ON THE RUN
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Melvin Van Peebles'
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
This X-rated chase/polemic film was very experimental for its time.
In this case, the word 'experimental' could be a euphemism for amateurish and on the cheap.
There are lots of double exposures and montages and repeats of the sound track. There is a lot of running with the camera. There are jump cuts. It was done on 16mm and some of the sections are sound dubbed.
That said, I didn't skip any of it. Neither did I succumb to liberal guilt by watching it. It is a very angry picture.
Also very silly in a lot of levels. I wonder if it was white folks doing the do whether we would laugh at it.
I don't know.
I am seeing it through a few different lenses.
I didn't like some animal cruelty in it as I am pretty sure that what there is was not faked.
No one had ever made a film about blacks like this before. On the other hand, it opened the door to the genré of blaxploitation. Shaft was not too far behind this.
I read a long New Yorker piece on Spike Lee. It didn't mention these films particularly. I think that the stream hit a dead end. There is no doubt that they are important. But not so much.
I will give it a 2 for my personal reaction and I suppose it could be upgraded to a 3 for being a historic breakthrough.
Labels: best films
PAUL NEWMAN
When I was a teenager, I sat in the Buck Hill Inn movie house with my cousin Barbara going ga-ga over Paul Newman. I can remember Barbara saying that she couldn't wait for him to take his shirt off and my agreeing.
It should have been a tip-off huh?
So, I have to say that my first impression of Newman was as a gay boy.
But more than that, I think I responded to his obvious presence as much as his beauty. Everyone did.
Paul Newman had soul. Deep soul. If it is true that some people are 'old souls' he was one.
My appreciation for Newman and his work became more sophisticated over the years. He was always a hunk and he aged well.
I particularly remember him in Nobody's Fool, a great part for an aging icon. A rebel.
There is no end of praise for Newman's social consciousness. He gave and gave more and took moral positions without fear.
He had a life long partner. How difficult is that in that star-struck realm?
We saw him once. It was on a race track.
A friend had a Formula 4 racing car and we went to see him compete. He got us onto the center there where all the cars get ready to go.
Newman was racing that day. We went and gawked a little. He was immune to that kind of attention. He had a sort of dignity and grace of being present that didn't require the trappings of celebrity and everyone left him alone.
I remember his beautiful blue eyes.
So. Paul Newman died today. He was 83 years old. How could that be?
Where did the time go?
What a beautiful, beautiful man.
With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. ''I was always a character actor,'' he once said. ''I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood.''
Labels: obituary
VOX PUNDITI II
Now, I have a new favorite. A particularly barbed rundown on the week and the debate from Gail Collins in the NYT:
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
VOX PUNDITI
My morning favorite from "Meteor Blades" at the Daily Kos site:
Rude, say some. Arrogant, say some. Condescending and contemptuous, say others. Passive-aggressive outrage, say still others, a lack of eye contact meant as an insult to Obama - not a planned insult, but because McCain is just that kind of person who can't bear to think of others as equals, who was pissed off that this other person was even allowed on the same stage as him - a king, having to mingle with the commoners.Probably, to some extent, all true. But none of those counts as the real reason.
The real reason is that every time Barack Obama says "...when I am President," John McCain knows in his heart that this will soon be true.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
VOX POPULI
For the record, at midnight, last night, CNN's poll had Obama winning 51%-38%. CBS had Obama winning 39%-25%.
No. I was not there to see it. This is the clear eyed morning.
Labels: Barack Obama
Friday, September 26, 2008
SCORECARD
I am not much on evaluating debate performances.
I am so partisan that I lose perspective.
I thought Obama got an A on the debate.
So, I will turn to Mark Halprin who has a history of conservative bias and is far less enamored of Obama than I am. Normally I would skip his assessments or opinions.
He is generous to McCain but he gives it to Obama and says if there are two more like this, Obama has a wrap.
Read it for yourself.
Grading the First Presidential Debate
I wouldn't give McCain anything like a B-. He was doddering and unclear. He had all these little jab-lines that fell on the floor. Thud. He did well on the foreign affairs stuff but blew it with his rambles. A C from me.
I was actually suprised at Obama's clarity and force. He has sure cleaned up his debate act. Someone should get a bonus in the campaign.
As I said, I give my man Barack a clear A. There are no A +'s.
Remember that this is Obama's weakest area and I think that he triumphed.
I went to the debate nervous and worried and came out quite assured that the debates, while not a piece of cake, will be a good thing for him all around.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
CULTURE SHOCK
Today's movie is a festival favorite
There are some great moments in this film about an American middle manager sent to India to train his successor and the crew who will take orders over the phone for a super-American-patriotic gimcrack company.
He, of course, a stranger in a strange land and there are some wonderful vignettes and some very unlikely cooincidences. It is not a great movie but the parts are greater than the whole.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and if you want some glimpses of India as it probably really is, take a look at this film.
YIKES!!!
Forget the financial crisis! Forget the debate!!!
It suddenly dawned on me that I am getting married in only two weeks from this Saturday.
This came up as I began to look over the 'to do' list. So much to do. This guy is right. I am possessed by the wedding demon.
One 'to do' is to have the grounds 'manicured'. I needed to call Paul and do a walk through. I thought I had a lot of time to do that. NO!
Not later. This week!
Which we did. The guys will be here Wednesday to do the work. Give it a week for the raw edges to heal over.
A lot is already done.
We have almost all the RSVPs back. We will have almost a hundred people here.
I have all of the beverages for the toasts. 3 per person. Will that be enough?
We paid the final balance on the cake.
We have the sound system wrapped up.
And stuff like that. Actually this is on John's list. He has a much longer list than mine. He is doing almost all the work. Bless him.
I gave myself my 'wedding' haircut the other days. Give time for those raw edges to heal also.
So it is happening. People are getting revved up.
One of my daughters' dresses arrived yesterday for hanging and fluffing.
Even the outside world is getting into gear.
Oh. About the picture. It is right in front of the State House in Boston where I passed by for many years.
Just a glimpse of why it is so important that all of us come out and, if we so wish, get married. To just show bastards like this that we have lives too.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights, wedding
DON'T FENCE ME IN
Franklin and I saw the neighbors' desert tortoise last night.
We see him every year or so. Actually there are two of them in the same yard.
So we saw one of them.
Soon there will be only one though.
These fellas are about two feet long and a foot tall. And they have reached mating age.
Problem.
The guys get horny and 'fight' one another. It is a slow motion battle but not one which you want them to get into. Damage is done.
They require a ten mile territory, so the yard, as big as it is, is not big enough for the guys to get along.
Hey. From my perspective, these bruisers ought to make love not war but that is apparently not the orientation of the shell men.
So one of them is going to go. Find a new home.
A lot of people have these as pets. Actually they are not pets at all. It is just that they use the people's house and yard as their territory.
They hibernate a few months a year. Usually in a closet or somewhere dark and undisturbed.
Then they come out and just walk here and there and eat and look around to see if there is another turtle in the territory.
Every once in a while one of these guys gets out. No one knows how. But they don't go far and, god knows, they don't move very fast.
It was fun to see this one. It will be awhile before we get the chance again.
AIRBORNE
All of the grass in this desert valley is 'bermuda' strain. It stays green in the heat (when no one is here) but turns brown in winter (when everyone is here).
It doesn't matter much whether planting bermuda was a good decision or not. Once you have bermuda you will have bermuda for life.
It is tenacious. It spreads as a vine. It travels in the air. Seeds. Vines. It is fucking everywhere.
There is a solution to the browning thing though.
Every fall, now, we go over all the golf courses and lawns (which do not belong in the desert) and we scalp the turf. Set the mower low low and just beat the bejesus out of the roots.
Then we plant an annual rye to cover over until the bermuda comes back in the spring.
Insane? Sure. But that isn't the whole thing.
Listen to this.
The scalping fills the air with dust and grass particles and we all get respiratory trouble out of it.
My nose is clogged half the time and that isn't much of a reaction.
There is a new non-scalping solution that 'they' are trying to get going where the grass is cut low, the sprinklers are turned off for a week or two and then the new seed is put on.
It works but it doesn't seem quite dramatic enough so there is trouble with its catching on.
There are 200 golf courses in this valley. Think of it. All that shit in the air.
And none of it necessary if we just went back to desert vegetation.
Labels: horticulture, nature
FALLING APART?
It isn't as though McCain didn't ask for it.
He stepped off the campaign trail (and did not at all). He inspired George Bush to hold the 'summit meeting'. And then didn't participate in the meeting except for a few platitudes.
Then he went on network television, hitting all the shows, to lumber and bumble a few empty words.
What is going on?
I don't know. But it sure looks bad for McCain.
The trouble is that it makes the country look bad and my portfolio is going to take a hit today because of his fucking meddling.
Worse, the problems of this economy are not getting solved. The forces that are supposed to be working on this were almost there and then the great Saint John dropped in from the sky to gum things up with his own party! He now has them so divided they may never get it back together on this 'bipartisan' bill.
I saw Barney Frank this morning on CNN.
He said just about the same thing that you read here:
Frank blames House GOP for breakdown of deal
They are in revolt against each other. Some leadership from McCain.
Labels: McCain
WHILE ROME BURNS
A bad day for the GOP on politics, bailout plan
And this is from AP who I think has a rightward spin. Not today.
A circular firing squad. And my man Barack is headed to Mississippi.
Apparently McCain has no plan or position and yet he wanted to be seen as helping resolve the 'crisis'. A blundering geezer without a clue.
Labels: McCain
Thursday, September 25, 2008
SMILE
In times of trouble it is always nice to have a huge smile arise out of the center of my being.
Johnny Depp has been unveiled as Disney Studios' main man, after film bosses announced plans for a trio of movies all starring the Hollywood actor.I loved the Lone Ranger as a kid. 730 PM every night. Monday through Friday.Disney chairman Dick Cook revealed the news during a press conference at Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre on Wednesday, detailing plans for upcoming films that would tie Depp to the studio for the next few years.
Cook confirmed that a third sequel to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was in the works, and that he would star as The Mad Hatter in director Tim Burton's forthcoming adaptation of Alice In Wonderland.
And, topping off the list of projects, will be a big screen version of The Lone Ranger, which will see Depp reteam with Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
However, Depp will not take on the lead role of the Lone Ranger himself - he will instead be the hero's sidekick, Tonto.....IMDb
The story is, of course, very homoerotic.
Not to spoil any straight boys' enjoyment of the whole thing.
In any case, the idea of Depp as Tonto just totally devastates me with pleasure.
I will see this film! Forget the Pirates. Maybe the Alice. I like Tim Burton.
THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING
Obama Will Make Debate A Townhall If McCain Doesn't Show
I sorta hope McCain doesn't show.
Today at the White House they sat the two candidates at the ends of a long table where they couldn't even see one another.
No love lost.
Labels: Barack Obama
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
THE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN
This is a great film, actually a commercial. Thanks to Andrew Sullivan.
Labels: life
MULTI TASKING
Obama, speaking to reporters in Florida, turned down McCain's offer to delay the debate. "Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he said. "It's not necessary for us to think that we can do only one thing, and suspend everything else."Ouch!
Does that mean that McCain isn't being presidential?
Labels: McCain
WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE
He has lost the Party.
He is not going to be able to get them to go along with the bailout.
A coalition of Dems and centrist Republicans will nail something together and it will not involve giving the imperiall executive any more power than it has to.
This is one of the best things that could come about. The end of the 'unitary executive' in its own time.
Can I put this in bold type and maybe a bigger font to make this stand out more?
Yes.
And don't you love my headline?
OH. And it won't need a John McCain to come down to Washington to bail the bailout out. He actually has stepped on the third rail of the bailout. He has signed on to Bush' proposal.
And what a fucking sham.
A stunt.
Here is Harry Reid saying 'no thanks'.
There's already a process in place to continue negotiations, and it "would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op."Obama may have just won the election.
He was up 9 points this morning on the WaPo/ABC poll. A good running start on it.
Labels: bush. bushies
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
ALERT!!
This just came in as a NYTimes email alert. An unusual event. I may get two or three a week, if that.
McCain Aide's Firm Was Paid by Freddie MacOne of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator
John McCain's campaign manager from the end of 2005 through
last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of
the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement
Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick
Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last
several years.
I wonder why they would put it in an alert? Do they think it is novel for the McCains to lie?
Maybe this is different somehow.
We will see.
Labels: McCain
SUPERBAMA
I think that he is doing pretty well in this turmoil week. His message is being heard and a double digit number of people think that he is better able to state the problem and have solutions. Pew.
He is also looking good in the polls this week. A wider margin - like 4% ahead - and is quite a bit ahead on electoral votes.
Still, I worry.
What about the debates?
Well, they are certainly important and I read that they do not move the polls as much as we think we do. The big exception was Reagan with Carter. There was only one debate and neither McCain or Obama are anywhere near the debater that Ronald Reagan was.
I think that Obama has the momentum now and I hope that he keeps it right down to the very day. But there will probably be bumps. October surprises and all.
I like this image. It is from a t-shirt company and I have been trying to grab it all week.
I finally succeeded. I suppose that since I cropped the name of the company, it is only fair to let you link to it here.
Labels: Barack Obama
Monday, September 22, 2008
THE BOY NEXT DOOR
Today's film was the gay teen coming of age film
This is a family favorite brought out (so to speak) every so often.
It is good in many ways beyond the gay boy story. It is a positive take on life in the margins. Council estates and all that.
We could still use a bit of sub-title to catch the 'english' as it is spoken in Birmingham but still. It is mostly show, not tell. Very gentle. Very positive and sweet.
I give it a 5 out of Netflix5 so I can see it again sometime. I know that it is not really a top of the line film and would be a 3 otherwise. But it has a special place in my heart.
DIRTY TRICKS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in a nasty tangle of gossip columnists.
This is a classic, rated a very high 8.2 at IMDb.
Screenplay by Clifford Odets. Photography by James Wong Howe. Film noir.
I figure that Burt Lancaster is in more 'best films' than any other actor. He hardly seems to miss a beat.
And Tony Curtis, who is often dismissed as a lightweight and wasn't, is equal to the master as the two try to out-nasty one another.
I remember Walter Winchell who inspired this story. It is very thinly veiled. He was a master of the gossip column and a professional 'patriot' flag waver.
These kind of weasels still exist and I imagine that the gossip trade is still as nasty. We certainly have an abundance of the fake flag wavers.
So it is not dated at all.
This is a very good movie. I would definitely not mind seeing it again. I just wouldn't put it on the very top list of must-repeats. It is too nasty for that. I do feel a bit soiled. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Sunday, September 21, 2008
KOOLNESS
Today is the first day that we have had the house open all day without air.
Last night is the first night that I had to pull a sheet over me in bed.
It is autumn in the Coachella Valley.
Franklin is energized and so are we. Perky. All cool stimulated.
It isn't that we dislike the summer. Well, there are parts of it that are hard. The monoon. Some very 120 hot days which we have not had this year.
It is more that it is a non-changing condition. The same thing. Day after day.
And we are cooped up all the time. Like winter was back east.
This, autumn, is a change. Cool.
100 days and 70s nights.
Ahhhhhhh.
Labels: weather
TALKING HEADS DUMP ON MCCAIN
ABC Panel Tears Into McCain: Not Presidential, Age Should Be An Issue
This particular group of talking heads have had a thing on Obama which has pissed me off but I gotta admit it was great to see that even Cokie has become worried about McCain. And Sam Donaldson, an old vet, older than me and McCain (he is 75, Johnny and I are 72) brings up the age issue.
Believe me. Sam and I know what they are talking about.
I think that McCain is wrong and has bad timing on many issues but I also think that he has trouble finding his ass when it comes to the talking points he is supposed to deliver. Just watch him.
There is a look of strain, a feigned confidence. I saw my Dad get it about now and I am sure that I have it too. Trying to get over even though I don't get it. And McCain is on stage.
I am worried about getting my wedding vows out in order and in one piece.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
JUNK POLITICS
If you want to feel good, or bad, about Sarah Palin, this article will help.
The Palin choice in a nutshell.
McCain feeds America a junk food diet with Palin choice
Labels: McCain
LOVING THE UNAVAILABLE
Today's movie was the wonderful 'cult film', Alan Rudolph's
This is a permanent 5 film. We get it out every so often. It is a cult film because only people like us are devoted to it. You can hardly find enough images on Google to load up a blog entry.
This film is a river flowing to the tunes of Teddy Pendergrass.
Keith Carradine, Geneviève Bujold and Lesley Ann Warren star.
Everything in this film ties together. It is a great movie to see again and again to catch the visual cues and clues. Very neatly done.
I don't know why it was not more popular but that is how it is with some films. At least there is a cult. We are part of it.
A 5 out of Netflix5. Forever.
YOUNG HIP AND COOL
It says here. That is what we are for throwing over our land lines.
Users Are Tossing Their Landlines Overboard
We just got tired of all the bullshit from the land line company which is the same company that runs our mobile phones. Different division.
The service was out and it took a week before we got a call from the local service people.
In that time, we bit the bullet and threw the lines overboard as they say. This saved us about 50 dollars a month because we also cut the 9.00 per month ATT basic long distance cost as well.
Have we noticed a difference?
NO!
We were not using the land lines anyway. At all. Only receiving the occasional call from someone out of our past who didn't have the mobile numbers and had to go to the phone book.
Well, that and we won't be getting all those wonderful calls from our candidates and proposition sponsors over the next month and a half.
I don't know why we took so long to do it.
I guess that we had the lines deeply imbedded in our psyches. After all, I have been a land line user for 72 years. Well, maybe 60 something since I didn't start using the phone when I was born.
Incidentally, if you do disconnect and I suggest that you do, don't take any shit from the service rep. My first one hung up on me. The second one was actually very good. They even seemed eager to have us leave.
We bought a three month service to announce the number change. I have yet to get one call.
Come to think of it, maybe those fucking election calls will be coming anyway but probably not. The robots won't take down our new number. Will they?
Labels: technology
Saturday, September 20, 2008
RACE IN THE RACE
We are all bothered by the racism that does exist and how it might affect the election.
But Nate Silver, one of my favorite writers on polls and pollism helps us get some perspective.
I like his point that such studies as he discusses (which got me going when I saw it this morning) never account for the people who will vote for Obama because he is multi-racial and/or black. Indeed because he is who he is! Barack Obama!
Read it. You will cool out a bit. A lot of us worry too much. Me included.
Labels: Barack Obama
WEIRDNESS IN THE MIDDLE CLASS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film is Jane Campion's first film
I sat through the first third of this film ready to turn it off and declare it a 1 out of Netflix5.
But it held me. I am not sure why. The characters are not all that appealing. The art direction is very 'arty'. The feel is that of an avant garde piece or an experimental film. At times it feels like a documentary.
It is about a family and most notably about the relationship of the sisters. One a monster who holds the family emotionally hostage to her. Sweetie. Indeed.
There are some great scenes. A portion about a ranch in the outback and the handsome jackaroos who live there including a midget-dwarf. They are like brothers. Beautiful, life affirming ones. Anti-sisters
There is also a small boy who is (gasp) pretty normal. He gives perspective.
So there is thought and structure here.
As the monster sister regresses, the fearful, superstitious sister becomes more well adjusted.
Why am I writing this? To explain it all to myself.
I am actually raising the score as I write.
I wouldn't mind seeing this again at all. Maybe once.
Let's not go too far. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
And Campion dedicated the film to her sister!
Labels: best films
Friday, September 19, 2008
HAPPY WARRIOR, LITERALLY!
I love Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the Other No. 2 Keeps On Punching
This is a nicely loving article. Even the barbs are gentle, nicely phrased.
He may not be getting the press that the others are but he is working the hard, difficult pockets of the campaign. He has a great heart. And his heart is often on his sleeve.
Mr. Biden’s tone turns somber when he discusses Mr. McCain, a colleague of over two decades. The tenor of this campaign has tested a friendship that has been close even by Senate standards, where everyone claims to be “my good friend.”“That guy I used to know, he’s gone,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. McCain at the campaign event in Maumee, shaking his head. “It literally saddens me,” added Mr. Biden, who tends to used the word “literally” about a dozen times per speech (literally).
Mr. Biden recalls that after Mr. McCain came under heavy attack from George W. Bush in the 2000 race for the Republican presidential nomination, he called Mr. McCain and offered to “go anywhere in the country and testify to his character.” Now, Mr. Biden asserts, Mr. McCain has embraced the same tactics he once criticized.
“I tried to talk to John,” Mr. Biden said in the interview. When both men were at Columbia University last week on the Sept. 11 anniversary, Mr. Biden had a staff member try to arrange a dressing-room visit with Mr. McCain. But Mr. Biden was told not to come, he said.
“I walked down anyway,” Mr. Biden said. “And who the hell is going to stop me?” Mr. McCain looked up and was “like, what is this about?” Mr. Biden said. Mr. McCain hugged Mr. Biden’s wife, Jill, and the two senators shared a quick handshake, but there was no time for any discussion.
Leaving the Elks Lodge in Maumee this week, Mr. Biden threw his arms around volunteers, posed for photos, and said he was flattered about the attention.
“Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president,” he said. “I mean that literally.”
I really think that with Biden you get just what you see.
A great guy.
I saw him in a CNN interview this week and it was a breath of fresh air.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats, Joe Biden, McCain
15 MINUTES OF FAME
As predicted, Sarah Palin has paled.
Look at this.
The Decline and Fall of Sarah Palin
Notice that I do not have a label or niche for Ms. Palin. I file all her shit under McCain because I figure that after forty days she is history.
While we are at it, let's look at the Governor free associating.
Labels: McCain
AFTERMATH
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Atom Egoyan's
This is about grieving. A school bus accident. A small town. A lawyer who wants to 'make things right' for the surviving parents.
One could almost anticipate the story but not this time.
It is not told linearly and that is a plus. You edge into its center.
Ian Holm is the lawyer. Very good. The parents and survivors are all deeply etched characters.
We are in winter most of the time. When we are not, we are contemplating it.
It is a blue movie. Literally and figuratively.
I would like to see it again sometime.
I will rate it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Thursday, September 18, 2008
UH OH
Don't attack the FEC unless you want a fight.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox Strikes Back At McCain
It is so stupid. Macho posing. If in doubt, fire some one.
Labels: McCain
CAMPAIGN ADS
I love to watch campaign ads from the other States.
This one is from Mississippi. He is running against the crooked Haley Barbour.
One of the best ads so far this season.
Labels: Democrats
GONNA' GET MARRIED
Prop 8 which seeks to ban gay marriages is slipping further behind in the polls.
It must come from Brad Pitt's giving us 100,000 yesterday. Thanks Brad.
Actually, it comes from the fact that people here realize that marriage is a fundamental right that should be enjoyed (or not) by all. Go, California. I have had the honor and privilege of living in the two states that include me in their embrace.
This is kinda badly written but you will get it if you stick with it.
Source: PE Sacramento BureauA ballot initiative that would end same-sex marriage in California continues to face significant opposition among likely voters, a new poll indicates.
A Field Poll survey released today found that 38 percent of likely voters support Prop. 8. In July, 42 percent of those surveyed backed the measure.
Fifty-five percent of likely voters oppose Prop. 8, an increase from 51 percent who opposed it in July. The percentage of undecided voters remains at 7 percent.
The shifting numbers in today's poll seem to reflect, in part, the effects of changes made to the measure's ballot title and summary by Attorney General Jerry Brown earlier this summer.
Prop. 8's title initially was "Limit on Marriage." Its summary described the initiative as providing that only marriages between a man and a woman would be "valid or recognized in California."
The Field Poll is one of the most reputable polls in the country even though they normally only work on California issues.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
BAD WEEK CONTINUES
McCain has had a fuckup a day this week. All the way through. Totally deranged from "the fundamentals are fine" through "No aid for AIG" to "Fire the SEC chair". And back again to the opposite of each of these forcefully made, heroic statements.
I know that I mentioned this below but another gaffe from McCain seems to have driven his campaign organization over the edge. From Washington Monthly:
'PREEMPTIVE LYING'.... This may be my single favorite press release of the entire presidential campaign. McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers issued this statement:
In his rush to score political points on economic disaster, we've heard that at his next event in New Mexico, Senator Obama is about to distort the facts and attack John McCain's call for removing the Chairman of the SEC.
Rogers' concern, obviously, is that Obama would point out that McCain told voters today he would "fire" the chairman of the SEC, when in reality, that's outside the president's authority -- a fact McCain should have realized before tackling the subject.
Regardless, it's more entertaining to realize that the McCain campaign is criticizing Obama for something he might say, before he says it, accusing Obama of "distorting" the facts, before he's even spoken. In other words, the McCain campaign line is, "Obama might point out how McCain screwed up earlier, and if he does, he's being totally unfair -- because we say so."
Even by the McCain campaign's standards, this is surprisingly foolish. I know Schmidt & Co. must be kicking themselves for failing to check first to see if the president can fire the SEC chair, but attacking a speech they haven't heard? C'mon.
Greg Sargent asks, "Are we seeing the birth of a new McCain campaign doctrine of preemptive lying?" Apparently, so.
—Steve Benen
Labels: McCain
PURITY
Here it is, three weeks before the wedding and I have nothing, nothing in the big pots. The one in the front and the other back by the guest room.
As usual, the sun baked the geraniums I put in last October even though I covered them with sun cloth for some of the time.
So. Too early for more geraniums. Besides, I am tired of them. Time for a change. Something white. For the wedding. Purity. Virginity.
So I went off to the high quality (expensive) nursery this morning and was easily persuaded to put in Pentas. Five petal flower on a lot of green leafed stems.
Pentas Lancelotas, actually. Romance!
I know it is sun hardy. These were sitting right out in the middle of the nursery. No shade in sight.
So I brought them home.
They are a little small for the pots but they look big enough. They will grow.
The guy says that they love the desert especially if they have just a little shade during the day but they don't really need it.
I am willing to believe that. Each spot is exactly that. Sunny with a little shade late in the day.
Pentas. Long may you bloom. At least through the wedding.
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Labels: garden
SOLUTIONS, FINAL AND OTHERWISE updated
Rumors of a debt consolidation structure drove the market back up to where it ended Monday.
John McCain says that his solution for all of this is to fire the Chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission.
That's smart. A little like shooting the pilot while you are in flight or just trying to land.
Actually, since the SEC has had less to do with the problem than most other government agencies, it is more like shooting a flight attendant.
The old man is really clueless isn't he?
Yes. One guy at these comments says that the Prez can't even fire the SEC head even if he had anything to do with it.
Labels: economy
QUICK CHANGE ARTIST
Gotta love that Gail Collins:
She finally uses the Bob Dole analogy.
Labels: McCain
YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME......
The short run of interest and energy around the McCain's seems to be over.
McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds
And there is the five point advantage back for Obama. The one he had going into the conventions. You can't expect more than 5. I read that FIVE would be a landslide in electorals.
The same results have been showing up in the running polls the last few days.
The wobbly stance of the McCains during this particular week puts them at odds with the confidence that people seem to want that there will be a different hand on the wheel.
Poor old John has been wavering all over the road.
I think we are at a change point. The tipper.
Of course there could always be the October surprise but the bushies are not really in very good shape to really start anything are they? Or end it.
The fact that the President has not made a significant statement or appearance in this financial crisis is incredible. Well, not to those of us who say through his weak game long ago. Sad ending.
Over the last two weeks, Mr. McCain has increasingly tried to distance himself from his party and President Bush, running as an outsider against Washington. The poll suggested the urgency of Mr. McCain’s task: The percentage of Americans who disapprove of the way Mr. Bush is conducting his job, 68 percent, was as high as it has been for any sitting president in the history of New York Times polling. And 81 percent said the country was heading in the wrong direction.Sad for us. I don't care how he feels about it.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
MORE DOW(N)
I would jump off the building but I live on the first floor.
Besides, I was happy enough to stay here for my paper highs, I might as well stay here for my paper lows.
Like I said the other day, it is not as though I am going to cash anything in. This would be the worst time to do it anyway.
Nonetheless, I have a friend who did just that yesterday against all advice. Low tolerance for anxiety over a situation he can't control.
Well, he has that right. But I have been anxious about stocks for many years and so this is nothing too new.
I am not happy about it.
But I can take it.
I think.
I am moving on with the rest of my life and letting the stocks take care of themselves. I assume that the people managing my account, who also have money invested the same way I do, are working in my best interest. Well, enough that I am not going to take over the reins any time soon.
My friend's history is in real estate investment and he has done pretty well. Actually, given his skill, it might be a good decision as this is definitely a time to start considering the bottom of the real estate market and taking advantage of it.
He wants something that he can watch and even mess with.
I can understand that.
And I also know that it would have been better for him not to sell at the bottom of the equity markets.
To each his own.
Labels: market
TWO E'S?
I got a scare today.
I have been referring to John as my fiancé. Then I saw that someone spelled it fiancee!
How could I be so wrong?
I am not.
The two ee's are an option especially when you don't use the é thing. Whatever that is. Not an umlau.
Labels: blogging, gay wedding, wedding
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Lina Wertmuller's
This wonderful film with Giancarlo Giannini (very funny and sexy) and Mariangela Melato (uber bitch) somehow 'sweeps away' all of Wertmuller's political polemics and leaves us with a man and a woman marooned on an island with a lot of baggage to unload. There is a lot of talk in this film but it is good talk and, somehow, we are never weighed down by it.
It is beautiful to look at (as are Gianninin's expressive blue eyes) and if you can believe that Melato's hair never gets dirty and that she brought her eyeliner along you can get into the eternal struggle between man and woman. And it isn't even off putting for a non-player in that game!
I liked it very much and I wouldn't mind seeing it again although I won't make an effort to do it. That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Incidentally, if you try to rent this film make sure that you don't mistake the Madonna remake (2002) for the original. A family project with her husband Guy Ritchie. I hear that it is awful. And I believe it.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
FACE TIME
Yesterday and today are all about being with people face to face. So, I am a bit behind on my virtual relationships.
Today I interviewed a young man who wants to go to MIT. It went well.
I have some trouble in the evaluation of these kids as I don't have comparative experience. I don't know if they are unusually bright or more or less enthusiastic than 'average'. Or 'typical' as the form says.
So, I go dense on the write up. I go into detail. Let them figure if the kid is typical or not.
Anyway, that is where my writing energy went today.
Monday, September 15, 2008
DOW(N)
Today, the Dow composite had its biggest drop in one day since the market reopened after 9-11.
So much for McCain's assurance that the economy's fundamentals are strong. Which he said again today in Florida.
Tell that to all the retirees there.
I have long joked about being on a fixed and declining income. But it is no joke. As there is inflation, the fixed rate of payment that I have devised is worth less every year.
Now, the portfolio from which my income derives is shrinking. Two ways now that it is fixed and declining.
As for the day, I had a number in mind for the drop. It was 500 points.
Sure enough, I won the office pool. My financial manager at Smith Barney said they expected 300.
Optimists.
I weather through this stuff by reminding myself that the figures only matter if I was going to liquidate today.
Of course, that is not really true.
I depend on earnings for my income and the smaller the pot is the smaller the amount of soup you can get out of it. 7% of X is more than 7% of XC-whatever.p>And it isn't really 7% anymore. More like 5% return on whatever mixed portfolio people have.
Incidentally, the chart in the picture is from last year when the market was up in the 12 thousand area. Today it is below 11,000.
Don't get me wrong. I am not whining at all. I am in pretty good shape compared.
I sat with a guy this afternoon who is still hunting a job that will pay more than minimum wage and perhaps have some health insurance.
I am pretty well off. I am very diversified. But still. Low is low.
This is a good time for everyone to take a deep breath and decide whether 'more of the same' is really what they want. But you can't move an electorate with logic. Only feelings. If enough people feel the pain there will be a change. I think there is a lot of hurt out there.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats, election, market
OUR TURF
Both Obama and Biden came out swinging today on the economy. It is our turf. It is where the campaign will be strongest.
Here is the BIden part, a great speech.
Labels: Barack Obama
Sunday, September 14, 2008
PHENOM
I started watching Matt Harding three years ago.
His latest film has now had 10 million hits.
It touches a lot of people in surprising ways. Very emotional in spots. One world and all that.
If you want to read about Matt and read his blog, try this. There is also a bigger higher quality video on his web site.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
CONUNDRUM
So, I figure that the Republicans nominated McCain because he had integrity and wasn't beholden to the wingnut, religious right base. He was not a fake. Not a bush.
They rejected the automaton Romney and the crazy man Rudy. They laughed along but didn't go along with the Arkansas guy.
McCain had a real hero aura. No stuff about his draft dodging. He was not a go along guy. He might just be electable after the Republican label was so besmirched by bush.
So he got nominated. An anti-bush.
And what happens, the minute he has the nomination, McCain morphs into a bush candidate. He sucks up to the right wing. He picks a pentecostal Veep who is more bush than not. Bush in a dress.
And he ruins his record for candor with a tight lipped set of lies and distortions that are all negative. Something he said he would never do.
A real turn-around from the primary guy who got nominated into the guy who is now running for the highest office.
What has happened to this man?
One conclusion is that he was never serious. Just a lucky guy who shot from the hip and won enough times to be seen as a 'maverick' and an independent thinker.
Another is that it took no time for him to get held hostage by the lobbyists and the Roves and he is too old and tired to stay out of their clutches.
Another is that he is an unprincipled hack with low energy. An old man who forgets stuff and is easily manipulated.
Whatever.
Not presidential timbre at all.
Labels: McCain
STATE SUPPORT
‘Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally is HUGE!Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.
More here.
Labels: Barack Obama, republican whack jobs
OBAMA TURF
Steve Benen thinks that the McCains have made a basic error in shifting the frame of the election to 'change'.
We know that it is utter bullshit and others are soon to find out.
It is a much better turf for the Obamas to fight on.
This makes a lot of sense to me. There is also a great followup ad to the 7-lobbyists ad that ran the other day.
Labels: Barack Obama, McCain
TRUST ISSUES
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Hitchcock's
with Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant.
A near-cad woos a somewhat repressed woman and trust issues begin to develop eventually to the point of life and death.
Gambling debts, irresponsible behavior and all don't necessarily make an insurance murderer though. How seriously should Joan take her own suspicions?
It is a pretty good yarn and the two stars do a nice job.
The photography is quite stunning, a bit film noir. Actually, I think, HItchcock set the tone for the film noir directors rather than the other way round. He left the genré behind.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. Good enough and I don't need to see it again. Thanks.
Labels: best films
Saturday, September 13, 2008
TIGHT, CLEAR, HARD HITTING
He is getting to issues. Well, he has been. But this is new.
He has a script here to get it right. Soon he will have the flow.
The facts.
This is not the rhetorically brilliant Obama. It is not a call to a vision. It is a clear statement of the differences between us and them.
I think that they are on plan and hitting their stride. You just cannot do this stuff too far away from the election. It has to be now and here on. He has rallied the base. It is time to load in the facts that people do not know. After some more of this, he will be primed for the debates.
Labels: Barack Obama
IN THE EMAIL
For over 15 years I have given my own family and friends lectures that go like this: "don't forward me crappy chain-letter emails.. I hate, hate, hate them."
Having said that.. I'm now flip-flopping on my long held belief. Here's a chain letter I'm forwarding...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach teach children about sexual predators, you are irresponsible and eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that hates America and advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
Labels: Barack Obama, election, McCain, republican whack jobs
PACIFIC SUNSET
Today's Best NYTimes 1176 Film was Rodgers and Hammerstein's
A big yawn here.
It was made as a 'road show'. Overture. Intermission. Reserved tickets.
Todd-A-O. A big screen by American Optical. Mike Todd was a producer who got killed in a plane crash. One of Liz Taylor's husbands.
Oh.
Am I wandering?
I guess so. This movie will do that to you.
Mitzi Gaynor is very cute and hardly convincing here and her boyfriend, Rosanno Brazzi, doesn't do his own singing.
They opened up the show by putting it on a real island with a real beach. Hence, no real dancing. Sand.
They put color filters on the principals whenever they sing a ballad. They grease the lens. They put smoke in the background. Nuts. Of course it hides the lackadaisical performances.
Once again, a big lush orchestra sound. Totally inappropriate. One 'musical supervisor'. Four musical arrangers? As I recall, Richard Rodgers stood alone with his conductor and the pit orchestra.
I skipped some of it. Tedious.
They had Ray Walston as an original cast Luther Billis. I remember it was Myron McCormick. Walston must have been in the second cast. John Kerr is the lieutenant. Skinny and looks as though he has a headache. And so on.
I am giving it a 1 out of Netflix5. I didn't like it much and I skipped through the reel. I reduced it from a bloated 2.5 hours to a tiresome 1.5. At least they didn't alter the plot.
Labels: best films
ROOM WITH A VIEW
This is the scene outside my room while I was on vacation. The marina at the Bay Club on Shelter Island in San Diego. Twilight.
Labels: life
NEAR AUTUMN
It is all but autumn!
The house is now open right after dinner and not closed until about noon.
It is great.
Soon, we will be complaining of cold. But not too soon.
We really do not have an 'autumn'. What we get is a ten degree slide in the temps and then a sudden drop later on in November.
Labels: weather
WEDDING BELLS
Progress on many fronts.
The flowers are ordered. Yes, flowers.
The sound system is pinned down. Yes, a sound system. We are only going to say the vows once. People should hear them.
The invitees have half responded. Over 50 will be here so far. A bunch still to be heard from.
There is not a lot yet to get started except for the worrying that the baker, the florist, the sound people, the photographer and the chair and tablecloth folks will get here on time with their stuff.
Oh and the grooms too.
I have my vows down cold now. I can say them at the drop of a hat. At least once a day, sometimes more. I don't want to cool off.
Sometimes it seems a bit surreal. That is a good sign, I think. I don't want it to be routine. I want good, gut churning, out of body, high anxiety! An event of great moment.
Labels: gay marriage, gay wedding, wedding
DOLDRUMS
I remember this time!
The conventions are over, the debates are just ahead, the polls are in turmoil, the candidates are off stride. These are the dog days. Or dogged days.
They bring out the worst in all of us.
I realized last night that I had been reading too much 'inside' opinion. The guys who are criticizing and back seat driving the Obama campaign.
"He should be doing this", "They should be doing that", "He needs to fight back", "The ads are lame". That kind of backbiting shit.
I don't have such opinions really. I think that the Obamas are doing pretty well. They are getting the slime thrown at them, they are responding with vigor. They are not worried about the polls. Their's is a ground game. The electoral votes. The GOTV (Get Out The Vote) effort.
I read yesterday that they are registering as many as 2000 voters a day in just the city of Orlando, Florida. These are people who are not asked any poll questions.
Everyone needs to catch their breath and calm down.
The bases are settled down and committed. That makes it pretty much a tie. The Independents are vascillating. That is why they are Independents. They can't commit politically. Don't ask me why. It is so.
I think that his organization is one of the best that I have ever seen.
What's not to like.
Do I feel at ease about the election? No. I figure that there is a sufficient gap between the knowns and unknowns to throw it away from the Democrats.
It is not easy pickings.
They are working against the racial thing. They are fighting from the high road while the other party has, apparently, no shame about throwing mud and lying.
It is an uphill battle.
Do I think that they are doing pretty well? Yes I do. And 'yes, they can'.
Labels: obama
Friday, September 12, 2008
WEIGHTLESS
I was pleased to discover that I had not gained any weight on my 'vacation'.
This while I had no gym time and ate stuff I would not normally take down.
I had my first cheeseburger in the year since the last time I took time off. A turkey club sandwich for the first time since, it seems like, ever.
Bacon.
And while I didn't scarf meals down, I know that I was eating more than usual.
But I was able to walk a lot.
Maybe that helped.
And no in-between meals eating either.
Last year, I came back with two or three pounds I didn't have when I left.
Not this time.
LES MISBARACK
Straight from Obama Headquarters. I wonder if the GOoPers have half the energy and joy.
Don't miss the McCain Palin lookalikes.
Labels: Barack Obama
ODYSSEY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was David Lynch's
with Richard Farnsworth, an old favorite, playing Alvin Straight. It is that kind of 'straight'. But the double meaning is very clear.
This is a warm, heart filling movie. John said that it makes up for all the shit that Lynch has made us wade through in his other weird films.
This is a true story. It is beautifully composed. Photographed. Very generous.
It is a road movie. And it has Harry Dean Stanton. The guy who makes a road movie a road movie. He is Alvin's long estranged brother.
You will love this movie.
See it.
I will see it again and that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
JOY LINGERS
I am not the only one who still gets a bit teary about Matt Mitcham and his gold medal diving.
What Mitcham’s win means to gays everywhere
It is a great moment. I mean 'is'. It is still going on for me.
There have been and are many divers and other athletes who are gay. Only Mitcham, among the men, came out before his grueling Olympics feat.
He has a great heart.
I am also struck with the fact that Matt has a loving partner who came to Beijing to be with his man.
He got the bouquets!
COLLINS TO THE RESCUE
I love Gail Collins.
I love the part about Palin shooting down wolves from airplanes. I guess that is true.
Bad.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats
Thursday, September 11, 2008
WHO APPROVES OF PALIN?
Not moderates.
Take a look at this.
PAUSE
Nothing here about 9-11.
I am over it, I guess.
I remember. I honor. I don't beatify or rant about revenge.
I will let the bloviaters and demagogues do that. Hello Rudy.
It is a 'remember when' day like the day that Kennedy was shot.
I was in Gold's Gym finishing my workout and I saw a picture on the teevee upstairs--there is a balcony. There was smoke coming out of one of the towers.
I turned on NPR on the way home.
The story developed and you know the rest. We all do.
I get touched from time to time when I see a movie that has the Towers in it.
I remember the day.
I also remember the many, many days that I spent in the neighborhood training right up the street. Mermaid Lane.
I always stayed at the adjacent Marriott which went with the Towers. It is the squarish building at the top of the wreckage. You can still see its outline.
It was the second time for me.
My favorite room was blown up when the blind cleric set up the blast under the Towers years before.
I think part of my detachment is that I have lived with this shit a lot longer than 2001.
That is the day most Americans woke up.
Anyone who travelled or was paying attention saw the evil coming a long time before. Or felt its hot breath.
I used to look at the firing lanes in Heathrow airport and looked for likely places to duck and cover if a bomb went off.
I cancelled a trip to Italy that went through Vienna because I didn't want to get kneecapped.
I have been searched by Israeli agents before getting on a flight.
None of this, thankfully, put me in harms way.
It just told me a long time ago that we don't live in a little corner of the world anymore. The barbarians are at all the gates and through them as well.
Why do we think that we would be or would have been different?
NEW POLL
I drive myself nuts with polls.
Mostly because they are contradictory. All have a unique house or party alignment bias. Some run over three days and use and algorithm that washes out 'uncertainties' when 'uncertainties are what it is all about.
I read Gallup and Rasmussen and the new Hotwire dailies. Now there is a new one which looks to be more aligned with my interests:
And it starts its daily report with a two point uptick for Obama.
I like that they include Nader and Barr. Remember them?
I like the way that they are not aligned.
We will see how they track with the others which, right now, are totally out of whack with one another. Meaning they are whacky.
I also read the poll accumulators; the polls of polls. talk about whacky. We will see. It is only 56 days.
STINK BOMBS
I took a break from the election for four days.
I come back to McCain in a bunker sending stink bombs over the wall to maintain his convention-mo.
It seems there is no end of the lies and distortions that are becoming a daily part of the McCain's repertoire.
The one today about Obama wanting kindergarten kids to learn about condom installation is the biggest stinker so far.
They say that John has screwed his campaign down tight. He has no interviews now. Just like his partner Sarah. He does not answer questions.
He is sticking to a very tight script. No winging it. Gaffe prone that he is.
Palin is, evidently, back in Alaska but now they say that she will continue to team up with old John on the campaign trail since she attracts people to rallies and he does not.
In the meantime, Obama is still on defense after the convention blitz and the McCain poll bounce.
But I hear him cranking up the offense. Harder yesterday. Today off but harder tomorrow and, soon, the Big Dog will be out pounding some podiums.
It is interesting to watch it play out.
I get nervous and I liked being ahead which we are no longer.
But Dukakis was ahead now.
There is time.
Leads evaporate and so will McCain's.
There is beginning to be a wave of pundit outrage at the lies and distortions as well as the slime of the McCain campaign.
I assume that they are also pissed at being shut off from their favorite candidate.
We will see.
Last night, in the bar at the hotel, there was a loudmouth whose monologue penetrated the entire place. I was not in the bar but in the restaurant adjacent. No wall.
Anyway, this guy was holding forth on the election and I figured him to be another loudmouthed right winger until he started in on Palin and her inadequacy to be president, the feeble vetting that went on and the tabloid aura of the Palin phenomena.
He did not like it. Not a bit.
He expounded at length about it being an insult to the American people. He was certain that someone had paid the family off to be good for 56 days so that there were no more surprises. (He evidently had not read the latest National Enquirer article on Palin's reputed affair with her husband's best friend).
You will have to look at the news stand copy for details but here is a rundown of other pithy nuggets.
Of course, none of this is fair game. The son's drug problems, the shotgun marriage or even an affair here and there. But since they are making it all about family values, then lets look at the family and its values.
Obama won't go there of course.
I don't mind, today.
Labels: McCain
RETURN TO AUTUMN
I had a great time off in San Diego, Shelter Island.
I saw lots of pelicans and more seals than I have seen there before. Seal play.
Some solid time supervising the action at the boat ramp was the biggest time investment.
Some lighter reading. Good.
Nothing else. No web. No teevee. Just a morning paper.
No email and not a lot of phone.
I know I am retired and really do not need a 'rest' but it is nice to get away, nonetheless.
And I came back to autumn!
Coming over the mountain through the high desert, the temps were in the forties.
Down here, in the seventies.
Very nice.
Of course, that is what I am used to now. We are having San Diego weather!
Labels: life
Sunday, September 07, 2008
VACATION
I am going on my annual trip to Shelter Island, off San Diego.
Three days of supervising the proceedings at the boat ramp, viewing the pelicans, watching the ships sail in and out of San Diego harbor, sitting above the marina at the Bay Club and watching life on the boats, touring the various yacht operations and boat yards, walking the length of the island a couple of times a day and nothing much else.
No television. No internet. Nothing.
Reading.
Sitting.
Three days.
I will be back sometime Thursday the 11th.
Labels: life
LIFE STORIES
Today's movie was a video presentation of Stephen Sondheim's
Original cast.
We saw this in New York. 1990.
It is great blending of classic fairy tales into a set of cautionary lessons about life.
Very good.
Highly recommended.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
