Sunday, November 30, 2008
PAUL NEWMAN
Today's film was the first of my Paul Newman Fest. I will be looking at a dozen of his films over the year. Chronologically.
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
This is Newman's second film. The first was a biblical epic The Silver Chalice. Not very good.
He had been in many television dramas and this, with Robert Wise as director, shows him in his rebel/outlaw mode which became his standby.
It is a biopic of Rocky Graziano the middle weight fighter who I remember if no one else does. He was a real character with a turbulent life before he found boxing and a marriage which settled him down.
This film is a bit of a cliché but very well done.
There are some great actors. Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart, Harold Stone, Sal Mineo, Robert Loggia (uncredited), and Pier Angeli as Norma, the wife who saves his life.
The film is very fast moving. You get the story and move on. The boxing scenes are credible.
Newman always maintained that he was a character actor who happened to look like "Little Red Riding Hood". Rocky is a character role. And by the end he doesn't look like the little girl in red. He shows the rigors of the "profession" in his face.
I liked it. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime.
EVERYTHING
It is interesting that the Clintons, particularly Bill, are doing everything they can to support Obama and his choice of Hillary as Secretary of State.
Bill Clinton to Name Donors as Part of Obama Deal
This sure looks like everything to me.
When I saw the Obama screening questions I wondered how they would ever get through it unless they just simply surrendered to the process.
It is not really about winning or losing. They are clearly working together as I believe they have pretty much since the convention or a few weeks after.
The appeal of Obama is that people want to work for him. It is that simple. His attractiveness even transcends the ego of the Clintons who, not so deep down, do want to serve and serve well. They are patriotic Americans.
All the squawking that went on at the time the questionnaire came out is now silenced. If the Clintons can do it, anyone can.
Another Obama "yes I can"moment.
I, for one, am pleased to see this happening on the big scale. It is happening for sure in the smaller scale appointments of the last three weeks and weeks to come.
Sweeping change, indeed.
Labels: Administration Obama, Bill Clinton, hillary
Saturday, November 29, 2008
CARDED
I always do the holiday cards on the Thanksgiving weekend.
This year is no exception.
Today was the day.
We are sending other years' cards this year.
Every year there are some left over and the inventory rises.
So every few years we use the old ones.
Since we use pretty much the same theme and, often, the same artist (Santa by the pool and the reindeer decorating palms kind of thing) they are really indistinguishable. Every year sort of looks like last year and so, if someone finds a certain familiarity, then it is OK.
Remember. It is the thought that counts.
If you want a different kind of card, these might appeal.
Labels: holidays
Friday, November 28, 2008
EARNING LOYALTY
If I learned anything in managing others it was that others could not be expected to be loyal per se. Self interest would always intercede.
I also learned the important corollary that loyalty should be earned by the leader.
This goes for Presidents too.
I am glad that Obama doesn't care about loyalty. Bush did. Very much. To a fault.
Labels: Administration Obama, Barack Obama, bush. bushies
FINISHED
Der Untergang / The Downfall (2002)
Today's film was second half of
with Bruno Ganz as Hitler in the bunker with his acolytes.
One of the problems of watching this film is the unrelenting determination of a madman to finish himself and his countrymen off. How could this happen?
The makers of the film almost capture it. Hitler is not alone. He has his followers who, at the end, are more insane and unrelenting than he is. He commits suicide. They continue with the war, refusing to surrender themselves or the people who are suffering inordinately as the Russians attack.
There is a positive arc in the story with two characters who survive the war and find each other as they escape the Russian encirclement. A young disillusioned Hitler youth and one of Hitler's secretaries find each other "by chance", actually by the design of the film makers, to show us the future and that the German people can and will recover from this unimaginably awful end to which the National Socialists, Nazis, have brought them.
The account is said to be as accurate as possible as to the facts of the final bunker days.
This is fascinating to watch. Some things I had known. I get to see them played out. Others were new.
I seem to be deeply engaged with this time in my life history right now. I do not enjoy watching and learning about it but there is enlightenment behind the grisly and ultra tragic details.
I was born as it started and was 8 when it ended. My Dad went out on ships to fight against the Germans and then the Japanese.
I would like to see this film again and will look at it in another year.
In this respect, I am glad for the people that have made joke videos of the footage. They led me to watch a film that I would otherwise have missed entirely.
I will rate it a 5 out of Netflix5.
WHOOOO
The owl was out this morning. Whoo--who--whoo.
S/he is around all the time, obviously, it is just rare to hear the call.
It is very strange and quite pleasurable.
It went on for a long time.
I was outside changing a lightbulb just after my return from the gym. The owl was with me.
It is probably a barn owl. Quite prevalent in Southern California.
We used to pass a nest when we went horse-back riding. Mom would be waiting by the nest. A thrill.
We have seen this one or a friend while we were sitting out in the spa or on the patio at night. It is unmistakable. A slow white flying object.
Labels: nature
IT'S HERE!
I saw my first decorated house this morning on the way to the gym. 4:30 AM, El Escoba and El Cielo. Totally over the top. Everything is covered in lights.
I had wondered if people would hold back given the economy.
I guess not.
This neighborhood is noted for its lack of restraint in holiday decor.
This is obviously a throwing down of the gauntlet to the neighbors. Beat this one, wimps!
I suppose that when I go to the super market this morning they will be playing carols.
Labels: holidays
COOL GOOLSBEE
I love this story.
"Another skinny guy with an even funnier name"
Read the story under the video.
He makes the McCain economist eat dirt. A master of the one liners.
I have seen him around. He was on the stage next to Volcker as Obama introduced the idea of the outside oversight board. He was holding his own in the charisma department, a big smile plastered on his face.
I like the kind of people Obama is bringing in at the second level as much as the ones at the first.
Here is the video.
Labels: Administration Obama
Thursday, November 27, 2008
JUST AS I THOUGHT
Obama takes reins on econ crisis
Of course, when you stand there and do nothing other than shove your SOT out front and pat him on the back, you can't expect to even see the reins let alone hold them.
This is well and good. Obama is the one who will have to drive the wagon through the storm anyway.
Maybe George is just letting it happen. That is his style.
This would be the charitable way to see it. More likely though, it is just the unwillingness of the bushies to lead and take new turns of any kind.
Most of Obama's stuff is anti-bush policy anyhow.
Labels: Administration Obama
UNDERGROUND
Today's film was the first half of
Der Untergang / The Downfall (2004)
with Bruno Ganz as Hitler in the final days of the Third Reich.
This is the film from which the hilarious 'tirade' clips have been made with the videographer's own subtitles. We have seen Hillary and a real estate flipper having conniptions at the end of their rope.
This film, though, is serious stuff and extremely well done.
Ganz is hypnotic.
We are in the bunker in the final days but also outside where all hell is breaking loose.
The thing is almost three hours long. Too much for me in one take. But it is riveting. I am quite impressed with how smoothly the story is told.
I have just quit reading the book "Hitler's Empire" which covers the entire period between 1938 to 1945 and a bit beyond.
It is a thorough historical account with new material imbedded. The latest.
This film cements together a lot of impressions from the book. One cannot read the history without wondering what he and it was like. What were the people close to him doing?
Here they are on parade. Mostly the lesser folk who get to talk about what is happening. The biggies are there too but they are not nearly as important as the ones who see or sense the reality and the inevitability of defeat.
PRESIDENTIAL II
Obama gave a Thanksgiving address today. At least one President had one.
Maybe W made one and I missed it. But if he didn't I don't miss it.
This is just one more example of Obama taking over prior to the reality.
Very good.
He is re-introducing himself. Very very good.
He has an enormous approval rating on the Rasmussen daily.
Deserves it.
It will come down for sure.
Oh. Remember how they hollered because Biden said he would be tested?
Well here it is. Mombai. And he is cool and calm and steady. He is not 'it' yet but he is getting into the role very nicely.
I said that already didn't I?
Labels: Administration Obama
HOLIDAY
I am a grateful person. I exude gratitude.
But I am not much for celebrating my gratitude with a holiday.
I am more into the day at a time gratitude.
So, Thanksgiving is a bit vexing.
No mail. And, for the first time in its history, no Gold's gym. They used to be open 24/7 except Christmas and New Years.
What next? Closing on Veteran's Day?
We celebrate the day minimally.
I have turkey breast from the one I roasted a few weeks ago.
I made cranberry sauce from scratch.
And I was going to make pumpkin pie but my oven has developed a stammer. Undependable.
The guy is coming Tuesday to diagnose the problem. 85 dollars for the checkup. Then we go to the cost of the actual repairs.
I was going to buy a pie but I arrived at one store as its power went out and another as it ran out of pies. It is Thanksgiving day after all.
John will try one more place and if that doesn't work, fuck it.
We will be even less traditional this year and I will be able to have another serving of turkey dressing (out of a box).
RAIN!!
We had rain!
Yesterday and last night, rain.
Beating down on the roof, rain.
A big low off the Pacific, rain.
The kind of a storm that has the lift, force and moisture to get over the mountains and come into our rain-shadow, rain.
And on top the mountains? Snow!
Perfect Thanksgiving weather as, right now, it is sunny and hot if you stand in the sun.
I just went out and brushed the pond of standing water into the pool. One of the drains in the patio doesn't work. And it is big patio.
Labels: weather
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
BY ANY OTHER NAME
By way of Andrew Sullivan:
Here's an idea from Tom Ackerman:Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend.
She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,”
“Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.”The impact is obvious. I tried it on a man who has been in a relationship for years,
“How’s your longtime companion, Jill?”
“She’s my wife!”
“Yeah, well, my beliefs don’t recognize marriage.”Fun. And instant, eyebrow-raising recognition. Suddenly the majority gets to feel what the minority feels. In a moment they feel what it’s like to have their relationship downgraded, and to have a much taken-for-granted right called into question because of another’s beliefs.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
AND LEADING WITH VALUES
I don't want to keep going on about him but look at this. On the same day.
Obama and family hand out food at a Chicago church
Teaching the girls the meaning of the day.
"Just call me Barack".
Indeed.
Obama then turned to his wife and suggested they go visit the kids. Secret Service agents, looking surprised, disappeared inside the building to accommodate his request.
Minutes later, hundreds of children were brought down to the school auditorium, and Obama loped onstage as they screamed and cheered.
"I just wanted to come by and wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving," he said. He then asked the children what they would be eating for Thanksgiving dinner.
Turkey? Stuffing? Green beans? Sweet potato pie?
Perhaps it was a hint at the planned menu for the Obamas, who are planning to host a holiday gathering at their Hyde Park home.
The president-elect then took questions from the children, one of whom wanted to know what it was like to be followed around all the time. It is a topic that seems to touch a nerve in Obama, who has lamented the lack of privacy that comes with his new job.
"I gotta admit, sometimes it's kinda strange ... you just want to go take a walk or go out and ride your bike or something, and you always have someone with you," Obama said. "So you don't have a lot of privacy and that's one of the things you have to sacrifice in order to run for president."
Labels: Barack Obama
ALREADY THE PRESIDENT
Look at this headline.
Obama reassures nervous nation on ailing economy
And it is working. We had four straight positive days in the market. And that is on a day where four new reports showed up negative. Unemployment, consumer spending, factory orders, and new-home sales all moving in the wrong direction.
Sure, there are some other things happening but there is a clear sign that Obama is having this effect on the psychology of the thing. Very important.
Bush has done very little. Lame and not very convincing. There is a great leadership vacuum and the Obamas are stepping in.
He has had three press conferences in three days to roll out his economics team.
Today he had the big guy. 81 year old Paul Volcker who has been at his side since the beginning. Or near it. Too old to serve in a full time capacity he will head an unprecedented review board of outsiders who will monitor the work of the Obama administration and make comments and recommendations.
"He pulls no punches," Obama said of Volcker. "He seems to be fairly opinionated." Everyone including Volcker laughed.
Obama also assured the country. "Help is on the way," [with a plan in place] "starting day one."
He also answered critics that he was signing up too many veterans of the Clinton years. A stupid criticism for which he said "The American people would be troubled if I selected a treasury secretary or a chairman of the National Economic Council at one of the most critical economic times in our history who had no experience in government whatsoever,"
"What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking," he said. "But understand where the vision for change comes from. First and foremost, it comes from me. That's my job."
His job, indeed. Leading.
He is also a great teacher.
In these three pressers in as many days, he has been clear and concise about what the situation is and what he will be doing and why.
Clear and articulate and positive.
I am very pleased. Can I vote for him again?
Labels: Administration Obama
A LITTLE BIT HAPPY AND A LITTLE BIT SAD
Today's film was
Le Voyage du ballon rouge / Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
This is a homage to the famous film short of nearly the same name.
And a lot more.
We sit and watch life happen.
Juliette Binoche is a frazzled puppeteer who is having at least four things happen at once. A born multitasker.
Meanwhile quiet life of her son, his nannie, some neighbors and others all transpire around here and we watch.
There is no plot. There is no resolution. There is just life.
The balloon is a symbol and a calming reality. It nods and views the life in the small apartment and the city just as we do. As someone in the film says "it is a little bit happy and a little bit sad".
I really liked this one a lot and would not mind seeing it again.
You have to stay with it but you will end up rating it a 4 out of Netflix5 just as I will.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
WIRED
The day after I asked the question, I found out why we haven't seen or heard Ann Coulter.
She broke her jaw and it is wired shut.
Wow.
Enjoy the silence while you can.
Labels: republican whack jobs
BJON BORG SAYS IT'S OK
The tennis star has a new on line dating site and this is one of the ads based on a real marriage that took place recently in England. Two Anglican priests.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
ONE SIDED DEBATE
Wingnut argumentation 101, courtesy of John Cole:
Wingnut- “Homosexuals are filthy sodomites who should not have access to marriage.”
Evil gay person- “Nonsense. I demand the same rights as you and will fight for them.”
Wingnut- “Why won’t you respect my right to free speech?”
And there you have the wingnut understanding of the Constitution.
Labels: christist watch, gay rights, republican whack jobs
CIVICS ONE
There is some upset around the media that more people know less about civics than they should.
Here is a test that 'everyone' took including me.
Civic Literacy Report--Civics Test
The last time I looked the average score was 78.1.
I got 87.88
I thought this was pretty good!
Everyone and me.
Not so the Intercollegiate Studies Institute who put this on.
Here are their "findings"
They have cherry picked the results to show us what dumps we are.
I hate this kind of shit.
A downer.
Just what we need. A bunch of academics misinterpreting results of a test that they put together in the first place.
I won't go too far into this but the questions are a bit sketchy "civics" wise. A bit arcane here and there.
But I accept that.
What I don't understand is how there can be an average of 78.1 % correct and this be a failure. That is a good gentleman's C or almost a B in my book.
Oh well. I got nearly an A. Maybe I am just a partial failure.
I missed the Jefferson question, the balanced budget question (and I think they are wrong--there are two answers), the Lincoln Douglas debate question and the "public good" question which is horseshit.
I hate tests.
Rats.
Labels: life
HALF HOUR OF PAIN
Today's movie was
Forget it.
I did after watching about half an hour of hetero-angst.
Why do men let women do this stuff to them?
This guy is a child; so lame it isn't funny. And that is pretty much the point. Not funny.
What he needs is to throw a few good fucks with some guys. That would get him over himself and he might actually have a good time. He might not get all gayed up but he would get straightened out.
All the Apatow pictures are like this.
What has happened to straight men?
I suspect this movie is really for teens who are all self involved and worried about the impending doom of an actual relationship with a woman.
The giggles are nervous and fear based. Maybe it is therapeutic. Get it up and out boys. Then get it on.
I don't know.
In any case this film gets a 1 out of Netflix5 because I can't give it a zero.
APPRECIATION
Dave sent along this appreciation of Barack Obama by Garrison Keillor.
It is a nice piece.
I am normally resistant to Keillor. Whimsiphobia.
But sometimes he can be engaging. He needs a good editor. Either he submitted to the process this time or his better self kept the reins on this time.
Labels: Barack Obama
SURPRISE!!!
Another market surge today. Three in a row.
The Feds have a new bailout plan and consumer confidence rose in November. "Surprisingly" said the AP.
I bet I know one reason that confidence returned. It happened on the evening of November 4th.
They don't mention that at all.
AP couldn't find its ass with two hands and a mirror.
Labels: Administration Obama
Monday, November 24, 2008
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
I am very impressed with Obama's posture as the Chief Executive.
I watched a good bit of his economics team introduction today.
He is terse. Direct. No passive sentences. "I want", "I will" and so on. No third person statements.
The market was up 2-300 points when he started. It is now in the 500 area.
I take that as a positive vote from Wall Street.
As a walker on Main Street, I applaud as well.
He took it to the auto manufacturers too. "I was disappointed".
Good work. The man is in charge before he is in charge!
It is also impressive politics.
There will be another budget conference tomorrow where he will introduce his OMB guy. He mentioned 'tomorrow' three times.
We will all be there.
Labels: Administration Obama
ONE SHREW AT A TIME
I have been aware of the disappearance of Ann Coulter, the vile and detestable female spokeswoman of the far right.
She disappeared somewhere during the primaries. Was it when she called John Edwards a faggot?
I suspect not.
Did she just tip over from an excess of hatred and venom?
I am not sure.
Perhaps she was supplanted by Sarah Palin, an equally obnoxious female wing nut who made it further into the heart of the bog than Coulter ever did.
Both women are 'beauties' in the sense of legs, ass and mouth. Both throw themselves around vivaciously. Both are apparently attractive to right wing straight men.
My husband thinks there has always been a figure like this. He nominated that awful Anita Bryant as an example. But Anita was mostly queer baiting although I am sure her agenda was similar to Coulter and Palin. Opportunism.
The issues were vehicles to climb the ladder, get publicity, sell books. Palin has an agent now. He bragged on the book deals and personal appearances she would get after the Veep run. OK. Just call it for what it is.
Labels: republican whack jobs
Sunday, November 23, 2008
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
I stand corrected on the item entitled "DUNEBOGGLE" below.
The Pilgrim nuclear power station in Plymouth MA. is still operating!
Presumably still radiating the cod and mussels in Plymouth Bay.
I am amazed to hear it.
I wonder if Boston Edison is finally paying property taxes or whether they are still on the deal they made with the Town Meeting of the time.
I am also advised by reliable sources that the movie studios are not so much a Hollywood East deal but actually a front for a christer outfit that makes spiritual films. Probably anti gay and the like.
It is always nice to get comments especially the corrective ones if the facts are in question.
Labels: film, nostalgia, politics, technology
NEW WAVE
Add this to the news about parents naming their kids Barack.
A New York elementary school has been re-named in honor of President-elect Barack Obama. Ludlum Elementary School in Long Island's Hempstead Union Free School District was re-named at a board meeting Thursday, at the request of numerous school students.
"Just to watch these kids after the board voted on what they asked them to do, they were so elated," school district superintendent Dr. Joseph Laria told ABC News. "You want to talk about "Yes we can!"? That was a lesson in democracy."
Effective immediately, Ludlum will now be known as Barack Obama Elementary School, following a decision by the board to adopt the resolution drafted by students and staff.
Labels: Barack Obama
RICHARDSON
I am happy to see Bill Richardson as the Commerce Secretary.
I once supported him for President but he blew it. Not presidential timbre. Yes, that is how you spell it. Look it up. We had a session on it.
I wasn't for him at State either. The Hillary thing blew him away. So evolutionarily correct.
So, he sits at Commerce and will be great on the economic team. The only Hispanic so far.
He is a good guy.
I do have one thing I want though. I want him to grow the beard back.
It is perfect for him.
Barba hermosa!
Labels: Richardson
GIVE ME YOUR TIRED YOUR POOR EXCEPT FOR THOSE BROWN PEOPLE
Today's movie was
starring the well known character actor Richard Jenkins.
A simply complex story about how a washed out and washed up global economics college prof gets involved with a small family of illegal immigrants and learns what is really up. He also finds himself.
There are three or four plots going on in here and the richness of the film itself is admirable. There are tears and anxiety as the immigrants trace their way through or almost through the system.
Same for the prof who traces his way through his own defenses.
I read the reviews and wanted to see this. I was richly rewarded. It is a sobering piece of work with many heartwarming and funny moments.
I would like to watch the backgrounds more the next time around. There is always something. A flag, the Statue of Liberty, a desert scene on a computer (the prof) and so on.
And the drumming. The main immiguy is a drummer. African. Very good.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
HOPE
I am enormously impressed with the Obama/Clinton agreement.
Clinton-Obama Détente: From Top Rival to Top Aide
I never thought things were that bad between them but, perhaps, they were.
They both have exhibited an extraordinary amount of dexterity in steering through the shoals of resentment and ego to arrive at, what could be, an unprecedented relationship. Well, not unprecedented, but rare. For example, Bush I and James Baker III.
A lot of the Secretary's of State have had their legs cut off before they start. Think Colin Powell.
Hillary is right for not falling into such an arrangement.
On the other hand, Presidents cannot tolerate a SS who will go behind their backs or work against them. Think Henry Kissinger and Nixon.
Obama and Clinton seem to have been able to rein in and corral the other Clinton. She will keep him in hand I think. There will be some turmoil but it is worth it if she can be a surrogate for Obama and leave him freed up for the national issues right now.
Did I say that I was impressed? With both of them?
This is one more example of the courage and strength of Barack Obama. To encourage others to work with him productively and make it in their interest to do so.
If you can work the Clintons around, you can do almost anything politically speaking.
Labels: Administration Obama
DUNEBOGGLE
Well, this brings back a lot of memories:
Historic Plymouth OKs building $488M movie studio
It isn't exactly breaking news. This happened a month ago. Must be a slow news day at AP.
My family grew up in Plymouth. Some still live in or near there. I was the Town Meeting Moderator for awhile.
Lots to reflect about in reading the article.
Of course, I know nothing about it. I haven't been to Plymouth in "that way" for a very long time. I hear about stuff from the kids but not much sinks in except this: things haven't changed one bit.
Plymouth is like a fairy tale story. The stepdaughter waiting for a prince. Or the stepson waiting for the princess. Well, I know there was/is a stepson waiting for a prince too. You get the idea.
When I was in Town Meeting the big developers came and went. The wonder projects filled with hope.
Once, Plymouth did get the big prize. A nuclear power plant, long since shut down. It was called "Pilgrim".
Some big prize.
Every developer jumps on the Pilgrim's bandwagon. Or the present day pilgrims jump onto the developers'.
I was amused by the Town Meeting members comments. "We don't need this, we have the Rock". She means Plymouth Rock itself. A hunk of granite housed in a neoclassical rotunda for tourist viewing.
And that is pretty much the problem. Plymouth was a mill town before the time we moved there. Textiles. They all went South. Now to Asia or Africa someplace.
Then there was only the tourist business. "Tourist" because no one stayed in Plymouth. They just stopped to see the Rock and the Mayflower reproduction and the really nicely setup Plimouth Plantation.
Have dinner, maybe one night stayover. No more. And off to Boston or the Cape for the real vacation stay.
Since then there have been many 'projects' that would save the town. This means that they would increase the tax base. Stimulate business. Very few happened. Plymouth became part of the Boston suburban sprawl. More people moved in to burden the schools and town services.
I see that this studio development will get a five year property tax rebate. An old story. Rob Peter to pay Paul. The Town will be left to build the infrastructure with its own funds. The studio, if any, will get off cheaper than it should.
See?
Thirty and more years later I am still in Town Meeting mode.
Before I was the Town Meeting Moderator, I was the Chairman of the guardian Finance Committee that recommended to the Town Meeting.
Most likely, I would have worked against this project. "We can't pull ourselves up by anyone's bootstraps but our own". Or something to that effect.
Oh. Did you notice that they have no financing at the present time? What chances do you think they have?
Labels: film, nostalgia, politics
Saturday, November 22, 2008
MORE DOWNFALL
There have been some great subtitle clips with this scene from Der Untergang or The Downfall. Bruno Ganz does Adolph Hitler.
One of the funniest was with Hillary but the visuals got in the way.
Here we have a new version.
LITTLE BASTARD
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 film was
Die Blechtrommel / The Tin Drum (1979)
This is a beautiful film about a really nasty little boy. So nasty that he decides not to grow any larger when he is three. Some mental trick for a three year old. Talk about precocity.
It is not meant to be believable of course. But it is somehow unacceptable because the film exists in a realistic plane in all other respects. Not only that, real midgets are brought in to confuse the idea of retarded growth. They say that they decided too but I don't believe it because our boy is a little boy (worried about corruption of a minor while filming, don't watch this). And so on. The mind wanders.
The action is around the first battle of WWII in Danzig. Very good so far. It is an ideal way of showing the conflicts that existed and, a historical sense, it is illuminating. I am reading about WWII just now and, I have to say, that I was informed by this film at that level.
This happens in the middle so we see events leading up to it. The event itself where our little bastard (actually he has two fathers and that does make sense as we don't know which is the real one so he is a bastard either way you look at it) is front and center. One 'father' is a Pole--well the other one is too but he masquerades as a German. There was a lot of that.
Are you lost?
No matter.
If you follow my advice you will not waste your time on this movie although, if you have time to spare, you might be amused and informed but you won't 'get' the message.
Oh yes. This is based on the novel written by the later disgraced Günter Grass. He was a leftist who was actually in the SS as a very young man. Again, it was the coverup, not the crime that caused the uproar.
My god. This labyrinthine discussion leads to one conclusion.
I didn't like the movie.
I will rate this a 1 out of Netflix5 because I got tired after the middle and skipped the bullshit.
Labels: best films
PANORAMIC
I look at the APOD every day. Usually it is a bunch of galaxies and stuff all colorized which I don't much appreciate somehow. Not too close to home.
But everyonce in awhile they get something that hits me right across the brow. I look and look.
Maybe you would like to take a look too.
Yes. You have to scroll horizontally.
It is not unusual to have the sun setting and the moon rising at the same time. Or visa versa!
I remember being in one of our first desert trips to Death Valley. I got up and saw the two at once. A big fat moon going "down" and the sun coming "up".
I got John up to see it.
We were alone in the desert outside the Furnace Creek Inn area.
I think that it is the setting that does it to me.
Here in the APOD we see anything but a desert. Still, it is riveting.
Labels: APOD, astropix, internet
WHERE WERE YOU?
Today is the anniversary of JFK's assassination.
There have been a lot of memorable days since then but the event still holds a strong mental and emotional charge.
It still passes the "where you when......" test.
I had been out of our office building with a couple of guys for an illegal coffee break at the Horn and Hardarts on Arch Street in Philadelphia.
My friend John and I opted for the 15th St. entrance as our entry point. Coffee groups broke up so as not to cause a scene when returning to the office.
We passed a bar. One of those that is open 24 hours a day. The television was on. People were standing at the plate glass windows, crowding into the bar.
We stopped. Someone told us JFK had been shot.
The rest is a blur.
I remember seeing Jack Ruby getting shot too. That was Sunday. Then all the rest.
The JFK thing is still a hard jab.
Later we had Bobby. I was in a car on my way to an apple pressing operation in New York State. We were going to buy the guy's operation. It came on the radio. We didn't buy the company.
It is hard to explain how these assassinations impacted us all.
I remember the day that FDR died too. But that was different. Softer.
9-11? Sure. Different though.
I wasn't much of a Kennedy fan. JFK. I was all for Bobby though. It is all mixed up.
I think that I brought a lot of those feelings to the Obama campaign and still apply them as he starts his administration. Hope. Anticipation. A second try in my lifetime.
It is very important. All this.
Labels: Barack Obama, heroes, life
HAPPINESS IS A COOL TV SET
Well, I am very happy and I don't watch teevee. In fact, I am happy that I don't watch teevee. A subset.
We unplugged the cable 11 years ago when we moved from our Boston house to an interim apartment.
We had accidentally hung a very large painting over the access port and were so cool to watching teevee that it was an easy call not to remove the painting for the cable.
Since then, we have never looked back.
When we moved out here we had detoxed and were not interested in re-engaging with the television world we had left.
Now, I do admit, I watch a half hour of television at the gym every day, Monday through Friday. But the sound is off so I am getting the "hearing impaired" version.
We actually get the sound of the music video but that doesn't count as broadcast television. It is a closed circuit show of the same old thing over and over.
I can see and not hear CNN and ESPN on my side of the gym or I can move to the other side and see MSNBC (Morning Joe) and ESPN. ESPN gets the nod at the gym.
I choose my side because that is where the recumbent bikes are. The other sides are upright and hurt my ass.
I would like to watch and not listen to Morning Joe Scarborough just to stir my adrenaline up. I like him in a sort of masochistic way when I see his little video clips on the 'net.
But the upright bikes hurt my ass.
That is what my television watching has come down to and I am very happy.
Labels: life, television
EVEN DAVID BROOKS IS IMPRESSED
I don't much like David Brooks but, every once in a while, someone I don't like stumbles into the same bin I am sitting in and it is nice to see that we don't always have to disagree.
I am sure that David is as pleased as I am to find ourselves in congruence.
Labels: Administration Obama
WHINING
There is the usual bickering on the blogs. They say that Obama has not or is not rumored to appoint any "progressives" to the national security apparatus.
This seriously pisses me off.
Like the fuss that he is appointing too many Clinton vets to his own administration, it fails to recognize one major point.
There are no experienced "progressives" around to appoint that don't come from the last Democratic administration. It has been eight years since the Clintons. Come on!
Further, by definition, it is highly unlikely that any progressive would want to be or could possibly lurk in the national security field. It is not what progressives do. They hardly approve of things like spying and sneaking around covertly.
The progressive's job is to stand as counterweight to this activity. To keep it as clean as possible and to maintain the boundaries on it.
Yesterday, out of frustration, I posted a comment on one of the lefty blogs.
I hate doing this. It is always an energy sink for me as people frequently disagree with what I have to say. A unique experience.
Nevertheless I just said the obvious. There are no progressives to appoint. "Give me one name"!, I wrote.
So far, no takers except one. The next guy to comment went on to amplify my point more broadly.
Good. Great. I hate whining.
Labels: Administration Obama
BED STEAD
The biggest excitement around here is Franklin's new bed.
His is red. Dogs can't see the color red so it isn't the best choice for him but it matches the carpet nearby.
Franklin is not at his best when dealing with change unless it is something he precipitates. But usually, if you get the excitement machine going, he kicks into the game and does his best to please us by, at least, pretending he likes whatever it is we have in store for him.
The bed box came the other day and I put it in the center of the kitchen floor. That got his attention. He likes boxes because they often have those plastic pillows inside and you can bite and play with those.
He got energized.
Then we all got together and opened the box. John and I "ooohing and ahhhing" the whole time. Sounds crazy, I know, but it works. John and I get very excited. Franklin? Perhaps.
And out comes the new bed.
"Surprise"!
"Happy birthday"! (it's his 6th birthday on December 14th). "Merry Christmas"! (what does he know and besides we don't know the real day either).
He got into it. He pawed the pillow. Got in the "play" position, pounced on the bed and bit at it. Pulled it around the kitchen. Always a good sign. A friend. A toy.
We went into the bedroom and exchanged the old smelly bed with holes in it for the new one.
OK! All right!
John quietly took the old bed back into the kitchen to stuff into the box. Franklin and I inspected the new one. He started licking it. Scent. Taste. All that. A dog thing. When he licks fabric it just freaks me out. I can't even watch. But for Franklin, this is as good a sign as the biting and dragging.
Finally, he got into it.
Now this bed is like the other two beds he has had (two years seems the bed life around here--three or four washes) but it much 'bouncier'. They have put a lot of fill into it. It doesn't even sit flat on the floor because there is so much fill in it.
For a few hours, this caused problems. Think about climbing into your bed and having it tip or bounce back at you. He took it gradually. The first night slept on the side, sort of. Then early yesterday, he found the bolster part and leaned his head on it. Slept soundly.
Later, during the movie I looked over and he was belly up. Bliss.
Later still, he was seen doing the dog-nest-making thing with all four feet. It doesn't make much difference in the bed but I guess that it gives a feeling of control.
He is pretty much set with the bed now. Last night, when I walked by, he had his ass up on the bolster part and his head down lower on the bed. This is the preferred Franklin sleeping position. Finally. Comfort. Home. Peace. Rest.
Labels: Franklin
Friday, November 21, 2008
TOUGH GUY
More about Geithner who is neither a corporate or stock market guy. He is a banker and a mechanic with immense hands on experience nationally and internationally.
And the market shot up at the news of his appointment.
Labels: Administration Obama
PARANOIA
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 film was Sydney Pollack's
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
with Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max Von Sydow, Cliff Robertson and John Houseman.
This is a tight thriller about a low level CIA guy who gets caught out in the cold after his undercover office gets totally terminated.
Yeh. Well, it could happen, huh?
You believe it in this one.
What's disturbing about it is that it is still fresh. All the double dealing and shadow shit going on. It is still going on!
Great music by Dave Gruson seals the deal. Always in heat or way cool as the scene requires.
And the scenes. Wonderful locations. The old Laguardia Shuttle Terminal. Eastern Airlines, remember them? The Lackawanna Rail Terminal in Hoboken NJ where my Pocono Mountain train went when we went to NYC! What a thrill to see it and to go to NYC. Never mind that you can't get to where Redford was going from there. A small nit. The Twin Towers. Sad.
Pollack made some great films and I will do a festival about it when I am done with the queue of best films.
It is great to see Houseman and Cliff Robertson, an underappreciated actor if there ever was one. Or wasn't.
I will see it again at the Pollack Film Fest in 2009! And will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
OBAMENOMICS
From todays NYTimes email alert:
Stocks Soar in Late Trading; Dow and S.&P. 500 Both Rise 6%So we already have an impact from the Obama administration. Same in Iraq. Same in State.Wall Street seemed to regain some of its confidence late
Friday after a report that President-elect Barack Obama would
select Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the New York
Federal Reserve, to be secretary of the Treasury. Shares
jumped, with the Dow Jones industrial average surging 494.13
points or 6.5 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's
500-stock index was up 6.3 percent. The surge came after two
days in which the markets fell almost 6 percent in each
session.The advance also came as the Federal Insurance Deposit
Corporation said it would guarantee up to $1.4 trillion in
U.S. banks' debt for more than three years as part of the
government's financial rescue plan.
Just the moves reassure.
Perfect timing.
Labels: Administration Obama
Thursday, November 20, 2008
RAHMANCING THE GOP
I really like this:
It is going to be very different.
And personal cell phone numbers too. 24 hour call return. You can't much beat that one.
Labels: Administration Obama
MYERS-BRIGGS EZ PASS
I know some of you are into the Myers=Briggs typology.
I actually don't think much of it but I must say that it has always pegged me pretty accurately.
Given its popularity, this is a bit like saying you don't think much of the Beatles. Which I don't, really. See?
When I was in business, three of us who were partners did it and, together, we came up with a nifty combination of personality types. Or was that the McClelland scale we did?
See? I am not one to carry this stuff around with me.
Nevertheless, through the magic of the internets, we have now have an instant MB analyzer for blogs: Typealyzer.
Here is mine:
ESTP - The DoersIt is a little like astrology or Tarot readings. It is general enough to feel right and, let's face it. If you write a blog every day aren't you all of these things too?The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.
Go try it yourself. As I say to Franklin "let's go see".
Labels: blogging, life, management
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
Longtime Head of House Energy Panel Is Ousted
John Dingell from Michigan is a long-term Democratic embarrassment. He is the puppet of the auto industry. To have him in charge of environmental affairs is asking the fox to guard the chickens.
He is an old time poll with way too many irons in the fire.
The new guy, Henry Waxman, on the other hand, is a fervent proponent of the new times. He has been tireless in his role as Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I have loved watching him hold the bushies feet to the fire.
Of course, the election has rendered this post moot or inactive or something. There is no opposition role to play.
You can't tell me that the new Prez didn't have a hand here. Pelosi was 'neutral'. As another old poll, Charles Rangell pointed out, having no role is having a role.
Rangel also bemoaned that the seniority system is dead.
High time.
I love Waxman. He is a Californian and, perhaps, the homeliest Representative in the house.
Change is beautiful. A good compensation for what you got handed to you at birth.
Labels: Administration Obama
I KNEW IT!
What's the Point of Daylight Time?
I always thought it was about agricultural workers. Or having evening picnics. Or something.
No. It is about energy savings.
I knew that it wasn't well thought out.
I can see the costs right here in the house.
We live in the desert, so the air conditioning thing is particularly critical here.
They won't do anything about it though.
Well, there I go.
Hopeless.
And we just elected a guy on the basis of HOPE!
I hope they get onto this.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
THE PROP 8 RUNDOWN
Prop. 8 gay marriage ban goes to Supreme Court
I don't have much to add to this.
I didn't think it would be fast.
There will be other parallel actions.
Eventually, we will all be able to get married and stay married.
Period.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
SAMURAI BARD
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Kurosawa's
Kumonosu jô / Throne of Blood (1957)
Take Macbeth and give it an ancient samurai setting with all the stylized stuff that goes with it and you have a great film from the Japanese master.
Toshiro Mifune is the big guy. Heroic and villainous at the same time. Ends up as a pincushion.
The pieces are all there. The witches, the bloody hands, the mad scenes.
But somehow, different. And in a very positive way.
To repeat, I cannot stand much Shakespeare. But here, it is palatable. For one thing it is in Japanese and the subtitles are very well done so there isn't a lot of worry about what is happening (most of the time) or who is saying what and what it is there are saying.
It is in black and white. Sometimes massive. Horses, men, vast landscapes.
I am also open to the genré. I have had a lot of good times watching samurai films and this was no exception.
I liked it. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
HMMMMM
Earlier today it seemed that I had no time for blogging so I did a speed blogging item.
I see that I have written, maybe, more than average.
No movie. That did it.
I had a lot of stuff, people coming and so on, so I scuttled the film.
OK
And the market ended up 151 and a few.
HOLY POLLINATION!
The carob trees are at it again.
We have a male and a female. It used to be two males and a female. One male died, the other carries on.
The male tree gets all pollinated and the air transmits the pollen to the female who then makes a seed pod which grows and grows and eventually, in the summer, dumps into the yard with about a million other seed pods or beans that other pollens pollenated. This is one mother of a mother.
The thing is that, at any stage, the process is annoying.
At this stage we smell the pollen. 
A deep musky odor that is unmistakable.
When we walk around the neighborhood we can smell other male carob trees rutting.
A hundred feet away.
The odor is overwhelming. Almost too much to go out in the yard.
I sat out there with a friend this morning and got a stuffed nose and minor headache.
When I was a kid we had barberry bushes and that was the same smell and effect.
The bees are going nuts out there. I don't see the humming birds going for it but I would be surprised if they are not.
After this stinking, pollination phase, I must say, it is rather quiet. Peaceful.
Until the pod/bean teen years, about April, when the baby pods have grown up, turned brown and begin to fall. The beans stop falling just about last week. When the new pollination begins.
There are millions.
"Why have a carob tree"?, you might say.
And I would tell you that these came with the property.
But there is a value. They are quite beautiful. They have dense shade and are very stable in an uncertain desert wind zone. There are not a lot of trees that will prosper here.
But our old mom tree is showing signs of age. She is too big for her roots and it takes more water than we are able to give her to keep all the limbs alive. We prune but not enough.
It won't be long until enough outer limbs die off that it will start a trend and we will have to take her down.
This might take a few years or, perhaps, she will hang on longer. Time will tell. We would not cut her down now. The shade is just too valuable. And there would be a huge empty space out front.
We have wondered why anyone in sound horticultural mind would plant a male next to a female and we are told that there is no way to tell gender when they are young. Some people believe that they morph to the other sex as they approach maturity.
Does that mean that if you planted one alone it would become a hermaphrodite? I don't know.
I haven't mentioned that the carob bean is a very desirable food source. You will know it from your carob treats. In Mexico the tree is used in pastures for horse feed. The beans grow and fall and there are the horses. Voila!
In our house, Franklin is the bean eater. He munches them. Less than he used to. They are very digestible. The literature says that they are nutritionally similar to a small bite of a Mars bar.
I haven't tried it.
Labels: horticulture, life, nature
HOLY JOE
I have a lot of resentment at Joe Lieberman and, I have to admit, the guy's whiny voice and holier than thou attitude just irritates the shit out of me. But I wasn't interested in revenge for his support of McCain. And neither are most of his fellow Demo Senators.
Democrats Allow Lieberman to Keep Committee Post
Obama didn't want punishment. It isn't his way. And besides, the Lieb will probably get his comeuppance from his constituents. His approvals are very low.
And that is the point. He is not my senator. I have my own troubles with mine.
Let bygones be bygones.
Besides, we might need his vote as we push to close off filibusters by the GOP. It would be pretty stupid to drive him to the other side.
Think Supreme Court. Think health care plans. That kind of thing.
Labels: Administration Obama, politics
SPEED BLOGGING
I am in a hurry today. Busy. So here are some highlights.
Labels: blogging, economy, gym, life, nature
Monday, November 17, 2008
BILL AYERS SPEAKS
Now that the election is over, Bill Ayers can speak for himself.
I have read some of the interviews and they are quite good.
Look at this.
Do you feel diminished by Obama repeatedly referring to you throughout the campaign as just some "guy from the neighborhood"?Not in the least; I am a guy from the neighborhood. And I'm proud of it ... And the neighborhood being Hyde Park, which is a very close-knit, very friendly, very politically diverse, very racially diverse. You have all kinds of poles there. You have [conservative] Judge Richard Posner on one pole and Louis Farrakhan on the other. And everything in between. It's an interesting neighborhood, a college town [the University of Chicago]. It's close-knit. It's kind of like Wasilla, Alaska,
Labels: election
THE BOYS IN THE HALL
I know I have written about this before. Blogging is the essence of repetition.
I am a severe Hall and Oates fan.
I have a lot of the discs. I don't play them very often. It is more that I have them, if you get my meaning.
I stay in touch with the oeuvre by watching Darryl Hall on his website:
which is a wonderful compendium of small concerts by Hall and his road group, now 13 in total. A year's worth of great music.
Of course, I am only getting half an ouevre here as Oates is not present except for the first one but the group does HO standards as well as new works by Hall and there are guest stars who are in the same mood as the HO history.
Yesterday, the 13th session had a great guest star. Wow! Oates. And they missed no opportunity to show the guys interacting. Fan stuff. Stories.
And they played almost all non HO material. They did a really great version of the OJ's hit "Back Stabbers" with a few OJ anecdotes.
The highlight, though, is the duo's cover of the Memphis doo-wop obscurity, "I Want Someone," by The Mad Lads.
"It's the song that first brought John and I together as teenagers to form a group," says Daryl. "We shared a love for the tune, which, in my mind, is true American folk music."
"It was a favorite of Daryl and mine," adds John. "We saw The Mad Lads perform the song at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia. I remember it because they wore yellow suits with white gloves. When Daryl and I met, and began to learn a little bit about each other, we discovered we both loved it. We've never played it live before. This will be a first."
It is all quite wonderful. I had seen the first 6 sessions but skipped ahead for this one.
You don't have to be a Hall and Oates or Daryl Hall fan to enjoy these tapes. They are musically very satisfying and the expertise is supreme.
They have charts but they riff off them. You can see the interplay.
And the video is very dense. I watch it on full screen which is not very satisfying with most videos off the net.
Sound up.
Try it you will like it.
No. They are not gay but they could be they are that close to one another. Like married folks.
Watch the interplay when they are working.
They still work together. There is a new live album from the LA Troubadour, 35 years after their first and only appearance there.
How many duos are still together after all these years, still writing and performing new stuff. They each have their own separate careers too. Maybe that is the secret.
Labels: rock
HARD COPY
We are in conflict over the LATimes.
I don't mean with each other. I mean inside ourselves.
The Times has reduced itself to a shadow of its former eminence.
When we moved here, 11 years ago, it was a grand improvement on our old local paper The Boston Globe. It was generally thought to be in the running as one of the nation's top three papers along with the New York and Washinton.
I haven't seen the Boston paper lately but the Times is sure not a great paper any more.
It was bought by the Tribune Company and then bought again by the weasel Sam Zell.
It has lost its weekly magazine, the book section, the opinion section, the auto section (which had the Pulitzer winning Dan Neill in charge) and many columns. I forget how many columns of news they have dropped. Equivalent to several pages I think. Maybe more.
At the same time, they have added two PR-centric sections. One deals with "image" and the other panders to the film industry. Vapid. Empty. Obvious sops to advertisers.
It has not, in this period, done anything to develop its on line version. The whole enterprise is on the wane. Dying.
Of course, that is the story of newspapers country wide.
I now get most of my news online. Magazines are no longer an information source for me.
Now, the newspaper is becoming a second source at the same time it is becoming second rate.
So we are thinking of ditching it. But, as I say, we are conflicted.
The first issue was the comics. You can almost duplicate the comic section by going to the Washington Post on line. But not quite. There are three that have to be found on different sites.
Then, there are some of the columns. I read at least three guys regularly. What about that? They are on line but I know that I will not read, I will skim. That is my on line reading style.
And finally, there is the hold-in-the-hand feature.
I have been reading a newspaper since before I went to grade school. I have had a paper in the morning all my life. Sometimes two.
This is major.
And then, this morning, the Times was as good as it used to be. Lots of local news, snappy and interesting. A health section that was quite informative (I know I would not search through the health section on line) and so on and on.
It was almost as though they had heard us talking and decided to give us a touch of quality today.
But there is the waste problem. Look at all the trees I am using to read the news every day.
And lets get down to the basic basics here. It now costs over 600 dollars a year to get the paper delivered to our house every day.
As I type, the market is down 134.00 (the Dow).
These are hard times. We have to tighten our belt.
Shit.
We can't even cut one thing that has a single high price tag. How will we cut down on groceries and other 'basics'.
I don't know.
Maybe the paper has some hints at how to tighten up the budget. Let me go see.
BAKE AND SHAKE
We are having more than our share of natural disasters out here.
The fires burning all around LA are dropping ash and fire retardant all over the greater LA basin. People can't go out without breathing it.
This says nothing about the loss of homes and woods and wildlife.
More talk about not building so close to the burn areas.
And this morning at 4:35, a mild earthquake nearby in Anza. A 4. Enough to feel but not to damage.
We are mindful that we live on a fragile crust with uncertain winds. A dose of humility and powerlessness for our spiritual grounding.
Labels: earthquake, weather
Sunday, November 16, 2008
NON-CLINTON
There is a meme running the main stream media that Obama is staffing with Clinton people and that some Obama people are not happy about it.
There is no doubt that some of the advisory and transition team are experienced hands from the Clinton administration. Where else would one find experienced Democratic hands?
But the appointments of permanent staff, so far, are anything but Clintonian.
If anything thing, they are Daschlean. But mostly they are super competent folks who know the system, know the levers of power and know how to get a job done.
Obama is the man they will serve. They are the process and he is the content. They will do what he asks them in a very competent way.
What I want, anyway. Right down the alley I figured that he would play it.
Labels: Administration Obama
ONE MORE TIME
Too good to leave down there in the blogging rocket trail.
Corey Vidal is a prolific producer of internet videos. Read more at the link.
Labels: fun
Saturday, November 15, 2008
MOMENTOUS TIMES
Not that we have anything against "the South" but..................well, I agree with Kevin Drum.
I suppose that they will "rise again" sometime.
I am so tired of the South.
Not because I live with a Southerner. He is an escapee. A rebel against the rebels. Not a problem.
I am tired of their endless haranguing and demagoguery. A specialty that they seem to have developed to a fine art. The living Foghorn Leghorns. Bloviating no-nothings.
That they are homophobic, racist assholes is more besides the point. There are people from "the North" that can do that number.
No, it is the style that annoys.
Of course this also means that Texas has lost its hold on us.
We send the bush back where he came from in just two months and a few days.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
RALLY AFTER RALLY
Andrew Sullivan has a recap of a whole bunch of Prop 8 rallies across the country today. You will have to go to the the postings for 111508 to see them all.
It is wonderful to see the energy behind this.
And the thought given it.
We had a demo in PS today. We didn't go. We had other commitments. And, we are done with it.
We got married.
We will stay married.
It is time to turn the march over to the young 'uns.
I am ambivalent about the value of marching.
But it does stir the blood and perhaps will get some of these people working.
Marching is a little like yard signs in an election.
People do it and then figure that is enough.
It is not enough.
There was very little of this energy before the actual election. Prop 8 won because the proponents knocked on doors all over California. They made three house calls where they were organized. They were as well structured as the Obamas.
And, as I said before, there was not one gay person in the ad campaign.
Rights can't be won inside the closet.
Yeh. I am being critical. It is OK. I am qualified.
We got married. A lot of couples who could have, who are as committed as we have been to each other, did not.
I don't know why.
You have to put your feet where your mouth is. Stand up.
So, marching?
No. Been there done that.
Support the legal effort and when that doesn't work, have a reverse initiative and work your asses off.
The young have just discovered that their little sheltered world is not so sheltered as they thought.
They are NOT EQUAL!
Whoops! Thought the battle was over.
Not until the fat faggot sings.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
REVENGE MAY NOT BE SO SWEET AFTER ALL
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Claude Chabrol's
This Man Must Die / Que la bête meure (1969)
Another morally twisty tale from a master.
It has you guessing.
I liked it up to a point. The acting was slightly wooden in some sections. The trouble with French cinema is that one never can be sure if this is intentional or not.
But, as this is a rather straightforward story, that is probably not the case this time. It was wooden.
A boy is killed by a hit and run driver.
The father tries to find the killer.
Through a coincidence, that you need to rush through not to see as contrived, he finds the guy.
What he does once he gets the man in his sights is the point of the film. How do you exact revenge without becoming morally wrong yourself. And will Providence let you.
More coincidences. More twists and turns.
I liked it well enough. Once is enough. A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Friday, November 14, 2008
BAILOUT?
No one has asked me yet but when they do, I will have an opinion.
It is dissimilar to Kevin Drum's.
I think it is probably moot because the Republicans (they have regained their upper case "R" since they lost the election) will not support it.
So weird. The Republicans used to be the pro-business guys.
I think the answer is CH. 11 with the government doing the DIP (Debtor in Posession) financing.
Chapter 7 requires total liquidation. Not good.
It is a tough question.
If we bailed them out, I am first in line to tell you that they are totally fucked up.
I used to train in GM and it was the worst. Sinecures. Entitlement. Resistance to change of any kind.
They are the people who brought you global warming. The ones who paid to rip up the trolley tracks in LA and so on.
Right bastards, GM.
And the unions. My loved one tells me that the reason they have to build big cars is that the cost of labor is so high it is the only way that they can get the incremental value up to ask a high price. High enough to pay the unions.
The list is endless.
Now I have to admit that I have never, ever been a GM man.
I have had one Ford (a 1952 sedan) and, today, we have all Chrysler products.
But mostly I have bought German (Volkswagen and Audi) and Swedish (SAAB).
When we moved here there was no SAAB dealer (I write it the old way) and so we got a Jeep. And then a 1984 LeBaron which we still have. Both. And finally a Sebring because we like Chrysler service here and we always rented the car. It looks and feels as close to the SAAB convertible as we could get.
I am wandering.
Well, not really.
I don't want to bail out Ford or Chrysler either.
They are bloated and over the hill.
I think a Chapter 11 would be cleansing. Purifying.
It would give the government a chance to help out and make some demands. Obama's economic plan for building new 100 mpg cars. And so on.
So let 'em go.
No one is going to be buying a car in the next few years anyway.
And take all the unbought Hummers and put them in a gigantic pile at GM headquarters as a monument to stupidity and greed. A symbol of the total mismanagement of the auto industry if there ever was one.
Labels: Administration Obama, auto accidents, automobiles, business
VIENNA NOIR
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Carol Reed's film of Graham Greene's
with Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli and Orson Welles.
This is a great film done in post-war Vienna. The city is a major player. The photography is sublime.
The story, at the 5th or 6th viewing still reveals new twists and turns.
"I wonder when they put that bit in".
A staple for the serious film watcher.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
SETTING THE TONE
From Obama headquarters in Chicago:
On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain will meet in Chicago at transition headquarters. It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality. They will be joined in the meeting by Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Rahm Emanuel.
There is so much "press" swirling around who and what and where and how that it is nice to have well formed nuggets of news occurring. Nuggets that are true and actually from our President.
I think that it is all swill.
He will do what he has to do when he has to do it the way it has to be done and where it needs to happen. That is the way he ran his campaign and that is the way he will govern.
All the speculation is just that. It is not even interesting to read.
And while we are at it, as much as I dislike Joe Lieberman, I understand the point that he should not be excluded. This is an administration of INclusion and if they start punishing those who are rogues they lose their first and most important credibility.
I would like to see Joe burn a bit but not at the hands of his party or his President.
I think that the voters in Connecticut will do that handily unless he gets his ass back on the bus.
Labels: Administration Obama
BILLY CLUB
We love the film Billy Elliot unabashedly.
We get it out every now and again to have a good solid emotional bender.
I understand that we are part of a large international fan club who, if not a cult, are mutual lovers of the idea of dance and how it lives in each one of us.
Now, it is a great pleasure to read the NYT review of the musical
In Hard Times, Born to Pirouette
The LATimes guy didn't like it as much. So much for him.
It is touching to read the loving review in the NYT. It has exactly my reaction to the film and the material itself.
I am so pleased for everyone involved especially Mr. Daldry who directed both the film and the musical.
The New York production is, actually, one of many road versions now following the London premiere.
There are a hell of a lot of young "Billies" (three per production) getting their own break out of this wonderful undertaking.
Labels: best films, films, music
CHANGED FOREVER
The ultimate sacrifice. Privacy. Life on the streets.
For Obama and Family, a Personal Transition
Labels: Barack Obama
Thursday, November 13, 2008
STAR WARS ACAPELLA
This is really great.
Even if you don't like Star Wars much.
A tour de force.
Labels: films
WHIPLASH
I don't know why I watch the market gyrate all day long.
I have a widget on the Mac that allows me to tap in at any time.
Today it was down almost 400 at one point and ended UP at 553.
My Smith Barney person says it is crazy.
She is right.
This is the "do nothing" environment'. As in "if in doubt do nothing".
Labels: market
HAIR OF THE DOG
For campaign addicts who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, this is just the thing.
Analysis points to 5 key debate moments
I remember each of these fondly and I hope you do the same.
I still savor the look on McCain's face when Obama said that Joe the Plumber would get a zero fine. "Zero"?, McCain stammered. Eyes in the headlights.
I still think of that as a turning point.
He was gobsmacked.
1.4 million hits on YouTube.
Labels: Barack Obama, election, McCain
WINTER III
Spa cover went on today.
I got the gas bill yesterday.
Clincher.
Time to cover up.
I also, finally, got the window 'regulator' in the Jeep replaced. Too cold to drive with the window stuck in the down position.
Other signs? I don't know. The roses are having a wonderful resurgence just as the sun begins to go over the tree line.
The bougainvillea is wildly in bloom (four weeks after the wedding when they were due). They got an insect eating the leaves. We sprayed. Now we are in a comeback mode. I gave them another dose of insecticide this morning. Encouragement.
I fed the citrus trees some iron today. Tired blood. And yellowing leaves.
Labels: horticulture, life, seasons
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
THIS TOO SHALL PASS
History of the gay marriage movement in California
and a rationale of how we shall overcome.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
MORE PHOTOS
There are more where that cover photo came from. and keep asking for more images. These are great photos and the commentary is equal to the images. They are by Callie Shell for Time Labels: Administration Obama
OPEN UP
You will like this.
Opening shots from porn movies
You can pretty much figure out the plot, if any, from the get go.
Notice the plumber with bare feet.
Labels: life
LOW DENSITY WAFFLES
I have often wondered about this.
I have never seen a Waffle House where I lived. Always where I travelled.
Now I know why.
I have never lived in a Waffle House state.
John and I have been in one or two though. They are minimum basic.
Not hard to figure given the locations.
Labels: life
TAKEOVER
Just as I hoped, young gay people are energized and taking up the baton (or the torch--whatever metaphor you want).
Young gay marriage activist leads national protests
And this is happening all over.
Right in my own little community.
Great.
And more.
Stonewall 2.0? Gay Activism 4.0?
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
CONGRATULATIONS
Same-sex couples start marrying in Conn.
And we will get ours back.
Labels: gay marriage
PALIN
I know. The election is over. But Sarah Palin keeps on running. Like the Energizer Bunny.
In her media blitz after election, she comes off more vacant than I thought she was before.
Never mind that she did no 'real' interviews before the election.
It is scary that people would get behind and even adore such an out of touch bullshitter.
She is a talking head from teevee news. And sports at that.
She is unengaged and disinterested in the world. Totally self obsessed.
Labels: McCain
WAR IS HELL AND MORE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 film was the second half of Terrence Maleck's
The review at the link is more in line with my reaction than the Ebert review yesterday.
Maleck takes great risks here and we are amply rewarded.
It is a film of many moments. The battle scenes seem very accurate. I am not a first hand expert. But that is not the point.
What he has made here is a two tier, double for the money masterwork. When it works it is masterful. When it doesn't it is masterly.
Think about it.
The war movie is very clear. For the first time, I see how the battle really works. I am in it. I understand the tactics. I can see what they want to do and then can watch it happen.
The second movie over the first is a contemplation of life and death and man's propensity for the second.
Music. Photography. Voice over. Sometimes hallucinatory qualities have us both in it and above it.
It is a great risk taken and for the most part, he succeeds beautifully.
There are a lot of young actors in this film who, in some cases, do not have a lot of time on the screen. I understand that many wanted to work with Maleck and were quite happy to be blown away to do it.
Look at the cast.
Maleck has only made four full length films. He is working on a fifth. I have not seen the last one yet. It didn't go very far. The John Smith movie with Colin Farrell.
Some day we will line them up and have a full Maleck fest.
Until then, I will be thinking and feeling about this one.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
