Thursday, April 30, 2009
PHOTO OP
I have seen lots of photos of Obama. The new White House photographer is extremely talented.
This Hundred Days collection has a bunch I have never seen before and is filled with the personal side.
And if that isn't enough for you, here is the official site with about a thousand photos from which these thirty were selected.
Delivering on Change--An Inside Look
They are great!
A thousand of them. It takes about 10-15 minutes to see the slide show and well worth it.
Labels: Administration Obama
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
CENTURY
Of course, we all know that the 100 days thing is a phony construct.
But, still, if it is a construct, then it is to be played with.
The obviously obsessive-compulsive CBS newsman Mark Knoller filed this:
Obama's First Hundred Days: By The Numbers
Wow!
Labels: Administration Obama
HIS NAME IS "BOOKER"
Another step towards an Airedale rescue dog.
The coordinator is planning to get him to a groomer (before she will send a picture) and the vet. He gets a full workup physical as well as all shots and a microchip. If he hasn't been neutered (he has to be doesn't he?) he will be.
We realized that we didn't know the name of this five year old prospect! We asked. And found that his name is "Booker" which we love.
So far so good. We have a feeling that we are on the right track. We like our coordinator a lot. She has been very open with us.
It is not too hard to get ahead of ourselves in this project and so, as usual, we are trying to take it a day at a time and doing the next indicated thing.
Labels: Airedale
GOOD, EVIL AND ALL THAT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Clint Eastwood's
Unforgiven (1992)Eastwood (two Oscars), Gene Hackman (Oscar), Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris.
This is one of those "end of the west" kind of films. A very good one. In the Eastwood style. Tough, and well, unforgiving.
The story is very tight knit and has a few sides to look at. A gem.
The acting is superb.
The wide open scenery of the exteriors is stunning.
All of a piece.
There is a great star turn with Richard Harris as a sort of break from the relentless pursuit of the evil doers.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 as I would include this in my Eastwood film fest as well as my Gene Hackman retrospective to come up when I am out of this queue.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
ONE MORE THING I LIKE ABOUT OBAMA
From an interview with the NYTimes.
At the end of our conversation, when I asked him if he was reading anything good, he said he had become sick enough of briefing books to begin reading a novel in the evenings — “Netherland,” by Joseph O’Neill.I read this last year and was bowled over by the book.
It turns out that O'Neill, a lawyer as well as an author, had his own "Notes to Obama"
Labels: Administration Obama
CAPITALISM
I have seen videos of the "free hug" guys.
This is a build on the idea.
Funny.
Now if they could do one on mimes.........
There is a great punch line. Stay for it.
Labels: fun
DON'T GIVE A RAP
I am so tired of rap "music". All that phony posing and macho strutting.
This struck me as acutely funny.
Labels: history
FLU
Mostly in New York!
I thought we would be closest to it. Mexico is just over there.
But no.
And only fatal in Mexico.
Mild elsewhere.
I am still not worried about it.
But, I am taking more than the usual precautions. The three that they tell you about.
Wash your hands. A lot!
Don't get into close quarter situations.
If symptoms show up get examined immediately.
Well, the third hasn't come up yet. And I don't go to close quarters anyway. No subways here.
But maybe hugging and kissing friends is to be considered off limits. Not yet.
I am not worried. What is the point?
I will do what has to be done but I'll be fucked if I will wear one of those ridiculous masks which are of questionable utility anyway.
Labels: health
TRIGGERS
There are many triggers to the sadness about Franklin's death.
A friend who hasn't heard, a forgotten trick or dog joke, a new situation where he is suddenly not a part.
In today's movie, there was more than a mild stimulus. There is a dog who grows up with the people in the film. He is a great dog. A movie dog. Cuter than cute. Never in the way when anything serious is happening. Well, once.
Towards the end, he is old and starts to limp.
They go to a vet and get a test.
The dog has cancer in the foot. the left rear foot.
They decide to let him go.
Day-Lewis is a doctor and so he takes out his equipment and Binoche holds the dog in her arms and says goodbye.
You couldn't get a closer story to our Franklin's situation. A little spooky actually.
We got through it pretty well. No one had to turn away or turn it off.
We cried together a bit.
Another unavoidable goodbye. A cleansing.
Labels: Franklin
FULL CIRCLE
What a nice surprise.
I have had my ups and downs with Specter who started as a Democrat DA in Philadelphia. I lived there at the time he was getting wound up.
Then he switched to the GOP. He has always been a moderate and, in my opinion, the first switch was for the same basic reason as the second.
He is a political being. A pragmatist. The GOoPers, bent on revenge and their allegiance to the right wing core, set up a primary candidate against him and are determined to support that candidate.
That would be enough for anyone but few would have the political courage to do anything as dramatic about it. He says he is not about to have his political legacy held hostage to a bunch of yahoos. Or words to that effect.
He is really an Independent.
They pushed him out. Kind of stupid really to drive out all the moderates, isn't it? But who gives the GOP creds for doing the smart thing these days.
I bet that he will not hew to the party line as often as people would like but then that is not the cast of the Democratic Party.
They say that he completely blindsided the republican leadership. Ol' hamster face Mitch McConnell.
Nothing wrong with that.
I look to the possibility of others to follow. Olympia Snowe of Maine comes to mind.
Labels: Democrats, republican whack jobs, Republicans
LOVE AND LIFE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the second half of
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin.
I saw this twice when it came out. It is full of life and complex, sometimes, love.
The first half includes the skillful melding of news footage of the Russian takeover of Budapest with the key players.
There is a great dog.
The second half takes us further into the lives of these three people and, most poignantly for us, the dog.
It is very good. Very well done.
There is no doubt that this is a 5 out of Netflix5. I would like to see it again sometime in the future.
Labels: best films
Monday, April 27, 2009
IN WAITING
No news from the Airedale Rescue team today. It is going to move slowly. Not good for impatient people like us.
It took us two weeks to apply and then want instant results.
I think that the deliberation is a good thing. I am glad that they do it.
We have read a lot of stories of people who have adopted Airedales through this process and it is all good. There are bumps for sure. Some dogs are badly marred by early experiences but they place accordingly. It is a quite transparent process.
We think that the five year old, now in Las Vegas, is a candidate for us and we think our coordinator thinks so too. I like the symmetry. His owner died. Franklin died.
We will see.
The thing we are learning is that signing up for another Airedale is not a block to our mourning Franklin.
It is also getting clear that this dog will be his own animal and that he will have a separate place in our lives.
He will not be required to replace Franklin. We will have our own three way life together.
I worry that they will worry about our age.
We already decided that if this does not work out, and we don't know why it should not, we will head for the shelter. Or another Airedale puppy.
There is a dog in our future. And we hope for an Airedale.
Labels: Airedale
IOWA
Gay marriages in Iowa today. Lines. Assembly line weddings.
It is so exciting. Quite wonderful.
We are supposed to hear about our own state in May. Time will tell. I won't. No expectations.
Labels: gay marriage
LIFE AND LOVE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was the first half of
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin.
I saw this twice when it came out. It is full of life and complex, sometimes, love.
The first half includes the skillful melding of news footage of the Russian takeover of Budapest with the key players.
There is a great dog.
We will see the remainder tomorrow but it is surely a 4 since this is the third time through.
Labels: best films
Sunday, April 26, 2009
TOO MUCH
I am passing on a Best Film that I had ordered.
Vittorio De Sica's
I saw it before and it was tough to watch. Just now, the story of a man at the edge and his only friend, his dog, is a bit much for me to handle.
Too close to the bone.
For now, I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 just to indicate that I would be willing to see it again. Later.
Labels: best films
UNUSUAL
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
with Kevin Spacey (Oscar) and Gabriel Byrne. Stephen Baldwin is riveting as is the young Benicio Del Toro. Kevin Pollak gives some NY smartass spin.
This film gets an extremely high 8.7 IMdB rating. Fans.
It is mostly a mindbender. Great photography. Wonderful lighting. Excellent acting.
The story is as tight as a drum.
I saw it when it came out and, while I remembered the gist of who done it, I didn't remember how and what. Which is all the fun. The journey.
Highly recommended.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
SATURDAY NIGHT DATE
We went to the theater last night. Dinner first and then the play.
Our friend Tom has been a regular on the local theater circuit and we have never gone to see him perform.
We needed to make that up and last night, we did.
He is in a production of Noises Off, the British farce by Michael Frayn.
We had a good time. Tom was very good in the role of Frederick Fellows/Philip Brent.
The entire cast was mostly up for the extremely complicated action that takes place with eight doors and a window.
We started with dinner at an old favorite, Al Dente, and then strolled the length of Palm Canyon Drive, the main drag through the village.
We haven't had this walk in a very long time. There are some changes. More night clubby than it was. There was a good turnout. Business seems to be OK. There are many more closed stores and restaurants than there were a few years ago. Much like it was when we got here in 1996 and the Savings and Loan debacle had just subsided.
It was a nice evening.
I haven't stayed up until 11 PM for a very long time. I will probably have some jet lag today from the change of hours but it is an easy day.
I took an extra nap yesterday, a sort of running start, then slept and hour late this morning and will snooze some extra nap time today. It is all a bit complicated but it will work out.
Labels: life
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
LEAVE IT OR LOVE IT
Daily Kos has a thing to say about the Texas Secessionists:
Questions to that half of Texas' RepublicansYou know that if the bastards go, they will leave a huge red state gap. Nothing wrong with that.So we now know that half of Texas' Republicans want to secede from the United States. So I have some questions for that crowd:
Are you flying an American flag? Because you don't get to do that when you cry and take your ball home.
Do you have a bumper sticker that says, "These colors don't run"? Because it sure looks like you're running.
Do you still pretend that your party is the "Party of Lincoln"? If so, what part of Lincoln exactly, would that be?
Since you've spent the last eight years saying "America, love it or leave it", is that an admission that you don't love America? Because we liberals? We loved it and stayed, even when your idiot of a president was trashing the place.
Was your patriotism (My country, right or wrong) so skin-deep, that it depended 100 percent on the guy in the White House?
That $200 billion Texas got in defense contracts between 2000 and 2007? No more of that. No more Ft. Hood. No more NASA. No more federal largesse. You okay with that?
You do realize that the Cowboys will no longer be "America's Team", right? Though they'd dominate the two-team Texas Football League (TFL).
In fact, let Mexico have them back. No border problems there.
There is a certain point where no one wants to take their Texas big hat shit anymore.
(Yes, I know that Hawaii is not on this map. Aloha).
Labels: republican whack jobs
PIGGY PIGGY
I'm not concerned or anything but we are right in the middle of the swine flu thing.
SWINE FLU: California, Texas Residents Diagnosed With Illness, Doctors Expect More Cases
I tend not to worry about this kind of thing.
My mortality is more vulnerable around snowbird drivers and windstorm treefall than swine flu.
On the other hand, if they say to put on a mask or take a shot I will.
I really wrote this to put up a pig picture. I love pigs.
Labels: health
HIP
Having knocked Politico for its snark, I have to also put up this excellent piece on style.
For Obama, hipness is what it is
“Being hip is being able to navigate your environment and others’ environments,” like the way Obama traverses racial boundaries, said John Leland, author of the definitive book “Hip: The History.”“Obama has this awareness that other presidents haven’t had. He’s white, and he’s black. He’s an elitist, and he’s regular folk. He’s not pinned down to a perspective.”
Young is to hip as old is to fogey — an essential characteristic. Obama has modern instincts and attitudes that appeal to younger people, and more than any other president in recent memory, that makes him a role model. He is green, open, athletic, tech-savvy, healthy. And his hip image certainly isn’t hurt by his wife, who is so obviously cool — setting trends (Sleeveless! Tending her own garden!), confidently mingling with superstars, gracing magazine covers coast to coast.
Labels: Administration Obama
100 DAYS
I am not much for the Hundred Days thing. A media creation.
I am not much on Politico because of its snarky tone.
But, I do like this piece which gives a nice overview of the hundred days, a week early, and talks about how the game has changed as well as the realization that this guy, Obama, is for real. And is up to the job.
100 days: How Obama changed D.C.
Obama dominates. He is courageous. He is not a centrist. We can see "who he is".
An eternity ago, during the primary when he first appeared, I said that he was "callow". Boy, was I wrong. But I was not alone.
The video is a nice piece of press cynicism that still comes out in an admiring way. And realistic.
Labels: Administration Obama
SIGNED UP
We are in the process with adopting an older Airedale.
The focus changed from Phoenix to a coordinator in Las Vegas (actually closer) who we will work with.
We have sent in a rather exhaustive questionnaire and email "talked" with the coordinator. Also a phone call. We like her a lot.
She just got a five year old "Aire boy" whose owner died recently. He is from Reno. She seems to be asking if that is what we are looking for.
I gave an unequivocal "yes". Short of his medical workup which he is to get soon and a picture, he sounds just right.
There could also be other dogs at other coordinators (also foster parents) in the Southwest.
We have talked to some family and friends about it and we have nothing but encouragement.
I even talked to Franklin's vet this morning to give him a heads up that they would call him as a reference.
It is two weeks today that he has been gone. Time moves quickly but the grieving does not. Nor should it.
The advent of a new dog adds color and excitement to the current scene but it in no way erases or fills the hole left by our beautiful boy.
FABLE-U-LOUS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Ugetsu monogatari / Ugetsu (1953)A Japanese film. A classic. OK. Like a fable.
Two brothers get all grandiose and seek riches as war profiteers. Their wives warn them. They all get separated.
All hell ensues although they do get their wishes for awhile. One gets it on with a beautiful lady (photo) but she turns out to be an evil spirit. The other gets to be a two bit Samurai but finds his wife in the whorehouse his troop stays in during the night. Better off than the first wife who dies.
It is one of those films that is "interesting" rather than involving.
I cannot relish the cinematography here because I don't think it was a great print even though a Criterion restoration.
The story is one of those fantasy/reality/ghost things. I am not particularly fond of the genré and since this is the masterpiece of the lot, it just managed to pass muster with me.
Also has the twanging music. I can't get down with it.
So, it had me most of the time and I liked it moderately. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
SIGNING UP
I think we have decided that we need a dog in our life.
And, we want another Airedale. We love the personality and the beauty of the breed.
We have come to terms with the fact that there will not be another Franklin. Nor would we want there to be. That would minimize him.
We are probably going to apply for an Airedale rescue dog. The outfit is quite large, in Phoenix.
They put you through the wringer to match the dogs (or refuse). We figure it would take time and we are more or less ready to take the plunge. We are now pretty clear we don't want a puppy (unless we have to) if we can get a good rescue.
The stories of people who have done it are on this site. Click on any picture. There are six pages of them. There are a lot of detailed experience with rescue, warts and all. Not everyone was a full bore success but all have a happy ending. I appreciate the honesty.
The dogs are all thoroughly screened and medically "complete", shots and all. A microchip. Neutered. No serious behavioral problems. Most live in foster homes before adoption.
We figure no less than three years old and, probably, not an older, older one.
We will fill out the form and then wait for the next indicated action.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The only concern has been that we might be covering up feelings but, since I had a pretty good cry this morning in the middle of this, that is probably not the case. And, if it is, to some extent, so what?
I have this feeling of wanting to help out another Airedale and myself at the same time. That seems good to me. Then we bond and we are helping each other.
PERENNIALS
Some people let their holiday decorations up all year. Around here, it is the fairy lights on the palm trees. They want us to think that they are just being decorative but we know that they never took the holiday lights down for years after they were put up. Some of them even have the tree growing around the cord.
With us, it is poinsettias. Euphorbia pucherrima.
We want them to last forever.
This year is the most successful. We have two plants.
One, I bought in the supermarket, looks almost as it did the first day we had it.
It sits in the sunroom where there is plenty of light.
The other one, a gift from the family, was a big mother. It is outside in a huge pot at the front of the house. It has gone through a transformation. It has grown new stems and leaves (which are the actual red "flowers") and has many pollen buds. The older leaves have dried and darkened some and the new growth is greenish red.
It looks pretty good but a distant "look" from the day it arrived all bushy and lushly red.
It has gone a bit wild by the look of it and it is the better for it somehow.
I don't know if it will weather the heat and uv radiation or not. That is the finish of most plants. The poinsettia was, at one time, used out here for ground cover on the freeways. I am not sure why they quit. I got some of that variety to plant on our outer banks but they never "took".
We are hopeful. Perhaps when Santa comes in 2009 we will still have these plants to show him.
Labels: desert, holidays, horticulture
DRINK, DRANK, DRUNK
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was John Huston's take on Malcolm Lowry's novel
This rather upsetting, downer film is about alcoholism and shows one day in the life of a 24 hour maintenance drunk, Albert Finney, who has a rather complicated life on top of his drinking problem. At the end of his rope. Down and out in Cuernavaca, Mexico on the Day of the Dead, 1938.
Layered in here is a bunch of stuff about the day of the dead festival, Nazis causing mischief in Mexico, an ex wife who has returned after a divorce, a half brother who has had at the ex-wife before she was an ex and, at the end of the day, a long, too long, bottom in a whorehouse/cockfighting/midget-dwarf hangout with a horse who showed up earlier in the film with a dead rider. A lot of moving parts. Not a lot of them move.
Bummer.
Finney is first rate but, at the same time, is a caricature of the suicidal, terminal alcoholic. A bit too much British theater in his performance as much as I liked it.
He is given way too much latitude by the people around him, his ex-wife Jaqueline Bisset and his half brother (solves the "don't look alike" problem), Anthony Andrews. At the end, Finney runs into some folks who won't take any of his shit.
Huston does visual wonders with the scenery of Cuernavaca. At the beginning, we swim in color. At the end, we sink in darkness.
I am not sure why this is a Best Film, actually. It does have a rather good pedigree, being a Lowry novel and having Huston as the director, but it is tedious and drawn out and rather difficult to take seriously.
It does have a rather wonderful title sequence with skeleton marionettes with the liveliest music you can imagine. One expects a comedy rather than the melodrama that follows.
Incongruous.
Why is it that the most problematic Best Films generate the longest writeup? And it takes the longest time to write it too?
I wouldn't see it again, even for Finney's Oscar nommed performance. And I didn't like it much. That would make it a 2 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
ASHES TO ASHES
Franklin came back home today.
The vet called this morning and said that his "remains" were ready. John picked them up.
They are in a beautiful cedar box with a little padlock and a plate that says "FRANKLIN" on the top.
Now I realize why it took a week and a half for them to return to us.
The phone call and the box brought up a lot more emotions and tears. A good cleansing.
The box seems heavy.
We were not sure what we would do with the ashes when they returned. I guess we are going to keep them in the box. Right now it is with his two photos that we like the most on the glass table in the dining room.
I have had an emotional 24 hours before the call came.
Not surprising I guess.
Nothing precipitated it. Just missing him. And the routine of being with him gone along with his presence.
We are moving through it.
Not around it.
The ashes help.
Labels: Franklin
FAST TRAIN RIDE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
with John Barrymore as a broadway producer and Carole Lombard as his estranged discovery/protegé.
In 1978, we saw the broadway musical production of this same story. John Cullum had the producer role and Madelyn Kahn was the protegé. The production also had Imogene Coca as the religious nut and Kevin Kline as Ms. Kahn's gigolo (after she split from the producer).
Here we go into the complex plot which culminates in farce on the Twentieth Century Limited, a train that used to run from Chicago to New York and back again.
Much door slamming, running in and out of cars and so on.
The movie is slow to start but gets rolling in the second act on the train.
It is a great story written originally by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur.
Very good.
Barrymore is in his prime here as a comedian mocking himself, actually. He is funny. His timing is perfect and is hair has a supporting role.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and it is time to get the original cast recording of the musical out again if I have it.
Labels: best films
Monday, April 20, 2009
RASCALS
Kelvin sends this:
Clinton, Bush booked for joint Toronto appearance
The power of money.
This kind of thing would never have happened in the "old days".
Both these guys are the product of a commoditized politics.
I hope that we are going to get away from this in the future. Hoping it is a Baby Boomer thing.
Further diminishment of Bill Clinton in my mind.
Labels: Bill Clinton, bush
CENTURY
We hit 100 degrees today. 103 tomorrow. The humidity is 6%. Hot and dry.
This is nothing new. It happens this time every year. But, being from Boston and all, we are still just a bit fascinated with it.
It will cool back a bit into the 90s later in the week but we are into the hot times.
We notice less traffic and more parking spaces. Easter was late this year so the snowbirds left early. If Easter was in March, they would go home for a weekend, then come back. Not so much this year.
Our neighbor Jane gets nervous over 90. She is making her plans for Seattle.
No northern climes for us. We are here for the duration. It will be hotter still and we will, mostly, like it. Baking out.
BIKE SUPPORTER
Try this with your new jock strap on. This guy lives in Edinburgh Scotland.
Music is, aptly, The Funeral by Band of Horses.
Labels: sports
LACK OF INITIATIVE
We are a mean bunch out here in California.
We are going to take back our commitment to school kids and to our mental health programs. What we gave, we can take back.
Propositions 1D, 1E ask voters to think again
This is all nonsense of course.
It involves some 0.2% of the state budget and the initiative itself may cost as much as the money being switched around.
The big headline here is the utter nonsense of having the people decide budget issues in the first place. To legislate.
Now we must un-legislate. Or not.
The only reason they are having this initiative is to placate a Republican "traitor" who voted for this year's budget on the contingency that we would review these initiatives.
We are in a bad jam here. A governor who has no power, a legislature that is deadlocked, and an initiative process that engages the most uninformed of the citizens in the process of decisions on "made up", confusing and misleading propositions.
I am totally against initiatives. I vote "NO" routinely as a protest. I will vote "NO" again.
I will probably be in a small minority that votes at all so my vote will count.
One of these Props is a movie star prop. We have several in recent years. Rob Reiner's cigarette tax for kids. So we have Rob running around propounding again. Don't worry meathead, I will vote your way. For a different reason, but your way.
Labels: California, election
DON'T TELL ME
Today's film was the big international hit
Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One (2008)
I bailed out on this one. It is a Fugitive type film.
Wrong accusations, failed alibis, an eight year old killing of a wife and the clues come back to haunt the husband. Also a doctor.
I am up for some of this but it was rough stuff. Too rough by half. I think that I am more vulnerable than I think that I am just now.
Or maybe not.
In any case, I shut it down as, after an hour, they finally nab him and he goes on the lam. for another hour.
I looked forward to this film. But I can swallow any disappointment in it.
Don't take this as a review.
I am a poor audience for this kind of thing just now.
I will have to give it a 1 out of Netflix5 though. I didn't see it through.
I don't want to fuck up my recommendation algorithm on the site. I don't want them to sell me on anything else like this. And it is as inaccurate as I can handle as it is.
Otherwise, I can see that this film would be a good solid 3 and maybe a 4. Sometimes life is not fair for the film maker. Dumped because of a squeamish viewer.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
GATHERING SSSSTOOORMMM
This is pretty good.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad | ||||
| ||||
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights, republican whack jobs
PLUNGE
Every spring, I hang back from my first dive into the pool.
Today was the day I took the plunge. I am about two weeks late.
I had cut my own hair this morning and was prickling from it. So I went and got it off in the pool. And changed my shirt.
The water is just right. In the low to mid 80s. The air the same. Nice and dry.
It felt great. Now, I will be a pool regular until, maybe, November.
A Bigger Splash: David Hockney
Labels: pool
THE LONG WALK
So we did the same Sunday walk that we took with Franklin every week for most of his life. The same route.
He never chose the same walk on any other day at morning or night. Just on Sundays when the three of us did a walk together.
Last week, we tried, but we didn't make it out the driveway. Too much too soon.
This week was a lot better.
There was some sadness. There were sweet memories. We laughed about many events that had occurred over six years.
He was very present in our hearts.
We are doing much better with his death. Accepting. Philosophical. Most of the time.
Several years ago, Franklin visited some special ed kids. A teacher that John knew invited him near the last day of school. And then they did it again another year. Franklin was quite a success with the kids and they with him. He sought out the kid most distant from him, of course, and won him over.
John's friend gave us a framed photo of one of those days. It is a powerful reminder of his ability to make friends with almost everyone. Even those who didn't want to very much.
He has left us with so many happy memories of our life together.
Labels: Franklin
SISYPHUS
Today's film had a Sundance debut and then disappeared for awhile.
Rahmin Bahrani's
I saw Bahrani's Chop Shop (2008) recently and wanted to see the earlier work. He has just released another film which I have on reserve at Netflix.
This early film predicts Bahrani's later themes. The new American immigrant experience. The timelessness of economic struggle. Hubris.
The film is episodic. Vignettes. The overall situation unwinds from these little mini-stories.
It is very well done. I enjoyed it very much. It is epic in its tale of struggle against all odds and yet, somehow, positive and sweet at the same time. A deft hand here.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 because I feel certain that someday there will be a Bahrani film fest around here.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
RANTS
Today's movie was a documentary about Al Franken.
This not so hot doc is about the comedian who, we know now, is about to become a Senator from Minnesota. At least when Norm Coleman quits dragging the close election out.
I wanted to see it because I don't know much about Franken. I still don't.
In a series of standup events, funny and serious, nothing gets explored too far except the tedious loss of John Kerry which was bad enough when it happened. I didn't need to see its protracted pain in a film of this type.
I watched the whole thing but I didn't really want to. Franken is an idealogue without a lot of substance on the issues. He is rather insensitive, as many liberals are, to how he sounds when he is cracking wise about serious matters. A kind of left wing Ann Coulter with whom he has often shared a stage. Not too funny.
I would still vote for Franken against Coleman who is a cardboard character made up to look like a Senator.
As for the film, a nay, a 2 out of Netflix5 because I didn't hit the FF or quit.
MISSING FRIEND
Franklin would love this cartoon. It is part of his story.
Something new.
Franklin's best dog friend, Bruno, will not go past the house on his walk but comes into the driveway and sits looking for Franklin.
If we are around, we go out and pat him and that seems to help out.
It is one of those tough moments that tell us how much Franklin meant to others as well as his own close family.
We are doing better. I have been able to use the "d" words for two days now. "Dead". "Died". No euphemisms.
The impossibility of his death has now faded. It is possible. It is real. I guess that was the denial phase of grieving.
More people show up who do not know about it yet.
We went through "the wash" last night on our walk and met two women. One was our neighbor with her dogs. Had to tell the story again. Franklin was a good friend to those dogs too. Always looked them up at their gate. Nose to nose and then on for our walk.
She went on and on about it.
John says that there are people who would wave when he had Franklin on a walk and who, without him, now, don't know who John is.
We are getting along though. The pain has eased. The tears have diminished. We have worked through the weekly cycle of events which trip a thought or a feeling about him.
Time heals. Some.
Labels: Franklin
MERCE AT 90
I remember going to a recital by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and being stunned, when in the second act, Cunningham himself performed a solo dance.
Incredible!
Total engagement with the audience.
You felt and even thought the meaning of the movement as he slowly danced across the stage.
Now this:
Merce Cunningham, Turning 90: Meanings Still Pour From Movement
This from the reviewer:
It is not unusual these days to hear Merce Cunningham called the world’s greatest living choreographer. I go further: I have long thought that he is the greatest living artist since the death of Samuel Beckett, almost 20 years ago.
I want to be 90. Merce is a hero.
Look at the slide show and stay until the very last one and see him. Alive and vibrant and still delivering. Joy.
Friday, April 17, 2009
VENGEANCE
I do not want the government to go after the torturers. I agree with Obama on this. I am not that big a lefty to want more blood.
I wasn't sure of my reasons for this but Kevin Drum has helped me out.
Besides, I am reasonably sure that these bastards will get ostracized and marginalized within the system they brought disgrace to. I am willing to bet that Leon Penetta has the will to see this carried out.
If I were them I wouldn't expect any good promotions to good stations any time soon. How about being the spook in Iceland or something.
Labels: Administration Obama
INFALLIBLE
The pope isn't used to being called out.
Vatican decries reaction to pope's condom remarks
Let's put it another way. Condoms mean birth control. The pope needs more babies especially now as little catholics grow up and see the fallacy of the church, leave it and, sometimes, sue it for getting diddled in the process.
How do you spell hypocrisy. Anti sex. For its people.
Labels: christist watch
TOUGH LOVE
Today's movie was the WWII drama
with Gregory Peck, Dean Jagger and a sizable cast of very good second level players.
They used to play this film for management courses. It is about achieving the balance between tough but fair leadership and the softer affiliative approaches.
Peck is the hard ass and Jagger the civilian, a former lawyer.
Of course, that was not the direct intent of the production. It is a good solid drama about war and the men who go to it both as trained warriors and as drafted civilians.
Peck is very good in the pivotal role. He had a great career after this film and you can see him "coming on" with his performance here. It is the old star thing of being himself but with Peck there was a clear difference. He acted on top of it. A dynamite combination.
Jagger won a Best Supporting Oscar. He was in a lot of films as the second lead. I always enjoyed seeing him.
I saw this when it came out. I remember a lot of it. I would have been 12. That's 60 years of remembering. Ask me about the movie I saw last week. Huh?
I would definitely be willing to see it again. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
FRANKLIN
It has been a week since he died.
It still stings.
I went to the super market and talked again with a woman who used to go out on her break to visit with him. It is nice to see and hear her talk about her experience with him.
Then on to the bakery where I told a friend who works there and met a woman I hardly know who expressed her condolences. And a hug.
It is this kind of thing that both stimulates the grief process and, at the same time, gives comfort.
I had a thing this morning about his ashes. I figured they should have them back by now. I was going to call.
John reminded me that they said it could take as long as next Wednesday to get them.
We also agreed that we have no idea what we want to do with them when they arrive.
So no hurry.
We took the evening walk together last night. We really cannot walk anywhere without tracing a path that we would have walked with Franklin.
It is good to have a partner in this process. We are often in different places. When I am down he is pretty much OK and then the reverse is true.
I think this is going to take longer to move through than I thought.
Labels: Franklin
CONTROLLING THE CYCLE
I am greatly impressed with the Obamas' control of the news cycle.
The predictable pattern is that there will be one message at a time. One action. Or a program.
There is a first phase in which "unnamed sources" tell us what is coming. This is not a leak as in the bushie period. Unauthorized. This is part of the process. Controlled.
The second phase is the action or message itself. A press conference. A bill signing. An announcement of a new policy. For example, the release of letters authorizing torture from the bush administration.
Then there is phase three in which questions are answered and the action is supported with other spokespeople. Congresspeople. Interviews on the air. Followup.
By the time the GOoPers figure out what is going on, it is a done deal and on with the next thing.
This happens every day. Imagine. Every day.
I have tried to discern a pattern. Is it domestic, foreign, administrative and back to domestic again? I don't think so.
There are the trips in which there is a roll of activities each day. "Here is what is going to happen tomorrow" "Today we are doing this" "Any questions about yesterday"?
Little throws them off stride. Pirates? We keep quiet until there is something to talk about. Rumors about the bailout? We don't talk or act until we have the facts. All in due course.
The only administration that I remember having such message control was the Reagans. And they did not dominate each day's news in the same way.
I could go to AP right now and catch three Obama headlines. Something about yesterday. A reax piece. Something about today. What he did now. And something planned for tomorrow but not from an authorized source.
Even the new puppy got his 3 days. Rumors, appearance, followup. Amazing.
Incidentally there are no other rumors or leaks but those which are planned.
The "loyal" opposition must have their heads spinning. There is no way that they can keep up with this. No wonder they have to go tea-bag for an unknown and unarticulated purpose. A lot of anger. It must be hell to have your initiative (if any) stolen every day.
Labels: Administration Obama
Thursday, April 16, 2009
LOSERS
I am not much of a baseball fan any more. I am, culturally, a Red Sox adherent.
I never took to the teams out here.
But I still have enough of the old loyalties to get more than a chuckle out of this.
Yanks open new stadium with humiliating 10-2 loss
And to the Cleveland Indians! Are they as lame as they used to be?
See? I am not current. Just a vestigial Yankee hater.
Labels: sports
ISRAEL ON NOTICE
Busy day today. On another front.
Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."Finally.He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place. "Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory," the paper reports Emanuel as saying.
....So far neither the White House or the Israeli government has commented on the report which, it should be noted, comes from Shimon Shiffer, one of Israel's most highly respected journalists.
Some pressure on the Israelis.
It is so totally about time.
Labels: Administration Obama, Israel
TOUGH DECISION
Despite the worries of a lot of lefties, the Obamas are going to release the relevant Bush administration memos about torture.
They will stick with the lawyers and not the spooks for, I think, very good reasons.
In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs.
Amen.
Labels: Administration Obama
EACH DAY HEALS A LITTLE
I may have inherited Franklin's sixth sense that his friend Bruno was coming.
I had this itch about it and continued to have it. So I went out front and there he was. He did that high step thing he did for Franklin. His dads were with him, of course.
I don't want to put too much on this but it is a different thing. I am happy to see his friend and to pet him. Bruno is a love sponge.
We talked a little about Franklin and that was enough.
Today will be hard, I think. The woman who cleans our house is coming and she does not know yet. She did not know that he was sick last Thursday. We didn't know ourselves for sure until the afternoon. So it is a no warning thing. They were good buddies.
Labels: Franklin
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
ANOTHER IDOL GONE
Well, not gone and not forgotten but retired.
Oscar De La Hoya Announces Retirement From Boxing
We don't follow or even like boxing but we sure have loved to see Oscar.
We didn't even mind when photos of him in fishnets came across the internet.
In fact, we sort of liked it although fishnets aren't really our thing.
Seriously, he is a good guy and he did it all fair and square. Wholesome. We will miss him.
We always followed his fights in the papers. The training. The pictures. The weigh in. The pictures. The fight. The pictures. The victory stories, until the last one. The pictures.
Labels: sports
HIS-TORY
Today's movie was the documentary
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon (2008)
This is the film I ordered when Wrangler died a short while ago.
It is a great piece of work. I highly recommend it if you are gay and if you are not.
It is about a tiny but important period in gay history and a man who, in an odd way, was pivotal in the emancipation. I already wrote about this.
You can find it on April 7th entries.
We were surprised at how good the film is. It not only captures his life but uses clips from his films as sort of pictures of his own experience of coming out and being such a powerful force.
He tells his own story. And he is a funny, humble man.
First class.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 because I would love to see it (and him) again.
Labels: gay history, gay life, gay rights
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
ANOTHER DAY
We are better again.
Today we brought in the little rose memorial from the spot where we let him go. We may use the vase for his ashes.
So, we are kind of eliminating the memorials and stuff. But I wouldn't let John put furniture over his spot in the sunroom even though his bed is gone.
We had a fit of getting another dog yesterday. A denial mechanism for sure as we were looking at Welsh Terriers, a miniature form of Franklin. NO! My sponsor helped cut me off at the pass although I knew it was BS. Sometimes we call a sponsor to tell us what we already know.
Today, no replacements to block the feelings.
Odd that we thought he was holding us together and without him we are closer than ever. Funny about love, huh? Both kinds. Doggy and human.
We are resuming our walks after supper together...the ones we were having before he came to be with us. For a few days there we were walking alone AM and PM as though he were still here. He is not. We are. Nice to be back on the road together.
John took this picture on the last morning. One of his favorite spots. Typically on watch out front. Posing, I am sure, even though he is not looking at the camera.
NEW PHONE
I bought an LG VX5500. It "cost" 1.00 plus a resign of a two year contract. Same price.
I was going to get one without a camera but I wanted an LG, so.
I took a picture. It is OK.
Everything else is the same. Really.
Or it took very little energy to figure out what changed.
The sound and signal are much clearer. Well, my old one was 4 years old or something. That is a lifetime.
End of excitement.
Labels: technology
NORMALIZING
Things seem to be more settled today.
Franklin is gone.
That is the bottom line.
Up to now, it has been about the circumstances, the story.
Now, it is the fact.
There are still feelings of sadness and loss but not the hammer blows of grief. There is a difference.
I can even laugh at this cartoon. Boy, would Franklin like this dog heaven!
People still keep showing up who do not know and need to be told. The woman at the supermarket who used to go visit him on her breaks while John and Franklin sat out in the parking lot waiting for me.
The woman who was his groomer. Very hard. She loved him too. Maybe I should have gone out to tell her in person.
The guy we knew from the evening walks whose last dog had the same thing happen to her just 6-8 weeks ago. He was on the street as I came home from the store. I stopped to tell him. His vet got him a new dog, Buddy, (against his wishes) almost immediately. I got two big wet kisses from the exuberant Buddy.
I am going to start walking after dinner tonight. Alone, of course. John has to do the dishes and his evening activities just as I have my mornings and that is when he will take his walk. Maybe we can get the walks together but, just now, it seems to be a good idea to keep the routine going.
No doubt, there will be people along the way to tell again and again. This is good.
Other parts of life are coming back into focus. I haven't blogged much. I am getting new ideas. Soon.
John wants me to get a new cell phone so mine can become a family backup. We will do that today. I may explain this to you later once I can understand it myself. I think we pour all the card content, his and mine, into my old phone and then we have a backup for both. Simple enough, eh? The guy at the store says that it is.
We can't use John's old phone because it fell into a toilet at a rest stop.
Monday, April 13, 2009
TALKING CURE
We are doing better with Franklin's absence.
We still want him back but the feelings are more muted, softer, sometimes actually sweet. Nice, funny memories.
We put a little vase with a white rose on the spot where we said goodbye. It really helps a lot. I go visit. Quick shots.
We just keep moving through "firsts".
Today was the first day of leaving for the gym without a goodbye pet, a return without looking for the boy to fool with and, when I came home from my Meeting, no one pushed open the garage door, big black nose sticking through waiting for the motor to stop. He would not go in there if the cars were running.
Stuff like that.
Someone visited. A regular. No dog spinning around and barking in welcome. Franklin was enthusiasm itself when it came to people who came to see him.
There is also the realization that we have to say goodbye to everyone we love, sooner or later. We just don't think or feel much about it until it happens.
Coupled with that is the realization that we don't get to know when the goodbye will occur.
A blessing really. What if we knew? What a hardship. How impossible to be completely and spontaneously with the beloved.
I hate that it was so sudden, so fast. I am, at the same time, grateful that it was not slow and drawn out.
We began to see his problem a week ago today. Then, day by day, the curtains were drawn back to see the full gravity of his situation.
As quickly as the whole week went, we had enough time to say a full and wonderful goodbye with him.
We keep running into people who "haven't heard". There are still some more out there. That is OK. It is difficult to tell the story one more time but that is how we work stuff out. Outside. Talking.
Like this! So good to share it out.
Labels: Franklin
WHO DIDN'T DO IT?
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Hitchcock's
This is a comedy. It does have suspense. It does have a mystery. But the story is funny and the humor is way dry and worth listening to. Hitchcock always treated his audience as adults and this is no exception.
Edmund Gween, John Forsythe and Shirley MacLaine in her first film role. Jerry Mathers (The Beaver) when he was a littler kid. Mildred Natwick and Mildred Dunnock who were often confused because of name and appearance. All very good.
The story is cooked at a simmer not a boil. You will savor its flavor.
I don't think anyone could object to seeing this again. Even if you know the payoff it is enough just to watch these great actors do their stuff and to see Hitchcock stitch a story to the visuals in such an airtight way you can't resist it.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Sunday, April 12, 2009
MILITARY SHIT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
with John Mills and Alec Guiness.
Two commanders of a battalion batter heads. One breaks.
It is one of those studies of military discipline which is way over my head. And I was in the military.
These are Brits so there might be some extra spin on such questions as duty, honor, faith in the men and the integrity of the regiment's history. It is all quite muddled for me.
The performances are quite good even though I cannot imagine anyone acting like that in a real situation. Both guys are assholes. Either way we lose.
You might get the idea that I didn't like this film. I did like it actually. For the wrong reasons. There was some humor, a little romance, a lot of bloody posturing. Just the thing for an afternoon diversion from mourning and all.
To be fair, it gets a 3 out of Netflix5. I wouldn't want to see it again but it was good while it lasted.
Labels: best films
ANOTHER DAY
A little while ago, the doorbell rang and when we went out there was no one. Just an Easter basket of eggs and jelly beans on grass with a framed copy of The Rainbow Bridge Poem.
Like I said. It is nice to have some sentimentality around no matter how over the top it would seem under other circumstances.
We continue to have emails and cards from friends.
A lot of hugs from people who knew him and are grieving along with us.
Today is a lot better than yesterday. Less painful. More space between the periods of grief and sadness. Mostly lighter when they come.
I notice that I am thinking about more of the funny things that he did. Poking the doors closed with his nose. Standing next to me at the computer with his head cocked from one side to another grumbling in his own particular way. More urgently and annoyed that I couldn't see what it was that he wanted from me. Maybe a pat, to go out and play, to feed him, to walk? What? Petting always worked best. He would either give into it or walk away in disgust.
The routine of the morning was easier. I walked outside as though he were here. I looked at the stars. I went to the place we said goodbye and I touched the grass and talked to him.
I am sure that anyone who has gone through this will relate to the experience.
Some people have asked if we are going to get another dog and some have said we should as soon as possible.
That is not in the cards right now. It would interrupt our grieving and, in a way, be disrespectful to Franklin. Not fair to the new animal. We would always be comparing.
Another friend who has been through this three times suggests that we definitely not get another dog for a while. He has had three and each needed its own space for life and grieving. It makes sense to me.
Labels: Franklin
TOO HOT TO HANDLE
This is interesting.
I have always been nervous about the judicial route of achieving our rights and no part of that route was more dangerous, in my view, than the Supreme Court finalé.
The great thing about the Vermont situation is that it is legislative. A new beginning in the means by which we get through the thicket of equality.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
Saturday, April 11, 2009
TEABAGS AND THE PERSONALS
It is all about unintended consequences or, perhaps, a deeper seated wish to remove their repressions.
We have all these people planning to have "teabagging" events on April 15th. This is to protest a wide variety of supposed issues most of them right wing batshit Glen Beck crazy.
But the part of this that I want to explore is the choice of the word "teabagging". Do they know what this is slang for? Don't they Google before they slogan? So funny.
And now this. The anti-gay marriage people want to use this acronym for their two million for marriage logo.
2M4M
Haven't any of these dimwits ever read a personals ad? Haven't they looked at CraigsList?
How about Googling or the Urban Dictionary which defines M4M.
By extrapolation, 2M4M would be an ad for a threesome. Gay!
Such fun to watch the wing nuts swivel.
Stooopid and clueless.
Labels: republican whack jobs
HARD TIMES
Today's film was
an independent production about two women who come together under desperate circumstances and find friendship through their experiences together.
The film hinges on the performances of the two women which is deeply honest and unsentimental.
The river in question is in the middle of a small patch on the US-Canadian Border which is a Mohawk Reservation on both sides. Apparently immune from immigration laws. Just a bare inch of legality.
The women find their way to smuggling immigrants across. They are on thin ice figuratively and in literally.
There are kids involved, who we see. An errant, disappeared husband, who we don't. The kids are very good too. They could have thrown things off track but they do not.
The camera work is handheld and everything is natural. No studios were involved in making this picture. Everything works together.
I am not sure that it is the best film to see while you are grieving a loss of your own but I got through it and did like it even though it was painful to watch these women work with such meager resources. Their inner power is extraordinary. They are heroic. And quite believable.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. In better times it might have gotten a 4.
WIENER SCHNITZEL IN THE DESERT
We made the NYTimes Travel section this week.
36 Hours in Palm Springs, Calif.
This is a side of our chosen home that we do not see. Ever.
Well, the mountains and all.
For example, they feature a restaurant called Johannes' which we have been to but walked out of after we were given a table next to the prep area. The dining room was empty. Not their kind of people? We left. I felt good a year later when a car careened into their front window. No one was hurt.
But it is interesting to see how others see us.
Labels: desert
LITTLE RITUALS, SMALL ROUTINES
Missing Franklin.
We went out for supper last night. It wasn't very good but it did break up the dinner-walk-play-out-by-the-spa routine. Bedtime was another reminder.
I decided to swim in the rituals and routines rather than resist.
We talked to him as we went to supper and saw a few fluffy clouds over the mountain. We had a good cry when no pup came to "bother" us at the spa.
We did take his things out of the house soon after he was gone. His bed space seemed very empty.
We decided to let his small overhead light on, the one we used as a night light for him and for us. It seems to be a nice sign that he was there and still is whenever we want to summon him.
I know this all might sound a bit corny but when one is in pain, corny can help. So can jokes. So can talking to the one who is gone.
There are bumps whenever there is something to do for or with Franklin that comes up.
No breakfast to put together this morning but I took "our" walk outside to look at the moon and the stars (he never did get where Orion was up there) and there was a full moon and a fluffy cloud. I decided we could still have a moment together even if one of us was not just there taking a pee or barking at something when he shouldn't at four in the morning.
John got up a while ago and we talked about him a bit. His soft belly was one element of it. He was great to pet but he wouldn't let you do too much before he would get busy about something else. Tough guy. Sweet guy.
So now we make the metaphorical ride out of Franklin land. We put the seat back up in the Jeep because he won't be going with us on this trip. I will take it in to get it washed this morning and get all those nose prints off the glass. A clean start.
We decided, more or less, that we would keep up the Sunday walk. Franklin memorial walk. It is good for us and there will be some sweet times remembering him and maybe we will see a fluffy cloud and have some short thoughts from him on the subject of things to sniff or kitties and other things to chase. We will resist the urge to run after them. That was his job.
Labels: Franklin
