esrosedotblog

LAW AND ORDER MIKE

Steve Benen Political Animal:

As of this afternoon, the gunman believed to be responsible for shooting four uniformed police officers in Tacoma, Washington, remains at large. (Because the suspect, Maurice Clemmons, had his sentence commuted by Mike Huckabee, there's a political angle to the story.)

It is old stuff about Clemmons. It has come up before in the last campaign but it didn't stick.

Somehow, I think that four cops assassinated will catch some attention.

This out-Hortons Willy Horton and Dukakis.

By the way, Mike. Stripes ain't a good idea either. And they make you look even fatter than you are.

I know. Ad hominem. Couldn't help it when I found this gruesome picture of the family.

Labels: crime, republican whack jobs

EIGHTIES COMING OF AGE

Today's movie was

Adventure Land* (2008)

There is nothing wrong with a good coming of age film especially if it uses the idea of an amusement park as a metaphor for life.

This is a great little film written and directed by Greg Mottola who also did Superbad which I liked a lot.

The film stars the delightful Jesse Eisenberg who is in Squid and the Whale which somehow comes out later than this one. Also Kristen Stewart who is the girl in the vampire movies now breaking records.

Bill Hader is very funny and Ryan Reynolds plays the Pittsburgh version of a cad.

There are a lot of familiar tropes from this kind of film but there is also some really great dialogue and, quite amazingly, some quiet times with just plain silent acting that a whole other level of meaning is conveyed.

The music is a bit raucous and the dialogue sometimes gets lost behind it. I worry about this as it happens in so many films. Almost as though the "sounds" are more important than the script.

This is why we sometimes turn on the "hearing impaired" subtitles. You would be amazed if you saw what we are missing.

I liked the film. I liked the kids. I liked the sweetness of the whole thing.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
*Actually Kennywood Amusement Park — West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA

Labels: films

NOTORIETY

Booker has his picture and a write up in the Southwest Airedale Terrier Rescue web site.

Happy Tails, here.

Labels: Booker

NOTHING DOING? NOT BY A LONG SHOT

If you feel bad about all the resistance and rancor from all sides, read this.

Ten Months In

I keep saying the same thing but everyone else keeps saying that they didn't do this or that.

Well, OK. He has not done this and he has not done that but look at this list of shit that he has done.

Glass half full again and again. I keep telling you.

It is going to be one hell of a State of the Union speech.

Labels: Administration Obama

CARDED

I did the holiday cards today. A tradition. Every year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The pile gets way smaller every year.

People drop out. We drop out.

I am down to 39 domestic and 3 international. It used to be over a hundred.

Part of this is that we do not send cards locally. We never have. So our cards are and were all out of towners .

If I can't see the locals to say happy this or that then they just get missed but usually I see most people or email or call or something.

I think that real cards are going to disappear anyway. We get some ecards. I don't count them although I send e-cards for birthdays.

It is a nice traditional way to say hello to some acquaintances. Some people have been on there for a long time.

One second cousin. The only belly button family left.

A few friends still in Massachusetts. A few have moved to Florida. The Virgin Islands. Places we could be if we hadn't decided on here.

We send a similar card every year. A fat Santa and his deer around a swimming pool or something like that. Very Palm Springs.

No snow. No everygreens. This is our winter now.

An interesting side benefit of the holiday cards is exploring our address book.

John is in charge of that and he has never, ever taken anyone out of it. There they are. All the people we ever saw and met on vacations. The people that we used to be neighbors with. The relatives we don't connect with anymore (John has 4 or 5 he is still connected to but he is southern).

Many are dead.

It is a memory jogger par excellence. A once a year experience that is good for the soul.

It is also a reminder of how transient relationships can be. You are here. You are gone. Me too.

I am still here if anyone wants me.

If you don't get one of our cards, happy holidays from Palm Springs.

ALL WET

It rained for the first time in months this morning.

I don't know how long it has been.

I am sure that Booker has not seen rain since he came to live with us 6 months ago. Before that? No telling.

There is a cold front moving in and the thrust was so strong that it brought the wet clouds over the mountain into our rain shadow.

I think maybe 1/4 of an inch.

There should be snow on the mountains. It is cold enough up there. I will take a look when I go out this afternoon. Maybe some will remain.

Down here we have the 60s which is chilly enough for us. About the chilliest it gets in the daytime.

A nice change.

Booker did not like it though. He must have had rain in Reno. Maybe that is it. He had a promise of no wet fur and it was kept. But today it was broken.

My fur got wet too. He and I will get over it.

Here is what snow in Palm Springs looks like.

Labels: Booker, weather

FLYBY

We saw the International Space Station (ISS) last night.

One of the MIT kids turned me on to the Flyby site.

It was very bright. Exciting.

It will go by one more time tonight at 5 before it tracks out of our area. Some are seeing it in twilight it is so vivid.

We missed the combo sightings earlier in the week. The Atlantis and the ISS.

I actually found this through Spaceweather.com which is now on my daily bookmark tour.

Labels: astronomy, astropix, technology

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Today's film was Ramin Bahrani's

Goodbye Solo (2009)

with Souleymane Sy Savane and William Red West.

I have enjoyed Bahrani's other two films Man Push Cart (2005) and Chop Shop (2007). Both about immigrants yet both very American films in their theme and sensibility.

This film is the same.

A taxi driver befriends a fare who is, apparently, determined to kill himself. The driver, on the other hand, is committed to life and his future.

They are polar opposites. The older man played by Red West is a study in life's burdens. His face tells it all.

Souleymane is optimism itself. A striver. A step father and husband. Active in his life and work.

These men and their relationship are at the center but we also see a lot of life around them. Winston Salem night life mostly. Nice and juicy.

Very good.

The film sits with me after it ends.

There is enough going on here that I would not mind seeing this wonderful two character study a second time.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

GRATITUDE WORKS

I am grateful and optimistic.

It is not in my nature to be so.

Left to my own devices, I can be as whining and pessimistic as the next person. Or, at least, the next whining and pessimistic person down the line.

I have learned how to be grateful. It is possible to change one's world view from the shitty end of the stick to the other end. To hit with the right end of the bat. To drop cynicism as an approach and try optimism. The cup half full.

I don't do this because it "works". Even though it does.

I learned it to be more serene and to stay sober. I am both. That is enough for me.

A more spiritual source than pragmatic.

Now there is some "scientific" validation. I found it today.

Take a look.

It is fun to read and quite appropriate for Thanksgiving Day.

Does "counting your blessings" really help?

Yes. But read it anyway.

Labels: spiritual life

WHO'S LYING

Just about everyone in Tony Gilroy's

Duplicity (2009)

with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen plus a bunch of other great actors.

It is a thriller about corporate espionage and also about corporate rivalries.

It is clever. Fun. Not very serious. A spy thriller without any blood spilled. Refreshing.

It shows that you can still make a good film in corporate Hollywood without violence, special effects or tawdry sex.

Well, there is some sex but it isn't tawdry.

Do you know how many of these big industry films I even want to see let alone actually enjoy? Very very few. I am glad I saw this one.

I liked it OK. It kept my interest.

I figure that its charms are limited to one viewing. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

NOT OVER UNTIL IT IS OVER

I knew that there was one more guy who had not heard about Franklin dying.

He is not here most of the year and when he is here we don't see much of him. He is connected with the Follies show and is on a kind of perpetual grind for its entire season.

And here he comes as Booker and I are coming home from the afternoon walk.

Booker goes right by him. Totally ignored, the guy does a double take. Franklin always went to him and jumped up and made a fuss. Not Booker. He is a stranger to him. Cool Booker.

The guy says "What happened?. He doesn't like me anymore". Joking.

I said "he's not Franklin". Blank face.

I explain. It is hard. Hard for him. His buddy and all. Hard for me, my first dog. I still have mourning.

Booker at the end of the leash looking towards home.

I call him back. He comes. I ask him to say hello to Franklin's friend. And he does. Very sweetly as is Booker's style.

The guy says that he wished he had a treat so he could make friends with Booker. I tell him that he already has and that Booker will remember him.

There are some gulps and sad looks.

We have still not met everyone who knew Franklin.

Labels: Booker, Franklin

GETTIN' READY

We don't normally have dessert but the rule gets broken on the holidays.

I admit that I look forward to it.

I have been tasting pumpkin pie for a couple of weeks. Now the real thing is in the oven. It is scenting the house.

It is not actually a dessert but a vegetable.

I know I told you that but I keep telling myself again and again.

It makes it OK.

The next non-dessert will be mince pie at Christmas. Apples and raisins. I am not thinking about that though. I have to get over the pumpkin first.

As soon as the pumpkin is baked, the turkey breast will go in the oven. I do turkey breast all the time except summer when I use the cold smoked variety. But I thought I would bake it fresh for today and put the remainder with the inventory of frozen meat.

I made my own whole cranberry sauce the other day. It is nicely set. The trick is to cool it in room temperature. A slow gel. The natural pectins need moderate temperatures.

I know this because I used to work for the cranberry company many years ago.

Also on the menu is stuffing (the box kind) and french cut green beans. A tradition.

So soon, we will have the house smell of turkey.

Dinner will be at 545 as normal. No bending the rules for afternoon eating. I have never understood that one.

Otherwise the day will be normal. No mail though. Grump. And no football. Yay!

Labels: cooking, holidays

LEARNING MOMENT

The fuss over Adam Lambert's kiss and crotch is outmatched by the bumbling, stumbling sexist and homophobic hypocrisy of ABC and CBS.

Community Standard or Double Standard?

I saw none of it and don't really care too much about Lambert himself but the issues are important.

I am glad that the NYTimes has so nicely shown the media's bias for what it is.

It wasn’t the best musical performance by any means, but it wasn’t the worst display of sexual debauchery either. Mostly it was a reminder of television’s policy regarding gay men: Do tell, just don’t show.

This might be one.

I have seen Lambert perform and I am not planning on buying any of his albums but I surely will support his right to be as gay as he wants to be anywhere that he wants to do it.

And, at the same time, kick the bluenose stuff out the door.

An unlikely gay icon. Just like Elvis' hip. One shake for Adam a breakthrough for gaykind.

Hell, he even looks a bit like Elivis who was, actually, quite androgynous. The idols almost always are.

Labels: gay life, gay rights

SALES ORDER

Here is the rest of the correspondence. It gets better and riper as it goes.

Is this a real situation?

Hell, I don't know.

It is sure typical of some of the entitled fuckheads that I have seen in work situations over the years.

Sounds about right to me.

Labels: fun

BEYOND THE PALIN

For those who fret that Sarah is drawing new crowds and exciting new interest.

Strong Interest in Health Care, Little Interest in Palin

41 to 2 ? See the Pew chart.

Labels: republican whack jobs

ALL OVER HIM

Well, we got what Obama told us he would and would not do. The dissonance is in our heads. What we wanted and what he actually said his position was. Post-bush denial. The millenium is here.

Now, not so much. Disillusion has settled in and, not only that, disappointment makes a good byline. Who reads "I am happy with the way things are--or aren't"?.

Kevin Drum puts it succinctly.

Has Obama Fizzled?

Keerist. This is right next to the headline that he is going to Copenhagen with a pledge to lower emissions a whopping 17% from 2005 to 2020. Next to that is the headline about revoking the HIV status ban on visas and green cards. Next to that are some new items about closing Guantanamo. Yeh. Not in a year. Fuck. What a bummer.

And so on.

I have to say that my disappointment is more with the supporters who whine than the President who is working his way through some formidable shit.

But, he knew this would happen.

The other day it was all about Gallup approval falling below 50%. The headline didn't mention the 44% dis and the 7% "I don't know".

I think there are a lot more "I don't know" people. Most of us don't think let alone have a thoughtful opinion.

And what we approve of may not be the best set of solutions anyway.

Labels: Administration Obama

BROTHER LOVE

Today's movie is Carlos Cuaron's comedy

Rudo y Cursi (2008)

Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna play soccer playing brothers who are discovered in the bush and sent to the big leagues.

The story is about a lot of things. Corruption of the leagues, Mexican culture, the innocents abroad idea. But at the heart it is about the brothers and even though they end up (of course) facing each other in a championship with more at stake than the game, the strong thread through is their love for one another and how it works for them. Or doesn't.

I liked it a lot.

Both of these actors have gone far since their original work together in Y Mama Tambien with Cauron directing. It is nice to see them back together. They are the backbone of the film. I am sure that their lifelong friendship colors the depth they bring to these roles just as it did in Y Mama.

I loved the way Cauron has made a soccer film without showing much soccer except as background. The games get played but we only see bodies hurtling past the camera as the main action goes on. The crowds are all background like a greek chorus. Only the chants are taunts and obscene threats.

It is funny. It is nice to see the resolution of the conflict. I am not tipping anything. Of course it has resolution. They are brothers right?

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Oh. Rudo means rude, rough. Cursi means hick or cornball. Nicknames.

Labels: films

SAAB STORY

This is so sad.

Swedish Buyer Drops Deal to Buy Saab

We loved our Saabs.

That's our last Saab car. A 1995 convertible.

We had a small dealer in Brookline, MA, right over the Boston city line. Two brothers who had been in the business for years. One ran the sales and the other ran the maintenance.

Buying a car there was quite fun, actually. There was no bullshit. No "I have to talk to the manager". Straight up. What it costs. What you want. OK. Done.

The salesman was the manager. The owner.

The maintenance was peerless.

You went and talked to the service bro. He got the mechanic. They ran through the work. The price was reasonable. The work just fine. As I recall, they took you for a ride to make sure everything was OK but that may be my memory playing tricks. The sales bro would always come out and perform. He was a funny guy.

Then, disaster. Saab made a deal with General Motors for US sales.

Overnight, the brothers lost their franchise and it went to a mega dealer out of town. I think we may have gone there for service once. It was horrible. It was sad. The poor guys. Poor us.

Fortunately, it was just about the time we were planning to move here.

There had been a dealer in the Valley but it was gone. Same bad deal. The new dealer was in Riverside over the pass. Over an hour away.

We bought a Jeep in Boston and took it cross country. Since then we have been Chrysler customers. Loyal. We got the Sebring because it always followed the Saab in appearance. We had rented it and the performance was and is good. The most popular convertible over the years.

But not as the Saab. The Saab convertible was the only true winter convertible. Tight as a drum. Double insulation in the top.

The performance was great.

The Saab motor made a putt putt sound, the result of an error in the original design. A kind of bubble sound. Nice. Unique. They were aircraft manufacturers and didn't quite get how to muffle the auto engine.

It became a signature. Later engines were made to keep the putt putt even though they knew how to keep it out.

It was a sign of the future when, in the last iteration of the machine, GM had them take the putt out.

Now the whole thing is gone, most likely. Whatever remains of the name and the pride in the machine was probably lost in the globalization of a fine brand.

Labels: automobiles, life

BAUBLES

Booker got a new necklace today.

Some would call it a collar but we don't use it that way.

He has a harness for walking and that is enough for restraint purposes. Not that restraint is ever needed for the "gentle giant" as our friend Lynda called him today.

He has had a "martingale" type collar which is a web loop twined with a web collar. The loop pulls up and tightens the collar slightly if you want restraint.

He was collar trained in Las Vegas at Airedale camp and he was quite responsive with it but with the harness it is not necessary. The "martingale" is a humane alternative to choke chains. It does not choke. It pulls up behind his ears and actually works on the chin.

One touch or slight pull on the collar was enough to get him to stop whatever he was doing. But the harness negates the need for the collar.

That is a long explanation on a practical plane for what is, essentially, a decorative item and practical only in the sense that it has his id tags. They jingle.

He seems to like the addition. I would think it a lot more comfortable than the one inch wide web collar.

Just for comparison, the chain is 20". Franklin's was 18". Big Booker.

Labels: Booker

HOARDING

I like to have cooking supplies on hand.

When I read, recently, that the 2009 pumpkin crop was devastated by wet summer weather, I freaked.

I don't make any desserts but I do make pumpkin pie for each Thanksgiving. It is a crucial vegetable on the holiday table. Look it up: "vegetable".

So, it rained on the pumpkin patches of the midwest.

I thought there wouldn't be any for me this year. But I had a can from last year. Still a good date on it, 2010.

Then I read that pumpkin packed now would be next year's pumpkin. Or, to put it the actual real life way, no pumpkin packed this year means no pumpkin next year. None.

And this year's pumpkin is prepared from last years crop so there is no shortage this year.

Needless to say that I have two cans of the best brand now. Libby's. The classic recipe is right on the label. I am ready. It will last until 2012. I am good for two years of pumpkin collapse.

Maybe I should get two more.

Do you have yours? If not, get it now.

Labels: culture, food, life

OUTSIDE THE SAFETY NET

Today's movie was the documentary

Trouble the Water (2008)

Kim Roberts, a resident of New Orleans 9th Ward took videos throughout Katrina and months afterward.

Tia Lessin and Carl Deal take this "footage" and weave in newsreels as well as additional film of Kim's family and friends to create an incredible experience of the flood from a first hand perspective.

We go to the attic with the family and pets as the water rises. We watch as they save people and add them to their "ark". We watch them flee from the city and then return and recover.

The emotional wallop of this film is quite remarkable.

One's anger and compassion are reenergized by what is seen here. It is one hell of a film.

Oddly they do not make the "story" chronological. In dropping the tick-tock quality of such endeavors they are able to get a bundle of reactions in one place and hold our face in the situation. There is no backing away.

There is plenty of sadness to go around but there is also a relentless ability to keep on going, to forge ahead, to have gratitude for gifts given.

This is a film about indomitable spirits.

I would not mind watching this again. Perhaps with subtitles although the makers have salted enough in to get through the N'Olean's accent. Nicely.

We know what is happening anyway even when we can't get the words exactly.

I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

BY CONTRAST

Watch this PSA with the slo' mo' camera. A great piece of work.

When the bitchers and complainers line up for a signin' give them a shot of this film.

I guess these are well known NFL players. I know the guy who catches the ball.

Labels: Administration Obama

PALIN DRONE

I try hard not to mention Sarah Palin but this review is not me talking. It is another guy.

“Going Rogue is not without merit. It certainly delivers what its intended audience wants. Readers who already like Palin will love it, much as America’s pedophiles will find the latest Jonas Brothers DVD to their liking. The authors’ talent for communicating the ex-Governor’s unique rhetorical style in print is remarkable – the Sesame Street cadence of her delivery and the intermittent Tourette’s-like winks leap off the page. The book, recession priced at just $9, is also an ideal gift for the Aunt or Uncle who assaults your email inbox with a dozen weekly communiqués on the President’s Kenyan birth and the constitutionality of income taxes.”

From the review of Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, over at Ginandtacos.com.

I didn't know they were selling it for only 9 dollars. Astonishing.

Labels: republican whack jobs

LATER IN THE DAY

A friend came over and took a photo of Booker with his little Road Runner doll.

Here he is in full "not another picture" mode.

Labels: Booker

INTERVIEW

I am off to talk to my 7th or 8th MIT applicant for the year.

This is the season.

Deadlines are in December so they have to ask me soon. I have until the end of the year to fill out my reports.

But I do them as soon as they are over. I can't imagine waiting.

It is a nice thing to do. I have no format. I just wing it.

I do think about openers.

Today will be the "what are we each hoping for from this time together?".

Then there is "why MIT?" and "what is the hardest thing you have to do in your current life"?

To say nothing of "do you expect to be homesick"?

There isn't much about academics in there although I always compare their SATs to the averages in the past classes. They like that. Or don't.

We also always talk about financial aid.

MIT has need blind applications. I do not talk about their financial situation but tell them what opportunities lie at the Institute.

Nothing has changed there. I went with about 500 dollars, enough for one term's tuition. Worked my way through. Had a freshman scholarship. Borrowed from MIT itself. There was no federal assistance at that time.

Tuition then was 450 a term.

I managed to see all the shows, eat out on weekends and have a life which was totally awesome on pennies.

I suspect they can do the same.

I was married in my last term and my wife did not work.

Anyway, here I go.

One of the nice things about doing this is that it reminds me of the times, happy and tough, that I had there and it helps me remember where I come/came from. Not a bad thing at my age. A lot of gratitude.

SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT

Booker just passed his first six months with us.

He is still blossoming and filling out.

This morning on our big Sunday walk, he met a new friend, Joey, a blue point pit bull, for the first time. Joey is also a rescue dog with a sadder history and yet he is a gentle soul.

They were friendly in a sort of off hand way and then, as we talked to the human, Booker lay down and Joey came over and sort of nudged him.

They were off. Full, balls to the wall, play. Up and over and down and around. Play bites and butts. Almost violent but not. Then, suddenly, over.

This is something that has been happening more and more especially with new dogs that he meets. The old friendships seem to have settled into a quiet routine. The new ones are flat out playmates.

This past two weeks he has been seeing a red lab over on the next street. She is a runner. Circles. Then in for a wrestle. A little confusing at first but once he gets into it, Booker can run in circles too, although it doesn't make much sense to him.

He really likes this dog a lot.

Around the house he is sassier than before, telling us when things need to be taken care of. Supper, a ball behind something he cannot get to, time for a walk and so on. Also, at the same time, he is more loving and cuddly.

We have a succession of people who visit the house. He is beginning to form bonds with some of them. The ones he can tell care about him.

The pool man Frank. His good friend Steven. Trish. All get special attention. The head between the legs and the hard push through. Very nice.

So the big thing lately is socialization.

The weather has changed and he is outside much more now. On his own and with us.

The air agrees with him. He seems more comfortable being alone. He used to go out when we did but then come back in. Right now he is off someplace doing something. Out there. Good. The mild separation anxiety has passed. Sometimes he fusses when we leave but it is more scolding for not going along.

We leave him alone in the house now and he does well.

Maybe too well.

We occasionally find "bed prints" and we are sure that he sleeps on the leather couch. No prints.

The toys are still all over the living room. On cleaning day, at the last minute, they go on the chair and as soon as the cleaning is over, he sees that they get put back on the floor. One by one. Almost every one sampled as they are put back.

John is still grooming him. It is working out pretty well. Booker looks good and he does not mind either being bathed or standing for a haircut. Actually a furcut.

Labels: Booker

IF I HAD TEEVEE I WOULD WATCH THIS SHOW

Because I love Cloris Leachman and look at the babes. I mean the guys. You have to put up with Kimmel introducing it but stay tuned anyway.

Yes. That was Shirley Jones in the car. She is a right winger but funny anyway.

Labels: television

TOO MUCH DIAGNOSIS

The LATimes is right in tune with what I was saying below.

Cancer screening: What could it hurt? A lot, actually

They sight a lot higher percentage of false positives and add the false negatives.

Prudence. Moderation.

The valley is filled with geezers and others who constitute the army of the "worried well". They are the bane of doctors, insurance companies and the people who pay for all the useless and dangerous diagnosis.

Us.

Labels: health

THE LAST ROSE(S) OF SUMMER

Our roses are going through a last burst before the "cold" weather hits.

Gorgeous.

Actually, they are phototropic and the sun is telling them to quit soon.

They go dormant through the summer because of the heat then rebound in the autumn (we do not have fall) and give one more generous show.

In a month, I will cut them back to start all over again. They will start to grow new stems in February when the sun is right and be back in prime about the first of March.

It is a surprise to me that roses do so well in the desert. Very few other temperate plants are as robust.

Labels: desert, horticulture

ELEGAIC

Today's film was the Argentinian Carlos Sorin's

La Ventana / The Window (2008)

This slow meditative film shows the last day of an old man, an author, who is awaiting the arrival of his long gone son, a concert pianist.

The day begins, the housekeepers start their bustle, the piano tuner comes to ready the old instrument for a concert for the old man, the doctor arrives. The scene is set.

The old man has had a nice dream before waking. It occupies him through the day. He decides to take a walk.

The rest of the story unfolds in this leisurely pace.

Beautifully photographed. Wonderfully played. Nicely optimistic.

This is a short film. Only 80 some minutes. It is long enough.

It is very peaceful and serene. Not the same thing. One is outside, the other inside.

I enjoyed it very much. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film, films

BY THE NUMBERS

This is funny.

Or not.

Are Metrics Blinding Our Perception?

Short version, in a word "yes".

I don't know if I am doing measuring these days. Well, except that I weigh myself every morning. I measure all my food portions. But that is before not after.

I used to keep a runner's log with every detail of my running experience. For years!

I never looked at it.

I knew somehow that the numbers didn't tell the story (miles, weather, route, condition). What counted was that I ran as hard and as far as time and conditions would allow. No more, no less.

Most guys who work out in the gym measure their progress one way or another. For a long time I worked off a computerized workout schedule where I would report in and they would update my exercise, weight and repetitions. I think that worked.

I also used their diet plan for a few years. It worked too. I would weigh and measure myself every Saturday and report. They would give me a menu. Us. I still use remnants of that today.

I think that is as far as I have gone. I don't do it anymore.

We never statisticalized our love life. Talk about performance anxiety. Jeez.

Like everything, I think, it is a matter of moderation. Give yourself some feedback and make decisions accordingly but include the subjective.

Let's see. How many entries in the blog today? How many words? Is it time to check my readability?

Readability Results
The following table contains the readability results for http://esrose.blogspot.com/ .

Reading Level Results
Summary Value
Total sentences 348
Total words 2989
Average words per Sentence 8.59
Words with 1 Syllable 2131
Words with 2 Syllables 549
Words with 3 Syllables 219
Words with 4 or more Syllables 90
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 10.34%
Average Syllables per Word 1.42
Gunning Fog Index 7.57
Flesch Reading Ease 77.94
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 4.52

Now that is the way to use metrics.

Labels: blog, blogging, culture

X-RAYS

If I had breasts, I would spend some serious time thinking about the effect of radiation in the mammograms.

People are loading up with radiation all the time with no thought about it.

It is sort of the physics equivalent of too much antibiotic.

I also am an experienced victim of the diagnostic wars. I probably had my treatment for prostate cancer sooner than necessary.

I am glad that I had it but I am a bit like the desert north of Las Vegas. I have some nuclear history which adds to my life time quota.

I don't really know what I would do.

Actually, I do have breasts and they do get tumors sometimes, male breasts.

There is always something in the balance. Mammography radiation versus a statistical chance of cancer.

And there are the false positives to consider. Cumulative risk of a false positive result is over 50% for women who get annual mammograms between 40-49.

I won't even go to the political claptrap about "rationing".

The fact is that we have rationing now. And if we don't have rationing in the future, costs will continue to skyrocket.

I am medically averse anyhow. I don't do a lot of diagnostics. It isn't that I don't want to know but I don't want to be emotionally jostled unnecessarily or get onto the medical treadmill.

A friend of mine fainted the other day. A doctor was there and diagnosed him as "just fainting" but, concerned about liability no doubt, he suggested calling EMT.

They came and fooled around. No problem. But since they were there why not get on the gurney and go to the emergency room. Sure.

I wanted to run up and tell him to forget it but it was none of my business.

I saw it as passing the buck.

Rest of the story. He got to the ER and after a long, long wait (he had just fainted after all and there was an MD attending and the ICE had done their thing) he was diagnosed as "dehydrated" by the ER docs and released. If in doubt, in the desert, diagnose as dehydration.

More end of the story.

He went home and, as suggested, he went to his own doc who diagnosed walking pneumonia!

Now there is a mixed moral to the story here. But it did cost him about 2000 theoretical dollars to be misdiagnosed.

We all have war stories like this. Medicine is an art. All that.

But, if I had breasts, I wouldn't go nuts. I would be thoughtful about it, think about my age, and also do some self examination. Talk to my Doc. But I wouldn't write letters to the fucking editor. The last place anything is going to be done.

Labels: health, medicine, politics

FAST

Do you have any idea how much faster it is to type on the regular keyboard? And go to Google Images and really select stuff and then copy it in.

I have been using 90's technology. It was very clunky.

The main thing is the laptop effect but still there is the awkwardness of the touch pad and the mess with highlighting things accurately and all.

My laptop also has a thing about switching lanes every so often. I am typing here and the next thing I know it is entering up there in the para somewhere strange.

This isn't the old technology. This is just the old computer.

Like I said, I think that I may get a new laptop so I have a true backup with all the stuff on that the iMac has on.

I know. It is a depression and I am on a fixed and declining income.

Labels: blogging, computer, technology

NEW DANCE

I am working on Jerkin'. I just read about it in the Times.

Hip-Hop’s New Steps

Don't faint. Hip hop is not rap. Hip Hop is Hip Hop.

The article has some neat slides but this might give you an idea of how it is done and how it looks.

No.

I am not kidding.

I am working on the "Reject".

It is really great stuff.

I love the kid in the Times slide show. "it has been around so long" "at least two years". Or something like that.

Labels: culture, dancing

WHEW BOY IT'S BACK

We went and got the machine, man.

We fired it up in the shop and there was everything. All saved.

Miracle.

My calendar, the bookmarks on my browser, the old emails in the email files.

All there.

Like I said, whew.

One problem is that we had to reopen the accounts and shit with the email and while I can get email I can't send it. Something wrong with the codes.

There is no reason for this to be so complex.

But it is.

So I am getting some help with that.

I can use the laptop and as John says, I don't do all that much email anyhow.

Yes. I do.

First thing I did is make a hard copy of my calendar. God, I worried about that calendar. But everything is OK and will be OK because I now have a hard copy.

The new calendar does not run on the old machine.

Now, onward and upward.

Labels: computer, macintosh

RELIEF IN SIGHT

The MacGallery just called and my machine is ready with a new disc and a successful backup.

I will be getting it back with all my stuff on it.

No need to do it myself.

I am astonished that this is so.

The backup.

I am usually astonished that things do not get done completly or professionally. It is nice to be astonished at something good.

I will be back to more regular blogging with a normal keyboard and all.

Labels: blogging, computer, macintosh

HEY I READ THIS BOOK WHEN IT CAME OUT!

Colum McCann Wins National Book Award

It was a fine reading experience. I enjoyed it.

I remember thinking that it might be a winner.

Labels: books

DIAGNOSIS

For those breathlessly waiting the word on my iMac, it is getting a new hard drive. Ready to go in a few days. I can handle it.

Labels: computer, macintosh

OVER THE TOP

Today's film was Matt Aselton's

Gigantic (2008)

This is a small film with big ambitions. Many of them are realized. It has some great parts. And at the end of the film, unfortunately, the sum is a bit less than the parts.

But I still enjoyed it.

There is a method to the madness here. A loser in life finds his way and "kills" his demon.

There are great actors here doing a great job. Paul Dano, who I adore, is perfect in the lead.

Zooey Dechamel, same thing.

Ed Asner, John Goodman, Jane Alexander.

Others to numerous to mention.

I love this kind of film. It has aspirations. It works new ground. It is refreshing. So enjoyable over the usual thoroughly market researched Hollywood pap.

That is why I rent most of these that I am seeing right now. They are "art films" which really do not exist anymore. They don't do well in the market. They are creative successes and theatrical failures. But they survive. More will be made. This director, Matt Aselton, deserves his status as auteur and I will look for his next work just as I look for Paul Dano's work. Because I am a film fan, not a movie goer. Two different things.

It gets a 3 out of Netflix5. Actually a 4 because if Aselton gets an ouvre going I would come back and look at all the work.

Labels: film, films

WALL TO WALL

Booker came and nosed me up a half hour early today.

No doubt he was aware I had not posted a blogitem yesterday and missed it. Wanted me to get started.

So, here I am with time before the gym and posting.

Hello, Booker.

I have been very busy. Not something I expected in retirement. No easy chair this week. Mostly, no time.

Sunday, we went to a brunch. A double birthday celebration.

Boy, a brunch sure takes a whack out of the day. This is why I don't go out for lunch, ever.

But how often do you get a 70 and an 80 year old joint birthday? They have been together over 50 years.

It was nice. A sitdown brunch. No way to escape. My introvert lights were flashing. But, not to worry actually.

It was at a mid century golf clubhouse overlooking the greens and then the mountains behind our house which we don't usually get to see. Too close.

There was assigned (forced) seating. Not my favorite thing but we drew a good group of 8. Four couples. I knew one couple and one of the other guys. The others were OK. Chatty.

The food was good.

If I have to be trapped somewhere this was about the best circumstance. But it did shoot the day.

Then, Monday was busy with a morning meet with a guy I work with. Same yesterday morning. These don't usually eat up the day but, yesterday, I also had an MIT applicant interview. A nice young man My fifth so far this year. I have two more scheduled. It will be over mid December.

The interviews are 60-90 minutes long. The driving too and fro is a half hour by the time I park and walk. Then the writeup. An hour easy.

Very rewarding though.

It is basically a good thing, these interruptions of my routine. I won't calcify at the computer or reading or watching a movie, whatever I do day after day.

But I am back on track today. Routine. A meeting in the morning, a sitdown with a guy I work with, a nap. Lunch, a movie, a walk with Booker. Make dinner, eat dinner and squeeze in some computer reading time. My daily blogs. Maybe even another item here.

Back to semi normal. Normal will be when I get my computer back.

it is still in the shop. If I don't hear, I will call tomorrow. That will have been a week.

Labels: Booker, life, MIT

NOSTALGIA

Today's film was

Faubourg 36 / Paris 36

This is a tibute to musicals of the time, 1936, see. But French musicals. So the tropes are different than here.

One review that I read referred to the lack of identification with France during this period. The election of the Blum socialist government, the rise of the right in response with the Germans quiet support.

Since I have that grounding, it was not a problem for me.

The story is a soapish drama but a good one.

A music hall is on hard times and is taken over by the artists and crew who work there.

An ingenue is found, the leftist head of the crew falls in love with her, the evil real estate thugs take over the theater for non-payment of rent and so on.

Through this plot, we see the music hall numbers, the rise of the ingenue to become a star.

Again. French music. If you don't like accordions this will limit your appreciation.

I liked it all. A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film, films

RIGHTS WARRIOR?updated

It would seem that Ellen, with her softly funny ways, is an effective spokeswoman for gay rights and gay marriage. Mostly by not talking about it. More walking the walk.

A Sapphic Victory, but Pyrrhic

Or not.

She is not the first woman to come out but she is the first woman, so well known, to get married.

Not that there have been many chances for either gay women or men to do the deed, let alone get good PR for it.

Lesbians have always had an "easier" road somehow but at a cost. They are less threatening than gay men. They have a softer reputation. Many straight women have a homoerotic past (and present) and, while they won't acknowledge that directly, they "understand".

Straight men, on the other hand are often turned on by lesbian sex. So.

Gay men, married? Not so popular. There is the whole anal sex thing. One aspect of some gay men's sexual repertoire. Scary for straight boys who won't even get a rectal exam for life or death. Never mind that there are straight people who like the act just fine.

Women don't much like the predatory nature of some gay interaction, ignoring the predatory nature of many straight men who prey on women.

And so on.

It is a complicated scene. Add religion and you have a mess.

Still and all, about half the country is OK with us getting married. More, yet, favor civil unions.

The idea that Ellen's marriage is going to form a soft wedge in the opposition is not frivolous. Everything helps.

But for men, I am not so sure. Most male actors and celebrities are in the closet let alone married. No civil unions that I know of. There are some notable exceptions. But they are actors.

Ellen is that special case where the public life is the professional life. He has a talk show. She will be a judge on that awful talent contest. Not many men get that kind of position.

Maybe next time out the vote will be on whether women can get married. Forget the men.

In any case, I hand it to Ellen and Portia. They are doing more for the movement than a lot of angry movement people. No matter that we can't really know what the exact effect is.

They have acted with grace and dignity and a strong sense of purpose.

Like 18000 other couples in California who loved each other and wanted to go all the way, they acted for themselves first. Like my John and me. And because, for awhile, we could.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

LEARNING

Today's movie was the French drama/documentary

Entre les murs / The Class (2008)

Palme D'Or winner at Cannes, this dramatization of the book of the same name is full of life and shows, in a realistic way, I presume, the realities of classroom life in a multi-ethnic middle school. 13 and 14 years old

I was pleased to see that the film is really about the teacher and goes outside the classroom to show what happens "off stage". Teacher meetings, talks with the principal, loose times in the teacher's lounge.

I enjoyed watching this very much. The participants are not actors. The teacher is the guy who wrote the book.

Many of the issues of educating kids who are growing away from the pedagogy are the same as here, I think. Add globalization. Whew. And kids still learn and want to learn.

There are warts here as well. The Teacher is not perfect.

I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film, films

STILL SICK

My iMac with its new memory capacity lasted all of three days before crashing in the same manner it did last week.

I took it in and believe that they now are onto a solution.

The head man worked me into the system. He had three possible problems in mind. Not all of which involve wiping the big disc and losing my files (for which I have backup).

I will see.

In the meantime, it is back to the laptop.

Labels: computer, macintosh

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE

I am not very impressed with Malcolm "Tipping Point" Gladwell.

I always have the feeling that I am getting an intellectual hustle but don't have the time to check it out. Or really care about the subject at hand.

Well, he writes regularly for the New Yorker and I am an over fifty year reader of that magazine.

That should count for something on his side, eh? The magazine is one of the most thoroughly fact checked in the world.

It isn't the facts that get me. It is the glib assumptions and jarring insights. He likes to contradict conventional wisdom. He also likes to make conventional wisdom up.

A premise might be that "we all believe something" which I often do not. Another might be that "we all think that something is linked with something else". I don't.

Often I can see the fallacy of his conclusions, "that almost anyone could be a teacher" or that "success in the NFL cannot be predicted, any quarterback might do well". Laughably wrong.

And so on.

This is all occasioned by yet another book collecting his articles.

I liked the review headline in the NYTimes Book Review:

The themes of this collection are a good way to characterize the author himself: a minor genius who unwittingly demonstrates the hazards of statistical reasoning.

For your further fun in deconstructing Gladwell, here is the entire review: Malcom Gladwell, Eclectic Detective.

Conclusion. Gladwell is an excellent middle brow journalist with a flair for provocative subjects. But not one you would want to make any serious life conclusions on.

Labels: books

FOR REAL

This is very touching.

My solemn meeting on Veterans Day with President Obama at my friend's resting place in Arlington

A tough reporter meets a tough and tender President.

Enough said.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

But not many of us gays have it.

I mean, he has been in office for 10 months so why hasn't he paid us back? More than the hate crimes bill, the HIV immigration thing and countless appointments of gay people as well as administrative orders about committed couples in government service.

He hasn't anything else to do right?

Entitled assholes. Selfish and immature.

But that aside, perhaps this will help today.

THE STRATEGY FOR DADT REPEAL?

I have said all along that this is what they were going to do. Methodically and absolutely.

And while we are at it, there aren't enough votes to repeal DOM. So, cool your jets and write to your Senator or Congresswoman. That's where the friction is.

Labels: gay military, gay rights

NEW WEATHERMAN

I am a weather nut. I want to know it all.

In Boston, there was plenty to satisfy me.

Here, not so much.

"Clear, dry, breezy"

Day after day. Only the temperature changes.

But now, the local agricultural outfit, the water district, has a new weather guy.

Not many people realize that we live on the edge of one of the most fertile agricultural areas in the country. The eastern Coachella Valley (our valley) and the Imperial Valley just south and east of us. We have big irrigation—the District— and also need to know things like the transpiration rate and any hazards to harvest.

That is why he is there.

Look at today's report.

Discussion...

Warm front spreading quite a bit of cloudiness over So California now. Very unorganized moisture swath overhead. Lots of Virga falling aloft, but not reaching the surface. Scattered sprinkles may occur today. A cold front will sag thru by Friday AM, and some cool, dry W-NW winds behind front. This should dry out and cool off the nights, thus 39F possible for the Thermal area by Saturday AM.

Extended Forecast...

The jet stream is being forced northward again by developing high pressure systems due west of California. I believe they are called stationary or blocking Hadley Cells. Once the jet synchronizes with the warm ocean temps..just in and around Hawaii, a warm plume should develop, and that should begin to break down the blocking high.

Current Weather Obs In the Coachella Valley:

Palm Springs: Clouds, 67F RH 29% Wind NW 5mph.
Thermal: Cloudy, 57F RH 62% Winds N 3mph.

I will let you do your own research.

Every day it is like this. Excellent.

I live in fear that some bureaucrat is going to tell him to smooth it out and cut it down. I have written several praiseful emails to him to let him know that I am ready to fight any of the bastards off who try to edit and censor him.

Weather. You can't get much better stuff to think about. It is all around us. It affects our disposition. It will rain on our parade.

You gotta know about it.

Labels: desert, weather

VETERANS

I am not a veteran. I was in the US Army Reserve, ROTC. But I didn't serve two years of active duty.

I was a 6 month wonder and then spent 6 years in the active reserve. But I didn't even do that. I have written here about my sparse service to my country. I am not proud of it but there it is. I did correspondence courses and meaningless summer camps to fulfill my obligation. Not much experience. And no vet benefits. Good. I don't deserve anything.

My Dad is the veteran of the family.

He was "too old" to be drafted at 39 so he volunteered for the last half of WWII.

He enlisted in the Navy and was put through all the same training as the young guys. He passed with flying colors.

Then he went to radar school. Radar was new then.

He took his learning to the little radar shack at the top of the bridge on a destroyer escort.

The USS Ebert.

Can you imagine? They have the ship in Wikipedia. Some old grizzled vet has gone through all the ships and made an entry for them. Good for him.

There were "countless" North Atlantic crossings. Rocking and rolling. A number of sub attacks. Depth charges.

Then to the Pacific for the finish of the war where they were hit by a kamikaze with a few deaths and no damage to the ship.

My dad had a piece of shrapnel in his neck when he came home and a lot of bad dream material which he worked on for many years.

He never told much about the War until the end and then not much.

It was hard at home being without him. I can still remember seeing his bus off in the early morning dark. Leaves stirring in the wake of the bus.

But that was nothing compared to his own experience.

He may have, like most men who enlist, a limited view of the reality of war. It was a lot tougher than anyone I know, who went, could have imagined. He never looked back. Never complained. He did his duty.

After the war he joined the American Legion and had a good time with it. He wore his hat, marched in the parades, served as a Commander of the local post and followed the news about other men in other wars.

He was not a right winger. He was a liberal, loving man with a lot of strong resolve to do the right thing. And, in that war, going off to fight was the right thing for him.

I may have resented his being away, particularly the volunteering part. But I saw a lot of other guys, draft dodgers, who sneaked through and they never got over that either. For whatever personal reasons they skipped out and paid a different price.

My dad never spoke against any of these people. He knew in his heart that he did the right thing and that was enough.

For me, I had the reward of pride in my Dad. He was a great guy. He had a great life.

In a way, I also know that he didn't want to miss out on the chance to get "into something" that was way bigger than he was. This is a different kind of thing than patriotism but it is admirable nonetheless. Adventurism. Courage.

My Dad had that in spades too.

My hero.

Labels: family, fathers, nostalgia, patriotism

LAST OF THE BEST

Today's movie was a straggler in the long list of NYTimes Best 1176 films.

Finally, available on disk, John Huston's

The Dead (1987)

Based on the James Joyce masterpiece, this film explores feeling and family. Friends. Here and gone.

It is a lovely small film that we saw when it came out. Oddly, I remember it in black and white. Not. It is in wonderful color. Great cinematography. A gorgeous moving film.

It was Huston's last picture. They all knew it. His son, Tony, wrote the script and his daughter Angelica holds the starring role. A family work.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 because I will want to see it again. And maybe again. Perhaps in another then years.

Labels: best films

INSTITUTION

Dave sent this:

Last serving, to go; Brigham’s only Boston shop closing after 37 years

I ate at Brighams every day for a number of years. Lunch. The store in Charles River Plaza. Chicken salad with fries and a black and white frappe.

Gloria was my waitress. I would wait to sit at her station.

Probably one of the reasons they went under was Gloria's generosity with the ice cream in the black and white frappe.

You don't know what a frappe is? Go to Boston. Find out. It is not, emphatically, a milk shake. It is a frappe.

When I read this, I could smell the Brighams. A mix of coffee, a slightly sour ice cream and the top notes of burgers and other grill items.

They had the old fountain style U-bars. Gloria reigned in her U's. Two I think.

Many years before, in an earlier phase of my life, I got ice cream at the Brighams in Harvard Square which was a really old fashioned fountain place.

It was the precursor to the more modern, highly stylized store that I ate at many years later.

They are the victims of corporate selloffs, serial. So finally they ended up in a company that doesn't even know that Brighams exists. Doesn't care. They had already cut health insurance and failed to pay rent for months. Faceless bastards.

Times have changed and it is not some old codger telling you about it either.

Watch this.

Labels: culture, nostalgia

DEEP DOWN

I liked this from John Cole.

The funny thing about all of this is that no matter how bad all their ideas are, no matter how disastrous their governance has been, no matter how many horrible things they have done to the economy and this country, what really is killing the Republican party is that deep down, they are just complete assholes. You see it in the way they treat women, you see it in the way they treat minorities, you see it in the way they treat homosexuals, you see it in the way they treat anyone who is not a white Christian, and you see it in the way they treat anyone who disagrees with them slightly about anything. They just have no respect for anyone, and it shows. People don’t like to be treated like crap, and grown-ups don’t want to be associated with people who yell “You lie” or scream “socialism” or “Hitler” or accuse you of being a terrorist whenever they don’t get their way.

The whole item is here

Labels: republican whack jobs

THE REAL STORY

Today's movie was the Polish film

Katyn (2009)

which tells the true story of the Katyn Massacre in Poland.

Caught between the advancing German and Russian armies (there was a short peace pact between Hitler and Stalin) more than 20,000 surrendered Polish officers were killed while POW.

For some years the Germans blamed the Russians who denied it and after the Germans surrendered the occupying Russians blamed the Germans.

The Russians did it but the new regime kept the myth alive even as eyewitnesses were taken and killed.

At the same time as the massacre, tens of thousands of intellectuals and political leaders were, indeed, taken by the Germans and imprisoned then killed.

This film shows the lies and the truth.

I have been interested in this period's history for some time. To some extent, the knowledge that I had about Katyn was historical. In my head. As horrible as it was I did not feel the gut part.

This film remedied that situation.

It is quite good. A little hard to follow the people as they grow and go through the ten years of time covered. A little loose towards the end.

But very good, nonetheless. I will give it a 3 out of Netflixt5. I could not bear to see it again.

Labels: film, films

MAC IS BACK

The repair guy called yesterday. He couldn't find anything wrong with my iMac except that it was running a script for a backup software (Non-Mac Carbonite) which is incompatible with the new Snow Leopard, not updated. And apparently running over RAM capacity.

Well, that is enough for trouble.

I had ordered 4GB memory to replace my 1GB, so he put that in and turned the Carbonite off. Disabled it. It was probably running all day trying to "catch up" to the uncatchupable.

I am looking at my iStat Pro settings and see that with four windows open and the widget board on, I am using more than one GB of memory right now.

I.5

The poor machine was starving for memory. No wonder it froze up.

A side note. I am having trouble typing this. In only four days I adapted back to the small PowerBook typeboard and now I am back on the standard. This will pass.

Do I notice a difference with the 4GB?

Yes!

The connections are lightening fast. Boom. I hope that the fumbling movies will be over but I suspected they were the servers' problems. We will see. For now I am happy to have my machine back again.

Labels: computer, macintosh

TRIPPING

Today's movie was

Eldorado (2008)

This is a weird little road trip / buddy movie with some nice anti-Hollywood turns.

A kind of ne'er do well finds a pathetic housebreaker / drug addict in his house and, unable to detach, takes him back home.

Hence the buddies and, since home is near the border (we are in Belgium), hence the road trip.

There is a kind of absurdist twist to their encounters. A nudist named Alain Delon. Like that.

In the middle of the trip, things take a U-turn from funny to sad and tragic. But not too tragic.

I liked it. So did some other people. It won a prize at Cannes. The reviewer at the link pours on the symbolism and all if you have an appetite for that. Mostly, I just watch the movies.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film, films

BULL BY THE HORNS

The President went to the Hill today and ran a pep rally for the Democrats.

President's Pep Rally

I read that you could hear the caucus cheering the "fired up and ready to go" chant all over the building.

His most persuasive argument to the laggards?

Look at Owens, the guy fom the NY23 who beat the GOoPers campaigning for reform.

This is what he has been waiting for. The final push.

The other day someone listed his ten decisions so far. Letting Congress draft the reform bill was the overwhelming choice of all the pundits queried.

They didn't ask me but I would have said the same.

Labels: Administration Obama

PAST CONFUSION

Today's film was

Plus tard tu comprendras / One Day You'll Understand (2008)

This is a slow moving examination by a son of his mother's dual family identity during WWII. He has two sets of grandparents. One Catholic the other Jewish.

The Jewish grandparents are taken during the occupation. The Catholic grandparents take their flat and posessions. Their daughter, his mother, grows up and still lives in the same apartment.

None of this is very apparent in the beginning as the son tries to work it out but we tumble long before he does. His mother will not answer his questions. She wants to forget.

The movie is good in and of itself. At another level, we have Jeanne Moureau as the mother.

Every great actress and beauty needs a good part in her final years and this is Moureau's. Her beauty has changed. She radiates spiritual strength and great wisdom.

I enjoyed the film and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

WAITING

Here is the second part of last week's list of things waiters need to do or not do.

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 2)

I am printing this because I am a life long restaurant patron and the list almost totally echoes my own mental list. So many clunkers.

My pet on this list is "you guys".

This is particularly galling in a gay context. It is obvious that the server doesn't know how to deal with the whole male thing. I didn't know that they did this to hets also.

It is not necessary, if you think of it, to say "you anything". Just "can I help you?" is great.

I don't think that he mentioned touching or, worse, leaning on a chair. My chair.

But that is so beyond the pale you wouldn't think it need mention. Yes it does.

Here, if you missed it, is (Part 1).

It is too late for me. I don't go out to eat that much anymore. Sometimes I think that I have been driven inside by servers.

I also think this is just fun to read. The guy has a great voice.

I too am fine with having a burger served with tattoos and piercings.

Labels: culture, food

CRUNCH

I am in computer hell. The iMac has been peculiar all week and now is down and out. In the shop.

I will try to keep the blog going with the laptop. My old reliable PowerBook G4 Titanium. Never on the fritz.

We spent the day taking the iMac in and finding my registration number for the AppleCare guarantee thing. Warranty.

All is well. I found it, they put it into the system, it will cost me nothing.

But I am going to have them install more memory to 4 GB. It is 1GB now.

So it will come home a better machine.

I have backup although I am worried that I have no idea how to install it. But that is a later step when baby comes home.

Booker got a lot of riding today. First to the store and then to the Mac place. Over 90 minutes on the road.

He is the winner of the day. He had a great time.

DESPINNING THE BULLSHIT

Once more, the wonderful Gale Collins give us some perspective. And laughs. The idiots.

Hark! The Voters Speak!

Labels: election, media

THE GREATEST

Another hero gone.

Carl Ballantine dies at 92

I know that he was on McHales Navy and all but I am more interested in his career as a great comic magician.

He was on all the tv variety shows.

His timing was impeccable. He was actually a pretty good magician but it never came out. His tricks all blew up in his face.

The other thing was that, objectively, the act was very simple and plain. Often the same jokes. And he was still hilarious. It is all in the delivery. The innate spirit of the man.

Many laughs over many years. Carl Ballantine. The Worlds Greatest Magician.

I love that he wanted his ashes scattered at Santa Anita. "He loved the ponies".

Labels: heroes, obituary