Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WIKIMADNESS
Actually the world seems to be responding rather well to the latest data dump by WikiLeaks.
I liked the NYTimes editorial this morning.
I don't think that I have heard anything unexpected in the reports so far. Some things are funny. Sarkozi as the "emperor without clothes". I suppose some things are personally embarrassing. But we know all this stuff more or less.
There will be some bits about the Bush renditions and all. There are notes about Guantanamo.
Perhaps some lives are now in danger but that is hard to credit at this point. In any event, we will not learn who they are.
Some think that this will lead to more secrecy. Perhaps. But I imagine not. People will always exchange frank comments behind the lines of public knowledge. It is part of the human game. Have a front, keep it up and snicker behind and talk rough and tough when you want to get a point across.
I lived through the period of The Pentagon Papers.
While their exposure of government lies, including those of President Johnson, was shocking, it wasn't the information itself that was the surprise. It was that the lying had been so systematic and planned out. Everyone knew they were lying. This was merely the proof.
The idea that someone would steal the high security reports was the shocker. And then that the NYTimes would publish.
Maybe there is a smoking gun in this dump of data. I think not. All the speculation that goes on about what is "really" happening is usually rather accurate. It is the group cloud of opinion and data gathering. Almost always right.
I do get pissed off at the head of the WikiLeaks gang, Assange. I think that he is a slippery arrogant bastard on a power trip but most people who take risks like this are. Assholes with a purpose. Watch out for them. They are often successful because they don't give a shit what people think of them.
Labels: government
COLD AS ICE
Today's film was Alexander Sokurov's
Krug Vtoroy / The Second Circle (1990)
A son visits his father for the weekend and finds him dead.
His struggles to say a proper goodbye along with the cold and mechanical, anger filled bureaucracy is a metaphor for a Russia whose heart is dying. Cancer for the dad, cancer for the state.
We are in the "second circle" of Dante's Inferno.
In Siberia.
The metaphor given, what follows in the film is a beautiful attempt by the son to have a spiritual connection to his father and his life. Interrupted by the machinery of death, he must muddle through without the necessary cash or any support whatsoever.
He does pretty well.
By cleaning and dressing the corpse, providing a kind of wake with himself, dreams included, he is able to feel the loss and somehow bypass the lack of support from the authorities who want papers, seek delays because it is the weekend (the son packs his dad in snow to keep him through the days) and so on.
The film is pure Sokurov show not tell. There is very little dialogue. There are very long shots with almost shocking closeups following.
The corpse is a character in the drama as are a few really nasty people who prepare for what will be a pauper's funeral. Otherwise the son, Pyotr Aleksandrov, is alone.
Photography first rate and the ambient sound track punctuates the mood and thrust of the film as clearly as any other element. Sokurov. Genius.
And there is a consuming blaze at the end.
I would see this again any time. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
Monday, November 29, 2010
WAR AND PEACE
Today's film was Alexsander Sokurov's
In this film, Alexandra takes a military train to visit her grandson who is serving just behind the lines in Chechnya.
They can do that in Russia. She takes a military train and is handed from one soldier to another until she gets to her destination.
This is a gentle film. The relationship between the old woman and the grandson is contentious and quite beautiful. They say what the feel and mean. No holds barred. And they don't get drama into it. Acceptance.
There is no plot. Alexandra visits and we visit with her. We see all the young men ache for home when they see her. Some are brave enough to come close. A look. A touch. They become boys in her presence which is formidable.
She wanders off base to the local market and meets a Chechnyan woman and becomes friends. We see the effect of war on the men on the other side.
Sokurov is a film maker that follows his own muse and does not mind being unconventional.
Nothing bad happens in this. We expect it but we do not get that. We get compassion and caring and the horror of war. The effect of it on professional soldiers. The grandson is an officer who takes men into the field for mop up. He has bad dreams and feels guilt about killing others who were formally a part of the USSR.
The film is very emotional. The play of faces and the spare words leave us with a lot of room to feel.
I saw this film before.
So that makes it a Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, November 28, 2010
GHOSTS
Have you ever looked at a building that has been around for many years, decades, longer? And thought what this was like back at a certain time. A time of war or other calamity?
In Europe, I have looked at older buildings and wondered how they survived the war and what they looked like when they were under siege.
Here is a dramatic answer to some of those questions about some locations in Vienna, Prague and Berlin.
Composites of present day scenes with WWII events.
Take a look. Spooky and somehow wonderful as they show a renewal. A new day without the bad times.
The Ghosts of World War II's Past
Labels: history
DESERT ICE
It is our first holiday in the new condo.
At first, we were going to forego the holiday decorations. But that didn't seem right.
We have a new Advent calendar and that needed to be set up.
That meant that John went into the decoration boxes which yielded more necessities.
The holiday card bowl, the little fake tree in a burlap bag that we put on the table, the wreath for the new Volvo that used to be on the Sebring, the candy cane thing for the gate that jingles, sort of, and makes Booker bark.
This is all John's doing. I applaud.
We will put up the "antique" aluminum tree and he secretly bought some icicle lights for the high window. Everyone will see them. Especially as they are the new LED type. Yikes.
Labels: gay life, holidays, life
POLAR BEAR CLUB
As it got colder this week, I retreated from my daily pool routine of three laps, ten minutes of sun (front), another lap in the pool, ten minutes sun (back) and then a last lap before I go home.
I felt the sun when I walked out to see how it was but I wasn't convinced enough to put on my bathing suit and go try it out.
Today, I said "the hell with it" and went.
The reason for this is that it was fucking cold in Long Beach. A record last night of 38F for the day.
I wore shorts. I walked on the beach. I got my feet wet. I went to dinner and we sat on the patio and it rained on us a little.
I got through it all.
So today, I went to the pool. It was windy and the air temp was 67. But the pool water was 82. I jumped in and it was warm!
And I got out and, while there was a chill in the wind, it was fine in the sun. That is what makes the difference. There is no moisture in the air and, if I am in the sun, I am baking. UV. Ultra violet heat.
And in the middle of my routine, an older woman came (with a bathing cap) and dove into the pool and did about the same.
So I am OK with the winter swimming.
Hardened.
SWAN SONG
Today's movie was Alexsander Sokurov's
Altovaya sonata. Dmitri Shostakovich / Sonata for Viola (1981)
A documentary devoted to Dimitry Shostakovich, mostly wedding contemporary film footage with his various works.
The Sonata for Viola was his last work, finished on the day of his death. He never heard it performed. Obviously.
His temporary "disgrace" at the Communist Party's rejection of his 8th and 9th Symphonies is shown without comment as is his award of the Lenin Prize after things cooled down with the aparatchiks.
The music is great. The pictures are interesting.
I am glad that I saw it but it has a kind of disruption all through it that is distracting. Back and forth in time and topic.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 or, maybe, a 2 if I like it less on reflection. I like the music which gives it points the film part shouldn't have. He did the music not the film makers.
Labels: films
ONE STANDS UP, WILL OTHERS?
Senator Lugar Charts His Course Against the Winds
Lugar is an old style Republican. A good guy who you don't mind disagreeing with because he has decent manners, does not go in for blood lust and looks at the facts before he decides. He doesn't mind taking in a golf game with the Prez and getting photographed. And smiling.
This is out of step with the people who now think that they are running the Party.
I personally think that the good guys will win. That means people like Lugar. Or the GOP will just fade away and a new Party take its place.
Time will tell.
In the meantime it is nice to see someone who has the balls to live by his own convictions and tries to do the governing job he was elected for.
Labels: Republicans
RETURNED
I had a great less than 24 hours in Long Beach. Mission accomplished. I even got my feet wet in the Pacific. Dinner at the Piccolo with spumoni ice cream and home before 9AM this morning. And a great visit.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
DAY TRIP
Well, overnight.
I am off around noon today to go to Long Beach to visit our friend Randy and to put my foot on a beach.
It just has to be done every once in awhile. There is no beach here. Not even close.
We do have the Salton Sea but that is such a mess it doesn't count.
The other thing I will do there is to have dinner at the Café Piccolo which features great Italian food with the best spumoni ice cream I have ever found in any place.
It is not that stuff that comes in a box with wax paper on presliced triangles or blocks. It is a full scoop from a swirled big can of real ice cream.
Then, tomorrow, I will come home as early as I can.
The postcard shows a place on the beach called The Pike. It is not like that now. No rollercoaster. None of that.
They have revived some aspects of it but, mostly, the beach part of Long Beach is a long low flat expanse with a nice wide concrete walk and bike path that runs its length down the middle. There are no waves. The water is way far away from the beach part. They should call it "wide beach". Of course, that might not last too long as the waters rise.
The Queen Mary is there and they have a great aquarium. I have done all that.
This time it is just the water, some sand and the spumoni ice cream to say nothing of a longish visit.
Friday, November 26, 2010
TRIAD
Today's film was Alexsander Sokurov's
Smirennaya zhizn / A Humble Life (1997)
This is the third film meditation on this disc. All take place in Japan.
An 82 year old woman lives and works in an ancient home on a small island making funeral kimonas.
We watch and listen as she goes about her daily life. In the last part, she reads us poetry that she has written.
This is, again, very slow action. Focus on sound. Heavily engineered to the ambient.
Some monks interfere in the day to get a handout. She adopts the same pace in dealing with them.
There is scenery too.
The effect of all this is, as with the other two films in this series, mesmerizing. I am held by the absolute simplicity of what is and what is not happening.
This kind of film is not for everyone. I am not sure that it is for me, actually. But it is worth seeing to get the range that can be reached with such basic material. Light and sound. A film! A movie!
I will give the disc a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
TERMINATION
You may have read somewhere that we will, in January, have a new governor in California.
A Democrat. A man experienced in government.
He will replace someone who is neither.
Our current occupant of the position was elected in pique at Gray Davis.
Sorry Gray. We should have kept you.
Our leader is going out the way he came in. Rudely, loudly. Booed by sports fans. Reviled by his own party. Bu still, head unbowed, he is going to fight to the bitter end.
"I don't buy into the lame-duck thing", he says.
Schwarzenegger making some scenes before making his exit
Goodbye Arnold.
Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
Labels: California, republican whack jobs
REAL WORLD
With the "flat earth society" headed towards Washington D.C., It is worth looking at some real life just a few miles from their new doorstep.
Many Norfolk residents hope their problems will serve as a warning.Front-Line City in Virginia Tackles Rise in Sea“We are the front lines of climate change,” said Jim Schultz, a science and technology writer who lives on Richmond Crescent near Ms. Peck. “No one who has a house here is a skeptic.”
Meanwhile, the GOPs fiddle while Rome floods.
Rep. Joe Barton (TX), that intellectual giant who chided the government for blaming BP, says that his god made the world and will protect it for man's enjoyment. Nothing to worry about here. Either his god or he is an idiot.
Another GOoPer says that CO2 isn't a poison gas because it is in the air we breathe in and out. Put him in one of those humane slaughter tanks with all CO2 and see how he makes out with the good air.
These bastards are not all dimwits. Some are wily.
They are all beholden to the energy interests who will fight this thing down to the last gasp. Theirs and ours.
The question is when we get to the tipping point.
Norfolk is tipping.
Some of this cannot be saved even now. It is bad money after good. The most valuable real estate becomes worthless.
Soon, enough will be losing by this that there will be a huge outcry. Can it be soon enough?
It is too bad that we have to depend on economic necessity to dictate what should be thoughtful, science based decisions.
Right now, I would put my money on the energy guys and advise the real estate interests, mostly little guys, to move back from the edge.
Labels: criminal morons, nature, republican whack jobs
Thursday, November 25, 2010
THANKSGIVING
The turkey is ready. I roasted a breast a few weeks ago and portions were/are in the freezer. One pack now thawing.
I made the pumpkin pie last night.
I went to a Meeting this morning and said the "words" to my friends there.
We will not eat in the afternoon but at the usual time with the usual layout. No stuffing the people but there will be stuffing with the thawed turkey. Gravy. Jellied cranberry sauce. Pretty good for someone who doesn't believe in a cook-off eat-a-thon holiday.
In my heart, it is Thanksgiving more than usual.
We had a very big year.
We "decided" to buy this condo on May 26th and made an offer. More, the condo and the times decided us.
We put the house up for sale at the same time and we sold it within a few weeks.
We got rid of half our stuff. More or less.
We moved here June 28 just a month after we bought it.
The house closed on July 28.
In just over two months, our lives changed irrevocably. Without a hitch. No drama.
A lot of that has to do with our "time in the saddle". We finally know how to do shit without a lot of trouble. One step at a time as it comes up.
And we were very, what people tend to call, fortunate. Lucky.
No one, no one, no one, has sold a house and gotten pretty much what they want around here. A part of this, of course, is harnessing in expectations. We did that too.
We are very happy in our new home. It serves us quite well. Both the location and the layout of the house.
Even Booker, who gave up a yard, has adapted to it by walking more and being a bit older and less inclined to need a run at the border fences every hour or so.
I think that he is grateful for the compact shape too.
For some reason, he has also earned his place, after a long lobbying period, on the bed when we aren't in it and on the couches when he wants. A net gain for him. No loss to us.
I just thought I would mention this. I wrote extensively about the move when it happened but the sum up is very heartening and worth a good dollop of gratitude along with the pumpkin pie.
I am not much for holidays but this year surely has a lot to celebrate. Have a piece of punkin'. It's a vegetable!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
SOULFUL
Today's film was Alexsander Sokurov's
Dolce (2000)This another short one, an hour.
The widow of the celebrated Japanese writer Toshio Shimao Dolce (1917-1986) who talks about her life and loss particularly the loss of her mother and father. She also is seen with her handicapped mute daughter.
I can see you all running out to get this disc!
It is pretty depressing in an uplifting sort of way.
Sokurov's approach is to let her speak with long, broad, silences. Again, a trademark, the highly sensitized soundtrack. Weather, rain, house sounds.
It is mesmerizing.
And sleepy too.
There is a lot of mist. Closeups.
There is no doubt that this is experimental. Whether it is good or not depends. It is worth seeing for the triumphant ending.
I just see it as an exercise in film making that anyone interested in film should take a look at. Sokurov takes many risks with this work and it is worth taking in.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
MUST BE SHOPPED
You (or I) would never get them to line up like this.
But, who knows?
It is a funny concept anyway.
MOODY
Today's film was a "chamber work" by the great Russian film maker Alexsander Sokurov
Vostochnaya elegiya / Oriental Elegy (1996)
Muted color, scenes with fog, faces floating in space, voices telling what it is like on "the other side". An island where the narrator believes, after wandering through it, that he can stay forever.
There are sounds which are a Sokurov trademark. Whoo hoos and bumps. All for a nice effect. Tranquility. Be careful not to nod off.
"What do I know of happiness" in life. Smiling broadly all the while the person is saying it. And again.
Mesmerizing.
I am not sure what it has to do with the Orient but it is OK with me.
I liked it. And it only lasted 45 minutes.
There are three such works on this disc. I will be watching the other two next days. I am also going to watch a few of his features that are available. Actually, rewatch. Fives, all.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5. It succeeds admirably at its goals. It is just that I am not all that into this sort of experiential cinema.
Labels: films
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
OUT OF THE CLOSET
We used to enjoy the touring performances of Chanticleer, an all male acapella singing group.
Mostly classical. No crossover to pop. Serious.
There was never any doubt that the group was also all gay male but no one ever dropped a bead. Not once.
Our gaydar told us all we needed to know.
Of course this was Symphony Hall tailcoat or tux kind of presentation.
They were/are a great group.
But something has happened! The tux are gone. The guys are out without a doubt. And the music is a bit looser at least for this video which is quite enjoyable.
Labels: music
LOOKS ARE DECEIVING
Nothing in this video is real. More at The ultimate in CGI trickery
Labels: technology
Monday, November 22, 2010
INNER LIFE
Today's film was Jan Troell's
Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick / Everlasting Moments (2008)
In this beautiful period story, the wife of an alcoholic wife-beater, Maria, finds inner peace and beauty through the discovery of photography.
With the help of a photographer who takes an interest, she discovers that her way of seeing the world is not the usual. It is deep and moving for her. She learns to capture images the way that she sees them.
Her situation with the husband does not change but she changes.
I know. This sounds very unlikely. But it is a "true" story and one which is, in the film experience, quite rich and fulfilling to watch unfold. It is also my own experience of watching some relationships that are like this one.
She is embarked on a spiritual journey.
The alcoholic stuff rings true. The husband Siegg is a great guy until he has a drunk on. Then look out.
There are kids and part of the story is about them. The narrator is one of the daughters.
The story is a long one spanning the time of two separate casts for the children.
Life is not easy but it is beautifully photographed. This is not a paradox.
We do not see a lot of her own photography but the film is said to use her "eye" in various scenes.
I liked this film very much as I have enjoyed Troell's work in the past. The Emigrants. The New Land, Hamsun.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
REMEMBER WHEN
Today is the 47th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
It is a day of memory for many of us who were "there".
Here is a guy who was there, there.
Clint HIll, Ms. Kennedy's Secret Service man.
When I say we were "there", I mean that we felt the event and its aftermath very closely. Most people can still remember where they were and what they were doing at the time they heard.
I was out on an "illegal" coffee break, my friend John and I. We snuck out a lot as there was no coffee break allowed where we worked. A vote had been taken years ago to exchange the breaks for an early out. No one asked me, so I took my break and went home later. Well, maybe not that later. A small rebellion against the biggest company that I ever worked in.
We were coming up 15th Street in Philadelphia and there was a bar open already just next to the entrance to our building. This seriously irked the Presbyterian owners of the Company. After all, they were the ones who didn't have coffee breaks. At least we weren't in the bar.
But the bar had a big window and a television and people were going nuts. Crying. Wringing their hands and coming out into the street. This is how we heard the news.
At that point it was only that he had been shot and taken to the hospital.
That is it. Freeze frame.
There are other memories of the weekend. Jack Ruby killing Oswald on live television. That happened the morning we had to take our son to the hospital with lower body pain which turned out to be a hernia.
Quite a time.
Nothing else stands out from it, not even the attempt on Reagan.
Everyone thought that it was the end of an era. A very short era.
And it was.
Labels: history, life, nostalgia
Sunday, November 21, 2010
GO FOR A RIDE
Sit back and enjoy.
I love Pat Metheny.
And I just ran into him this afternoon over at Bill in Exile.
Earphones advised as well as the usual full screen.
Labels: music
COLD SNAP
We are having snow on the mountains and a chill in the desert.
I wore an overshirt on the Booker-walk this afternoon. Well, the morning also but we expect that.
This will last a week.
I don't know if it will be warm enough in the sun to resume pool sitting mid-day.
But probably.
And a swim. The water is at 85 degrees.
I know that it is colder elsewhere. 30s back east. Whew.
I am only talking 60s here.
Well, it is Thanksgiving week. Over the river and through the woods sort of thing. Snow. A great song if you don't have to do it.
Labels: holidays, seasons, weather
ISOLATION
Today's film was Aleksandr Sokurov's
It is the last days of World War II and Emperor Hirohito is having dinner in his bunker. Isolated from the total world except for his two attendants and occasional meetings with the military, he is oblivious to the details of the American invasion.
His military panel, so intimidated by his divinity as the Sun God, presents outrageously optimistic reports except for the Navy guy who is not having any. Through this and other clues, the boss gets the picture.
The rest of the film explores his final thoughts before and including meeting with another god, Douglas MacArthur the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces.
We see them meet. Here is the actual moment. In the same room that we see in the film!
Sokurov paints a convincing picture of the man behind the god mask. He is not much into the role either. Eventually, as part of the deal, and with considerable personal relief he will renounce the divinity.
The personal scenes are almost upbeat. His relief is palpable.
On his way to MacArthur's headquarters, he and we see the devastation that the war has wrought. Destruction. Refugees. Barbarity.
It turns out the Emperor speaks English. The talk between he and the Supreme sort of miss each other on different levels but hit on the important. There is no doubt about what the new boss wants the old one to do.
The two actors in these roles, Issei Ogata and ex-pat American actor, Robert Dawson are superb. Ogata is a stage actor and I think this makes considerable difference in his portrayal of the inner man. Big gestures and affect.
Also, the conversations of the American troops surrounding the Japanese is audible and, naturally, in English so it is especially enjoyable to see the two worlds collide. A session with photographers is hilarious.
It is like a meeting between two members of royalty who drop the masks but, at the same time, talk in parables.
The sound track. Throughtout the film there is a subtle but omnipresent background of sounds. Booms, artillery? Planes. Inside sounds of beep beep telegraph. Hums. Footsteps. The feeling that there is a hive of activity around the Emperor but neither he or we will get to see or touch any of it.
I lived through all this. It is very personal to watch, somehow. My Dad's ship docked in Tokyo harbor and he went on shore. He lived in the War for years. And he never, ever forgave the Japanese. He would not even buy a car with Japanese parts. Knowingly. This film is the other side of the story although there is no gloss on the evils of the Japanese war effort or their objectives. We are left to believe or not Hirohito's claim that it was carried out at other's initiative and once started, he had no choice but to fight on.
I have seen several of Sokurov's films and really liked them. I will shortly do a fest of them with repeats on two.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5. I will want to see it again too.
Labels: films
Saturday, November 20, 2010
TRAVEL GUIDE
This is so accurate it hurts.
INCREASING AND DECREASING YOUR SELF ESTEEM
Today's movie was
She's Way Out of My League (2010)
with Jay Baruchel and a cast of stereotypes.
But he is, for the most part, very good when they let him be good.
Most of the time he is called upon to do dorky set pieces. This is a riff on Beauty and the Beast and he is the Beast.
He is from the same mold as Shia LeBeouf and you know how I am about that kind of boy.
The other thing that is good about this picture is that there is not one shit or fart joke in here. There is a set piece on the hazards of pubic shaving but you never have to see anything and the results are mostly suggested.
It is funny and kind to its characters. Another rarity.
No one is demeaned unless they want to be. Sort of.
I watched this forwarned so I cannot complain. There is a strong message about the pitfalls of classical attractiveness for both B and B.
My objection is that they took a basically sweet story with nice actors and characters and added implausible slapstick where none is necessary. I can just see a committee making the director go back and put in some stupid shit because it was too tame or something.
I am willing to put up with that if the message of this film is delivered to all the boys (and girls) who don't feel that good about themselves. Doors can open if you reach out and pull or push. But it starts inside.
Maybe it takes a bit of wrecking an airport lounge to get them to watch.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Friday, November 19, 2010
HOW THEY SAVED DETROIT
Here is my man Austan Goolsbee back with his white board to tell us about the success of the auto bailout.
Labels: Administration Obama, economy
PARALLEL LIVES
Today's film was Catherine Breillat's
Barbe Bleue / Bluebeard (2008)
Two little girls in the fifties read the story to each other. We see the story enacted.
In many ways, almost all ways, this is just a medieval costume drama about a young woman, actually a girl, in the clutches of a fiendish villain. But that is not really what we see. The villain is sedate. He is tender. He withdraws when he is "too big" for the youngster on the wedding night. And so on.
But she violates his trust in one respect and that is to go open the door to the room where he keeps the cadavers of his past wives.
The deal is that she will join them because she can't be trusted.
Things do not turn out quite the way we expect or at least the way I expect. Or, for that matter how Bluebeard or the girl expect. Or for the two girls, remember them? Reading the story.
The film is short and sweet with some medieval dancing and other twaddle but the central force is between this ugly man/brute and the sweet girl.
We almost do not notice the girls reading the story until, well, until.
I liked it. Once is enough but I kept going through the medieval twaddle which didn't last too long.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, November 18, 2010
THE WRECKAGE OF AMERICA
I can't tell you how pathetic I think that this all is.
Don't take this personally if you have as many "apps" or are as coy and insufferable as David Pogue. You can't help it. You have been seduced and reduced to bits.
I really do think that this is the funeral pyre of American, hence World, culture. I mean it!
What a harvest of time wasters. Fake calls. As if the real ones aren't bad enough.
I know. I carry on about this on a fairly regular basis but no one is listening. Probably because they are all blowing into their microphone and playing "an instrument" on four holes.
Get your fucking kid a real instrument. Get them out in the park to play. Rip the phone out of their hands and put it on the shelf for a few days.
I have given up on the adults.
Think of the waste of engineering and scientific talent on this kind of shit. How about if it were applied to some of the world's real problems.
OK. I give up. For this time.
Labels: computer, cults, culture, engineering, environment
CITIZEN'S PICK
If you read the news and blogs, you will read that the loss of some Democratic Governor seats all but assures a skewed redistricting toward the GOP.
But not in California. We voted that shit out a couple of years ago.
Citizens picked to draw political boundaries
This is a somewhat complicated process but one which insures clean deliberations. That is not to say that the parties won't try to get next to them somehow.
I am proud of my state.
We may not have any money and are headed into another debt ridden fiscal year but we have a new, clean way to get our districts right and that includes, incidentally, the State assembly.
Details are here: We Draw The Lines
Incidentally, the original beast, the Gerrymander, was invented in my last home state of Massachusetts. Actually a Commonwealth.
Labels: California, elections, politics
COP ON THE BEAT
We had some night time excitement last night.
The doorbell rang after we had gone to bed and it was a policeman.
I ran down all the things I might have done in an instant.
He said that we had left the garage door open.
I thanked him.
Two things. Booker was right on his case. The alarm bark.
I know that he is good at this during the day and waits until we come to say "OK" before he stops barking.
He did the same last night. I noticed the cop stood well out of the way in case the door flew open. Or maybe in case I had a gat to blow him away. They are very cautious, I notice, especially approaching cars they stop. And rightly so.
The other thing is that there are cops out there patrolling our little out of the way street and that he would stop and let us know we were unsafe with the garage door.
Actually, we do not lock up. Period.
It is just not worth it.
If someone really, really, wanted to get in, there would be no stopping them anyway. All they need to do is break a big slider window.
Smash.
The woman who was here before us had high security. All the sliders had broomsticks in the slots. It makes sense. The place was unattended much of the time. There was no alarm though.
There is a funny armored plate kind of thing on the bedroom door. We can't quite figure that out.
Anyway, we copped a plea. Thanked the (very good looking) man, shut the garage door and went back to bed.
CALIFORNIA HERE HE COMES
This is good. Timothy Egan writes about the advent or third coming of Jerry Brown to our Governor's mansion.
The title is a bit of mockery but the article is not. It admires Brown and his stuff.
Actually, when he was Governor before, he didn't live in the mansion. He had an apartment and a mattress.
I like the part where it says so many people want to mock us as Egan does but they still come here in droves not only to visit, but to live. Still! With all this madness going on.
I don't want to replay the election but isn't it a bit mad that Meg Whitman spent all that money on her campaign? Pissed it down the drain? If there was any message in that at all, it was that she would probably piss our money down the drain too just like Arnie.
Egan does not mention the one unmentionable word in California. Taxes.
Arnold came in and, based on a shallow campaign promise, cut the cost of vehicle registration in the state. That sent a message. The wrong one.
Now they can't get it back and no politician has the backbone to say the truth which is that we need that and we need to add to the present income taxes. To say nothing of repealing Prop 2 1/2 which puts a ceiling on property taxes, only 2.5 % rise a year allowed.
And so on.
I have a lot of optimism about Brown's ability to get taxpayer backing for an increase. And a lot of other things.
If he is nothing else, he is the anti-Arnold and we really need that just now.
Labels: California
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
SAFE
You might imagine that I don't spend a lot of attention to the details of straight sex in the movies.
You would be imagining wrong.
Wrongly?
The thing about straight sex is that there is always a man in the scene. We homo-folks are old hands at selecting out what we want to see from what we, well, just would rather not.
Most of the sexy images that go around today are with both genders. We watch half of the action and fill in the rest with our imagination.
I was surprised in today's movie, The Good Guy (2009) to see the couple use a condom. I never, ever, see this. Never. Ever.
Straight people in film do not have safe sex. They couple without the protection that any healthy person who wants to stay healthy should have. I don't mean in long term marriages. I mean in hooking up.
All the way from James Bond to the most delicate love story, modern heterosexual couples fuck without protection.
But not today. As they moved together, nude, on the bed, in closeup, the woman reached over to the night stand and, hands out of sight, removed the condom wrapper.
She then put it on her guy for the night and then they proceeded. There was even a small joke when he said "wrong end" as she tried to roll it on.
I gasped. What is going on here? It was not a very big deal. It passed in a moment.
Well, this is an indie film. Maybe they didn't get the memo about keeping sex so fantasy like that condoms and other safeties are not needed.
Good for these people. They are doing the right thing.
THE LEAVINGS
I brought home two pretty maple leaves tonight from Booker and my walk.
The trees are in the western section of our complex along a walk that goes behind, between the back yards of units.
These are not your red and golden leaves. They are more a nice ruddy brown and yellow. But they are autumn leaves and the only ones that I know about here except for a stand of maples way out by where we used to walk on Sunday mornings. Near our old house.
But those dropped in January and the leaves were little. These, here, dropped almost on time and the leaves are huge.
So much for the excitement. It is nice to find a touch of back east in such a different climate.
I don't know what we will do with them. Look. Touch. Smell.
I might burn them. I was writing to my son about the smell of burning leaves the other day. Maybe we will have some here.
Labels: horticulture, seasons
WARREN PIECE
I stole the headline from Dave.
Warren Buffet.
Letter to Uncle Sam.
It is certainly to Obama but also all the people who worked so hard to do the right thing.
Pretty Good For Government Work
For those a bit younger than me, if you haven't heard the expression, it was common to address a good enough job that wasn't perfect as "pretty good for government work".
The phrase refers to realistic expectations.
We do not expect a perfect government. Well, some naive ass sitters do.
But governing has never, ever been easy or totally successful.
Thank the gods that our government elected in 2008 had the balls and the strength to move the ball far enough to save us from another Great Depresssion. And shame on those both on the left and right who whine and criticize.
From the other side, incidentally, the phrase has also been applied to salaries for public employees. A two edged verbal implement.
Oh!
And Buffet praises the bushies as well for their part in it.
This is a capitalist's response, of course. But a lot of capitalists have been pretty niggardly with their praise and support. Many, in fact, are at the trough again just as they were when they broke the bubble.
Labels: Administration Obama, Bush 44, economy
URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY
Today's film was Julio DePietro's
This small romantic sort of comedy is loosely based on the Ford Maddox Ford book The Good Soldier but transfers the "battle" to Wall Street.
A team of hot traders, run by Tommy who tells us the story, battle on through their big money days and partying at night. Women are a part of the picture, for clients, for themselves.
A tough place for relationships of any kind.
Tommy enlists a rather square guy to be part of his team. The story proceeds from there.
I was really pulled into this story. In retrospect, I can see some holes and questions but the experience of watching it was totally engrossing. The time flew. I was really interested in these people.
A device here is the dependence on the reliability of the narrator in flashback scenes. Ford's innovation of the time.
The young cast is very good. Fresh and into it.
I liked it very much and would not mind seeing it again.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP
You know, I used to have some marginal respect for John McCain. I could disagree with his positions but he seemed to be the real thing.
But now, some years later, things have changed. I hope it is him. I would hate to be so wrong in the earlier times.
It is no secret, now, that John McCain is a lying asshole who has draped himself in the flag and his war record through countless self serving exploits.
Only now is he shown to be the shameless hack that he has always been both as a hotdogging plane wrecking pilot to his present status as a sort of demented angry old man.
There is more but I will repress myself.
This, with two tapes, shows "Honest John" the "maverick" taking two or more positions on Don't Ask Don't Tell and a few other issues like immigration.
God save us if he had been elected. What a bastard.
A Well Deserved Humiliation for John McCain
Be sure to play the Jon Stewart PSA.
Labels: McCain
ZANY ZOMBIES
Today's movie was
with Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.
This is a very funny movie leavened by Jesse Eisenberg's beautiful acting. He is more than the sum of his parts. Rather than settle into the stereotype nerd role that would be so easy for someone of his physiognomy, he puts great subtlety into his serious and comic persona. I am familiar with the lovelorn virgin thing which is used here but it is new to see him running, jumping, smashing zombies with great relish. A hero.
Woody Harrelson brings us his redneck. Hardened so that his heart seems missing except when it is bleeding on his sleeve. Very good.
Further, the team work between these two actors is exceptional. There are many physical stunts which are clearly their own doing. They joke, they fight, they carry on as the only survivors of a world turned to zombieland. With two exceptions. Sisters, Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone. It is a great breakthrough for Breslin who can now say that she has done her obligatory horror movie. Stone is tough and touching as Eisenberg's love interest.
Well, he is the only young man alive but it goes further than that. Their relationship blossoms and, again, Eisenberg brings real chops to this part of the story.
There is a cameo with Bill Murray. I felt a bit letdown by it but others have seen it as a great addition to the film.
In any case, it is not a big deal and the grand finale occurs at Pacific Playland Amusement Park which is supposed to be the only area in the world that is zombie free. Not.
I would easily see this film again and, as I believe Eisenberg has a long and fruitful career ahead of him, would include it in his film fest which we will have in ten or so years when he has an ouvré. I am looking forward to his work in Social Network. He is becoming a star. In the meantime, we can have fun with this and some of his other comedies.
I first saw him in The Squid and the Whale in which he soared.
I will give this a 4 or 5 out of 5. I will see how it settles between now and the time I have to rate it.
Labels: films
EARTH SHAKING
Dave sent this video along.
Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.
As I try to answer this question, I have to say that I prefer neither as I seldom eat cake or pie.
But on those occasions when I am forced, either by tradition or sudden gluttony, to imbibe, I find that my preference is situational.
During the holidays, it is pie. Pumpkin at Thanksgiving, I have the makings ready for this year's already in the larder. Mince for Christmas. I have the meat but lack the crust.
Cake does not fit into this paradigm of holiday happiness.
On other ad hoc occasions when I get a hunger up for a sweet, it is cake.
The best cake is the coconut cake made with boiled icing locally available at only one shop. They put a pineapple custard layer in the middle.
I can be hijacked, usually by my husband, who adores cake to have it on a birthday or other more obscure occasion but it is usually too icinged with the crisco type of frosting and overly sweet. Never happy.
Here is the thing about cake. I like it more if it has less icing.
A lot of cake is all glop and little actual cake.
To me, the best cake is that which has only a thin layer of frosting on the top. Or pineapple custard in the middle.
My sweet of choice is frozen yogurt. This precludes most other sweets. Hence, the usual answer to the cake or pie question, is "neither".
Monday, November 15, 2010
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
In our house, we lean toward the italian. Spaghetti, sausage and pasta, pizza. We also go out and get chinese once a month. Most of what I cook is just plain American. American Chop Suey or chili which is not anywhere near texmex or mex or anything.
But, hungry for some change, I went Indian tonight.
It is the first recipe that I have gotten on line for quite awhile.
I skipped a number of the offerings that Googled up. Too many moving parts.
But this seemed doable.
I was more after the technology of curry powder. I did remember that it doesn't "take" unless it is heated hard in oil.
Then there is the other reason to have Indian food. I get to fire up the rice cooker. I love that thing.
And another! Chutney.
I am pretty sure that neither chutney or this kind of recipe is remotely like what an Indian would make. But I am happy with it. Even though there is a lot of slicing and dicing. And my audience of diners was happy to see change too.
I KNEW THIS IN MY HEART AND HEAD
Obama's disapproval figures are about 10% that he is not liberal enough.
CNN POLL: Many who disapprove wish Obama were more liberal
So when "they" say he has shitty numbers there is a significant contribution from his own side.
That is the trouble with the center. You get it from both sides.
If you take his approval numbers and add the 10% who are just pissed at him for not delivering the lefty agenda, then he has 58% percent of the house. That ten sure isn't going to vote for the GOoPers.
Of course, I know it doesn't work that way but when you look at the depth of our bench it is a hell of lot deeper than the superficial numbers would show.
Labels: Administration Obama
CONNECTIONS
This is a bit of inside baseball but I just read the NYT review of
which just opened on Broadway with Al Pacino as Shylock and Lily Rabe as Portia.
It is, apparently a triumph for both in a very well directed play.
Lily Rabe is the daughter of the playwright David Rabe and the actress Jill Clayburgh who died, last week, at the young age of 66.
Pacino and Clayburgh were, for a season or two, in the repertory company of The Charles Playhouse in Boston and I had the pleasure of seeing them work together in a number of productions.
They were young and fresh and very exciting. The Charles put on great shows. They were often experimental theater or plays that were to the left of center. They always left me thinking and roiling after a performance. I can still remember a few scenes. Astounding.
This would be 1968-72. I looked it up here.
It isn't a big deal, but there cannot help but be a wonderful connection between the two actors over this.
That Al worked with the mom and now works with the daughter right after the mom's death and that they have a big hit in a very old play. Wow.
Labels: theater
SERVICE WITH A SMILE
Today's movie was Sebastian Silva's
Oh, not another maid vs. family film.
No. This is quite different. It starts the same. A maid with a family for over 20 years is coming apart.
Silva plays with our expectations and turns them around.
Some of the film is very funny. For the most part, stereotypes are avoided. No clichés. The film won some awards. Had a good go-round the art film circuit. I am glad that I saw it.
This film contrasts with the big production I saw yesterday. Silva filmed it in his own growing up house. See the taped interview with the Times review.
It is very simply photographed. There is a lot of show don't tell.
There is a wonderful scene where the daughter, who has been at odds with the maid, realizes that she loves her friend. She is surprised by her feelings and you can see her adult self taking over. Very nice. Not a word is said.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, November 14, 2010
GREAT MEN AND THEIR WIVES
Today's movie was
with Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren. Also James McAvoy and Paul Giomatti.
And there you have it. A tour de force, star billing vehicle with a big story based loosely on a historic situation. Leo Tolstoy and his wife battle to the end while others lurk to coopt the Tolstoy legacy.
This is a film that Merchant-Ivory might have made. Beautiful, pastoral, realistic if not real, sets. A lot of detail about threshing and milking and peasants. Big themes.
I have always felt distanced by all this flummery but it does go down well. As Toylstoy dies, a real pufferoo of a train chugs back and forth outside the last station on the rail between Moscow and the southern Russian border.
I liked McAvoy who seems to stand back from all this and just be a quiet witness. It is through his eyes that we see all this drama unfold. And he has some nice sex scenes with Kerry Condon who seems to cut through all the bullshit as the love interest. Very good, her.
I liked it well enough but once is enough. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Saturday, November 13, 2010
AS THE ACE OF SPADES updated with review
Today's movie was not a movie but a DVD of Lewis Black's latest tour Stark Raving Black (2009)
Black does mostly black humor.
He is very funny, so much so that, at the end of the concert, there is a bit of a guilty shame attached to having such a good time and laughing so hard so long.
Black does transgressive humor in a time when that is hard to do, so much is now permitted.
The thing is that he does it in a very intelligent way. He is not brutal. He does not do insult humor. He will offend but you will forgive.
I have liked him from the first moment that I saw him. I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5 because it is always worth seeing him again and again in the same routines although all of this material was new to me.
Labels: films
LUDDITE
I just read this.
Top 10 Must-Have Apps for the iPhone, and Some Runners-Up
First, let me say that I do not have an iPhone.
It is the first Apple product that I have resisted. Well, no. I rejected the iPod too.
Notice, I said resisted the iPhone. Not yet rejected.
The ATT thing is a problem for me but that will soon be changed. Verizon rules here. Mountains and all. Soon they will be on the iPhone. I will have my major impediment removed.
Now come the Apps. The fucking Apps. How I hate that word. Why Apps. Can't we say "applications". What is with that. Phony hipness I think.
Anyway, I saw this article and thought that it would be a way to sell myself on the wonderfulness of the iPhone. Apps.
There is not one of these that I would be interested in except possibly the stars.
Maybe the Google where you say something and it shows you, oh forget it.
Everything, everything is too much trouble and complicates life.
The biggest problem is two work spaces. Doing shit on the iPhone and then getting it onto my computer.
It is extra work.
And so on.
This all seems like busy work to me. Doodling.
I feel myself cooling, cooler, cooled. No heat in the iPhone.
And don't even mention texting. I will never do it. Why? When you can simply call.
Well, I know the thing about how your kids won't answer the phone because their friends are around them. The shame of parents.
But my kids don't have any friends. Just kidding, kids.
Labels: computer
Friday, November 12, 2010
A RANDOM ACT OF CULTURE
This video takes me back to Philadelphia, ca 1960.
It takes place in what was the magnificent John Wanamaker Department Store.
Every holiday season there was a tree and a water fountain show to go along with the Wanamaker pipe organ. A magnificent instrument to go with the magnificent store.
This old store has been completely restored to its original condition by the Macy's organization.
Too bad that Filenes in Boston did not fare as well but, frankly, it was not a magnificent store in the same sense. It had the Basement. It was an institution. Now it is a deep pit awaiting completion of a stalled new mega complex.
This holiday season, the Philadelphia Opera Company and many other organizations filled the floor to sing the Hallelujah Chorus.
If you don't want to hear the music, turn down the volume and watch the visuals. See the tree. See the balconies. See the wonderful department store as it was when I lived in Philadelphia.
Labels: fun. music
THE WEEKLY NEWS
I am a regular consumer of West Wing Week, the video summary of the week shown on the White House site.
So this interested me.
His Job Is to Make Public Obama’s Candid Side
I like anything that shows behind the scenes and this video is a different take from what you would normally see.
It has a light heart. There are a lot of funny lines.
Here is this week's show.
Labels: Administration Obama
Thursday, November 11, 2010
BUSTED!
So I think you know the story of the tennis balls.
We moved across the street from a tennis club and the people hit the balls over the fence all the time. We have three tennis courts in the complex. Same thing. Balls over the fence.
Booker has discovered this. Some days, we must walk over to the tennis club to see if they have hit any over. Often they have. He takes the ball home.
It is a trophy. It is HIS. He messes with it all night off and on.
I try not to go past the tennis club first because, if he finds a ball, he will want to take it home to his living room. The place for all trophies and toys. So much for the walk.
He has about 40 balls now. A few more than any Airedale needs.
Our friend Randy is a teacher. He has a game that he does with the kids at recess which is like dodge ball since dodge ball is no longer part of the school curriculum. Another depredation of the move to shelter kids. (I hated the game, was not good at it and was always smashed with it. So I get the idea of banning it).
Anyway, Randy runs out of balls because they get thrown all over.
I am going over to Long Beach in a week and so I went and picked out 20 balls today, bagged them and put them on my luggage in the hall closet. A slider door.
A little while ago, 12 hours after they were stowed away, Booker barked at me. He was standing at the sliders. He had that look. Aimed at the closet interior. He smelled them!
He barked again. I opened the door. He went right to the bag. He was going to take the bag out of the closet. Insistent.
I got the bag out and took it back to the toy box. Undid the bag and put the balls back in the box.
He went with me and, I swear, counted them into the toybox and then followed me when I took the plastic bag to the trash to make sure it was empty.
This is why he is a good watchdog. The smeller is incredible.
We have seen this, actually, around the tennis court here in the complex or at the tennis court. He will smell a ball hidden in a bush and go looking for it. From yards away.
Booker. The biggest collection of balls in Palm Springs.
I suppose that I will wait until the morning I leave and, at the last minute, abscond with the balls, run to the Volvo and tear away on to Long Beach.
Or, just forget it.
He brought a ball home today that he found on the way home.
You might wonder whether he needs these balls at all.
Well, he needs some of them. He plays for quite a while bouncing, dribbling and catching it in his mouth. It is quite something to see especially with our primitive heavy tile floor where the bounce is not very predictable. His mouth/eye coordination is very sharp as he bounces it and gets it into his teeth almost every time.
VETERANS DAY
I am not a veteran. I am a retired USAR. US Army Reserve.
A six month wonder. Summer camp and six months active duty. Three months of that was more training and three months were to protect my nation from the rowdies at the Fort Lee Officers' Open Mess (Officers' Club).
Then six years of weekly meetings with a reserve unit and two weeks summer camp with an obligation to be called up with my unit, if I had one which I did not, or as an individual in my specialty. Quartermaster. Club Officer. I had a nice military presentation.
Of course, this is absolutely correct. I should not be thought of as a veteran. I was ROTC because I did not want to get drafted.
Even in my six years I didn't do much. I went to summer camp but my advisor in Philadelphia, where I was located then, got me out of unit activity. A thing about my civilian work. I had to do correspondence courses.
Not very distinguished.
But here is what my brief time in the military taught me.
I met the guys who were the real soldiers. They were dedicated. They were fine people.
They knew who they were and were willing to do the ultimate to meet the mission goals.
They were fun and funny. They had a lot of ideas that were different than anything I had seen before.
My CO was a Captain who really had not much of a career. He had been passed over several times. But he stayed. He liked the life. I would not have wanted that life myself but I honored that in him.
I learned a lot from this man. One thing which sounds negative was how to work the system.
He could yank the cords and get stuff done. It is just that he was a little lazy and his private poker games got some publicity.
He was funny as hell.
I suppose that isn't a meritorious military story but he was a great boss. He was clear in his orders. And most of all, he backed me up. I was on nights when all hell could break loose at the bar or anywhere on the grounds. He was always there on the phone and I used him but he let me carry the thing out and to use my judgement.
So I got a lot more out of the Army than it got out of me.
My summer camps were non-unit. We were sent to Ft. Lee to be attached to some real military group so we could learn something. We often did. I had several friends and we would go together.
Once, we got the guy we were attached with to let us go south to Fayetteville to be with a group of Rangers who were practicing air drops. They did not want us around. So we stayed in the motel for a few days and the guy signed our papers. Laid back.
So thank the gods that I never got sent to war. But pray for the ones who do and are committed and are there because they want to be and are proud to be.
Labels: gay military, life
DO IT YOURSELF
Obama omits the middleperson.
I don't know why this photo, part of the October photos on the Flicker White House Photostream
Maybe the idea that he just gets the work done and doesn't mess around with the folderol of the Presidency.
This is his secretary's desk. He is just doing his job. He is working on the last pieces of his comments. It isn't even a big speech.
I suppose someone could latch onto this and say that he is micromanaging. But he isn't managing here. He is working. There is a difference.
Labels: Administration Obama, Barack Obama
CAT TECHNOLOGY
This is so MIT. Tools. Exploring the everyday. Working collaboratively, they used equipment from a space lab. Fascination with the unknown. All that.
For Cats, a Big Gulp With a Tiny Touch of the Tongue
The part of this that is fascinating is that they were not satisfied with finding the mechanism alone but went on to figure out (with formulas) that the cat knows the speed required to lift a mass of water. It is genetically printed on the cat.
They checked this out with larger cats as well and found that there is a relationship between body or tongue mass and the speed of the lap required to lift the most efficient column of water. Cats do this too. They can do the math across the species. Is cat a species?
OK TO BE GAY
This is good news.
70% think it is fine to get rid of DADT.
You realize, of course, that the gay troops are already there. It is not going to increase the percentage of gay men and women in the military.
This has always been the case.
Without knowing it, straight men and women have been working, socializing and yes, that old bugaboo, showering with gay men and women. It is just that no one could ask or tell.
The Marines are less enthusiastic. I suppose because the Marines are so homoerotic in the first place. It will take the sting out of shacking up with a buddy for the weekend. Less of an SM experience. Low risk.
I am only working with the data on ex-marines anecdotes here.
OK. What next? How can we get a few old men like John McCain who will never shower with anyone, not even Cindy, to get over themselves and their harrumphing and just get out of the way.
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I am guessing that there are at least two gay men in this shower.
Labels: gay military, gay rights
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
BEYOND THE PALIN
Well, it didn't take long.
In answer to the wonderful
"What the fuck has Obama done for me so far",
we now have the
WTF Has Sarah Palin Done? response.
This one is pretty funny.
I am sure there will be more. I will ignore them. But this one did cause some hilarity in my general area.
I would put a picture of La Palin up on the blog but I have taken a pledge. No graven or other images.
Labels: Administration Obama, republican whack jobs
WHY IS OBAMA GOING OVERSEAS?
Austan Goolsbee explains it all in another white board presentation.
He does a great job. My man Austan.
Labels: Administration Obama
MOVIE MADNESS
Today's film was the documentary
This is about the twin brothers Kuchar from NYC who started making films on an 8mm camera when they were 8 years old. They are still together.
They made and make their wild, fantastic, hilarious films on a shoe string. This film is very generous with Kuchar clips.
That is one level, the films. Another is the relationship between the men. Really nice to watch.
The third is the story of their ascent into the movie pantheon.
Buck Henry, John Waters and others talk about their relationship with the Kuchars. There is some analysis but the films really speak for themselves.
This whole thing is funny. The kids went to the movies every day and saw many films like Written on the Wind over and over. They went home and made similar films. Not only the story but the iconic characters, the scenery and the shots.
They have never attended film school but one of the brothers now teaches there.
The thing about documentaries is that they aren't a lot of fun.
This is the exception. There is a lot of laughter on and off the screen. Them and me.
I could easily see it again.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
INCREASING
The last few, well maybe six or seven, trips to the grocery store have had the feel of increasing prices about them.
For a long while, a year or two maybe, the apparent cost at the checkout had declined. I could see it. Feel it.
Now it is going the other way.
I hadn't seen it at first. For a variety of reasons, I have been paying cash at the checkout so I don't have a specific record of the data, but now that I am back on the charge card, I can see it.
We don't alter the purchases much at all. If anything, I tend to go for brand items and look for, here and there, without a lot of agonizing, make choices that take advantage of bargains. But not much. So it is on the same items over and over.
Now, it looks as though I am right.
Rumblings of inflation grow louder
I had read that world markets were causing some shortages of basic commodities like corn which affects many, many items in the store.
This article is more comprehensive.
Pressure from stockholders is a big one.
As the economy improves, this is going to be more and more important.
I can't wait.
Just what we needed. Another club to drive the effective incomes of people down.
We are OK. I don't like spending more for food and basics. But it won't kill me. And I am one for whom better corporate profits could have a good effect.
It is people at the margins that will be hurt. the profits ain't worth it.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
A NEW RELIGION
It is amusing to see that the atheists are proselytizing.
Atheist Groups Promote a Holiday Message: Join Us
What next?
A holiday?
Particular holiday decorations.
Meetings? Ceremony?
Someone to lead the meeting and to say a few words?
People love to organize and recruit others, no doubt about it.
I know. It is nice to gather with others who have the same views.
If they want a bishop type thing. There are a few people turning out books who are likely candidates.
I like the way that people emulate the very people that they are critical of.
Of course, they do not think that they are proselytizing. Or any of the rest.
It is easy to see how, in this time of hyper-religiosity it makes some sense to gather together even if for mutual protection. Those jesus people are pretty fervid about what is right and wrong. Smiting is just around the corner.
But this seems to be more than gathering to me. It is fine but don't be hypocrites about it.
