Monday, February 28, 2011
SAM THE MAN
I hope that I have seen all the films that Sam Rockwellhas ever made but I am sure that I have not.
I certainly missed his teevee appearances.
The thing is that he is a dancing fool. Every role he plays if they will let him. Just a bit. Or more.
Here is a montage.
The James Brown influence is sooooo strong. So they put it together with the Godfather himself.
Labels: dancing, films, fun, music
LITTLE
Today's film was the documentary
Four babies. One in Africa, another in San Francisco. One in Tokyo and another in Mongolia someplace.
Some stark differences here but, actually, surprisingly, the babies are pretty much the same.
The developmental stuff is so close it is startling.
Beyond that there is terminal cuteness in all this.
I had to wonder what all the shit the Japanese and American kids had made any difference to the kids or their development.
I suppose it made the parents feel better but the Mongolian and African mothers seemed a lot more relaxed.
We don't see much of the fathers in any of the locations. Mostly doing inane activities and looking like they are out of touch.
The film only lasts an hour and 19 minutes. If it was any longer, I would have done an exit.
I think this might be targeted to people who never had kids and want a feel for it.
If you have been a parent you will probably doze off here and there as I did.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
MARTINIZING
Demetri Martin had a "Shouts and Murmurs" piece in The New Yorker this week.
Well, actually last week. We get it a week later through the mail.
I have admired this guy for a long time. Very good.
Here is a slide show from You Tube.
There are two parts.
I think that it is worth it. They only let you have three minutes or something.
Labels: fun. music
Sunday, February 27, 2011
BITCH
Today's film was Don Roos's wonderful comedy
How could it have been 20 years since this was made?
Well, it is. And it is still fresh.
Christina Ricci is the bad girl and Lisa Kudrow the uptight good both mixing it up with gay men where they don't belong. Any of them.
There is a lot that happens in this break neck film. A lot of great lines. Very nice gay story.
I have seen it several times. It always surprises.
It doesn't hurt that some of it was shot in Palm Springs very near our old house. The Royal Sun Inn.
If you haven't seen this you should give it a definite try. It will mark you for life and, like me, you will be driven back to watch it, yet again, every two years or so.
I gave it a 5 out of Netflix5 at the beginning and would do so again if this was the first time I had seen it.
Labels: films
Saturday, February 26, 2011
IN HOT WATER
Well, I didn't do the American Express but went to the hot tub instead.
In our old house, we went to the spa every night. Well, almost.
Sometimes the heater bust or there was rain. But otherwise, every night.
Here there is a bit of a walk. A hundred yards.
But the spa is easily as hot as the old one and is big. And no one is ever there.
We have run into people. Some odd ones.
There was the couple who were naked, drinking and eating. John minced no words in pointing out that they had violated three rules in one session. Suits, glass and food. A trifecta. They weren't amused but we talked anyway.
Then there was the night there was a guy, one of the two previous mentioned, putting his leg in front of the hot water entry and no talk at all. Well, after he was treated the first time, whaat should we expect. He wouldn't share the fucking hot inlet.
Then another night an old woman holding on to the stair rail and facing away from us the whole time. So strange. She seemed to be unconscious.
We did meet a neat couple who we never saw again but I know they are here because I see their car.
Social life in the spa and condo complex. Short and sometimes brutal.
But most often, we are alone together. The scenery is ideal. The mountain, the tramway, the clouds, the palms framing that view. Then the lights.
It is pretty nice. Better than working through the Amex charges.
NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT
I have had two days without postings other than movies and other stuff.
That isn't because nothing is happening here. A lot is actually going on. Life.
We have our Meetings, and mail and movies and walks and meals and answering mail. A lot of things but nothing remarkable.
But maybe that is remarkable.
No drama, no conflicts of values or otherwise.
One of us is planning on going to Italy (Milan) at the end of August. There is a lot going on there, planning. But it isn't me and I don't write about other people.
I will take my annual trip to San Diego Bay the second week of August. One more day than before. More quiet. More "away".
The week was filled with tax stuff which I just got off the phone about. Nothing wrong. We are still trying to wring the IRS into recognizing our community property status as domestic partners. A new ruling this year. They may know how to handle it at the top but the bottom is terminally confused. We have three years in question and will soon add a fourth when we file this year. It will work out. Our CPA is looking forwards to becoming the premier expert on the regulation when he is done with this.
What about the weather? Cold for us with rain early this morning and through to noon and snow on the mountains.
Freeze anticipated for tomorrow night.
That is all.
Now I have to go pay my American Express bill which I break out on Quicken to track our extravagances
POTBOILER updated
Now, I have thought this over and decided that I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. It actually had some interesting ideas about life and the end of it. I suppose that if you are doing that you need to have a few deaths to work over.
Today's film was
with Romaine Duris.
This one is a Canadian-European enterprise. With John Malkovich of whom I am not a fan.
This is a sort of quiet thriller, death obsessed, magical realism film in which the story sort of gets lost.
There are some great scenes. Beautiful filming here and there including NYCity. Inventive.
Duris is very good.
But the film never got shown in US theaters. Straight to DVD here.
Sometimes the pursuit of an actor's work leads to some turkeys. This is one.
Duris has made about thirty films. Many have never made it to our shores. I still plan to see most of them when they are available.
I will give this one a 2 out of Netflix5 because I didn't like it but I didn't skip.
Labels: films
Friday, February 25, 2011
EXTENDED FAMILY
Today's film was Russian Dolls (2010)
This is a sort of sequel to a film we saw earlier L'Auberge Espagnole. and enjoyed very much.
Some of the same cast is in this one but the story is quite different in tone and direction.
I have said that I do not watch sequels and so, perhaps, I have broken my own rule but I forced myself to do it so that I could see Romain Duris again and also be able to say that I have seen all his films.
This is sort of fluff but complicated fluff. Not farce and not forced but funny and always upbeat.
It is certainly not Durais' best work but then one has to keep working and it is good enough.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, February 24, 2011
SIGNAGE
see more The Daily What
We had a lot of this type of sign in the old neighborhood.
None here.
Perhaps the lost dogs and cats which made up for most of the signs were the direct result of the high coyote population over there.
Here, they pass through but seem to have eaten well elsewhere.
Labels: fun
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Today's film was Laura Poitras' documentary The Oath (2010)
Two Yemeni brothers in law commit to Osama Bin Laden. One, the driver, gets captured. The other, the body guard gets out of his own accord and later put in jail in Yemen in time to be questioned just after 9-11.
The driver gets sent to Guantanamo to, eventually, be a landmark case on the legality of military tribunals. The bodyguard goes free but lives with the fear of Al Queda retaliation.
Poitras, who set about making a doc about the driver in Gitmo ends up with no footage that he will allow for use and so focuses on the bodyguard who is, well, more fascinating. The whole point of the driver's arrest, torture and conviction was that he was just a driver.
The ironies of the "war" on terrorism abound as do the ironies of the mumbo jumbo of jihadists and their unholy war. Or holy war.
I learned a lot. That the US wasn't totally evil in these matters. They are good to the bodyguard and use Geneva Convention interrogation. Even he feels good about it. I learned that there is a lot of culture clash in even the most fundamental aspects of this problem. The lack of language is only the beginning of it. I will say that I come away more convinced than ever that the Arabs are truly fucked up about their beliefs and their religion such as it is. Everything has an Allah connection. We have our christers but this stuff borders on nuts and goes over much of the time.
I liked this enough that I have ordered up another Poitras' doc on Iraq to be seen soon.
The reason is that there is life in her work. This is a tough subject and she lets the people tell their own story. Until they won't. And then she digs more deeply to talk to relatives and other observers.
There are no talking heads in this film. The most official it gets is to show the driver's lawyers and judicial military talking about their case or lack of it.
The pundits have long ago said enough. Now the people speak for themselves.
I would not mind seeing this again but I probably will not.
It was Oscar nominated. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Yesterday, at the gym, I passed one of the young guys who work out as early as I do.
I said "hey, how are you?". He said "Wonderful! I'm at the gym".
I knew instantly what he meant. I feel the same way.
I like to work out, to ride the bike and get my wind up. I like the limited work with weights that I do now.
And on top of that, for the first time, really, I have a few friends that I can say hello to quickly with a bit of "story" and move along to the next thing.
I look forward to seeing them and they seem pleased to see me.
I have never been a chatter in the gym. I want to work out and focus and do what I came to do. All my friends do the same. But they do allow little bursts, a mutual agreement. "
"We are not going to get into anything too deeply but here I am, there you are and it is nice to have it that way."
It is amazing how, over time, every day a minute or two, you can enlarge understanding and build a relationship. Bit by bit.
Every once in awhile it spills over into too much. But not often and that is manageable.
It is a wonderful way to start the day. I have been doing it for nigh onto 25 years.
TAYLOR MADE
When we lived in Boston, we never missed the Paul Taylor Dance Company. This gives a nostalgia jolt.
Enigmatic Choreographer Tells an Enigmatic Tale
It is a kind of dumb headline. Dance is enigmatic or, most likely, it is not very good dance.
The thing about Paul Taylor, who is now 81, is that he uses beautiful dancers. Not only in the classical sense but in the sense of having vivid personalities that transmit throughout the work. He choreographs for them. It is a bit like the star system.
And at the same time, the ensemble is perfection.
The other thing that I love is that the gay Mr. Taylor understands his gay audience appreciation of the male form. It is not hidden nor is code used through hetero-hiding. The Taylor men are beautiful and buff and extremely attractive. Not the vapid feminized males that used to inhabit the ballet stage.
And he keeps their shirt off or thin or as afterthoughts.
That is the other thing. Costumes. Modern but arty.
Moving out here is a loss on the ballet side. There isn't any. Period. And tours certainly do not come to Palm Springs.
But there are compensations.
All I have to do is look out the window for color and beauty and just across Ramon Road, in the clothing optional neighborhood, there are attractive men walking the streets any night of the week. But that is something different. But still a dance.
I digress.
Labels: dancing, gay life, urbia
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
RIPPLES
It didn't take long. About four hours, I think.
Fighting Prop 8: Lawyers Ask Court To Lift Stay On Gay Marriage Ban
This is, of course, a natural outcome of the Obama's refusal to argue for DOMA any longer. Saying that they believe it to be unconstitutional.
How this will play in the courts and how soon are questions that might be resolved by this particular action. Or others.
Things are moving fast.
An aside>
I read today that the opponents of gay rights have been calling Obama the "first gay president".
Wow. What an accolade. Clinton was the first black President and then we got a real one within a decade. Perhaps in another decade we will get the first open gay President. We already had one but not for public consumption. (James Buchanan, at least).
Labels: gay marriage, gay politics, gay rights
MAYOR
I like Rahm Emanuel a lot.
I usually do not like Politico very much. They are often looking for a way to slam or undermine.
But I do like this profile they did of Emanuel.
Rahm Emanuel's Rules For Victory
Obama made a great choice when he picked Emanuel as Chief of Staff. The two men could not be more different in temperament. And that is the point. Obama is best when pushed by people who have rapport but difference. He needed a guy who could work hard and get the job done.
I do not imagine that the White House position had a lot to do with his election as the Mayor of Chicago on the very first bounce.
I think it has to do with the work he did when he got there to become a part of the city and to match his profile with what the like and need.
He is very smart.
And good. At what he does and how he treats other people. There is a video with this. Take a look at him work the podium. I love the part where he kisses his son. Just an aside but also to the point. Good.
Labels: Administration Obama, politics
JD
There is a new biography of J. D. Salinger. Here is a review in the NYTimes.
The review is worth reading as it summarizes the Salinger story and, not surprisingly, Salinger stories.
I have not read them all. To do that, I would need to have the New Yorker archives, well I do have access to them sort of, and an ability to find the "lost" ones.
Salinger, among many quirks, had a thing about only collecting the very cream of the crop by his estimate and that is all most of us have.
I am fascinated with Salinger and have been for a long time but not enough to buy this book. I am grateful for the research into Salinger's totally horrendous experiences in WWII. His regiment in D-day was decimated and he survived all that to just make it into the Battle of the Bulge.
He admitted himself to a mental hospital for what was almost certainly post traumatic stress.
The rest of it is really undocumented stories about his life and times.
Salinger was a devotee of eastern religions and believed in smashing and transcending the ego. He did a good job.
He presumably lived quite well on the royalties of Catcher in the Rye in Cornish NH and was able to cultivate relationships with people in the town and elsewhere who protected him to the extreme. They would give false directions to anyone coming to town to find him.
But he was gregarious and many people report sightings almost all of which had to do with quite distant issues and subjects from his writing.
He had several girlfriends.
We who are and have been decades long fans await the actions, if any, of his executors and editors. Is there a mountain of writing that has been unpublished? Will they permit a full story collection? And so on.
With his death last year, he is more of a wonderful mystery.
Like many others, I long ago adopted the Glass family as my own. I want more.
That was his great gift. Always leave them wanting more. Even Catcher has that effect. All the stories the same. We want more. More. And there is less.
Now there is a zen lesson for all of us.
THIS IS A BIG DEAL
Obama Orders End to Defense of Federal Gay Marriage Law
This has been a long time coming. And if we waited on the Congress it would never happen.
Certainly the GOoPers aren't going to do it.
They are really bastards about everything. I can't figure it. There are a lot of Republicans who believe that the law was/is unconstitutional and they wouldn't make a peep "because of the base" which is the mantra for everything for over two years. The base, the base, the base. Forget what is right.
As for "the gays", there are those who will whine that it should have come sooner. Fuck them too.
This is at considerable political risk for him particularly given the other items on his agenda. But it is the right thing.
I am proud to be a Democrat. So proud, I got into one of those catfights at the gym today about unions. I cheered on the possibility of a general strike in Wisconsin. Well, not truly. That is illegal through the Taft-Hartley Law, but you can do good enough to make it stick.
Labels: Administration Obama, gay marriage, gay rights
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
OLD SCHOOL TIES
My cousin in Pennsylvania sent me this today.
Barrett High School was once center of community, alum recalls
My cousin is the Alum in question. He is the town historian. Well, township. There were four small "towns".
This is the school that I went to when I was a kid. All twelve grades in one building. We didn't know any better. They formed a larger jointure district three years after I left. The history is here in this article more or less. Mostly less.
I sometimes dream about the school. Most often I am on the north side in the drive either in the playground or on the steps. Not much happens there but it is important. I suspect that is the door I went through the first day as the 1st grade room was just around the left corner.
I don't remember the last day.
I have never seen this photo with all the old buses. When my Dad was on the School Board, I remember a year they bought all new ones. All the bids came through the house. They didn't buy the ones that I wanted which were the sleeker Air-Stream type of bus which I never see anywhere (used to spy them in California but not now). I also wanted them to get the flag that popped out of the side so people would stop. They skipped that also and just got the flashing lights.
I did not ride the buses on a regular basis. I walked through Daniel's field either through the old rent-a-house next door to Elmer and Lela (and Roger for awhile and their wired hair terrier Trixie). Then through the back lot and into the field from the house we built and owned further back on the same street. Are you following me? No. You had to be there.
I went home for lunch and never ate in the cafeteria. I was sheltered. From Ray Jones food and the less savory society of other kids. More over protection from my mother. No wonder I am an introvert. It would have been a lot better had I been with the other kids. Too late now.
See what a little photo will do to an old man's thoughts?
We used to pretend shoot the WWI machine guns out in the lawn next to the flag pole which had the honor roll of who served. It was not allowed. Playing with the guns. But after hours, when Mr. Lewis couldn't see out of "the office" windows we fired away.
The Office. That was what it was called. Everyone knew what it meant and where it was.
You didn't want to be called to "the office".
I wonder if they ever took the asbestos out of the school. It was loaded with it. In the big mostly unused basement rooms next to the cafeteria and shop...north and south...there were exposed walls proudly labeled "asbestos" as was the old roll down curtain on the stage. Roll up. A scene of a waterfall on the front.
In the gym, one year, the basketball boys had broken the plaster wall under the stage. The teachers told us that it was the easter bunny who had come in to leave eggs.
I have seen a lot of schools in my time. The old BCS ranks as one of the finest. A great gym. Pretty good facilities.
My grandkids go to what look like office buildings. All of my kids went to a middle school in a modular building, open plan, in Plymouth, MA. No walls.
It had to be totally renovated. This was when they were trying everything new. New math. New this, new that. One son never learned how to do long division. He denies it but I know it is true. He learned it later.
I learned times tables and how to divide in, well maybe, fourth grade or something. Miss Bush had one board at the left where she would write names of miscreants. Penalties abounded. Cleaning the erasers for example. I loved cleaning the erasers. Clearly Miss Bush did not and thought it a punishment.
Her room was the second rank of windows from the right. I can see her peeking out at us. And there's Mr. Lewis too. Who I actually loved and was very good to me. He helped me get out of that town forever.
Labels: education, history, life
FINALE
I watched the second half of
today.
It is such a great movie.
See below for the earlier writeup.
This is a coming of age film of an underworld figure.
He is also very likable. He takes responsibility for his best friend's wife and child. He has very gentle moments with them. His other side.
He is a most interesting guy. With all of its prison stuff which is very convincing and engrossing this is also a character study movie.
His partner in this is the older "Don" of the prison, the head of the Corsican faction. Their relationship evolves too. This theme is Oedipal. The "dad" is Niels Arestrup a wonderfully aged actor who has great charisma and pride.
Labels: films
Monday, February 21, 2011
THE CULT
Many years ago, I was walking on Boylston Street in Boston and a guy came up to me and asked if I would like to take a test.
There was some other folderol about what it would do and reveal and all. He was pretty good about it.
It wasn't like the Moonies where they wanted to take you to their place for a meal. But, to take the test, you did have to walk a short distance, I think to Commonwealth Avenue, to take the test.
I declined.
That was my first and only direct contact with Scientology or a Scientologist.
Since then, to my knowledge, I have never met anyone who has anything to do with this organization. And I have met and worked with a lot of people.
I certainly paid attention when I read about their emergence in to the public sphere. Sometimes in a positive way for them, publicity and all, but often not. They seem to attract negative attention.
Many people have written about "the church" with varying degrees of success, often attracting lawsuits. Many of these articles and books are by defectors with an axe to grind and documents that have been stolen. They are easily discredited.
It has been known for a long time that the Hubbardites seek to recruit celebrities and have worked very hard on this particularly in LA and Hollywood.
We know of some prominent but fading stars who have taken it up.
But most recently, the very prominent Paul Haggis resigned from the organization in a very public way. Now, in the New Yorker, a thoroughly researched and very long, almost exhausting but never boring article has been published.
The Apostate—Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology by Lawrence Wright
I bring this up because I found it fascinating on several fronts.
First and foremost is in the way that Scientology has evolved, like many churches, from a relatively informal set of principles by an interesting, if perhaps crazy guy, into a highly organized, very authoritarian organization with enforcers and lawyers and all the tools to maintain its "sanctity".
It is also interesting to read about Haggis indoctrination as a troubled young man and his failure over some 35 years to examine his beliefs in any way. Then, disruption and a failure to get answers to some pretty basic questions that he had about the outfit.
Third, I am interested in the celebrity angle. Except for a few people, the "celebrities" who belong to Scientology are not very well known. They are moneyed, very important to Scientology, but are, by and large, behind the scenes people who are given a special center to attend to their duties and, as bigger money makers, to burnish the church's image as well as to supply a whole lot of money.
Finally, I find the story of the young David Miscavige (above), the head guy, very interesting. An organization man, not a guru. A dictator, not a service oriented leader.
It is worth some time. It goes beyond the immediate sensationalism of the Scientologists and where they are going. It shows a great deal about human nature and our capacity to believe in the most outrageous stuff and to believe so much as to sell ourselves out literally and figuratively.
Labels: cults, culture, religion
LIFE DEATH AND OTHER SURE THINGS
I got all my paperwork together for the 2010 tax returns.
It was a brilliant year. Sold a house, bought a house. A lot of paper.
But it didn't take it too long.
I am on Quicken and I am good at saving the receipts.
Right down to the last minute I could not find the work sheet for buying the condo.
Shit.
And then it appeared in a folder within the folder where I keep the quarterly return paper. A slip of the hand.
Now it is a matter of photocopying it and sending it to the accountant.
It has been bugging me for a few days so the best way to debug is to just do the work.
Done.
CAREER BUILDING
Today's film was The Prophet (2009)
the most recent Jacques Audiard film.
It is a NYTimes Critics' Pick and won the Cannes Grand Prize.
It is a tight in story about a young man who turns 19, is sent to prison instead of the juvey and makes a career for himself in the can.
Short but totally inadequate description of what goes on here.
He does well. He gets an education. He gets a good record so that he can have leaves where he performs jobs for the godfather figure in the prison who has taken him on.
He is a quick study and sets up his own inside/outside parallel rackets.
Eventually, he rises to the top. This is not a spoiler as the film is about how this comes about.
This is in the French prison system but I think they are all the same.
I saw this quite recently and wanted to see it again and will want to see it again after this.
It is a tough and true film. Read the NYTimes review.
The young actor here, Tahar Rahim, has a great career ahead of him. He was grabbed up for four movies after this one came out. Momentum. His prison mentor and boss is played by the incredible Niels Arestrup who was in yesterday's film as the father.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Here we have Arestrup, Audiard and Rahim at Cannes.
Labels: films
Sunday, February 20, 2011
THOSE LIBERAL BASTARDS!!
By John Grey: TV News Lies
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.
Via Bill in Exile
Labels: liberals, republican whack jobs, tea party
MOVING ON
So. We have reached another plateau or benchmark or stage of life.
We now have grandkids heading for college.
Two are high school seniors, both have been accepted in a college, both are waiting until all the cards are dealt before they decide which one to attend.
I have always been sentimental about the first day of school for kids. Particularly the first one. Kindergarten or whatever.
Now, we will go through it all over again. Freshmen. Women.
This is not the only higher learning going on. We have have a daughter now finishing her work for a doctorate in nursing.
Pretty good stuff. Very nice.
I have worked with applicants to MIT for awhile and am familiar with the tension involved in the process of deciding, applying, waiting, deciding again. It is newish to be on the other end and see people I love going through the moves to get more education.
All for the good.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Today's film was Jacques Audiard's
The Beat That My Heart Skipped.
A NYTimes Critics' Pick.
I have seen this three of four times.
Why?
Well, I played the piano and wanted to play it better. That is one thing. Always competition from other things. I took lessons several times.
But it was not the conflict that appears for Romain Duris, the wonderful young actor who inhabits this role of a thug with an artistic gift.
His mother was a concert pianist and his dad is a two bit real estate manipulator who is in over his head. Our man carries both genes.
This is a remake of Fingers with Harvey Keitel which I watched along with this one the last time I had it. But much more artistically made. Better everything. Acting, production values, cinematography, the works.
Duris shows the conflict within until we see him make peace with himself and then have to settle one more score until he can put his Dad in his own resting place as well.
The satisfaction of the ending is enormous.
I just love this movie to hell.
I notice some similarities to my admiration for the film Diva and this one. The underworld combined with fine art. The conflict of innocence in the face of evil. The guy who solves the problem being able to have a foot in both worlds. And consummate artistry in the production.
So. What does that make me? I don't know. But these are my two favorite films right now. And for quite a long time.
I admire Audiard's other work as well since it visits the same theme of the fork in the road. In Read My Lips there is actually a third way to take. In The Prophet, which I will see next, the beast wins but nicely so.
Labels: films
BUY THEM OUT
I thought this was pretty good.
Apple Buys Up Touchscreens, Limiting Supply for Rivals
They say 60% and climbing. That is quite a lot.
No one ever thinks about the manufacturing or the hard side of these businesses any more. But is as much about the ability to deliver as anything else. If you can't supply the innovation you don't have one.
The great fear in our business, management training, was that we would not have the capacity or the distribution to serve the clientele. There is no coming back from telling someone they cannot have you now.
Undoubtedly, there was some value in delay. The caché of being popular and just enough hard-to-get a-date-with. It was a stimulant and excitement to have us. But you can't go too far with that.
It is a limited spark and incentive to continued sales. After the first one, you become a commodity to the customer, the luster is gone. They move the business to the buying department. Now they want you to deliver and on time too.
This screen thing has to be killing the competition.
Just think. You have a cell phone or handheld of some kind and you can't get the screen or can't get enough of them when you need them. Things are so fast paced to day that your 15 minutes of fame can be gone in a minute.
Labels: computer, technology
LOAFER
This is a dish from my childhood. Canned salmon. I have tried to update it with fresh salmon but it doesn't cut it. You need the strong, fishy taste of the canned.
The recipe comes from the same place too. Well almost.
The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that my mother had is not the same as mine but it is not the first "new" Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook which was so radically changed it pissed people off and they would not buy it. Word got around, the reviews were bad and so they took it back.
I have the new "new" Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook which is much closer to my Mom's and is mostly updated for things like microwaving and freezing. My mother froze nothing. Well, some ice cream and ice cubes in a little freezer compartment on the top of her refrigerator.
The thing about the salmon loaf is that it is depression food. Reminiscent of a time when economy took over the kitchen. Stretched proteins and all that. But all of these foods from the first depression era are what we now consider to be "comfort foods". Macaroni and cheese. All the other stretchers.
I will use a "sauce" that my mother used. Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Celery soup. Probably the mushroom. Celery is too strong.
This from the can with only half the recommended milk.
I am working on the "breadth" of my cooking. Or preparation. I have found some very good prepped foods that we like. Maybe I will write about that more as I get into it more.
Labels: cooking
DESERT FOX
So, here we are not two hours after I wrote the last post and there is not a cloud in the sky.
Foxed again. Desert weather.
There is a point where the physical terrain will block the weather and do it in a weather instant. Bang.
Actually, the mountains do nothing but sit there. The weather or the front will lose momentum, moisture and lift and will just quit on the other side.
Confounding forecasters and naysayers.
I now predict a full 90 minute walk.
Booker is getting his Sunday brushing as I type.
Labels: weather
RAINED OUT
I know. Other people have rain all the time.
Even I had regular rain earlier in my life. Sometimes we would go a couple of weeks without rain. Maybe. But that was so unusual it would make the papers.
Drought!
No car washing. Stop watering lawns.
But here, in the desert, rain is an event. A special experience that some people, not me, welcome as "weather".
Without the rain there would be no weather here. Well, winds. The occasional sand storm.
Weather predictors have a tough time here. Consider the local forecaster for the Coachella Water Authority (the outfit that moves water in from the Colorado River Canals and accumulates whatever rain water comes from the mountains in huge ponds north of town. The water settles into the aquifer and becomes potable for us to drink.
This guy has to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Elaborating on every conceivable weather pattern within a thousand miles, he predicts ahead and details the day.
His job is very important though. He is the forecaster of record for the many agricultural interests in this valley as well as the Imperial Valley down the hollow.
This all builds up to the point. What was it?
Yes. We are having rain. Quite a bit, actually. And the weather is quite cool in the 50s.
We will probably abbreviate or scrub our three way Sunday 90 minute walk today and take a turn around the condo circle. A slow 30 minutes or a fast 15 depending on how many bushes we sniff and the number of crosswalks between north and south sides.
It is tough to have to give this up but not as tough as for the huge numbers of people in town for Modernism Week.
A slog through open houses and walks through neighborhoods. There are special buses but still. Not a nice way to spend time in PS.
20,000 people. Makes our small threesome seem insignificant by contrast. But no. It is our threesome. Maybe it will clear up.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
TRANSITIONS
I am watching all of Jacques Audiard's films that are available.
Today's film was
Sur mes lèvres / Read My Lips (2001)
with Vincent Cassel, one of those tremendously sexy rough trade French actors (think Belmondo) and Emmanuelle Devos who is one of the most lackluster, plain actresses. And she is a star. We have seen her in many films.
Her specialty is blooming, coming to life in front of our eyes.
You may be able to infer the story arc from this simple description. But you will still be quite surprised.
The office drudge hires an assistant who turns out to be an ex-con. At first she treats him as she is treated but then, after some interaction of a simple but important sort, she warms to him. Not he to her.
Turns out she is also deaf and uses hearing aids to get along.
Not a promising start, eh? Hang on.
The ear thing is used very creatively and crucially in the story that follows. Obviously from the title, she reads lips and from the very beginning we "hear" what is going on in the same way that she does with some distortion and, when she has the earphones out, a dullish noise.
There is frustration here but it is used very well to create her complex character and later intertwines her special skill for, well, the story to advance. She is like a wiretap that people don't know is there.
I am getting too deeply into this.
So will you.
I won't mention that she has a rich dressup like a whore fantasy life which she reveals to no one except to us.
I am not telling you anything here. What you must get is that an apparent innocent who can read lips so she knows what people are saying about her and a tough guy on parole may find an interesting relationship with each other and some interesting capers to carry out for a bit of revenge. Hers for being a drudge and put in her place and him for the kind of submissive life that parole creates.
I loved this movie because it moves quickly through a complex situation and never lets us down.
That is why I am watching all of Audiard's films now. They are all like that but also utterly different.
This one will keep you on the edge of your seat.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 because there are parts I already want to see again.
Labels: films
Friday, February 18, 2011
CIRCUS
I don't know what to say about the House of Representatives onslaught.
It would seem that the veterans are having some trouble keeping the freshmen in line.
The amount of time being spent on unpassable legislation is really something to behold. They are behind timewise. The Senate has already recessed for its mid-winter whatever it is vacation.
It is all show and no blow.
I can't believe that they will win with all this stuff. But that is not my problem is it?
Enough people believed that there would be some result of some kind in bringing the yahoos into the mix.
They couldn't be more misguided.
I guess that is enough. It is just jaw dropping, stupefyingly, crazy.
Go GOoPers!
Labels: republican whack jobs
mETHODICAL
Today was cleaning day. Every Friday morning.
It takes about an hour and a half.
John does the dries and I do the wets.
In the old house, we had help. We hadn't done our own house cleaning since we rented an interim apartment in Boston 13 years ago. That was only for a year.
About six moths ago, after a few weeks of coughing and tearing up, I started to look for some healthier option for cleaning products.
I reported, at the time, that I had found the method cleaning products.
I started with the kitchen sink. Comet had given me a rash and smelled like a swimming pool.
The method alternative smells good, has no chlorine and works really well. Today there were a lot of burnish marks in the sink and they all removed pretty quickly.
I moved on to the bath and tile cleaner which smells like the sink cleaner. I can't tell how it does because the tile and tubs and sinks are always clean looking. The results seem to last.
Then I moved on to the toilet cleaner. Same smell. Just like the Lysol nozzle thing that you shoot in upside down. Cleans like a bastard. No scouring and with our water there was always a scum to scrub with a scotchpad thing.
And on and on. The no-smell general cleaner, the hard floor cleaner that you spritz on and then mop, I do that by hand. I like the almond smelling wood cleaner although it is a bit spotty at times, they are wetpads. We have converted in the dishwasher and the laundry as well.
Crazy huh?
It is rare that I find something so reliably good across the entire product line.
The house smell is a good one. There are no "bad" ingredients to go into the sewer and I don't tear or cough any more.
I now use the sea salt bath gel for my showers. I even use it on my hair such as it is.
This is not an ad for method. Or really a testimonial.You can order on line but we get ours at Drugstore.com which has hefty regular shopper rebates and discounts.
There. Done. Thanks to method, I am a happy homemaker.
Oh. They have funny slogans too. The starter bundle says "cleans like a mother". Nice.
Labels: housekeeping
Thursday, February 17, 2011
SURREALIST ROMANCE
Today's film is the Portuguese Manoel de Oliveira’s
Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura / Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (2009)
It takes awhile to figure out what is going on here.
There are clues.
At first I wondered if I was getting it. A clock without hands that strikes sort of inappropriately. Time is endless?
A guy who talks to a stranger on a train and tells a story but they never look at one another. The countryside changes character back and forth.
The man falls in love at first sight. More with a fan than the blonde.
Cinematic clichés abound.
There are portraits of ancestors in almost every scene of the story told by the man.
Everything happens and nothing happens.
Oliveira is 100 when he makes this film. What is he telling us? Time does not matter. Things do not matter. We live in a world of events that are clichés. They repeat themselves.
It is only an hour long so if you do not like it you won't have to suffer much. I didn't suffer but did get sleepy in the middle, then perked up in the end and actually laughed at spots.
I think, actually, that this is an old man's tale to illustrate that we should not take life too seriously.
Of course, if you are a century old, this perspective is easy to attain and maintain. I am not quite there yet.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. It is a NYTimes Critic's Pick.
Labels: films
MEDALLIERSM
The Presidential Medal of Honor winners all have a short piece to say at White House dotgov videos
Scroll down to see them.
Here is 90 year old Stan Musiel with his own background music.
An esrosedotblog hero!
IT'S COMPLICATED updated 5pm pst
Today's film was Argentinian Juan José Campanella's
The Secret in Their Eyes (2010)
an Oscar nominee for foreign film.
What is complicated is the relationship at the heart of this thriller which spans 25 years of case work.
The device is memory and scenes are interspersed as a retired investigator sifts through the past to write a book and finds himself back at the starting point but this time with a clue. Or good luck.
The investigator is Ricardo Darín who I have seen before in several films. Good movies in Argentina. The woman in his life is Soledad Villamil. Solid. Together they are amazing.
All the actors in this are superb. Even the villains. There are many vignettes that sparkle.
The cinematography in this film is amazing. There is a scene at a soccer game that I had to watch twice and then again after the film was done. Many others.
What is complicated is the relationship but also the story as most of this happens under the regime of the Peron government. Justice is getting harder to find.
I liked this very much. I would be happy to see it again some time. That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
ZINC AND THE COMMON COLD
I read this morning that research "proves" that zinc, long a pop-pharmaceutical for colds, actually works.
Somehow. They aren't sure.
And it is not clear about the best delivery system. Some counter the effects. More research is needed.
I have tried zinc lozenges for sore throats and echinacea capsules for colds.
I don't think either of them does much.
If I take them, I get over the cold in seven days. If I do not use them, it takes a week. (An old joke from Dr. Furlong our first family physician when I was a kid).
I will say that the zinc is pretty bad medicine whether it works or not. The lozenges are vile and they try to cover it with nasty cherry sweet flavor.
I gave up.
I still keep the echinacea around. I look at the bottle and treat it as a totem. Sit with it. Shake the bottle, listen to the caps rattle. Then I decide not to take it.
You know, most of these remedies have never been tested. Now, apparently zinc has been studied. But no one has checked out the side effects. Zinc poisoning. Zinc dementia. Zinc impotence.
Kevin Drum has a similar reaction.
I like the "suitable for vegetarians" on the bottle. I guess somewhere there is a meat flavored zinc. And no salt or starch. Wow.
Labels: medicine
SAME PLACE DIFFERENT TIME
Dave sent this.
People posed in the same place and posture that they did when they were kids. Twenty years ago.
Some other blogs have picked this up and are doing their own versions.
I am amazed at Ingrid who, after twenty years, looks the same.
A lot of us think we do but she gets the prize.
Twenty years ago I would be pictured in a training room somewhere holding forth up front of twenty managers or more.
I could have been photographed in our great home on Warren Avenue in Boston at one of the parties or other events we had with family or friends.
I would not be holding a grandchild on my knee. The only palm trees I would be seeing would be in the USVI around February. I wouldn't have a dog let alone a beautiful Airedale Terrier.
So a lot has happened in between and since I can't go back and have a photo of the party or the house or the training room I will settle for permanent palms, grandkids to watch grow up and move "away" and playing with my great Airedale, Booker.
What has stayed the same? John. Like Ingrid and me he looks just like he did when I met him and I love him as much or more than I did then. Who can measure love?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
WHAT WE WERE ALL THINKING ANYWAY
Should Republicans Fret Over Their Presidential Field?
The answer is "yes".
Weak, weaker and weakest.
Or thin.
Actually, this is a nice piece of work on the fields of both parties over the years.
Interesting perspective.
And the GOoPers still come up weak.
Labels: Republicans
MEDALLING
I always liked George H. W. Bush.
No one else that I know did.
I was glad to see Obama give him a Medal of Freedom today.
Nice move. In every way. Political, personal and the man gave his life to his country.
I wouldn't want to see Barbara get one though.
Stan Musial!
Labels: Administration Obama
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
I watched his news conference this morning while I was at the dentist. They put whatever you want up there on the ceiling and I also asked them to boost the sound.
The dentist isn't anti-Obama but he has a disdain for the process. He says he wouldn't be President because the Prez can't do anything.
I said that I thought he had done a lot.
I got a "yes but" in response.
Then we quit.
I don't know how people think things get done. I am sure it is easier to complain or cop a general attitude than to check the facts.
I almost told him to go to the website What the Fuck Has Obama Done So Far?
which I think is kept current. There is a lot of stuff there.
I am done arguing or prodding people who stand outside the process and either criticize or complain.
I would rather engage with someone who totally disagrees with me than to talk to some numb nuts who doesn't even read the paper or inquire. Or some negative thinker who is all half empty glass.
It's OK. This is the way it has been since anyone tried to govern anywhere. There are the pros, the antis and the "don't bother me's".
The pros and the antis can do OK with each other. It is the disengaged that are the problem.
Labels: negativity
KEEF
I have finally finished Keith Richards' autobiography (with help from a friend, James Fox)
And life it is. Vibrant and quite frank in its survey of Richards' years in and out of the Rolling Stones
I am not a Stone's fan. Never was and never will be.
In that respect I had to sit tight while he goes through the ins and outs of writing and producing the music although the process is fascinating.
I am a Keith fan. From the first that I saw him. I always stared at him. I read about his non-musical exploits, many, it turns out, exaggerated or mistaken. The truth is actually more fun.
He is honest. He is sincere. He is reflective. He is a great writer even though it funnels through his friend the the person comes through.
It is impossible for him to tell his story without telling his story as an addict.
He does not recommend it.
And he does not romanticize it. It was a hell of a life, literally. And his recovery is pretty clear.
What I liked was the spirit. Some of the stories were a bit boring. But not the energy with which he tells them.
I am quite surprised at the candor with which he talks about his relationship with Jagger. Quite rocky at times. Quite critical. Since I don't like Mick Jagger at all, can't abide him and his prancing around, I enjoyed this part.
I liked the musicians and the hanging out.
This book was my toilet reading for quite a spell. A little every day. I didn't want it to end.
But he is still carrying on in a more quiet, older man kind of way. Perhaps there will be another one bio.
I am testament to the fact that you do not have to like or even understand or even care for the Stones to love Richards. He is a pirate. Long may he sail.
Labels: book, books, fun. music
CROWNED
Got the permanent crown today. So far so good.
It didn't hurt and it still wiped me out.
A lot of pushing and shoving.
I cut the day a bit short and added some minutes to a nap. Naps rule.
There is still more work to be done on the top but I am taking a break. He didn't sell at the end today and I didn't volunteer.
I think that I will wait until the next exam and cleaning and see what happens then.
Labels: dentist
KEYBOARD HERO
George Shearing, ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ Jazz Virtuoso, Dies at 91
Write one major ongoing hit and you are set for life. If that is what you want.
But for Shearing this was not enough. He had a Quintet which went on for years and then dropped it because he was so sick of doing it. Everyone else thought he was doing great.
He is a hero here because of a couple things. First, he made it to 90 years old and did a year beyond.
Second, because he had the balls to change course when he was 60 and strike out on his own without the comfort of the known and beloved.
He teamed up for awhile with Mel Tormé who didn't live long enough to be a esrose hero but long enough to become beloved.
He'll be around.
Listen to his support here. Fantastic.
FINALE
Today I watched the last 90 minutes of John Woo's
Red Cliff (2009)--The International Version
twice as long as the first film, comes in at 5 hours.
The good guys still won. I figured that they would.
I love this movie. It is full of "stuff". Very rich.
I particularly like Takeshi Kaneshiro who plays the strategist. No martial arts. Just watching and conjuring and supporting his good friend Tony Leung. Near homoerotic. Not quite. Almost.
That is Kanishiro up front in the image below.
By the end I was just about sated with battle scenes but the victory and the spoils were as fine to watch as the first time.
All in all, I am glad that I saw it again in the much longer version and, with that, I have had enough.
This movie is already a 5 out of Netflix5 and who knows? I might see it again in a few years.
Labels: films
SENTIMENTALLY PATRIOTIC
Stories like this bring tears to my eyes.
In Love With Each Other, and With a New Country
Not only is it a story of bravery and escape but it is also a story of our own country and why people who come here want to stay and become a part of it.
I so totally take my citizenship for granted.
Read about these people and how long they waited for this.
Some have been through some serious shit.
I am proud of my country and what it has to offer as well as the fact that we will take refugees in and help them become Americans just like us.
My great grandparents came on the boat. That isn't too far back.
When we get all stirred up over the immigrant "problem", we should remember that most of us are only a few steps from the water ourselves. Our feet are a little damp.
Labels: America
Monday, February 14, 2011
GIBBERISH
“And nobody yet has, nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and no, not, not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from DC in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And, in these areas that are so volatile right now, because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And, we do not have all that information yet.”I know. I said this would be a Palin free zone but, jeez, she is so fucking stupid. A weather girl through and through.Sarah Palin
Labels: republican whack jobs
WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?
I never quite knew what this meant. Always a little confused about gender I wondered if it was OK to send to other boys.
Well, yes, up to the age of puberty, then, fuck all, no! I got that one soon enough. You would be seen as a faggot if you did that. Well, not if you were a girl. But I wasn't.
In grade school we had Valentines Day boxes. You did your cards and addressed them and put them in the box. One question was how cheap would your cards be. They sold cards in books that you could punch out. Cheap. Some of these books were pulp paper not good stock. Cheaper were templates to make cards. My mother had some cards from when she was a kid. I liked looking at those. Ours weren't much different.
People would keep an eye out for who was putting cards in and how many they had. I know that some kids didn't put any in. Couldn't afford it. Word would get around about this.
Then on the day, they would dump all the cards out of the box and some special teacher pet kids would deliver them. Probably I was one of them.
This is an example of how we institutionalize cruelty for kids.
First of all everyone competed to be a person who got more cards than anyone else. This is a bit hard to achieve as there are only so many kids in the class so many would max out. But there was always some kid who would get more. Where from? Another class? Stuffing the box? Who knew.
The sad part was the kids who got less. The kids who almost got none.
Another cruelty was the comic or insult card. Some kids would get these. Laughter.
I don't know if they do this anymore but I hope that they figure out a way to keep this shit from happening in public. Or something. Maybe the teacher could predict who would not get many and stuff the box. I don't know.
Yes. I hear someone out there saying "don't be so soft". This is prep for life.
Well, fucking exactly! Little kids being indoctrinated into the idea that love involves numbers, quantity and no slams with comic cards.
I got over it I think. But I know that I didn't like it then and I don't like it now.
The holiday? Nice as a passing thing. Fun to do if it is kept simple.
We do some here at home. I got some cards. I sent some cards. Enough already. Let's move on to something important like Presidents Day.
Labels: gay identity, holidays, kidtime
ORGANIZING
Today is sort of "get it all together" day.
Organizing.
I am coming up to sending in my IRS paper work to the accountant. We are in the middle of a muddle with them about our status as California Domestic Partners which should qualify us for community property filings on all our income. For a major saving. But they are not organized for it and it is taking a very long time of back and forth to get it done. My accountant has now written to the IRS Advocate, yes there is one, to see if the long jam can be broken.
This morning I cleaned out the fountain in the courtyard. Over a couple of months it collects the sand in the air (a lot) and little teeny leaves from a nearby tree. In the summer, more.
I siphon the water out and use the hose as a little vacuum to pick up as much of the crap as I can. Then refill it.
It doesn't take a long time but it is messy.
Today's movie was the second 90 minutes of Red Cliff and I am enjoying it immensely. The longer international edit, the longest, has a number of set pieces that amplify the characters and also set up some business which seemed rushed in the shorter US version.
I will probably write a few sketches today for my family tree. My cousin asked me to do everyone's life story in a paragraph or so. I think that I can do that.
So there is a lot of little stuff which adds up.
Soon, Booker's walk and then Chicken Alfredo. The sauce is a mix. A V-day dinner because it is V-day and that is what came up on the rotation.
Organizing.
Labels: films, gardening, life
Sunday, February 13, 2011
EPIC
Today's film was the first 90 minutes of John Woo's
I saw this is the shortened US version (148 minutes) a year ago. I liked it so much I reordered it for a year later, now, in the longer international version (288 minutes).
I love this film. The main actors are extremely attractive in every way. Woo is very good with relationships and the bonding that goes on with the "good guys" and hardly exists with the bad guys is what wins the day. Well, a series of days.
The good start with less troops and sit in a defensive position and have to take the initiative. That is what this film is all about. Cast of thousands.
Woo's battle scenes use the best of his martial arts films and are seat edged suspenseful. The hand to hand combat is graphic but always new and different. There are heroes. There are simple folk. The horses. My god, the horses.
This is already a 5 out of Netflix5.
The plot is at the link. not so complex as you might think really.
Labels: films
DESERT SPRING PLUS
Big developments today.
There are blossoms on a few of the cacti that I bought for our courtyard last summer.
A way to dress the area up without tearing up the concrete and also a way to use several high benches that we had gotten.
It never occurred to me that there would be flowers.
But there are.
Suddenly!
Mostly wildly pink blossoms on two of the barrels and some green with red and yellow teeny little buds on another cactus that doesn't really look like a cactus.
If that were not enough, we have white flowers showing on the very large pot cactus that was here when we arrived.
I have never ever been interested in pot gardening before. No potted plants anywhere unless they were huge.
So this is an unanticipated pleasure. Very nice.
I guess my cactus are emulating the cactus outside the walls which have a spring and flowers and some fruit.
I don't expect fruit.
Then, if that weren't exciting enough, today I realized that the orchid plant which I have been watering and fertilizing post-blossom has finally after 6 months (as they said on the tag actually) added two stems. I found the one and tied it to the stake and then, my god, another one. So now, two stems.
Did I mention that I am excited about this?
The orchid lives inside. Maybe I will get a couple more.
The three pot garden benches are, of course, outside. The cactus bench, a high table of succulents which are always doing something and another hot, full sun planting of prostrate rosemary. Prostrate because it doesn't bush up but, well, lies down. And because it is up in the air on pots, the stems will eventually flow over the side and down towards the ground (concrete). It is nice to have all these babies to take care of.
One more step toward puttering, the universal business of geezers.
Labels: condo, gardening, horticulture
Saturday, February 12, 2011
GOING PAST
Today is the
7000 cyclists participate in five tours, 5, 10, 25 50 and 100 miles.
The final leg goes down the street that is just outside the back of our condo. All day. Cyclists. 7000!
For the serious riders this is the pump it out place. It is not a race but I know they are doing it for time.
There is more talk and shouting than I would have expected had I thought about it.
A lot of group energy which we can feel right through the hedges that separate us from the street.
This race started 13 years ago with 300 cyclists and has gotten bigger and bigger from the very start. I don't think they expected such a serious, big time outcome.
People come from all over.
And, of course, spend money, along with the friends and family who came along with them.
They go by in clumps. It has been going on all day. First the 5,s then the 10s and so on.
I think now we are seeing the 100s.
Here are the courses.
We are having great weather for this.
Good for them.
Labels: bicycle, Palm Springs
