Saturday, April 30, 2011
PERSPECTIVE
I have always admired the jacaranda tree.
From afar.
Close up, they are about the messiest tree you ever saw. In someone else's yard they are magnificent. Awesome.
Don't know what it is? Not surprising. They are a kind of subtropical to tropical tree indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere.
They thrive here. On the condo complex, built in the '80's, they line the drives and are of considerable size. We have one in front of our unit. Far enough in front that we get no mess from it at all.
The tree has big multileaf stems which shed in two stages. First, all the little tiny leaves on the stem and then the stem. The stems are about a foot long and blanket the lawn. The little leaves all go into our fountain. Every goddam one of them.
Then, the flowers. Gorgeous purple all up and down the big branches which tend to grow vertically in the desert. I think this may be a result of the heat. All trees develop quickly here and tend to grow up versus across.
These blossoms also drop. The grand finale. You do not want your auto under these. Particularly white vehicles. Purple spots anyone?
Almost all the trees on our evening walks are in bloom now. Beautiful. The tree out front has been a little late but that seems to be the story of fauna in the northeast corner of the estate.
We are happy we do not have to pay the price in raking stems or worrying about purple spots on the Volvo which is safely in the garage. And the fountain is only a little bit messy and easily remedied.
Jacarandas.
Labels: condo, desert, horticulture
DRIED OUT
It is 531PM in the afternoon and it is 3% humidity here.
This is dry, even for us.
Extremely dry.
And another thing, it is not hot either. Only in the 80s.
Very dry.
OK.
I gotta go get hydrated.
BUILDING
If you are worried about Obama's organization for re-election and its viability, you might read this.
Barack Obama’s online army quietly gears up
As a participant in this effort, here is what I can report from my perspective.
I like the notion, which I have heard, that somehow the organization lost its steam. That it had become weak. Au contraire. It has merely kept itself under the radar. They don't want brickbats thrown at him for their work.
Look at me. A partisan but not a really active active one. I have never been out of touch with Organizing For America, the election apparatus.
I have given money and been asked to participate in many surveys as well as to sign up as a volunteer which I have already done although I am waiting for assignment which will not actually happen until next year. I am in the turnout group.
I have already participated in the "I'm In" program which began about a month ago. This outreach was used to re-commit people like me who had been connected all the time to say out loud and with money and some other stuff that we are here, we are ready and we are committed. It is also the way that OFA has transferred us folks to the Obama For America organization now setting up in Chicago. Stealth is over.
I have gotten TWO bumper stickers. One is on the car and one went to a friend.
This seems like small potatoes perhaps but I need to mention that this is spring of 2011! Again, 2011!
This is where many campaigns would like to have "their people" in the last months of the general. We are about 18 months early, not six.
This article answers some questions. How do they deal with the balance between fundraising and volunteer signups? What about the disappointed? The ones who dropped out when their cause didn't receive high priority attention? Well, actually, who are they going to work for? No one? Huckabee? Romney? Any of the field of idiots? Maybe Mitch Daniels, the serious candidate, Governor of Indiana, who today signed a bill blocking all Planned Parenthood money in his State. This is the guy who called for an end to the "culture wars". No. None of the disappointed are going to work for these guys.
Will they re-engage. Some will not. I read a blog of a guy who is basically a single issue (gay) guy and he will not opt "in". He is gone. But he is also really a republican at heart. Just a gay one.
On the other hand, a friend, who says he is a "liberal" as though that is an anti-Obama statement, admits he will probably support him. But I don't think he worked for him last time.
And so on.
Here we are. Beginning of May. Ready to kick some Republican ass. Any Republican ass. Let them have their primaries. Get out the popcorn. And if there is a Democratic primary? So much the better. Honing the tools.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
PSYCHED OUT
Today's film was
I know. It is an old movie. But I didn't see it. I was afraid to watch it when it came out.
But, the other day, I read an "appreciation" of the film by someone that I used to respect and ordered it.
It is interesting that I had trouble putting this DVD into my machine. It kept popping out. I figured, shit, I have a malfunctioning player. I even tried it in John's machine and it worked in there. I tried another disc on my computer but that one worked fine.
What's up?
I tried it one more time and it took. The film began.
Wheeeew. What a mistake to watch this. It is some really bad, over the top violence porn parading as art. I stayed until Christian Bale kills his first victim. A homeless guy in an alley. Black. With a dog that looks like Booker. I knew. I knew. Fuck. He kills the guy and then stomps the dog. I couldn't get out of their fast enough. I am still shaking.
Then I thought that I was being overly sensitive and went back and, believe it or not, the disc stayed in the machine but just at that scene, it found scratches and I got a "damaged section" signal and it skipped everything until the chainsaw scene. If you haven't seen the film, I won't tell you.
You can use the phrase "sophisticated satire" all you want and it will not cover the pollution of this film.
It, of course, is showing evil people. The killing is a simple of extension of hostile male behavior that is tolerated every day. Bale's character just acts out a bit more vividly. It has been described as a feminist movie. But there is no relief.
Well, there is. Christian Bale naked is always a nice diversion. But not enough, here.
I am wondering about the universal hand that was trying to keep me from seeing this. The failed DVD insertion, the damaged area, the personal feeling I didn't want to see it, the revulsion at the people's behavior even before the killing started.
This was made in 2000. Just before the bubble broke. Wall Street greed way beyond Gordon Gecko. Then the bust.
It is also pre-9-11. A pause here to think through who got hit and why.
It has been an interesting experience. I am sure the way I am feeling now is worse than if I had stayed the course. I would have gotten sated, and calloused and been able to take it and all that.
I am glad that I didn't. I feel soiled but not as soiled as I would be if I let this shit pass as art without saying it is not.
Yes. It can be seen as an uptown horror movie. But somehow that doesn't work for me. It is at a too high production standard, a message movie kind of thing. Distinguished by stars and all.
I am running down now. The adrenaline is waning.
It has had its effect and I am paying the price. I got the effect after only a few "chapters". Economy of scale.
What about its Netflix rating?
I didn't like it. I couldn't see all of it and wouldn't if it allowed me too.
That is a 1 out of Netflix5.
Or, a zero. But they don't let you do that.
Labels: films
Friday, April 29, 2011
KEMO SABE
This just in.
He’s 6’5”, 220 pounds, and there’s… one of him! According to Deadline, The Social Network’s Armie Hammer has been tapped for Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, in which he’ll play the titular Old West masked crusader opposite Johnny Depp as Tonto. After the film’s long and winding road to development, Hammer marks the last major piece of the HR puzzle although Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have yet to find the requisite love interest and villain. Any ideas as to who’d make a good foil to both Hammer’s stoic All-American boyishness and Depp’s worldly swagger?.......Movie LineI grew with a crush on both of these guys.
No. Not Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. The Lone Ranger and Tonto.
Most gay boys did, I understand. We should have checked this out at the time.
And, I have a long term thing with Johnny. I am working on Armie.
They better not fuck it up! How could they.
Labels: films, gay identity, nostalgia, sex
FOOD AND WATER
When we moved here, there were a bunch od scrawny hibiscus bushes along the courtyard wall. We actually considered tearing them out but, mostly out of inertia and a feeling that tearing out stuff is a terrible waste, we decided to try feeding and regular watering.
It is a bit like a rescue animal. Tired, traumatized, hungry and wary, they responded very well to a "cure". Tender loving fertilizer, some careful pruning here and there and regular watering. There was an amateurish sprinkler setup but it didn't work very well. I pulled the plug and water them every day along with all the other newer stuff we put in the courtyard area.
The care has paid off. The hibiscus are blooming extravagantly and with plate sized blooms. Well, saucer sized ones. That is sort of a plate.
There is even an old, gnarly bush in the back which is only in sun for 6 months. It was shaded out by a grapefruit tree, messy, and so I trimmed that back and it took awhile but the old guy is beginning to show some life especially since the sun has come up to him with regular full day coverage.
The blossoms on a hibiscus plant only bloom for one day but each stem has up to six and more buds. They only appear on the ends of new growth. That is why pruning needs to be regular and in a way that will keep the new growth on the outside. A kind of random prune every six weeks or so.
We have red, pink and gold. Very nice.
Labels: condo, horticulture
Thursday, April 28, 2011
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Today's film was the dance documentary
Two young adults from a dance school in Rio De Janeiro go to overseas contests for a dance career. Both are poor with loving parents. It is a hard world, dance. Hundreds of kids. Competitions. Over and over.
But it is a way out of the favela, the ghetto. And a way into a lifetime career outside of Rio.
We also see the head of the dance school who is a tireless advocate for these kids.
And the parents. The father/son love is striking. Here is a kid that wants to dance with a tough looking dad who, while surprised at first, is all there for his kid and, we learn, has dance in his own soul. Very sweet.
I normally do not like this kind of thing but I was told that it was a special film and it is.
I won't tip off anything but it is fairly obvious that one will make it and the other not but, as it turns out, the one who doesn't make it has a happy ending too. Just not as happy.
There is no melodrama here. Just earnest young dancers and lots of dance footage. Beautifully done.
Somehow the makers of the film take us through the elaborate rules and procedures and give us a smooth landing into the important part which is the performances.
I liked this very much. I gasped a few times as I do with exciting dance experiences and had tears and happiness from the results.
In the end there is a poster from one of the events with one of our stars featured. What a thrill to see it. Insert a "gasp".
I would not mind seeing this again. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
BLUFF
So he called the birther's bluff although that didn't shut them up. Particularly the noisome opportunist, Donald Trump.
As it turns out, today, Rand Paul, of all people, questioned Trump's citizenship in the Republican Party!
It was a joke but not really.
He went on to outline the donations the Donald has given to Democrats over the years.
Gotta say this for Paul, he is the first GOoPer to call this asshole out on his bullshit.
Of course, it is an exercise in ego and power and racism and all for the loon's publicity. But at least one Republican has had enough of it. And not a minute too soon. They have let him suck the oxygen out of their noise machine for almost two weeks. And at a time when the tide is turning against them for their budget antics.
Interesting times we are in.
Also today, Lawrence O'Donnel,l the MSNBC house lefty, took a shot at NBC for not clarifying Trump's position in the "fairness doctrine". He can't have a show on the net and be a candidate.
The network has stood by and not taken any action on this. O'Donnel said Trump was hiding behind NBC and NBC was hiding behind NBC. Nice.
And then this:
Labels: republican whack jobs
BITTERSWEET
Today's film was the NYTimes Critics Pick
This chamberwork about a small town attraction between a family man and his son's teacher is a delicate study of emotions with very few words said.
There is not a lot to say about this. It is just very warm and very human. And probably very french.
I enjoyed it very much and would not mind seeing it again. The acting is superb. Everything conveys from the actors. They are unable to say what is in their hearts. They simply show us what these people are going through. All of them including the family of the man.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A BOOK FOR EXHAUSTED PARENTS
I still remember the feeling.
There aren't any infants left in our family but if someone wants a copy you can get one here.
Labels: child pornography, fun
A SPANKING
Obama delivers it to the press.
We all know that they are behaving like assholes. He almost says it.
He points out that they are not even covering the serious proposals of the Republicans.
This is worth seeing because it is pure Obama. No script. Eye to eye.
Now the birther thing will go on.
Will the press continue to report the sideshow? Maybe not. But he has had his say. He has called their bluff and now, the media and the Republicans have some explaining to do as we go onward. Do the serious members of the opposition still try to have it both ways? Have the nuts go off their trees while posing as serious states people? Or do they clean their own house. Call it out for what it is.
I suppose that I expect too much but Obama has laid down a marker for them all.
The fact is that most, most people do not want this kind of shit going on. And on.
Labels: Administration Obama, republican whack jobs
WAR IS HELL
Today's film was Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger's Afghanistan documentary
Coincidence. Hetherington was killed just the other day in the fighting in Libya.
This film. Heart breaking. Shocking. Exciting. Real.
These two guys stayed with the troops as they built an outpost that turned the tide in one small part of the war. Never mind that the US pulled out of this valley after the advance.
Restrepo is a beloved company member. Killed. The outpost is named after him.
We see the soldiers after they are brought out of the war zone. Telling the story. We see the same soldiers in action film, with sound, that is so immediate and real that one wonders how it could have been made. Well, technology is how.
It is very hard to watch. But it is harder to ignore all this shit that we have stirred up.
Still stirring as the clock ticks along.
It is a great film. Well, made. Finely edited. In that respect, it deserves a 5 out of Netflix5.
But I couldn't watch it again. It is outside my rating "system". A fine memorial for a fine film maker, Tim Hetherington (right).
Labels: films
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
LIFE'S WISDOM
“You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they’re mean bastards at heart.” - Holden Caulfield
Labels: films
WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Today's film was
Two things about this film. Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig. A third thing. Beautiful scenes of Cairo. A fantasy post card. No dirt. No crowds at the pyramids. Nothing but beauty.
Visiting Clarkson is stuck as her husband has emergency UN duty in Gaza. Siddig, an old friend of the husband, helps out as she waits, stranded.
In the early scenes of this film, the culture shock is palpable. I don't know how this is conveyed exactly but I could feel it. I have had it and know it when I see it.
Slowly, the two people get to know each other and Cairo. And, probably, themselves.
It is a nice moving film that has a delicacy about it which is very attractive.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Monday, April 25, 2011
HUNKY JESUS CONTEST
This is so sacreligously hilarious that it has to be shown.
NSFC=Not Safe For Church.
Labels: gay fun
TOWN HALLS TURN
Just a note to say how amusing it is to see the GOP Reps who voted for Ryan's "plan" getting the treatment from their constituents.
Not two years ago the guys with pitchforks were out after the Democrats and now the GOoPers are finding they are getting the same response.
It is probably the same pitchfork guys. These are not necessarliy Republicans, baggers, Democrats or liberals who are being disruptive. These are the ones who have the time and interest to ask probing questions. They do it and, actually, piss off the Reps who thought they were doing fine.
Republicans Facing Backlash on Medicare at Town Meeting Events
Labels: republican whack jobs
SHRUGGING IT OFF
I was stunned to hear that there was a movie made of Ayn Rand's polemic Atlas Shrugged. And not only one movie but two.
It seems that my shock will be short lived as the film is tanking.
I guess I missed it because it got such poor reviews. I just scanned by it.
Atlas Shrugged, Poor Reviews, NationalRand was getting a comeback out of the interest of the baggers and other assorted libertarian crackpots.Atlas Shrugged opened in national release to poor reviews. • Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "There is a love scene, which is shown not merely from the waist up but from the ears up. The man keeps his shirt on. This may be disappointing for libertarians, who I believe enjoy rumpy-pumpy as much as anyone." • And Bill Goodykoontz wrote in the Arizona Republic, "The acting is so poor and the story so badly told that the viewer's feelings about Rand's novel - an epic ode to free-market fundamentalism - are almost immaterial..."
She has been discredited and all but forgotten several times but keeps returning. Now again. The living dead.
I read a couple of her books. This one was deadly. The Fountainhead was not a bad film, Gary Cooper. But they hacked it up in a Hollywood attempt to softpedal the rants in the book which was a slow read. Plodding.
I knew an actual Randian in Boston. He was a stone sober, level headed guy with quirks. This was one of them. One learned not to scratch the quirks.
I am amused at the homoerotic beefcake cover of the current edition. I suppose that is Atlas but he is also a nice deco hunk. A double down homo look.
It just kills me how the righties can come up with stuff like this and not even realize the message they are sending. Is this the result of repressed desires or just dumb marketing? Or, is some gay designer having it off on these people. It isn't too subtle if that is so.
Which ever it is, the joke deserves to be savored.
Labels: films, republican whack jobs, tea party
SWEET AND SOUR NOTES
Today's film was the documentary
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (2009)
This story, told by two cousins about their father's partnership doing songs for Disney is an odd amalgam of schmaltz and dysfunction. But, on second thought, maybe the two go together a lot more than we think.
The Sherman Brothers were very successful, their epic Poppins score a high point of their careers.
Born to a tin pan alley writer the kids grew up with an age gap and Robert, the eldest, went to war and was drug through the worst of the European campaign ending at the gates of Dachau as the first squad to enter the place.
An ominous beginning. But the two are great together except when they are not. There are out takes of film interviews where they break out in conflict and redo it to project the usual sunny Disney attitude.
All of this is very interesting. The cousins interview the other's father. Very nice coming together. An exorcism.
It is also interesting to watch this because it shows the seams under the Disney facade. To some extent. Unusual. That is not the usual corporate line.
I had to pick and choose here. I don't much like the music. I am sick to death of Mary Fucking Poppins. I did find that the medicine, the frank sad stuff, helped the sweet stuff go down. A reverse on the tune they wrote.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, April 24, 2011
THE DAY
John is coming home later tonight. I will not stay up. It will be three hours after my normal bedtime. Too late.
It will be good to have the family back together.
Today was pretty good.
Booker and I did not do the normal Sunday threesome walk because we were a twosome.
We got back and I cleaned the fountain. It is a complicate process but not very difficult. Turn it off, disconnect the tubes between the pump and the feeder tube that goes up through the center.
Backflush that tube out with a live hose. Nozzle to the top.
Then siphon off the water. I can usually get a good bit of the leaves and dirt out as the siphon has a pretty good suction on it.
Then, in the warm months, starting now, wipe out the algae that has collected on the fountain. Wipe out all remaining water with rags or a big sponge.
Done.
Then, Booker and I went to PetSmart to get his food for, well I don't know how long it lasts. 60 pounds. I am going to keep track.
Lots of dog biscuits and a walk through the toy aisle. He was not interested in anything and neither was I. Most of it is crap which will not last.
Of course, PetSmart allows dogs in the store.
I am not sure if I have ever taken him alone. Usually, all three go.
But it was OK. Once he gets in there he slows down and is pretty responsive. He will sit when I ask him to. Good dog.
So good, that I didn't decline the cashier's treat. We usually do. Not today.
Then we came home and filled the GI can and stowed the biscuits. Done.
The rest of the day we loafed. A movie. A usual day.
Nice.
No easter eggs.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
PANTSLESS
Today's film was the documentary
which will scare the pants off you. It points to our wandering attention to the nuclear threat.
This is not new for me.
I was a "duck and cover" kid waiting for the blinding flash. I spotted the sky for Civil Defense to see if any Russky planes were coming. I laughed nervously while Dr. Strangelove explained nuclear deterrence from his wheelchair.
Now, again, in this film, the despair in reaching zero weapons and the terrible need for it is presented. The presentation is pretty good. Very slick.
Obama is working on this. It is very difficult. The terrorist bomb and the proliferated weapons race is still on in countries we hardly have relations with.
And so on.
Is it a worse threat than global warming? Does it beat a mega virus from sweeping across the world? Take them all in. We live in very risky times.
But then in the olden days some bastard on a horse could sweep down and kill all the people and burn the village. We haven't evolved much. The world is a very risky place.
Just live your life.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
EMPTY NEST
Some Easter.
The family is not complete.
Booker and I are alone this weekend.
John is visiting his friends Bill and George in Las Gatos.
This means that Book and I have a lot of latitude on how we run our lives for two days.
This morning we went on the walk a bit early and traversed many adjacent areas including the notorious Warm Sands area. Sadly, no one was out and about. The desperate had gone home and the successful were happily warm in their beds.
We explored the dropped food possibilities at the big shopping center and peed on the shrubs at the big Lutheran Church in anticipation of tomorrows holiday grand slam.
Then home and a relatively quiet day of normality.
I don't think that we will have an egg hunt tomorrow. Booker has a tendency to eat rather than hide eggs. He has never had chocolate of course and this is not the time to start.
John comes back tomorrow night late and will cab home. We did drop him off at 4'ish in the afternoon but three hours past bedtime is a bit much.
All together again for a normal week by Monday.
Labels: holidays, home, travel
LIGHTER
I started on a half rations diet April 5th and have lost ten pounds.
This isn't enough.
But I am happy with the results so far.
I should say half rations except for dinner which stays the same though not ever over the top.
It took me a long time to get overweight so it will not be an overnight loss of that weight.
I hit a plateau after about 10 days and now it seems to be clutching in again. The body has decided that I am not going to starve it.
It has not been much of a hardship actually although it has diminished Booker's share of my food by half as well. He is looking rather svelte these days. I have lost a notch on my belt. An inch or inch and a half.
I mentioned my efforts to a friend today. He said that he hadn't noticed a difference. Ouch. But then added that he hadn't thought I had a problem in the first place. Yea!
Labels: health
INHERITANCE
Today's film was the documentary
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss (2009)
A famous German director, Piet Harlan, made an anti-semitic propaganda film, “Jud Süss,” 1940
It was made for Goebbels and was shown to as many members of the military and citizens as possible.
Harlan was tried and acquitted after the war for his support of the holocaust but the stain on the family name endures.
This film is about the family and its reactions. Sons, daughters and grandchildren talk about their inheritance.
One son, Thomas, wages a life campaign against his father. Siblings disagree. Others have dealt with the guilt, if any, and now are philosophic.
This is less a documentary about a propaganda film and a Nazi collaborator than a chronicle of a family who, 70 years later still bears the burden.
We see a lot of the original film but not too much. We see a lot of press coverage and family films. It is rather interesting. But not consequential.
Complicity and its wages are always the problem of other people. Not me.
I liked the film although I got a bit sleepy here and there. It could do with a good 20 minute cut.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Friday, April 22, 2011
PERFECTION
I just finished, belatedly, Tom Brachman's The Imperfectionists
This is a great book and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants a "good read" combined with a high quality piece of literary fiction.
It is a set of stories about people, most of whom work in an international newspaper headquartered in Rome.
Thinly disguised, this could be the Herald Tribune which was headquartered in Paris which I read thoroughly when I was overseas.
Rachman worked for the AP in Italy and the Tribune in, obviously, Paris so it rings of the truth at all levels.
The stories are interlinked although it is not obvious as you start reading the book. It is like a tapestry woven before our eyes. Nicely done. Most of the action is away from the paper in people's private lives. But everything converges one way or another.
I read a review where the guy said he had to read it again to see how Rachman did it.
I think that I will do the same.
The stories are funny, sad, shocking. Only shocking when he has subtly built our emotional investment in each person so skillfully. Story by story. Without our knowing it.
And there is a lot of info on newspapers which will be extinct soon.
The time is now.
Although he weaves in a backstory about the evolution of the paper from the fifties to present.
A big, big book now in paperback.
Labels: books
BARKIN AND A LITTLE BITE
I have been smitten with Ellen Barkin since I first saw her.
Which would be diner. The Tender Mercies. I missed a few, I think, and then remember Big Easy. Dennis Quaid again. Her crush in the diner film.
And so on and on.
She is mature now. And still working. A Broadway debut in The Normal Heart.
I would give a lot to see that.
She is a trouper.
Ellen Barkin is No Uptown Girl.
Nice to know she is alive and still kicking after her run in with that awful cosmetics baron. A shit by all acounts. But she is back and doing fine, thank you.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
LET IT GO
Official video for OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" off of the New Album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed live and features the Notre Dame marching band. Directed by Brian L. Perkins and OK Go.
Labels: fun. music
OLD PALS
Today's film is an old favorite, Jaques Becker's
Don't touch the loot.
This was also a NYTimes Best 1176 Films.
Jean Gabin plays an aging gangster or, really, a crook, who has pulled a job with his best friend and now finds their success in pulling it off ruined when the friend tells the wrong girlfriend about it.
He forgives his friend and sets about to repair the damage. Faithful to the end, we see Gabin cooly move through the situation and, at the same time, remain faithful to his friend.
The film is about aging. Gabin was 50 himself. An aging actor, one of the most popular in French film, humbly playing an aging hero. And, of course, it is about friendship. There are a few other friends in this as well. We have the feeling that all of Gabin's "gang" are really friends who would do anything for him and each other.
I have seen this before. And will see it again. It is a beautifully realized film. Very simple. Spare. No shenanigans. There is suspense without high drama. They play it cool. And when all hell breaks out at the end, an ironic twist, tempers the excitement.
The Criterion restoration has some parts that are breathtakingly clear and tell us more about the power of black and white film than any lecture could convey.
The young Jeanne Moreau plays a hooker/dancer in this and not even the main one. Interesting to see. The villain actor was doing his first film at middle age and went on to do fifty more. He was a professional wrestler at the time.
This is a great movie. A 5 out of Netflix5. I have seen it at least three times and it still holds me.
Labels: films
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
LOCAL COLOR
South of here is the Salton Sea. Well, east of here. It just seems south because the road twists and turns and ends up at Mexico.
Once a resort, the Sea has been left behind by time and increasing pollution. It is also isolated from the rest of the world. In the middle of nowhere.
This photo essay tells the story.
At the Salton Sea, Something Like Nostalgia
It is worth an auto trip. You must get out of the car.
You can see the imprint of the dream in the desert. It is pretty depressing. But then, not. In its own bedraggled way there is a very faded elegance there. An outline of the vain hopes of the developer and everyone who came to be by the sea.
Labels: desert, photography, photos
CREEPING PROUDLY OVER THE LINE
Nate Silver:
Gay Marriage Opponents Now In Minority
Well, 51% for and 47% opposed. Evidently, four percent haven't thought it through yet or are considering a proposal.
This is surprising to me.
I knew that, finally, gay people are not viewed as pariahs in most quarters. That does not, incidentally, stop homophobic acts. In fact the last gaspers tend to get violent in their isolation, so there is usually an increase in hate activity when this kind of shift occurs.
I suppose that we can expect the Westboro Baptist Church people to start picketing gay weddings.
I will take this for what it is. Progress. Good. Thanks.
Now, have you ever seen a gay wedding? I bet if we could show a few on the teevee the numbers would shift even more. You guessed it. Just like the straight ones. All the way from simple to silly but almost all marked by the love of the couple for each other and the warmth of the many guests, friends and family, who came to celebrate the union.
Labels: gay history, gay marriage, gay rights
THE ALGORHYTHMICS
I told you that I signed up for the subscription to the NYTimes, right?
Well, I did.
Good thing.
They tell me that I have read 249 articles in the past month. Is that March? I guess so because the number doesn't change every time I read one in April.
The new Times deal that I "bought" is 15 dollars per month. Not bad. I spend a lot more than that on books and other reading materials.
Here is the nice thing though. They made a deal with heavy readers. Lincoln cars, I think it was Lincoln, would pay for the first months, all of 2011, if I signed up that day or that week. I did and they did. So I am home free for nine months.
Along with the new deal on the Times, there are some new features.
One is that they have put a "recommended" list on some pages. They have "most emailed" and, on some, "most blogged" and, now, on some pages "recommended for you"
Here we are in algorithm land again. They have such a thing on Amazon for books and Netflix for movies. The Netflix even gave a million dollar award for anyone who could come up with a better "recommender".
Both of them are for the shit.
The worse is Amazon. They list books I would never consider and sometimes, just to be cranky, will list books that I have already ordered! Black and white.
Netflix, I must admit, is a bit better. But not much. Many of the recommended films would not please me at all. I have heard about them, read a review or just got the plot and I don't want to see them.
The NYTimes recommender is better though. Quite surprising. Many of the articles are ones that I have not yet seen in the paper. And, for the most part, they do, in fact, interest me. They have some obvious hooks. Gay issues for example. But others are quite mysterious. When I click through and see the piece they have recommended, it is surprising how many hit the spot. The r-spot. Reading.
Some are lemons. Maureen Dowd for example. Not preferred but usually on the list.
The other thing is that their list does not repeat. There are no articles that I have already read. None.
At first I was quite skeptical. Change. No. But now, I am drawn to it and curious. Very good. The list is singing to me.
OH. Dijkstra's algorithm has nothing to do with newspapers. Clickon to see.
It is just pretty. I was looking for an algorithm illustration and voila!
Dijkstra's Algorithm solves the single-source shortest path problem in weighted graphs. Here we show it running on a planar graph whose edge weights are proportional to the distance between the vertices in the drawing -- thus the weight of an edge is equal to its visible length.
I don't think that is going to get on my recommended list of articles.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
THE WISDOM OF THE MARKET
This is funny. Actually, so funny that I probably made as much paper money on bonds as I may have lost on stocks yesterday. I am 50/50.
WHO'S AFRAID OF STANDARD AND POOR?
So look. The move accomplished two things.
It showed Wall Street's opinion of the GOoPers playing around with the debt stuff and, at the same time, it stirred the market to revive its interest in US Government Bonds.
Not bad.
The "invisible hand" moves again.
Labels: economy, market, Republicans
EASTERN WESTERN
Today's film was Johnnie To's
This is a NYTimes Critics' Pick
To directed Election, Triad Election and Breaking News which I have already seen. He is a great film maker. The technique is not intrusive but it is obvious enough to appreciate. Feel the tension in the choreography. Look at the night scenes in the city. Cuts that kill. Well, yes. Kill.
This is a western that takes place in Macau and Hong Kong maybe last week. The big bad guy has killed the hero's daughter, husband and kids. The father hero comes to avenge them. A former hit man himself, he is Johnny Hallyday who, a lifetime ago, was Europe's Elvis. A rock star of huge proportions.
Now, look at his face. His whole life is written on it. A latter day Yves Montand. Great. Gary Cooper if he had done a lot of drugs and had the life of the real road on him.
Even if you don't like this kind of stuff, he is a great reason to watch the film.
He has only been in a couple other films and he is not asked to do much here but he has terrific charisma and just stands there very well. To uses him to maximum iconic advantage. But he has close friends which he makes almost instantly. They are the muscle. Usually the stars of such endeavors.
There is nothing redeeming about the violence here. It is gratuitous and quite explicit. But sometimes, different. Like a night time scene in woods that goes on and on. Bad versus good guys look alike. What is happening? We do not really see the results of all the shooting but we hear its effects. Very bravely done. Hold an audience with darkness. Well choreographed.
Hallyday has a problem. He is losing his memory bit by bit so he actually ends up only with his knowledge that he is on a revenge path. There are enough brain cells left for him to finish the job he came for. What an idea!
The villain is despicable. Killing innocent children. Punishing slights and misbehavior of his own men.
We have seen all of this before many times. Nothing new here. But quite excitingly done. We care about Mr. Hallyday and want him to succeed. Even on one brain cell.
I enjoyed it. A good time was had by all. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
I loved to listen to Hallyday and then, I sort of lost him.
He emerged years later as a kind of crooner. It says here, a chanteur, well of course, in the style of Jaques Brel or Montand or so many French icons.
I don't understand a word of what he is singing but it is very good to listen to.
I figure that he is middle aged here.
Listen to those screams. One of them is mine.
Everyone all wet?
OK!!
Labels: films
WE ARE EVERYWHERE
Even in christian universities.
Even on Religious Campuses, Students Fight for Gay Identity
I like the part where they ask "why go to a christian university if you are gay?".
Good answers.
This shit is so painful for the people involved.
But it is like sticking a patch on a gusher. It will only hold so long.
My personal experience is that there are many gay men in evangelical religions. Many of them went there because they thought religion was the answer for the "curse" of homosexuality. It didn't work.
I also know many ex-evangelicals. Same thing.
Some god people are sure hateful.
I was surprised that Baylor is a religious university. Many colleges who have a religious beginning and history are finessing that for present admissions. I have grandkids going to college next year. I was surprised to see that several apparently secular colleges are actually religious with a bit of a bent toward preaching and churchy stuff.
Under the radar.
I think that many religious colleges like other than evangelical religions have started to soft pedal their affiliations and traditions because they do not want to be painted with the same brush as these more overt mind control outfits are. For what else is it? There is no match for the bubble which evangelical kids are brought up in. But the instincts will cry out. You cannot stop it. And being queer is as instinctive as the desire for food and shelter.
I know they don't believe this. But take it from someone who spent years trying to go in a different direction. It doesn't work.
Labels: gay identity, religion
Monday, April 18, 2011
ELECTRO RUDENESS
Here is Kevin Drum on Andrew Sullivan who both concur about the rudeness of holding your fucking device in your hand to glance at when you are socializing or, worse, doing some kind of business with other people. Especially friends.
I know.
I know.
I just wrote about this.
But I can't help myself. It so pisses me off totally.
Drum speculates that it is age related. Well, duhh! Yes it is.
Of course, "the young" are always viewed as rude by their elders. I put in my time being as rude as possible.
I am emeritus on this practice.
So I have given a special permit to some of the young to go ahead and be rude. A pass.
But not with this stuff.
The thing is that I know some of these dolts are playing a game. I don't mean a social intercourse game. I mean a goddam game like "angry birds" whatever that is.
Another percentage are not doing anything but anticipating a call. Like the guy who you are talking to in a gay bar who is looking over your shoulder to see who else might be there that is prettier.
Sorry. You may not know about that one.
If you are a woman you know it. The guys are oblivious as they are the ones doing it.
And, god help us, the guys are oblivious to their own rudeness in any case. And in the world of hand helds they are even more so.
I would like to posit the notion that the hand held is an extension of their masculinity. After all, except for the flip top, the hand held is about the right shape and size. A bit thick but we like thick.
So, men. Get a bit self conscious. Realize that you are standing there with your dick in your hand and no one is even paying attention. No one is calling. There is not even a buzz.
That can't feel to satisfying can it?
GAYS AND GOD
Today's film was the NYTimes Critics' Pick
This is an Israeli film. Two men living in a strict orthodox Jewish enclave fall in love and, worse, act on it.
Again, we see the wages of sin in a religious community.
Gay and god don't go very well together. Of course, this is not really god. It is a manifestation of an ingrown sect's worst fears.
In that sense they are not much different than anyone else who hate difference. There is a morals possee that identifies sinners and corrects incorrect behavior. Along side the men's story are the love story of a straight couple where the guy is not chosen by the family to be the husband. They bend to the will of the community.
It is interesting to get a look inside a community like this. We have a congregation of Lubitchers here in PS and they have the hats and forelocks and all. I suppose they have the moral codes as well.
In a way, this is an all too predictable story. We have heard it over and over. Believe me, the Methodists can do a good job of censure and shunning as well. But not outright attack, I think. They are too muddled about their own beliefs to get that strong.
So here we have family values again. And the complicator here is that one man does have kids. Well, I know a thing of two about that.
I am glad that I watched it. It is a well done film. The tone is rather depressed when we are in the community and that is what I think it must feel like in there. When the men are together, the colors come up a bit. There is some more joy. But not much. Hiding sort of kills the thrill.
Very subtle performances from the two men and very convincing gay scenes.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, April 17, 2011
EASTERN COVER
It is exciting to see what is happening in the Middle East.
All the way from Israel's waning influence on US foreign policy to the details of the uprisings in the various Arab states.
So, here on my daily tour of the internet is a new bookmark.
I don't stay long. Scan it and run. But when I get inside some of its coverage, it is well written and balanced.
There is a lot going on out there in the world and US outlets hardly cover it. The networks still do a good job but there is so little time devoted. CNN is a disaster. And the others, political.
It will be interesting to see when the first AJE item hits the blog.
SHIRLEY YOU JEST
Today's film was the Zucker Brothers/Jim Abrahams' movie
Often copied, rarely achieved. The wit and silliness of this great little film.
It has been a long time since I saw it so some of it seemed new. But even the parts that seemed old were funny.
I had forgotten the cluelessness of the stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty that endures. Both went on to have pretty good careers after this big break.
It was fun to see the late Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridge and many others.
Interesting to read the original review by Janet Maslin. It was a NYTimes Critics' Pick at the time.
I will give it the same 5 out of Netflix5. I may want to see it again.
Labels: films
I AM AN OBSERVER
This is an old rant. I have written it a dozen times.
But, I am revved up again so here I go.
I do not text. I do not have that service. If I get a text it costs me 25 cents and I will tell you so.
I do not have wireless on my "phone". What is a "phone" now anyway?
I am not on Facebook. I will not Twitter. I don't want fucking any of it.
I have enough trouble keeping myself away from my computer for news, blogging (mine and others), movies and the like.
But none of this computer "work" is done while you are standing there with me. I am alone.
Well, sometimes John and I do have our moments with emailing each other from across the room. A photo. A little message.
I can imagine what it would be like around here if we both texted and did the social networks and read the news and the rest of it on our "phone".
I watch people. There are folks who will not maintain eye contact but will stand aside of you, device in hand, glancing to see if a text has come in during the chat. I can feel them pull away.
I hear the problems of the social networks. Too much oversharing. Is that redundant? I suppose so. Unwanted "friends". Gossip gone awry. Private photos made public. (Hey look, if you put a photo on the internet anywhere it is public. Listen to me!)
Now this.
Ahem. Are you talking to me? (or texting?)
Everyone knows it. No one likes it.
It is the new drug.
I can get away with not being involved. I don't have a job and my friends don't expect me to. It is not a precondition for their affection.
Of course, this is because if you are my "friend" you are probably not going to be my true friend.
Boy, do I hate this shit.
I know that parents and kids use texting to stay in touch. Lovers too. A lot of relationships can benefit from it. Us? We send emails. But Jesus H. Christ! Most of what passes for important is not compared to the real, live person standing or sitting next to you.
Here is one good thing about texting. It has virtually eliminated the boorish loud mouth talking on the cell phone while others are trying to eat, think, talk or just be quietly alone. That guy is now the compulsive thumber. The screen peaker.
Progress? Not by a long shot.
Labels: cults, culture, internet
Saturday, April 16, 2011
LEFTY UNVEILED
I have been very hard on my Democrat/liberal/lefty blog people who are so resentful to Obama for doing governing things like working through the system, compromising with the opposition, taking deliberate time to undo the bush damage (although I think that this is especially undeserved as he has done tons of stuff so they are wrong).
I didn't know that I knew a real left wing Obama basher until this morning when an old friend unveiled himself when I showed him my new official bumper sticker which came the other day.
He said he was "angry" at Obama for a lot of things.
I recoiled. What? I said about the same thing as I wrote above to him. I was very disappointed actually.
But, we have our own views about things and he can have his opinions and state them. It was similar to my reaction in finding that someone I know and like was following the tea party line.
Of course, we all think that others share our views and that is more wrong than right.
I am happy to have difference if it is affable and in good humor. Not a morning goes by at the gym without an exchange with my Frick and Frack cardio guys, one an unrepentant bushie and the other like me. I gave him a bumper sticker.
It is OK. The earth will not stop turning. I will still be friends with all these guys. It is fine.
But I don't get it. The lefty thing. It is easier to get the bagger position than the adverse "liberal" unliberal position.
Time for the impatient and the unrealistic to take a look at this again.
What The Fuck Has OBama Done So Far?
Labels: Administration Obama, bush, Re-election of Barack Obama
LOVE
Today's film is the German, NYTimes Critics' Pick, Maren Ade's
The review is excellent reading after you see the film. Very good. Very wise.
A young couple just newly in love vacation at his mother's home in Sardinia.
We get to watch the relationship and all its subtleties for quite awhile. It might appear that things are not going anywhere but if you tweak your observer up and quit waiting for a Hollywood style lay it in your lap, you will be rewarded with, of all things, feelings. You will fell what these young people are saying to each other and to "everyone else".
Soon, they meet another couple about whom the less said the better at this point. But these more settled people have a more settled relationship and the young couple responds to this in both talk between them and in action.
There is fallout.
This is so like my own experience back then and now that it is quite shocking to find these feelings still alive and well.
Years of practice in negotiating the space between people still does not prepare one for the little rapids and whirlpools that come along.
Not a spoiler, but I have even been lost with my lover. I mean lost lost.
This is not a comedy although it is often amusing. It is not a tragedy even though very serious things happen and very deeply felt charges are made. It is quite lifelike.
The young couple are beautifully filmed and perfect for each other and the story. They are not yet molded by life. They are almost innocent.
I will see this again.
That makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
ROM BEAUX
If you want to make fun of Mitt Romney, it is not much of a challenge.
But there is a past master at this sport and that is Gail Collins who has had it in for Mitt ever since he made a joke about cruelty to an animal.
Today, there is a new edition of Collin's inventory of Mitt-fits.
I haven't cited Collins for awhile which is a shame because she has been a continued fresh voice in the pundit wars.
Mostly, she finds humor where the humorless reign. Perfect for the lame Mormon.
Labels: republican whack jobs
Friday, April 15, 2011
S.O.S.
I revived an old dish tonight. Chipped beef in cream sauce, served on toast. Better known to all ex-military as "shit on shingle".
Our version tonight was a bit more elegant than the army version. The toast was 9 grain and the entree was the Stouffer's variety.
It was great.
The army version uses a browner sauce and, in some cases, use a ground beef. That truly looks like shit on a shingle.
In the United States, this dish is more prone to breakfast than to other meals. And, it used to be available at every diner.
I think that I am correct in assigning it to the category of "depression food". Dishes that were made with ingredients that stretched them. In this case, the sauce and the toast.
My mother had it a lot. For dinner. My Dad scarfed it up. I was a bit tentative. But now, I am there. I like it a lot. Somehow I think that this sauce we had might be different from my Mom's.
Chipped beef is sliced beef, thin, that has been salted and air dried and will keep forever. It is still available in stores but less than in the past and more in New England than out here.
I like it a lot.
We will have it again.
KOBE BEEF
We all know that Kobe Bryant is a great athlete.
If you are close enough to LA to read the papers you also know that he falls short as a man of integrity. He is a manchild in that respect.
His, now infamous, "faggot" scream is not a small thing. It is a big thing. This is what you say when you feel contempt for another male person. Faggot.
Here are some thoughts from a fine man and a great athlete who happens to be gay.
A Gay Former N.B.A. Player Responds to Kobe Bryant
John Amaechi. That's him. You won't see any Kobe photos on this blog.
When someone with the status of Kobe Bryant, arguably the best basketball player in a generation, hurls that antigay slur at a referee or anyone else — let’s call it the F-word — he is telling boys, men and anyone watching that when you are frustrated, when you are as angry as can be, the best way to demean and denigrate a person, even one in a position of power, is to make it clear that you think he is not a real man, but something less.
I challenge you to freeze-frame Bryant’s face in that moment of conflict with the referee Bennie Adams. Really examine the loathing and utter contempt, and realize this is something with which almost every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender person is familiar. That is the sentiment people face in middle and high schools, in places of worship, work and even in their own homes across the United States.
Labels: gay identity, homophobia
ON THE EDGE
Today's film was the documentary
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009)
This is a film of a notorious family in Boone County who are totally alcoholic, shit kicking, hell raising, fucked up people. Appalachia. The tail end of the mountain chain that I come from. Came.
We called these people "cunnermans" after a similar family in our county. It is the same story. I am sure that they are "wild" but it is not so clear that they are "wonderful".
Watching a film like this is similar to watching those YouTube pet videos where, at some point, I realize that this animal is suffering and I am getting off watching it being put through paces that it does not really want to go through and is being used for exhibition. Cruelty. Animal porn. This is the same thing only people.
Johnny Knoxville is behind this film. Should'a known. We see the worst.
In the course of the time they spent with this family, one guy got 50 years for shooting up his sister's boyfriend. Or maybe his mother's bf. It is a little confusing. One woman's baby is taken away at birth because she is an addict and the kid has fetal detox to go through. She enters what looks like a pretty good program. Has 6 months. The matriarch dies. One woman gets out of prison and goes looking for her husband to kick his ass and ends up sleeping with him that night and going back with him. He still visits his girlfriend he had while, well, shit. This goes on and on.
Beyond that people have no inhibitions about snorting coke, showing their tits and dicks or whatever for the camera. And so on. It is not that they aren't volunteering.
Did I watch the whole thing? You're damned right I did. It is a show. And it is worth watching if only because it is a slice of life in America that we would like to hide.
The people that I grew up around were all alcoholics. These people have progressed to constant pot, prescription pills and hard drugs. 24/7. The booze merely keeps the background buzz going.
There is a certain pattern to it all which probably defies solution. Most of all, they do not want to change and have no intention of giving up the family rep as hell raisers.
Some sociologist may have more theories than that but it boils down to that.
There is some pretty cool clog dancing in it and they are good at that.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 even if it is exploitation. I had some fun watching the train wreck.
Labels: films
Thursday, April 14, 2011
ROLLING ALONG
In the continued examination of the budget cuts Obama agreed to we find more rolling of the Republicans.
The actual non-paper, real cuts are now down from 40 billion to 8 billion.
The lefty whiners should be pleased to see that Obama is just a little smarter than they thought and I don't know what the Republicans think but the baggers must be pissed at Boehner. Good.
Labels: Administration Obama, lefty fringe, professional left
YOU CAN'T SELL LOVE OR BUY IT EITHER
Today's movie was
A morality tale which centers on a gay hustler whose hard vision of life is broken in one night of surreal experiences in an apartment house. He can't find his way out and ends up in a series of experiences that lead to a final awakening.
This is neither hard core or over the top with the bad experiences. They, in fact, are not bad. Just superficial. A date with a closeted man, a time with an old "friend" and some other guys who are pretty much today's stereotypical faggots, an experience with a gay basher who hides his homo side then when aroused fights the hated "other, and so on. A wise and tender older gay man. One experience leads to another. There are a lot of double meanings to the images and the well written talk.
In the last stop, he finds a new experience. Transforming.
The idea of the nightmare experience, not being able to escape, is not new. But the application here is novel.
The young hustler is great. He wears his soul on his face. A beautiful young man lost inside a tough carapace.
All the other actors are very effective.
I really liked this new gay film and would hope for more of this kind. A sort of gay family values kind of thing. A word for love and loving behavior.
The writer director is Joseph Graham. The young man is played by Ben Bonenfant> I hope for more work from both men.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5 just because I am sure that I will see it again. Even an old guy can learn from this kind of deconstruction of gay life.
