Sunday, July 31, 2011
WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US
This is pretty good.
In debt drama, voters play key, if overlooked role
In some clear, straightforward language we get to see that we are the source of the problem when it comes to divisive politics.
I agree with this. I think that Obama offered a meeting ground but people misunderstood him. The left saw a final solution to all their grievances and the right demonized him. Then they elected Reps and Senators who stood in for these extreme views.
He has governed as a centrist because it was/is the only way to manage now and so he is pissing off both extremes. And the extremes aren't the fringe any more. The fringe is center or Independents who, actually, did elect him.
And so on.
It is a pretty good article.
Labels: Administration Obama, elections
GALLEY SLAVES
Today's movie was Mike Judge's
which somehow I missed. It is based on Judge's cartoon Milton which I did know about and enjoyed. It was short lived. Judge is also the father of Beavis and Butthead which I did not enjoy.
I sure liked this comedy though. It is light hearted about the tragedy of work that you hate.
The star is not Milton but Milton is the best invention in it. An office troll who closely guards his almost nil prerogatives and nurses his resentments.
The rest of the gang carry the story which is probably familiar to anyone who has ever worked in an office. The types, the boss who has his priorities up his ass, the characters.
The story moves along. There are no farts, shit or any four letter words that are not absolutely necessary. There is a little homohysteria amongst the insecure straight men.
Not a problem. Almost all the straight guys I know have this. How come gay guys don't worry about straight guys? Well they do but not about being forced to have sex with them.
I wouldn't mind seeing it again in awhile.
I got it because it has earned cult status and has a 7 on the IMDb site.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
COOLED OFF
We took the dressing off the hot spot. Bookers paw.
It has healed very nicely and is good and clean. As of now, he is leaving it alone.
We told him we would put the boot back on if he started licking it.
Maybe he believes us. Or, maybe he just doesn't itch there.
He is on antibiotic for the duration and has enough benadryl in his system to relieve the itch if any. Also some salve.
And, of course, lots of attention.
Labels: Booker
Saturday, July 30, 2011
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
We all got up at 4AM this morning. Well, it is actually an hour after my normal time. I was sleeping in. No gym.
There was a whopper of a thunder storm and it had gotten too much like fireworks for Booker so he got the Dads up to help.
We did the stop gap.
Turn on the radios. The neighbors would not hear. The thunder made for the biggest noise.
We turned on all the lights. If you have lights on you see less lightning unless it is right over the house.
After a while of cowering we manned up and went outside where it had stopped raining. But soon resumed.
It is more OK to be out than in but you still can't pee. Everything is too buttoned down and snapped shut.
The air was wonderfully cool but wet.
So we came inside and just as we shut the door, a bolt and a boom went off right over our house.
Safe at the last moment.
Even food would not deter Booker from pacing. He doesn't whine. Just pace and wants to have a Dad pet him. Which we do.
But then, things quieted down and food was safe to eat and then more quiet and before we knew it all that was blasting was the Beethoven. We turned the FM off.
At 6AM we went for an abbreviated walk. The storm had not cleared the air. But it had sure dumped a lot of rain.
This is good for this time of year when things get awfully dirty. Gritty. Washed away now.
Labels: Booker, desert, weather
LOUDER THAN WORDS
Today's film was
See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainer's Documentary (2010)
I do not have any deaf people in my life. Period.
I tried to think of the last time I was with a deaf person.
It would have to be in the gay bars in Boston ca. 1974. There were some guys from a suburban school for the deaf. Some could speak. Others would not. They practiced the silent signals of the bar scene.
They were always in a group, hands flying. I thought they were dishing the crowd and they were. I got to know two guys who were friends of a friend.
I only mention this because it illuminates the preparation I had to see this film. In other words, none.
Without dragging us through the painful circumstances of the deaf (isolation from the hearing, sad family stories, intra cultural competition) it does show that life is not easy in a hearing world or even in a deaf world.
And these are entertainers! A comedian, an actor (who happens to be gay), a singer and a drummer.
Each has an aspiration to be heard in the deaf and hearing world and, by the end of the film, it is not a spoiler to say that we see parts of that goal realized.
And they do it through diligence and hard work. The old fashioned way.
By the end, they have also hooked up with each other.
I was impressed that none were on a pity trip. They saw the obstacles and took responsibility for themselves to get over or through them. To find another way.
I liked this film a lot and I liked the people. Amazing.
The documentary is very well made. So well made that I couldn't tell you what they did to make it work. It is not conventional.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Friday, July 29, 2011
HOT SPOT
Booker has been licking his left foot since Wednesday, well Tuesday given a little "denial" time.
So I diagnosed a "hot spot". An infection dogs get under the fur. The rain forest atmosphere plus the saliva is a perfect medium for growing a sore.
Off we went to the vet. Our usual guy, Dr. Burbank, is off for the summer to Montana so we had Dr. Koodrich who did really well.
Yes. It was a hot spot. He got a little shave job and a clean up and a wonderful deep purple bandage on his foot. He is being amazingly good about it. He rebelled a bit at first but now it is a part of him. Jumping into the Volvo. Helping with the dog food chores.
We stopped at PetSmart on the way home for some food and dog biscuits. Somehow, Dads always spill a little putting the kibble into the big GI can that serves as a storage bin. Booker counts on those dribbles!
So.
Booker has some antibiotic. Days worth of it. He is and will stay on the benadryl I started him on yesterday. There is some salve.
We got a set of boots to wear. PetSmart had them. A pack of four. One will do.
John is just now trying that out.
Not too much other drama.
He is walking around with the one boot with a high step like a performing horse.
One thing we didn't like to much is that she also found a lymph node swelling in the right haunch. We are cancer crazy ever since Franklin's melanoma. Easy does it. Maybe they are infected too. Maybe not. We will see.
Oh. The photo? You don't want to see a picture of a dog hot spot. Google one for yourself. Gruesome.
This is for some volcano fan club or something.
Labels: Booker
Thursday, July 28, 2011
DEFEATED
This may be a bit premature but I don't think so. And I predicted it.
The weak speaker: How a failed debt vote disarmed the nation's top Republican
I remember when he came into office and changed the Congressional power game. He wanted to power share, to give more power to the rank and file.
And he did.
I knew he was in trouble. Nearly a hundred freshman, given power, which some of them were in fact given in assignments, are bound to use it unwisely. They are dogmatic. They do not want dialogue. They are single minded.
Yesterday was a fiasco for Boehner.
I actually take little satisfaction in seeing this evolve. It means that the House Of Representatives is out of whack and in the control of the newest, least experienced, most dogmatic members. If we were not in trouble before, we are in trouble now.
I admire John Boehner. He is a guy who came up through hard times. He has a lot in common with Joe Biden. Working class. Night school.
He has tried to be a good diplomat with Obama. I think that he went too far for his troops and they threatened to cut his dick off. They are a hard lot.
That is why he left negotiations for the grand bargain. I don't think he is a weasel. At least I hope he is not. He is just in an unmanageable situation.
Labels: republican whack jobs, Republicans
THEY STILL APPROVE OF HIM
The babies and the whiners are actually still for Obama.
Obama Faring Better Among Dem Voters Than Every Democratic President Since Truman: Gallup
They have charts and everything.
After this hellish week of Republican insanity, he can only get higher approval from everyone.
What a horror show. Even I could not have anticipated the extent of the GOP disaster.
Initial polls suggest that I am not the only one who thinks so.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
CLOSING PLUS ONE
Today, a year ago, we closed on our old house and ended a long, wonderful phase of our life.
I had ended up going to the place every day until the final step and it was hard, for awhile, to give it all up. The worrying about things and all.
The buyer helped this along by being a bit helpless and taking me up on my offer to be a resource to him.
This is my nice guy syndrome. No one told me fuck about the place when I took it over except where the front door was.
But I had the benefit of the gardener and the pool guy and so on. They were a great help.
Not so for our buyer. He pissed them all off and fired all of them. They didn't care because he was always late paying their bills. In other words, a prick.
When I felt like I was still living there and worrying about how it was going, my friend Tom suggested that I go count the money we earned out of the deal. That helped a lot and the buyer eventually quit calling. Especially when I didn't answer for awhile. I had his name on my call list so I knew. I don't blow anyone else off like that.
I learned something.
Labels: condo, history, home, life
OLD TIMER
Today's movie was a Robert Duval vehicle
And a pretty good vehicle it is. Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray join up.
This is all country maybe in the 20's.
A hermity, eccentric old man wants to have his funeral before he dies so that "he can hear people's stories about him".
The film wanders along and tells several stories while it gets to a dramatic end. Very nice. Satisfying.
I enjoyed it. I like to watch Bill Murray any time. He is straight acting in this one although a bit of the Bill we know shows through.
Lucas Black plays the male ingenue, straight man foil to Murray. They make a good pair. One thinks that it is a balance of good and evil. They almost steal the film from Duval but he has the final scenes and takes it back. Spacek is pretty good at the hambone also.
I do not understand the title. At all.
But, I liked it. A good solid 3 out of Netflix5.
Oh, there is a great mule in it too.
Labels: films
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
hope
Lower case hope but hope nonetheless.
Where Politics Are Complex, Simple Joys at the Beach
A group of Israeli women on the West Bank take a group of Palestinian women to the beach. A good time was had by all.
Of course, this is illegal. Civil disobedience.
But it is time for that to happen.
Evidently they have done this six times.
It is the first time that the Palestinian women and kids had seen the beach.
In the meantime, the powers that be are in stalemate. No meetings. No response to one another. Netanyahu. A real bastard.
But here? hope.
Labels: Middle east
CALLED AND CALLED
Public Answers POTUS Call to Action
I got my call to call from the Obamas. Complete with Mary Bono Mack's phone number.
I called for me.
I called for John.
I didn't have a lot of trouble getting through but some other people did. We swamped the switchboard. Or the switch gear. Whatever they have now.
You can call too. It isn't too late.
I asked Mary Bono Mack to vote No and to make it clear that her "no" vote was because she didn't want to play political games with the debt any more.
Of course this will be ignored. Mary is an old games player and has never, ever stepped out from what the leadership tells her to do. There have been one or two exceptions for her unique constituency but I am sure she got permission.
She was a tool of the leadership from the first day she took over from Sonny who skied into a tree too hard.
But it felt good to me. I call her a lot. They are nice. Noncommittal.
I am impressed that so many people heard the call. To call. He has a lot more mojo than is currently the fashion to think that he has.
Labels: Administration Obama, republican whack jobs
NASTY
Today's film was Andrea Arnold's
Much critical acclaim but not from me. Another nasty bottom of the barrel story of a teener in today's scurfy England. Much like a documentary, this young girl spews venom at everyone and, at the same time, wants everyone to love her.
We get to see things from a "real" perspective. Filthy apartments, teens out of control, Michael Fassbender in all his glory in to save the girl and, as I later found out, takes "advantage of" her. It is a high priced visit to the low lives.
There are no english subtitles so it is anyone's guess what half they are sayin' sometimes.
It is just one fucking thing after another and I shut it down after an hour.
I should have known. There were clues.
I did find one thing though. I am more amazed at social rot in the UK than when I see it anywhere else. What happened to the staid and proper?
Of course, we have been looking at this kind of film for a long time. The angry young men. the rockers and the skin heads and the rest. It is actually boring. Tiresome is more like it.
A full stop earns a 1 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
PARDOX OR WHO IS CUTTING COSTS?
If you are all about cutting the federal budget, which I am not, then you should be supporting Harry Reid's proposed cuts in the Senate budget package. Even if you are a Republican. It has twice the savings of Boehner's plan in the House.
And not only that but Boehner's people fucked up on the draft so that the CBO had it at less than a trillion and he now has to revise it and, not only that( again), the whack jobs that have signed "the pledge" may not support him and he will embarrassed even more.
Reid's plan will be the only one standing.
And today the Dow is another hundred dollars down. Three straight days.
I haven't written much about this. I support my President. But it is not his job to do the legislative lifting.
It is hard to see how Boehner will survive this but it is not my problem. Doubly shamed. The faulty arithmetic yesterday and the half a loaf today.
What a show.
Labels: Democrats, republican whack jobs
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
WALMART
I have only been in Walmart once.
I was in some suburban place. Illinois. And I needed cigarettes.
I drove out and the first place I came to was a WalMart.
I went in and was accosted by a greeter.
it so freaked me out that I left without the cigarettes and never, ever returned to the place.
This from The Daily What where I found this.
Alex Day (of Alex Reads Twilight fame) and his buddy/bandmate Liam Dryden hop across the pond to Los Angeles, California, where they decide to visit a Walmart.And it is pretty smart.Culture shockilarity ensues.
I feel that I have now seen the interior of a WalMart.
And at least half of Alex reading Twilight.
TWINS
Today's film was
Baseball star twins with an alcoholic father who barely qualify for the minors pursue their baseball dreams amid family melodrama.
Sounds alll made up, huh?
Actually, these twins made their own film with Ed Harris playing their father (superb) and many other great actors to tell their actual story. Wrote, directed and produced it.
And it is not obviously a shoestring picture but, if you think about it, it really is.
And very well told.
Sometimes the amateurism of it comes through but somehow that adds to the poignancy and pain involved in the family's life and in the relationship between the twins.
These guys are good. Of course, they are playing themselves. But that is not such an easy feat.
This was a big festival favorite. I liked the film a lot. There are a lot of teary moments, well played. The baseball stuff does not require a lot of knowledge or that you be a fan boy.
Good.
I will give this one a 3 out of Netflix5.
JOY
Click on any picture to hear gratitude, happiness, history, longing, wry humor, love and many kisses
This is a set of audio interviews with gay people who married the first day in New York City for gay marriages.
There is not one of these little pieces I do not identify with. They are all me. Us.
One guy says that in his younger days this would be a criminal act. Another says how their kids have never understood the difference between a civil union and marriage. They insisted that these guys be married the very first day.
Let me tell you. I registered as a domestic partner and it was good to get the certificate. In another year or so, I was married! Nothing like it. The second it was done the thrill went from one end of my body to the other. I was dumbstruck with the reality of it. A hundred friends applauded. One airedale barked.
Glory.
Labels: gay marriage
Monday, July 25, 2011
DEATH SMELLS
Today's film was the documentary and NYTimes Critics' Pick
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Burroughs is (generously) credited with setting the stage for the cultural revolution known as "the sixties".
In many ways, Burroughs is a big pill to swallow. A gay man who didn't want the label. A gun fanatic that killed his wife and ruined his son's life. A heroin addict who never really kicked it. Ever. Inventor of prose made from cutup pieces of paper. Shit like that.
But he is a fascinating character and this film picks up on that theme enlisting many people to talk about him from their own experience. The group alone is interesting enough but what they unearth about Burroughs is even more so. It forms a tapestry in which an actual image of the real man emerges. Not sympathetic but more, perhaps, about the loneliness and isolation and the courage it took to seek his own way in spite of that.
I never read a lot of Burroughs. His gay life was not mine. His addictions were of another sort. His novels were raw and cringeworthy. Transgressive for the sake of it.
But Burroughs does not need my approval to admire him. I liked the film and came to like him better than I did.
He is still a big pill to swallow but now it is a bit more candy coated. Easier to go down.
The production and art work are quite good. It was great to see the footage with Ginsberg and others.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Sunday, July 24, 2011
DONE, DONE AND DONE
There is a description of how it feels to be married after "all these years".
It is my experience exactly.
When John and I got married and they said it was done I just imploded into a set of emotions I didn't know that I had. Extraordinary. Done. Married. Done.
Here is the first NYC couple to get married today.
Labels: gay marriage
WILDLY OFF TRACK
Today's film is the highly amusing and shocking film by Yorgos Lanthimos
By this they mean the canine tooth. There isn't anything mysterious about it. It shows up as part of the massive disinformation delivered to three grown uppish kids who have been home schooled by their parents, do not have access to the world outside and live behind a very high fence.
It is Lanthimos' intention (he says in an interview) to show what can happen in a home schooling situation where contingencies occur which have to be corrected and these contingencies in turn create other effects which need to be addressed.
Before anyone knows it, the family has not only flown from reality but has developed some nifty psychodynamics.
An outsider comes in, a woman who is to instruct the son in sexual matters. She inadvertently leaves some video tapes in the house and all hell breaks loose as at least one of the kids sees such films as Jaws and interprets a different world from the one that she lives in.
The sex thing goes off the track too. Like everything else.
The film is absurdist. It is right on the money.
It is funny and, as some violent turns occur, shocking.
Quite a film.
Nothing quite like it but it is not out of the avant garde mainstream so to speak. Filled with paradoxes just like that.
I enjoyed it but had to turn from the screen two times. And maybe I should have a third. No one was hurt in making the film but it sure looks like it.
This is experimental theater on film and the director wants (and gets) visceral reactions from his audience.
I am not sure that I would want to see it again but maybe. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
FROM THE PAST
Charles Manatt, Former Democratic National Chairman, Dies at 75
I was in ROTC summer camp with Chuck in 1956. Quartermaster Corps. Fort Lee Virginia.
We never connected again but I kept track of him over the years and watched, with pleasure, his tenure with the Democratic apparatus including being DNC chair and also the head of Bill Clinton's campaign.
I think Michelle Obama spent some time in his firm or something like that.
It is not unusual to see people my own age felled by a stroke or heart attack.
It's weird.
I notice the age and then pull back and disqualify myself from contention for the big prize. The last one.
When I know or knew someone it is a little more sobering. But not much.
There is some nostalgia, the memory of younger days and then, blam, into the present and back to work.
So long Chuck. You and I had about the same proficiency for the military. Couldn't even shoot straight. But we had a lot of fun trying.
Why were we even there?
In those days of the draft, one alternative open to a college guy was to go into ROTC and sign up for six months active duty and six and a half years in the Reserve or go on active duty for two years and then Reserve for four. Or something like that.
It was known that one could negotiate the Reserve part and I did. I served the time but not very seriously and not in a unit.
That summer when Chuck and I met, the ROTC camp at Fort Lee was filled with people like us who saw this option as the best of a set of bad choices. It also seemed as though my company and platoon had more of us fake soldiers than any other.
We excelled at fooling around.
Always well dressed, passing inspections, gung ho on field exercises, we were, in a way, mocking the reality by taking it seriously in an unseriously way. Irony.
If you look at this official photo of the older Mannatt, you will see a slight glint of a smile that says "even this isn't to be taken too seriously".
Our platoon won the mock battle at the three day bivouac which everyone dreaded but somehow converted into a lark. Camping. Chuck and I were on the CO's staff. Another buddy who couldn't not take it seriously even if he did not.
The conversion of a painful duty into a brilliant experience with intensity and purpose for an ironic end was a great lesson for us.
We would never, ever be in the Army. This was it. So we made more than the most of it.
"If you are stuck in an asshole situation, get over yourself, take it in, have fun. Make it your own. Join others in the fun."
Labels: Democrats, gay military, nostalgia
GOING BACK TO THE PAST
The three of us, John, Booker, and I went to the old neighborhood last night and had dinner with Dan and Tom and Bruno, Booker's oldest best friend, at their house.
I had some trepidation. Booker hasn't had much luck making new friends lately, at least when I am walking him, so I got a bit too worried that he and Bruno, after a year, might not hit it off.
I could not have been more mistaken.
Booker knew even before we parked that he was on old familiar ground. And that his friend Bruno was probably just around the corner.
We parked our car inside the wall and they closed the gate. We all got out. Pandemonium. The dogs were off and running from one end of the yard to the other. Running in circles. Play boxing. Bruno is a boxer and Booker can do a slight version of the move.
From a canine point of view the evening was a total success.
Booker was totally well behaved and, even more, friendly and ready to be part of whatever action there was to be.
For some reason that we have never plumbed, Bruno has only one toy. Imagine.
They shared. Very nice boys.
They sort of settled down while we all had dinner. Bruno never has any people food. He has a delicate stomach. It seemed that Booker was holding off his near-to-the-edge-and-almost-falling-into-the-abyss-I-am-not-begging positions. It went very well. In fact if anyone was misbehaving, not much, it was Bruno who gets a treat for going out and peeing quickly. Somehow he wasn't getting it last night. Whine whine.
The going out to pee time was a scramble. I don't think Booker knew what Bruno and his dad were going outside for but there was a mad scramble to catch up. Tom said they peed on the same tree and almost each other.
After supper, we took a walk in the old neighborhood but avoided the old house where we hear there is rancor with the neighbors over barky dogs and a shitty attitude by the new owner. But we don't go there. Just a tsk tsk and on with the show.
We wondered if Booker could still smell his marks after a year away. He didn't say. There are certain dog secrets which will never be revealed.
We grown ups had a great time going over the gossip and who has done what with whom. A lot of short sales and foreclosures. One might have predicted some but a few were shockers. An epidemic.
There was a time a few years ago, right at the maximum bubble that our neighborhood became fashionable. Just in time for these people to get themselves caught. No bubble and under water.
It was nice to be back for awhile. But as we left for home we knew and said out loud what a great move it had been. We are secure and happy and don't have a single string left to the past.
Of course, there is Dan, Tom and Bruno but we can go visit them whenever we want.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
We are just over Stonewall and headed toward marriage in NY tomorrow. What a world of change.
Let's remember old friends who led us here. Through their love and relationships they showed us how to keep a small light alive and then pass it on to the next couple.
"Secretly" - A Vintage Montage Of Guys Together from MJS on Vimeo.
The artist is Jimmie Rodgers, also vintage material. A single in 1957.
Labels: gay history, gay identity, gay liberation, gay life, gay marriage
CRAZY IN LOVE
Today's film was Miranda July's
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
July is a performance artist. This is her first movie. There is no question that there is art in every performance.
A delicate story told with almost hammer blow vignettes is a paradox in its very being.
One surprise after another. Some visual but mostly verbal.
People going through what people go through.
July stars with John Hawkes who is one of those actors you have seen a hundred times. This time you will really see him.
Kids. There are kids. Good kids, bad kids, precocious kids.
The film is inhabited by everyone.
It is colorful. Plain sets brought to life with vivid colors.
The prolonged ending/resolution is very satisfying. Funny, sad and compelling.
I liked it. I would easily see it again. A 4 out of a Netflix5 and maybe a 5 if I think about it in the right way.
Labels: films
AN OLD FLAME
One of the pleasures of watching yesterday's Woody Allen film was the sound track under the titles.
Leon Redbone singing When You Wish Upon a Star.
I remember Leon from his old Cambridge, Inman Square days. He began in Toronto and then brought his gifts to the States or "America" as the Canadians would have us be.
Eccentric and almost out of reach.
He has had a long and, I hope, happy career.
Labels: music
Friday, July 22, 2011
CERTIFIED
The official end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
It has been a long trek from the days that Sam Nunn (a Democratic senator from Georgia) got all hot and bothered about protecting navy men in submarines from gays particularly when they were showering.
Gay Shipmates? Senators Listen As Sailors Talk (1993)
He didn't know, apparently, that you can have sex with your clothes on or off and not only that, you can have sex in a senate office on the desk without anyone being the wiser.
To say nothing about the fact that all submarines had some gay men on them just based on the odds. And surely there was sex.
Sam Nunn.
Now women serve on subs and whether sex occurs or not is the least important part of it if it is consensual and all. Not fraternizing. And so on.
I am probably too crude about this but DADT has been an incredible waste of political rhetoric and, shamefully, the loss of careers and even lives for gay men and women who only wanted to serve proudly.
The dark night is over.
More crudities.
For Sam Fucking Nunn. Wanker.
Labels: gay military
ANNUAL ALLEN
Today's film was Woody Allen's next to last annual show
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
True to his formula, he has pissed off a lot of reviewers who expect more of Allen than he sometimes delivers. But I have been watching Woody Allen films every year for, jeez, all of them.
They run in cycles. This one is very polished. None of that improv feel which does piss me off. I pay to see theater not groping.
This is a la ronde type of film with everyone switching off to another member of the cast and not much the better for it.
At the center is Gemma Jones who is great to watch undermine the newer actors and steal a scene.
The production is first rate. Long complicated shots with lots of extras and street scenes that come alive.
Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts and Anthony Hopkins fill out the cast of people trying to find the magic in their lives. It being an Allen picture, we can predict with some certainty that many if not all will come up short.
I will rate this one a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, July 21, 2011
THE EDGE OF GLORY
GRAND FINALE
I finished the wonderful film
La meglio gioventù / The Best of Youth (2003)
this afternoon.
It is simply the best film that I have ever seen. It should not be missed.
Unfortunately because of its length it had limited distribution but, now, the DVD helps get it around.
It has one of the highest, perhaps the highest, IMDb rating that I have ever seen. 8.8!
I will see it again in a couple of years. It is already setup in the queue.
I would like to see it when I still remember many parts more clearly. Or maybe I won't as a sort of willful ignorance thing. The main thing is to see it once again and laugh and cry and have a really wet time with its beauty and mystery.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5 forever.
Labels: films
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
THE MEME, THE MEME
You know the one. Our kids education is in the shitter and going down the pipe fast.
Here is the latest.
Geography Report Card Finds Students Lagging
But when you read this you find that is not the case in certain grades. And some stayed the same since last time.
The other thing is the body of questions.
Geography 2010: Sample Questions
Step right up. Give it a try. What about those maps right there on the first page. Answer is A, right?
No.
I got all but one question correct. I didn't get the idea behind the Great Lakes water/air thing.
So, I didn't lose much over the years.
There is an impression that these are more difficult than I had to work with. But I still got the answers. All but one.
This all proves nothing. But we are not in a crisis.
Labels: education
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Go down two posts to the photos of Murdoch.
Look at Rupert's head. The top. Don't see collars, see horns.
There. Explained.
Labels: fun
THIRD ACT
Today's film was the third quarter of
La meglio gioventù / The Best of Youth (2003)
This is where a lot of shit comes down and it can leave you/me panting.
But it is OK. It is a good place to catch a breath as we head for the grand finale tomorrow.
This wide swath epic of a modern middle class Italian family from the 60s through the 90s weaves together big events in Italian history with the experiences of realistic, if dramatic, people. Individuals.
The main characters are two brothers but there are also a Mom and Dad and two sisters as well as close brother like friends and exactly three women outside the family.
It is amazing how all this reads. Clear. No backtracking. Amazingly well communicated.
I saw this once before, a couple years ago, and remembered some of it but it maintains its impact.
A five out of NetflixFive.
Labels: films
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
THE DEVIL HIMSELF
see more The Daily What
Optical illusion of the day.
When photographing people always be careful of the background.
Labels: criminal behavior
INGRATES
After listing a whole catalog of Obama Administration actions on behalf of the LGBT community, Steve Benen reflects on some gay leaders' intransigent disappointment that they have not gotten what they want soon enough, big enough, loud enough and probably not enough enough.
I realize there are still a sizable number of people in the LGBT community who are unsatisfied with the pace of change, and consider President Obama someone who has ignored, and even betrayed, their interests. Some have even vowed not to lift a finger to help with the president’s re-election effort.Me too.I suspect many social-conservative activists, furious with the steps Obama has already taken to advance civil rights for the LGBT community, must find this inexplicable.
This was connected with Obama's enthusiastic support for the "Respect for Marriage Act" today which essentially repeals DOMA. One of the prime LGBT goals.
Here is a list Benen makes of the other considerable Obama actions.
This comes the same year as the Obama administration’s decision to stop trying to defend DOMA against federal court challenges.It is disgraceful that some gay leaders continue to vilify the Obamas at full cry.What’s more, it’s a heartening piece that fits into a larger mosaic. After two-and-a-half years, President Obama has successfully repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law; expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees; signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples; lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS; ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no longer consider the sexual orientation of applicants on loans; expanded the Census to include the number of people who report being in a same-sex relationship; and hired more openly gay officials than any administration in history.
There have also been more symbolic gestures, including the White House hosting an event to honor the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, announcing the first-ever transgender presidential appointee, nominating the first openly-gay man to serve on the federal judiciary, honoring same-sex couples in his Mother’s Day and Father’s Day proclamations, recording a video for the “It Gets Better” Project, and hosting Gay and Lesbian Pride Month events at the White House.
And today, the president has offered his well-timed endorsement of the Respect For Marriage Act.
Stupid, ungrateful bastards.
Labels: Administration Obama, gay politics
LIKE I SAID
Ground is Shifting on Debt Limit Debate
That is towards the Democrats' approach and Obama's leadership.
Labels: Administration Obama, Republicans
BEST IS YET TO COME
Today was the second quarter of
The emotional core of this great film.
Epic.
A five out of Netflixfive.
Tomorrow, the last chapter.
I was wrong about the running time. It is 6 hours. 366 minutes. Each day I watch a quarter. I am stringing it out because I like it so much I don't want it to go by quickly. I also backtrack a lot to catch lines and to review especially good parts.
Labels: films
NO END GAME
It is astonishing to see the House Republicans fade in the stretch and, more interestingly, to see nothing at all from the Senate GOP. Well, McConnell's capitulation.
Obama grabbed the flag, trumped them with the 4 trillion dollar reduction in expenses, pursued the poll popular mixed approach of cuts and taxation and ends up looking and, actually, being the one to gain most from the whole process.
Why?
Ross Douthat has this:
It is interesting to see that, in his opinion, the Republicans blew it.
Were they so enamored of their strength that they thought negotiation was not necessary? What? Are Boehner, and particularly Cantor, ham handed? Well yes. Amateurish. But still.
Boehner has something going on with Obama and I like that. We will see what happens after we get over the Kabuki of passing the impossible bagger bill that is being debated this week while Rome may be burning. A sop to the freshmen.
What strange times we live in. The collapse of politics. One party who has lost the ability to practice the art.
I don't much agree with Douthat, he is right of center. But I do admire his non-pandering view of todays Republican Party. Unlike David Brooks who rounds all the corners off, Douthat is not afraid to speak his mind.
Labels: GOP, Re-election of Barack Obama, Republicans
I KNEW IT!!
Yes, godammit, yes.
Sponges on the ground. Low plastic jungle "gyms". All the soft looking, risk free, environmentally controlled, wildly colored boring playgrounds now are no challenge, not interesting and basically they scare kids. Jeez. It isn't safe to play.
This article mentions the importance of heights and getting scared.
Instantly, I remembered my climbing tree up on the hill near our house. Not even a built recreational device.
It was hard to get into that tree and I had to be a bit taller and stronger before I could lift myself into it.
Once I could, there was no limit to the heights I would go to see over the other trees below and out into our larger town.
But the thrill was the climb, the shaky limbs, the fear of falling. All of these things, sometimes an inch at a time, conquered.
And not an adult in sight. Nowhere. The tree was on a rock "fence" line and so the fall, if any, was perilous indeed.
To their credit, my parents did not tell me to stay out of it. Actually, they may not have even known that I was in it.
I was mostly a latchkey kid, on my own as both parents worked.
I went and did what I wanted.
In those days, the neighbors had eyes and that helped kids stay safe (although they took Mr. Vernoy, two doors down, away for molesting some other boys in the neighborhood). But still.
I am so against all this over-protective bullshit. Parents who come with their kid to meet me when I interview for MIT. Jesus.
When it was time, I flew to Boston and stayed overnight in a hotel, went and visited MIT and flew home again all by myself. I was 16. Imagine. Part of why I could do that is that I climbed that tree by myself.
Do kids even think of climbing trees any more?
The world is going to hell in a handbasket.
OLD MAN
I suppose that if you have enough money and staff and support you can go on trying to run the show at 80 years old.
I am thinking about Ol' Rupert Murdoch.
He sure looks tore up in those photos that aren't managed for him.
He always smiles. That is his style. As he shoves the shiv between the ribs.
I speak only about the 80 part today.
I haven't really worked for 15 years and maybe for awhile before that so I am not an expert on this kind of thing.
When I had enough money and felt the cold breath of winter on my neck, I tucked it in and went for quiet and low volume in the desert.
Perhaps if I had kept up and stayed hitched to the plow I could have made it up to now managing my small empire. But I don't think so.
What is interesting to me is that someone like Murdoch would want to. Let the kids have it. Let the stockholders hold it. Get professional managers in. Prepare for the inevitable. It takes years to train managers to do what an entrepreneur knows in his bones. And even then you have to give it up.
At least for the sake of the enterprise.
At 75, almost, I am in really good shape. As good as my peers around me. But there is no way that I would be competent to run even the kind of small business I had.
This morning, inexplicably, I overslept and missed the gym. Two weeks in a row for Tuesday morning. What is up with that?
It is OK. There is not a lot at stake except my pride which comes cheap these days. I am trying to let go of it. I mean my false pride. The ego buster.
Guys like Murdoch are egoists of the first degree. They have a touch of evil that keeps them going. They can use menace as a way to get things done through other people (a basic definition of management). But that means has ends beyond your control. People menace back.
As we see today, right now, live on the 'net, he is not managing. He is blaming. He is looking for someone else to take the fall. He is "humbled". Bull K. Shit.
He has about enough humility in that bag of skin to fill a teaspoon and even that is fake.
Drive. That is what he has.
It is interesting to watch. I am surprised, will be surprised, if he survives this. I mean this even in the mortal sense.
Sure. People who are paid to do so will still be yes men. Peers in business will still kiss his ass because they want something from him.
But the sharks are in the water. They smell the blood that has been drawn.
80 years of fucking other people over is coming to pass.
I read that it is like the death of a dictator when all the flunkies and cooptees line up at a microphone to vilify the bastard who yesterday they were applauding. The dictator is dead. Long may he rot, the bastard. That is Murdoch's fate. No one with any integrity will ever give themselves over to him again. Not even his one son remaining in the center of the business.
Poor James. If he lasts he will reap the harvest, even unto the next generations.
Labels: life
Monday, July 18, 2011
SKY FONTS
I thought this was pretty cool. Found on Pixdaus, a collection of nature photography that I look at every day.
So. Part of this is nature but mostly not. They stretch the limits sometimes.
I have looked rather closely especially the curves. There is probably some trickery here but it is not easily detectable.
Or, I am an easy lay.
Labels: fun
THE BEST
I am watching one of my favorite films again.
La meglio gioventù / The Best of Youth (2003)
directed by Marco Tullio Giordana. Written by Sandro Petragia and Stefano Rulli.
This has one of the highest ratings on IMDb, an 8.3.
It is a mystery why this film lands so hard in one's soul. One scene laughs, another cries, another aches with the sweetness of these brothers who survive the 60s together and beyond.
The canvas is vast but the focus never strays from the family and their loved ones.
Great events happen and they are a part of them, very small, not epic. Just there and taking it in. So we do as well.
What a wonderful film.
It is 366 minutes long so I am seeing it in thirds.
People who have seen it in one sitting say that it is timeless and goes very fast. They didn't watch it on their iMac.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5 and when I am done with it I will put it back at the end of my queue to see again in a year or so.
Labels: films
Sunday, July 17, 2011
FRONT ROW SEAT
I have a sort of front row seat to the whole Murdoch mess. My friend Lynda sends me little updates from London where she lives not a stone's throw from all the action.
Today, she asked if I was keeping up.
The answer is "pretty well" inasmuch as the NYTimes produced a huge summary of the situation this morning.
Stain Rubs Off on Cozy Scotland Yard
Good enough, but by this afternoon, the head of Scotland Yard has resigned. His dick caught in the wringer as well.
Earlier, they arrested the dramatic looking and acting Rebekah Brooks who looks just like she came from Central Casting.
Cameron is shoveling as fast as he can and digging himself in deeper.
It is a right mess they have on their hands.
The word from London is that the investigation yet to come will cut wide and deep. Coverup is no longer an option.
Of course it never is. When will "they" learn? The coverup is always worse and has more backlash than the original crime. Although in this case, the original crime is pretty outrageous and widespread.
What next? Rupert has a stroke? James is thrown under the bus? Will Fox News and the WSJ finally cover the story instead of covering up? What will the FBI find going in the USA?
This is not the main event in my life but it is interesting not the least bit because my friend is so close to the line of fire.
She tells me that they have sent out for more popcorn as the circus continues to run.
Labels: criminal behavior, republican whack jobs
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
Today's film was François Ozon's
This wonderful film starts dark. A young couple, shooting up, nodding out. The young man overdoses.
Then an escape to the country. The family of the young man tries to intervene in the pregnancy of the young woman. A brother comes to see her. He is a gay man.
The rest is all spoilers if I talk about it. But the film lightens and grows in spirit from this point in a delightful way.
There are many surprises on the way to the final scenes which, in a way, are a new beginning for everyone.
I would like to see this again along with some of Ozon's other films. It is quite unique in every respect.
I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films, gay identity
Saturday, July 16, 2011
SCHADENFREUDELICIOUS
It is has been sad fun to sit back and watch the Murdoch show this past week.
It is still unwinding.
And has yet to reach are shores. But the water is lapping.
Joe Nocera has this in the NYTimes today.
I was actually surprised by this.
Somehow the WSJ seemed sacrosanct although a lot of people predicted this. I thought that somehow they wouldn't have fallen this far this fast to the Murdoch code of loyalty.
I still entertain the idea that I might subscribe to them again. I really did like the paper when I was taking it (on-line). They still send me their headlines for free every morning.
As for Fox. Well, nothing could be lower. I saw clips of the first Fox piece which didn't appear until days after this all started. No coverage at all!
But after a couple of days, they had to buckle. One of its morning assholes Steve Doocey (yes, Dooooossseee) interviewed some hack who was a PR "expert" who explained how it was all an over reaction.
That was it.
Mocked thoroughly by the "free press" all over.
Even I. Incapable of being surprised, have been disturbed about how bad this is.
And, as far as I can see, the open attacks on the Conservative Party links to say nothing of Scotland Yard have just begun (two trash bags full of evidence hidden).
How long will it take to open some cases here and then worm into the house organ of Fox?
We are going to need more than a bag of popcorn for this. Maybe one of those theaters that sell meals and all. A return of the teevee dinner.
Labels: criminal behavior, republican whack jobs
FACE OFF
Today's film was the NYTimes Critics' Pick
Great movie. Moving.
So much has been said about this film that there is not much left to say except that the performances of its young stars overwhelm the true story. Somehow, this is the story that I, and probably a lot more people, will believe. It has verisimilitude.
I believe that this is really the way it happened.
Three cheers for Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, all of whom have had my special interest for some time. How nice that they are all in the same film together.
What is there to say? I think that Facebook is the devil's handiwork and this film shows the Faustian cost of inventing it.
Of course FB works. It has the advantage of faux intimacy, it is fast, you don't have to actually talk and listen, and it has the force of multitudes behind it. How many "friends" do you have?
I have recently made these remarks to a young friend who got offended mostly because, I think, he has found a way to exploit the exploiters in his business and is quite cynically and honorably, I suppose, using it to run his business. Another friend, the same story.
And so on.
This is a great film that suffered some peak-too-early problems with the Oscars but who the fuck cares about the Oscars?
Aaron Sorkin wrote and David Fincher directed this beautifully digitalized "film". All in the dark. How right.
Harvard is Harvard. Not sacrosanct. Shabby.
Great.
I would be willing to see it again. That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5. Andrew Garfield is also Spiderman. He has a great ass in lycra.
Labels: films
Friday, July 15, 2011
OUT FOR A WALK
President Barack Obama walks around the South Lawn of the White House with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, while tourists in the background walk along the Ellipse, the National Mall, and the Jefferson Memorial, July 14, 2011.
I love that he does this. Do the people at the fence know?
Labels: Barack Obama
PLOTLINE
David Frum, a regular vanilla Republican:
Isn’t it conceivable that Obama’s real end-game in these budget talks is to destroy Republican presidential fundraising for 2012 by goading congressional Republicans in 2011 into appearing maximally reckless and irresponsible?If so, you have to say: the plan’s working brilliantly.
I, myself, don't think this is happening. But maybe a little.
I think that all those trips to the White House are almost like a perp walk. They go in, they go out, they go back to the nutters and they tell the story and the nutters perform on queue. It makes the evening news. GoOPers say no again and raise the ante.
Now, he has taken the day off, held a news conference and they are baking in the oven over there. Stewing in their own juices.
Frum thinks that this started as an idea from Schumer who would like to see the Democrats use this as a wedge to break business interests off the Republicans and away from the Teas to go Democratic.
Labels: Administration Obama, republican whack jobs
CARMAGEDDON
This is an old gag. Writing a new script for this segment of the film Downfall with Bruno Ganz as Der Feurher. A cliche by now.
But this one is so good that it has to be shared.
They will be closing the 405 around LA this weekend. Two days.
You would think that they were giving a 9.0 quake. An attack by aliens. A tea party demonstration.
But no. It is the 405 on a weekend and people are asked not to use it.
This reaction is not an overstatement. You have no idea.
Only in Southern California.
When they rebuilt the Southeast Expressway in Boston it took two years and it all worked. Well, pretty well. And people went along with it. Here, it is a personal insult.
FARM VILLAGE FARCE
Today's film was Stephen Frears'
which is based on a Posy Simmonds' graphic novel which, in turn, was inspired by Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd.
It is a cross between a farce and a bit of a morality tale.
Tamara returns to her home village with a nose job and a successful news column and a desire to set the locals straight about her self esteem. Or herself.
In the village are her old beau, a writer's retreat run by a hack author, some fun locals and two kids who are bent on causing hell to happen. Oh. Add a rock star to the mix. A wonderful Dominic Cooper, the only "name" in the film. Other than Frears, of course.
It is a complicated story. Everyone, like Tamara, has dreams and desires that don't quite suit reality or their own identity. By the end all this gets sorted out.
There are some great bits. And the story, such as it is, wends its way surprisingly forward despite everyone's deep desire to hold onto the present.
All get their comeuppance and realize, again like Tamara, that happiness is not your nose or your book or your reputation or all that you do to be a good girl or boy.
Happiness is what you do to be yourself and take what is in front of you.
An old lesson but never learned. That is good because it generates funny happy adult films like this to observe the human comedy.
I would gladly see it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, July 14, 2011
YOUTH SCRAMBLING
Today's film was Alexis' dos Santos
Argentinian director in London. Kids on their own in a squat that almost feels like the sixties. But not quite.
These kids seem a lot smarter about a lot of things including the disappointments of love.
Always on the move, mostly handheld, dos Santos follows a girl and a boy each on separate quests. Their paths cross in the squat but there are really two separate stories.
Their friends are fun and interesting to watch and one almost wants to live with the whole gang.
Lots of music, some good, some, well, young.
Very refreshing. I liked it. I liked the kids.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
NETFLIX RISE IS A DROP
This has people riled.
Netflix Raises Price of DVD and Online Movies Package by 60%
But that isn't all the story.
Up until now, I was able to get five DVDs at a time and had unlimited streaming access for about 35 bucks a month.
Now that is a free lunch if you think about it.
I never ate it though. I am not interested in on-line films. I don't want the hassle. I like the discs. I can back up, leave the DVD in the machine with a long movie and, most of all, two of us can watch the film without cheating by giving John my access codes.
I come from a long line of copyright defenders and I will not violate anyone else's.
So, anyway. I checked the new prices. It turns out that withoutstreaming the price for DVD only has gone down.
Makes sense.
So, I promptly signed up for six discs at a time for 32 bucks, three dollars a month less. And more access to discs.
So. A bad deal is not always a bad deal. You have to read the fine print to find the good deals too.
Labels: films
FAMILY AFFAIR
Today's film was the Japanese family study
This slowly evolving, sweet and bitter family drama is beautifully told. Nuance counts.
Three generations get together for remembrance of a son and brother who was lost in the sea saving another boy.
Memory combines with the present to show how the family keeps the myths and the facts alive at the same time. Sweetness gives way to bitterness in a flash.
All photographed in a beautifully serene setting.
This Japanese family is very close to my own. The Grandad is my Dad. The Grandmother, my Mom. I am probably the son.
The newcomers to the family are drawn in and also moderate the dynamics.
I felt as though I was seeing everything. No holds barred. They do not see it but we do.
The ending is well worth staying for.
This is a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
ENERGIZED
There has been some question, up to now, whether Obama could energize the base in the same way that he did the first time.
Based on the last quarter results, I would say that he is doing it.
Obama 2012 campaign breaks goal, records
Of more consequence, is the number of volunteers who are "in" or declared and the number of offices already opened on the ground in a variety of states.
Here is Jim Messina telling us about it. And being coy about the money so we can hear about the important people part.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
OBAMA LOVE
For those of us who cannot get enough of Obama, this article serves as a great stimulus. Another way to show how the man simply has the stuff we need right now and is able to use it. Even when he isn't able to use it.
Watch him in this awful debt limit mud wrestle with the GOoPers. No mud on him. It all flies back on the mad men who won't do the work. Reagan was teflon. Obama never gets hit.
And today, he has driven them stark raving crazy. McConell has raised the white flag and wants to give it all to Obama. Boehner cannot get his troops to support him. He las lot his power.
That is all macro.
Try micro. Watch him be with people. He loves it. They love him. He is real. He is not calculated. He probably even thinks that some of the things he has to do are not a great idea. But he does them anyway.
He may be the only guy in Washington DC who is doing his job. That and his staff. Joe the Veep and the gang.
Even when he is wrong he is right.
Labels: Administration Obama, Barack Obama, Re-election of Barack Obama
THE EYES HAVE IT
Off to my ophthalmologist this morning. The annual checkup.
Over the past few years they have been telling me that my cataracts are developing faster than they should and that I would need the operation sometime.
It looks as though that time has arrived or is arriving in the next year.
I am beginning to notice it and there is no question that there are changes going on.
It isn't an emergency and we need to wait until they are "ripe" (also wait for them to be bad enough that Medicare will pay for them).
To top it off, nicely, I have a new ophthalmologist. Dr. Ho. A neat woman with a great "bedside" manner.
I have had three docs at the same office. The first one retired out. The second one has moved to Pittsburgh. I can't say that I liked either of them but I trusted their judgement. Now, I like Dr. Ho very much and trust her judgement even more.
The operation now is quite streamlined. No knockout. You get a "cocktail" (the same one used for a colonoscopy) and the cut takes about 15 minutes (both eyes). No pain. No stitches. I will see the first day and see better. Things will improve over five days after that and done.
I might not need glasses after but that is not a guarantee. I am not sure I could be without glasses. Who would I be.
So. She says in a year.
Sooner if I get "bothered" by my vision.
A nice long time to wait and not worry about it.
PROCEDURAL
Today's Chabrol film was one of the series of Inspector Lavardin films that he made for television. Only one is available from Netflix at this time.
Cop au Vin (1965)
Many Chabrol veterans show up for a complicated crime story which we see unfold before us in the first hour. The inspector doesn't even show up until the second half.
And when he does, a lot of loose ends begin to get tied up.
This is at about the level of the Hitchcock crime shows about the same time in this country.
There is a delightful side story about a mama's boy and the girl who vows to get him away for herself. Many odd characters.
It is funny and very satisfying.
I will give it a Netflix 3 out of 5. The other Inspector films are in the "unknown" queue.
Chabrol's treatment by distributors in this country is shameful.
Labels: films
NO TAKERS
I have a few persistent health fears. Most have dissipated with age. My heart. I lived through middle age without a coronary. Cancer, I had it already although the prospect of more doesn't scare me like it did. I was always afraid that I would get dementia. I might still do that but what I was afraid of was the 60s kind. Besides I think, probably wrongly, that if I have dementia, I won't know it.* One more thing. Shingles.
Goddam, I didn't ever want fucking shingles! Ever.
So when a vaccine came along, we went right down and got it. It was kind of expensive, maybe 200 bucks, but it was well worth it for peace of mind.
I won't bore you with the way shingles presents itself. Just figure that you don't want it either.
Now this:
Drive to Stem Shingles Meets Few Expectations
Well, that and that the manufacturers have consistently violated a fundamental of good marketing. Never, ever run out of distribution because, if and when people want it, they want it now and if you do not have it you have lost them and every penny you put on marketing and promotion. Maybe permanently.
Anyway, we have the shots and we are happy about it. Did you know that most shingles happen to old people and it can be catastrophically painful?
I won't even show you the pictures but if you google shingles you will see some humdingers.
*Actually, this is totally wrong. People who have it do know it. I have a friend who is in the early stages of Alzheimers and he knows it. He has taken a number of steps to protect and support himself as the disease progresses. He has moved. He has told his friends. He has arranged for people to help out by knowing things that he has to know but forgets. It is actually pretty good to see. So that has really cut my fear of getting that one.
Labels: health
