esrosedotblog

DOING BEETTER

Take a look. School kids are doing better across the board. Good news you won't hear in the usual news casts.

A Quick Look at How Our Kids Are Doing

Labels: education

GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND DIE

Shocking. True. I have known this for a long time.

Graphic of the Day: Hospital Infections

Now, pay attention. The 1 in 7 is of the people actually infected. Not one out of seven admitted. But think about it.

I know way more than 7 people who have gotten infected while they were at the hospital. Way way more.

I am very paranoid about this. No one wants to go to a hospital. But I totally don't want to. I am afraid of medical facilities and I really, really, am not a paranoid person.

A friend had a knee replaced. She was not, frankly, in very good health to start with.

The site of the replacement went bad. Infected. They had to take the appliance out. She got a secondary infection which involved going back in and cleaning it out.

She has been in a rehab/nursing home for weeks, months, awaiting this thing to abate. Then they will open it up again, clean it out and put in a new knee. If she makes it and if there is not more infection.

She is not dead but, hell, it is too close a shave for my bet. And another quality of life thing.

Blah blah.

And we have the best medical system in the world. Didn't they say that? Those GOopers who didn't want any federal plan?

Labels: medicine

NO SANTA CLAUS HERE

Today's film was Arnaud Desplechin's

A Christmas Tale (2008)

with a huge cast of familiar French actors including the ubiquitous Mathieu Amalric who was in yesterday's film and, quite by chance, will also be in tomorrow's Despechin film. An Amalric fest.

The holidays provide a reason for the clan to gather around Catherine Deneuve who faces a bone marrow implant. This is only a device really to get the whole family thing in motion but it is a potent device.

This is a great film. I have seen it before. The ensemble is wonderfully in tune with one another.

I have seen this before and this is a 5 out of Netflix5. I will see another Desplechin tomorrow.

Did I give the impression that this was a somber business? Not at all. It is funny, heartfelt, exciting and all the things that you would want out of a film. "Marvelous" says the NYTimes guy. Me too.

Labels: films

LOCKED IN

Today's film was Julian Schnabel's, NYTimes Critics' Pick

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

I don't know why it took so long for me to get this. I was a little frightened of it, I think.

But, having seen it, I feel exalted.

It is a wonderful film. Jean-Domnique Bauby, the editor of Elle magazine, is locked into a stroke. He can only move his left eye.

He cannot even kill himself.

He writes a book. Which is this movie.

Mathieu Amalric, and old favorite, plays Bauby perfectly. I just saw him the other day in the Mesrin film. Yesterday I saw Niels Arestrup who appears here as the man who took Bauby's seat on a plane which was highjacked to Iran where he was imprisoned for four years. He has some advice for Barby. Von Sydow makes an appearance as Barby's father. Wonderful between the two.

This is a very emotional film. Eyes are wet throughout not out of sadness but out of plain empathy and wonderment.

It is a clear 5 out of Netflix5. It missed the Oscar by a hair but I gave it the best score I could.

I am watching Schnabel's two other films, I have seen one, over the coming days. What a guy.

Labels: films

COUNT ME OUT

I just finished reading The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. It won the Pulitzer Prize last year.

I am amazed that I finished it. It is a great book.

From that experience, I came away with one abiding notion. In the field of cancer treatment in all of history, the most radical practices were maintained for years, decades, centuries, with the naive cooperation of patients who believed that what was being done for them would help them.

In actuality, almost all of it was experimental and often wrong. Even today, doctors will perform lethal procedures for the benefit of research and for a few short days, weeks or months of a miserable life.

Look at this. The author describes the conflict between the best treatment and the most radical new approaches.

The Annals of Extreme Surgery

Now it is hot chemo. What next?

Count me out.

First of all, I am a cancer survivor. A designation that I don't much like but there it is.

I was presented with several options for prostate cancer treatment. I took radiation.

It presented the least invasive procedure and it was meted out over a long period of time with lots of room for checking the results and making adjustments, if necessary. I could even stop it if I wanted.

I bought the services of an old lion of oncology who looked at my slides and ruminated about my options. He told me that if I was "surgery averse" I should never take that option unless it was life or death and, maybe, not even then.

Not only was it the most radical of all the approaches, it was frequently wrongly done and there was no path of return. Once your prostate or anything else is cut out, along with a lot of other useful stuff, there is no going back.

I think it is a scandal, what they are doing.

The politics of cancer within the medical fraternity is astoundingly self centered.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Count me out.

Labels: life, medicine

TRY SPELLING IT!

Labels: republican whack jobs

LOCKS

I am going through one of my hair changes.

I decided to let it grow out again.

Not to the old pony tail proportions but to more the wavy over the ear down the neck but not too far style that I sported for years while I worked the rooms of major corporations.

Why? Because I can.

One of the oddities of my aging process has been that I still have dark brown hair. Sure. There is a little silver highlighting. But viewed in the right light, I am not grey.

Actually, the silver highlights (which do glisten) prove to the skeptical that I don't dye it. Although I know for a fact you can get this kind of thing done in a beauty parlor.

Anyway, now, there will be more of it.

I got tired of the pony tail so went radically to the Number Two metal shaver. Did it myself. Went to a barber for a while the last year. Got sick of the whole thing.

I will need to find someone to trim it eventually. I have a salon owner friend but I don't think I will go to him. Probably back to Judy where John goes. She washes it but I guess there is no way out of that.

Labels: hair

ENNUI OR WHAT?

Today's film was Chantal Akerman's early experimental film

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974)

This is the kind of film that you go an art theater to see. The house is slim. Maybe thirty people. The lights go down. The film is shown. The lights go up and there are only you and one or two people still sitting in the place.

Structured in three parts, the first is Ackerman in a small room with a mattress and some other furniture which eventually gets pushed out in the hall. The mattress stays. Ackerman sits, sleeps, moves the mattress around, eats from a bag of sugar (disgusting) and generally flakes out. She gets naked. Stop!

In the second part she goes on a hitchhike with a trucker (the young Niels Arestrup who is the reason I got this disc as I much admire his work) in which she jerks him off as he gives instructions and then as pillow talk discusses the history of sex with his wife.

Third and last, Ackerman goes to see an ex-girl friend and seduces her. Not a difficult job as the ex is either on something or deeply depressed.

There is the longest lesbian love scene that I may have sat through in my entire life.

To say that this film of nothing leading to nothing is creepy is an understatement. The action that there is, subject to long periods of silence or held positions (except the masturbation, a lot of movement in that "faster faster now slow") is quite disturbing because of this pacing. I am sure that it is intentional and it works.

One becomes grateful for any action and then is rewarded with shit like the sugar, the jerk off and the long, long lesbian scene.

There is no reason to try to interpret this. It is experimental film at its best, actually. I stayed to the end. I really, really dozed off once.

There is feeling here and weirdness and that is nice. Everything is spare. Minimal.

Ackerman went on to make a lot of films. Not one of which I am compelled to see.

Nor this one. Ever again.

I will give it a 2 out of Netflix5 because it is manipulative and, in some ways, quite cruel. Mostly to the audience. Fuck you Chantel. And thanks.

The poorer movies always get the longest review.

Labels: films

ARRIVED

John is in Milan, in his room at the hotel and has already had a gelato.

There is a fuckup with the phone he rented for use there but we can deal. It is OK.

We aren't going to talk much and had already decided on rendezvous times.

Booker is a little spooked. This morning's schedule was not the same. We did an early walk, I am not going to the gym but will be going to Meetings and the store every other morning.

He is getting it.

I managed to make the bed by myself. I don't think I have done it in twenty years.

When I was in the Army I was the best a couple of times in boot camp. A model soldier when it came up to the trivial but high leverage skills. I was also best dressed at the guard duty showdown every time and was let go for the night.

How did we get to the Army from John being in Milan?

Labels: gay military, travel

BOOM OR BUST

As I read about Irene's threat to the economy last week, I thought that they were missing something.

Today, someone asks the same question that I did.

Irene: An economic blow or boost?

This has to be a stimulus. A lot of companies are going to spend a lot of money to get fixed. A lot of local and state governments are going to go to work. The Feds are going to spoon out cash.

Despite Ron Paul's no FEMA position (what a dick) there will be a lot of repair and reclamation going on.

Hard to tell maybe but this could help the unemployment situation for awhile. Dunno.

Labels: economy

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

We took John to the airport this morning, took a photo of him in front of the huge Sonny Bono fountain out front and dropped him off for his flight to Dallas, then to Madrid, and hence to Milan.

It looks like there are some delays out of Dallas but he had three hours layover in Madrid so should be OK.

Booker didn't like it. I didn't either. But then we got all brave about it around the time for Booker's supper which John usually serves and, since it went right on schedule, he perked up and so did I.

We are going to minimize the calls back and forth. John got a special phone for use in Italy and I bought temporary international service on my mobile but we hope not to do a lot with them/it.

Labels: travel

DOWNWARD

Today's film was the second half of

Mesrine (2008)

This half was titled Public Enemy #1.

Mesrine becomes obsessed with his image, even writes a book and becomes such a Robin Hood type character that the police eventually find a way to rub him out. But not without some help by him as he gets a little crazily involved in politics.

It is hard to make a terrible person attractive and Vincent Cassel manages to raise the good with the evil in the character. Scenes with his father and his daughter as well as other times with his friends he is generous and even amusing. Until he is not.

This is based on a true story. See the man himself in the photo.

I enjoyed watching this film and it is certainly an achievement of considerable power. It is eventually hard to watch and once would be enough for me but it is quite good and recommended.

Would I want to watch it again? Probably not. That makes it a 3 out of Netflix5. A 3*.

Labels: films

HIGH WINDS

Sign in Wilmington NC.

Labels: fun, weather

PROVE IT!

Here is a great article filled with the memes about Obama being a faulty leader.

You Think Obama's a Bad President? Prove it.

It treats the left and the right.

Actually, Obama has been a very effective leader.

I just get pissed when people don't think or investigate the facts.

We know that the right is doing a political job but what are the lefties who carp and complain doing? Mostly acting from the gut. They are not being either realistic, pragmatic or accurate.

But a part of Obama's success is that he normally doesn't let them get him down. Every once in a while a staffer lets go on one or two of them citing the "professional left". Like that prick Paul Krugman. Sour grapes Paul. Don't get me started on him.

Labels: Administration Obama

GANGSTER

Today's film was the first part of the French biopic

L'ennemi public n°1 / Mesrine: Part One Killer Instinct (2008)

A NYTimes Critics' PIck

Vincent Cassel excels as Mesrine, an infamous French criminal. And infamous in Quebec and the US!

There is no gang. There are affiliates but it is all Mesrine's show. And it is a true story although they say that "there is some fiction in all biography". A nice out.

The thing about Mesrine is ego. The pride that he has in his work. Cassel is a wonderfully arrogant, charismatic guy. Even jail, the worst of them, is a challenge.

There is a great interview with Cassel in the NYTimes review at the link.

The film is wonderfully done. The opening is genius. The momentum sustained.

This is like the old gangster films but with all the updates. He lived these movies so the circle becomes complete.

Part One takes us from the time of his discharge from the French army in Algeria and into the 90s when he seems defeated and isolated as an alien in Canada. On the run.

I am liking it a lot. No rating until we are done. Part One could stand alone but I won't deal with it that way.

Oh. Wonderful performance by Gérard Depardieu as a crime boss.

Labels: films

A LOT OF FUN

Today's film was the short but very full documentary

The Parking Lot Movie (2010)

The doc-makers sat their cameras down on one parking lot across the street from UVA and simply watched the action.

First, the attendants are mostly your grad school geeks who find fun and friendship in one place. Most hold court.

Then there are the customers. Mostly we are served up assholes, entitled, privileged who try to get out of a 40 cent parking fee. Humanity at its worst. The attendants, of course, are heroes and aside from hilarious mockery, often go after the barbarians, kicking fenders and tearing off mirrors.

There is the poetry of the parking gate which gets smashed at least once a day. An informal competition between the guys (all guys) for wittiest motto painted on the gate. The hilarity of the notes and graffiti posted on the cardboard which insulates the extremely small shack. Mostly religious tracts altered with paste ons.

There is so much.

The owner who benevolently reigns over the place and acts as guru and confidant of the young men who pass through his employ.

The mood here is "slacker" but the reality is that many of these guys are revealed, at the end, as having some pretty important jobs today. There are two codas. The "where are they now part in which they sum up as talking heads over their current employ. One is still working there at a ripe age. Then another attendant produced video which sums it all up in a hilarious melange.

This is one of the few films that I will put right at the end of my queue so I can see it again at number 260 or whatever it is. Maybe a year.

Jesus what a great little gem.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, fun

CALM

We back up to a city street which is pretty busy, all things considered. It was even listed on our purchase agreement as a nuisance "disclosure",

We don't mind it. After all, we lived on Warren Avenue in Boston for over ten years which was just a few blocks south and the best route from the Berkley Street police station.

Our house in Palm Springs had no traffic at all but somehow we didn't lose the ability to not hear traffic noise.

But we are not the only ones living along the city street. At least 50 other condos are lined up with the street and many people don't like it.

A year ago, they filed with the City Council to have a street calming project put into place.

There are many methods to do this. In Palm Springs they tend to use striping to control the flow.

This has been done in other neighborhoods where some speedway activity was constant.

What they do is paint lines to narrow the street to two smallish lanes. They stripe it heavily and put bike lanes and no parking all along both sides. A visual traffic bump.

It works. We see it in in other parts of town. Somehow when you enter the space there is a reflexive slowing. First of all, it is unexpected, even when you expect it. Also, there is a definite worry that somehow you will be caught out if you speed or deviate from instructions. It is a bit primitive. I think that it acts on the brain stem. It is especially scary at night. Looming stripes.

It works.

So, the City Council approved it if we could raise 2000 dollars to cover all or part of the cost. We did. John and I put 200 in the pot.

It took a year, but they approved it and got the project on the books a couple of months ago.

This morning about 2AM, I woke to the sound and rumble of the painting trucks. They have the outline lines in. Very nifty.

There will not be a stop sign in the middle which would be the next best step.

We shall see.

I don't notice any difference today but then the lines are not done. And we don't much notice it anyway.

The returns are not in.

Labels: condo, Palm Springs

GAY POWER

Well, not really. But, since the new CEO of Apple is an out gay man, we can say that there was just a power shift in the gay straight balance.

Or something.

Tim Cook: Apple’s New CEO and the Most Powerful Gay Man in America

It is worth a headline here but, actually, is a mere step in a progression of outings.

The funny thing is that business is the most out segment of our culture. Cook is, by no means, the only out business executive. We are everywhere. And, today, you can see most of us.

The second, my guess, would be government. Not politics necessarily but the whole ball of wax. After all, it is illegal to discriminate anywhere but more so in the bureaucracy than anywhere else. Federal law trumps everything else in the federal government.

It is interesting. I can remember, easily, when to be an out gay man in any corporation would be the kiss of death.

I can also remember when it was the kiss of death to be a Jew in most companies.

Black? No way.

Women? Not even now. A gay black jewish man has a better chance in corporate America than a woman.

Labels: business, macintosh

END OF AN ERA

Steven P. Jobs Is Stepping Down as Chief Executive of Apple

Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and the creative genius behind its rise to become the world’s most valuable technology company, is stepping down as chief executive, the company announced Thursday.

Mr. Jobs has been battling cancer for several years and has been on medical leave since January, his third. He recovered from pancreatic cancer after surgery in 2004, and received a liver transplant in 2009.

The company named Tim Cook, its chief operating officer, to succeed him as chief executive.

“I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Mr. Jobs said in a letter released by the company. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

New York Times email alert.

Labels: macintosh

PERRY WINKLE II

I am sure that I used this headline before but I like it. So, again.

Perry is now first in the Gallup Poll. He has pretty much raised all his support from Bachman who is now fourth but that is not what I am writing about.

I am writing about Perry's book from four years ago which is filled with every kind of right wing madness which makes him almost totally unelectable. Look for a slide, soon.

Perry Equates Homosexuality With Alcoholism

Since I am both a homosexual, happily so, and a sober alcoholic, grateful, I think I may qualify on this equation.

Well, no, I am not because it is non-sense.

It is true that an alcoholic is undone by the first drink ("one is too many and a thousand isn't enough") but the being a queer part is not relevant.

Saying no to ones sexual drives has one effect only. They increase until satisfied. If they are not satisfied they turn into closet behavior and pathology. Often a self loathing which turns people into homophobes. Many of the worst gay bashers are repressed "cases".

This is an interesting item from the book which has a host of howlers pandering to the wing nuts.

Interesting because, for years, there have been rumors about Perry's sex life. Some walks on the bi-side. See yesterdays posting.

There is an ad extant right now. see above.

Maybe he has just been saying "no" too. In any case he is a homophobe. Maybe not raging. But it is pretty well imbedded. Time will tell.

If someone does come forth, he can always say that he got born again, again.

I don't know or care if Perry has ever sucked dick. It might turn out that he has only het-skeletons in his closet. If he is gay or straight, he deserves to have some support and privacy. Of course he will get that from his christer friends.

Labels: homophobia, republican whack jobs

QUAKE AND SHAKE

The Daily What

It was amusing to see the combination of restless excitement, self-mocking and generally freaked out reaction to yesterday's earthquake epicentered in Virginia.

The NYTimes, in its morning edition, had five separated featured stories about it. All falling into that range of reaction and including a dispatch from the West Coast featuring eye rolls from people who live with daily quakes, mostly not felt.

I had the enjoyment of being on the sending end of the "are you alright" email. Yes. No one felt it.

A 5-6 Richter is pretty common here. A mild jolt (slip strike) or shake (long wave) tremors.

Of course, we will tell you that we would not want to be anywhere near the hurricane bearing down on the Southeast Coast. We might have retired to Florida. But we didn't.

Here it is "shake and bake". No flooding.

It is fun to see tables turn. Or maybe shake around.

At one time, in MA, we had earthquake insurance. It was very inexpensive.

The reason for this was that, in Boston, all brick neighborhoods would come down like lego blocks. Much worse than anything here where there is earthquake resistant construction as well as height limitations. Of course, one would, perhaps, not want to live in a collapsed city but the money would be there to cover the loss.

Conversely, we do not have any earthquake insurance here. It is very expensive and has way too many clauses in the conditions to make it worthwhile. There is a State supported insurance which is less expensive but it has a huge deductible. Forget it.

Labels: earthquake, weather

ONE

Only one episode of The Seeker today. I have other stuff to do and there are five episodes on this disc. I usually watch two as they are 3/4 of an hour long. Perfect.

We saw an ad today for a new novel in the Richard and Kahlan series. It is Terry Goodkind's 13th novel in the series.

If they keep making films of these books, we are in for a long seek.

I suspect that is not going to be the case although they are on their third season now.

I hear from the "commentary" features that the films are not in the same sequence as Goodkind's books and that some episodes are lifted out of sequence. Some are changed.

This is a curious experience for me.

We do not even have a television set let alone watch any of it. Even the web options.

This experience is taking me back to the series I watched as a kid. Captain Video. Others.

Labels: films

AC DC

All of my gay life there has been a sort of snide attitude (not me) towards men who claimed that they were bi-sexual.

Considered by many as in "just a phase", bisexuals have been considered gays who have not matured into their full gender and sexual identity.

I, personally, never felt as though I was bi-sexual. When I was living a straight life, I did not act on being gay although I thought about men from time to time. Well, a lot. But I was not out to myself despite previous experience. I didn't want to be gay and I wasn't.

It was only in a mad rush that I got the gay thing back and began acting on it. In short order there was no question about who I and what my orientation should be. It was like a flash of light.

Acting on it was not easy on me or the people around me but I was a determined student and learned the ropes very quickly.

I am rather sure that my first lover was bisexual. He lived with a woman who he slept with and dated gay men.

Eventually, it became an issue. Not politically but more availability. I was unwilling to share my life with someone who was sharing a life with someone else. It was mechanically difficult because we could not go to his house. We did once but it was very awkward. So, it may have worked for him but it did not work for me.

I am pretty sure that I believed he was bi because he could not, would not give up one relationship or orientation for another.

With that background, I was not surprised really to find that there are, indeed, truly bisexual men.

No Surprise for Bisexual Men: Report Indicates They Exist

These are not anecdotal reports but actual tests with subjects hooked up to the old galvanometer. The peter meter.

It is interesting and, perhaps, the beginning of the end of gay stereotyping of bis as just fooling themselves.

Of course, as the headline suggests, for bis, they knew it all the time.

Labels: gay life

HIDE AND SEEK

Today's movie as the continuing series, the first season of The Legend of the Seeker Episodes 9 and 10. Puppeteer and Sacrifice.

These get better all the time.

One was light, the other heavy.

I have been aware that, in addition to the spectacular New Zealand scenery, the musical score is really outstanding. It is not likely that they compose a separate score for each episode but I have not heard a repeat nor a misstep.

Craig Horner still mesmerizes as other continuing cast members settle into their roles. Ensemble.

Labels: films

AMAZING

I have been dragging my feet about how to make overseas calls when John is in Italy next week.

I looked at the "free call" thing that used to be Gorilla but is now a website skype kind of thing. Call in the US to a website that serves Europe. Too complicated.

We thought about me not calling at all. Not OK.

Then, I found out that I don't have international service on my cell phone at all.

Then I dragged my feet on calling Verizon to find out what horrendous thing there might be for me to get that service.

I dialed an overseas number which it blocked and got the dial up code of the Verizon international department.

I hunkered down to a long, annoying, maze of difficult decisions and, feeling the anxiety of it, decided to just call and get it over.

I got Manny on the first ring. He was bright and happy. I told him what I wanted to do. He asked questions. To the point and very clear what was happening. He got me on a plan where I pay three dollars a month for the ability to call Italy for 36 cents a minute. There are other arrangements for land lines and a no-fee approach which costs more, $1.70/ minute. He suggested the three dollar plan as one does not know how long a call will actually last. Time passes quickly.

I signed up starting today and I can end whenever I want. I preset it to September 10th, a week after John returns.

They sent me an email listing all the points of our conversation.

This is the once hated Verizon.

John is taking a rented cell phone for local calls and he can use it to call me but it is more expensive. That is OK too.

I used to dread this kind of thing. Today was a cakewalk.

Hurray for Verizon.

Labels: life

BROTHER ACT

Today's film was the NYTimes Critics' Pick

The Fighter (2010)

This ostensible boxing film actually slips into being a brother movie with a side dish of denial and addiction.

Two brothers box, one burnt out, the other about to be. What ensues is an excursion into brother love with a strong dash of the necessary Rocky like theme.

Very good.

Underrated Mark Wahlberg, the younger, Christian Bale, gaunt and the personification of the crack head older brother.

The women of the families (two fathers) are full on Boston Irish harridans. Although the scene is set in Lowell.

Amazing. I knew we were in this area at the first scene.

I liked the film a lot. Once was enough though. All the setups are blown when you see the film so, perhaps, the same emotional arc would not "happen" on a second viewing.

There were times that I wanted to bail out but somehow I got pulled back in and by the end I am going full bore like everyone else. Nice playing of the emotional hurdy gurdy by director David O. Russell.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 as I would not mind seeing it again. I just wouldn't go out of my way.

Labels: films

SALUTE

Bill in Exile thinks this couldn't be more appropriate.

Me either.

Labels: republican whack jobs

BRITISH FRYED

There is a wonderful series of YouTube videos made by the British actor and wit Stephen Fry.

In these videos, Fry travels the United States with warm and generous humor and comment.

If you watch this you will land in the YouTube empire of Stephen Fry.

There are trips to North Dakota, Chicago, a wonderful ballon trip in North Carolina. Watch out. You might not be able to stop watching. I had to pull out with a loud pop.

Labels: America, fun

AMAZING

I read today that a memorial to Franklin Roosevelt, long delayed, is finally being built on Roosevelt Island in NYC.

The design, made in the sixties, had to be adjusted to compensate for the four inch rise in the East River resulting from global warming.

I have missed this. Four inches? Really?

In another article about eating bugs as a protein source, I read that The Netherlands is working hard on many projects to sustain themselves as the world changes. Of course, four inches and a lot more of water would affect them deeply. Not a pun.

I thought that I was well informed on the issue of climate change but I guess not. It is still a future thing for me. Something that would occur after I am gone.

Well, now it is in the present.

I am here and the water level is rising.

Labels: climate change

// posted by esrose @ 2:42 PM (0) comments

REALITY CHECK

Today's film, a NYTimes Critics' Pick was the documentary,

A Film Unfinished (2010)

Decades after WWII, a film is found of the Warsaw Ghetto ca 1942.

It is unfinished. A carefully made documentary, for propaganda, by the Nazi administration. The ghetto had already been "built" and thousands of Jews interned there.

No one knows why it was made. It was never released. It was edited to some extent but not in a final form.

Jews were recruited to stage life in the ghetto, particularly to reinforce Jewish stereotypes but also to demonstrate the wide difference between rich and poor Jews and their lifestyle. In this way, the Jews are shown to be selfish, indifferent to poverty and the participants in strange and illicit rituals or practices.

For example, starvation, the fate of many ghetto people is shown to be a result of the corrupt rich Jews. Not of a matter of state policy.

Carefully contrived, it is not an over the top condemnation of the Jews but rather a believable "story" designed to create a justification for resettlement, separation and other state policies.

One problem. Along with the one hour reel are also outtakes and pieces of film that show the police rounding people up to appear in the film as well as several takes of the same scene.

One cameraman is found who provides the story of his work. Some living witnesses are still alive and comment as the film is shown. The journals of the appointed Jewish commissioner are read.

It is clear that deportation will proceed soon. To where? Not known.

As it occurred, the shipments to Treblinka occurred about three months after the film was made.

The film is tough to watch. The commentary harder to listen to.

What is fascinating is the reality of the streets which the film makers could not hide. One cannot, of course, be objective about it. We know what happened.

I am very interested in this period and have read a great deal about it. The film enlightens that previous study.

I would not want to watch it again.

I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

OFF TO JOIN THE CIRCUS

Today's film is Jaques Rivette's

36 vues du Pic Saint Loup / Around a Small Mountain (2009)

This very sweet, simple film about painful complex life situations was wonderful to watch.

A woman returns to the small circus from which she was banished by her father after a fatal accident occurs, she thinks, as her fault.

An Italian tourist meets her on the road, helps her with repairing her auto and decides to hang around to see what is going on.

They have a relationship, not a romance, and we see the small shabby but extremely amusing circus.

There is an improvisation feel to this. Rivette doles his scripts out page by page a half hour before shooting. It all works.

Rivette was a New Waver and is quite famous but not to me. His films in the Netflix queue are all "a long wait". Unusual, that.

So I have ordered all the ones that are available and will watch this one again, if, for nothing else, to see the clown act which keeps going throughout.

That means that this is a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

NOW THIS

New GOP Strategy Involves Reelecting Obama, Making His Life Even More Miserable

Labels: republican whack jobs

PERRY WINKLE

Some more fun on the GOP side.

Perry is in the race and has made a fool of himself about once a day. Sometime twice.

Today he told a kid he didn't know how old the earth is and figures no one really knows.

They do. It is 4.5 billion years and the science is pretty sure. Almost certain. So someone knows. I don't expect Perry to.

But then the kid's mom asked about evolution and Perry admitted there was something to it. But in Texas they teach both evolution and creationism.

I was surprised to hear this is not true. They do not teach creationism.

And I should not know this but Perry should. He is the governor.

This isn't a big deal but it is an indication of how everything and I mean everything he says is in the heat of the media spotlight.

I read recently how difficult it is to do what he is doing. Starting late in the campaign. It is a very difficult performance and most candidates start slow, sometimes a year early, to get the kinks out and develop a personna.

They also say that he is a smart campaigner but not too bright. A short time to get your message clear and not show your ignorance. Actually, Bachman made the same mistake and she is hitting her stride but they have lots of tape on her slips. The stuff she hadn't learned to gloss over.

And, of course, neither may expect to be nominated at all. They might be working out the kinks in this race to come back in 2016. that would be smart.

Another thing about Perry. He puts lie to the belief that a good looking guy is a good candidate. He is very good looking. He is a disaster as a candidate. Well, for us.

More if you want to read about it:

Perry Tackles Science in NH

Labels: republican whack jobs

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND

I came home early enough to see a film today and I had the enjoyment of seeing the first half of the second disc of the first season of Legend of the Seeker which I have written up before.

Cheap thrills. It is quite exciting and beautiful to say nothing of Craig Horner who manages to take his shirt off at least once every episode. This time twice.

I am on Episode 5 and 6. There are 22 to go in the first season.

This series is syndicated, made in New Zealand and is gorgeous to watch although now that we are into the series, some trees and rocks look a bit familiar.

I love this kind of thing. Not just because of Craig Horner but because it is a well written serial in the grand tradition. Like the ones I first watched when television was young.

There are great battles and even better escapes. A sort of kung fu film style overlays the traditional sword and sorcery formula.

Based on the books by Terry Goodkind.

If you think that Horner is too young to be legendary you would be right. He is a bit naive and callow and does not know his stuff yet. He learns a new "lesson" from the wizard friend every episode. So do we.

It is very nice. A good filmic break from the more serious stuff I watch all the time.

Labels: films

NEW KITCHEN

I came back to a new kitchen.

Well, it looks new.

Some time ago, John got his hands on a neighbor's cupboard doors. A rehab's leftovers.

The unit is identical to ours except it is 180 degrees opposite. But the doors are not affected.

These were original finish with chestnut strip trim and handles. Ours had been painted over.

So John exchanged all of them while I was gone. Thank god. Not for the doors so much as that he did it while I was not here.

I have to admit that the new look or, rather, the old look that the architect specified is quite special. Very nice.

Thanks.

I have a handy husband.

Labels: condo

SPAM SCAM

This is a new one. I wonder what the "catch" is.

Hello, My name is DAVID HAMILTON, I want to order some product items from your store to my below address in Cyprus but before i proceed, i will like to confirm the type of credit card you accept as payment (VISA OR MASTER CARD) and if you can ship to the below address. Please let me know asap, so i can proceed with my request.

Best regards

DAVID HAMILTON
DAVIDH STORES PTY LTD
Thrakis 12, Anexartisias str.
3041 Limassol, Cyprus

Anyone know what the gimmick is?

I sort of collect these.

I have all the deals where I could help transfer funds to the US. And I have ones that an actual friend whose email list has been pirated "says" that he is stranded in London without funds. And some others. This is new. A little indirect, it would seem.

Labels: scams

I HAVE RETURNED

I left San Diego this morning at 4AM, hit the overlook on Rt. 74, the Palm to Pines scenic route (thanks to David whatshisname for the copyrighted picture, I had sunrise) and pulled into the condo complex at 615.

And I had stopped for blueberries which ran out while I was gone. Well, not a day was missed but today would have been berry-less.

I view the larder my responsibility regardless of where I am staying.

I had a good time.

I stayed one day more than in past years and it worked pretty well.

I would have felt bad coming back yesterday and by yesterday evening I was tired of the noisy bar in front of the dining room and had pretty much topped out on the boat ramp as entertainment.

The biggest thing was that it was cold. Low seventies. I am not kidding. I felt as though I was freezing. My friend Tom who has a place here and at the beach says it is the humidity that makes it feel more chilly. I kept the heat on at a low level for the night times.

The weather was great. Misty mornings and sunny days after 10AM or so.

I got a lot of walking in. Four miles a day in two bursts. One before breakfast and another while they were doing my room up. I get them to come first thing.

The place is still very nice and, if anything, has improved a bit. The dining is better, more variety and very well done. I do not go out.

The only disappointment was that, this year, there were no seals at the boat ramp. Probably because, except for Sunday, the boat traffic, coming in with fish entrails and chum, was a lot lower. The economy?

A weird thing. I saw more kayaks than ever before. Double kayaks, groups of kayakers, solos that went by in front of the ramp area from way up the beach. Kayaks.

I will go back again. I was ready to leave but I do love being there. I read two and a half books, wandered the island, gawked at runners (male, mostly sailors and marines) and just hung out. Hanging is good even for a retired guy.

Labels: desert, home, life

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The Most Hilariously Convincing Gay Marriage Signs

Labels: gay fun, gay marriage

GONE

I am off to my annual vacation tomorrow.

Same place.

Shelter Island, San Diego.

The Bay Club Hotel and Marina.

I will stay put in the hotel. Walk the island twice or three times a day. Hang out at the boat ramp across the street. Watch the pelicans and seals.

No computer. No television. Eat in all meals.

Just me.

I will be there four nights and back on the 18th, Thursday.

I know I will miss you.

Labels: blogging, life

// posted by esrose @ 3:12 PM (0) comments

SWINGERS

Today's film was

Swing KIds (1993)

I got this on the advice of friends but was sorely disappointed.

It is an overheated melodrama about disengaged teenagers who are confronted by the new Nazi era.

It is based on a real phenomena, see left. These guys aren't kids. The movie kids are.

They are fans of swing music and jitterbugging. I think that this is a bit ahead of its time, the jitterbugging. But OK. It is a compressed view and as the various Nazi tropes unfold they are caught in the middle and must commit or drop out.

Spoiler!

Most disappointing is when the lead, Robert Sean Leonard, develops strong moral scruples about the Nazis and, even after he meets at least two active underground members, it totally eludes him to join them. Instead, he goes to rebel by jitterbugging one more time. And even when he is "saved" by his friend, he gives himself up. So stupid.

His friend Christian Bale goes Nazi and their relationships is explored but to no good end. One swing kid (they have named themselves that) kills himself. A guitarist, the Hitler youth stomp on his playing hand. You can see it coming.

Over heated.

But our hero still would rather dance.

If they had shown any depth at all in the Leonard character it would have been worthwhile. But to be hauled off for dancing in a club to a work camp and the army, leaving his family alone and without resources seems an enormous waste.

I am still pissed off at this ending. I will give it a two out of Netflix5 because I did see it all.

An aside. It is interesting to see both of these young actors in their early careers. It seems as though the film went to DVD very quickly. It did not get kind reviews. In any case, Bale still has baby fat. He is 17. It is only a few years after Empire of the Sun (1985) when he was 11.

Why do I write the longest posts for the lousiest movies? I have asked myself this before. Unloading I guess.

Labels: best films

ANOTHER SHORT ONE

I found this interesting.

It is early but he is on the offensive with what seems to be a pretty good message.

A Campaign Theme Tales Shape

Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama

THE TIDE SHIFTS

On a generic congressional ballot, a new Gallup poll shows Democrats leading Republicans, 51% to 44%. It’s the biggest leads Dems have had in about three years.

The other day we saw Obama beating a generic Republican candidate by a number of points higher than ever.

Labels: Democrats, Re-election of Barack Obama

STIMULUS REDUX

It Looks Like the Stimulus Worked After All

Another republican shot down with his data twisted.

Labels: economy, Republicans

THE SHELL GAME EXPOSED

The continued refusal of the Republican Congressional leadership to see that this is no time for austerity is beginning to be exposed for the fundamental paradox that it is. A fake. A game. Contrived or just wrong headed, it is beginning to be assaulted even by other knowledgable Republicans.

G.O.P. on Defensive as Analysts Question Party’s Fiscal Policy

And they are getting worse. The "debate" between Republican primary candidates was a hug fest to the right wing. Every one said that there should be a balanced budget amendment.

No there should not. There should be a short term stimulus and a long term plan to give the debt a soft landing.

Obama is going on the attack with this. Pelosi says that her candidates for the mega-panel on debt will be pushing jobs and stimulus as a way to increase revenue.

This is the broken leg of the Republican's policy. Their refusal to consider revenue as a resource to cut the debt. Whether increased taxes for the rich, which a huge majority of the people support, or stimulus to increase federal revenue out of higher GDP.

And so on. I think I know which shell the pea is under and so do a lot of other people.

Labels: economy, republican whack jobs

DANCE

Today's film was a BBC production of Merce Cunningham's

Points in Space (2007)

a work developed specifically for dancers and television cameras.

The accompaniment is a work by John Cage, composed separately along the same time frame to mesh with the timing of the dancers but not designed to illustrate or support the dance. The dance does not support the music.

In fact the dancers hear the score at their performance.

This is part of the random chance idea in the two men's art.

It is quite good. Oddly, the music and dance come together quite nicely. Very satisfying.

The first half of the film explains what is going on and shows the rehearsal and composition phase. Always a treat to hear Cage and Cunningham talk about their work and each other.

They were partners in life as well as collaborators in their work.

We saw Cunningham about 1995 before we moved here. It was quite thrilling. A solo performance.

This was a 4 out of Netflix5. Fruity British commentary aside.

Labels: dance, films, music

WHO GAINED, WHO LOST

With all the shit going down in the last few weeks. From Political Animal:

Gallup’s latest poll shows President Obama leading a generic Republican challenger by six points, 45% to 39%. In July, Obama trailed the generic GOP candidate, 47% to 39%,

So here we are not doing too bad after all the bullshit and whining from the liberal side about Obama's poor performance and lack of "fight" whatever the fuck that is.

Kevin Drum commented this morning about how liberals are blaming Obama for the recalcitrance of the GOoPers who must be sitting back chortling about how they made the lefties attack their own man.

Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama, republican whack jobs

CAGED

Today's film was the memorial documentary for John Cage

John Cage: The Revenge of the Dead Indians (1993)

This documentary done in the Cage style memorializes one of the most important composers in the 20th Century. And the 21st.

Beautifully structured and unstructured there is a lot of Cage music which will introduce the work. Included is a perfomance of 4' 33", the piece which has no score as such. This one was filmed at the demolished check point in Berlin days after reunification.

The visuals are wonderful. There are talking heads well managed and fit into the composition.

Cage himself is extremely engaging and there are at least six landmark smiles and wide open mouth laughs which are worth the price of admission right on the spot.

The philosophy of Cage's work is explored in as painless a way as could be imagined. Show don't tell.

I will watch this again and may, in fact, buy it as I would a record album.

This is a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, music

NOT WINNING

Gallup:

Tea Party Sparks More Antipathy Than Passion
August 10, 2011

More Americans consider themselves strong opponents of the Tea Party movement than strong supporters, by 20% to 14%. Overall support for the Tea Party has dipped to 25%, a new low, and lower than the 29% average seen previously.

Boehner's Low Approval Rating Could Hurt Republicans In 2012

There is more but I will not bore you.

This is a reality check for the GOP. They are hitched to a fading teabag. They have the most visible leader losing points. They don't even ask about Senate Leader McConnell, the one that looks like a hamster.

Also, the Republicans shoulder the blame for the stalemate mess and according to yesterday's CNN poll, a lot of people, 68% including Republicans, approve of higher taxes for the rich.

I dug all this up, which wasn't difficult, because I had a dose of media memes about how bad Obama was doing.

He holds still throughout all of this at between 45-50% approval. No change. He is not moving up and, more importantly, he is not moving down. They were all playing the same sad tune for the "one term" President and I got depressed.

These numbers sure cheered me up.

Labels: GOP, Re-election of Barack Obama, tea party

FRENCH FRIED

It used to be that discussions of the stock market revolved around IBM and General Motors or Apple and Google. Exxon and Mobil.

American corporations.

Now, in one day we lost all of yesterday's gains because French banks had too much exposure to other European countries.

Before that it was the Greeks. Spain, Italy, Portugal.

WTF!

I do not manage my own account but if I did I would just throw up my hands. All of the financial industry which led the loss today are up to here in "foreign" banks.

There is no way to read this part of the scene. Yesterday no problem. Europe seemed serene. Today, pardon my French, we are fucked.

One word. "globalization".

We are doomed.

Of course there has always been an international aspect of the market. Google is worldwide. Exxon sucks oil out of the Middle East.

But these seem more indirect to me. Trouble with the Saudis shows up with some impact but not like this.

We used to control the world or thought we did. Now we know different so we react and more out of ignorance because we still don't know any more about France than we did a decade ago. And so on.

Up shit's creek.

Labels: globalization

FREE

We went for a followup for Booker's hot spot today. It is fine.

Lingering in the background was another issue. The Vet had felt a swollen lymph node the first time. The popliteal. She said it could be associated with the infection but when we came back, she would double check.

Which she did. And it is OK.

Given the pain that we went through with Franklin we were more than happy to hear this news.

Another week of salve on the toe and we are home free.

Forgive the beagle versus an airedale picture of the nodes. If we didn't have an airedale (impossible), we might have a basset.

PRIORITIES

The White House canceled all events today so that Obama could go to Dover and pay his respects to the dead and visit the families of those killed in the helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

For those who want Obama to do something for them, this singular act, is one in which he is doing something for those who gave their lives for us.

I do not remember any other President doing so much.

It is all here. Every detail. On the plane, watching the caskets being taken off, visiting with the families.

Don't tell me that this is not important.

Obama pays his respects to slain troops at Dover Air Force Base

Labels: Administration Obama

AMERICAN IN PARIS

Today's film was Bernardo Bertolucci's

The Dreamers (2004)

New world innocence meets old world decadence in this memoir of the 60s.

I did not see it when it came out because I don't think that it stayed out very long.

Too bad as it is a very good movie movie.

Paris convulses in riots led by students while three young people cloister themselves for sexual and psychological reveries. Their focus is on film and this provides a wonderful opportunity for Bertolucci to do some parallel scene making. The three young people use film as guessing games but also to play out fantasies. All three share the experience of never quite participating in real life. They have sat in the front row of the cinematheque so that they are "first to get the pictures as they come off the screen". Smart intellectual introverts.

Did I mention that the two French kids are twins? Incest. Sort of. The American brings the real sex with him and they become the initiates.

There are some fine moments. Jeanne-Pierre Laude acting as a present day rioteer while his newsreel film self does the same thing 30 years ago. A lot of integration of classic film scenes with the scenes in this film we are watching.

The film is drenched in sex. Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel do it all mostly. As the American gets more and more in tune with things his initial innocence gives way to considerable liberation, even beyond the French kids. For example, there is no homo sex because the free French boy demures when the American makes advances.

Finally, the idyll ends with riots in the streets and a well timed brick through the window.

This is a very good film at many levels and I would like to see it again. Fortunately Bertolucci helps us with the film references but some are still a bit obscure. That is OK. It is a film to watch intensely.

I suppose it is time for a Bertolucci fest.

At least a 4 out of Netflix5. Maybe a 5.

Labels: films

OK. WHY AM I NOT FREAKED OUT?

The markets are in terrible shape.

How come I am not more upset?

Because this has happened maybe four times since I retired. 2001 and 9-11, the big meltdown, the little meltdown two years ago, and, well, it is serious but, let's face it. The guy next door died last week. He isn't worried about it.

More? What goes down must go up. This will bottom when people see bargains and start buying. Also when they come to their senses and realize that S&P is a bullshit outfit who never ever downgraded the banks when they were failing.

Why else? Because my broker's management committee has already sent me a nice, rational summary of the equity markets and the municipal markets that satsify my questions. That is what I am in. They are more circumspect about T-Bills but that is another matter.

More. I have no plans to cash in my paper. If was going to do that today or tomorrow I would be jumping off the patio out back. Three inches. Not a bad fall.

But I am not.

This is all paper loss as it is all paper gain when that happens.

I am diversified, I am optimistic by nature. And I have never really lost anything big up to now and so why now?

Labels: economy

INNOCENT AFTER "PROVEN" GUILTY

Today's film was Tony Goldman's

Conviction (2009)

with Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell.

I would have watched this film to see Sam Rockwell anyway but the film is as good as he is, so nothing lost.

This is based on a frameup by the Ayre, MA police department of a bad boy, Rockwell, in town for murder.

Hilary Swank devotes much of her life to saving him. 18 years. Rockwell devotes most of his life to being in the state pen.

This is mostly a courtroom drama with sibling love as the glue that holds it together.

It is very well done. Characters abound.

Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher, Melissa Leo are major players and Juliette Lewis turns in a great turn as a perjurer who tells what really happened. More or less.

A lot of close up stuff. Tense. Teary. Funny. Rockwell does his patented naked dance. Once every picture. His trademark.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films