Monday, October 31, 2011
INTERVIEW DAY
Another kid who has applied to MIT. I am the "Educational Counsellor" here. Meaning that I am the only look at MIT that these kids will ever get unless they go to Boston or perhaps attend the one regional meeting we have led by the Admissions people on their US tour.
Today's interview was not the best. The kid doesn't fit. It is hard to conclude that but harder to do the work to assure myself that what I am concluding is true.
I feel bad about the recommendation I gave but not as bad as I would feel if he went there and got dumped.
They tell us that we need to detach from the results. One kid that I recommended not be accepted was. I know why that is the case now. He had the stuff but he didn't interview well. Too much coaching by the guidance counsellors. It always shows.
But I got to know him when he was admitted and I know that he was actually a good admit. We kept in touch for awhile and he was doing well.
Not a chance in this case. No activities at his school. A loner. Mid level grades which is not actually my department. And he was 15 minutes late for the interview. He lives one "city" over.(In Riverside County CA, we have all cities, big little, whatever.)
So it is a bit of a downer but there has to be balance of low and high quality from the mix and I get to see that. It helps me know the sharp ones when I see them and helps me actually not feel bad when I see one who is going to be a washout because I just saved him and MIT a lot of trouble if they agree with me.
Still, he is just a kid who doesn't quite get it yet.
Labels: MIT
Sunday, October 30, 2011
MORE STEVE
Must read. Steve Jobs sister Mona Simpson.
A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs
I grew up as an only child, with a single mother. Because we were poor and because I knew my father had emigrated from Syria, I imagined he looked like Omar Sharif. I hoped he would be rich and kind and would come into our lives (and our not yet furnished apartment) and help us. Later, after I’d met my father, I tried to believe he’d changed his number and left no forwarding address because he was an idealistic revolutionary, plotting a new world for the Arab people.Mona Simpson is a novelist and a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. She delivered this eulogy for her brother, Steve Jobs, on Oct. 16 at his memorial service at the Memorial Church of Stanford University.Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.
By then, I lived in New York, where I was trying to write my first novel. I had a job at a small magazine in an office the size of a closet, with three other aspiring writers. When one day a lawyer called me — me, the middle-class girl from California who hassled the boss to buy us health insurance — and said his client was rich and famous and was my long-lost brother, the young editors went wild. This was 1985 and we worked at a cutting-edge literary magazine, but I’d fallen into the plot of a Dickens novel and really, we all loved those best. The lawyer refused to tell me my brother’s name and my colleagues started a betting pool. The leading candidate: John Travolta. I secretly hoped for a literary descendant of Henry James — someone more talented than I, someone brilliant without even trying.
When I met Steve, he was a guy my age in jeans, Arab- or Jewish-looking and handsomer than Omar Sharif.........more
Her best known novel is "Anywhere But Here".
I have started reading the biography out just last week.
Somehow I got an extra copy if anyone wants it, just say.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
HONEYMOON OVER
Today's film was the German language NYT Critics' Pick
Alle Anderen / Everyone Else (2009)
Written and directed by Maren Ade.
A young couple goes on a holiday to Sardinia, a full time together experience.
Cracks appear in the romantic facade. Careers are discussed. Personalities. Another couple shows up. Actually two. They do not agree on how to be with the others. We get to see the difference between how others approach the world with their partners. Some drama ensues.
None of this would be new to any couple who has made it out of the one on one experience and out into the world. But everyone is surprised and a bit dismayed when it happens to them.
Each person's truth is shown and demonstrated and they discover, often in conflict.
They have not yet discovered that the zing in their love life comes from their differences.
This film tells the eternal story gently and with great charm. It is not a comedy but it is also not a tragedy. It is a coming of age story for people who thought they had it all figured out. Good sex is not always the answer although it certainly helps.
In this story the "other people", one couple, present many contrasts and "decision" points for our couple.
The acting and actors are superb.
I saw it before and wanted to see it again and here it is/was. A 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
BLOGGING BLOCK
I have been on the inactive list as far as personal blogging is concerned.
I can blame outside matters on this. The death of a good friend. Major dental work. Busy-ness. But, over a long period of time, I have found that these things are actually more manageable when I write about them or when I am writing about something else.
A lot of this is just bullshit. Yesterday I convinced myself that my typing skills had tanked and that I was getting old and uncoordinated. Or something. I also decided that my handwriting had deteriorated. Could this be the encroachment of old age? All in a couple of days?
No. Right now, I am typing away like a professional stenographer, if they type any more. And being conscious of the handwriting I made some notes that were in the old firm hand.
Perhaps just a mood.
So. Here I am writing in spite of myself.
We are sort of between things.
We stick to our routine but are able to do other stuff. MIT interviews for me. A new plan to go back to Italy for John.
In three weeks a trio of kids will appear to spend a long weekend with us and each other.
This week, I get my new crowns (three of them) and take the impression for my plate. That takes some starch out. But I am past the hard part and heading for the last lap.
So, for better or, hardly ever, for worse, I am in the flow of life and busy. So I guess everything is OK.
I always feel "behind" but I am not. It turns out that, at the end of each day, everything that needed to be done got done and most of the stuff I thought about doing, needed or not, got done too.
So for a guy like me, that is a good definition of happiness. It also helps me sleep very well.
OK. Rambling Alert. Time to get back to business.
Labels: blogging, geriatrics, life
STRAGGLER
I spent a couple, maybe a few years watching all the NYTimes Best 1176 films.
Or as many as were on disc. Maybe 200 or so remained on the "not available" list and will probably never be available anywhere, any time.
But every so often one hurdles the fence. Such a film came through for today.
Vittoria De Sica's Shoeshine (1947)
This film is about two friends who get caught up in a corrupt and callous justice (no justice actually) system. It was made immediately after WWII when there were no studios or other physical plant to film in. De Sica "invented" the neo-realistic picture, shot on the streets and public facilities out of necessity.
All filming is on the fly. A lot of the actors are either very old or younger amateurs. The middle had been sacrificed to the War.
This is a tear jerker. I saw it when it came out and can still remember the pathos of the story. But there is not a minute that is not engaging. Short and unsweet nothing is overdone and the photography is outstanding. Look at this imaage.
A movie movie. In short, a film. What is the difference? Watch this and you will have the answer.
The situations shown are universal and eternal. Still, today, kids corrupted and sold out by the bad guys and the "good guys" both.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 mostly because I wouldn't want to see the tough stuff again.
De Sica has won more Oscars for foreign film than any other director. And if you have a chance to see him act do not miss it.
Labels: best films
Friday, October 28, 2011
WHO DOES WHAT TO WHO?
Today's film was the NYTimes Critics' Pick
ambién la lluvia / Only The Rain (2010)
A Spanish film starring Gael García Bernal, Luis Tosar and Juan Carlos Aduviri.
A film company seeks to produce an exposé drama based on historic fact about Columbus' exploitation of the native indians by, surprisingly, exploiting the locals who work as extras and even as a main character in the film. In the background is an uprising over water rights taken by an international company.
This is a propaganda film, full frontal and very good. The subtleties are hammered home so that they are no longer subtleties. But that is OK.
The acting is superb especially by Aduviri who is the local who will not be exploited and becomes a star of the film in production. And a star of this film that we are seeing. Mirrors.
Films about film making often go awry but this one does not. The local politics hold the production story tight in its grip.
No distance between it and the room needed to make the film.
It is quite thrilling. There are some flips and flops between our heroes that The Times did not like but I did.
I haven't mentioned Bernal who, in this, is a bit of a shit, an idealistic one. The two often go together. Idealism and insensitivity in and with the real world.
I may want to see this again sometime. I will give it a 5 out of Netflix 5.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
TEENAGE ANGST 2011/1678
Today's film was Christophe Honeré's
Based on a 17th Century novel about Anne of Cleves, this film sneaks into a French high school and retells the story with teenagers (although the actors are much older and old hands at Honore films).
At the beginning as we join a class size group it is a bit difficult to get one's grounding but then that is the dilemma of a new girl in class. Meeting, fitting in, dealing in teeanage romance with the complication of a teacher who has eyes for her as well.
There is a neat subplot with a trio of gay guys. A lovelorn suitor for the girl. And all played out in a way that keeps our attention fixed on the confusion of adolescence which doesn't end when the adolescent is grown up. The teacher played by Louis Garrel vies with Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, the student for the girl's hand. A spoiler, no one wins. She is rather fucked up herself.
These two actors were the gay couple in Honeré's wonderful “Les Chansons d’Amour,” which we now own and bring out when we want some mellow romance. It is a musical and there is a song in this film as well.
This is just one of the ways that this film invents new and surprising things. It was good to see and I would be willing to see it again.
That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5. The gay subplot? You will have to see it for yourself.
Labels: films
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
TRIBUTE TO STEVE JOBS
Beautiful.
Johathan Ive the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He is the leading designer and conceptual mind behind the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, G4 Cube, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
And one hell of a speaker.
This was at the Apple memorial.
Labels: macintosh
A MEDITATION ON BUGS
Today's film was the documentary (mostly in Japanese)
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009)
This is such a weird film. It is not a monster film. Rather, it is a meditation on insects in the life of the Japanese people from childhood on.
It is fascinating at the informational level but, not satisfied to present a tired hacky entomology film it goes all anthropological and finally spiritual.
The contrast between the fascination with insect pets and in the wild is pointed out in quiet photos of urban sprawl next to insect preserves. In fact it is all quiet.
An odd fact that most Americans are pridefully unaware of is that almost all Japanese do not speak English. So it is in the local language and subtitled. This makes for some fast up and down eye movement because the bugs are a lot more active than most dramatic film and so there are things we miss. I suppose also that we infer a lot in dramatic fare and here, with the bugs, there is little or no non verbal communication. Certainly the phrase "I am alive and kicking" is conveyed without words but not a lot else.
I liked that we see real people and real bug catchers. I got used to the title thing.
And the entire film is soothing. I get the interest and connections with the little guys.
I had enough of the bugs but enjoyed it while it was there. That means a 3 out of Netflix5.
The trailer.
Labels: films
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
CHANGEOVER
The leaves are changing now. Somewhere. But not here.
It is one of the things that I miss.
I suspect this craving to see colored leaves comes from today's cool, sharp weather. A bit of wind. Cooler all day and night.
The very blue sky. October's bright blue weather.
We have a few deciduous trees here. And there.
Right here in the complex there are sycamores.
They look like maple leaves and turn all colors in December. Not because of frost but because the sun has gone down "there" and the other signals that they are supposed to change are delivered as a broad hint.
I will bring a few leaves in December. They will sit in a jar and eventually turn a lovely brown.
Fall in. Fall out.
In the meantime, there are photos of leaves everywhere.
Labels: seasons
FRONT AND BACK
I finished the 6 hour PBS documentary
which covers a full year of activity in and around the Big Apple Circus.
It is mostly backstage reinforced by the acts, the people in them, their inner and outer lives including the stars to the crews.
It is fascinating. There is so much material and so many people who are rather fully revealed that it is very hard to summarize so I will not even try.
The photography and editing are superb. I have the feeling that there was very little manipulation from the management. You pretty much see the good and bad, the beautiful and the kind of bad.
I have always loved the circus until I burned out of Ringling then the Cirques shows. Enough.
I have never been to see the Big Apple which now sets its tent up on City Hall Plaza in Boston just blocks from where we lived.
I am sorry about that.
But now feel as though I was there and then some.
I will give this whole round of tape, three discs, a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Monday, October 24, 2011
MORE
What is most angering with the "gay is a choice" rhetoric is that it sets the stage for discrimination and bullying.
Whether there is a new bullying epidemic or whether we just, now, hear about it and raise hell over it. the fact remains that kids and some adults are bullied because it is thought they choose to be gay.
To be "different".
Combine that with the age old hate generator of explicit sex talk or acts, often labeled "blatant" or "flaunting". "I don't care what they do I just wish they wouldn't talk about it". HomoSEXuality brings ancient heterosexual fears and insecurities to the surface. We remind them of what they most want to suppress.
So yes. It is angering and hurtful to hear this shit from the mouths of public figures. The pandering to hate, prejudice and fear.
But understanding all of this does not mitigate the damage of such talk.
Now that it is OK for gay people to call them out even in the crudest ways, there is a way to retaliate. We have won enough of our rights to feel secure in fighting back.
Labels: gay identity, gay politics, gay rights
INVITATION
On his blog Dan Savage posted an open letter to Herman Cain the ex lobbyist and pizza mogul. No fool, incidentally.
Dear Herman,
If being gay is a choice, show us the proof. Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself. Show America how that's done, Herman, show us how a man can choose to be gay. Suck my dick, Herman. Name the time and the place and I'll bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the argument.
Very sincerely yours,
Dan Savage
This is probably not PC or even very good PR for "the gays". But it is a tired old canard and dramatic responses might help flush the toilet.
These bastards are supposed to be intelligent. Well, they are not. On the other hand, Cain probably knows this is a canard and doesn't mind doing the dog whistle to the ignorant and the bigoted.
I don't like the "born this way" argument too much either. I go to a higher authority which is that everyone gets to do what they want to do as consenting adults.
In fact there are probably some people who are actually choosing homosexuality or homosexual acts for the fun of it. Or to try things out. Or whatever. That should be OK too.
There are actually a lot of guys who would not mind having their cock sucked, and more, by a man just for the feeling of it and just for the hell of it.
Good for them. Every man should probably at least try it, and more, once. Or more.
Even Herman Fucking Cain.
Labels: republican whack jobs
Sunday, October 23, 2011
TEST
They didn't get the right answer in 2010. Let's hope the b'jesus they get the right answer before 2012!
Labels: lefty fringe, liberals
ONE RING
Today's "film" is the PBS mini-series Circus (2010)
A documentary about the Big Apple Circus.
An inside story thing. Six hours, three discs.
I loved the first two hours. A lot about the people, the grit and failures. The work.
It is quite satisfying to watch this back stage life of a small band of dedicated performers. Some have had nine generations of their family as circus people. A couple are first timers.
Not many people know that the Big Apple puts an entirely new show together each year and that it actually tours before and after showing in the Big Apple, its original home.
I am hovering over a 4 out of Netflix5 but we shall see what happens.
The production quality is first rate. Some wonderful slow motion and very clear bright photography gorgeously edited.
Labels: films
Saturday, October 22, 2011
BUSY
An MIT interview today and a meeting with a guy who is taking over as Chair of a group I used to manage.
The interview was a good one. The meeting was as expected. But it chewed the hell out of my routine. And I can't write about either one so no blogging today.
At least that is what it feels like now.
Who know what will stick in my craw as I read the news and internet shit.
Labels: blogging
Friday, October 21, 2011
LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN FRONT BACK
The old idea of left and right brain didn't work out to be true. So we dismissed the whole thing. But right here is a new bit about the left and right. A lot more complicated but it works without our worrying about it so what the hell.
One can nudge it around and use the understanding to unlock our selves.
Labels: biology
PIANO
Today's film was the competition documentary
They Came to Play
From the IMDb
"Chronicles the Fifth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, hosted by The Van Cliburn Foundation. Players from all over the world, ranging from self-taught to classically-trained, aged thirty-five to almost eighty, convene in Fort Worth, Texas for a week of intense competition, music and camaraderie. The film the film provides an intimate look into the lives of these colorful, multi-faceted competitors as they strive to balance the demands of work and family with their love of music. Years of dedicated preparation culminate in critical performances before a professional jury and discerning audience during three nerve-wracking elimination rounds"
Couldn't do better myself.
There are very few reviews. I think it is a film made by the Cliburn Foundation for their own use.
It got an 8.0 out of 10, a very high rating, on IMDb.
I don't know how I found out about it but I am glad that I did.
This is a genré now. A few competitors are shown and interviewed, we see the competition. In this case 75 amateur pianists selected through tapes and letters. They got 6000 applications. Winnowed down we have 75 invited to Houston. Then 6 selected for the big finale.
It is well done. The music that is played is very good. These are people who might have been professionals but chose not to run that race and they kept up the work.
I particularly enjoyed this film and the people in it.
Again, I wonder how they got interviews with all the people who were finalists long before they went to Fort Worth TX. Maybe they took a chance or maybe the interviewed a lot of the 75 selected. It always bothers me that this can happen. I am not suspicious at all but there has to be more than a little help from the Foundation.
I liked most of the people. They have a story to tell and play extremely well. Some play it safe but most perform extremely difficult works.
I am glad that I saw it. It is my piano fix for awhile.
No. I was never anywhere near the class that these people were even when they were kids.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix 5.
A few shots of Cliburn who is no longer shy about being gay as a goose. Good for him.
Labels: films
ROYAL ENCOUNTER
Last night Booker and I were on the last leg of our hour walk. It is cooler, so we are hiking out of the complex and into the countryside again.
Ahead of us were two young women. One had a sparkling tiara on her head.
I said "You must be the Homecoming Queen". I read the paper on line and had seen her picture.
She beamed and said she was but actually "a Homecoming Princess". She was quite beautiful and charming. A friend was with her and she was as pleased as the Princess to be recognized.
Fun. Nice kids.
The High School is on the other end of our walking range, east versus west. They were going home.
The sun was on that tiara and it sure sparkled.
Here she is in the local "paper".
Palm Spring High Kicks Off Homecoming.
I have tried to find out what else happens other than a big game this weekend. Alumni for sure. A dance? I should have asked but I was too awed by royalty and the tiara, I guess.
Booker was unimpressed.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
I LOVE THIS ANNUAL CEREMONY
President Obama Presents the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medals
What I like most is what passes between him and the recipients. And of course their stories. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you will be proud to be an American.
Labels: Administration Obama, heroes
HERO
Andrew Sullivan:
“To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now.”
Funny and sad is that one of the best Presidents at foreign affairs is buried in other issues.
No one in the GOP can even begin to match it.
This does put the GOP on a spot. They have roundly criticized Obama for "getting us into this" and now will have to eat crow.
John McCain who was kissing Gaddafi's ass just a short time ago, two years, today expressed happiness that his has happened and almost took credit for it.
But I am as old as McCain and I understand memory loss. He has a bit more of it than I do.
Labels: Barack Obama, GOP, republican whack jobs
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
Today's bittersweet animated film was
L'illusionniste / The Illusionist (2010)
This is based on an unproduced script by Jaques Tati.The main character is a Tati lookalike and there are funny references to Tati's other films.
But the character is not the fondly remembered Tati of Mr. Hulot's Holiday. That is Mr. Hulot.
In this story, about the death of live variety shows, the magician falls in a kind of paternal love with a young woman who is from the provinces and follows him on the road.
She believes that he is a true magician and not an illusionist.
As the film unfolds, everyone learns that there is no magic but of course there is. Everywhere. Even the magician's rabbit finds it.
Did I say this was bittersweet? A tear or two will fall.
We all want to believe in magic.
This is by the Three Sisters people and the artistry is at a very high level. They do the 3D with handdrawn pictures. The old fashioned way.
There is a lot of nostalgia here if you are old enough to embrace the period, say the 50s when television arrived.
Labels: films
NOTEWORTHY
Basque Separatists Declare Halt to Violence
I was about 25 when this started. It has been on my mind most of my life. Not because I am a Basque. More because it was the first terrorism, other than the IRA, that I was aware of and began to follow.
It is not, of course, the first terrorism. That was somewhere in the "Old Testament". Before. Why do we think it is new? For awhile even declared a war on it. That is over.
The world is changing in some areas. The IRA laid down their arms. Others too. It is a model for going forward. Some actual muslim extremists have retired from the field. History shows that it is an unproductive tool. A plaything for madmen who do not really believe in the cause as much as their on sociopathology.
The Basques were picturesque for awhile. Romantic. But then they got too lethal to too many innocents and their cause became banal and was blanked out by the revulsion at their actions.
And so on. History repeats itself.
I saw the pictures of Moammar as well. Just now. Now doubt. It is him. Dead as a doornail. I was going to show it here and then thought not.
Labels: evil bastards
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I have been fascinated by this guy for a long time. A class act devoted to evil purpose.
He had a set of costumes that would do any old time Hollywood studio proud. They don't keep the costumes any more. I bet some of them went to Moammar.
The desert robes were great too. When it comes to dictator chic he rules. Ruled.
By all accounts he was an evil bastard and it cost many lives to get him out. Sad but true.
The latest in a long line of African potentates who soaked the poor and kept all of it for himself. Actually not that different from all the other flim flammers in the world.
Labels: evil bastards
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
VERY SWEET
These are "normal" citizens with special stories.
"The winners of the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal are each called and told that the President has personally selected them to receive the Citizens Medal - awarded to Americans who have "performed exemplary deeds of service for their country and their fellow citizens". The Presidential Citizens Medal is among the highest honors that a civilian can receive."
Labels: Administration Obama
ENDING
Today, I finished the Russian film, a NYTimes Critics' Pick
Kak ya provel etim letom / How I Ended My Summer (2010)
An old line self sacrificing veteran and a short term intern share the responsibility of caretaking an outlying weather station which is about to close down.
Old and new Russia. There are wide differences. The relationship is not good.
When bad news comes in for the older guy, the younger one forgets and then is afraid to tell him about it.
Thus begins a run of paranoia. Isolation. Midnight suns. Polar bears.
Finally anger erupts.
The location is a place where life is so fragile that the barest departure from procedure could be fatal. It is a nuke powered station. The elements are unforgiving.
Psychological thriller. What would I do? We always place ourselves in these situations.
It didn't seem to matter that I cut it in half. But to sit through the whole thing end to end would have to be a more agitating experience.
I liked it a lot and would be willing to see it again. It won two German "oscars" for both actors. Nice.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
From an Franklin Roosevelt 1936 campaign speech in Madison Square Garden:
”For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”
Labels: Democrats, Re-election of Barack Obama, republican whack jobs
BARNEY SEZ:
Barney Franks asks the question that was on my mind before the Occupy Wall Street people?
I was asking about the lefties who sat on their hands and decided to bitch and moan and not work for Democrats. Same question.
Where Were You in the Last Election?
The mea culpa below.
Labels: Occupy Wall Street
SCAM?
I went to the gas station yesterday. A guy drove up to the opposite side of my pump station.
He asked if I could use my credit card to pay for a gallon of gas so he could get home.
I said "no, but I can give you three bucks" (the gas was 3.97 a gallon).
He took it but that wasn't what he was looking for. Someone suggested he might have a scanner in his pocket but I don't think that was it. Well, I don't know what the scam was.
This kind of thing always throws me off my stride so I have some defensive tics. Things that come right to me. The first is to say "yes". "Sure". Then ask some questions. "How far away do you live?" This is where they usually fall apart.
This guy's face told the story. He took the money but it obviously wasn't the goal. He fidgeted. His voice want off. Stress.
That is the second thing. Questions. Engagement.
Another thing. I come up with an alternative. Any alternative. Be willing.
Then get in your car and get away as fast as possible.
This is the same gas station where there are hookers at the side of the building at 4AM.
This interchange happened in broad daylight.
Maybe I should find another gas station.
But this is also the same station that has the extremely hot latino attendant at night. I think he may have run the hookers but they are not there now. SO maybe he ran them off.
So I probably won't leave.
Labels: scams
Monday, October 17, 2011
HALFWAY THERE BUT WHERE IS THERE?
Today's film (and tomorrow's) is the Russian
Kak ya provel etim letom / How I Ended the Summer (2010)
Suspense on an isolated weather station which is about to be retired.
The last two guys, an "intern" and an old salt guy. THey have some drama going already and then something happens.
I can't tell you what.
So far, it isn't the bears that they are always worrying about.
It is pretty good. Starts slow then edge of the seat. A lie of omission happens and then the shit begins to hit the fan.
I like it a lot and besides the excuse that I was behind in my "work" schedule today, I want to draw it out. I do this with novels too. Slow it down. Savor the suspense.
Labels: films
A LONG LINE OF DAYS
Today, I have been sober for 32 years.
And it is just another day in a line of them.
You know, the idea of "a day at a time" is not that one only has to endure suffering for one day as some people believe. Self Pity is not an asset.
Rather, "one day at a time", recognizes a spiritual fact. A day is all we have.
This day.
Here and now.
Living to the fullest.
A life second to none.
I do not claim to have any secrets for living this way. I was just told to do it.
To be humble and do what I could to help others like me. That is about it. Anything else has come from hanging out with people who I want to emulate. Seeing how they do it. Following along.
No magic. Just some simple work.
I am so grateful.
Labels: recovery
ROOT IT OUT
Today's movie was in the dental chair.
They were playing court teevee. My god it is an awful thing. Nancy Grace and a bunch of ghouls. Another mother accused of killing her little girl.
I rated it a 1 and asked them to turn the thing off.
I was there to get a root canal and to prepare the way for three crowns. One over the root and two others on the remaining front teeth after the extraction two weeks ago.
I was a little apprehensive about doing all that at once but he assured me that I (anyone) could take it and that it made for a faster completion of the work to be done. Also that it improved his cash flow.
No he didn't say that.
I have a major discount on the work as most dentists in the valley have just adopted a plan offered by the biggest dental insurance company. It is a discount card that you pay for. 90-120 a year and you get (I think this is the deal) the same rates at the dentist as they would pay if you had insurance). It is not insurance.
I figured they jacked up all their prices and this is the old price structure but I guess not. Also it would be a come-on for people who wanted the insurance.
Anyway I got a "discount" of 1200 dollars. Pretty good, I think.
He said I would have some pain but I am using the combo of ibuprofen and acetaminophen which "they" say is more powerful than some of the opiates. You use full dose of each. They do not fight but rather enhance each other.
Incidentally, the root canal did not hurt. I am one of those guys who once had a tooth removed rather than go to get a root canal.
This guy is painless.
Labels: dentist
Sunday, October 16, 2011
CLOSE BUT NOT TOO CLOSE
Our new neighbors have shown up.
This is the house where the old guy died. To the west.
They are leasing because it couldn't be sold right away. Complications with wording in some of the papers.
It is an older retired couple. Man and woman. He says ex-military. A nice guy. She is a little vague. Booker and I came home last night and she was sweeping our sidewalk back and forth and back again. I didn't say anything but "hello".
We already have one of those. A compulsive cleaner down the street. Every day into the street, the gutter her whole yard and some days as far out as the main road outside our gates. Amazing.
They had a bad move. The house was not clean. He said "nasty". I figured.
The guy who was supposed to be doing it was taking the longest time possible to finish his work and came the day before with a half-assed job of cleaning and all the trash out front of the house. Not our house.
Our board member and realtor of the place was not on the scene either. The guy was pissed.
We made appropriate oooh and aaaah statements and nodded a lot and then went inside.
That is it.
As usual we will know very little about what happens next and we will make stories about them. But that is the way it works when you are close physically and not close in any other way.
Mind our own business and fantasize the rest. It is more fun anyway. The reality is always less interesting than the fantasy. Good thing.
Labels: condo
US KOREAN PARTNERSHIP
I was thrilled when I saw photos of Obama and Korean President Lee visiting a Detroit auto plant together. This is very ballsy of our President. Lee did not disappoint. He was President of Hundai before he went into politics. Watch him.
I really like what he said and how he looks and the two of them together are a refreshing sight. You sort of know what Lee is saying before the translation. It is leadership through and through. The two men are much the same, I think.
Labels: Administration Obama
YOUNG LOVE GONE WRONG
Today's film was
with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.
Lower class marriage of necessity. No capacity to "work through" stuff. Mismatched temperaments. Romance fades. End of the road.
Simple. Painful. But this film takes a different course than you might expect. It teems with life. It has history through flashbacks. There are a hundred things wrong about what has happened to these two people. Family backgrounds, maturity gap. It is sad and sometimes difficult to watch how this all unwinds but Gosling and Williams make us care very much for them and their daughter.
Sex has gone away or the romance part has. When that doesn't work, what happens? They do not answer the question for themselves but their story is a revelation for those who watch. Us. Show don't tell.
Ebert notes that they watch each other. You can see this in the mode of communication that has developed. The thrown back question. The instant offense taken. The sarcasm of familiarity. So painful especially when right on target.
I would be willing to watch this again just to inventory the pain and missed opportunities.
These young actors are very very good.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
AGELESS
Here we go again. The over and mis-treatment of old people. An American industry.
How Medicare Fails the Elderly
This is the scariest part of getting old.
I don't want any of it.
The useless and painful treatments that are foisted onto sick elderly are worse than the sickness itself.
HEY! Are my kids reading this?
I don't want any of this shit to happen to me. I don't want to live through it and I do not want to spend the money on it.
We have long term care insurance which is a help. But what the fuck? Hanging on to a thread of life is not living.
We have a good doc right now. Not bent on treatment at all cost.
I could use a medication for a mild problem that I have with "dribbling". But everyone of them cause debilitating (to me) side effects.
So, I will not use it. He agrees. He wouldn't do it himself. The ultimate Doctor Jim resolution.
The trick is to have enough brain cells to do yourself a favor and fade out. He says stop eating. That is what my mother did. The ultimate treatment will arise soon enough.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
MILANO
Today's film is actually a slide show.
John is having friends in to show his photos from the Milan trip.
In another house. Someone who has a big screen.
I have not actually seen the show. I have seen it over his shoulder as it has been assembled.
I will not rate it at Netflix.
He has set it up so that all I have to do is leave the house and go sit and watch. Minimal socializing and maximum viewing. One hour. In and out.
Perfect for a low grade social animal.
Labels: travel
Friday, October 14, 2011
TOO LONG AT THE FAIR
Today's film was Wong Kar-Wai's
Fa yeung nin wa / In the Mood for Love (2001).
Tony Leung (Cannes Best Actor) and Maggy Cheung. Both favorites.
A man and woman meet. Live next door. Discover their spouses are having an affair. They try to start one. Or something. Neither has the stuff to do it or maybe the charge is not that great or perhaps they realize that they are doing this because of their spouses and not for themselves.
Nat King Cole score. "Perhaps". Perfect.
There are other members of the Wong stock company as well as a bit about the tree that people whisper secrets into. This has been in three or four of his films. Also other familiar motifs.
The same fantastic editing and cinematography.
A masterwork.
I have already seen it three times. Still works.
Such subtleties.
A 5 out of Netflix 5.
Labels: films
Thursday, October 13, 2011
PROUD
First I was "in". Then I kicked "in" some extra bucks near the close of the quarter and look what happened. From Political Animal.
In a fairly impressive display, the Obama/Biden campaign announced this morning that it and the DNC had raised a combined $70 million in the third quarter — 98% of it came from donors giving less than $250. The president continues to outraise the entirety of the Republican field combined.They were looking for 55 million.
I am impressed with the participation. Very wide spread of low contribution donors like me.
Labels: Democrats, Re-election of Barack Obama
MISOVERESTIMATED
This is probably kicking a horse that is already dead or, perhaps, his cowboy. But it is still a pretty good sum up.
Before the most recent debate one of Perry's handlers said that he was tired.
Robert Lane Greene sums up what this probably means in The Economist.
If your background thus far has been mostly limited to your home state, you're not ready for the onslaught of impertinent, annoying questions about your policy towards Durkadurkastan. In a panic you start to study. But there are so many damned Stans! And then people want to know whether your tax-policy numbers add up, the bastards. And you're expected to know stuff like how the alternative minimum tax works. And where all of America's troops are. And then the snivelling reporter from the Globe and Mail asks a question to tease out whether you know what the prime minister of Canada's name is—you're sure it's something really ordinary, but is it Stephen Parker or Ben Harper or Michel Carter or what? Then you have to study all your rivals and what they're saying and doing, too. You have to study fast, and you're travelling all the time, and still kissing babies and begging for money over the phone. You eat fried garbage at state fairs and diners, and barely sleep. Now you probably get nervous, then tense; swagger won't turn the dynamic around. A few gaffes and you tense up more. You study harder, but there's just so much stuff to learn! And they they start digging through your past; why oh why didn't you anticipate that story getting out? Nobody told you it was going to be like this!In other words, not ready for prime time plus a whole lot of attitude.
Labels: republican whack jobs
AMERICAN PIE
Today's Wong Kar-wai’s first English-language feature
I don't think that it went anywhere and as you can see from Ebert's review he just didn't fucking get it. And he is a fan of the director.
I got it. In fact I think it is among his best.
Jude Law (!), Norah Jones, Rachel Weitz, David Straithairn (untypable), and a fantastic Natalie Portman. All stops out.
It is an anthology film, three episodes held together with the story of one woman recovering from a bad breakup. Not a strange subject for Wong at all. Most of his work is like that. Also in most scenes very tight in.
Lots of wonderful lights. Slow motion editing. The Americans hate that.
We are taught about this early on. Jude Law, great, runs a coffee shop and he has a teevee monitor. He watches the tapes in down time and says that he is amazed how much e misses when he is just there doing his work. It is all on tape for him to see. So much has been left out. We see some samples.
That is one of Wong's points I think. Watch. See. Stop the action and get it.
I was worried about seeing this because it did not get great reviews. Watch. See. Not very Hollywood, is it?
I will give this one a 4 out of Netflix5.
And great shots of blueberry pie ala mode.
Labels: films
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
CONDO DAZE
Sometimes when I look around our complex, I have to smile about the show that goes on.
Our pool, which I am not really using this year, had its temperature raised from 82 to 83 degrees F.
I just saw that in the HOA news/minutes which are posted on line. Home Owners Assn. Funny. One degree. They were trying to figure if it cost them more on gas. Are you kidding me?
There are a number of things like that. Diddling. But that is the HOA way and we knew that coming in.
We know enough to stay clear of it, pay our dues, elect the board members and reflect on micro-organizational behavior. There are significant cliques which we have not decoded, so we don't bitch and gossip with the neighbors about what "they" are doing. We might be talking to "them".
New rule for living in a smallish town that calls itself a city. Everybody is somebody's friend. Discretion.
This is the time of year for scalping. I have talked about this before.
All the lawns in the Coachella Valley are bermuda grass. Otherwise a weed, here it grows well in the summer but dies back in the winter. They scrape the earth and plant annual rye seed for the "winter". Dust, shit, corruption. Keep the doors shut until it is done. Two or three days minimum.
COME FULL CIRCLE
Today's Wong Kar-Waifilm was
Dung che sai duk / Ashes of Time Redux (1994/2008)
This is his martial arts film but it is not like any other I have seen. The cutting and shooting of the fight scenes is extraordinary. A funny combination of stop action and close up art photography but with great impact.
These are part of a circular run of the seasons in the life and experience as a middle man. If you have someone you would like killed, this guy (Leslie Cheung) will broker it for you.
The early scenes are hard to follow but eventually make complete sense as we circle back through the four seasons to a restart of the story.
This is redux for two reasons. The restart idea of the circular story and, as it happens, Wong re-edited this version so it is a retelling of a retelling. It is still hard for some critics to get it. Ebert, at the link, is mystified. Well, it does take some work Roger.
I liked it very much and, as usual, one needs a few viewings of these films to get the full benefit of the work even though, for now, one will more than suffice.
I will give this film a 5 out of Netflix5 even though it took me a long time to realize that one actress was playing two parts of brother and sister or as sisters. One is Yin and the other Yang. You can't get much heavier than that. Great.
Labels: films
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
OUT AND ABOUT
I just found out that today, our anniversary, falls on the same day as Coming Out Day this year. Wild.
I guess it is every October 11.
How could we have missed it?
Self absorption, of course.
Labels: gay history, gay identity, gay rights
THIRD
This is our third wedding anniversary.
We got married during the California marriage window in the back yard of our old house.
100 friends for the wedding and the cake afterwards.
There were about 18000 people married in California before the gates crashed shut again.
But no one can take what we have away.
Don't let anyone tell you it is not important. Some gay people even believe this.
We were and are Certified Domestic Partners and that was pretty good but there is nothing like having the real thing.
The minute I said "I do" there was an emotional bond set in place that has years of tradition as well as personal commitment built into it. Bang.
I felt it and still do.
We were part of the original efforts to get gay marriage available to us in Massachusetts. A restoration of rights. Not a gift.
Now we gave the right back to ourselves by exercising it.
We still celebrate the day that we first met. The same day that we "did it" for the first time.
Yes. Gay men are like that. Instant love.
They don't always stay but they have a great beginning.
We stayed. Next April we will celebrate being together for thirty seven years. Doesn't the time fly when you are having fun?
This was our cake topper.
Labels: gay life, gay marriage
LIFE
I lost a friend yesterday.
He had just left a meeting of a group we both belong to where he had been the leader.
At the end, he got a lot of hugs from members of the group. He had done a good job.
He left to go on a hike with a friend. The trail head is about a five minute walk from where we were.
Two hundred feet or so up the hill, he collapsed. Dead on the spot.
A massive coronary.
He was 55 and had things pretty well in order.
Then bang.
It is sad and shocking to have this happen so fast but it is not a tragedy. His last two hours were with a bunch of people he loved who spent a good bit of time with him at the end. The walk up the mountain is a beautiful journey.
He never knew what hit him.
The left over feelings are for us to sort out. He won't have to worry about any of it.
I have always thought that this is the ideal way to go. It is a victory. A life well lived, a happy ending and then gone.
Goodbye my friend. You have been a great companion on the big trail.
Labels: life
TIME, TEARS, MEMORY
Today's film
Wong Kar-wai's eighth film. (I am not watching them in sequence)
Two parallel stories. One (the 2046 referred to) written by the man who has a series of failed relationships with women which uses his memories as the basis of the almost non existent plot and the real life more or less in the early 60s.
Wong's strength is not in the stories and traditional narrative. This is cinema not literature. So you get to watch and deduce and wonder at the deep imagery.
2046 is a destination on a train that moves so fast that you can be there now but you can never return. All you know is what you know and you are the prisoner of your own life. I think, repeating the same actions.
2046 includes a different version of yourself and the women are now androids whose emotions are in slow motion.
I think because the story never ends.
The writer's 2046 form is trying to come back to the present.
And so on.
If I say "I think" a lot it is because this is so stimulating that it stays with you. Memory. Over Time. And the many ways that tears are presented.
You gotta see it. Tony Leung (!) is the guy now and Takuya Kimura as the 2046 guy. I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5 because I will see it again along with another film that it is supposed to be a sequel to but really is not. Fun, huh?
Wong Kar-wai is great!
Labels: films
Monday, October 10, 2011
SURREALCHRIS
It would not be Columbus Day without celebrating with Salvador Dali's The Dream of Christopher Columbus;
They don't make much of Columbus Day out here. Not the same as Boston and New York where it was a major thing particularly for Italian Americans.
I will not be deterred by local disinterest.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
PASSION
Today's Wong Kar Wai's film was
A Fei jingjyuhn / Days of Being Wild
A philanderer keeps two girls on a string while, at the same time trying to convince his foster mother to tell him the identity of his real mother.
Here the relationships between men and women are explored at many levels.
The women, in turn, have a bunch of issues they work out with two other men respectively.
One of them is Andy Lau which makes the film special for me. Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Rebecca Pan, Carina Lau, Leung Fung-ying and Jacky Cheung (the rep company) fill out the cast. I am writing these all out so that I can begin to get the names straight.
Wong's touches are all over the film. This, like yesterday's film, was held back from the US for ten years. But it is restored beautifully.
The cinematography is superb. His first film with his long time cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
This is a very very sexy movie. It has a strong gay sensibility although all the couplings are straight. There is one guy on guy scene though that reeks of homoeroticism. Later Wong will make an all out gay film but his touch shows here.
That should be a plus for all preferences. Languid is a good word for the music and most of the scenes.
There is one shot that goes down a street into a RR station, up the stairs and into a bar where our anti-hero is finishing off the night with a cocktail. Amazing.
This is a five out of NetflixFive.
Labels: films
