esrosedotblog

SWITCHING ROLES

Today's movie was the second half of

Rang de Basani (2006)

Five friends who act in an Indian indie film about five revolutionaries in the fight for Indian independence, find themselves in a situation that calls for the same kind of action. Corruption from top to bottom in the government.

As the story emerges, the five are brought closely in parallel to the roles they play in the film.

It is a tricky thing to pull off but the film is quite successful in going dark in the third act. Not to spoil it for you if you are going to watch it.

Hands up! Who wants to see this film right now.

It is excellent. I am not sure that I would want to see it again but I really enjoyed it this time. Part of the enjoyment is to delve a bit deeper into Bollywood's serious side.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

MY PREDICTION IS COMING TRUE

The prediction was for a short life of tea bagging. That most people voted with their guts, the general malaise that accompany's hard times, and now are having serious buyer's remorse. Americans do not like extremists. The people who ran on the tea party's energy have turned out to be bad for the tea party's interests. Extremists who merely obstruct and will not work with consensus.

Support for Tea Party Falls in Strongholds, Polls Show

I have always been amazed about how many of the tea party people voted against their own interests. Disgruntled oldsters voting against Medicare as a case on point. Or voting for rank amateurs who have no experience governing. The know nothing approach.

Then there are the people who vote ideologically for vague principles. When their choices get to Washington, they are often surprised that they are expected to know facts and to vote on bills that are substantive.

Mostly, there are a lot of people who have made money out of the tea party and there hasn't been a payoff.

Americans do not like dogmatism. They do not like ideology. They want consensus.

And so on.

The tea was very weak actually. And didn't taste very good.

Labels: tea party

INDIA: OLD AND NEW

Today, I watched the first half of

Rang De Basanti / Paint it Saffron

directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

A British film maker loses the chance to make the film she has been developing for two years when the BBC like organization cuts off her funds.

Pissed off, she goes to India herself and makes the film with college students.

The film shows the young generation actors' lifestyle in contrast to the film story about revolutionary events in the '20s. Youth gave their lives for their beliefs and their country.

I am enjoying it very much. I have seen some of the actors before. The film that results unspools in parallel with the modern action. Sepia film, all color modern story.

Looks like maybe a fiver.

Labels: films

EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN PALMS SPRINGS DOESN'T NECESSARILY STAY IN PALM SPRINGS

We are no Vegas. Lookie here:

New accuser claims affair with Herman Cain began in Palm Springs
In an explosive allegation, a Georgia woman said Monday she and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair that included meetings in Palm Springs and lasted nearly until the former businessman announced his candidacy for the White House several months ago.

But I have warmed up to Herman Cain sex stories and now, since my present home town is involved, I will have to take more of an interest.

Herman Cain is slick for sure. He keeps his particular scandals out of the campaign. They are "personal problems" to be handled by his lawyers. Smart to compartmentalize.

We here in Palm Springs do not mind being implicated if the whole "affair" can get him ink that blots out the other ones.

At least Cain has a sex life. Can all the others say the same?

Never vote for a neuter (Mitt) or a celibate (Santorum). Newt the Snoot has those three marriages to cite. Historical. Michelle B. has that big closet case Marcus or, rather, Marcus has Michelle as a beard. That is pretty clear. That is not sex but rather opportunism.

Honestly, I don't know the actual story about any of them. And I don't want to think about it very much.

Nice going Herman. You put some juice back into the campaigns. You may be a lying cheating son-of-a-bitch but you do it with a pretty straight face.

Labels: Republican primary

MORE MORE NOW!

Labels: gay life, gay marriage, gay rights

TEEEEEETH

The new partial is in my mouth as I type. How are my esssses?

The temporary plate I have had for a couple of months made the s-words a challenge. Various tests today (sister susy sitting by the seaside) have shown this new plate to be hiss proof.

And it feels good in there also.

I got a "free" ultrasonic cleaner and overnight bath too. Nice move.

So, we proclaimed ourselves done, Bruno and I. No hugs but some mutual achievement vibes.

It has taken most of a year, more if you count the work I had done on the bottom a couple years ago.

The teeth actually LOOK good. I do not have a toothy smile so it will be a challenge to get them out there for the world to see.

I had a bit of an underbite. Or had. Which is the source of most of the original problem.

The dentist I had as a kid had a cure for the underbite that went around the application of braces. It involved pushing my uppers out with my thumb.

It solved the underbite but it also spread the teeth apart so that over the years the gums got all exposed.

That and a lackadaisical attitude about ever phase of dental hygiene led me to where I am today. Or was.

Smoking, the frequent application of cocktails and straight vodka and the here and there attention to the 6 month checkup did the rest.

So I am grateful to have gotten off so easily. Now, with a mouthful of crowns and other apparatus, my teeth are straight and appear to be the originals even though, by now, there is nothing real about any of it.

They are my teeth however. Even though I had to purchase more than half of them.

The real payoff is that you will not have to hear any more of this saga.

Promise.

Labels: dentist

AIREPUPPY GOODNESS

The photography is a little shaky but when you are trying to "get" five Airedale puppies you are bound to shake and wiggle a lot.

Labels: Airedale

EXHAUSTED

I have done christmas cards for well over our 35 years together. Well, maybe 30 years. I don't think we sent cards for a few years into our "relationship".

I am pretty sure I did them when I was married before.

Despite the fact that the people we send cards to, most of them, are basically out of touch and do not even phone or email us, we keep on exchanging the cards as though we were bosom friends. Maybe once, not now.

People we met on vacations, a few people from Boston. Some from business relationships. All just barely a memory. Except at these holidays.

Then there is the question of the people we do exchange email and phone calls with most of the time. People that we actually see regularly. If they are out of town, they get a card too and they probably send one to us. Why send cards?

We do not send cards locally except with a few exceptions. There were to be no exceptions to the no home town card rule. But somehow there are always a few on the list. They are not all John's either. Some are mine.

So addressing and signing cards is not as big a chore as it used to be. Over time, the card list has become smaller. We have weeded out the non-responders. We send, you send. If you do not, then off the list the second year. We used to send maybe 150 cards. Now more like 40.

I have always done the cards on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Today was the big day. And now comes, the enthusiasm gap. I got half way through today and just lost my energy for it. My writing even got erratic. I messed up three or four envelopes. My mind wandered to what I wish I was doing other than the cards.

I bitched to John and said that this year was "it". "No more". I don't think I even had to sob and hit the table in desperation.

The perfect husband.

He said he would take over and even finish the twenty or so I had left. I did do about half.

So, if you get a sloppy, sort of half assed looking card you are in the first half. Sorry. I know John will do a good job on the second half. I think I got up to the "G's". A to G. I am aghast that I could be so careless. If you want, you can take us off your list. Go right ahead. Then we will be down to 30-35 or something.

But it won't affect me. I am not doing it anymore.

Labels: holidays

CLINTON PREDICTS

Nick Kristof in the NYT:

Earlier this month, I asked Bill Clinton — who has a better intuitive feel for politics than anyone I know — about Obama’s chances for re-election. “I’ll be surprised if he’s not re-elected,” Clinton said, adding that Obama would do better when matched against a specific opponent like Romney.

Clinton said that Romney did “a very good job” as governor of Massachusetts and would be a credible general election candidate. But Clinton added that Romney or any Republican nominee would be hampered by “a political environment in the Republican primary that basically means you can’t be authentic unless you’ve got a single-digit I.Q.” [emphasis added]

Until there is you will not really see Obama the candidate. They are worrying Romney some, like a dog worries a bone, but wait until he has to defend his flops and flips and the wingnut talking points of the base.

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

BOOKER H. WRITES ESROSEDOTBLOG

Very funny piece by Eric Idle

Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Which nicely transmutes the idea of authorship through literary history and evolves into how facts are not really the facts as in the case of the wing nuts who do not believe in evolution in the first place.

Mere lack of evidence, of course, is no reason to denounce a theory. Look at intelligent design. The fact that it is bollocks hasn’t stopped a good many people from believing in it. Darwinism itself is only supported by tons of evidence, which is a clear indication that Darwin didn’t write his books himself. They were most likely written by Jack the Ripper, who was probably King Edward VII, since all evidence concerning this has been destroyed.

Labels: fun

INTERVIEW FOR MIT TODAY

It just totally chews up the day. Well, the afternoon. By the time I am done with the interview and write it up I have spent over three hours.

Today's guy was exceptional.

Time flew.

But it took three hours anyway.

It just didn't seem that way.

This was the kind of interview that keeps me going.

So far this year the interview pleasures have been slim pickings.

I now have two full on recommendations out of eight.

Actually, when I think about it that ratio is not too bad.

The chances of admission are one out of ten. I am ahead of the curve.

They have another month to get it done. I write my last notes by January 6th and then it is in the laps of the gods.

Labels: MIT

BLACK FRIDAY WHERE AND WHEN

I have heard the term "black Friday" for almost fifty years because I lived in Philadelphia in the 60's. Well part of them.

Philadelphia had a classically bad commuting problem. The Schuylkill Expressway which wandered along the river of the same name and drove people nuts every morning. "The Surekill Expressway".

Most people, who could, used public transit. But once a year, the people from the suburbs would merge with the commuters on the Expressway for a horrible day called Black Friday.

The DJs and traffic reporters started it and then it was taken up in the retail trade as the rush on the day after Thanksgiving.

For a long time, Black Friday stayed in Philadelphia but over the years, other cities adopted the term for the day and the meaning morphed to the day all the stores went into the black or that your own local rush hour went to hell or something far from the original meaning.

And now every year people relearn the origins and write blog articles about it.

The Real Story About Black Friday

As a partly Philadelphian I am proud to say that Kevin Drum is right.

And I have always, always, always, stayed home on the day.

I do hear that the Expressway, now I-76 is a different animal than in the 60s. It is widened and conforms to I-standards. And, I hear that is still gets clogged like every other expressway in the US on the day after Thanksgiving.

Labels: holidays, Pennsylvania

MODERN TIMES

Today, the final and best Lisa Cholodenko film, the near Oscar winner and a NYTime Critics' Pick

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

with Annette Bening, Juliane Moore and Mark Ruffalo.

The two teen children of a lesbian couple want to find their biological father and succeed. The "fun" begins here with the new "family" which, of course, is no family at all.

There is a lot of drama here which is very funny and to the point about the so called "new families" of which I suspect John and I are a part. Well, not suspect, "know". We can see people processing the phrase "our kids", for example. We have gotten a lot of that action in the past weeks as the actual kids have visited us.

Adding surrogate and missing "dads" makes the mix even more different for even the people involved to process.

The moms are the perfect new parent with all the jargon and little preachinesses that they think avoid being preachy. The new preachy.

Until someone makes a big mistake in modernity and the people involved have to stop being "modern" and just revert to defending the territory.

Very good. Second time out for this one. A five out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

GRATITUDE

A lot of gratitude around here for the holiday.

First, I am grateful that, finally, I was able to get two turkey breasts (I cook ahead and freeze so we can have it once a month).

I like the fresh and then when they came in early this week there were only two left and one of them smelled bad. That did it for me. I put them both back in the case.

I am grateful that I found frozen breasts at the last minute at another store. No fresh in stock. I took the frozen. I had just enough time to thaw them.

I am grateful that they thawed in time.

I am grateful that the stove worked today. We are mid-part ordering for the sensor which, after about 375, thinks that it is too hot in there and shuts the oven down.

I went in with 325 F and it went down once early on but not again.

I am grateful that the lady at the bakery talked me into taking one of their pumpkin pies the other day. I would never have been able to fit in a pie bake with the sensor problem and the turkeys all in the same day. I didn't know what was going to happen when I took the pie. I was just being nice.

I know this all seems trivial but it made for a rather peaceful holiday and just about the right level of agitation without it really being a big deal. I was ready to break out some chicken if the turkey didn't work out.

I like to keep my gratitude in the short term.

Of course I am grateful for everything that has happened to me beginning with being alive. I almost didn't. There are a lot of things that I would not have been grateful for when they happened but they added up to some good shit and I can see their value now.

But let's keep it light.

Oh.

I am glad that I am not chained to the sofa and a television set to watch football. And that early disinterest led to an ignorance about the sport that endures to this day.

I hope that you had a nice holiday and that your team won, if any. Many happy returns.

And yes I am grateful that I will be getting mail tomorrow.

Labels: holidays

CONTRADICTIONS

Today's Lisa Cholodenko film was

Laurel Canyon (2003)

Young old. Hippy straight. Mother son. East west. Educated "natural". Id Superego. Fidelity lust.

And more.

This family and friends meet on the sacred ground of the post-rock Laurel Canyon. Frances McDormand and Christian Bale, hippy mother and physician (psychiatrist) son meet for a wrestle and bring their partners along for the ride. Wires get crossed.

Fidelity, sanity, broken promises all come into play as the four people involved try to find themselves in each other. Sort of.

This is a very well acted film with complex underpinnings. Basically a character study. Put these people in a maze and have them bring each other out at the end with minimum casualty.

I saw this when it came out. It is very engaging. Very good. A four out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

AAAAAARCHIE!!!

I read the comics when I was a kid and also listened to the radio version. I think there might have been teevee but I don't remember that. In any case, it is a treat to see him looking the same with the world changing around him.

The Daily What

Notice we have two birds with one stone here.

Labels: gay marriage

DAVE GOES AFTER MARCUS

They cut the lines about "taking care of you".

Labels: Republican primary

RETURN

We had a wonderful visit with a few of our kids.

They are still kids even though their ages are not consonant with the title.

They were here from Friday afternoon to early this morning. Hikes, eats, visits. Very nice.

And I will return to blogging more actively tomorrow.

I went, this afternoon, to test the "frame" of my partial denture. It fit "perfectly", said he and then proceeded to perfect it some more.

Shock is that it is made of titanium! What next. The new best material.

It is very shiny and a little shocking in its silverness.

But it will be fine. I am going back mid-day Monday to, I hope, pick it up forever. They don't put the teeth into the frame until they know all is well. All that titanium.

I started a cold the day the kids arrived and it is still with me. I would give it a 3 on the scale of five. In the middle for discomfort. It has not gone to my bronchs and the runniness is over. I skipped the gym two days so far but I think I will go back in tomorrow. I am already feeling it.

So that is it.

Now time to get supper going. Everything is running late today but it is OK. I have had a happy time.

Labels: blogging, dentist, family

FASCINATING

Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama

SCORE SOME BIG ONES FOR OBAMA!

Obama's Overseas Triumph

Rarely has a great power been so provoked and affronted. Rarely have so many red lines been crossed. Rarely has so much face been lost, so fast....[I]t was as decisive a diplomatic victory as anyone is likely to see. Congratulations should go to President Obama and his national security team.

I could see this happening over the last week!

This is why it is good to follow this shit as it is happening. An unfolding.

Obama called a meeting with the Chinese President and brought along the "new" allies. They scolded the big man, showed him the new landscape and he got pissed, then, seeing what was up, folded his tent.

"Ahhh sooo white devils"

His ass handed to him.

It is almost as pleasurable as seeing Obama's Gallup Favorable narrow from -12 to -2 yesterday. An inch at a time.

And remember, some of those unfavorables are from unhappy Demos who are also coming back to the fold.

President Obama’s re-election campaign is doing better with small-dollar donors than all of his Republican rivals, and even better than the 2008 Obama campaign.....Political Animal

Labels: Administration Obama, Re-election of Barack Obama

PIG

Suddenly a meme. The pepper spray cop. Hopefully this dick head thug has probably ruined his own life and/or career as well as made a victory out of a little sit-in at UCDavis.

Pepper-spray cop works his way through art history

Thanks to Dave for the tip off.

Labels: Protesters

THE WALK OF SHAME

UC Davis Chancellor walks along a gauntlet of silent students who line her path tens deep. Also along the street as her car travels away.

A most eloquent reaction to the Chancellor's order to her police which led to the pepper spray attack on sitting demonstrators.

It is no Kent State but it is certainly a landmark event.

Labels: Protesters

VISITORS

A pause in blogging for a few days as we relax and visit with family who have come here from back east.

Well, only three people, actually, but still.

I will be back Tuesday.

Labels: blogging

MOVING ON

Today, the California Supreme Court ruled that the backers of Prop 8 DO have standing to represent the State of California at the Federal Appeals Court,

The State has refused to defend the case and so the Prop 8 backers, actually two men I think, pled to allow them to represent the State.

They can now do so and the case can now move forward. The Feds will hear and then rule and, presumably, the case could be heard at SCOTUS.

An interpretation by the 2 guys who filed the original complaint over the constitutionality of the Proposition which passed.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

UP AND DOWN

I am watching three films by Lisa Cholodenko, a great new director.

Today's film was

High Art (1998)

On the face of it, this is a lesbian love story, a double triangle. Some melodrama, that. But this is a smoke screen for the real theme which is drug addiction and the extent addicts will go to control their own life and not lose their high.

It takes a while to see this. That is the great thing about Cholodenko's writing and directing.

The classic ingenue, a young, straight, partnered goes upstairs to see why water is leaking through the floor to her ceiling. There she finds a group living situation to which she becomes attracted, the attraction turns to one of the women also in a couple and her life changes.

Her ambition then becomes involved in her attraction.

Acting is great with a favorite, Patricia Clarkson, playing a role so close to the edge of histrionic and hysterical that she would be hilarious if she was not so sad.

I saw this before and was happy to see it again so that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay life, lesbians

HIS SONG

Booker loved this film and look at all the stars!

But I doubt that Green Onions was the actual score for any of the films shown. It does show the consistency of the 120/minute beat. They all synch perfectly. Booker T and the MGs.

Labels: Booker, fun. music

WTF!

I just queued up the dashboard for Blogger and they have redesigned the graphics.

You would not know this of course as you are holding the other end of the bat.

Down here where I have the handle, we have a light blue border to the frame in which I type. The fonts are a little different.

Now this is the funny part. I can't remember what color it was before. I think orange. Maybe tan.

Definitely not blue.

So what's up with this?

It is unsettling. A bit like standing at the edge of a pool looking down into the water where before with the brown/orange thing it was more earthy.

Is it better to be about to jump in? Or to stand firmly on the ground of my assertions and thoughts?

Dunno.

But, actually, by now I am used to it and if, tomorrow, the typing frame turns back to orange or tan, whatever, that will be as unsettlingly different because now I am used to this light blue color.

I was going to type about my day which started too difficult to live through but has turned out to be surprisingly productive and well ordered. Mostly I just let go of wanting to control it and went to doing the next indicated thing.

Positively, my new dental partial "frame" came in and I am getting fitted for it early next week. I wonder if that frame is light blue?

Then I just skipped the movie today where most of my extra time came from.

I had a visitor today, a new friend who I will be working with, and it took awhile to get connected and design a work process. That went very well. No light blue in there except for the sky as we sat on the patio.

Did I say "no movie"? Yes.

Some other stuff I forget. A good day. Time to go for a walk with Booker and I am about an hour ahead of where I am "supposed" to be.

That's it. It is a sky blue or water colored border that has replaced the old, what? Brown, orange, the other color.

Labels: blogging, films

OCCUPY

It has been hard for me to get interested in the Occupy Wall Street stuff.

First because I don't really know what it is about.

Yes. I understand the Issues but I don't get the action desired.

They wanted people to transfer accounts from their banks to community banks. OK. It didn't go over that well.

It is impractical in that we would be giving up more than we gain. Less services, higher charges in most cases, lower interest on money. No greater ability to achieve loans. Well, say they, go to a credit union. Really?

Same with investing. Invest in what for my retirement?

I don't mind a bit of civil disobedience, in fact, I might be willing to take part if there was an objective of some kind.

The main thing is that I suppose that I am near enough to the 1% to have enough personal issues.

I believe in the market, even the wildly irrational market we now have. But sitting in a park won't do much about that.

The Times says today that the "young" are going to sit out this election. What? So that Romney or worst can become Prez or so that the GOoPers can "occupy" both Houses of Congress?

So, don't get it. Whatever percent that I am? 5%? A nifty slogan that, "The 99%". But what does it mean exactly?

Yes. I think that "rich" people ought to pay more taxes. I will keep that in mind when I work to re-elect and to get our GOPer out of office but in the meantime don't expect much change from the use of empty slogans shouted through a megaphone.

Yeh. I know I wrote about this a while ago and said the same thing but they didn't hear me. Quick. Where is my megaphone?

"GO HOME! GET OFF MY GRASS! GO SIGN UP TO WORK FOR THE ELECTION! REGISTER TO VOTE (incidentally).

Labels: Protesters

TRULY GRITTY II

I watched the second half of Alejandro Gonzålez Inårritu's

Biutiful (2010)

starring Javier Bardem as a lower rung hustler and middle man for exploiting illegals. Not a sympathetic character but Bardem makes him so. Under all the chicanery, Bardem's character has two kids that he is raising and has just learned he will soon be dying of prostate cancer.

Sounds like fun, eh?

Well, no. Not really.

The second half has us going downhill even faster and lower.

I guess we have a "christ" figure here. Doing good and suffering the consequences. Mostly because he is a half assed christ figure who makes fatal mistakes. After all, he neglected himself and let the cancer metastasize in the first place.

There is a bleak happy ending. Not a spoiler actually. We have to get something out of all the suffering.

Bardem is very good with his rough long suffering face and it is a very well told tale. Just don't look for a good time.

This is the second day of movies about fathers and their kids. In this one there is even a grandfather.

I wouldn't want to watch it again. Way too baleful. I am glad that I saw it though. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

HONGI

I love this photo so much I am offering a small news item to support its presence in the blog today.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hongis with Maori elder Lewis Moeau during the Maori welcome (Powhiri) on her arrival at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand>

The Biggest Little Diplomatic Crisis You've Never Heard of

Labels: Administration Obama

REAX

Today both Barack Obama and John McCain in scolded the Republican debaters for their support of water boarding and its reinstatement if they were elected.

This is one of the few times that Obama has commented on the circus and, to his great credit, John McCain reiterated his stand against "enhanced interrogation".

McCain chides Republican candidates on 'torture'

That would be Bachman, Cain and, later, the ever flip flopping Romney.

For the most part, I am ignoring the debates and picking up little crumbs to mock and amaze myself at the performances.

That Mitt Romney now supports water boarding is shocking to me. He has long ago sold out and become the number one panderer of the primary campaigns.

A slick shit with a haircut who will tell you whatever you want to hear to get his sorry ass elected.

Labels: Republican primary

TRUE GRIT

I watched the first half of Alejandro Gonzålez Inårritu's

Biutiful (2010)

starring Javier Bardem as a lower rung hustler and middle man for exploiting illegals. Not a sympathetic character but Bardem makes him so. Under all the chicanery, Bardem's character has two kids that he is raising and has just learned he will soon be dying of prostate cancer.

Sounds like fun, eh?

Well it is not. But there are a host of characters and this is a character driven screenplay and so, while gritty and seedy, the "talent" makes it also somehow redemptive.

Bardem is great as well as Maricel Alvarez as his schizoid ex wife who has given him custody of the kids. She is also an active alcoholic.

I could go on. There seems to be end to the misery and pain.

Why watch it? Because it rings of a certain truth and makes a hell of a movie. "Kitchen sink" theater at its best.

That said, I will look at the other half tomorrow.

Labels: films

SPIRIT

Today's Terrence Malick film was his most recent.

The Tree of Life (2011)

This wonderful non-story about a family growing up together in the Fifties could easily be my story. A tough love Dad is at the center of it, Brad Pitt, as he learns how to be a good and loving parent with his oldest son Jack, played by a brilliant young actor named Hunter McCracken, who grows up to be Sean Penn whose voice, with others, undergirds this film. Malick does voiceover!

There is no story line. It is life in a mid size town. Midwest, home values, upward aspiring parents, a wonderful yard with so many things to do by just fooling around. Three boys in the family. Music, old time religion that isn't smothering. I think Catholic. But light.

A kid in the neighborhood dies. At night we listen outside the windows and learn about grown ups. An admixture of preteen experience. The beginning of physical yearnings.

And cosmic questions. What is it all about? Where do we go when we die? What is this about good and evil. Some other kids do bad things so Jack and his brothers try it out. It doesn't fit.

One thing that abounds is something that I missed. Brotherly love. Some of it is defense from the Dad who is strict but normal from that time. Manners. How to deal with authority.

Underpinning all this is a view of life universal. The cosmos which threw us here. Nature as we know it. Even primitive nature. Prehistoric animals, by god! Amazing. Microbiology. Small life all around us. Scenes of , the music of the spheres.

A melange which Malick has prepared for an intense emotional experience. There is a lot of prep. And then somewhere (and I read this happens with most people) there is a deep unconscious recognition and identification. Deep feelings.

There is a coda which answers some questions that have been posed. Wonderful. A 5 plus! I will definitely see this again. It is a lay back and enjoy and try not to think to much movie.

Labels: films

FIFTY YEARS OLD

Labels: fun. music

SEEING BEHIND THE MYTHS

Today's Terrence Malick film was

The New World (2005)

with Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale.

This is a retelling of the Pocahontas / John Smith, / John Rolfe story in the context of the meeting of the "naturals" with the first English contingent arriving in what became Jamestown, VA.

It is not a documentary. I don't even know or care whether it is historically accurate although it is evident that great pains have been taken to present the daily life and conditions of both populations.

It mostly focuses all its interest on the woman we now call Pocahontas in whom the culture clash is personified both in her relationship to her two men and in her representation to the English King as American royalty. The "natural's" princess. Or Queen.

She is not given a name in the picture except, eventually, by the British.

All this takes place against the beautifully photographed Virginia coastal waters. The natural soundscape is wonderful. This is the only DVD I have seen where it was suggested on the menu that the volume be turned up to the max. The better to hear the natural sounds and the wonderful film score.

It is clear from the outset that Malick wants to show the encounter of the two peoples from an original standpoint. Not as history. There is no awareness of the outcome for them and I, frankly, forgot it. The raw curiosity between the peoples is palpable. Fear, fascination, a will to work together and behind all of this a wariness and distrust when modern machinations come into play. Or, the opposite, when perfectly normal native actions, to them, threaten the westerners.

A people to people experience. The indians are not presented as unevolved primitives nor the English as foreign devils.

I liked it very much and would be happy to see it again.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

WHAT IT WAS LIKE

San Francisco Gay Pride Parades 1970 to 80.

Well, I wasn't there. But Boston was similar.

"This film is the work of Charles Roseberry, who is an early Gay documentary filmmaker in 8 mm and Super 8 mm work that was used in the opening sequence of old Castro Street in the "Milk" film. At 82, Charles is still practicing his talents as an film editor and videographer."

There are some terrific bands and flag wavers. Precision maneuvers at around 8 minutes/

How was it different than today?

Most importantly, it was NOT commercialized. You did not have to have a "sponsor" or pay a parade fee.

There were no promotional events.

People were encouraged to do what they wanted and be who they wanted to be.

Labels: gay history

QUICK BEFORE I GO TO BED!

Am I the only one noticed that today is 111111? It won't happen again for a long fucking time.

And do you remember that this is Veteran's Day only in its most recent manifestation.

It was originally Armistice Day and in our little school, we had an assembly so that we could celebrate the end of World War One which, they said, was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month?

So here we are on 111111 celebrating what used to be 1111xx.

I was downtown today and just missed the parade. I did an MIT interview at 1pm and the parade started at 2pm. I saw the beginnings of it as I pulled out of my parking space.

I don't know how many people were in the parade but I bet it was more than the people who were in the street.

I always like the flyover. We used to be well placed for that in the old house but now were are a ways east and offset so it is not easy to run out and have them on top.

The interview was challenging in a good way. I "taught" the student how to give good, high quality answers. She was very young and doesn't have a clue. She should actually wait a year before applying.

She hugged me at the end which never happens but I was rather grandfatherly. I sure didn' suggest a hug. They warn us about all that touching shit. Not supposed to do it anymore. So I put the event in my report. Disclosure. At 75, I think I am safe from being seen as a harasser but look at the guy at Penn State. Or Herman Cain. A way of life.

Question. Why do young women wear such "suggestive" clothes and makeup? Is it because older straight guys respond to that? I would say that one out of three kids do this. Even after I tell them that there is no dress code.

Most guys don't. If anything they go to the low side.

Well, I know why girls do this. It is too bad. Our culture. The differential expectations women are expected to deal with. Better to overdo than to be found wanting.

And, it probably works.

Labels: holidays, MIT

NATURE IN AND OUTSIDE MEN AT WAR

I spent two days watching Terrence Malick's beautiful and horrific

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Malick's liberal translation of James Jones' novel.

Chock full of stars who barely register as stars, so gravely integrated are they into the company assigned to take a hill at Guadalcanal. This film is a meditation on life and war. The nature of man.

Beginning with an idyll for two soldiers AWOL on a peaceful section of the island, we see life as a rich scene of life, people, animals and vegetation. Innocence.

They are found and repatriated back into the war and from then on we see the opposite of the first scenes.

Horrific.

There are other scenes of loved ones at home interspersed with the battle.

This is not a normal war movie but because of that, it may be the most indelible film about war that you will ever see.

Malick is a genius and all of it is on display here.

The cinematography is incredible. The editing the same. It is a total piece of art.

I gave it a 5 before. It is a fearful and beautiful film. Just like life and the world we live in says Witt, one of the AWOL soldiers who acts as a one narrator of the piece. All the characters "talk over" at one time or another. There is not a lot of dialogue in the action itself.

Labels: films

SLOW RECOVERY

I looked to yesterdays elections all over the country as a referendum on Republican policies both in Congress and in sate elections to say nothing of two key referendums in Ohio and in Mississippi.

So this.

The Return of Sanity: Yesterday's election results amount to a broad rejection of Republican overreach.

Also, there are other good signs. Obama's Gallup approval which I look at every day is creeping up from the depths so that there is only a 4-5 point spread on the down side. This has been as high as 12-13 points for quite a while. Trending up. This is striking because the disapproval comes from both sides. Disappointed Demos and Viperish GoOPers.

This is just about right. And the economic situation improves gradually. Manufacturing output is moving up and teeny weekly downward turns in unemployment reports improves the climate.

Labels: Democrats, liberals, republican whack jobs

ASSHOLE

In one little exchange, we have it.

Quote of the Day:

Sarkozy Unloads on Netanyahu—By Kevin Drum| Tue Nov. 8, 2011 7:52 AM PST
From French president Nicolas Sarkozy, overheard talking to Barack Obama about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during last week's G-20 summit:

Sarkozy: I cannot stand him. He is a liar.

Obama: You're fed up with him but I have to deal with him every day.

Netanyahu, unsurprisingly, has declined to comment.

Labels: Israel, Middle east

DRAMA

The HOA board forced our neighbor to resign from the board.

There have been emails with charges and emails in explanation and I suppose a lot of back and forth that we don't know about and do not want to.

This is endemic to smaller HOA's. Ours is not big enough to hire professionals or to supply enough talent to the board from the 174 units. But, then, they really do not have a lot to do most of the time either.

As far as I can tell they do a good enough job and our neighbor is a rebel and a shit stirrer.

We are glad that we are not involved, for once, in the process of governing.

The quiet is nice.

No eye gouging and recriminations nor accusations reverberating over our patio.

We pays our dues and mind our business.

Labels: condo

MASTERWORKS

Today's film was Terrence Malick's

Days of Heaven (1978)

HIs first of six films. I will be seeing all of them

To say that Malick is a slow study these six took over30 years to evolve.

Imagine this. His first film and a total masterpiece.

Ebert says that it is one of the most beautiful films ever made. I haven't seen every film ever made but this one is hard to beat.

The story is simple but the complex emotions which we see at a distance from the viewpoint of a young hard times girl are riveting.

Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Brook Adams and the child narrator Linda ManzThis film must be seen to be believed.

I have seen it many times and will want to see it again. A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

TRIAGE

I finished the great Bollywood film today.

Three Idiots (2009)

I have already put it back in my queue for a year from now. And maybe look for the stars in other films.

Hooked? Probably. But they say this is the best so I will have to reduce my expectations.

I will give this great film a 5 out of Netflix5!

Labels: films

DISRUPT

This is the "new" mic check technique which starts with one voice and the group doing the rest of it.

It is quite effective. Flummoxed.

To the credit of the crowd and the people in charge they did not call the cops.

But I doubt any minds were changed. There is a woman in light orange in the middle who seems to be amused and open to it. Some people leave.

I am of the old school that protest is important. I am not about to go to Occupy Palm Springs (yes we had that) that got moved off the grass so they went home. I will do the work around elections. But I am open to a little civil disobedience if it seems to be well organized. Most of this action is not.

They should have walked to City Hall where there is no grass and occupied it. There is a strong reason for it. The City is in thrall to developers who provide considerable help to their interests. Campaigns and otherwise.

Labels: Occupy Wall Street

WINTER

I recently said that our autumns are short.

Two, three, at most four weeks.

Today is the end of it.

Dark, rainy winter hit along with the end of long afternoon light and, of course, lighter mornings. A tradeoff for the better actually.

Cold fronts off the coast and strong enough to get over the mountain. Lift, moisture and force.

It is gay pride day in Palm Springs, an event which begs the truth that "it" all happened and is celebrated in June all over the world.

But we have tourists and the tourists come back in November. Voila!

Hard not to be cynical versus proud.

So we don't attend. And not many other people as the rain is coming down on events. I think it was clear for the parade. Then not.

In our house, John just said it was quiet.

That is so.

Booker and I will venture out a bit later but for now we are biding our time.

Winter? Yes. That means, on the average, 70s days and 40s nights.

As cold as it gets.

Did I mention that a short burst or rain earlier this week left snow on the mountains?

It did. And now there will be much more. The stage is set. The snow up there and the temperate air down here. Palm Springs at its best.

Labels: Palm Springs, seasons, weather

BOLLYWOOD

Today's movie is a long one as it is produced in the Indian film convention known here as "Bollywood". I am seeing it in two sessions of 90 minutes.

3 Idiots (2009)

Some perspective from the critic at the link,

As of this writing (2010), 3 Idiots is the highest grossing Bollywood film in India, and had the biggest opening weekend of any Bollywood film. This obliges me, according to the secret DVD reviewing code, to remind American viewers of some facts about Bollywood they may have forgotten since they saw all those news pieces about it when Slumdog Millionaire came out. First, Bollywood is an informal term for Hindi cinema, one of several regional cinemas in India. It also happens to be the largest center of film production in India, which makes it one of the largest in the world. Finally, Bollywood is known for being formulaic (in the best sense of the world), with long (sometimes epic) narratives, song and dance numbers, and themes about the tension between tradition and modernity. 3 Idiots captures these aspects of Bollywood cinema perfectly. Because of its familiar collegiate and road movie trappings, it's probably the perfect way to introduce the unfamiliar to Bollywood cinema.

My own perspective is that Bollywood films are highly formulaic (this one is no exception) and filled with a lot of cross cultural references that make for a bigger potential market in the west. But, the downside is that once you've seen one you've seen them all.

This bright film is a brilliant exception.

From the beginning the quality of the production, the stunts, the music and the stars have an unusually bright and attractive look. The filming is almost shocking in its use of fast camera work and color palette. Gaspable.

Some of the jokes are over the top but never too long. The pacing is really good. It is good fun, cleverly written. All in Hindi and English mix so there are subtitles throughout. Gratis. You don't even have to set it up.

Great acting. Comic and broad but intelligent throughout.

The story takes place in the best technical school. A great place to show old and new values as well as to demonstrate the strait jacketed mind at work. Technocrats versus alternate cultures.

Not much different than any similar campus comedy in the States.

What makes it different are the musical numbers that are so far over the top that they are wonderful fun. Satirizing the traditional numbers one sees in this kind of film but doing it so well that it makes "over the top" delightful.

There is a dark side in this film as well reminding us that the issues being discussed are, indeed serious. Some sadness and more than a bit of sting in the humor.

So. No rating so far but I am definitely enjoying myself.

The IMDb rating of this film is an ultra high 83!

Labels: films

ESCAPE

Or not.

Today's movie was Jacques Becker's

Le Trou / The Hole

Four then five guys in a cell with an escape plan and the execution thereof plus the tension of trust (one guy is new) and being caught by the guards.

I cannot tell you anything about it or it would spoil.

It is worth your time and more.

It is amazing that Becker can keep things going for just over two hours which I did not find too long.

There is really nothing but digging and fine acting to watch. The relationship between the guys is beautiful to watch.

The restoration by Criterion is superb.

If you like a good escape film this is it.

I will give it a 4 out of Netrlix5.

Labels: films

FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE MIX

Labels: dance, fun

WELL MAYBE ONE POST

This is a big deal, I think.

Simulated Mars mission 'lands' back on Earth

Take a look at the pods.

I couldn't do this. Maybe three days.

I have a tendency to claustrophobia which I have not had to deal with for a long time but I think that this would be the time.

Of course, I have not met the men who I would have to stay with.

I suppose that we aren't supposed to speculate about how they made out sexually. With each other?

I would like to think that I could talk them into it.

I suppose there is some practical application to all this but I, for one, do not believe in space.

Well, I believe that it exists but I do not see the importance of its exploration.

There is the moon. There is the abandoned equipment. Nothing going on. Done, over.

And that one is easy to get to.

We have the Mar's explorers which have way surpassed expectations. Robots.

What could we do with all that money here? Well, start with climate change for one thing. Think about building the infrastructure.

I used to know the guys at the NASA technology transfer office. We used to work on applications for space technology on earth.

There certainly is a lot of spinoff. But, I am led to believe, a minute portion of the GDP.

Anyway I am not going. I wish I had some more pictures of the guys who went in there.

No women. And now we are back to the question. Who did who and how?

I know. You don't want to think about this but there it is.

I look at what photos we have and the gaydar goes off. I will stop now.

Labels: gay life, science

NADA

No postings today.

No movie.

Nothing to report unless unless you want to hear about the Friday cleaning. Or the rainy day.

Certainly you don't need to hear about my hangnail that still hurts after a trim and now with the bandaid holding it down.

Not too much actually is going on to report. Just uncertainty about the dog walk. Rain throws things asunder.

Nor would you really be interested in my project to get both John and my credit cards, Medicare, insurance and other id's together on one sheet of paper so if we have a wallet loss we are not shit out of luck.

No need to tell about how I took a longer than usual nap, involuntarily, or to relate the saga of John realizing I had not put the current insurance info in the Volvo or into each other's wallets. Found them in the payment envelope from July.

I had decided to omit the long story of not getting my tax bill then going on line to find it and, thinking it would be easier to just pay it with a credit card, discovered the bastards add a service charge for credit card payments. 45 bucks. Never again. And how I got the mailing address on the bill corrected. They sent it to the old owner's place and, keerist, nobody knows where it is. Old Penny McKee who owned the place is sitting on it or it is in the forwarding bin at the post office.

Well, I asked them to change the mailing address. I don't know that they did.

You probably don't want to hear how beautiful Booker is in his new haircut. You have heard enough of that.

The phone calls. THree or four like any other day.

I am reading the Steve Jobs bio. Very good. Funny and very honest I think. He was not perfect. But I am only 150 pages in and besides you can read it yourself. I still have the extra book if someone wants it. Leave a comment!

There is more but since I am not going to write about it and you really don't want to hear about it I will just go on to the next thing which will either be a Coke and pretzels (this is Booker's wish) or perhaps the walk if it is not raining. Maybe I will start dinner prep but there isn't a lot of prep as there are hamburgers tonight. The best. Coleslaw too.

I guess the Coke break. Some internet stalking to find something to be outraged about. Perry's planes? Herman Cain's women or his dirty campaign manager (crooked dirty). Maybe the latest Romney flipflop.

Naugghhh.

It is the same old story of pots calling kettles black.

You don'wanna'hear it!

And I don't want to write it.

Nada today.

Labels: blogging, Booker, gay life, politics

PUSHING THE MEME

Great news and unique media reactions.

Labels: gay fun, gay marriage

STYLE

Today's film was Jaques Becker's

Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954) (Don't touch the loot).

Starring Jean Gabin (the French named him the best actor of all time) as an elegant mobster who doesn't mind stepping out of the image and kicking some ass when requred. Still in his suit and tie.

This beautiful film noir is an old favorite and was time to see again along with two other Becker films from the same era.

I have seen this so many times and still see new stuff. A natural 5 out of Netflix5.

It is also a NYTimes Best 1176 Film.

Labels: best films

IT'S NOT A VERY PRETTY PICTURE IS IT?

Of course the general campaign is on. This from one of the big for Obama superPacs.

Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama

WHY GREECE?

Just this morning I tried to answer to this question. But better than my feeble attempt is this piece by Kevin Drum.

A Conversation About Greece

He does a great job of untangling a complicated situation.

I am still not sure why Greece and the Euro and the European Union are so critical to the daily swings of the stock market except in the sense that globalization, particularly of financial affairs, makes world wide waves no matter where the rocks are dropping in the water.

What I thought was an insane response, the "referendum", now seems to be another ploy to get the Union to do more or take more responsibility.

Someone will have to blink.

Or, the opposition within Greece will topple the current regime (I am trying to avoid spelling Papandreou). Many in the parliament are in favor of signing the agreement as it now stands. Up to yesterday his cabinet was willing to sign but he got them onto the referendum wagon.

Anyway the markets are bat-shit insane anyway. So what's a little Greece in the fire?

Labels: economy

MOLL

I am watching three films by Jaques Becker, all crime films. All NYTimes 1176 Best Films.

Today is the earliest

Casque D'Or (1952)

I have seen this one before. It is a beautiful film. Paradoxically, as there is a lot of rough stuff but it is Belle Époque crime and so, very pretty.

The contrast between the beauty of the scenes and the occasional violence, hard and briskly applied, makes these films different from classic Noir and enjoyably so. As if a guillotine can be beautiful but is. This is a recent Criterion restoration and you can see everything.

Simone Signoret stars as the woman the guys all fall for and leaves a trail of trouble behind her. Inevitable. Serge Reggiani is her ex-con, now reformed boyfriend. Once he hooks up with Signoret, he cannot stay away from the gangs. Jean Gabin, a favorite of Becker plays the elegant gang leader.

This film would rate a 5 because I have seen it before and enjoyed it very much. But a third time is not likely. Therefore, more honest to give it a 4 out of Netflix5 as of today.

Labels: best films

FAN WARS

I have typed about the progress of the fan wars at the gym.

The fan guys are very aggressive so when they are there which, with a new member of their ranks, is every day the non-fan people are pretty much intimidated enough not to go turn the fan off. We tried it once each (Yousef and me) and they marched right over and snapped them back on. Before that one of the guys who is a macho bastard and a little nuts went and grabbed another of our non-fan group when he flicked the off switch and the cops were called.

We do turn them off, with a bit of a flourish, as soon as they get off their bikes. Before they even gather up their things. The fuckers never turn the fans off themselves.

So we have been in a stalemate.

Until today.

A small woman who is new and presents as meek and mild came in, marched over and turned two fans off. And went to her bike. Yousef and I held our breath. The asshole of the day didn't move a muscle. He just kept on with his workout.

Another ally. And apparently someone who is not challengeable. Great!

I thanked her and she told me she doesn't like the sound of the fans. It interferes with "my music".

Things are also looking up because Gene from Washington is back tomorrow. He is one of us and not nearly as worried about offending or upsetting the beast(s). He is a snowbird. And a fit old guy who is rather pugnacious by nature.

We are gaining.

I might also mention that Gene is also an outspoken liberal who loves to bait the wing nuts. Most of whom are also fan people. Double the fun.

Labels: gym. fun

TRIPLE CROWN

Today was the long awaited (two weeks) installation of the permanent crowns. Three of them.

He wanted to put them all in together so there "bite" would match or align or something.

It took longer than I thought but cost less.

Actually, I am done paying for all of this.

He also took the impression for my permanent partial. The frame will be in in a week or so and we will fit that. Then the "teeth" get put in the approved frame and that takes another week and then we will be done.

Done.

Done.

Nothing planned for the future.

Labels: dentist