Wednesday, February 29, 2012
WEATHER REPORT
I had a video chat with son Tom today and he said it was snowing. Maybe two inches worth. In Massachusetts.
I remember that. Snow. On the ground outside my window.
We have snow of course but you have to go up almost a couple of miles to be in it.
There is some now. Very pretty.
We have been having a very warm winter. There was a short freeze before the holidays but it didn't amount to much. A few bushes were nipped. Nothing in our yard.
But for the most part warm days and cool-ish nights.
I have worn a jacket or an overshirt a number of times but not for long.
I don't wear anything most days after 7AM. And I don't wear anything but my gym clothes for, well, the gym. The car is partly responsible for that. We have Volvo instant heat. A heat exchanger. So I walk a hundred feet into and out of the gym.
I would not be able to do this other years when wind and the thirties were on order. But we haven't had that kind of weather this year.
Since New Years it has been mostly warm in the days. 70s and then 80s. The pool is in use almost continuously by someone. Mostly people leasing a condo for a month or so. Too cold for locals.
And rain. Not much. They are predicting a low yield of desert flowers. In the past few years there have been a lot. So they started a desert flower fest. We look for any possible excuse to draw the tourists. Just in time for a drought of flowers the first year.
Actually, since we have been here there have been flowers about half of the time.
So, warm and dry, cool nights, some snow down to 5000 feet and now flowers.
That's it. Soon, a month or so. Hot and hot and hotter then really really hot. But we will cross that temp when we come to it.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
LOVE AFFAIR
Today's gay film is by the Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan and starring Hu Jun and Liu Ye.
There is some stuff about this being the first gay film made in China but that is less the point than this is an excellent film with a good strong story that covers a relationship that lasts a decade (watch the phones change from scene to scene).
It is sexy and buoyant and, being chinese, necessarily, a bit sad and tragic. But that is somehow OK.
Lan Yu is a young student, a committed gay, who hooks up with a successful business man in a one nighter which proceeds to love and the usual ups and downs of any relationship that we want to last for awhile or forever. And don't. Men can be pigs.
The photography is great. Intimate. You feel the love.
Hu, the older more reluctant man carries it. Ye is right there to catch the ball, so to speak. They are wonderful together.
I would not mind seeing this again. It is a simple story and it will last for awhile I am sure.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
CROSSOVER
Monday, February 27, 2012
HAPPY FEET
I have always owned white bucks, nicely dirtied and worn.
First at MIT, I would run them down to the insoles. Then in more affluent days, I would keep a fresh pair coming up behind the old pair. Bi-bucked.
Later I added saddle shoes. Not as nuts over saddle shoes but I always had them one way or another.
Then when we moved out here, somehow, what with permanent sandal wear and so on, the bucks went away.
But lately I have been having buck fever!
So I ordered a pair today. And a pair of saddle shoes. Then a pair of tan buck shoes. All from Bass. Inexpensive, simply done.
They come Saturday or before.
The balls.
A mysterious change. Good to have these waves of new things, images, even old nostalgic moves. Is this a 75 thing or just a thing?
When we moved, we agreed that a new purchase would accompany the removal of some old item, equal bulk. We are limited by space constraints.
I got rid of my Birkenstocks. Years with those too. But they don't work here although I have never figured out why that is. Not good in sand.
Labels: shopping
REALM OF THE SENSES
Today's gay film was one we had enjoyed before.
Bagno Turko Hamam / Steam (1998)
An Italian designer inherits his grandmother's hamam in Istanbul. A turkish bathhouse, now closed and in need of a lot of repair.
Up tight and in an unhappy marriage he finds in Istanbul the atmosphere to unwind. Complications in the sale of the hamam delay his plans and, slowly, he succumbs to the family which lives in the residence, his grandmother's "family" and to the idea of the bath as a place of refuge. He takes it on as a rehab but clearly he is the one being rehabbed.
There are other complications and an ending which is upsetting but he becomes happy and at peace.
This is not strictly a gay film. More bi. I am OK with that.
This sounds as though it might be a cheap R-rated vehicle for some steamy sex but it is anything but that.
I liked it when I saw it before and put it in the queue so I could like it again and I did.
I probably won't take another look. For one thing the transfer is not very good. Murky. With a film that has a lot of scenes in the dark anyway. Sound is also a bit muddy. The techies have not treated the film well.
I am glad that I saw it again and I will probably not return. A 3 out of Netflix5.
HOO HAAA HOA
I told you before that we have a very contentious Home Owners Association Board (HOA).
It took us a while to figure out that, while there are many levels of controversy, the largest is that there is an east side and a west side and the twain do not meet. Even when they meet.
For one thing, they are two separate tracts built at different times. Perhaps they should not have been combined. Maybe they should be separated.
In an unusual conjunction of events, the Board held an election for three out of five seats in December. Usually there are only one or two vacancies. Mandated. Someone had been thrown off the board, an Easterner, so in this election, control of the board was at stake.
The results had, for the first time, the East winning three seats and thus a majority. At least this lasted for a little while.
No sooner had the dust settled than the numbers were disputed and a second set put into the minutes showing the West winning. Chaos.
Some demanded a recount, only to find that the ballots had been thrown out just after they were counted.
The old board met immediately (three of them had been thrown off the board, remember) and declared the election null and void.
Then the shit really hit the fan. But it did settle and there was to be a second election, same people. And this time the West WON!
It is still a mess I think but not officially.
All HOAs are the same. Just different in their own ways. Amateur management, vendettas, in fighting. And history. Lots of history. Years and years of history. Old grudges. Accumulated resentments. Like that.
We decided early on that we were too old for any of this and have steered clear of it as much as possible. We are of course a bit East ended ourselves but WTF. It is all going to turn out the same. There is only so much that has to be done. It has been going since the 80s. There is only so much money. They have a manager. They can't fuck it up too much.
Can they?
They are trying pretty hard. But we are resolutely uninvolved except to vote. When others rant and rave we nod. And move on.
Labels: condo
Sunday, February 26, 2012
SORTA GAY
Today's gay favorite film, Number 23, was
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
which is strictly not a gay film at all. It is about gender, transgender and identity. There are no homosexuals in it.
I don't resent this much. Gay men have always been a sucker for drag queens (not me) but these are not drag queens. They are bonafide transgender characters including one that is played by a drag king. Beard and all.
I know this is a sidetrack from reviewing the film but I have never been happy about the GLBT thing. I didn't even like it when women wanted to be "L" and we had to go with that. "B"s belong to the club for sure and I feel less resentful about them than I used to be. I have found that some people I know really are or have been bi-sexual and cheers for that. It is the "T" part that makes me nervous.
It is not the same thing. Not sexual preference. Well, for oneself. G is about the other and the me. And so on. I don't want to go on and on about it. Point made.
The film is pretty good. John Cameron Mitchell. But it is noisy and pretty disorganized. Mostly a chain of musical numbers held together with some interesting film footage (cartoons, voguing and some funny situations).
And there is Michael Pitt. Pouty Michael. A beauty who looks a bit too much like Leonardo DiC. to get a lot of parts. There is room for only one. So he takes the weird, kooky and usually sexually wilder roles. Here's to him.
I don't want to see this again. Ever. But I can't make it a 2 can I?
Yes I can. A 2 out of Netflix 5 because I didn't like it but I didn't skip. I did take a break and go out on the lawn with Booker for a sun bath and roll around. Then back to it.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
MIRACLE CURE
Once again, when all else fails, we turn again to the universal cure for bad colds.
Lots of sleep.
I went to be early last night and while up and down a bit, lasted for 12 hours and then, when I got up for a break and breakfast, I went back to bed for another couple of hours and almost all the symptoms are gone.
Particularly the weepy wet eyes and snot.
I also, obviously cleared my schedule and stayed in my equivalent of pjs.
Got up at noon, felt like a shower and shampoo, a shave and did it, had lunch and watched the movie.
A successful day.
Rick Astley, a great video.
Labels: health
OLD TIMERS
Today's gay favorite isn't on the list because it is newish but it would be a favorite, I am sure.
with Ewan McGregor as a newly orphaned adult male who can't hold a relationship together and discovers that his dad was in the closet until he burst out when his mom died. When Dad dies five years later, young Ewan has a think to do and a new relationship to start over.
The young learns from the young again.
This is believed to be award material so it is kind of appropriate to watch it today.
I thought it a very good movie but the McGregor character was a little too morose for my liking, even for a straight man.
There is a great dog in the show. Plummer is excellent. Pulls out all his old actor tricks.
I suppose I didn't like it as much as I wanted to but I would see it again if given the chance. A 4 out of Netflix 5.
Friday, February 24, 2012
WEEPER
Shit. I have a head cold. No coughing and chest congestion.
I just got over the bad back and now this.
It is OK. No self pity. It won't cure the cold and will only make me feel worse.
Mostly I am just runny. In the left side.
Not a thing to do but let it go.
I took two allergy pills today rather than one. It will help a little but we just have to see it through.
When I was a kid our doc would tell us that if he gave us "cold pills" it would be over in a week. If we did nothing it would take a week.
Docs like to josh their way through a helpless situation.
Labels: health
MORE COMING OUT STORIES
Today's favorite gay film (#25) was the German language
Sommerstrum / Summer Storm ((2006)
Gay men love to tell and listen to coming out stories. Everyone's is different but in a fundamental way they are the same. We all identify.
I think that because of this it is difficult to make an entertaining and, in fact, informational coming out film. Many of the "favorites are just that". This one hits all the marks (get it?) and then some.
A kid who is gay and doesn't know what to do could benefit from this film.
Good looking kids, credible situations, a young man has a crush on his straight friend and this will cause some problems.
Fortunately he has the chance to be with some out gay men and, as a result, is able to heal from his disappointment and find a way to maintain his relationships and be out at the same time. It is not easy.
I liked this a lot. At times, because these are adolescents, there is frustration with their obtuse behavior but then that is what adolescents are.
They even confuse each other and that is part of the "trouble" here. Even the gay kids are having some trouble being so out that it is annoying. Even to me.
The film is funny, serious, upsetting at times, but relentlessly positive about all the people in it. Charitable would be a good word.
All the action occurs at a summer camp for rowing crews. Hence the gay team, the other team, the close relationships and so on.
I liked it. I could watch it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
QUEER
Today's Favorite Gay Film was
This is among the first films where any real affection is shown between, in this case, an Eton like British school. For example, wanking each other off is rampant but not love.
This is the story of Guy Bennett who eventually spied for the Russians and was deported. Rupert Everett. Type casting. And communist friend Colin Firth. Both in the early days of their careers.
It is a beautiful film to watch. The bucolic campus contrasted with the almost insane ritual and hypocrisy of the school itself.
The two outsiders become friends and outsiders.
We saw this when it came out but the second experience was almost totally new as we now see what happened next in England and here.
It is worth a 4. I would gladly see it again.
Scene with Everett and Cary Elwes.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
SINGIN' THE BLUES
I love that we have a joyful President. He can SING! And what's more is willing to do so.
Another reason to love him being himself.
Labels: Barack Obama, Re-election of Barack Obama
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
INTROVERTS REDUX
In 2003, Jonathan Rauch wrote an article in The Atlantic about introverts.
It has become one of the most read articles in the magazine's history.
I have written about it many times when I have had an introvert accident or meltdown. It has mattered to me more than any other article that I have read in the popular press. Well, this magazine isn't the most popular but it is out there in the general scrum.
I have just found a later interview with Rauch done in 2006 (who, it turns out, is also gay and married to an extrovert).
Introverts of the World Unite!
It is great to see all this again.
The problem with the slogan is that introverts would have to go to meetings and talk to other introverts to "unite". The last thing on any of our minds.
This all came up because there is a new book on society's need for introverts which got a bad review in the Times and I won't buy but glad it brought the subject up and unearthed the interview. Blah blah, I am going back in my corner to watch the crowd and be by myself or, better yet, I will just slip out this open window and go home.
Labels: Introvert
TEXAS HOLD 'EM
Today's gay movie was the romantic comedy
We already saw this. Cute, fun, not very sexy but quite sweet.
Two guys looking for relationship almost miss it because of utter confusion.
Nothing new under the sun. But there is a nice date movie here for boys who are just like the boys in the picture.
It is a 3 as having seen it twice I am not up for a third round. Feature role for an older gay man to pontificate about the old days and to advise the young that they might consider giving it some time to get it right and not bolt at the first sign of anything but bluebirds.
The acting is good and the cast fills in where the story line might get a little limp.
Monday, February 20, 2012
BUDDY MOVIE
Today's "gay movie" was more about friendship and the difficulties of being a square straight boy.
For a change, the city wise and rather sophisticated gay man is the teacher and mentor.
Even when the straight boy gets himself in some trouble, the gay man is the one that gets them bailed out.
There is probably not an original piece in the script or the film or the boy/men but that is OK. They way it is put together helps the film get over its clichés and having a gay/straight relationship with a gay hero is a good way to package.
The young men are great together. The rest sort of fades but that is the point, I think.
It is not a great film but it pushes the normality of gays and straights sharing so much more of friendship and support for each other than we normally see.
Funny, yesterday had the same idea (Scott Pilgrim).
Aside from the friendship there is a sub-plot that has the quiet square man involved with a couple of guys who are in the drug trade. He barely misses getting caught in that net and some of the stuff that happens is very exciting and, actually, scary and upsetting. A good counterbalance for the sweet stuff that predominates.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
DATA DUMP
I did the collection of tax data today.
It gets simpler every year.
Last year there was a lot of flotsam and jetsam as a result of the selling and buying of the house/condo transactions.
This year, none of that.
I am pleased to discover that we were able to cut our annual expenditures to just about half by moving. Maybe even a little better. And we are not living frugally by any means. More in the upper middle of the middle class life style.
We are still in the process of trying to secure joint return status for the three years plus that we have been domestic partners (marriage has nothing to do at the fed level).
It is still a vast mess within the IRS. Lost papers all that.
But we are patient and when that clears up we will be in even better shape on what we pay on what we "earn".
Earnings now are all Social Security and spinoff of our mandatory IRA annual withdrawal. That and income and interest on the nut. The market is as good as it has been for three years and we are back where we were when the financial collapse started. In those golden Bush years.
I only look at this shit once a year and this is it.
There are some minimal maintenance that has to be done during the year but this is the big look.
The ex-chequer is in pretty good shape.
Labels: finance
PROGRESS
Today's film is gay favorite number 45 and a NYTimes Critics' Pick
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
starring Michael Cera who has a gay roommate Kerin Culkin who is obviously the reason this film is on the gay list.
Kulkin is a knowing, cool gay who is, in a way, stereotypical and, at the same time, shatters all the stereotypes. A main character and a welcome one. Post gay, almost.
The film is very clever, modeled as it is on a video game format. Based on a comic, it will become, voila! a video game after the film distributes.
I have always liked Cera who is fey enough for all of us but strong. You have to see him.
This film is a victory for the nerds and outcasts of the day.
Cera is in love with a girl who has 8 ex's and he must defeat all of them before he can have the girl.
It is a great, original engaging movie that is way over the top but not too far. I liked it a lot and would be willing to see it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
BIRTH CONTROL AND OTHER MATTERS
Congressional subcommittee gathers witnesses to testify whether Viagra should continue as covered by the Affordable Care Act.
*idea stolen from the West End News, Portland ME
Labels: republican whack jobs
BETTER
My back is better, the weather is better and it is the weekend.
Yay!
I took the double dip, Advil-Ibuprofen mix that I now am devoted to for teeth, joint pain (not very often) and the back, even less frequent. The back is the lower back spasm and very responsive to anti-inflammatory treatment.
I used the heating pad all day yesterday and it made a big difference, I think but don't know because I don't know how healed I would be if I did not use it. See?
Anyway way better.
Almost gone.
Weather? It had been nasty rainy and breezy for two days. Fifties during the days. Snow on the mountain kind of weather. Very pretty.
Now we are back with the warm sunny climate we pay a lot of money to have. It costs, this SoCal weather. And the snow is hanging on for shear beauty.
The town is filled with people. No parking space crowded. I didn't experience this first hand but John had troublefinding a space yesterday.
So it is "better", a subjective evaluation which is pretty much based on a very shallow bad to good cycle. Never really bad and rarely ecstatic.
God, I love living here.
Labels: health, life, Palm Springs
IN THE MIDDLE
Today's gay film was the movie version of the Ken Hanes play
Essentially a three character play opened up, this film uses engaging dramatic devices to conduct a debate between a reparative therapist curing gayness and a therapist who repairs the damage of the reparative therapist. Stay with me.
The gay shrink has his lover, a journalist, pose as a troubled gay ostensibly to write an exposé of the ungay-ing practice.
Trouble is that the "client" is caught in the middle of it and succumbs to looking at both sides and not liking what he finds in the therapy or at home.
The outcome, of course, is not what anyone would have expected. Well not these two shrinks who have a high priority in being right.
The client, Frank, is definitely in the middle but by the end he figures it out whereas the other two?
Very clever, the play is well written and it appears that the film makers decided to let it alone. It is only really taken "outside" at several points, a squash game and a last scene in a park.
It remains a play.
Which is good. It makes it possible for all of us to see the play and not get all into cinematography and all.
It is a debate which, inevitable, misses love and the heart and the humanity of the "argument".
The actors are great, we have seen them before but forget their names. The fate of the usual character actor.
Not a spoiler to let you know that Frank was already fixed but better for the experience of these two head shrinkers having it out around him.
It is a 3 out of Netflix5 for me. A thought piece, well done.
Friday, February 17, 2012
AMBIDEXTROUS
Today's film was Tom Tykwer's (Run Lola Run) film
A NYTimes Critics' Choice.
It Is about a threesome and how it comes about as well as the atmosphere in which the relationships bloom. The atmosphere is a lot of high flown stuff about cells and in vitro fertilization and stem cells and such. Ethics of science.
In the real world two people meet, a man and a woman, they are attracted to each other. Subsequently the woman's husband meets the man she is seeing and they hit it off as well.
On the face of it, this sounds vaguely like a pornish hookup but it is not. It is Tykwer's great skill to bring us a full, exciting, often nicely funny story about how this evolves and what happens next. It is a very sophisticated film.
There are a lot of split screens that advance the plot and other gadgets which are quite delightful.
I liked the movie very much and recommend it highly to anyone with a more sophisticated taste for a thinking movie that has hot sex too.
How often do we see this happen?
Not enough.
I think a 5 for this. I will want to see it again I am pretty sure. It is very rich and generous. Lots of enjoyable scenes and interactions. The actors are very very good. Gotta be for this kind of thing.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
THE CRICK RISES
I got a crick in my back yesterday. Lower back pain. Spasms actually.
I was leaning over the sink washing my hands and when I turned to get the towel, zowie!
It is familiar. On and off since I was a kid. Mostly off. It comes on about once a year. So this is it.
Often I will get a little pain down there, lasts a day and gone. Not this one.
So I am blitzing it.
Full dose of ibuprofen and tylenol at the same time. Like I learned from the dentist. It works! Both relieving pain and doing the anti-inflammatory thing.
I am sitting on the hot pad right now. That does a lot. I didn't use it yesterday. A reluctant adopter of good remedies, me. But set it up today and I could feel the relief in the first hour.
I also went to the gym and did everything but the back extensions which are a pretty direct hit on what might be the site of the spasms.
Stretches, weights, the bike for half an hour.
It is better this afternoon.
I am optimistic.
I used to have chronic back pain and saw a chiropractor once a month for years. But that was more for the protruded disc that I had achieved. It actually went back in. The adjustments were a success. I never had that kind of sciatic pain again.
But this is different. When I had it in the midst of chiropractie, she always treated it separately. Heat, stretches and normal activity, Sometimes a narrow belt around my middle but I always thought that was the witchcraft part of it.
It will be over soon.
I tried going to a local chiro for this and he had the electro or diathermy "cure" out with a prescribed number of sessions.
My doctor is envious of chiropractors who always require a number of treatments and almost always know exactly how many. He is more amused than anything. But he believes it is the only thing that works and uses it himself. Hey, if they say you need twenty minutes of the electro therapy for five sessions and you get better, who will question it?
Labels: health
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
BEST IN SHOW BOOKER
This is all to the well and good but when it comes to the real deal, we vote for Booker. This loads slowly but it does come up.
He has personality to burn and he wouldn't put up with any of this prancing shit.
We wonder what these dogs do for fun.
Although, there is a bit of Airedale independence in a few of these guys even as they do their best to conform. An itch, a toss of the head. A bit of sassiness. You can see it on the sidelines. Skip ahead to the winner. He is rather obvious from the get go.
ASTOUNDING
You have to see this chart.
Mitt Romney Soon to Be America's Most Hated Man
Romney's approval plummets. This is USA. Not GOP, not just a few states.
They must be going crazy.
FRENCH HOLOCAUSTUPDATED
Today's gay film was the French
Un amour à taire / A Love to Hide (2005)
Paris during the occupation, two lovers hide a Jewish friend who has a romantic past with one of them.
Homosexuality has just been made illegal so the two men must now be discreet. One of the men is also with the resistance.
Bad goes to worse and the horrors of the treatment of homosexuals begins to roll as one of the men is picked up for having been seen in a queer club.
Torture during questioning, a reeducation camp for gays and, when he resists, Dachau.
The sunny days are over.
This film is one of those which should be mandatory for gay men to illuminate their past. It won't be. It hardly made distribution in France and America. But it is a powerful, well told story.
I would not want to see it again. But I am glad I saw it now. The acting is great. Production values superb. The film delivers many strong gut punches. Not for the faint of heart no matter how good it would do the viewer to sit with this history for an hour and a half.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
The French government did not repeal the anti-gay laws set in place by the Vichy government until the early 80s and never acknowledged the deportation of 10,000 homosexuals until around the same time.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
BRONX TO VILLAGE
Today's lighter than air gay comedy, not on the list, was
A looker from the Bronx seeks a roommate in "the City", meaning Manhattan. He ends up with a gay man who is in the theater and is breaking up a relationship.
The usual confusion about gay and straight ensue but not so much to be offputting.
Of course there is drama awaiting the handsome young man and he gets to play a part in it. Actually, even a part in an off off broadway show when his new roomy breaks an ankle. But he will be playing a gay man and there is a m to m kiss involved.
It is all mindless fun and, refreshingly, there is no sex involved. Just friendship.
How charming is that?
Very.
There is some straight sex of an unimaginative kind but that does not count for us gays. Our hero is shown in many shirtless moments, a generous bone thrown to us who pay attention to such things.
Not the sharpest pencil in the box as far as films go, almost amateur, but charming nonetheless.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Monday, February 13, 2012
HISTORY
Today's favorite gay film was
This is a good movie and it also pulls some punches. It is the first Hollywood product that confronted HIV/AIDS directly, lesions and all.
This is still the time when kaposi sarcoma and pneumocystis were killing people left and right.
I did not see it when it came out. I am not sure why. I think that there was enough of it around me and I didn't want to wallow in a film version.
But the director Johnathan Demme does a great job, raising the mundane script to a loftier level from being a mere courtroom drama (a copout really). Tom Hanks presence helps. I don't like him much but his stuff works here.
Far too little is seen of the lover Anthony Banderas or the family which includes Joanne Woodward.
Denzel Washington is the homophobic plaintiff attorney and the byplay between Hanks and him is pretty good.
Look, enough with the nitpicking. It is a good job of story telling and politicking and not just a bone thrown to "the gays". You can see where the rough edges are sanded off. Three chaste kisses and no sex at all (people with HIV had sex down to the end) misses the whole point of homo. But the money guys have to have a safer bet and this is a good effort. It paved the way.
As just a movie, there are a lot of teary moments and it is very involving.
I don't want to see it again but I am glad that I finally did. A 3 out of Netflix5.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
BLOWING THE FUSES
Today's gay favorite film (# 27) was
a NYTimes Critics' Pick.
This is the one which has every possible combination of sex, live and in full dress, as it reviews the joy of sex, the release of good sex, the release of inhibitions about certain kinds of sex and a great sea of compassion for people who haven't had their shot at good sex.
John Cameron Mitchell directs and the "storyline" is evolved from workshops with the participating actors.
I saw it before and it does improve with the second showing, particularly in that one is prepared for the new experience about to unfold.
It is great fun and the out takes and other features are highly recommended.
Never mind the dicks and all, I loved the cartoonish model town.
And the three-way doing the national anthem!
I gave it a 5 before and it is still a 5.
WHEELS
For two days we have been surrounded by wheels.
Tons of bikes riding past our house. In the back.
It is the Tour d' Palm Springs
They look like nice people as they sail by.
Jocks. Nice. Good legs.
It makes me think of my own bike riding days, now over. Never of the Tour d'X variety. Mine a classic Schwinn with a coaster brake.
But I "raced" nonetheless on a ten mile track down valley and back.
I finally gave it up because of safety reasons. Either my attention was not as focused as it should be or I was just not as agile. Or both.
Some falls, an ice spill and the last, a near collision with a car behind me coming on into the left turn lane. I remember a headlight appearing inches from my right hip, she stopped in time.
My heart went up to my throat. A critical injury (mental) which I did not want to repeat.
So those days are over for me. I am OK with it. It is the running that I miss both but I am not around anything like that. No marathons here that I see. No 10Ks. There is the ride up the hill to the Tramway that people run, fall down and puke but that is not for me. Never would have been.
The legs have seen better times and better days. But that is OK. The bike at the gym works great and I still do 30 minutes a day at the top setting.
Good enough for now.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
OPERA
Today's gay favorite film was Number 28
A French Canadian film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young Victoria) about a young man who finds out, somewhat after other people do, that he is gay.
And he has a family. Five boys. One of every type of personality, why not a gay boy? A good question as most of them make it pretty tough for the gay boy to flourish in this devout, loving RC family.
Family family family. All about family and the boy.
It is the late 60s. David Bowie as Ziggy. Not cool to be gay yet.
The scene? Operatic. At one point in the midst of a fight, the director inserts an operatic sequence. It all seems to be over the top but it is not the gay boy's point of view and you know how we can be.
This is a beautifully made film. Long. Filled with music. Lots of visual stunts and effects. Spanning the gay boy's lifetime up to 21 when he gets to be his own man.
There is a thriving French language film industry in Quebec, but nothing gets distributed here at all. And there was a lot of trouble on this one because of rights to music. Bastards.
The title is also an acronym but you have to stay until the end titles.
I loved the film. I had a number of gasp moments. Many tears. Some laughs. And a lot of identification with the main character Zac.
All the stops are pulled and I went for them.
I will definitely see this again someday. A 5 out of Netflix5. Maybe a 4. Time will tell.
Friday, February 10, 2012
THE DEAD KENNEDYS
I caused a bit of a flurry with my liberal friends at the gym today.
I mentioned that as a Massachusetts guy I wasn't at all enamored of the Kennedys, most of whom are a little dim and far to fond of themselves.
I mentioned Joe and some others who did serve in Congress and meant well but were really dim jocks when it came right down to it. Or addicts, or something.
This is the kind of flip talk that I used to indulge in all the time but age and a lot of arguments have quieted me down.
In the heat of the moment, I was asked if I voted for JFK and, as I do these days, I told the truth. No. I did not and I didn't like him either. A pol, pure and simple, run by the Da' and not very adept at that. Cuba. Viet Nam.
God. The silence was profound. My friend Gene nearly fell off his bike.
But, it is a simple fact. I didn't like him then and I don't much like him now.
He mentioned that the son, JFK Jr. was an admirable figure and I just had to say that he was a playboy and hadn't done a thing. If there was an heir to the throne then what had he done.
We didn't bring up Uncle Ted. Fact is, I think that he redeemed himself and more than made up for his disgraceful behavior earlier in his life.
Why am I telling you this? Because it is true and that I haven't had a chance to say any of this out loud for a long time.
Kennedy is dignified by his assassination and the mostly unfulfilled legacy he mostly talked about but didn't have time to do anything about. Then we got LBJ.
No matter what he did, you have to put Viet Nam against it. A tough job.
So there it is.
They didn't pick me up and carry me out of the room.
Jacky? Don't get me started. She is one of the bad things about JFK too.
No. I did not vote for Tricky Dick. I just did not vote for President that year.
Joe, Honey Fitz and Jack.
Labels: Democrats, history, Kennedy family
COMPARED TO WHAT
People who get upset about drone planes must be thinking about the alternative. Aren't they?
Come on. Objectively, what is the best way to stop one or more of these bastards who are fighting us?
Unless you believe that we should not be doing any attacking at all, pacifists or modified pacifists, then the drone is a very desirable tool.
It is accurate, scary, a deterrent actually. It minimizes both military and civilian collateral damage.
What's not to like unless you are bad guy.
So why do so many libs get all upset about it.
Well, there is the issue of whether you are going to knock off an American citizen or not. Maliki, a bad piece of work who went to war against his own country. No lack of proof about that. Due process? Get fucking serious.
Anyway, Kevin Drum has been thinking about it. This is a big day for him in this blog. Two articles on day! See the last one.
Drone Attacks Are Popular Because They're Better Than the Alternative
Labels: Administration Obama, war and peace
GENIUS
The Obamas came up with one of those "everybody wins" solutions that they so like doing when the GOP allows them to do it.
Angels Are Now Waltzing on the Edge of a Healthcare Plan
It is all about optics and pockets. The Catholic Bishops, as it happens, really do not want to fight birth control. After all, approval for it is rampant, high in all categories. Even catholics.
What they don't want is to be seen caving to "free" birth control devices or propaganda or to be required to do it in their institutions that use government money or involve pious employees.
Mostly they don't want to take any grief from the pope. A mean guy when it comes to shit like this.
It is a battle that they lost long ago with the "partially" faithful but the hierarchy demands they defend the dogma.
The Obamas just switched pockets today. No catholics will be harmed in making this adjustment and people from all walks of like can get a free gadget or condom or drug to keep the babies away. Of any faith.
Great/
And no one had to ask John Bohner for help, the idjit. He ought to be happy to because he won't have to go into a culture war he cannot win.
Sometimes Obama even helps the poor souls on the other side out.
Labels: Administration Obama, health
HEART
Today's gay film is one of the earliest and best gay films I have seen. It has been a lifetime favorite of many gay men.Numbere 27 on the fifty best list.
Watchable over a long time and, in a way, prescient. Notice in the film clip about "the cure" showing up in 2002.
starring Steve Buscemi in one of his earliest roles. He claims it is his best performance. Then, all the others who did not gain fame but are critical ingredients to the success of the film with gay men. It reflects the early years of the epidemic and also the early years of the "new" gay consciousness. For us, it was critical to seeing healthy faithful gay relationships flourishing while dealing with problems of day to day living. There is a party scene that shows everyone and everything from that time.
I come back to it often just to see stuff work. It is really quite deep and one viewing will not really take advantage of all that it has to offer.
A 5 5 5 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
SAGA CONTINUES
I posted that I had a fraudulent use of my AMEX card in Las Vegas while I held the card in my hand here in Palm Springs. So weird.
They said it was swiped through the reader in the store. They can now transcribe from one card to another without touching yours. Mostly gas stations which don't have secure readers on the pump. My friend Youssef who owns three Gulf stations in town spent $60,000 to get them after Citibank came and opened his pumps to find readers installed. Easy to do. People have the keys to the pump and just set them up. They read remotely.
It was very upsetting. I won't have to pay any of it and in CA you only have to pay $50 dollars max. They went to Macy's, $900 plus and then to Burberry where they spent over $2000, having made it through Macy where we have a history of some bigger purchases. I got the fraud alert while I was at my machine and we pulled the card immediately. I had to change at all the sites where I have an automatic payment set up. Not too many.
I figure that I got mugged at a gas station so today when I got gas, I paid cash and intend to do so from here on out. It is 5 cents per gallon cheaper for cash anyhow. Since this happened almost every other person I told has had a similar experience. It is epidemic.
Labels: finance
UNREQUITED LOVE
Today's gay favorite film was Gus Van Sant's
now in a Criterion restoration.
I have seen this several times and still have a bit of trouble tracking the ups and downs of River Phoenix and Keanu Reeve's relationship.
Street hustlers with a difference (Keanu is rich and doesn't have to be there, rebelling against his Dad), these two guys, mostly Keanu, have each others' backs.
There is a search for River's mother, Keanu's rebellion against his father, the life on the streets and a lot of stuff which all hooks in but I can't explain.
It is Van Sant's first film. Many others have followed.
It is number 30 in the Gay Favorites list even though it does not have a lot of hope for gay romance but there is so much going on here that romance has no chance.
I love the film though. It is brilliantly transgressive for its time and still causes a man's head to turn up to today.
It is also, observed properly, a comedy. Great characters abound.
A five out of Netflix5.
NOTE
Need I review the rating system?
5=I want to see it again and will, 4=I could watch it again if it came up but I am not going to pursue it, 3=a good solid film. I liked it and that is enough, 2=I didn't like it much but I didn't skip and saw it to the end, and 1=it was so bad that I FF a lot and maybe even quit before it was over.
There is another rating which you never see which is that I rented it but on second thoughts and a look at the review, I sent it back without opening the package. I just did this with a wonderful old film Wings because it has the first and perhaps only male to male kiss at the end. Too much for too little. And Clara Bow is all over them so they don't do much else and the one of them is dying.
And the first minutes are blessed by Eddy Arnold's Cattle Call.
I still get a chill thrill and teary when it plays. This is a bit symphonic but they don't have the middle of the road version.
Labels: gay films
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
CARDED
I got my new AMEX card yesterday and spent time changing all my accounts for on line vendors that pay repeatedly.
The card works. Now all I have to worry about is that I didn't flub some account number as I made the changes.
I was impressed that AMEX sent me a list of accounts that they thought would need to be contacted.
FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS
Today's gay film was/is definitely not a favorite. It got a lot of criticism for being too talky and being a little lame. Role/Play is about two guys who meet in Palm Springs. Yay! At a guest house. Has to be one of the quietest guest house. They don't even have clothing optional. It is a hideaway.
One guy is a soap actor who has had a sextape, a gay one, exposed. The other guy is a gay marriage activist who is under attack from the gay media (yes there is one) for cheating on his husband.
They meet. They get involved. Much of the film is them in bed together talking. They do have sex but we don't see it.
We see the talk part and, as a matter of fact, while we are listening we are watching some of the finest physical affectionate, love, that I have seen in a gay film anywhere.
As it turns out, the actors are husbands and obviously love one another already and are able to show the side of gay intimacy which is soft stuff. Not the wham bang thank you Sam kind of gay sex which we all want to see but, hey, a little loving is very nice. Fore and after play.
The talk revolves around celebrity closets. Both have been outed, as it happens.
I liked it. You cannot find a positive review for it. It is worth only a 3 out of Netflix5 because it really has no tension. There isn't much doubt how it will end. The politics of it are not too interesting as it is about celebs and not regular people. But interesting to watch nonetheless.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
SCIENCE FAIR TODAY
A hundred kids from all over the country.
He loves this shit and I love watching him do it.
Labels: Administration Obama, fun
ON AGAIN
Good news.
Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage in California
It is a narrow decision but that might be a good thing. Disparate Treatment.
I don't have any take on it. There will be more analysis which I will share as it comes along.
Labels: gay marriage
Monday, February 06, 2012
ONE TERM TWO TERMS
Some say this is one big Obama ad.
Well, I thought that was it!
I guess you can hear it any way you want.
I want to hear that it is about the two term President. A lot of the imagery is right out of Obama's speeches.
There are other things too.
Eastwood is a Hollywood republican so it probably is meant to be side neutral.
And if you think that the GOoPers are bolstered by this then props to the Chrysler people for a genuine bipartisan effort.
But you have to remember that it was our side that wanted to keep the auto companies alive. The red guys said to let them die. Romney himself. And he defends it today.
Anyway, here it is.
Labels: elections
TWO PLACES/ONE TIME
I got a message from the American Express Fraud Alert yesterday. They had received two unusual purchases on my credit card amounting, in total to maybe $3000 dollars.
Macy's and Burberrys. In Las Vegas!
I called to let them know that I had not been in Vegas and I still had, in my hand, my credit card.
They said the charges were a swipe charge, meaning that the card had been put through a reader.
Someone somewhere got my number and had used it somehow.
I guess this shit happens all the time but it has never happened to me. I got very upset.
But they are good at settling you down and made it clear that they would not charge me the money and so on.
The charges are still on my account this morning but they say it takes 72 hours to clear them. I hope that is right.
I am getting a new card tomorrow and I will have to change the numbers on all the accounts where the old number is registered. Amazon, the rest. PayPal which I use a lot of times.
Unpleasant but not a big deal.
We also have a debit card where most of our money is stashed. So the debit part of it is not a problem. I can use that card until the AMEX comes along.
It makes me wonder why I am freaked out about it so much. It is a theft, not direct but personal. I worry about my credit "reputation" which is not at stake.
It is just unsettling. Period.
My mind wanders to what - ifs. What if they don't delete it from my bill do I have to pay when the bill comes and and and and and. I hate this kind of mind game. Involuntary.
I suppose most everyone goes through this kind of thing once in a while.
But I am not "everyone" and goddammit. And I don't want to be put through the traces like this. Sigh.
Labels: money
Sunday, February 05, 2012
A GUY NAMED JOE
Today's gay film was Stephen Frears'
A biography of the playwright Joe Orton and, of necessity, his partner Kenneth Hallowell who, after a long tenure of a classically dysfunctional relationship bludgeoned Orton with a hammer. Ballpeen.
Of course, this is not funny but the film is. Orton was a master of stage comedy and had many hits. Despite this, he and Hallowell lived in a hovel for all the years he was making a lot of money.
It is strange, in a way, that there is more graphic, interesting gay sex in this film than most that I have ever seen. Gary Oldman as Orton is one hunk on a stick. He is the poster boy for promiscuity and hung out in as sordid places as possible.
As it happens, he had very little at home. The lover Kenneth played magnificently by Alfred Molina is a queen without a queen's mannerisms. He is petulant, jealous, abusive verbally and probably, well certainly, insane.
So not very sexy.
I have seen this several times and it is still a puzzle why Orton stayed with him. But then that is part of the SM side of it.
I love this film. I still turn away when the hammer comes down but they have already warned you about this. But when it comes it is sudden and awful.
Frears has made a masterpiece of this. To combine the fun and happiness with the nasty, tragic parts of it is quite a feat. John Lahr wrote the book based on Orton's diaries. He is weirdly played by Wallace Shawn. Funny for Lahr to do this.
This is also a bit of a time capsule. Homo life was illegal at the time. Even being homosexual was a mystery to the persons who lived it out.
There are a lot of men's rooms in this picture. Sex on the fly. So to speak.
This is all before my time and one of the reasons that I could not face a life like this in the fifties when I was young.
A 5 out of Netflix5 for all the fine work in this honest film.
It is too bad that it is not on the list of favorites so I took it upon myself to correct the error here.
ON THE SIDE
This has been the year of the hair.
First I started to grow it out, then I went to a dresser for the first time in thirty years. Now I am growing sideburns.
I don't know what is going on. I never do much self analysis on a thing like this.
Over compensation?
I doubt it.
Compensating for what?
Let's just say that I am having a good time.
My dresser says that there is usually a space that prevents much in the way of side but I have been at it two weeks and I think that I am not one of these people.
The sides aren't long. Another inch or so. Inch and a half.
They are beginning to be visible.
They will be neat and orderly like my hair. Which is long but civilized and easy to take care of. Wash and condition in the shower then some "primer" I spray on and a little gob of the latest organic substitute for Brillcreme.
Next time I may get some of the suggested "brilliantine" to make it a bit shiny.
I know. I am amazed at this too.
In the meantime, fun.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
BLOW
I hear that today is the super bowl and that the New England team is playing. There is only one, right?
Beyond that I do not know about it.
I left football the year that I got hit in the face with a ball or maybe it was the year that someone scratched my dignity by pulling me down in the grass.
Maybe it was the year I realized I didn't know how to throw or catch the ovoid pig bladder. I guess it is the skin, huh.
Maybe I left when the other kids knew which side to run toward when there was a hike. A lineup. Whatever it is that goes on after the huddle.
I liked the huddle part.
People ran in all directions and I had no idea what was going on. If I was thrown the ball, I shrieked and ran away from it. Well, not really, but I often did run the wrong way. People quit throwing it to me.
So I quit playing. And as a result never learned the rules, the strategy and tactics or anything else about the game.
This continued life long.
My Dad wasn't interested in sports in general. At all. Football being the least of these. So. No role model. Not his fault. He liked professional wrestling and we even went to some local shows but that isn't sports.
I do not really understand basketball or hockey. A blur. Both of them. We had no ice and while we did play basketball, I never learned how to dribble. If I got the ball in gym class i would throw it away to someone else. Mostly I haunted the, ahh, what is it? The backcourt? I don't know.
So, it is really that I do not watch any professional sport and have no interest in it.
But football is everywhere now. Unavoidable. It used to be that if you were gay, you were inoculated against football fever. But no more. Half the guys I know will be cuddling up together today watching the tube. I suspect that it is to see the the commercials and the half time entertainment, Madonna!
But I can't stand her either.
This afternoon or whenever it is, I will be doing something else, somewhere else. When I walk Booker, the streets will be deserted. Fine. Another year has passed. Same reaction. I hope that the Patriots win because of my geographical orientation and that my family is into it.
Labels: sports
THE FUNNIES
Today's gay film is not on the favorites list.
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green (2006)
I got it because I read the comic strip for years beginning with it's first appearance in Boston's gay newspaper Bay Windows.
The film is in the mode of a comic strip. Episodic and slightly (or more) over the top.
I enjoyed it. It got better as it went along.
Ethan is a loser, hard to identify with. But eventually we get and he gets that his problems are of his own making and that love is right in front of his eyes if he cares to look.
The other people in the film are also writ large. Some well played.
The resemblance between the film and the strip are minimal except for some continuing characters. The Hat Sisters make no sense in the film at all unless you already like them from the strip. They are sort of a Greek chorus but not. But if you have never, ever seen the strip, they are ludicrous. Well maybe they are ludicrous anyway. They are, indeed, real life characters from Boston's South End. A party act, often paid to make appearances.
I wouldn't see this again but I had a good time. A Netflix 3 out of 5.
Friday, February 03, 2012
"THE GAYS ARE SO PICKY"
Today's gay favorite film was
It was number 31 on the list.
Two guys meet and agree to not like each other but keep coming back for more only to break up again. And again.
This is our history. Very well done. Accurate.
One is even an alcoholic.
It is a little hard to endure watching the in and out of it of the thing but it isn't easy to live it either.
No stereotypes in here. There is even a straight couple, friends of both men who introduced them in the first place. So they can't really get away from each other. The straights are in love and want the homos to be as well. But they are gentle about it.
I liked it. I have already seen it once a long time ago so it would be a five if I chose to watch it again but I didn't so it is a 4 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
BEST MUSICAL EVER, FRENCH OR OTHERWISE
Today's gay favorite film was the wonderful
Les chansons d'amour / Love Songs (2007)
It is 32d on the 50 List.
We have this disc at home. It is just the best viewing experience you can have and to tell any part of the story is a spoiler.
You will be amazed, saddened, gladdened, all of it. A 5 times Netflix5.
The trailer does not show the songs in English but the film does.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
NO MOVIE TODAY
I had plans but they went awry early this morning when a needed item was out of the supply box at our Meeting Room. I need it for tomorrow.
So I went to the local office where they have such things and, fortunately, could dovetail the ride with John's followup at the dentist.
I dropped him off and drove to the office, got my stuff and started to come back and get him.
I pulled out of the mall where the office is and realized that there was a car coming from the right which I had not seen as there was a truck going the other way. Blocked my view.
Committed, I gunned the Volvo and made a good turn. Not too close for me.
But too close for the black and white which happened to be the oncoming car.
Lights, camera, action.
It was OK. I told my story and am sticking with it. We agreed it was a little close. Too close to call really. So he just checked my license and although he said he would write a ticket, he didn't. Told me to be careful and sent me on my way.
Nice.
I saw enough of my Dad trying to talk the officer out of giving him a ticket.
His standard opening line was "don't you have anything better to do?"
No. He didn't. And nothing my Dad said made it any better after that.
He never learned from this and it was a dependable result that somewhere he would piss the cop off. All you could do was laugh. Which he didn't much like either.
I had my own version of this on I-84 (86?) going back to Boston from my parent's house. Something of Senior's attitude must have been stuck to me. I did much the same thing. Blame it on my Dad.
It was a trap but it didn't do any good to tell him that. Did it?
So, today I was appropriately and non-ironically contrite and I got off. Easy.
I made it back to pick John up in plenty of time but it blanked the movie.
Labels: life
OUTRAGEOUS
132-Room Estate Includes Personal Chef, 24-Hour Security Detail
Read this
It is so close to the kind of shit they try to peddle that it will make you cry. Or cry while you are laughing.
This is our post-partisan world, eh?
Labels: fun, Re-election of Barack Obama
