esrosedotblog

SCHADENFREUDE

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Political commentator Sean Hannity was one of the big losers in the 2012 election

He was so sure. So convincing to the righties. So confident in his own bullshit.

It is good to see that even a small part of the conservative band have enough of a brain to know when they have been rolled and hornswoggled.

I have watched Hannity for a long time.

A long time ago, I belonged to a small gym and had a key in the morning. The video was tuned to the right wing station. I used to watch these guys prance and preen. Shannity was the worst.

A cynical bigot and true believer with a nasty mouth.

I don't suppose they will dump him but advertising does sell the airwaves.

Not everyone took his bullshit.

Labels: republican whack jobs

LIFE IN VENICE updated two times...it is that kind of film

Today's film was Andre Techine's

Impardonnables / Unforgivable (2011)

with André Dussollier, a fine actor, who we have seen before.

Here he is a writer. Two days in a row with writers. Both with blocks.

Here, we have life surrounding him. Many strands radiating from an original relationship between his girlfriend, then wife, and her lesbian lover and..........it all goes out from here.

There are plots and subplots and side trips. All worth taking. Not adding up to a lot, actually. But then this is a Techine film and very french.

He has a daughter who "disappears" while visiting him. Actually running away with a hot dope dealer who has a bit of aristocratic blood in his veins.

We see a lot of Venice. There are a few shocking scenes which I was not ready for. OK. It catches your attention and brings one back to the plot and the people. Life is dangerous.

And, to the title, there are many small and large unforgivable acts. Almost everyone in this has at least one. Some walk into the scenes and do an unpardonable thing to one of the principles.

Some acts represent ethical conundrums. We are shocked. Meant to be. But it turns out that perhaps the unpardonable thing did not deserve the payback given.

The viewer is a participant and a moral arbiter. We are forced to be.

I don't suspect this is Techine's greatest film. I enjoyed Wild Reeds and a few others. There is always a gay element in his stories but it is by the way, not a main theme. Not that it matters. In this one, the fags bash back.

I don't think that I have to love every film I see and while I did not love this one, it held me in and made me want to see what happened next. Always moving forward, always worthwhile. What else can we ask? Like life.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

FIRST GAY COUPLES GET MARRIED IN MAINE

At the end, the reporter notes that there was a preacher there, in dissent. There is always a preacher.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Let Joseph and Zooey ask the musical question.

I plan to do nothing. Already with a shutout for two days from the gym and a forced hour late for grocery shopping, the store won't open until 7 on Tuesday my shopping day, to say nothing of the usual lack of mail, I am planning to just get some more sleep than normal.

We will be taking precautions for Booker who has an aversion to fireworks. There is always some asshole anxious to make a noise.

We let him have a little benedryl to calm him down in advance and shut the blinds. There is also the "thunder shirt" which I am dubious about. It may or may not make things better. More comforting. How would we know?

In the end, despite precaution, we will sit with him in the inner bathroom while he climbs into the tub where we will have made him a bed in case he wants to spend the night.

Labels: holidays, music

HAVE IT YOUR WAY

Today's NYTimes Critics' Pick film was the delightful romantic comedy

Ruby Sparks (2012)

with Zoe Kazan, who also wrote it, and Paul Dano who is her partner in real life. In this case, a very satisfying case for nepotism.

But with Elliot Gould as your therapist, Annette Bening as your mom and Antonio Banderas as your sort of father in law, how can you miss? Steve Coogan is on board as the agent and friend. Chris Messina as the sympathetic brother. Sometimes.

Dano is an author, a one shot wonder like Salinger, with writer's block. He noodles around and invents a girl. His ideal girl. Like a genie, she appears. It turns out he can build the ideal woman. As he is also a lonely misanthrope this seems like a good thing, this appearance, until his own character flaws undermine the project.

This is a sort of Pygmalion story. But Professor Higgins is a lot more sure of himself and Elisa Doolittle is not from thin air. Hardly.

I have liked Dano for a long time. He is a great actor, often cast well in this kind of part, but it is the first time I have seen him modern and pretty much aware. Until he isn't.

This is a very funny, thoughtful picture with a gentle ending. Even the tough times are pretty good and he has a lovable dog at his side the whole time.

I would not mind seeing this again although we know the ending and any spoilers along the way. I have already spoiled it by telling you who is in it because I forgot or never knew and was very excited to see these other actors show up.

A 4 out of Netflix5. Easy.

Labels: films

DEATH LIST

I guess that today is death day.

Here is the NYTimes annual obit compilation but in a very special way.

The Lives They Lived

You will find familiar names but a lot, not.

There will be standard obit writeups and very witty, clever, admirable and fascinating ways of paying tribute to the ones we lost last year.

Celebrations.

And unmissable, at the end, is watching the pics submitted by readers unload onto the page. Face after face.

We are, indeed, only here for a little time and we will leave transient memories. But still, those are potent those small goodbyes.

Labels: death, life

FINAL SCENES

I have reached the age my Dad was so fussed about. This is the time when friends die.

It happened before, particularly in the 80s when AIDS was full force.

And then abated.

Now it is about old age.

A guy I know/knew pretty well just died this past week. He had bone cancer and had apparently had it for some time. Nobody knew.

The case was hopeless and in the end there were two weeks in which he wavered at death's door. Sometimes delirious. Sometimes just out. Only occasionally lucid and aware.

I remember the moment another mutual friend and I decided together not to go visit. People were talking about the situation and going to visit in droves. The incorrect rumor was the he was about to enter hospice and no one would able to see him. They all went anyway. Some snuck in.

Everyone brought back the same message. Rick was so out of it he didn't know they were there.

But of course he did. I wondered what he thought about it.

This is pretty good and jibes with my experience.

Finding the Words (Or Not) to Say Goodbye

Mostly I choose "or not".

I am projecting my own wishes on the situation. If it were me I would not want the crowd or the goodbyes. But I also know that I have no control over it.

I got to say goodbye to one guy who lingered on and on. Another not. A heart attack caused him to go into intensive care in a distant city. No way to go. He "died" twice. Once when there was a rumor he had died and again when it really happened.

Here is my goal. I try to live with other people so that when it happens, not "if", I can say to myself that we really had a nice time and then it was over.

There are many people that I cannot know the outcome. This year, one of the cards that didn't come back was from a very old lady I used to work with. Is she gone? I don't know. Is it OK with me not to say goodbye to her? Sure. We had a good time.

I did get to say goodbye to my Dad. Enough time to say "I love you" over and over and also to let him know that it was OK with us for him to go.

This is the way it seems to me. The situation will present itself and I will act accordingly in line with my best spiritual and mental responses.

I figure that the guy who was gone the next day, after a life time of daily talks, did the right thing. Just let it go. Over is over.

I am comfortable with the fact that I will not know when or where a lot of my old friends are gone. They are strewn over the world, here and there, and the people they are with now might know nothing about me. Or care.

They will not let me know or call me up or even consider people like me who used to be close.

I can live with that.

Labels: death, life

ENDING

We try to have most of the holiday stuff put away by New Year's Day or week.

The poinsettia, sadly, is beginning to wilt. I did water it enough. That will go out tomorrow, trash day.

Tonight, I went through the holiday cards.

I am ruthless about it. I found out that other people do not keep a record of who they sent to and who they received from. Well, not a lot of people. My friend Lynda in London for one does it. She is ruthless too.

Here is how it works. I have all the last five years. If we send to you without an answer two years in a row you are off. You can even be family and you are off.

I take two years to avoid the accidental miss. The stumble where we stop sending and the person decides out of guilt or whatever to send even though they missed a year. This way it is solid. Two years. Not too much to ask.

We have been cut from some lists before we did the cutting. Actually most. We will give a go twice without you. Then, no dice.

This year we lost a very much older work associate. Age? Gone? We lost an old Boston friend who moved to Florida and has been slooooowly fading over the years. No emails. We lost a couple that we wondered about. Why were they continuing to send us cards? Now they don't and they are off. They must have been wondering the same thing. We never see them.

There is a couple who we never see, saw once when we were vacationing here. John has insisted on sending a card to them every year. Once they came to dinner at our house. Never again. This year they mentioned in their card they had been here every year. And they never called? I cut them the fuck off. Actually I never wanted them on in the first place and kept nagging to have them removed.

If you wait long enough, you can get to have your cake and eat it too. Quit sending and not seeing them either. Double good.

I think that the outside lights will stay up for a little while but you never know. Tuesday will be here very soon. Then it is over and we can all go back to being regular people and no ho-ho-ing around required.

There are tons of videos of people burning their christmas trees. These suckers were sitting in their houses.

Labels: holidays

DISCORD

I got in a shouting match with "the crazy lady" today.

It has been a long time since the last one.

I do not call her "the crazy lady" but others do.

Fact is, there is something wrong.

She has three dogs, one over the maximum for a unit here, and all three are nasty barkers. Not just at me but at anyone who crosses their path. Canines. Maybe people too but I haven't seen that. I always have a canine with me.

Booker is good about it. He has a considerable composure around crazy unsocialized dogs or women.

He just moves on. As I normally do. Take an alternative path. Hold him back for awhile as they get ahead.

No dice today. She was out for a confrontation. She came out of her house ahead of us, crossed the street and was right on an alternative route but stood there mesmerized as he dogs went nuts on us.

OK.

We walked inland a little deeper and passed. Next thing I know, she is right behind us.

I take another detour into the big grassy area on Hermosa. They pass.

I can tell that Booker is losing his composure. He gives one "woof", not a real bark, and sort of feints a lunge in their direction.

We walk in the grass and give them some time and by goddam if, when we come out and round the corner, blind, there she is with the three dogs, feet away.

Booker loses it. I lose it.

I said something like "Goddammit, can't you walk faster or take another route". He barked. She shouted something back and I just did a version of ya ya ya ya ya ta ta over the rant I knew was coming my way. Something I know had that this was all my fault and she does her best and, and, and.

Having had enough and knowing a kick me sign when we see it, Booker and I retreated up the lawn into the back path and away from it.

I am not too proud of myself but, shit, she has it coming. What? Do I think she is processing this as a normal human? No. Would I? No. It ended badly and while it is not really bothering me it is worth writing about as I just completed a little post about people who are unfeeling and do things which are not good. But she is not a turtle.

The dogs are not at fault. They are not socialized. We had just encountered another one earlier. A spaniel. The guy has no control whatsoever and when the spaniel sees another dog it yaps as long as we can hear it.

There are a couple of dogs down the street that do the same from their own courtyard. They have garnered many complaints from neighbors so the woman comes out and scoops them up. But they have never been outside that yard, never exercise and, I would wager, have never been given the time to know and learn about being with another dog.

I won't see the "crazy lady" again for awhile. We only went through the complex today because it was raining when we left. In the cooler season we take all walks out of the park.

But they will be waiting for us next summer and any time she sees us out there. They will come out and stand and bark while she shooshes them.

Life in the closeup of condo living.

Labels: condo, dogs, whack

OPTIMISM THWARTED

Or something.

I generally feel that people, humans are good despite all the evidence to the contrary.

I can make a pretty good case for this by focusing on humanitarian efforts, ecological activism and humane treatment of animals and other living creatures.

I am also on the side of good triumphing over evil and think that this happens. Is happening. That our evolutionary curve is toward goodness.

Of course, this takes some effort sometimes and I am frequently down hearted by the callousness of some politicos and others who rant. But I still believe that regular people are kinder, gentler and strive to be good.

But when I read something like this, it not only breaks my heart but it shakes my basic beliefs.

College Student's Turtle Project Takes a Dark Twist.

There are people who actually try to kill turtles caught on the road. I suppose I knew this. We have seen this kind of terrible irresponsibility before.

Somehow, the turtle seems as though it might be immune from the atavistic response.

I guess not.

What a bunch of bastards.

I guess that people who would push supposed muslims under a subway train or shoot up little kids or go nuts with a gun in a movie theater are mental cases. But these are normal people. And fucking students!

OK.

I am still optimistic. And it still breaks my heart that people could be so cruel.

Labels: animals, ecology, nature

DANCING FOOLSupdated 123012

Today's film was a NYTimes Critics' pick, Steven Soderbergh's

Magic Mike (2012)

with Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer and Matthew McConaughey. Also Matt Bomer, a favorite.

This fun film is nothing more than an old fashioned musical without the singing. Like Singing in the Rain only where Gene Kelly strips while he is getting wet. In fact, the first number is guys with umbrellas. And g-strings.

You would think that a film like this, as well as the stripper milieu it represents, would be very appealing to gay guys and you would be right but not in the way you think. These guys are playing to women. It is explained. And it is true. The moves are hetero as are the attentions of the dancers and while you could see gay guys going for this there is really not an audience for this kind of tease. I say that and am probably contradicted by the facts. There are gay strip shows. I have seen them. They are not the same. The dancing in this film is not in any way camp and the sex is purely pointed toward the titillation of women. I said that.

Did I get turned on? Sure. I looked and it was great to see these guys strutting their stuff. The back stage scenes are more like a sports locker room. A bit warm but not too hot.

There is a homoerotic element. Touching, hugging, kissing almost. Affection of a kind not seen day to day. McConaughey is very good at this kind of thing and does it throughout the film to manipulate the boys. They all want to please him. The boss.

That does tickle the gay place. We don't know if he is gay (Bomer is) but he sure has the right moves.

This is a film not just a movie. There is a difference. A sensibility.

It is clear that Soderbergh brought all his talent to this work and it shows at ever scene. Lights, color, action. Light. Dark. The acting is great and the ensemble is faultless. I am guessing that a lot of the spirit in this film came from the group work learning the acts and dances as not one of these guys other than Tatum has any experience. And he is up a clear notch from the rest. Phenom. As in the musical there is a central chorus boy character, that's him. He has a love interest. A pouting, disapproving and rather cold sister of the Pettyfer character. There is the sidekick, Pettyfer. There is a dark force (drugs) and there is an up and out bit for the hero.

Musical.

I enjoyed it and once is enough. John says it was better the second time. Like day old chili. I wouldn't mind seeing it again although I didn't look over his shoulder much when he was watching. A 3-4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

POSTING

No postings for a few days. But it is a holiday week and not a lot is happening. We had a good christmas and got to play with Skype as well as FaceToFace.

There were some nice treats.

Not including missing the gym two days because they closed it all up and reopened late enough that my day had already been in high gear the second day. 6AM.

I have been writing some long emails. One to a student who was admitted to MIT answering his questions. It is quite fun actually. He is a good interviewer.

He goes way off the beaten path but does good followup.

For me, it is an opportunity to reminisce. We are nothing without our stories and mine have worn out long ago with family and friends.

It is already the end of the week and we face another holiday week with a hole in the middle. Same deal with gym. I will be able to shop for groceries on Tuesday although they won't open until 7AM. I usually go at 6.

But I am projecting into the future.

In the meantime, I can relax and appreciate the non-holiday atmosphere and have mail which is always appreciated. The slow kind. Stamped.

Labels: blogging, holidays, life

BIG FISH

Today's film was Lasse Hallstrom's

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen River

with Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt. Now. How many mispellings are there in that sentence. None. I got through it without looking them up.

There is what is called a "critical" objection to this film in that it is thought to be too light for someone of Hallstrom's talent.

I never understand this kind of criticism.

The film is amusing, at times LOL amusing. Kristen Scott Thomas has a sub-part as a vicious Brit bureaucrat and Amad Waked is the sheik who wants to stock a desert river with salmon.

There is, sometimes, too much criticism. I liked this and would recommend it to anyone.

Sure there are subplots that aren't very important but he had to fill the time. There are no fart jokes, no one moons other people, there is no dishonesty and immature behavior. In otherwords this is an adult film and you would think critics would welcome it amid the travesties they normally have to watch.

It was sort of popular anyway.

It is a high 3. I won't see it again because once you know the plot it is over. The jokes are memorable enough that smiles will continue for a while.

Don't get to be an auteur director because they won't let you just have fun. Fuck 'em.

Labels: films

FOUNDER

Today's film was the documentary

Bill W. (2012)

a record of the life and times and accomplishments of Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This is built from archival material and adds some sections where Bill's audio tape voice is accompanied by actors moving through scenarios about his life.

It sticks pretty well with the idea that the substance of AA is the stories of its members.

Bill W could never be a member since he achieved such a position that other members revered him and, at times, put him on a pedestal.

This film and AA as an organization has never tried to hide his flaws or the turmoil that sometimes was involved in the organization's growth or Bill's own recovery. He was human.

To their credit, they are frank about what has always been "rumored" but also generally known. Good. It, like all good AA Meetings brings out the truth about our lives and the life of our organization.

There is so much to tell about AA that it is hard to get it all into 90 minutes but these guys have done a good job.

For a member of AA it is a touching and sometimes tearful rendition of what is known already only with a bit of a new touch here and there. Bill W. films have been available for a long while but new technology has rendered their distribution obsolete or, at best, difficult. Not many people have a 16mm projector available anymore.

The DVD fills a deep gap and need.

For anyone outside AA, it is a good history and a very helpful outline of how the Program works. What it is and what it is not.

I bought this DVD, it is not generally reviewed even though it did play in theaters and has been distributed through a networks of members and organizations surrounding AA.

Labels: films

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Today's film was Jacques Audiard's

Sur Mes Levres / Read My Lips (2002)

A thriller with Victor Cassel and Emanuelle Devos. Favorite actors.

A secretary, hard of hearing, is the butt of jokes and given shabby treatment. A somewhat sympathetic big boss suggests she hire an assistant. Along comes the just ex con who applies. She hires.

They have a hate love relationship. Not easy.

She pressures him to use his muscle for a little office revenge then he asks her for some help in unraveling a robbery in planning.

The thing here is that we get to hear as she hears a lot of the stuff. No it is not a pain. It actually has some advantages as it turns out.

The tension is thick with respect to their caper and their relationship. Double the fun for the money.

This is a great film. Original premise, wisely executed. The acting is superb. Both principles are well known for character roles. She for plain jane or rough woman roles. The last time I saw her was in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, the Dad's girlfriend. Not a whore. He is a tough guy. Sexy ugly. The kind of actor that shows up regularly in french film. The male equivalent of the heart of gold underneath.

I try to see this every two or three years during which I sort of forget the tricks and twists and turns. It is still exciting to watch the two of them play this out.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

HOLIDAY

I got up at the usual 3AM time today and did all my morning stuff. Then went to lead a 5AM Meeting at our AA Group. An all night affair. We had four then five people. But we were starting to get folks arriving for the regular 7AM Meeting which I stayed for. 75 people on a holiday morning. Pretty good. But that is the nature of this particular Meeting. It is the place to be especially on a holiday like this one. Start the day right.

Home to a piece of stollen, my second, then some Skype with the folks in Scituate MA.

I was writing an email to my son Paul in Weymouth MA and suddenly there he was on the middle of my screen. He has just gotten an iMac with the latest software just like mine and he was diddling around. Voila! We connected.

So that was a nice surprise.

We were on FaceToFace which is narrower than Skype. Narrower than the old iChat. But it was good to see the family.

Later, phone calls and email to the other family and a movie. Very good.

All three of us did the afternoon walk. It has been cloudy all day but it opened up later and got warmer. Nice.

Now, the day has become regular. Dinner, end of day stuff and bed.

No gym tomorrow as they will not open until 6AM and my day will be well on its way by that time.

We take the Volvo in tomorrow for some warranty work. All day.

John handles that for which I am grateful. He will do the shuttle thing.

So another christmas slides by. A final note.

More and more people are doing electronic cards this year. Funny. Soon, we will be doing it too. Or maybe not. The ones that count the most are the ones that are special somehow. A friend, Lou, sent a photo of his mountain top view in MountainAir New Mexico. Snow. Maybe you thought it was hot in NM. No. Most of it is too high for warm winter breezes. And it is desert cold. We have known Lou since the old St. Croix days. He is a totally transported New Yorker. He works in a morning cafe there and does NM high desert things the rest of the day. Ex Professor from Long Island goes to ground. A nice life.

It is interesting to see where people land. Take us for instance. Who would have thought?

Labels: holidays

THE GREATEST LIE OF ALL

From today's Boston Globe. The final word, well, probably not, on Mitt Romney.

The Boston Globe this weekend offered a fascinating analysis of why Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election. But for all the impact of ground games, turnout models and campaign strategies, Mitt Romney lost not because he failed to define himself to the American people, but because he succeeded. At the end of the day, he was inevitably "reduced to caricature, as a calculating man of astounding wealth, a man unable to relate to average folks" because that is who Mitt Romney is. Voters sized him up as a hyper-ambitious, amoral opportunist more than willing to mislead them on almost any topic. And as his number one son Tagg revealed to the Globe, Mitt Romney was a liar to the end, still pretending he never wanted to President in the first place.

Tagg, who now provides his father office space at the Solamere Capital private equity firm his parents' $10 million investment and priceless connections helped create, performed one final campaign task for Mitt. How disappointed could his father really be, Tagg suggested, if he never wanted to be President anyway?

Yeh. What about the 8 years he ran and ran and ran. Even the GOP deserves better than that guy.

The emperor's clothes and all that.

Labels: Romney

GAITE PARISIENNE

Today's Romain Duris film is the last until three or four more come out of the "not released" queue. Cedric Klapische'

Paris (2009)

This is an anthology film with Duris and Juliette Binoche at the top of the list of stars.

Vignettes. With the city of Paris as the real star.

It is nice enough and a bit involving but not too much. I did not decide that I have to move there.

Duris plays a nightclub dancer who develops a bad heart and, with his sister Binoche, awaits a transplant.

He sees the city through new eyes. Eventually he sees everyone else in the film that we have seen right along.

It is a nice film with great scenes between the two stars and a lot more besides.

I saw it before and I will probably see it again someday. It won a prize at Cannes, but come on, the french vote for the french. It is good anyway. A 5 out of Netflix5 because I want to watch it all happen over and over.

Labels: films

BEAU

Actually "BO".

I just want you to see him get up on the lap.

If you want to hear the Night Before Christmas, stay tuned.

Labels: holidays

GINGERBREAD

Labels: holidays

MORE GYPSIES

Today's Roman Duris film was Tony Gatlif's

Gadjo dilo / The Crazy Stranger (1997)

A young frenchman goes to Romania to find a certain gypsy singer who was a favorite of his father. He is also, as it turns out, an ethnographer and records gypsy music. He is taken in by an old grandad who teaches him Romani and they become close friends. He lives with the gypsies in their camp for a few months and falls in love with a young singer who has been outside and knows the gypsy ropes. Some more side stories. The old man's son is a thug who gets in trouble and the locals come to wreck the camp.

This is Duris' third film. He is used mostly as a sounding board (learning the language, recording songs) for Gatlif to show the gypsy life and use a lot of the real people in small scenarios. It is an almost documentary but not quite.

Duris has the magic even in this early outing. The film is one of three Gatlif gypsy films that was released here. The other two have sort of disappeared.

We saw another Gatlif film the other day where Duris goes off on a road trip to Algeria to find his roots.

Duris does very well with this stuff as he is spontaneous and able to deal with the improvised business of the moment with the non-actors involved.

I liked this movie but it will not be to everyone's taste. I am fascinated with gypsies and probably would like to be one. So any crazy shit they do is OK with me.

I will give the film a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

FRUITLESS

I have had a yen for fruitcake.

My first in many years.

I used to eat the whole thing. That was when I was running 50 miles a week.

Now, it would settle right at my waist line and not disappear for, well, an awful lot of daily workouts. To say nothing of the other foods I would have to give up to offset the calorie bomb of fruit cake.

But I have thought about it. Actually, this is the kind of thinking that settles in when you are in the middle or especially near the end of a long period of weight loss. Day dreams about sweet things. Food yens.

So, I looked today. There has always been fruitcake at the supermarket. When I was a kid it was made by A&P itself and later in the ACME bakeries I saw them make it.

But now, it is a pale shadow of its formal self. But still good.

So I looked for it today. I didn't find any.

I asked the checkout clerk and she phoned the boss who told her that the fruitcake came from Hostess Cakes, the Twinkie company that has gone out of business just to fuck over their union employees.

So no dice. No fruitcakes. No work for the bakery employees or the many truck drivers who made daily deliveries. Gone.

They think that someone will buy the brand and start baking the YoYos and RingDings and all. But I bet no one will come up with fruitcake.

It isn't very popular anymore.

John's mother always made us one. Every year. Even after I quit alcohol. There was a quart of rum in her cake.

She could never quite get the idea that the booze was in there and I couldn't have any.

The myth that it cooks out is pretty thin. Especially when she wrapped it in cloths soaked in the stuff. Not in the dough. On the cake.

I could make my own fruit cake but, if you watch this, you will see that it is a major exercise. And I only want one piece. A small one.

I did manage to get a fruit stollen. So there is something to look forward for tomorrow morning.

When I was a kid, again, way back then, my Dad would bring home the A&P brand fruit stollens that were left over every year. They started stale so they didn't get too stale over time.

Over the years there is only one fruit stollen that has ever come up to those. A loaf that came from a jewish bakery in Long Beach. Long closed down. The bakery. Not the stollen.

There is no other holiday food that I relish.

No equivalent to pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. I used to make mince pie but we used to cut a small piece and then just look at it as it sat on the plate. Soooooo rich.

I gave that up a while ago.

So stollen it is.

We aren't having any big meal either.

Bagels and lox. Cream cheese.

How is that for oppo programming. A jewish brunch item for a christmas dinner.

You gotta admit we are not in any way main stream around here.

Labels: holidays

WHEN SILENCE WOULD BE GOLDEN

Tagg Romney: Mitt 'Wanted To Be President Less Than Anyone I've Met'

Ha Ha Ha.

Really?

I would have had the opposite view. Unless he is the most self destructive person he knows, below self awareness.

These people can't shut up. Tagg particularly.

I know.

This was over long ago. But it ain't over until the fat lady and the ambitious scion quit singing.

How many people does the Tagger know? I bet he wants to be Prez but hopes are now dashed, maybe. He could be the second Mitt-coming.

Labels: Romney

THE MILLENIUM RETURNS

What will happen when (not if) we go over the "fiscal cliff".

Cliffhanger: What Will Happen?

Not much, actually.

The Obamas have been planning on this for a long time. All departments are ready and there, apparently, will not even be layoffs.

The IRS will not start collecting more taxes off the payroll or any of the dire predictions.

The markets already seem more or less indifferent. Yes. It went down the other day but it had gone way up before that.

The fact is that there will be an agreement and while it may take awhile, both sides will realize that it has to be and there you are.

The liberals, speaking for my side first, will realize there has to be some tinkering with the entitlements. A plan is already on the table.

The GOP, a little harder, perhaps, will have to abandon their "no tax raises ever".

It will take them awhile to get over the hurt of the election and to realize that they have no mandate. They lost seats and every election for every seat was local. And they have a shitty approval rating already. If they don't come to terms then the Demos will take it all back in 2014 and they will have no one to blame but themselves.

Am I worried about it? Hell no.

My man has already stepped back and resubmitted his original goals in a modest plan. Back to the 250,000.

There is a lot of criticism of Obama as a negotiator but you cannot negotiate with immovable people. They will move when they feel the heat.

Boehner is an ass but he has a heart. Right now it is in his ass but it will end up in the right place. Or the Senate will take a swing and Boehner will decide to submit a proposal that has enough Democratic support and enough GOP support to carry. And the wingnuts be damned. He has already fired two of them from committee.

So that is why I have not written much about this.

You know, Obama went to the Harvard Negotiation school which is a lot like the Program my company used to teach. He is canny. He has prepared his side by already having neutralized the impact of an impasse on his government. Smart move.

Remember most disaster predictions are horse shit.

Labels: disasters

COMIC

Today's Romain Duris film is the costume comedy

Moliere (2007).

There is, evidently, a period of time of two months to two years when there is no accounting for Moliere's life. The great french comic writer. Farce.

This film has the audacity to pump up the history with a bit of speculation which not only tells a story to fill in the time but dares to imply that much of Moliere's inspiration comes from this period and a romance with a certain woman.

A lot of reviews of the film consider this to be sacrilegious and so they found ways to criticize it on other grounds. Or something. The reviews are bi-polar.

Me? I just see it as a Duris film and he gets to have long hair and period costumes. It is funny and fast moving and he has a good cast to back him up.

It does presume to say that this is how Moliere got inspired but I am not french and certainly not a literary critic so I don't care about that part.

I saw this before and enjoyed it as much if not more the second time. I watched a bit of the "making of" film on the disc. Not bad.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. It is not a must to see yet a third time but I would not mind.

FATHERS

This is a beautiful memoir from a gay son about his father.

A Father's Journey

My Dad had a similar progression. He never gave up on me or on understanding my new life. Which was actually my old life but he didn't really get that.

He met John and they got along, sometimes too, well. Both Navy men, the sea tales could get a little long and weighty. Hey. Whatever it takes. Old salt? Fine.

In the later years we were touring the part of Boston, Charlestown actually, where my Dad was stationed in the WWII Navy.

Somewhere along the way, he and I walking together, John and my mother behind us, he said he wanted me to know how pleased he was that I was happy and settled in my life.

This was a great gift from him.

The only thing a good parent really wants. For the kid to be happy in life and not on the parent's terms.

At the end, my Dad and I were so close I could be with him and say goodbye, to hug, to say it was OK to go and, most of all, that I loved him very very much.

Labels: gay life

AWAY AND GONE

I love this little article.

Our Family Christmas Rescinded

I am totally with this older mother. There comes a time to step away from it all. The noise, the chaos, the frantic giving and receiving.

I have done it. And not to everyone's approval either. Not by a long shot.

In fact, we moved away from it. 3000 miles. Not just for that obviously. Warm weather had a lot to do with it too.

I even hate to write this, in a way, as it makes explicit has been fairly obvious but undercover in our family for awhile. A sentimental attachment to times that were but not nearly as "were" as we remember them.

Of course to kids it is all magic. I have my memories too.

But I also remember the stuff I got I didn't really want or the annual fight between my mom and dad over the tree he got us or the enforced run to relatives' houses every year, a circuit of excess. And, of course love. But you have to take the "bitter" with the better.

And eventually, the bitter adds up. Or rather the investment of all that energy doesn't return.

In our own family we celebrated with our kids jointly and then, as the kids got older, with their participation in our life in Boston. It was fun. A packed open house for Christmas eve. A hundred and more friends.

That was the first thing to go. One year it just got old.

Then after that, little by little, the enrichment of grandchildren, happy faces, helped spice it up. And then, well, we got older and it became something of a chore.

There is no explaining this to the young. Sometimes there is no explaining even to a spouse. The old magic lies there below the skin ready to erupt in a burst of unhappiness that it is gone or with some grandiose scheme to recapture.

It is probably not too different than an elephant's fondness for an old watering hole that went dry. Hard to move on. But you better move on or you will die of thirst.

This year, I am still thinking about whether to have anything special for dinner on the day. I am going to sit in an "alcathon" room which will be open all night for others who are having the same withdrawal symptoms, a sad wish for a different time that may or may not have been. I have no antidote but I do know that some empathy for others is a good way to handle my own.

How morose for the holiday? Huh? Sorry if it is a downer. It doesn't feel like one. More like a liberation from the old myths and memories.

Labels: holidays

NOT BING CROSBY

But a nice tribute to the crooner, nonetheless.

The old Binger reigned supreme in my house when I grew up.

This song was the apotheosis of all things Bing.

On the other hand you can hear the Ink Spots and Dean Martin in this as well.

Sounds from the past.

Sung by The Drifters. Cartoon by Joshua Held. Featuring Bill Pinkney on lead bass and Clyde McPhatter on tenor.

Labels: holidays

HIGH WOO WOO

Today's Romain Duris film is an American/French/Quebecois venture

Afterwards (2008)

in which he speaks mostly english but there is an excuse for his accent. A french boy who was nearly killed in an accident. Now a high pressure lawyer estranged from his family.

He runs into or is run into by John Malkovich who talks riddles about death and seeing an aura when people are due to go off this mortal coil.

Suffice to say that there is a bit of mumbo jumbo and directorial misdirection but at the bottom line, it is a good story with some gentle suspense and some very lovely photography. Shots in New York City, what turns out to have been Canada for some rural scenes and the New Mexican Desert. Skies. Ponds. Swans. Kids. Beautiful stuff. Even Duris is beautifully filmed along with the scenery. He dominates the film. It is his point of view so he is on almost all the time. All the time? Probably.

I liked it. It is not the best film I ever saw and certainly not his best but it works and had me into it for most of the time. I only looked at the clock near the end and it was pretty near the finale.

I usually don't like Malcovich but he is good here. Toned way down. Obviously a tough director. Not a lot, well a little, scenery chewing. But, after all, he is sharing the scene with Duris.

This is quite different for Duris and while the film didn't get distributed here, straight to DVD, it is worth seeing as many films that take this path are worth seeing.

I did see it before, incidentally, and didn't remember a lot of it. So it is medium impact. A 3 out of Netflix5.

I like this trailer. It is for France, so it is subtitled backward from the normal Duris film.

Labels: films

JEAN POOL

I have worn shorts almost 365 days a year since we moved here in 1997. I refused to give in to the reality of a desert winter. People noticed. I had a reputation. The eternal tourist.

This year, the cold came early and with it some more age. Or maybe it is that I have lost so much weight that I don't have the insulation that I had before.

Whatever.

I am back to wearing jeans. A big decision.

I put them on today and do not plan to take them off until there is a small sign of spring. Well, unless it gets a bit warmer.

I have to admit there is something else going on.

That is that I am now eligible to return to Levi 501s. 32/30.

Slim, straight leg, the way I used to roll.

They look pretty good.

I also got some Calvin Klein classics for when I want to be a little baggy. I used to wear those too. I was the perfect Calvin Klein ass. Not any more. We would have to go to the 30 inch waist for that and I am not likely to get there.

But it is not all about staying warm during the dry cold desert days. It amounts to a "new look" for me.

My closest friend at the Meeting, Joey, noticed. "You wore jeans!".

Yes.

A few others noticed or finally saw that I am thinner and whether they mean it or not, healthier looking. "Maybe it is the tan". I don't have a tan.

No one has yet asked me, this time, whether I am OK. Have I lost weight voluntarily. This is a good thing. It shows us that time has past. We are far enough gone from the wasting that many gay men had. Always the first sign of the last days.

"Are you OK"? Worried look.

Anyway it is a change for me. All I need to get used to is the feeling that the pants are riding just a little bit too low. And about another half inch so the 32 inch waist really really fits without a bit if squeeze.

I truly believed that I would never see 32 inches again.

And yes. I am wearing a belt. Maybe I can go to the non-belt thing but not yet.

Labels: clothing, health, life

BROTHERLY LOVE

Today's Romain Duris film is a NYTimes Critics' Pick by Christophe Honore

Dans Paris (2007)

Duris is bummed, badly, by the failure of his marriage(?) and comes back to his Dad and brother's apartment. Guy Marchand, always welcome, and Louis Garrel more than welcome.

Intercuts and rewinds show us what happened and what is happening with some help from a narration. Once, song breaks out. Portending the wonderful Honore film Love Songs

The idea here is that sibling love (there is a deceased sister) heals. So does the parental but not in the same way. Nice to see a Dad who while clueless is able to bring affection to the fore.

There is a lot to like in this film and watching the actors work together is one of them. The scenes between Duris and Garrel are intimate and warm and deeply loving. I didn't have a brother but this is what I would want if I did.

The stylishness of the film does not bury the emotions. Nicely done. I have seen it before and I would gladly see it again and that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

LOWEST OF THE LOW

Today is the winter solstice.

At 11:12 UTC.

Right now it is 9:48 PM UTC so, well, is the 11:12 PM or a 24hour time?

See here.

There is a complicator this year because people picked up on the end of the Mayan calendar on this same date.

Solstice/Mayans. Voila!

In any case the world doesn't seem to be ending in a lake of fire. If anything, we are colder than average.

I normally don't pay attention to any of this but even the sophisticates who know the Mayan thing is just a crock of shit are into it and joking about it.

"See? It didn't happen--ha ha ha".

But maybe it is happening in another time warp and we are just not seeing it.

I like the Stonehenge simplicity.

The sun hits the slot and we are at the lowest of the low. The darkest day. From here on it will be brighter and the days longer.

This happened this morning.

Labels: seasons

GOING HOME

Today's Romain Duris' film is Tony Gatlif's

EXILS / EXILES (2004)

A down and out and discouraged Parisian couple decide to go visit Algeria where both have roots.

This is a road picture with a big difference. The road is tough, they have no money or travel permits, and so we see a swath of Spain and Algeria which is never seen with a camera or at least not in the movies. People are poor and situations rough and quite realistic. Or seem so. Fascinating as a result.

They are great as a couple. A lot of chemistry even though they are both tough nuts to crack. We learn their history little by little with a grand finale in Algeria among sort of mystical arabs doing their thing.

The trip is run on music. Ethnic, local. Intense.

We see a lot of Romain which is good. When he gets to his family house it is a really wonderful experience to watch him find his beginnings and his lost family.

This did not get US distribution but is available on Netflix where I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I would not mind seeing the colors and people that flow past the camera. Obviously filmed with locals and just regular folks although not regular from our point of view.

Labels: films

COLD

The Volvo showed snowflake-33 on its outdoor temp indicator this morning. That means it is fucking cold!

I already knew it was cold since I stopped for gas on the way home from the gym at 515AM.

Without a jacket, as usual, it was hard to stand still while the gas pump dinged itself into the car.

Later this morning, I went to put water in the fountain outside and the middle bowl had a big skim of real ice on it.

It is hard to realize that we are in in the midst of winter.

Tomorrow is the winter solstice.

It is cold.

When we went out to pee this morning, Booker and I, we saw a very very clear sky. That is it. A cold northern storm, some rain yesterday and now radiation cooling to beat all.

I am arming myself for a cold winter. Actually, legging myself. I have no long pants. Now that I have lost about 35 pounds, I really have no long pants. Not a lot of shorts either.

So I am buying some jeans for the first time in many years.

I am ready for this climate change thing which I am certain is upon us.

Labels: weather

GREAT WITH KIDS

One recent example.

And here are many more. Look at him. Look at the kids.

Obama's viral Spider-Man pic tops his adorable moments with kids

He is also Time's Man of the Year and on its cover today. This used to be momentous though now that magazines are going out with the dodo, perhaps not so much. Not as attractive as this.

SPLIT PERSONALITY

Today's Romain Duris film is one of my favorite all time movies

De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté / The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)

Young man's father a sleazy real estate thug/swindler; Mom a concert pianist. He has both in him. Thug and pianist.

This is based on James Toback's "Fingers" and while not a remake, exactly, it features this kind of conflict and a resolution. Harvey Keitel was in the Toback film.

Duris is on screen almost 100%. He plays piano and he thugs. Divided against himself.

It is a bravura performance for a young actor and he carries it off. The story is well made and the acting by the ensemble cast is totally on the mark. Niels Arestrup, another favorite actor, is the Dad. Special.

Loyalties to thuggish friends and his Dad get in the way of his inner need to find expression as an artist and as a human being driven by compassion and love rather than greed and manipulation.

Big themes.

A lot of the action is riveting. Much of the piano side is as thrilling but in a different way.

Great ending.

I have seen this several times and do not tire. It is right up there with my other all time hit "Diva".

A total five. Out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

SAFE DISTANCES A DIAGRAM

Not too far from my experience.

Wine would go with hazardous waste. Otherwise, well. I had better not say.

Close is good enough.

HOLIDAY CLICHES

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire means burnt chestnuts and they don't taste like much either.

Here is a guy who has devoted an entire website to another line.

Folks Dressed Up Like Eskimos

Everbody knows. Another cliche that is wrong. They don't. Oh. It is about mistletoe. Well maybe, but I doubt it. Everyone.

Labels: fun, music, stereotypes

BOYS AND GIRLS

Today's Romain Duris film was the sequel to yesterdays.

Les poupées russes / Russian Dolls (2005)

More heterosexual promiscuity. Inability to find an enduring relationship. Shallowness of encounters in bars. All the things they say that "the gays" do. Here it is "the straights".

Well done though and we get to see a lot, I mean a very lot of Duris' skin.

And it is funny if light. Not an enduring record of his work as some of the serious films are. Still.

This involves some, not many, of the characters from yesterdays film although there is a kind of reunion if you like that sort of thing.

Soon, in his career, very soon, he is going to make a breakthrough film that will seal his fate as an iconic french actor.

Da-dum.

There is a great little "making of" segment on this disc. I usually do not watch those (as I usually do not watch sequels) and it shows, in very fast time, the subterfuge that composes most film making. Also a lot of people. My god it takes an army to work on a simple scene.

I think that I will pass on seeing this one again. It was a five but now is downgraded to a 3 although it is essential to the Romain Duris oeuvre.

Labels: films

A NONSTARTER

I went out to the Volvo this morning to go to the gym and it would not start. Dead battery.

This is the first time with this car but not uncommon here in the desert where a battery's life is limited by the heat and aridity.

We try to remember to ask them for an extra special check of battery strength but with Volvo such militance is redundant. I am sure that they do all they can.

And there are 7000 miles between maintenance sessions. It takes us almost a year to drive that far.

So, it was no gym.

We belong to AAA but Volvo has its own complimentary service which I called.

A guy was here in 30 minutes, promised in 45. A looker. Always nice.

It is a little hard to get into the Volvo battery but he says not as bad as a Mercedes or other similar autos. He actually doesn't get many Volvo calls for anything. A good sign.

So he got it started. It was dead-dead so he advised to keep it running all the time until we take it into the dealer for a new battery.

John is there now.

We went to the store as scheduled. The dog got his walk. Everything went on schedule but the gym which I actually grieve about some but I will recover.

I don't like doing it. Do not view it as a vacation. It is unwanted.

Nevertheless things will be back on track soon and that is a wrap.

Labels: automobiles, Volvo

I HATE MY JOB

Brighton England light decor. Something is going on besides Christmas.

Labels: fun, holidays

CRUSH

A couple of new Romain Duris films became available on Netflix so I am using them as an opportunity to show all his DVDs presently available. Some of which I have seen, some of those a few times.

There is just no resisting him even in today's lightest of light situation comedies, the first of two films involving the same living situation in Spain. A crush. But a good one because he is a great actor.

L'Auberge Espagnole (2002)(The Spanish Apartment)

in which as a graduate student in a one year program Duris joins up with an international group of similar young people in group living.

There are girlfriend problems and cultural problems and it is a lot of difficult fun for everyone.

Not to make too much of it but Truffaut made a film like this one as part of the Antoine Doinel series, Bed and Board, and this film owes a lot to that.

Duris now has a wide range of films. Some are serious and tough, one is an historical film and a few are modern melodramas. He has quite a range.

It is interesting to note that Duris is not an entirely sympathetic character in this. In fact, he is a bit of a heel at times. French. They like it rough. So do I, I suppose.

This is a theme for all his films. A rare latter day international star on the Bogart scale or something like that. Perhaps a young Yves Montand without the singing.

NYTimes: a fusion of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, here is almost a dead ringer for the early-1960's German star Horst Buchholz.

Duris was discovered in the street, a student. They took him to a room and gave him a screen test. The rest is history.

A life forever changed. Just like that.

Labels: films

ACCEPTED

The big news today is that one of my "kids" who I interviewed for MIT has been accepted.

I remember him well and I gave him one of my best write-ups.

This does not happen very often.

I shot a "congratulations" email to him this morning.

He is the first "early action" kid that has gotten in.

I always figure that earlies are a slim chance. I still am not sure why people want to go in that direction. But they do. More and more.

What makes the difference for a kid to be accepted, I think, is a compelling life story. And a clear ability to make lemonade out of lemons. To work hard. If you don't find yourself on the winning side then look for a back entrance.

Just a small part of this guy's story is that when he moved to his present school, he wanted to play basketball but he was short and fat. Today he is on the varsity. A Bob Cousy of the team. I hope you know who Bob Cousy is. This young man does.

He is still short. But not fat.

Of course, his admission has little to do with me or my writeup but I am pleased nevertheless.

I think that it is no accident that he attends the same school that my last admit comes from. He is now a Junior. A success. But all admits are successful. That is how good the MIT selection and retention process is.

A happy day.

My last interview is today. Yesterday's was great. A wonderful kid who would be a good admit.

Labels: MIT

TALK TALK TALK

No movies today or tomorrow. I have to do the last two of my MIT applicant interviews. Then I am done.

The deadline for setting up an interview is over, my reports have to be in January 1st.

I am glad to be at the end of it for this year. Well, I am glad to see the end of it every year. I start with great enthusiasm and then, over time, it wanes. I think this is natural. The work is not difficult but it is intensive. Try mostly listening to someone for an hour. Not much input from you.

I am fine with the garrulous and energetic. It is the comparative sluggards that are a drain. I had one last week.

I will start this new afresh. Look for something new that I haven't either asked or heard about before.

The one that I am about to see has turned in nothing. No first application, no transcripts, no test scores. Nothing.

That will be interesting. What the fuck? Usually they are rarin' to go. Ahead of themselves.

I will be the first tic mark on his list of steps required to get into the school.

Tomorrow is a guy who applied for early action which means that his interview is worthless if he was accepted today, the day for early action.

I don't hear until a day later.

But if he was "not admitted" meaning "rejected" then there is no point. On the other hand if he is deferred, it might be the best thing that could happen for him. Well, it will be a good thing he got the interview. He is with an advocacy outfit that manages admissions for impoverished kids so, usually, I don't get to see them. They don't circumvent the process but they have already had interviews with someone else.

I will show up. Actually, I may get informed about the earlies later today. If so, I can see through the fog a little bit.

Labels: MIT

HOSTAGE

Today's film was the Cannes Grand Prize winner

Of Gods and Men (2010)

I kept putting off seeing this because of the subject matter. A sort of true rendition of the hostage taking of seven Cistercian monks by an unknown terrorist group during the bad times in the 90s.

Actually, it is a fine film and has nothing to be afraid of. These are gentle men who have to decide to stay with their mission to the Algerian village their monastery is, in fact, responsible for starting and maintaining, or leave for safety.

It is not that they are naive. They are actually between the government, a repressive bunch of bastards, and the "rebels" which are a mix of jihadists and just plain thugs.

It amounts to a character study unless you want to parse the lessons of the gospels. Which I do not.

I could opt out of the religious part, which is not too heavy duty, and see this as people in a moral dilemma.

The outcome is known in advance. They will be taken and then killed because the french government will not release their prisoners. The usual stuff for people in the middle.

I was astonished to learn a great deal about monastic life and practice. Very nice.

There are even some sympathetic terrorists. In a way. But the signs are there almost from the beginning. There is only one result from the end game.

I would not want to see it again but I am glad that I saw it. A 3 out of Netflix5 although as a film it does rate pretty high. Just not for me again. No way.

Labels: films

WEATHER

I was astonished this morning when John and Booker came home wet and unpooped. They hit some serious rain after a short distance. Far enough for two towels. For Booker.

They had said 30%. I didn't think about it. And when Booker and I went out to pee at 3 it was cloudy but there was real sky showing around.

It has rained all day. Light.

It has been a very long time since we have seen any rain. We noticed this in walking through the desert where the mantle is broken so thoroughly that it is a loose, sandy, dusty walk. More like the beach. Usually it is hard and totally resistant to human and dog weight. But a little bit of wear over time loosens the whole thing up.

There is a "what to do" feeling about it. When we were first here, and for a long time really, we had the automatic response of "oh shit, our vacation is being ruined".

But now, it is an event. Rain.

They mowed the grass today, no matter. Not called on account of rain. So there is loose grass all over the rugs and house. It sticks to everything.

Chilly too. A strong Pacific cold front storm that pushed its way over the mountains.

There will be snow to see in the morning. Maybe as much as 6 inches. As low as 4500 feet. Lower than half way down.

And this is the snow that stays.

We can't see it yet. The mountains are covered in rain clouds.

Labels: desert, weather

IN CRISIS MODE

Today's NYTimes Critics' Pick film was Marc Meyer's

Harvest (2011)

A family gathers 'round the dying patriarch and all the little fissures show.

Points of view are from the grandDad and a grandSon Josh who is coming into adulthood and grabs the reins. Nicely.

There is nothing overwrought here. It is normal. A time of death and a lot of old issues surface. New to the grandson.

In taking responsibility in his family he ends up putting his own life on hold. School, girlfriend. To his benefit.

All the moves in this film are small intense one. Craftily directed and acted we are shown rather than told about the years of baggage that need to get dropped or put away as everyone says goodbye to the grandDad.

The acting is superb. Ensemble. Subtle. It is easy to forget that this is a play and not some docudrama. Handheld work helps this.

The success of the film is the across the board talent on display but at the center, two words.

Robert Loggia. The grandDad.

Another two words. Jack T. Carpenter. The grandSon.

When both principals merge in one scene it is magic.

Loggia is a master. It is a master class.

OK. Two other words. Barbara Barrie as the GrandMother slipping away into dementia just as her husband is slipping away from his life.

This may sound all morbid but it is not. There is a lot of love here. Incapable as many of the family are of showing it. Nuance is the main force of the film.

A 5 out of Netflix5. I would like to watch it again.

Labels: films

WONDERFUL

From todays NYT. Anthony Sherin. Found art.

Stay with this. There is an arc and a throughline.

Making this film was pure serendipity. After a January snowstorm in New York City, I decided to do some work on another film, in my home in Washington Heights. But as I approached my desk, I thought I heard a piano plinking. I looked out the window and saw a piano on the curb below. I was mesmerized by the pattern that emerged. Passers-by would slow, stop and play. Some played well. All day long they collected and dispersed, and into the night they measured, shoved and deliberated the piano’s fate. (If it stayed on the sidewalk, the city could have issued a fine.) I was riveted. Pianos have histories. No one who stopped seemed eager to leave it behind. Their thoughts were obvious: Can we take it? Who abandons a piano? Is it worth anything?........Anthony Sherin is a New York-based filmmaker and editor. His documentary “Original Intent: The Battle for America” was broadcast on PBS in 2009.

Labels: films, music, photography

RAVI SHANKAR, HERO?

OK. I will write this.

Ravi Shankar, the renown sitarist, has died at 92. Go look it up.

I was not going to put him on my hero list because, frankly, whenever Ravi was tuning up the sitar, I headed for another room.

I cannot stand the stuff.

But Ravi did do a few things, by the way, other than live past 90 which is the minimal requirement for esrose "hero".

He brought indian music to the west which opened the door for a lot of so called "third world" music which I am grateful for.

I don't mean that he brought it but his popularity fostered by the Beatles, of course, led the music moguls to go out and find alternatives.

If I were in the music business, I would do almost anything to find an alternative to sitar. Second only to the accordion in annoyance.

The other thing about Shankar is that he was a very sweet man. I have seen him in many interviews and he had this charisma that shown through the most intense application of the tabla and the sitar and all those other things that went along with it.

I would gladly sit and watch him and listen to his words then shut off the music part.

I know. I am running this into the ground, really.

I will tell you what. I will do this. I will put up a bit of Ravi and his gang and you can decide whether to play it or not.

Me? No. I will just let it be a silent tribute to the man and his efforts over the years. He made a lot of people happy. Especially George Harrison and anyone who did that is OK in my book.

Labels: heroes, music

BRUTAL REALITY

Nothing romantic about today's film, a NYTimes Critics' Pick

Jûsan-nin no shikaku / 13 Assassins (2011)

A samara movie. Even a remake. But none of the usual spin.

They talk about honor and all but, as one of the 13 says early on, in battle, the Samurai can use anything. Rocks, fists, fire, and evil tricks. There are plenty of that here.

After the setup that shows us the villain to be a really bad bastard the rest is a chase and a battle plan to meet up with the dickhead and finish him off.

The problem is that there are only 13 of us and a few hundred around him.

At the end of the chase, there is a battle.

And that is all there is to the movie.

The battle scene lasts for a long time and it is worth every edge of the seat minute. Intense.

I have seen a lot of the genré and I enjoy them but this is the first that didn't seem like a transmitted western. It has its own theme and variations and uses the time very well.

The pageantry here, such as it is, is breathtaking. Costumes and maneuvers. The fighting is close up and each "assassin" has a story that holds us tightly to the emotional framework of the film.

What is appealing here is that there are two old guys who represent each side and they are also old hands at this kind of film. Great personal power.

Japan is a beautiful country and we see a lot of it.

I do not want to see it again but I would be happy to have the opportunity. That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

NUMEROLOGY

I can't let the day pass without noting the 12-ness of it all.

We have been able to see a lot of these numbers come up since 2001 but it will all be over today.

Not again for 89 years.

2101

I like numbers and so while it is not a big day (I do not plan to get married or anything else notable this day) it is still worth noting.

I think that I will go write some checks so I can get to write it out.

It is the last millenial date that I will ever get to see. You too, probably.

SHELF LIFE

Labels: books, fun

RATINGS!

Blogger has changed its format and today I stumbled into the realization that this blog has stats!

I have always thought that, perhaps, there are only a few people reading this. Family, friends.

Not so.

There are hundreds of hits each day. There are people all over the world who are hitting the site. They call them "hits".

Russia for fucks sake. What is with that? Great.

I don't get a lot of comments so I never know.

Now, I have stats.

Forgive me if I go look at them every five minutes.

I used to have a photo-journal. Front Page software. The host site there had stats too. They were pretty disappointing.

Now, if I am misreading this and there are really only three people reading this, please don't comment and tell me.

Well, how would you know?

Let's have a comment in Russian.

I don't want to become self conscious. I will quit now.

Stats.

Sometimes you have shit you're not even aware of.

Life.

Labels: blogging, life

THRILLER

Today's film was Marco Berger's

Ausente / Absent (2011)

I really enjoyed Berger's Plan B about two guys who, ever so slowly, almost creep into falling in love with each other. A buddy film with a difference. Funny and sweet.

Today, another Berger film. Not funny. Not too sweet. But very, very good to watch.

I think this film is hard to pin down but it is somewhat "labelled" by its score which prompts us to view the events unfolding with some alarm. A thriller.

A student is taken to the hospital by a teacher for an eye injury which turns out to be non-exisitant or mild. Then, the kid can't reach his friend with whom he was going to spend the night. Then he tries to reach his grandmother with whom he stays and she is gone.

What else? The kid will have to stay with the teacher at his apartment. This is a big no-no. Way off limits.

We begin to see the kid as a stalker or a kid with a crush or perhaps a kid setting up a teacher for some blackmail. Ominous.

The teacher doesn't see it.

The plot thickens.

Then, well, it is quite worthwhile to unravel this on your own.

Berger is great at setting a mood. There are many "clues" in the cinematography. It is spooky.

Gee. And I thought we were going to see a superficial seduce the teacher film. No.

Oh. The teacher is not gay either. Or it doesn't seem that he is.

I will stop here. It has to be seen.

If I have one complaint it is that the score is a little heavy on the pedal but then, perhaps, I would not have had the feelings of menace that I really felt here.

There is a nice interview with Berger as an added feature. He is at the Berlin Film Festival and may not know his film will be the winner of best gay film. If he does then he gets even more props for humility.

I am interested enough in this film maker that I contributed a pittance to his new production now filming in Hawaii. That earned me entré to his blog. Their blog.

So I am biased. So what?

I bought this disc so I will definitely see it again.

Oh. The acting. Great. Very much on the mark. The stuff between the boy and the teacher is right on the edge of some bad shit is about to come down. Also somehow the scenes with the boy's friend. And his girl friend. They all do very well for themselves. There are twists, turns and reversals.

A 5 out of Netflix5 only it is not on Netflix yet.

Labels: films

NAMED

Scientists Name Extinct Lizard After President

Funny. They would have "yanked it" if he had lost so they wouldn't be seen as piling on. No one said that they would have switched it to Romneydon.

This isn't the actual lizard which is only a few inches long.

Labels: Barack Obama, science

LIFE AFTER DEATH

It is amusing to see people's interest in finding photo pops for Mitt Romney. These days of the ubiquitous phone cam.

Mitt in the After Life

I sympathize with any public figure who has to go private suddenly. Or even one who is still active in public life who is trying to, well, buy some Cheerios without looking at them as though he never saw any before.

Usually candid shots have to do with illicit liaisons or scandalous doings.

Not Mitt.

He is on a roller coaster or sitting at ringside or, well, picking out cereal to say nothing of eating a burger or pumping gas.

Nothing topless or too embarrassing except the absence of hair product.

And that’s the thing. Romney’s somehow like the anti-Zelig. He’s seemingly everywhere. Popping up in the oddest places and yet not remotely ever fitting in or blending in. In every new setting he sticks out palpably as Mitt Romney. Not ‘Where’s Waldo’ but ‘Here’s Waldo!’ Right there. You can’t miss him.

Labels: Romney

NErVeWRACKiNg

DIFFICULT

Today's film was Kenneth Lonergan's long awaited

Margaret (2011)

There is no Margaret in the picture, it is from a poem read and meant to symbolize the stakes in this story.

Anna Paquin is a teenager who is involved in a serious bus accident. She has distracted the driver. She holds the dying in her arms.

Tough stuff.

But rather than accept her part in it, she becomes an avenger. She interacts with people with righteous scorn. Only she is usually wrong.

The thing is that you have to see the film to understand it. There is no story per se. It is about situations and people in the young woman's life. What she does to herself and others to shut out reality.

Others are complicit and somehow in their own detachment, play along with the game, prolonging the final acceptance of what has happened and who, what and how reality occurs.

No one is really engaged with one another here. All are playing at life, in a way. Not touching.

Paquin's character is told that her life is not an opera with her as a star.

Ironically, it is at the opera that she gets this and finally lets go of her guilt, shame and responsibility. She becomes human in the midst of total artifice.

Wow. I am amazed that I just typed that. I totally did get it when I thought that I did not.

Along the way there are great nuggets of NYC scenery. Some beautiful night time stuff. They must have really let the second unit roll to get this kind of beautiful photography.

Everything is close up. Nothing is spared.

The review tells how this became a troubled film and why it took four years to come out. It is not mangled but while Lonergan says it is OK with him, he did not do the final edit. Fox released it under pressure from critics and movie folks who had seen it. It had a limited release and was not promoted. There was litigation.

Too bad.

It was salvaged nonetheless and here we have the result.

At one time Lonergan had a five hour film and that is available to be seen if you buy the discs together. As it stands this version is quite long but passes quickly in the seeing of it.

I am not sure that I want to see it again. It is wrenching. But I will give it a 5 anyway which will put it on the docket for future times.

Labels: films

DID YOU KNOW?

When I was a young adult, the argument about the Salvation Army was mostly about their effectiveness with the troops during WWII.

Guys would argue endlessly about them vs. The Red Cross.

Now we all know that for a long time The Red Cross had some serious problems with administration costs and may still have them.

But the Salvation Army has serious problems with bigotry and mean spirited treatment of gay people.

And others but I don't know about that. Look, they are evangelical christians with an agenda.

They are here but not as thick on the ground as in the NE.

If you have a chance to put something in their kettle, how about you spit in it. Or put in a circular about your favorite non-evangelical charity.

Labels: charity

INTERVIEW DAY

I interviewed a student who is applying to MIT this afternoon.

I have two more to go next weekend. They do have one more day to set up an interview but it is unlikely that I am going to get anyone to do that. I have been known to make an appointment after the deadline but it doesn't say much for the person's ability to organize well to do this.

I would like to say that today's experience was a great one. Or a good one.

The kid hadn't thought a lot about MIT other than the obvious "best school" thing. No plans for a career. He had not looked into campus life very much so he could "see" himself there.

Times are tough for the applicant at any time. But if you are indifferent enough around these aspects of campus living then there is more work to be done.

He has not, also, done the second part of his application which involves some money on the line and also the dread essay.

My boss, of the region, thinks we should not interview anyone who has not done part 2 and this kid is a good piece of evidence that is true. He even said he was waiting for the interview to take the step. Cart before horse as far as I am concerned.

We are told by the next boss up that we are to interview whether the 2d App has been made or not. I follow their rules and ignore my boss and he knows this is the case. He would say that he told me so.

So I wrote a note to the big boss and said I would like to discuss this after the dust settles.

July?

This kid has been on the blog before. He is a tool but very much on target. My kid should have seen this.

Labels: MIT

INTROVERTS ARE BACK

But quietly.

Another article of "explanation" of introversion. Not a pathology. Just another human type that, because it does not extrovertedly announce itself, may be ignored, misunderstood or even thought to be something "wrong".

There is nothing wrong. We just don't want to talk about your opinions or you. Unless we do and then, well, OK, let's talk.

Nine Signs That You Might be an Introvert.

Labels: Introvert

GROWN UP

Today's film was Kenneth Lonergan's

You Can Count On Me (2000)

with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo as a grown up brother and sister who lost their parents when they were subteens. There is a son, and nephew, Rory Kulkin and a frustrating boss for the mom, Matthew Broderick.

This is a tale of longing and incompletion. In many ways it is a bleak realization of the inability of many adults to move out of a track that started for them when they were kids.

In this case, they were young kids, no parents.

The brother seems to be a ne'er do well. The sister, now a long divorced loan officer in a bank. Worlds apart.

Tension when the brother comes back to town for a short visit.

This is a character study. A gentle and loving acceptance of life on life's terms. A realization that no matter where you have been or where you are going there is, indeed, someone, somewhere you can count on. Even if it shaky.

I saw this when it came out and perhaps once more before this. It always surprises. This time, it was Lonergan himself who plays a counseling pastor who stood out. A sane voice in the midst who knows that people really cannot heed what he is saying and loves them anyway.

Broderick also improves in the latest viewing. He is truly a dick but like the others, sort of on automatic as he copes with a bad marriage to a mean woman.

The Culkin kid is the best of the Culkin lot. Very sweet and stubborn. Yes. He can be both. He will be fine.

And of course, Linney and Ruffalo are so powerfully real. Achingly so.

I got this film again because tomorrow or next day I am seeing Lonergan's second film which somehow missed the big time but is a favorite of many.

We will see.

Lonergan is a stage guy and a successful writer for films. Only two films directed. He wrote the screenplay for Gangs of New York which is the complete opposite of this wonderful small gem.

Did I say that it is a 5 out of Netflix5?

Labels: films

MITT MAKES A CALL, BARACK ANSWERS

Concession. Sweet.

INFAMY

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. December 7, 1941.

I was four going on five.

I remember the radio on. People upset and coming and going in the house. My mother fainting and on the couch.

When something like this happened in the "old days" not everyone had a radio nor could comprehend what was going on. So they would get in their cars and go visit relatives and friends who would have the news or an idea of what it meant.

My Dad always had the latest and highest fi radio. You would be surprised at how good it was. Big speakers. A floor model.

My Dad also had an opinion because he read the papers every day and was thoughtful about world affairs. He listened to Lowell Thomas and other commentators.

So there were a lot of people visiting that day.

Me? I guess I knew something bad had happened.

Labels: history

SUPREMES WILL RULE

Today, SCOTUS announced that they will take up two gay marriage appeals. Prop 8 in California, that's me. And a suit in NY state for equal treatment of benefits and all for gay spouses.

Initial reaction from our side is optimistic. I don't know but I feel that way too. What else? It can only go up.

You can't stop love. Don't stop it! Please. Even you Thomas and Scalia, you shits.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights, music

SMALL SCALEupdated to change rating

Today's film was Aki Kaurismaki's

Le Havre (2011)

A Finn's film about France with a french cast.

This is a tribute also to French Film. Caps.

In brilliant color and with music that rises from time to time, clearly from the Forties, a simple two track story is told about Marx, a shoe shine man, who comes upon an illegal boy who needs shelter from immigration.

This is also a film about kindness. Old fashioned kindness. Where people pitch in and help.

It is also blatantly proletarian. After all the main character's name is Marx. What else could it be?

Color. Everywhere.

Near tableau performances. People stand still and gaze at each other or the passing scene (meaning the camera). There is plenty of time to look.

Watching is a great pleasure.

Marx' wife is also ill. The second track of the story. He is not told how seriously. We see their love play out in small bouquets and careful negotiation of life's rapids.

A thoroughly nice film. A fairy tale, perhaps. Where nothing bad happens although there is great pain surrounding, none comes near.

I liked this very much. A good solid 4 out of Netflix5. I actually watched it again over John's shoulder the same evening.

Labels: films

LIFE AND DEATH

Labels: death, life

GAY RIGHTSUpdated last lines

Today was the first day to get marriage licenses for gay people in Washington State.

They can get married December 9.

This couple is Dan Savage, the long time sex advice columnist, political activist and founder with his partner Terry Miller of the It Gets Better campaign.

Historic.

We are still waiting for the Supremes to speak on the gay marriage issues before them.

If they refuse to hear the Prop 8 case from California, we will have gay marriage back in this state.

The other issues before them are not as cut and dried.

Actually, nothing is. We have been on the edge for many years but still, the rapid advance of gay rights legislation, a virtual avalanche, and the continued public approval for gay rights is an irresistible wave. It will take some time but we will be there.

If not now, later.

And not that much later either.

We, John and Earl, incidentally, are still married. Part of 28,000 gay couples in this state who made it through the gate in time.

Actually, in Washington it was 200 couples waiting in line for first dibs. Not something that should be too fearful to the homophobic.

Years ago Terry and I paid lawyers thousands of $$$ to secure some of those rights: living wills, powers of attorney.

Now they're available to all - you don't need thousands of $$$. Just $64. That's why marriage equality is a social justice issue.

We had the whole thing covered. Now. Simple. I forget what the fee for the license was and we had a cake only wedding for a hundred people. On the cheap, all of it.

No couple should have to go through all that just to get what straight couples already have.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

DO THE RIGHT THING

Today's film is the Iranian award winner, very high on the IMDb ratings and a NYTimes Critics' Pick

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin / A Separation (2011)

This is an Iranian film made in Iran by Asghar Farhadi

That having been said, I must also say that it is a blatant indictment of life in that country. One of those films that on the surface is perfectly acceptable to the authorities and the censors because it spouts all the correct Islamic law stuff and shows all the customs being observed in detail. Even for the more fundamentalist folks. And, as a result it is a land mine that got exploded the minute that they OK'd it.

It looks benign to authority because it does not make a rebellious statement. It just shows how things work, how they are in the country.

On the other hand it is a family drama which shows how each family member must make decisions for themselves when trouble comes. In this case in a conflict between conservative practice and a more modern family which has become, perhaps, too modern and educated for its own good.

A wife, having had enough, gets a permit to leave the country but the husband will not leave with her because he must care for his Alzheimer's father. A plum part incidentally. Watch him. The old guy.

The authorities will not grant a divorce so that the wife can leave without the husband and so the question becomes who will take custody of their adolescent daughter.

A home care worker comes into the scene when the wife leaves to go leave with her parents and it is at this point that the trajectory is set for a collision of values, a weighing of truth and justice and the happiness of the people in the family as well as the family of the domestic worker.

This film is dynamite.

The acting is perfect. Everyone is trying to do the right thing more or less calmly. It does not work. There is not even any slither room for getting past the obstacles that are thrown up by the state and religious law. Authority.

This is a 5 out of Netflix5 for sure. I would want to see it again and experience the discomfort of seeing what could happen here. What is happening there. First to women, then to families and then to life itself.

And, when all is said an done, it is a thriller. You cannot see "it" coming. Neither can they.

FIRST DOG

Here is a nice story about the Obama's christmas card.

Story Behind White House Card>

And the card itself.

We sent out our christmas cards a week ago. Our traditional weekend after Thanksgiving.

And we haven't gotten one from anyone else yet.

I am not complaining but why else send the cards?

Just kidding.

John did the cards again this year. I have handed it over to him, I think.

I have done it every year since we were together. Well, once we lived together as a couple.

That would be about thirty years.

So, actually, I shouldn't be the one to be annoyed that we haven't gotten any yet. No effort on my part.

It is a funny practice, holiday cards. That is what we call them now.

There is a hard list of traditions that surround our practice. Full of paradox.

We don't send any cards locally since we will probably see the people to wish them a happy.

We do send them to family who we talk to all the time even though some family don't send them to us. But we don't send them to other people who haven't returned the cards for two years running.

We do send cards to a hard core of friends who still abide by the practice, maybe 40 people plus the family who only communicate through cards.

Every year a couple of people drop off the list.

For all we know they are dead. Although you would think they would write and let us know if that is the case!

They get their two years like anyone else and then poof! They are gone.

Since we do not add to the list at all, well maybe a couple here and there, the list gets smaller all the time. Approaching zero.

That is the year I will begin to send them again and relieve John of the burden.

Labels: friends, holidays